The Malton Observer/070108
Malton Observer: July 1st, 2008
| News at a Glance |
| Leadership Changes |
| Interview with Father Thompson |
| Scandals, and Why We Love Them |
| Axes High and You |
| Whatever That Means! (Q&A) |
News at a Glance
- The Malton Observer publishes second issue, making it the first DEM-based paper to go beyond the first release.
- A high-command promotion, though not listed in the article below, includes DJ917, the new leader of the Malton Civil Defense Unit.
- North-western DEM Personnel conduct research on idle zombies in repaired buildings and largest repair times on ruined buildings. (More on this in the next issue)
- The Dead membership plummets from 1 200 to 400 with little chance of stopping.
- Quiz Taken- 16% of Brainstock users enjoy Pina Coladas.
- The new NW-5 Chief Inspector is Paul Tagg, replacing the outgoing Max Floyd.
Leadership Changes
The DEM has had quite a change of pace recently, with members stepping up and assuming leadership positions. Among the new leaders are Hardcore Rockabilly and Livid, the new Firsts Among Equals of the Axes High. I had a chance to interview these two on the subject...
Malton Observer: What does a First Among Equals do that no other Axes High member does?
Hardcore Rockabilly: The real duties of the First(s) Among Equals are to manage administrative needs, such as handling recruitment and group statistics, to facilitate communication between our members and our allies, and to be a general public "figure-head" in dealings with other survivor groups. We don't particularly lead, so much as point. Any member of the group can step up and lead us, and that's how it's always been done.
Livid: First among equals get chosen by their peers and questioned by their peers so they gotta be smooth talkers.
Malton Observer: Are you excited about leading a group?
Livid: Yes very, it means I can do a lot more to take over Malton with peoples AP under my command. Axe only people need to stick together to pack a punch but they certainly do when under decent command.
Hardcore Rockabilly: <No comment given>
Malton Observer: What are your feelings on sharing the position?
Hardcore Rockabilly: Of all the members of Axes High, I cannot think of a better man with whom to share this role. As it turns out, we are also team-mates in two other groups, The Fortress and the *cough*best damned anti PKer fighting force in Malton*cough* Saints, so we've got a little bit of practice in working with each other. Also, it gives us opportunities to discuss the various puddings of our two cultures.
Livid: I will enjoy working with rockabilly, i was looking forward to the challenge of being a solo leader, but now I have someone to give work to.
Malton Observer: What do you plan to do to make Axes High better?
Hardcore Rockabilly: Well, after taking over the world, we intend to 1.) Increase the size and coordination of our group, 2.) Increase cooperation with our fellow DEM groups and our other allies** 3.) Find a reliable source of beer in Malton, and 5.) Introduce MOAR DORIS!!!
Livid: I want to pair new recruits with seasoned axes high veterans, and make the team more mobile to get our message across malton.
Malton Observer: Thank you for the interview!
-Allison Wolf
**Please note that DEM member groups are allowed to form alliances outside the sphere of DEM's allies and strategic partners with Council approval, as stated in the HardRock Doctrine.
Interview with Father Thompson
Malton Observer: Please state your name and position in the DEM for us.
Father Thompson: Father Thompson (the first name is Richard, if anybody's curious- it's never really used), Director of Malton Central Intelligence- the DEM's newest member group.
MO: How long have you been a member of the DEM/UD in general?
Thompson: It's coming up on two years, I suppose.
MO: Do you have any fun stories to share with us?
Thompson: Oh, gosh- a few. Mostly from my days with the Black Knights, in the MCDU. One of my favorite moments was probably during the cleaning up of some suburb, I went outside to give the zombies a good talking to. While I was lecturing a group of seven about the ills of cannibalism, one of them started shouting back at me in Death Rattle! We went back and forth for a few sentences before he actually bit me (there wasn't really much discourse- he was just kind of shouting zombie slogans). First real time argument I ever had in game...
MO: Please tell our readers a little more about the MCI, I'm sure some are familiar with the new group, but others would probably like to know more.
Thompson: "We waste our AP so that you don't have to!"
The DEM's always been keen on gathering and sharing information efficiently, as many folks are aware. Yet, surprisingly, we've never had very many dedicated scouts. Fully scouting an area can be very AP intensive- but in the long run, one scout can help a crew spend their AP much more efficiently, by directing them towards trouble spots. That's a part of our role- Agents perform full "suburb reports", in which they check up on every RP and resource building in an area, plus any other points of interest (it's practically impossible to cover every building in a suburb in a 50 AP cycle, but we try to come close), and share the information with teams that need it. I've also done some work updating the wiki danger map with the information, since those ratings are often weeks out of date or arbitrarily designated without regard to the objective standards in place, but I haven't been doing that lately (because it's tedious, and I'm shorter on time that I used to be). We also have some other goals for the group- we want to start researching and contacting local groups, to help secure more alliances and coordination between the DEM and survivors in general, but right now our numbers are still fairly low and we're not ready to settle agents into particular suburbs for long stays yet- because we need them on the move to cover information blind spots. Of course, we're always accepting new members (hint, hint)!
MO: Would you say the May 28th updates helped or hindered the MCI's work?
Thompson: Helped. The darkened buildings don't conceal any information, but they do provide safe houses which can be reliably used in the absence of a team to watch your back. MCI agents move alone, mostly (when they are with a team, it's probably a team from another group that they're working with), so there's a real need for reliably good safe houses- and darkened buildings fit the bill well, even in predominantly ruined suburbs.
MO: Do you have any sage advice for our readers?
Thompson: Distributed defense! Lots of smaller groups out there like to share safehouses, which is fun when there's a lot of talking going on- but if you're serious about staying alive, spread out! Placing extra barricades between zombies and teammates vastly increases the required AP expenditure for zombies- it costs much more to drop a 'cade than to drop a human- and you can still keep an eye on one another, you just have to spend a few AP to do it.
MO: Thank you for your time, did you have anything to say in closing?
Thompson: Sonny, I blame you for what first popped into my mind, and I hate you for it. It's a poisonous, terrible meme...*
-Nero
*Needs moar DORIS
Scandals, and Why We Love Them
The opinions expressed here to not necessary reflect that of The Malton Observer, the Department of Emergency Management, or any people associated with the former.
Most of us are by now aware about Goolina's escapades, thanks a lot in part to Terra, another great news organization you should check out when you aren't busy reading this one. Anyway, I could do a huge write-up on it all, but there's a David Spade quote that really does that in two sentences. "Look, kids, it's a falling star! Make a wish!"
As I read more and more on this situation, (And all kidding aside) I can't help but find it similar to the Able Sentinel situation the DEM faced not all that long ago. Akule wasn't around to give us a timeline this time so it was a whole lot more complicated, but it's still quite similar. The only thing missing is the guys in the back with pitchforks and torches.
While I do like to see organizations deal with zerging with the incredible efficiency that has been seen thus far, I would also like to remind readers not to let things get out of hand. Eradication of zerging is one thing, but a witch hunt under the cloak of the former is quite another altogether. Keep in mind that most or all organizations associated with Goolina probably didn't ask her to do this and they shouldn't be blamed. Every organization, at some point, will likely recruit a few bad people. The RRF, DEM, DHPD, et al. The actions of one person shouldn't be taken as characteristic of the rest.
I'm going to end this article before I set fire to a wasp nest. To summarize, when somebody is caught cheating in whatever way, it was them that did it, not the group.
-Labine50
Axes High and You
Axes High, formed in 2005, is one of the oldest groups in Malton, and joined the Department of Emergency Management in 2006. Axes High, as well as being a constant fixture in the defence of Barrville, insists that its members use only melee weapons.
Throughout the years, the group has struggled, Once a mighty force in Malton, Axes High fell into hard times. After a large migration to the game "Nexus War", the group was left leaderless, and almost memberless. In early 2008, a man named 21 Charlie left his post with the MFD to head a dying group within the DEM. Axes High, under his direction, was brought back from the ashes. Within his tenure as First Among Equals, the group once again became a considerable presence in Barrville.
During the first days of The Dead's march through Malton, Barrville was left in ruins. Rachel Vandal, known on the Brainstock forums as Livid, coordinated and led a three-part mission to recover Barrville. Operation Phoenix, as it was called, took the Axe Heads through central Malton, reviving, repairing, and forming a solid foundation for recovery, which ended back home in Barrville.
During the relative peace following in the wake of The Dead, John Cannonfodder spearheaded a mission into Eastonwood, in an attempt to stop a certain horde from attempting to devour Life, the Universe, and Everything. Well, they must have been part of that Everything for a while, as they never did manage to push through to Eastonwood itself, but their constant regrouping in Kempsterbank helped forge a new friendship with The Malton Zookeepers, who poked Axes High with enough needles to get all of the RRF up and breathing... but without all the GKings and window jumping.
In June of this year, 21 Charlie officially stepped down as our leader, and Rachel Vandal and Hardcore Rockabilly were elected to share the role of First Among Equals. And, while still lacking any sort of extra forum permissions, are doing their best to lead the group from unpinned operations threads, and greeting recruits admitted by Rennis Zotorman, of the Malton Emergency Medical Service. (Feel free to write your local DEM councillor about this tragic violation of the fourth deadly sin)
Currently, Axes High is operating in -Classified-, helping their friends, the -classified- retake -classified- from the -classified-, and are continuing in their goals of protecting the safety and well-being of their community, forging new friendships, and persuing world domination, and sources of MOAR DORIS***.
-Hardcore Rockabilly & Livid
***Axes High has no professional affiliation with DORIS, official or otherwise.
Whatever That Means!
A Q&A column with the Chardon siblings. Got a question? Drop us a line! askachardon@gmail.com
- Kris: Five bucks says we didn't get anything.
- Rob: You don't even have five dollars.
- Kris: So?
- Tom: Alright, we've got... all of two letters. Over three weeks. Boy, do I feel loved.
- Rob: Pay up.
- I got 2 questions for you....
- Who's going to win the blockparty mudwrestling match?
- Why did kotd stop answering questions?
- Signed,
- Someone from Red Thresh
- Tom: Two questions in one letter? Are we doing two-for-one deals?
- Kris: I'll tackle the first one! Let me use my magic crystal ball to look... back in time?
- Rob: Yeah, Tagg got disqualified. Figured everyone knew that by now.
- Tom: As for the second question, I tried asking her... but, of course, since she's not answering questions, asking another one didn't get me anywhere...
- Kris: Idiot, I could have told you that!
- Are there more of ya at home, or did Ma and Pa Chardon send the whole bunch of ya here?
- Curious-
- Bri
- Tom: Mm, no, it's just the three of us. Probably better that way, really.
- Kris: That could change, though. What would happen if we cloned ourselves?
- Rob: One of you is bad enough. Why would we want two?
- Kris: To balance out having two of you around. Duh.
- Rob: I wouldn't want two of me around, either.
- Kris: What, worried about losing to yourself in a chess match? Ooh, that'd be interesting...
- Tom: ...Yeah. Just the three of us.
-Kris, Tom and Rob Chardon
