According to the TRINN report, in order to receive any antiviral medications, citizens must formally renounce any and all beliefs in the Quantar based system of religion, including Hamalzah. Citizens refusing to renounce Hamalzah are turned away.

New information from a source identified only as Dark Felt suggests that radical Hyperian elements either infiltrated Letifer's organization or are working with Letifer (exactly which is not clear).  With the long-running enmity between Quantar and Hyperial, it will not take much to spark an all-out war.  Zealots have already begun inciting the Quantar public with rumours that Hyperial plans on activating the virus on Kapenja and Quanus.

Hrafn the spokesman for The Fourth Tribe released a statement that included the following:

"I have received word from one remaining Fourth Tribe associate that those that remain have less than a month to live, many only days. Charlov is among the dead.

There have been no official statements from Quantar or TRI officials.

Quantar Officials Claim Perasca Infection at 1 Mil
Info gaps still leave questions

Shortly after Darkspace Dispatch questioned the lack of news on the Perasca virus epidemic, Quantar officials contacted TRINN, claiming that while fatalities had been minimized, the virus continued to spread at an alarming rate, now infecting more than one million Perascans.

"Despite our best efforts at quarantine, and the efforts of Samsun in providing us intermediate antiviral agents, the virus is spreading across the planet at a dangerous rate." stated Governor Randi. "While we have managed to minimize fatalities, the situation is becoming worse by the day, and with over one million citizens now infected, our resources are reaching breaking point."

There have been not updates since this release, over fifteen days ago.  The gaps in news releases and the lack of fatalities have led some to speculate that Quantar officials may be in league with Samsun and Cromforge, the company that recently won the contracts to produce the antiviral medications.


TRI Drops Gatekeys, but Flux Lock the Door

TRI announced that it has made an official request to Amananth to cease production of the GateKey MODx.  The GateKey technology was initially designed to allow TRI pilots access to Flux space while limiting flux access to TRI space.

"The GateKeys have been a drain on resources," commented Spiro Wengat, an aide to Sagrith Hubri. "It's high time the CPUs and other valuable components used to produce them were diverted to more important needs. The defensive merit of the existing system has been limited."

With the extra MODx slot previously used for GateKeys, TRI pilots will be better equipped to take the fight to the Conflux on their own territory.

DSD exclusive feature!
ISTVAN'S UPDATE
The New Way to War is the BIG FOUR

In my last column, I promised to describe some of the big pieces of the warfare project. I think of the system as having four major and a horde of minor components. The four big ones are Building Damage, Territorial Conflict, the Military Flight Registry, and Privateering.

One problem facing the warfare system is that factions have no obvious assets to fight over. I hope to present additional solutions, but the first, fastest way out of this problem is to make it possible to damage the many valuable buildings around TRI space. Please note that "buildings" doesn't include stations, but does include things like Custom Producers and Naval Yards. It will also make sense to make long-desired adjustments to the Bomber class ships at the same time.

Besides attacking and defending buildings, I also want to offer factions the ability to fight over real territory. I fully intend to set up a method to change factional ownership of sectors. In its present concept, capturing a sector will involve building and defending some type of structure. I expect to dispense completely with the present, squad-based "sector claim" mechanics. This will end up forcing me to consider changes to the game's venerable tax systems, too. Changing sector ownership is going to require serious concern for balance: The process cannot be too easy, or it will be ridiculous. Yet with the game's present population size, it cannot be overly hard, or people will simply become frustrated and give up trying to claim a sector for their faction.

(Read More . . .)

MMORPG.COM RATINGS keep getting better!  Slowly but surely, the Jumpgate rating in the MMORPG "game list" has grown from 5.8 (in July 2004) to 6.9 -- the result of an underground marketing effort by our outstanding and dedicated community.  But not nearly enough have weighed-in.

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.

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Betrayal
a Jumpgate Novella by Fellblade
(reprinted with permission)

- Part III -

The pair walked through a series of dank corridors, the occasional bit of moss growing in the corners, grease and grime smeared on the walls. Metal shavings crunched noisily under Arouins booted feet, while Vorbis made unpleasant screeching sounds as his softer soled shoes got bits stuck in them, leaving bright lines and the occasional spark on the metal floor. Vorbis was slightly the taller of the two men, bulkier as well, and with distinctly less hair. Or, as one of Arouin´s friends put it, "A big fat bald bastard". As they walked past a doorway, chatting idly, Arouin glanced into a dark room and noticed the movement of someone ducking back out of sight. Vorbis carried on with what was rapidly growing into a monologue, with Arouin inserting the occasional ´yes´ ´hmm..´ ´ah...´ and generally floating through the conversation on autopilot, while looking around, taking everything in. Then Arouin remembered.

As they turned a corner, he stuck one hand into his inner jacket pocket, and pulled out a large calibre handgun. Vorbis looked slightly alarmed at first, then relaxed slightly as it was proffered to him handle first instead of barrel.

(Click here for the complete text of Part III)

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)          Vol. I,No.6 (104.12.28)         Vol. II,No.1 (105.1.25)         Vol. II,No.2 (105.2.26)    

Vol. II,No.3 (105.4.24)

 
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