A New Region In EVE Online: Exordium

Is CCP introducing a pure PvE region into EVE Online? One for new players to possibly learn in? A New Eden News article certainly suggests one is coming soon.

Members of the CONCORD Inner Circle, along with AIR Laboratories, have signed an amendment to the Yulai Accords establishing special rules governing a new region of space: Exordium.

Exordium was charted by joint CONCORD and AIR expeditions that began in YC123. At a special public signing held at the Inner Circle Tribunal in orbit around Yulai VIII, AIR joined the five CONCORD members in agreeing that the newly founded region would receive special security protocols that prohibit all violence between the member states within the region. The agreement also extends to the safety protocols present in capsuleer interfaces.

The goal of this amendment and the settlement of this new region, according to AIR CEO Elida Balashirian, is to “create a space free from the conflicts that plague New Eden. Exordium offers us all a chance at a new beginning, one where we are free to learn and develop without the tempestuous dangers that plague the wider cluster.”

The first expedition to explore the stars that now make up Exordium began when AIR took over the capsuleer training program in YC123. It will contain over fifty star systems linked by a newly constructed network of stargates. This region’s only two-way connection to the rest of the New Eden cluster will be a single stargate leading to Yulai, which is currently under construction. Four shipcasters, each within an embassy constellation held by one of the four major factions, will also allow one-way access to that faction’s sovereign territory.

But I should add that "exordium" is defined as:

a beginning or introduction especially to a discourse or composition

The part spelling out the new region's role involving new players comes a little later in the article. 

Balashirian believes that Exordium will be a refuge for innovation and study. In the near future, all capsuleer training programs will be relocated to Exordium. “From this cradle all new capsuleers will rise,” Balashirian announced, “building the foundation of expertise they need to venture out across the rest of New Eden.”

Along with each of the four NPC high sec empires each owning a constellation in the new region, pirates are also sneaking in.  Expect to see Guristas (Caldari), Angel Cartel (Minmatar), the Serpentis Corporation (Gallente) and Blood Raiders (Amarr) in the new region.

Will people just set up shop in the new region and not leave? I expect to see some of that behavior, but I don't think the developers will see that as attracting many players.

The star systems that make up Exordium have previously remained unsettled because their limited resources did not justify the cost of permanent occupancy. However, according to the Head of the Inner Circle Irhes Angireh, the lack of resources was actually a boon to this project, “When AIR first approached us with this plan, we quickly agreed that it would be important to select stars that would not be so desirable that they would become a new frontier for conflict. Our interest was to establish a space that would foster unity and a spirit of exploration, rather than somewhere that would become a new beachhead to be conquered.”

Like I stated above, a PvE area for new players. Perhaps more importantly, the distance from Yulai to Arnon, the starting system for the level 1 epic arc "The Blood‑Stained Stars" is only 11 jumps. If career agents are moved to Exordium then most of the starting activities for beginners will lie in the 53-system region.  Perhaps more importantly, new players will enter the game world fairly close together without having to brave the dangers of a multi-region trip to meet each other.

From a veteran's perspective, what would making Yulai the basic starting point for new players do to New Eden? Back in 2003 all roads led to Yulai until the gates directly leading from CONCORD's home system to the empires were removed in April 2004. What will happen to the population of New Eden if all new players begin the game in a system connected to Yulai over 20 years later?

NOTE: After I composed and posted this article CCP published a dev blog on the new system with more details. Following today's patch, the systems of the new region are visible on the map but are still inaccessible.