MARNIE Archives August 2015

This page holds archived editions of the MARNIE newspaper which is published every Monday. The Archive contains at least four-week-old issues, and links are clickable despite what the Editor's Notes of the paper editions say. In order to keep the reading content manageable, each month will have its own page.

Midgard's Alpha Realm News
International Edition
August 3rd, 2015

Editor's Note:
Links can NOT be clicked but all photos on Imgur are all in the same album. Some of them are bigger files due to picture collages. Other links lead to this server's wiki.

In Worldwide News:
Red Sand And Pipeline, page 20

In Regional News:
Island Claims, page 31

In Local News:
Hacker Theft, page 45

Worldwide News

Duchy of Eureka
(ks) The creator of the giant bridge in the territory known as Eureka recently returned home after about half a year of absence. He agreed to joining his territory as a duchy to Kriegstein and thus earned the title of Duke Septicaemia.
During a tour of the bridge, the duke stated, “It's a Sydney Harbor Bridge rip-off.” As can be seen in the comparison on https://imgur.com/a/NKMgW#43, the Eureka Bridge is actually a fitting reconstruction.
However, the bridge is not completely functional yet, since its builder “got bored after I finished the aesthetic part of it.” Due to that, “I haven't outfitted the [bridge] towers or finished the rails.”
Duke Tomoko Kuroki of Aresia questioned, “Why did you build a bridge over land?” To which Duke Septicaemia explained, “Because it's not a bridge, it's a symbol.” A few photos of the area can be viewed at https://imgur.com/a/NKMgW#44. He left deciphering the symbolism to the tourists.

Kairo's Pyramid
(sc) During one of our journalists' excursion via the overworld metro system, the Slavia Confederation was visited. There, a lot of structures were created during the past couple months, among them the infamous but already abandoned Flying Islands of Lord Nomgol and the noteworthy harbor of Alexandria that was planned and built by Resident Alex_Lopatin. Another interesting spot for tourists is the great pyramid put up by Resident Berezov around the beginning of July. It is located near the station Kairo and reaches a towering Y132 at its top. Due to the immense height, the view from there is rather limited. At level Y70 the pyramid's base spans about 126 blocks squared, and its inner secrets remain a mystery for now.

Assault on Spawn Police
(ns) Resident Yagira, who still seems to spend most of his time around New Spawn, acted out another bout of outrage on July 27th. This time, not only did he assault police officers, but he hanged one of the mall guards above the mall entry as a symbol of his anger. He also placed a sign demanding unequivocally, “DEATH TO THE IRON GOLEMS!!!!!” Photographs of the scene were taken for evidence; one of those have been leaked to the press and can be seen at https://imgur.com/a/NKMgW#45.
Although the police officer could be rescued before suffering fatal damage due to sturdy iron armor, Resident Yagira is unlikely to ever regain a good, or even just neutral, reputation among the New Spawn police force.

War of Liberation
(ks/bf) On July 21st, Royaume de Kriegstein formally liberated areas under Commonwealth occupation. Details of the operation and its results can be read on the page https://dev-urandom.eu/battles:war_of_liberation in the Autism Almanac.
Duke Tomoko Kuroki of Aresia later explained, “I invaded to get lands. I just wanted lebensraum since if you recall, Kriegstein was just three city-states basically. My people need lands.”

Fire Spirits
(sm) On July 21st, Resident Berezov of Smolenia shared a picture of the stunning view of fire spirits living in a swamp area near his home. It can be seen at https://imgur.com/a/NKMgW#46, where it is also shown that more recently, Resident Berezov demonstrated that these fire spirits seem rather attached to him and occasionally accompany him on journeys outside their known areas.

Commonduck
(cw/er) On August 3rd, President Hinoarashi of the Republic of Ender provided an amusing analogy to the present outline of the Commonwealth regions. In case of removal or map adaptations, the comparison will be archived for posterity at https://imgur.com/a/NKMgW#47. The caption to the duck picture says, 'White-Faced Whistling Duck on one leg, looking backwards.' It may suit the Commonwealth in more ways than just its looks.

Red Sand And Pipeline
(ar) Speaker BearMonger of the Republic of Ender recently discussed plans of creating a red sand factory and pipeline to transport goods to his emporium at the New Spawn Marketplace. The pipeline will be “a track with water streams made of ice. […] It barely takes any room, it's just long.”
The sand factory's design is “extremely technical” and “the machinery required is intense. It's technically duping actually,” Speaker BearMonger admits regarding the process, “but it's such a complex and involved build that I think it's totally legit.”
Considering the non-availability of red sand in our current Alpha Realm, many residents applaud the idea and are looking forward to its implementation.

Nouvelle Reims Subway Station
(ks) Duke Tomoko of Aresia and Duke Septicaemia of Eureka collaborated on August 1st in order to build a subway station in Nouvelle Reims. The station houses an already finished 4×4 tunnel leading all the way and straight towards the Duchy of Eureka.
In building, the two dukes tried to adhere to King Sidmarcus's building style, which they managed to a satisfying degree. However, when they asked for Moderator P_P_A's opinion on the half-finished facade, an intense discussion about pillar architecture and meaning arose. Only after several reformulations of questions and explanations of personal views, all three parties seemed to reach some agreement about the architectural intent.

Regional News

Skellsborough Academy
(sf) Last Friday, Duke Speermen of Skellie Farm suffered a brief bout of Nomad Nostalgia, during which he considered selling all his stuff and taking to the road again. “Having a home was fun, but it is not my way,” he claimed. The duke was promptly reminded by his co-founder Krille3 that the great hall in their fort still needed banners and therefore Duke Speermen's continued presence and assistance was required.
The latter gave in and got rid of some frustration by demolishing two buildings in Skellborough. Having cleared space, he asked for ideas on what to build next, and was reminded of his plans to build a library.
With newfound energy, Duke Speermen wasted no time in starting on the project, although he chose to first create the academy that the library will later belong to. The academy building's dimensions are just slightly above average for structures in Skellsborough, with two stories of ten by sixteen blocks and a slightly smaller attic story. The actual space will likely be less since access to the upper floors has yet to be installed.
The academy is supposed to accommodate a gathering of the book-loving elite, so the comparatively small size will suit its purpose well.

Island Claims
(vy/bf) Kaiser Austrobernd of the Mandatory of New Badfacia recently stated interest in “an uninhabited island close to you” toward Chief Tsaryu of the Commons of Valensiya. The island he had in mind can be viewed at https://map.dev-urandom.eu/#/4700/64/-600/-2/0/2 and is has been the property of King Niller of Winterlyn for months, as stated on several signs spread around the island.
Kaiser Austrobernd did not explain his sudden awareness of a speck of land quite far away from his own territory, albeit it might be speculated that he has an eye on the ocean monument next to that island. However, he did show a lack of respect toward his fellow member of the Commonwealth Triumvirate.
He brazenly declared that since King “Niller only placed signs everywhere, I think he is okay with it.” When repeatedly urged to first acquire permission of the owner by both Chief Tsaryu and Administrator Jinx of Midgard Municipality, Kaiser Austrobernd at last replied, “Nah, that comes afterward … when I invite him to my property,” which he intended to name 'St. Helena'.
Administrator Jinx and Chief Tsaryu stated their unease about this kind of behavior from a potential new neighbor and warned that they would attest to ownership and attempted invasion should the claim come to be contested by King Niller at a later point, especially since the owner in question is nearly daily available to actually receive the request and make his own decision of whether to give away or keep the island.
To date, nothing on the island has been changed, so there is hope that Kaiser Austrobernd decided to go the civil way after all.

Modernized Metro
(vy) During the week before last, Chief Tsaryu of the Commons of Valensiya modernized the appearance of Valensiya Metro's Pegasus Line in order to match newer and already modernized lines. Redstone torches have been replaced with energy blocks so the tube floor seems less cluttered, and similarly the wall torches have been replaced by sea lanterns, giving especially the free-floating submarine glass tube a more suitable ambience for an underwater metro.

Local News

Livestock Chaos
(mm) On July 28th, Resident Zlywilk visited Midgard Municipality, particularly its underground farms, and took offense to the Administration's livestock caring policy. He decided to take action and open all gates in order to 'free' the various animals.
When questioned later, he freely admitted that, “I wanted to rescue the animals. They are underground, you monster.” However, in doing so he failed to appreciate space considerations on an island and also did not take into account that the animals are safer in the lighted underground pastures than on dark surface fields where even a pack of wolves once wandered in. The animals sure seemed to feel that way, as they did not leave to the surface but rather mingled among the pastures.
Resident Zlywilk also behaved carelessly regarding the Yew populace, since leaving the gates around the mansion open allowed zombies to invade and kill many villagers.
Having thus displayed diminished mental capacity in several ways, Resident Zlywilk was given a warning this time and his action considered a prank rather than griefing, particularly since he did not kill the livestock. However, he has been blacklisted by Administration with setting a precedent.

Hacker Theft
(mm) Between July 27th and 29th, a hacker visited Midgard Municipality and stole from two chests that had been locked, as they are by default. The theft was discovered on July 29th around noon and immediately announced to Moderator Chuck_Fiinley who was awake at the time. Both he and Resident Yagira came to investigate the first discovered chest; however the moderator proved pretty useless regarding the circumstances. It was Resident Yagira who suggested checking other chests, and who found the clay chest also unlocked. When questioned if that was also empty, he answered, “Random shit.”
Chief Tsaryu of the Commons of Valensiya kindly offered books and book-crafting materials to replace the stolen ones and also explained the situation to God.
Late at night on July 31st, Moderator P_P_A grew aware of the incident and offered to check the chests. He discovered that “Ant took 123x clay balls from chest”; he was also the one stealing “stuff” from the book chest. Unless a moderator unlocked those chests for him, it is most likely that Resident Ant used hacker skills.
More interesting, though, was that “Yagira took 1152x clay balls from chest.” When questioned by the moderator, he claimed the chest had been unlocked (which was likely the case) but upon more in-depth questioning regarding the actual timeline and his contradictory actions, Resident Yagira quickly trapped himself in his own lies.
Moderator P_P_A restored both raided chests to their previous content.

Midgard's Alpha Realm News
International Edition
August 10th, 2015

Editor's Note:
Links can NOT be clicked but all photos on Imgur are all in the same album. Some of them are bigger files due to picture collages. Other links lead to this server's wiki.

In Worldwide News:
Cripple Creek's Strict Policies, page 9

In Regional News:
No Island Project, page 35

In Local News:
Seainn Hotel, page 44

Worldwide News

Creative Ex-Mod
(ar) In previous issues of our newspaper, Resident Tangaloa has been titled 'Moderator' due to his special abilities. Recently, God AlphaBernd answered the confused questions of other residents, who had wondered about claimed inabilities of the moderator, with the following explanation.
“Just to be clear, Tangaloa does not have the same permissions as me. In fact, he has not even mod rights. He has just creative mode, but for this he is banned from interacting with other players.”
This means, for example, that Resident Tangaloa cannot teleport players around the realm nor perform rollbacks or issue bans. He might be able to provide material for repairs, but is forbidden to do so.

Planned Great Wall of Ender
(er) As a future project, Speaker BearMonger of the Republic of Ender recently announced that his government wishes to fortify the nation with a great defensive wall in order to prevent random accidental or ignorant invaders. The wall will be “several stories high with a walkway on top” and feature a “modern or futuristic” design. Speaker BearMonger asked for ideas or references of anyone who has some inkling how it could look like in our realm.

Cripple Creek's Strict Policies
(cc) After offering some opinions on a current building project in Elkkuton, the reporter was invited to a tour of the nearby settlement Cripple Creek by its founder Resident Tangaloa. A comment noting the empty police station, as well as the absence of guards on patrol, received the explanation that while accommodations have been built, due to the low crime rate in the settlement actual officers are not being employed. The upholding of the law is being observed by Resident Tangaloa himself.
For example, he expressly stated that he does not like unattended visitors in his town and thus prefers giving tours. This precaution is understandable considering the rare building materials he uses and the valuables stored in the bank's vault.
Strict rules extend to other areas as well. While visiting Cripple Creek's hospital, an infected villager wandered into the clinic seeking a cure. He was promptly executed by Resident Tangaloa instead, who afterwards offered the explanation that said infected villager “didn't have life insurance.”
Ill visitors are advised to not seek help in Cripple Creek unless they do have life insurance. Incidentally, there is no insurance agency available in town.

Southern Settlements
(jf/er) In accordance with his opinion that, “Multiple small settlements forming a landscape together are better than large, single cities,” Moderator P_P_A approached President Hinoarashi of the Republic of Ender with a proposal of cooperation.
Since his southernmost settlement Joodfontein is close to a very slowly developing Enderian town, he suggested, “How about we revamp [the town] together and also talk to the Condeurans to try and turn that southern coastline into one continuous area with villages and a few small cities connected by roads and railroads?” The idea was well received by the President, who also preferred connected settlements.

Council of Winterlyn
(wl) On August 3rd, the Council of Winterlyn held its first official meeting in the newly constructed Council Hall, located on the northwestern plateau of Wyventon. The building was erected within a day by King Niller of Winterlyn, after he “spent a good week on removing a mountain.” A good photo of the exterior has been printed on the Wyventon page of the Autism Almanac.
The huge hall offers voting seats for about sixty ministers and representatives as well as press seats. Many ministries have already claimed a seat, although due to the small number of council members, most of them currently hold several posts. “The busiest ministry there is,” King Niller explained, is the 'Ministry of Dealing with Ender' which has been separated from the 'Ministry of Foreign Relations' due to its workload.
The opening meeting of the Council of Winterlyn was attended by Valensiyan journalist Tsaryu, who courteously shared some pictures with Midgard reporters. Two of those can be seen at https://imgur.com/a/NKMgW#48, showing the council members King Niller, Kaiser Autrobernd of the Mandatory of Badfacia and Resident BanksyStreetArt. King Shakomatic of the Apostolic Kingdom of Breshik also attended, while the fourth member Resident Lastebil175 remained absent.
One of the first acts of the council was a declaration of war against all creepers, and signs proclaiming that decision had been swiftly put up at New Spawn.

Emporium Progress
(ns) Around the end of last week, Speaker BearMonger of the Republic of Ender announced that the compacted design for his 'vending machine' (the emporium annex at the New Spawn Marketplace) has been completed. He claimed the start of the actual construction would happen that same day, however the work has not yet progressed beyond the patterned floor.

The Commonwealth's Metro Project
(ab) King Shakomatic of the Apostolic Kingdom of Breshik recently decided to improve transit between Nova Bydlograd and other Commonwealth regions as well as non-member areas. To that end, Grand Bydlograd Station has been constructed directly opposite the new (now domed) parliament building.
Currently, Cripple Creek's Red Line ends at this station, with a stop at Autism Mountain. A second line is under construction, and others are planned.

Griefer Reports
(ns) Last week saw two more griefer attacks which were swiftly dealt with this time. On August 4th, Criminal NukeTown (who had been here before) set wide areas of New Spawn, including the Marketplace, ablaze with raging flames as seen at https://imgur.com/a/NKMgW#49. He ripped banners from shops and repositioned them haphazardly around the spawn point together with other random blocks. He was banned by Moderator Koduck who also repaired New Spawn. When the perpetrator tried to return with a different name, Moderator Koduck banned both that and the corresponding IPs.
The very next day saw three in-fighters rampaging around New Spawn, who would also attack random residents. Fortunately, Chief Tsaryu of the Commons of Valensiya issued an early warning, and the attackers DiggerOnline, mincrfata and ekonyan were also presently removed by Moderator Koduck.

Shitbuilding Academy
(wl) The Kingdom of Winterlyn's capital Wyventon has seen much change over the past couple of weeks. Aside from the Sauerei Cathedral and Memorial, a Mini Louvre has been created displaying a thoughtful donation of God AlphaBernd, and the very first 'Academy of Shitbuilding' has was established near the west gate. It sports two classrooms and a library and managed to recruit Chief Tsaryu of the Commons of Valensiya as a teacher.
The new teacher, capably consummating the position by assisting with interior design and further suggestions and donations, also doubles as a castle guard of Wyventon and set up a cozy abode in the south tower of the city's west gate entrance. He opted to take up the position after a bandit recently stole some of his donations and created much havoc in Wyventon. The bandit could be punished and the damage repaired by Moderator P_P_A, and Chief Tsaryu will stand guard to prevent such an attack from reoccurring.

Regional News

No Island Project
(bf) Concerning our article 'Island Claims' in the MARNIE issue of August 3rd, Kaiser Austrobernd offered a statement in form of a reader's letter. In it he noted that, “I've asked Niller before for the island,” though the answer that time was not mentioned.
The Kaiser also stated that, after the reporter had left the scene, he did have a chance to discuss the island with King Niller of Winterlyn (again), and apparently Chief Tsaryu of the Commons of Valensiya commented during that as well.
The content of the discussion was not detailed, however Kaiser Austrobernd felt that Chief Tsaryu was “flaming” him and declared, “No, I'm not moving there anymore, thanks to Tsar. […] After Tsar's speech the island project is also aborted since he doesn't want me to build something near him.”
When questioned, King Niller refrained from in-depth comments as well but confirmed that he was asked, and that he declined giving up the island.

Inactive Neighbor
(zy) Resident Mad_Hodman, who had stated an interest in the settlement Zweiyurten, has been inactive for a month. Upon visiting the site, investigators discovered that no noticeable changes had occurred in the area, nor has the sign pillar offering the land to interested settlers been taken down or adjusted with new ownership information.
The offer of the original founder, Resident Speermen, therefore still stands and the region remains open to interested settlers.

Local News

New Shops In Station Mall
(mm) After the recent decimation of the population, commuter vendors offered to remain in Midgard Municipality for the duration. These peculiar Yews claim to origin in parts so shrewd that their names cannot be pronounced in English, and have taken to adopt alliterated names referring to, most often, the products they sell. One such family has set up a small wool store on the first floor.
A gathering of Midgard's own librarians also decided to set up shop, on the third floor close to the library.
With the upstart in business and many recent visitors, a security guard has been hired for the mall and is often seen patrolling the foyer.

Seainn Hotel
(mm) In order to better accommodate various visitors, Midgard Administration funded the construction of a hotel close to the station. It was originally planned as a small inn but quickly took greater dimensions than expected, leading to its name adaptation.
While the structure is already finished, the rooms are not yet furnished. However, the interior designer stated confidently that the hotel can be opened to public access by the end of the week.

Newer issues are not yet archived but can still be bought at the Midgard Store.