Backstage - OOC Forums
EVE-Online RP Discussion and Resources => CCP Public Library => Topic started by: Seriphyn on 02 Apr 2011, 11:04
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LINK (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eve-Templar-One-Tony-Gonzales/dp/0575090200/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1301761652&sr=1-1)
The technology to download the consciousnesses of pilots into multiple clones, the Capsuleers, has finally delivered the dream of immortal soldiers. Train a soldier just once and then however many times he dies he will keep on getting more experienced, more battle toughened, as his brain is downloaded into a ready supply of cloned bodies. But no-one anticpated the effects of the multiple traumas, the multiple stresses of multiple lives and deaths on the battle field. War is hell. And now it can last forever for everyone. A fast-moving action-packed novel of interstellar war and high-tech combat, backed by massive cross promotion.
Can anyone tell me WTF "massive cross promotion" means? Anyway...
So, apparently the Amarr acquire the DUST soldier first, likely through the extensive knowledge of cybernetics or they may have acquired it from the Jove (I think most thought it would have been Gallente/Caldari at first, by virtue of how much they pile into high-tech arms research). Anyway, once the Amarr discover it, knowing how TonyG portrays the Federation, the Gallente government end up panicking slightly, and worried that their good little friends/pets/allies the Minmatar would be seriously under threat by this, as well as themselves, because Amarr religion is evil and so on. So Gallente acquire it next, probably, and hand the technology over to the Minmatar (or maybe the Minmatar get it singlehandedly because of the Elders). Then maybe the Caldari get the technology by purchasing it from the Amarr, or Tibus Heth starts to froth at the mouth and starts flailing around until he gets it somehow.
I dunno, that's my own hypothesis of how the story goes.
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Wild speculation? Bleh.
But yes, Gonzales already noted during the Live Dev Blog that the Amarr get this tech first.
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Damn that is a really cool cover.
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Eve is on its way to turning into the Commonwealth Saga....which was an awesome series so I have no problem with this happening.
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But no-one anticpated the effects of the multiple traumas, the multiple stresses of multiple lives and deaths on the battle field. War is hell. And now it can last forever for everyone.
Assuming this is a more or less accurate description of the actual content, it gives me a bit of hope. I like the little people stories. (I suppose the fact that I've been to war myself might play a slight causal role as well.)
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Come on Tony!
Prove us all wrong!
Please!!! ;)
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Come on Tony!
Prove us all wrong!
Please!!! ;)
I'd be sorta epic if everything Tony did up to this point was an epic troll and his next book is some sort of masterpiece....probably not though.
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Not necessarily a troll -- but I certainly do hope he's learned from the criticisms and suggestions following TEA.
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Not necessarily a troll -- but I certainly do hope he's learned from the criticisms and suggestions following TEA.
Also, if this:
But no-one anticpated the effects of the multiple traumas, the multiple stresses of multiple lives and deaths on the battle field. War is hell. And now it can last forever for everyone.
is a more-or-less accurate representation of the thematic content, I have some degree of hope. I like little people stories. And the horrible things technology does to people. And I suppose my background may induce some morbid curiosity in how TonyG portrays people dealing with warfare. IN SPAAAAAAAACE. IN THE FUUUUUTURE.
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A little booklet with a brief excerpt came with the fanfest gear this year. Someone can probably provide a scan.
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EDIT: Man, now I feel like Silver. Can't post without violating the Guidel^H^H^H^H^H^HRules :P
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Anyone know the release date on this?
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The link attached to the very first word in the OP says "29 Sep", so that's as good of a guess as any, I suppose. Gonzales finished the first draft a few weeks ago.
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Can anyone tell me WTF "massive cross promotion" means? Anyway...
So, apparently the Amarr acquire the DUST soldier first, likely through the extensive knowledge of cybernetics or they may have acquired it from the Jove (I think most thought it would have been Gallente/Caldari at first, by virtue of how much they pile into high-tech arms research). Anyway, once the Amarr discover it, knowing how TonyG portrays the Federation, the Gallente government end up panicking slightly, and worried that their good little friends/pets/allies the Minmatar would be seriously under threat by this, as well as themselves, because Amarr religion is evil and so on. So Gallente acquire it next, probably, and hand the technology over to the Minmatar (or maybe the Minmatar get it singlehandedly because of the Elders). Then maybe the Caldari get the technology by purchasing it from the Amarr, or Tibus Heth starts to froth at the mouth and starts flailing around until he gets it somehow.
I dunno, that's my own hypothesis of how the story goes.
I like this executive summary, which fits with my observation that Amarrians have historically been the best at everything, and remain so it seems. Do not forget that they're divinely inspired!
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I think I may write a review tonight. :P
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I think I may write a review tonight. :P
How do you write a review for a book that hasn't come out yet? :)
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LINK (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eve-Templar-One-Tony-Gonzales/dp/0575090200/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1301761652&sr=1-1)
The technology to download the consciousnesses of pilots into multiple clones, the Capsuleers, has finally delivered the dream of immortal soldiers. Train a soldier just once and then however many times he dies he will keep on getting more experienced, more battle toughened, as his brain is downloaded into a ready supply of cloned bodies. But no-one anticpated the effects of the multiple traumas, the multiple stresses of multiple lives and deaths on the battle field. War is hell. And now it can last forever for everyone. A fast-moving action-packed novel of interstellar war and high-tech combat, backed by massive cross promotion.
Can anyone tell me WTF "massive cross promotion" means? Anyway...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-promotion
so basically. Eve is cross promoting into dust, on a massive scale.
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I think I may write a review tonight. :P
How do you write a review for a book that hasn't come out yet? :)
If you get a copy of the ARC. Chowda, you work in publishing? :)
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You can listen to Tony reading a part from the book here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJfiQ43Adsg
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11 minutes into that video. Firstly, good stuff exploring Jacus Roden's background. Less random, confusing shoe-in that we know nothing of. However...
Set 70 years ago...Serpentis formed 30 years ago...bah
Impressed with TonyG's humility however. Also, drugs being apart of Intaki culture for thousands of years huh? Interesting.
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I wanna say :tonyg: with you there, but Pornstache Sarpati bought Serpentis 30 years ago. The corporation existed prior to that. Now, it's still pushing the limits of credibility, since the booster article says they first appeared "a century" ago and were banned a few decades later, and Serpentis wasn't founded until at least several years after that, but it's within the limits of credibility.
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Interesting coinkydink.
Just reading an Iain M. Banks Culture novel 'Surface Detail' and at least on three occasions I have come across all the concepts that EVE is currently working with, informorphs, repeatedly dying soldiers etc.
If I'd read his stuff earlier I would have probably left EVE ages ago.
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I noticed that myself :) Banks is a superb author.
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Interesting coinkydink.
Just reading an Iain M. Banks Culture novel 'Surface Detail' and at least on three occasions I have come across all the concepts that EVE is currently working with, informorphs, repeatedly dying soldiers etc.
If I'd read his stuff earlier I would have probably left EVE ages ago.
For a long time, PC Gamer's (UK) mini review of Eve on its recommended games page was "Live that Iain M Banks dream." It was actually that line (and another longer review in an issue that has a preview of Elite IV - yeah :/) that got my attention.
Still, I never really saw much common ground between the Culture stuff and Eve beyond a few general concepts that are fairly commonplace in science fiction settings anyway. Nonetheless, I still have an indy from 2004 called 'Grey Area' :P
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Never read the Culture stuff myself (starting to think I should), but infomorphs seems to be becoming a hot idea these days. I don't know where the idea started, but I know of two games (Eclipse Phase (rpg) and Infinity (miniture wargame)) that make use of the idea.
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Ive seen pretty strong informorph influences in Pandora Star (Hamilton) and Takeshi Kovacs (Morgan) more or less recently. Not sure how far it goes too. Something similar to Lain (anime) concepts too.
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A little booklet with a brief excerpt came with the fanfest gear this year. Someone can probably provide a scan.
from http://www.eveger.de/forum/archive/index.php/t-38144.html
[spoiler]HEIMATAR REGION-HED CONSTELLATION
AMAMAKE SYSTEM
PLANET II: PIKE'S LANDING
CORE FREEDOM COLONY
SOVEREIGNTY OF THE MINMATAR REPUBLIC
AT LONG LAST, the night mercifully surrendered to dawn. A grayish-white fog began to snake its way through the rocky terrain like blood seeping from an old wound. The surviving Minmatar "Valklear" soldiers defending Core Freedom removed their night-vision equipment to see the wickedness in its true light: columns of smoke rising from craters, shattered war machines, and mutilated corpses littering the barren landscape. The elite Valklears had stopped the Amarrian attackers within sight of their objective, but only barely.
Weary to the bone, the Valklears who could still stand began the "mercy and salvage" part of their mission: collecting weapons, unspent ammunition, incapacitated drones, reusable cybernetic limbs or organs from fallen soldiers, and any functional mechanical parts that remained. With no reliable support from the Republic Fleet, every last bit of scrap was precious for the colony, and anything salvageable would be given to the City engineers for reprocessing.
Given the dire lack of supplies, the "mercy" component of the mission was the unconditional execution and harvesting of any surviving enemy soldiers, including officers. They were worth more dead to the Minmatars than alive.
Surveying the battlefield from a gunship was General Vlad Kintreb, who at 160 years of age had been a soldier for more than a century. Though he had experienced far worse, he knew that for many of his soldiers, this had almost certainly been the longest night of their lives.
He ordered the pilot to set the craft down amidst the Carnage. Two MTAC's and a squad of commandos rushed ahead to secure the landing site, as several dazed Valklears looked an with blank, dazed expressions.
The General was going downrange, they muttered, to check upon his children in the field.
Vlad Kintreb still walked under his own power, although most of the bones in his legs were reconstructed with titanium. The usual mineral-scented air—breathable thanks to years of terraforming—reeked of explosives and ionized gas. He breathed the familiar stench deeply, ignoring the rush of past battles roaring through his memory.
Behind him, the bodyguards kept their distance, while the deep metallic thud and crunch of towering combat MTAC's flanked either side of him. The chicken-legged walkers, "Spearstrike" assault variants of Minmatar design, were now a salvaged Patchwork of gold and brown armor plates. Minmatar cannons hung beneath weapon pylons lined with Amarrian guidance systems. Vlad grunted at the sight of them. Like the rest of his garrison, there was a time when there magnificent vehicles were intact.
Pausing over a disemboweled corpse, he reached down to turn the remnants of its severed torso onto its back. The stub of a spine, charred black from an explosion that detached the pelvis, drew his attention. Unfazed by the gore that feil away from exit wounds behind the rib cage, he ran his fingers up the Bone, then inspected the skull and jaw.
Kameiras,' he growled, shaking his head.
For General Kintreb, the irony was sickening. Kintreb's knowledge of human anatomy was developed in classrooms and raw battlefield experience. He could teil just from looking at bones what race he was dealing with. His Valklears had defended the colony from the Amarr elite infantry known as "Kameiras", who were entirely of Minmatar origin. Genetically, Minmatar tribal ethnicities tended to be taller and more physically robust than Amarrians. But the Kameiras were bred from the best physical specimens of slaves in the Amarr Empire to become holy warriors. Eligible children were placed in a conditioning program so that by the age of 19, they were as strong and powerful as was humanly possible without the aid of cybernetic augmentation. The Kameiras were a significant investment for the Empire, and were the best infantrymen they had—arguably more reliable than even their own Paladins.
Vlad stood slowly, ignoring the tinge of pain in his lower back. Distant, muted explosions rumbled through the landscape, and more gunships roared overhead. Somewhere in the mountains beyond, Valklears were cleaning up the last pockets of stragglers who still had the strength to fight back.
General Kintreb brushed the grime off his gloves, glancing back towards the outer fortifications. From a kilometer away, a great complex dominated the entire horizon. Deep behind its walls were anti-ship defenses to which the colony population—and the division of elfte troops left protecting it—owed their lives. If not for them, they would have been vaporized by orbital bombardments ages ago.
The infrastructure at Core Freedom was immensely valuable. Covering nearly 500 square kilometers, a conglomerate of industrial outposts provided access to the massive resource deposits of Pike's Landing. Ore extractors, processors, and an alloy smelting plant provided the nucleus of what was once a thriving industrial hub for the entire system. Central to all this was the colony's most prized possession: its space elevator, the only one an the planet. Its six sky cables tethered to the orbiting industrial megacomplex above, could transport massive amounts of material offworld at a rate that dwarfed the Lift capacity of even the largest dropships.
The Amarrians coveted Core Freedom for its mineral wealth and developed surface infrastructure. But getting ships into position to direct pinpoint orbital strikes was impossible because of deadly anti-ship missile batteries. All ranged ordinance attacks were vulnerable to point defenses and shields. The only way to take the colony and its infrastructure intact was to land troops well beyond the perimeter and unleash a frontal assault, disabhng the planetary defenses and then letting the guns in space impose their will on the targets below.
Last night, Amarr launched a ferocious assault with their best troops leading the charge, and nearly succeeded in breaching the last line of ground defenses before the outer walls. Stretched too thin by the conflict raging closer to the home worlds, the Republic Fleet couldn't afford to divert resources to the frontier, and reinforcements would've been easily shot out of space by capsuleers loyal to the Empress. In fact, very little of the equipment available for General Kintreb's troops was original-issue gear. Most of them deployed with Amarrian weapons, all salvaged from prior battles.
Unless something drastic changed, the General knew that they couldn't hold the colony for muck longer. Pleading to the Republic Fleet for help—even to Sanmatar Maleatu Shakor himself—would do him no good, as there were countless other generals, on other Minmatar frontier worlds, all begging for the same.
Shadowed by men and machine, General Kintreb continued his walk, slowly making his way towards a fallen Valklear lying upright against the wall of a shallow crater. Peering over the ledge, he found another scene of defaced humanity: the corpses of two soldiers, one Valklear, the other Kameiras, sprawled opposite each other. The Valklear corpse—whose IDENT tag he recognized—was decapitated. The Kameiras was on his back, with a charred blast hole in place of where his heart should have been. A white-hot microblade was still clutched and active in his hand.
General Kintreb imagined the men holding this position were surprised by the crazed Kameiras, who—with no ammunition remaining—was determined to fight to the end. Neither Valklear could react fast enough, and as testament to the sheer will and physical strength of the Kameiras, he managed to execute one in a single blow before his partner could slay him. Several laaknyds, voracious scavenging insects accidentally introduced to the planet's ecosystem, had already begun partaking in the decaying corpses. One emerged from the ehest wound of the fallen Kameiras, its serrated pincers full of flesh. Before long, there would be many more of them.
Vlad knelt before an upright Valklear, in which the laaknyds showed na interest. He was still alive.
He gently removed the Valklear's mask and night Vision scope. Wide, unfocused eyes appeared.
Behind him, his bodyguards readied their aim an the soldier.
A rifle lay across his lap, which Vlad slowly lifted and set aside. An inspection followed: skort, irregular breaths. Rapid pulse. Same scarring an the armor, but na breaches.
This was neuro-trauma. PSYKLAD munitions were reportedly used ahead of the assault. Any soldier who was unprotected could hallucinate to the point of self-destructive insanity.
General Kintreb didn't care about the danger.
'State your name and rank,' he ordered.
His eyes blinked, but did nothing else. The upper torso of the dosest MTAC swiveled slowly; the turret beneath its cockpit rotated towards them.
Vlad placed a hand an his shoulder.
Let's just start with your name.'
Another blink; a tremor ran through the soldier's hands.
'I'm sorry about your squadmate,' Vlad continued. 'But you have to get to your feet.'
Laaknyds were approaching the corpses in groups now, segregating themselves into tasks. Same continued their gory excavation, passing fresh meat to couriers that scampered back towards the nest. The larger bulls took up sentry positions, forming a protective cordon around the carcasses. Several laaknyds were facing General Kintreb and his fallen soldier, their raised pincers warning them not to tamper with their meal.
'Stay with me,' Vlad said, gripping both shoulders. 'We've got to go, now—'
The movement was too sudden. The soldier lunged forward and clamped onto the General's neck, pulling him inwards. Vlad sensed that this was either panic or a delusional plea for help, but that na langer mattered as the MTAC—the only protective unit with a clear line of fire—unleashed a single cannon round with a disabled fuse.
Vlad felt warm blood splash across his face, and his grip suddenly gave. His pulse accelerated out of anger, not surprise. The round entered the man's shoulder, exited through his upper back, and burrowed into several meters of volcanic rock. The soldier's arm had been shorn clean off, scattering the insects as it came to rest near the protective cordon.
'Send medics to my position,' he ordered into his comm.
The body armor was doing its part to save the Valklear's life, releasing biofoam around the wound and injecting the man with adrenaline to keep him from slipping into shock. Vlad tore a medpack off the man's kit and removed more biofoam packets, stuffing them into the open wounds.
A beat-up air sied arrived within seconds. Two medics quickly jumped out, hoisting the unconscious soldier into its flatbed.
'Neura-trauma, possible PSYKLAD ordinance,' Vlad grumbled. 'Wipe his memory before he wakes up.'
The medic quickly saluted. 'Yes, sir,'
A moment later, they were gone.
General Kintreb didn't acknowledge the MTAC pilot who fired the shot, nor the bodyguards who eased off their weapons in relief. Instead, he glared at the laaknyds, several of which were taking test nibbles of the severed arm.
Help from the Republic wasn't coming. The blood coursing down his face was evidence of that. Their survival was not likely. lt was time to break some long-standing principles.
'Commander Bishop,' Vlad muttered.
The voice was loud and clear. 'Yes, sir?'
'Mordu's Legion,' Vlad said, wiping some blond off his cheeks. The sun was higher now, and the insects were working quickly to get back into their nest for shelter. 'Malte the call.'
Wilco.'
More gunshots sounded in the distance.
Someone once said that pride was the mask of one's faults, Vlad thought.
The insects were eating around the Valklear Special Forces patch.
Well, here's my ugly face for all to see.
[/spoiler]
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LINK (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eve-Templar-One-Tony-Gonzales/dp/0575090200/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1301761652&sr=1-1)
So, apparently the Amarr acquire the DUST soldier first...
Crap, what was the Amarr scripcture 5:14 bit that someone singled out as being possibly relevant? The reference is probably on Chatsubo and I'm slacking off work too much as it is.
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Crap, what was the Amarr scripcture 5:14 bit that someone singled out as being possibly relevant? The reference is probably on Chatsubo and I'm slacking off work too much as it is.
'Which test reveals more of the soul - the test that a man will take to prove his faith. or the test that finds the man who believed his faith already proven? If you know this answer, then you also know which of these challenges bear the greatest penalty for failure, The gates of paradise will open for you one time only; woe to the soul who dares to knock twice.'
-Book of Missions, 5:14, The Scriptures
Emphasis mine. Fits quite nicely with the DUST 514 chronicles.
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Note to self: Read the Dust chronicles.
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-Book of Missions, 5:14, The Scriptures
Duh, so that is what 514 refers to. I have been paying too little attention.
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The Third EVE Novel - EVE: Templar One
http://www.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&nbid=3357
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Just finished tonight. So, review and big spoilers follow.
Review:
Enjoyable book, then again I enjoyed Empyrean Age if not as much, so ymmv. Lots of interesting PF, and lots of stuff that people way more intelligent then I will be able to pick apart. Like Empyrean age there are a few things that stick out in the text, at least we don't have to deal with Caldarian bullshit any more but instead we are stuck with the Joves instead of the Jove.
Crew of the Retford is back from Empyrean Age as important characters in various ways, coincidence stretching credulity to bring them back together again to affect the fate of the Empires. Still was fun read.
Spoilers follow, interpreted by my limited understanding of them, some of the stuff was hard for me to understand on the first read through. These aren't in any particular order, just writing them as I remember.
[spoiler]
1. CONCORD inner circle believe the Jove to be gone completely now. The Jovian disease has wiped them all out or something.
2. The sleeepers are a break off of the Jove sometime after the Second Empire Started and the Jovian disease first was entered. They are still alive, and indeed just asleep.
3. The Enhunnadi(or whatevers) are apparently not the bad guys. Or they are. I'm not quite sure on that. When the Jove first came to New Eden they were on 7 motherships and the worst off of the New Eden colonists. They were all plugged into the motherships matrix style in something called the Construct, while the Enhunnadi were the ship crew ordered to protect and help reintegrate the Jove into real life when the journey was over. The Architects designed the virtual construct the Jove were plugged into. If you want more, read the book, because its way to complicated to try to explain.
4. The OTHER that is sharing bodies with Jamyl is a sleeper intelligence that is the only of it's kind to be created purely digital, without an actual body and or soul. All other sleepers were supposedly actually born and then plugged in.
5. The broker is probably dead, but people are still searching for him.
6. The Khanid specialize in memory manipulation to the point of where they can remove memories but leave the skills or things learned intact.
7. Roden Shipyards was helped with Serpentis funding, but eventually he broke free of it before it became larger then a regional corporation.
8. Mordu is insane to one degree or another.
9. Roden has both Roden Shipyards and Fed intelligence competing against each other to a degree. Roden Shipyards seems to be better.
10. Sleepers have a 5th lobe bioenginered into their brain that allows with implants to do the quick cloning.
11. The Amarr under Jamyl raided a sleeper complex found a bunch of asleep sleepers, raided them and lobotomized the implants.
12. The dust soldier prototypes called Templars were bio engineered to have the 5th lobe and had the sleeper implant installed.
13. This somehow trapped the original sleeper in the soldier torturing the sleeper(which is what the other wanted) all the while gave the other power over them in some way.
14. Jamyl never had telepathy in the magic sense, all in her and Falak's inner circle had a quantum entanglement device implanted against their knowledge, like the FTL comms, thus allowing her reading and broadcasting of certain thoughts.
15. CONCORD may have DUST style operatives before the Amarr did. Big question on this, they were termed THANATOS units and are used for black ops, or they may be something like the Broker.
16. Ishukone Watch, Mordu's Legion, and Roden are all working together to produce the first batch of Dust Soldiers that are retro engineered from sleeper tech, and do not use actual sleeper implants, which is something the Other did not want, as he can't control them. It is unknown whether future Amarr dust soldiers will be from that tech, or from sleeper implants directly.
17. The Minmatar elders apparently want to leave New Eden, and are apparently directing resources to the "Skymother" project instead of putting anything but the bare minimum to maintain the front against the Amarr.
18. While the capsuleer militia's do fight the majority of battles it seems that the Empire Navies do fight directly as well, and ground fighting between the Empires in low sec systems was common.
19. A major clash between the Empires just occurred in the Ammake system over Planet II, involving over 140 Amarr Empire ships(including a titan piloted by the Grand Admiral of the Amarr Navy) vs an unknown number of Minmatar ships(supported by a Hel), vs an unknown number of an alliance of convenience consisting of Gallente Federation(led by a Nyx piloted by an Admiral), Mordu's Legion(led by Mordu himself in a Wyvern) and Ishukone Watch(16 Wyverns, one being piloted by Mens Repolla). The end results and goals of this skirmish are being hushed hushed by Shakor and Roden. Heth apologized to the Amarr for Ishukone Watch firing on Amarr ships. Ishukone seems willing to go to civil war with Heth.
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Oh, and here are the links to the schematics in the book.
The ship stats give crew contingents for non capsuleer and capsuleer versions.
tor.com/evegate
tor.com/myrmidon
tor.com/drake
tor.com/sleeperimplant
tor.com/mk25
tor.com/wyvern
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Interesting.
-1-4 I'm not really to fussed about. The E word makes me twitch a little, but I'll reserve judgement till I've read the book.
From an in-world and for-the-sake of good literature everywhere, 5 can only be a good thing.
-Point 7 probably applies to all Gallente corporations to some degree, whether they know it or not. Certain people with vested interests are very good at making money off their competitors indirectly, even when they're thriving.
-8 and onwards seem like standard TonyG :awesome: plot points/devices. Again, will reserve further judgement until I've actually read the book.
Ninja Edit: Love the ship videos. Totally going to put that information into the wiki at some point. :D
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So me and CONCORD agree on something (http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/The_Jovian_Empires#Abstract), good.
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Without reading the book and working simply off recounted plot points by Vendrin above, and others? I am thoroughly unimpressed. :\
Yet more strictly-OOC knowledge that contributes to undermining the apparently validity of future IC efforts because it forces otherwise-innovative ideas to look derivative, yay. Stifling of constructing ideas about the storyline in an IC context that can produce world-building material to enrich "general" EVE RP, yay. Subsuming the point of Arek'jaalan by letting people know material that could have been the product of work on that project and magically creating a hundred characters with sudden, profound and mysteriously identical insights into topics; yay.
Some things are best revealed in-character, and some are much better being left to speculation and personal judgement. Revelation of intricate aspects of EVE's storyline through novels, cutting any non-godmoding character out of the matter entirely? Bleh.
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So, the Broker's dead?
Wonder if the guy working for Arek'Jaalan named Niques Saji Leutre has anything to do with that :F
(thx for spoilers, I freakin' LOVE spoilers!)
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I'm about 80 pages in....
Certainly better than E.A. so far but only by a hair.
What I keep wishing we were getting was more -grandness- to the whole thing. More DUNE and less of what we are getting.
And I haven't gotten all that far yet, but it seems odd the Amarr would pick a Caldari to be their expensive test subject for amazing new technology and to be a holy warrior? Don't they have millions of elite and dedicated True-Amarr soldiers to choose the best of the best form? Or capsuleers who already have passed the most stringent genetic and physical testing?
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Must not read spoilers :bash: :bash: :bash:
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And I haven't gotten all that far yet, but it seems odd the Amarr would pick a Caldari to be their expensive test subject for amazing new technology and to be a holy warrior? Don't they have millions of elite and dedicated True-Amarr soldiers to choose the best of the best form? Or capsuleers who already have passed the most stringent genetic and physical testing?
So, I found out about this last night, and it served as a bit of an "early warning" that once again logic was going to be thrown under the bus for plot purposes.
I mean, the Amarr have successfully been breeding the Kamerias for how long, the Khanid have a whole culture of cyber-modification, and there are plenty of suitable capsuleer candidates out there... but the test subject is a random Caldari dude in an Amarrian prison, who gets picked
[spoiler]because the Empress chose him out of the blue.[/spoiler]
Yeah.
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And I haven't gotten all that far yet, but it seems odd the Amarr would pick a Caldari to be their expensive test subject for amazing new technology and to be a holy warrior? Don't they have millions of elite and dedicated True-Amarr soldiers to choose the best of the best form? Or capsuleers who already have passed the most stringent genetic and physical testing?
So, I found out about this last night, and it served as a bit of an "early warning" that once again logic was going to be thrown under the bus for plot purposes.
I mean, the Amarr have successfully been breeding the Kamerias for how long, the Khanid have a whole culture of cyber-modification, and there are plenty of suitable capsuleer candidates out there... but the test subject is a random Caldari dude in an Amarrian prison, who gets picked
[spoiler]because the Empress chose him out of the blue.[/spoiler]
Yeah.
Well, we can't have the protagonist as a morally complicated individual.....He's got to be one of the good guys (non amarr) whose just been brainwashed to support the ebil empwess
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Well, we can't have the protagonist as a morally complicated individual.....He's got to be one of the good guys (non amarr) whose just been brainwashed to support the ebil empwess
I think that would be beyond the writing abilities of Tony.
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Well, let's not forget that, apparently, this is a book in which Jamyl could become an Amarrian Heir at 18, and Empress at 27, to go from the accounts of some people. Gerontocracy, what's that? Teenage Space Ninja Queen Empress is the new black.
Add in the fact that this is a society in which fifty-six is considered an eyebrow-raisingly young age for any authority for added laughs. For bonus points? That fifty-six year old man was Jamyl Sarum's nephew. (http://www.eveonline.com/news.asp?a=single&nid=2394&tid=4) A-mazing!
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EVE now has its own Jango Fett.
That was my reaction when I heard that [spoiler]random Caldari dude Vince was chosen to be the genetic template of a new breed of super-soldiers.[/spoiler] I'm hoping it's more nuanced than that, but feedback so far suggests otherwise.
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My issues tend to be more with tone and scope.
For example, early in the novel the Ishuukone CEO is on approach to a Caldari station piloting a Raven, with a phalanx of impressive Caldari firepower providing close escort. Sounds good to me, very fitting.
What we would suspect to be a grandiose entrance showcasing the importance of one of the most powerful people in New Eden, turns into a comedy routine. Mens is trying to pilot the Raven while having essentially a phone call argument with his wife at the same time, and almost crashes his Raven into one of the escorts. Oops! He even crosses the phone lines and talks to the escorts accidentally instead of his wife! Oops!
The other issue is that is actually does us a disservice to know the inner thoughts and actions of the most powerful people in New Eden. The more you reveal about powerful characters, the less impressive they become. It's the imagination of not knowing that adds to things, not knowing every little detail.
How much cooler was Boba Fett when he was an unnamed bounty hunter kicking ass? Your imagination fills in those gaps in amazing ways. How less interesting now is he that we saw him as a little kid and know all about it? How cool was it to hear Obi Wan talk about Vader and the 'dark times' and the 'clone wars' in Episode IV? How lame was it to see every little thing happen?
Better to keep the novel with subordinates and associates of the powers that be, not them directly.
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I liked the novel. It reminds me of an updated World of Null-A. :yar:
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Tony G wrote something disappointing?
(http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lx8g8bGkIK1qkrcvxo2_500.png)
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Well it appears now that the novel is finished he is being let go by CCP as part of the content cuts.
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So far was enjoying the story, filling in on bits we should know as characters. However...........MAJOR SPOILERS and MAJOR TonyG fucking everything up...(as if Jamyl being 27 wasn't enough)
[spoiler]Go down again[spoiler]Keep going[spoiler]More[spoiler]Almost there[spoiler]And...[spoiler]http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu328/Seriphyn/jamyleighteenyearsold.jpg[/spoiler]
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Called it on the "telepathy" thing.
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Called it on the "telepathy" thing.
Yep. :) Though Tony did kind of troll when he said it wasn't "They-who-must-not-be-named". Sort of. ;)
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So... Jamyl Sarum, religious figurehead of a theocratic empire, engages in drug-fuelled lesbian tickle parties.
Hot.
I always knew religious chicks were crazy in the sack.
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So far was enjoying the story, filling in on bits we should know as characters. However...........MAJOR SPOILERS and MAJOR TonyG fucking everything up...(as if Jamyl being 27 wasn't enough)
[spoiler]Go down again[spoiler]Keep going[spoiler]More[spoiler]Almost there[spoiler]And...[spoiler]http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu328/Seriphyn/jamyleighteenyearsold.jpg[/spoiler]
I don't think it's that bad considering that she never wanted the responsibility, that she wanted to rebel a bit. Plenty of religious kids do it all the time.
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Duuude...
Amarrian life is awesome. :O
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"Sure, they WANT you to think they're ultra-religious. But have you ever taken a peek under one of their robes? It's dildos! Dildos all the way down!"
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"Sure, they WANT you to think they're ultra-religious. But have you ever taken a peek under one of their robes? It's dildos! Dildos all the way down!"
all made in the federation, high quality synthetic flesh, with multifunction and remote controlled for ease of joy.
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You know in one sense, I almost feel angry for the Amarr bloc.
I mean I wasn't around for TEA, but I imagine once the whole "Godflesh" thing got ruined, it must have felt very demoralizing. Now, Jamyl appears to just be Tony's personal outlet for odd humiliation erotica.
I mean when CCP is allowed to work with the fiction, it seems so awesome. The Empire is a monolithic force that used to conquer planets every morning, have tea, and get back to conquering in the afternoon. They squared off with the Jovians, have this vast, magnificent empire, like Nero's dream, a combination of artwork and immense cityscapes.
And then when Tony G gets to play with the Amarrian action figures, he just poses them with their pants down and chuckles about it.
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Duuude...
Amarrian life is awesome. :O
No one's been paying attention to any of my RP, apparently.
You think Grae jumped into the Clergy for piety's sake?
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Duuude...
Amarrian life is awesome. :O
No one's been paying attention to any of my RP, apparently.
You think Grae jumped into the Clergy for piety's sake?
You didn't even look at my second, sympathetic post, did you. >:c
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Yes, and thanks for that, but I don't think it's all that bad.
Amarrian people in power are NOT pious religious folk!
A few are, sure. The rest are just enjoying the position given them by lucky birth.
I try not to get all huffy just because the Empress is no exception.
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I'm about a third through, and this just keeps getting worse.
Tony must really dislike the Imperials. It seems no one in authority can actually be religious. They all know it's a scam, it's just all those -other- suckers that believe in it. All trillion of them.
This whole Jamly thing is just complete garbage, everything about it.
Just read the flashback chapter with Sarum on his deathbed, and I was just going "WTF" the entire chapter.
So Mekhioth is dying of old age at 180? Khanid is what, about 600 years old right now?
He had his 'clones' destroyed? That's you know, a central tenant of the theocratic totalitarian state, that the royals can't be cloned?
*shakes head in disgust*
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:bash:
[spoiler]Ishukone just throw their lot in with the Federation. No need to pretend and tread a thin line between being loyal to the concept of a Caldari State and working with the Federation where it is beneficial. No concern for the millions of Ishukone personnel who live and work in the Empire.
It still does not explain how anyone other than Mordu's or Ishukone Watch get DUST, other than through the same CONCORD mechanics that spread around other technology.[/spoiler]
Thus far I see no real way for someone who does not have this book to interact with the story it tells. If it ever does provide a means to do so, the story will be shoehorned such that internal conflict is white washed to allow for there to be 2 sides (Horde vs Alliance).
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It is really hard to take the Amarrian religion serious when CCP do not.
And I am trying hard to shape Myyona as a Minmatar who understand the importance of the Amarrian religion without being a believer herself. But if it is a widespread phenomenon that Amarrian Holders gives a damn about their own religion with no empathy or motivation than their own self interests Myyona will have to consider them all hypocrites and any Amarrian capsuleer that tries to state different will get the smack down.
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I'm very much tempted to stick my head in the sand and ignore this book. Even if it backs Caellach's view of religion being a tool to control the masses, and has the Ishukone/Gallente turn that's been coming since before I started but was very much highlighted back in Blind Auction.
Problem is the first is proven in the most dumbest and unlikely of ways, the latter is proven in a terrible way because someone shot their load far too early and rushed what could and should have been a far more gradual development and stretched out storyarc.
Of course, I long for Muck Raker to use this book for some awesome "sensationalism" reports that no one will believe. The Empress taking part in drug fuelled lesbian orgies?
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Of course, I long for Muck Raker to use this book for some awesome "sensationalism" reports that no one will believe. The Empress taking part in drug fuelled lesbian orgies?
So much +1
In fact, it might well go a long way to make things better.
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[spoiler]19. A major clash between the Empires just occurred in the Ammake system over Planet II, involving over 140 Amarr Empire ships(including a titan piloted by the Grand Admiral of the Amarr Navy) vs an unknown number of Minmatar ships(supported by a Hel), vs an unknown number of an alliance of convenience consisting of Gallente Federation(led by a Nyx piloted by an Admiral), Mordu's Legion(led by Mordu himself in a Wyvern) and Ishukone Watch(16 Wyverns, one being piloted by Mens Repolla). The end results and goals of this skirmish are being hushed hushed by Shakor and Roden. Heth apologized to the Amarr for Ishukone Watch firing on Amarr ships. Ishukone seems willing to go to civil war with Heth.
[spoiler]I know I shouldn't read spoilers until I have that book myself (still waiting for the translation, I hope they don't change the title again like they did on TEA), but that one actually just seems logical to me. Ishukone Leadership did fight the Broker and his lapdog Heth in TEA, working with the Gallente back then, so it's only fitting that they will lead the "opposition" against him and his Providence Directorate. It wouldn't even surprise me if that former CEO of Kaalakiota (what's her name?) will leave exile to join forces with Ishukone on this as she hates Heth with a similar passion, although for different reasons.
I don't understand though why it will be Amarr vs. Matari vs. Gallente/Mordus/Ishukone? Why would Gallente fire onto Matari ships (please don't tell, I still want to read that book :P)?
And hooray for once again hedionistic Amarrians and their space-lesbian Empress \o/ (I already like this book :P)![/spoiler]
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a battle that size, in a famously busy system, and no evidence of it ingame.
vOv
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I-RED's RP is not totally off the wall..
>.>
<.<
\o/
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Yes, John. In the book, it says how Ishukone is the "Caldari public enemy" within the State, all because of Heth's dictatorship etc.
So everything that happened re: STPRO fits in with current IC politics.
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I-RED's RP is not totally off the wall..
>.>
<.<
\o/
John, that would be *yay* :P
edit:
About hat "cryllisium": Does the novel say anything else about it's properties besides being some kind of aphrodisiac, like possible side effects?
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Yes, John. In the book, it says how Ishukone is the "Caldari public enemy" within the State, all because of Heth's dictatorship etc.
So everything that happened re: STPRO fits in with current IC politics.
Maybe CCP really has been paying attention to the RP community. O_O
Spies...
Spies everywhere...
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Yes, John. In the book, it says how Ishukone is the "Caldari public enemy" within the State, all because of Heth's dictatorship etc.
So everything that happened re: STPRO fits in with current IC politics.
Maybe CCP really has been paying attention to the RP community. O_O
Spies...
Spies everywhere...
Well as someone said in OOC last night, clearly they were spying on the Summit when it was filled with drug popping cat girls and thought it was what we wanted, so we get Jamyl orgies.
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Anyone else see this yet?
http://failheap-challenge.com/showthread.php?5035-DEVBLOG-the-third-eve-novel-eve-templar-one&p=332339&viewfull=1#post332339
Shiny pictures. :D
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Anyone else see this yet?
http://failheap-challenge.com/showthread.php?5035-DEVBLOG-the-third-eve-novel-eve-templar-one&p=332339&viewfull=1#post332339
Shiny pictures. :D
The Wyvern made me smile. Megas workin' together. :P
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More like "mega's needling each other out of lucrative military contracts" amirite?
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The Wyvern made me smile. Megas workin' together. :P
The Wyvern made me facepalm. Less than 2000 officers/crew, including flight ops for the bombers/fighters, for a non-capsuleer loadout? (And barely more than half that for a capsuleer loadout?)
lolwut?
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The Wyvern made me smile. Megas workin' together. :P
The Wyvern made me facepalm. Less than 2000 officers/crew, including flight ops for the bombers/fighters, for a non-capsuleer loadout? (And barely more than half that for a capsuleer loadout?)
lolwut?
I was running under the impression is was 1153 Officer Plus Crew, which seemed a bit more um- to scale.
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English sucks. This is why I am a fan of using xor in conversation - I think we may be needing an xand as well, because it's definitely not clear what the point is in going "here's the number of officers, there's some number of crew as well but we're not gonna tell you how many of those there are."
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More like "mega's needling each other out of lucrative military contracts" amirite?
In a large Navy project with multiple complicated systems gives the opportunity for one of the megacorps to be an integrating contract. Instead of building everything (somethings they lack expertise in), it is cheaper for the integrating contractor to buy the parts from other companies.
Northrop-Grumman gets the contract (because they own the shipyard able to build the hull), Bechtel builds the reactors, the Radar is built by Raytheon, the launch system is built by General Atomics. The carrier's fighters are built by Boeing, Lockheed Martin or anther sub-division of Northrop-Grumman.
The same can be applied to the fighters in many cases.
Oh wait, we are talking about New Eden...
Still makes sense, especially if non-capsuleers attempt to source from relatively local sources to minimize the cost of logistics.
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Of course, I long for Muck Raker to use this book for some awesome "sensationalism" reports that no one will believe. The Empress taking part in drug fuelled lesbian orgies?
https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=55440&find=unread
Confirming Muck Raker reads Backstage.
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Of course, I long for Muck Raker to use this book for some awesome "sensationalism" reports that no one will believe. The Empress taking part in drug fuelled lesbian orgies?
https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=55440&find=unread
Confirming Muck Raker reads Backstage.
Huzzah!
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And all that was potentially good about this horrible horrible pointless throwaway plot angle has now been used.
I love whoever Muck Raker is, and owe them a drink one day.
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Yeah, i won't be reading this. I read the last few, and I've seen fan-fiction of higher caliber than what's produced thus far. No amount of PF is going to inspire me on this..
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[spoiler]a terran station was constructed "14,000 years before the closure of the EVE Gate"[/spoiler]
also, new scriptures, book of trials
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[spoiler]a terran station was constructed "14,000 years before the closure of the EVE Gate"[/spoiler]
Seriously. Can't one just read the bloody established PF, good grief.
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If the book has PF that nobody in the game can know about, does it add to the PF?
This is kind of like the tree falling in the woods kind of thing...
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If the book has PF that nobody in the game can know about, does it add to the PF?
This is kind of like the tree falling in the woods kind of thing...
I suppose we could treat both this and The Empyrean Age as works of fiction in an IC context.
Fiction that, for some reason, the NPC's it depicts haven't seen fit to object to. Maybe to preserved their dignity?
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I feel like Tony's mistake is writing an EVE book for people who don't play EVE.
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I feel like Tony's mistake is writing an EVE book for people who don't play EVE.
I think this is an important point.
Look at Dune or The Lord of The Rings. They just went with it, incredibly dense, and didn't stop to explain as they went along....and had extensive documentation at the end of the book if you weren't familiar or wanted to know more about x, y, and z, or so-and-so's family history, or how this particular object works.
Eve is absolutely rich enough for the same approach. Include an appendix, site it as you tell the story.
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If the book has PF that nobody in the game can know about, does it add to the PF?
This is kind of like the tree falling in the woods kind of thing...
I suppose we could treat both this and The Empyrean Age as works of fiction in an IC context.
Fiction that, for some reason, the NPC's it depicts haven't seen fit to object to. Maybe to preserved their dignity?
True. As long as the NPC's behaviour in game does not reflect the events in the book and anything else in game does not either I think we can overlook this information IC.
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If the book has PF that nobody in the game can know about, does it add to the PF?
This is kind of like the tree falling in the woods kind of thing...
I suppose we could treat both this and The Empyrean Age as works of fiction in an IC context.
Fiction that, for some reason, the NPC's it depicts haven't seen fit to object to. Maybe to preserved their dignity?
True. As long as the NPC's behaviour in game does not reflect the events in the book and anything else in game does not either I think we can overlook this information IC.
No. I don't mean overlook it IC. I mean behave as if it's some sen-sational release from a very trashy Fed holo production company. A bit like those fake romance novels that someone was posting cover pics for on the IGS a while back. You remember "Princess of Pator" and all that?
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...
No. I don't mean overlook it IC. I mean behave as if it's some sen-sational release from a very trashy Fed holo production company. A bit like those fake romance novels that someone was posting cover pics for on the IGS a while back. You remember "Princess of Pator" and all that?
Ah, good idea. :)
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I have ordered the book today. :cowbell:
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It sounds like this offering met most expectations then?
When you think of what could have been... :(
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It sounds like this offering met most expectations then?
When you think of what could have been... :(
Haha. Well, does one upset at a thief for taking our money, or should we thank them for also not knifing us during the theft?
:s
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/me shrugs
I don't know, maybe I'm just an idiot without any real literary taste, but I enjoyed the book. Sure it doesn't mesh completely with previous PF, but it was a good story imho, and how can we expect one guy to keep up with over 8 years of PF that's been written by at least a dozen if not more different people.
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A lot of us seem to manage.
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A lot of us seem to manage.
Tony is probably caught up in his own story. Considering the plots of his stories in EVE center around the same characters/situations...
I think it is probably best that he is not part of CCP right now. I enjoyed the novel, but the devblog announcing his exit kind of summed it up for me.
Bringing EVE to life through storytelling and world building has been one of my greatest joys. For the past six years, I’ve devoted myself to building this IP through the sheer power of her setting—hands down the most underutilized force in EVE. I walked the floors of conventions dreaming of the day when we might have a 30 foot tall poster of Tibus Heth or Empress Jamyl to compete with the larger-than-life icons of other IP’s like the Master Chief and Commander Sheppard..
This is my issue. This may be the underlying cause of the issues others are seeing. It's a disconnected viewpoint of what the writer thinks EVE should be as opposed to what it is and could be. Not only that, but it's attempting to put EVE into an entirely different field of play that it shouldn't even be compared to.
EVE is not DUST. DUST will never be Mass Effect or HALO.
/soapbox
Long and the short of it: It's hard to see the forest for the trees when you're pruning a banzai with blinders on.
Also: I loved the novel. It's a guilty pleasure. :cube:
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I have understanding for some of Tony's shortcomings. He is not the first EVE fiction writer who rather want to come up with his own sci-fi explanation for things instead of checking if a piece of PF has touched on that topic before. In fact, a lot of the stories published in the EVE Fiction forum suffer from this. I know because I read them and cringe when they do that.
But I expect it has something to do with the "creative process" that writers do and can sympathize with that. It has also come to my attention that Tony is not the only member within the CCP Storyline team who have difficulties grasping the full extend of EVE lore. I think the Factional Portal is as much a project for CCP to get a overview of their own lore as for players to do. Also, the lore has not been written yet and apparently the Storyline team is actually trying to avoid fleshing out too much, which is in someway an encouragement to fiction writers to think up their own stuff. Interestingly, this gives us players an opportunity to bid in with contributions to the PF and I think we will see a greater development of this happening in the future.
Still, I also feel Tony is more interested in mediating HIS EVE story instead of being part of a legacy.
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I've read sci-fi stories, not a lot, but enough.
None of the good ones have ever had to resort to cheesy sex scenes to make the setting or take the story further.
I think the way sexuality and the way different sexes are approached in Tonys writings is a 'tell' that the guy is not playing with a full deck.
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Book was great. That's about all I have to say about it before digging into spoilers. :P
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I like spoilers, can you PM me some spoilers?
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I like spoilers, can you PM me some spoilers?
This. Seriously. Ive no interest in reading this book. But wouldnt mind the PF relevant stuff. (headdesks after saying that)
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When it comes out on Kindle for non-US buyers (no, I don't want to change my nominal location just for this book, thanks) I intend to purchase it. I might not read it before the long-haul journey to Fanfest, when it could help kill some of the ~46-hours from door to door with only annoying transit stops in airports around the world.
If no one else has done a PF dump of it before I get to it, I'll do one. That could be in a couple of months, though, so there's plenty of opportunity for someone else to jump in.
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I like spoilers, can you PM me some spoilers?
This. Seriously. Ive no interest in reading this book. But wouldnt mind the PF relevant stuff. (headdesks after saying that)
Me too. :s
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I'll start up a spoilarz thread for the folks not interested in the book. :p