"INK, n. A villainous compound of tannogallate of iron, gum-arabic and
water, chiefly used to facilitate the infection of idiocy and promote
intellectual crime. The properties of ink are peculiar and contradictory:
it may be used to make reputations and unmake them; to blacken them and to
make them white; but it is most generally and acceptably employed as a
mortar to bind together the stones of an edifice of fame, and as a
whitewash to conceal afterward the rascal quality of the material. There
are men called journalists who have established ink baths which some
persons pay money to get into, others to get out of. Not infrequently it
occurs that a person who has paid to get in pays twice as much to get
out." --- Ambrose Bierce


THE OLD QUARTER COURIER is published a little bit over twice a week by
Fitz Hurstwood, when he assembles enough material. It is supported by the
sale of advertisements (generally for taverns and low-grade merchants,
although there are some personals that bring him in some money), and by
the thruppence that it costs to purchase on the street. (There is
sometimes an 'E' in 'Olde'. Spelling is good but in the popular press,
it has yet to be standardized.)

It tends to have big headlines with all-caps, much shorter GREAT BIG
headlines above them. Example from last game. The "punch headline" was
"GRISLY MURDER!" but the actual headline was "Gruesome Massacre In Tazon
District".

Red ink is used to punch up words in lead articles. It is very rare for a
full headline or paragraph to be done in red.

The ink tends to come off on the hands if you read it a lot (or sweat a
lot). The paper is of excellent quality for its purpose - meaning that
it's easy to crumple up very tightly and lights easily in the fireplace.

COLUMNS:

"De Perrin's Dirt". This is a smarmy gossip column with all kinds of
innuendo and sexual tidbits about the upper classes. From time to time
political corruption rumors will make their way into this section. (Also
from time to time, sex stories will make their way out of the column and
into the paper itself.)

"Over The Wall". This is the editorial column, sometimes meshing with a
particular story that gets Fitz riled up. It refers to the old Wall
Quarter practice of disposing of garbage and sewage "over the wall" into
the Olde Quarter. 

"On The Walls". This is the cartoon section. Although most of the cartoons
are handled by "Sandy" Manchester, (certainly almost all of the political
ones), the Old City Courier also hosts a few irregular ongoing comic
strips, some dramatic cliffhangers, some comedic and silly.

The Courier also has personal ads and classifieds at the bottom of the
second page.  Letters to the editor are also printed - there is a mail
drop which people can use to send them in. (Naturally the address listed
on the paper is deep in the Old Quarter. It is also ficticious.)

Artwork other than the cartoons tends to be of the simplistic woodcut
variety. Fitz continues to look for an artist who is capable of doing
quick sketchs of scenes and persons.

From time to time the Courier will serialize a story or novel. These are
usually adventurous tales of some kind, although "true confession"-style
steamy romances and upper-class-comedies are also common. (The steam in
the romances would be rather tame by our standards, and usually they end
with the 'right girl getting the right guy' and ending up getting hitched.
Juvenile romances, in other words.)