The News Archive contains all the Radio Eternity back stories to late 2004.

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May 2007:

Bête Noire attacks -- Idaho, USA & Calcutta India

• A Bête Noire was slipped into the home of a mortal Magdalen follower early this month, replacing the home owner's housecat.  When a neighbor brought the original cat back (which was found in a nearby park), the Bête Noire attacked the home owner, requiring her to be transported to the local hospital after receiving more than 20 bite wounds from the dark beast.  There are currently no leads on who is responsible for bringing the dark beast into the home or why that particular follower was chosen.
• A local farmer hunting for what he thought was the dog or jackal responsible for the disappearance of his chickens discovered one of his young calves making a meal of his poultry.  The young cow was killed and Arachne Probes are currently attempting to discover just what it was that pushed the beast that level, considering Bête Noire are not known for changing dietary habits as part of their darkening.

Rescued Peri -- Kamogawa, Japan

• A member of the Peri, trapped by human faith after his battle with a member of the Drove Gaki in late 2004, was recently rescued after being discovered at Kominato Hotel Mikazuki in Kamogawa, south of Tokyo.  Murusaki Ichiro had become trapped into what eventually became the form of a glittering bathtub made of solid gold.  The tub, valued by humanity at ¥120 ($1.21 million American) sat in the hotel's shared bathroom, flanked by two crane statues.  Visitors were allowed to take a dip in the "tub" but it was only available for a few hours a day for "security reasons".  Fortunately a member of the Oni who was staying at the resort hotel somehow recognized the trapped immortal and contacted members of the Sharakai in the area.  Ichiro was rescued and brought back to the Peri, where it is said that he will be able to regain his true form after a few months of therapy now that he is away from any possible affects of human faith.

D'Arcade shipment foiled -- Stuttgart, Germany

• A local shipment of the supernatural drug Odyssey was derailed a few days ago by members of the Hemari Tribe, in retaliation for actions which sold out their allies among the Terat in Romania late last month.  The shipment was replaced ... with a sex doll.  The doll was activated while at the post office in Stuttgart, causing the parcel to vibrate and make rather odd noises.  This sparked a bomb alert within the postal office, summoning the local authorities.  The rather public incident has brought the Dark Arcade out to negotiate for the return of the shipment, and likely will cause a minor bruising to the relationship between them and the Hemari.

Unidentified individual robs Alaskan Bank -- Anchorage Alaska, USA

• An unidentified member of the himsati race robbed a bank in Alaska on May 1st, brandishing a torch made from a torn t-shirt and a metal pole.  The individual, described as a black male in his late 20's, abou 5'7" with a medium build, was wearing a mask that covered part of his face.  He easily eluded mortal authorities, and Terat Scourges that attempted to reach him found him protected by a number of fairly powerful cloaking and defense serenades.  He was escaped into the Underground outside of the city and Terat and Peri Explorers are currently leading the chase in an attempt to discover either his whereabouts or identity.

Roane outpost brought into mortal news media -- Pacific Ocean

• For the last several years the Roane have been grafting larger portions to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the North Pacific Gyre (interior of one of the five major rotational ocean flow zones in the world) where all sorts of marine debris find themselves deposited.  Recently with the introduction of what appears to be either a mantle entrance or some form of connection to Ys, the rate of garbage pickup has increased.  To this end the Proteans have made formal request to the Regents of several cities (most notably San Francisco which is only about 1,000 miles to the East of the zone) that influence be passed over the mortal population to assist in hindering the increase in the yet unfinished aquatic fortresses size.  Currently the refuse patch covers an area larger than the US State of Texas.  Protean scouts are currently setting up to penetrate into the zone to discover exactly what is being done.  Meanwhile, the quickest possible solution to cutting down on the speed the refuse is gathering is a proposed ban on a number of plastic uses within various major cities.  San Francisco is looking likely to be the first to adopt such as early as this fall.

April 2007:

Kodama Drove testing of HPV -- Indonesia, south of Jakarta

• Dede lives in a remote village south of Jakarta, he fears he may be killed by the tree-like growths that cover his body.  He has root-like structures growing out of his body - branches that can grow up to 5cm a year and protrude from his hands and feet, and welts covering his whole body.  His condition is caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), a fairly common infection causing small warts to develop on sufferers.  But it is believed members of the Kodama Drove have somehow created a genetic "fault" making his body unable to contain the warts.
• The Hemari have called in several members of the Tuatha tribe -- specifically from the Amaranth -- to see if they can stop the mystical process that has been initiated within Dede.  They are hoping to rid him of the power bound to him in the hopes that human medicine can take over.

Adze spreading maggot infection -- Colorado USA

• A Colorado USA resident picked up unwanted visitors during a recent trip to Belize.  At first thinking he merely had some nasty insect bites or a minor case of shingles; but once they began to move on their own a doctor discovered five bot fly larvae living inside the man's head near the top of his skull.  Bot flies rely on mosquitoes, stable flies and other insects to carry their eggs to a host.  Though bot fly infections are rarely routine in certain parts of Central and South America, the ability for the eggs to be injected that deep under the skin along the skull is a true rarity.
• After the bot larvae had been removed, members of the Eremites present in the area where able to retrieve them for study.  The larvae had been mutated and if left alone would not have matured into normal bot flies, they would have instead burrowed into the brain and taken control of the host, using him to spread more larvae into the area and infect more individuals.  Currently the Eremites, along with Osiri and Sharakai, are presently investigating the holiday vacation the individual spent in Belize, to search out other potential victims to aid them and stop the spread of the "infection".

Terat takes down chopper -- Anchorage, Alaska USA

• A wildlife biologist made the mistake of thinking a local member of the Terat was prime for study due to his large size and obviously extremely health stature.  After being shot with a rather large tranquilizer, the Terat had no choice but to force the helicopter to the ground in order to escape before being overcome by the tranquilizer.  He was able to charge the chopper and damage the tail rotor to force it down and escape.

The Equine Exchange -- Berlin, Germany

• An early-morning bank customer had a bit of a shock when he found a horse standing in line at the automated teller in front of him.  It seems the horse's owner, identified only as Wolfgang H., had a bit too much to drink the evening before and decided to sleep it off inside the heated foyer of the bank.
• The small commotion caused was more than enough to allow members of an unknown group to enter into a small regional post for the Eremite Hospitallers Quiet Culture and steal a number of documents.  No word yet on exactly what those documents were or what other effects have resulted from this incident.

March 2007:

Sandwich Spread Riot -- HMP Edmunds Hill (near Stradishall, Suffolk)

• Two jugglers and four scourges were called in to the prison after discovering that several of the inmates had been secretly brewing alcohol using Marmite for the last several weeks, fermenting hoarded fruit juice.  Once intoxicated the inmates went on an all-night rampage in the Category-C jail.  Mortal warders in anti-riot gear were influenced to seal off the area as the inmates began to wreck it rather than risk sparking worse violence.  By morning a team of negotiators were sent in, but the dozen or so inmates were so hung over that they immediately surrendered.  No one was hurt.
• Scourges have begun investigations as at least one of the mortals involved is believed to be involved with known members of D'Arcade.  At least three previously unknown immortals have been identified as entering the facility during the two weeks prior to the alcohol-inspired riot.

Toadzilla -- Darwin, Australia

• A giant cane toad the size of a small dog and nicknamed Toadzilla was captured during a community hunt in Darwin.  Environmentalists have been trying to stop the spread of the poisonous creatures across the country's tropics.  The frogs were introduced from Hawaii by Drove Roane in the 1930's; mortals attempted to use them to control the native cane beetles.  The Terat sponsored environmental group FrogWatch, which organizes hunts to destroy the toads, says the creature measured 20.5 cm (8 in.) and weighed 861g (1.9 lb.).  There are potentially as many as 200 million of the toads loose in Australia today.  Their poison is strong enough to kill a crocodile should they eat one.  Adults average 10 to 15 centimetres (4–6 in) in length; the largest recorded specimen weighed 2.65 kg (5.8 lb) with a length of 38 cm (15 in) from snout to vent.
• Tribe Terat is currently investigating a number of reports of these larger than normal specimens being reported in the vicinity of Darwin, including recent claims that some of the toads have been seen "spitting" poison at other moderately large creatures.

Nein Smoking Perhaps -- Germany

• Another twist has come along in the long battle the Eremites have been waging to take a stronger foothold back into the government of Germany since the end of the Betrayal War.  While one country after another across Europe has imposed a ban on smoking in public, Germany has also placed a ban for bars and restaurants... but possibly not all bars or not all parts of bars, maybe.  The governors of Germany's 16 federal states met in Berlin to discuss the smoking ban.  Contrary to expectations they hammered out a wide-ranging agreement; however the individual states will be responsible for putting the ban into law.  Most say they will do so by the end of this year or early 2008, but many have decided to include certain exceptions that the agreed ban allows for.  The change to allow the exceptions appears to have come from a number of "lobbyists" sponsored by D'Arcade and possibly intervention from Drove Nibelung (The Hoarders)

Octogenarian Hero -- The Hague, Netherlands

• A small group of Hemari in The Hague have found an inspired way to ward off would-be thieves, shoplifters and pickpockets.  During a recent shoplifting attempt from a local supermarket, the 29-year-old shoplifter found himself miraculously being knocked off his bicycle by an 81-year-old man also on a bicycle.  The cyclist injured his hand and shin in the fall, a spokesperson for the tribe has stated the Hemari will be finding a way to reimburse him for his medical expenses.
• The Hemari have taken to singing songs of heroism on a number of unlikely residents in the area, triggering them to affect the individual when the need is seen.  This has caused not just the one elderly hero to arise, but several others in the area.  Would-be thieves and other scoundrels are now finding it quite hard to tell who is an easy mark and who is not.

February 2007:

Magdalen Score --  Sotheby's Auction House, London U.K.

• A rare copy of the first printed atlas of England and Wales was obtained by the Magdalen via phone bidder, as they managed to interrupt a representative from the Alexandrites and the phone in the winning bid.  Printed between 1579 and 1590 it is 40 pages of maps and plates, a landmark in Elizabethan cartography.  It also contains charts depicting Sir Francis Drake's journey to the West Indies and America from 1585 to 1586.  The book was offered as part of the sale of the library of the Earls of Macclesfield.

Kinky Diplomat --  El Salvador, Central America

• The Israeli ambassador to El Salvador found himself in the hands of Drove Anopheles and then out on the streets of the small republic's capital ... drunk and naked apart from bondage gear.  He was found by local police near the Israeli embassy, with his hands bound and only able to identify himself after a large rubber ball was removed from his mouth.  The ambassador was promoted from a technical position in the Foreign Ministry and this was his first posting.  However, an account of the "details" of the incident reveals that somehow the ambassador was also on the other side of the capital at the same time.  No evidence has been found of tampering with the ambassador's memories, so it is believed he was duped and restrained in order for someone bearing his likeness to accomplish some task on the other side of the capital.  No leads have surfaced as to what actually might have taken place while the ambassador was ... otherwise occupied.

Elusive Shade Gives Birth --  Taiping, Malaysia

• Members of both the Tuatha and Sharakai Tribes have reason to celebrate, efforts to help cultivate the Linsang species of Civet have resulted in the birth of a rare banded linsang at the Taiping Zoo recently.  Related to cats, these tiny members of the civit family eat rodents, but there is little documented information on this nocturnal mammal.  The creature is only native to the rainforests of Malaysia, Thailand and parts of Indonesia.  The species was nearly wiped out during the last Hive War, and efforts to study the species and what abilities it might add to the himsati race have met with limited success in the last few decades.  The creatures have proven supernaturally elusive even to skilled hunters, so very few have been available to study to the himsati race, let alone the mortal world.

Klingons For Parliament --  Finland

• Members of the Net Spiders altered the campaign website of Jyrki Kasvi, who is currently campaigning for re-election into the Finnish parliament.  A translation of his website in Klingon was posted, though a few difficulties occurred:  there are no Klingon words from matters such as tolerance, or for many colors -- including green, which is the party whose banner he is running under for the upcoming elections in mid-March.  But he's so impressed by it, he has decided to leave it up and go with it; it seems that Jyrki is an avid "Trekkie" himself (www.kasvi.org).

January 2007:

Paraglider Attacked By Drove Tengu --  near Brisbane Australia

• Cheating death at 2,500 feet, a top British paraglider was savaged by what appeared to be giant eagles during the Killarney Paragliding Classic, an eight-day event held 120 miles from Brisbane.  Hanging in her harness below a torn chute, she plummeted out of control for over 500 feet before miraculously managing to land safely.  The birds, which were determined to be members of Drove Tengu, repeatedly tried to claw at her eyes and then tore her parachute-style canopy.  "One even got entangled in my paraglider lines and was shrieking and flapping like a possessed thing." the paraglider stated.  The presence of Drove Tengu in this area of Australia and in such a public display has brought members of the Tribe of Sharakai as well as Arachne and Peri into the area to work alongside the local Terat to see if this is possibly the start of further conflict with them in the region.

How Not To Collect A Ransom --  Atlanta Georgia, USA

• A member of the Phoenix quickly squashed a kidnapping attempt in Atlanta.  With a small bit of convincing, the now inept kidnappers allowed their victim to enter a bank -- alone -- to withdraw money; while they went next door to buy chicken sandwiches.  The victim informed police that the two men held her against her will at an apartment complex in Cobb County over the weekend.  She did not understand why the men suddenly drove her to the Wachovia Bank and ordered her to go in and withdraw money.  The victim, still suspecting some kind of trick, passed a note to the bank employee, who then called police.  The first suspect was arrested as he attempted to run from the restaurant; the second escaped the mortal authorities, but not the Phoenix Harlequin who quickly assumed the guise of the victim to lure the second kidnapper to her.  The kidnapper was dealt with on the spot.

Murder Suspect; EVERYONE --  Fago, Spain

• The entire population of a small hamlet in the foothills of the Pyrenees, in the Aragon province, is currently under investigation as possible suspects in the murder of the town's mayor.  After receiving repeated anonymous threat letters he failed to return home from a late council meeting in a nearby town.  The next day his battered body was discovered in a roadside ditch, having been shot at least four times in the head and chest at point-blank range.
• The farmers turned against him when he stopped the centuries-old custom of herding livestock through the village.  The hunters became annoyed when he refused to issue them shooting licenses and the local drinkers revolted after he prevented the hamlet's only bar from setting out tables on the terrace in summer.  The majority of the 37 permanent residents have been taking in for questioning.  The mayor was involved in over four dozen individual court cases with other homeowners over a twelve-year period.  He even banned playing basketball in the central plaza, a hobby enjoyed by the only two children living in the village.  A number of villagers expressed how the mayor ran the village as his own personal kingdom.
• This has created quite a stir among the Paragon Council, leaving it open to debate about the lack of tribal presence in smaller towns and villages across the Habitat.  It is believed after investigation, that members of the Trasgu (Asturian for "goblin") may have been influencing the mayor and using the area.  Probes and Keepers have been sent to the area to watch over and investigate for any signs of foul play beyond mortal capacity.

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A virgin birth at the Chester Zoo in England will take place near Christmas.  The resident komodo dragon, Flora, laid eggs despite never having had a mate.  DNA tests confirmed that she is the sole parent, an immaculate conception.  According to the journal Nature, this is a process called parthenogenesis, which has only been documented in just 0.1 percent of vertebrates.  Like Flora, the komodo dragon at the London Zoo, named Sungai, also hatched offspring last April from a virgin birth.  Several Jugglers have been working hurriedly to cover most of these up as they've been happening around the world, but these two unfortunately slipped by unnoticed at first, until it was too late.  The question remains who is responsible for this and why, as evidence shows signs of faith effects upon the large lizards -- most likely a curse from one of the himsati race.

A small number of Peri from the "Toys" kin were rescued just prior to being sold through the online website "Dream of Doll".  For those not in the know, The Toys were created when the corrupt Ganieda used a special shard-charm to enslave several female members of the Tribe and then alter their himsati through powers she learned from ancient Droves.  The Toys have himsati that appear like mortal toys (most notably human dolls).

The Amazons of the Hemari staged a military coup d'état against the Anopheles influenced Thailand government this month.  This met with disapproval not only from some of the other Tribes in how it was handled, but also from Aphrodite who served as the Paragon of the Hemari during their time as the Court of Desire.  The coup was relatively bloodless and the Amazons promise to remove martial law within the year.  This ouster has led the Anopheles to scatter into surrounding Burma, Laos and Vietnam -- which is not sitting well with the Tengu who dominate these three territories and were already on uneasy terms with the Anopheles in Thailand.

In Ketchum Idaho, mortal authorities encountered a weakened 12-foot Cannibal Drone that had escaped confrontation with a local Phoenix.  They were able to kill it, but before local Jugglers could cover up, the "Cyborg Burmese Python" was transported to the city's animal control center and examined.  An account by Dave Methlian (one of the officers) stated that "This thing was extremely fast, it slithered around about as fast as a dog could run". He went on to add that it's eyes seemed to glow red, "and it had these demonic eyes that looked like they were on fire."  They finally cornered it by a fence in the back of a hardware store. Tranquilizer darts wouldn't put the thing down. All the usual tools, harnesses, nets, and hooks became overpowered by the extremely strong snake. When the python began charging towards the officers, Robert Kendall, another officer, reacted quickly, "I just took out a gun, and shot it in the head."  An autopsy at the animal control center revealed the network of odd electrical and mechanical parts.  While city officials invited researchers at nearby University of Idaho to come provide further analysis, they plan to keep the snake locally as a future tourist attraction.

The last of eight sarcophagi from a burial chamber in Egypt's Valley of the Kings revealed ancient garlands of flowers.  Researchers and media gathered for the opening of the 3,000-year-old coffin, which archaeologists hoped would contain the mother of the famous boy king Tutankhamun.  Instead it contained strips of fabric and woven laurels of delicate dehydrated flowers.  "I prayed to find a mummy, but when I saw this, I said it's better—it's really beautiful," Nadia Lokma, the chief curator of Cairo's Egyptian Museum, told reporters gathered for the opening.  The flowers are likely the remains of garlands strung with gold strips that were worn by ancient Egyptian royalty.  "It's very rare—there's nothing like it in any museum. We've seen things like it in drawings, but we've never seen this before in real life. It's magnificent."  The Valley of the Kings is a desert region near Luxor used as a royal burial ground for several hundred years.  The newfound chamber is the first one discovered since King Tut's in 1922.  Lanny Bell, an Egyptologist at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, told National Geographic News that finding any tomb in the Valley of the Kings is "really exciting," regardless of how it was used.  Bell said the newly discovered tomb, known as KV63, is "largely, if not exclusively, the remains of an embalming cache."  In ancient Egypt garlands were worn by loved ones of the deceased and also left at their tomb, just as many people leave flowers at a cemetery today.  Jugglers of the Osiri Tribe were commended for stepping in during the findings and removing evidence of other cultures from the sarcophagi left there during their battles with the Eremites and Sharakai roughly 2,000 years ago.

Members of the Sharakai, Osiri and Hemari are currently seeking out potential members of Drove Anopheles that have likely plundered a rare and exquisitely carved 1,500-year-old stone box from a cave near the city of Cancuén in Guatemala.  The thieves have been tracked into the United States and it is expected the artifact may be traveling to Europe next.  The stone box dates to the "Early Classic" period of the Maya Indian civilization (250 - 600 AD), a period when the Anopheles and Osiri were driven out of that area of Mesoamerica by the forces of the Dark Lady, leaving the Olmecs and Maya mortal tribes in dire straits.  The box itself was carved from volcanic rock and was covered in intricate hieroglyphs.  The vessel is only the fourth of its kind to emerge from the so-called Maya rain forest of Central America.  Symbolic figures and characters -- including the god of the underworld Ahau-Kin -- adorn the sides of the box.

Magdalen and Osiri Probes seek answers to the unexpected religious ruling (or fatwa) issued recently by Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa -- the country's top Muslim religious authority.  The ruling states that based  on the text in the Hadith from the Prophet Muhammad and his companions, that the exhibition of statues in homes is un-Islamic.  The fatwa did not specifically mention statues in museums or public places, but many academics and art lovers are still outraged.  Critics claim the ruling could encourage militants to attack Egypt's thousands of ancient statues, which are a mainstay of the tourist industry, while others point out that the edict has no legal authority as far as the Egyptian government is concerned.  Jamal Elias, a religion professor at Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts, says there's no universal Muslim position on statues and paintings and their display. Many Islamic scholars believe that erecting statues for any purpose is haraam (forbidden by Islam), whether they are memorials to kings or symbols of wisdom and courage, like the Sphinx at Giza, Egypt.  Gomaa, the Egyptian mufti, reportedly pointed to a passage from the hadith that stated, "Sculptors would be tormented most on Judgment Day."

Battles between the Eremites and members of the Apocrypha during 2004 revealed the remains of a small "kingdom" on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa; though to have been obliterated by the largest volcanic eruption in recorded mortal history.  The eruption of the volcano Tambora in 1815 killed 117,000 people in Southeast Asia, including those believed buried under roughly ten feet (three meters) of pumice and ash in the recently discovered village.  Now however, scientists have begun releasing data from their observations since they found the uncovered remains roughly two months after the battles.  Ground-penetrating radar later confirmed the first evidence of the village: a small house.  The researchers excavated the house, where they found the remains of two adults and their belongings: bronze bowls, ceramic pots, iron tools, pieces of furniture, and other artifacts.  The design and decoration of the artifacts suggest that the Tamboran culture was linked through trade to Vietnam and Cambodia.  Records from a historian who visited the village prior to the eruption further suggest that the Tamborans spoke a language unlike others in Indonesia but similar to the languages of Cambodia and Laos.  Up until the 1800's the Tengu had dominance over this area; but the Eremite sponsored Dutch led them to the island paradise.  Indonesia is the 4th most populated country in the world and second in biodiversity of flora and fauna only to Brazil.

Prospective buyers of an office building in Indiana discovered a sealed off floor which had become a time capsule of sorts which included "a stack of canceled checks, all dated between June and December 1930." The "secret" second floor had three doors with frosted glass panels and overhead transoms labeled: "Receptionist - Come In," "Consultation Room. Private," and "Chemical Laboratory."  The offices appear to have been in use by mortal servants of D'Arcade during the darker times in the United States prior to World War II.

Researchers recently announced they failed to prove whether a skull locked in an Austrian museum since 1902 belongs to famed 18th-century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.  The scientists based their study on DNA analysis of the skull and bones exhumed from a Mozart family grave in 2004.  The Associated Press quoted Walther Parson, a scientist with the Institute for Forensic Medicine in Innsbruck who led the investigation, as saying, "For the time being, the mystery of the skull is even bigger."  Part of the mystery stemmed from Mozart's unceremonious burial at an unmarked grave at St. Marx Cemetery outside Vienna in 1791.  To identify his remains, the cemetery's gravedigger is said to have fixed a wire to Mozart's neck when he was buried, according to the London Times. When the gravesite was re-dug a number of years later, the laborer reportedly gave the skull to a friend. It passed through several more hands before it was finally given to the Mozarteum.  Hoping to resolve the mystery once and for all, researchers exhumed skeletons from a Mozart family grave at St. Sebastian Cemetery in Salzburg in fall 2004.  The small plot holds remains ascribed to Mozart's father, Leopold; maternal grandmother; and niece.  Magdalen Probes are attempting to assist, in an effort to determine if the skull truly is his; in which case there are a number of lost items that they seek to find and believe the skull will be useful in attuning to those missing items.

Tribe Terat is demanding the return of a number of beast-tryst skulls discovered in the moat around the famed Tower of London.  It was always suspected the tower was used as a royal menagerie along with storing the Crown Jewels, but it wasn't until the recent discovery of lion skulls in the moat that it was confirmed.  "These lions were potent symbols of monarchy," said Hannah O'Regan, a biologist and zoo historian at Liverpool John Moores University.  "Our research provides important information on some of the earliest lions seen in northern Europe since [European lions] became extinct at the end of the last Ice Age [14,000 to 11,000 years ago]," she added. "It also sheds some light on the conditions and health of animals in one of the world's longest-running menageries."  The royal "zoo" survived for more than 600 years after being founded by King John, the English monarch who reigned from 1199 to 1216.  Radiocarbon dating of skulls of two lions and a leopard support historic documents that suggest big cats first took up residence in the Tower in the 13th century.  The skulls are the only medieval big cat remains found in England. The oldest lion skull dates to between 1280 and 1385.  Big cats are thought to have arrived at the Tower around 1235, when Emperor Frederick II, the Holy Roman Emporer, gave Henry III three leopards after marrying the English king's sister.  The earliest written record of an English lion occurs in 1240. It refers to the upkeep of "the King's lion."
 

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Members of the Osiri and Eremites battled Progeny and Thralls of an unknown Drove in St. Louis.  They were able to rescue an autistic child that is presumed to have knowledge of activities by the enemy within the Morpheum.

In what was probably a last-ditch attempt to influence the remaining hurricane season in the Western Hemisphere, the Morrigan spent several days battling the Sillhouette off the shores of Saint-Marc in the small nation of Haiti.  Storm surges were pushed to the brink and the city was on the brink of total evacuation.  Fortunately, with the assistance of a number of Eremites from Port-au-Prince, casualties were limited to a handful of mortals.  By the time the storms had passed, the Sillhouette had begun making its way Northeast out past the Tukies and Caicos Islands.  It made no attempts on those islands as it passed.  It was last seen near the Tropic of Cancer before Morrigan Slayers had to give up chase.

The industrial city of Dessau Germany (south of Berlin) was rocked by violence yesterday, as the Eremite Tribe attempted to quell a number of riots sparked by recent activity by an unknown Drove family.  A member of the Peri was able to stop and subdue a Progeny in the act of attempting to steal the altarpiece of the Marienkirche, a 16th-century church.  The altarpiece was created by Lucas Cranach, the younger.

The Tuatha Tribe clashed with Shadowen forces recently in the karri forests of Southwest Australia.  The Shadowen were tracking down what appears to be a young member of the Terat.  The young immortal's mind has been damaged, but he is recovering, and it is hoped by the Tuatha that he'll not only be able to provide details about who he is specifically, but also why the Shadowen were chasing after him.

The forces of the Tribe of Sharakai went head to head with the Drove Tengu on the Khao San Road near the Saphan Taksin station at Bangkok.  The Tribe had been pursuing the Tengu Progeny for several days before arriving in Bangkok.  They were able to subdue at least one of the Tengu, and have engaged the locals of the dominate Arachne Tribe to assist in interrogation.

Apocrypha sorcerers engaged members of both the Magdalen and Osiri Tribes at the Canadian Museum of Human Rights, which only recently completed construction well ahead of schedule.  The Magdalen are thought to be using the Museum as a temporary housing for a powerful artifact until the Museum opens.

The Hemari Tribe struck a blow against a Progeny-led prostitution ring running in the streets near the Red Garter Bar in Los Angeles in the United States.  The prostitutes were being mentally enslaved to perform their duties.  Fortunately, the Hemari were finally able to track down the Progeny responsible (though kinship to any specific Drove family is unknown at this time) and send her into the Blue Air, freeing the enslaved prostitutes, both female and male.

Members of the Protean Tribe encountered a Progeny ritual off the coast of Playa Bavaro in the Dominican Republic.  As they encountered the Progeny, storm surges began building in the ocean waters.  The Protean were able to drive off the Progeny and several creatures which appeared to be its servants.  However, since that time, storm activity East of the Dominican Republic has been building steadily.

A cadre of immortals from the Peri tribe has battled a large group of mortals once belonging to the Hecatoncheries Quiet Culture, who had fallen under the influence of Drove Azhoth.  The corrupted mortals were responsible for a number of bizarre murders involving the draining of the victim's blood.  The two Slayers and an Explorer from the Tribe managed to shatter the cult, but it has resulted in a small loss of temporal power in the greater London area.

Eremites discovered and foiled a plot, possibly by the Apocrypha against the Protean Tribe, in Frankfurt Germany.  Rashid bin Abu of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates had seemingly captured an unnamed member of the Protean tribe caught in the state of Ennui.  He hid our brethren in a clutch of  nearly 400 endangered star tortoises and was moving up through Europe and on his way to Croatia.  A Protean Harlequin had been trailing Rashid for nearly a week but lost him upon entering Germany.  Fortunately a keen-eyed member of the Eremite Tribe spotted Rashid and reported his presence to the local regent in Frankfurt and Rashid was caught before he was able to leave the country.

Two members of the Osiri Tribe were vacationing in Waimea when they discovered a hiker among the lava fields in the nearby semi-active volcano.  As the one stayed with him and began directing him in the right direction, the other contacted the local Protean regent and mortals were dispatched via helicopter into the general area where they found him.  The mortal hiker is recovering quickly from his ordeal of being lost for 5 days in the lava fields.

Members of several Tribes found and destroyed an Apocrypha lab in the heart of the Midwestern United States.  The lab had been creating a form of aerosol compound that was capable of negating the ability of a himsati to shift into his natural form, trapping him in his mortal human guise.  In addition, a corrupted Phoenix was also found, and in his possession was a minor artifact that the Tuatha Tribe has been searching for since the beginning of the Great Betrayal.  It is rumored that the artifact is capable of expanding a mantle in their possession, without the need for an additional maker.

Probes of both the Magdalen and Arachne are currently investigating the deaths of several young children who suffered strokes after playing video games.  The incidents were isolated around the Earth, and it is believed that a serenade-based attack on the children occurred slowly over several hours as they played the video games, and may have originated out of the Gremlin Grid.

Tribe Morrigan is currently watching over a Florida company that has developed an environmental absorbent gel that may be capable of  reducing the power level of various weather phenomena such as hurricanes.  However, Tribe Protean detected a strange substance floating in the waters off Florida after the company ran a test in the year 2001.  The Morrigan are keenly interested in using the weapon against the Silhouette, but the Proteans believe the gel left floating in the waters may have side effects that have yet to be determined.  The mortal government of the United States seems to feel the same way, and currently the project is at a standstill.

In Kissimmee Florida today the Phoenix handed down a happy ending when one of their members enabled a man to run across a resort complex and catch a two-year-old girl who was falling three stories from a balcony she had been left alone to play on.  They then proceeded to find the mother and force her to return, where mortal authorities arrested her for child neglect.  The baby is currently being kept under the watchful eyes of a tribal Keeper, while the Morrigan have taken an interest in the man who saved the girl's life as a possible mortal recruit to their ranks.

Tribe Hemari removed a mortal servant of the Alexandrites from a minor position of power within the area of Craiova in Romania.  The police officer was mentally pushed into writing a fine to a local driver for "having a face like a moron and being a big monkey".  The resulting complaint filed with the police department was manipulated by Hemari Jugglers into a demotion for the officer, sending him to a small remote village a few hours away from the city.

Wormine Druids struck a blow against the Tuatha in the Queen Elizabeth National Park in Kampala.  The Tuatha have recently been using that park as part of an arrangement with Tribe Terat.  The extent of their use of the park was unknown as was the exact nature of what they were using the park for.  However, over 300 hippos have died in the park, all poisoned with the anthrax viral strain.  Since the incident, the Tuatha have pulled out of the area, returning ownership to the Terat.  Terat Emissaries have stated that they believe the Wormine Druids are responsible, but no other details have been provided.

Calgary in Alberta Canada suffered a fright when a coyote attacked two children in the city.  An autopsy done by mortal authorities revealed no possible reason as to why the coyote may have attacked, but further investigation by Probes showed that the coyote's mind had been severely altered and that taint was present in the creature's spirit prior to its death.  Anyone with possible information should contact the Calgary Regent's council.

Mortal authorities in Krabi (south of Bangkok) were surprised to discover a rather large python wrapped about the engine of a rental car.  After several hours they were able to remove the python from the car, and released it into the woods.  Arachne Scourges were able to capture the stray member of the Hemari Tribe and extradite her back to her Tribe; she had gone rogue on charges of attempted sabotage to a nearby Hemari Regent's personal sanctuary.

Terat Juggler's worked feverishly on local zoologists in the areas of Manitoba Canada in the last few weeks after a group of Believers witnessed a member of their Tribe making his way after a possible Drove predator in the wilds of Manitoba.  The Jugglers managed to create enough disbelief among the zoologists, that it was enough to pressure most of the press into leaving the story be.

A group of mortal scientists at NASA, under the tutelage of the Magdalen Tribe, are going to launch a rocket from Cape Canaveral to intercept the Tempel 1 comet as it travels just beyond the orbit of Mars, about 206 million kilometers from Earth.  The 37,000km/hour crash should happen on July 4th of this year.  The explosion will be equivalent to igniting 4.5 metric tons of TNT in space.  The Magdalen themselves have been rather tight lipped, about revealing exactly why they are attempting this feat, known as "Deep Impact" in the mortal scientific communities.  Rumors abound of Arachne involvement after the comet was routinely sighted by the Spitzer Space Telescope starting in March of 2004; it is possible that something is housed within the core of this comet that is sought for reclamation.  If this is so, the age of the object would potentially be millions of years old and date back to original Arachne explorations of the Dominions after the Abzulim - Primal War.

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A terrible undersea quake caused a tsunami to rage upon Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and other countries well into Africa and other parts of Asia.  There is absolutely no explanation, both Peri and Protean forces are scouring the nearby areas of Ys and the Underground.  All Tribes are encouraged to involve themselves and their mortal followers in providing whatever relief they can to the unfortunate souls caught in this disaster.  It is possible that the Silhouette was involved, but no proof has been brought forth at this time.  Please take a moment to give your thoughts of hope to our mortal and himsati cousins in these regions.

(Webmaster's Note: Submission was put in before true nature of tragedy was known to general public in real life.  It was allowed to remain in order to be fair, but has been rewritten slightly in order not to belittle the horror of this real-life tragedy).

The remains of two pregnant drove reptiles from the Dominions, resembling the Keichousaurus species of ancient Earth reptiles from 230 million years ago, were accidentally uncovered by mortal scientists in China this month.  The Tribe of Sharakai had destroyed the larger creatures but missed the two smaller ones, which effectively had been fossilized during the battle.  The scientists have used these specimens to conclude that the entire species of reptiles known as sauropterygians gave birth to live young within the water, instead of laying eggs.   Currently the fossilized remains of the creatures are being kept in the National Museum of Natural Science in Taiwan.  Each of the creatures was about 1 foot long (30 cm).  The research team that found them said most of the fossilized embryos were facing backwards, instead of forwards, so mortal experts believe the creatures probably died because of complications during birth, it was likely they were giving birth during the battle and never entered into the fight with the members of the Sharakai Tribe, therefore they went unnoticed.

Explorers of the Terat Tribe have recently contacted the Peri concerning the recent plumes of steam that have been escaping Mount St. Helens in the United States, Washington State.  The entire Cascade Peaks range has been subjected to a number of earthquakes over the last few weeks.  It is believed that a connection to the Dominion of the Underground may exist within the semi-dormant volcano and that Drove activity is occurring within the area.

A pair of campers resting in Australia on the beach in Queensland were attacked by an enraged Bete Noire Crocodile until it was put down by a nearby Phoenix Keeper that just came off guardianship duty nearby.  The campers were rushed to a nearby hospital and mortal authorities were convinced the crocodile was shot by mortals.

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