Xen'Mordin Vismorsus sat brooding in his office. More reports of terrorist attacks from "The Cause" sat piled neatly on his desk. What had once been just a nuisance was now growing to what could be a full-blown war within the Cocytus System. This was something as Grand Marshall, Xen wanted to avoid. The House was having enough issues as it was. A full out rebellion and civil war in the system would cripple the house.

Xen mentally made note of several groups who would benefit from such a action. There was enough contention in the fragile alliance of houses for the Brotherhood. Recent choices had been to damaging to each to merit a full out war. "No," Xen thought, "we must act sooner rather then later."

Hours later Xen sat in yet another long, yet moving, musical performance. Sometimes Xen wondered how Kalak could manage to write all these things and keep up on his duties. It seemed there was some new piece every three days. Xen didn't mind, it was a break to clear his mind. Things were moving too quickly, and he needed to have a clear and level head for what was coming.

REPORT TIME! Yes, still no pretty pictures for you all, so I hope you all can pay attention enough through this mass of text. There have been several plans and projects going around the house. I think we have stabilized quiet nicely since the switch to being a house. I have seen a LOT of emails of activity from some people. Others, need to get doing stuff. We can't reward you, if you don't do anything.

This said, I want to highlight somethings for you all.

Competitions! There are many House and DB-wide competitions to do. Some I want to highlight are: 1. JH Xantros's Terra Nova which ends on the 20th. It is a short fictional competition Xantros is running as part of the trials for DJK so everyone should show their support. 2. The multitude of gaming events being run by The Fist. There is everything from JO to BF2 going on right now. Gaming is good fun and one of the main legs of activity for the DB. We have several very good gamers in this house, so if you need any input or help learning/training in a game, please come on IRC and talk with some of the best! 3. The several VOICE competitions. This month is the second running month of Load the Can(n)ons where you get to try and take down a major Star Wars Character. This month is Boba Fett. There is also a very interesting Create an Order competition.

There are many very good competitions being run. However we, the summit, would like get some feed back on what you like. On the house forums, Ood set up a poll for you all to vote in. So please go visit here and vote.

News! On a related note, the forums are an excellent source of communication, something both Ood and myself want really utilize. So if you haven't go register! Then go be active on the HSP section.

Also I have to push the usage of IRC. It is a wonderful way to get to know other people in the DB. So please check out this article about using it. It also has information about a web-based version, if you don’t want to download a client to your computer.

I want to point your attention to theScholae Palatinae Dominion page. Our lovely Cocytus system was been worked on extensively of the last few months, to be a fully fleshed out system on par with the other house’s system size. I want to extend a massive thanks to Archangel who headed the project as well as Faukes, Rayne, Aesir. Kael, Krandon, and Robin for their work on bringing our system to a proper state. You all should check out the wonderful job they did.

Moving beyond the house, there has been some DB news you should look at. First is that the HTML Basics exam has been rewritten by Orv into… a unique experience. The HTML Primer exam is available for you now and I highly recommend looking at it, even if you have no desire to learn HTML, as it is very entertaining.

Second, after a long time removal from the DB, the Grand Masters Royal Guard (GMRG) has returned. Look here to see what is required for you to join up. Anyone who likes to game should take a look at it.

In conclusion, there are some awesome plans being worked on for you all, so in the meantime check out the competitions, the forums, and get on IRC and make some new friends. I also want to promote the house website again. Please check it out, and send us feedback on things you would like to see on it.

Xen'Mordin Vismorsus