29 December 2008

Headmaster Report #20

An upcoming conflict can be sensed in the air, and as such this is the second to last real Headmaster's Report until after the Great Jedi War. During the war there will still be updates, but mainly concerning Shadow Academy-related events. This report isn't too big because we're saving all the major announcements for the January 11th One-Year Status Report, so watch for that one. In it will be information on how the past year has gone, the release of projects long in the works, as well as our plans for the coming year. It'll be a big report, but with a lot of information in it.

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The Zarente Chronicles: Part IV

Dawn broke as the speeder whizzed along a stretch of desolate, uninhabited land. Its passengers were treated to a truly spectacular sight as soft, gold rays fell across their faces. Praetor to the Headmaster and Sith Warlord Dacien Victae di Plagia stared out at the landscape, taking it all in while at the same time weighing his options and planning his mission. They were drawing near to a great split in the ground, a crack upon the geography. Small enough to barely be noticeable from orbit, but large enough, apparently, to play host to a series of buildings linked by narrow stone ledges.

The speeder whirred to a stop at the edge of the crack and Sephi jumped out, quickly heading down one of the pathways, "They're rumored to have been created by one of the first humanoid species on the planet a few thousand years ago. Legend says they were wiped out by a plague, but time is the only damage to their structures."

Inside the main hall, burrowed deep within the rock, a different scene confronted Dacien. Around thirty men and women were spread throughout a large, spacious room, cleaning weapons or huddling around primitive fires. A man and a woman quickly reached Sephi as she walked in, saluting her.

"Is this the one you were looking for," the man asked.

Dacien stopped and turned, pulling his lightsaber but keeping it deactivated. Around twenty of the soldiers in the room jumped to attention, weapons aimed, "Looking for? You lied!"

"Everything I said was true," Sephi returned, "but I did know that the Queen's soldiers would be hunting you. We have a contact inside the palace who told us of the situation. I decided to take initiative."

The room abruptly shook and explosions boomed through the caverns. The rebels jumped into action, running about the room and gathering weapons before leaving the cave and heading towards the surface. Ignoring Dacien, Sephi turned and ran, shouting orders. Dacien followed as they scrambled through narrow tunnels, the light at the end growing larger and larger until finally he found himself on the surface again. The whine of fighters echoed through the chasm until another noise caught his attention.

Somewhere nearby, a rebel shouted, "Here they come!!!"

Neither side was well armed with weapons or men. The battle was weak compared to what Dacien had seen among the clans of the Brotherhood. Still, they fought hard, both sides blasting away at the other. War was such a gruesome thing, and Dacien absolutely loved it. Eventually, Sephi and her squad were able to seize the tank. The Dark Jedi took aim carefully, placing a perfect blast on one of the fighters. The other raced towards him, firing three shots that he deflected back into the enemy, including the final fighter.

Slightly weakened from the fighters, Dacien pushed forward, slicing through soldier after soldier. Sephi ran up to him in the midst of the swarm, "This attack is a blessing in disguise, we must push forward into the city. Lead us into battle, Dark Jedi, and then you may have that which you seek."

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News

--Congrats to Tirano, the new EP of Poetry Basics and Advanced Poetry!

--We had some big SA Wiki pages updates these past few weeks. The Vespera, Azura, Arcanum, and revamped Shadow Academy pages were finally completed. One of the things I did was delete the Test of Lore and SA History pages, as that information can all be found on the main SA page. I also deleted the SA Degree Requirements page, moving that information to the main Dark Side Degrees page. Basically, I'm putting the similar stuff in similar locations. The only page left is the new Dark Vault page, which we'll see after the New Year.

--If you go to the Degrees and Other Courses link on the SA website, you will see a list of old courses that now link to some of the notes from those courses, as reference files. Many of them are out of date, but some can still be useful, like Leadership Applications. Check it out.

--As I said in my previous reports, the Dark Vault as an actual website is being closed down. All of the important information is being placed in Wiki articles, mainly the SA page, and we are working on creating a Dark Vault fictional page. The subsite that no one ever goes to will be destroyed Death Star-style.

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Projects

--Expect big announcements in my next report, I'll save it all until then. Really, we're putting most things on hold until after the Great Jedi War, so the next report is kind of a finale for the time being.

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Featured Course of the Report

This report's featured course is Hand-to-Hand Combat. Written by Deputy Grand Master Muz Keibatsu and released only a few months ago, it is probably one of the Shadow Academy's most interesting and directly DB-relevant courses. In part, this is due to the release of the new character sheets, which includes the reworking of the hand-to-hand styles. One could always use some extra information when they think about what forms they want to master. Besides that, there is a Great Jedi War coming up, and it is always easier to write combat if you know what you're writing, rather than just copying some fight you saw in Revenge of the Sith. Knowledge in writing combat also applies to the ACC, which will be highlighted in the GJW, so this course pretty much rocks. The course goes over the basic forms of combat, as well as some of the finer points of using it, especially when writing it. Course notes can be found here.

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Important Links

--SA Website

--SA Degree Requirements

--SA Forums

--Hand-to-Hand Combat Course Notes

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Summary

• January 11th is my one year report

• Congrats to new EP Tirano

• Lots of Wiki updates

• Check out the old course notes as reference files on the SA site

• No more Dark Vault site, just a Wiki page

Sith Warlord Aabsdu di Plagia Dupar

Headmaster of the Brotherhood