The Rejected RealmsBoard

Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.

June 28th, 2015
Issue VII. Ghost Riders in the Sky

Index
I. Interview with Ever-Wandering Souls
II. Spotlight News
III. Ask Fredd!
IV. Easter Eggs, Part 2
V. Artwork of the Damned
VI. BOOK OF BAPHOMET II: Kaosofi pt. I

Interview with Ever-Wandering Souls
Interviewed by, The Stalker

1. When did you begin your raiding career? And what was your first major raid?

Depending on how you interpret “my raiding career,” I started either in TEK or The Brotherhood of Malice. More specifically, my active involvement in Gameplay began in The Eternal Knights, and my career as a raider solidified in BoM. The first major raid I participated in would be the LWU raid on Hogwarts, under a BoM flag. Well, I actually flew a Death Eater flag on my nation :P The first major raid I led that comes to mind is Islam – I infiltrated, held point, and set the first (actually failed) trigger. Defenders showed up, but since no one was ejected, some of my buddies knocked me into the seat while I was away next minor. Not a clean raid, but a fun one. That was where I really started my personal mark of themed raid WFE’s!

2. Who do you consider to be your raider mentor? And what was the most important thing they've taught you?

It’s near impossible to pick one name for that. Venico was the one who turned me to raiding – leaving TEK, I was most enthralled by him and Shiz. One from each side of the line… and Venico brought me to BoM, and showed me the best side of the Raider community. When BoM went dormant for a while, I moved on, and eventually landed in TBH, where Jakker has been absolutely amazing in working with me and others on leadership skills and the ilk. With the revival of BoM, I rejoined the community, and that whole region has been a great example to be of the friendships and community Raiding can breed. And honestly, Neph deserves a bone as well – if nothing else, he taught me how to experiment a bit, make my way on my own, and try things that others deem impossible – if not on the same scale as him xD Together, the most important thing I’ve learned from them is simple: Have fun. This is a game, at the end of the day, and if you’re not having fun playing it, there’s no reason for you to be around here much longer. The expansive community of the Brotherhood, the whole mojo of TBH, and the leadership I’ve been on the receiving end of have all emphasized that fact, and I’ve tried to carry down into everything I do.

3. What was your favorite raid in your career so far and why?

As a participant, that would likely be the raid on Equestria. I still have a few quotes from that particular raid in my sig… Basically, the natives said “screw it, all they’ve done is changed out WFE and brought a few buddies, rather than pitch a fit let’s just talk to them like any other visitor” – and we threw a giant party. The natives were even more aggressive than us in telling off random other nations coming to “help” by spamming and insulting the invading force. It was fun all around, we shared music and chatted a bunch, and everyone left happy. Those kind of raids can’t happen often – the ones where we eject everyone inevitably turn a bit more sour - but it was a nice change of pace to have, and I’d love to see another one or two like that in my time here.

As a leader of, that’s a whole ‘nother story. There, I’d say the raid on The Black Riders. Depending on how quick you get this to the presses, the readers may or may not have heard by now – TBR is under raider control, and has been for 39 days at time of writing – that’s right, folks, I’m Harenhime. Storytime! The whole thing started off in a very unorganized manner. Following the fall of the region, many of us had placed puppets in various places, namely their budding intel department, for the hell of it. Slowly, we started to gather together those people. I was added to a chat with two or three of us in it, which over the months grew to 13 as we added anybody we trusted who physically had a nation in TBR. At first, it was just screwing around – chuckling at the efforts to organize, wreaking small measures of havoc with false information and my inciting arguments, just generally screwing with the mob that had invaded the region. That all changed when the fire nations attacked UGR abruptly resigned and Pont took the seat (and went completely wild in it). I was in the right place at the right time – rising through the intel department, I’d just done a detailed background check on Pont in which I’d labelled him unstable, untrustworthy, and unfit for government service, all backed up with detailed posting records, mostly from old RMB posts. It was being discussed by the government when he went rouge, which looked really good on me - I’d effectively “called it.” Things went better from there – I moved to TBR from my cover region, The Insane Region (original leaders of the capture of TBR), soon before Pont ejected all other former government members – leaving me completely legitimately the highest ranking member of the pre-Pont gov’t left in the region, and making me the natural center of the effort to recover it. That was a wild night – Cormac and Ivo also vying for the seat, UGR came back, I was ejected buy not banned and came back… but somehow, by one or two endos, I ended the update in the delegate seat. That was when we knew we had gold on our hands – the timing and nature of the op was perfect for a future RaiderCon publicity event, as well. From there, we started bringing in puppets. We were too late to control the forums, so we made sure none were officially adopted. We picked the proposed constitution we liked the best for our purposes, and rigged the elections in its favor. We rigged the elections for ministerial offices to push our people into every office but Prime Minister, put the “legitimate” members of the region into lower offices, and made the PM race a screwy mess. Unfortunately, Llamas went poof and never claimed his seat, so we had to give it to Glaurung, but he was angled into resigning soon enough, in the special election we rigged our man into office there as well. This was all bonus points – we had the delegate, and adopted a constitution that made my position permanent, but the opportunity for more was just…there. So we took it. And it’s been amazing. I’ve spent two months working with people I knew well and people I’d just met, from almost every raider region, on an op where every possible thing ended up going the best, luckiest, and most perfect way for us possible. It’s the largest infiltration I’ve ever seen, and contained people of all walks of experience – from young raiders Sci and Reddog, to Raider Hall of Fame judge Avakael, flying under a freaking Unknown flag! This operation has been, in my opinion, my best to date, and stealth-wise, on an order of magnitude far above anything else we’ve seen recently. And on top of it all, I actually liked a few of the people there – the most successful cover identities rely on as few lies as possible, aka putting a piece of yourself, your daily life, into them. The downside of this is a certain level of connection with the residents. While there certainly *are* a few I will take pleasure in banjecting, there are also members (like Island, or AA) that I hope remain civil in the coming days, avoid rash actions, and maybe even consider joining us – TBH has a history of getting recruits from raided regions, after all!

As a footnote, if anyone has any questions for me or the others involved, ask away, we’d love to answer - this is the short version, believe it or not :P

4. What do you think of Hell's defenses? Are we safe from raids within the fortress we've constructed?

I think your defenses are impeccably planned. Yes, I’ve taken a look before :P The fruit that’s hardest to reach is the sweetest, after all. The system of nation remaining WA in underworld for about a month before entering is enough to deter all but the most hardcore of sleepers, and I’ve seen that when you admit newcomers, the Password is changed a few minutes before the region update – I’d wager that you don’t reveal it until directly after the prior update. That makes a single sleeper backed by an update team impossible, unless you slipped, or miscalculated influence somehow. It’s truly a model I recommend, and have recommended in the past, to any founderless region that truly wants to be secure. That said, I believe that any team of enough size, coordination, and determination can breach any level of defenses that allows nations through in some way – it would merely take resources on a scale where the question becomes, is it worth it? Even if the seat was taken, the ancient nations there would be a pain to eject, and the world and the SC would flock to your aid. Several of our larger non-raider allies would not assist on the operation due to it being a destructive operation on a roleplay region, which would mean a much more reachable pile. The chances of success in total destruction are slim at best. To conclude, I’d probably say you are the safest founderless region that allows some form of regular entry – but no founderless region is ever truly safe. But you understand that, obviously, otherwise your strict methodology would have slipped by now.

5. What are your thoughts on RaiderCon?

I’ve had the privilege to help build it nearly every step of the way, from a glimmer in Jakker’s eye to starting in less than a week. I may be biased as such, but I think it’s a beautiful event! It may be called RaiderCon, but all walks of gameplay are invited. The common members fall under two masks (Defenders get a Fenda mask, all others get an Attendee mask), but not for reasons of raw discrimination – we’ve set up exclusive areas for each side, both for some more private chatting and for the purposes of the earlier steps of organizing some of our Gameplay Update Games. All actual secure material will take place offsite (skype for us, presumably IRC for defenders), but the idea is to allow basic planning to take place in at least a partially secure environment. We’re getting ready to induct the first ever Raider Hall of Fame, and are trying to assemble a hall of history from various regions and records. There as tons of special guest speakers and panels, covering all walks of raiding. I really encourage anyone, whether or not they are a raider or active in GP at all, to come swing by if they want to have fun and learn a little about the history of Raiding. There are feature events every day (July 1st through 7th, the 2nd being TBH’s 10th anniversary!) plus ongoing general chats, spam games, a dedicated IRC channel, and an RMB to gather and chat on while trying your hand at piling on a real life raider operation ;) Is it too much to say sign up now at http://s15.zetaboards.com/RaiderCon/index/ ? :P Shameless plus, yes, but entirely truthful. We really hope for a good turnout and lots of fun – after all, fun is what we’re all about!

6. With The Black Riders fallen, who do you see as the next raider super power, Den or The Black Hawks? What do you see for the future of Raiders?

Right now, there’s an interesting moment going on in Raiding. A large portion of TBR’s power came from its ability to hold a large occupation entirely on its own forces while continually tagging. With the burning out of several prominent taggers, and the current recruitment ban, both of those have been hindered. It will be interesting to see how DEN shows once they can recruit a steady stream of new players, and whether that methodology will be as effective without the Lord of the Rings theme and character-based recruiter nations (as well as a legal rate of recruitment). It’s given other orgs, like TBH, a chance to step up (which believe me, we’re trying to :P). Orgs like BoM and LWU remain relevant, but not as active, due to what I see as the downside of our strong unity – a lot of the region Unity is so effective is because most Raiders are members of most Raider orgs. The downside of that comes in the fact that these less mainstream regions, while perhaps put first for chilling or chatting in, aren’t put first when it comes time to plan or act on raids. I myself am fully guilty – I’m a Hawk through and through, but I stick around in BoM for the community. Not that there’s anything wrong with being in a region for the community, just that it makes effective military action more difficult, especially with the rise in and activity from defenders over the last few months. The other worry I see has to do with recruitment – I came into GP in a large batch of folks that stuck around – Me, Shad, Val, Trick, Sap, and many more. Since then, there’s only been a few that have stuck around, and not nearly as long. I’m not sure historically which is the fluke – our generation, or the lack of a subsequent one to date – but either way, we’ve been trying to get more people into it. The Hawks, besides trying to spread fun of course, and this effort now to make Raiding accessible to all with the Con, are rewriting our own intro procedures to try and up the number of people who make it beyond the region and RMB and into actually raiding. People need to be less a number and more a person to be welcomed, if we want to up our numbers. In the end, I’m not sure if the Hawks or Den will “come out on top’” but I’m also not sure if it matters. Either way, we will continue as we did before – doing our own things. The reason multiple raiding orgs exist isn’t just because a lot of people want to be in charge – each has its own distinct personality that attracts its own crowd the strongest. That differentiates us, and the principles of Unity and our common goal of raiding is what ties us together a Raiders – hopefully into a future of growth, fun, and continuing destruction >:)

Closing Remarks – Hell’s Bells is my favorite publication on NS these days, and likely will be uncontested until Todd gets to writing again :P Stay quirky down there, folks, and let it be known – the PC I’m building next week is named Andromalius, which might be a bit familiar to y’all. ;) Thanks for the interview, and sorry if I got a bit carried away there. My tg box is always open if you want to contact me!

- Ever-Wandering Souls

Spotlight News
Article by, The Stalker

The Rejected Realms elects new WA Delegate!
Congratulations to Guy having been elected the new WA Delegate of The Rejected Realms!

Hell opens embassies with Lazarus!
Hellions were pleased to recently open embassies with Lazarus, making it the second Game Created Region to open embassies with Hell.

(Hell's Bells welcome submissions for future Spotlight News articles, contact The Stalker for details.)

Ask Fredd!
Advice Column by, Freddland

Dear Fredd,
Do you believe in Ghosts?? I'm pretty sure my house is haunted! Sometimes the curtains and objects move by themselves, and I hear voices telling me to get out. I tried calling ghost busters but no one answered because apparently they're not real. What should I do?

Sincerely,
Afraid

Afraid,
Are you sure you're not channeling a movie? Cause that sounds like the 'Amityville Horror' movie. Reminds me of a comedy skit I saw one time. This black comedian was saying “You want to know the difference between white people and black people? Black people hear a voice tell 'em “GET OUT!!”, they'll be gone before the “OUT” is finished.”
Anyway, no, I don't believe in ghosts. You sure you're not poppin' a few too many mushrooms?
No? Ok. The way I see it, you have a couple of options. You could hire a priest/witch doctor/shaman of your choice to exorcize the spirit. Never works in the movies, but worth a shot. Or you could ignore it and see if it goes away. Of course, if it really is a ghost, it might start writing messages on the wall in blood or possessing some of your roommates. Which would make it time for option 3. Which is get the hell out. Or burn the place down. Either one is good.

Fredd
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Dear Fredd
Do you know how to open the third eye?

-Third Eye Blind

3EB,
You sure you wouldn't rather hear about the 3rd leg? I know a lot more about the operation of one of those than I do the third eye. No? Bummer. I have some great home movies… Third eye. Hmmm. Nope. Can't help you. I'm a concrete, spear and mammoth kind of guy. Esoteric stuff is beyond me. Good luck.

Fredd
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Freddo,
How often should I change my underwear?

Confused

Confused,
Ahh, the age old question. There are several schools of thought. Hygiene extremists and women seem to believe everyday is best. At the other end of the spectrum are those that only change their underwear when a hazmat team steals it or it crawls away on it's own. Then there's the commando group which dispenses with underwear all together. I'm a moderate myself. I think wearing it as designed on Monday, backwards on Tuesday, turn it inside out and repeat on Wed and Thurs is a good compromise. Then a 2nd pair for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. If you have a standard Hanes 6 pack, you only have to wash underwear once or twice a month.

Fredd
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Have a question for Fredd you'd like to see answered in the next issue of Hell's Bells? Submit here via telegram to Freddland.

Easter Eggs, Part 2
Article by, Buer the demon AKA Dr george

#223: Easter Egg: Zombie Attack!

The Issue
The dead are rising from their graves to feast on the flesh of the living! Currently, only Capital City has been affected. An immediate quarantine has been placed on the city, but with time running out for the survivors an emergency meeting has been called to decide what to do.

The Debate

1. “You have to destroy the city!” gasps Charles Longfellow, one of the few who escaped before the quarantine. “It’s hell in there! If those things manage to escape then the whole country, nay the whole WORLD is doomed! We must send our biggest bombs into those streets and wipe them out!”

2. “No, there are people in there who need our help,” says Roxanne Clinton, armed with a Winchester rifle. “We can’t leave them to the mercy of the undead hordes. I say before we blow anything up we call in the army and anyone else willing to help, go in, track down any survivors we can find, and get them out. It’s dangerous, but it’s got to be done.”

3. “I think we should study these creatures,” muses Professor Zeke Wall, expert in biological warfare. “Zombiism? Reanimated dead tissue? Fascinating! This is a golden opportunity for our nation… why, we could unleash these on our enemies! Everyone would shake in terror of our undead army!”

4. “Wow, these unholy terrors are really scary,” notes Anne-Marie Wong, selling sausages in buns to bystanders. “They would make a great honeypot. I mean, how often do you see the living dead?! We could really turn a profit if we turn this place into a first-class thrill ride for visiting tourists. Want mustard?”

5. “I think we’re forgetting that these ‘zombies’ are people just like you and me!” objects Abraham Hamilton, head of the newly-formed Undead Protection Alliance. “They deserve the respect that any deceased person should, if not more! Leave them alone, and let them have the city. It will be a victory for oppressed minorities everywhere!”

6. “Braaains… braaains…?” asks ardent anti-quarantine activist Anne-Marie Jefferson. “Braaains… braaains… braaains!”

You remember last issue when I stated that qualifying for Easter Eggs was not a guarantee of getting it, more like a hunting license, that it may take a while or never come up for you? This issue moreso than most has proven the case to me. The concept is simple: take one of your nations that has ceased to exist (CTEd) and “bring it back to life.” That prompts the dead to rise from their graves—or should. None of my major nations had ever had this EE, so I let my third-largest nation go inactive for 28 days and thus CTE. I waited 24 hours—two updates—before bringing it back, now qualified for this EE. So I eagerly awaited getting this EE to add to my collection. And I waited. And I waited. It’s been a couple of years now and I’m still waiting. I suspect that having CTEd a long time before being resurrected may have something to do with the likelihood of getting it sooner or at all. I remember when I brought back a friend’s nation that had been gone for something like 4 years that I got this EE almost immediately. Or that could be completely coincidental, who knows? (Well, SOME people DO know, but they aren’t talking!) 

I note that enough people have gotten this issue without ever CTEing that there is something else in play, perhaps just a hiccup in the programming. A few people will claim that it has to do with having “Zombie” in your nation’s classification. This is clearly not the case. TONS of nations (including some of my brood) are “The Holy Purple Zombie of XXX,” or something like that, and they never get this EE. Zombies are in right now, so if you want to be a zombie, fine, just don’t expect to be rewarded for jumping to the Other Side.

As for the choices, I personally have never answered #1, but it seems at best you would inherit a “city” uninfected, but reduced to rubble. And have the blood of innocent survivors on your hands. Ick!
As I recall from seeing the results of people who answered #2, the military and/or civilian militias go on a recruitment drive to combat the undead menace. So tell me now, sir, are you now or have you ever been a member of the undead?

#3 will earn you condemnation from the nations of the world. You know, there are SOME genies I wouldn’t want to let out of the bottle, no matter what wishes they promised to grant me, since once out, that particular genie is never going to go away again.

I’ve never answered #4, either. It sounds like it may be the choice of those wishing economic advancement. Are you old enough to remember the movie series when they wanted to make a theme park with dinosaurs, Jurassic Park? Let me give you a clue: it didn’t turn out so well for the humans. And now they’re getting ready to release the next installment, Jurassic World. Expect more people to be torn to bits and eaten.

#5 is the high freedoms choice—it will increase your Political Freedoms because you’ve “recognized a new minority” or something like that. After all, zombies are people, too, just people who love people…for dinner.
#6 is unchartered territory for me, too. If you’ve had this EE and chosen #6, I’d love to hear from you. It sounds eerily like the “Join the Zombie Hordes” option come Halloween. If you’re up for some cannibalistic undead fun, this is probably your option.

It’s my duty as a horror movie geek to point out to you that the whole “brains” meme was started by some silly remakes of the Night of the Living Deadfranchise. Classically, zombies don’t eat brains much or at all unless a victim’s head happens to be conveniently split open. Think about it—the brain is mostly encased in solid bone, right? Assuming zombies have no more strength than they had when they were humans (and NO, they NEVER go fast, either), how are they going to get to the brain without tools, since zombies don’t have higher brain functions? Use their hands? Have YOU ever successfully split open a bowling ball with your bare hands? I don’t recommend biting a bowling ball, either, unless you’re in the market for some nice dentures.

RECOMMENDATION: choose #5 and play nice with the undead and MAYBE they won’t eat you…tonight, anyway.

#077: World to End, or Possibly Just Mark Anniversary

The Issue
Along with the rest of the world, the citizens of @@NAME@@ have been stunned by the revelation of a small team of geophysical philosophers that the world turns exactly one year old today, as measured by what they call "RL units". (Congratulations on finding so many easter eggs. As a reward, here is the special issue our players got when NationStates turned one year old.)

The Debate

1. "Frankly, I saw this coming -- all the signs of the Apocalypse are here," says local community leader @@RANDOMNAME@@. "Moral standards are falling, the government is making increasingly erratic decisions, and people are neglecting their work to play bizarre political simulation games on the internet. There's only one sensible reaction: declaring a state of emergency, sending out the military, and shooting curfew breakers until the crisis is over."

2. "With respect, I don't think falling moral standards are the problem," says cubicle dweller and Slashdot karma god @@RANDOMNAME@@. "The issue is what's going to happen to our computers if the world clock ticks over from 0 to 1. This Y1 problem, as I call it, could be devastating for our IT industry unless it's tackled swiftly. And by tackled swiftly, I mean given a massive injection of public money."

3. "Why panic when you should be partying?" says @@RANDOMNAME@@, not completely soberly. "It's the first birthday of the world, man -- let people go nuts! If the government has a shred of decency, they'll order the cops to back off and let people really enjoy this incredible moment in history."

4. "This is neither a time for clamping down, nor, as they say, going off," says religious leader @@RANDOMNAME@@. "Rather, we should encourage people to reflect on the great mysteries of life. For example, what is God, to each of us? What is the true meaning of faith? And is the world around us reality, or are we instead living inside a simulated reality that exists only for the amusement of beings we cannot even imagine?"

5. "Well, I know what I'll be doing," says obscure author and Perl amateur Max Barry. "Sitting at home with a good book! Jennifer Government, for instance, is a cracking read. And I hear that some of the profits go into maintaining a cool web game. But of course, that's just my opinion. People should celebrate however they want."

NSWiki implies that you get this once you've found a certain number of EEs:
The conventional wisdom is you’re eligible after getting 3 EEs. For a change, *I* am the outlier: one of my nations once got this EE only having had 1 prior EE. For real. And I have it on excellent authority that I am an excellent authority. XD See my comment on hiccups in the programming to account for this and don’t expect this issue until after you’ve already gotten three EEs. Then you will have FOUR EEs and will get a new banner in the Rift theme—isn’t that EXCITING!!!

The choices all appear to be straightforward:
#1 is for all you who get off on shining your military medals. The result specifically is:
"tens of thousands of revelers have been arrested for trying to celebrate the recent world anniversary."

#2 is for those who want to build their economies at every turn, in this case, the IT industry. It sounds expensive, though.

#3 is probably the freedom choice. I can’t honestly say I’ve noticed any particular uptick in my CRs or PFs when I’ve chosen this one, but it clearly doesn’t lower freedoms like #1 or raise taxes like #2. Besides, I’m a sucker for any opportunity to make the police stand down or go away, which is why about a quarter of the top 100 nations in the world with Lowest Police Ratios are mine (this is a small exaggeration, but only a small one).

#4 is clearly for those interested in raising their Religion score. It’s a pretty benevolent choice, but since I LIKE my Most Godforsaken score, I don’t ever answer it this way.

#5 is, nicely put, a tip of the hat to Max Berry. It also appears to be a benevolent choice with no significant consequences like #3 & #4. That last sentence is high freedom language, so that would make this my second choice.

RECOMMENDATION: choose #3 if you’re for high freedoms and against the police, otherwise choose #5, which is unlikely to modify your police ratio while still affirming high freedoms.

Artwork of the Damned
"Doctor Mad"
14x11 Oil Painting by, The Stalker

BOOK OF BAPHOMET II: Kaosofi pt. I
Article by, Theistic luciferia

Chaos is pan-dimensional planes having infinite time and spatial dimensions, unlike the cosmos, which consists of the three spatial dimensions and a time dimension.

In comparison with the cosmos linear time dimension, chaos is timeless so that it is not limited to a one-dimensional time.

Cosmos is causal, i.e. bound by the law of cause and effect, while chaos is completely acausal (beyond the causal) and free of all restrictions.

Chaos is the eternal future and therefore an active and dynamic eternity.
Chaos was, chaos is and becomes everything and nothing at the same time.
In this way Chaos is the only true freedom and the essence beyond all forms.

All opportunities are available in the unlimited chaos and among them was also the possibility of the cosmos' emergence. The part of the chaos surrounding the cosmos is anti-cosmic, because it is pan-dimensional and amorphous in nature, the antithesis to the cosmic shaped, limited and causal structure. Therefore experience the chaos that penetrates into the cosmos as destructive, consuming and disruptive. For it dissolves the cosmos' limited structures and shapes, and instead establishes the formless and limitless acausal void, which is the origin of everything as well as the end.

Chaos is more or less found in all that exists, from the largest to the smallest.
Chaos is universes.
It is in the absolute nothing that men can not possibly imagine.
Chaos is all-dimensional and zero-dimensional at the same time.
It is temporal and timeless, spatial and spatial resolved.
It is all things rise, from there, everything has been created.
Everything is its out there and that's all, while it is nothing.
Chaos is its own cause and his own works, as in his unlimited potential to create and destroy.
Chaos is the zero-dimension, which is the place of timeless essence.
The zero-dimension, which in itself carries all manifested and unmanifested dimensions.

-Baphomet

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