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   | The Olympia Times                                        issue g2-53 |
   | Februrary 17, 1998                                                   |
   |                                                                      |
   | turn 53  297 players                             http://www.pbm.com/ |
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               Questions, comments, to play:  info@pbm.com

                             Olympia PBEM

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                        Player-contributed press



Hail fellow Olympians!  My name is Oak.  I am the head of the faction
known as the Druids of Scotland.  I am a 'newbie',  as this will be
only my fourth turn.  I entered the game without any knowledge of any
other player or technicalities of the game mechanics.  In the short time
I have been in this game, I have had the privilege of meeting some
helpful and instructive players.  When I began the game, I was given
the option of having a starting city.  I chose Yellowleaf because of
its remote location believing that the level of action and activity
would be of a slower nature to allow me to learn the game more
proficiently.   Egads!  Was I ever wrong!  I was in the middle of a
major war not knowing to whom to turn, or ally with or run from.
I was lucky to receive a greeting from Lord Foul, a member of the
Musketeer Alliance.  He offered advice and safe haven in Musketeer
Land.  For this courtesy I am very grateful.  I also met the
Illustrated Man who gave me advice on places where I might find work
to support my faction without becoming involved in the war.
Because of my inexperience in the game, I have chosen to remain
neutral until I understand the ebb and flow of the political
landscape.
Sitting on the sidelines and observing the development of the war,
I was struck by a thought of deja vue.  Comparing WWI or The Great
War as it was called, to the current upheaval and events of this world,
I realize that I may  have some insights that I would like to make known
to this world as a warning.  The main cause of WWI was the interweaving
of alliances of the nations involved.  For the purpose of self
protection, each nation made repetitive alliances of assurance that
in the case of attack, they would come to the aid of the allying
nation.  So when a seemingly insignificant event occurred, such as the
assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo, a domino
effect of reaction occurred, with each nation calling in their markers
for support, resulting in an escalating war.  At the time of this
writing, the escalation of the war in this world has thus far been
avoided.  In my humble opinion, I believe this war has been in held in
check because the alliances involved have remained patient and
open-minded in attempting to find solutions to their troubles.
Of great concern to me, is the existence of secret alliances that are
unknown to many players. Consequently, a supposedly insignificant
event could trigger an over reaction by one of these secret alliances,
activating other secret and known alliances thus escalating a relatively
unimportant event into a war of unknown proportions.  The end result
could be the destruction of relatively stable and healthy regimes such
as happened to the Austrian-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires in WWI.
The incident that caused me to write this monologue happened in this
last turn.  Sending one of my nobles, Walley the Wandering Fool towards
Musketeer Land, with the purpose of meeting with Lord Foul to discuss
the establishment of an enclave that would offer protection to my young
nobles,  I entered territories of Lady Eowyn and Sir Codric.  To my
great surprise, I received a very curt, rude and threatening e-mail
concerning Walley.  I was upset and concerned because it was my
understanding that Lord Foul had already contacted the Lords of the
Crown to apprise them of the appearance and purpose of unarmed and
unaccompanied Walley.  I wrote to Lady Eowyn and explained my situation
and she in turn responded with a letter of safe passage.  A few days
later, I was contacted with the cryptic note that she had not been
contacted and threatened to take decisive,( read mortal) action against
defenseless Walley.   I know he is a fool, but that is no reason to take
advantage of the harmless sole.  I immediately responded to Lady Eowyn
by sending a copy of her  own letter of safe passage to me and my regrets
and displeasure with her behavior.  My answer from her was, that she was
confused and was threatening a noble, but was unsure of which one she
wanted to intimidate.  It turns out her anger was meant to be targeted
at my other noble Oam, who unbeknownst to anyone had apparently tiptoed
into one of her territories.  She has responded with a renewed offer of
safe passage to my nobles.  I have pulled my nobles back to the safety
of Yellowleaf for the time being.  I have directed Walley to fly straight
north into Musketeer Land as fast as possible and he is NOT to dally.
Due to the fact that I am not a member of any alliance, my independent
status renders me with fewer options than if I had been a member of a
large alliance.  If I had the backing of such a group, I may have taken
this provocative incident and reacted in an offensive manner, thereby
becoming the catalyst to a great war.  Men and women of wisdom can
certainly understand my position and concern.  It is my hope that we will
not allow one faction or alliance to be the incindiary device that
triggers the apocalypse of this new and wonderful world.

                            -- Druids of Scotland [uq4]



FROM THE ILLUSTRATED MAN
 Be it known to all, after the Yellowleaf Treaty
the lands of the Inner Circle are now defined
as follows:
column 78 and all points east,
   with the exception of Yellowleaf, and
column 77 from row cv to row db, inclusive
 Due to the still volatile nature of the region,
we ask all strangers within our borders to please contact us
and make your intentions known.  Thank you.
    If all goes well, I will be handling all exchanges from
the IC and from Plato to the New Empire at the beginning of
next turn.  We're putting a special freezer into the back room
of the shop to handle the corpses.

                          -- The Illustrated Man [1010]



Arrr, it be time for some peaceful sailin!

I've a crew of as lowly seafarin' scum as you
could wish.  They'd as soon cut yur throat as
look at ya.  My ship's a leaky tub, but I love
'er just the same.

Arrr, the seafarin' life's fer me.

                                 -- Captain Arrr [7662]



Recent revisions to the charter that bound the former Harn Alliance
have allowed the seperate factions a greater degree of autonomy.
The new Confederacy should become much more active with each of the
distinct groups that make up our union engaging in more personal
activities. The Horselords of northeastern Harn are one such group.
The Horselords have been bound by agreements that have up until this
point left them somewhat reserved in their politics.  By nature the
Horselords have a more outward approach to expressing their misgivings.

The Horselords are dismayed by the Lords of the Crown's continued
aggression and trouble making in South East Provinia. Their attitude
in negotiations with the Harn Alliance and other nations has been
arrogant and high handed. They threaten force almost immediately and
we have decided there is no reason for us to ignore this any longer.
The Lords are a destabilising force in the area and might do well to
to understand their proper place. The Horselords have therefore decided
to declare the area claimed by the Lords of the Crown as "ghazi". This
means that it is open to all of the Horselords for raiding and pillaging
with all booty collected the property of the raiding faction. Any
independant factions who agree to be bound by the rules of a ghazi are
welcome to join us under our banner.  Ghazi forbids garissoning by
raiders inside the Lords lands, the building of any structures by the
raiding parties and the execution of prisoners. This is not a
territorial grab, the Horselords do not wish to extend their domain and
we respect the borders of the Council.  We have just decided to cross
them and remove some of the wealth.  We consider it only proper to
declare our actions so that the LoC does not misinterpret any
hostilities and any neutral nobles in the Council lands are aware of any
possible danger.  Any neutral nobles in the Council lands are requested
to contact Khamath Horselord with their faction or noble ids so we can
add them to our neutral list and thus avoid having them taken hostage.

                                      -- Khamath [2514]



                                 Rumors



The Crab v. Forg Alliance wishes to announce that they are
observing a ceasefire against all forgs in Ferenth.  Should
any forg nobles be spotted in Ferenth, they will not be
killed on site.  All existing "hostile" orders against any
known forgs are being changed to "sullen," and nothing
more overt than dark looks and heated muttering will be
directed at forgs.



Yvengi is a louse!




Word is not only is the recent Codric/Eowyn nuptials a
marriage of convience designed to give the Fence the real power in
the LoTC but that the Ladies Eowyn and Prytani are more than just
'friends'. The sisterhood is alive and well it seems.




All hail the Thinker .



Did someone say First Annual Olympia Players Poll?



   "26 catapults left Port Aurnos on a ship 
   heading west!" spoke the old man in rags.
   Beware the ides of March!



Ahhh!  The Pictish hordes have come!  Run!

By Crom!