Subject: Handfasting Time Update Posted on: Sat Oct 22 15:13:36 2005 Greetings Alyrians! As many of you know, perhaps from experience, it's not uncommon to find that the winds of love have blown two unsuspecting individuals together. These people often choose to pursue a course together on the road to matrimony, the first step of that journey being handfasting! It's Alyrian tradition to hold semi-monthly handfasting ceremonies for eligible couples. Currently we hold these ceremonies on the first Tuesday of each month at 10 pm System Time and the third Sunday of each month at 4 pm System time. Due to some scheduling conflicts we'll be changing the Sunday ceremony. The new schedule will be as follows: * The first Tuesday of each month there will be a ceremony at 10 pm System Time. * The third Saturday of each month there will be a ceremony at 2 pm System Time. The next two ceremonies (for the month of November) will be Tuesday, November 1, 2005 at 10 pm System Time and Saturday, November 19, 2005 at 2 pm System Time. Everything will proceed just as it does now. Announcements will be made shortly before the ceremony begins. Each handfastee must be at least level 60 and not have been handfasted or married to anyone else within the prior thirty days. Each couple must purchase and sign a handfasting voucher from one of the Chapels of Love in either Templeton, Sigil, or Rune. See 'HELP HANDFASTING' for more details. - The Gameservices Staff +--+ Subject: Support Materia Magica! Posted on: Mon Sep 26 15:49:28 2005 Materia Magica is a free entertainment service provided to most users of the Internet by Ingenii Interactive. In order to maintain the high quality of the service that has over the years attracted over nine million visitors, we rely on the players themselves to support the service. Our contribution philosophy is based on the honor system, the idea that "those who are able to contribute, do, those that aren't, don't". This philosophy works. Materia Magica is a success, entirely due to loyal and satisfied players who contribute with money, time, and expertise, in order to keep the systems that make up the Materia Magica IEN running. Besides providing you the Materia Magica , every time you contribute financially to the services' success you will receive what is known as "reward units" (ru). These reward units can then be traded at reward unit-only shoppes in-game for access to special reward items. These reward items can be used proudly in the world of Alyria, letting everyone who sees them know that YOU support Materia Magica. Of course, we offer alternate ways of contributing to the game as well, because we recognize that not everyone can afford to contribute financially. See http://www.materiamagica.com/store/ru/earn_ru.php for details. To find out what's available, head over to the Van Pelt Reward Init shoppes, located in the temple in the Towne of Rune and near recall in most major cities. The Van Pelts stock their shoppes daily with interesting items available only to reward unit holders. For Alyrian home owners, there is also a new shoppe, run by Edric's wife Lucinda Van Pelt. She sells fine home furnishings for your houses. Her shop is located next to Edric's, in Rune. For more information on contributing to the game and reward units, see HELP REWARDUNITS and visit the web site at the following URL: http://www.materiamagica.com/store/ru We thank you for your dedication to Materia Magica and the world of Alyria! +--+ Subject: Emergency Preparedness Posted on: Thu Sep 22 14:49:01 2005 As many of you know, Materia Magica operates out of Austin, Texas. While we are quite far inland and hurricane Rita is projected to bypass us, there have been warnings about severe thunderstorms as a result, with 40 mph winds, torrential rains with heavy flooding, etc. Our ISP, at whose secure, watertight facility Materia Magica/Ingenii Interactive Co. Is hosted, is prepared for emergencies and unusual situations. The facility has multiple fiber carriers connected to three independent core routers which carry our Internet traffic to more than ten different backbone providers. In addition to our core routers we have multiple colocation and access routers. They can suffer multiple failures with negligible, and in most cases, no impact to their operations. All of the infrastructure is currently operating at 100% and is protected by diesel backup generators capable of powering the ISP for days in the event of power outages. If you have questions please contact the Materia Magica administrators via the Contact Us form here: http://www.materiamagica.com/support/index.php +--+ Subject: Support Materia Magica Posted on: Mon Mar 14 17:20:05 2005 Materia Magica is a free entertainment service provided to most users of the Internet by Ingenii Interactive. In order to maintain the high quality of the service that has over the years attracted over nine million visitors, we rely on the players themselves to support the service. Our contribution philosophy is based on the honor system, the idea that "those who are able to contribute, do, those that aren't, don't". This philosophy works. Materia Magica is a success, entirely due to loyal and satisfied players who contribute with money, time, and expertise, in order to keep the systems that make up the Materia Magica IEN running. Besides providing you the Materia Magica , every time you contribute financially to the services' success you will receive what is known as "reward units" (ru). These reward units can then be traded at reward unit-only shoppes in-game for access to special reward items. These reward items can be used proudly in the world of Alyria, letting everyone who sees them know that YOU support Materia Magica. Of course, we offer alternate ways of contributing to the game as well, because we recognize that not everyone can afford to contribute financially. See http://www.materiamagica.com/store/ru/earn_ru.php for details. To find out what's available, head over to the Van Pelt Reward Init shoppes, located in the temple in the Towne of Rune and near recall in most major cities. The Van Pelts stock their shoppes daily with interesting items available only to reward unit holders. For Alyrian home owners, there is also a new shoppe, run by Edric's wife Lucinda Van Pelt. She sells fine home furnishings for your houses. Her shop is located next to Edric's, in Rune. For more information on contributing to the game and reward units, see HELP REWARDUNITS and visit the web site at the following URL: http://www.materiamagica.com/store/ru We thank you for your dedication to Materia Magica and the world of Alyria! +--+ Subject: Best Alyrian Home Competition Posted on: Fri Nov 19 06:30:30 2004 With much anticipation the contest to see the most brilliant houses of Alyria has begun. Whether you are an owner of a gigantic castle or a simple humble hut this is the time to show off. A mixed group of immortals and guides will be looking at houses judging by creativity, encompassing of the character, and overall design. Houses will be broken down and judged by categories of size. Category A: 1 room homes Category B: 2-6 room homes Category C: 7 and above room homes A winner will be drawn from each category and and overall winner will proudly hold the title of The Best House in Alyria. Prizes range from reward unit vouchers to gold and quest items. Although judging has already commenced there is still time to register. Send a parchment to Extemper with the following information: Name Town Number of rooms Directions to the home. And if you will be able to escort the judges (highly recommended) For further details contact Extemper or visit the message board thread http://www.materiamagica.com/towne/message/view_thread.php?board_id=7&msg_id=237567 +--+ Subject: Security Reminder Posted on: Wed Sep 29 21:43:48 2004 It's time again for another warning about safety on the Internet from your friends, the Administrators of Materia Magica. 1) Under no circumstances should you lend your password to anyone else! Giving your password to someone for even a second can allow them to change it and lock you out of the system. Don't lend your character to anyone for any reason, it just isn't worth it. 2) Under no circumstances should you use the same password on this system as you do on other games or locations! These systems may not be secured, and it may be an easy matter for someone to snipe your password from them. 3) Making use of 'port bounces' or 'proxies' puts the private information you send to the Materia Magica server (e.g., passwords, and private communication with friends) at HIGH risk of being seen by someone with malicious intent. As Immortals, it is our job to make every attempt to safeguard your private information, however, we cannot take action against third parties who have intercepted your transmissions through other means. 4) If you use any kind of shared Internet connection, such as a cable modem, or school ethernet connection, we strongly urge you to change your password often. On certain networks, it is very easy for someone to "snoop" your password information. 5) Along the same lines, be very careful when using a public computer - you usually will not know if the connection is secure or not, and if you use a program available on that computer it is usually very easy for someone to obtain your password from the program logs or buffers. (Especially if you take advantage of the "save password" feature available from many gaming clients). 6) If someone gives you a URL to go to, even one that looks like it is from Materia Magica's site or another site associated with the game, unless you know exactly what you're doing, don't go! Recently someone has been passing around a URL that LOOKS like it is going to Materia Magica's homepage, but instead redirects you someplace else that looks like the homepage. You can see the address has changed in the browser location area, and the page obviously asks you for your password. This is a blatant attempt to steal passwords by an unscrupulous individual. 7) Do not accept files sent through email, over Instant Messengers clients, on IRC, or any other place over the Internet unless you know the person well and have CURRENTLY UPDATED virus protection software. There ARE trojans (files that look like they are one thing, but are actually something else) out there that can give a person FULL access to your computer and all its files, and all you have to do to allow them to do this is download and run one rogue program. 8) Materia Magica will not send unsolicited emails to you, so any email you receive that looks like it is from this site, be sure that it is a legitimate one in response to an email you sent us. Look at the header files - it should say from where it was really sent. If you see any suspicious behavior, or get any strange emails or get asked to do anything unusual that might compromise the security of your character, email the Administrators first and check at admin@materiamagica.com. We know many of you are making a great committment to your character. We hope that you can assist us in safeguarding your information by taking the above precautions. The Administrators of Materia Magica +--+ Subject: ** Support Materia Magica ** Posted on: Sat Sep 25 01:53:53 2004 Materia Magica is a free entertainment service provided to most users of the Internet by Ingenii Interactive Co.. In order to maintain the high quality of the service that has over the years attracted over nine million visitors, we rely on the players themselves to support the service. Our contribution philosophy is based on the honor system, the idea that "those who are able to contribute, do, those that aren't, don't". This philosophy works. Materia Magica is a success, entirely due to loyal and satisfied players who contribute with money, time, and expertise, in order to keep the systems that make up the Materia Magica IEN running. Besides providing you the Materia Magica IEN, every time you contribute financially to the services' success you will receive what is known as "reward units" (ru). These reward units can then be traded at reward unit-only shoppes in-game for access to special reward items. These reward items can be used proudly in the world of Alyria, letting everyone who sees them know that YOU support Materia Magica IEN. To find out what's available, head over to Edric Van Pelt's reward unit shoppe, located in the temple in the Towne of Rune and near recall in most major cities. Edric stocks his shoppe daily with interesting items available only to reward unit holders. For more information on contributing to the game and reward units, see HELP REWARDUNITS and visit the web site at the following URL: http://www.materiamagica.com/store/ru We thank you for your dedication to Materia Magica and the world of Alyria! +--+ Subject: Alyrian Chronicle: Poets of Alyria Posted on: Tue Aug 31 14:54:45 2004 As seen by our recent art contest, the adventurers of Alyria have not only magic flowing in their blood, but creativity as well. While artists across the land created pictures for us all to enjoy, their poet and storytelling cousins were at work as well. A cross-section of these works can be seen in the 'Verse and Verbatim' section of the Alyrian Chronicle, available at: http://www.materiamagica.com/towne/chronicle/index.php Thanks to all the writers who submitted their works! +--+ Subject: Vote for the Best Drawing! Posted on: Tue Aug 24 14:23:36 2004 The Drawing Contest has drawn to a completion and the submissions were excellent, it was difficult to narrow them down to even twelve but we did it. You can now view them and vote for your favorites. Deigo has been visiting the town of Rune and has agreed to oversee the competition. North of him is a voting booth for you to help us pick the best. So what's left? Go visit our friends at AODojo. Com who have agreed to help us out a bit by providing a medium to view the submissions. Visit them here: http://events.aodojo.com/2004_drawing.php Hurry the Deigo has to leave soon, the voting will be over in roughly 24 hours! The proper format for voting is: push one, push two, or push 1.button, push 2.button, etc. +--+ Subject: Message Board Assassins Posted on: Sun Aug 15 13:45:37 2004 What if an entire town went mad, all at once? Every member of a small, close community turning darker, more severe until they saw danger in every shadow and a knife in every hand? We shall discover that. Here, my friends, is the beginning of the 1st ever Materia Magica Message Board Assasins game (led by Bortaz). Please visit: http://www.materiamagica.com/towne/message/view_thread.php?board_id=84&msg_id=216499 for complete details, and to enroll in the game! +--+ Subject: Hardware Upgrade Complete! Posted on: Wed Aug 11 21:14:36 2004 We're happy to announce that the three-stage hardware upgrade we've been working on over the past two weeks, is now complete. The upgrade included a super fast new main game server, memory upgrades for the other servers, as well as a significant upgrade to the web server, both in speed and memory capacity. None of this could have been done without the support of loyal Materia Magica players, who help offset the extensive costs for upgrades like these via contributions to the game. The upgrade is still being financed, so if you haven't contributed yet, what are you waiting for? To contribute, go to http://www.materiamagica.com/store/ru/index.php and thanks for supporting Materia Magica! +--+ Subject: Message Board Assassins Posted on: Sun Aug 15 13:45:37 2004 What if an entire town went mad, all at once? Every member of a small, close community turning darker, more severe until they saw danger in every shadow and a knife in every hand? We shall discover that. Here, my friends, is the beginning of the 1st ever Materia Magica Message Board Assasins game (led by Bortaz). Please visit: http://www.materiamagica.com/towne/message/view_thread.php?board_id=84&msg_id=216499 for complete details, and to enroll in the game! +--+ Subject: MM Development Meeting Posted on: Fri Jul 16 14:35:47 2004 Materia Magica will be holding what will hopefully be the first of a series of quarterly planning and feedback meetings designed to get opinions and feedback from players as to the direction and development of the game. This moderated event will be broken up into two discussions, focusing on 1) the game itself, and 2) the Materia Magica website. The event will be held in-game, in the moderated chat room "mm" in the Crawlspace. In order to keep this event from becoming too chaotic, a maximum of 35 players will be permitted to attend, so if you wish to attend this meeting, please make sure you get there in a timely manner. The Materia Magica panel will consist of Vassago and a selection of other Immortals. A moderator will be present who will coordinate the questions, comments, and concerns presented to the Materia Magica panel. This event will take place Friday, July 16th, at 9:00pm Central Standard Time (game time). Please email your questions in advance to reechani@ingenii.com, so that we can define a decent agenda. For more information, see this thread: http://www.materiamagica.com/towne/message/view_thread.php?msg_archive=0&board_id=7&msg_id=209894 Regards, The Immortals of Materia Magica +--+ Subject: Rewardunit Transfer Posted on: Tue Jun 22 16:32:34 2004 Please do not use the reward unit transfer command until next reboot, if you want to keep your RU intact! There is a problem with the transfer function that has been fixed for next reboot. Other reward unit activities should be fine. Regards, The Immortals of Materia Magica +--+ Subject: New Reward Unit System Released Posted on: Mon Jun 21 10:41:40 2004 Materia Magica is pleased to announce the new Reward Units system, which allows players to assist in the game's success via monetary contributions or contributions of time. This will replace the "donation dollars" system. Each player now has an in-game "reward unit" account that contains their reward units, which also may be transferred to other players as desired using the new "rewardunit" command. Contributions made via Paypal will be handled automatically and will immediately post to the desired characters' account, and bulk contributions will result in a bonus of additional reward units. For more information, see 'HELP REWARDUNITS'. To contribute, go to http://www.materiamagica.com/store/ru/index.php +--+ Subject: Website Player Profile Enhancement! Posted on: Thu Apr 29 12:34:20 2004 In your Player Profile, you may now specify a postal code (zip code) to be used in a new geographical location feature that will tell you which other players (who have also entered their zip codes) are within 50 miles of you. Your zip code is not displayed to anyone or given out, it is just used to compute other players near you. The more people who edit their profiles and include their zip codes, the more useful this feature becomes. The "Players Nearby" feature can be used to make friends and talk with other players near your pcation, or just as a general indicator as to how popular the game is in your region. Update or create your profile now to take advantage of this new feature! Out of country players, go ahead and update your profile with your postal code and when it's available for your country it will display immediately. http://www.materiamagica.com/towne/players/registry_add.php +--+ Subject: Rule Reminder - Trading Items for Cash Posted on: Wed Apr 28 13:53:28 2004 Just a reminder: 5. Trading in-game items, services, or money for real life items, services, or money, is NOT permitted under any circumstances. However, it is allowable and accepted to make a donation to Materia Magica in someone else's name in exchange for in-game items, services, or money, and have them receive the donation credit. People found violating this rule (see HELP RULES) will be held accountable, so please respect the rules of the game. +--+ Subject: ** Support Materia Magica ** Posted on: Wed Apr 21 10:41:25 2004 Materia Magica is a not-for-profit entertainment service provided to most users of the Internet. In order to keep the game free of charge, we have to rely on donations and contributions of money and time in order to keep the systems running. Most of these contributions are made by the maintainers, dedicated players, and the Administrators of Materia Magica. Donations help us pay for hardware and software upgrades, new services, new features, advertising and other overhead costs. We want to do something in return for the people who donate, so we will I-MAIL your character(s), or the character(s) you designate, a donation item in exchange for your donation of $15 and above. These donation items are outlined on http://www.materiamagica.com/store/donate. Of course, anything above and beyond the minimum donation is greatly appreciated as well. These donation gifts can be worn proudly in the world of Alyria, letting everyone who sees them know that YOU support Materia Magica. For a current list of donation items and further information on how to donate to the game, as well as information on monetary donation alternatives, please visit the web site: http://www.materiamagica.com/store/donate We thank you for your dedication to Materia Magica and the world of Alyria, and hope, with your support, to provide many years of entertainment to come. +--+ Subject: Real Estate Holdings in Materia Magica Posted on: Wed Apr 21 07:32:07 2004 Property Owners of Alyria: Many of you own one or more homes in Alyria. For the most part, you have been ever so creative in designing your own space and I am entertained by them. However, there are some who have yet to offer any type of description or or title to their home. Some because I have forgotten and have not followed through with purchasers. I have even a few players that simply choose not to have a description for whatever reason. There are over 1250 homes in Alyria for which I am personally held accountable for in making sure that they are properly built by the standards of the game. These standards may be viewed by seeing HELP HOMES. By May 15th, all homes must fit the guidelines as established. If this means, sending in a room description, please do so promptly. If this means that you feel that a change is needed for a fountain or furniture item, do that as well. I will be auditing the homes after the deadline of May 15th and I will remove the recall point for any home not meeting the guidelines. When they have been met, the recall point will be restored. Any owners wishing to make changes to comply with the guidelines, may do so providing that they do it before the May 15th deadline. Thanks for your cooperation. Celestia Admin - Game Services celestia@ingenii.com +--+ Subject: Play the Alyrian Lottery! Posted on: Sat Apr 17 18:30:51 2004 Have you tried Alyria's new lottery system yet? Tickets are available from the Shoppes in Rune, Sigil and Tellerium, for only 10,000 gold. Half of the proceeds go to the winner, and the other half benefits the Alyrian Association for Retired Psionics. The last big winner pocketed 5,860,000 gold, and the next one could be you! The more people play, the more you can win! +--+ Subject: The Professor leaves on emergency business. Posted on: Mon Apr 12 08:21:54 2004 The Professor has left the town of Sigil, much to the relief of Lord Vendredi who had it up to *ear* with bunnies, and has gone back to his secret lab. His assistants are remaining behind to clean up the rest of the mess and reward adventurers for their diligence, they will stay for the next day before they too leave. +--+ Subject: Hares on the Run! Posted on: Sun Apr 11 12:28:30 2004 The hares formerly located in Tellerium (for levels 181-241) have all been captured - however, it appears that a few of those hares have escaped to Vospire, and thus a new hare invasion! If you are level 181-241, please journey to Vospire to assist in capturing the errant hares! +--+ Subject: X-League Boots Posted on: Sun Apr 11 11:01:05 2004 If you should happen to stumble across a pair of Two, Three, Four, or Five-League boots, take advantage of them while you can! They will last about a week maximum before the magical field sustaining them wears out. +--+ Subject: Professor Silax has returned! Posted on: Sun Apr 11 08:16:13 2004 Professor Silax is back to his old tricks... Professor Silax is a fairly obscure magical scientist from the Towne of Sigil. Funded by a grant from the Council of the Arcane, he has been researching the great jumping ability of the hare and potential applications for use in designing magical apparatus to enhance humans' jumping ability, perhaps producing a real pair of Seven League Boots. Fraudulent versions of the boots exist in the world, but none can actually send the wearer seven leagues in a given direction. Rumors have been circulating that the Professor had produced a prototype pair that could send the wearer four leagues, but not the full seven leagues as required by the specification. Apparently he was experimenting with increasing the power of the boots when a fierce, unexplained thunderstorm disrupted the delicate magical process and caused a tremendous surge of etheric energy in his laboratory. The hares that had been caged in the laboratory each gained unusual powers from the magical discharge, and most escaped their cages and fled into the Towne of Sigil. Unfortunately, hares are renowned for their fecundity - and especially these hares, who had been magically enhanced - and in no time at all had reproduced and reproduced and are now spreading to many of the major Townes, causing no end of trouble to the residents, who are partially to blame for the spread of the hares off the continent of Auryn. Many people thought them cute, and would take them home, only to discover that in a few weeks they had several dozen hares when they only wanted the original two. Professor Silax has come up with a magical trap for the hares, which he has been giving out to anyone who offers to help him. The trap - operating under an alchemical spell - will attract the hares and transform them into small baubles of varying power, which may then be given to Professor Silax's assistants Snide, Bide, Wide, and Pride, who are located in the townes with the hares. The trap must be outfitted with a special lure to work, however, and the list of lures that will attract the hares is somewhat limited. Professor Silax will sell you lure. You can see the various lures by typing SHOP LIST. Buy the one most appropriate for your level. Place the lure in the trap and then set the trap on the ground. There can only be one baited trap placed per location. A special lure, silver clover, is offered to help brave adventurers capture the illustrious silver hare, a magically mutated version of the previous hares. This hare will turn into a pair of two, three, four, or five-league boots when he is captured. The hares have been cleared from Sigil using the traps, but the Townes of Xaventry (where you will find hares for levels 11-60), New Rigel (where you will find hares for levels 61-120), Rune (where you will find hares for levels 121-180), and Vospire (where you will find hares for levels 181-241) yet remain hare-ified. Professor Silax himself is wandering about Sigil, looking for people to assist him. If you'd like to help Professor Silax, locate him in Sigil and SAYTO him, "I will help recover the missing hares" +--+ Subject: Support Materia Magica! Posted on: Wed Mar 10 11:08:21 2004 Materia Magica is a not-for-profit entertainment service provided to most users of the Internet. In order to keep the game free of charge, we have to rely on donations and contributions of money and time in order to keep the systems running. Most of these contributions are made by the maintainers, dedicated players, and Immortals of Materia Magica. Donations help us pay for necessary upgrades and new services, which make the game better for all players. We want to do something in return for the people who donate, so we will I-MAIL your character(s), or the character(s) you designate, a donation item in exchange for your donation of $15 and above. These donation items are outlined on http://www.materiamagica.com/store/donate. Of course, anything above and beyond the minimum donation is greatly appreciated as well. These donation gifts can be worn proudly in the world of Alyria, letting everyone who sees them know that YOU support Materia Magica. For a current list of donation items and further information on how to donate to the game, as well as information on monetary donation alternatives, please visit the web site: http://www.materiamagica.com/store/donate We thank you for your dedication to Materia Magica and the world of Alyria, and hope, with your support, to provide many years of entertainment to come. +--+ Subject: Security Update Posted on: Tue Mar 2 22:44:44 2004 It's time again for another warning about safety on the Internet from your friends, the Administrators of Materia Magica. 1) Under no circumstances should you lend your password to anyone else! Giving your password to someone for even a second can allow them to change it and lock you out of the system. Don't lend your character to anyone for any reason, it just isn't worth it. 2) Under no circumstances should you use the same password on this system as you do on other games or locations! These systems may not be secured, and it may be an easy matter for someone to snipe your password from them. 3) Making use of 'port bounces' or 'proxies' puts the private information you send to the Materia Magica server (e.g., passwords, and private communication with friends) at HIGH risk of being seen by someone with malicious intent. As Immortals, it is our job to make every attempt to safeguard your private information, however, we cannot take action against third parties who have intercepted your transmissions through other means. 4) If you use any kind of shared Internet connection, such as a cable modem, or school ethernet connection, we strongly urge you to change your password often. On certain networks, it is very easy for someone to "snoop" your password information. 5) Along the same lines, be very careful when using a public computer - you usually will not know if the connection is secure or not, and if you use a program available on that computer it is usually very easy for someone to obtain your password from the program logs or buffers. (Especially if you take advantage of the "save password" feature available from many gaming clients). 6) If someone gives you a URL to go to, even one that looks like it is from Materia Magica's site or another site associated with the game, unless you know exactly what you're doing, don't go! Recently someone has been passing around a URL that LOOKS like it is going to Materia Magica's homepage, but instead redirects you someplace else that looks like the homepage. You can see the address has changed in the browser location area, and the page obviously asks you for your password. This is a blatant attempt to steal passwords by an unscrupulous individual. 7) Do not accept files sent through email, over Instant Messengers clients, on IRC, or any other place over the Internet unless you know the person well and have CURRENTLY UPDATED virus protection software. There ARE trojans (files that look like they are one thing, but are actually something else) out there that can give a person FULL access to your computer and all its files, and all you have to do to allow them to do this is download and run one rogue program. 8) Materia Magica will not send unsolicited emails to you, so any email you receive that looks like it is from this site, be sure that it is a legitimate one in response to an email you sent us. Look at the header files - it should say from where it was really sent. If you see any suspicious behavior, or get any strange emails or get asked to do anything unusual that might compromise the security of your character, email the Administrators first and check at admin@materiamagica.com. We know many of you are making a great commitment to your character. We hope that you can assist us in safeguarding your information by taking the above precautions. +--+ Subject: Support Materia Magica! Posted on: Tue Feb 10 09:26:42 2004 Materia Magica is a not-for-profit entertainment service provided to most users of the Internet. In order to keep the game free of charge, we have to rely on donations and contributions of money and time in order to keep the systems running. Most of these contributions are made by the maintainers, dedicated players, and Immortals of Materia Magica. Donations help us pay for necessary upgrades and new services, which make the game better for all players. We want to do something in return for the people who donate, so we will I-MAIL your character(s), or the character(s) you designate, a donation item in exchange for your donation of $15 and above. These donation items are outlined on http://www.materiamagica.com/store/donate. Of course, anything above and beyond the minimum donation is greatly appreciated as well. These donation gifts can be worn proudly in the world of Alyria, letting everyone who sees them know that YOU support Materia Magica. For a current list of donation items and further information on how to donate to the game, as well as information on monetary donation alternatives, please visit the web site: http://www.materiamagica.com/store/donate We thank you for your dedication to Materia Magica and the world of Alyria, and hope, with your support, to provide many years of entertainment to come. +--+ Subject: Handfasting Cermonies Posted on: Thu Feb 5 11:29:48 2004 HANDFASTING ceremonies are scheduled for the first and third Fridays of each month. Normal ceremony time is 7pm system time. Please contact Game Services for additional information and reservations. Consult HELP HANDFASTING for information. Game Services: gameservices@ingenii.com +--+ Subject: The Upcoming CTF Tournament Posted on: Mon Jan 5 16:56:21 2004 Fellow Alyrians! The time for the greatly awaited capture the flag tournament is nearly upon us! If you haven't already joined this grand tournament do not fret! There is still time to join! This time, however, is diminishly rapidly and if you do not join soon you might not get a chance to. Do not hesitate to join even if you have not brought together a team yet. There will be time after registration for the tournament is closed to assemble your teams. If you wish you join or have any questions concerning the tournament contact Driam. +--+ Subject: Rule of the Week! Posted on: Sun Jan 4 19:29:34 2004 SCRIPTS and BOTTING 1. Botting (using robotlike scripts) is illegal. Botting is defined as any activity which your character is performing without the player being awake, at the keys, paying attention to the window, and issuing direct commands through whatever interface you use. This definition of botting includes following another character and being "leveled" without making an attempt to join in on the action, as well as having scripts to perform functions independent of player interaction. We realize there are clients out there that can practically play the game themselves. Don't use them. The following types of scripts are illegal, regardless of whether your player is actually behind the keyboard: * Scripts that move you around ("walker" scripts). This does not include the "speedwalking" features built into some clients. Speedwalking is permitted, but please do not dump large amounts of movement commands to the game at once - you will most likely be disconnected. * Automated combat - for example, scripts that "scan" and move you to fight a certain NPC. Any script that automatically starts combat without interaction from the player is illegal. * "Spamming" scripts that dump a lot of commands to the game at once. * Anti-idle scripts. If you aren't playing the game or using the chat rooms, please log off using the QUIT command. * Any script that controls the character while you are not at the keyboard or paying attention to the game window. Brought to you from the Immortals of Materia Magica. For more in-game rules, please type HELP RULES. +--+ Subject: Happy Holidays Posted on: Wed Dec 24 09:40:00 2003 Happy holidays from the Materia Magica administrators! +--+ Subject: Be Sure To Get Holiday Gifts For Your Friends! Posted on: Fri Dec 5 12:24:08 2003 Materia Magica Donation Special! Materia Magica is a nonprofit entertainment service provided to most users of the Internet. In order to keep the game free of charge, we have to rely on donations and contributions of money and time in order to keep the system running. Most of these contributions are made by the maintainers, dedicated players, and Immortals of Materia Magica. We want to do something in return for the people who donate, so we will I-MAIL your character(s), or the character(s) you designate, a donation item in exchange for your donation of $15 and above. Of course, anything above and beyond the minimum donation is greatly appreciated as well. The gifts can be worn proudly in the world of Alyria, letting everyone who sees them know that YOU support Materia Magica. For a current list of donation items and further information on how to donate to the game, as well as information on monetary donation alternatives, please visit the web site: http://www.materiamagica.com/store/donate You may currently donate via check or money order sent via postal mail, or online using a credit card or checking account via PayPal. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * As a special bonus for all donations $25 and over received or postmarked in the month of December, we will be giving one restringing coin for every donation item! Restringing coins may be used to rename most items (see HELP RESTRING) and can be kept for yourself or given away as gifts to fellow adventurers. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * We thank you for your dedication to Materia Magica and the world of Alyria, and hope, with your support, to provide many years of entertainment to come. +--+ Subject: Security Posted on: Fri Dec 5 11:56:09 2003 It's time again for another warning about safety on the Internet from your friends, the Administrators of Materia Magica. 1) Under no circumstances should you lend your password to anyone else! Giving your password to someone for even a second can allow them to change it and lock you out of the system. Don't lend your character to anyone for any reason, it just isn't worth it. 2) Under no circumstances should you use the same password on this system as you do on other games or locations! These systems may not be secured, and it may be an easy matter for someone to snipe your password from them. 3) Making use of 'port bounces' or 'proxies' puts the private information you send to the Materia Magica server (e.g., passwords, and private communication with friends) at HIGH risk of being seen by someone with malicious intent. As Immortals, it is our job to make every attempt to safeguard your private information, however, we cannot take action against third parties who have intercepted your transmissions through other means. 4) If you use any kind of shared Internet connection, such as a cable modem, or school ethernet connection, we strongly urge you to change your password often. On certain networks, it is very easy for someone to "snoop" your password information. 5) Along the same lines, be very careful when using a public computer - you usually will not know if the connection is secure or not, and if you use a program available on that computer it is usually very easy for someone to obtain your password from the program logs or buffers. (Especially if you take advantage of the "save password" feature available from many gaming clients). 6) If someone gives you a URL to go to, even one that looks like it is from Materia Magica's site or another site associated with the game, unless you know exactly what you're doing, don't go! Recently someone has been passing around a URL that LOOKS like it is going to Materia Magica's homepage, but instead redirects you someplace else that looks like the homepage. You can see the address has changed in the browser location area, and the page obviously asks you for your password. This is a blatant attempt to steal passwords by an unscrupulous individual. 7) Do not accept files sent through email, over Instant Messengers clients, on IRC, or any other place over the Internet unless you know the person well and have CURRENTLY UPDATED virus protection software. There ARE trojans (files that look like they are one thing, but are actually something else) out there that can give a person FULL access to your computer and all its files, and all you have to do to allow them to do this is download and run one rogue program. 8) Materia Magica will not send unsolicited emails to you, so any email you receive that looks like it is from this site, be sure that it is a legitimate one in response to an email you sent us. Look at the header files - it should say from where it was really sent. If you see any suspicious behavior, or get any strange emails or get asked to do anything unusual that might compromise the security of your character, email the Administrators first and check at admin@materiamagica.com. We know many of you are making a great committment to your character. We hope that you can assist us in safeguarding your information by taking the above precautions. +--+ Subject: Materia Magica 2003 Web Site Contest Winners Posted on: Sun Nov 23 16:04:48 2003 We had a great website contest this year with fifty entries across the three categories of Individual, Individual Informational, and Clan. The judges had quite the time deciding the winners, and we had a few sites that tied for specific places in the contest. The Materia Magica Administrators and the contest judges would like to thank everyone who took the time to prepare and enter their website this year. There were many wonderful sites and all the entrants received a reward for their participation. We will be updating the "Links" page under the Towne Hall shortly with the new list of game-related websites, and invite everyone to take the time to check them all out. Visit the following URL to view the 2003 Materia Magica Website Contest Results: http://www.materiamagica.com/towne/events/websitecontest2003_winners.php +--+ Subject: Weddings and Handfastings Posted on: Wed Nov 12 13:29:19 2003 Greetings People of Alyria! This special news item has been made to announce the new times and dates of the Official Handfasting Ceremonies. Beginning this Friday, November 14, 2003, the Handfasting ceremonies will be held the first and third Friday of each month at 8:00PM system time. Any of those who need to make alternate time and date arrangements can still contact gameservices@materiamagica.com. +--+ Subject: All Spirits Eve Posted on: Fri Oct 31 08:02:38 2003 As the world of Alyria enters the dark half of the year, join the denizens of Sepharia, Beltane, Auryn, and Avros all day and night (Starting 9am System Time) on October 31st as they celebrate the cycling of the seasons... See the Druids of the realm as they allow their ceremonial solstice ritual to be viewed for only the second time ever by outsiders... Guard the land from the evil that seeks to enter when the veil between worlds is thinnest... And when you're done (if you are still alive), go trick o' treating in the Townes of Alyria. Six armies have invaded our peaceful realm, the towns of Tellerium, Diocletian, Seelie, Rune, Decara and Pirates Cove have all been affected. In each town there is general who, protected by the evil powers, sends their minions to reek havok in the land. You must help destroy these creatures of the darkside and protect our land! Ravens fly throughout the realm, carrying mesages to the armies, kill these dark birds and you will gain information on how to find the Overlord. If you are strong of heart and mind, journey to the druids and return to them the items needed for their ritual and you will be taken to kill the evil fiend who has masterminded this attack. Regardless of your strength or skill, all adventurers are needed. Enter the portals found in the invaded towns to find the evil minions who do not fear you. Slay them and return their equipment to the young druids, so they may destroy it. +--+ Subject: Help Support Materia Magica Posted on: Fri Oct 10 17:06:03 2003 Materia Magica is a not-for-profit entertainment service provided to most users of the Internet. In order to keep the game free of charge, we have to rely on donations and contributions of money and time in order to keep the systems running. Most of these contributions are made by the maintainers, dedicated players, and Immortals of Materia Magica. We have recently upgraded our link to provide additional bandwidth for Materia Magica users, thus giving us more room to grow. Donations help us to pay for necessary upgrades and new services, which make the game better for all players. We want to do something in return for the people who donate, so we will I-MAIL your character(s), or the character(s) you designate, a donation item in exchange for your donation of $15 and above. Of course, anything above and beyond the minimum donation is greatly appreciated as well. The gifts can be worn proudly in the world of Alyria, letting everyone who sees them know that YOU support Materia Magica. For a current list of donation items and further information on how to donate to the game, as well as information on monetary donation alternatives, please visit the web site: http://www.materiamagica.com/store/donate We thank you for your dedication to Materia Magica and the world of Alyria, and hope, with your support, to provide many years of entertainment to come. +--+ Subject: Help Guide Now Available In Printed Form Posted on: Tue Sep 23 15:10:03 2003 Clarriker's Materia Magica Help Guide is now available in spiral-bound form via Cafe Press through the Materia Magica Gear storefront: http://www.cafeshops.com/ingenii.7717736 The full Materia Magica Gear store is available here: http://www.cafeshops.com/ingenii +--+ Subject: Materia Magica Website Updated and Revamped Posted on: Sat Sep 20 16:18:20 2003 We are pleased to announce that the Materia Magica website has been updated and revamped: http://www.materiamagica.com +--+ Subject: Materia Magica 2003 Website Contest Announced Posted on: Sat Sep 20 16:17:41 2003 The official Materia Magica 2003 Website Contest has been announced. Rules have changed slightly from last year. We look forward to a competitive event this year, as there are many fine websites out there as well as some new ones that perhaps have not been unveiled yet. Read the official notice and rules here: http://www.materiamagica.com/towne/events/websitecontest2003.php +--+ Subject: New Edition of Alyrian Chronicle Posted on: Sat Sep 13 01:25:06 2003 A new edition of the Alyrian Chronicle is now available! To view, please go to: http://www.materiamagica.com/towne/chronicle/index.php +--+ Subject: An Official Proclaimation from Lord Agrippa Posted on: Fri Jul 25 17:03:44 2003 Fellow Alyrians, In the past several years there have been increasing reports from those possessed of the Second Sight, in relation to a looming danger upon the horizon that could affect the fate of our world, and perhaps the fate of other worlds as well. I am not certain as to how far the ramifications could stretch. The very fabric of reality has, in spots, become so weakened that it has become not unusual to find dwellings that are there one moment and gone the next, trees vanishing and reappearing with random frequency, as well as general temporal disturbances with short events repeating themselves with altered outcomes, almost as if one were watching a strange play that kept starting from the beginning with a slightly different script. The Council of Seven and the Council of the Arcane, in a joint effort, have traced the cause to the excessive use of interdimensional gating magics and other unusual reality-altering spells by the Ithrix, the scourge of our Finest Archons, the defenders of our world. We are uncertain if the Ithrix are aware of the potentially irreparable damage they are causing, as repeated attempts to communicate with them or their leaders have remained unsuccessful. The Council of the Arcane, in cooperation with the wise Archon Masters of Decara, continue to research ways to stop the unwanted Ithrix intrusion into our world, but thus far their efforts have failed to bear fruit. All is not hopeless, however. The Council of the Arcane has decided to make use of a rare magical artifact known as a Bazani Orb that allows interdimensional communication, so named after the great Druid Orphellum Bazani who postulated the creation of such a device thousands of years ago. The Orb allows us to send a Plea for Assistance out through the ether that should remain undetected by the Ithrix. We do not know if the Ithrix have an opponent capable of defeating them, and if such, if the enemy of the Ithrix would be friendly to our request for help, but the joint Councils agreed that the dire consequences of failing to act would outweigh the risks of using such a powerful artifact. While we wait to see who (or what) responds to our Call, the Council of the Arcane and the Council of Seven wish the denizens of Alyria to know that we are working tirelessly to find ways of reducing the aforementioned unusual disturbances and hope to report more encouraging news in the coming months. +--+ Subject: Security Reminder Posted on: Mon Jul 14 23:16:03 2003 It's time again for another warning about safety on the Internet from your friends, the Administrators of Materia Magica. 1) Under no circumstances should you lend your password to anyone else! Giving your password to someone for even a second can allow them to change it and lock you out of the system. Don't lend your character to anyone for any reason, it just isn't worth it. 2) Under no circumstances should you use the same password on this system as you do on other games or locations! Those systems may not be secured, and it may be an easy matter for someone to snipe your password from them. 3) Making use of 'port bounces' or 'proxies' puts the private information you send to the Materia Magica server (e.g., passwords, and private communication with friends) at HIGH risk of being seen by someone with malicious intent. As Immortals, it is our job to make every attempt to safeguard your private information, however, we cannot take action against third parties who have intercepted your transmissions through other means. 4) If you use any kind of shared Internet connection, such as a cable modem, or school ethernet connection, we strongly urge you to change your password often. On certain networks, it is very easy for someone to "snoop" your password information. 5) Along the same lines, be very careful when using a public computer - you usually will not know if the connection is secure or not, and if you use a program available on that computer it is usually very easy for someone to obtain your password from the program logs or buffers. (Especially if you take advantage of the "save password" feature available from many gaming clients). 6) If someone gives you a URL to go to, even one that looks like it is from Materia Magica's site or another site associated with the game, unless you know exactly what you're doing, don't go! Recently someone has been passing around a URL that LOOKS like it is going to Materia Magica's homepage, but instead redirects you someplace else that looks like the homepage. You can see the address has changed in the browser location area, and the page obviously asks you for your password. This is a blatant attempt to steal passwords by an unscrupulous individual. 7) Do not accept files sent through email, over Instant Messengers clients, on IRC, or any other place over the Internet unless you know the person well and have CURRENTLY UPDATED virus protection software. There ARE trojans (files that look like they are one thing, but are actually something else) out there that can give a person FULL access to your computer and all its files, and all you have to do to allow them to do this is download and run one rogue program. 8) Materia Magica will not send unsolicited emails to you, so any email you receive that looks like it is from this site, be sure that it is a legitimate one in response to an email you sent us. Look at the header files - it should say from where it was really sent. If you see any suspicious behavior, or get any strange emails or get asked to do anything unusual that might compromise the security of your character, email the Administrators first and check at admin@materiamagica.com. We know many of you are making a great committment to your character. We hope that you can assist us in safeguarding your information by taking the above precautions. The Administrators of Materia Magica +--+ Subject: Support Materia Magica Posted on: Fri Jul 11 20:09:30 2003 Support Materia Magica Materia Magica is a not-for-profit entertainment service provided to most users of the Internet. In order to keep the game free of charge, we have to rely on donations and contributions of money and time in order to keep the systems running. Most of these contributions are made by the maintainers, dedicated players, and Immortals of Materia Magica. We have recently completed the move to our new hosting facility that has a better connection and more stable service. We are also currently preparing a new server addition that will help us offload some of the tasks performed by the current master game server, thus speeding up the game for everyone. Donations help us to pay for necessary upgrades and new services like the aforementioned, which make the game better for all players. We want to do something in return for the people who donate, so we will I-MAIL your character(s), or the character(s) you designate, a donation item in exchange for your donation of $15 and above. Of course, anything above and beyond the minimum donation is greatly appreciated as well. The gifts can be worn proudly in the world of Alyria, letting everyone who sees them know that YOU support Materia Magica. For a current list of donation items and further information on how to donate to the game, as well as information on monetary donation alternatives, please visit the web site: http://www.materiamagica.com/store/donate We thank you for your dedication to Materia Magica and the world of Alyria, and hope, with your support, to provide many years of entertainment to come. +--+ Subject: Player-leased vendors Posted on: Thu Jul 3 13:23:13 2003 Player-leased vendors are in! Just a word of warning, if you are running a vendor, don't use the VENDOR PAY command until we have a chance to reboot so that you will get the money properly. See 'HELP VENDOR' for more information. +--+ Subject: May 2003 Materia Magica Haiku Contest Winners Posted on: Wed Jun 18 00:04:55 2003 The May 2003 Materia Magica Haiku Contest voting polls are now closed. The winners of the contest are: Hinotori, Omicron, Alaina, Algy, Moordal, and Lasha. We had a tie so we decided to make both tied entries winners. The submitters of the winning Haikus will receive via mail the Deluxe Edition of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth book in the Harry Potter series that will be released Saturday, June 21st. This cloth-covered deluxe edition features full-color printed endpapers and a foil-stamped title on the spine, and comes complete with a full- color slipcase with matte lamination and foil-stamping. Best of all, the book jacket is emblazoned with exclusive, original artwork (that's different than the regular edition) by illustrator Mary GrandPre -- a frameable, one-of-a-kind keepsake that you won't find anywhere else. Congratulations to the winners, and thanks to them and everyone else who entered into the contest. All entered entries have a chance to be included at some point in the game itself in the form of Alyrian literature. Winning entries can be viewed here: http://www.materiamagica.com/towne/events/haiku/viewhaiku_winner.php +--+ Subject: Haiku Contest Reminder Posted on: Sun Jun 8 16:25:19 2003 Just a reminder, the cutoff date for haiku submissions for the May 2003 Materia Magica Haiku Contest is June 10th at 11:59pm, Central Standard Time. No submissions will be accepted after that time, so be sure to enter in your haikus if you haven't yet (remember you can enter one in every day or two). Information on the contest can be found here: http://www.materiamagica.com/towne/events/haiku/index.php +--+ Subject: Support Materia Magica Posted on: Tue May 27 22:44:26 2003 Materia Magica is a not-for-profit entertainment service provided to most users of the Internet. In order to keep the game free of charge, we have to rely on donations and contributions of money and time in order to keep the systems running. Most of these contributions are made by the maintainers, dedicated players, and Immortals of Materia Magica. We have recently completed the move to our new hosting facility that has a better connection and more stable service. We are also currently preparing a new server addition that will help us offload some of the tasks performed by the current master game server, thus speeding up the game for everyone. Donations help us to pay for necessary upgrades and new services like the aforementioned, which make the game better for all players. We want to do something in return for the people who donate, so we will mail your character(s), or the character(s) you designate, a complimentary gift in exchange for your donation of $15 and above. Of course, anything above and beyond the minimum donation is greatly appreciated as well. The gifts can be worn proudly in the world of Alyria, letting everyone who sees them know that YOU support Materia Magica. For a current list of donation items and further information on how to donate to the game, as well as information on monetary donation alternatives, please visit the web site: http://www.materiamagica.com/store/donate We thank you for your dedication to Materia Magica and the world of Alyria, and hope, with your support, to provide many years of entertainment to come. +--+ Subject: May 2003 Materia Magica Haiku Contest Posted on: Tue May 13 14:53:34 2003 Materia Magica is pleased to sponsor a haiku contest for Materia Magica players (of at least 25 total levels), from May 13 through June 18th. The submitters of the top five Haikus will receive via mail the Deluxe Edition of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth book in the Harry Potter series that will be released Saturday, June 21st. This cloth-covered deluxe edition features full-color printed endpapers and a foil-stamped title on the spine, and comes complete with a full-color slipcase with matte lamination and foil-stamping. Best of all, the book jacket is emblazoned with exclusive, original artwork (that's different than the regular edition) by illustrator Mary GrandPre -- a frameable, one-of-a-kind keepsake that you won't find anywhere else. Haiku Contest information and entry form can be found here: http://www.materiamagica.com/towne/events/haiku/index.php +--+ Subject: *** SERVER MOVE / DOWNTIME *** Posted on: Wed May 7 00:27:38 2003 The game and the Materia Magica website will be down for approximately a 3-hour window on Saturday, May 10th this weekend, from around 8:30am - 11:30am Central Standard Time. We are changing ISPs, and thus our IP address will be changing as well. Please make sure you are NOT using the IP address for the game, use materiamagica. Com instead as the hostname. We will be leaving a server at the old ISP for a week and a half after the move that will process redirects from the old IP address to the new IP address - this should no longer be necessary the day after the change, as the DNS update should have propagated everywhere by then. The game's new IP address will be 66.219.44.164, but please use "materiamagica.com" instead. That way you won't have to change anything. I will be sending an email out stating the above or something to that effect to all registered users of the game as well. +--+ Subject: Valid Player Information Posted on: Thu Apr 17 02:12:28 2003 Just a short reminder to make sure that all characters personal information is correct.. Please make sure that the e-mail address and player name is both current and valid. Your details can be checked and changed by selecting option 5 from the main menu when you first log in. Regards, The Immortals of Materia Magica +--+ Posted on: Sat Apr 12 05:32:19 2003 Currently the administrators of Materia Magica are endeavoring to tackle the problem of characters that change owners. We have had a rule in place in regards to this for the last two years, and after realizing there is a major problem with abuse of this rule, we are taking action. This means that we have and will be deleting characters that have changed ownership. In some cases, we have given special permission to people to maintain ownership of a character that they did not originally create. If you are 100% certain that a character's owner has recently changed, please email admin@materiamagica.com. This news item is a warning to those that have chosen not to abide by the rules we have laid out. Every one of you has agreed to play by the rules at some stage. If you are unsure of the current rules, you can access them in game by typing HELP RULES. +--+ Subject: Clan Type Change Posted on: Sat Apr 12 04:20:15 2003 For the next five days, the administration of Materia Magica has decided to let clan owners change their clan type. We made a decision to change this for one clan, and decided to give all clans the same opportunity. If you wish to change your type, you must email admin@materiamagica.com with a request. The request should include a clear, well thought out reason as to why you wish to change, the current type, your clan number and the type you wish to change to. The various types of clan can be found by typing HELP CLANS in game. After the end of this five days, no further clan types will be changed, so do not ask. +--+ Subject: New Issue of Alyrian Chronicle Released! Posted on: Fri Mar 21 18:00:16 2003 After a long delay, The Alyrian Chronicle has released a fantastic new issue with its hardworking new editor, Cyrell! Submissions, comments, and concerns for the Alyrian Chronicle should be sent to chronicle@materiamagica.com. View the new issue here: http://www.materiamagica.com/towne/chronicle/index.php +--+ Subject: Donate to Materia Magica! Posted on: Mon Mar 10 15:24:47 2003 Materia Magica is a nonprofit entertainment service provided to most users of the Internet. In order to keep the game free of charge, we have to rely on donations and contributions of money and time in order to keep the system running. Most of these contributions are made by the maintainers, dedicated players, and Immortals of Materia Magica. We are currently preparing for a move to a new hosting facility that will have a better connection and more stable service. The new hosting facility costs more money per month, and in addition, in order to make a seamless move to a new facility we need to purchase some additional hardware. For a current list of donation items and further information on how to donate to the game, as well as information on monetary donation alternatives, please visit the web site: http://www.materiamagica.com/store/donate We thank you for your dedication to Materia Magica and the world of Alyria, and hope, with your support, to provide many years of entertainment to come. +--+ Subject: Security Bulletin Addition Posted on: Fri Feb 14 20:29:16 2003 In addition to the previous news on security: * Some other game servers (not associated with this one), Sentience and Continuum were hacked today. If you played on these games, it is possible your account/passwords etc. were compromised. * There have been reports of a "browser war" web URL/program being passed around by some people - the more people you get to log in and "join your army", the more powerful you got. It is highly probable this is just an attempt to steal passwords as well. If you have participated in the above activities, ever, make sure you protect your Materia Magica account by changing your password immediately, even if you don't think you used the same password on the other sites. This is just a safety precaution. To be extra sure, don't go to strange URLs, and please read and take heed the information contained within the previous security bulletin. +--+ Subject: Security Precautions Posted on: Fri Feb 14 20:03:40 2003 If you have logged into any other websites that have password protected sections, PLEASE make sure you are not using the same password as you use for this game. Even if you may have accidentally typed in your game password, make sure you change your password here immediately. Additional security information follows: 1) Under no circumstances should you lend your password to anyone else! Giving your password to someone for even a second can allow them to change it and lock you out of the system. Don't lend your character to anyone for any reason, it just isn't worth it. 2) Under no circumstances should you use the same password on this system as you do on other games or locations! These systems may not be secured, and it may be an easy matter for someone to snipe your password from them. 3) Making use of 'port bounces' or 'proxies' puts the private information you send to the Materia Magica server (e.g., passwords, and private communication with friends) at HIGH risk of being seen by someone with malicious intent. As Immortals, it is our job to make every attempt to safeguard your private information, however, we cannot take action against third parties who have intercepted your transmissions through other means. 4) If you use any kind of shared Internet connection, such as a cable modem, or school ethernet connection, we strongly urge you to change your password often. On certain networks, it is very easy for someone to "snoop" your password information. 5) Along the same lines, be very careful when using a public computer - you usually will not know if the connection is secure or not, and if you use a program available on that computer it is usually very easy for someone to obtain your password from the program logs or buffers. (Especially if you take advantage of the "save password" feature available from many gaming clients). 6) If someone gives you a URL to go to, even one that looks like it is from Materia Magica's site or another site associated with the game, unless you know exactly what you're doing, don't go! Recently someone has been passing around a URL that LOOKS like it is going to Materia Magica's homepage, but instead redirects you someplace else that looks like the homepage. You can see the address has changed in the browser location area, and the page obviously asks you for your password. This is a blatant attempt to steal passwords by an unscrupulous individual. 7) Materia Magica will not send unsolicited emails to you, so any email you receive that looks like it is from this site, be sure that it is a legitimate one in response to an email you sent us. If you see any suspicious behavior, or get any strange emails or get asked to do anything unusual that might compromise the security of your character, email the Administrators first and check at admin@materiamagica.com. We know many of you are making a great committment to your character. We hope that you can assist us in safeguarding your information by taking the above precautions. The Immortals of Materia Magica +--+ Subject: Help Us Move to a New ISP Posted on: Tue Feb 4 22:39:54 2003 Materia Magica is a nonprofit entertainment service provided to most users of the Internet. In order to keep the game free of charge, we have to rely on donations and contributions of money and time in order to keep the system running. Most of these contributions are made by the maintainers, dedicated players, and Immortals of Materia Magica. As some of you have probably experienced, we are having intermittent problems with our ISP - they were purchased recently and their service has been on a steady decline. We are evaluating new hosting providers, but in order to make a seamless move to a new facility we need to purchase some additional hardware. For a current list of donation items and further information on how to donate to the game, as well as information on monetary donation alternatives, please visit the web site: http://www.materiamagica.com/store/donate We thank you for your dedication to Materia Magica and the world of Alyria, and hope, with your support, to provide many years of entertainment to come. +--+ Subject: Page Length Issue? Posted on: Wed Jan 22 01:14:24 2003 If you are having issues with the page length - the [C]ontinue [R]edraw [B]ack [Q]uit prompt that comes up when you are viewing a screen of text too long for your window - make sure your "PAGE_LENGTH" setting (viewable by typing SET within the game) is set properly. By default, you should probably have this from 22-24, but you can set it anywhere from 10 to 80 based on your window size. Some of you may have set it lower, and previously I had it cutting off at 24 (meaning even if you set it lower than 24 it wouldn't go lower than 24) but have lowered it to a minimum of 10 based on a specific request. By default you start with PAGE_LENGTH set to 22 unless you have changed it. See HELP SET within the game for further instruction. +--+ Subject: Handfasting Festival Posted on: Sat Jan 18 15:32:10 2003 All interested parties be ready at that time to be whisked off to the ceremony. A 500,000 gp fee for handfasting will be required at the time of the ceremony and will be deducted from your account. You and your partner must be at least level 60 to take part in the ceremony. Activity: Handfasting Festival Location: Complex d'Amore Date: January 19th Time: 8:00 P.M. (System Time) Please contact Celestia online or via email @ celestia@ingenii.com if you plan to take part. Celestia Admin Gameservices Materia Magica +--+ Subject: Reindeer Gone Wild! Posted on: Tue Dec 24 17:09:44 2002 Professor Silax is a fairly obscure magical scientist from the Towne of Sigil. Funded by a grant from the Council of the Arcane, he has been researching animal breeding experiments, in attempts to produce faster, more efficient, leaner, tauter animals. His latest experiments have focused on Lord Vendredi's prized pack animals, south Auryn reindeer. Magically tampering with their physical and mental prowess has produced very interesting results. An original sixteen reindeer were selected for the breeding program, with half as the control group. The other eight were made nine, after one of the control group proved himself too intelligent and rowdy to be tricked by pine wands, rather than yew. They were experimented on over a course of months, finally producing three quarters of a dozen super reindeer. The test was a success, producing capable, strong, responsible reindeer for towing Vendredi about the winter solstice nights, as he traditionally delivers all of his year's work worth of toys to children around Alyria. In fact, not only was it a success, breeding the smartest, strongest reindeer possible, but it was too successful, allowing the reindeer to see their inbred inferiority and subjugation by the humans. Although never Lord Vendredi's intent, it was indeed true. The last test subject from the program, Charles, led a revolt among his fellow enhanced reindeer. Up, they levitated into the night sky, as they always have, only without their master's sleigh. Feeling vindicated, free of their social, zoological and physical bonds, they also freed their lesser kin, the hundreds of other reindeer raised in captivity since the start of the domestication of the animals. The original nine led their brethren through the sky, dispersing themselves back into the lands whence they came. However, many had only known city life for their entire upbringing, particularly the young, and quickly gravitated towards the respective city centers of the continents they landed on. Viewing it as a temporary setback, rather than a fundamental flaw in their plan for freedom, the nine followed them into the towns, to help them adjust to life beyond the feedbag. Professor Silax, the director of the experiments, now needs help in gathering the creatures, to bring them back into captivity. He has come up with a magical trap for the reindeer, which he has been giving out to anyone who offers to help him. The trap - operating under an alchemical spell - will attract the reindeer and magically teleport their organic matter back to Sigil, where they can be chained once more. To receive credit for their captures, their original laboratory tags will fall to the ground after their teleportation, and the tags may be redeemed by Professor Silax's assistants Snide, Bide, Wide, and Pride, who are located in the townes with the reindeer, attempting to corral the beasts. The trap must be outfitted with a special lure to work, however, and the list of lures that will attract them is somewhat limited. Professor Silax will sell you lure. You can see the various lures by typing SHOP LIST, and may A special lure, the silver clover, is offered to help brave adventurers capture the illustrious silver reindeer, the fastest reindeer bred that did not receive neural enhancements. The reindeer have been cleared from Sigil using the traps, but the Townes of Xaventry (where you will find reindeer for levels 11-60), New Rigel (where you will find reindeer for levels 61-120), Rune (where you will find reindeer for levels 121-180), and Tellerium (where you will find reindeer for levels 181-241) are still plagued with the antlered beasts. If you'd like to help Professor Silax, SAYTO him, "I will help recover the missing reindeer". As a reminder, we will be watching extra closely for multiplayers during this quest, so it's suggested not to break those rules unless you like being punished. +--+ Posted on: Tue Dec 10 12:37:12 2002 My Lord Telleri, During my travels in your service I have stumbled upon a most unusual place. While wandering through the frigid land you requested I scout, I came across an enormous dilapidated hut which had obviously been vacant for some time. Seeking relief from the cold, I prepared to camp there for the night and began to inspect the interior of the shelter thoroughly. It turned out to be much more puzzling than what it had initially appeared to be. Somehow I suddenly found myself in a pleasant and temperate glade. As my body thawed, I looked around to see what could have created this oasis of warmth. Gazing about, I noticed that the mist from the fire filled mountains was now all around me, its moist warmth covering the area and feeding a glorious burst of green and foliage. Surely this place would greatly please my Lord. I will continue to scout the area and map as much as I can. However, the area seems to be quite large and there is much to explore. Perhaps my Lord would see fit to send additional adventurers to assess the benefits of this place to the House of Telleri. Your Humble Servant, Scout Tendrin P.S. Please tell the adventurers to be most cautious, as I have heard strange lumberings about, as if from large creatures. S.T. +--+ Subject: Boat Races of Alyria Posted on: Fri Dec 6 19:16:31 2002 The boat races will be held on December 19, 2002 at 6:00 pm System time. The three events will be as follows: Sailboat Race, Steamboat Race, and Underground Race. Each race will have its own course on which to sail. The Sailboat Race is open to wind-powered ships. The Steamboat Race is open to steam-powered ships. The Underground Race is open to all ships. There will be a lottery for a Caravel. This Caravel has the following up-grades: flag-mount, hull-armor, reinforced wood, hull-armor iron, and on-board sextant. The proceeds will help to pay for damage that ships may have sustained and to pay the staff. The lottery will be held after the races. Each ticket costs 15,000gp. I will need help assembling the races. If you assist in the races you will get a potion of the lottery profit and five tickets for the lottery. If you would like to enter the races, make a donation, or help with the races, then contact me (Steveon) via tell, i-mail, or e-mail me at steveon@friendtalk.org. +--+ Subject: New Materia Magica Gear Available Posted on: Sat Nov 30 22:48:12 2002 A new set of Materia Magica gear including stickers, hooded sweatshirts, t-shirts, coffee cups, mousepads, and even postcards is now available at the Materia Magica Merchandise Shop located at http://www.cafeshops.com/ingenii Check it out today! +--+ Subject: Security Information - Please Read Posted on: Thu Oct 24 22:50:40 2002 It's time again for another warning about safety on the Internet from your friends, the Immortal Staff of Materia Magica. 1) Under no circumstances should you lend your password to anyone else! Giving your password to someone for even a second can allow them to change it and lock you out of the system. Don't lend your character to anyone for any reason, it just isn't worth it. 2) Under no circumstances should you use the same password on this system as you do on other games or locations! These systems may not be secured, and it may be an easy matter for someone to snipe your password from them. 3) Making use of 'port bounces' or 'proxies' puts the private information you send to the Materia Magica server (e.g., passwords, and private communication with friends) at HIGH risk of being seen by someone with malicious intent. As Immortals, it is our job to make every attempt to safeguard your private information, however, we cannot take action against third parties who have intercepted your transmissions through other means. 4) If you use any kind of shared Internet connection, such as a cable modem, or school ethernet connection, we strongly urge you to change your password often. On certain networks, it is very easy for someone to "snoop" your password information. 5) Along the same lines, be very careful when using a public computer - you usually will not know if the connection is secure or not, and if you use a program available on that computer it is usually very easy for someone to obtain your password from the program logs or buffers. (Especially if you take advantage of the "save password" feature available from many gaming clients). 6) If someone gives you a URL to go to, even one that looks like it is from Materia Magica's site or another site associated with the game, unless you know exactly what you're doing, don't go! Recently someone has been passing around a URL that LOOKS like it is going to Materia Magica's homepage, but instead redirects you someplace else that looks like the homepage. You can see the address has changed in the browser location area, and the page obviously asks you for your password. This is a blatant attempt to steal passwords by an unscrupulous individual. 7) Materia Magica will not send unsolicited emails to you, so any email you receive that looks like it is from this site, be sure that it is a legitimate one in response to an email you sent us. If you see any suspicious behavior, or get any strange emails or get asked to do anything unusual that might compromise the security of your character, email the Administrators first and check at admin@materiamagica.com. We know many of you are making a great committment to your character. We hope that you can assist us in safeguarding your information by taking the above precautions. The Immortals of Materia Magica +--+ Subject: Melee Tournament Posted on: Mon Aug 26 19:38:28 2002 Ariandis is running a sponsored melee tournament for all level groups. For more details, see the announcements board on the Materia Magica website. www.materiamagica.com Good Luck! +--+ Subject: 2002 Web Site Contest Winners! Posted on: Sun Aug 4 22:54:09 2002 Congratulations to the Materia Magica 2002 Web Site Contest Winners, as well as everyone who entered the contest. All of the web sites were really good this year, so we have expanded the awards. Results and other information can be found here: http://www.materiamagica.com/events/websitecontest2002_winners.php and the contest rules and expanded award information can be found here: http://www.materiamagica.com/events/websitecontest2002.php The Immortals of Materia Magica +--+ Subject: Sound FX Posted on: Wed Jul 31 10:05:52 2002 Just a notice for those of you who don't know - Materia Magica supports sound effects! To find out more information and to download the sound packs (if you are using a client that supports MSP or MXP, like Zmud or Portal, that is), point your browser at: http://www.materiamagica.com/towne/index.php?news_id=28 +--+ Subject: Scheduled Downtime Posted on: Mon Jul 15 16:06:08 2002 Materia Magica and the website will be down on Sunday, July 21st for scheduled maintenance from around 10 am to noon, Central Standard Time. We are moving the servers to a larger rack in a nicer and better maintained building of our host. Players shouldn't notice any difference once the machines come back up. +--+ Subject: Security Reminder Posted on: Thu Jan 25 14:55:23 2001 There have been more attempts lately to steal people's passwords. As a security reminder, please be careful with your password for the game, because the Materia Magica administrators cannot reimburse you lost items or gold that are stolen due to ignorance. 1) Avoid saving your password via "automatic logins" (such as in ZMUD) unless you KNOW no one else has access to your computer. 2) Avoid running unknown executable files, DLLs or scripts that you receive from other people, unless you know enough about what you're doing to have examined them closely and look for bugs or possible backdoors. Beware people offering "bot scripts" or other items of the sort. After all, these people are intentionally violating the game rules, how scrupulous do you think they're going to be? 3) Under no circumstances run executable files received from an unknown source, and even if you know the source you should still check them out with a good virus scanner. 4) Accessing the game from school or a library, or anyplace else there is an unsecured public Internet connection, is an easy way for someone to steal your password. It's very easy for anyone with very little 'hacking' knowledge to run a program to monitor Internet traffic and snipe logins and passwords. 5) Avoid using the same password you use on Materia Magica for any other game or web site! 6) Beware of people advertising other games or web sites, they are forbidden on Materia Magica and it is probably just an attempt to try to steal your password. Even just connecting to a web site or another game can give them access to your IP address, which they can then use to check and see if you have any security holes or backdoors installed on your system. 7) Be careful in your use of programs like ICQ and Instant Messinger. In some cases they can be used to obtain your IP address, which is all a "hacker" or "script kiddie" needs to examine your system for vulnerabilities or possible backdoors already installed. Protect your IP like you would your password. Above all, if it seems fishy, or too good to be true, it probably is. The Administrators of Materia Magica +--+ Subject: Message Board Addition Posted on: Thu Jan 18 16:15:37 2001 I've added private message boards to each clan, only clan members of your clan should be able to view/post to your message boards. See http://www.materiamagica.com/towne/message for more information and use. Vassago +--+ Subject: Password safety, again Posted on: Thu Jan 11 01:11:56 2001 We've said this before, but its worth saying again because some fool, who has been subsequently deleted, was trying another password scam. No immortal will EVER ask you for your password, in person, in tells or in email. If you have gotten any tells or emails asking for such info, I'd suggest you change your password now. Any questions about your password or challenge phrases should be sent to admin@materiamagica.com and that email precisely, so don't be suckered by any look-alike addresses or promises Also I will add the cursory reminder do not use port bounces etc or you also run the risk of your password being intercepted, networked computers are also particularly at risk. Trent