Has Jericho Fraction always been an RP corp?

Yes, Jericho Fraction was founded as an RP corp in 2003 by a group of
friends wanting to portray space-age anarchist revolutionaries in the
Eve Online setting. Our first efforts involved persuading gang-miners
to rise up against their Amarrian overseers and stop handing their
mining profits up the hierarchy lines above them.

What inspired you to RP on EVE?

It never really occurred to me not to RP in Eve. The rich space opera
setting is ideal for creating stories and narratives and I can’t
imagine the game without an RP element.

You've been on EVE since 2003, what about the game has kept you this
here this long?

Comrades and friends in-game, character development + the reality that
there is literally no other game like Eve where you can do what you
wish and carve out a legend for yourself.

What has been some of your memorable RP story arcs?

From the original Venal conflict in 2003, to the couple of years
Jericho Fraction spent scourging loyalist RP corps and alliances in
2007-8, I’ve always enjoyed conflict with nationalist entities in the
game universe. I think the Mito conflict against Kimotoro Directive
was one of the best though; Star Fraction deployed against a growing
Caldari national powerhouse in the Mito constellation and declared war
– the hostilities spiralled and spread with everyone from Amarrian
loyalists to Gurista pirates and Sani Sabik cultists getting a slice
of the action what would ultimately conclude with the Fraction
victorious and a terrible wound in the psyche of nationalist
capsuleers that is still a little sore to this day.

What are some of your most memorable pvp battles?

I really enjoyed the sequence of “space and freedom” battles between
the Fraction and our allies in the Minmatar Militia vs Amarr Militia
and the CVA back in 2009-2010. SF moved into Kamela and put up some
towers there we were using for Titan Bridging and the 24th Crusade
under Garst Tyrell resolved to destroy them. The scene was set for
weeks of fighting and some extremely intense pitched battles between
the participants that saw our first three Space and Freedom towers
obliterated but the final one stand triumphant with the forces of CVA
Providence broken. For the Fraction it was pretty expensive in dead
capital ships but we learned a lot about asymmetric warfare and more
importantly – you can tell a better story with heroic defeats than you
can with a walkover victory.


Why did Star Fraction join Minmatar Militia versus the other militias?

Star Fraction has traditionally stood against all nations. As
anarchists we abhor statist hierarchy and the notion of national
sovereignty as a force to be obeyed. But in the Matari people we see
fellow-travellers and a struggle not for power but for the freedom to
make any choice at all. It may well be in the long term that the
Fraction will find itself at odds with the Minmatar Republic but first
we have resolved to see the Matari people free of their Amarrian
chains.
Operationally, it was an easy choice for us to align with the Matari
militia – we have many friends, comrades and allies we have flown with
still active within TLF. Quite a few remember the space and freedom
fights and we have a great deal of respect for the rag-tag heroism of
our matari brethren. Add to that our general familiarity with the
Bleaklands and surrounding regions as a warzone backdrop to past
campaigns and it all made sense.

Will Star Fraction remain in the Minmatar Militia?

Yes, the council of free captains debated this issue at length and
we’ve resolved to give our alliance of convenience with the republican
militia our full attention and commitment in the coming year. We
intend to play a full part inside the Militia and to do our best to
help out in the war in any way we can. It’s very much a learning
experience and something genuinely new in our Eve gaming, and thus far
we’re enjoying the change of focus greatly.

Is Star Fraction recruiting? If so, what would a pilot have to do to apply?

Yes, we are recruiting. To apply you basically need a decent
personality and an interest in the Star Fraction, to be comfortable
with anarchist ideology and personal sovereignty in Eve Online
(basically expect to be your own master and don’t expect to be ordered
about or have everything done for you.) Our recruits need to be able
to fly some useful combat ships and be prepared to join others of the
alliance on patrols and economic activities, should be able to fit in
comfortably on voice coms and possess a generally pleasant and adult
approach to gaming. Currently flying Fleet Stabbers would be a great
plus 

What does SF look for in a pilot?

As mentioned above, good personality is the main thing. We’re not the
greatest pilots in Eve, certainly not “elite pvp” or super efficient.
But we do attract and retain a pleasant and respectful player group of
friends that is extremely valuable in its own right. Our ideal recruit
is a mature individual with diverse interests, tolerance of others,
and ability and confidence to get things done and turn up to fleets.

Also, link to any SF website/killboards/blogs.

http://www.jericho-fraction.net/sf/smf/index.php?action=forum
http://www.jericho-fraction.net/sf/killboard
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAhjTgwRPpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMA1uFpNV24
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGAjymmeYkg

What do you think of the proposed changes for FW with Inferno?

I really like them. I hope that CCP don’t chicken out and weaken the
vision too much. I love the idea of consequences for occupancy and
making occupancy sovereignty change from an RP perspective. Proper LPs
for PVP is great – and I like the idea of investing LP’s to upgrade
lowsec systems. Hell, I even like the cyno jammer concept as maximum
upgrade for lowsec systems because it will mess with non FW interests
and help erode the artificial boundaries between FW and the rest of
Eve. My position has always been that FW is a truly great concept and
that if CCP have the courage of their convictions it can provide
everything a non 0.0 bloc pvp’er / rp’er could want for involvement in
eve online.

From your perspective, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the
Minmatar Militia.

I’m still pretty new to the Militia so won’t say too much. But I think
the good thing I’ve noticed is that it’s extremely friendly and
inclusive. I love the Matati backstory obviously and having evil
Amarrian slavers to shoot at 24/7 is delightful.

You were chairman for the first CSM, tell us about your experiences
and how you think the first CSM differs from the one today.

The first CSM was very much a social experiment in seeing if it was
possible for 9 different personalities from diverse communities to
make it work at all. Against the odds we managed quite a lot and set
the foundation for a lot of what followed. I was elected by a popular
wave of independent votes and found myself fighting voting bloc
candidates over game changes a lot. Basically the Goon candidates
opposed anything that might damage their dominance in the game. Add to
that, many of the things I advocated in CSM1 did come to pass: Black
ops improvements, cyno-jammer nerfing, POS removed from Sov system,
and some things finally happened this year. Alliances in Faction
Warfare! Yay, I wanted to happen since 2008, was nice to finally take
advantage of it.


What advice do you have for current CSM members based on your experiences?

Be extremely distrustful of 0.0 bloc candidate interests. Their game
is not our game. What is good for some deep 0.0 power bloc with
thousands of fleet members and income based on static moon-mining is
not good for small unit pvp or faction warfare in general. I think CSM
is generally a bit too starry-eyed and worshipful of 0.0 influence on
the game of Eve Online – and independent non-bloc CSMs need to work
very hard to keep the agenda of small unit combat in the forefront.

Would you consider running for CSM in the future?

Probably not, it is almost a full time job to do well. And it
definitely takes away from quality eve playing time. In addition it
does place the individual in the spotlight and sights of some very
nasty people in the community who will attempt metagaming attacks on
one’s out of game personality and professional interests. All things
concerned, I think I did my time and led the first CSM and completed
my term with most objectives successful.

What are you most proud of in regards to your corporation and alliance?

I think it’s the fact we are still here, without having compromised
our rules of engagement or recruiting standards in nine years of
playing Eve. Revolutionary anarchist individualists, NRDS stands of
engagement, fighting bad guy and shooting tyrants in the head.

If CCP gave you free reign to change EVE to suit yourself, what would
you change and why?

I’d make system sec levels and sovereignty flexible (so that national
control and overall sec level could change under certain
circumstances) I’d love to see .4s turn to .5s and .1s go to null and
back again based on player activity and actions. It would terrify
people who are used to their hisec being fixed forever but I think it
would make the universe far more alive. Also, I’d remove all
moon-mining income retroactively since introduction! (Seriously moon
mining is about the worst mechanic CCP ever invented).

Who do you most admire in EVE?

It’s a difficult question really and I’m loathe to name names.
Probably fairest for me to say that I admire every corp or alliance
CEO who has managed to keep a separate identity for their organization
that I can refer to in-character and provides content for the game at
large.

How many Fanfests have you been to? Tell us of some of your
experiences at FF. (also do you have any FF pictures I could post with
the article?)

Just been to the one and it passed in a bit of a daze because I was
doing the wrap up of CSM1 and doing a whirl of roundtables and various
events with my corp. Doing an alliance presentation after a CVA guy
who delivered his in a hooded robe totally in character was pretty
surreal!

What do you hope to see within the next ten years in EVE?

Massive iteration on every clunky gameplay mechanic we still have!
Plus an entire expansion themed on mobile infrastructure for space
gypsies to be competitive in null, I think there should be multiple
ways of becoming successful in the “end game” of Eve, not just one
route of sitting down to the nullsec napfest.

What kind of advice would you give to a new player just starting EVE?

Join a good corp with mature adult members prepared to answer your
questions and teach you how to play the game. Learning lots of Eve’s
gameplay techniques solo is no fun at all. Don’t ever trust a goon.

Thank you for the interview, any parting thoughts?

Don’t forget to shoot all tyrants in the face!

Favorite:

FW System:
Kamela

Space Station:
Don’t really have one

EVE Chronicle:
The Vampire

EVE Related celebrity:
Samuel L. Jackson

Pirate Corp or Alliance:
Space Invaders

EVE Related Website:
Failheap Challenge

Way To Make Isk:
Making Eyes at Yvonne Pyros

Ammo:
Republic Fleet EMP

Ship:
Raven

Wartarget To Shoot:
Race Traitor Eran Mintor

Corpse:
As above

Food & Drink While Playing EVE:
Glenfiddich single malt

Song To Fly To:
Jefferson Airplane White Rabbit
Patti Smith Land

the secret

Helicity Boson, a well known pirate and blogger asked for us to share our stories (on his blog here), and that got me musing on how I came to EVE, on how my story really began.

I've told the tale over the years but usually I'd leave out various details, inwardly cringing while I lied by obmission.

But this is EVE, a dark, strange, and beautiful world where people lie and do bad things so I'd brush it off, tucking the truth away in the back of my mind.

It's a game, right? So what does it really matter how it all really happened....

Spring of 2009, my friend Andrew had finally worn me down, making me promise to try this game he was constantly playing.

Our conversations usually went something like this:

Him: "Omg get an account on EVE already!"
Me: "Uh..."
Him: "You will love it I know you will!"
Me: "But it's...you know...spaceships."
Him: *dramatic sigh*

As we treked down the dusty roads of the Barrens in World of Warcraft, he would regale me of epic space battles. As I stopped to pick flowers in the lush forests of Silvermoon, he would be linking me EVE game trailers.

I was already vaguely familiar with EVE, having found the website years prior.  I remember browsing the gallery, marveling at the beauty of space.  I listened to the soundtrack, even read some of the fanfic stories.

But a part of me resisted trying it because I wasn't much of a gamer at the time (this was before I got suckered into playing WoW) though I was definately intrigued.

Finally what drew me in was a story he mentioned about how someone infiltrated a corporation and stayed there for nearly a year, then betrayed them by stealing everything and had the CEO murdered!  He linked me to an article and said "this is EVE".

I took the bait and was hooked.

Though we had fun on WoW, I couldn't help but be entranced by the idea of loss in EVE.  He explained how brutal things were within the game, that if you got your ship blown up, that was it, there was no respawn.  No magic bags to carry your stuff around, that wherever you left your stuff thats where it remained til you went back and got it.

He went on to tell me that he was creating his own corporation called Clubs and Diamonds [CLADI] and that it was going to be a merc corp and that if I joined EVE, I could be his spy girl.

Naturally my thoughts went to the article, of how I could be just like Istvaan Shogaatsu!  A digital female James Bond, how exciting!

I made my first account and eagerly signed in, ready for the drama! The intrigue! The chance to make my mark on this dark and alluring game!

...and then he signed me up for a carebear corporation that mined.

Mined.  Rocks.

I pouted a bit because I was stuck pew pewing rocks while he was off in 'null sec', whatever that mysterious and dangerous place was.

Fine, whatever.  I learned the very basics of flying around while he was creating the new corporation.

By the time he had it set up and had his first contract, he was finally ready for me to join him...but by now I had gotten to know the miners and was somewhat reluctant to leave them!

We had a bit of back and forth:

Him: "This is why I brought you to EVE!"
Me: "But but but I like these guys! They are so nice!"
Him: "Do you really want to shoot rocks the rest of your EVE career?"

I decided to make my second account. I created Shalee Lianne and within a few days I applied to the corporation that [CLADI] was going to wardec.

Andrew had me research the corporation and I was absolutely thrilled to find out it was a roleplaying corp!  I was eager to infiltrate, eager to play the part of spy because it was just roleplay, I easily justified it to myself.

The corporation was Pratoria Imperialis Excubitoris [PIE] of the Amarr Militia.

It took two weeks to get accepted into the corp because a character had to be at least 14 days old.  During that time I would sit and chat to members in their public channel.

One of them, Dante Chance, thought I was some sort of Minmatar spy.

I giggled, having no idea what a Minmatar even was.  He asked me to get on voice comms to prove that I really was a girl and as clueless as I pretended to be.

We fleeted, he took me around space, taught me how to align and warp (which I already knew from my mining days) but I feigned the helpless girl and by the end of the night, he was vouching for me on my application.  I had no problem at all telling him I wasn't  a Minmatar spy.

However, as the days passed, I started to have mixed feelings.  Was it lying or just rping?

Finally it was time to be interviewed and I was allowed in.

This was an interesting time, settling into the corporation, getting to know the players, and finding out that 'militia' meant living in low sec and getting shot at.

The nerve of some people, shooting me!

The [CLADI] wardec went live and we were instructed to fly smart by the PIE admirality.

Meanwhile, I had been gathering as much intel as I could.  Most of it was pretty basic stuff, home systems and fleet comps and member names.  I would email Andrew (EVE name, Vonlin) at least ten times a day with mostly useless info because I was so new to the game, I didn't know what was important and what wasn't.

Up until this point, the [CLADI] guys had no idea I was working with them. Vonlin thought it best to keep it a secret because it being EVE, you never really know who you can trust, right?

The first night of the wardec was pretty thrilling.  I jumped onto vent hoping to tell Vonlin about something and found the guys engaging someone from PIE. (Vonlin hadn't logged on yet) Since I knew what was happening from the PIE side I told the guys and accidently blew my cover.

Oh well.  It made it easier to report intel, anyhow.

The guys ended up naming me Operative Sigh.

Though 'we' were winning the war, a part of me started to feel really bad about things.  My spying was less about roleplaying and more about lying.

Starting out, I knew that joining PIE was just a 'job' and that betrayal was part of that job, however I couldn't shake off how bad it was making me feel.

It was everything I thought it wasn't going to be.  It was depressing, deceitful, and I ended up hating it.

Instead of fulfilling my grandeur dreams of spygirl extraordinaire, I ended up being miserable by the end of the war.

I had to tell someone what I had done.

During this time I'd been roleplaying with Zenton Karvash, who at the time was in PIE with me.  I told him via roleplay, in-character.

It was a risk, certainly.  Maybe a part of me was hoping he would tell our superiors, another was hoping he would just keep the secret to himself.

He kept it.

At the end of the wardec I had to make a choice.  Vonlin asked me to quit and prepare for our next wardec.
I thought about leaving militia and tried to imagine how things would be if I were to continue on as a spy.

I realized I had grown too attached to the Amarr Militia.  I liked flying around in my tech 1 fit punisher blasting away at the rats in the plexes. I liked roleplaying and I liked the people I had grown to know.

I just couldn't do it.  I didn't want to leave and I knew myself well enough to know that I couldn't justify spying as roleplaying any longer.  If it were just in character, maybe.  But spying requires you to lie to the players, not just the characters.  There's nothing clever or exciting about being that kind of person, at least to me.

So I decided to stay and play the game without Vonlin and the rest of the guys.  Sure, there was always a fear of being exposed because the CLADI guys knew my secret but I decided to risk it.  I trusted them enough and really, roleplay didn't really matter to them anyhow.

The one thing I didn't factor on was having someone outside of CLADI knowing the truth.  The guy who placed the contract on PIE was privy to my identity and after so many months, he contacted me.

He knew everything.  At first he complimented my skills...and then he threatened to out me to my superiors if I didn't agree to infiltrate another corporation to steal something for him.

At the time it seemed horrific.  All I could think of was losing everything I had worked for in Amarr Militia, of how I would never be trusted again.  Integrity was everything in PIE.  I was certain I would be kicked out or worse.  After all, this was a group of rpers which meant that I could be hunted by the Inquisitors.  They could even forbid the other members to talk to me!  I could have lost my rank in PIE, my corp, and my friends.  Naturally I was devestated.

I told Vonlin how I was being blackmailed and he took care of things somehow or other.  He never told me how, only that he did.

My secret was safe again.  I told only a handful of other people since then, who as far as I know have kept it to themselves all this time.  It's not a secret anymore, rather, part one of my confessions as an Amarrian roleplayer.

So there you have it, my story of how I came to play EVE.

Master List of Characters

Adde Helecton
Aldrith Shutaq
Amieta Invelen
Alexander Audaci
Almity
Althea Ekran
Amaterasu Mikoto
Ashar KorAzor
Bahamut420
Brystal
Charles Raine
Chase
CJ Walker
Condor Amarr
Darg
Drem Haklar
Ember Vykos
Esna Pitoejee
Gabriel Theodoulous
Gallente Girl
Galt Yasters
Hadrien
Hitome Kei
Invelious
Jacke Incarnate
Jacobi Lianne
Jakiin
Jea Cerra
Jiko
Jonathan
Julianus Soter
Kathetel
Keon
Koltus Kraken
Laerise
Leopold Caine
Lao
Lora Wells
LP McDuffs
Lukka
Major JSilva
Mazer Rakum
Michael Priboj
Mikuela
Mister Perelli
Mitara Newell
Monamarth
Morwen Lagann
Nortel
Omnicide Incarnate
Ou'ranos Cerra
Predator Elite
Raphael Saint
Raxip Elamp
Raven
Red
Reimei Kaminamida
Revan Neferis
Rothgr Bronn
RTS Avalanche
Ryven Krennel
Sab0tag3
Sansha Kuvakei
Sassawong
Tiberious Thessalonia
Tigerfish Torpedo
Torus Nunn
Triplesol69
Vadeim Rizen
Valhiri Akell
Verone
Vincent Pryce
Zenton Karvash
Zoarial
Zverofaust

Zoarial

APPEARS IN:

Entry 108: Impulsive Confessions

Brystal

APPEARS IN:

Entry 113: Her Own Betrayal

Condor Amarr

APPEARS IN:

Entry 113: Her Own Betrayal

Omnicide Incarnate

APPEARS IN:

Entry 113: Her Own Betrayal