Greetings and Salutations,

A lot has happened, or hasn’t happened, since my last report. Site went down, came back up. New DB site is being coded with the intent of combating the dearth of SQL injector attacks of the past year. SA site is still down. Do not use it. Your exam may not be graded. I hope it doesn’t come back. Don’t get me wrong, I think that in some way the SA is useful, but it isn’t fulfilling its potential or role. It spends more time catering to the laziest instincts amongst us and doesn’t really offer people the chance to learn or practice nuances for existing skill. I’m sure some of you reading this are going to disagree. Instead taking the point of view that the SA needs to be fun and refreshing and easy and not challenging, and I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with that.

But, here I will agree that my point of view is ingrained in arrogance on my part. I’ll freely admit to my arrogance and pretense, but I’m not going to apologize for it. Part of the arrogance comes from not wanting to do things the easy way. I hate the easy way. It’s boring. It’s unfulfilling. Granted, this does lead to problems for myself. I expect a lot of work and care to go into what I do. I expect a high deal of feasibility in everything I write. I won’t write and let something happen just because it moves the plot along. There needs to be a reason. It’s also why I have so many projects on my plate that I slowly plod along with. It causes conflict with what may be Star Wars canon, but since we are not canon ourselves, I figure I’m allowed creative license. It means that not all our capital ships are skippered by Captains. It means that the intel branches I’m working on will not be full of special agents. It means there is no Captain’s chair on the bridge, instead the Captain stands in front of a CIC (Combat Information Center). But, all of this adds a few more layers of realism to weave into a story. This makes it easier to write and tell a story. The story gets a subtle richness from this kind of detail. It’s a bit like adding veal stock or duck fat to your gravy or sauce – it gets richer.

Oberst Projects

Military/Civilian Intelligence – An idea struck me that I’m playing with on paper before I kick the first draft to Anshar. I know, I promised this sooner, but I’m hoping this opens up possibilities for Clansmen to portray their characters as analysts, agents, operatives and/or assets.

Next Wargame – After the GJW. I will neither confirm nor deny content, but it wouldn’t hurt to read up on what gentlemen such as Foch, Pershing, Bradley or MacArthur did. Of course, this could be a red herring, and I might throw squad level tactics at you.

Operation Beef Up Writing – This is actually for you guys and will be released in a small series of snippets and digests. In it, will be my tips for improving your writing. I can guarantee if you follow these tips your writing will improve tenfold. This is aimed at improving our standing in the upcoming GJW. We have some great writers who always make the top 10 in this Clan, but since participation is a must there’s no reason why we can’t crowd some really good shit in there.

Writing tip #1 – Look to the past. Someone else has already written about the scenario you yourself are writing about. How did they do it? Was it narrative? Was it third person? Did they present it in a surreal matter? The masters of the written word have already presented numerous perspectives. I’m not saying plagiarize, but the great writers study other writers. Why shouldn’t you? I will guarantee no one here knows more about writing than Hemingway, Steinbeck, Baldwin or Thompson. If you look at what they’re doing, study it; digest it. You will come away from their work with another tool in your pocket. Maybe you’ll play with Hemingway’s penchant for repeating a fact over and over to make detail come to life. Perhaps it will be Baldwin’s use of real settings to make characters come to life. Whatever it is, it will help you. It will not hurt you. Start hunting for short stories by the literary greats and just devour them, take them apart.

Closing Thoughts

I am an unapologetic student of Napoleon I. It isn’t his mastery of the battlefield that I admire most about the man. It wasn’t his eloquence or knowledge of theatrics to inspire. It was his attention for detail. Nothing escaped the diminutive titan. He mastered detail. He knew the placement of every gun within his Empire, where each bullet was, the age of the horses. That mastery of detail made Europe scream in terror. That mastery of detail is what I strive for in my writing. If he could set fire to a continent, imagine what that kind of mastery could do for everything else in life?

Regards,

Maxamillian von Oberst-Tarentae,

Marshal of the Armies of Tarentum,

Proconsul of Clan Tarentum,

Death Dealer