Press Release

[Blackpetal]

For Immediate Release: September 24, 29477

Schuemann and Associates' Senior Partner Severs Ties with Devil's Advocate organization

Racheal "Blackpetal" Schuemann and Devil's Advocate yesterday mutually agreed to end Schuemann's association with the organization and to end her legal retainer.

"I have been with Devil's Advocate virtually since it's founding," Schuemann said. "Nothing could be harder for me than leaving an organization that has become my surrogate family on Rubi-Ka. However, recent developments have made it clear to me that the organization, and Omni-Tek as a whole, are moving in the wrong direction. I hope to have a more detailed statement at a later time, but suffice it to say that I bear no ill-will towards either the membership or the Board of Directors of Devil's Advocate."

Schuemann and Associates was establishedon Rubi-Ka in 29475 and has been at the legal forefront of issues ranging from human and employee rights to reaching a sustainable peace settlement with the Clans.

Devil's Advocate is a world-class leader in information and data retrieval, and is recognized as one of the premier organizations on Rubi-Ka, with a diverse and talented pool of employees in all branches of corporate service.

[Nexeus]

Zane reading the gridnews takes a look at the article. With eyes wide open and his mouth gaped he only wonders of the possibilities that are to come.

[Vixentrox]

Cathern reads the news and wonders out loud, "Betji about to fill out that Clan app form now?"

[Tussa]

[Oh god...not another one who changes to clan?]

[Sundai]

((OOC: People either love sucking the souls out of white holy Swift Silvertail ponies... or they hate it ))

A loss deeply felt across all of OT. We are sorry to see you go.

[Tussa]

[Yes, except the ponies are beasts and not alligned to anyone]

[Demenzia]

((OOC statement:

Not completely sure if this means simply leaving DA OR switching to Clan. In any case, MY position on this is pretty clear:

I'm frigging *tired* of any OT player and their dog switching to Clan. REALLY tired.

Yeah, well, go all join the Clans. Go all live in the shiny-happy-people's world where the sun always shine and everybody is nice and kind. For that matter, to my eyes, you could be going to hell as well. I've seen way too many GOOD OT roleplayers go this way, over the past months, and this irks me to quite an extent now.

Other OOC statement: never, and I say, NEVER tell ME, Demenzia's player, to have my char switch to Clan, or chances are that I simply decide to ignore you, depending if I'm in a bad mood or not. Tell it IC, you'll be shunned, which is normal; but OOC, this is just a joke I can't take anymore. Sorry if I'm sounding weird, but anyway, if after 2 years of this game being out people haven't realized yet on which side they have put their chars, then it's a kind of RP I can't care much about anyway.

And for those who wouldn't have noticed, I am exasperated and even angry at this attitude. Especially when these people are the same ones who'll one day be whining that there's no opposition left. Now go flame or whatever, I don't care, I can't care anymore.

/Demenzia off))

[Aerinyi]

((Oh, come on.... everyone likes sucking the souls out of holy white swift silvertail ponies. It's like jello like that. There's always room.))

[Fixerben]

Fixerben stands motionless staring at his screen, his mouth gapes open, his eyes wide, and his upper lip twitches. His guns fall from his hands and he stares blankly into space. As he sits there a small sound escapes from his mouth...

meep?

[Blackpetal]

Hello, everyone.

Since Schuemann and Associates issued its press release, I have recieved countless messages of support from friends and well-wishers, many of whom have inferred, incorrectly as it turns out, that I am no longer an Omni-Tek employee.

I would like to correct this and state that I am still a citizen of Omni-Tek, and I am still fulfilling my day-to-day responsibilities as an employee of the corporation. It would be premature to speculate on my eventual status, but a further statement will be coming in the days and weeks ahead.

Thank you so much for all the kind words. ^_^

-Racheal

[_________Don Carnage]

*Sigh* looksl ike i must stay outta trouble. Petal is the best lawyer I ever had. I am very sad to see her go and feel like a deep gash has been torn into the organisation that cannot be replaced. I wish her well and hope for the best, we miss you.

[_____Chelle / Ylemae]

Other OOC statement: never, and I say, NEVER tell ME, Demenzia's player, to have my char switch to Clan, or chances are that I simply decide to ignore you, depending if I'm in a bad mood or not. Tell it IC, you'll be shunned, which is normal; but OOC, this is just a joke I can't take anymore. Sorry if I'm sounding weird, but anyway, if after 2 years of this game being out people haven't realized yet on which side they have put their chars, then it's a kind of RP I can't care much about anyway.

<(

<gives Dem a hug> I can feel Demenzia's pain. Since joining OT, I have asked around who the role-players are around here and usually I get one of two answers: 1) Should've been here when SPARTA was around. 2) They went clan.

Though, this doesn't really surprise me. No one likes to play the under-dog usually. Being OT means you are bound to be sub-servient to CEO Ross, since he's your boss. As a Clanner, you are your own boss, so screw that =p Also, I have noticed (personally speaking here) no one usually likes to play the 'good' guys. Now, we all know OT is labelled as the good guys here (yes, they did some bad things sure, but just about every county in the world has dealt it's hands dirty in the slave trade of people so who hasn't done bad things?) and thus naturally you would want to rebel (you can't rebel against society in real life without usually winding up in jail afterall). Thus, this is two strikes against playing OT and two good reasons to go Clan. All I have to say is... those are stupid reasons to go Clan.

Furthermore... anyone who DOES go Clan... RP-Wise... I must say should not be treated with respect. This goes both ways (going OT from Clan) as well. Why? Who trusts a traitor? Though this is usually ignored... when someone 'switches'. No one wants to play the under-dog... I repeat... and not being trusted and an outcast is probably the worst type.

Alright... enough ooc-ranting... dangit Dem! =p You got me started and I couldn't shut up =)

)>

Lemmy's com beeps in her room. A message was found bearing one of her keywords, being the name of her father's organization. She had decided to keep track of any news, as it might be the only information she gets with her father never telling her anything about work. She frowned, reading Petal's words.

It was only a short while ago she had met this stern woman. Stern? Well... Lemmy didn't know that for sure but she was pretty strict in how she talked to her. Lemmy called her "Ms. Pettie" and that irked her... quite a bit. So much so her father had almost been tempted to take her arm and walk her home. In the end, she had agreed to go by Ms Petal... which made her father smile a bit. But as soon as she met now Ms Petal was leaving. But to where?

A second beep caught Lemmy's attention. Turning, she keyed up the message incoming to her. Lemmy's mind quickly turned away from Ms Petal's announcement as the message was from one of the Teachers at Jobe Research... informing her of some homework needing to be done tomorrow. Quickly... she got to work on that hoping to get some free time later in the night...

[Betji]

Back in her modest office-apartment in Borealis, Betji finishes reading the press release Petal had mentioned the previous night. Her comm sounds in her ear.

“Yes, yes, I’ve read it. No, I don’t have any official statement. I can say that she wasn’t clan last night, since her redeemed garden key wouldn’t work! Remember, all her friends, acquaintances and associates have omni papers. If she does change, it’s not going to be quick or easy.”

The comm sounds again.

“Yes, yes, I know my papers read clan at the moment. Petal’s still are omni. In fact, her redeemed garden keys and passes didn’t work last night because of that. She had to terminate to get in.

“As for my papers, it was simply a convenience to make my garden keys work. It’s a shame that the Redeemed and Unredeemed have taken sides in the Rubi-Ka political squabbles to such a degree that garden keys are linked to citizenship papers. All this talk about personal deeds and faction levels being important seems like propaganda and JAME marketing spin. At the core, what counts is what your papers say, not what you’ve done. Just a moment, I have another call…”

“Yes, it’s true, an attempt was made on Professor Drake’s life a few days ago, and it’s also true that I was in the vicinity at that time. I noticed quite a few energy blast-holes in the vicinity, looking a lot like X-3 fire. It was futile, of course… he’s well protected. But you can quote me as saying I wish it had succeeded. That mendacious fool treats people no better than lab leets. A scientist with no regard for humanity is as dangerous as a Star-Nova device in the hands of a fanatic. Just a moment, I’m on an earlier call...”

By this time, all the live channels, waiting channels, and mail channels on her comm. were clogged with calls. Betji smiled, flipped open the back of the unit, and slid in a small erase chip as she toggled the “afk” block button. In a bit over a second, peace reigned once more.

“Poor Petal,” Betji ruminates, “If my comm is this bad, I can’t imagine what hers must be. Perhaps it’s a blessing that she’s so busy back on Old Earth.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------

((OOC – Incidentally, I know of many excellent and enjoyably fascinating RPers who retain their omni citizenship. More than a few have defended the unredeemed to me as merely “misunderstood,” or implied that once you learned more, their actions would be prove more correct than the redeemed. As for the complaint that RPers who move from omni to clan are wrong, iptso facto, I suggest that complaint be nailed to the forehead of a certain demented Norwegian designer who keeps trying to force people into choosing sides. Every time a new twist to such forcings emerges, some people will have a crisis of conscience that obliges them to make changes.))

[Nevver]

((You know what it is? Omni hasn't been evil enough and the Clans have done their share of evil things in the past and many players who might not have wanted to play the bad guy didn't mind being Omni since the Clans appeared to be just as bad as Omni. Now, we have this whole Redeemed/Unredeemed thing with just a bit of backstory and the fact that the creatures on each side actually look good or bad. So, this is throwing everyone for a loop right in the middle of everything by making things more clear as to who is supposed to be good or bad.

The one thing that remains to be seen is whether there will be any action from the Redeemed and Unredeemed in the way of story updates or GM events to see if there will be any follow through on this or if the sides will simply become blurred again due to either lack of story updates or events that make it clear who is who. If the story remains stagnant or events are not on a more "epic" scale, things will probably go back to being more grey between the sides/factions.

Personally, I like playing evil in AO; I want to do bad things. In real life, I pay my taxes, I don't run yellow lights and I politely ask people to please pass the salt. This is play time for me and I want to do something out of the ordinary for me. Some of the things I make my character say even shock me!

But, everyone is different in regard to what they want to do ingame and how they enjoy roleplaying. I just wish that things were a little more clear as to who is bad and who is good so those who want to play good or bad can make a well informed decision about what they are getting themselves into. Lord knows I'm trying to make my position known!

Either way, Petal has been great to have in DA and I'm going to miss having her around. ))

[Malachii]

With his fingertips pressed down upon the upper lip framing the monitor, Gabriel shut out the information from his eyes. Yet the words still lingered in after thought from the replies that slotted in after the main headline and ghosts from his history revealed themselves once more that night to him, tearing down what safe havens Gabriel pressed himself to in times of doubt.

There was no doubt.

"There is no doubt..."

Light spilled across this skin upon his face and neck as a doorway opened and words... spoken. Moments crawled past the tensed agent as each letter from the sentances born through his ears from the entrant, began to filter into what the intruder had said to him. Taking his physical actions back to his meditational cleansing of his rifle, Gabriel considered further what could possibly befall such a being that was blind to the future, cut away from individual possibilies. All save for one.

Gabriel was to be the tool he always remembered being; one to carry the messages of finality, of an end to objectives who also held no future in mind, body... or spirit. All in accordance to the body members that led Gabriel through the pitch void he traveled in from soft slumbers and non-existant rest.

He stays with the company. There is no redemption for the unredeemable.



(( Just to put my vote to the corporate evil that is Omni-Tek, although truth be told... I had considered Clan but only because I was being asked to be several people from different guilds/families/clans. I decided that my character on Atlantean would, after being within the Shadowlands and also being spoken to by those that steer his actions, stay Omni-Tek as he is beyond help in the corrupt world he entered and now has become one with. On the OTHER hand... I have a character on Rimor that IS clan and, as Dem put it, a tree hugging happy-clapper... in not so many words. Anyway... this gave me inspiration to write and I haven't done it in a while so... there we go. See you around everyone. ))

[Vixentrox]

(I play all clan on RK1 and Omni on RK2. I don't like to mix my environments on either server to stay "pure" so to say"

[catuela]

Catuela, getting the news late as usual. (Being 4 systems away from Rubi-ka the news is always late he has learned.) Reads the statement several times to allow it to sink in. Blackpetal was a friend and valuable commodity to the Org. Such a shame to waste talent like that. I hope we never have to cross paths unless it be in a high suppresion area.



(((you do what you need to do to have fun in the game BP, and don't worry about all the people that are mad about everyone switching to clan.)))

-Cat