For most of us it had not been the easiest life to live. Resources had always been scarce, and what little we eked out was strongly controlled by our local government. We did a smattering of trade with neighboring planets, but for the most part we kept our business to ourselves .Our government fear of off world dependency led to exorbitant taxation on all interstellar business, and the populace mostly about EVE Isk, if grudgingly, supported this policy. In truth, we had learned not to desire what we could not easily acquire.

We were a closed system - interconnected, complex and opaque - and in the myriad of monopolies, favoritism, backroom dealing and nepotism that we allowed to take place, we convinced ourselves that this was the only way to run a planet, and we took a strange pride in it; as if our corruption were emblematic of our independence.

The factional wars caught us by surprise about EVE Isk. On dark nights we would look up at the stars and see some of them moving at great speed, others bursting into flames. It was the capsuleers, of whom I would only ever heard stories, engaged in battles I could not even begin to imagine about EVE Isk.

We were not used to being the object of anyones plans, much less fought over with such ferocity. Reports would trickle in of Gallentean successes, Gallentean conquests and Federation Navy domination, which made us all the more nervous: We were not stupid, and even the more fervently nationalistic of us knew full well that we Gallente, for all our strengths, would not be doing all our fighting in Gallente systems such as our own if we were on any kind of path to victory. The trickle eventually dried up, and we began to speak in hushed voices. Not long after, the Caldari came about EVE Isk.