Legion of dogs

Well... I saw these:

Images stolen from Eve News 24, The Mittani.com, and http://uglebsjournal.files.wordpress.com/ respectively 

I am in love!

Their utilitarian yet elegantly designed hulls matched with agility and missiles makes my Khanid heart sing for joy! Of course, the possibility that they are well tanked as well is low, but if Mordu's Legion were producing heavily tanked missile boats, Khanid Innovations would be out of a job!

Rhavas of the Interstellar Privateer already beat me to the explanation of the naming conventions (and as he is far wiser in the lore of New Eden than me, is able to draw better conclusions). But lets dig a little deeper, and see if there are more connections to draw.

Garmur

Whilst it is referred to as a hell hound, that's not all Garmr from the mythology is. His primary function is to guard the gates of Hel, or the underworld. It also should be said that Garmr is not really a hell hound. His actual description is similar to that of Sleipnir, the best of steeds. Garm is the best of dogs.

Hel in this case can be seen as Null-sec. Mordu's Legion will be moving into Low-sec, which can be seen as the buffer zone between the Empires and the capsuleer sovereign alliances. Mordu's Legion might be hired by the Empire's to protect them from the null-sec capsuleers.

A little more worryingly, Garmr is also linked to Ragnarok, or the end of days. It is said he will be let lose and that they will be the slayer of Tyr. This god reference could mean Mordu's Legion are out to slay Angels, or capsuleers. Remember, you are Immortal, my fellow pod jockeys.

A little further digging for the truly paranoid, a little line from the Poetic Edda:

"The Völva states that a crowing "sooty-red cock from the halls of Hel" is one of three cocks that will signal one of the beginning events of Ragnarök.

Mordu's Legion were based in Null-sec. And notice the colour of their ships? And finally, I'll leave their badge here. I thought it was eagle, but I'm not so sure.

Naming convention here is Minmatar.

Orthrus

The brother of Cerberus (but with only two heads), this particular namesake is meant to be guarding a herd of red-cattle on the 'sunset' isle. He is eventually slain by Herakles.

Now, our sunset isle could mean low-sec. It is between two opposites of hi- and null-. Not much more to report on this front, however, when we start myth mixing, it becomes a little more interesting.

Orthrus, is said to belong to a giant, and they herd the red cattle together. Again, from the above Poetic Edda, we find mention of another red-cock crowing the start of Ragnarok, this time from Jotunheim:

"He sat on the mound and plucked his harp
the herdsman of the giantess, cheerful Eggther
a rooster crowed in Gallows-wood
that bright-red cockerel who is called Fialar"

Two giants, two herds, one dog and one rooster.

Naming convention here is Gallente.

Barghest

So now we come to the battleship, and this is where most of my digging dries up. It's said to appear at funerals of notable people, and is a shape shifter. Other than it being a dog, I have found no real connection between that and the Ragnarok roosters.

It is linked to other black dog mythologies, and they attack lonely travelers on roads. This is kind of fitting with their role.

The naming conventions all fall down here too. Barghest is a Germanic, or Anglo-Saxon derivation, with is hardly representative of any New Eden culture. It would have most links to Caldari naming conventions, however, as they have a tendency to name ships after mythical creatures.

Conclusions

So, there you have it. A little more connections made. They are named for dogs, as fitting for a mercenary group. Their naming conventions are quite eclectic, as Mordu's Legion have been known to take members from all races. At least two have tenuous links to the re-shaping of the world, and one has a link to funerals and death.

Does any of this matter much? Not really, and most of it is probably far fetched in connection building. However, should another ship, or connection to the third rooster in Valhalla be announced, then the theory will be correct.

It wouldn't surprise me though. In a month's time, the way industry in New Eden is done will be entirely changed, and we already have signs that the cluster is going through large changes. Although we only have our two cockerels, Ragnarok may indeed be at hand.

But the important thing to me is that these will be missile ships, and as the naming convention suggests, most likely Caldari/Gallente based. That means I'll be needing to train up Caldari ships. As a fellow dog-of-war currently working for the Republic, I find their ships most suitable for me!

Strategikon Arcani: Kontarion Breacher

I believe I am coming to understand the mind set of a brawling pilot.

I have a certain distaste for it myself. Simply engaging and bullying your opponent from close range is hardly befitting of the intelligent warrior. But I can see now that there are nuances to learn when fighting within a few kilometers. And brawling is a part of flying the Kataphract Slicer. 

Equally, although I have respect for Minmatar fighters, I don't understand their mind set, or fully understand their tools of war. As I said before, Matari ships are gutter fighters, their use of projectiles in the age of space travel a sign of the desperate freedom fighter. Amarr ships are more like phalanx soldiers, well armed and armoured, but lacking flexibility.

Fortunately, the Minmatar are not wholly disimilar from the Khanid. As a people, we Khanid are mentally robust, and unlike our Amarr bretheren do not cling to tradition and dogma as a shield against reason. The Tribes, in their search for weapons, have many ships dedicated to missiles and rocketry... a trait which the Khanid can certainly sympathise with!

Khanid designed vessels are all missile based, with technology borrowed from our Caldari allies. In true kataphract fashion, our vessels exemplify thick armour and the tactical flexibility such a weapon system offers. The Republic, in one of it's rare bouts of wisdom, produced a frigate similar to this, albeit shield based instead of amour... clearly the Republic has yet to find funds to reproduce the advanced alloys coming out of Khanid Innovations.

So without any further exposition, presenting the Breacher.

Do not be fooled by its... spartan appearance. This is a tough vessel, and an extraordinary ambush predator. 

Relatively light on it's feet (for a full combat vessel) it provides extremely strong shield defenses. Whilst not as tough as Caldari shields, it can repair it's shield strength very rapidly.  

It fields two light drones, which make up roughly a third of it's firepower. I like drones. They provide firepower at any practical range, and whilst they need to be looked after, they can be relied upon to hound the target.

Missile systems have a travel time before firepower is applied, but unlike turrets, do not need to track or account for falloff. In fact, rockets, whilst giving a lower damage than other weapons, can better a pulse laser in range, and that's before rigging!

These elements all combine to make it an almost perfect training brawler.

[Breacher, Kontarion]

Damage Control II

Overdrive Injector System II

Ballistic Control System II

Medium Ancillary Shield Booster, Navy Cap Booster 50

Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I

Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I

1MN Afterburner II

Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Inferno Rocket

Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Inferno Rocket

Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Inferno Rocket

Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I

Small Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I

Small Bay Loading Accelerator I

Hobgoblin II x2

This set up is fairly mundane, but the simplicity is balanced with effectiveness. With my skills, rockets hit out to about 7.6km, which lends itself to some brawling tactics:

• For pulse laser ships, keep as close as you can. The tracking on lasers is relatively weak, so you will mitigate damage this way.
• For blaster and autocannon fit ships, maintain a 6-7km orbit. With the fall off from those weapon systems, you'll be out of the bulk of their firepower. 

Keep an eye on your drones, but they're fairly autonomous. If the enemy starts shooting at them, bring them back in, then release after the enemy has forgotten about them.

Repair your shield as needed. Unlike most active tanks, the Ancilliary shield booster is quite immune to energy neutralizers. In addition, your rockets don't use capacitor either... so long as you're in range you can deal damage to your target.

This can be seen in this Tristan fight. My capacitor was drained completely, but the drones and rockets punched their way through regardless. A bright ray of sunshine, on an otherwise terrible month.

Arzad, and the character of the Crusade

Sleep has been elusive of late.

When I first started in the Crusade, it was when the Amarr forces had been pushed to their breaking point. Only a few strongholds held out.

My own contribution to the inevitable turning tide was negligible. But turn, the tide did.

Crusdaers had a sudden surge in skill, passion and above all, luck. They pushed the Republic capsuleers back, taking several systems.

One such system was Arzad.

The taking of Arzad was... special.

Jamyl Sarum, the Emperor of Amarr ordered the system to be bathed in slave blood. Not warior's blood. Not Matari. But slave.

A freighter was brought to the Infrastructure hub by capsuleers. It was full of slaves. The Crusdaers fired upon the defenseless freighter. Their lasers stripped it's hull quickly, and it detonated, killing many of the slaves inside.

They were the lucky ones.

The wreck floated in space, slaves still surviving inside. Slowly, their pressurised cargo containers lost integrity, and they suffered an agonizingly slow death, as their oxygen was depleted.

After an hour or two of taunting the Republic, daring them to rescue their bretheren, the Crusaders opened fire again, vaporizing the wreck, condemning the slaves inside to the harsh vacuum of space.

I very nearly left the Crusade that day, King's orders be damned.

I stayed believing in Khanid II. I stayed trusting his leadership would never set the Khanid Kingdom on such a bloody thirsty and psychotic path. We Khanid may be harsh taskmasters, but slaves are still a valuable resource for us. We are never so wasteful.

So I stayed, turning a blind eye to the psychotic nature of the Imperial Navy, and the Crusade.

There are many fine pilots here. Many who are helpful, and many who act like decent human beings. But even these could not stop Arzad. And so now, they are tarnished by the actions of others they could not stop.

And that includes me.

Breaking news: Amarr Admiral killed by Capsuleers

As far as I can tell, an Empire led assault on pirate systems in both Curse and Syndicate ended in an utter massacre at the hands of capsuleer run corporations who dwell outside of CONCORD's jurisdiction.

High ranking Empire officers were killed, including Admiral of the Imperial Navy's Third Fleet, Ran Karetta.

As the ship loss record clearly shows, the Admiral was ambushed and murdered by an ad hoc coalition of capsuleer alliances. Their guilt is quite obvious to any who care to look.

I'm sure the Emperor is in fierce debates now, coming up with a response to this grievous crime. 

King Khanid has also informed me that he is looking with suspicion at those capsuleer corporations bordering the Khanid Region. Such a communication from my King can only mean that he is considering a change in my orders. We shall see.

For now, let us wish the good admiral a pleasant afterlife. Incompetent as he was in commanding a fleet, he has paid the price for his shortcomings, in a most final manner. Here is a short quote from scripture, that was said to be the admiral's favourite:

"Face the enemy as a solid wall
For faith is your armor
And through it, the enemy will find no breach
Wrap your arms around the enemy
For faith is your fire
And with it, burn away his evil"
- The Scriptures, Amarr Askura 10:3

Clearly, dear admiral, lasers are better at burning, and sound tactics better defense, than faith.

Strategikon Arcani: The Kataphract Slicer

My return to the battlefield also brings with it a new direction. I must start learning new flight techniques. The Kontos Executioner has served me well as a training vessel, teaching me the importance of range control and damage application. Now, we will look at how to effectively wield a kontoss, without the aid of a Webifier.

But first, a history lesson.

Early Khanid settlements were on Arthra, now caled Amarr Prime. The Amarr civilization grew on an island of the coast of Khanid lands, the isolation no doubt leading to their zealous obsession with God. The Khanid themselves lived on the mainland, tribes of horse masters engaging in petty squabbles with each other.

When the Amarr left their cloistered island in the Reclaiming, the Khanid were the first to be absorbed into their growing empire. We became famed mounted warriors, adopting a heavily armoured style. Our warriors and mounts were covered in gleaming chain mail. Such was our prowess, that the Amarr, whilst all other civilizations crumbled before them, recognized the Khanid as equals.

This heavy cavalry warrior is known as the kataphract: quite literally meaning 'fully enclosed.'

Heavily armed and armoured, these were flexible assault troops, often required to field both lance and bow, well defended, but used offensively.

To mirror this, we will need a true master of frigates.

The Imperial Navy Slicer.

Advanced laser technologies increase the range of this vessels weaponry, extending our reach beyond that of the Kontos Executioner. Significant increases in power output to weapon hard points give this ships two turrets more punch. It can be flexibly fitted, giving more armour, more speed, or even more range. For those in the Crusade, this ship is easily obtained.

Today, we will look at a balanced ship, one that lives up to the potential of the thinking warrior.

The Kataphract Slicer

[Imperial Navy Slicer, Kataphract]
Fourier Transform Tracking Program
Heat Sink II
Overdrive Injector System II
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer, Nanite Repair Paste
Damage Control II

Faint Warp Disruptor I
Limited 1MN Microwarpdrive I

Small Focused Pulse Laser II, Scorch S
Small Focused Pulse Laser II, Scorch S
[empty high slot]

Small Capacitor Control Circuit I
Small Energy Locus Coordinator I
Small Energy Locus Coordinator I

The rig slots are my personal preference, but at least one Locus Coordinator is a must. My own ship exchanges the Fourier Transfrom Tracking Program for a Tracking Enhancer 2, but this requires some implants.

This vessel is a true Kataphract; able to wield it's 'short' range weapons to beyond 20km, with the speed and agility that was once associated with cavalry. Not only that, but it fields the armour lacking on the Kontoss Executioner, able to withstand more punishment, and patrol for longer before re-docking, truly a ship 'fully covered'. It also carries several plates of black armour... hardly the true Khanid Black, but better than nothing.

I cannot claim full credit for this fitting, as I started with a basic layout given by a very dark shadow indeed: Rixx Javix. His fitting for the Slicer formed the basis for the Kataphract.

Like his ship, this is a flexible vessel. Our running order is still to kite, to give us a chance of tactical withdrawal. However, our much improved defenses allow us to engage in close quarter fighting as well. Since we can only control range with our speed and piloting, this option proves extremely useful.

Fighting drill:

• Overheat weapons
• Orbit at 18-20km
• Fire
• Manage heat
• Repair as needed (turn auto-repeat off)
• If the enemy closes and lands a scram on you, switch to Multi-frequency crystals, and hope God is smiling on you that day.

This ship is fairly expensive. If you are still unsure of your skill, stick to the Kontos Executioner.

As the infamous pirate Javix says, be daring. This ship will be enable you to engage a wide variety of targets. However, my own advice is this: be smart. This ship is flexible, but flexibility comes at the price of excellence in any one field. Brave men die in glorious fashion. Smart men go home to their wives.

Promotion

I had a pleasant surprise once I reached my staging station. I've been promoted to Arch Lieutenant.

This involved a typically long winded Amarrian ceremony, with more hymns and praising God than is bearable for any involved, at the end of which the rank insignia was, with great pomp and grandiosity, clipped to my uniform.

An Amarr insignia. On my Khanid uniform. The King will not doubt smile at that.

Once I managed to escape from the various priests and other recently commissioned Junior officers, I retreated back to my quarters.

The insignia itself is quite an ornate little thing, and has an inscription on the back:

"The word of the Lord is pure,It is a shield for the faithful,Brought unto men by the Angels,As a guiding light in the darkness""- The Scriptures, Prophet Anoyia 8:15

There is definitely a similarity to my families oath. The Arcani believe in bringing the light of understanding and knowledge to dark places.

Knowlegde certainly can be a shield to those who believe in it, but I rather believe in knowledge given to me by men, rather than that of Angels. No disrespect meant to Angels, but from what I've read of the Holy Texts, at least half of them do not have humanities best interests at heart.

The capitalization on Angels is also rather curious. The obvious link is to the Angel Cartel, an organization waist deep in rumors of Jovian secrets. But that gets into the realm of fantasy and deep conspiracy. Still, it might bear looking into. I can't really find when the Prophet's scriptures were written.

The rest of Prophet Anoyia's scriptures start off in simple church propaganda, talking about the the great Emperor leading the people in God's stead. They finish on a more general note of good behavior, referring to the Amar as the 'Chosen', and a call of obedience.

Either way, I appreciate the guiding light of knowledge being part of the Amarr war philosophy, if not entirely part of their practice.

That Angel line does have me curious though.

Strategikon: Anoikis

Early Khanid culture shares a surprising amount with Early Gallentean. Whether this denotes a common ancestry or not is beyond my feeble scholastic skill, but there are clearly parallels to be drawn. The way the Gallente name their ships is taken straight from this shared cultural background, despite their extremely different naming conventions for systems.

The Khanid are an odd, mongrel race, claiming deep historic ties to Amarrians, shared language with the Gallente, and even an Pre-Stellar age nomadic lifestyle similar to that of the Minmatar. Throw in the Kingdom's more modern acceptance of Caldari technology and business practices, and you have a race robust enough to be at home in all environs.

Which is perhaps what has interested my King in Anoikis, or Unknown Space.

Despite the antique look of the word, Anoikis is actually a modern fusion of some ancient Khanid or Gallentean phrases, and is translated as 'to be without a home'. Very fitting for those systems only accessible by a wormhole.

As a simple aside, anoikos is a recorded word of antiquity, meaning 'homeless wanderer'. Given the conspiratorially nature of Anoikis lore, loose connections such as this should be noted.

The very word Anoikis hints that these places are actually some kind of place of exile, and there are at least a dozen conspiracy theories to explain this. It's also a medical term for a stage in the development in cancerous cells, with a dozen theories for that too. Then again, there are theories of all kinds surrounding wormholes, and don't really give us any guide lines for success.

Here is what you need to know:

• Do not speak in local
• You MUST bring a probe launcher
• Stealth is helpful.
• D-scan all the time.

The capsuleers that have moved into Anoikis are a paranoid and highly disciplined bunch. They live far removed from the comforts of Empire run stations, living out of POS stations and often leaving ships hanging in space with only a shield to protect them. The above is taken from listening to them.

Local broadcast only shows ships that start communicating. You have a certain degree of anonymity by not taking in Local. I intend to break this rule eventually, but I wouldn't recommend it for those who want to survive.

There is no way to locate a wormhole without a probe launcher. If you jump into Anoikis, and forget to bookmark your exit wormhole, and you don't have a probe launcher, you will need to destroy your clon to make it back home.

Stealth will reduce the chances of ships scanning you down. It's not a perfect defense, so make sure to use your mobility defense. Keep moving.

D-Scan all the time. You can see probes searching for you, and either run or cloak up. I suggested retrograde maneuvers.

I'm looking forward to my first solo steps into a wormhole. I'm also enjoying reading the mysteries that surround the history of these phenomena. But first, I'm going to need some scanning practice.

Trade Log: Starting off in Regional Trading

...amn pie.. of Min..tar junk! Why does anything made in Rens break the second you leave system?! Wait, is it on now?

Oh. Well... good.

My name is Benh Thanh. I am Vehrokior. I am a slave.

Lets clear away the obvious question. Do I like being a slave? To be honest, I never really think about it. What would I do with freedom? Probably the same thing as now, but I'd worry more about a steady pay check. As a slave, my family is taken care of by the Arcani, and as long as we work, we won't starve.

The Arcanis are good people, as most Holder families go. They treat us fairly, and show us trust. They don't have to. The Khanid aren't exactly known for the good treatment of slaves. If you want to know more, ask my Master. he loves to ramble on about crap like that..

Anyway, he asked me to talk about Region Trading. I guess he wants to give away all my secrets, but slave does as slave is told.

Region trading is this:

• Buy stuff in one hub
• Move it to another
• Sell
• Repeat

Got it? Good. That's all. I've got some business to get back- What? Oh. The whole story? Do you want us to lose all our profits?! 

<static>

Ahem. My master informs me, that this is not clear enough. I apologize for my rude outburst.

Anyway.

The above is entirely true. Region trading is simply the process of moving some cheap things in one trade hub to another one where the locals will pay more for it. 

There's all sorts of complicated reasons why there is a price difference. Certain things are in more demand in some places, some things are only produced in other places. Throw hauling time for that with a bunch of other factors, and you have a five hundred page essay, which will amount to a lot of time wasted when you could have been trading for profit.

That said, there are some things you can do to make trading an easy source of income. It takes a bit of effort to set up, but after the intial set up, you can do just a little bit every day to keep a steady profit.

Obviously the more active you are, the more you'll make.

Over the next few weeks I'll be describing each of the above stages in more detail. There are other more trade centered blogs out there, but I want to give you a lazy man's guide to 'enough riches', rather than boast of my riches.

After all... it's not my money. I just spend it.

Royal Decree

Khanid II, King of the Khanids, decreed that his kingdom and the Amarr Empire will reconcile their differences.

Why there are differences is a history lesson for later, but part of the negotiations is military aid in the ongoing 24th Crusade. In return, Khanid Kingdom has a seat on the Emperor's Privy Council, whilst keeping it's independence.

Military aid is where I come in.

We Khanid are excellent fighters, with a long martial tradition. Discipline, and cunning are the ideals we strive for. We adhere to past doctrines, but welcome new innovations. We never discount a path to victory.

In ancient times, our ancestors rode into battle on steeds, covered in armour, wielding a variety of weapons. I honour this tradition.

I am Behnid Arcani, son of the Arcani Holder family. We are relatively small family compared to the larger Holders, but we lay claim to a wealthy chain of islands on Khanid Prime.

I now fight for the Imperial Crusade.