Consul Report

2005/06/11, 10:00 PM, Consul - Clan Plagueis

Clan Plagueis Report for June 12, 2005

Greetings everyone!

Well.. it's been an interesting couple of days. It reminds me of an old Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times."

After the initial backlash (which was much smaller than I anticipated), things appear to be settling down. The big flood of emails seems to have steadied now, so I thought I would take some time in this report to explain where I see Clan Plagueis heading in the future.

AWOL CHECK

There is a MASSIVE DB AWOL (absent without leave) check about to be started. I've received word from Grand Master Jac that this AWOL check shall run for a month. This is a little different than your standard AWOL check, though. There is no email response required from you. Here is how it will happen:

a) Everyone in the database is set to inactive

b) Users are emailed with the information that if they do not log in to the site, they will remain inactive and be removed from our rosters.

c) Members log in to the web site and are automatically placed back in their positions and their account is reactivated.

d) After 1 month, all inactive dossiers below DJK are deleted... and all dossiers of members DJK+ are removed from the roster (but can be restored if the member ends up coming back)

This will thin our seemingly impressive numbers to something a little more managable.

ENVOYS, MASTER/STUDENT PROGRAM, AND BATTLETEAMS

There are 4 Envoy positions within Clan Plagueis. There is the Clan Envoy, and then one for each House. The Clan Envoy's duty is to maintain a list of the Master/Student relationships, track and upload member submissions to the archives, and welcome new members to the Clan and Brotherhood (prior to them actually being placed in a House). The Clan Envoy is also responsible for assignined all Master/Student pairs.

The House Envoy's primary responsibility is to make contact with new members of that House as soon as they receive the notification that a new member has joined. Once they do that, they are responsible for aiding that member in going through the initial SA steps until they reach the rank of Protector.

At this point, the main part of the Master/Student program kicks in. Members of sufficient rank (DJK+) who are familiar with the Wisdom of Plagueis (www.clanplagueis.net/msp.php) then take on these Protector students, and assign them tasks based on the Wisdom of Plagueis. Ideally, having been through the system themselves, they will have an excellent idea of how it works.

This sort of Master/Student relationship is closer to the Jedi/Sith sort of feel that I think is missing in some parts of our club (as many parts of the system feel too military to me... much like the old TIE Corps. The Battleteam has been the standard unit for activity in the DB, but all I've seen them do in my almost 7 years in the club is create another layer of pointless command. You have one battleteam leader who tries to motivate a group of people, and often, nothing gets done. With a Master/Student pairing, each member is contributing to the history and activity of our Clan, leaving an indelible mark with their mentoring of new members. It also helps foster a sense of community and friendship which is what many people love about the Brotherhood. A one-on-one communication with a "Master" is a special thing, rather than an email sent to a mailing list from a Battleteam commander.

To this end, I will not be opening battleteams, but instead we'll focus on the Master/Student program as a way to get our members interested and keep them involved.

MENTORING TO MEMBERS DARK JEDI KNIGHT AND BEYOND

Braecen has been working on a handbook for the Clan dedicated to members above the rank of DJK. When a member joins as an Apprentice, they are often confused and don't know what to do to get involved. The Master/Student Program helps these people get to DJK... but what about then? Again, the member is thrust into a situation where they're not quite being directed as much, and often times they get frustrated by their apparent lack of progress.

Starting now, I will only be taking students of the rank Dark Jedi Knight or above for myself. I will train these people to be the next leaders of the Clan and of the DB... plus, we'll all work together to build even more for the foundation of the Clan. More on this in the coming week.

CLAN ARCHIVES

There are archives of our member's submissions set up on the Clan Plagueis web site. There are LOTS of stories to read and graphics to peruse. Go to www.clanplagueis.net/archives.php to view the submissions!

If you'd like to see your work there (Star Wars/Dark Brotherhood related only, please), send it to me at [Log in to view e-mail addresses] and I'll put it up there for you ASAP!

STANDARD CLAN NEWS

Alright... with a little bit of that out of the way, here's some of the standard Clan news!

CONGRATULATIONS

I'd like to take a moment to congratulate one of the members that helped me form the systems and ran House Ziost in Exar Kun before the merge. Just prior to the merge, Rakhai had to step down from his position as Quaestor of Ziost. He was a fantastic leader, and everyone agreed that he should be rewarded for his excellent work. As such, Rakhai was promoted to the rank of Sith Overlord! A VERY impressive feat!

He will be leaving us for a couple of months to go through boot camp for the Canadian Air Force at the end of June, so if you see him around, wish him good luck! We'll be waiting here for you when you return, Rakhai!

INDEPENDENCE GAMES!

The combined might of our two Clans has placed us FIRMLY in second place in terms of activity in the Independence Games. This does not reflect our actual standing in terms of points, but it's certainly nice to see everyone taking part!

Go to www.independencegames.net and sign up if you haven't already! Do an event or two (or like some, 10) and show the other Clans (and the stinking Rebels) what we're made of!

INTERNET RELAY CHAT (IRC)

IRC is a term you will hear a lot in Clan Plagueis. It is a real-time chat environment where you can interact with members of Clan Plagueis AND the Brotherhood as a whole. IRC is where the future leaders are picked from, and it is where most of the planning for things goes on. It's also just a fun place to sit and chat with a WIDE variety of people.

If you need help figuring out how to get on IRC, go to: http://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/dbjedi/irc_guide.asp and read the guide there. Alternatively, there is a web-chat version of IRC available on the Undernet home page at www.undernet.org (click on webchat). We are on the Undernet network (any Undernet server will get you there) in channels #plagueis (Clan) and #db (Brotherhood). Come check us out!

FIN

That's it for this week... I have more to release, but I'll try to break it into more managable sections... I know it's hard to read gigantic emails, but there was a lot to go over.