Torarjan Collective's Resistance Collapses

Earlier this week, I declared open season on Torarjan Collective, a highsec mining corporation that kicked out one of its own members for following the Code. Their CEO, Jake Salvator, brought us into conflict after repeatedly refusing to engage in diplomacy. In his parting words to me, he declared: "We will never give you those 'miner tears' your supporters beg you to supply." It was a promise he would struggle mightily to keep.

Jake announced his corp was ready for all-out war against the New Order. Yet he found himself perplexed. Like so many other resistance movements, he couldn't figure out a way to inflict damage against the New Order. Our bumpers are Invincible. Our gankers are designed to die, only to be reborn and strike again. How do you attack the New Order?

After giving the problem some thought, Jake's solution was to create a one-man alt corp called Tolero Guard, and to supply EVE with bucket loads of miner tears. He went to EVE-O and posted more tears, hoping to rally support around Tolero.

The website for the corp, a near carbon-copy of Torarjan's, inspired laughter throughout the galaxy. This new resistance movement made Anslo's "Proveldtariat" look competent by comparison. Anslo at least came up with a number of different strategies for avoiding bumps. Tolero's advice consisted of "orbit", "nestle between rocks", and "leave the system". Having made the herculean effort to provide highsec's miners with this advice, Tolero invited the miners to show their gratitude by donating money to the cause.

It was a public relations disaster. After EVE-O mockery ran for several pages, Jake Salvator was forced to report to the thread on his main, where he admitted creating the Tolero website but denied creating Tolero Guard. He claimed he was merely "asked to build them a website", but that "this movement was going long before I knew who James315 [sic] was". Needless to say, no one believed him. Barely a day into the conflict, Jake and his Torarjan Collective became the laughingstock of EVE. And the New Order hadn't done anything yet!

Meanwhile, Aria Stane, who received the CEO of the Year award for requiring her miners to uphold the Code, declared war against Torarjan Collective. Aria politely engaged in peace talks, but Jake showed his usual diplomatic grace, calling Aria "crazed" out of nowhere and ending the conversation.

I paid a visit to Lirsautton, Torarjan's HQ system, which is two jumps from Brapelille. A few members of Torarjan had already been killed by members of Aria Stane's alliance.

Torarjan Collective's members docked up in Lirsautton, afraid to face further attacks, so we chatted with them in local.

During my private convo with Jake prior to the conflict, he described Torarjan as "a corp full of mature, adult players". Naturally, the Torarjan crew proved it by smacktalking in local.

The conflict with the New Order had brought Torarjan to the brink of panic. Jake cancelled all mining operations and ordered the corp to dock up, to deny us kills. But Bruze Wayne boldly declared that the New Order was not having any effect on Torarjan--and that he was mining freely, without interruption.

...Or not.

Torarjan was actually huddled together in their HQ station, including Bruze himself. He hadn't noticed that I was also in that station, able to see his non-mining status. Another self-inflicted humiliation for Torarjan Collective.

Embarrassed and exhausted, Jake ordered everyone in Torarjan to cease talking in local. He was tired of being made to look like a fool. Jake instructed his miners that if they stopped providing tears and encouragement to the "trolls" of the New Order, their enemies would get bored and go find someone else to grief. An impressive war plan, but hypocritical: Jake himself had provided more tears than anyone else so far.

Toarjan Collective shut down its mining operations--the chief reason for the corp's existence--but was not able to impede New Order activity in the least. Professor Billions, the miner who had been persecuted and kicked out of Torarjan for following the Code, rolled a ganker alt named Meth Sores. His Catalyst assisted the Knights in taking down multiple Code-violating miners in the region.

As is plain for all to see, the tyranny and incompetence of Jake Salvator and his Torarjan Collective are unable to squelch the human spirit and its thirst for freedom.

The Education of Brim Wilf, Part 1

When I bump miners, I bump them with a purpose. When I gank miners, I gank them with a purpose. In contrast to the random killings of the past, our Knights follow a Code. We only kill those who deserve it. Ganking is not merely a military action or an act of terror; it is a political act. Therefore, I always send an EVEmail to every miner I kill, explaining exactly why they were killed and how they can avoid death in the future. It is a simple courtesy, but I consider it to be one of the most important things I do.

My kindness is not always repaid with kindness. Brim Wilf, an Osmon ice miner, sent me a nasty reply. He was upset about being killed, and apparently he was really upset that he couldn't warp away. It's called a Warp Scrambler, dude. It ain't no crime.

More than 20 minutes later, Brim was still steaming. He made his kill rights on Currin Trading available to some corp for 0 isk. At least it was offered at the fair market value; since Currin Trading is below -5.0, everyone in highsec has kill rights on him already.

Armored Core Inc. wasn't a random corp, it was Brim's employer. For once, the corp description was useful: The line about "unhonorable combat" told me all I needed to know.

Nearly half an hour after Brim sent me his angry EVEmail, I was still on his mind. He placed a 10 million isk bounty on my head--an amount that would have bought him 365 days of blissful mining under New Order protection.

As is proper, I announced to the good miners of Osmon that one of their own was executed for violating the Code. Some people say we don't give the miners enough warning. Those people obviously haven't watched local chat in any of our active systems. Ladorne Drakkare bristled, claiming ignorance. Really? You play EVE and you've never heard of the Code? MinerBumping is too popular a blog for people to make that claim now. All miners in highsec are deemed to be fully aware of the Code and its precepts.

As the New Order and its supporters celebrated each non-compliant miner's death--like the birth of a healthy child, really--Brim appeared. He was still fuming, and threatened to take a self-destructive dive into Red Pen Land.

Brim was at his wit's end. He had not realized his ship could be destroyed in this game.

That's right, carebears think shooting spaceships in a spaceship game should be petitionable. They think they should have a right under the EULA to be able to grind space money in peace. No pew-pew allowed.

Brim was such a downer in local. The mood in Osmon was getting to be a real drag, so I tried to cheer everyone up by educating them about the fate of another Code violator. Even this couldn't lift Brim's spirits. He was inconsolable.

Having hit rock bottom, he confessed his crimes. Brim had ignored local, which led directly to his destruction.

I accentuated the positive. The rulers of highsec are not elitist: We want everyone to join the New Order family. In fact, we require it.

Now we get right down to the core of things. Brim fully bought into the classic carebear paradox. To them, a "sandbox" game is one where carebears can do whatever they want, but no one else can do what they want to the carebears. Their vision of a "sandbox", stripped of all disguise, is a single-player MMO, a paradox of a game that no sane person would want to play.

Brim is not alone. He, like so many others, sleepwalks his way through EVE without even realizing he's wrong. But the New Order is here, and we mean to bring change. Waking people up is our business. Could we talk sense into Brim Wilf, before it was too late?

To be continued...

Brapelille Concord Disposal

The Knights of the Order are a fairly unique organization in EVE. After the barge buff, the suicide ganking of miners in highsec nearly disappeared. Today, there are few other groups who engage in the noble art. And our Knights have been able to do what they do, only because we have an in-depth knowledge of the relevant game mechanics. The entire operation was designed and built from the ground up with these mechanics in mind. The Knights are an example of perfect adaptation.

The carebears of highsec didn't know what hit them.

I previously wrote a lengthy explanation of how to move Concord around a system, away from the non-compliant miners they might otherwise protect. Today I'll offer an example, taken straight from Brapelille, our new HQ.

In Osmon, where there are three ice fields, we grew lazy about disposing of Concord. That can't be the case in Brapelille, where there's just the one huge ice-mining belt. Fortunately, it's easy to dispose of Concord after we've done a gank in the ice field. Brapelille, in particular, is well-suited to Concord disposal.

Pictured above, a partial list of the celestial objects of Brapelille, sorted by distance with the nearest objects on top. Sitting at the Customs Office at Planet X, the ice field is the nearest location. If you need to move Concord but don't have aggression yet, get rookie ships and shoot at the Planet X Customs Office. You can shoot at a lot of things to draw Concord, but the way I see it, if you have to shoot something, shoot something you can't undock from.

Shooting the Customs Office will draw Concord directly from the ice field. Remember, it's always the nearest Concord in system who will be drawn. If you have aggression, you can draw Concord by undocking from a station. Let's check out the stations at Planet X.

There are two stations orbiting Planet X, and I'm at one of them. Note that the nearest body to the station is the ice field. That means if you undock with aggression, you'll pull Concord from the ice field, even if you've just drawn some Concord to the Customs Office.

And here's the other station at Planet X. Once again, the ice field is the closest thing to it! So even if you've shot the Customs Office and undocked at the other Planet X station, undocking with aggression here will draw yet more Concord from the ice field.

Therefore, there's no reason to despair if there are a ton of Concord sitting in the ice field. A small group of gankers can draw a much larger number of Concord out of the ice field, thanks to the relative positions of the stations and the Customs Office. Indeed, even one volunteer can move multiple Concord away from the ice field, helping his gang out in their time of need. If there are three Concord in the ice field and no one has aggression, the volunteer can quickly shoot the Customs Office and undock from the two stations, and then let his gang do their gank.

This is also handy if you've just hit the ice field but someone in your gang logged off before assisting in drawing away Concord. Simply have your group undock in both of the Planet X stations, one after the other. Two undocks, double the Concord.

Note that undocking with aggression does not reset your timer, so no additional time is wasted. If you're really hurting with a large number of Concord in the ice field, you can rapidly do an advanced technique: Shoot at the Customs Office and undock from both Planet X stations (or skip the shooting of the Customs Office, if you already have aggression). Undock from a more distant station (i.e. one that isn't at Planet X). This will draw Concord away from one of the Planet X stations. Now undock from the newly-cleared station again and pull even more Concord from the ice field!

Conveniently, our HQ is Station IV-2 Federal Freight Storage. It's not one of the stations near the ice field. This is because of the rookie ship spawning mechanics. A rookie ship will spawn in any station where you dock in your Pod, if you don't already have a ship in the station. Your Catalysts will be in the HQ station, leaving the Planet X stations empty. This means you can continually undock from our Concord-pulling stations without having to purchase a rookie ship, shuttle, or whatever.

Know your rights! Never let Concord get in the way of a gank again.

The Brapelille Crusade

As Father of the New Order and Saviour of Highsec, I get quite a bit of EVEmail. Some good, some bad, some ugly. On a routine mail check, I came across the following letter from a miner named Professor Billions:

It was a heartwarming tale of a miner attempting to spread the Code to his brothers in the ore belts.

Suddenly, the story took a disturbing turn. Professor's CEO, Jake Salvator, interrogated him about his support of the Code. The corp had about 50 members, but Jake intended to expand it to 500. Apparently that would make mining permits too expensive, even though it's still the same rate of 10 million per miner.

Jake gave Professor a choice: Forsake his mining permit and clear his bio, or be kicked out of the corp. Like all true miners, Professor chose to stand for the Code. Jake expelled him from the corp.

I was alarmed by Professor's story. But I do not believe in taking action impulsively. Before doing anything, I wanted to find out the truth. And I wanted to find a peaceful solution to the problem. So I went directly to the source, and I sent an EVEmail to Jake Salvator asking for his side of the story:

Jake--

Hello! I am James 315, the Father of the New Order and Saviour of Highsec. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance, though I wish it were under better circumstances than these.

I received a disturbing report from one of your corporation's former members, Professor Billions. First, he informed me that he is a follower of the Code. So far, so good. But then his story took a nasty turn: He claims that as CEO, you kicked him out of the corporation for refusing your demand that he forsake the Code.

Obviously, these are serious charges--very serious charges. When miners fail to abide by the Code and pledge their loyalty to the New Order, that's grounds for corrective action. But when someone attempts to influence other miners to violate the Code--particularly when it's someone using their position of authority to do so--that takes the crime to a whole new level. Then, to add to the offense by using one's influence to punish a follower of the Code?

Well, you can certainly understand how this report caught my attention.

Given the severity of the situation, I decided it was necessary to follow up on this with you to confirm the accuracy of Professor Billions' report. Is it true? Did you really remove him from your corporation because he follows the Code and would not forsake the New Order? I am a man who believes in the ultimate value of the truth. If you deny the charges, you can rest assured the New Order will launch an investigation and get to the bottom of this.

If the report is true, then we have a problem on our hands. Fear not! I have often worked out peaceful solutions to problems like these. If you offer Professor Billions an apology and a chance to rejoin your corporation, that would be a great first step. Then we can work out an arrangement to help you get the rest of your corporation into compliance with the Code in a fair, affordable manner. I look forward to working with you on this.

However, should you decline my offer of peace, I must warn you of the potential consequences. The New Order will be made aware of the situation, and your crimes will be made public on www.MinerBumping.com , one of EVE's most popular blogs. Declaring yourself an enemy of the New Order would not be a wise decision, in my view. In just the past couple weeks, the New Order has destroyed 60 billion isk worth of ships and capsules of our enemies. You may view our killboard here (a work in progress, but it lists many of the kills):

http://neworder.mindflood.org/

Our Agents have ample access to locators, so there is no possibility of avoiding retaliation by relocating your corp. In addition to wardecs and corp infiltration (aka "awoxing"), our Knights are practiced in the art of suicide ganking in highsec. At this stage, I am uncertain whether or not we will relocate our HQ for the purpose of becoming your neighbors and focusing more intently on retaliating against you. If not, you should still consider that the inflammatory nature of your (alleged) action is likely to arouse the ardor of our Agents.

I notice that your corp is new and that you have ambitions to expand it. I am a man who desires peace and cooperation, not war and destruction. I wholeheartedly support you in your industrial endeavors--provided they take place within the bounds of the Code.

I look forward to hearing from you, so that we may find a satisfactory resolution to this matter as soon as possible.

Thanks a bunch!

Best wishes,

James 315
Father of the New Order
Saviour of Highsec

cc: Professor Billions

I wanted to make sure Jake Salvator understood that I was not interested in grief or terror, only peace and progress. All he had to do was respond to my EVEmail and tell me the truth. We could find a way to coexist.

Shockingly, Jake chose not to respond to my EVEmail at all. He just blew the whole thing off. This was highly provocative. But again, I am a man of peace. The next day, I saw that Jake was online, and I attempted to initiate a private convo. Incredibly, Jake decided not to accept my invitation! All these lifelines I sent him, and he ignored them. Clearly, Jake was not receptive to diplomacy, not in the least.

Even still, I remain a man of peace. The next day, I sent him a second private convo invitation when he was online. This time, Jake actually accepted it.

At long last, I opened a channel of communication. I asked Jake to present his side of the story. With any luck, we'd sort out the mess and become friends.

I have been in some heated peace negotiations before, but even I was surprised by Jake's response. He didn't want to tell his side of the story.

Being a highsec miner, Jake is a busy man with a fast-paced career. His hourly mouse-click was probably coming up.

Jake claimed that Professor's harmless bio had attracted enemies, which was the real reason he had been kicked out.

I asked for clarification on what he meant by "attracting enemies", but was instead treated to an outburst right out of left field. I was asking for his help in putting the matter to rest, but for whatever reason he invited me to send the full force and power of the New Order against him and his corp. Don't do Torarjan Collective any favors, dude.

Despite all the provocations, I offered another olive branch.

The convo was awash in the stench of Jake's guilt. He didn't want to tell his side of the story or deny that Professor Billions was telling the truth.

Over and over again, I tried to give Jake and his corp a peaceful way out. Jake took the opportunity to abruptly terminate the conversation. As if I had not been patient enough, I sent him a quick EVEmail after the convo, inviting him once again to shed light on the situation and make peace. He never answered.

So who is this Jake Salvator, and who are the Torarjan Collective? I decided to find out.

According to their website, Torarjan Collective is completely unlike the thousands of other highsec mining corps because Jake is a successful business owner in real life. (Of course, that doesn't always go well.)

To give them due credit, their command structure is clear and easy-to-follow. I noticed their "morale officer" position is vacant. They might want to fill it soon.

The official corp literature repeatedly vaunted their commitment to peace and diplomacy. Personally, I found it lacking. As to their military prowess, we'll see.

One thing that I found very interesting about the Torarjan Collective is how quickly they've grown. Jake has only been in EVE for a couple of months, but he's somehow managed to convince over 50 people to join his corp. They have a very aggressive recruitment policy.

Given the severity of the crimes involved, I found myself with no choice but to Red Pen their entire corporation. All members of Torarjan Collective should be considered high-priority targets for corrective action. This website offers a partial list of the members. You can also easily identify them in local by adding the corp itself as a contact:

Because I am merciful, I am offering an amnesty program to all members of Torarjan Collective who wish to leave the corp within 48 hours of this post. (If you have roles to resign, send me an EVEmail within the 48-hour period.) To qualify for amnesty, leave Torarjan Collective, send me 10 million isk, and pledge loyalty to me in your bio.

Otherwise you will be Red Penned. After being Red Penned, you will continue to be a high-priority target for corrective action, even if you leave Torarjan Collective. In addition, any corp you join will be notified of your crimes. Please be aware that the Red Pen goes on your permanent record, so anyone who ever has Torarjan Collective in their employment history (other than Professor Billions himself, of course) will be given this treatment. To have the Red Pen removed, send me 30 million isk and copy me on a sincere apology EVEmail to Professor Billions.

As for Jake Salvator himself, his extraordinary crimes call for extraordinary punishment. I am giving him the Double Red Pen. This is a punishment so severe that it breaks the damage limit, penalizing him with a 60 million isk fine. He, too, must pledge loyalty to me in his bio and copy me on a sincere EVEmail apology to Professor Billions.

Until Jake Salvator complies, he is a permanent enemy of the New Order, and all actions he takes in highsec will be subject to New Order supervision. His corporation will be considered our primary target. If he leaves Torarjan Collective, it will continue to be our primary target. If he creates or joins another corporation, it will become our primary target, as well.

Jake's persecution of a harmless Code-compliant miner in his own corp was the greatest act of intolerance and hatred we have yet seen. It is unacceptable and appalling. In other words, Jake Salvator is the living embodiment of all that is evil and unjust in humankind. Everything he touches in highsec will be destroyed, forever and ever, until he complies with the Code.

The headquarters of Jake's corporation is located in Lirsautton, two jumps from the ice miner mecca known as Brapelille. If the name of that system sounds familiar, it's the home of Agent BillMurray, who gave them a foretaste of the Code months ago. Pictured above is a highly-modified version of the Dotlan map of Gallente highsec, where Brapelille is located. Brapelille is four jumps from the market hub of Dodixie. It's also four jumps from Chelien, another major ice mining system. (Note the limitations of the map--Jaschercis is two jumps from Chelien in the east, which wraps around on the western side of the map.)

The cluster of ice mining systems pictured in that map are one major source of Gallente ice, with the other cluster being around Tolle, which you'll remember. If the geography of highsec is starting to fall into place for you, it's because the New Order is slowly devouring it all.

Our headquarters in Brapelille will be the IV-2 Federal Freight Storage station. This may be a little confusing, because there's another IV-2 station. Federal Freight Storage has a better undock and has the repairs service. The other IV-2 station has medical services, so put your clone there. Also, we deliberately did not choose a station near the ice field for our HQ. Instead, we want stations nearest the ice field to be empty, so rookie ships spawn there; we can clear the ice field by undocking from them.

This sudden move may come as a surprise, given how recently we moved to Osmon. In fact, I had only expected to be fully relocated to Osmon just now. Our bumpers, creatures of speed always, were already in Osmon conducting major operations within hours after last week's announcement. There were a lot of targets, and then our Knights rolled in and flattened the place.

By contrast, I expect to be in Gallente highsec for a longer period. If our targets clear out of our new home with similar speed, the miners of highsec may as well hang it up, because this is a very important mining center.

One final word on our conflict with Jake Salvator and the Torarjan Collective. Our central mission continues to be the enforcement of the Code to highsec. We're not going to mindlessly chase after Jake and his corp. Everything we do is on our own terms, in a manner that is convenient to us and consistent with our goals.

Therefore, if Torarjan Collective abandons its headquarters tomorrow and sends its miners to some remote place, we're not going to cancel the Brapelille campaign. Instead, we'll occupy Brapelille and, when the time is right, relocate to a nice place near Torarjan's new HQ. The whole point of mining in highsec is the safety, stability, and predictability of it. Torarjan will no longer have that. This will be a long-term process, unless they surrender.

Merry Christmas.