History, in and of itself is important in scale. To the individual, knowing where they come from. To the collective body of any organization, knowing whom they owe for the rich tapestry of their past. The incredibly verbose, yet equally poignant Roman oratori Marcus Tullius Cicero once said, "History is the witness that testifies to the passing of time; it illuminates reality, vitalizes memory, provides guidance in daily life and brings us tidings of antiquity." And Shaw reminds us that, "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." When we, as individuals and as a group can no longer remember our past, the significance of it, and the significance of those who have been a part of our past, we lose our identity. Who you are is tied to what you have done, what you are proud of and what you must atone for. It binds your pain and your ecstasy. <p>On the beginning of this new year, I thought it appropriate to look back on not only the past year, but years before it. As some of you may know, but you juniors may not (and I do not mean junior to mean younger, just not having been part of this organization as long), the Dark Brotherhood was once closely allied to the Emperor's Hammer – another group of Star Wars fans. Eleven years since I first joined the Emperor's Hammer, the Infiltrator Wing and the Dark Brotherhood. One of Tarentum's ships, in fact, is named in honor of one of those early members. The M/BCRS Doomsday is named for Fleet Admiral Doomsday. Doomsday was one of those early members who delighted in helping everyone else. One of the things you could count on was that if you were having problems with the custom missions or connecting to Undernet to get onto the EH's IRC channel, you could count on him walking you through it all. Our very own Consul, Sith Bloodfyre, shares a trait with a Grand Master Emeritus, Kreeyat Havok. Havok had that knack for getting people to work together, even if they couldn't stand each other. He took no bullshit and he gave no bullshit. <p>History is important to this Clan in another way. It is continuity. From Tarentum's history, we can build on our characters and make them deeper and richer, especially for the Clan's writers. Even if you aren't a writer, working with one can get you that historical patina. And if you want more information on the history of the Clan, there are a few websites that I will point you towards: <p> ·http://www.tarentum.org – managed by our own Rekio Corsair <p> · http://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/wiki/index.php?title=Clan_Tarentum_Prospectus – the fictional prospectus on the DB wiki. <p> ·http://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/wiki/index.php?title=Clan_Tarentum – the Clan overview on the DB wiki. <p> ·http://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Clan_Tarentum – the categorical directory for all things Tarentum on the wiki. <p> All of this serves to help the rookies and the veterans, to acclimate themselves to Tarentum. I hope it serves to also increase your enjoyment of the Clan. <p>One of the other interesting aspects of this Clan is that historically it's been very militant. Founded by an elite squadron, and many of the Clan's summit members have been, fictionally, military officers (some actual officers in real life). To that end, I am opening up the junior officer ranks for those members who wish to say that their characters serve the Clan's military infrastructure. The caveat to all of this is that you MUST inform me of your intent to do so. The reasoning is so that I can keep track of who is where, with what rank and what their duties are. You will then get a response from me with info on what unit you are serving with and who your commanding officer(s) is(/are). I will then post a roster of those members who say they serve the Clan's military with their posting. <p>And with that out of the way, on to the Clan news. I apologize for the tardiness of this, I hosted a New Year's get together for friends and family and had been prepping. <p> Medals – <p> Kateyes, Bane, Sephiroth Storm, Windos, Karel and Korras were out representing Tarentum during the various gaming nights. Earning themselves Clusters of Fire (CF) in the process. Thanks guys…If you want more info on the gaming nights, feel free to contact me and I'll hunt down the information for you or get you in contact with someone who does have the info…For the Treasure Hunt, Troutrooper scored 1st place, answering in less than two (2) hours!! Dranik netted second and Rodas picked up 1st place in the Rhetoric Competition…All three have received Crescents for their participation. Droveth and Bloodfyre have both picked up Dark Side Scrolls (DSS) for their articles in the recent Dark Voice…Sephiroth Storm also picked up a Crescent for earning 1st place in the Sunday Tournament. Awesome job, SS! Kazarelth picked up both a Dark Cross and a Crescent…Kazarelth and Rodas are two of our rising members, expect to see even greater things from them… <p> Goings on – <p> Tridens has recently dissolved their Circles in an attempt to reorganize. More info on that later, but parties have already been approached in the revamp…Tridens is also running a competition. Welshman has been promoted in the Tar Military. He leaves the M-CRV Creeping Death behind, and becomes the new CAG of Battlegroup Mako…Dranik, the AED of Gladius, picks up command of the B/CS Acheron and the rank of Commander…Windos takes on command of the CRV Cerberus and the rank of Lieutenant…Kromtal Stormfyld recently transferred to command the GSP Havoc…see above if you would like to serve the Clan's military. <p> I'm currently running a competition, if you hadn't seen it on the competitions page. Tarentum's home system of Yridia has 21 major towns and cities that need names, and I'm going to you, the members, to name them. For every name you suggest that I use, you can earn a Crescent with Crystal star. They're easy crescents and I hope everyone will give it a chance. <p> I believe I've rattled on for long enough and I'll leave you all with my regards and a question: <p> Above I used ellipsis in my current events reports. A Pulitzer Prize winning writer popularized that "three dot journalism," becoming the heartbeat for my hometown. Who was he, where was he born and what paper did he write for? <p> Yours,

Maxamillian von Oberst-Tarentae,

Marshal of the Armies of Tarentum,

Proconsul of Clan Tarentum,

Death Dealer of Clan Tarentum

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