Grand Master Report

2010/12/23, 9:18 AM, Grand Master - The Council

Taigikori was losing patience. He had been stalemated against the Jedi in front of him for what seemed like ages, even though most likely only seconds had gone by. The blur of red and green moved back and forth like a pendulum, both men trying to gain the upper hand. The Headmaster saw sweat drip from Liu's forehead. Most likely he was sweating, too.

Letting the Force pulse around him, Taigikori feinted pulling back and then unleashed a flurry of Force energy toward the Jedi. Liu responded with the grace of an acrobat, letting the shove flip him through the air as he landed on the balls of his feet a few meters away. Nearly crazed with fury, Taigikori charged, his saber pointed directly at Liu's chest to trick him, before swooping down and aiming for his legs. He missed, and badly. The saber cut through mid-air, and suddenly Liu was above him. Taigikori raised his head, only to realize too late that it was the wrong thing to do. The upward angle would cost him, as Liu parried a block from the Headmaster's saber and then let the green flash across the lower part of Taigikori's face. The bellow of pain echoed off the deeply hollowed out walls of the Vault, as Taigikori slumped to the ground clutching his face. His fingers traced his upper lip, then descended down to empty space. As his eyes watered in the agony, they flickered toward the lump of flesh now lying beside him - his lower lip, jaw, and chin torn from his face. He heard a clatter as Liu retrieved the Headmaster's deactivated lightsaber hilt, twirling it in his hands. He did not reprimand Taigikori, or admonish him. He simply looked upon him with an expression of pity and remorse, just as another hum emerged from the ensuing silence and the Headmaster's saber flew from Liu's grip as if it had been torn from his fingers. Liu turned quickly before his eyes widened, his face losing a few shades of color. The Lion of Tarthos. There could be no victory here. He held the saber in his hand, turning it over and examining the etching in the metal, the tightly wound fabric around the grip. It was familiar to him, the resonance of the creator combined with skills plainly learned at his own elbow. Muz let a smile crease the corner of his eye for a moment before looking up. Taigikori rasped on the ground, the wound at his jaw tearing down his throat, clumps of coagulated blood sloughing off. The blood beneath poured across his vocal chords, bubbling and frothing with each of the Headmaster's exhalations.
 Liu stepped back slowly, like a man backing away from a wild beast. Muz tilted his head, watching the Jedi curiously. He flattened himself against the wall, slinking away, his saber blade evaporating back into the hilt as he moved, careful not to make any sudden movements. Muz blinked, looked down into his hand and abruptly threw the hilt at the Jedi. It flew quickly, pausing midair mere inches from Liu's head. The Jedi flinched, then let his eyebrow rise before grabbing the hilt. He watched the Lord's eyes carefully, and inclined his head a degree before deciding not to second guess Fortune, bolting down the passage with Force assisted legs.
 Muz stepped toward the Headmaster, the breeze of his warcoat's motion blowing cool air into his wound. Cold, shark eyes regarded the Aybara, before the voice, came into his mind. "I didn't command you to die."

The tiny ship slipped past the sensor array, the satellites that relayed the holonet from Lyspair and Antei to the Houses. Liu resisted the urge to take an opportunistic shot at them as he passed. His heart started slowing down, his breath returning to normal. He looked down into his free hand, the saber hilt of the Headmaster of the Brotherhood. His students never would have believed him, that he survived a meeting with him. Not the scared apprentice running from his master, but the Lion. He let the word pass his lips.
 "I survived." He leaned back as he punched in coordinates for the spot where he snuck through the Stygian Caldera. The words returned, a mantra of courage that had more and more mirth behind it with each iteration. "I survived!" His sensor array exploded in blinding color and a violent squeal. Liu bolted upright, frantically flipping switches to see what it could be. The comm blared to life, and he flipped it on instinctively.
 "...is Commodore Blackwind of the Fallen Spear. Praetorian Tavisaen requests communication from unidentified craft."
 Liu sneered at the idea.

Ronovi glowered at the viewscreen. She had little understanding as to why the Lord had commanded her to his ship until the moment that the strange fighter was within visual range. She turned to the Autochthonian, gesturing for him to fire. He stared at her blankly before she realized that she was not aboard a ship manned by Tarenti. "Destroy him." Blackwind nodded, waving a hand at the tactical stations. A half dozen concussion missiles tore through the space between the two ships.
 Ronovi just smiled as she felt the heat across her face.

It's report time

It's been a pretty active month. One of the biggest things is how Orv pushed through a couple neat things, the neatest of which was the Prestige system, which will eventually impact the kind of things a member will be able to purchase in Possessions. Yep, I said it. Possessions is still being worked on, and Orv has made wicked progress.
 Speaking of Orv, he recently caught a promotion to Pontifex and became Seneschal again for us. His work speaks for itself, and the promotion was well deserved. Please join me in congratulating him (for some of us, for a second time).

Herald Style Hanukkah is under way! This time of year, Shikyo and I (with some help from his staff) hand out lots of goodies for our members to use to sexify up their dossier. This year is no exception, and we've got big piles of cool stuff to give away. Today, there's a couple of armor kits to give out... Based on the ancient Sun Guard, these armor kits will be available at the rank of Dark Jedi Knight.

-> <-

ACC rank awards were released. Based on your current ranking in the ACC, you should see some new saber selections in the selector. Some of them are really interesting varieties in there, especially on the higher ranks. Some people have asked if we are going to restart the ranks in the ACC, but we decided not to, considering how long it takes to build ranking in the ACC.

We're a little behind schedule on the awards for Disorder, what with the holidays and everything else going on. We're still going to launch something for that, please bear with us as we're going through it. We're trying to find good, canon Force powers that aren't already replicated in the current system.

Ask the GM Time! Howlader asks: "Will you publish how much each medal/promotion/etc adds to a member's e-penis rating (he's talking about the Prestige rating here)?" Nope, I like a little mystery, and I figure that you guys can eventually sort it out for yourselves. ;) Andrelious asks: "How strong would GM Ashen be against a Light Jedi Master, and would GM Kane Vader be the strongest GM?" Well, that depends on the Master, as well as the circumstances of the battle. Rank versus rank has never been the only deciding factor in any battle. As to Kane Vader, seeing as how he has not been in contact with the Star Chamber for many years, it's thought that he is no longer on the same plane of existence as the rest of us.
 Kira asks: "If something happened to my character, like losing an arm in a canon story, such as RO, and then I change the character, new name, new species... does what happen to the character before still stay?" I don't see why not.

I am told that this is a wampa costume. Ooookay.