Search Results: 112 messages were found

1. No, I'm not starting a faction.
2. No, I'm not joining your faction.
3. I'd really rather not RP. That usually ends up with me being hated.
4. I'm probably not going to stay past a month.
5. I'm here because I need to get away from WoW.
6. I'm here because all the other games I used to get away from WoW just didn't hold my interest.
7. Luggables made me interested.
8. I'd play Tabula Rasa but my computer dies on it.
9. I had money to play around with.
10. Hi. SMILEY<img src=

" /> How's y'all?

EDIT:

I BLAME THIS ALL ON LILIANE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (There ya go Lili. XD)

Soooo... just wondering... anyone here get Defcon off of Steam? I'd be willing to have a little MxO Defcon match, see who's the king of genocide and all of that. Heh. SMILEY

..that this game just isn't worth my 15$ a month.

Sorry guys, but after staying away for two weeks, I've realized that this game and this game alone has been driving me off the deep end. My life moves better now, I'm not as stressed, I'm happier, and I'm getting on with things I should have been getting on with.

I'm not saying this is a horrible game. This is probably one of the best MMORPGs I've ever played. It's just it's not what it was, not what it was planned to be at the beginning... If it was still like it was in the beginning, plus all the bug fixes and CR 2.0, I'd probably stick around. But the fact is, I have no reason to stick around.

I've hit 50, the faction I'm apart of can function without my presence, the story has lost it's interesting qualities, my roleplaying ideas and skills are no longer required, and this community is more worried about spite than success anymore. It seems as each day goes by, we all become more and more Merovingian at heart... and I don't mean that in a good way. OOC and IC has become so blurred that I think some of us forget where the game ends and we begin. That's not the way it should be, but it's the way it has seemingly become.

I hate to go off on a negative note, but I can't think of what else to say. I'm moving on to greener pastures, and that's the truth. I'm not even technically leaving MxO... I'm instead joining World of Warcraft with former MxO friends, because we all know it's the people that run this game - not the game itself.

To say I'm leaving forever is a lie. I will probably be back if/when this game becomes more interesting and introduces new innovations - as it inevitably does. So... I might be back someday. But who can say when...

And, I'd like to leave the community with this final sentence in mind: "We are not our characters, we are players. We are not apart of 3 organizations, we are apart of 1 organization - The Community of the Matrix Online. We are all people, players, and most of all, we are friends."

Au revoir.

~Lady Return

Nerves are shot. Taking a long break. Won't be logging in, so don't send me e-mails about your events, or asking Blood Rose to help, or asking me to write things. I'd like to get far away from this game for a while.

If you would like to contact Blood Rose for RP/Event matters, please speak to Stanislava, Pltchaos, AnnThraxx, Oops, Letsrock, Mataru, or Ardala. They can get everything set up, as I am not the only leader of Blood Rose (as seems to be a pretty common misconception... all of the above are leaders of Blood Rose).

Don't know when I'll be back. So everyone enjoy the game, and I'll see you later.

-Return

Valexia looked up from her position on the floor and squinted in the dim light. The room was small, only a single door to enter and leave through, no windows, and what was left of the floral wallpaper. The light from the single bulb above her wasn't doing enough for the space; shadows were being cast all over the edges of the room.

She slowly pulled herself upright on the dirty wooden floor and looked around. Her hands were tied around behind her back and she noticed that her feet were bound as well. She felt very weak and tired, and could barely keep her head up. She saw the green code dripping from her face and falling onto her skin tight bodysuit and it forced her to blink a few more times. She was still an Unlimit... and why was she in this position?

All she could remember was guarding a base for Anome, protecting one of their many hackers as they harassed the Merovingian operatives hunting them as well as any Zionist they could track down. After that, her memory was black... she had absolutely no idea how she ended up here.

She strugged against her bonds, but it was no use, she was feeling too tired to do anything. Questions swirled in her head as she sat there, trying to figure out what was wrong with her... why she couldn't do anything... how she got there...

A scratching noise came from in front of her and she jerked her head up as quickly as she could muster. A cloud of dust swirled in front of her, being kicked off from the floor. She blinked again and felt the slight breeze against her face. "This isn't possible... there's no windows in here... no air vents... no way for a wind to get in this room..." she thought to herself.

The chucking of a female voice confirmed her thoughts. A wind couldn't get into that room, but a person could. "Who are you! Who the hell are you!" she screamed at the nothingness. The voice seemed to come from all around her, but she couldn't figure out what was going on. Her face reddened and she struggled against her bonds with renewed strength.

"That won't do you any good, dearie. They don't work like that," the voice mocked. Slowly, right in front of her, she saw a cloud of code begin to form... deep black code. It rose backwards up from the floor, collecting itself slowly as it let off an eerie black dust that coursed across the floor. Slowly the black mass began to form the outline of a woman made of ashes... a woman wearing a long dress that reached the ground but only came up to her chest and showed off her expansive bosom and well toned chest. The woman's eyes slowly cracked open, revealing two purple irises that narrowed upon Valexia's form on the floor. Slowly, the wind blew against the figure, the ashes falling slowly backwards to reveal a beautiful woman standing in front of her... the figure of Lady Return.

"You *CENSORED*! What the hell is this!" she yelled at Return. The Lady in Mourning shrugged as she moved one of her gloved hands through her hair and smirked with her deep purple lips.

"What is this? This is me retrieving a... souvenir. I found you to be quite the cute one," Return chuckled, leaning down towards her and showing off more of her chest than Valexia would have liked to see.

"Do you know who I am? I'm an unlimit! I could crash through these bonds in a second! I could kill you without even thinking about it! I can destroy you!" Valexia screamed. Return simply waved one of her gloved fingers in response and let out a "tsk tsk".

"No, no dear. I think not. Those bonds are... well... made for a girl of your calibur. And, well, your little 'unlimit' powers... I wouldn't go there darling. Those have been known to have 'accidental failures'. Or didn't Anome tell you about those yet?"

Valexia looked down at the ground, letting the code leak onto it. Return let out a small hrmph and stood back up to loom over the woman again. "I'll take your silence as a no. Let's just say that I found one of your buddies falling from the Kalt Corporation Headquarters to his death very amusing. I didn't even think redpills could be killed by falls..."

Return turned around and put her hands behind her back. She put her head down and let the one lash of her white hair fall over her right eye as she turned left to offer Valexia a profile of her posture. "I guess you 'unlimits' proved me quite wrong. Redpills can die from falls."

"You *CENSORED*... what the hell..." Valexia muttered. "What do you want with me?"

Return turned back around, keeping her hair where it was, letting her posture intimidate the lady before her. "I brought you here to tell you a story, and give you a chance at life. Very generous of me, if I do say so myself. I could have killed you back at that base... but just be glad I spared your life for the time being."

"And what story do you think I would want to hear?"

"No story at all, my dear. But, you're not in a position to choose what you want to hear... and that's the reason I brought you here. Choice."

"Choice?"

"You hear it all the time. You chose the redpill. You chose the vial. You chose Anome. You once chose Niobe. You chose your weapon. You chose your path in life. You chose your job once... You chose perhaps a love of your life. But do you really know what choice is? Hmm? Do you?"

Valexia looked up for a brief moment, looking out with her glowing green eyes from under her brown hair at Return as she paused for a moment. "That wasn't a rhetorical question... dear. Do you know what choice is?"

"Yes."

"Wrong. I doubt you could fully comprehend the power of choice. For as much as you use it... you do not fully comprehend it. The Merovingian once said that there are two people in the world. 'Those who have power, and those who do not.' I fully agree with that statement. However, the Merovingian made one fatal flaw when he made that statement, and that is, simply, choice. Choice leads to power, or it will lead you to no power.

"But once we get into choice we get into the problems of right and wrong... And that infamous expression of 'The Right'. Tell me... do I have the right to hold you hostage here?"

"Of course not."

"'Of course not.' she says... My my, aren't you just full of witty comebacks. No dear, I have the full right to hold you here. I have the right to hold you because I made the choice to hold you here."

"What the..."

"You do not understand? As I said when I began my speech... I knew you wouldn't. You use choice every day, but you do not understand it."

"...You're a freakin' psycho."

"Perhaps, but that does not change the fact that I am right. And once we get into this area of choice... we reach freedom. Freedom... it was promised to us when we were all 'freed' from the Matrix. We never escaped. We're always trapped within a system of some sort... virtual and otherwise... Society is filled with systems to instill control on those of us who cannot realize the rights we have. Some say it is for the best... and I can agree.

"Systems are brought about not to be used properly. They exist to prevent total chaos, but yet chaos will always exist. Just like good and evil will always exist. You cannot have all good. You cannot have all control. On the same hand, you cannot have all evil... you cannot have all chaos. From every system, there is a way to manipulate it to benefit you. And benefits cannot come about when there is nothing but chaos...

"So, you sit there, in your little 'unlimit society' and think you're breaking away from the Matrix. You think you're doing everything you ever wanted... you think you have untold power. And, tonight, in one blow, I have proved you wrong. You do not have the power to escape me. You do not have the power to control outside factors. You do not have the power to overthrow Anome... and you do not have the power to escape being ordered around."

"So why the hell am I here? For your crazy *CENSORED* to preach to me?" she screamed.

Return sighed and turned around, facing the door again and looking down once again. "I brought you here to show you true power. I brought you here to give you power... the power of choice... the power to control your destiny this evening. Answer my question, and I will let you free."

Valexia looked up right at Return and focused her eyes. "All right. Tell me it."

"Who has the right to decide the future? Who has the right to control what happens? Quite simply, who has the right to control fate itself?"

Valexia concentrated for a moment and smirked. "No one can control fate."

A gun barrel clicked and Valexia's eyes went wide. "Wrong dear. And here's the proof." Return turned to the side quickly and pointed her Augmented Redpill Special right at Valexia's nose.

The shot echoed throughout the empty hallways of the floor, and Valexia's body hit hard against the floor, twitching with green electricity as her eyes slowly went out. Return smirked to herself and closed her eyes. "I can control fate because I choose to control fate."

Return put her gun back into it's holster inside of her right sleeve and slowly moved her hand to her left sleeve. Slowly she pulled a Blood Rose from it, red blood trickling down her arm and onto the floor. She pressed down on one of the thorns and a sharp metal needle shot from the end of the stem, during the rose into a living dart. She unfolded a note that she was keeping in the space between her breasts and read it one last time before she stuck it to Valexia's stomach using the Rose Needle.

"Dear Anome - Your followers are just as foolish as you are. And, by the way... apparently you aren't unlimited in power. Her body proves it.

Sincerely,
Return"

Return closed her eyes and smirked as her lower half began to decompile into black ashes, black smoke, and code. "They'll never learn... none of them..." she murmured as she turned around to the door and slowly vanished into nothingness.

The blood red rose on their collars was the first thing that attracted attention to the peddlers downtown. They stood at various corners of the Historic District, passing their white and red flyers to whomever passed, bluepill or redpill or exile. Most of the scraps of paper ended up in the streets, blowing around aimlessly, but some made their mark on the populace.

It wasn't long before the mysterious people in sunglasses and trenchcoats began to appear, asking specifically for flyers that were being given to everyone. The peddlers quickly obliged, handing sometimes five or six to these redpills, "so that they could give them to their friends".

"What do you think it means?" one of the various redpills asked his partner.

His partner just sighed and raised the sunglasses on his face, revealing his green irises and letting them take in the entire flyer. "It means Blood Rose is looking for a reason for their chaos."

"Blood Rose?" the other redpill asked, obviously clueless.

"I'll let you slide this time, Kalak. You only got awoken two weeks ago, but you should have heard their name by now. Simply put, they are twisted. Twisted enough to each be exiled from Zion permanently."

"But... why?"

"Uniqueness and a quest for power is their excuse. The truth is, they are sadistic. All of them. All they want is a reason to cause destruction and raise chaos, nothing more. They all take pleasure in acts of war, whether it be assassinations, thefts, propaganda, lies... you name what you want, and they'll deliver it to you. They could be called mercenaries... but not even mercenaries are as psychopathic as this group."

"Who they report to?"

"Technically the Merovingian. They take organization leads and orders from him, but it doesn't mean they follow all of them, from what I hear. However... when the Merovingian wants something done they'll usually listen unless it means something bad for them. You can easily recognize them. They wander around either holding roses, or a have a rose somewhere on their clothing. The really insane ones carry roses that are coded to constantly bleed... there's some rumor to those flowers being tools, but they're just rumors."

"So... um.. how do you hire them?"

"And why would you ask a stupid question like that? Why would we hire them?"

"Hey, hey, relax Cap, I'm just asking."

"Well, don't ask, cuz I don't know. Probably that stupid website of theirs."

"Why don't we hire them though? Sounds like an easy way to get the Merovingian in trouble with Zion."

"Hey, Kalak."

"What, Cap?"

"You're an idiot. Come on... Tyndall wanted us to do something for her. We wasted enough time here."

I really didn't think [Adult Swim] (yes, the brackets are mandatory) could come up with a new show that had the same funny power as Aqua Teen Hunger Force did or the same quirky humor that Sealab 2021 could produce. Especially not after they started airing Family Guy and Futurama. To boot, I was really sad to hear that Brendon Small wasn't going to continue his "Home Movies" series, especially because I really did enjoy most of the episodes, although some areas had a tendency to fall flat.

However, I didn't think Brendon's next series was going to be so freakin' hilarious.

Simply put, if you haven't seen Metalocalypse yet, go to http://www.adultswim.com/adultswimfix right now and watch it. (Sorry people outside of the United States of America, this website won't work for you.) If you are squeamish, or afraid of blood and gore... well... this probably isn't for you but it's still freakin' hilarious and you should watch it anyway.

Any band who's bass player is named "William Murderface Murderface Murderface" is awesome. Not to mention the fact that Murderface can play a bass solo with his... um... let's just say it's not his hands or his feet.... or his mouth. That only leaves one organ left.

Anyway, yeah, it's hilarious. Can't really be explained until you watch it. Go watch it. Now.

Because Jurymen locked the other 01 war post before I could get this in, here's my simple request for 01 fighting:

So... in direct contrast from last night, tonight we had lots of
fighting. I sat in the middle of the platform in Shadow form,
watching everyone and enjoying the death, and all I heard was:

"Shut up! Don't you like being killed!"

"We're gonna kill you!"

"Never hate tell TC again!"

"LOL, U PWNED!"

"Can't stand the fighting, get out of 01!"

And, so, one of my Merovingian buddies... highly outnumbered and pretty
much alone, gets gunned down by 7 machinists. And they all walk
off like it's a victory parade. So I /tell Satta a sarcastic
remark, and Satta gets all huffy and thinks I'm trying to be a
"peacemonger", and all of TC starts bitching about "Don't send us hate
tells!"

So... all I see from this entire situation is:

*Return imagines a whole group of cavemen with big clubs ontop of a mountain*

Caveman 1: UGH UGH! WE STRONG!!!!

Caveman 2: UGH UGH!!! WE SMASH!!!! WE IMPORTANT!!!

What's the point of this post? The point is, don't be a bunch of
meatheads. I'm not a peacemonger, I think war in 01 is really
interesting. Just don't whine and complain that some people don't
like you.

Do all the killing you want, just be OOC civil about it.
Sportsmanship, that's all I'm asking for. Faction leaders, ALL
faction leaders, try to instill a sense of sportsmanship into your
members. Even if someone is cursing at you, don't share the
hate. Just smile, keep killing, and move along. I do NOT
want to walk into 01 every single time to see a bunch of people
bitching constantly over "killing is against the truce" or "stop
sending us hate tells". I've seen less whining in WoW, and that's
saying something, especially since I'm on a PvP server.

Suck it up. Be civil. Everyone. From TC, to FH, to
whomever. Just, I would like to not see that crap again.
Because that's exactly what it was. Crap.

There, so no one can accuse us of hiding our hallways. Lol. It's a Chateau. It's pretty.

Dear Agent Gray, Agent Pace, and all operatives of the Machinist Organization,

We of the Merovingian Organization, specifically Blood Rose, have been outraged at the recent attack on Club Hel and our upstanding Organization. We are apalled that you Agents would go so far to interfere with our current objectives, even after our part in both the retrieval of Niobe and our part in fighting Anome as he hacked your firewalls and fighting against TaeCross and other members of E Pluribus Neo who were intent on destabilizing the system.

This act against us only left us with one choice, and that was to create a greater act of punishment.

It is in the duty of Blood Rose to inform you, Agents Gray and Pace, that the following Agents will either report to work tomorrow injured, or won't be reporting to the system at all:

Agent Wong
Agent Miller
Agent Green
Agent Clark
Agent Lee
Agent Stewart
Agent Johns
Agent Long

Attached to this broadcast are pictures of each Agent's last stand. In my opinion, Lee was the most amusing as he was the most cooperative. Of course he needed some persuasion to become cooperative, but I'm glad the agent knows how to kneel before a lady.

Usually, at this point in my broadcast, I would be apologizing for the inconvience that Blood Rose has caused you and your organization. However, I'm going to skip my formalities because, well, you asked for it. To commemorate your failures, you may retrieve an 8 stem bouquet of Blood Roses, one stem for each agent fallen, created specifically for you by our esteemed florists, left in your mail box outside of your place of employment.

Try us again, and you will be recieving a larger bouquet.

Sincerely,
Blood Rose

###Printing Attached Files:

##To: Agent Gray
##From: UnknownSource
##Subject: R.O.S.E Tool Diagnostics Retrieved.

Agent:

I recently had the pleasure of infiltrating the Kirin Blossoms core network... the Blood Rose network. They may be a tricky tentacle of the Merovingian Organization, but not everyone is foolproof. It was almost too easy... and I got away with alot of information on that stupid red rose that they all carry around, and some information on their faction's layout.

It seems that their faction falls in a division of power that is never attained by one person, making targeting their leader useless. The most powerful members of the faction are "Rose Bearers", the founding members who carry Blood Roses openly and can usually be found wearing them on their clothing in one form or another. These members can distribute the ROSE tool to new members and potentials, marking them as members of Blood Rose.

The next level of member is the "Rose Holder". Rose Holders are members who own Blood Roses and have full access rights to the faction, but cannot copy their tools to new members. They usually do not carry their Roses openly, and can be easily hidden in a crowd. These members usually carry out dangerous assignments, as their appearance lends them to blend in easily. However, should a fight break out, their ROSE tools will break out as well, and their membership to Blood Rose will be broadcast to everyone in a second. They are, in other words, the "overt" members of Blood Rose.

The lowest members are referred to as "Seedlings". These are the new recruits who have not had a ROSE tool entrusted to them yet. They're still going through their testing and prohibitonary membership with the faction. They may wear the symbol of the Blood Rose somewhere on their clothing, but they're not full fledged operatives yet. Not without the ROSE tool.

There's a grouping of members that I just can't place, and that's the "Black Rose". Black Roses are apparently members of Blood Rose who have pledged their membership to the faction, but do not overtly carry a ROSE tool or the symbol of Blood Rose. In other words... they're the covert members of Blood Rose. No one knows who they are... and they prefer to keep it that way. Who knows how far Blood Rose's roots really go?

Also of note, I overheard a couple of them talking about the "Bouquet of Sorrow". I've only heard bits and pieces, but it's apparently the item that spawned the original ROSE Tool programs. It's apparently a bouquet of Blood Roses that are constantly bleeding... apparently the "blood code" of their victims - the people wounded or killed in all Blood Rose operations. I'm sure it's just a over-elaboration... then again, I can never be too sure anymore. They keep it hidden and locked up because it's the item that could spawn more Rose Bearers, should one die in combat or leave the group for some reason.

You just have to see this stuff... perhaps there's more to them than we thought.

Sincerely,
XXXXXXXXXX

##Attached File: R.O.S.E. Tool Diagostics.txt

To All Blood Rose Operatives:

Welcome to the Rose, my dears. First, we wish to congradulate you on your movement into our ranks - we don't except just anyone and just being here is a very high honor.

With that out of the way, you will, by now, be in possession of a blood red rose. Now, most of the roses that we hand out are just that... simple coded roses. However, yours is... well... a bit different. Yours is a Reactive Online Signal Emitter... or R.O.S.E. Tool for short.

This e-mail is simply a basic overview of the ROSE tool and what it can accomplish. Advanced use will be taught to you by a Rose Bearer, as some of the more advanced functions can be... hazardous... to one's health.

Examples of ROSE Tool Use:

---> Deletion Prevention 1.0: We all know that operatives can save their own lives by deleting their RSI and quickly having their operator replace it in the Matrix. In fact, most times, this process is done by the "auto-jackout" program. However, we did find a little bit of a buffer overflow possiblity in the coding of the auto-jackout program. While I am not at liberty to discuss where this error lies, the simple truth is that the ROSE can emit a false signal when layed upon an opponent's dead body. This causes the auto-jackout procedure to constantly loop, never reaching the stage where the body is deleted. There is one flaw to this maneuver, and that is that the ROSE cannot withstand the signal created by a direct resurrection program. It only works on the auto-jackout procedure... any remote program called by another user terminates the ROSE immediately. Use it to delay life while you make your escape.

---> Communications Jammer 1.0: Operatives who have a ROSE placed on their (dead or alive) bodies cannot communicate with their operator or faction members, only by voice can they call for help. The signals created by the ROSE block enemy transitions. Simple... but quite effective, if I do say so myself.

---> Smoke Screen 1.0: Operatives can throw their ROSE into the ground, causing it to emit a thick coded smoke from the petals. This is a great tactic for evading capture and getting out of sticky situations.

---> Remote Recall 1.0: When used in conjunction with Smoke Screen 1.0, an operative can make a very effective escape. This causes the operative to be recalled immediately by the nearest closest Rose Bearer, to that Bearer's position.

---> Sleeping Gas 1.0: Operative may press the third thorn from the top and spray a thick sleeping gas from the petals of the ROSE. However, make sure to aim the flower directly away from you. We're not responsible for any misuse.

---> Assassination Nail 1.0: Pressing the second thorn from the top will cause a long metal spike to be emitted from the bottom of the stem. The best use for this is quick kills on an unsuspecting enemy. Simply pierce the spine at the base of the neck with the spike, and move left and right quickly to disrupt their nervous system, or sever it completely. This can also be used as a self-defense device, if necessary.

---> Personal Firewall Disable 0.5: One of the best features of the ROSE is the ability to disable a user's firewall. Simply make sure the petals touch the intended target, and the signal emission will do the rest. In layman's terms, this forces any user, redpill or program, to go "red hot" and open them up for attack from all parties... even those outside Blood Rose. Sometimes all it takes is a touch... let others do your dirty work for you. However, this ability still has some misfires from time to time... it's not foolproof. We're working on it.

Advanced uses include time bomb mechanisms, stealth modes, advanced fight evasion, proxy creation, and Blood Rose Henchman program creation. However, those will be detailed at a later time.

Security Features Include:

---> Tool Respawn 0.5: ROSE tool will leave a small backup program on the hand of your RSI if it ever leaves your body. By simply closing your hand and reopening it, a new ROSE tool will appear. However, be warned, it may be a delayed creation... not for use to spam ROSE tools. Use this ability wisely.

---> RSI Scan 1.0: ROSE tool will decompile in the hands of a user that is not it's own. This means operatives cannot share ROSE tools at any time. Alternatively, it means the enemy cannot use ROSE tools left behind on corpses or for bombing or weaponry purposes. Feel safe in using ROSE tools and evading capture.

---> Operative Tracking 1.0: ROSE tool can be tracked by any Rose Bearer at any time. If you should need assistance, simply press the first thorn at the top to call your faction for assistance.

If you have not recieved your ROSE tool yet, please see a Rose Bearer to have a copy downloaded into your RSI. Be warned, if you should ever terminate your membership with Blood Rose, your ROSE tool rights will be instantly revoked. Your ROSE is not only a weapon, but a symbol of your membership with us. Remember that.

##Attached File: NeverThatEasy.txt

Gray:

Hope you enjoyed that. Just remember... getting into our server can be very easy... if we want some information to be released. Oh. And your operative? You're gonna have to pick him up from the Heart O' The City Motel. I think he's in room 223. And 224. And 225. Yes, that sounds about right. Enjoy.

-LR

((OOC: I just wanted to detail the ablities of the infamous "ROSE" tool to everyone, so you can know what to expect from us RP-wise. Also, as you can see, some of those abilities are quite overpowered, but they're also noted as being "in-beta". We will never use any of those abilities with out the target's prior consent. You will always be asked in advance if one of those "uber" abilities would be used upon you. If you say no, the operative may RP like he used it anyway, but the ability failed.))

With the prop vendors coming out this week, alot of awesomely cool RP items are going to be added to the game. However, the prop vendor isn't a "catch all", and there alot of items that they will not have that people may want.

So, this thread is a "suggestion list" for things you think the Prop Vendor should be able to sell. They could be items currently coded into the game, or items that you wish could be added to the game.

Please Note: As begun with this set of items, the items suggested should not have any "abilities". Just suggest items that are tradable and have no effect on gameplay whatsoever, but would add to RP storylines and the feel of realism.

My Suggestions:

-Carnations
-Lilies
-Red Roses
-Black Roses
-White Roses
-Blood Roses (Deep red rose, looks like blood)
-Tulips
-Paintings (any type)

Thank you to all those who participated in last night's finale event of "Roses Are Red"! We had an awesome turn out at Club Succubus, Rose Industrial, the Church of the Disciples, and Bathory Wharf, and we were really pleased to see everyone! The event couldn't have been so awesome without everyone's support!

We hope everyone had a great time decoding the riddles, surfing the Kirin Blossoms website, and fighting the good fight against Blood Rose as they tried to off three more people last night.

We wish to give special thank yous to the following people (in order of appearance):

-Chemuel and Nicks from the Sirens. Chemuel for getting shot in Tabor Park by our snipers and Nicks for reporting it on the DN1 forums.

-Olbaid and Darminian from Pluribus Neo. Olbaid for getting shot by snipers in Tabor Park again, and Darminian for reporting on it on the DN1 forums.

-Sattakan, Yahweh, and Aquilae, all for being wonderful sports and being target practice last night for Blood Rose. Thank you for your time, and your willingness to get shot in the name of storyline, lol.

-Tsurai for being the only Cypherite online to "apprehend me" and attempt to send me back to the system. It was suppose to be a mass attack by Somnus Fraternitas, but our wires got crossed somehow in the planning. However, thank you to Somnus for planning with us and giving us their support.

And, of course, thank you to Stanislava, the writer of Roses Are Red. Without her efforts/support/organizational skills, this event wouldn't exist. I was simply the PR person, lol. Stani was the true writer and producer of this great event.

And, of course of course, lol, big thanks to everyone in Blood Rose. Blood Rose was actually formed 2 months ago via a union of crews who previously held an alliance with the Merovingian but couldn't find a faction to fit into. After many long chats, Skype chats, planning, writing, and design, the backstory and concept of Blood Rose came into being. With this in mind, we began work on Roses Are Red together as a way to introduce our faction in an appropriate RP manner without just springing into being with no rhyme or reason.

During the planning and creation of Roses Are Red, the members of Blood Rose stayed separate and kept their mouths shut about the faction we were creating. As I have said before, Blood Rose has technically existed for 2 months now, but our dedication to this event and introducing the faction properly kept us as separate crews in game for a good 2 months. It was only last night when we finally united under the Blood Rose banner in order to finish the event properly and "take off our masks" to reveal who the assassins really were. The dedication of this entire faction to the ideals of the faction, even while we didn't exist in-game with a tag or a formal faction chat channel, were amazing.

Before anyone else asks, yes, Blood Rose is a permanent Merovingian faction. Yes, we are accepting applications. Our recruitment post will be up soon with more details about the faction, who we are, what we stand for, and how to apply.

Also, yes, Kirin Blossoms.com isn't going anywhere. We plan on using this website for more Blood Rose events and more in-game trickery. This is not the last you'll hear of a Blood Rose RP event. We are working on storylines and more RP where people will finally have proper antagonists to work against - us. Keep your eye out in the future for both our publically announced... and unannounced... storylines. SMILEY

Roses Flooding the Mega City
Cindy Breech - Staff Reporter

[size="x-small">In an unusual marketing strategy, Kirin Blossoms, a small flower shop in the Kowloon neighborhood of International, could be seen everywhere yesterday evening. Their semi-annual rose sale took the district of Richland by storm, their rose peddlers all over the streets, attemping to sell their products to anyone who would stop and listen to their sales pitch.

The sight of roses was a welcome difference to the normal peddlers, who can be seen all over the Mega City selling oddly fashioned clothing to gangs of "redpills", the new urban street gangs that make up the vast majority of youth and young adult clture, and various forms of illegal weaponry. But the police were happy to be able to relax at the sight of new vendors, these peddling colorful flowers instead of deadly weapons.

Kirin Blossoms made their colorful mark in four areas of the city, including the dreary Uriah Industrial Park, the bustling Tabor Plaza, Camon Park, and the desolate Magog Neighborhood. Each one with their own sales pitch and spring in their step, attempting to get people to cheer up and add some color to their lives.

"I heard the other vendors did pretty well today, I'm just sad that I didn't see anyone, not even one redpill, during my time out here on the streets for Kirin," vendor John Jenkins told me. He went on to describe that I was the first, and last person, he had seen that day, and was kind of sad that he didn't get to sell any of his fresh flowers to anyone.

Victoria Reise, however, was really moving her flowers when I found her standing in Tabor Plaza. She was literally standing in a sea of these Redpill gangs, all of whom were buying roses and bouquets from her at a rapid pace.

"I do what I can, ya know?" she said when I asked her about how she went about her job.

However, the normal colors of roses didn't steal the show this evening. The big seller, according to all the vendors, was the Blood Rose, a rose sold only by Kirin Blossoms. However, in an ironic turn, the Blood Roses were not available to the public this evening.

"We're not authorized to sell them," Justin Hand, another vendor from Kirin, told me. "If anyone wants a Blood Rose, they have to contact us on our website at . Then, an authorized sales representative will get back to them. They're such a rare and unique flower that they have to be handled by professionals."

I'm sure that no one who bought a rose tonight will forget the color and beauty that these new peddlers brought to our streets. I can only hope that Kirin Blossoms will continue doing things like this in the future, as it was well recieved by everyone in attendance. Even the usually violent Redpill gangs were docile around them this evening.

When asked for a last remark, Victoria Reise had this to say:

"If anyone wants to give us an 'order' or drop some information off for us, they can visit our feedback page on our website, at http://www.kirinblossoms.com. As long as they leave an e-mail address, we'll get back to them as soon as possible with our answer to their answers."

((The finale of Roses Are Red will occur on this Friday, 7 PM PST, 8 PM MST, 9 PM CST, and 10 PM EST at designated places around the Mega City. Didn't get the answer? Do some searching... perhaps one will turn up.

All answers to tonight's riddles can be sent through the feedback page on the Kirin Blossoms website. Correct answers will be replied to with the information required to see the finale.

Bring guns. You'll need them.))

//Rose.Feed -> Error Detected, Printing.
//rose0004.txt, file output following.

Mon Aug 14 22:19:46 2006 [Area] LinksLife: Right eight...
Mon Aug 14 22:19:59 2006 [Area] Sieges: Heh, you've got folks from the Devil's Advocates looking out for you: couldn't be in better hands. ::Grins::
Mon Aug 14 22:20:09 2006 [Area] LinksLife: *smirks*
Mon Aug 14 22:20:16 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: I'm sorry, Devil's Advocates?
Mon Aug 14 22:20:29 2006 [Area] Darminian: A family of sorts.
Mon Aug 14 22:20:32 2006 [Area] Sieges: We're sort of a... family.
Mon Aug 14 22:20:38 2006 [Area] Darminian: *grins.*
Mon Aug 14 22:21:00 2006 [Area] theNorseman: excuse me dear ... some of the kings men have decided to not stay down
Mon Aug 14 22:21:04 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: Oh, okay. well... I guess I'll tell you more about me, and why I find myself in this situation now.
Mon Aug 14 22:21:12 2006 [Area] LinksLife: Please do.
Mon Aug 14 22:21:24 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: I've been making deliveries for Kirin Blossoms for about a year now, just routine bouquets and stuff. I enjoyed it, let me learn some things from the florists and botanists there.
Mon Aug 14 22:21:29 2006 [Area] AdventHalo: what a hand Noresman?
Mon Aug 14 22:21:39 2006 [Area] theNorseman: sure kid
Mon Aug 14 22:21:53 2006 [Area] Sieges: ::Listens::
Mon Aug 14 22:22:08 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: It also helped me pay off my books for school, who knew art books could be so expensive. *she gave a nervous chuckle*A couple months ago, the owners sold the shop to a group of people, we've never met them.
Mon Aug 14 22:22:31 2006 [Area] Sieges: You're an art student? Wow, nice!
Mon Aug 14 22:22:45 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: Yeah, art history, 19th century
Mon Aug 14 22:22:58 2006 [Area] Olbaid: What of the shop now?
Mon Aug 14 22:22:59 2006 [Area] LinksLife: Nice.... nice.
Mon Aug 14 22:23:04 2006 [Area] Sieges: Good stuff!
Mon Aug 14 22:23:16 2006 [Tell] Return: In position.
Mon Aug 14 22:23:25 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: Well, these new owners, they never really come by the store, but we can hear them upstairs sometimes. I don't know how they get in or out, they just sort of are, there.
Mon Aug 14 22:23:42 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: Sometimes we could hear them talking, just muffled sounds, sometimes laughing but nothing really. But that's when the weird stuff started happening.
Mon Aug 14 22:23:42 2006 [Area] LinksLife: *one eye arches up*
Mon Aug 14 22:23:46 2006 [Area] Sieges: :: Smiles mysteriosuly::
Mon Aug 14 22:23:59 2006 [Area] Sieges: ::Cocks head, curious::
Mon Aug 14 22:24:00 2006 [Area] Olbaid: What kind of weird stuff?
Mon Aug 14 22:24:05 2006 [Area] LinksLife: Do tell...
Mon Aug 14 22:24:14 2006 [Area] Sieges: Take your time.
Mon Aug 14 22:24:17 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: I know it was in the news, that apartment in Moriah, I made a delivery there just before it blew up, literally in my face. The people at the flower shop were kind, and they even gave me quite a bit of time off for it.
Mon Aug 14 22:24:44 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: But... they were only flowers.
Mon Aug 14 22:24:50 2006 [Area] Sieges: Hm...
Mon Aug 14 22:24:55 2006 [Area] Olbaid: Do you think the previous owners had something to do with the explosion?
Mon Aug 14 22:25:14 2006 [Area] Sieges: They could have planted something in those flowers...
Mon Aug 14 22:25:19 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: They were a sweet old asian couple, lived around the corner from the store. Really nice, always asking how my studies were going.
Mon Aug 14 22:25:40 2006 [Area] Olbaid: Do you remember the name of the person you delivered the flowers to?
Mon Aug 14 22:26:04 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: No, I've tried not to remember that day, please. All the charring, the smoke, the fire...
Mon Aug 14 22:26:17 2006 [Area] LinksLife: *nods* Understandable...
Mon Aug 14 22:26:25 2006 [Area] Olbaid: Sorry, had to ask.
Mon Aug 14 22:26:31 2006 [Area] Sieges: Must have been dreadful.
Mon Aug 14 22:26:38 2006 [Area] HKS: well i do remeber the flower shop i did bought a couple of black roses at that time for Succabai
Mon Aug 14 22:26:44 2006 [Area] Sieges: But go on when you;re ready.
Mon Aug 14 22:26:45 2006 [Area] HKS: ...a long time ago
Mon Aug 14 22:26:50 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: After I came back to work, I still had many of the usual deliveries, bouquets to wives at work or at home for birthdays or anniversaries and stuff. But, also some ones where I was just to drop it off in a post box.
Mon Aug 14 22:27:14 2006 [Area] LinksLife: Really now...?
Mon Aug 14 22:27:20 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: I didn't really question it, as I was getting paid, just thought it was odd to deliver flowers to a box. But then some of the people at the shop were hearing rumours about shootings and flowers being found.
Mon Aug 14 22:27:48 2006 [Area] LinksLife: *looks to his right* Sieges...?
Mon Aug 14 22:27:54 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: I don't know, sounded kind of silly, people getting shot and someone laying a flower on their body?
Mon Aug 14 22:28:09 2006 [Area] Olbaid: Yes, I know what you speak of...personally.
Mon Aug 14 22:28:10 2006 [Area] Sieges: Sorry, was checking the clips.
Mon Aug 14 22:28:23 2006 [Area] Olbaid: That happened to me in Tabor Park about a week ago.
Mon Aug 14 22:28:31 2006 [Area] Olbaid: Not a fatal shot of course.
Mon Aug 14 22:29:00 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: Oh, oh... I'm sorry, I didn't think it was true
Mon Aug 14 22:29:09 2006 [Area] Olbaid: It is true.
Mon Aug 14 22:29:10 2006 [Area] LinksLife: Indeed... it is.
Mon Aug 14 22:29:24 2006 [Area] LinksLife: I have a feeling I know who might be doing this...
Mon Aug 14 22:29:26 2006 [Area] Sieges: Almost happened to me...
Mon Aug 14 22:29:27 2006 [Area] LinksLife: *sighs*
Mon Aug 14 22:29:34 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: Well...
Mon Aug 14 22:29:43 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: Last week, there were some other people there, I got talking with one, said they were hired to just hand out roses in some places for a while on Wednesday. They didn't know where yet though.
Mon Aug 14 22:29:57 2006 [Area] Olbaid: Would you mind if I read you something, a poem I came across that might mean something to you?
Mon Aug 14 22:30:19 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: Sure, I guess
Mon Aug 14 22:30:21 2006 [Area] LinksLife: *looks toward Olbaid*
Mon Aug 14 22:30:27 2006 [Area] Olbaid: Roses are red...
Mon Aug 14 22:30:32 2006 [Area] Olbaid: Blood is too....
Mon Aug 14 22:30:36 2006 [Area] Olbaid: Please beware....
Mon Aug 14 22:30:39 2006 [Area] LinksLife: Ah Void.
Mon Aug 14 22:30:41 2006 [Area] Olbaid: Or you'll die too.
Mon Aug 14 22:30:43 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: *gasp*
Mon Aug 14 22:30:45 2006 [Area] EndlessVoid: Mm.
Mon Aug 14 22:30:46 2006 [Area] Olbaid: I'm not sure what is means.
Mon Aug 14 22:30:46 2006 [Area] AdventHalo: *looks at endless*
Mon Aug 14 22:31:01 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: What, who, why would someone write that?
Mon Aug 14 22:31:10 2006 [Area] Olbaid: That is my question as well.
Mon Aug 14 22:31:28 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: That's dreadful, horrible.
Mon Aug 14 22:31:35 2006 [Area] Olbaid: But please continue with your story, maybe we can help...
Mon Aug 14 22:32:04 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: Well. It was odd, they seemed like they had heard a little bit more, or maybe they saw the bosses, a couple of them were really nervous, probably just some nut cases trying to make a buck for drugs or drink.
Mon Aug 14 22:33:05 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: This guy, Jeff I was talking with, turns out they were given the day and time, but not the location they were to go to. Instead they were told to check our website, he said they were given envelopes with directions to get their locations.
Mon Aug 14 22:33:34 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: He wouldn't open it, seemed scared of it really. *trailing off slightly*
Mon Aug 14 22:33:34 2006 [Area] LinksLife: Really now?
Mon Aug 14 22:33:45 2006 [Area] Olbaid: Strange.
Mon Aug 14 22:34:17 2006 [Area] LinksLife: What happened to Jeff?
Mon Aug 14 22:34:28 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: I don't know, I haven't seen him since.
Mon Aug 14 22:34:40 2006 [Area] LinksLife: And this was last week correct?
Mon Aug 14 22:34:41 2006 [Area] Sieges: Strange...
Mon Aug 14 22:34:51 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: Oh yeah, the website, www.kirinblossoms.com, I don't know if you'll find anything, I just, if these people are behind it, think they should be stopped.
Mon Aug 14 22:34:51 2006 [Area] Olbaid: Did you ever get these "directions" to the website?
Mon Aug 14 22:35:09 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: I don't know what to look for, just know the address, sorry.
Mon Aug 14 22:35:19 2006 [Area] Return: At least you know the address.
Mon Aug 14 22:35:22 2006 [Area] LinksLife: *sighs* Its ok...
Mon Aug 14 22:35:26 2006 [Area] LinksLife: Return!
Mon Aug 14 22:35:32 2006 [Area] EndlessVoid: Hm.
Mon Aug 14 22:35:43 2006 [Area] LinksLife: The Lady Return...
Mon Aug 14 22:35:50 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: Hi, are you here to help?
Mon Aug 14 22:35:55 2006 [Area] Olbaid: Is it safe to contact you should we find anything?
Mon Aug 14 22:36:01 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: Thank you if you are.
Mon Aug 14 22:36:04 2006 [Area] Return: I am, darling. Trust me, I will make it all better.
Mon Aug 14 22:36:09 2006 [Area] Sieges: Darn it...'
Mon Aug 14 22:36:13 2006 [Area] LinksLife: Oh no...
Mon Aug 14 22:36:19 2006 [Area] LinksLife: Don't...
Mon Aug 14 22:36:26 2006 [Area] Sieges: Get back from her....
Mon Aug 14 22:36:29 2006 [Area] Return: *reaches into her sleeve and removes a blood red rose*
Mon Aug 14 22:36:37 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: What, why, she's...
Mon Aug 14 22:36:48 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: *whimpers* here to help
Mon Aug 14 22:36:48 2006 [Area] Sieges: She's bad news, Allura.
Mon Aug 14 22:36:57 2006 [Area] Return: *approaches and slips the rose into Allura's pocket*
Mon Aug 14 22:37:07 2006 [Area] LinksLife: *arches an eyebrow*
Mon Aug 14 22:37:16 2006 [Area] Return: Your services have been appreciated.
Mon Aug 14 22:37:20 2006 [Area] AlluraVine: *confused* huh?
Mon Aug 14 22:37:23 2006 [Area] Sasho: I would advise throwing that rose into the river.
Mon Aug 14 22:37:23 2006 [Area] Darminian: *poop*.
Mon Aug 14 22:37:26 2006 [Area] Olbaid: What services Return?
Mon Aug 14 22:37:40 2006 [Area] Sieges: ::Reaches into Allura's pocket, pulls out the--::
Mon Aug 14 22:37:45 2006 [Area] LinksLife: Son of a *CENSORED*!
Mon Aug 14 22:37:45 2006 [Area] Olbaid: What the....
Mon Aug 14 22:37:57 2006 [Area] Olbaid: *CENSORED* it.
Mon Aug 14 22:37:59 2006 [Area] theNorseman: I can ressurect her ..
Mon Aug 14 22:38:02 2006 [Area] AdventHalo: What the fu.....???
Mon Aug 14 22:38:08 2006 [Area] Darminian: You can;t.
Mon Aug 14 22:38:08 2006 [Area] Return: Don't bother... she won't get back up.
Mon Aug 14 22:38:11 2006 [Area] Return: Good day dears.
Mon Aug 14 22:38:11 2006 [Area] Darminian: The rose would stop it.
Mon Aug 14 22:38:17 2006 [Area] Olbaid: You won't either.
Mon Aug 14 22:38:22 2006 [Area] Sasho: *CENSORED* you
Mon Aug 14 22:38:29 2006 [Area (shout)] Sieges: RETURN, YOU"RE NO FRELLING BETTER THAN ANOME!!
Mon Aug 14 22:39:07 2006 [Area] LinksLife: *closes his eyes and places his right hand on her chest* Don't worry... The Oourbouse will watch over you...
Mon Aug 14 22:39:57 2006 [Area] theNorseman: :: stands and clenches fist::
Mon Aug 14 22:39:59 2006 [Area] LinksLife: *mutters a pray*
Mon Aug 14 22:39:59 2006 [Area] EndlessVoid: ... Not that anyone cares for my opinion...
Mon Aug 14 22:40:18 2006 [Area] EndlessVoid: ... But I'd be less interested in stopping the workers... moreso in stopping their work.
Mon Aug 14 22:40:20 2006 [Area] LinksLife: Be at peace...
Mon Aug 14 22:40:40 2006 [Area] EndlessVoid: Clearly, these roses are being used to gather energy for... some purpose.
Mon Aug 14 22:40:44 2006 [Area] LinksLife: Ah Void you speak Volumes...
Mon Aug 14 22:40:49 2006 [Area] LinksLife: You are right.
Mon Aug 14 22:40:50 2006 [Area] Sieges: Requisicet in pacem... dona eis domine...
Mon Aug 14 22:40:54 2006 [Area] EndlessVoid: ... I usually am.
Mon Aug 14 22:40:59 2006 [Area] LinksLife: Of course...
Mon Aug 14 22:41:06 2006 [Area] Darminian: Your basing that on the effect of the RSI?
Mon Aug 14 22:41:21 2006 [Area] Sieges: And you *don't* go after Blues on my watch....
Mon Aug 14 22:41:48 2006 [Area] theNorseman: don't suppose there's a point to staying around ...
Mon Aug 14 22:42:03 2006 [Area] EndlessVoid: ... Not terribly.
Mon Aug 14 22:42:03 2006 [Area] Darminian: Shame.
Mon Aug 14 22:42:24 2006 [Area] EndlessVoid: It might be best to leave before the police arrive. You know how they get.
Mon Aug 14 22:42:42 2006 [Area] LinksLife: *nods and mumbles something about the MCPD*
Mon Aug 14 22:42:42 2006 [System] BloodRose0004: Data retrieval error detected. Corrupted code has been scanned by BloodRose0004, discontinuing process. Finishing and broadcasting batch data for retrieval.

//rose0004.txt, output complete.

OOC:

Hey everyone, it's Return. I got GREAT news! GoDaddy.com broke Kirin Blossoms. Isn't that AWESOME?

Yeah, to be serious, GoDaddy broke the FrontPage extensions on my account. It's going to take them 24 hours to repair it. Until then, http://www.kirinblossoms.com won't display correctly because the extensions it requires aren't present. (Things like the top bar and side bar are powered by those extensions. Lucky me.)

So, looks like the search will be briefly halted. I'll post here once the website is available for your sleuthing again. However, the event will continue on as planned, with the next phase going into action tomorrow night, at "specified locations" starting at 7 PM PST, 8 PM MST, 9 PM CST, and 10 PM EST.

Locations were hidden on the website. Let's just hope that you guys didn't forget them so soon. Hopefully the website will be active before tomorrow's phase though, so those of you who didn't find the locations will still have a chance. Otherwise, trust me, just be online, get a couple friends, and you'll be able to find the event tomorrow night. You'll find it no problem.

Once again, sorry about the technical problems.

Sincerely,
Lady Return

Lost track of the Roses Are Red storyline? No problem. Here's all Roses Are Red event material leading up to today's date, 08/12/06.

"Don't Shoot The Messenger" - Third Person Storyline (6/29/06)
"Levelled Assault" - In-Game Event (08/03/06)
"To All Redpills:" - Sent by Mysterious Messenger (08/04/06)
"Be Careful" - Sent by Nicks (08/04/06)
"Stepping on Roses" - Sent by Darminian (08/09/06)

It's not too late to get in on Roses Are Red. If you would like e-mail updates, sign here on this thread if you have not signed up yet. If you want more information on what's happening in the Roses Are Red storyline, we suggest you contact those who have already been presented in the storyline.

Those who are already signed up, check your mail.

Remember, information comes to those who seek it. Do nothing, and ye shall recieve nothing in return.

Also, we highly encourage public discussion of the events that are about to be presented. Some of what is about to befall cannot be handled by one person alone.

Lost track of the Roses Are Red storyline? No problem. Here's all Roses Are Red event material leading up to today's date, 08/12/06.

"Don't Shoot The Messenger" - Third Person Storyline (6/29/06)
"Levelled Assault" - In-Game Event (08/03/06)
"To All Redpills:" - Sent by Mysterious Messenger (08/04/06)
"Be Careful" - Sent by Nicks (08/04/06)
"Stepping on Roses" - Sent by Darminian (08/09/06)

It's not too late to get in on Roses Are Red. If you would like e-mail updates, sign here on this thread if you have not signed up yet. If you want more information on what's happening in the Roses Are Red storyline, we suggest you contact those who have already been presented in the storyline.

Those who are already signed up, check your mail.

Remember, information comes to those who seek it. Do nothing, and ye shall recieve nothing in return.

Also, we highly encourage public discussion of the events that are about to be presented. Some of what is about to befall cannot be handled by one person alone.

So, I said to myself, "Self, I need a good game to go play for a bit that's not Matrix." And lo and behold, I had some credit, and my employee discount, coming to me from Electronics Boutique. So I walked in and I wanted to pick up a new game for the 360.

I ended up walking out of the store with a pre-order slip for Capcom's Dead Rising. And two days ago, I was introduced to a world of awesome zombie destruction.

While many people may peg this game for being repetitive, I don't see why you would care. There's just soooooo many ways to eliminate the 600+ zombies on screen that it's too much fun to be repetitive! Mall bench? No problem! Pick it up and start plowing! 10% Off sale sign? Take it and swing it! Potted plant? Chuck it into a pile of zombies. Bowling ball? I smell a zombie strike coming on!

It's a far cry from the Resident Evil series, and it's a welcome addition to the zombie franchise. The mall is really really well detailed, right down to the musiak playing from the speakers and those stupid automated announcements. Everything is bright and happy, but the mall gets pretty freaky at night when the electricity is cut to it. Plus, you have to survive in the mall for 72 hours while trying to figure out what's going on AND attempting to get enough photos to be the best journalist EVAR.

The camera twist is great, being able to take those "priceless" pictures really makes the experience that much more fun. And the ability to look at Frank's watch to check the time and check what "scoops" (missions) you have active is a great ability too.

All in all, I didn't think I'd enjoy this game so much. But I'm really really suprised at how much fun Dead Rising turned out to be. If you're a 360 owner, get it. Get it now. If you're not into mass zombie genocide, then skip this one. But if you want to throw everything plus the kitchen sink at a huge huge huge horde of angry zombies... you want this one.

So... anyone got any good Dead Rising stories? I'm certain you can tell some with this game. SMILEY

"I can feel the fragment, it's right around here," Sekuretsu, the Bringer, said as she moved about the altar of the Mara Congregational Church. She held her hands out, attempting to feel exactly where the piece of coding could have been hidden inside of the holy building.

The other redpills gathered around her, eager to find out if they were right in their assessment of where this bit of coding could have been. However, one redpill sat in the back, her head down, her white hair covering part of her face. But when she arose from the pew, other people finally took notice to her.

Lady Return strutted down the aisle, hi-heeled boots tapping softly on the red carpet, white hair covering her right eye, showing her piercing purple left iris. "Delivery for Sekuretsu courtesy of a friend," she calmly stated, reaching the front of the altar and turning to the left to walk up the steps. She moved fluently and quickly, her purple lips twisted into a sadistic smirk as she rose to meet the Bringer program.

"Um... for me? What is it?" Sekuretsu asked, apparently very confused by what was happening to her.

"A very beautiful and delicate flower. Please take good care of it," Return stated, standing before Sekuretsu. With a bit of a flourish, she reached into her left sleeve and removed a long rose, it's petals a deep color and thorns extremely sharp. How she stored it in her sleeve was beyond most, but she removed it calmly with no pain at all. However, as she gave it to Sekuretsu, the distinct glitter of blood was shimmering off of the petals and stem of the flower. It must have cut her as she removed it.

"Um... why..." Sekuretsu began to say, but Return hushed her by turning around sharply and walking off.

"Good night, my dear," Return chuckled. Suddenly, a shot rang out from the balcony, and a burst of red exploded from Sekuretsu's chest. The bullet from the sniper rifle shot her straight through, piercing her heart and causing the spray of blood. In quick motion, three masked people darted from the balcony and escaped the church without being seen, while Return strutted back down the main aisle, the redpills parting to rush towards Sekuretsu.

"Looks like Phrack isn't getting his glorious resurrection too soon," Return laughed as she reached the back of the church. But a man in a white suit and hat stood right in front of her, blocking her exit in defiance. "Get out of my *CENSORED* way," she sneered to him.

"Where do you think you're going?" Warboy asked, crossing his arms.

"Nowhere you can follow," Return mocked. Suddenly she disappeared from in front of him, but Warboy was faster. He ran right out the doors of the church after her, calling for persuit.

--------------------------------------------------------

The light from the single lamp in the room burned down onto the wooden table, putting a single spotlight of white light into the otherwise dark and shadowy room. Flowers could faintly be made out around at the edges of the light, all packed into red and white and black bouquets, mostly consisting of roses. Four people sat around the table, their hats pulled closely over their eyes, and a shadow being cast over their faces from the light.

The man at the one end typed away on a laptop, and put a hand over his mouth as he looked at the screen. The woman at the opposite end chuckled and smiled, revealing her red lips in the light.

"What did you find?" she asked. "What did the rose pick up?"

"I don't know what it is," he replied. "It seems to be just a piercing white light... but near the end of the feed a single orb of darkness appears, and slowly begins to envelop the center of the picture. Interesting data, none the less."

"How much did it pull before they got her up?" the woman continued to question.

"They were quick about it. Only 14% was extracted from the corpse. We have to be more cautious with our marks in the future. This wasn't bad, but it was a waste of a bullet in my opinion."

The others in the room nodded their heads, and the woman smirked. "I agree. 14% is truly nothing, but at least it's something. Let's continue with the list. We'll get more from the others."

Ok, I just wanted to take a simple, non-scientific poll amongst the Matrix Online community. If you could contribute some feedback, that would be great.

All I'm looking for is the answer to this question:

"Two game stores are right next door to one another. Electronics Boutique and GameStop. Judging by your experiences with customer support, game purchases, and your own personal factors, which game store would you be more likely to shop in? In other words, which store do you trust more when it comes to purchasing games?"

Please Note: For the duration of this poll, pretend that Electronics Boutique and GameStop are still separate company entities, and not both divisions of GameStop Inc. Overall, I'm looking just for which store/company name you value/support more.

If you want to give reasons and personal experiences to justify your answer, that's great too. But, if you want to just say either "EB Games" or "GameStop" I have absolutely no problem with that.

The apartment was in literal chaos. Papers were flying around everywhere, phones were ringing, computer keyboards were being typed upon, and sitting calmly in the middle of it, checking her white hair in a mirror while sipping on a bottle of absinthe, was Lady Return. She put the mirror down and sighed, looking around at the multitude of people running around her, all doing some sort of job in unison to help perform a trace program.

Soon enough, The Effectuator ran up to her, out of breath and looking extremely overworked. "Excuse me, Return, could you hold this for me?" he said, offering out a file overflowing with papers. Return simply nodded and took the file, and the Effectuator ran back into the chaos to wherever his workstation was.

Just as he left, another Effectuator came over to her from her left, this one not as tired but still looking a bit ragged, his shirt a bit unhinged. "Did I just leave a file for you, Return?" he asked. Return simply nodded and handed him the file she was just given, and he quickly paged through it. "Ah, ah, ah... yes and no. Here, give these papers to serious me. He's over in the next room, on the laptop." Return simply nodded again and got up and slowly began to push her way through all of the Effectuators running about the room, towards the correct door.

Putting the trace down on Niobe was taking longer than he figured. Return was amazed at the number of sub-routines he had spawned to work on this single task, but it didn't seem to be getting him anywhere. That's why she was there, to help "persuade him" to move a bit faster. However, even she was baffled at how anyone could persuade him to work harder... he was already working as hard as he could... or at least as hard as 50 of him could.

Return pushed open the door in a dreary state and walked through the piles of Effectuators in the next room, and finally found the one working on the laptop. "Papers for you from you," she said, putting the papers next to him.

"Mmmm.. yes... that will do. You can relax again now," he said. She rolled her eyes and began to walk away when he turned back to her. "Miss Return, I don't need this paper. Give it to my subroutine that's in the room you were just in. He's on the computer. Thank you in advance."

Return gritted her teeth and snatched the paper from him, moving back through the flying papers, the shouting, the talking, the laughing, the thinking outloud, the overblown shorts and colorful dress shirts, and made it to the copy of the Effectuator in the next room.

When she got to him, she simply stared for a moment, as this Effectuator was literally SITTING on the computer monitor, his feet on the keyboard, typing gibberish with his toes and drooling from the corner of his mouth. "Um... hi," she said softly... staring at him.

"I like CANDY!!!" he said excitedly, not stopping his typing and continuing his drooling. Return offered the paper to him carefully in her black leather gloved hand and forced a smile.

"I'm suppose to give this to you," she said. He reached out and carefully took the paper from her, his eyes going wide and his typing ceasing. He then took the paper into his hands carefully, ripped it into shreds, and put the pieces into his mouth and began to slowly chew them. "THANK YOU!!!!" he commented, laughing and then going back to his gibberish typing.

Return put both of her hands up to her temples and began to massage the sides of her head as she closed her eyes, her white hair falling and blocking her right eye from view. "What... the... fu*#... is... his... purpose..." she sneered through her teeth, tensing up her body. One of the copies of the Effectuator heard her as he walked past and stopped to give her a back rub.

"Oh, that's my sense of humor. See, I didn't want him screwing things up, so I put him to work over here on this Commodore 64. Brilliant, wasn't it? I thought it was!" he told her softly, slowly massaging her back.

She slowly turned her head to look at him, taking her hands off of her temples and drawing in a deep breath. "Get the hell back to work before I use you for target practice." The Effectuator quickly took his hands off her, saluted, and ran back to his post.

She sighed again and grabbed her purple glasses from the bookshelf next to the apartment's main door. "I'm going out. I need to get out of here for a while," she said to no one in particular. The Effectuators keep running about, all looking like World War III was breaking out in the apartment two doors down. She sighed again and was about to leave when something occurred to her.

"Hey, I'm going to go get Chinese. Anyone want anything?" she absentmindedly asked. She immediately regretted it.

Every single Effectuator stopped whatever he was doing, turned to her, and smiled. "Won-ton soup! Lemon chicken! Two helpings of General Tsos! Those awesome fortune cookies! Get it from China Express, they have the best rice! No, get it from The Great Wall! They have the best FRIED rice! No get it from China On The Run in Sai Kung! They have the best..."

She clenched her fists and moved her hands to let her twin Bedlams slide out of her sleeve holsters and directly into her hands. She pointed one up into the air and fired three loud rounds into the ceiling before putting it back down. Every Effectuator fell silent and stared at her.

"PICK ONE *CENSORED* THING OR EVERYONE GOES FREAKIN HUNGRY!!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

"10 helpings of General Tso's with white rice and 50 fortune cookies," one Effectuator called from the back of the room.

"FINE! 10 HELPINGS OF GENERAL TSO'S WITH WHITE FREAKING RICE AND 50 FREAKING FORTUNE COOKIES!!! YOU WANT GOD *CENSORED* DUCK SAUCE?" she continued to scream. All of the Effectuators shook their head no. "FINE!!!" she shouted, and then walked out and slammed the door shut after her, knocking two pictures off of the wall.

All of the Effectuators stood there for a moment, staring at one another. Finally, one turned to the rest and broke the silence. "You know what? I think she has PMS right now."

"I heard she couldn't have kids... so I don't think it's PMS."

"If she does have PMS, then you guys better check that couch... I don't want to sit there otherwise."

"Nah. It's not PMS. Flood said she's always like that."

"Who seriously drinks absinthe anymore? Wasn't that a trend back in the 40s?"

"Yeah. Maybe she thinks she's one of those hot 1940s chicks when she drinks that."

"It's a shame a girl that pretty didn't get married."

"I don't think she could get married. Her boobs would smother her husband in bed."

"I wonder how her hair went white so early."

"Probably from being a stress case all the time."

"She needs to chill like us," one finally suggested.

"Yeah she does!" all of the copies of the Effectuator said at the same time. All of them turned to one another and gave each other a high five, and then went back to work like nothing ever happened.

Ok... ok... I thought this might be fun. Post up the forums that you believe after reading them, drop your IQ the most. And no... Matrix Online's Forums don't count... lol.

I use to think the World of Warcraft forums had to be the biggest waste of space on the internet. Then I found these...

http://developer.saintsrow.com/forums/index.php

Yep. Reading those for 2 minutes made me want to cry and question humanity as a whole.

This is a trend I've been noticing with this game, and as time goes on, I'm less and less impressed with the Live Events. Now, I'm not saying the live events we have now are completely worthless, nor am I saying that the live events we had before were flawless. What I'm trying to say is, have live events become so worthless that the just fall to killing and killing alone?

Before in the game's design, live events had a dual-nature. One was information gathering. Subtle hints were left in our environment, left on billboards, posters, drops inside of the game... posts outside of the game... e-mails. These things were tidbits of information that needed to be sorted out, considered, and evaluated in the whole scheme of the event.

The second part of the nature of the events was destruction. Eventually, we had to face off with someone, use our fighting skills, defend someone... etc. We had to put our information where our mouths were and finish the job.

It seems over time, however, that the first part of the live events has de-generated into nothing more than one sad excuse of a riddle, or even worse, a "GO HERE NOWZ" command over the system announcement channel or something of equivalence. We've lost the spirit of the Matrix somewhere along the line... the key notion that "Information is Power"; and those who have it are the keyholders.

I don't mind punching a guy out. I don't mind firing my guns at someone I hate. But the problem is, I don't hate anyone anymore. Maxson is just some guy that is present. All of the characters seem to have lost their charm, because none of them seriously TALK to us anymore. No offense guys, but the spirit of the events has died... and it doesn't seem like anyone wants to pick it up.

What I'm not saying is make these huge, amazing, OMG events like A Piece of Blue Sky or The Death of Morpheus. What I'm not saying is dedicate a huge amount of time into event drops, or new mobs that spawn on us, or these huge time consuming events.

What I am suggesting is that the live events are taken more seriously, and not dumbed down to "Go here, shoot him, celebrate." Bring back what the Matrix is about and re-introduce intelligence gathering, puzzles, and storyline.

I love PvP and beating down an evil story character just as much as the next person, but it's not the same when you have absolutely zero reason to detest the character, and he's pretty much HANDED to you on a silver platter. The fun of the hunt needs to be brought back. The prior inventiveness of events needs to be invigorated.

A friend showed me this game, and it's so stupid that I pretty much am forced to put it here to see how many people get it. The objective is to answer my question at the end of this story:

"I want to tell you a little bit about this magical place called "The Green Room". However, there is no magic in the Green Room. There is no place in the green room. There is, however, an inn in the Green Room. There are no nights in the Green Room, but there is a moon in the Green Room. There is no Matrix in the Green Room, nor is there red or blue in the Green Room, but there is green in the Green Room. While we have a moon in the Green Room, there is no sun or stars in the Green Room. We can be silly in the Green Room, but we don't have any clowns around here in the Green Room. There also is no meat in our Green Room, but we do have beef, and lots of it. And when we go to bed in the Green Room, we don't use beds, nor mats, nor cots... we use hammocks."

Now... I've told you much about the Green Room. Has anyone else visited this magical place? If so... can you describe to me what you found in there? I will be glad to tell you if you're right or wrong.

Following up from what I posted here before Serenity locked it, I think it's a valid point that is totally separate from the Champagne Room controversy. Personally, I'd like to see more people do this...

http://mxoboards.station.sony.com/matrix/board/message?board.id=general&message.id=147485#M147485

Thank the people that run events... thank the nameless guy who made you your pretty sig... thank those who are trying to help this community, even if their names aren't the ones that are consistently up in lights. Support the other player run stuff, attempt to attend some player-run events, and just... well... be thankful that this community offers as much as it does.

I think too many of us take many nameless players for granted, and we shouldn't. We really shouldn't...

Apartment 1021B, Moriah Projects, Building D.

That's all the tag had written on it. No sender, no receipt of
payment, no other form of identification. Allura Vine had
delivered alot of flowers in the Mega City while she attended Stratford
University, downtown. She had been with Kirin Blossoms for over a
year, and usually their deliveries were more... well... professional
than this. This almost seemed like an amateur threw it together.

However, she wasn't going to argue with her boss. When a delivery
had to be made, the delivery was made, no questions asked.
Hopefully this was the day when she'd get that big tip she was waiting
for so she could pay off her books for another term.

As she slowly climbed the rickety old stairs up the building to the
10th floor, she thought back to how much she loved this job. She
was always interested in gardening as a side hobby, and even though she
had chosen to go into the field of psychology, she wanted to keep
botany as a secondary profession, just in case. She loved the
scent, the colors, and the texture of flowers. She was really
lucky to have landed this delivery job, and she wouldn't have it any
other way. This was the exact reason that she didn't complain
about this unusual delivery to the dirtier end of town... she wanted to
keep this job more than anything - she wasn't putting her position into
jeopardy over one odd delivery.

Eventually she reached the 10th floor and opened the door, shifting the
covered bouquet of flowers to her other hand. Curious, she peeked
inside the black wrapping (which was, again, odd for the flowers she
delivered - they were never wrapped in black, or wrapped up covering
the blooms) and curled it back to reveal the blooms just as she got to
the door.

Roses, a 24 stem bouquet. It must have been expensive, she
thought, because this was a large order and in an odd color. She
had never seen such deep red roses, or smelled such a wonderfully full
smell from any flower. As she knocked on the door, she became
entranced at looking at all of the beautifully grown blossoms.
She had never ever seen roses like this before, she was almost sure
they shouldn't exist... but yet there she was, holding them, delivering
them to another happy customer.

She broke from her trance as the lock on the door clicked open and an
elderly, white haired woman peeked out of her apartment. "Yes,
dearie? What is it?"

"Flower delivery from Kirin Blossoms, ma'am. 24 stem bouquet for
the owner of this apartment, no charge," she said, smiling and holding
out the bouquet. The door slowly opened, revealing the woman's
fully eccentric apparel. Her white hair was frazzled and all over
the place, poorly pulled into a bun using two chopsticks in the back of
her hair. Her polka dot blouse was offset by the fact that she
was wearing jeans, and oddly enough, a pair of white gloves on her
hands. Purple hi-heels finished the odd pairing, and Allura
forced a smile as she slowly handed the bouquet over to the woman, who
looked shocked to be receiving such a gift.

"Who sent these, dearie? They're beautiful," the woman commented, looking over the bouquet and smiling a bit.

"Not sure, the card only had the address on it. Usually there's a
note about the sender, but not this time. I'm sorry ma'am, I
don't know much more than you do," Allura replied, shrugging.

"Ah, I see.. wonderful, wonderful... Oh, you'd like a tip, wouldn't
you? Hold on a minute," the woman said, turning her back to
Allura, leaving the door open.

Allura smiled to herself, "This is the break I've been waiting for!"
she thought. She put her hands in her jean shorts and began to
whistle, turning her back on the open door as the woman walked out of
sight and into her bedroom with the bouquet. Allura checked her
watch to make sure she was on time, and peered down the hallway to the
steps...

KABANG!!!!!!!!!!!! The explosion threw Allura back into the far
wall, and everything around her seemed to shift briefly. Flames
and blood erupted from the bedroom, the walls were splintered, the
windows were blown out, and chaos was all around her. Allura
screamed in pain as she collided with the wall, falling down to the
ground, the wind knocked out of her. She coughed as she got back
up and looked into the room, shocked to see the damage and the spray of
blood on the walls, which was slowly being dried by the heat of the
flames...

The young girl screamed and ran for the steps. Tears poured out
of her eyes as she and the other tenants fleed the building. Her
clothing was scorched, her hair was a mess, and she fell to the ground
outside, crying, before she totally blacked out.

Zion Mainframe /moriahincident/

Message Edited by Lady_Return on 06.29.2006 11:52 PM

No dates will be set,

No warnings given.

Be alert and astute,

And you may find what is hidden.

If you wish to receive personalized updates on "Roses Are Red", please
make a post in this thread with the name of the character you wish to
sign up with. Also, please use this thread for all discussions of
"Roses Are Red" material.

20,000 anger/flame posts are probably made per day about this game. To make something different for once, I will not flame this game.

Instead, I turn my attention to the "wonderful community" of this game, the community whom I have complimented time after time again.

While I love this game and this community, I find myself in a very difficult spot. You all see, I am at the end of my rope with dealing with this community's bull. Certainly, there was a certain event involving faction membership that has recently sent me over the edge, but it's more than just that.

The problem here is that every single time I log into this game, I get bad news. I never get any good news when I play this game... I just get more bad news. People who I talk to know that it's gotten so bad that I've retreated back into Second Life and World of Warcraft, just because Second Life is pretty much drama-free and the World of Warcraft community is too *CENSORED* to properly figure out how to make MxO Style drama.

I log in and I find out people leave my faction without telling me. I log in and I find out people are recruiting members out of my faction like rabid wolves, attempting to bolster their numbers so they look on top. I log in to find out how OB made my organization look bad again. I log in to hear people complaining about RP. I log in to find event spam in my mail box. I log in to hear about how the event spam I got was the worst event so and so ever attended and that so and so can do better. I log in to find jealousy and hatred.

I log in to find that this community has gone completely insane.

I'm at fault too... I've attributed to some of it, and I don't deny that. But over the past couple of months, this community has gone from one of the best, to one of the best-LOOKING. When you really get down to it, everyone is a Merovingian anymore. Everyone wants power, fame, fortune on some level and is willing to do what it takes to get it, even if it means pissing someone else off OOC. Gone are the days where we were enemies on paper and friends in RL. Those days are replaced with power grabbing and RP/PvP bickering and real hatred that spills off of the paper and into real life.

There was a thread where someone asked why we even bother to play anymore. In response to that thread, I said I didn't know why I played anymore. Now, I think I am about 2 seconds away from finding that cancel button and throwing all of this away. Not because this game blows, but because the community finally drove me off of a ledge.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm overreacting. But I simply don't know why I continue to play a game that has kicked me in the shins so many times. It's like Bart Simpson with the electrified cupcake... I keep coming back just to get burned again.

What's the point of this thread? Here's the point: Give me a reason to actually care about this game. I'll take anything except the "we love you Return, don't leave" act. I don't find that to be a vaild reason to play this game anymore, because too many of our fellow community members have proven that statement to be false through their actions.

I'll keep an eye on this thread. If the mods delete it or lock it, so be it. It probably will deserve it, but I just wanted to get my concerns and true feelings out there to our lovely server community.

Message Edited by Lady_Return on 06.19.2006 03:59 PM

We're looking for dedicated merovingian followers who wouldn't mind
being apart of something small, but dedicated. We have 6
dedicated members at the moment, and we'd like to expand on that number
to the point of rebuilding our old faction, Avidité Syndicat. If
you, or anyone you know would be interested in joining, please drop by
our forums at http://www.aviditesyndicat.com and leaving an application with us.

We have extensive $information resources that we share with our
members, we give aid to our lower level members via missioning and
offering coded abilities, and we're open to both PvP and RP styles of
gameplay due to our roleplaying relationship with other factions.
If you would like more information, you can find it on our forums in
the recruiting section.

If we can secure enough dedicated members, we would like to rebuild our
ship into a full-fledged faction again. If you think you can aid
us in this endeavor, we'd like to have you aboard our ship.

http://media.putfile.com/Cinematic-51---Unloaded

You see... this is what happens when I can record movies and I get really really bored. SMILEY

If anyone is getting the "ability not loaded" error when attempting to change around their trees, please see this thread, located in the redpill rescue.

Just wanted to post this here as well, so if anyone is having any
problems, they can find the solution without making 20 million more
threads. SMILEY

When logging in today, alot of players have been having problems
loading abilities. What occurs is when attempting to load an
ability in a tree that has had the style added as a separate ability,
another ability further down the line that was loaded during the update
is considered as "not loaded", when in fact it probably is.

If you are experiencing this error, here is a quick fix we found on Recursion:

- Enter your loading area.

- Unload that entire tree by removing the upper most ability (the new
style, most likely) so all subsequent abilities are automatically
removed by the computer.

- Reload your tree, it should work now, as the offending ability was automatically reset by the computer.

Ok, so those of you who know me know that my name is Seraphina.
Yes, that is my real, chosen name. But most people just call me
Sera... or Serwa, if you're my friend. (Ser-WUH or Ser-WA, like
with a bit of a lisp).

Anyway, point being, I was playing Matrix Online tonight and I was
shocked and appalled after playing an Assassination mission.
After finally getting to the target, I was confronted with this!

SOE! I know you know that I know that you know! What am I
talking about? I know about the Brotherly Order Of Bashing
Serwas! We Serwas will not be kept down by your assassination
orders! We will rise up and fight against your oppressive ways,
as Sisterly Serwas! Who's with me!

((Lol... just thought this was kinda ironic... and yes... I'm being very random right now. SMILEY

))

We've said before that every organization has high-profile
targets. You know them. The people who if they get shot and
killed, 10 people take the screenshot of it and they end up being
mocked on the forums for weeks on end. The people that turn into
bullet magnets when they flag. The people that are sometimes
referred to as "Demoralizing Kills", because once you kill them, their
organization feels that perhaps they didn't do such a good job as they
thought they did.

I was wondering, by popular vote, who makes it onto your high profile
target list? I'd like to hear your opinions of high-profile
targets from each organization:

Zionist

E Pluribus Neo

Merovingian

Machine

Cypherite

Doesn't have to be one person, as we all know there's multiple
high-profile targets in each organization. Just wanted to hear
people's thoughts on this subject. SMILEY

EDIT: Before there's any confusion, excluding main storyline characters
and organization liaisons. We all know the liaisons are
high-profile targets. Lol.

Message Edited by Lady_Return on 05-14-2006 12:55 AM

Well, I've been thinking about this for a while and I think I want to
finally push ahead and just put the idea out there for those of you who
would be interested. I've seen the "Matrix Novel" thread, and
while this isn't a novel, it is something that runs along the same
lines.

My proposal is thus, to create a collection of short stories, each one
written by a different author, all centralizing on one theme and being
contained within one universe, but each story from the viewpoint of a
different person. I've just gotten finished reading two books
that function like this, and both of them are wonderful collections of
short stories. I think that same concept that both books utilized
could easily be applied to our adventures in the Matrix.

The theme I picked for this writing project is "recollection", as I
thought it would be easy to use and apply to each of the stories and
keep them tied together. The idea that I had was that each story
would feature a character remembering something about their past, but
making sure to add in small details, bit characters and things from
other people's stories. This way, once the entire collection is
complete, each story forms a web of events and occurences.
Perhaps an event won't be explained well from one character's
perspective, but you get a new take on it when another character talks
about it. That's what I would like to see created in this project.

However, I still want each piece to be able to stand alone, even if it
was removed from this short story project. This way, a person
could simply read a chapter and still enjoy what we have created.

If you would be interested in working in this project, make a post
here. If we get enough people, we'll have a meeting about it in the
Matrix, and move on with plans from there.

I'm hosting a really impromptu and informal discussion on good vs. evil
inside of the Matrix tonight at Club Parallaxis at 9:00 PM EST (6:00 PM
PST). Open invitation to all, it will probably be small and
informal.

We'll discuss being evil and being good in the Matrix, or perhaps the
lack thereof, and have a general discussion of what it really means to
be a protagonist or antagonist here in the Matrix and how the lines can
blend together and turn into a massive gray blob instead of being
straight up black and white.

You notice a small white business card lying on the table of the club...

...all it seems to say is, "Avidité Syndicat. Join us."

http://www.aviditesyndicat.com

Then, boy, do I have the offer for you. If you're an avid RPer,
and there's a topic you'd like to discuss with the community, please
send a PM straight over to me. Please include the following:

Character Name:

Times Available:

Brief Explanation of the Topic You Want to Talk About:

Topic must deal with roleplaying in the Matrix Online, roleplaying
etiquette/rules in general, writing Matrix-based fiction on the forums,
acting, improv, or anything you think relates to Matrix &
Roleplaying. You must be able to talk about your subject in text
for at least 10 minutes, at the most 20 minutes, and be willing to
answer questions related to your topic.

And yes, if you haven't thought it already, this is the application to be an instructor at RP Workshop the Third.