Ronovi's return to Lyspair only hours after she had departed was unexpected, at the very least. Although usually she was comfortable with allowing her Aedile to temporarily reside over Yridia while she was tending to the Shadow Academy, the recent Rakghoul outbreak that she had been alerted of disoriented and disturbed her. Regardless, her mind was now more diluted than too much water in wine, or too much blood in a good bottle of ink.

"How long has Taigikori been gone?" she asked Aabsdu Dupar, the once esteemed Headmaster who now served as his former subordinate's Magistrate.

"A few hours now. Taken to Antei to be treated for his wound, by Muz himself" replied Aabsdu. He looked the Epicanthix up and down with a keen eye. "I assume the mission was a success?"

"No trace of the ship once we opened fire. As far as the fleet is concerned, Liu Van Dae is dead."

"Fortunate news," sighed Aabsdu, "though not without consequences."

The two had begun to walk across the courtyard, which was uncharacteristically devoid of other activity. Most likely the initiates had been stowed away in their quarters for the day, while the disorder that had seeped in the night before cooled off like the after effects of a drug.

"We have already begun research on this Liu Van Dae, as requested by the Grand Master," Aabsdu remarked. "And we've already found an anomaly."

"And what anomaly is that?" Ronovi asked.

"That there is no documentation of an adult Liu Van Dae in the archives." Aabsdu grimaced slightly at his own remark. "Given his age, we would imagine he would have left a strong legacy behind in 33 ABY. But there seem to be no data entries of him whatsoever."

It did seem to be odd, though Ronovi wasn't quite certain why Aabsdu called Liu Van Dae's absence in the archives an anomaly. After all, it was sometimes difficult to obtain archives on the New Jedi Order. Still, she sensed a new uprising in the light somewhere close by, and she could only imagine that Liu Van Dae was just the beginning in this sudden chain of events.

Hail, it's been a minute since my last report. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years, I know I did. We're starting off the 2011 New Year with a bang, with the immediate opening of a staff position, a sacramental award, and a few high tier degrees being thrown out to deserving members. I'll start however with a brief summary of my goals for this year.

-Have the Grind Path ground-work done by the end of Spring, coded by the end of Fall. -Introduce a new Grind Path sub-feature that allows members to to be select "Career Preferences" within the DB, which leaders will then look at when opening the application process. -Have Recruitment Cards re-released. -Find more programmers to help where needed.

Ronovi's goals: -Ensure quick turn around time on all exams. -Add to our ever growing exam repertoire. -Attempt to further establish the Academy as more than just something to blow up in DB lore.

On the topic of coding. Programming is one of the most sought after occupations in DB day to day activity. Aabsdu brings much to the table, including knowledge of HTML, ASP, and since the Shadow Academy's conversion to PHP, he has tackled this language as well. The Shadow Academy is almost completely separate from the other societies in the sense that we normally have to code things ourselves. In the few years I've known him, I've watched the Shadow Academy grow beyond anyone's expectations. When he resigned in May of last year, I didn't want to be parted from his leadership and friendship. This wasn't the case however, as Aabsdu has been a behind the scenes Headmaster; my most trusted counsel. Aabsdu wrote the book on the Grind Path, literally a 10 page "how-to" guide that I have since been following in the construction of the new Grind Path feature. When Aabsdu stepped down, he also assumed the role of sole-coder. He codes everything for the Shadow Academy, from every new exam that is released, to the countless FTP site updates I put on his desk. As his work continues to pile up, it comes to my attention that I haven't awarded him for the extreme amount of coding work he does for the Shadow Academy. Aabsdu is in my opinion, the greatest thing to happen to the Shadow Academy. His work will carry on for years to come, and I honestly don't know where I'd be without him. It is with this that I recommend that my greatest of friends be awarded with the coveted Amethyst Kukri. Thank you for everything you've done, and let's everyone congratulate Aabs on his fine achievement.

MOAR Programming, the DC is looking for more able bodied people to put into slave labor. If you're good with HTML, and are adaptive in PHP, shoot me an email. The Shadow Academy especially is hurting for a few good men with the giant Grind Path on the eve of release.

Staff Opening! Aabsdu was the first Professor of Clan Histories, but feels bad about taking jobs away from prospective/up and coming journeymen. With this, he's asked that we look for a suitable replacement. The job is fairly simple: Grade the Clan History exams, preferably within 72 hours. Sound like something you want to get your hands dirty with? Here is some basic criteria you should meet.

-Hold the rank of Guardian or above. -Have an email turn around time of 48 hours or better. -Have completed all Clan History exams. (If you haven't, and still want the job, you may take the exams now)

And that's it. Send your applications to myself and my Praetor, Ronovi by the January 31st. I reserve the right to make a decision before then.

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I'm in the process of going around and awarding Service degrees to our awesome staff, the biggest having been the Dark Sage Service which was given to Halc. Halc has been working with the Academy since before I was even a member, so it's high time he be awarded for it. Other shout outs go out to Cethgus, Jendan, Orv, and Keia for snagging their Maven/Savant Service Degrees. Thank you all for your service!

Don't forget to CC my Praetor, Ronovi, on all SA related emails, especially degree requests. Degree requests that do NOT have my Praetor CC'd, will be thrown in the trash.

Thanks to Orv, earned Degrees are now counted towards the Prestige system. Just another reason to rack up exams and send in those degree requests.

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Competitions! Last month's Blast from the Past saw a bunch of submissions, which I enjoyed. This month we're doing things a little differently. Note that this competition doesn't start until the end of the month, and runs for the entire month of February. Easy Medals have returned to the Brotherhood, with the rekindling of our recruitment movement. Basically, you paste a provided HTML code into your Facebook profile, and a DB ad appears on your Profile. Send links with the ad to [Log in to view e-mail addresses] to receive your Scroll, and make sure you look at the competition details found below.

[HM] 2011 Brotherhood "Draft"

I now interrupt your normal broadcasting of the sub-report entitled "Projects" to bring you pics from my iPhone4.

AT&T Store at a mall in Philly. I went in and opened up all the iPhone4's and iPads, and set the DB as the homepage on Safari for 'em all. Kraval ain't got nothing on this.

Summary: -Aabsdu earns an Amethyst Kukri -Halc earns his Dark Sage Service Degree -PROF open to applications -SA/DC looking for code monkeys -Vendetta fiction continues -Degrees earn Prestige

This month, the featured course is the GMRG History course, found in the Docent Halls. To gain entry to the Grand Master's Royal Guard, you must first take this exam and score above an 85%. It's well worth the time. That's all for now, see you all next month.

His Excellency, Taigikori Aybara Dupar Headmaster of the Brotherhood