The following page is a secret brief that is only available to those familiar with Rainbow. It represents a significant investment of IC time and effort, so please do not directly copy and paste the contents to other players.

With that proviso you may feel free to communicate the information IC using your own words. Of course, your neighbours may not like their private affairs gossiped all over the ship, and if you are caught doing so you may face IC consequences.

Craig Rainbow is dead after going on the run for crimes relating to his art. Nikki Rainbow has been appointed Acting Head.

A part of Rainbow (about 5 compartments) has been shut down — nobody is allowed in. Computer refuses to say why.

A letter delivered on scented paper to various enclaves in Rainbow:

Darlings,

As you may know, my Great Project progresses apace. Nothing will match it for scale, workmanship, detail, metaphor. And the first strides have already been made! Some dear, helpful people have repurposed some dusty old stockpiles of bits that Blue hoard, and brought them back for me. But I need more, more, more! So please, if you can get into any more of those little Blue hoards, bring them home to me. Be part of the Great Project! It will live forever!

No, really, darlings, it's not as if Blue use them. They're just sitting there. That's waste.

The letter is signed with an enormous and elaborate capital E.

Update: In a particularly incoherent speech, Sven Rainbow and Bobo have stepped down as the head(s) of Rainbow sector this month. Sven told onlookers that he and Bobo needed some time off to sort out their personal problems, and something about Bobo's recent transgressions being the fault of the pressure on him that didn't seem to make particularly much sense.

Rainbow sector is reeling at the loss of its patsy, though perhaps appointing someone ever so slightly less unbalanced might be a net improvement.

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Sven Butterfly Rainbow, eccentric Head of the Sector, may have gone off the deep end this time—even by Rainbow's fairly lax standards. He has now formally appointed his pet lizard Bobo as Sector Head and demoted himself to the rank of Bobo's personal advisor and interpreter. Ship records meanwhile have yet to acknowledge this change and still list Sven Butterfly as the Head, but Sven insists that it is only a matter of time.

Bobo's first proclamation in his new position was apparently a great project to start an insect breeding programme, so that everyone in the sector can have plenty to eat. Sven Butterfly, for his part, is offering large amounts of luxury resources to anyone who can make this happen.

Sven Craig Rainbow is nominal head. This means that Computer blames him for anything that goes wrong, which suits the rest of the sector absolutely fine. It will be seen if Rainbow continues to operate in the same vein as under Sven, which is detailed below.

However, the reality behind the fluffy, effete face of Rainbow is a whirlwind of vicious politics that would stymie even the Viteris. Artists mean egos; egos mean personality cults, and both mean no-holds-barred rivalries. In the name of Art, Beauty, and Truth, Rainbow citizens jockey for the real power behind the nominal head: in addition to building up one's own power base, leaders within Rainbow habitually mount campaigns of harassment (or biting satire) against whomever is challenging them that month. Rarely are actual weapons used—Rainbow doesn't need them—but it is often said that the greatest artists must be prepared to suffer for their art.

Popularity waxes and wanes with inspiration and action, darling, so it's very difficult to track who's on top—which is an entirely subjective measure in any case. Current names doing the rounds include Evanescence Rainbow and Craig Rainbow, but there are at least half-a-dozen wrestling for influence at any given point in time. If you want to throw your hat into the ring, make sure it wasn't one you liked…