The Fiction Portal Is Exploding

Hey all,

There's a major back story update ready for your perusal - a seriously major, extensive, positively luxuriant update - so I wanted to drop you a quick note about how we've been fleshing out the lore and where we're taking it.

After the advent of the Fiction Portal's launch on the EVElopedia, we haven't been content to sit on our laurels and marvel at the 1,000+ articles already on there. The Fiction Portal has seen regular updates of content since then (the most recent of which can be viewed on the Latest Updates page) as we've identified areas of the back story that either looked like they were in need of fleshing out or simply looked interesting and juicy enough for us to want to tackle at that moment in time.

Now, when I say "we" I'm primarily talking about the hard-working members of our volunteer fiction writing squad, Mercury. My main function when it comes to the EVElopedia has been as an editor of their output, a job where sometimes I could barely keep up with the ongoing rush of words coming from these people. While the staff at CCP have been busying themselves on live events and ongoing storyline (much more on those in an upcoming blog), Mercury have taken the mantle of back story and, yet again, risen to the occasion like a rocket. Seriously, if you want to contribute to the lore of EVE online - if you notice an EVElopedia article that looks interesting, or you hear of or take part in our series of ongoing live events, or you just always fancied that you could take on a dark, dystopian future world and give it your own personal spin - you really should consider signing up for the team.

In this case, we've taken on the Amarr and the Gallente, pulled them apart and really looked at how they're composed from the ground on up. And we've done it through more than 100,000 new words on these major factions. One hundred thousand words. The precise count falls somewhere between 105,000 and 115,000, and doesn't even include footnote or reference text. That's just ... crazy. That's flat-out insane. The novel I wrote for EVE was 120,000 words, and at that point my editor was begging me not to add any more to it.

We've got articles covering the entirety of Amarr history, starting from the initial continental settlements on their home planets and proceeding all the way through the modern era and Sansha's incursions into Empire territory. We've got articles covering not only the same vast, extensive ground of the Gallente Federation, but also breakdowns of democracy in the Federation, economy in the Amarr Empire, and demographics in the Federation, in the Caldari State and the Amarr Empire.

All of Mercury has put in hard work for this, but I must recognize two individuals who've truly gone above and beyond: ISD Vance Siterman, and former ISD Caleb Kang, now staff member CCP Eterne. These two have simply blown the lid off what it means to be a productive Mercury member, with an absolutely astonishing output on subjects that were already politically and historically complex. The state of the EVElopedia would not be the same without the efforts of these two. If Caleb Kang/Eterne keeps up the same level of output and diligence here at CCP as he has with Mercury, the storyline and content sections will be all the richer for it; though if he doesn't at least slow down a little in the new year, the rest of us may be forced to kill and eat him in order to ensure our own job security.

The new articles came out with Retribution. As noted, you'll see them all listed under the Latest Updates and Credits page. Spare a moment to tip your hats to Mercury, and check out their ISD sign-up page if you're interested. And, as always, thank you for reading.

                -- CCP Abraxas

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