Welcome to report time.

With site outages, a lot of delays and rebuilding battles have naturally been forced to occur. We apologize about that, but in truth, there's nothing that could have been done. The Brotherhood site is, realistically, an ongoing project by volunteers. Please remember that. As part of the DB site, the ACC is therefore an extension of volunteer work. That should be quite obvious. What may not be obvious is that you all, by participating in the ACC, are part of the volunteer work to make it a thing that grows, expands, and progresses to become better, and we appreciate your patronage and patience.

Changes are being made. Staff are volunteering their time and efforts to update old rules, and to try and work out new rules, as well, that will mesh a bit better with the upcoming new character sheets that are in the process of being built. Yes, you may be excited about the new sheets, but I promise, the ACC Staff is just as excited, if not more so. It allows us new options to take the ACC where it needs to be now for it to be the best possible facet of the Brotherhood that it can be.

In light of this, one of the changes that is being made is the dissolution and disapproval (or revoking of approval) for ALL custom weapons, be there entered into the ACC site itself, or just those on your character sheets. No custom weapons will be allowed in the ACC as it is from today on until they have gained approval once more.

Yes, that's right, you can regain approval for your custom weapons coming up shortly. All it means is, you will have to do a write-up on your custom weapon that is more than the 3-5 sentences that are entered into the ACC database. When I mentioned that you could look to the custom races information to see what would be required, some people apparently took that to mean that I was allowing custom races, as well. That's not what I said at all. The choice to create custom weapons was revoked by the Grand Master, and only Sarin can reinstate that option. Would I like to see it? I wouldn't be against it, I suppose, but the problem is, some people don't know how to limit themselves. "But Sith, YOU have a custom race!" Yes, yes I do. And from the start, I have used that race, and whatever advantages I gave to the race, I revoked from Sith by making him a runt. The only advantage from his race that he actually has is longevity. Some people have chosen to ignore that fact. The only "advantages" I gave to my own character stat-wise were the ones I could build from the points given to me by rank and rules. Consider that, and maybe you'll understand why custom races aren't allowed anymore. People ran rampant.

Where am I going with all this? The same exact thing has been happening with custom weapons. I do not agree with where some of the weapons have gone, nor with some of the inferred abilities that certain weapons have been given, either by their creator directly, or by others trying to write that weapons. That says to me that a sufficient job was not done in regards to custom weapons. So now, you will have to have a good description of your weapon detailing its capabilities and limitations so that anyone would understand it completely. This information should also include why it was created, where it was created, and how the idea came up to create it (or, to approach it from another perspective, where you found the recipe or description to create it). Why? Quite frankly, if you're a weaponsmith, you are probably NOT a warrior. Consider that for a moment.

Details on the specifics of custom weapon approval submissions, when to submit them, and who to submit them to, will be released probably within the next month. I would just like to state that, in addition to weapons going wank, another reason I have decided to revoke custom weapons is because I do not want to ruin the integrity of Sarin's and Muz's plans to institute a possessions system that began so manner years ago with the Rebirth projects, and I also do not want to cause an issue with certain people having weapons that give them powers far beyond their rank. Which, by the way, also includes Sith Swords. Sorry kiddies, Sith Swords are not available for the general use by the public. Why? Because the idea of Sith Swords not being the powerful, kick ass weapon that they should be bothers me, and bringing them back to that status is something I want to do. Yes, real Sith Swords. Which means they are powerful items of the Dark Side, and if you are an Acolyte, you probably couldn't control the dark forces that would try to manipulate you and destroy everything. You would become a creature of chaos uncontrolled by conscious thought, and Sarin would send his bitches out to destroy you. And since we like you so much, we'll just make sure that doesn't happen.

In other news, because of the site outages, a request was made/talked about within the Staff, and something we have decided to do is offer a complete "fresh start," so to speak. A lot of battles are old, posts have been lost, and people are frustrated with having to rebuild them, or have just lost the motivation for that particular fight. The option was mentioned of closing off all current fights that have been going on with no posts since the site originally went down. I agree with it. You have the option of keeping said battle open if all participants agree and want to, or you can just be silent, and we'll be closing the battles for you. I know how it is, when you lose your focus and ideas for a work of fiction, or even just a simple letter, so the same thing applies. We'll be passing along information to the Clans about when battles will be closed, and how to speak up if you want to keep a certain battle going on despite the length of time and such.

ACC Initiates Exams have piled up. I apologize. I was under the impression (the wrong impression, so again, I apologize) that the Shadow Academy site was still having issues, and so I was ignoring them for the time being. Aabsdu got a hold of me and let me know it's ok to go ahead and catch up on grading those exams, so they'll probably be done by tonight or tomorrow. I apologize for the wait that some of you have been forced to endure.

You will all notice that the ACC Vendetta rank came back for the recent three-way Feud between Arcona, Plagueis and Scholae Palatinae. You might be thinking, "If I don't have to qualify to participate anymore, and all I want to do is participate in Feuds and GJWs, I'll just request the Vendetta rank each time!" If you are thinking that, you are wrong. The Vendetta rank was not reinstated to accomplish THAT. The Vendetta rank was reinstated so that anyone who did not have ample opportunity to qualify before a major event could still participate. That was one thing I believed very much in changing, was the fact that people who hadn't qualified before a GJW were basically shafted in the ACC event(s). You will be allowed two opportunities to use the Vendetta rank; yes, I'm keeping track of it. After that, if you haven't qualified within the ACC, and it's Feud/GJW time and you want to participate, you're going to get a nicely-worded KMA email from me. :) We have a GJW coming up in 2009 from the spoiler movie and such. Start now. Get qualified. Put those Trainers to work. And because I anticipate that we may have an influx, it is possible that I may look for part-time Trainers to bring on. I will make an announcement if and when that happens. Just remember, try to look to see who is in the middle of Qualification Battles before you issue challenges.

Long-winded. Yep, looks that way. I just don't have a fancy report layout that separates everything out, and I don't mix it up by putting cute nerd girls in Stormtrooper outfits in my report. Everyone has their schtick, mine is to make jokes, and poke fun at people, generally myself. But just be aware, there is relevant information in each report. That's why I'm only doing "public" reports once a month. If I can help you out in any other ways, please feel free to email me. But remember, you have resources at your fingertips to assist you in so many ways. Members of your Clan are, in fact, active and competent within the ACC. Ask them for help. Your Clan Summits are familiar with the Character Sheets and Rules for the ACC, or at least know where to get information on them. Utilize them and their relationship with you. Jac is the man to go to for coding questions, but he's busy, so try and figure things out with your Clan leaders before you go to him.

And always remember, get out once in a while. If you don't, if you stay cooped up in your room on your computer all day, you will degenerate into Gollum, and will become as annoying as Nitemare is. So please, do yourself a favor. Get the flip away from "the precious." :P

Have a great week, everybody.

-DJM Sith Bloodfyre

Cestus of Tarentum

Combat Master

All That Other Shiznit.