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Greetings everyone and welcome to my 24th report as Grand Master of the Dark Brotherhood. This report will be slightly different from my normal report format. <p> Last week I asked the Dark Council to provide Internal Reviews (IRs) of their positions and Clans. The Internal Review is a self-assessing document that has been used by the DC for well over a year. Grand Master Cotelin began this program and I have continued to use it as a way for me to keep in touch with the projects of the DC and the status of the Clans. <p> I typically ask the DC to provide a review of their current performance, the performance of subordinate leaders underneath them, project plans for 30/60/90 days, and any issues that require my immediate attention. <p> I have decided to use this report as an opportunity to conduct an internal review of my activity over the last four months. I am providing it to the entire Dark Brotherhood because you guys are my boss and in the end, you are my reviewer. <p> Prior to starting, I do want to say that I am very happy with how far we have come in 16 months. When I took over as GM we had some Clans that were leaning towards total isolation and we had a lot of personal disputes that became major events. For the most part, these issues have vanished. I am pretty proud of everyone for helping that happen :p<p>

Here goes :p <p>

<p>Leadership</p>

<p>

-> The most precious commodities with which the Dark Brotherhood deals is the individual member's time. Their efforts and participation are the heart and soul of our organization. <- <p> Communication: Communication remains the vital component in keeping the Dark Brotherhood membership engaged. As the Grand Master it is my number one priority to maintain a vigilant approach in maintaining contact with our members. Over the last four months my communication with key leaders and members has fallen off from my first year as Grand Master. I openly admit that my email response time has slowed from less than 4-8 hours to upwards of 72 hours. My mIRC time remains consistent at 2-5 hours daily, with my open door policy in effect. If you want to talk to me, I will always take the time to talk to you.<p> Report writing has dropped off dramatically due to a few of the time constraints that I have in real life; however, I have a new schedule and this should not be an issue any longer. If I had to grade my communication through reports as of late, I would definitely rate a failure. <p> DB Politics and Crisis Management: In an ideal organization we would never have to deal with politics or personality conflicts. Unfortunately, the DB operates much like real life and from time to time problems will occur. I believe for the most part, I have handled politics and emergencies with a fair and steady hand. I typically remain level headed during disputes and attempt to solve issues through diplomacy rather than "crushing skulls". <p> Over the last two months I have noticed an obvious change in my patience in dealing with certain individuals and issues. These problems may revolve around expelled members who attempt to return repeatedly, problematic members with a history of issues, or members who attempt to extort their way into positions. <p> Over the past ten days I have taken a new stance with these issues and I believe it will be my policy from here forward. Namely, I will neither give these individuals the attention they crave or engage them in a manner that compromises my values as the Grand Master.
<p> So, this simply means I am not going to get pissy about issues that really are not that important (See expelled members attempting to rejoin for the 100th time. I'll simply ensure they remain banned and thats that). <p>

Guidance and Focus: We have a lot of projects going on in the Dark Brotherhood. In fact, we have so many that it is almost impossible to keep track of who is doing what. Even an excel spreadsheet cannot keep up with the mini projects and major projects that are planned and worked on daily.<p> One of my key strengths in the past has been bringing the DC into focus on certain projects. I let this slip over the last couple of months and we really suffered because of it. A lot of projects just stalled and to be honest, the fault of that lies solely on the Grand Master. My job is to make sure people get stuff done or people get retired from their positions. <p> Grade on Guidance and Focus for the last four months, D. <p>

<p>Projects</p>

-> Every person serving under you has trusted you with their leisure time and it is your duty to make the best of it. _ <- <p> **_Projects: Codex History**: Over the course of the next thirty days we will be releasing an updated history for the Dark Brotherhood Codex, to include new imagery. The current history was put together by very talented writers and quite a bit of it has remained; however, I have tweaked a few areas and updated it to include what has happened since the split. The History went through extensive checks and revisions by former Grand Masters and my trusted Praetor. I hope this updated document provides our members a better fictional background for our Club.

Projects: Discipline System: I have just completed the fictional descriptions of the Sith Order and the new Disciplines that will be offered. This fictional write up will be used in a soon to be released (60 day project) update to our core three orders. The following is directly cut from the Discipline System Document (version 8) created by Raken:

Orders exist now primarily in name only and have obsolete fictional backgrounds and offer no additional benefits to the member beyond rank titles and colors of robes and sabers. <p> The diverse interests of members often mean that many of them play outside their currently selected Order’s traditional roles. Since the removal of Order Leaders some time ago, updating what Orders represent within the Brotherhood is the next step in the process of bringing the club closer to its goals.<p> Realizing that Orders are too ingrained into the Brotherhood’s ethos to be done away with entirely, it has been decided to update them. By enhancing their fictional roles, allowing members the freedom to participate in all Brotherhood activities regardless of Order, and creating mechanisms within the Orders to grant them meaning and importance, we hope to offer a deeper experience of play. <p> These changes will also serve to modify Orders to better integrate with the many additional improvements ahead.<p> Each Order will be given three “Classes,” known as Disciplines. They consist of two unique paths and a general “warrior” path that is common to all three. This was done because the warrior concept has a very strong inherent connection to Dark Jedi that is present in every Order. We have looked at the things that characterize a given Order, in addition to a warrior class, and selected the most interesting aspects to offer the member variety, rewards and fictional depth reflecting their choices.<p> Project: Journeyman Promotion System: One of the most common complaints of members who fill out our feedback forms is that they were confused and unsure of how to advance in the Dark Brotherhood. An additional complaint by many is that it is much easier to get promoted in one Clan over the other. Because of this, I am working with the MAA on creating a DB wide standard for promotions from Initiate to Guardian. This system is designed to balance the field between the Clans and to offer our new members a centralized location to view requirements for promotions. Kaek is currently compiling common promotions standards amongst the clans and we plan to present a system to the DC within the next couple of weeks. This system will be displayed on the Codex and provided to all new members upon their entry to the Dark Brotherhood.

Promotions above the rank of GRD will remain with the Clans to include the individualized DJK trials. We figure that once a member reaches GRD, they will have figured out how to find the requirements for continued promotion from within their Clan :p<p> Raken Quote of the Week:<p><@Raken> jacen's level of power was inconsistant too...one day he was like jedi knight+ then the next he's like Darth Sauron <p>

<p>Real Life</p>

-> <- <p> Still in Iraq and my family is growing: I am going to be in Iraq until early next year. I will arrive home just in time for my wife to have our second baby. For those of you who remember, I went home in April on my leave and my wife ended up pregnant. That's right, one of the GM's abilities is that all he has to do is enter a room and his wife gets pregnant. Hehe, actually, we planned this little event and were blessed enough to end up having it work out for us.<p> So what does this mean for me and the DB? Not much. The DB is my hobby and I love Star Wars. Sure, I am an Army Captain with a family and that takes up a lot of time, but at the same time, my only other hobby is going to the gym. We are planning a GJW for late this year, but I might try to talk you guys into having it in early 09 so I can be at home to help with it a bit more than I can from Baghdad :p<p>

<p>Final Thoughts</p>

Thats it from the GM: Alright, my four month little IR is complete. If you have not noticed I have picked up the pace the last two weeks and plan to keep it up. My overall grade for this period, I guess a C. Not great, but not failing in epic Zoraan style. :p. Questions, comments or concerns. Let me know.

<p>Done!</p>

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