February 2003 Update

There have been a lot of new events, areas, and changes since the last update, so here's what's up:

COMBAT
High Mortal combat was changed so that an HM which kills a mortal-level monster will only receive half of the experience points that a mortal will receive for killing the same monster.

The Bimm racial skill 'soothe' was replaced by the new skill 'shoptalk'.

The Twi'lek racial skill 'trip' was changed so that the damage done is now level-based, and the damage that you do to yourself is based on how clumsy and unskilled you are at tripping. Also, the trip combat messages were changed so that you can tell whether it will be a one- or two-round stun instead of whether it is a damage or non-damage stun.

Combat for all players was changed so that no one may enter a ship while you are in combat with anything else. Among other reasons, this was implemented to keep players from bouncing following monsters by entering a ship.

WIZARD PROMOTIONS
Congratulations to Amethyst and Titania, who were both promoted to Ambassador status. Amethyst is still an Area assistant.

AREAS
After much debate about its location, Master Skywalker finally settled on Yavin Four as the location for his new Jedi Praxeum, where he has begun the training of his first class of new students. The jungles of Yavin Four are overgrown and they have rapidly changed, hiding many secrets which Master Skywalker expects his students not only to learn, but also to conquer.

Bimm scientists, horrified at the mass deforestation being inflicted by malicious outsiders on their beautiful forests, have been hard at work attempting to find a quicker way to replenish the demolished areas.

After years of genetic research, their dream has finally been realized. Their work can be seen now in the vast forests of the planet Bimmisaari.

However, inexperienced travelers should beware; the larger trees have a complex root system which has been known to trap unsuspecting travelers, causing their demise.

A new establishment on Ryloth, located near the Honeymoon Suites, now offers a service to recreate a wedding band for a spouse who happens to have lost one in some tragic mishap.

Along the same lines, High Mortals who have lost their beepers (and couldn't tell where to find them) may now go to the HM lounge to retrieve a new one. If you're High Mortal, you should know how to get there.

Coruscant archeologists have recently uncovered a path to the old Jedi Temple, but have been unable to gain entry. However, mysterious cloaked figures have been seen skulking about it at odd hours of the night. All attempts of contact have met with failure.

The Chambers have been opened!

Many thanks to Renna for the design of this area!

After being plagued with mismanagement and accounting scandals (which resulted in a virtual stagnation of all stocks), the MIIF decided to close its doors forever to face criminal hearings presided over by the Emperor (CEOs of the MIIF are getting their wills in order as we speak).

The news prompted a flurry of trading as MIIF stockholders everywhere moved to sell their stocks before they became utterly worthless.

The Berchest Entrepreneurial and Equity Trading Syndicate (BEETS) is now open and doing business with all those merchants out there who fancy themselves to be stock brokers.

NEWS FLASH:
Recently on Coruscant, some sort of hairy mollusk species were set loose in extremely large numbers. Not only were these little creatures extremely hard to see, but they also shot powerful streams of water at anyone found nearby. This sneaky little vermin not only caused havoc amongst innocent citizens passing by, but also initiated a few brawls where multiple parties were accused of concealing waterguns.

After Gularg was finally forced to stop selling drinks for a few hours due to many of the so-called Bowlump creatures piling in and soaking all the customers, Set was finally forced to do something about this menacing problem. (Other sources indicate that Set was simply unhappy with the fact that his intestinal gases weren't the only reason people were leaving Gularg's.) The only mystery holding back a public initiative to returning all of these sneaky creatures was to figure out exactly what planet they came from.

With many ignorant bystanders blaming each other or some group of mischievous architects called "the wizzes" (sources still trying to prove the existence of such a group), a few daring attempts were made by explorers all around to find a place for the "water-shooters" all over the planet. Few honorable efforts were made in the correct regions, however, until a Bothan Spy named Threkray announced his temporary whereabouts from the middle of the swampy terrain of the planet Naboo. Hoards of people swarmed the hyper lanes around every planet in search of this swamp in hopes of ridding Coruscant of its new visitors.

Upon confirmation of the planet's location, the feared Set rounded up all the Bowlumps into a single ship which he then carried... yes, CARRIED... to the swamps of Naboo, releasing them all into their native habitat.

Rumors have it, that many other creatures were encountered on the discovered planet. One can only hope that nothing else found on Naboo could be nearly as annoying as the hairy water-shooting menaces...

This message brought to you by CNN, Coruscant News Network.

QUESTS
Ivan hopes to begin testing on the new HM quest very soon. (Unfortunately, right after this announcement, Ivan was called away by IRL duties to the National Guard that kept him away from the mud until third quarter 2003.)

PLAYER-KILLING
The pilot skill 'hyp_trace' was changed from being a Navy-only skill, and is now usable by any PK pilot, both Army and Navy types.

GENERAL INFORMATION
Khayyin added some unique colors to Jedi Master sabers.

In a shop, you can now find out what color saber a shop is selling by using the command show saber.

The stats with which a Bimm character is created have changed: a Bimm now creates with a higher strength attribute than before, but the racial minimums and maximums for the race have NOT changed.

When a smuggler dies with concealed items upon his or her person, those items should now unconceal when they drop to the ground upon the smuggler's death.

A new command called 'acceptaid' is now available to the general population, though it was meant for and will be most useful in player killing situations.

Congratulations to Renna for achieving the highest levels possible of 50/50/19!