MARNIE Archives 2016 First Half

This page holds archived editions of the MARNIE newspaper which is published on every first of a month. The Archive contains up to the prior-to-current issue, and links are clickable despite what the Editor's Notes of the paper editions say. In order to keep the reading content manageable, each page will combine half a year's editions.

Midgard's Alpha Realm News
International Edition
February 8th, 2016

Editor's Note:
Pictures can be viewed at https://dev-urandom.eu/_media/books:newspaper_pictures:???.png when exchanging '???' with the photo number given in the articles. Other links lead to this server's wiki.

In Worldwide News:
Spawn Fishing, page 10

In Regional News:
Valensiyan Whim, page 23

In Local News:
AMUN Paper Press, page 28

Worldwide News

Downgrading of Newspaper
(mm) Due to the receding number of regular residents, language barriers and a general lack of willingness to comment to reporters, after difficult deliberation AMUN Publishing decided to downgrade the Midgard's Alpha Realm Newspaper, English Edition - known as MARNIE for short, to its original format as was once stated in our very first edition on June 1st in 2015.
In line with that verdict, this will be the last weekly issue of MARNIE. The next one will be published on March 1st, and after that on every 1st of a month, covering the events of the previous month. Correspondingly, the archive in the Autism Almanac too will be updated only once a month.
Should particularly interesting events come up, our editors agreed to publish special editions about such occasions promptly.

Tangaloa Takes a Break
(ek) Likely taking the lessened presence of veteran players as a good occasion, Creator Tangaloa of Elkkuton informed last Sunday, “I'm probably going to take a break from MC for a while because of lack of autism spark and IRL things.”
He clearly stated that he did not plan to leave forever and would also still be around in the ether. So far, he is the only veteran who officially confirmed a planned absence and even explained his reasons.

Spawn Fishing
(ns) In the evening of February 1st, a MARNIE reporter was invited to join a small fishermen's group at the southwestern pool on the New Spawn Plaza. Due to a rare stretch of good weather, success mediocre, however due to the company, fun was exceptional.
Participating residents included TheNerd96, Sturmbannfuehrer, Grum, Moderator July, Claireteen, Hostes and Xcont, and snapshots of the spontaneous event have been compiled in photo 027.
While most fishermen peacefully focused on their task, rather unlucky Resident Hostes eventually resorted to trying to steal the catches of others. When that didn't work, he even went so far as to attack fishermen with his fishing rod in a weak attempt to steal their loot.
After being disciplined the same way by some of them and slapped around a bit as a warning by Moderator July, he relented and chose to watch more closely before giving his own fledging efforts another try and finally managing a catch.

Bratka Sign
(ar) Commemorating the recent onslaught of grievances caused by a terrorist widely known as 'Bratka' (although he uses many different disguises), a monument was erected at the northern rim of the world.
As it reminded of statues created by Resident TheNerd96, he was asked whether he built this also, and confirmed with the explanation that it depicted “a recent meme”. In huge Cyrillic letters stamped onto the edge field with brown wool, the three lines read translated, 'Bratka is a good place for your dick.' Photo 028 shows an aerial view of this particular border marker around the coordinates X5900/Z-4050.

West Cross Named
(zk) On the northwest corner of Alpha's Realm, Russian immigrants have quickly expanded not only their territories on land, but taken sovereign power over wide stretches of the ocean with several finished, started and planned projects.
When asked about a name for the territory or settlement, Resident Grum answered they had not yet thought about it. It was suggested to him to use the translated and transcribed version of 'West(ern) Cross', which he provided as Zapadnyi Krest.
Resident Grum, who seems to be the de-facto leader of the northwestern group, stated that it was all right to refer to his settlement and its surrounding area by that name for the time being.

Regional News

High-rise Demolition
(fc/mm) On February 1st, Resident Hostes of Fortress Camelot informed that he no longer liked the “skyscraper” he wished to build at his home but also did not plan to leave it standing half-done. “I thought it would be a great building. But it turned out to be just another grey box. I'll get it removed very soon.” He offered to pay in diamonds for someone to take it down and was taken up on it by Midgard Municipality.
A team of demolishers was sent over to take down the frame of the high-rise by hand, a job swiftly finished overnight (see photo 029) while the landowner guarded against hostiles and started a street. The cleanup was compensated with 1 diamond per floor.

Valensiyan Whim
(vy) When told about the non-progress of the New Spawn Mall, a project instigated by Grand Duke Tomoko of the Grand Duchy of Hohenfels and started by Speaker BearMonger of the Republic of Ender last December, on a whim Chief Tsaryu of the Commons of Valensiya mentioned interest in possibly applying to take over the constructions, if only to guarantee the Commons of Valensiya their desired store plot in the building.
He first wished to better inspect the layout and has to date not yet taken the idea to the officials responsible for supplying building materials.

Sorra on Hold
(ds) Duke June of the United Duchy of the Two Sorras informed upon request that the reason for the delay of East Sorra's completion was that he currently is “building my new house on a remote island. My storage is a mess, so I'm building a new one.” After he finishes the new storage building, Duke June plans to continue the restauration of East Sorra.

Local News

AMUN Paper Press
(mm) During the past week, many Midgardian residents offered to help with the research on redstone mechanisms by tirelessly poring over written reports, designs, moving pictures and visiting various sites to inspect such workings in person and document them.
Coordinating and combining these efforts and results was Intern Elth, who also managed - through trial and error - to build the desired machine based on the discovered mechanisms. The first paper press in Alpha's Realm was installed in the new AMUN Publishing Company's headquarters' west wing on February 1st, upgraded with a sugar cane production unit on February 3rd and put into operation the next day.
For his efforts, Intern Elth received the promotion to Engineer with duties including the creation, maintenance and gradual upgrading of machines in Midgard Municipality, while also visiting sites all over Alpha's Realm in order to learn ever more.

Midgard's Alpha Realm News
International Edition
March 1st, 2016

Editor's Note:
Pictures can be viewed at https://dev-urandom.eu/_media/books:newspaper_pictures:???.png when exchanging '???' with the photo number given in the articles. Other links lead to this server's wiki.

In Worldwide News:
Blown-up Spawn, page 29

In Regional News:
Doran Villages, page 43

In Local News:
Pillar and Dome, page 49

Worldwide News

Free Chests at Spawn Plaza
(ns) After the New Spawn plaza was cleared of Christmas decorations and New Year's remnants, the freed up space was used to set up some chests for dumping and distributing food and materials free of charge on February 10th.
The measure was taken mostly in order to assist immigrants and poor new residents, especially those who do not speak Autistic and cannot follow guidance instructions to the library, where similar chests had been provided since the founding of New Spawn.
While there were few residents willing and able to stock up the chests - compared to well-settled ones taking from them, the system proofed itself to be widely accepted and working so far.
Beside food and building material, free armor and weapons were offered to new players. This might be considered a risk in terms of arming aggressive invaders, however a calculated one: Immigrants who immediately use weapons to attack residents are more quickly identified as miscreants unwilling to follow our realm's rules, and thus can be punished and/or eliminated sooner. The actual thought behind providing weaponry and armor was to allow immigrants to travel away from the densely settled New Spawn area without assistance and hunt their own food.
On February 27th, Grand Duke Tomoko of the Grand Duchy of Hohenfels suggested a cleaner layout with more chests available, and the setup was adapted to better match the south half of the spawn plaza.

Alpha Prima
(ap) On February 13th, Resident HindIII returned after several months of absence. After admitting he was personally unfamiliar with former Chelonians and did not wish to join their settlements, he was asked what kind of terrain he would prefer for his settlement and chose to move to the area of Explorers' Gate 05. He stated two friends would join him there later, one of whom (Resident Krist92) named the place Alpha Prima two days later, and started a traditional castle.

Announcement of Retirement
(ar) Moderator P_P_A shocked both God AlphaBernd and Alpha's Realm residents by announcing early retirement plans on February 14th. “You'll have to recruit new moderators before long,” he advised God, “I too will be gone soon.”
When questioned about his reasons, he stated sadly that almost none of the people he used to interact with the most were around anymore. He also expressed his dissatisfaction with Alpha's Realm's geography and divine exceptions and/or random interventions. “There's just no point to it anymore,” he concluded.
Various residents' attempts to make him reconsider his decision soon led to a general discussion about Alpha's Realm's politics, in which many shared his opinions.

Mall Progress
(ns) Chief Tsaryu of the Commons of Valensiya put into action his plan to take over the construction of the New Spawn mall on February 11th. With quartz provided by Moderator Koduck, he continued the project, sticking to the layout as far as he deemed logical and adapting parts he considered flawed.
On February 14th, he was assisted by Moderator P_P_A in reinforcing a ceiling and was granted the ability to fly by God AlphaBernd for one evening, in exchange for losing all other command powers during that time.
The very next day, Speaker BearMonger of the Republic of Ender returned to his project and ferociously complained about the changes. “Tsaryu is griefing my mall,” he stated enraged. “I am trying to work on it and he keeps building random shit in it.”
When Speaker BearMonger was informed that Chief Tsaryu had acted with the permissions of God AlphaBernd, Moderators P_P_A and Koduck and project instigator Grand Duke Tomoko of the Grand Duchy of Hohenfels, he replied, “I don't care about his permissions. This is my project and I intend to finish it.”
A little calmer, he continued, “I can understand, I wasn't on for a few weeks, people wanted the mall finished. [However,] Tsaryu is currently sabotaging my work. I have a blueprint I am working off of.”
Overhearing the commotion, Moderator P_P_A joined the scene and was soon confronted about helping in 'sabotaging'. Since Chief Tsaryu had acted with permission from God AlphaBernd, Moderator P_P_A hesitated in restoring the previous state of the project, and resignedly Speaker BearMonger started manually repairing the changes.
Meanwhile, Chief Tsaryu had been informed about the situation and was quick to arrive and consent to having his changes undone, which Moderator P_P_A immediately carried out. Grand Duke Tomoko then questioned point-blank, “Are you actually going to finish the mall, though?” to which Speaker BearMonger solemnly replied, “Yes, I will.”
As can be seen on photo 030, two thirds of the outer structure have been completed since then.

Easy Suicide Abolished
(ar) On February 23rd, residents discovered by chance that it is no longer possible to commit easy suicide using the magical spell /kill. It is unclear when exactly the practice was abolished or for what reasons, or whether it will be reinstated in time. In the meantime, several residents have gotten creative, and one of the most popular ways to suicide seems to be shooting an arrow straight upward.

End Farm Cleanup
(te) In the afternoon of February 23rd, Moderator June took up the task of cleaning up the public XP-Farm in The End. He relocated the two remaining private chests and also generously provided eight anvils for immediate repairs.

Planned Nation
(ur) The area referred to as 'Russian Walls' in a November article last year has seen renewed activity this month with its founders returning. In particular Resident Nick4629 mentioned vague plans to even found a proper nation, but cited laziness to embark on the bureaucratic aspect of such a decision as the main reason for not implementing the idea immediately. The walled village was successfully repopulated.

Blown-up Spawn
(ns) Captured on photo 031 is this month's 'Blow Up New Spawn' event which followed a 'Fun 'Til It Ain't' all-out battle between Moderator Mazznoff and several residents. Apparently in support of his comrades, near the end of the fighting Residents Primera and Gnfur provided the TNT which later obliterated the spawn plaza and placed it to that effect. After the detonation, Moderator GlitchyBat was called upon to repair the damage, to which he responded quickly and competently. He also awarded Resident Primera a three-day and Resident Gnfur a two-day prison sentence for his antics. Unpunished remained Resident Tremolo, who Resident Primera claimed was the actual person triggering the TNT he had placed, a statement that could not be verified. Resident Primera did not complain about his sentence though, and instead proudly claimed that he had no regrets about the event or its consequences.
Attacks on Mercymnius
(mc) In mid-February, Mercymnius faced two invasions and attacks by citizens of Sacred Solntze-Grad. On the 18th, Emissario Paper reported severe theft from his nation's farms, evidently committed by Resident Gnfur. In a later statement, he declared, “It was just an incident,” and that he did not wish to go to war over it, especially since said incident spurred improvements and trade options in Mercymnius.
However, only four days later Solntze- grad citizen Grizikfed was discovered “griefing entire BellTower” by Resident NologicGamer and did not respond to any communication. From home, Resident Gnfur gave Resident NoLogicGamer permission to kill the invader who then fled in time.
Moderator June who was called to the scene confirmed resident Gnfur's observation that all the chests that had been 'stolen' from were actually unlocked and advised the Italian about proper security measures.
Due to not replanting the farms, Resident Grizikfed later received a short prison sentence for 'extensive theft'. A few day after the second incident, Emissario Paper who had been quite amiable toward Resident Gnfur, heatedly requested a lifelong prison sentence for Resident Grizikfed despite similar circumstances, in favor of having to go to war with his nation. However, he did not explain exactly why the second attack angered him so much more than the first.

Regional News

New Neighbor
(zy) To the northeast of Zweiyurten, Immigrant Ners_ebower started building a basic wooden shelter on February 21st. During the past week, no progress could be observed on the unfinished building, and as its creator did not return since the 22nd, it is currently unclear whether he intends to stay in that area or move on to a more mountainous terrain which he first claimed to favor.

Goldstag Hall
(sf) After demolishing the unfinished station building in Skellie Farm's capital Skellsborough back in January, its founder Duke Speermen announced his - at least temporary - retreat from the town, in favor of building a manor close to his original settlement Zweiyurten.
He undertook the construction around February 18th and named the handsome estate north of the small settlement Goldstag Hall. Both the house and its garden are a work in progress to date.

Doran Villages
(dv) At the coast of the northeastern-most bay of the Northeastern Sea, two small settlements were recently discovered by Midgardian explorers. As their architecture already suggested, it was quickly confirmed to be settlements created by Resident Dora, likely on his way through from the Chicken Islands of former Slavia Confederation to where he later established Dorville.
Staying with the approved name, the smaller settlements (which can fastest be reached by boat at this time) were named Dorpost and Dorstep. Further inland situated Dorstep features a public skeleton farm, and Dorpost excels with some creative interior design.

City of Camelot
(fc) Resident Hostes of the former Fortress Camelot recently decided to name the replacing city simply Camelot as well. On February 27th, the first resident moved into town on his own accord, and soon after the territory was expanded far into the ocean. The city's founder Resident Hostes wishes to “build a park” featuring square borders and is currently filling its ground level above the ocean surface.

Edna's Skyfarm
(ur) Another new neighbor around the Northeastern Sea is recently returned Resident EdnaMintsauce, who created a floating farm high in the sky a little north of Dorpost around mid-February, with the roof at level Y241.

Local News

Pillar and Dome
(mm) Concentrated efforts during the past three weeks resulted in the completed construction of the outer frame of the Pillar of Midgard, as well as its four main support beams which hold up the domed roof around the access building - and stabilize the surface of the island as a whole.
The excavation of a wider circle around the pillar is still ongoing but calculated to be finished within another week.

The current issue is not yet archived but can be bought at the New Spawn Book Store.