Fox Gaden
Immortal Guides
4552
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Posted - 2014.10.14 19:12:00 -
[1] - Quote
Throughout our history, from the beginning of the Amarrian Templar program to this very day, the governments and militaries of New Eden have seen us as both an asset and a threat. While they seek to exploit us as the ultimate renewable resource in their wars, they also fear and mistrust us. A powerful weapon makes people fear the person welding it, but when a powerful weapon can think for itself, who is truly welding it? Support within the factional militaries have varied, but we have always faced suspicion and fear. Those who have managed to get out of their indentured service to the military of their birth, and those who had no military affiliation when they received their implants, do not even have access to the limited supports that a suspicious government might provide.
Going mercenary may mean freedom from the oppression and mistreatment of the Factional Militaries, but it also means we can no longer count on their supports and services either. My own experience with this harsh reality has made it clear to me that for the mercenary community to survive and prosper, we must provide for ourselves the supports and services that conventional solders receive from their respective militaries. As mercenaries we must look after ourselves.
I was thrown into combat with no military training and had to learn to fight one excruciating death at a time. I wanted to save new mercenaries from this discouraging process. So many promising new warriors were being traumatized to the point that they lost the will to fight, mentally shutting down in a long term state of unconsciousness, or going to the extreme measure of blocking their implants ability to transmit and permanently biomassing themselves. I felt with a little training it would be easier for new mercenaries to adapt to the realities of a life of deaths, and the mercenary community would grow.
I got my start in the hallowed halls of DUST University, which with its connection to the universally respected EVE University was able to quickly establish itself as a powerful institution in its own right. DUST University helped hundreds of new mercenaries each year, and many great warriors came through those great doors during my tenure. But large institutional organizations are not a good fit for everyone, and the University was internally focused, without interacting a great deal with the rest of the mercenary community.
So when I left DUST University to setup my own training corporation, Immortal Guides, I wanted to take a more community focused approach. With this in mind I tracked down other prominent immortal mercenaries who were actively providing training to the mercenary community, and I proposed that we work together and share our resources in a loose coalition of trainers, as we could do so much more together than we could ever hope to achieve individually. So the Learning Coalition was formed, founded by Charlotte OGÇÖDell, Bojo GÇ£The MightyGÇ¥, and Artificer Ghost.
Charlotte OGÇÖDell was the founder of the GÇ£MangoGÇ¥ training group, and while some thought him mad due to his ravings about being the GÇ£Speaker of the MangroveGÇ¥, I was more pragmatic and saw that he really was taking new mercenaries under his wing and showing them how to be successful on the battlefield.
Bojo The Might was the founder of BojoGÇÖs School of the Trades, which had once been a highly respected training organization. By this point Bojo had left the School, handing the responsibility for maintaining it to a young student, and was perusing new projects.
Artificer Ghost was the young student who had been promoted to CEO of BojoGÇÖs School of the Trades and was struggling to keep the dying school afloat.
But the Learning Coalition was more than the sum of the four of us. It drew in many experienced veterans who wanted to help teach the next generation of mercenaries. The key strength of the Learning Coalition was that it was non expulsive. Veterans did not have to leave their own Corporations to participate. As long as they left any political squabbles at the door, they were welcome to come in and share their knowledge with the newest members of the mercenary community. Because of this we saw many legendary figures drop by to volunteer their time, figures still actively engaged in the corporate battles in Molden Heath. Some of my favour memories are of the reaction of mercenaries who found themselves in a squad with feared enemies from rival Corporations, during training exercises.
The Learning Coalition was not the first attempt at a non-corporate approach by the community to provide training to new mercenaries. However, previous attempts had failed due to the new mercenaries they were setup to help not being able to find them. With the Learning Coalition I intended to overcome this obstacle. I enlisted the help of my uncle Renier Gaden, who was a Pod Pilot. I had already named Renier as CEO of Immortal Guides for administrative and political reasons. Renier had unrestricted freedom to travel, and was able to visit the facilities were people received their implants and recruit them to Immortal Guides while they were still recovering from the procedure. Then every member of Immortal Guides was invited to join the Learning Coalition. In this way we managed to maintain a constant stream of new mercenaries coming into the Learning Coalition looking for training.
As the months progressed the new recruits learned from the veterans and eventually became experienced solders in their own right. As they became more sure of their abilities, they would usually move on to other Corporations, but they would generally remain members of the Learning Coalition, and as they became the veterans they would pass the torch by training the next set of new recruits.
Hand/Eye coordination cannot be taught. For everything else there is the Learning Coalition.
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Fox Gaden
Immortal Guides
4552
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Posted - 2014.10.14 19:13:00 -
[2] - Quote
While I am a Caldari Citizen, Immortal Guides has no factional affiliation, and accepts applicants from all race, gender, sexual, political, and religious orientations. We do not discriminate. We even accept and train the Gallente. Immortal Guides supports the mercenary community and provides support services that the Factions refuse to provide.
When death is no longer a permanent condition it changes your perspective. You fear the people who are trying to kill you less, and learn to respect them more. You begin to realize that it is those who wish to control your life that should concern you. You begin to realize that you have more in common with those you face in battle than the Factions or civilian corporations you are fighting for. If we are to maintain the freedoms we have gained to fight as mercenaries throughout New Eden, and push for greater freedoms, such as the freedom to travel and socialize like a normal citizen when we are not on a mercenary contract, then we must all work together to support each other.
Immortal Guides is dedicated to the support of the mercenary community and is a strong supporter of the Learning Coalition which provides mercenaries a forum to interact outside of the political restraints which seek to keep us separated and fragmented.
Hand/Eye coordination cannot be taught. For everything else there is the Learning Coalition.
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