And......welcome to my fourth report as Deputy Grand Master. Sure, the first three were written four years ago, but whatever. <p>

I think the bulk of you know that I took a little trip to the wonderful world of Kandahar Airfield and that I am going to spend the next year in Afghanistan. Thankfully, the Russians are more than eager to charge us a 100 bucks a month for terrible internet service. Thanks Joseph! <p>

Sarin: Okay, a little refresher on who I am and what I am about. 1) I am a Star Wars nerd. 2) I am a gaming nerd. I own every system and I have an Alienware that is one step from Skynet. 3). I'm married and have two kids. My three year old daughter has demanded to watch a Star Wars movie every night for the last 46 days. She also demands to wear her Princess Leia costume (New Hope variant, sickos) every night. 4) I'm a Captain in the Army.<p>

Okay, that is me in real life. Who am I in the DB? 1) I have a low tolerance for idiots. Most of the idiots have been run out of the club or left because the environment became hostile to them. I'm a big fan of making idiots, flamers, griefers, and Mirei's vanish. 2) I'm in favor of massive overhauls and change to the Dark Brotherhood to ensure our club continues to exist into the next decade. 3) I'm in favor of these massive overhauls and changes even if a little pain is involved. Our club is still a 1990s organization based around niche gaming. Its time to expand our niche and step into 2010. 4) I'm in favor of replacing old timers with Equites over the next year in order to see fresh ideas and change come to our club. We need the next generation of leaders to step up and take this ship off of our hands. Jac can't code the website forever. Muz can't keep drawing armor. I can't keep making Raken write our plot line (haha). 5) I'm going to be addicted to TOR and push our club in that direction. The game might suck, but its a better alternative than playing JK and XVT. You might not agree with this, but take it from Bob Dylan, times are a changin.

Praetor|Magistrates: I need a Praetor and I Magistrates. Consider this the first opening for your place in getting us ready for TOR and being a part of the work in moving our club forward. I'm looking for two Magistrates who will almost be completely focused on working the TOR side of the house with me. The Praetor will also be TOR focused, but will be asked to do other duties as well.<p>

Future Projects: Over the past five months the Star Chamber has been discussing the above mentioned path to the future. What is that path? To be honest, I have no clue, but I'm willing to find out. One thing is certain, our club is a Star Wars club that has shifted from a gaming focus of 10 years ago to a fan fiction focus now. Don't believe me, check the stats on our last several Vendetta level competitions. Fiction owns gaming's face off. I mentioned we have our little niche and it has to get bigger. Star Wars fans are going to play TOR, Star Wars fans like to write fiction, and Star Wars fans like to do a little Dress Up. These might not be your three favorite things in our Club, but they might be the pillars we move forward on.
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AWOL: You may have noticed 450 members were just removed from our rolls. I'm not extremely alarmed because we always cut huge swaths of fat from the roll during AWOL checks, but I'm also aware apathy and lessened desire to participate in the club are on the rise. Seven of our units published Internal Reviews and all seven units stated that members were bored and looking for something to do. I think I spot a trend. <p>

Motivation: Wow, this report is chalk full of non-specific jargon concerning CHANGE without actually saying anything. I'm fully aware of that. The truth is that I don't know exactly where we are going to go over the next several months, but I can assure you that Muz, myself, and everyone you trust to lead this club want to do right by you. We love the Dark Brotherhood and want to see it continue to exist and move forwards. Moving forwards means we are going to have to start doing some major reviews of what works in our club and what does not. It also means making a conscious effort to attract new members and become a more attractive organization for prospects. This might cost us some old members in the process, but it is the only way to go from here on out. <p>

Expectations: Expect to see more from the DGM over the next couple of months and expect to see more in terms of specifics for how our Club is going to change.<p>

Done: Have a great week. Catch me on mIRC (i'm late at night and mid-afternoon for US east coasters. If you have questions or concerns, send me an email or leave a message on this report. I'll get back to you.</p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p>