Jove Empire
The Jove Empire is located in the far "north" of New Eden, isolated from the rest of the world to all but a selected few by the lack of stargates connecting it to the rest of the cluster. The Jovians are a mystery to the other races: they are elusive and wield advanced technology, eons ahead of the other factions.
Practically, the Jovian Empire has sometimes served as an in-lore explanation for actions taken by CCP Games within EVE's world.
Lore
The Jovians have been civilized longer than any other race in New Eden and have gone through several golden ages, now long-since shrouded in the past. They have engaged in far more experimentation with genetic engineering than the other factions, and as a result strike others as unsettling and alien. The current Empire is far reduced from its past glories, mainly because of the Jovian Disease, a psychological disorder that is always fatal.
Despite their small numbers, the surviving Jovians have significant military power thanks to their technological advantages. These advantages were made clear when they conclusively defeated an attempt by the Amarr Empire to conquer them.
They have at times introduced technology to the other factions, and played a role in the emergence of the capsuleer technology that, in EVE's lore, is responsible for the existence of all of the game's players.
At least judging by their appearance, the enigmatic Drifters seem to be related to the Jovians. They look like Jovians who have undergone extensive cybernetic augmentation.
Jove Ships
As with all other ships in the game, operating Jove vessels requires a player to be trained in the race's spaceship command skills, and since these skills were completely unavailable to players, only the devs have ever had the privilege of flying one. There are unconfirmed stories of particularly lucky and resourceful players getting their hands on Jove ships or blueprints for them by destroying dev ships, but just like every other incident when a player managed to acquire dev-exclusive items the loot was recovered by CCP. As the ships were removed from the database entirely in 2014, this list is for historical purposes only.
