CCP has revealed details about EVE Online: Empyrean Age, the upcoming free expansion to its long-running MMOG that will bring an end to the fragile peace between the game's four powers.

The major update to the game will see the addition of factional militias that will allow players to bolster the ranks of standing military forces; newly-created ranks for privateers; factional warfare agents who will assign missions inside enemy territories; and enhanced statistical options that will track victories, kills and other data for individuals, corporations and factions. A brand-new region of space known as "Black Rise" has also been added to the game.

As a result of the hostilities, many regions of space in the game have now been declared Combat Zones, which will feature prominently in the coming battle. Systems within Combat Zones will contain "factional warfare complexes," facilities that can be taken and held by factions as they expand their grasp on the stars. A new level of system control, called System Occupancy, will also be introduced, giving factions the opportunity to take control of contested solar systems by winning victories and assaulting Star Control Bunkers.

The expansion will feature material from the upcoming novel EVE Online: Empyrean Age by Tony Gonzales, which will follow the dissolution of New Eden as it exists today into a fractured galaxy standing on the edge of all-out war. The novel, set for release on June 19, is available for pre-order at Amazon. The EVE Online: Empyrean Age expansion launches on June 10, free to registered EVE Online subscribers.

Source: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.60955