Galaxies, really?

Err, no...It wasn't online but it was an excellent moment, Tarn and Jed kept busy in the Star Wars universe, however differently than the usual....

Next time, we'll actually try to score victories, or perhaps, again, just enjoy the moment and talk about victories.

Humor, Meatlumps and Infinite Regress

The Meatlumps are fun. Not only they are fun in and out of themselves, but also because their universe is zany. Something absurd that given enough time answers to its own logic. Despite this, it is also an opportunity to dwell in time old famous Star Wars quotes - a kind of "best SW quotes ever". From my own count, there are at least three:
- Aren't you a little bit short to be a smuggler? (to a Jawa)
- The famous Dr Evazan / Obi Wan dialog (we're wanted in 12 systems...)
- and the infamous and, greatest of all "The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am" (to the bomb manufacturer in the Meatlump compound).

While it's a great pleasure to actually repeat these dialogs in game, it also creates a case of infinite regress. Sure, avatars have no way of knowing that these pieces of texts are famous, so we can imagine that they come up, a kind of strange sense of humor that they develop. And which echoes in the player's memories. But what about the actual Star Wars movies posters earned from the anniversary? Does Tarn Pagott go to the movies and watch the Empire Strikes Back? He would, it's a great movie, but the tribute creates some level of inconsistency. We can choose to ignore. Sometimes, I don't.

For all it's worth, Leia's model Tantive IV, it is rumored had two pieces of decoration in the cockpit (not visible in the movies): a Playboy pin up and A New Hope poster...Infinite regress are somehow are brand name in the SW brand, or a movie within a movie.

Elections anyone ? (V)

FM: City Hall
Obj: Election won
Date: Tue. Jul.21

Congratulations, Mayor Tarn Pagott!

The populace of Twin Mountain Base has elected to retain you for another term. Your rights and privileges as Mayor have not changed. The next mayoral election has started and the results will be tabulated in three weeks' time.

The city thanks you for your continued service.

City Maintenance (VIII)

From: City Hall
Object: City Maintenance
Date: Mon. Jul. 21

Mayor Tarn Pagott,

A total of 54350 credits has been paid from the city treasury for maintenance and upkeep of structure.

Museum of Natural History (VI)

New additions to the Museum of Natural History have taken place!

The Flora room keeps expanding with two new rare vegetables on display, these vegetables are considered by many as forbidden fruits given their high level of lethality if consumed. It is not a surprise then to learn that they are oftentimes smuggled along with other contraband items. Beyond their social value, little is known about their exact properties yet, their formidable likeness with Plaitfruits, Flurr-Cle Onions and Kavasa Fruits (all displayed in the museum) may be a clue to their family.

Among the "tools of the trade", a worklight has been added to the general display of the Exploration room. While lamps come in all sizes and shapes - a glowrod is also exhibited - this particular model is quite popular with spelunkers and miners.

Finally, a live durni has been recovered from a criminal gang known as Meatlumps. The creature is going well, but prefers to remain in its cage until it gets accustomed to the Museum. Children and parents alike can come and greet Baxter during the Museum opening hours.

TMB Happening

Returning from a few months leave, Febostaf will take an active role in TMB again. Febostaf joined TMB at the time of the Twin Mountain Conclave and was a guild officer then. His input, skills and experience will be most welcome, and we're looking forward to work with him.

Welcoming back Af-ro

It's with great pleasure that we can welcome back Af-ro in Scylla, after a long absence, he's been back for few days now, honing his lightsaber skills as a level 90 jedi. We'll be thrilled to spend time and partake in quests, instances and heroics with him anew. /deepbow

TMB's mishappenings (V)

A bad day for the guild, with the departure of five estimed members, Brite Sunwalker, Iascoeto Fepa, Kohaeg Noubat, Vewock Eisis and Looser Bottom. Following a discussion with Kohaeg, the reasons for leaving are the difficulties in finding TMB members to partake in activities.

This departure comes as a rebuttal on the recruitment strategy in place in the guild. While concentrating on a recruitment with good players, with whom some gameplay had taken place, it made new (guild) blood rather rare and thus, the number of active players within the guild is falling. Beyond the recruitment issue, it's also the idea of first gathering a full strike team for events before going into events that is being questioned.

This should act as a reminder to organize events and to have a stronger input into guild activities. Thus, from now on, regular events, open to the extended TMB community will be organized so as to get as many people around. With luck, some may even come back into the guild, but at any rate, it will be a good opportunity to spend quality time with friends.

City Maintenance (VII)

From: City Hall
Object: City Maintenance
Date: Mon. Jul. 14

Mayor Tarn Pagott,

A total of 54350 credits has been paid from the city treasury for maintenance and upkeep of structure.

Welcoming back and welcoming

It's always a great moment when veteran players come back into the game or the server, Vurkuran, Revelations or Febostaf have dropped by within the last couple of days. It is our hope that they'll remain active and enjoy the new gameplay. Mostly, it's a great opportunity to chat and exchange news with friends.

Also, it is with great pleasure to announce that the TMB community (guild) increased yesterday with the joining of Looser Bottom (crafter 90), a long time friend.

Thus, while some were doing Heroics or GCW last night, others were levelling on Bounty Hunting, had great loot days (holocrons, backpacks) or were patiently waiting to singled out by Dark Vador for loyalty to the Imperial order.

Readership ?

Much to my surprise, I have discovered that they are regular readers to this blog. Thank you all for it, it's always a pleasure to see that time and efforts spent to make these columns interesting are appreciated. /deepbow

Defending Mos Espa

Members of the TMB strike team went to defend Mos Espa from the Tusken King invasion, only to be defeated in the street battles. With 10 citizens killed and one dead from the adventuring party, it was a victory for the Tusken King. The debrief took place in a spirit of learning from past mistakes with a debate on the numbers of roamers vs area guards during Phase II. Most organizations usually rest on a 2 persons team of roamers and 3 two-persons teams of area guards, but this idea has been challenged by a 4 persons roaming team quickly clearing the streets and moving to static spawn zones whenever a call is made.

Restuss Chronicles (IV)

On July 9th, members of the TMB strike team took place in a fierce battle in Restuss, Rori.

Arriving on an Alliance dominated battlefield, small Imperial elements gathered from the city outskirts and crossed the city, reaching the Alliance line, outside the refugee camp. There, despite negative odds, Imperial forces managed to defeat the Rebel forces and held the line, thus blocking access to the Restuss ruins.

While the fighting stabilized for a short duration, Rebel reinforcements poured from the refugee camp, and soon, Imperial forces faced certain defeat despite a valiant and spirited fight. The situation became darker as Imperial reinforcements were matched by Rebel reinforcement thus, maintaining the numerical advantage in favor of the Rebellion. In addition medical support on the battlefield gave a strong advantage to the Rebels. Despite successful targeted raids of Alliance high value targets and on battlefield medics, Imperial forces were forced to admit defeat on The Line.

Still, despite the grim outlook, change of tactics on the Imperial side enabled a successful penetration in the ruined city thanks to a flanking maneuver. This maneuver helped disorganize Rebel forces and a Rebel hunting party thus got ambushed. The victory was short-lived however as the entire Rebel force fell back to the city and destroyed the Imperial side.

Museum of Natural History (V)

Private collector Enkarn Lightmist has recently offered to the Museum of Natural History newer specimens from his botanic collection. These have been added to the Flora Room and are available to see.

Despite the begign aspect of most fruits and vegetables, it is important to stress the difficulties associated with their gathering. Indeed, these wild specimen have been gathered in hostile environments and their collection itself was faced with inherent challenges, time consomption being the most obvious one, but also, the presence of forage worms and of aggressive foragers may have jeopardized the process. Thus, the Museum is doubly grateful for the gift, knowing the risks that were taken.

This exhibit's duration will be limited in time as the Flora Room will soon be entirely refurbished in order to accomodate for the large number of new pieces. The new decoration will display the various exhibits in a clearer way so as to enable for easier examination. Each category of flora will be placed accordingly with fruits, vegetables, woods, jars being placed together.

Until then however, visitors will have the opportunity to closely examine the new additions: Yot Beans (Dantooine), Qana Beans (Dathomir), Beebleberries (Dathomir), Plaitfruit (Dathomir), Grapes (Dathomir), Driblis Fruit (Dathomir) and Drickle Fruit (Dathomir).

These fruits and vegetables will be further examined in order to determine if they are related to similar looking extraplanetary flora. The duration of the examination is expected to last for several weeks.

Community and Friends (July)

Community members and friends of the city having logged :

TMB city & guild
1. Darkossk
2. Tarn Pagott
3. Enkarn Lightmist

TMB city
4. Kawi Aenebaf
5. Ibeoki Nao

TMB guild
6. Febostaf Asaky
7. Fluffy-Stitch
8. Revelations

Alumni
9. Looser Bottom (former guild)
10. Dar'Ness Mandilor (former guild)
11. Doman (former city)
12. Ashelin (former guild)
13. Vurkuran (former city)
14. Af-ro (former guild)
15. Iascoeto Fepa (former guild)
16. Brite Sunwalker (former guild)
17. Kohaeg Noubat (former guild)
18. Vewock Eisis (former guild)

City Maintenance (VI)

rom: City Hall
Object: City Maintenance
Date: Mon. Jul. 07

Mayor Tarn Pagott,

A total of 54350 credits has been paid from the city treasury for maintenance and upkeep of structure.

Lumps

From Tatooine to Rori to Lok and of course Corellia, the Intergalactic gang of Meatlumps has been keeping everyone busy. With the many puzzles to solve for, oftentimes, scant rewards, emerges a curious sub-culture. Vani Kor and the Corellian Times reporting team fail to answer at least one major question : how are they funded ? While the gang is known for destroying private property, mostly in relation with technology, such vandalism does not generate the kind of money required to produce uniforms, travel from planets to planets and maintain equipment and facilities (well, maintain may be too strong a word...). Meatlumps assets are pretty impressive and their ranks are quite high, if their King seems quite aloof, some directions still must be given - if only to run the daily operations.

If time allows, it's nevertheless a great opportunity to look into Meatlump assets further and also into other criminal / gang organizations, such as the Rag-Tags or the famed Hutt and Black Sun criminal empires...

From Mustafar to Tatooine to Lok

On Sunday, what started as a simple Mustafar trip - a visit to the Blackguard camp to, ahem, discuss with their leadership and to help solve an archeologist's problem, ended as a galactic trip to save Mos Espa from the Tusken King and to enter IG-88's factory compound. While the first lag of this trip - a pure TMB two man team (Enkarn, Tarn), met with success, the remaining mixed group failed in both heroics (phase II and phase III respectively). It was nevertheless an opportunity to meet and work alongside new people and to have an overall good time. More success next time !

Chamber of Banishment (II)

A mixed Imperial / Rebel strike team, with two TMB members (Darkossk, Tarn) entered the Chamber of Banishment at the bottom of the Cave next to the Nightsister Stronghold. The team battled all the way down and entered the Chamber to face Axkva Ming and her supporters. After the witch's defeat, the group shortly disbanded.

Empire Day Celebrations

Twin Mountain Base's Mayor, Tarn Pagott, has been decorated during the Empire Day Celebrations by Lord Vader in Theed. This decoration was part of the numerous decorations offered to loyal citizens and Imperial officials whose work contribute to the Imperial rule. This decoration comes as a tribute to General Otto's strategy on Lok of installing strategically located small outposts in order to extend planetary control.

As Mayor of one of the oldest Imperial outposts on Lok, Tarn Pagott was chosen for his continued efforts for the city and the Empire. Mayor Pagott may be considered a controversial choice; self-styled liberal and outspoken critic of Imperial excesses, his work alongside Sean Trenwell in Bestine and author of an open letter to the Emperor his promotion as Hero of Empire Day may be seen as a gesture to Imperial liberals. While the Rebellion is reported to have gained grounds on some worlds, the Emperor may have chosen to woo back potential Rebel sympathizers. Since the dissolution of the Imperial Senate, moderate Imperials have found themselves facing mounting difficulties to express their concerns.

Is the Empire losing the battle for hearts and minds?

This very question can be asked when during the Empire Day Celebrations, Lord Vader failed to show up on July 2nd in Theed. An expectant crowd of wannabe Heroes were left stranded but the Dark Lord kept postponing his arrival. While it is likely this will be fixed shortly, it does send a mixed signal to loyal servants of the Empire.

While the Empire Day Celebrations are marked with gifts and special rewards, failing to decorate Imperial officials whose efforts contribute to the Imperial grandeur sends an ungrateful message to the crowds, as well as sowing resentment in otherwise devoted servants.

It is this kind of sleight that makes local politicians, civil servants and ordinary citizens look favorably toward the Rebellion. And while none of them is in a position to significantly alter the course of Intergalactic affairs, their common ire seriously hinders the Empire. Indeed, they may provide shelter, contraband goods, funds, equipment, knowledge or muscle to the Rebellion out of spite.

In this context, let's not be surprised that the Rebellion is reported to gain strength everyday as the highest levels of the Imperial leadership seems to ignore the efforts of those working beneath it.

Museum of Natural History (IV)

New additions to the Flora Room of the Museum of Natural History have been reported. These fruits, berries and plants have been graciously offered to the Museum by Enkarn Lightmist. These magnificent pieces come from the wilds of Dantooine and Dathomir.

From top to bottom, a Shef'na Fruit, a Celonsay, a Barabel Fruit, a Dorian Passion Fruit, a Tritacale and Hwotha Berries.

Visitors to the Flora room will be able to observe the similarities between various sorts of plants and vegetables. Thus, the Tritacale and the Ko Do Fruit, the Dorian Passion Fruit and the Aurilian Fruit as well as with the Maroj Melon, the Celonsay and the Charbote Root and the Sosi Hodor.

The extraordinary similarities between the plants tend to lend credence to a common ancestry and / or exopollination by accident - such as a cosmic fragments travelling with DNA strains - or design - such as artificial transplantation and adaptation.

Whatever the answer, and there may be several, visitors will have the leisure to observe these splendid specimen at their leisure.

Chamber of Banishment

On Monday evening a mixed group of Rebels and Imperials fought its way down the Nightsister Cave to enter the Chamber of Banishment. Despite skills, experience and spirit, the group met with demise as opposition refused stubbornly to be subdued. While it could be looked as a shame, it was actually due to a bug and hope it will be soon fixed.

Meanwhile, rumors have it that Darkossk is hoarding on Meatlump chests in order to find caged animals, an endeavor for which we wish him to find success - and as a matter of fact, laud his trailblazing spirit as a ranger highly interested in gaining identical treasures will soon follow suit...