**>> SPYNET BULLETIN **>> EARTHDATE 93.03.07 **>> AN H-by-A SERVICE **>> Compiled by Hazed plus a team of specialist newsdroids **>> your news and gossip and get paid good groats! **>> A SKIMPY LITTLE NUMBER This week's news is rather brief, because there is no news of Our Illustrious Leader's doings. She's disappeared off for a holiday (arranged at the last minute) and won't be back till the middle of next week. We understand she's sampling the fleshpots of Sirius V. We look forward to seeing her holiday snaps! **>> OLD NEWS Hazed has brought the Federation News Archives up to date by uploading all the old editions of the weekly news bulletins, up to last week. They can be found in the MPGames library 18. **>> UNCON THE SECOND The Second Federation UnConvention is now planned for the weekend before Memorial day, and will be held in LA. It will be an informal affair, with no offical activities, but there will certainly be a group outing to Disneyland (we wonder if Oxcart will try to form a meaningful relationship with Mickey Mouse) and opportunities to have fun in the company of your fellow Fedders. Hazed will definitely be flying over for the event, but hopefully this year she will persuade Cryptosporidium to stay behind. We'll bring you more news as things are confirmed. **>> NAME THOSE TWINS! We made a promise to Hazed that we wouldn't get caught up in the current fad for getting pregnant and knitting booties, but we felt we ought to tell you that the Flying Horse Pub is holding a competition to name the twins. Best comment so far is from Apple, who asked how many there were going to be. Two, dear, twins normally come in pairs, otherwise they would be triplets, or quads, or... Anyway, post your suggestions for names for the imminent babies in the Pub topic of the MPGames BBS. Hazed and Krell will be judging, and the winner will receive a small token in the way of groats. Marcia has not, of course, promised to actually use the winning suggestion! Our suggestion is Barbie and Ken. **>> DARK SIDE OF THE WHAT? Do you remember the Dark Side? No, well, we barely remember them, but a search through the archives jogs our memory. They are a group fronted by Occy dedicated to... erm... well, we never actually knew just what they were dedicated to, except that they didn't like Oddball very much. They went very quiet a few months back, and we all thought they'd disbanded, but now we are hearing rumours that they're back. And this time they are interested in what YOU have been doing! They've decided to reward Fed players who they see doing acts of kindness. The first recipient of their largesse is Noe, who often helps new players get started. We don't know if the award has a title, or a medal or a statuette, or if there will be an award ceremony, or how often the awards will be awarded... seems we don't know a fat lot! More info, please. **>> PLANETS AND DUCHIES Not much to report here - just the reappearance of two planets that had been out of the game. Russ obviously put in an appearance, because Haven has turned up again in the Duchy of Gotham. And Mirth (or whatever he is calling himself since his death) also popped in, bringing Muse back to the Duchy of Scratchwood. Other than that there have been no defections or seductions. **>> SPYNET REVIEW There's been another influx of new players, which can be seen by the increased number of low-level promotions. Welcome to you all, and congratulations to anyone who was promoted. The week's new Captains are Wolverine, Akiko, Awdesha, Renard, Lazarus, Derrix, Falke, Azura, Joardy and Dedmeet. Renard went on to make it to Adventurer. Finiusfurbag and Rhodes both found the elusive Grand Master, who confirm their appointment to the rank of Trader. There were a few unfortunate deaths during the week. Cq managed to die in the Roissy system. It was definitely not deliberate, but we don't know if Cq was careless (or unlucky), or if there is something strange in Roissy. Cq has returned, and has already made it back to Trader. The other deaths were Dunsel, Orvandel and Awdesha. We don't anything about these. **>>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. In the event of a problem or question, you can: * talk to Hazed or Bella in the game * leave a message in the game log * a message to Hazed or Bella * send GEnie mail with the Federation Feedback option from the main menu FedTerm, the multimedia front-end program for the game, can be downloaded from the Federation library (option 6 on the main menu). You can order a copy of the unexpurgated printed Idiot's Guide to Federation by typing ORDER at any GEnie menu. Cost - a mere $12.95. (New edition will be available shortly!) Federation has several categories in the new MPGames RT. To get there, type M1045,1 from any menu prompt and SET category 13 (for information, instructions, questions and answers) or 14 (for general chat and discussions). The Federation Leader in the bulletin board is Krell (Mail ID: K.HILLYER). There are also private categories for Explorers, run by Krell, and for the Conclave run by Oddball (Mail ID: D.STALZLE). The MPGames RT also has a Federation library in the files area, Library 5. Library 18 holds the Federation News Archives. **>> BULLETIN ENDS