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The Stargazer Vol 2, Iss 1
THE News for the Dragon Quadrant
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Your UDA news source, quarterly news journal.
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The 28th Day of Undecim, Year 3429. | Sponsored by TriTeq Industries, Inc.
Issued on February 28, 1998 RL time. | "When you want the best, get Teq."
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In this issue:
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TOP NEWS
STEROIDS RING BROUGHT DOWN IN QUADRANT WIDE STING
Cutting Edge
Ancient Power Given New Structure
On the Wire
Past Stargazers Released in a Publishing Frenzy!
Inside Fashion
Mithril Metal the Main Mod of the Month
Adventure Quest
First Anniversary Contest Ends
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TOP NEWS
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STEROIDS RING BROUGHT DOWN IN QUADRANT WIDE STING
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Frabian officials today announced the largest drug bust in the history of
the planet. In cooperation with other planetary officials, law enforcement
officers seized over 10 million metric tons of Etalocohc with a starlane
value of almost half a billion credits from processing plants scattered
across the entire Dragon Quadrant.
Known by flatlanders as Sweetener, Charm Rock or Blue Packet, this
controlled substance allowed non-Frabian races to summon and charm into
service many more creatures than would be possible through native magic
ability. Dr. Vliet Rhodalco of the SDO Medical Facilities is quoted as
saying, "Many people didnt realize the side effects of this dangerous drug.
Having so many extra creatures made many people overconfident in their
abilities and they began to pick bigger and bigger fights. Many a night,
our medical staff was pushed to the brink of exhaustion treating the
wounded from such rash encounters." Dr. Kolkerne Fishkine of Darvan Life
Insurance could not be reached for comment.
At a scheduled press conference, Frabian officials assured the public that
non-Frabian magical summoning abilities would quickly return to normal. One
anonymous source reported that although a highly charming personality might
still affect this magical ability in some slight way, the drop in abilities
due to the chemical effects of Etalocohc would be near instantaneous since
the drug quickly flushes from the systems of every race tested.
In related news, adventuring groups are finding that players are so eager
to compensate for the loss of the extra creatures that specifying a person
to assist is no longer necessary. Simply being in a group and deciding to
assist is enough to get adventures into the fray.
-Myren Noramo
UDA Newswire
Cutting Edge
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Ancient Power Given New Structure
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TriTeq Industries, Inc. announced today a development in the preservation
of certain powerful items. A structural integrity field has been developed
that will preserve the item protected by it from everything but natural
wear and tear. The only problem with the technology is that it is basedon
a rare and hard to find mineral. "Unfortunately only a very few, very
special items can be protected by this technology," said Infoteq in an
interview.
Among these items are the golden bug, the builder badge and Guyver's "I was
first to 50 orb." The bug is offered to those of the Dragons' Star network
who locate crash level bugs and report them to an administrator immediately
rather than abusing them. The badge is offered to those elite few who have
a knack for making simulations. Guyver breathed a sigh of relief and had
this to say, "I'm glad my trophy is safe, I worked hard to earn it. Thanks
TriTeq!"
A number of people felt that the items offered in the various holiday
celebration contests should also be protected, but TriTeq chose not to.
"There is only so much of this mineral available. If we protected all of
those items, we wouldn't have any left to protect truly special objects,"
said Infoteq when asked about the decision. He did promise that TriTeq
would review any suggestions offered with an open mind, but cautioned that
a suggestion would not guarantee acceptance.
-Smilodon
UDA Newswire
On the Wire
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Past Stargazers Released in a Publishing Frenzy!
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Long awaited back issues of the Stargazers suddenly poured into Dragons'
Star network subscribers' mailboxes recently in a publishing frenzy and
media blitz. The newsletter, sponsored by TriTeq Industries, Inc. and
delivered to most races in the Dragon quadrant, had stopped shipping for
quite some time, leaving many readers to wonder if the issues would ever
ship or if the Stargazer was indeed defunct.
"I assure you that the Stargazer is still in circulation," said Trillian
today. "There's been a lack of advertising revenue, though, which has
halted production for awhile." When confronted with the numbers of how
long, Trillian said, "I know the period has been a long one, but please
understand that a newspaper cannot run on merely great content alone. It
must have operating capital." Yet TriTeq Industries, Inc. thrives, so what
really happened with the Stargazer. "TriTeq may sponsor it, but our capital
comes from other sources as well."
An anonymous source revealed that TriTeq Industries, Inc. security may have
been compromised and the accounting funds alloted for the newspaper stolen.
"They hacked the TriTeq network, if you can believe that, and moved the
monies for Stargazer into an account no one could find," said the anonymous
source, "specifically so that the paper couldn't publish. I don't know what
drives them, but they sure can't stand the Stargazer or TriTeq."
When confronted with the information, Trillian did not wish to comment, but
did say that she would run this news story in its entirety. "I still
believe in free press," she said.
In a related story, a severed head and body were found face down in the
Black River, the face slaughtered beyond all recognition and the head split
wide open, teeth removed. "The murderer took great care to make sure we
were unable to identify the body. It will take us years to determine what
happened here," said Dr. Vliet Rhodalco. Indeed, this mystery, the
compromising of TriTeq security, and how it all links with the formerly
missing and now released Stargazers may take years to uncover and explain.
"We will investigate further until this case is solved," said Hartero
Kwasnye of SDO security.
-Khaivhei
UDA Newswire
Inside Fashion
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Mithril Metal the Main Mod of the Month
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"Ooooo, ooooo, Fashion!" Hello again guys, gals, and any neuters out there
as well and welcome once again to the latest, greatest news in Fashion from
the Dragon quadrant. And this time we're pondering, thinking, wearing metal
this quarter: Mithril to be exact! Can anyone say Mithril Pendant? I knew
you could! This hot 'lil item from the colleges of Bardic'land has all the
cadets clammering to be metalheads, or rather to protect their heads with
this neck-worn item.
"It's the small Bardic insignia charm that I like about it," said one
fashion-conscious cadet. "Oh, forget the charm! I like the +15 to hp and
mana," remarked another cadet within earshot. "Well, I like the fact that
it's rather thin and I can wear other pendants with it as well if I
choose," said the first cadet, snapping at the other. This reporter decided
to make a quick departure before a fight between the feisty cadets broke
out, dragging me into it. Well, from fashion land, may your metal remain
mithril! Hee hee!
-T'heelha B.
Adventure Quest
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First Anniversary Contest Ends
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Well, it was an exciting year with an exciting conclusion. The
Anniversary contest has ended but with no few bumps along the way. As it
begun, one person managed to find and open the box with the first
combination he tried! "I'm just lucky I guess," Elric was heard saying
while nearby a group of people worked madly at the boxes in the hopes that
some of his luck might rub off on them. The prized turned out to be a
magnificent gold dragon pendant encrusted with a diamond, emerald, ruby and
sapphire.
Unfortunately about half way through the quest it was noticed that Elric
was the only person to really have gotten the pendant. "We decided that
maybe the original design was too hard and made some changes," Infoteq
commented. What a change it was! Almost overnight people began opening
boxes. "Now that's more like it!" was the comment most overheard from those
most disgruntled by the original design.
One enterprising person managed to design a machine to try all the
combinations for him. "Well, I thought hey, this is pretty straightfoward,
I can make something to do the tedious part for me. The hard part was
locating the pieces in the first place," said Shadowcat during a private
interview aboard his magnificent ship, The Shadowrunner, "I had to
disappear for a little while when the word got out. It's a good thing for
teleporters, or I would have been cornered by a mob more than once."
When asked why this contest lasted so long, Infoteq said, "We felt that
this was an important enough milestone that we wanted people to share in
how excited we were to have reached it. We hope everyone had fun!" Here's
to another year with the Dragons' Star Network.
-Rhys Istaloth
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Attention readers! You too can purchase classified ad space in the
Stargazer!
Want to sell that old Sting of Scorpio? Looking for a MUD date? Want to
advertise your wedding? Use the Stargazer to get your message across and
reach hundreds of readers on the Dragon Star network! Stargazer will place
ads for you in its bi-monthly format at little cost to you-for what you
pay for an ad you could receive 10 times that in revenue! And Stargazer
has a wide reader access-the paper is featured not EXCLUSIVELY on the
Dragon Star network, but also in electronic mail and HTML forms. So what
are you waiting for!
To purchase a classified ad, send mudmail to Trillian. She will then
authorize a deduction from your Bank of the Dragon account for the amount
of the ad based on the type of ad you wish. Below are the purchase prices:
1 - 25 words: 2500 credits
25 - 50 words: 6250 credits
50 - 75 words: 9375 credits
75 - 100 words: 15000 credits
Border: 5000 credits
Text formatting: 5000 credits
(includes any formatting other than standard left to right)
(Stargazer reserves the right to refuse classified ads based on content,
material, and/or lack of funds. Ads must be written in a format suitable
to the general public and contain no vulgarity, offensive or racial slurs,
harassing remarks, and slanderous material. Thank you for your compliance.)
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Editorial Staff
Editor: Trillian
Publishers: Infoteq, Trillian, Dranor
Reporters: T'heelha B., Rhys Istaloth
Guest Reporters: Myren Noramo, Smilodon, Khaivhei
Please direct all comments to Stargazr@dracon.net
If you wish to become a part of the Stargazer staff, please send email to
Stargazr@dracon.net with the subject: Stargazer staff application.
Please include a sample of writing over 100 words in length.
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