She’s still burning.

It’s been almost a year since the Avatar-class titan, TES Seraph, was abruptly destroyed by a powerful contingent of Drifter Battleships. As she broke up in-space, it became clear to observers in-system that Empress Jamyl Sarum I went down with her flagship.

On 2015-08-21 at 22:14, that observation was confirmed in an official broadcast,

In route to formally commission the Amarr Navy’s new Imperial Issue Abaddon class flagship TES Auctoritas, and welcome her to The Throne Worlds Defence Fleet, Empress Jamyl and her Imperial Guard escort were ambushed in the system of Safizon as they arrived.

The assault on the Amarr Navy, which saw the destruction of the Avatar class titan TES Seraph, piloted by Empress Jamyl, is believed to be the largest and most costly loss of military hardware that the Imperial Armed Forces have suffered in over a century.

In the statement, released just moments ago, Chamberlain Haromi confirmed that Empress Sarum was “killed in action, defending God’s will, God’s chosen, and His Empire” before paying tribute to her “extraordinary strength, selflessness and humility before the watchful gaze of God.”

The abruptness of the assault and the awesome destructive power of the Drifter armada (coupled with its ability to completely rout the Amarr Navy and loyalist capsuleers) left the Cluster in state of shock.

In the days and weeks to come, it became clear that Jamyl was the intended target of the operation and that the Drifters had successfully assassinated the head of one of the most powerful entities in the Cluster. Furthermore, that act asserted, in no uncertain terms, the Drifter’s utter dominance of space; a dominance that I would argue they maintain today. Only a small percentage of Eve pilots have gone up against a group of Drifter battleships and survived.

Flying back to Safizon, I wondered what the wreck would look like. I remember orbiting it on the day after it was first destroyed. The wreck buckled and smoldered; it’s plated exterior reflecting the fires of the wreck almost as intensely as the light of the system’s sun. Remarkably, not much has changed. The wreck still smolders and her armor still glistens. But she’s quieter now. The crowds have dispersed. The initial popular fascination is gone. The Drifters incursions are no longer the talk of the town. Circadian Seekers on a gate, de-cloaked and deconstructed Jovian space stations, Drifter wormholes: these phenomena seem to get no more than a passing glance these days. Today, it’s all about Upwell and citadels; about the supposed ‘supremacy of the capusleer.’

We’ve forgotten that we are still part of a system and a story that is much bigger and much, much older than any of us and that is still evolving. The Chronicle, Inheritance, suggests us that there is still far more to this story and our complacency with the entropy (and entropy which we, in may ways, have engendered) suggests that we may be in for harder times as the pages continue to turn.

Fortunately, the TES Seraph, her back broken and her hull in pieces, has ensured that those willing to make the trip to Safizon can never forget that fact. Pilot your ship into the forward bay nestled in her bow and you’ll realize that, in her death throes, she came to rest in alignment with Caroline’s Star.

Fitting. The flagship of a ‘heretical’ cloned Amarr Empress connected in no uncertain terms with a (most likely) malevolent sapient informorph ‘born’ in a Jovian virtual construct came to rest in alignment with the place where so much of this story effectively began.