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

4/13/09 - Evening Edition, "Consolidations and Reprisals"

A new week dawns in Agon and the Cold War between the great powers continues--though the last 48 hours have seen an uptick in skirmishing in northern and northwest Agon.

In the early morning of 4/13/09, EST, the Death Alliance's easternmost hamlet, an island off the coast of Agon, was raided by forces from clan Agony of the Dvergheim Compact and the Mercenaries du Nord. The raiders were approximately a dozen strong, but their hardware was significant: the party came on two rafts, and once ashore deployed what Tribune sources confirm was a warhulk. The warhulk was armed with flame cannons, and kept the few Death personnel on the island effectively pinned while the raiders took what they could from the hamlet's grove and other resources. The raiding party withdrew, but a Death reprisal followed shortly: forces from Niflheim attacked the mainland and sacked Agony's hamlet, destroying every facility they found, though Death forces did not move to conquer or occupy the site. The status of the warhulk used in the initial raid remains unknown. Unconfirmed reports indicate that Agony is now fully allied with the Hyperion Kingdom.

Today saw a similar military excursion as, in response to a raid by forces of the Primal alliance on member clan Apollo's hamlet, Death forces invaded Primal territory in the Tribelands. The hamlet of Primal clan The Exodus Syndicate was sacked by Death forces with minimal losses.

To the south, the past week marked a series of victories for the DUSK Alliance. Dusk forces captured the former hamlet of the Generals of War off the east coast of Rubaiyat, establishing complete DUSK control over the territories of the southeastern continent. As mentioned in previous editions DUSK forces also took the hamlet of Death in Excess in Mirendil, in a joint operation with the Death Alliance. Vinco Vici Victum, the last territory-holding member of the Savage Alliance, has reportedly joined DUSK's subsidiary alliance, Dawn. Dawn is made up of those clans associated with DUSK that do not follow the DUSK rule of accepting only Alfar members. The Tribune would like to thank Vindicore of the Shulgan Knights Council and Yomm of the Sturmgrenadiers for clarifications on all things DUSK.

Finally, there was some confusion today as various member clans of the Hyperion Kingdom declared war upon each other, traded settlements, and promptly made peace. The Agon Tribune can confirm through Monte Anvil, one of the three seconds-in-command of the Society of the Anvil, that what occured was a shifting of territories between Hyperion member clans. The Society of the Anvil now holds Realm of Kirdain's former city on the southwestern coast of Yssam, Kirdain now holds Haven's hamlet on the northeastern coast of Agon, and Haven now holds Society of the Anvil's old city. Reports that the Hyperion Kingdom was temporarily in a state of civil war are a bit of light-hearted forum trolling on the part of Hyperion members and should not be believed.

That's tonight's Evening Edition.

See you in Agon,

Edmund Grain

Editory in Chief

agon.tribune@gmail.com