**>> SPYNET BULLETIN **>> EARTHDATE 95.05.21 **>> AN H-by-A SERVICE **>> Compiled by Hazed plus a team of specialist newsdroids **>> your news and gossip and get paid good groats! **>> HOSTS WITH THE MOSTS Welcome to two new game hosts, Shady and Geezer, who will be taking up their positions over the next week or so. Please be gentle with them as they find their feet (or equivalent!). **>> ONCE UPON A TIME... Sparrowhawk has written a short story about a day in Fed, which features some of Fed's famous characters - although what happens to them is entirely fictitious and probably very unlikely! You can download and read the story for yourself: on GEnie, file #348, STORY.TXT in the official library on page 220, and on Delphi, file STORY.TXT in the Fed database (GO GAMES FED TALK DATA). If anyone else has the urge to write a story about Fed, you can upload them to the libraries too. Just remember that if your story is to feature an existing player, you must have their permission first. **>> THE LATEST FROM POD WATCH During the week, members of POD Watch looked on in fascination as Chrysalis, the cocoon containing our dear friend Caterpillar, popped a little and a second foot appeared! Meanwhile, the merchandising arm of POD Watch released a new product onto the market: special POD ale. We interrupt this news bulletin for a short commercial break. o/~ o/~ o/~ When the sun Looms before your ship And it feels Like your hauling sens And the moon o/~ Ain't paying right And the stars, the stars Cut astrogations tight! When lifeforms get hard to understand And your love-life gets outa hand... Just come to P.O.P.P.A o/~ -------------------------------------------------------- POD Orange Paisley Pale Ale is now available to most carbon-based lifeforms in Chez Diesel's, the Social Center of the Solar System. P.O.P.P.A is the only Pale Ale that gives you a curious tingling feeling in your stomach when you drink it. With every order, you will receive a POD Action Figure. -------------------------------------------------------- o/~ Now that we have Your favorite toys And Diesel's got your Lover girl/it/boy o/~ o/~ Just come to P.O.P.P.A. And now back to the news bulletin. There have also been rumours that a second cocoon has been sighted in Fed DataSpace, claiming to contain the -*real*- Caterpillar. However, this fake was soon proved to be a pseudo-pod. **>> STOP PRESS! IT'S HATCHED Amazing news! It appears POD Watch's vigil is at an end because Chrysalis has hatched. Now, at last, we get the chance to find out what was growing inside that cocoon for so long. Unfortunately, our fly-on- the-wall reporter got eaten by the newly hatched hatchling, but not before it was able to transmit a last message back to us. We can now reveal that Chrysalis has become... a Grasshopper! Eye witness reports of the cracking of the cocoon state that the bug was horrified to discover that instead of a beautiful butterfly with enormous gaudy wings, it is a boring green grasshopper. It tried repeatedly to crawl back inside the cocoon, moaning that there must have been some mistake. It intends to appeal to the POD Advisory Council to see if it can get the hatching reversed. If it is successful, it will be able to have another attempt to become a beautiful butterfly. **>> MY FAVORITE SATURNIAN Zzzax, Overlord of Saturn (and Ambassador to FedSpace) has announced a contest! You see, Zzzax wants a very special place to call his own in Fed DataSpace, what with his planet off hiding in another dimension (waiting to attack Fed DataSpace, but that's another story). So, he's decided there has to be a way to rectify this situation. Planet-owners now have two weeks to design a room or suite of rooms on their planet for Zzzax himself! When your rooms are completed, let Zzzax know either in sendmail or by telling him in the game. After the deadline, he'll decide which owner designed the best room or group of rooms, and give them "a very zpecial reward". Zzzax will also write up a full report of his findings and publish it in the news so everyone else can come and see the truly wonderful submissions. (Can you say player minutes?) So, get cracking! The deadline is Friday, June 2nd. **>> MURDER MOST FOUL! Mosquito, Baroness of Kama, went dead-dead on Thursay night. Speculation ran amok as to what happened. Our intreped newsdroid was sent out and managed to tackle Mosquito on her mad dash back up to Baroness. The following excerpt tells all! Newsdroid: Mosquito, what happened? Rumor has it that you finally went d-d through a teleporter accident? Mosquito: No! I was murdered! Newsdroid: But who would do such a thing? (especially knowing the temperament of her husband, Wildstar) Mosquito: Tellurain. I name him as my murderer! He was driven insanely jealous by the fact that Tantras had considered leaving him for me, prior to my marriage. Newsdroid: Well, Rain -*is*- insane... it's possible. Have you any proof to back up your accusation? Mosquito: No... it was destroyed. Rain bribed my teleporter tech team to sabatoge my settings. Here I was... set to go to CDs when -*poof*- I'm out in Arena space... before I could get insured, there was a TDX explosion. The next thing I knew, I was a groundhog and all my evidence was destroyed. At this point, Skeets jumps back up and says, "stat items!" and races out the door. **>> WELCOME TO THE FAMILY! What's going on between Skeets, Wildstar, and Lori? This threesome seem to be quite close, even for Fed. Finally the news is out. "With Wildstar's agreement, I've invited Lori to join our family as a co-wife", replies Mosquito. "We havent got the wedding date set yet, but I'm hoping it'll be soon. I'm so excited! As soon as Wildstar gets her room prepared, we'll have a mass celebration on Pakua." **>> PLANETS AND DUCHIES It's all quiet... no new planets, no-one's switched alliances, and only two promotions. Kainaw's Tisnar is now a mining world, and Bgg's Cafe is now leisure (sounds kind of suitable!). **>> SPYNET NOTICE There were two deaths during the week, one minor and one major. The minor fatality was Adventurer Snoopy, who took his own life while of unsound mind. The major death was Baroness Mosquito - see our earlier story. Congratulations to everyone who achieved promotion during the last week. The new Captains were Cooldude, Stilleto, Jian, Venom, Geezer, Garland, Roadrash, Perrin and Mosquito (back from the dead). Mosquito, zooming back through the ranks, reached Adventureuse. The Traders Guild swelled its ranks by admitting Apollo, Mosquito and Dibdevlin. Hallo, Klatu, Sue and Mosquito were promoted to Merchant. Kainaw is now a Thane, and Bgg is a Baron. **>> CONTACTS The following information will appear at the end of every News Bulletin, so you don't have to read it if you already know it. The current Federation Game Hosts are: Freya, Phoenix, Chrysalis, Lyrynna, Grannie, Sparky, Zzzax, Shady and Geezer. Their function is to answer questions, help new players get started, and make fun things happen. In the event of a problem or question, you can: * talk to Hazed or one of the Game Hosts in the game * a message to Hazed * send mail on your host system to the Federation team: on GEnie, mail FEDII.2 or use the option on the main Fed page on Delphi, mail FED2 or use the option on the main Fed page on Cris, mail FEDERATION2 You can buy a copy of the very excellent Idiot's Guide to Federation for the paltry sum of $15.95. On GEnie, type ORDER from any main menu page. On Delphi and Cris, send a check for $15.95 to: Leah Parker, 4543 La Crescenta Avenue, La Crescenta, CA 91214-2912. **>> BULLETIN ENDS