EVE Online is a massive space MMORPG that aims to provide its players with a true sandbox experience, where anyone can be the spacefarer they want to be. Or something like that. Few examples illustrate this freedom as well as an old story of a spy guild. They invested 10 months in a bounty mission and stole content worth over €15,000 from an organization.
The MMORPG EVE Online has been on the market since 2003 and is notorious for its incredible depth and a dedicated community that often hosts large space wars, burning vast amounts of real money.
The developers made it clear early on: We do not interfere. Everyone should have a good time if possible – but it’s a community sandbox: players can help each other, but they can also destroy each other.
MeinMMO would like to present you a story from EVE Online that would certainly make for a great spy thriller. It is a tale of revenge, honor, a great treasure, and the certainty that one should trust no one in space but oneself.
Spy Guild Takes Bounty Mission Extremely Seriously
The story originates from the early days of EVE Online. On April 15, 2005, the guild “The Guiding Hand Social Club” was able to eliminate the CEO of the organization “Ubiqua Seraph” and deliver the corpse to a client.
However, to get to the remains of such a decorated player, preparation, coordination, and a good dose of ruthlessness are needed. Thus, Guiding Hand was the best fit for the job.
An unknown client tossed a billion ISK into the pot (the in-game currency of EVE Online) and requested the head of Mirial, CEO of Ubiqua Seraph, one of the most powerful organizations in EVE Online at the time.
This led to a major infiltration of Ubiqua Seraph. It would take about 10 months, and in the end, Guiding Hand was able to complete the mission and seize over 20 billion ISK in assets.
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Revenge, Honor, and the Greed for More Loot
It is not documented why the client requested the head of Mirial. It was known that the CEO was also involved in some unsavory dealings. Revenge seems to be the most obvious motive here.
For Guiding Hand, it was also about a respectable sum, at least at the time of the contract signing. However, honor also played a role: If the mission went smoothly, they would receive a lot of recognition for fulfilling the bounty. A good way to reap money and fame.
To get to the CEO, Mirial had to be separated from the herd. Gain her trust and bring her to a place where she could expect little or no help.
It would take 10 months and bring even more loot.
Ubiqua Seraph Infiltrated on All Levels
The then CEO of Guiding Hand, user Istvaan Shogaatsu, termed the approach as “multi-vector infiltration” (via pcgamer.com). One spy is usually not enough for such tasks. They struck on a large scale and infiltrated many agents into Ubiqua Seraph.
After 10 months, they had virtually infiltrated the entire organization – double agents from Guiding Hand occupied high positions throughout.
And one even managed to earn the trust of the CEO and become Mirial’s top lieutenant: Arenis Xemdal.
Arenis, the Master Spy
Istvaan Shogaatsu calls Arenis a “Valentine spy,” specialized in gaining the trust of other players. For his own benefit, of course.
Arenis was the one to isolate Mirial. He led her into an abandoned sector, while all in the background waited for the signal. The codeword was “Nicole”.
The operation almost went wrong; other ships in the sector nearly scared Mirial away. But when the moment finally arrived, “Nicole” echoed through the universe of EVE Online. And from a mere bounty mission, it became a grand heist.
“We Had the Key to Fort Knox in Our Hands”
A billion ISK for the bounty was a lot of money in the game back then. But they had completely infiltrated Ubiqua Seraph: “We had the key to Fort Knox in our hands,” said CEO Shogaatsu of Guiding Hand.
And they emptied the vault completely.
The spy guild had access to every office of Ubiqua Seraph, access to all shared storage facilities and accounts of the large organization. They took everything and left only a note with a reference to “The Guiding Hand Social Club”.
Shogaatsu calculated that the entire operation brought in almost 20 billion ISK to the coffers of Guiding Hand. At that time, that was worth over €15,000.
Overall, Shogaatsu estimated the damage to Ubiqua Seraph to be more than 30 billion ISK – including an extremely valuable ship of the “Amarr Navy Apocalypse” class, the ship of Mirial.
Mirial’s escape pod was destroyed, and her frozen corpse, as requested, was delivered to the client. Thus ended an operation that still leaves people amazed even years later and stimulates the imagination.
EVE Online continuously proves with such incredible stories that it is one of the best games that hardly any of us will play.
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