"The Brutor tribe stands in to support an historical research effort being undertaken by the Republic University, a move bolstered by the presence of a powerful and capable capsuleer - that is, you. Repeatedly denied access to an important historical artifact, the academics are pitted in a constant struggle to uncover ancient truths, and it will be your mission to help them. The histories of conquered civilizations are seldom told in full by the victors, and many organizations will do their best to keep things that way."
Requirements
To start the Minmatar Epic Arc you must have standings of 5.0 or higher with the Brutor Tribe corporation or the Minmatar Republic faction. In addition to being comfortable with level 4 missions, you should have the Hacking and Archaeology skills trained (Hacking III (minimum III required) and Archaeology I are sufficient).
Rewards
At the end of this Epic Mission Arc you will decide whether to cooperate with a Gallente historian or with the Defiants, a splinter group of the Republic Fleet. The Defiants will award you
+5% Minmatar Republic faction standing (6.25% at Social V)
10 x RSS Core Scanner Probes
The Gallente historian will award you
+10% Minmatar Republic faction standing (12.5% at Social V)
After you complete the arc, be sure to check that you have received the faction standing increase, because there have been many cases of people not receiving the increase. If your standing has not changed, file a petition. It may help to include a link to CCP Dropbear's forum post.
Enemies
You will face mostly Angels with some Mercenaries, Amarr, and Ammatar.
After one completion of this arc, the following faction standing changes due to "Combat - Ship Kill" were observed:
Amarr Empire: -0.0%, -0.06%, -0.06% (very small losses)
Ammatar Mandate: -3.0%
Angel Cartel: -3.0%, 10 losses of 0.025% or smaller
Make sure you've got a strong/proper tank, if you're flying alone. The enemies in some of the missions deal quite a bit more damage than the usual level 4 mission ships.
Not all missions are combat missions. Do not fight unless you have to and you know what you are doing.
The Missions
Chapter 1: The Passage
In this chapter you will fight Angels and Mercenaries, mostly in the Odengsolf constellation between Rens and Hek.
A Demonstration
Type: Encounter (combat optional)
Reward: 6,000,000 + 1,150,000 (Bonus)
Summary: Obtain 1 Olfei Medallion (0.1 m3).
You can buy these on the market for less than 1 million isk.
Alternatively, you can visit the Sveipar constellation and use your Onboard Scanner or a probe to find a cosmic anomaly called "A Demonstration." After clearing the site, use an Analyzer module to loot the Abandoned Container.
The Cost of Preservation
Type: Encounter (Mercenaries)
Reward: 4,000,000 + 1,370,000 (Bonus)
Collateral: 5,000,000
Summary: Destroy Aillon Boufin's ship and obtain the Hauteker Memoirs (0.1 m3).
Damaging Aillon Boufin triggers a large wave of Mercenaries.
Damaging Aillon Boufin's armor triggers a second wave.
You can warp out and return at range if they get too close.
Aillon Boufin drops an Archives Passkey. Loot the passkey and deposit it in the Archives container (70 km from warp-in). This will allow you to loot the Hauteker Memoirs.
Written by the Victors
Type: Encounter (Angel Cartel and Amarr Empire)
Reward: 4,000,000 + 968,000 (Bonus)
Collateral: 2,500,000
Summary: Obtain 1 Wildfire Khumaak (0.3 m3).
The site is guarded by multiple Angel Cartel cruisers and battlecruisers.
Destroying all three battlecruisers will trigger a reinforcement wave of Amarr battlecruisers and battleships. You do not lose Amarr standing for destroying these.
You do not actually need to destroy the ships - just loot the Wildfire Khumaak from the Central Burial Tomb and warp out. There are a lot of collidables around the tomb, so be careful when aligning.
Glowing Embers
Type: Courier
Destination: Todeko (6 jumps)
Reward: 6,000,000 + 1,310,000 (Bonus)
Summary: Deliver the Wildfire Khumaak.
You may wish to complete this mission remotely since the next mission is also in Todeko.
From Way Above
Type: Encounter (Angel Cartel)
Destination: Todeko
Reward: 5,000,000 + 1,430,000 (Bonus)
Summary: Destroy the enemy ships.
The initial guards are followed by four similar reinforcement waves which spawn approximately every three minutes, so destroy the ships as quickly as possible to try to keep the incoming damage manageable. They spawn about 60km from warp-in; you can warp back in at range to restore distance if necessary.
This mission has been observed to complete while there still remains at least one cruiser from each reinforcement wave. Perhaps it is only necessary to destroy the initial guards? Or only ships above cruiser size?
Tests show that after Destroying all BS, BC, Frigates and Destroyers (Cruisers still there) the mission is completed. If you want to "blitz" this mission, concentrate on the BC and BS, then proceed from Frigates to Destroyers to Cruisers, until the mission is completed.
Friends In High Places
Type: Encounter (no combat)
Destination: Alakgur (8 jumps)
Reward: 7,000,000 + 1,010,000 (Bonus)
Summary: Fly around a friendly compound following your agent's instructions.
Although the agent suggests otherwise, this mission can be completed remotely.
My Little Eye
Type: Courier
Destination: Aldrat (10 jumps)
Reward: 5,000,000 + 983,000 (Bonus)
Summary: Report to a new agent in Aldrat.
Chapter 2: Songs of the Past
Unless otherwise noted, missions in this chapter take place in the Aptetter constellation (the Aldrat pocket).
Dead End Intercept
Type: Encounter (Minmatar Republic)
Reward: 5,000,000 + 1,500,000 (Bonus)
Summary: Destroy one ship and loot the Signed Datapad (0.1 m3).
The guards at the site will not attack you.
Surfacing
Type: Encounter (Mercenaries)
Destination: Jark (11 jumps)
Reward: 7,000,000 + 1,680,000 (Bonus)
Summary: Destroy all enemy ships and loot the Encrypted Transmission (0.1 m3).
After the first wave, there are two more reinforcement waves each spawned by destroying all preceeding ships.
The first wave of this mission can spawn almost on top of you, does heavy damage, and can web and warp scramble, so you might want to trigger it in a shuttle and then warp back in at range in your combat ship.
The last wave includes three webbing spider drones.
Who Art in Heaven
Type: Encounter (Angel Cartel)
Reward: 5,000,000 + 1,400,000 (Bonus)
Summary: Destroy the enemy ships and approach the Archaeology Outpost.
This mission may be blitzable by approaching within 20k of the outpost to trigger its destruction.
Playing All Their Cards
Type: Encounter (Angel Cartel)
Reward: 7,000,000 + 1,620,000 (Bonus)
Summary: Hack the container and retrieve the Drive Cluster EDF-285 (0.1 m3).
Approach the container. When you get close, an Angel force will appear 100k off. You do not need to destroy them before hacking the container; however, it may take many cycles to successfully open the container, so you should have a good tank and be ready for scramming frigates if they make it close enough.
History in the Making
Type: Courier
Destination: Tanoo (13 jumps)
Reward: 7,000,000 + 1,790,000 (Bonus)
Summary: Simple courier mission to a new agent near Rens.
Chapter 3: Revelation
Missions against Ammatar and the finale against Angels. You do not lose any Ammatar standing for killing them.
Church of the Obsidian
Type: Encounter (Ammatar Mandate)
Granted Item: Analyzer I
Reward: 7,000,000 + 1,070,000 (Bonus)
Summary: Destroy the guards and use an Analyzer to recover the Blood Obsidian Orb (0.1 m3).
Initial guards are neutral. When you approach the acceleration gate, they will disappear and a wave of hostile ships will spawn. Destroy them and use the gate.
Destroy the ships in the deadspace pocket. The frigates may warp scramble you.
Use an Analyzer to open the Chapel of Obsidian and retrieve the Blood Obsidian Orb.
Heresiology
Type: Encounter (Ammatar Mandate)
Reward: 8,000,000 + 1,230,000 (Bonus)
Summary: This is a relatively easy fight followed by a lot of archaeology to retrieve the Engraved Blood Obsidian tablet (0.1 m3).
After defeating the guards, start analyzing the containers. Each container will, upon successful analysis, spawn another container, and so on, until three new containers have spawned. So you will have to analyze 12 containers in all. You will find some miscellaneous texts before finally finding the engraved tablet.
Wildfire
Type: Encounter (Angel Cartel)
Granted Item: Obsidian Datacore (0.1 m3)
Reward: 7,000,000 + 487,000 (Bonus)
Summary: Take the Obsidian Datacore to the Chapel Container.
After you deposit the datacore, it will be stolen by an NPC and you will be ambushed by a large number of Angel frigates and a few battleships, which you can either destroy or escape.
If you choose to flee, be careful aligning so that you do not get caught on a collidable structure.
Stillwater
Type: Encounter (Angel Cartel)
Reward: 8,000,000 + 1,280,000 (Bonus)
Summary: Defeat Karkoti Rend and take the Book of St. Arzad (0.1 m3).
There is an energy neutraliser tower, so that should probably be a high priority.
The frigates warp scramble - be careful!
You can either blitz Karkoti or kill his guards first (Any remaining guards vanish when Karkoti's ship is destroyed). His guards are elite cruisers and frigates and regular battleships, so they're not especially tough. Karkoti has a good tank, but not amazing, and his damage is not particularly high. He uses a microwarpdrive and seems to like to kite at a 60km range.
Retraction (Option)
Type: Courier
Destination: Todeko (9 jumps)
Reward: 10 x RSS Core Scanner Probes + 1,170,000 (Bonus) + Minmatar faction standings increase: 5% base (up to 6.25% with Social V skill trained)
Summary: Deliver the Book of St. Arzad (0.1 m3) by dropping it into the container.
Revelation (Option)
Type: Courier
Destination: Avesber (5 jumps)
Reward: 25,000,000 + 273,000 (Bonus) + Minmatar faction standings increase: 10% base (up to 12.5% with Social V skill trained)
Summary: Deliver the Book of St. Arzad (0.1 m3) by dropping it into the container.