There was blood everywhere.

Muz saw it on the cold stone of the floor, across the iron of his throne, soaked into the warbanners that adorned the hall. He saw it in the symbols of the clans, carved into the stones. He blinked it away and saw the Red Tower still standing there, at the end of the carpet that led to the throne. He raised his eyes to meet the Elomin and the bloodskin wordlessly stepped back a few paces, then turned to leave.

<p>

Muz paced the floor in front of the raised dais that the simple throne sat upon, shooting a glance at it ever few turns, then back toward the closed doors, heavy wood inscribed with ancient Sith and Krath runes that seemed to glow in the halflight of the chamber.

<p>

A thin and pale human appeared behind the throne, the grating sound of stone on stone heralding his arrival. The praetor looked at the master cautiously, holding still until he was absolutey sure he had been seen. He knew too well the folly of surprising the Kyataran.

<p>

It was three more laps before the man raised a hand to beckon Xander forward, stopping in front of the throne.

<p>

"Master?"

<p>

Muz nodded at the holodisk that sat on the arm of the throne. Xander stepped up the dias quickly, nimble fingers snatching up the transparisteel-encased magnetic ore wafers. Retreating off the dias, he opened his mouth to ask questions but found them already answered within his own mind.

<p>

Xander backed away slowly as the Lion of Tarthos began to pace his cage again, slipping through the secret door which he entered through, crouching through the open stonework, wrapping his mind around the slab that served as the door. The heavy stone slid closed as he moved down the hidden tunnel back to the nerve center, the communications and control room of the Dark Hall.

<p>

Raising an eyebrow as he shifted hiz gaze around the room, eyes adusting to the dim lighting cast from the various monitors and holoprojectors, the Praetor made sure no one else was present before slipping the disc into a reader. Tapping on controls, he took in the information, watching the strange symbols as they projected into the air before him. Slipping into a chair, the former thief leaned back and rubbed his chin.

<p>

Tapping another command string into the console, he opened a communications link.

<p>

---

<p>

Nekura Manji stared at the hologram with his good eye, his arms pulled into the wide sleeves of his robe. The Consul of Naga Sadow had been awake for thirty hours now, and was operating on adrenaline and caff more than anything by now.

<p>

"So, what are you tring to tell me?"

<p>

"I..." Tsaenemoto's voice was plain as he admitted his own confusion. "I'm not terribly sure. It's not like how it was with Caerick. With him, things were obvious."

<p>

Manji nodded slowly, the unspoken acknowledgement returned as Sai closed the link, his form dissipating into swirling blue mist. He turned from the comm array, shrugging his arms out of his robes and resting a hand on the saber hilt in his sash. "I need to get a hold of my nephew."

<p>

---

<p>

Muz knew he wasn't alone in the throne room. He felt the other man's presence, subtle as it was. The resonance of his personality, the Force imprint, was faint, but recognizable to the wild scope of his senses.

<p>

"Kaek." The name was flung at the corners of the room, his voice enhanced by a thread of the Force.

<p>

He stepped from the shadows like a million Sith cliches, his eyes kept hidden by the thick hood of his cloak as he slipped into the light. "You know that you can't trust him."

<p>

Muz nodded, turning to look at the throne again. Kaek briefly debated drawing his saber and striking down the Krath where he stood, taking the Throne for himself. His mind's eye played it out, the image of the Dread Lord's body seperate from his head vibrant to him before it shifted to seeing the Krath standing above him, his own body collapsed on the floor several meters away as he blinked it away, seeing the Dark Lord half-smiling at him. Kaek hated the man for his Krath devilry.

<p>

"I can't trust anyone, Kaek." Muz shifted his weight, putting his thumbs behind his belt, precariously close to his sabers. "That's one of the benefits of this job."

<p>

Kaek shook his head, continuing despite the interruption. "He's already made contact with his allies in the Core. Word will get back to them, and then things will get ...complicated."

<p>

Muz nodded, watching the blood drip down the walls. "How much blood must I bathe in before I am clean?"

<p>

Kaek just looked at him sideways before turning to leave.

<p>

---

<p>

The man with the white hair lifted the glass to his lips but did not drink, watching his compatriot across the table in the noisy cantina. He looked disheveled, his clothes in rags, and thought he saw actual fungus growing on parts of it. Putting the glass back down on the grimy table, he levelled his gaze at the human. "So, why did you want to meet me here on Corellia?"

<p>

"They tried to kill me." The human muttered, drowning the words in a draught from his own cup.

<p>

The white-haired one let the words hang in the air for a moment. "This surprises you?"

<p>

<p>

Report Time!

<p>

<p>

So yeah, it's been a good long time since there was fictional development released in reports. We've been focusing more on putting big parts of the development in our vendetta events, and keeping it in there. Well, I think that does us a bit of an injustice. So, from here on out, I'm going to be putting little bits like the above into the reports I put out. I know, this one is kinda indirect, but it will make sense in the long run, i promise. ;)

<p>

There's been a fair bit of interested people asking me when we're going to make use of the RPG Guide that we recently released, and do a DB-wide RP event. Ludy tells me that she is working out the details of the initial backstory and will be getting medals approved, then opening it for signups soon. Those of us who were around for a while may recall the Shadow Academy Runon comp some time back. This will run similarly, only using the RPG stuff. So keep your eyes peeled for the announcement of those sign-ups.

<p>

There's been some comments about our currently defunct Dark Side Compendium, still linked to the main page. What has happened with that is that it was really converted. It used to be that the DSC was really the Codex as we know it now. When we made that change-over, it was planned that the DSC would be an in-character guide to the Brotherhood and a fictionalization of events and attitudes within the DB. Cyris came up with a cool graphical interface for the project, but it was not really ever fully realized. So, for quite some time, it has stood in a limbo state... until one of our members approached me with a plan to complete it. They have volunteered to get this done, and based on the pan and what this member has done in the past, I have full faith that it will be a cool addition for the DB to enjoy. I'm not going to give any details away, but know that it's being worked on. :)

<p>

Vardar is working on a big gaming event that is really pretty different from what we've been doing for years and years. But in the meantime, while we are waiting for server situations to get resolved, Vardar is running a comp where if you can beat him 8 out of ten times in JA/JO/RC that you can score yourself one of the harder to get medals in this club. Pendants of Blood have been rather hard to get since the GMRG kinda went inactive, and this would be a pretty easy way to get some for your own. Just email or PM vardar to set up matches and go stomp his face in. Come on, you know you want to.

<p>

Taldryan and Naga Sadow are both seeking Proconsuls. Taldryan would like their applications by the fifth of October, while Naga Sadow wants theirs by the eleventh. If you think that you have what it takes, go apply for those posts.

<p>

Oberst just opened his Dark Sage of Writing course up for applicants. A bunch of you may be thinking "Oberst is trying to become a Doctor, what does he know abouot writing?" Well, it's true, he is in the sciences as a professional, but he knows his stuff as regards literature. Not only is this course good for understanding more about a few classic works of literature, but it can do wonders to help your own writing. Oberst proved that he knows how to write in the last war, placing very highly in ever writing event he attempted. It would be a help to hone your own skills to help your clan in the coming Rite of Supremacy in January. He has a news post with the specifics to applying, so take a look at that, if you are interested.

<p>

<p>

I recently opened up a 'Ask the GM' forum on the message boards. You can find that forum here.

<p>

Not only do questions get answered there, but really good questions will be reposted in my reports, and the asking member will score themselves a Dark Cross for their troubles. So if you have a question, feel free to ask it there. You may just get a medal out of it.

<p>

Scyrone asks: I have a question about the possible character image creator thingy. I know it might still not be even close to ready yet, but when it is, will it include a diverse amount of species in it? Or is it purely going to be human? I am just wondering due to the fact I am Ithorian, but I am sure nobody else here is Ithorian.

<p>

As of right now, there are plans for 16 species to be included in the headshot selector. These species have been selected to cover the most common species used by the brotherhood members.

<p>

Naturally, we don't believe or expect that every member will be one of these species, there's just far too many species in Star Wars to cover for that. However, we will be designing this in such a way that it will be expandable (like the saber or robes selectors) in the future, as well as building in some functionality for custom headshots.

<p>

Now, before people get too excited about the possibility of custom headshots, it's not going to be a huge part of what the headshot selector is about. It'll probably be treated similarly to custom robes in that they will be rarely awarded. I think that there will be some leeway for those folks who have been playing an uncommon species and have already shown that they're going to be around for a while. It takes us some time and effort to put these together, and we don't want to waste that effort on someone who changes species every few weeks.

<p>

In the interim, there will be a rather generic headshot in the selector for those people who are playing species not represented by the selector, so there'll be something available to use.

<p>

The next obvious question is 'When can we expect this to launch?', and unfortunately, i don't have a good answer for that. Shikyo and I are working on the graphics for it, and once they are all done, well let it loose. But due to the sheer amount of work involved, it's going to take some time to get that many graphics loaded into it.

<p>

So thanks, Scyrone, and enjoy your Dark Cross. :)

<p>

Bloodfyre asks: Is there an update on when we might have the options of altering our weapons choices, instead of just lightsabers? For instance, some might want to use a lightsaber in their dominant hand, and a blaster in their offhand. Anything in store sooner or later on that (since I know you werew working on it at one point).

<p>

This has always been a big thing that i had planned on running with the possessions system. Given the amount of coding work that stands between us and that end-result, it could take some time before that sort of thing reflects on our dossiers. I know that the journeymen currently have the choice of using a blaster or a training saber (or the Armory saber, which is a REAL saber) until they get knighted, depending on what rank they are. Once a member breaks past the Knight threshold, the selector only shows the saber options, and that's really to reflect the tradition of the Saber being the primary and traditional weapon of a force sensitive. I may change that in the future, but probably not on our current dossiers as they are set up. The coding doesn't allow me to put a blaster graphic and a saber graphic up at the same time on a dossier. There's not enough room, sadly. :/

<p>

Shikyo asks: _I wonder if we're going to do anything associated with the new Death Troopers book coming out... Honestly, I'm curious to see zombies in the SW universe. _

<p>

No real comment as to my plans with the zombies... but there is an awesome image here: <p>

<p>

<p>

TL:DR<p>

*Fictional stuff<p>

*DB-wide RPG event signups start soon<p>

*DSC back in progress<p>

*Go beat Vardar up for Pendants of Blood<p>

*Tally and CNS need PCONs<p>

*Oberst doing his writing class<p>

*Post questions for the GM on the forums, win medals.<p>

<p>

And that's all for this time. If you have any questions, or anything I can help with, pm me on IRC or shoot me an email. Have fun!

<p>

<p>

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