Arek'Jaalan Mailing List W27: Possible Insights
| From | Jikane Ronuken |
| Subject | Possible Insights into the Talocan |
| Date | 114.01.07 10:13 |
| Content | Greetings Arek'Jaalan,
I've been doing some research into the Talocan recently, and have come to some conclusions that do not appear to have been considered, or at least discussed. Before I get into it, the information I am basing this on is the generally accepted theories of Talocan superiority in spatial manipulation, their nature as a migrant culture, information on the substance Isogen-5, found here, and the physical appearance of Talocan ships and structures. To the best of my knowledge, it is currently unknown exactly how the Talocan traveled great distances and defended themselves, since they lack any obvious weaponry. I believe that both functions were carried out by the spine-like protrusions found on Talocan ships and many of their structures. This assumption is partly based off of descriptions of Empress Jamyl Sarum's modified Abaddon that was used to destroy the Elder fleet in the system of Sarum Prime, and partly on the fact that we know at least one Talocan Structure functioned as a gate, and features spines similar to those found on their ships. If these spines were indeed used for both attack and travel, then it seems most likely, given the Talocan expertise in spatial manipulation, that they were used to generate a personal wormhole for the ship to travel through. For attack, it isn't unlikely that the Talocan ships functioned in a similar way to the Amarr Superweapon spoken of earlier, that is, using Isogen-5 as ammunition or fuel. During my research I have discovered rumors of hidden caches of Isogen-5 spread throughout the entirety of the New Eden cluster, placed there long before any empire, except perhaps the Jove, had returned to the stars. If we use the assumption that the Talocan used Isogen-5 as a fuel, then what we already know lends some support. Starting with the fact that the Talocan were a migrant society, they would need a ready supply of fuel to continue their travels. Thus creating a cache, whether mined in-system or brought from elswhere, is a wise decision. Second, it is widely agreed that Isogen-5 played a part in the Seyllin Incident. If this is true, then caches placed the affected systems, and long since forgotten, explain the source of the material in those systems. Isogen-5 playing a part in the Incident also lends credibility to the assumption that Talocan used it for both travel and attack. Third, and final, there are many Talocan relics that seem designed for use on matter, such as the Ignition Device, the Molecule Binder, and the Solid Atomizer. While it is unknown exactly what these were used for, it isn't hard to believe, using what has been stated already, that these were used for manipulation the Isogen-5 prior to projection from the spines.
Please Note: Much of this is based on rumor and unconfirmed data, I am by no means saying that what I have written is fact.I have just taken what information i could find, and made conclusions based on that. --Jikane Ronuken |
| From | Borascus |
| Subject | Possible Insights into the Talocan |
| Date | 114.01.07 12:05 |
| Content | Although the Galnet link is accurate, the supposition of the original location prefix has been doppled. this leads to an advertising website.
Accessed out-of-pod. |
| From | Ander Fred |
| Subject | Possible Insights into the Talocan |
| Date | 114.01.07 17:47 |
| Content | The only problem I can see with the theory is the lack of turreting, a huge disadvantage to any weapon system designed to track anything. The spines certainly look like a energy-focus system, but why would the Polestar have a doomsday-sized deathweapon?
Just random thoughts. In other news, proof of Talocan use of Polymers has been found! Only one item is known to exist, Large Crate of Talocan Station Life-Support Cores. Credit to Tykari for the find. Assuming these are not produced via artificial means, this would imply that the Talocan went from New Eden to Anoikis and back to New Eden, boosting the idea that the Talocan presence here was Industrial, possibly explaining the lack of weapon systems. What is needed now is more evidence of Talocan Polymer use. One piece if nice, but it is a vital staiton piece, An example of less-essential polymer tech would be nice to find, to show that their use had spread throughout their culture. |
| From | Gejaheline |
| Subject | Possible Insights into the Talocan |
| Date | 114 |
| Content | Just a fairly quick reply to the following comment RE lack of turrets.
Firstly, it's not beyond the realm of possibility to construct a steerable directed energy weapon through the use of phased arrays, giving you a fixed "muzzle" that can fire at a variety of angles at the cost of reduced power at extreme angles without having a visible turret assembly. Secondly, it may not have been necessary to utilise turrets. If a ship is sufficiently manoeuverable or the target is very far away, the effort required to rotate the entire ship is relatively low and allows a ship designer to integrate a much larger weapon into the ship's structure rather than having to make the weapon light enough to fit into a turret mount. I would be inclined to believe that a single large spinal weapon implies that such a warship would engage targets from much longer ranges than are typically experienced in modern New Eden battlefields. Similarly, a Doomsday-sized deathweapon might seem extravagant by our standards, but if it was intended to fire across millions of kilometres such a large weapon would be required to offset the attentuation caused by distance. This raises an obvious question: Why use such long-range weapons? Surely an enemy fleet would simply warp or otherwise jump right on top of you with ships designed to fight at 100km or less? Naturally, this all stems from the assumption that the spine-like structures on Talocan ships and installations are weapon systems of some form. Unless there's some decent proof, speculation on Talocan warfighting is just another unsubstantiated theory. |
| From | Faulx |
| Subject | Possible Insights into the Talocan |
| Date | 114.01.09 21:56 |
| Content | Assuming her theory is valid, Gejaheline's question, "Why use such long-range weapons?", can be answered by "crossfire". Crossfire would allow multiple installations capable of firing over that distance to provide covering fire and target spotting for one another. This, perhaps, answers another question, "Why do the Talocan bases have giant observation domes pointing into deep space?" Under this theory, these domes could help to spot distant targets.
However, it seems likely that the Talocan used missile weapons, at least for short range defense. This idea is based off the thoery that the defunct message in local comms in the class 5, Quarantine Area Cosmic Anomaly (filled with Talocan structures and guarded by sleepers), is originating from an aging Talocan defense system and not the sleeper drones. The mesage is as follows: “You have entered a quarantine area. This region is infected. Leave now.” “Violation of the quarantine will result in –“ “ –missiles are armed, ready to – “ The message playback, is slightly garbled, lending support to the notion that it comes from the delapidated Talocan structures rather than the well maintained drones. The sleeper sentry turrets at the site are also the "Orthrus" variety, which do not use missiles. This leaves the only other known source of missles as the sleeper drones themselves, and these also use lasers, which were not mentioned in the playback. Therefore it seems likely that Talocan bases were armed with some sort of missile defense system, now defunct, disabled, disarmed, or possibly missing. As we've seen in empire space, races that favor missiles on their bases also tend to use them in their ship design, so it can be infered that Talocan ships probably also had some kind of missile system embedded in their hulls. Missile launchers need not be turreted, since the payload can reorient after firing; perhaps an indepth visual surface scan might reveal simple retractable openings that obsure the weapon system itself? (I've not yet had the opportunity to check, despite many forays into w-space) |
| From | Amseln deBrabant |
| Subject | Possible Insights into the Talocan |
| Date | 114.01.09 22:50 |
| Content | You might also consider that the ancient warp system could have been much more unreliable than ours today. So that battles over long distance would be much more normal than in modern warfare, Fleets/ships might just not have been able to warp "on top" of the enemy. |
| From | Tykari |
| Subject | Possible Insights into the Talocan |
| Date | 114.01.15 14:56 |
| Content | Good day all,
Seeing I haven't adressed the recent debate on the Talocan except during discussions in the AJ channels, I thought it perhaps best to also put some of my thoughts on the mailing list. The theory posted by Jikane Ronuken concerning the spines on many of the ships and structures has been around for a little while. The original can be found here on the Talocan Technology division portal. The possible involvement of Isogen-5 as an element is something that wasn't considered yet and might be useful to investigate. As Faulx has mentioned the Talocan most likely used missile based weaponry as well. The design of both Talocan ships and structures feature many panelled surfaces which could indeed hide the launch systems. I have recently been undertaking expeditions in w-space again and am collecting visiual data and scans to see if it can be confirmed. Also for those who may have missed it, the Talocan Technology division portal also has some information concerning the Talocan defensive systems. I will be expanding a bit further on it in the future as well. -Tykari |
