Gradient (Player corporation)

This article is considered to be In Character by its author.

File:Gradient.png
Name	Gradient
Ticker	[GRD]
Alliance	Electus Matari
CEO	Challis Drant
Founded	105.06.29
Status	active
Headquarters	Undisclosed
Public Channel	Gradient
History
Alliances	Namtz'aar K'in
Former CEOs	Kilhu Emmek, Rocius, Elsebeth Rhiannon

Overview

Gradient (GRD) is one of the oldest independent capsuleer corporations still active, and the one that can boast most consistently having been loyal to the Minmatar Republic through all turbulent times and changing of hands of tribal leadership. Gradient has both industrial and combat operations, fighting to strengthen the Minmatar people and to defend the tribal lands against pirates and extortionists. Most of our Gradient pilots are either Matari or Gallente, but there are also a few Caldari pilots in the roster.

To achieve its goals, Gradient has been in and out of various alliances, but the basis and areas of its operations have always remained the same. Currently, Gradient is the executor corporation and the sole deciding power in the loyalist alliance Electus Matari.

History

NOTE: Work in progress --Elsebeth Rhiannon (talk) 03:24, 9 May 2019 (CDT)

Origin

"Freedom through strength, strength through industry."

Gradient was founded by Kilhu Emmek in 105.06.29 and thus is one of the oldest corporations that still exist in the EVE-universe. From the beginning Gradient was a loyal supporter of the Minmatar Republic and has remained so despite changes in both independent capsuleer and Republic politics - a claim no other corporation can make for Minmatar, and very few for any other nation.

In the beginning Gradient concentrated its strength in industrial build up of the Republic, consistent with the then Republic policy of the same. However, it was not before long that the corporation was also involved in anti-pirate and anti-Amarr combat operations, especially in the defense of tribal space.

The name "Gradient" originally refers to the idea that not everything is black and white, and that in service of greater good shades of grey must sometimes be tolerated.

Gradient for the Republic

"Thunder only shouts, slow rain drowns."

The early years of Minmatar capsuleering were marked with discord and disagreements brought on by attitudes to the Minmatar Republic government.

During those times, Gradient always spoke for the need of unity under the Republic's flag and for putting pride behind actual results, for example supporting the famously unpopular decision to ban Khumaaks in exchange for freed slaves. In a time of new indie capsuleer freedom fighters ceding in numbers from official policy, Gradient remained loyal to the legal government and continued to work in peaceful manners while condemning piracy also by Minmatar groups and all capsuleer separatist movements.

This made the corporation from the start a target of derision, refusals of co-operation and even violent attacks by other Minmatar capsuleers with perhaps looser definitions of "loyalism".

In the infamous Karishal Muritor incident, where a Republic Fleet officer went rogue, stole Fleet heavy ships, and started terrorist attacks in The Bleak Lands, Gradient sided strongly with the legal government, offering assistance to Admiral Kanth Filmir, charged with bringing Muritor to justice. This stance was wildly unpopular from the start, and Gradient was even (completely baselessly) accused of planning to attack other Minmatar organizations because if it.

When Karishal Muritor was finally captured and executed by the Republic Fleet, the Minmatar forces known as "the Matari Five" fractured, with Ushra'Khan siding with the rebels, Fimbulwinter leaving the Republic altogether, Electus Matari questioning the Republic's reasoning but remaining loyal, and Namtz'aar Kin and Fate Weavers siding strongly with the Republic and severing ties to Ushra'Khan.

Gradient voiced strong opinions in the internal conflict, calling for peace among the Minmatar and for the Defiants to stand down, but declaring loyalty to the Republic should there be a further call to arms. Admiral Kanth Filmir's speech when public demands forced him to resign over the incident was often cited by Gradient leadership as a good description of their stance:

"You would see the Amarr come tear this all down? You live in a dream brothers. I care not for the politics, I care for the people of this Republic and my solemn duty to protect them all, a Duty that Karishal himself swore to as well, as my men here swore too. Yes, we protect the people here. It is our Duty. It is the Duty. And it is not easy. You think there is not one of us who does not want to take the fight to Amarr and bring all our people back? You think we dont hear their cries? We dont hear their prayers? We dont see them? Everyday we do so. Every damn day. Yet we carry on our duty, we carry on with our protection."

Still right before the events of YC110, Gradient tried to gather voices for refuting the Angel claim in Skarkon and for peaceful means for the Starkmanir rescue. Thus, in the dramatic events of YC110, where a previously unknown Minmatar force attacked the Empire to recover the Starkmanir, officials of the government were found murdered, and the Parliament dissolved, many expected Gradient to take a stance against the new government. Indeed, severe concerns over the legality of the power switch were raised by the corporation. Regardless of these, Electus Matari leadership and members, and with them Gradient, remained supportive of the Republic itself, not of any particular leader or government.

Gradient publicly renewed their Oaths of Loyalty to the Minmatar Republic after the regime change in YC110.07.01.

Involvement in anti-slavery

"We come for our people."

Right after the Khumaak debate in 106, Gradient gained some further publicity, both good and bad, in a famous program to manipulate the slave market to both purchase slaves into freedom and to expose capsuleers involved in slave trading. That project fast grew to the beginning of Gradient's refugee camp and slave rescue / survival enhancement missions, which continue to this day.

Most capsuleers and interested parties at the time knew Gradient as an industrial organization, which was not an untrue reputation. The existence of Hope, the refugee center through which millions came to freedom, was also pretty well-known. Slightly less publicity was given to the fact that Gradient did conduct slave acquisition and transport operations across the border, though the "plausible deniability" involved was occasionally only slightly more opaque than sea water, as multiple Intergalactic Summit posts referring to it were made already during the early years. Parts of those operations were later to be known as "The Secret Stairway".

As the numbers and boldness of independent capsuleers rose, these operations quickly became public knowledge, leading eventually in YC108-109 to escalating wars between Minmatar forces, Amarrian loyalists, , and even some Caldari.

When Electus Matari was developing the Vitoxin Cure, Gradient was an essential part of providing funding and baseline research.

Gradient against criminals

"The only one who can own Republic space is the Republic itself."

Perhaps best known of all Gradient's activities is anti-piracy. One of the earliest recorded major engagement in such operations for Gradient is as part of the alliance Namtz'ar Kin against Fury Corporation in YC108, though there were other wars before that. These wars lead to quick escalation of pirate/anti-pirate action the Molden Heath simultaneously to the Slaver Wars. Gradient was heavily involved in antipirate operations in Molden Heath, as part of such collectives as MH-Sec and Coalition of Antipirates.

This work was enough that it attracted the attention of officials, and Gradient and/or its various alliances offered assistance to CONCORD and to the Republic several times.

Gradient in alliances

"Me and my brother against my cousin, me and my cousin against the outsider."

Gradient has always considered itself independent, and alliances a tool, not an identity in itself. The corporation has been in and out of alliances according to what best serves current needs and goals.

In 107 the founder and then CEO of the corp Kilhu Emmek ("KE", Sebiestor) disappeared in the Great Wildlands and left the corp without a leader for some time. He was succeeded as CEO by Rocius Desher, a member of the Brutor Tribe. A little time after that Gradient joined forces with several loyalist corporations to form Electus Matari, a Minmatar alliance within the Republic.

The original formation of the alliance was turbulent, and Gradient ended up leaving the alliance temporarily soon after its initial formation . During this absence from the alliance Gradient flew for Namtz'aar Kin, during which time the corporation gained significant advances in combat capability in wars against both Amarrian loyalists and Molden Heath pirates. It has been said by some that this was a formative period for the corporation, changing its disposition from purely industrial to industrial/combat, though it has also been pointed out that Gradient was on this path independently and the shift would likely have happened regardless of their alliance ties.

Nevertheless, even outside the alliance, Gradient's co-operation with Electus Matari remained close with joint operations against pirates in Republic space, in wars against Amarrial loyalists, and in anti-slavery work in co-operation with the infamous Wolves of Pator. In YC109 Gradient returned to Electus Matari.

Gradient CEOs

Gradient has always had close ties to the Great Wildlands, having flown in that region as allies to local NRDS alliances (eg Foundation, True Reign). Many of Gradient's CEOs have had a personal relationship with the region. Two of the former CEOs (Kilhu Emmek and Rocius Desher) have provably stepped down in order to vanish into or spend time in the Great Wildlands. Some rumors explaining the absence of the third CEO (Elsebeth Rhiannon) from space in YC116-117 also place her in N-DQ0D, for some time after she ceded her position to the current CEO, Challis Drant.

Current information

Current CEO of Gradient is Challis Drant, and day-to-day operations are ran by XO Debes Sparre, both of the Brutor Tribe.

107.07.25 Gradient and a few other like minded republic supporting corporations founded Electus Matari to strengthen the industrial and paramilitary forces of the Republic. Gradient has been a member of that alliance and others, and served in the Minmatar Militia, depending on how the Gradient command estimates the corporation can best serve the Republic.

Oath of Loyalty

Gradient penned the capsuleer Oath of Loyalty to the Minmatar Republic in 106, based on oaths used by tribal militaries at the time. These words are still in occasional use, both by Gradient members and others.

"I hereby declare my oath of loyalty to the Minmatar Republic. I absolutely and wholly renounce all pledges, fidelities, and allegiances to any foreign sovereignties or powers. I swear to support and defend the Minmatar Republic, its people, policies, holdings, and agents, its sovereignty and the integrity of its territory against all enemies and usurpers, foreign and domestic. I will bear arms on behalf of the Minmatar Republic in times of war, and will perform civil service on its behalf in times of peace. I will obey, uphold, and defend its laws and treaties. I will perform work of national importance under governmental, military, or civilian direction as required by the Minmatar Republic in times of emergency. I make this commitment unreservedly, with no mental reservation or purpose of evasion."

The oath is usually ended with the customary, collectively repeated words

"With this oath, I affirm and assert my loyalty to the Minmatar Republic."