Backstory/Chronicles/New_Horizons

Copyright © CCP 1997-2009

New Horizons
新境地

Sometimes Runia Tamarik felt that all she did was travel. Constantly touring from one place to another, with as little time as possible spent at each destination before dashing to the next. Not that she could complain too much about her vocation - she was relatively well off and had an easy job. Her years as an inter-stellar trader had given her contacts and information that elevated her way above the basic traders. She was especially proud of her connections with the Caldari, as they were very lucrative for her personally and also for her nation, the Khanid Kingdom. The routes from the Kingdom to the State might prove long and hazardous, but the profits more than made up for that.

Runia　Tamarikが思うに、自身の今までの人生の中でやってきた事全てを要約すれば”旅”なのだろう。どこかに辿り着いたかと思えば必要最低限の時間を過ごして次の場所へと、絶えず移動を続けてきた。もちろん自身の職務について不満を言うつもりはない。周りに比べれば十分うまく行ってる上に、仕事自体は簡単なのだ。星系間交易業者として過ごしてきたこの数年間に獲得した知識と情報網のおかげで一般的な交易業者以上の地位をすでに得ている。特に自分個人に加えて、出身国であるKhanid王国にとっても非常に有益であるCaldari合衆国とのコネクションを彼女は自慢に思っていた。KhanidとCaldariを結ぶ航路は長いが、それを補って余りある利益をもたらしているのだ。

Today, Runia was especially excited as she was about to meet a Caldari trader she’d never met before. The man was supposed to have good connections to some top-level people in the Caldari corporate structure. If true, this meant Runia might be in for some big bucks. Yet she felt a little trepidation, not because of the high-level contacts the man had, but because he was Deteis. This was the first time she had done business with one. Until now her only contacts within the Caldari State where Civire - she was used to their mode of thinking; straightforward, above-board dealings where everything was planned and perfected. She never had any troubles with timetables or broken assurances. Deteis were supposed to be different - more cunning, more underhanded. These, at least were the rumors she had heard. But usually they came from people - Dark Amarrians - that had no first-hand knowledge of the Caldari. Other traders she knew said that although the Deteis were in many ways different they still shared all the basic Caldari traits with the Civire - duty, discipline and sincerity.

Runiaは今日、今まで会ったことの無かったとあるCaldariの交易業者との会合が間近に迫っている事に興奮を覚えていた。おそらくその男はCaldariを構成する企業の中でも最上級の地位の人々とのコネクションを持っている。もしその仮定が正しければ、今回彼女が取り扱う事になる仕事には巨大な資金が動く事になるかもしれない。だが同時に不安も感じていた。その依頼の規模の大きさではなく、彼がDeteis人?であると言う点が引っ掛かっていたのだ。彼女にとってはDeteis人種と商売をするのは今回が初めてだった。今までのCaldari合衆国内での業務は全てCivire人?との契約で行っていて、Runiaは彼らの正直で公明正大な性格とそれに伴う正確な予定計画に慣れており、計画表や失敗した時の保険等で迷惑を被った事は無い。だが今回の相手であるDeteis人はCivire人と違い、狡猾で隠蔽好きだと言われているのだ。もちろんそれらは単なる噂に過ぎないのかもしれない。だが、この人種の大半はCaldariの基本理念を持っていないDark Amarrians出身なのだ。同業者の中にはDeteis人は確かに多くの点でCivire人とは違うが同じCaldariの特徴、義務感・規律・誠実さを持っていると言う人も居るのだが･･･。

Runia didn’t know much about the history of the Caldari; she knew that Caldari Prime - the old home of the Caldari - had several continents and that the different Caldari bloodlines came from different continents. Back in the days when the Caldari still occupied Caldari Prime the difference between the bloodlines was profound, not only in physical appearance, but also culturally. Runia suspected that the beliefs that the Caldari bloodlines were very different from each other stemmed from these facts. But when the Caldari had to leave their home planet and the long and arduous war with the Gallente Federation erupted the Caldari race as a whole was uprooted and thrown into a melting pot were fighting for their survival was all that mattered. The frantic decades that followed altered the Caldari psyche forever. Traits such as discipline and loyalty came to the forefront and shaped - and continue to shape - Caldari society into something completely new. The corporate state came into being, an all-engulfing machine that both nurtured and dominated its citizens. All the different bloodlines, Deteis and Civire the two largest, were affected by these deep-rooted changes and molded to the norm.

RuniaはCaldari合衆国の歴史を良く知っている訳では無かったが、かつての母星であるCaldari Primeにはいくつかの大陸があり、それぞれ別のCaldari血族が住んで居た事については知っていた。Caldariが未だCaldari Primeを統治していた当時、異血族間には外見の違いはもちろん文化的にも大きな溝があったらしい。現在もCaldari血族それぞれが違う性質を持つという考えはそこから来ているのではないか、とRuniaは考えている。だがCaldariがGallent連邦との長く苦しい戦争を開始し母星を去らなくてはならなくなった時、彼らはただ生き残るための戦いの渦に放り込まれ、初めて血族の垣根を越えて一つの”Caldari人”へと団結していったのだ。それからの狂気の時代の中で、”Caldari精神”とも言えるものは完全な変貌を遂げていた。規則や忠誠と言った特色を強調し、Caldariの社会を全く新しいものへと昇華させ、今だその変化を続けている。企業集合体国家は住民達の全てを巻き込み、養成し支配する機械のようなものへと変わった。すべてのCaldari血族、特にDeteisとCivireの二大血族はその国家深く根付いた変化に影響を受け、その規範となるべく自らを適応させていったのだった。

The effect was that the Caldari thought of them as Caldari first, their corporation came second, with the bloodline they belonged to a distant third. None of the mega-corporations were structured around the bloodlines and they intermingled freely on every social level. Although the bloodlines were proud of their heritage they didn’t feel it was an important aspect of their life. Inter-marriages are not common, but this has more to do with physical differences than anything else.

その結果、人々の考えはまず第一に”Caldari人”である事を重視し、次に彼らの所属する企業、そして自身の血族についてはその後にくるようになっていた。巨大企業の中に特定の血族を中心に構成された会社は無く、どのような社会的地位の人々でも自由に混ざり合って生きていた。勿論人々は己の血統を誇りに思っているが、それが人生において重要な側面であるとは感じていない。異血族間の結婚は未だ多くないが、単なる外見の違いによるものであって文化的差別等によるものでは無い。

Runia was about to dock at her destination station - an industrial station belonging to the Wiyrkomi Corporation deep in Caldari space. She waited patiently while the docking sequence finished. As soon as she was able she contacted her new agent. There was no need to wait - she had already prepared herself many times over on the voyage over.

Runiaはようやく目的の基地であるこのCaldari宙域奥深くのWiyrkomi社に到着した。内部への進入手続きが終わるのを待ち、すぐさま新しい依頼人とコンタクトを取る。時間を無駄に浪費する必要はない。この旅の間ずっと心の準備を続けていたのだから。

One hour later Runia undocked. Her new Deteis agent for the Wiyrkomi Corporation had been polite and to the point and shown no indication of being sly or untrustworthy. In essence, he was pretty much like every other Caldari she had ever met. Yet there were slight differences, for instance he had inquired about her home back in the Kingdom and shown genuine interest in all things Dark Amarrian. An inquisitive mind was not something she was accustomed to with the Civire, who were usually dull conversationalists. This feel of more personal interest pleasantly surprised her.

一時間後、Runiaの艦は再び宇宙へと出発した。Wiyrkomi社の新しいDeteis人の依頼人は正直で、狡猾さや不審さを伺わせるような感じはまったくしなかった。本質的な処では彼も彼女が今までに出会った他のCaldari人とほとんど同じだったのだ。もちろんいくつかのわずかな違いはあった。Runiaの出身のKhanid王国についてだけでなく、Dark　Amarrianに関して真剣に興味を持っていた事だ。こういった質問好きな処は、今までの経験上大半が一方的につまらない話ばかりするCivire人とは違っている。そういった個人的に興味を持たれる事に彼女は驚き、同時に好感を抱いていた。

Formalities aside, her new agent quickly established their working relationship. And he gave her a task to complete. A very unusual task from her usual trade-related one’s. She was to track down a ship belonging to another Dark Amarrian and report her findings. Runia wondered again why the Caldari were so anxious to track down this ship. She’d been tempted to ask, but refrained from it - it was none of her business and the Caldari would have told her if it was important for her to know. The enormous reward further underlined the urgency. ‘Now, how to find this bastard?’ she mused. ‘I better have a chat with my buddies in the royal navy.’ As the chat link connection was being established she idly wondered how she could get them to help her without giving up too much of her reward.

その新しい依頼人は形式ばった挨拶を済ませるとすぐに仕事上の関係を作り上げ、任務を彼女に与えた。それは普段の交易関連の仕事とはかけ離れていた。あるDark Amarrian所属の船を見つけだし、何が積まれているかを報告する、と言うものだ。RuniaにはなぜCaldariがこの船を見つけ出すのにそう不安がっているのか理解できなかった。質問してみたくはあったが、止めておく事にした。それは自分の知ったことでは無いし、もしそれが重要な事ならばCaldari側は間違いなく知らせてきているだろう。莫大な報酬を見るに、状況は切迫しているようだ。“さて、こいつをどうに見つけてやろうか・・・”　物思いにふける。“そうだ、AmarrのRoyal Navyに居る友人達に連絡してみようかな”　通信回線を起動している間、彼女はどうすれば最小限の報酬で彼らを動かす事が出来るだろうかと考えを巡らせていた。

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