4/21/09 - Evening Edition

Tribune readers, the last few days have seen some startling developments in Darkfall. Across the game world new wars have sprung up, old ones have intensified, and overall Darkfall has become a more chaotic place.

We begin with Yssam. Long the site of fighting between the Yssam Coalition and the Stasis alliance, with Hyperion Kingdom intervention on the side ofYC throughout, last week saw a significant shift in the jungle subcontinent's power dynamic as the last Stasis settlement was taken by YC forces and occupied by the Knights of the Blue Sky. Tribune sources within Stasis claim that their side of the siege was disrupted by in-game glitches, as theYC shard-bearer for the challenge did not appear as a ping on their maps as per game rules. Warfare on Yssam has been plagued by such technical difficulties since release.

Stasis remained on Yssam, initiating a guerrilla war against the Yssam Coalition--but on Friday of last week, 4/18/09, the Yssam situation intensified. The Coalition of Character Killers, formerly of the Cairn Alliance and declared enemies of the Hyperion Kingdom, joined Stasis and aided their new alliance in a fresh offensive. Challenges were launched againstMehatil, city of YC clan Virakar, and Aputan , city of the Villagers of Eternity--the first by Coalition of Character Killers using their hamlet-island in the southern seas ascollateral , the second by Covenant of the Phoenix using a pure cash challenge. Warfare on Yssam was plagued by technical difficulties again: five minutes after theMehatil clanstone should have gone vulnerable the game servers shut down--the countdown to vulnerability had been stuck at 0:00:00 for those five minutes regardless. Hostilities continue on Yssam.

Meanwhile, the coast of Dvergheim has seen increased violence of late. Ongoing raiding between the hamlet Skogul, owned by former Dvergheim Compact and current Hyperion Kingdom member Agony and the island hamlet of Surstone, taken by Death Alliance forces from DC member Lys Noir, met a conclusive end this weekend with the capture of Skogul by Death forces, along with the hamlet of Mahirim alliance Cerberus to the west of Skogul. Tribune sources inside the Death Alliance confirm that Death forces were raiding Skogul regularly throughout last week after a joint operation by Agony and the Mercenaries du Nord against Surstone. No response from the Hyperion Kingdom on the fall of their border hamlet has been forthcoming.

Finally, the situation in Mirendil has intensified considerably. Last week saw a declaration of war between the SB Alliance and DUSK/Dawn, with warfare centered on the territories of Dawn memberOromea and SB member Dreadnaughts. Unlike the conflicts described above fighting in Mirendil has taken the form of raids rather than outright sieges, for the most part. Though Tribune sources indicate that SB forces were initially repulsed by DUSK/Dawn troops efficiently, the weekend saw SB raids cause significant damage to Dawn settlements. The Mercs are also taking part in the ongoing Mirendil war, attacking and damaging DUSK/Dawn cities. Sources within SB Alliance confirm that while The Mercs are focusing their attacks on DUSK/Dawn, they are not affiliated with SB and are acting independtly at present.

The Tribune spoke with Captain Arnie, clan leader of the Shipwrecked Pirates and member of SB, who confirms that no diplomatic process currently exists between the two alliances. Arnie states that SB does not intend a peace short of the destruction of the other side and, as he puts it, the "lamentation o' their wenches."

The Tribune has made several attempts to contact Dorundain Dunedhel, clan leader of Oromea, but has yet to meet with success. We welcome Dorundain and Oromea in general to make contact outside of the game to provide coverage for both sides of the conflict.

The Agon Tribune would like to take this space to thank our contributors, who make these updates possible. They know who they are, but in particular the paper would like to thank Calen Amlir of Virakar, whose contributions were invaluable for the Yssam piece above, and especially all those valuable contributors who request their anonymity. There would not be an Agon Tribune without you.

This concludes tonight's Evening Edition.

See you in Agon,

Edmund Grain

Editor in Chief

agon.tribune@gmail.com