In a surprise announcement, Hrafn, former leader of the Quantar zealot group Mujahedin, was named a "ninth-level" brother of The Fourth Tribe -- the purported Quantar "lost tribe" that tuned up on Hyperial.  As the Ninth Brother, Hrafn will take over duties as spokesman for The Fourth Tribe and has also formed a "pilot wing" for the formerly planet-bound group.

Charlov, Eighth Brother of The Fourth Tribe, released the following statement through Fence and the UUNN:

Influenced in no small part by the Amber Fist's predecessor organization, the Hyperial government declined to join The Reconstruction Initiative in 40AT. Therefore, Hyperial has no space force, and we of the Fourth Tribe have been forced to rely on the assistance of pro-Quantar groups such as JITW, BH, and DDZ in the past. We wish to continue good relations with Quantar squads, however, we would also like a presence and a voice in space of our own.

To this end, pilot Hrafn of Quantar has been formally adopted into our order as a Ninth Level Brother of the Fourth Tribe of Quantar. His newly formed TRI squad Fourth Tribe is fully endorsed and authorized. Likewise, any pilots he sees fit to recruit will be granted a position in the Tenth Level regardless of TRI ranking or internal squad rankings Brother Hrafn sees fit to organize.

My roll in the public eye will hereafter diminish. Hrafn's voice, infused with the fire of Orus the Lion, now carries the full authority of the Fourth Tribe to TRI pilots as our duly appointed representative. May Hamalzah smile brightly upon you, Brother Hrafn, and upon those who will follow in your wake. Reunification of our people is a most worthy goal; may these be the first steps in toward that end.

Hrafn immediately called for "reunification" of The Fourth Tribe with Quantar and began alliance negotiations with other Quantar groups.

The legend of The Fourth Tribe asserts that 4 colony ships left Quanus (Quantar Core sector). One settled Perasca (Corridor sector), one settled Kapenja (TriPoint sector), one settled Hypsos (Hyperial), and one was lost. The lost colony ship would be the 5th tribe of Quantar, counting Quanus as the primary.

The group of which Hrafn is the official spokesperson, calling themselves the Fourth Tribe of Quantar claim to be descended (ideologically at least) from original the Quantar that colonized Hyperial. They stayed loyal to Hamalzah when the majority of Hyperial rebelled.

Septio Captured; Courier Remains Unaccounted-For

After an extended chase and some conflicting and puzzling computer log entries from KTRI, Septio's ship was destroyed by Spork (Seneschal of The Brotherhood) and Septio's pod returned to TriPoint where Quantar authorities immediately detained him for questioning.

Although there have been no official releases on the capture, sources within Quantar Security have said that Septio has been positively identified as an Octavian.  They are currently determining how an Octavian was able to bypass the genetic security keys  for the Typhoon fighter he was flying.

These same sources have also disclosed that Septio has also been tentatively connected with Letifer a Solrain implicated in the Sol/Quant Bribery Scandal that resulted in the death of Brother Io.

Xenobiologist's 2nd Clone
Surfaces at Solrain Core

On 104.12.17, a lifepod with transponder indicating it was for a pilot named Dari3l, docked safely at Solrain Core station.  Biometrics indicated that the occupant's life signs were in the normal range, but medical and security teams were dispatched since the callsign Dari3l did not correspond to TRI database records.

According to personal log entries obtained by Darkspace Dispatch, the pod's occupant is alleged to be the second clone of the xenobiologist Dariel:

Awoke, for the first time ever. It's kind of obvious what you are when you wake in a cloning vat, a rubbery pipe down your throat (which reminds me of another story form my source's youth... at band camp), and the first breath of real air burns your lungs like fire.

Someone cloned us. I'm not sure who they cloned, be it the source or the first clone, or even why. Let alone who did the cloning. The station gave little clues - a veritable Mary Celeste. Abandoned, but in perfect condition. The computer logs were empty for the last several months, and showing only unmarked dockings and launches prior to that. A single Premia shuttle was in the docking bay, but no-one else was on the station at all, according to the computer. I found some basic engines, and fitted them to the hull, and ran the self tests. Damned if I was going to stay in this crazy place.

Additional entries in the enigmatic xenobiologist's log can be read HERE.

"The Twelve Days of Christmas" Scoreboard

The following are the final scores for TRI-RMD's Flux-a-Thon and "Twelve Days of Christmas" series of events:

DSD exclusive feature!
ISTVAN'S UPDATE
The Making of Patch 1.0096

With most patches, there's a period of high hopes and expectations, followed by a period of gradually crushing those hopes as the realities of scheduling, and failures to estimate the time needed to do the work, take a toll on what can actually get done in time for release. For the 1.0096 patch, the situation was somewhat different, because I had already been waiting for a considerable time simply to be told that the tools for patching had been restored. I had been telling myself for over a month that the second I was able to patch Jumpgate again, I would drop everything I was doing, rebuild the patcher, and release whatever I had as fast as I could, to minimize the long delay between patches that had already begun.

Unfortunately, the reality was that during the period while I could not build a patch, I began several projects within the game code that I wouldn't have ordinarily started. Because I normally constrain myself to strive for a monthly update, I try to choose tasks that I think I can complete in about that amount of time. Rather than looking at the broken-patcher situation as a burden, I forced myself to see it as an opportunity, and had begun research and changes in areas of the Jumpgate code that I wouldn't ordinarily try to change on the monthly timescale. As a result, I was of course caught with my development pants down when NetDevil IT told me my patching resources were available again.

(Read More . . .)

MMORPG.COM RATINGS
Jumpgate remains at  6.6. To get on the MMORPG.com front-page list of "Highest-Rated MMORPGs" we need to get the rating to 7.4 or better.  This will take community commitment!

In order to be able to rate a game, you need to register on MMORPG.COM, and then work up your user-rating by making a few posts -- which should not be hard at all for hard-core gamers.  And you can  plug JG in your posts, too! ;)

A small investment of your time could be invaluable in helping revitalize the player-base.

"Holiday Prep" Impacts Online Numbers

With  the impending holidays demanding other priorities,  prime-time online numbers have run between 25 and 45.  You can see an hourly chart of pilots online over the last seven days HERE.

Between 104.12.13 and 104.12.27, 23 new pilots were initiated.  DSD statistics show that over the last two weeks between 35% and 50% of new recruits have logged flight time.

If you either WANT to receive  Darkspace Dispatch by email or WANT TO BE REMOVED from the mailing list simply email us:

darkspace@jgcentral.net

Darkspace Dispatch Back-Issues

Vol.   I, No 1 (104.7.24)           Vol. I, No. 2 (104.8.12)           Vol.   I, No. 3 (104.10.2)          Vol.   I, No. 4 (104.10.2)

Vol. I, No. 5 (104.12.7)                                                                                                                                                        

 
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