A Fire Upon The Deep

Say what you will about the Dominion sovereignty rules, there are a lot of good fights going on in nullsec these days and a lot of territory changing hands.

Down in Providence there's a three way donnybrook going on, with CVA, Ev0ke and a coalition of resident alliances going at it - kicking and gouging in the mud, the blood and the beer.

The Southern Russians have pushed The Initiative's minions from Feythabolis and are stomping around Impass in hob-nailed boots; all the while preparing to take the fight directly to The Initiative in Catch and Teneferis (more on that next time).

With the Kalevala Expanse all but overrun by NC, they and the Drone Russian are gleefully bashing away at each other in Etherium Reach - both sides apparently enjoying mayhem writ large.

The old Goons versus BoB/IT Alliance show seems to be regaining some of its old shine over in Fountain and Dekline. At the same time IT Alliance is occupied with propping up SysK in Period Basis and sent a 200 ship BS fleet (about half of which was destroyed) to the siege of 68FT-6 in Impass.

With smoke rising from so many nullsec regions, I'm wondering how nullsec Carebears are managing. Even traditionally stable areas are now subject to changing hands and the related invasion or counter-invasion. For carebears, that's got to be driving a lot of change.

To some bears, like Against All Polish Authorities in Teneferis, the invasion amounted to little more than the need to keep one's head down during the change in landlords. Others pack up shop and head for empire when the winds of war blow.

Still other bears transform into PvP bears. Dominion rules and the recent discovery of the Drake as a viable fleet platform have upped the demand for nullsec pilots and made alliance fleets much more welcoming of nullsec bears looking to get into the scrum.

It will be interesting to see how the current level of conflict transforms the nullsec bear. They may revert to their old ways, renting the space and making the monies. Then again, maybe they'll claim a little patch of space to call their own, set up mining and production, but keep their weapons close at hand against the coming of the wolf.

Or it could be that the quiet life of mining and making will pale after the taste of so much blood and many will give up carebearing altogether. This could leave nullsec with a larger population of PvPers than it once had, all quick to become bored when the current flames of nullsec die down, and prone to building new wars in the ashes of the old.