As down time hit this morning it marked the end of the John Bellicose Memorial fleet started yesterday. In an alliance mail and reddit thread Cagali Cagali, CSM member and head of BRAVE HR said –

Well, what a day.

First, let me thank and congratulate you all on a fantastic effort. This is truly one of the highlights of my Brave Career – to see the effort that so many of you went to, to see cyno after cyno lit on the undock, to see so many of you paying tribute to the people who made your Eve Life great.

Amazing stuff. I’m sure you’ve already seen that mombellicose has already posted on the Subreddit – She’s John’s Mother, and had a memorial service for him today RL. I’d like to extend a gigantic 7o to her, and to tell her that I think a lot of us had a lot of fun today.

We also had a measure of struggle today, which I think is a little bit symbolic (as far as a computergame can be symbolic of the struggle against depression): BL showed up on the Undock in a faction battleship gang, and crushed our little fleet with a force comprised of Megathron Navy Issues and Bhaalghorns.

It looked grim – with people getting disheartened, despairing of anything strong enough to break that gang. Rescue finally came when people started Broadcasting for Reps – jumping channels, talking to friends, communicating and finally we had a fleet that crushed the BL gang in minutes.

The Symbolism there is that sometimes a problem is too big for you to overcome on your own, with the limited resources that you have at your disposal. Very Few people can beat a thing like depression without help, without being Un-alone. Your fleet will never survive without you Broadcasting for Reps and pushing back against that black dog, that black ocean of despair.

I’d like to extend a big thank you to the BL gang – you made the day great, and provided us with some excellent content.

The Cyno didn’t make it 24 hours. It never could have. Nonetheless, it burned for the vast majority of the day – maybe 22 hours worth. Some figures: I gave out nearly 300 cynos and a veritable bucketload of Ozone. I know people were using their own or buying them off the market – so the number we went through is very high, even if not all of them were used.

In a sea of Classy people who really stepped up and sacrificed themselves to keep it up and advance the cause. My reports are still coming in, but I’m going to shout-out to some serious heroes of the Cyno Vigil today. Firstly, Nxtg3n beat me into the Server and had a Cyno up, literally seconds after downtime. For his effort I’ve awarded him a Garmur. (Sadly all prizes are in Jita, because I’m a cheap bastard and I couldn’t be bothered shipping them down.)

Second – the FC who stepped up and led the screaming horde of Brave against the BL faction gang has won himself one of the instruments of our dismay, A Megathron Navy Issue.

Thirdly, Nitris Denitrace undocked a cynoship in the face of the BL gang, trying desperately to keep it alive despite the sheer futility of the gesture and the nay-saying of his peers. For his forlorn hope he’s scored a Garmur.

Fourthly, two people who really stepped up and FC’d a lion’s share of the Defence Fleets protecting the undock and therefore the Cyno Vigil were Scythian Painspike and Pretty Hair. Scythian used to lose a boosting tengu every week so I’ll replace one of those for him, and Pretty Hair enjoys giant balls, so I’ll award him a Devoter.

Fifth – Paul Brinkhoff, a new addition to the Brave Family, spent a large part of the day on the undock in his Battleship, being scary. His efforts and his patience have scored him a Garmur.

Sixth – We had a Chimera die on the Undock, his holds full of Ozone, meaning that dozens of people could refil their Cynos without docking. While I can’t replace the carrier, I can give Keesha Echerie something that’s even better: a Violator.

I won’t say lastly, since I hope people will be drawing my attention to the awesome efforts that went on today, I must draw your attention to the outstanding efforts of IanHimself1 – who spent in incredible amount of time on the undock in his Tayra – spurting wads of Ozone into the hot fires of his nearly everlasting Cyno. I’ve given him one each of a Bustard and a Crane, and a heartfelt thank you for your efforts.

These are a tiny fraction of the worthy people who contributed today. If you saw some amazing work, please tell me – I’d love to bankrupt myself recognising them!

We saw some great things today. We saw people visit to pay their own tributes. Sadly, we killed and podded one of them seconds after he lit his cyno, sending him 50 jumps back home. We saw people come to kill, to observe, and to celebrate. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – this is a game about people, and it’s the people who make it great.

Celebrate your friends every day – because you’ll never know when, Like John Bellicose, you’ll lose the opportunity to do so.

Get help with your depression. Thousands of us have suffered it. Thousands of us are fighting it Right now. Broadcast for Reps TODAY if the incoming Depression Per Second is overwhelming your tank.

Stay amazing, Brave. It has been a privilege and an honour flying with you – I’ll look forward to many more opportunities to do so.

Please keep an ear to the ground for the Next phase in the Bellicose Bashorama Drama – which WILL take place on the 30th of May.

Finally, I’d like to list the people who we were asked to light Cynos for. Over the course of the day, a lot of us named their ships after them and Celebrated their lives.

[Writers note – every effort was made to try and match up the following names to Eve Who profiles where possible, where names had not matched no links were added, please leave a comment below if you have a link to any of these persons.]

Thanks

Cagali²