Mynxee is one classy Lady and just how do I know that? Through personal experience. During the summer my Alt’s Alliance, A Band Apart, held a Summer Frigate Smackdown. In my very first match, Stray was paired to fight Mynxee. In my 11 years of playing EVE off and on, that fight had to be the most fun I’ve ever had. It started off with my first solo kill… ever. Then I danced with the Hellcat in the pale starlight.

What a great fight! Before we engaged in combat, I was nervous, scared, and knew for sure my impending explosion was soon to be. I hadn’t realize that Mynxee had gimped her fit in a way that had our characters very closely matched. We warped to our local safe spot in Ish, rushed at each other to close range. I scored first hits, watched her shields start to fall while not taking any damage myself. I began to wonder what was up. Then realized she was getting hit with some severe lag. It wasn’t long, however, before I started feeling the return hits.

Then I started seeing some of the craziest lights, and was like what kind of weapon is that? When I realized it was fireworks! LOL! So, it was quite a show! Both of us were deep in armor and hull when I thought I had her, she vanished, but no wreck. Then I saw she wasn’t in fleet anymore either, she had lost connection! Ack! So, I turned off my armor rep, stopped, and waited for her return.

After a little bit, she popped back in and we went at it again. At this point, my guns were already burnt out, but I still had my drones, but it didn’t take long before I was running out of cap. It came down to who was going to get the last armor rep in. She was down to 13% armor, 6% hull and I was down to 52% armor, 8% hull…. After I got my rep in and won the fight!

Simply awesome! Thanks Mynxee for a great memory and a fun fight that I’ll always remember.

As you’ll learn, she also has an explorer’s heart, runs a blog at “Outlaw Insouciant”, was a former CSM Chair, and is currently a scout for EvE-Scout, based in Thera.

Tell us why you became a capsuleer. What was it that appealed to you to become a pilot in a dangerous and unforgiving environment?

Mynxee

I have always had the soul of an explorer. Life as a capsuleer seemed to offer the right mix of excitement, opportunity, mystery, and freedom to follow my heart, see amazing things, control my own destiny, and answer to no one. I earned my pilot’s license in YC109 (2007). I will never forget the first time I undocked. I felt so small and New Eden so huge…I remember in my naiveté feeling nervous even about jumping from system to system in high sec, hoping I was “allowed” to go there. That sense that *anything* could happen created a persistent little frisson that hooked me right from the start and remains to this day.

How would you describe your characters career path?

My original character was drawn to exploration and casual industry. Within a couple of days in New Eden, I was enthralled by the game already and subscribed immediately. Soon after while mining in my starter system, I was approached by an experienced (2003!) pilot who was starting a corp and inviting rookies to join. Within a couple of days, I joined and then it became clear that the social element of the game made it even more fun–especially when you have the benefit of being able to ask a very experienced player about all the 10,000 confusing details involved in fitting ships, etc. He was a very friendly, patient, and funny guy…we are still friends to this day.

A few months down the line, I took a clueless shortcut through low sec (Basgerin) and was attacked by pirates. A local group of anti-pirates who used to be pirates rose to my defense and befriended me. Thus I learned all about a side of New Eden that I only had the most peripheral awareness of before: life as an outlaw. It was intriguing! So Mynxee was born and while training up basic fitting and pvp skills, I supported my other character’s work. Meanwhile, through my new friends I was introduced to others and so it goes!

When Mynxee finally was ready to begin her career as a pilot, my friends put me in touch with a former pirate corp they had belonged to, Death of Virtue, and I went to live in Decon and learn about life as an outlaw. I will never EVER forget my first solo kill in that system, some noob in a frigate. Not only was it my first experience of the PvP shakes, but my victim became a friend in game and went on to become an outlaw himself!

At that time, I was writing my blog Life in Low Sec which was fairly popular. I had been getting evemails from women readers regularly, especially newer players, who were interested in life as a pirate but weren’t sure where to start and wanted a mentor. Eventually, I decided there was a need for a women-only pirate corp that would nurture and provide a supportive environment for women players. So I founded Hellcats as a women-only pirate corp. Although the corp was never very big (intentionally), Hellcats became fairly well known in New Eden at the time and we had a great time terrorizing low sec and flying with many other notorious troublemakers: The Bastards, Tuskers, Python Cartel, and others.

In 2010, with the encouragement of many of my pirate and other friends, I ran for CSM5 on a “fix low sec” platform. Surprisingly, I received the most votes of any candidate which gave me the position of Chairperson (a role that current CSMs have done away with). The game and plans for its future were in a concerning state at the time, thus CSM5’s relationship with CCP was somewhat contentious and/or frustrating as we tried to fulfill the charter of stakeholder status as conferred by CCP and be a representative voice for the community. When that exhausting year was over, I decided to unplug for awhile and didn’t return to my spaceships until April YC116 (2014).

When I unplugged, I turned Hellcats over to one of its directors and the corp subsequently closed. But recently, an old friend and fan of the corp has opened Hellcats Reloaded. She is still deciding on the details for this new incarnation although “women and PvP” is the focus. I am offering advice as she wants it but will not be involved otherwise in the new venture.

What attracted you to explore New Eden? What is your goal and have you achieved it? If not, are you still working towards your goal, do plan to continue, or what are you currently doing?

Before I took my break from New Eden, I often used to simply wander to see the sights as a way of escaping the demands of being a CEO and serving on the CSM. It was relaxing and there is much to see in the cluster if one goes looking for it. When I returned to New Eden, I decided that I was not interested in agendas, drama, or politics. While I love PvP and remain a pirate at heart, my RL connection is via satellite internet due to living in a rural location with no other options. The latency makes PvP untenable and unfun for me. But I found that I was content just wandering around hopping through wormholes and doing hacking sites in low and null sec, all while playing or banking at Eve Online Hold’em (EOH) for ISK (admittedly, I am a poker junkie!).

Cheetah

Then Thera came along and I find myself enamored of that system and its many connections to the rest of New Eden. I have signed on to be a scout for EvE-Scout and enjoy helping people get into and out of Thera when I’m in system. Surprisingly, I find myself interested in the lore and speculations related to Thera and have spent time learning more about those.

My blog, Outlaw Insouciant, shares my new, more quiet adventures as a capsuleer. One thing I began doing is keeping a podjournal illustrating things I see in my travels. Recently, I have not posted any podjournal pages but I do plan to do more as a regular feature of the blog.

What is the name of your favorite ship that you enjoy flying the most while exploring? Why is it your favorite? Would you mind sharing your fit?

Astero

Cloaky ships are my favorite ships to fly, with frigates being my preference. Currently, I am in love with the beauty and fun of flying my Astero for doing hacking sites. However, the Cheetah offers a bigger scan probe strength bonus so I grudgingly use it for probing in Thera…it is so ugly though. I am very fond of the Hound and Rapier but don’t often fly them anymore due to the connection difficulties that so negatively impact my ability to PvP.

My fits tend to start off as standard fits lifted from Eve Uni’s wiki, then tweaked based on personal preference or intended use. My early skill training was all geared toward maximizing my ship fitting ability so I usually don’t have any trouble fitting T2; I rarely fit Faction gear (except for my Sisters of Eve probe launcher)…it’s not really necessary for what I do and typically beyond my wallet capabilities anyway 😛

During your research and travels, what has been the most interesting fact, amazing sight, or other aspect of New Eden that surprised you?

Thera has to take the prize as being the most amazing, interesting, and mysterious place I’ve been in New Eden. I look forward to seeing what else unfolds in the story about that place, Caroline’s Star, and the shattered wormholes. I love love love that so much about it remains to be discovered, that there is a sense we might never know the answer, and that this all combines to make New Eden feel big again, somehow–much bigger than capsuleers and our activities.

What have you learned or what advice would you give to someone interested in exploring New Eden?

Learn a few important basics: using a cov ops cloak, probing skills so that finding sigs isn’t an exercise in time-consuming frustration, how to avoid and/or navigate out of bubbles in null sec and w-space, how to use the d-scanner efficiently and what to be concerned about, how to set insta-undock bookmarks and why they are important in low/null/wh space. And share your journeys in a blog. Everyone sees things in New Eden with different eyes and gets to places by different routes. Share the emotions and wonder of your travels…the mechanics are the same for everyone and soon grow boring to read about unless they are intended to be instructional.

Do you have a favorite image that you wouldn’t mind me posting and sharing from your explorations?

Yes, here’s two recent images… of my Astero Pocket Rockets (my ships tend to have poker-related names) cloaked in Thera, and of it uncloaked flying past a planet in glorious light.

Pocket Rockets cloaked in Thera

Pocket Rockets planet flyby

21.12.yc116 BW-WJ2 < QP6B-I Constellation < Tenerifis Region

OOC (Out of Character):

Wanderers

Rixx Javix, over on Eveoganda, posted a link to a video called “Wanderers”. It is a short film by Erik Wernquist with a narration by Carl Sagan, depicting futuristic recreations of actual places in our solar system. It truly captures, at least for me, what’s in an explorer’s heart. As a follower of my blog, if you’ve not seen it, watch it, you won’t be disappointed.

The Dawn of Orion

As it turns out, there’s been a great deal going on this last month towards our future exploration endeavors. On December 5th, 2014, NASA launched the Orion crew module on the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket. It marks the beginning on a long journey to set the first human steps on Mars. With the current levels of funding, it’s believed that the first human to explore Mars is alive today. Optimistically, the timeframe puts us there in the 2020’s, with the 2030’s being probable, but unless the funding changes, I believe the 2040’s is more realistic.

NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover

Then there’s the little rover that could. Curiosity has made the news twice this month. First, is the discovery that Mars’ Mount Sharp shows evidence of having been built up over millions of years from sediment indicative of a large lake bed which you can read about here.

Then, just last week, the first definitive detection of organic molecules was made, which are the building blocks of life as we know it here on earth. Unfortunately, more evidence is required to determine if the presence of the molecules is truly from a form of life or from a chemical reaction. You can read more about this discovery here.

Many question the wisdom of spending billions of dollars on such explorations, but I see it as no different as our ancestors taking their first bold steps to the new world. The price was high, the risk was great, but so to were the rewards. Even today, a great deal of the technology that we take for granted can be traced back to the space program. Check out this site, NASA @ Home and City, to see how it’s impacted you.

QRBN-M V

“We have crossed the oceans. We have followed the stars” – “The Hands of Man”, Chris de Burgh

07.12.yc116 C-WPWH < O5QG-M Constellation < Omist

Y-MSJN II, Caroline’s Star from Omist Region

Even though I’ve not docked in 152 days as I explore Null Sec, instead living alone in and out of my pod on ship, I continue to receive news via Aura. The news of late has been far more interesting than usual. It seems there’s a new star in the sky that was discovered on 26.11.yc116 by a fellow capsuleer explorer, Caroline Grace. Intrigued by the news and not having noticed it myself, I eagerly cut my break short, stripped down, and jumped back into my pod to have a look. Sure enough, once I knew there was something new in the sky, it didn’t take me long to find it. Not too much is known other than, it’s getting brighter, seems to be in Jove space, and there appears to be some form of an accretion disc expanding outward from it.

S-XZHU II, Jester’s Trek

My exploration travels lately have me nearly to the edge of the New Eden cluster in the South West region of Null Sec, but even from here, I can see the new light in the heavens. It’s not as prominent as seen from closer to Jove space from the images that Caroline and others have taken, but it’s distinct and clearly unusual once you know to look for it. As to what it is, only speculation can guess at answers until more is learned. So for now, I’ll leave that to others, but I can’t help feeling that this is only a prelude to something bigger…

In other news, it seems the growing ranks of new capsuleers is on the rise. Almost seems to me as if in answer to the new star. Are we unknowingly preparing from something? Maybe it’s just my ancient ancestors whispering dark omens from times past when such events were the herald of evil times, but even knowing how foolish I am to think such thoughts, I can’t help the goose bumps along my arms nor the raised hair on the back of my neck. I’m sure it’s nothing, at least that’s what I keep telling myself, and in some ways I’m glad I’m flying alone far from Jove space, but its times like this I wish my Grand-Father were here.

7L9-ZC XI

For those new capsuleers who may have stumbled upon this journal of my exploration travels, welcome. My mission is to explore all of New Eden, one system at a time, stopping and taking an image of each planet which can be seen in my Gallery. Phase I was Empire space, which has been completed. Phase II is Null Sec, which I’m currently working on. I’ve been at this for five years now and I’m now at 50% of K-Space (known space) completed. It’s been a long journey so far and I’ve still a ways to go. If there’s a Phase III, it will be WH-Space (wormhole space), but that’s still a ways off for now.

Be sure to check out my gallery and feel free to leave comments and ask questions either here or via Eve-mail.

Fly smart, fly safe,
Katia

Oh… by the way, Caroline Grace has agreed to be interviewed as part of my New Eden Explorer Series, so be sure to check back!

MJ-X5V VIII, M9-FIB Gate