"Har dee FUCKING Har, 4th.  ;)  Nice work in the first eC
HO pack though.
I only yawned twice."

"ARRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHH!  I got stuck doing the .NFO again."

That was me, around this time last year.

"ARRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHH!  I got stuck doing the .NFO again."

That's me about an hour before this release.  Some things n
ever change.

This is, of course, the January 1997 DARK Collection.  Welc
ome.
Outside my window it is currently nighttime, and bitterly cold
.  A
fitting weather condition for our pack.  (Canadian weather doe
s *not*
suck.  It blows.  It blows snow, to be exact.)

1996.  12 regular releases.  (OK, so one was irregular.  I
promise
never to use that retarded naming convention again.)  13 if yo
u count
the "Best of '95".  To most of you, this doesn't seem like any
great
feat.  Other groups have been doing it for years.  I must poin
t out,
however, that DARK began as a bi-monthly release group, and de
spite
several jerky attempts to change the flow, "monthly" was somet
hing us
cynical DARK members smirked at when it came to our own Collec
tions.

But we broke with our tradition and found a rhythm we could
live
with.  Hurray.  Twice as much packaging for me each year.  Twi
ce as many
.NFOs.  (A mercy killing would be greatly appreciated right ab
out now.
I promise, I'll make it quick and painful... err, painless!)

Putting my personal misery aside, I can honestly say I'm lo
oking
forward to this year!  There's just something in the air... ap
art from
frozen water molecules.

This has been a boring introduction.  I'm sick of it.  It's
putting
me to sleep.  If this .NFO were in HTML format, there'd be an
icon
beneath this paragraph with "Punch It" enscribed upon it.  Onc
e clicked,
a .WAV file would blare a recording of Supreme Terrorist Priso
n Breaker
screaming "WAKE THE FUCK UP YOU PILLOW-BITING, SCROTUM-SNIFFIN
G SPACE
CADET!"

But that'd mean a lot more work on this .NFO, and I can't h
andle that.

Turn out your lights, and welcome to the DARK...

Xypher Matryx

PS.  This introduction was nothing more tha
n an excuse to further
irradiate your skull and impair your vision.  Now read on

Updates

Though he was accepted a few months ago, Neon Horse
only recently
returned from an urban riot control seminar to learn of his D
ARK member-
ship.  When asked how he felt about this development, he repl
ied "This is
terrific!  Now I've got plenty of dummies to kick to crap out
of!"

Carnifex, DARK Senior (Sinecure) in charge of all
things mundane, spent
many long hours re-vamping the DARK FAQ.  He invites you to r
ead through
it carefully, and kick the shit out of him for each and every
spelling
mistake.  (This does not apply to the author of the .NFO, who
is under
tremendous pressure to release the Collection. ;)

Oxygene and Xypher Matryx, working in f
everish tandemn, managed to
correct many of the errors in the updated version of DARKGen/
2, DARK's
incredible Application Generator.  This does not, however, me
an to say
that everything's fine and dandy.  We encourage you to report
any bugs or
mistakes remaining in the program.

The eCHO Conspiracy

I'm sure you're all familiar now with the upstart group by th
e name of
eCHO, founded by a renegade DARK Senior
.  Now, this ex-Senior (we'll call
him "The Last Drop-out") made many slanderous rema
rks about the fine DARK
establishment.  Though we hardly believe in stooping to their
base level,
it is important that the truth come out!

How did we come about this truth?  Our agents-in-the-field/Te
rror         Troopers in the VGA Department, Bu
rnout and Prison Breaker, caught one of
the traitorous bastards in a carefully planned strike!  Locke
d in a sound-
proof chamber, and tied to the DARK Shred-o-Rama Rack(c), it
took very
little time to crack this fiend.  Here's where it gets intere
sting!

The Last Drop-out was actually brainwashed into betraying his
former
colleagues!  The infamous "Snowhat" was apparently
responsible for this
heinous crime!  Yet together, they masterminded the marshalli
ng of a
force unequalled in recent history, using their devastating "
Clout Ray"
and the promise of "eCHO-ality for one and all".  For that pu
n alone they
deserve a swift death!

But that's not all!  Snowhat and The Last Dropout plan to sac
rifice
each and every one of their loyal followers in the hopes of p
leasing their
evil god Chan'ANZEE!  This will no doubt open a Te
le-Flood-Gate from the
nefarious realm of "Lay'MarZ", and the final invasi
on will begin!

OH THE INHUMANITY!

The only way we may combat this horrible event is if all dedi
cated
artists band with us to beat back the eCHO plague!  Quickly,
while you
still can!  Load up DARKGEN/2 and send us your portfolio!  We
can win
this war!

WE'LL SILENCE THEM FOREVER!  DARK ILLUSTRATED 1997!  THE ONE
AND ONLY!

PPS.  If any of you meatheads took this serio
usly, you really don't
have any business reading this .NFO file, or even partak
ing in the scene.
Get a sense of humour already.

PPPS.  I warned you Nav, I was gonna get you
back.  ;)  G'day, boss.

Filenames

Filenames work like this:  XXXXX-##.*

XXXXX is a five-letter abbreviation of the artist'
s alias.  (Should the
alias fall within five characters or less, the entire alias w
ill be used.)

## represents the current number of pieces the art
ist has produced for
the year of 1997.

* can be any valid extension for images, executabl
es, data files, or
musical compositions.  The most common are DRK for
ANSI images, JPG/GIF/
BMP/etc... for high-resolution graphic images, and
MOD/S3M/XM/etc... for
music data files.

PPPPS.  Our web page problems
are finally being resolved.  If you buy
any of that, you may want to consider becoming a DA
RK member. ;)

DAR'chives

The Lethal Aspect     World Headquarter
s         Xypher Matryx
The Regency               Internet Headquarters      H
alaster
Clockwork London   DARK Member Board  Seraphim
Mad Cows?!?DARK Member Board Night Stalker
Savage ExileDARK Member Board Acidic Soap
Sight & Sound     DARK Member Board
Drone-Fly
Special Sauce             DARK Member Board
Samurai
The Way Station           DARK Member Boar
d          The Anarchist

Via the Internet, DARK packs can be obtained from
The Regency's FTP          site, at treg
ency.res.cmu.edu, or from the ACiD Artpacks Archive at
ftp.cdrom.com (/pub/artpacks/incoming/a
rtpacks/)

Most DARK members can be contacted through e-mail (addresses
available
in the memberlist), and some may be found lurking on the IRC,
in channel
#dark.  (EFnet)

For more detailed information on DARK Illustrated
, DARK's own F.A.Q.
(Frequently Asked Questions) text file is included in this arc
hive.
Filename: DARK-FAQ.180

Conclu

A few final words for this poor shmuck  --  I'd like to thank
a few
for their efforts both within DARK and outside of it:

The Green HornetYou will never cease to amaze
me.  But you still owe
me twenty bucks.
Prison BreakerChrist, haven't they jailed you
for an Apocalypse
yet?  (You dirty Liptonite.)
EpitaphYou nagged me back into action.  If ev
er we meet, I
swear to kill you quickly.  (With a wristwatch, no
less.)
CarnifexAs much as I'd like to throttle you f
or each deadpan
remark and monotonous drone, you've always been a
reliable ally over the past four years.  (Historical
revisions notwithstanding.)
The High-StrungA valuable asset to our ongoing
efforts.  Danke.
Net/Web-Team(s)(Now get your shit together. ;)

And of course to every single DARK member who's had to put up
with my
abuse and evasion in whatever forms they took.  I'd have you
all executed
for putting me in this position, but the door out of the thro
ne room seems
to be locked from the outside.  Hrmm....

P^5s.  Much respect to The 4th Disciple and w
atOr for sticking to their
guns and bringing eCHO to life.  I witnessed a lot of PR
problems you guys
suffered before the first release, and it's a
relief to see eCHO didn't
crumble at the first signs of trouble.  Hope it gets eas
ier for you down
road, though speaking from experience, you're in for a r
ough ride.  Good
luck.

Coming up...

Next month marks the 4th Anniversary of DARK Illustrated rele
ases.  So
what's in it for you?  A DARK Collection Extravaganza, of cou
rse!  As is
tradition, we wheel out the big guns to blanket you with a sp
ectacular
array of visual explosions!  Don't miss out!  DARK0297
.ZIP is the pack
to watch out for.