Official News page 5

ADVENTURERS ALLOWED TO BE LAZY

by Hazed

In my day we had to do thousands of akaturi jobs to promote to Merchant. Barefoot, uphill, in the snow. But the young Adventurers today don't have our stamina or drive, and there has been constant moaning about how it was all too much hard work for the poor frail little couriers.

So Armstrong Cuthbert and the Galactic Trading Guild Inc had a meeting and agreed to lower the number of jobs required to promote. Now you only need 75 AK points. That's all. A measley 75 points. Why, you'll hardly have to walk anywhere at all!

And so there was much rejoicing and jubilation amongst the lower ranks. Or so Armstrong Cuthbert's management expected. But they were wrong. There was, in fact, more complaining. Oh, the Adventurers said, if all we have to get is 75 points, we won't have made enough money from the AK jobs to afford the guild subscription. We'll have to carry on delivering those frakking packages for weeks so we can afford to promote.

And so Armstrong Cuthbert and the Galactic Trading Guild Inc had another meeting to discuss possible solutions. The guild wanted AC to increase the money they paid for akaturi jobs. AC didn't want to do that because it would hit their profit margins. They suggested the guild lower its membership fees. They didn't want to do that because it would hit their income. Talks went on for hours. Tempers were frayed. There was much banging on the table and shouting. It seemed the two sides were deadlocked.

Then somebody suggested they settle it with a game of rock, paper, scissors. Since there seemed no other way to resolve the thorny issue, both parties agreed. One representative from Armstrong Cuthbert and one from the guild faced off. After a count of three, they presented... AC gave paper, and the guild produced a rock. AC won!

And so the guild was forced to lower its membership fees. At which point, somebody decided they might as well stop charging new members altogether and start getting their money in other ways, such as merchandising, advertizing and charging for extra services. So now you don't pay to join the guild, you just have to have 75K as a float to start you off trading.

This means the requirements to promote to Merchant are now 75 AK points, and 75K groats in the bank.

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