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Rosaleah >> KHAI JOYBRINGER ARRIVES IN KYMER ................... Khai Joybringer >> SCAVENGER HUNT! ...................................... Acolyte VIQer >> MILEN'S TIP SHEET ........................ Milen of the Hidden Glade >> GHOST RACING ............................................ Marianne G >> LETTER TO THE EDITOR ........................... Who sent this to us? >> CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT ...................... Milen of the Hidden Glade >> SEEN ON THE STREET ......................................... Rosaleah >> RAZZAMATAZZICAL MAZZICAL PUZZICAL ....................... RazzaMaTazz >> THE MYSTERY OF THE OIL OF OKAY ........................ Acolyte VIQer ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< >> WELCOME TO THE FIRST ISSUE Welcome to the first issue of the Kymer Clarion! This newspaper was born one warm weekend in August at a Meeting of the Editorial Board, consisting of the newly arrived Khai Joybringer, VIQer, Rosaleah, the ghosted form of Serena, and Reporter Milen, all of whom are proud to bring you the News and Gossip of this new World we find ourselves in, thanks to the good offices of Morpheus and his Oracles! We hope to publish weekly, under a system of rotating Editors (all members of the Board), and to provide you, not only with news, but with the pleasure of Puzzles, Poetry, and Phantastical Stories, as well. Check out our Advertisements for announcements of Games and Events, and don't forget the all important Letters to the Editor. Welcome, Enjoy, and may the Blessings of Morpheus enrich you always! --Rosaleah "That is my home of love: if I have rang'd, Like him that travels, I return again." --Shakespeare, Sonnet 109 ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< >> KHAI JOYBRINGER ARRIVES IN KYMER HualaiKhai Splashes Down! ::floating around the heavens singing:: "Where oh where have my paisley clouds gone? Where oh where can they be?" ::sighing:: ::swirling in space:: "I am so weary of continually swirling in space! Where is this black hole leading me? ::spiralling downward:: "Oh my! I'm going down, down, down now! I see some light down there!" ::twisting::turning, moving ever downward:: "Is that a ship I see way down there?" ::SPLASH!!!!:: "Sheesh! What a greeting for the Goddess of Joy. Ah, someone's putting a rope out for me!" ::swimming to the rope and climbing up to the deck:: "SQWACK SQWACK! Welcome to the Argo! Welcome to the Argo! My name is Hermes!" ::petting Hermes:: "Salutations, Hermes! What a nice welcome! And just what is the Argo and where is it headed?" The captain steps forward and bows. "Welcome to the Argo, Milady Khai," he says. "We are bound for the City of Kymer on the continent of Phantasus." "Phantasus? Kymer?" I reply. "Hmmm... neither of those are on my map of any known world! And believe me, I've travelled all over the universe!" The captain chuckles. "That's because this is a brand new world. I knew you were up there floating around the universe and knew this was the only black hole leading here. I also knew you'd be arriving shortly." I raise an eyebrow questioningly, "Oh? You knew? How did you know?" but no answer is forthcoming; he is hiding behind the smirk on his face. Oh well, I am the Goddess of Joy, after all, and I would guess that joy is needed in this new world just as much as it is needed everywhere else I've been. "Milady Khai, make yourself comfortable; we will be arriving shortly. But first, there is a little gift I have for you in my cabin." I follow the captain to his cabin; he tells me to open the trunk that's there. I do and see a beautiful gold coin resting at the bottom. The captain smiles. "Go ahead, take it. That is Kymer's currency." I reach into the trunk and take it gratefully, placing it in my pocket. I have this weird feeling on my head; like my long black hair should be wringing wet from that dunking I took; yet, .... "Captain, do you have a mirror?" The Captain points reluctantly to the back of his cabin door. ::gasping:: "Where ... where ... what happened to my hair? My face! I don't look anything like what I'm supposed to look like!" I turn to the Captain who sadly shakes his head side to side. "None of us understand it, Milady Khai. There is something magical about this Argo deck. No matter where anyone comes from, we all climb aboard and suddenly, we have new heads, bald ones at that. But never fear! Our Promenade deck has a vendroid with a small selection of heads. Milady Khai ... we've reached shore. Time to see your new home now!" The captain walks me out of the cabin, leads me to the Promenade where I select a new head that is a little more like me. Not the long black hair I prefer, but short red hair this time. I think that'll be okay for now until I can get ashore. He then walks me to a locale where there is this enormous book! "That is the registry, Milady. This is where you can place your name as a new Kymerian." I take the pen he offers me, thinking. Who will I be this time? In one land, I was HualaiKhai; in another I was Khai Sparkwing. I should give myself a different name this time. ::thinking:: Ah, that's it! I am the bringer of joy so it is only fitting that I be Khai Joybringer in this life. ::writing my name in the registry with a flourish:: The captain tells me he will not follow me off the ship, as he has others for whom to wait and bring to this new land. I wave to him, thank him for bringing me here, leave the ship and look ahead to the magnificent golden arches to my new home. -- From the Journal of Khai Joybringer, August 12, 1995 ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< >> SCAVENGER HUNT! The First WA Scavenger Hunt by Acolyte VIQer It all started at the Isle Caribe locale, 7 PM 8/10/95. When the signal was given, all avatars ghosted and went searching like mad! Many crashes into the Waking World were reportedly seen. There were at least 15 avatars participating and even more helping to set up the event before it took place! Several clever avatars hid three spiders, a lantern and some dumbells. The spiders were hidden at Vazmart, Temple registry room and the Jungle entrance. Twenty-five tokens were awarded for each one found. The lantern was also cleverly hidden at the Temple registry: who would have thought two items were in the same room? The dumbell, we believe, was found by a non-participant in the hunt and their location is still unknown!! Data was seen checking it out prior to the hunt but he returned the dumbell to its hiding place -- such an honest avatar! There were real tokens among all the zero tokens seen at both ATM locales! Marianne G even managed to get a zero token under the pawn broker at Temple & Oak. The grand prize was a carrot head that went to Buddy, the finder of the lantern! All the hidden items were given to their finders as prizes in addition to the tokens awarded. Everyone had loads of fun racing around trying to find the items that were detailed before the hunt. They were not given any clues and the items could have been anywhere! Everyone hailed it as a success at creating fun! There were some who deserve credit for helping out.... There was Shaker, Marianne G, Milen, Miranda Mirage, Angel Gambler, JWfriendly and Acolyte Rosaleah. Kudos to them for such a wonderful job, it couldn't have succeeded without each and every one of their efforts. Congrats to all the winners and thanks to all who participated. There will be other events upcoming ... And with a different twist! ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< >> MILEN'S TIP SHEET Words to the Wise of the Waking World by Milen of the Hidden Glade Greetings all! What with everyone in the world and the rather large number of questions that people seem to have, I figured I'd take the time to compile a wee list of helpful tidbits to get you started in exploring Kymer. - THE ARGO. At least two people have complained of excessively slow movement on the deck of the Argo. My guess is that this is caused by object information being downloaded. It seems that you only have to wait through this once, during which time your cursor will have a set of brackets ({}) next to it. This, as I've said, is a guess, but it seems as good as any. - TOKENS. There are essentially three potential sources for tokens. You get most of your tokens from your ATM account. Each avatar supposedly receives one token for every minute of time they spend on-line. You can also get tokens from selling items (although less than you would if you just had never bought the item in the first place) and from other avatars as gifts, loans or prizes. Something else; if you withdraw "0" tokens from an ATM machine you will be given a token that is worth nothing! These worthless tokens have been involved with at least one in-world game. If you try to put a "zero token" in your pocket it will disappear. ((One thing worries me about the token system if it is not changed. Keep in mind that one day every minute spent on-line will cost at least five waking-world cents! This will make tokens worth something intrinsically in a way that transcends the game-world. This means that a 400T item will actually cost $20! Because of this, I must recommended that, once this happens, you get as many free tokens as you can (like from games and such), and be stingy with them. It has sort of become fashionable at the moment to run games and give out items (I must admit some small amount of responsibility for that ) but it seems unlikely that this can continue for long after the world goes commercial. A token is a wonderful piece of whimsy at the moment, but it will not remain so for long. Enjoy these beta times while you can!)) - PAWN MACHINES. Most new avatars are quite surprised when I tell them that the pawn machines are not the same! In fact, the convenient one, the one by VazMart, is *NOT* where you should be selling your stuff. It only seems to pay half of the original purchase price of an item! The other pawn broker, on the corner of Temple and Gnarled Oak, pays 4/5. So don't necessarily sell those items at the first pawn machine you see! - TELEPORTS. I haven't played around with teleports much myself, but there appears to be a bit of confusion about them. Each teleport has an address. When you use a teleport, you must give the address of the destination. If you give an incorrect address you lose your token. One technique that might be safer is to check the teleport's "Last destination" and see if it matches yours. That way you don't have to worry about a typing error! And remember that you might get a free ride if you happen upon a teleport that's been activated but not used! - HEADS. One of the first things that a new avatar learns is how to remove his or her head. However, there are some interesting points in connection with heads. For example, if you are holding a head and you change expression, then the expression of the carried head changes as well. You can use this to find out what a prospective head's expressions are without having to wear it. It's also kind of cool! I've seen one avatar put his head on sideways and even backwards, but I think that was a Trick of Morpheus that only remains until you move. Please don't ESP me and ask how he did it; I simply don't know. - COLOR CHANGES. There are two avatars, Charlotte-N and Yul Brenner, who apparently have been given something interesting called "Oil of Okay." First off: EUUGH! I'm not the biggest pun fan (unless they're memorably bad) but I really hate this one. What this item does is allow the owner to change your body colors. (The new colors don't become visible until the affected avatar ghosts and returns.) It *also* means that you have to be lucky enough to CATCH one of these two and then wait until the already present avatars get their colors done. This, coupled with the fact that the crowds and all the ghosting in the area inevitably result in many crashes back to the waking world, means that getting your clothes colored is an extremely difficult task if you've got "only" 8MB. Finally, it also puts you at the mercy of the (non-acolyte) person doing the change. I sincerely hope that such an item doesn't make it into the next world! If someone untoward were to get their grubby little hands on one.... - BODY MACHINES. You may have noticed that there are two body machines in the NuYu shop. When questioned, Acolyte Odin seemed to imply that they were identical, but, as we all know, acolytes are all too human. I can't say for completely sure whether there are truly no difference between the two until I have asked an oracle or test them out for myself. - ORACLES. Some other points about oracles are in order. There appear to be three. The head oracle is named Vaserius, and apparently if anyone can be said to be "in charge" of the world it's he. (I hear he's a great guy.) Me first impression upon seeing an oracle was "Ech, who are these sour, horribly serious people?" Later I found out that they are not nearly so stodgy as their appearance makes them seem. Oh, the first time you see an oracle wave his arm you are likely to die laughing! Speaking of death, that's one problem with oracles: they seem to cause an inordinately large number of crashes when one is in the room. Of course, this could be caused by the large crowds that seem to gather whenever an oracle is out and about. There are other things you should know besides these, but they are best figured out for yourselves. If you've got a question, you can ask the Acolytes for assistance by selecting Page Acolyte on your ESP list. If they're not available (a common occurrence) feel free to ESP "Milen" and I'll try to see what I can do. But keep in mind that I'm often running some sort of game in-world. If my ESP is blocked, well, you mustn't take offense. Goodbye all! Hope to see you inworld! ---Milen of the Hidden Glade ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< >> GHOST RACING Ghost Racing in WorldsAway by Marianne G This Sunday night the ghosts came out to race! I hosted an event that was based on the old spec races of Club Caribe. Those were races favored for newbies to help them learn how to control their avatar. Despite the memory lapses into the waking world, the game was still fun to play. To play, the contestants stay up in the air as ghost while the host/ess puts the prize or prizes on the ground. When the host/ess dematerial- izes, then they are free to unghost and go for the prizes. I did limit them to two wins to give all a chance. I also had to ask them all to dematerialize after the race, since the race would send me back to the waking world and then I had to get back in. Near the end I found that if I left the area, right after ghosting, I did not always dump. Prizes were donated by Squirrel, (a nice smiley head), Rot13 (an accountant head) and Acolyte Chameleon, who gave tokens. Now for the winners! The first ever ghost race winner in Worlds Away was Shaker who walked off with a spider. Every avatar should have a bug to call their own. Eliza won the accountant head, and also 100 tokens in a later race. Hustler won the Smiley Head after winning a smaller 30 Token prize earlier. Squirrel was a two time winner of 100 tokens and dumbells to put in the gym of his future apartment. Herve walked off with 15T, and Perdita with 30 to round out the list of winners. The constant dumping did take it's toll on the players, but most seemed to find it fun trying. Here's hoping I'll be able to host another one soon. I still have a spider crawling around in my pocket looking for a good home. ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< >> LETTER TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor: Just who is this clown Morpheus? I hear his name everywhere, have seen some of his Oracles and Acolytes, but no one will tell me who he is! - Wondering Dear Wondering: Is that a fire sphere I see above your head? Welp, he's part of Kymer's history now! Morpheus: 1 Wondering: 0 - The Editors (Special note: All comments to the Editors are welcome! Send your letters to the waking-world CIS e-mail address of 75664,663 with the subject LETTER TO EDITORS until the Temple Priests bring their own mail system into the Dreamscape. Please mark all letters you do not wish published as NOT FOR PUBLICATION. All mail to the Editors not so marked will be considered for publication, subject to editing for clarity and space considerations.) ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< -- begin advertisement -- >> CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT I'm looking for players who want to participate in a new game. (Yes, *another* one. I've been busy lately!) The rules are simple: Below, you will find a "shopping list." However, on the list are not items but descriptions. It's your job to come up a corresponding list with one appropriate item for each clue, along with their prices. Both the person who submits the list that totals the most and the person who submits the list that totals the least will win 50 tokens. In the event of a tie for a given prize the winner will be determined by random number generation. Here are some notes that may help you out. First off, each clue is worded in such a way that at least two items, and possibly many more, will fit the description. Quite a bit of leeway is allowed in acceptable items. If you can come up with a pun or joke that enables a given item to fit a description, I'll probably let it slide. (As long as it's appropriate, of course. Don't try to hard to force a match.) Heads, in particular, will be handled leniently. You should also know that I have no "solution list." There is no one right answer to each. It's up to your own persistence, creativity and logic to see you though. The prices of all items are based on their "official" value, or the price you can get them for. If a commonly available item is presented that cannot be bought, it's value as appraised at the VazMart vending machine will be doubled and substituted. Only commonly available items will be accepted. In other words, don't use an item the value of which I cannot check. **** The game begins upon publication of this list, and ends at midnight three days later. **** And here is the list: "Note to myself. Must remember to pick up these things at store. Data, Khai and VIQer coming over to turf tonight. Also, remember to pick up turf. *Something with eyes. *Something metallic. *Something old. *Something new. *Something borrowed. *Something that belongs in a zoo. *Something electrical. *Something sharp. *Something that can be made almost unseen. *Something that is a head. *Something that is a different head. *Something that is yet another different head. *Something that does not have a head. *Something that is the one of the five most expensive heads available. *Something else. *Anything that is or has a head." For this game, you may select duplicate items unless it expressly forbidden. (For example, the "head/different head/yet another different head" part must be three different heads, but with no other restrictions.) It is also recognized that the "something borrowed" item is a particularly vague clue. Have fun with it. Somehow I doubt I'm going to be disqualifying many entries on the basis of this one. Send entries to Milen at 76361,3216. Or, if you wish, ESP or tell them directly to "Milen" in-world! Have fun! -Milen of the Hidden Glade -- end advertisement -- ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< >> SEEN ON THE STREET News and Gossip from All Over by Rosaleah What were those Oracles doing following avatars around the other day? Someone said they were actually refereeing an Avatar Hunt, offering boxes and chests as prizes! My oh my! Each Hunter had to find four Prey! The winners of the first hunt, my sources told me, were Shaker (hunter) and Alicia of Alaska (prey). I didn't hear who won the others! Somebody tell me, quick, before I become prey and get munched by all the players, who all got token rewards for their participation, even if they didn't manage to win a chest or box! Did you see Moria, in dog face, chasing that cat all around Kymer? Rumor has it that the cat was Sabertooth, but rumor is sometimes Wrong! I was told that the cat remained uncaught ... this time!! Has anyone else seen Mr. Musty standing around giving away tokens and items to fellow avatars, for no reason? The talk around town has been that Mr. Musty is trying to make amends for unspecified crimes! All *I* know is that when I ran into him, he tried to give me some tokens. I gave them right back to him, but then he insisted on giving me a spider that had been living in his pocket! The spider was donated to VIQer's Scavenger Hunt, so now it lives in someone else's pocket!! With all these games going on (all the rage in Kymer these days), we have lots and lots of stories of winners of all kinds! Too many to name, 'cause we'd leave out so many more than we could put in!! But it's wonderful to see so many happy faces in the World! And some winners even return their prizes for use in even more games! Wow! The Oracles must be Very Pleased!! Have you seen Gib sporting his Pear head and green duds? How about Das in those white gloves? Also Seen on the Street recently was the dragon Phylinocious of PODAH, disguised as a frog, keeping the fountains free of flies! What a sight! Everything in this New City is soooo amazing! How about those ghosts flying through the doors? Opening and closing them at random! Rumor has it that they must be mad and will be stopped! We wonder how soon! And we can't wait to be able to belly up to the bar in the BarLBar, dine at the StarWay Cafe, and play games at Harlequin Games! Everything looks so neat on the outside! Hey, ghosts, can you open some of those *locked* doors, maybe, huh? That's all I have room for this time ... ya'll keep a good lookout on the street for me, okay, and let me know all the juicy tidbits! ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< >> RAZZAMATAZZICAL MAZZICAL PUZZICAL an entertainment by RazzaMaTazz Hiyas hiyas! It's another mazzical day! I found this scraggled up list of scrumbled up wordses and figgered it would make a real mazzical puzzical for the firstest issue of the Clarion-ski! I'd offer prizicals for solving, but, hey, I have 34 tokens and still no head! No mazzical colorcal outfitses! I'se a real poorish Avatariski and I can't afford enny prizicals! But have fun unscrunching! And when you're done, take the first letter of each new unscrackled wordses and mix'em up the right way to form a name I know you know!! 1. C R E A S L O 5. D I P S S E R 2. P O U N N E 6. N E N A T C H 3. R I N A U H Q E L 7. C E E R Y N G 4. N O P E D R E A M 8. G I M A C And the wordses from the wordseses: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Anzzers next week! New puzzical! New puzzler! Next week! ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< >> THE MYSTERY OF THE OIL OF OKAY a continuing saga by Acolyte VIQer It seems there have been at least two avatars seen with the Oil Of Okay: they are Charlotte-N and Yul Brenner. They have been painting their way to fame and fortune and at the same time, really making the avatars far more colorful than they used to be! They have been sprucing up WorldsAway avatars for some time now, and the question has arisen "Where did this substance come from"? They are even being sought by the Oracles and rumor has it that as of yet they have not been caught for their wonderful shenannigans! I myself have employed Charlotte-N's services and she does a fine job! Also I was witness to a very *UNIQUE* paint job done by Charlotte and have not seen the like of it since. Wacky Tabacky had requested a Psychedelic type paint for his shirt and he was pleased with the results. Say hello to him and check out his shirt! However the mystery still remains as to the origin of the famed oil..... No one seems to know where it came from! Charlotte and Yul are not talking! And so my quest for an answer continues! ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><