Search for scientists continues as Articio and Foiritan clash

Rescue teams have arrived on the planet Inis-Ilix I in an effort to locate the renown scientists Touvolle and Umailen, accidentally sent there as common slave labor. Machal Corde leads the search effort, but isn't very optimistic about the task ahead. 'It's like looking for a needle in a stack of needles,' he explains, clearly exasperated after dealing with befuddled Amarr officials, which don't seem to grasp the idea that slaves might have unique identities. Corde continues: 'To them [the Amarrians] all slaves are the same and the notion of searching for individuals in the mass is alien to them. It makes things that much harder.'

Meanwhile, Articio Kor-Azor demanded the immediate execution of the two Minmatars that managed to masquerade themselves as the scientists to escape the sulfur mines on Inis-Ilix I. But his plans for revenge where thwarted by the Federation delegates, acting on instructions from president Foiritan. They claimed the Minmatars where now free, as the Federation had paid for their release. Articio, clearly not wishing to escalate the matter into a full-blown row with the Federation, grudgingly accepted. The two Minmatars are currently heading back to Federation space and from there they will be sent on to the Republic.

With the slave mines on Inis-Ilix I suddenly in the limelight of the galactic media a debate has arisen in many quarters about the poor conditions of slaves in some areas of the Amarr Empire. While the current Emperor was still royal heir the circumstances of slaves within his domain were somewhat improved, but they've been in a rapid decline since his son Articio took over. Many are also angry over the apparent hypocrisy of the Gallente Federation, outspoken critics of slavery for many years. They've turned a blind eye to the fate of the thousands of Minmatar slaves toiling in harsh conditions such as those found on Inis-Ilix I, but as soon as a known Gallentean is sent there then suddenly the Federation is all ready and willing to act on the matter and send in rescuers. The folksinger Amelia Piroette, a well-known activist and humanist, is organizing a fund-raising concert called Slave-Aid to be held in the near future, where many of the leading musicians in the world of EVE will help raise money to free slaves from the poisonous sulfur mines on Inis-Ilix I.