Greetings fellow capsuleers,

It is with great excitement that I can announce a new page in our EVE story in the form of establishing a nullsec home with our friends from Linknet. The leadership has dedicated a massive amount of time and effort to make this happen, and we are thrilled to share this new chapter with all of you.

Unlike our previous attempts, we now have local frenemies with whom we have agreed to respect each other's sovereignty and structures. This provides us with a solid foundation to build something bigger and better for everyone to enjoy. Linknet has been working on this in the background for the past three months, and things are looking good so far.

What’s going on?

At Explorers' Sanctum, I have always prioritized providing a wide variety of content for our members. Having a nullsec option is another effort to expand our content palette and offer new and exciting experiences for those interested.

Over the years, I think it’s safe to say we’ve grown into a little community that spans outside of EX-SA alone, and even outside of EVE. Be it with our friends from FUN INC, EVE Rookies, NOMADS, Spectre Fleet, ARC or Linknet in general... but I feel that the sense of a common goal has faded over time and the group effort to own sov may just be that new adventure we all embark on together.

The Linknet nullsec venture is something that I personally find interesting not only because it’s something the whole community can work towards to, but also because it’s not your standard nullsec blob. EX-SA is a part of The Ancients – one of the biggest NPSI alliances in game for a reason! We like shooting stuff, and we don’t want to be blue to half the galaxy denying ourselves content! A similar approach is applied to Linknet in null. Yes, we do have some blues, but not being a part of a massive blue doughnut will provide us with a constant stream of content.

Does this mean EX-SA is moving to null?

No! I want to assure you that EX-SA won't change a thing when it comes to the way we operate, nor will we move the corp to nullsec. Explorers' Sanctum stays a hisec wardec free haven that focuses on the NPSI community and giving all our members the freedom of blazing their own path in New Eden which ever way they want.

Instead, our alt corp, Silent Vale, will be shifting its focus to our newfound home in Providence by joining Linknet in various nullsec activities.

Silent Vale was started almost 2 years ago to provide EX-SA members with easy access to lowsec activities, which some of you so gladly accepted. Our lowsec home system in Petidu stays as is with corp offices open for everyone who enjoys doing some lowsec ratting or gas huffing from time to time. But with Providence becoming a thing – I think it is a great opportunity for Silent Vale to grow.

For those who are interested, we are opening the doors of Silent Vale to the rest of Linknet. We have some cool plans on the table and even more shenanigans lining up for whoever decides to participate.

Why nullsec?

Moving to nullsec comes with a lot of benefits, such as lucrative combat sites, R32 and R64 moons, ice belts, lucrative exploration sites and tons and tons of PVP explosions around the clock! But most importantly, nullsec will hone your survivability skills like no other place in EVE will.

All EX-SA members and your alts are welcome to join us in this new adventure. Although alpha characters are welcome, please note that they may have a harder time being self-sufficient in nullsec, especially those with lower skill levels. We have a small supply of ratting ships and doctrine ships on handout for various stratops fleets, with more conveniences and hauling services to be established soon.

Rules / Taxes

This whole Providence adventure is designed as a “safe” way for Linknet members to move into null. We are looking for active pilots who want to try something new, participate in group activities with common goals and grow as individual players. This obviously comes at a price of infrastructure, jump-gates, sov bills, fuel etc. Just to give you an idea, we are currently looking at alliance bills of approximately 500.000.000 ISK per week when it comes to sov upkeep. This will only go up as we anchor more structures to support both mining and strat ops.

Linknet leadership already paid for all the initial infrastructure and bills. To mitigate a part of these expences, all Linknet corporations that live in nullsec will have a 10% corp tax with SLTRN being the exception with much higher taxes. As you know, SLTRN started as a hisec defense corp and we used our alt characters to make a foothold in null and will continue to serve as the main Linknet wardec defence force for all Linknet partner corporations. If you truly intend being active with us in Providence, you might consider swapping to Silent Vale where you will keep all services, structure access and benefits but at much lower taxes.

What about current Linknet partners?

To avoid exploiting people who actively live in null and contribute by participating in fleets, CTAs, raising ADMs etc..., we will have high station service taxes for members of corporations that are not part of the Linknet nullsec alliance.

This basically means that Silent Vale will have cheap (or even completely free) services like clone swapping, repairs and reprocessing while all other Linknet partner corporations (ones that are not part of the Linknet nullsec alliance) will pay higher fees for said services.

Once again – this is to encourage people to join a nullsec corp and not just fly down to exploit resources for themselves. In other words, if you have interest in nullsec, please consider joining a Linknet nullsec corporation.

Can EX-SA members fly down there?

Yes, obviously. However, be aware that even though Linknet is blue to EX-SA, no one else in Providence is. This means that if you get in trouble or get shot by any of the Linknet nullsec blues, our Linknet friends will NOT be able to assist or save you. Consider flying in Providence just as any other hostile nullsec space.

Conclusion

I’m proud of what we have accomplished over the past six years, and very excited to continue to grow and evolve with our community. I look forward to flying with you and trying out something different. As always, don't hesitate to reach out to me for more information or any questions you may have.

Fly safe and fly smart.

- Skipp