Cosmocat's entry for the Sunray Myth Contest:
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Once in a time long since past,
A Wizard got angry and a spell was cast.
He created a kingdom devoid of light
So all the time it was dark as night.
Then he sat back and watched it all
To see how long it would take to fall.
This world was ruled by an evil king
Who hated light more than most anything
But he hated children most of all,
So he locked them up behind a wall
In a deep and dark and scary cave
He left them there hidden away.
The innocent children gathered around
A very large tree stump on the ground.
They all had hearts filled with joy,
Each and every girl and boy.
They didn't cry or let out a wail,
They huddled together and made up a tale.
They imagined a land of endless dreams,
Where things are seldom what they seem.
A place with toys and silly fruits,
And no one ever wearing suits,
With animal heads and paintable skin,
Games to play and prizes to win.
They soon fell asleep in the deep dark cave,
And in their dream a giant wave
Swept them up and out to sea
Where they drifted in the tree.
They saw a star streak across the sky,
And grabbed ahold as it passed by.
They rode upon the ray of light,
Through the darkness of the night,
Far across a sapphire sea,
To Kymer, a place where we
Know them as the Sunray Knights,
Bringers of joy, carriers of light.
The Cheese Head, the Rainbow Rose, and the Oracle's Cat
The following Comments from Cosmocat articles were written for the community-run newspaper ESP! CFC was something I originally started as emailed suggestions to the developers of WorldsAway's Dreamscape, and later went 'public' with.
And now, a brief Awards Presentation:
The Confusion_To_Newbies_Award goes to... whoever left the label on the door
The Ooops_I_Forgot_To_Use_My_Spell-Checker_Award goes to... the poor
And last but not least, the Brilliant_Idea_of_the_Year_Award goes to the
Until next time... Cosmocat.
Put a Fern in Your Pipehead and Smoke It!
So, this is to be forever remembered as the Earth, uhm ...
~~~~~
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Terry Talks and Uni_Tea
First off, Oracle Teresias gave an inworld conference on the Starway Stage
(Beam me up, Scotty! <VEG>) where we got to ask inane questions and he
attempted to answer with diginity and wisdom. So, for those who missed it,
here a few of the highlights:
Some of the current projects being worked on (still) are: Documents, glue,
sitting, Acolyte powers and an update to the Promenade Sequence. He also
claimed that the server problems had been fixed in the last server take-down.
Really? Gee, I didn't notice. It *still* takes me almost a minute to change
locales, and yes, I still crash a lot. He also claimed that accessories are
coming and we will get non-humanoid bodies. Wow, that'll be nice--my tail is
permanently kinked from being stuffed into these double-knit golf pants for 9
months. <G>
We also learned a few things about the Oracle himself: His father was a
fisherman in Thebes, but he didn't like fish, so he hit the road and joined a
Greek chorus, but their wagon broke down, and since he was the newest member,
he got stuck with fixing it, but he forgot his toolbox, and it took him hours
to just get the wheel off and the others got mad at him, so they left him
alone and went to Plato's house for dinner. A violent thunderstorm broke out
just as night fell and Teresias was tired, so he fell asleep under the wagon,
and Morpheus, impersonating the Godfather, spoke to him in his dreams, and
whisked him off to the Dreamscape where he didn't need to fish or work on
wagon wheels, which is why he is still here after all these eons. Or
something like that. <G>
He also told us what a typical day at work is like when you're wise: Pop in
the door at the crack of eleven in the morning, get some coffee and a cruller,
plop down in a chair and read your mail and scan the forum messages. Then you
get to look at game and event ideas, and read theft and harassment reports.
Then you order pizza and sushi, take a nap, and enter the Dreamscape for
awhile to see what's *really* happening inworld. Then you make prizes, making
sure to include the underscores so Cosmocat has something to write to the
WATeam about, and fix the spelling errors on the vendos and locale names.
Then you pester the sysops to get that newsletter written, remind development
not to program any morality into the software, and bug the art department to
get cooking on those Cocktail_weenies for the Bar-L Happy Hour. <G> Then you
go home. (Alright, so that's not *exactly* what he said, but I read between
the lines, ok?)
Now, about this Uni_Tea thing. I'm not quite sure what's going on here, but I
was inworld on Friday night and this bubble headed lightning boy entered the
locale I was in. And there was that cryptic forum message left by *someone*
from the WATeam (let's see, who's the poet again? <G>). It said something
about towels and candles and tuna. Uhm, I mean Tao and candles and runes.
And Uni_Tea, from 11am to 6pm on Saturday. I am very confused. Is this some
kind of wisdom test or something? <G>
Until next time,
by Cosmocat
Once, not so long ago, deep in the catacombs of the temple,
Oracle Uni's cat Quincy was napping in the towel room.
He suddenly awoke when he heard soft footsteps coming towards the room.
The Oracles were in an Acolyte meeting, so he knew it wasn't
his caretaker Uni, and Oracles rarely walk anywhere anyway.
He slowly stretched his sleepy body, then slinked out the door
into the adjoining hallway.
Here he saw a rather portly avatar wearing a cat-head,
whom we shall call, uhm, Mocoscat.
Quincy had never seen anyone except an Oracle in the hallway,
so he watched to see what this avatar was doing here.
Mocoscat stopped walking and took a Cheese Head out of his pocket.
He turned around to make sure no one was watching,
and didn't see that little black cat sitting near the back wall.
He set the Cheese Head on the floor, and took out a Rose_Head*.
"I wish I could figure out a way to paint this head."
Quincy, who was watching, saw the Cheese Head, and quietly
crept toward it.
"Hey! What are you doing! That's my beloved Cheese Head!"
cried Mocoscat.
Quincy replied "I'm not going to eat it--I just want to smell it.
Uni never lets me eat cheese, but I crave it so much.
May I *please* just sniff it?"
Mocoscat said, "Well, I guess you can sniff it.
But don't lick it, OK? I'd like to keep it for a special occasion."
"Don't worry, I won't lick it," replied Quincy.
Quincy walked to the Cheese Head and took a long, wonderful sniff.
"Oh, it smells SO good!! I'd do anything for just a tiny taste.
Please, Mocoscat, may I have just a tiny taste??"
Mocoscat thought for a moment.
"Do you by any chance know how to paint a Rose_Head*?
I found one while wandering down here, but it's black,
and I'd like a blue one."
"Well, you really shouldn't take things that you just find
lying around, they may belong to someone," said Quincy.
"But, if you will *give* me the Cheese Head, I will not tell
anyone where you got the rose, *and* I will teach you
the magic of painting heads."
This sounded very tempting to Mocoscat, and since Cheese Heads
were available in the vendos, he could buy another when he
saved enough tokens.
"OK, you have a deal." said Mocoscat.
"Really?" asked Quincy.
He didn't think the cat headed avatar would agree so quickly.
"I'm really not supposed to tell anyone how to do magic,
and I missed part of the head-painting lessons,
but I will try to teach you anyway. But you must swear
you will never tell another soul how you got the ability."
"Oh, I won't tell, I promise," said Mocoscat.
So, Quincy and Mocoscat went up to the room where the spray cans
are kept.
"Gee, what is *this*? It says "Rainbow". Can you teach me to paint in
Rainbow?? Please?"
"I don't think that will work very well--that's turf spray." said Quincy.
"Oh, please, Quincy, teach me to paint in rainbow
and I'll give you the Cheese Head and all my tuna cans."
"Tuna??" asked Quincy. "You have tuna??"
"Yep," said Mocoscat.
"I keep it stashed in the inlet router of the Oak Teleporter.
I smuggled it into Phantasus when I arrived. Don't tell, ok?"
"I'll tell you what, Mocoscat, if you give me the tuna
and the cheese, I will teach you to paint in rainbows."
"Oh, thank you, Quincy!" Mocoscat cried.
Quincy told Mocoscat to wear the Rose_Head*
and pick up the rainbow spray.
"Now, turn around three times and chant the following:
"Morpheus in your Nephosphere,
Send your guidance to us here.
Hear our voices,
Grant our needs,
And fulfill our wildest dreams."
Mocoscat did as he was told.
"Now, spray the head," said Quincy.
Mocoscat again did as he was told.
"Yipes!" said Mocoscat.
"Uh, oh." said Quincy.
"Maybe I remembered the chant wrong.
I did miss part of the lesson."
"Uhm, well it does look kind of *interesting*," said Mocoscat.
"Gee, I gotta go now, Mocoscat.
I think I hear Uni coming," said Quincy.
"Uni?? I don't think she'd like to see me here. I'd better
leave," said Mocoscat.
"Goodbye, Mocoscat. I am sorry your wish didn't work out."
"Oh, it worked out fine, Quincy! Enjoy your cheese
and here's the key to open the inlet router where the tuna cans are."
"Thanks, Mocoscat," said Quincy, as Mocoscat ghosted
and slipped thru the catacombs back to the city where he set
up his own head-painting business.
~~~~
And that is the story of how an avatar corrupted an Oracle's cat,
how Mocoscat learned to paint in rainbows,
and why Oracle Vaserius removed the inlet router
from the Oak Teleporter.
Comments from Cosmocat #1 (July 18, 1996)
Comments from Cosmocat--Head Rotation (ouch!)
Hmmm... new heads in the vendos this week. I find it *very* interesting
that there's a new Bunny_head*, and we didn't even need an update to get it.
Let's see, the last update was on April 16th and Easter was on April 7th.
Does this mean that the Powers That Be missed having Bunny_Heads in a vendo
for Easter by one lousy week? And the would-be-Easter eggs were introduced
fairly recently, too. Sheesh.
I noticed that the new heads vary a lot in their appearance, too. Some
look somewhat realistic, while others look like they were scanned from the
comic section of the newspaper. I guess they've given up on trying to create
a uniform *look* for the Dreamscape, huh? All those weirded out color schemes
the patch users wear messed that up anyway, though. Oh, and I hope they got
permission from Disney to use the name Aristocat. Not that I would tell...
I *never* tell.
though--that Aristocat_head* would look almost like a tiger head--something I
*still* long for occasionally on long Kymer nights.
that reads "Door to Produce Heads". How long do you think it'll take before
they figure out that a Kiwi *is* produce? <G>
individual who misspelled "Ceasar". (I hope it wasn't Tiresias,
the blind seer/oracle of ancient Greece. Or is it Teresias?
Gee, I forget.) Good thing the *real* Caesar isn't around, or
he'd get them with his salad. Of course, since there's no Produce Heads
vendo anymore, they're off the hook. <G>
person who put the Parrot_head in the vendos. *That* will keep MarvL
off FSC's back about documents for at least a week, don't you think?
Comments from Cosmocat #2
Comments from Cosmocat
I mean, Island of Kymer-rattling week of our very first official
Dreamscape inspired holiday. The Phantasus Fern Festival.
I have to admit, I really liked this idea when I first heard
about it. Since real world inspired holidays, like Easter,
haven't gone off very well recently, I thought this would be
FSC's big chance to do something right. I should have known better.
Am I the only one who has the bitter taste of ferns in my mouth?
(And a nasty fern rash, too, but that's another story.)
How many of the thousands of citizens were actually able
to squeeze inworld between server crashes? How many of you
had fun finding stuff hidden among the foliage and attending
fun events? ("Find the Fern_head* vendo before it disappears
does *not* count as an event.) How many of you had to explain
to your boss that you *really* needed another day off, hoping
that the second day of the Festival would be better? And I wonder
how many press releases were sent out for this event, and the
apologies that followed: "These server crashes fortunately do not
happen very often. Really. Just ask our customers." I could see the
marketing hype that wriggled its way into the forum newsflash, too.
"New vendos!" (9 *identical* items in one!) "New items!" (Really big ferns!)
and those new fern heads, which, being suspected of causing the crash,
were promptly removed. But, I guess it wasn't a total loss ...
we did get to see two vendos in the same locale, and the streets
of Kymer were once again bustling with activity. Maybe that
was the whole point. If so, FSC *did* do something right.
Until next time ... ~Cosmocat
And the version sent to the developers:
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COMMENTS FROM COSMOCAT NUMBER 7 AUGUST 1, 1996
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He he, so you *really* thought this Fern Day thing was gonna work? <G>
A word to the wise: The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.
This also applies to servers. <G>
To refresh your memory, in case you've forgotten: How many times in the past
3 months has the WA server *not* gone down when there was a major event
planned? Too bad the community has grown so large that they can't enjoy the
little holiday you had planned, isn't it? Maybe the developers should work
more closely with the marketing department to make sure the server(s) can
handle the influx of new members? (And, I just happened to notice the influx
is *huge*. I recently logged in with my newly available avatar a couple hours
after the reset last week, and my avatar number was already #179. I didn't
complete the process, logged in two days later and it was over 1000. I find
this frightening. Do you? <VEG>)
Now, just to partially redeem myself, I would like to say that I think the
idea of inworld holidays specific to the Dreamscape is a wonderful one.
Unfortunately, it seems technically unfeasable at the moment. Good
intentions, poor (uhm, make that terribly misguided) planning.
And, just for fun, a really off the wall suggestion: Why not charge WA users
a *sur-charge*? It may help de-clog the system somewhat of all the users who
spend *way* too much time in the Dreamscape. (Oracle Uni, I really hope you're
paying attention to the effects of this little cyber world on the minds of the
users--it might make a really interesting book someday. <G>) And it'll keep
many of the curiosity seekers out until the system is ready to handle them.
Then, and *only* then, have a mass-media blitz Re-Grand Opening and let the
hordes in. (Welcome to the *New* Dreamscape!)
Oh, and I can hardly wait for the WebWorld thing to open. That's gonna be
*really* fun for you guys--just wait until your corporate sponsors who I am
*sure* will be paying bondo buckeroos to use your
software/technology/idea/whatever will be thrilled beyond belief to hear the
complaints when internet surfers attack in waves. <G> Oh, and, change the
name from WebWorld to *anything* else. There are already WebWorlds on the
'net and Web and World are not exactly the most original internet terms, are
they? Try doing a search on Yahoo! with the keyword WebWorld and you'll see
what I mean. No one will even bother trying to find you--there's way too many
matches.
So, Happy Fern Day! Yeah, right. Better luck next year, guys.
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(BTW, those are ASCII ferns. They all *look* the same, but they're not.)
~Cosmocat
COMMENTS FROM COSMOCAT #3
This was a rather eventful week in the Dreamscape--seems FSC is trying to make
up for Fern Day.
Cosmocat.