Ladra, self-styled king of thieves and mayor of Barter Town, has officially entered the race for the Minoc governorship. The move was not unexpected, as sources within the Barter Town hegemony had leaked the information prior to the start of the elections.

In a press release issued this morning, Ladra claimed that the people of Minoc had reached out to their neighbours for assistance:

Over the last few weeks I have received mail from several hundred concerned citizens of Minoc, demanding a change of politics. They are not happy with the current rulers of their town. Since I’m already Mayor of the bordering town it’s natural that they come to me for help. They see the wealthy, crime-free and eco-friendly utopia that is Barter Town and want a piece of that. “Can Barter Town help?” they asked. Yes, we can! Since I can not bear to see a fellow Sosarian in distress, here I am, stepping up to help. Vote for me and you will see change!

The document went on to outline her plans for a new banking system, an expansion of the miners’ union, a system of wealth distribution, and a reduction in the guards’ workload to only thirty-five hours a year.

Ladra will square up against last term’s losing candidate, Prospero, for the position. Whilst locals have generally welcomed the choice of runners, many fear that a win by Ladra would give Barter Town carte blanche to begin officially annexing those parts of the town which they already consider their own, not to mention what might become of the town’s valuables and assets. I stopped by at Barter Town to question Ladra about this, but she was rather non-committal on the subject.

“That is something that’s currently under consideration. It is of course dependent on public opinions, but I feel like a vote for me is a vote in favour of a closer relationship between the two towns. It would certainly be a lengthy process and therefore nothing that I can say will happen for sure.”

Still, there were others who were wildly enthusiastic about the bid. I was approached by one lady with rather strange hair and a stubbly face who introduced herself as Henrietta Quick, local entrepreneur.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for everyone,” she enthused in a somewhat strained voice, “the riches will be flowing everywhere now. And nobody should worry about anything. Ladra will make it all disappear.”

She seemed equally as exuberant about the rest of the Barter Town population. “Such relaxed, honest people,” she went on. “Why, I just won nearly half a million gold coins up there playing a simple game involving three shells and a pea. You should go and try it.”

In other election news this morning, Sprago officially put himself up for re-election in Britain.

[ discuss this post ]

The Perilous Inquirer
 Vol. 1, Fifth Issue
August 2, 2013

KING EDWARD REMANDED
To the Siege Witness Protection Program
“It’s for his own good,” Parium said over King Edward’s screams of outrage. “And ours.”
“He gets so uptight,” an elite ninja pointed out. “Betrayal, being killed, dry looted, subjected to libelous lies – little things like that just drive him nuts.”

NEW2 GRADUATION
by Kattasrophe
The NEW2 graduation was held on July 27th at 2 PM. Many were there to see their friends graduate. Bartelby came and killed 8 NEW2 graduates including me. Then, On Your Side began stealing items and a few people began killing him. Lilith came and everyone kept booting him out. On Your Side gave up and left the ceremony.
Overall, the NEW2 Graduates enjoyed the ceremony and look forward to seeing others graduate.

OVERHEARD ON CHAT
“There’d be a lot more socializing on Siege if the beds worked.”

OP/ED
by Lupe
As I’ve been travelling far and wide, it was news to me that Old Blackthorn had become king. Now I read a news article as to whether he’s a fake, or a zombie? I’ll tell you what he is, and it’s something much worse, he’s FRENCH!
I hear tell of this Consiel Du Roi. What in the name of the virtues happened to the King’s Council???
Then I got to talking with an old friend of mine who says he snuck into the coronation ceremonies, or whatever they chose to call THAT. He says they ask Blackthorn, when do y’want yer stuff moved into Castle British?
Blackthorn replies- “Oh no, Ah don’ need Castle British you see? Ah’ve already got one.”
“Yes, we know you already have one, but-”
“Oh yes! Is very naahss”
I stopped my friend there as I had heard more than I needed to draw my own conclusions. Let us hope that our governors and town councils have better Britannian heads on their shoulders than Lord King “Frenchypants” Blackthorn.

TAZAR WILLS MUCH OF UO TO UO
Luckily, Tazar has made many friends and we were able to kill the daemon that inexplicitly spawned behind him just after he signed his will bequeathing his many land holdings back to UO in the event of his death.
“It seemed like the right thing to do at the time,” Tazar later said. “But now I have this ‘hunted’ feeling.”

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
I, for one, welcome our new zombie overlords with brains and punch! With any luck our rotting ruler will inflict us all with the gift of undeath at the next governors’ meeting.
– Zoloms

The Perilous Inquirer
Published by The Perilous Inquirer & Liquor Mart
“Where news & booze go hand in hand”
Address: 3rd house on left out the Luna south gate.
(Sealed copies of the current issue are on the steward, next to the liquor vendor. Back copies are free on the shop named, “Siege Droppings.”)
Editor: DeadBob
Contributors: Kattasrophe, Otero, Lupe, Zoloms
Reporters Wanted! Submit stories to [email protected] or PM DeadBob on stratics.
Lawsuits: Dewey Cheatum & Howe

~sine die~

Join the discussion at
http://uo2.stratics.com/community/threads/the-perilous-inquirer-fifth-issue.302761/

Hugibear, well-known member of the pirate alliance, has put himself forward as a candidate for next week’s governorship election in Britain. Speaking during a rally of his supporters at Britain docks aboard his campaign yacht SS Breaker Hyman, Mr Bear’s official spokesman, Bo, seemed confident that the people would embrace the new style of government that the pirates intend to bring to the town.

“The Bo plans on hiring only the finest wenches to serve thee rum in the taverns,” he announced to raucous cheers from the (mostly male) members of the audience.

“And de finest cooks to prepare our meals, no more scallywaggin’,” he continued, amidst further jubilation from the more corpulent onlookers.

After all the official announcements and yo-ho-hos were complete, I managed to ask him what plans he had for trade deals in the city.

“Faster casting or SSI,” he told me, “unless the people ask for something else!”

It had looked at one point that there may not be any challenges to Mr Bear when current governor Sprago announced overnight that he would not be running for a second term. In an official press release from his offices, Sprago cited a lack of financial support from the citizens as the main reason for his decision. But the cold light of day seemingly brought an abrupt volte-face, and his team hurriedly distanced themselves from the previous statements and indicated that he may indeed be seeking re-election, apparently due to Lord Blackthorn’s abolition of the taxes on town treasuries.

In other election news, Britannia now has its first contested town after York’s Moonglow nomination was endorsed. He will be running against the incumbent governor, Sam.

Are you York or do you know his pigeon coop? Please let me know.

[ discuss this post ]

It’s been a slow start to the autumn governorship elections. With a third of the nomination period now over, only seven potential candidates have so far come forward and there is not yet a town where the electorate will be given a choice.

Three of the incumbent governors are seeking re-election: Hoffs in Skara Brae, Morgan Ironfist in New Magincia, and Samantha in Yew. In addition, the two losing candidates from the Minoc and Vesper June elections, Possum and Victim respectively, have also thrown their hat into the ring again. A fourth current governor, Sam of Moonglow, has declared himself for re-election in the past few hours and he could be facing a contest from political newcomer York, but the challenger’s candidacy has yet to be endorsed. The losing Moonglow candidate from the first election, Jack Nickelson, has also indicated that he will be running.

However, the biggest shock has come in Britain, scene of the fiercest election battle in June. Back then, three candidates (Ducky Momo, God and Sprago) garnered a total of sixty-one votes during the course of the campaign. But nobody has yet declared their intention of running in the nation’s capital this term and present governor Sprago’s office is not answering pigeons about whether he will be seeking re-election himself.

Meanwhile, down in the south, there is growing resentment at the continuing political vacuum. Neither Jhelom nor Trinsic had a legitimate governor in the last term, and there is no sign of anyone stepping forward this time around.

“Nobody cares,” complained Bronson, the longest-tenured tinker in Jhelom. “All them politicos and posh la-di-das are only interested in what goes on up north. As long as they can sit around hobnobbing with one another in their fancy keeps and castles, they could care less about the rest of us.”

“It’s true”, agreed a Trinsic merchant, who wished to remain anonymous, “I hear ol’ Blackie spends more time on his junkets to Luna and Zento than he does in the south of his own lands.”

“The rich get richer and the poor get poorer”, lamented Cador the fish monger, “there’s nobody to help fill our treasury or campaign to improve our town. I had three boxes of cod go rotten after me wagon broke a wheel in a huge pothole. But who can I complain to about the roads? Who’s listening?”

Of course, there’s still plenty of time for fresh candidates to come forward. But the clock is ticking, and for the sake of national unity, the King’s Council, and especially “ol’ Blackie”, better hope that they do.

Are YOU a citizen of Jhelom or Trinsic? Then send me a pigeon with your thoughts.

[ discuss this post ]

Freja’s Interview -An Open Discussion Of Siege- Part 3 of 3, The Ideal Siege Perilous
One Player’s frank & personal perspective on Siege’s history, current circumstances and how we might improve it all. Thanks to Freja’s thoughtful and detailed responses, this is broken into three parts: The Early Years, NEW2, and the Ideal Siege.
You are invited to join in the discussion!

“I would want to get the feeling back, I had when I played 1997-1998 but how to make that happen with today’s UO, that’s not easy.”

DeadBob, Last Question: Imagine that you owned Siege Perilous and you could order the programmers to make any changes that you wanted. What would your Siege be like?

Freja:
Oh I do sometimes wish, I could do that but can’t say, if it would be a success, as it’s very hard to make all happy. I would want to get the feeling back, I had when I played 1997-1998 but how to make that happen with today’s UO, that’s not easy.

Maybe the question is, what was it we did lose over the years?

1. Players roaming the land
– Newbies hunting for skills and basic items and resources
– PvM’ers, who do not like dungeons, maybe because of bad connection or other reasons
– PvP players, looking for a fight, that include blue and red roleplayers
– Crafters /gatherers, who will be out looking for resources

2.. Active player towns
– With shops and working crafters
– Players using the forest and mining spots near the player town

3. City loyalty
– Players mostly using the town near their home village
– Players meeting at the bank, the smithy, the tailor or other shops

4. The dungeons
– On Siege, it is to hard to get ind and out of the dungeons. At Covetous, mages can easy get to and from the levels but if you die, it’s a pain to get out and get rezzed and get in again. Warriors do have a lot of disadvantages on Siege.

5. PvP and RP
– I really did like the good old red vs blue system. I don’t like faction as it ruin alot RP and don’t work as a part of the community we once had around the cities and the player towns. The red vs blue worked much better, as red would raid dungeons, player towns and resource spots. That would bring out the blue PvP’ers, who would try to protect the places and run off the reds.

Now what would I do to try get this back?

1. Players roaming the land (here I’m most thinking of the Felucca facet)

– Newbies hunting for skills and basic items and resources
–> Make the animals stronger, newbies and weak crafters should only be able to kill sheep, hinds, pigs, goats, chickens and birds. to kill bulls, wolves, bears, big cats, you would need at least 70-90 in skills depending of support skills or not. Grizzly bears and dire wolves should be red and aggressive like in old days. Increase the count of hide a little.
–> Add back the old random gypsy and brigand spawn including the chest/barrels for lockpick/disarm trap training. I would also add some, who was not locked and where the trap would summon some evil mages or aggressive archers when you try to loot them. Should be able to spawn near player houses. They need to be made stronger too, special the Gypsies and they need better loot, maybe something blue will go grey to get. Gems, imbuing resources and stuff a crafter would keep in his backpack. Killing blue npc’s should again give you counts as it did in old days on Siege. That would be a way for evil roleplayers to go red without having to depend on counts from killing players. However if the char already had 5+ counts, he would not get one from a blue npc. The Brigands loot should be more like the loot in a PK’s backpack, gold, jewelry, weapon, armor with mods good for young chars and maybe limit to 1-2 mods, like 15-20 LRC or 1-2 stats regen, 4-8 stats increase but no crap mods. This way, young crafters could imbue 1-2 mods more and newbies could build a LRC suit or a warrior suit and get a weapon with 1-2 nice mods. I would also add 75% exceptional bonus to most armor and weapon loot to make it more useful. The spawn from the trapped boxes should have loot like in Shame level 1-2 depending of the power of the mage/archer npc.
–> Add back the random orc spawns in the forest, also here I would like some spawn of locked/trapped containers and the trapped, not locked ones should summon some random kinds of orcs, mages, bombers or some strong warriors orcs. Also this monsters need to be a little stronger, special the ones from the trapped boxes. Loot should be much like from the brigand/gypsy spawn but more orc minded, shiny items, food, bottles of cider/wine, resources to make alcohol.
–> I would place a few more spawns in deep forest, like the Liches in Yew, one between Cove and Vesper and one NE of vesper. Also here we need to be able to spawn some Lich Lords. This spawn need Shame loot.

– PvM’ers, who do not like dungeons, maybe because of bad connection or other reasons
–> To them, the above fix would do the trick- PvP players, looking for a fight, that include blue and red roleplayers
–> also here, the above fix would do the trick together the one for the crafters below. More players hanging out in and around the player towns and in the wilderness will bring back lonely PK’s and raid of player towns. That will bring back the anti PK’s too

– Crafters /gatherers, who will be out looking for resources
–> We need to increase the resource gain from mining (more gems and more granite) and hide from animals and monsters with hide. More crafting resources, maybe some rare random drop of resources you normal find in dungeons. Also add 2x resource and fame spawn like on normal shards Felucca.

2.. Active player towns

– With shops and working crafters
–> Make vendor fee lower in the player towns, like 25% of fee around Luna, in New Magincia, around Zento and near moongates.
That will help merchants trying to run vendors at less populated places. Also use the old guard forts, add some gypsy vendors like we see in Ilshenar, We will need a minter, a stable, a Inn and crafter npcs depending of the size of the guard fort.

Also make a few spots for bazaar vendors.
– Players using the forest and mining spots near the player town
–> That will come if the changes above is made both about vendors and the spawn.

. City loyalty
– Players mostly using the town near their home village
–> Remove of faction and factions taxes will help here together with the new City loyalty system.

– Players meeting at the bank, the smithy, the tailor or other shops
–> This one is harder. I would like to see some bazaar vendors near the crafter shops and the stable. I would like the crafter to be able to access a special community box in his bank, then he is at a npc shop and have at least 300 point in crafting. I only think the box should be able to hold 5 stacks/deeds and to deed and undeed an item. That could give crafters a little protection, and allow them to keep most expensive imbuing resources safe or have access to a pile of leather or ingots but they would still need to have most in their backpack. We need the thieves too. A crafter with a few secure resources are better than no crafters at the NPC shop.

4. The dungeons
– On Siege, it is to hard to get in and out of the dungeons. At Covetous, mages can easy get to and from the levels but if you die, it’s a pain to get out and get rezzed and get in again. Warriors do have alot disadvantages on Siege.
–> I would add a few teleporters from outside the dungeons to the levels. Yes they could be a risk to use, as PK’s may guard them, they would help players who die in the dungeons to get out and find a healer and get in again. Maybe place them a little away from the dungeon entree so young players still can go to the first level without camping PK’s.

5. PvP and RP
– I really did like the good old red vs blue system. I don’t like faction as it ruin a lot of RP and don’t work as a part of the community we once had around the cities and the player towns. The red vs blue worked much better, as red would raid dungeons, player towns and resource spots. That would bring out the blue PvP’ers, who would try to protect the places and run off the reds.
–> I would remove faction and add a new system that works with the guild and alliance system. There would be a good and an evil side you could join as guild or as non guilded.
To join the good side, you would need to be blue. You would have to stay blue to stay in the system. If you kill a blue, you would get 3 murderer count instead of one. You would get discount from npc vendors if you have less than 3 counts, so your price would be 1 x normal shard prices, if 3 or 4 counts, it will be 2 x.
chars in the good system, with zero murderer count would also have access to a little crafting bonus like from Arms Lore and a loot/fame bonus when killing monsters.
Blue players outside the system will pay 2 x normal shards prices, murderes will pay 3 x the normal shard price.
Players joining the evil side will be red and can kill the chars in the good system without taking counts. They are allowed to kill blue outside the system but will gain a count, they won’t get count from killing blue in the system. An evil can chop for 1x the taxes if zero murderer counts, it will be 2 x the price if 1-4 counts and 3x the price if 5 or more counts. If 5 or more counts, guards can be called on him in town if attacking blue in or outside the system.
Murderer counts will faster if in the evil system, 10 hours to decay a count. If zero counts, they too will gain access to a little crafting bonus like from Arms Lore and a loot/fame bonus when killing monsters.

I think it would be something like that

a little more to last question. You asked: What would your Siege be like? I don’t think I answer that, but more what I would changes so here it is:
My Siege would be a place with life in and around the player towns
It would be a place, where the PvP’ers could find fights
It would be a place, where there was advantage from only killing the ones who accepted more risk
It would be a place, where there was rewards for the extra risk
It would be a place, where RP reds in the PvP system was able to afford PvP as they could target the blue in the PvP system
It would be a place, where you could choose not to join the PvP system but you would have to pay more in NPC shops and you would not get the extra crafting/fame/resource bonus
You could still play the old style murderer. VS now, you could buy from npc vendors but with 5 or more counts, it would cost more.

It would also be a place where player towns would get back to life and players would use the forest for hunting.
Crafters would be more active in the land and the they would search for resources too
They could afford placing vendors in the player towns without the fee eating their profit
I believe a lot new guilds would grow up and there would be some cool role players between them
If a red RP guild got respect, for their play style, I believe, their victims would not give them a count

I believe if people have more fun, more would play.

DeadBob: Thank you Freja for your thoughtful, detailed answers and for all that you have given to other players and to Siege Perilous.

[This concludes the three part interview.]

Join the Discussion at
http://uo2.stratics.com/community/threads/frejas-interview-the-ideal-siege.304160/

NBT Scavenger Hunt 8:PM EST Saturday, 7 Sep 13

Kattasrophe
will hand out books listing the items to be gathered at the
Perilous Inquirer
(Out the Luna south gate, 3rd house on your left)

Participants will have one hour to gather items from the list & return them to Katt.

The First Player to return the Most items wins
250,000 gp 1st Prize
100,000 gp 2nd Prize
50,000 gp 3rd Prize
(Additional prizes may be awarded)

Free liquor & good company assured.

Join in the fun this Saturday, September 7, at 8:PM EST !!

Freja’s Interview -An Open Discussion Of Siege- Part 2, NEW2
One Player’s frank & personal perspective on Siege’s history, current circumstances and how we might improve it all. Thanks to Freja’s thoughtful and detailed responses, this is broken into three parts: The Early Years, NEW2, and the Ideal Siege.
You are invited to join in the discussion!

“A wish to bring more life to Siege”

DeadBob: What does NEW2 mean to you?

Freja:
 Hmmm.
A reason to play
A wish to bring more life to Siege
Joy from seeing new players make it here

Most of my time on Siege, I had been helping young players. First I was running a sister guild to The Dark Outlaws, TDO, it was named The Dark Merchants, TDM and was made at same time as Luxor made the first NEW. The dark merchants was a guild of crafters and newbies. TDO was protecting them.

Then we had a year with power hour and Luxor took down NEW and I took down my guilds to try something different, I joined a PK guild, The Undead Lords. I had fun with them but then we got RoT back and we did again need a NEW guild. Someone was speaking about restarting it, but as I believed NEW need to be neutral with support from both the blue and the red community, just like old NEW and my TDM, did not believe the guy could handle it and I decided to do it, as Luxor had offered me to take over NEW before he took it down.

At that time, we still had old guild stones and there could only be one guild leader so I made a new account to hold the guild and the guildhouse. The house was donated of a red named Hel and the UDL donated a mill to help me get started. Money was a lot more worth at that time.

I found 4 players, who was willing to help me and gave them access to the account, so when we found a new player, we could login the account to join them. I was only running NEW a year, then my mother got sick and later died. When she was sick, I handled the guild to Shalimar. She was running it for several years.

When I was back in game, I did wish to get NEW back but Shalimar did love the guild as much as I do and we had no deal about giving it back to me so she decided to keep it. We tried to run it together but we did not agree about how to run it and she ended with kicking me as co-leader.

I was still emotional out of balance after losing my mom so I could not handle it and made a new guild, NEW., called NEWdot. That started a drama, some was supporting me and some Shalimar and some sure tried to put wood on the fire. After a while, Shalimar and I got a good talk and we could see, who it was, who wanted to ruin both hers and my reputation and take over NEW. I took down NEWdot and I tried once more to help her run NEW but even when I this time did let her take the lead, it did not work for me.

I got TDO up running again and we was doing well until factions arties again killed the shard. I was picking up young players, and added them to TDO and we was helping them get started.

Then a year ago, Shalimar stopped playing and old NEW was abandoned. Again some was speaking about making a new guild, forgot who but I did not feel good about it and again I choose to restart NEW, this time as NEW2.

I try to do it as good I can, but I do not have as many hours a day, as Shalimar had and I have hard with finding leaders, who can take over when I’m not there. I believe one of the problems are, I demand NEW2 to be neutral and I want the reds as well as the blue to feel they have part in the project. I think, for most, it’s easier to choose side, good or evil.

Helping players is what keep me playing. Some on the shard remember the part about NEWdot, but many do not know about that part. When I restarted NEW2, I feared the old drama should start again but I made it and I’m not emotional out of balance now, so the ones who tried, gave up and accepted, that I am running it now. I don’t know, if I will let Shalimar take over again, if she get back, I’m not sure I can take NEW2 down but I also know, 2 NEW guilds are hard to have as it will be hard to make the shard support both without taking side. I will have to speak with Shalimar if she comes back.

Next: Part 3 of the interview concludes with Freja’s “ideal Siege.”

Join the Discussion at
http://uo2.stratics.com/community/threads/frejas-interview-new2.304102/

Yes folks, it’s election time again, so brace yourself for another couple of weeks of posturing, platitudes and puckering up as the governorships of all nine towns are now up for grabs. In addition to administering the affairs of their own towns, the successful candidates will be taking their places on the King’s Council to help our regent manage the lands of Britannia. Whilst the governors could perhaps be forgiven for a somewhat uncertain and chaotic first term, there is no doubt that the people will be expecting much more from those who take office for the autumn session.

This first week of the campaign is for nominations only. Anyone adored within the town they are a citizen of may put themselves forward as a candidate by etching their name on to the town stone at the bank. You then have twenty-four hours to get your nomination endorsed by another citizen, at which point you will become an official candidate. If you fail to have your name seconded in the allotted time, you will have to start the process again. Anyone who wishes to become a candidate but is lacking popular support can always try greasing the wheels of the local economy by donating goods to his trade minister at the docks. It is said that a contribution of twenty thousand boards and/or ingots will elevate a totally anonymous citizen to the status required to run for office.

Those elected as governors will have much responsibility. They will be in charge of administering the town funds and, if they so choose, to negotiate a trade deal that will benefit the local population. They may also assign honorary titles to citizens, which will be in addition to any title badges those people already wear. And of course they are expected, where possible, to attend the meetings of the King’s Council in Serpent’s Hold. Here, in consultation with their electorate, they can petition the King to make changes to their towns, such as naming streets or authorizing additional services.

Word on the street is that at least four of the incumbent governors will be running for office again, and it will be interesting to see who will be challenging them this time around. Back in June, the heaviest voting was in Britain, the only town with more than two candidates; Yew, where a locally unpopular candidate brought out the voters in their droves; and in the important trade hub of New Magincia. But for those not wanting to run against the status quo, there are plenty of political opportunities out there. Neither Jhelom nor Trinsic has a legitimate governor in office, and the absent governors of Minoc and Vesper are not expected to run again.

Naturally, this reporter will be watching developments with close interest and will strive to bring you regular updates during the whole election process. I’ll also be trying to get the thoughts and plans of the candidates themselves to help you to make an informed decision regarding your votes. So stay tuned…

 [ discuss this post ]

Treasure Hunt Saturday, September 7 @ 3:PM EST
A Crown of Arcane Temperament is up for grabs inside a guard zone.

Coordinates will be announced over General Chat
Free sextants will be on the freebie vendor at Waterfall Bridge Shop & on ILEXIA’s vendor just behind the Perilous Inquirer.

Everybody Welcome!

Crown Of Arcane Temperament
Requires Expansion.
casting focus 2%
mana increase 8
mana regeneration 3
spell damage increase 8%
lower mana cost 6%
physical resist 10%
fire resist 14%
cold resist 4%
poison resist 12%
energy resist 7%Durability 255 / 255

(A circlet that can be stolen from the Stygian Abyss Dungeon and spawns southwest of Clan Ribbon Mini-Champ.
Worth 5,000 turn-in points.)

Any questions? Hail Ilexia on Siege General Chat

See you there!

Please give a warm Siege welcome to our newest reporter – Alcor!  Thank you Alcor for taking on this new position!