Latest EVE Online Chronicle a moral tale of sabotage and retribution
EVE Online differs from other massively multiplayer online games out there in that it's as much a setting as it is a game; its galactic setting of New Eden isn't divided across shards. This helps the game's lore creators conjure up a sense that the stories of New Eden echo throughout and define a single expansive galaxy, at least for those who choose to get into the game's backstory.
EVE's lore has been building up for years as short Chronicles and even in novel form, creating a substantial yet growing body of work that fleshes out the gritty setting. We don't cover all of the Chronicle releases at Massively but we do tend to highlight those that have a direct bearing on the game's lore, rather than those that add flavor. Still, now and again a story comes along that really stands out. That was the case with this week's Chronicle titled "All These Lives are Fit to Ruin" by CCP Abraxas, the description of which was one simple word: "Sabotage". This caught our interest and, in this writer's opinion after having read the Chronicle twice, "All These Lives are Fit to Ruin" may be one of the best stories Abraxas has written thus far.
This particular story emphasizes new dimensions to the typical activities a player undertakes when running missions or engaging NPC pirate factions: morality. As capsuleers, New Eden's pilots who comprise society's immortal technocratic elite through cloning technology, EVE's players are good. Their actions just. The pirates they destroy in missions and in deadspace complexes must be bad; they and theirs forfeit their lives because a capsuleer chooses to end them. With this mindset -- one that the players experience in EVE Online's PvE as capsuleers themselves -- they're justified in wiping out ships with thousands of crew members, even entire colonies of civilians aligned in one way or another with a given faction.
Morality doesn't even enter the picture.
Morality doesn't apply to the capsuleer gods.
To quote CCP Abraxas, "By the sheer dint of falling under the gaze of an immortal and his followers, they do not deserve to live any longer. All these lives, fit for nothing but death and ruin."
In keeping with this theme, "All These Lives are Fit to Ruin" is a tale of conflicting morality and retribution, and a good read for any fan of sci-fi, regardless of whether or not they fly in New Eden.
