**>> SPYNET BULLETIN **>> EARTHDATE 93.04.25 **>> AN H-by-A SERVICE **>> Compiled by Hazed plus a team of specialist newsdroids **>> your news and gossip and get paid good groats! **>> I SECOND THAT DEMOTION Bella held a meeting today for the Senate (that's all the Dukes and Senators) to discuss problems with vote-rigging. It seems the circumstances of some of the promotions to Senator were very suspicious! Oddball had bid an enormous amount, and had remained a Duke, whereas Elex had unexpectedly been promoted - much to his, and everyone else's surprise. The meeting agreed that the fairest thing to do would be to promote Oddball to Senator, and to demote Elex back to Duke. This change will happen in the middle of next week. Our minds are filled with all kinds of entertaining pictures of Elex and Oddball exchanging clothes in a wild role-swapping situation! **>> TESTING, TESTING... Bella's rewrite of the game's structures is just about complete. Now she has to test it thoroughly before the new version can be put in. Since her rewrite affects just about every aspect of the game, including the way persona records are stored and accessed, it's important that she jumps up and down on it very hard to see if it breaks. No guesses about how long this will take, so don't hold your breaths! Because she's been so busy programming, Bella has got a little behind in reading her mail. She hopes to have caught up in a few days, so if you are waiting for a reply from her, please be patient. **>> PLANETS AND DUCHIES Once again, we've decided to elevate this section of the news to an earlier slot. We will continue to do this whenever there is anything interesting to report about the planets and duchies in the game. A new planet was linked into the game earlier this week. Insanity is owned by Looney (who else?) and, as you might expect, is one giant asylum. It's a very well written planet, with a chilling atmosphere. You feel that if you aren't careful, you could end up staying there for a very very long time... If you visit, say hello to the dog for us! Last week we speculated why all Occy's ex-serfs hadn't signed treaties of alliance with any other duchies. Now we know - they were waiting for Occy's successor to start recruiting! Just a few minutes after we published the news, Piemur displayed execrably bad timing and solved the devilish Duke puzzle. The Independent planets have flocked to his banner on the instructions of Senator Occy. Piemur's new Dukedom meant that one of the existing Dukes had to promote to Senator: and the successful bidder was Rezrov. His Duchy of Megalusa has disappeared. So, the new duchy lists looks like this: Independent Systems: Arena Oasis Muse Links Rhylannor Dahih Duchy of Phoenix (Piemur) Xhit Valaria Dunnottar Sapien Hell Oberon Xixax Mirai Insanity Duchy of Vitro (Freya) No systems Duchy of Gotham (Krell) Cabal Regulus Duchy of Neutarus (Khan) Starship Oppiz Duchy of Inversity (Oddball) Jinx Of the six Independant planets, Arena is owned by Emperor Ming so will stay Independent, and Muse and Links are owned by "dead" people so won't change allegiance until they regain their former rank. **>> ASSASSIN'S GUILD It looks like the Pegasus School of Assassination is well and truly open for business again, and the new headmaster is Glurg! Not content with trying to murder his pal Tellurian in as many colourful ways as he could while the poor boy was still finding his feet as a newbod, Glurg has now recruited his ex-victim as partner in his nefarious schemes. The dynamic duo's latest stunt involved trying to persuade Ni that there really is a safe way to walk under the alter in the Martian Ruins. Luckily for her, she didn't believe their smooth talk, and balked at the last minute. Glurg and Tellurian died, leaving her safe in the ruins (but presumably having to find her way out alone). Ni's mood now describes her as paranoid. Not quite true: it is not paranoia when they really -are- out to get you! **>> DYING TO BE PROMOTED Tellurian is obviously going for some kind of record. He's exploring Snark in preparation for the fiendish GM puzzle, and managed to die 4 times in only a few more minutes! Our newsdroids stared, aghast, as his total rose and rose. When they left, it stood at 7 deaths in around an hour. The Insurance Office must be having a field day! **>> GOSSIP AND SCANDAL Glurg and Jade were caught in a very intimate and private clinch by Akiko. She was so embarrassed at walking in on the lovemaking that she logged off immediately! However, she must have picked up some ideas from the encounter, because we have reports that she entertained Menace in his own private tea ceremony. Was that all he was served, we wonder? Can it be true! There are vicious rumours flying around Fed Data Space that Bochiman and Krell are, in fact, married. To each other! Their public animosity, the rumours say, is just to disguise their private marriage. Can this rumoured clandestine liaison between two supposedly bitter enemies be more than just idle speculation and tittle-tattle? We are sending a crack team of Top Investigative Newsdroids (TINs) to examine all marriage records in the Galaxy. If we can't find out the truth, no-one can! Finally, we have been asked by Noe and Tellurian to say that Noe is not pregnant. Yet! **>> SPYNET REVIEW Once again, some of our data-collecting droids failed to record every promotion during the last week, so some information is missing. Sorry if we've missed you out! Zodiac, Legion, Seth, Badog and Elliott are this week's new Captains. The Adventurers/euses are Maxwell, Mirth, Zuflex and Zodiac. Ni, Zuflex, Maxwell and Nightingale have joined the Traders Guild. Maxwell is now a Merchant, and has bought himself a company: Hammer Industries. Riccardo solved the JP puzzle for the second time round. Looney became a Squire as his planet was linked to the game. Piemur saved the galazy from A Fate Worse Than Death and in the process was promoted to Duke. As a consequence, Rezrov became a Senator. Bobalink died dead-dead; we would guess it was accidental rather than suicide. Finally, Menace has played 2000 games. Congratulations! **>> BULLETIN ENDS