THE FORMIDINE RIFT MYSTERY (Part 4)

[Toffmeister]

I'll make a prediction.

It's all an insurance scam. If we could see the cargo manifest I'm betting it would read like Aladdins cave, but the cargo pods are 99% empty. The cargo handlers knew this and had to be dealt with. Raan Corsen found the proof and went on the run. The new Director of Metadrive also finds out, he snuffs it too, and the auditor that finds some shady accounting is sacked and disappears.
The ship was insured to the max, then sent on a fools errand into a sector of space that was permit locked (never to be found), but the alien barnacles in that area mean pilots start sniffing around a sector that normally would have been ignored. Ooops, ship gets discovered. Insurance underwriters start getting suspicious, and it's messy cover-up time as a disgraced senators daughter threatens to blow the lid off the whole mess and cost some powerful people an awful lot of money and prestige.
Sirius Corp? They heard about the scam and saw a nice chance to get some easy cash on a company going under and possibly some new tech involving meta alloys and a new stardrive, but that's blown up in their faces too.

If they can get the independents to silence the "Terrorist" with a piddling bounty, then there's a chance to sweep the scam under the carpet, and back to business as usual for the powers.

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

I don't get why people want to kill her. She wants to give some information, that's it. She don't plans to bomb earth or something so why does she have to be stopped at all cost? The only reason, from an RP perspective, is that you are an imperial lacky which thinks the emperor is always right. Do you think the emperor wants her to be shoot on sight because she has only stupid lies to tell? Sure, she made some bad calls in Reclamation but this was years ago and she was basically a spoiled child which was thrown into chaos. Since then a couple of years have passed and if Drew still paints her like this I would stop reading his books because this would be very bad writing. She must have developed in the meantime. I don't think she will do the same mistakes again and Drew mentioned a couple of times that she regret what she did in the Prism system and that this changed her as a person. I also think this is the reason why she not just told everybody what she knows because she knew that would lead to chaos and maybe the death of many people so she took her time and gathered information in order to reveal the truth in a way which is best for the galaxy.
I'm not a fan of her either, I just think that her mistakes from the past and her plan to reveal something is not a reason to try to kill her. I would like to hear what it is what makes the empire so afraid of her...

Repped as I agree with most of this. To me her actions in Reclamation were done in confusion and anger at her family (& herself) having been murdered, resurrected and then almost being mindwiped and losing her body to Octavia. She died & was resurrected (Ishtar story again!) and the process was clearly very confusing. I think many/most people would have reacted in exactly the same way. However she recognised the weight of what she had done in the Prism battle, was contrite and gave up her tiara/senatorship to someone who she thought would be good for the system. She then dedicated herself to uncovering the truth behind the FRift mystery as told to her by Rebecca in the hospital.

Though personally I don't think the Emperor knows of this, I think it is an inner circle conspiracy & possibly Aisling/Patreus are involved because they would become the ruling Dynasty of the new Exodus settlements.

- - - Updated - - -

Well, I've now been found somewhere else... but not as Rebecca. Officer Gant, at your service.

Didn't see your first post, but thank you for your Zurara logs performance. It really added to the atmosphere of the scene & made the long trip out to see her worthwhile.
Fly safe officer Gant! O7

 

[CMDR Zadian Lichtfrost]

CoRs theory on whats going on was declassified back in January. Its just a theory - but it fits in with some of the clues that have appeared in GalNet and forum posts over the past year.

I've re-posted it here : Superpower Conspiracy?

Thank you again very much.

The posting you linked is interesting to read. Could be possible and if true I suspect that the effect of telling everybody that truth would be devastating and I suspect not very helpful.
In that scenario I would put my energy not into revealing the truth, but in making preparations for getting left behind.

After thinking about that potential conspiracy I think it might be possible - if the conspiracy is not the Superpowers working together but parts of the "high society" in that superpowers. Not directly associated with the administrations of the superpowers - the leadership of a few cooperations, organizations and rich families. Without the direct knowledge of the superpowers.
That could work.

Hm, interesting thought.

(I don't think that FD would give D. Wagar so much "power" to influence the whole galaxy story arc in such a massive way - but a few rich and powerful individuals, could be very possible)

Thanks again for your constant supply of good information and willingness to answer questions and musings that probably have been asked a thousand times in this threads.
Thanks.

 

[Mathew of Tegalus]

Repped as I agree with most of this. To me her actions in Reclamation were done in confusion and anger at her family (& herself) having been murdered, resurrected and then almost being mindwiped and losing her body to Octavia. She died & was resurrected (Ishtar story again!) and the process was clearly very confusing. I think many/most people would have reacted in exactly the same way. However she recognised the weight of what she had done in the Prism battle, was contrite and gave up her tiara/senatorship to someone who she thought would be good for the system. She then dedicated herself to uncovering the truth behind the FRift mystery as told to her by Rebecca in the hospital.

Though personally I don't think the Emperor knows of this, I think it is an inner circle conspiracy & possibly Aisling/Patreus are involved because they would become the ruling Dynasty of the new Exodus settlements.

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Didn't see your first post, but thank you for your Zurara logs performance. It really added to the atmosphere of the scene & made the long trip out to see her worthwhile.
Fly safe officer Gant! O7

They never did confirm much more of the Aisling/Denton storyline, it's prevelent is Galnet for a month or two in 3301 and then it peters out into nothing, simply to be forgotten about. Especially considering her backing in media and whatnot, the last thing I'd expect is for her to be out of the news, so that story line dropping into death makes no sense for me. Also worth pointing out her birth year was around the 3270's mark.

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

They never did confirm much more of the Aisling/Denton storyline, it's prevelent is Galnet for a month or two in 3301 and then it peters out into nothing, simply to be forgotten about. Especially considering her backing in media and whatnot, the last thing I'd expect is for her to be out of the news, so that story line dropping into death makes no sense for me. Also worth pointing out her birth year was around the 3270's mark.

Yes, this is the trouble with Galnet-there appear to be no "investigative journalists" following up potential stories and providing exposés; we have heard of one or two meeting sticky ends but again no way to follow up. So we get hints of stories that just die away. I have speculated that Aisling and Kahina are related or have some other relationship but there is no evidence as far as I can see. But I definitely think Aisling & Patreus are both deeply involved in the conspiracy.

 

[G4RY]

o7, CMDRs.

I just wanted to pop in and say hi and thanks so much for giving us voice actors such a warm welcome to the Elite community.

The response to the new voice acting has been... amazing... encouraging... overwhelming... It's been a really bizarre and totally unexpected week! Basically, I couldn't have wished for a better intro to this universe and the more I'm learning about it the more impressed I am with both the game and the people who play it. Particular thanks to everyone who made the long journey out to the Rift - we'd been waiting for someone to find our logs for a long time so cheers for putting us out of our misery!

Fly safe and fingers crossed I'll see you all out in the black at some point soon.

Amelia (Rebecca Weston)

Rebecca Weston herself joins the Formadine Rift thread... Wow It's great to have you here, and fantastic job on the voice acting by the way.

 

[Trafalgar Law]

Repped as I agree with most of this. To me her actions in Reclamation were done in confusion and anger at her family (& herself) having been murdered, resurrected and then almost being mindwiped and losing her body to Octavia. She died & was resurrected (Ishtar story again!) and the process was clearly very confusing. I think many/most people would have reacted in exactly the same way. However she recognised the weight of what she had done in the Prism battle, was contrite and gave up her tiara/senatorship to someone who she thought would be good for the system. She then dedicated herself to uncovering the truth behind the FRift mystery as told to her by Rebecca in the hospital.

Though personally I don't think the Emperor knows of this, I think it is an inner circle conspiracy & possibly Aisling/Patreus are involved because they would become the ruling Dynasty of the new Exodus settlements.

- - - Updated - - -



Didn't see your first post, but thank you for your Zurara logs performance. It really added to the atmosphere of the scene & made the long trip out to see her worthwhile.
Fly safe officer Gant! O7

The problem with this line of reasoning is, how much of this would my character be aware of? Not much probably. He knows the rough outline of the events in the prism affair but wouldn't know anything about Octavia or any of the details (he certainly wouldn't have an author telling him that she regrets her previous actions ). He knows that her family was deposed, that she played an extremely risky game to reclaim what she felt was hers then inexplicably turned her back on everything to become a rootless vagabond, before disappearing under mysterious circumstances and re-emerging as a traitor and terrorist. Can my character even be sure that Salome and Kahina are the same person? In short he has absolutely no reason to trust her or to believe that her character has changed for the better. In fact the more I look at it from his perspective she comes across as an extremely self motivated character who cares little for anyone else or the consequences of her actions.

My character has far more reason to trust the Empress (who he fought for in order to help gain her rightful place on the throne) or Patreus than he does to trust Salome. She is already a fugitive, there is no choice now but to kill her and this is probably our only chance to get justice for the deaths on the INV Imperial Freedom.

 

[BuddyE]

o7, CMDRs.

I just wanted to pop in and say hi and thanks so much for giving us voice actors such a warm welcome to the Elite community.

The response to the new voice acting has been... amazing... encouraging... overwhelming... It's been a really bizarre and totally unexpected week! Basically, I couldn't have wished for a better intro to this universe and the more I'm learning about it the more impressed I am with both the game and the people who play it. Particular thanks to everyone who made the long journey out to the Rift - we'd been waiting for someone to find our logs for a long time so cheers for putting us out of our misery!

Fly safe and fingers crossed I'll see you all out in the black at some point soon.

Amelia (Rebecca Weston)

Thanks for your awesome voice acting! It really adds a lot atmosphere to this place. Especially when you visit it for yourself.

Now we also need the ghost haunting the rift to also speek up.

 

[Jaiotu]

Can I have a guess too?

I reckon Beagle Point [yesnod]

Yeah ... well I'm sticking to Cassiopeia A. It's gotta be out there. Right?

 

[Mathew of Tegalus]

The problem with this line of reasoning is, how much of this would my character be aware of? Not much probably. He knows the rough outline of the events in the prism affair but wouldn't know anything about Octavia or any of the details (he certainly wouldn't have an author telling him that she regrets her previous actions ). He knows that her family was deposed, that she played an extremely risky game to reclaim what she felt was hers then inexplicably turned her back on everything to become a rootless vagabond, before disappearing under mysterious circumstances and re-emerging as a traitor and terrorist. Can my character even be sure that Salome and Kahina are the same person? In short he has absolutely no reason to trust her or to believe that her character has changed for the better. In fact the more I look at it from his perspective she comes across as an extremely self motivated character who cares little for anyone else or the consequences of her actions.

My character has far more reason to trust the Empress (who he fought for in order to help gain her rightful place on the throne) or Patreus than he does to trust Salome. She is already a fugitive, there is no choice now but to kill her and this is probably our only chance to get justice for the deaths on the INV Imperial Freedom.

I concur. Me and my character are two very different people for that exact reason - I know all this stuff, names like Rebecca, about the rift bases, all through here. My character only became aware of The Zurara after Abish's report in Galnet, and only knows about both Gen Ships due to another CMDR informing him.

You can't fight for a cause you don't know about, and my character isn't aware of it, because all he can see is Salomé / Kahina's actions at Prism, and then her involvement in the Patreus scandal, along with her alleged involvement in all the other stuff, including her prison break (which for all we know, she/her friends orchestrated, not some random fools with another motive). It all leads to a situation where my characters background, along with the evidence he has been provided so far, lead to him supporting the status quo, even if it's simply because he doesn't know - just like the vast majority of us.

(it also ensures someone is there to check on CoR and make sure they're still kicking about, we've already discovered all we need to do is poke them aggressively and they come running at you with pitchforks!

 

[Matzov]

Why would anyone want to kill her?

There have been plenty of conspiracy cranks through the years who turned our to be proper wacko's.
I don't want to see her dead, but it would not be difficult to draw up an RP reason to try. The bounty for starters.
Moreover, you could argue it would be more interesting if she did. There would again be something to unravel!

 

[Mathew of Tegalus]

Why would anyone want to kill her?

There have been plenty of conspiracy cranks through the years who turned our to be proper wacko's.
I don't want to see her dead, but it would not be difficult to draw up an RP reason to try. The bounty for starters.
Moreover, you could argue it would be more interesting if she did. There would again be something to unravel!

You could almost say we have a mystery to unravel!

I feel like whoever was responsible for setting the bounty value, in game or out of game, doesn't understand the levels of cash some people are working with these days. I don't recall what they are but I believe they are sub 10 million credits. My character made that much from bulk trading between Merope and Maia this week (lol at the supply line narritive, the only reason the Empire wins that one is because Building Fabricators can be bought in Merope, not very thought out IMO). A large number of people who have the capability to track down and take out Salome and her guardians have orders of magnitude more cash than the bounties, and thus would only do it for the fame, and everyone else, well 5 million or whatever it is really isn't as much as it was two years ago.

 

[eadghe]

I get that some people will find some RP reasons to try and kill her. Thats fine with me, everybody should be RP his character as he wants. I for my part RP my character as someone who has seen something from the galaxy and who knows what a cutthroat galaxy this is with people in power going over corpse to get what they want. And if the same people try to silence her, that makes me eager to her what she has to say.

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

The problem with this line of reasoning is, how much of this would my character be aware of? Not much probably. He knows the rough outline of the events in the prism affair but wouldn't know anything about Octavia or any of the details (he certainly wouldn't have an author telling him that she regrets her previous actions ). He knows that her family was deposed, that she played an extremely risky game to reclaim what she felt was hers then inexplicably turned her back on everything to become a rootless vagabond, before disappearing under mysterious circumstances and re-emerging as a traitor and terrorist. Can my character even be sure that Salome and Kahina are the same person? In short he has absolutely no reason to trust her or to believe that her character has changed for the better. In fact the more I look at it from his perspective she comes across as an extremely self motivated character who cares little for anyone else or the consequences of her actions.

My character has far more reason to trust the Empress (who he fought for in order to help gain her rightful place on the throne) or Patreus than he does to trust Salome. She is already a fugitive, there is no choice now but to kill her and this is probably our only chance to get justice for the deaths on the INV Imperial Freedom.

I don't roleplay for exactly this reason- it would befuddle my simple brain! However:

if you are in-character then perhaps you should remember that Salome was tried and sentenced to penal servitude, not death. Any reward for her killing, and the act, might be illegal under Empire jurisprudence- I am unaware of the detailed statutes and Imperial decrees involved (from what I have read on galnet the Empress has not decreed Salomé's death).

I was made a Duke as my "reward" for (at great personal risk) massacring many skimmers and safely delivering innumerable loads of sensitive information, plus some Intel gathering, on behalf of the Empire. My dukedom (Rasalas, more colloquially known as Ras Elased Borealis) is a barren system with no population or stations where I could keep a slave girl housekeeper or three; and I was then permitted to buy, at great personal expense, an Imperial Cutter which turns like a pig in treacle. So I am not overly impressed by Imperial machinations. Nor those of the Feds who reserve their Corvettes for the use of Rear Admirals. So if I were to be involved on Saturday then I would participate in the role of an independent-minded freethinker who dislikes politics, politicians, unearned titles, and deceptive practices in general. So I would want to hear Salomé's message, and then decide what to do.

Sadly, the greater powers that be (family) have decided I'm off to the cinema instead...

 

[Matzov]

You could almost say we have a mystery to unravel!

I feel like whoever was responsible for setting the bounty value, in game or out of game, doesn't understand the levels of cash some people are working with these days. I don't recall what they are but I believe they are sub 10 million credits. My character made that much from bulk trading between Merope and Maia this week (lol at the supply line narritive, the only reason the Empire wins that one is because Building Fabricators can be bought in Merope, not very thought out IMO). A large number of people who have the capability to track down and take out Salome and her guardians have orders of magnitude more cash than the bounties, and thus would only do it for the fame, and everyone else, well 5 million or whatever it is really isn't as much as it was two years ago.

yeah, the values are not great at all. But that's where the RP comes in !

 

[G4RY]

Why would anyone want to kill her?

There have been plenty of conspiracy cranks through the years who turned our to be proper wacko's.
I don't want to see her dead, but it would not be difficult to draw up an RP reason to try. The bounty for starters.
Moreover, you could argue it would be more interesting if she did. There would again be something to unravel!

I think some people hear or read 'Salomé is a traitor' and then that gives them the incentive to track her down, they find out there is a 2mil bounty on her head.... and well that's it. From what i have read in different thread's some people have no idea why that bounty was placed on her... "letz keel her, she got 2 million creditzzz on herzz head, she's a traterrr" ... even knowing they could go to a couple of system's now, scan them and get 2mil that way. There are people out there who do nothing but combat.. must get terribly boring IMO. For people who want to kill her for RP reasons, that i agree with.

Whereas the information she holds is invaluable... still, people want to kill her, because they can. Or die trying, makes no odds to them.


Update: Also patch 2.3.02 is live. Fixing a couple of CTD's here and there, Outfitting bugs. Wasn't worth linking to be honest.

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

Yeah ... well I'm sticking to Cassiopeia A. It's gotta be out there. Right?

Perhaps Salomé discovered who starnapped it!

- - - Updated - - -

You could almost say we have a mystery to unravel!

I feel like whoever was responsible for setting the bounty value, in game or out of game, doesn't understand the levels of cash some people are working with these days. I don't recall what they are but I believe they are sub 10 million credits. My character made that much from bulk trading between Merope and Maia this week (lol at the supply line narritive, the only reason the Empire wins that one is because Building Fabricators can be bought in Merope, not very thought out IMO). A large number of people who have the capability to track down and take out Salome and her guardians have orders of magnitude more cash than the bounties, and thus would only do it for the fame, and everyone else, well 5 million or whatever it is really isn't as much as it was two years ago.

There are three fundamental forces in the galaxy: taxation, politics, and inflation!

 

[Mathew of Tegalus]

Perhaps Salomé discovered who starnapped it!

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There are three fundamental forces in the galaxy: taxation, politics, and inflation!

Hey I earned my first major payday to buy my first Anaconda not from Sothis, but from Morai! Remember that capital ship building CG? the one where top 25% was like 130 million or something? I blame those idiots for causing the inflation!

 

[Trafalgar Law]

if you are in-character then perhaps you should remember that Salome was tried and sentenced to penal servitude, not death. Any reward for her killing, and the act, might be illegal under Empire jurisprudence- I am unaware of the detailed statutes and Imperial decrees involved (from what I have read on galnet the Empress has not decreed Salomé's death).

True. However she is now a fugitive having escaped from prison. Holding her captive is clearly unworkable given the level of fanaticism demonstrated by her followers and I doubt that she'll 'come along peacefully'. The Admiral of the Fleet wants her stopped and without specific orders to the contrary or a pardon issued by Her Imperial Majesty, Arissa Lavigny-Duval, the kill order still stands.

 

[Matzov]

Whereas the information she holds is invaluable...

That is an assumption. Perhaps the information that David Icke holds is invaluable, but the authorities are just shutting him down, or we are too dumb to listen? lol
No, there is a lot in her character to suggest she has self-aggrandisement issues. But, yes, it may very well be important. Again - its the RP aspect that is important here - your in game character would not know if she was a dangerous crank with a penchant for blowing things up and a grudge against the Empire, or if she genuinely had a revelation to tell.

@jorki - she was tired and sentenced. Then escaped and then committed and assault/robbery. In the Elite Dangerous world where you can be shot for loitering too long, I don't think its a huge surprise a life sentence was upgrade to a KOS ;-)

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CoRs theory on whats going on was declassified back in January. Its just a theory - but it fits in with some of the clues that have appeared in GalNet and forum posts over the past year.

I've re-posted it here : Superpower Conspiracy?

Its a very well thought out proposal.

I have a few questions.

1) how do we reconcile the fact that the attempts were seemingly abandoned? where are they preparing to go with the new ark?
2) I understand the nebula are the proposed 'cover'. That may have been a failed idea in the original plan, but it is clearly a failure. Moreover, the actual terraform points were not in nebula. How do we imagine the sites were chosen? I think there is an issue with the timelines here : https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...ERY-(Part-4)?p=5412251&viewfull=1#post5412251
3) Fundamentally - if you moved, esp over enormous distances, there is a dangerous supposition that you could move faster than the enemy - and assuming that enemy is Thargoid, then it is plainly a folly. So what else have they got other than real nice drives?
4) This is a hangover from the Exodus, and not really something regarding this proposal, but its something I want to voice - as the plan was to kill everyone - how were they planning on knowing whether the terraforming had worked or not? Which suggest there was some long range coms, or 'watchers' who returned with the info.

Really good stuff to noodle on though. Thanks