-> ## News <-

*Tribune Update *

The Holidays are finally behind us, and I for one am quite glad. Sure the holidays mean vacations and whatnot, but they also mean spending an unhealthy amount of time with relatives and being chipper and all that crap. Definitely not to my taste, so I’m glad it’s all over with for another year. Now the slow, but steady rise in activity will commence as people return to their regular daily routines. Hopefully that will also mean an increase to the gaming participation as well.

I’ve worked out the details for the next few months work of “Monthly Gaming Activities”. Hopefully those of you who enjoy gaming will enjoy these competitions as well. For the rest of you, I suggest the competitions Raken is running as Fiction Tribune. His “What Dreams May Come” competition interested me enough that I checked out the Legacy comics (torrents ftw) and am quite intent on completing my awesome, sexy future mission.

Holiday Battle Royale Results

I didn’t receive as many submissions to this as I had hoped, but considering it was announced late into the holiday season I wasn’t really expecting much. Fortunately, for those who did enter, it was much easier to secure a crescent. So, without further ado, the results are as follows:

First Place: Shikyo (Herald)

Second Place: Kairus (CNS)

Third Place: Yeldarb (CSP)

Third Place: Halcyon (Tal)

Congratulations to these four. Expect your medals soon.

ICTE Information

The other day I went through the ICTE Wiki page and most of the ICTE site itself and updated the information to match the recent changes in policy. The main change being that I’ve decided the ICTE will now run from 12:01am EST until 11:59pm EST every Saturday. This will allow more of are non-US members to get an equal amount of play time in. I’ve been using this schedule for the entire month of December and it seems to have worked out well. The link to the ICTE wiki page is listed below and, as always, the wiki is usually your best source of up-to-date info, because it’s the easiest format I can edit. I did update the Scheduled Events page of the actual ICTE site and nearly destroyed everything in the process. I am slightly less inclined to try that again.

January Gaming Competition

For the month of January gamers will be teaming up with a single partner to participate in the Team Gaming Ladder. What this means is that you and your friend (or enemy you want to play with?) signup by sending Shadow an email, CCing the other partner. You'll get added to the ladder and can go out and fight in epic team battles together.

A win will add 3 points to your team's score and a loss will add 1. Matches played by either partner in normal 1v1 (not against one another) will also be added to their overall team score at 1/4 the normal value as an incentive to make sure your partner stays active throughout the competition.

Choose your partner wisely, as he/she will be your partner for the entire competition (barring any outstanding circumstances). Keep in mind that you can still play 3v3 and 4v4 matches. For 4v4 your team can add another team or two random players, 3v3 can just be any random person added and it will still count for your team.

All matches are reported normally via the DB site, but you must also report your special team matches with a form Shadow will link to in a news post. All questions and comments can be directed to Shadow on IRC or via email.

Link to competition page: January Gaming Competition

Further information: News Post

-> ## Recently In Gaming <-

I know I’ve already done one spiel about the ICTE, but I figured I’d throw in that the ICTE saw increased levels of activity during the December bonus CF month, along with a large increase in EaW-based gaming. Hopefully these numbers can be maintained, and the Brotherhood can continue representing itself well in the event. Of the five ICTEs last month, the Brotherhood took All-Star in four of them. Malidir gained the title once and Dante three times consecutively. So congratulations to them as well as the members who placed second and/or third.

I’ve also recently renewed discussion with Sarin and company about the Brotherhood’s point system, which will remain a substitute for the future (possible) credit system that may be implemented. Hopefully discussion will move swiftly once the Grand Master obtains stable access to the intarwebs. Then we’ll start seeing some interesting stuff come out for the Clans to participate in.

-> ## Random Stuff I Wanted to Mention <-

Okay, this isn’t usually a report heading, but I wanted to mention something that caught my attention earlier this week. Someone brought up the often-discussed, rarely used form of vendetta known as Clan/House feuds. I’ve always been a big supporter of the House vs House/Clan vs Clan rivalry of the Brotherhood, and I feel it can be just as exciting for the members as a full-scale war. If there are Clan or House Summit members who are interested in designing such a competition, the Gaming Tribune office (which is technically just me at the moment) is always able to help with gaming events and logistics, etc. So if you do have that nagging urge to blow up someone’s shit and just need a little help getting things started drop me a line.

The other thing that people rarely do, but claim would benefit the Brotherhood is offer competition suggestions. I always bounce ideas around with a cadre of loyal minions. But if you feel you have an idea that would work better on a larger scale than Clan or House you can email me and work out the details for running it. As an example, Duga (and Clan Taldryan) run the Bryar Bowl competition by themselves with support from the Dark Council. I think the Brotherhood could use more Clan-sponsored events to break up the monotony of gaming nights and the ICTE. So again, feel free to contact me if you have an idea you’d like to pursue.

-> ## Useful Links <-

Rites of Combat

Brotherhood Servers

Gaming Nights Information

ICTE Information

ICTE Site