Are Live Combat Trials Underway?

What was just rumor and conjecture last week appears to be rooted in fact. A number of reports are piling in about the existence of secret Live Mercenary Combat trials. Apparently, the four nations use of Immortal soldiers has caught the attention of powerful entities in EVE. Info broker Matticus Astra has confirmed that the past week has seen large scale destruction and massive loss of clones and other assets at a classified location. Evidently, EVE corporations have funded these live combat exercises as a means to gauge the effectiveness of some of the elite mercenary corporations, and it seems the corps are taking full advantage of the free advertising and opportunity to show off their wares. It also appears that New Eden corps are offering an enormous ISK reward to the bands of mercenaries that can prove themselves in these live exercises. Sources also claim that corps like Zion TCD and Southern Legion are trying to settle scores from Mordu's Trials and avenge past virtual defeats on the real battlefield. http://tinyurl.com/b9nk57g

As always, we'll continue to monitor this story and provide more information as it becomes available.