+----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | The Olympia Times issue g2-54 | | Februrary 24, 1998 | | | | turn 54 306 players http://www.pbm.com/ | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+Questions, comments, to play: info@pbm.com
Olympia PBEM
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Player-contributed press
I know that Language can be a barrier to communications. If French, Spanish, Celtic, or Serbo-Croatian is a more comfortable language for Lady Eowyn/Sir Codric then please feel free to contact me in any of them. In order to facilatate and expediate communications between our faction and any other faction I have instructed my nobles to wear a forest green sash. This will allow visual identification of my nobles without adjudication.
-- Druids of Scotland [uq4]
I would like to also express my thanks to Lord Foul. I have found his graciousness with newbies to be superb! Hail to Lord Foul and the entire Rimmon Musketeers!
I also want to thank the Crimson Alliance for their help, and my gratitude to the Harn Alliance as well.
-- Iron League [yp7]
To my dear fellow Olympians. Well I would like to thank all the Veteran players who crapped on me on the last turn and didn't even contact me to explain 'WHAT' and 'WHY' they did it. I am presently learning the game and after a few months of 'SCOUTING' I finally found a deserted desert to build my castle. A desert people, I expected to be left alone in the desert. Whilst co-ordinating my move to bring all my scouting nobles together I left my ship, The 'S.A.S Wind Dancer' in Greyfell so my farflung guys could be shipped to my little castle......and some low life stole my ship while I was selling fish to stay alive. From a safe haven people, my ship was stolen from a damn safe haven. Now I am broke, landless, shipless and spread from asshole to breakfast. I believe that this would be a great game, well set up and maintained if not for the unscrupulous land hungry losers who do not look where they are garrisoning. I set up well to the west of Greyfell and the faction who garrisoned my province are from Rimmon for gods sake. Let the newbies at least feel that they have accomplished something before you wipe them out on a whim.....please. I'm sorry if it seems I am whining, but some of us are still learning the ropes, and to sail off on someones boat in a safe haven is a little below the belt :-( Thanx for listening and I will say no more.
Lee The Brave. Leader of the Syr-Antin (or what is left of the now nomadic tribe).
-- Lee The Brave [1426]
To our western neighbours, the Horselords :
As spokesman of my alliance it is my duty to inform you the Council decided on the following matters :
We will defend ourselves against any acts of aggression. You can abide by all kind of rules of your own choosing, we will follow ours.
There is but one thing that troubles us: Noire Immortalis refuses to join you in your endeavours. You should take into account the fact that you are jeopardizing his lands as well when you make your assault, as we will make no exceptions in our retaliation. If you go through with your plans, Noire may be forced to make a choice here.
However, since we never had any contact with you horselords directly, I really want to emphasize that we do NOT wish this to escalate into a full-scale war. If you see any way to settle your problems with us in a peaceful way, we are listening. So far, we haven't done anything to harm any of you nor do we intend to. If you don't like our way of conversation, then don't conversate with us, but don't use it as an excuse to go pillaging our lands.
Finaly, we want to warn all new players who were lured by the horselords into this outrageous "Ghazi". Let me reassure all of you, there is NO way the Horselords will gain any land from the Lords to settle. The only land they might conquer lies 6ft under.
For the Lords of the Crown,
-- Sir Codric [3910]
Hi all, the Illustrated Man here, with another newsie little bit of diplomacy...
We of the Inner Circle are concerned over the recent report from the Druids of Scotland. We have been in touch with them since the incident, and while the Lords are correct that there were several misunderstandings (on both sides), still the tone was awfully threatening towards an obvious newbie who had strayed only one province away from a safe haven. And no, I don't think the tone of the letter was due to language difficulties: I'm sure that Lady Eowyn knows exactly what it sounds like when she says, "you will be considered to be a spy and we will take appropriate measures." I don't believe that, even under Fox, the New Empire ever made any attempt to discourage people from entering Azrain, and that was their capitol. Also, we'll point out that the Lords insisted several times during territorial negotiations that they should have the area around the safe haven because they had never interfered with anyone's attempts to gather resources in their territory. We'll also mention that, way back when this all began and we offered to support the Lords moving into the Empire's old territory, we suggested that they leave Oriana as an Open City, since it's almost the ONLY place in southeastern Provinia where mining can be learned...an important skill for all factions. Accordingly, we are unilaterally announcing the following Inner Circle Policy:
YELLOWLEAF FREE ZONE The Inner Circle hereby announces that our ten provinces of db-dg 78-79 are declared a Free Zone. (This includes the cities of Gaytforth and Elantir.) We will make no attempt to restrict, threaten, harrass, or legislate any nobles in these ten provinces. Anyone may gather resources and travel to the two cities for education in Beastmastery, Alchemy, and Scrying without asking our permission. We will allow unlimited building of structures other than Castles and Mines. The only restrictions we offer are that, unless you have prior approval, - no stacks containing ten fighters or more - no seige equipment - no building of structures inside the cities - no purchasing of trade goods in the cities We reserve the right to insist upon answers to our messages to anyone in our territory outside of these provinces, however.
We challenge the Lords of the Crown to declare a similar zone in row dh from 74-77, to allow new players the opportunity to study Mining, Necromancy, and Artifact Construction in peace and freedom. If we can do it in ten provinces, surely you can do it in four?
The Illustrated Man for The Inner Circle
-- The Illustrated Man [1010]
Rumors
The guard glared into the rain soaked swamp. To have fallen to guarding this wasteland after working among the nobility. Somehow he would get out of here and find out who convinced Jadar that he was a shadow spy. And then they would pay!
Wow, the peace lasted almost an entire turn!
They don't know who you are They don't know who they are They think they know everything They don't know their butts from Third Base They certainly aren't your friends They are too incompetent to be real enemies
They are no threat They have no clue They used to be quite the joke They are getting tiresome
They are The Shadow Alliance
I wish they would just go away
Day 28: We have journeyed into strange lands, Day 29: The natives are very friendly Day 30: We are completely lost (space aaa108).
People have pointed out to civic-minded crabs that "frog" is, in fact, "Gorf!" reversed with the exclamation point removed and the "G" dropped into lower case. What sort of sick, demented organisms would do this? And what about the newbies?!!!?
1 _-/ \-_ _-- / \ --_ _-- / \ --_ _-- / \ --_ _-- / 1 \ --_ ##------------------------------## \---_ / \ __---/ \ -- /__ 9 __\-- / \ / ---__ __--- \ / \ / ___---___ \ / \/__--- ---__\/ 5 ---------------11/11
Thats right folks you heard it there first ! (the Wyrmswyrd web site) Unless that is if your a bar fly at the Illustrated Mans tatto parlor. If you havent heard yet get out of that musty tower, drop the draw bridge on your castle and visit the Wyrmswyrd web site before its to late......
Duke Fiesterbran was seen with an intern On the might ship the Bass The howls and wails shook the sails As the Old Man in Rags lit his ass - That Old Geezer from Port Aurnos
I, Noire Immortalis of the Undying Banner, co-founder of the Harn Confederacy, ruler of the Kingdom of Eastern Harn would like to make some comments regarding the situation in South Eastern Provinia.
Firstly, regarding the Ghazi's. At this time I do not take part in any of these potential raids on LoC territory, although I may decide to do so later on with short prior notice. The reason for this is not that our Confederacy is in disagreement, but rather that I (being a Southern gentleman) consider myself bound by recent agreements. Should the tone and behaviour of the LoC leaders not improve, it is likely that my stance is changed.
Secondly, regarding rumors of scouting on our territory, we have not had the time confirm that LoC has in fact been trespassing outside Twilight City and if they have, at what time they did so. But let me say this: As of today, The Kingdom of Eastern Harn is off-limits for all LoC-factions (It always was, with exception of one, which I considered friendly).
My Honour is my Life
Noire Immortalis for UDB
Yvengi...A Necessary Evil?
I am a loyal follower of the Olympia Times and it seems that i am regularly being disturbed by the un-enlightened views of some warp-minded individuals that seem set on offending the many for the price of a laugh or two. Well to be quite honest i'm sick of it. I don't know who came up with the idea that Yvengi is a louse, as whoever that was needs some guidance. I will guide you.
It all started back in the 80's, lets remenice...the era when Macaly kulkin was but a twinkle in an eye of a husband and pregnant wife in a mid-suburban town on the outskirts of Montana Mississippi, where the rolling grassy hills converse with the scerenity of local salmon ponds, where the palm trees are imported circannualy from far away places and where the local school dinners are so yummy scrummy that children are all obese and grow to spend the rest of their fat lives watching Rikki Lake and Oprah in search of stories from other obese people.
Ahhhh the 80's....a time when Mr Filofax made millions on his clever invention (the filofax). An era when the most lovable of foxes, The Michael. J. variety, came and made friends with millions and millions of people in his quest to get his fluxcapacitated delorian time machine out of 1955 and back to 1985.
Ah the 80's, in many respects is not a time zone in its own right, but instead a transitional Zone from the disco 70's to the hip and happening 10 year long 90's.
Anyway....sorry, yes Yvengi, was a suspect myself and fellow FBI agents were investigating, back in those days he went by the name of Weird Alan. He was wanted in connection with various petit crimes including genocide and treason. Anyway, my investigation has brought me to Olympia, where the now called Yvengi seeks asylum in the arms of the powerful shadow alliance. I thought it was only fair that you heard the full story, even though ignorance is bliss, or so they say, anyhow, happy PBEM to all. And remember Yvengi is all that ever mattered and all that ever will.
The Doctor (self appointed).
The new frontiers of knowledge
Here At DU (Drassa University) we are again pushing back the frontiers of knowledge. While the mages of old thought that everything is made from the four elements air,earth,fire and water. We have shown that these are but some of the elements and that all of the elements are composed of even more basic qualities. DU has now shown that everything is composed from the six basics qualities. Truth, Beauty, Charm, Strange, Up and Down.
This week I have been mostly thinking about....... War.
War. It's a terrible thing. People die, others get wounded, others shoot themselves in the foot as opposed to going over the top ("I can't do it skip! I miss Blighty, and the girl I left behind. I'm sorry skip.")
And then there's peoples last words and requests to be remembered and filed. Famous last words may not have been so well known if it wasn't for the pen-pushers down-town filing it away for safe keeping.
Who could forget such timeless classics as "Either that wallpaper goes or I do", from Mr Wilde, or "Freedom" from a Mr Wallace.
Other well known last words are as follows:
"Tell momma. Tell momma that I died in battle, Joey. Not like this. Not in an embarrising situation involving the regimental mascot". (possibly said by an unlucky trooper)
"When will the killing end. When will man love man as if he was his brother or even his wife" - not intended as last words, but people do speak loudly in public places.
"Bugger"
Enough if that.
One character in my faction is a bit of a loner. He knows all possible stealth and persuasion skills, and spens most of his time wandering around undetected having a look at what everyone's up to.
For the last 5 turns, he has been able to witness an extremely interesting happining, on the continent of Prov***a (secrecy is a spies only true weapon).
In an almost deserted area of said continent, there is one noble in the middle of a swamp province. Why? Well, he started off with over three hundered troops. Quite a warmonger then. Well maybe. However, over the last turns, more nobles have come and deposited troops with this man, some joining the stack. I have counted over thirty nobles, all leaving troops and around a third of them stacking with the man.
These nobles have been moving casually. They have been in relativly innocent looking units such as SoandSo [1234] with 25 pikemen, 15 archers, 20 peasants, 30 workers. However when they leave the province they only have the peasants and the workers left.
The main combat stack now has over 1300 troops, and there is no sign of it slowing down. This would appear to be a similar situation as you might see on a plane. Picture this. One man sets off the metal detector at the airport. Not a problem he say - onbly a pen. And it is. Another has a lighter, and another has a fluffy keyring. On the plane they go together to make a gun.
This is the same. Many well protected nobles are being smuggled together becoming an army.
So what does this mean? Another war? We'll see.
Thinking's what I do.
The Thinker.