Guristas Pirates
Founded by the charismatic Fatal and technically-minded Rabbit, the Guristas pirates are a fearless, professional and highly-organized outfit operating out of their home region of Venal. Unlike other rogue factions, their activities are based not around any twisted ideology or creed, but rather a good old-fashioned lust for wealth and power.
The Guristas focus primarily on interstellar piracy in the outer regions and low-security space. The Guristas maintain hundreds of deadspace listening posts and staging points on the Caldari border, and are known for being unafraid to stage strikes deep within the Caldari State.
Typically their business revolves around black-market trading, including human trafficking, illegal weapons manufacture, and smuggling of illicit goods. In addition to this, the Guristas control a large share of the gray market within the Caldari State, smuggling unregulated products into megacorporation enclaves within state borders.
Possibly the most lucrative of their operations, however, are their counterfeiting circles. Unafraid to knock off anything from designer goods to hard currency, the Guristas will bluff any market that can cut them a clean and sizable profit. Just one example is their illegal currency exchange of Caldari corporate scrip, the largest network of its type in New Eden.
History
In less than a decade, thanks largely to a series of risky high-profile raids, the Guristas established themselves as a major player in the underworld of New Eden. Founded in YC 94 by two deserters from the Caldari Navy, Jirai “Fatal” Laitanen and Korako “The Rabbit” Kosakami, the Guristas organization quickly gained a reputation as a haven for those exiled from the Caldari State. It was not until YC 101, however, that the pair cemented the legendary status they hold today by kidnapping and ransoming the then ambassador of the Gallente Federation to the Caldari State, a man by the name of Luecin Rileau. From that point onwards, the Guristas Pirates were a prominent and increasingly powerful thorn in the side of the Caldari State.
Founding
In YC 86, Jirai "Fatal" Laitanen found himself passed over for promotion, a blow felt keenly to his ego. His friend Korako "the Rabbit" Kosakami was held responsible for a fatal crash landing. Deciding they had enough, the pair from the 37th (Octopus) squadron stole a Condor-class frigate and disappeared into the lawless void between Caldari and Gallente space.
In YC 94, they re-emerged with the founding of the Guristas, which means 'naughty people' in the Caldari tongue. Their criminal organization quickly rose to fame and power within the New Eden underworld. Profiling themselves as a haven for Caldari exiles, they managed to grow their ranks at a steady pace.
Kidnapping of Ambassador Rileau
YC 101 was the year of their biggest heist to date. The pair hatched a plan to kidnap Federation Ambassador Lucin Rileau from the famous Grand Tiegjon Casino in the Caldari system of Vellaine by taking advantage of his biggest vice: gambling.
The two young pirates docked at the casino station in disguise, before Fatal proceeded to deliberately lose a high-stakes game to the ambassador, wagering his ship, a Caracal-class cruiser, as payment. Meanwhile, the Rabbit had rigged the vessel’s forward boarding ramp with canisters of nitrous oxide. When the ambassador and his bodyguards entered the ship to inspect his winnings, the Rabbit sealed the area and filled it with the powerful sleeping gas, incapacitating both Rileau and his entire protection detail.
It was only when another vessel elected to use the same docking collar an hour later and happened upon a boarding ramp filled with unconscious bodyguards that the alarm was raised. By this time the Guristas duo were long gone with their captive, leading to a manhunt that created a media sensation in the Gallente Federation.
With the operation a resounding success, the federation’s inability to apprehend Fatal and the Rabbit led to an enormous ransom being paid to the Guristas in uncut diamonds by the ambassador’s father, Daroun “Diamond King” Rileau, for his safe return.
Ever since, the Guristas have maintained a reputation as one of the most ubiquitous pirate organizations in the cluster, their numbers swelling rapidly in size. Soon after the successful ransom on Ambassador Rileau, the organization relocated from the Caldari State borderlands to the region of Venal, where they stage operations from their heavily fortified strongholds.
Ishukone and the Raven
The Guristas are not against working with the Caldari when it suits their agenda, and no event is more notable than the story of how they obtained access to the Raven battleship blueprint and the start of the career of Otro Gariushi as Ishukone's CEO. Most of this however is still unknown to the general public.
Otro Garuishi's father, Villamo, started dealing drugs for the Guristas after he lost his job as Ishukone for stating the truth rather than what his superiors wished to hear. The loss of his wife in an industrial accident, and the estrangement of his daughter meant that his hopes were built upon providing his son Otro with a better life. This hope however was cut short when an Ishukone executive shot Vilamo after purchasing drugs from him. The Guristas, disgusted by the actions and knowing of
Vilamo's plight, offered Otro a chance to enter their ranks.
While Otro was further raised under Guristas influence, he drifted apart from them in pursuit of his quest for vengeance. This caused a notable rift between himself and the officer named Bane, who was working with the corrupt Ishukone CEO Les Akkilen. Akkilen provided the Guristas with information on their competitors in exchange for protection, a move that was beneficial to covering up his failures as a CEO.
Otro, who managed to recover his long lost sister Mila, struck up a partnership with her and his associate Gavriel, benefitting from Mila's years of corporate espionage under the guise of an escort service. Together they targeted Ralirashi Okimo, the Chief Financial Officer for Ishukone. From him they extracted information on the Raven, a secret project that Akkilen was unaware of which Rali was funding to ensure his position within the company. One of Mila's madames persuaded Rali to work with them through means of blackmail and by playing on his weaknesses.
During a board meeting, Rali unveiled the Raven. It was sent into unregulated space and attacked a Guristas fleet. Otro used this to convince Fatal that he must tell Bane to halt the ongoing attack on Gavriel and Mila. Base refused and Fatal agreed to give up Bane in exchange to access to the Raven blueprints. Proof of Akikilen's
corruption was presented to the board and established Otro Gariushi as the new CEO of Ishukone, joined by his sister Mila as CFO (known as Kinachi Hepimeki to the public).
Crielere
A dark page from the Guristas' history comes from the events that took place at the Crielere research project. Fatal managed to have a Caldari research agent named Ariko spy on behalf of her parent corporation Wiyrkomi. She was instructed to poison the Senate-enlised Medila, the personal aide to the two head scientists. Meanwhile Otro Gariushi (then already CEO of Ishukone) had blueprints and equipment stolen to assist in further sabotage. When the Senate caught wind of this debacle they pulled their funding, as did the involved mega-corporations. The project remained running with only a skeleton crew in place, unprotected now that the Empires had pulled back their police forces.
This opened the way for Fatal and the Guristas to arrive. Capsuleers, however, caught wind of the situation and attempted to drive back the pirate forces. The Guristas targeted the station and caused massive damage before being forced to temporarily retreat. Later on they returned and, thanks to past access granted by Ariko, the Rabbit was able to enter the station and capture one of the head scientists, Tarimo Umailen. Using his life as a ransom, the other head scientist Henric Touvolle was also kidnapped and led off station. It was during this escape that Fatal got podded, resulting in his ousting from the Guristas and subsequent exile as the use of a low quality clone left him with severe memory loss and reduced motor functions.
The Guristas decided to try and wash their hands clean of the failure and sell the scientists to Articio Kor-Azor, their highest bidder. While the Federation under president Foiritan tried to get the scientists back, they were unfortunately lost due to identity theft during supposed return on a slave transport. They eventually expired while working within a slave colony.
Recent Events
Despite the distance of their headquarters from the Caldari border, the Guristas have deeply rooted history with several Caldari megacorporations and thus keep a close eye on affairs within the state through their network of shell corporations and aliases. They are rumored to have their fingers deep in the dealings of many of the Caldari’s biggest corporate entities, the most notorious of their ties being their oft-rumored but never proven connection with the Ishukone Corporation, which was led for a decade by former Gurista Otro Gariushi (whose father, Vilamo, had been a long-serving member of the Guristas).
During the increased Caldari Navy mobilization of YC 115, the Guristas joined Mordu's Legion in rescuing victims of the conflict and offering them adequate aid. It is thought that their humanitarian efforts were in fact simply an attempt to profit from the situation and to draw those whom now may scorn the State over to their side by profiling themselves as rescuers.
With the news spreading on 'ghost sites' and CONCORD's subsequent off-limit declaration, the Guristas as well as other pirate factions have begun to issue buy orders to coerce capuleers into selling the recovered covert research tools to them. This seems to hint at a pirate research race, and already there is much discussion going about what breakthroughs this might eventually lead to. A recent Guristas raid
that was halted by capsuleer forces raised some hope of seeing some of these new advances, but the Federal Intelligence Office was adamant that there was no evidence of prototype or unconventional vessels.
In recent times, the Guristas have stepped up their research efforts, with reports of them having overtaken research sites previously belonging to other pirate factions, and adding a glut of black-market trading to what appears to be a successful line of research into high-speed technologies. Mordu's Legion have reportedly become extremely unhappy with this turn of events and have responded with extreme force to any sites they uncover, having even gone so far as to enlist the
capsuleers in the initial efforts of finding these sites. Whatever it is exactly that the Guristas are developing in these sites remains unknown.
Culture
With the vast majority of their recruits initially sourced from the Caldari State, the Guristas have found it to their benefit to maintain many aspects of state culture. A sense of purpose and duty is instilled in the mind of every Gurista, with those born into the fold commanding greater respect from their peers than those who come from outside. This has become more evident as the organization has come of age and a new generation of leaders has begun to rise.
As the Guristas rose to prominence in the wake of the ambassadorial kidnapping, recruits began to flood in from across the cluster, and the result is that today some of the organization’s most senior command staff are composed of Brutor, Intaki, and ethnic Gallente. Though this creates something of a cultural melting pot inwardly, the Guristas nonetheless maintain a highly uniform, regimented, and professional forward-facing image to the outside world, relying on their solid reputation to forge new allegiances and broker high-profit, illicit deals with their allies. Maintaining a shaky truce with Sansha’s Nation and a standing of careful mutual respect with the Blood Raider Covenant, the Guristas suffer no shortage of trade routes and expansion opportunities.
Over the years, they have continued to absorb many elements of Caldari culture, including the state’s deep and abiding love for gambling. Thousands of illegal bookmakers are funded by the Guristas, managing bets on popular Caldari sports such as Splinterz and Mind Clash. From bookmakers to match-rigging and illegal tournaments held in hidden establishments within deadspace pockets, if you have money to hazard the Guristas will have something that strikes the gambler's fancy.
Military fashion and Caldari martial traditions are also found within abundance everywhere within the Guristas, even after outsiders started to enter their ranks. They consider themselves a professional organization and will do the utmost to keep up this image. While they are certainly known for their outrageous acts at times, they are nevertheless meticulously calculated when it comes to the impact upon their reputation.
Coupled with this, in the time-honored tradition of pirates across the cluster, and as a stab in the eye to the administration that forced them from their home, Kosakami shamelessly reworked the designs for the Merlin-class frigate and the Moa-class cruiser, creating the Worm and the Gila respectively, two ships which serve as staples of the Guristas fleet.
Rumors also surround the origins of the recently introduced Scorpion-class battleship, which entered service soon after the turn of the first century YC. Many Guristas still claim the Scorpion’s design was lifted from the Gurista Rattlesnake class, which shares the same basic subframes and systems. Of course, Caldari Navy and Ishukone researchers strongly deny these rumors, claiming that the Scorpion was designed by the state, and Kosakami simply, once again, stole the design and added his own eccentric flavor.
Structure and Leadership
From their humble roots as a ragtag group of marauders, the Guristas have grown into an enormous organization with a heavily militaristic command structure that rivals some of the Caldari State’s largest corporate police forces. At the top of the hierarchy is Korako Kosakami, who assumes full command of all Guristas operations. Beneath him lies a network of fourteen officers, including some of the Guristas Pirates’ most notorious faces, each of whom takes responsibility for military oversight of his own constellation in the region of Venal.
Each of these officers assumes command over a cell of lieutenants, who each take responsibility for a part of his cell’s operations, such as funding, defense, scouting, manufacturing, and security. Authority within each cell flows downwards in a hierarchy rather similar to that of a classic military structure. Beneath the lieutenants lies the meat of the organization, the frontline command structure seen in daily combat by those who oppose the Guristas.
More often than not, healthy rivalry will be seen between various cells within the Guristas, with individual officers competing against each other to cut the largest profits, stage the most daring raids, or otherwise outperform each other in the field. Typically this level of internal competition is highly encouraged by the Guristas leadership, and it often ends up being the root cause of many of their more outlandish and daring ventures.
Operations
Territory
The Guristas have hundreds of staging posts set up alongside the Caldari
border, from which they launch their raids into Caldari territory. This
allows them to operate well away from their home region of
Venal and maintain a healthy presence in the lower
security systems, occasionally being so bold as to establish themselves
in high security. Their forces can also be spotted roaming through Deklein, Tribute, Tenal, Branch and Vale of the Silent.
Subterfuge is not an activity they shy away from. It is thought that
within the heart of the empires, many shadow corporations and other such
shady organizations operate with direct and indirect ties to the
Guristas. How high up the ranks their control reaches, however, is only
for them to know.
The Guristas often overtake existing facilities that either have gone
into ruin and decay or have insufficient protection. Examples of these
are the gas cloud harvesting operation in 09-4XW, or the by Lai Dai
corporation abandoned R55 Colonial Ruins in the Isie system, which
surrounding toxic gas cloud provides it with a defensive barrier. In
recent times, the Guristas have taken to overtaking secretive research
facilities of other pirate empires, where they conduct a mix of black
market trading and skunkworks research into cryptic high-speed
technologies.
Business
The Guristas control a notable share of the "grey market" smuggling of
competing products into megacorporate enclaves in the Caldari State.
They also run one of the largest illegal currency exchanges of Caldari
corporate scrip. In addition to this they also engage in other
counterfeiting practices, knocking off anything that rakes in ISK.
Black-market trading, illegal weapons, smuggling and human trafficking
are not something they shy away from when it comes to funding their
activities and turning a steady profit.
Lastly, the Guristas are well-known for their work as mercenaries, their
fearsome reputation often being enough to win a contract before it is
even executed. Their ruthless methods and proven track-record make them
a formidable player in that field, one that strikes fear into the hearts
of those who happen to find themselves on the wrong side.
Ships
All Guristas vessels appear based on those of the Caldari Navy, although
the Guristas themselves claim that it was in fact the Caldari Navy who
stole the design for their Scorpion from the Guristas Rattlesnake.
Suffice to say the Guristas equivalents of each vessel are offensively
superior vessels whom fit perfectly within their aggressive tactics, yet
are able to withstand quite a bit of punishment.
First came the Gila, based on the Moa hull. Kosami
sacrificed speed and cargo capacity to bulk up the ship's structure. The
gunnery platform was done away with in favour of missiles supported by
superior drone capacities. Sadly this expansion led to a slightly less
powerful capacitor, but thanks to using missiles this is not noticeable
during operation. Should pilots mind, the extra midslot could certainly
be employed to rectify this fact.
The Worm was the first frigate that was converted,
again changing from a turret to a missile platform with drone capacity,
something which the base Merlin entirely lacks in. Again unneeded space
was done away with to beef up its survivability rate. Choosing an
equally strong but slower-charging capacitor, targeting range was
shortened to adequately power all electronics systems within the hull.
Then, the Rattlesnake is again a missile and
drones platform, whereas the Caldari Scorpion offers a mixed weapon
platform that is often supported by ECM modules. The sturdier
Rattlesnake also has a different slot layout, having an extra slot in
the high and low where the Scorpion had an extra midslot squeezed in.
The Rattlesnake's targeting systems too are shorter than those of the
Scorpion.
Finally the Taipan is a relatively new vessel and
was based on the iconic Ibis which many new Caldari pilots take their
first flight in. While the 'rookie ship' is often scoffed at, the
Guristas once more prove themselves capable of building fearsome ships.
Without sacrifice they were able to strengthen its structure and even
find space for an additional midslot. While the two turrent hardslots
were given up, the Taipan can field drones and thus match the Guristas
fleet doctrine.
Relations
The Guristas are heavily disliked by the Caldari, their military allies the Amarr, and the Ammatar and Khanid Kingdom by extension. The Gallente and Minmatar, however, maintain a neutral stance towards the Guristas. This is likely due to the fact their territory does not form the target of Guristas raids, and there is speculation that the enemy of their enemy status may be a redeeming factor as well, though neither will ever publicly admit to this. The Thukker Tribe forms the exception to this
rule, thought to be because before their joining of the Republic they and the Guristas were competitors in the grey market.
The Guristas themselves hold no love for Amarr, and a slight distrust for the Ammatar, a stance taken on grounds of slavery. The other empires are regarded with neutrality, and (illegal) dealings with them are not out of the question. It is only under extreme circumstances, like the aftermath of the Crielere raids, that the Guristas will close a deal with the Amarr. The fate of the ransomed scientists acted as further salt into the wound and is often cited as an example as to why the Amarr
are not to be trusted or shown any mercy.
When it comes to the other pirate factions the Guristas are liked by the Nation and even more so by the Blood Raider covenant. This is reflected mutually, although the Guristas regard the Sansha higher than the Covenant. Why this is has never been met with a public answer, and despite the mutual standings the Guristas are not known to have ever directly co-operated in any official manner with either faction. Unlike
the Angel Cartel and Serpentis business relationship it seems to be more a matter of shared dislikes and forming an opposing 'pirate bloc'.
CONCORD rates the Guristas as second most hated after Sansha's Nation, on part with the Blood Raiders. When asked about this an official stated that their ratings are largely influenced by the aggressiveness and overall threat to peace that any given pirate faction forms. Unsurprisingly, the Guristas are no fans of CONCORD either and treat them with similar disdain.
Worthy of note is that there exists a strong and mutual rivalry between Mordu's Legion and the Guristas. The stance of the Legion makes sense, as it is an extension of that of the Caldari. Furthermore they idealize the honor code, integrity and military ideals whereas the Guristas are in the mercenary business for good old greed and lust for power. The feelings however became mutual after a series of incidents within the mercenary business. Each side will claim the other started it, but what is sure is that an escalation of theft and sabotage of contracts caused
both parties to hate each other's guts. Even to this day both sides will practice caution to keep their business a secret from each other, and when they do find themselves on opposing sides of a conflict it is pretty much a guarantee that things will get personal.
The Servant Sisters of EVE, Interbus and the Society all carry a minor dislike for the Guristas. The Guristas are neutral towards the former, but mimic the standings of the latter. This seems to be grounded in a clash of ideologies, but unfavorable affairs may also be to blame. No real public information has ever been given nor officially requested.
Finally, the Jove and ORE are reciprocally neutral with the Guristas, and a fair guess here is that none have really interacted or had reasons for interaction.
Notable Characters
Jirai “Fatal” Laitanen
Jirai Laitanen was born on July 3, YC 65, to a father whose entire career was based around Caldari Navy service. Similarly, his mother’s career was spent in loyalty to only a single megacorporation: she was a corporate accounts manager for the Kaalakiota Corporation.
After being raised on New Caldari Prime and educated at one of the most renowned boarding schools in the state, Laitanen was drafted into the Caldari Navy immediately upon reaching legal age. He was expected to follow in his father’s footsteps, commanding a vessel of his own.
Proving to be a shrewd, silver-tongued, and gifted captain, Laitanen rapidly made a name for himself among the pilots of the Caldari Navy’s Thirty-Seventh (Octopus) Squadron, establishing himself as an outstanding pilot and tactician. At the same time, his charismatic smile could never quite hide the vanity and power hunger that lurked beneath, traits that eventually led to his desertion from the Caldari Navy at age twenty-nine after he was passed over for promotion. After eleven years of military service, he had befriended and become increasingly close to fellow deserter Korako Kosakami, and together they founded the Guristas Pirates in YC 94.
After a meteoric rise to infamy as the cofounder and charismatic leader of the Guristas, his career was brought to an abrupt end during an assault on the Crielere Research Laboratories in early YC 106, whereupon his ship was destroyed and he himself pod killed by capsuleer forces intent on defending the facility.
Laitanen’s current status is a topic rarely discussed by the Guristas at any level, and due to his absence from public life since the Crielere raid, there has been widespread speculation surrounding his condition. Rumors range from his immediate death due to unsuccessful neural transfer to him living in seclusion as a heavily scarred shadow of his former self. Throughout the years, it has even been suggested that Fatal has been lying mind locked all this time in a clone reanimation unit on 6NJ8-V IV—the same planet that he and his partner Korako Kosakami terraformed together at the outset of their venture.
Korako “The Rabbit” Kosakami
Born into a family in service of Lai Dai on August 26, YC 71, Korako Kosakami, also known by his nickname, “The Rabbit,” began life on the planet of Nonni I with a corporate education funded by his parent corporation. Most of his early engineering education came from his mother, who served as a flight technician for Lai Dai’s advanced research and development program. Once of working age, Korako was expected to assume the same role as his father, who was an MTAC maintenance engineer from Ikami VII.
Despite crippling introversion and a pronounced stutter that plagued Kosakami throughout his adolescent years, it rapidly became apparent to Kosakami’s teachers that he was extremely gifted, possessing an intellect that far surpassed that of many of his tutors, as well as his peers. Upon his graduation, he was immediately moved from his commercial contract with Lai Dai to a position with military research and development, and assigned to the Caldari Navy’s Thirty-Seventh (Octopus) Squadron, where he immediately befriended and became increasingly close to fellow pilot Jirai Laitanen. In YC 94, when within the space of a week Laitanen was passed over for promotion and Kosakami was blamed for the lethal crash landing of a prototype stealth drop ship that killed forty-seven military personnel, the pair deserted together and made off into the Caldari Border Zone, founding the Guristas Pirates soon after.
Ever shying away from the limelight, Kosakami encouraged Laitanen to become both the visible leader and the mouthpiece of the Guristas, while he himself worked behind the scenes to further their goals and create a fleet worthy of the organization’s colors. He was hit hard in early YC 106 when Fatal was taken from his side by the action of independent capsuleers during the second Guristas assault on the Crielere Project. Choosing to retreat from public life, Kosakami has led the Guristas from the organization’s headquarters in Venal, and his rule has seen them push from strength to strength in the last decade, remaining a persistent thorn in the side of the Caldari State and any other organization that crosses their path.
Today, Kosakami resides on 6NJ8-V IV, the same world that he and Laitanen terraformed together at enormous personal expense to create a retreat from the intensity of leadership. While he still maintains constant contact with even the lowest echelons of the Guristas, believing it to be good working practice to have a finger on the pulse of his organization, his many years in self-imposed confinement have left him bitter and vengeful against all but the few capsuleers who fly under his colors.
Estamel Tharchon
Driven by a hate-filled agenda to bring down the Caldari State, Tharchon pulls no punches and wastes no opportunity to bring mayhem to the state in any way she possibly can. Bastard child of a prominent Caldari businessman and his Intaki mistress, who both ostracized her when she started to display the typical rebellious symptoms of a child raised in a broken home in her late teens, Estamel joined the Guristas at the age of thirty-one in YC 98, after spending a number of years as an independent mercenary, following a failed career with Wiyrkomi Peace Corps.
Initially making a name for herself as a gun for hire, she was drawn into the ranks of the Guristas Pirates after a run of highly successful contracts against military targets in the state, and has become a fundamental figurehead among the fleet commanders charged with defending Venal.
Kaikka Peunato
A naturally gifted and highly competent pilot and tactician, Kaikka was forced out of the Caldari Navy at the tender age of twenty, after just two years of service, when he revealed that he was homosexual. Disowned by his hard-line Patriot father, who was also serving with the Caldari Navy as a general with the Kimotoro Defense Fleet, Peunato gravitated toward the Guristas after hearing stories of their raids across state borders and the close companionship of their infamous leaders, Fatal and the Rabbit. Since joining the Guristas several months after his defection from the Caldari Navy in YC 101, Kaikka has become instrumental in expanding their influence with his ingenious battlefield tactics, and can often be found on the frontlines of conflict.
Thon Eney
Born into a life of crime on TXW-EI IV, Thon Eney operated for many years as an enforcer and racketeer for the Intaki Syndicate, providing loans and collecting on bad debts owed to the syndicate.
During her years before joining the Guristas, she also specialized in offering herself for hire as an armed escort before finally giving in to sheer greed and joining what was then a young but highly profitable venture, into which she was welcomed by Fatal and the Rabbit.
Eney joined the Guristas when she was thirty-seven, at roughly the same time as Estamel Tharchon, in YC 98, and ascended with great speed through their ranks. This comes as no surprise to her peers, given her powerful and charismatic presence, outstanding leadership ability, and fiercely ambitious temperament.
Vepas Minimala
Minimala is one of the oldest serving officers with the Guristas Pirates, and his skills in combat are legendary among the ranks of both the Guristas and their adversaries. Born in YC 44, and having served for almost three decades with the Caldari Navy, Vepas defected after he was denied the rank of admiral during a review of his combat performance. Joining the Guristas in YC 94 at age fifty-one, shortly after their formation, he worked alongside Jirai Laitanen to plan some of their most dangerous missions behind state lines over their first ten years of operation and was instrumental in the development of many of the tactics still used by the Guristas to this day.
Now in his seventies, he is still often seen in combat due to his lust for glory, and he is regarded to this day to be one of the most formidable pilots ever to fly with the Guristas.
Lucash Helmatt
A former combat pilot for the Dominations, Lucash Helmatt came to the Guristas in early YC 107 after a long and violent career as a combat scout for the Angel Cartel.
Born on Doril II in YC 74, Helmatt proved himself among the raiding squads of the Archangels from a young age before being promoted into the Dominations after half a decade of successful raids into the republic for the cartel. Several months after joining the Guristas, he gained notoriety when he destroyed a Marshal-class CONCORD battleship in November YC 107.
After celebrating his fortieth birthday last year, Helmatt shows no signs of calming his outrageous antics, which almost always put him at odds with Vepas Minimala in a competition to be in the limelight. The main rival for Minimala in the competition for title of the most skilled pilot in the Guristas Pirates, he can often be found prowling the borders of Venal looking for a target on which to test his mettle.
Achile Abraxas
Branded as a traitor with a kill-on-sight order, Achile “Ironwall” Abraxas has been considered an enemy of the Caldari State since he sold out his squadron to the Guristas and orchestrated an ambush in which they were all killed in September YC 108.
Raised on Caldari Prime before being shipped off to the State War Academy in Kisogo, Abraxas excelled as a frigate and interceptor combat pilot, as well as a covert-ops scout, until his defection from the Caldari Navy in YC 108. While the reasoning for his sudden switch of loyalty has never been revealed, many speculate that his abrasive personality and natural dislike for authority, along with a sizable bribe from the Guristas, led him to defect and orchestrate the deaths of his wingmen.
A highly competent scout upon joining the Guristas, Abraxas has since powered through their ranks, proving himself to be a knowledgeable, fast-acting, and dependable fleet commander.
Ohminen Sin
Arriving in Venal in a battered Heron-class frigate as a disillusioned young defector from the Peace and Order Unit, Sin was taken under the wing of Vepas Minimala on joining the Guristas at the age of twenty-one in YC 100.
With her basic flight training from Sukuuvestaa’s security arm and training from one of the most combat-competent Guristas in service, Ohminen immediately began to shine as a solid tactician and aggressive combatant from her first days leading security patrols on the border with Deklein.
Now charged with the responsibility of providing a point of contact with the Guristas for independent capsuleer pilots, she has been seen in recent times on the frontlines as commander of the Guristas Pirates’ Black Rise Squadron.
Guristas in the News
YC 107
Juul Anttus, a CONCORD officer who was supplying the Guristas with insider information, was found out by Hyota Vasy, a sub-nanite communication engineer. Despite being placed in the witness protection scheme, the Guristas managed to track him down and nearly succeeded in taking his life. However, due to the interference of local pilots, the Guristas suffered heavy losses, including a pair of then-brand-new Rattlesnake battleships. When Hyota led a group of mercenary pilots to a
meeting of Guristas officials, he made a grave error in employing an illegal clone as a decoy. The clone escaped and turned itself in, and the original man was forced to disappear again.
YC 108
The capture of a large convoy of Taladigi Transport & Trading Corporation vessels carrying a classified Caldari Navy shipment was turned into trap when the emptied vessels were set up to lure a group of investigators. Kilroy Eckheart, head of security for TT&T was joined by a large enough capsuleer force that they were able to destroy the guarding Guristas fleet. While TT&T continued to try and fulfil the
contract with smaller and faster shipments, their transports continued to get destroyed. Seeking vengeance against the Guristas by baiting them with leaked information on the convoys, Eckheart nonetheless failed in his attempts, despite having capsuleer backup. The entire debacle resulted in TT&T losing their contract with the Caldari Navy.
YC 109
The kidnapping of Innovaatio scientists went south when the sole surviving scientist was able to send out a distress signal to Internal Security. The scientist, involved in prototype cloaking technology, would have made a valuable resource. Unfortunately a rescue fleet was able to extract the gravely wounded person.
YC 110
A raid upon two storage and warehousing facilities owned by FedMart caught media attention when it turned out that Wiyrkomi facilities in the same system were left alone, and that Wiyrkomi Peace Corp forces did not respond to the distress calls of the FedMart personal. Speculation was raised that the State chose to turn a blind eye in order to protect their infrastructure.
Also this year, The Guristas unsuccessfully applied for participation in the 5th Alliance tournament. The official reason given was that the Guristas are not technically an alliance, nor are they a pod-pilot-only organization, and that furthermore they applied too late. The Guristas however simply concluded that the Mercantile Club excluded them because of their reputation.
YC 111
A series of raids by Ishukone Watch to crack down on aiding piracy and corporate corruption led to a loss of infiltrants and insider sources within Ishukone. This followed an already increased support of anti-piracy and corruption operations which had in the past led to the exchange of gunfire. The raids appear to have been a sudden decision, causing the Watch to move in on targets that were already under
surveillance in an attempt to capture as many as possible.
See Also
