And So I Begin Again ^_^

Hey everyone! I’ve been doing some exploring around to start and it’s been interesting. I do feel like this is what I really wanted to do. Maybe I’ll get tired of it at some point and find something else I enjoy. But I don’t have a clue what that would be. But hey I figure I explore enough and I’ll find out what it is.

I figured this should be for other people’s benefit as well as my own. I have always dreamed of exploring through space and aside from a few visits to local planets and a really cool vacation in Gallente space this is all new to me. I decided though I should start in a familiar place as a grounding for me and as a way for anyone who’s interested to get a chance to see.

So I knew I needed to start where all journeys need to start, at home.

Matar

You gotta start at home on any journey so I came here. Planet Matar, fourth planet in the Pator system, the home of the Minmatar people and where I grew up. Warping in it only took me within 6000 kilometers of the planet. I tried to order my ship to warp in closer but got a warning light about atmospheric destruction. And I will admit these ships don’t look terribly aerodynamic.

What I did find initially was nice though. There’s a sculpture out here, setup in geosynchronous orbit with an eternal plasma flame powered by a small fusion source in the center. It’s reminiscent of a lot of Minmatar abstract sculpture and reminds me of a large monument near my home dedicated to the memory of those lost to the Amarr over the centuries then and now. A lot of such monuments are abstract work. I suppose it would be a downer having a brass sculpture of own of our brothers in shackles as a memory. I prefer the abstract work too because it shows something that isn’t immediately clear to us. The abstract forces us to think about what the meaning of the sculpture is and decide for ourselves and that really sums up the philosophy of our people. We cannot live in the past thinking of ourselves only as liberated slaves. We have to look forward, taking those moments and memories and forging them into something new.




A lot of monuments like this don’t have proper inscriptions for that same purpose even though we all understand their meaning. I couldn’t find any on this monument either but stuck by it and decided to have my picture next to it as a proper memory.

After I took in my fill of the monument I looked down at the planet myself. I saw soon that violently ripping that tutorial node out of my pod interface had caused more trouble than just frying my skill training system. The statistics my pod gave me for the planet didn’t make any sense. I mean, it was telling me the average surface temperature is 58 Kelvin, that’s over 200 degrees below the freezing point of water. And I’ve been to the southern islands where you sweat all over in the summer. The gravity it listed was all wrong to and despite my computer’s insistence that I could have reached escape velocity with a good running start (3.2 kilometers a second? Come on) I knew better. I guess I’m not going to be able to trust the physical data my computer gives me, at least for the time being. But I was never big on the technical details anyway.

Still it did bug me some that I couldn’t get a good look at home. The sensors and remote camera drones on this ship aren’t designed for telescopic viewing. The atmosphere made things kind of blurry. It tried again to insist to my computer to warp closer…at least to get within a thousand kilometers which would be well above the atmosphere and allow me to get into a stable orbit with no problems. But the computer just wouldn’t let me. I was honestly tempted to start ripping more components out until it would but figured that was a bad idea. So I got a little creative instead.

It turns out the computer would allow me to align towards the planet and fly manually. So I did just that. I knew it would take a while though and decided to have a nap while my ship went on auto pilot closer. There's lots more to talk about but I don't want to keep you too long. So more coming later on. ^^

Lots of Changes

I know it's been a while but I've been kind of unsure what to do.

I flew out of the station, admiring my brand new Reaper and my screen immediately filled up with demands to go to a tutorial sight. And I thought I'd done all the necessary training out of the pod. But I suppose the military will never be totally satisfied. Some of those old goats must think the Amarr are going to warp in to re enslave us all any second.


I headed over there and there was just all this and that they wanted me to go over, training some skill to do soemthing I didn't even know I wanted to do. I got so annoyed I just ripped the tutorial AI out of its chip socket. The pod didn't seem to respond all that well to doing that...but I appeared to be in one piece.

I didn't come out here to do even more training and rigid work. The ship didn't seem to give me anymore tutorial messages so I decided to stop worrying about it and go on my way.

I asked around back inside a station and found out 1: my ship shouldn't have lost any integrity from violently removing that particular chip component but my learning apparatus appears to be completely dead and I'll need it serviced at a station if I want to fly anything bigger than a frigate and 2: I should try some missions to get some money. I was quite happy about the first thing and curious about the second.

My curiosity turned into disappointment very quickly though. You know my cousin-who was completely against me getting inside a capsule-told me capsuleers were all soulless bastards with no morality and I think I know why now. The people who wanted to hire me were all so soul crushingly petty and shallow and sometimes they wanted me to go off and kill other shallow soulless people. Just how many rich heiresses are out there that someone else wants to see dead?

And really for the first time....right out of the gate I felt like maybe this was a mistake. Maybe I should never have gone into a capsule. I mean, I was happy on Matar. But every night...every night I'd look up at the stars. I could have joined the merchant corp or even joined the Republic Navy outright I suppose...but that wouldn't have been doing what I wanted to do. Only a capsuleer would go where they wanted. I didn't want to be doing endless patrols around a stargate scanning ships for contraband...I wanted to see the stars.

But here I was, and my options seemed so limited. Was this really the life I'd signed onto? Was I destined to choose either transporting soil between solar systems and being the tool of other people's vendettas?

No.

No I decided that wasn't my future. I refused to let myself remain trapped by the expectations and advice of the others around me. I wouldn't allow myself to remain trapped serving the wills of others. Not now. Not anymore.

I had Republic backing for clones, a fusion reactor that could last for the next fifty years and an entire galaxy to see. I wasn't going to look out at those stores while hauling other people's things. I was going to visit those stars.

If I was going to travel the galaxy I knew a Reaper wouldn't cut it. It's too slow and I was looking to travel in a least a little style. I knew I had to get a shuttle.

Unfortunatly it was outside of my price range. I'd been given a 5000 isk stipend but it seemed like shuttles could go for nearly three times that in some place. It really did scare me....what isk buys up here and what it buys planetside can be two different things. I know the rich can't see the differences but the cost of ammo some of the people I spoke to use in a single battle could feed a family of five for a year. I didn't like cheating but didn't want to have to wait either, so I took advantage of a loophole in the system.

I found out during training that whenever a Reaper is granted to a capsuleer it comes with a civilian miner and civilian projectile cannon free. It turned out, however there was a glitch in their automatic program and the Republic would outfit a Reaper with new civilian equipment every time the ship was assembled


I felt a little guilty, but had the tech crew repackage and assemble my Reaper about ten different times, hording those miners. Some people still saw a use for them so they had a tiny price on the open market. Selling those miners was what finally pushed me over the edge and gave me the money I needed.

So I set off in my brand new Minmatar shuttle and decided the universe was mine to explore. In fact I should keep a log of my exploration here. Perhaps some people who aren't as fortunate to be able to fly could enjoy it. And maybe the other capsuleers might enjoy it as well...a chance to come out of their tunnel vision, look away from their wallets and gaze out at the stars with me.

So, with 251.88 ISK in my wallet, I decided to set out and actually see what there was to find.

Starting Off

I just wanted to start by showing off the great ship the Republic Military School gave me. It's a bit drab, not much flare but has it's own appeal. I do like the solar panels arrayed here and there giving it a very nice form and function feel to it. It's a shame the ship is in such a boring looking place.

If it was just the ship it would have that nice sort of brutish look but it comes inside this station as well.

Why can't we have a little more pizazz. Everything looks so industrial. You'd think we never learned to have any fun with the kind of station design they put up. Oh well I suppose it's a compromise. I have a lot of exploring to do and can't wait.

And So I Begin

It's been only a few hours since they plugged me inside of this pod and it was really creepy at first but things are all in focus now.

I'm a little amazed, but excited at what's waiting me outside. For now I just have to get used to this ship ^^ The Republic Military School gave me a Reaper once I graduated from their training course and it is really kind of cool with all the solar panels and odds and ends...though the poor thing looks like it could fall apart at any moment. Some experienced guys laughed and said that was true right before they plugged into some battleships and left.

I suppose getting this ship is nice, though certainly the only nice thing the Republic Military School did for me. The training was just so harsh and not at all what I was interested in. Still, being a loyal capsuleer for the Republic is how you get up here for someone like me.

They want me to do some other training now that I'm in my pod, hopefully that won't be too hard. I'm rather eager to get out of this station really. We Minmatar are great, but just can't make a beautiful space station to save our lives.

All I have to do is think over the interface, the undock proedures click through and suddenly I can feel the slight difference of hanging out in the void...I'm finally here!!