WEEKLY POSTINGS

Fifth Age, Year 3, Week 49:

Many gadgets have been entering N'Ferra from the new realms now in
contact with it. There is something called "electronics" which is
apparently extremely powerful in a number of realms, but which doesn't
work in N'Ferra.

Fifth Age, Year 3, Week 51:

Suddenly, N'Ferra is thrown into turmoil. The priesthood reports that
the Spiritlands have been invaded by armies worshipping of Gartha of the
Circle, god of stability. The church is accepting volunteers who wish to
(temporarily) join the army of the departed. Not everyone will be
accepted.

Fifth Age, Year 4, Week 1:

A major cargo vessel (the Bifrost) has been lost in the dark sphere, and
no trace of what happened to it has been discovered.

Fifth Age, Year 4, Week 4:

On all of the worlds there are rumors of new monsters. They seem to be
extremely alien and hostile to anything in N'Ferra. Many of them seem to
distort reality.

Fifth Age, Year 4, Week 5

In response to a priest of Ptah being killed on the Nye homeworld, the
Ministry of Inquiry reminds everyone that Ferris teaches tolerance.
Foreign priests are permitted to practice their art as long as they do
not actively proselytize their faith. Those priests who fail in this are
to be ejected from N'Ferra, not killed.

Fifth Age, Year 4, Week 6

The Leaders of the N'Ferra Gate Project have entered into consultation
with the leaders of the Monotheist cult regarding a settlement where the
monotheists can work out their own destiny.

Fifth Age, Year 4, Week 7

A rash of unexplained nightmares has many people worried. The nightmares
afflict all races and most worlds. Those people involved in dream
research have not been afflicted themselves, and are so far baffled.

Fifth Age, Year 4, Week 8

The confederacy military has requested a massive buildup. "We are
looking two wars right in the face, with others probable in the near
future. If we are to hold our base in the Dark Sphere we will need more
military forces. We realize the strain this places on local government,
but we now have the choice of building up our military, and protecting
the entry to N'Ferra, or losing our access to other worlds."

"With the confederation military so overworked, we are grateful for the
assistance individuals have provided, and even with the new buildup of
forces we do not expect that need to change."

Fifth Age, Year 4, Week 9

A Beholder fleet has invaded the Dark Sphere in order to completely wipe
out the Rachak. The Confederacy Navy is moving out to meet it.

Fifth Age, Year 4, Week 10

A ship made of metal landed on Base N'Ferra a few weeks ago. There are
rumors of an alliance with a technologically advanced world-jumping
culture.

Fifth Age, Year 4, Week 11

A fleet of 250 Confederation naval vessels met the invading beholder
fleet (numbering around 60). While the beholder forces were completely
destroyed, the Navy lost 40 of its vessels, and 4% of its people. All of
the remaining N'Ferra forces are going to require substantial repairs.

Five of the beholder ships were captured outright, and another 18 can be
salvaged.

Fifth Age, Year 7, Week 1:

To ring in the new year, Convergence Industries of Voheesa announced the
production and sale of Psi-Gestalt Helms. Not to be outdone, several
other companies have unveiled similar projects. The Speculation
Progressive of Ashmin is currently testing a Chi-Gestalt helm, while
Helm-Builders Unlimited of The Eye has developed a Mage-Gestalt helm
which should be ready to begin testing later this month. Tilweecom
Interplanetary of Coln in turn displayed an armed humanoid "spelljammer"
using its active helm.

A gestalt helm is similar to a standard helm, but contains several
stations. The individuals at the stations are able to combine their
abilities to move the ship.

The new psi-gestalt helm also has the ability to tap into the energies
of sentient or pre-sentient being who are not themselves psionic to
increase the capabilties of the ship.

Chi has never been the choice for helms before, but the new chi-gestalt
helm appears to be capable of handling a ship twice as large as a
Helm/3.

The mage-gestalt helm, in turn, apparantly has the ability to take the
power of mages in the gestalt and increase their spells to ship scale.
Such mages do not increase the speed of a vessel.

Unlike a standard spelljammer, where rigging and maneuvers are
controlled by spacemen separate from the helmsman, an active helm allows
a helmsman automatic control over a vessels rigging. Unfortunately its
high cost combined with the low volume it affects has made it more of a
curiosity than anything else. What Tilweecom has done is lower the
volume even further, but place the helm in a "ship" whose form matches
the helmsman and add weapons which the helmsman can use instinctively.
While still considered impractical, Tilweecom's new "ship" has attracted
the attention of several military groups.

Fifth Age, Year 7, Week 2:

Matching recent moves by the Confederacy government and governments on
Above, Eda, and K'k'k, governments of Ashmin, Coln, Eclipse, The Eye,
and Voheesa have announced that their currencies are no longer based on
specific materials. This move was taken because of the decline what had
previously been considered fixed commodities including silver, jade,
gold, platinum, and diamonds. The decline, caused by interdimensional
trade, has caused rampant inflation which the governments hope to halt
by this measure.

Citizens are assured that their money is just as valuable as it ever was
and that the lack of fixed standard does not indicate problems with
their government. This change has been in progress for some time and the
recent troubles are simply a trigger for something that would have
happened soon in any case. Those governments that have not taken this
measure can be expected to do so at any time.

Fifth Age, Year 7, Week 3:

Riots in the mining town of Wefone on Incar have prompted local company
officials to apply for Seenee mediation. "I would hope," said one
official, "that our people would realize that rioting does no one any
good. I acknowledge that they have valid complaints, but there's only so
much we can do so fast." The mediators are expected to arrive within two
weeks.

Confederacy Astropaths Group (CAG) announced today that Base N'Ferra and
several interdimensional colonies are now part of the Astropaths
network. Transmissions to or from Base N'Ferra are available at a cost
of 1 cent a word. (The 1 cent a word applies on top of the costs for
regional transmissions.)

Fifth Age, Year 7, Week 4:

The Mayor of Base N'Ferra has announced the construction of a gate from
Base N'Ferra to Base Arcane within the Dark Sphere. Such a gate will aid
in the transshipment of goods along the major trade route within the
Dark Sphere, saving 42 days of shipping time. Base N'Ferra's bid has
been accepted and construction is expected to start on the gate in the
next few months.

Alsir Dorlath is seeking subscriptions for his next attempt to reach the
top of Dran Dimmerith. Dran Dimmerith is the northernmost peak of
Vormar. Its hostile spirits and lack of air have made failures of
previous attempts to climb the peak.

Fifth Age, Year 7, Week 5:

In a surprizing intervention on the world of Coln, Ferris bankrupted
several speculators. The men involved had made their money through
speculation and had been accused many times of unfair trade practices
(legalese for cheating and befrauding). Using their own practices
against them, Ferris turned these millionaires into paupers without harm
to the workers, artisans, or managers of the company he used to do it.
Theologians are working to place this event in its proper moral context,
and there is much speculation as to whether Ferris will act against the
recent corporate expansions. This event proves that Ferris is just as
willing to be active in the modern age as in the past and denies the
speculation that Ferris might have failed to keep up with current
practices.

In other news, a psionic teleported a 1/2 ton cargo pod between Voheesa
and Ashmin. The psionic managed this distance by transforming the energy
of a large steam engine to support his teleportive "throw."

Fifth Age, Year 7, Week 6:

Altastin Inc. of The Eye demonstrated it's new autocalculator this week.
Using decentralized golem engine components and precision parts formed
by specialized Shape Metal wands the new calculator occupies an
amazingly small 500 cubic feet and can perform a blindingly fast 50
floating point operations per second. It is estimated that the same
techniques, applied to a standard calculator, could create a _hand-held_
device capable of addition, subtraction, multiplication, _and_ division.
Altastin is in the process of adapting Golem Command languages to
further develop the calculator's automatic fuctions.

In a major protest against using imported manufacturing labor, a mob of
humans residing in the town of Cridimro on Coln, plucked, tarred, and
refeathered a newly immigrated Ch'vrr. In the face of strong debate
within the church, several Rohain have moved independently to protect
the Ch'vrr community in Cridimro.

The spelljammer Endeavor returned to N'Ferra this week. The Endeavor was
the third spelljammer (after the Explorer and Pathfinder) that N'Ferra
launched from the Dark Sphere. The Endeavor was launched before the
first charts of the phlogisten were purchased by the Trailblazer, the
fifth vessel to the Dark Sphere. While neither the Explorer nor the
Pathfinder have returned to N'Ferra, the Surveyor, the fourth vessel to
leave the sphere returned after only a three month trip. This makes the
Endeavor's voyage the longest trip away from N'Ferra to date.

Fifth Age, Year 7, Week 7:

In reaction to last week's mob action in Cridimro on Coln, a number of
human farms in the Lnnkk'kut region of Ashmin have been firebombed.  The
local government has reacted by moving in mercenary troops to preserve
order.

With the failure of mediation between Ars Nekrak and Enchantments
Unlimited, the companies have agreed to place their disagreement before
the Confederacy Court. In the judgement of many, this represents an
overextension of power granted by the articles of Confederation. They
warn that judgements granted by the court will tend to favor the
Confederation Council at the expense of local governments.

Fifth Age, Year 7, Week 8:

Psionics with the ability to reach through dimensional barriers are in
high demand at Base N'Ferra, earning five to eight times what their
talents would normally earn within the sphere.

Over the past year Leeton has been gradually increasing in temperature.
Divinations reveal that it will resume its status as a fireworld some
time between weeks 48 and 52 of this year.