There wasn't even any screaming.

The headmaster stared at the ceiling as he lay on the operating table, the doctors, yes doctors instead of medical droids, cut away the necrotic flesh at his cheeks, the soft tissue that flapped where his jaw met his neck. The sizzle of cauterization left a wholly disconcerting flavor in the air, mixed with the bitter tang of antiseptic.<p> The pain was brilliant.<P. He felt the man enter the room long before he could see him. The table was set so that the victim could look out the window at the sprawling megapolis stretched out before them, the door behind his head. He dared not crane his neck. He knew who it was.<p> The Dark Lord sat the prosthetic down on the stainless tray to his right, then sat down a small plastisteel container, a screw-top lid keeping the contents secure.<p> The green eyes of the Headmaster flinched in momentary pain as one of the doctors sliced through the end of a nerve. recovering quickly, he looked at the sleeve of the Dark Lord, waiting for him to step into his line of sight, willing it with his desire.<p> Searing white light flashed behind his eyes, the whir of a drill boring into the side of his skull, next to his ears. The anchors for the new prosthetic were not small or cheap. If he had use of his mouth, Taigikori would have sworn.<p> Muz watched as they worked on Aybara with passive eyes. The damage was intense. He had lost his jaw and tongue as well as part of his throat. They had already stabilized his throat with transplants from some poor accident victim, but the jaw prosthetics hadn't progressed since Malak, the same sort of bandage that his own half-brother had over the wound that Eojin wrought. Muz pondered the commonality of the wound, and came to the conclusion that the Jedi thought that the Sith talked too much.<p> Another labcoat entered the room, a man carrying his own tools and a set of ceramic-coated metal teeth. He watched him maneuver to the front of the pack of professionals, preparing to remove the half-burned upper teeth and replace them with something that would put up with grinding against the artificial ones he had installed in his own invention.<p> Tears welled up in the Headmaster's eyes as the pliers broke free, a bit of enamel and blood in their steel grip. Muz nodded at the doctors, then at the prosthetic he had brought. One of them pulled away from the patient, examining the device and turning it over in his hands.<p> "I've never seen one of these before." The doctor spoke in a Coruscanti accent.<p> Muz turned on his heel, heading for the door.<p> "Has it been sterilized?"<p> Muz looked over his shoulder, pausing for a second before leaving.<p>

---

<p> Korras read down the line of responses, the reporting for duty orders and how many of the Dark Jedi of Revan had been accounted for. A twist at the corner of his mouth betrayed him, and the masked Knight thought about asking the inevitable question. He knew that his house was made up of upper equites and elders, Dark Jedi who had come to what they saw as the end of their potential, and spent more time in pursuit of personal goals than in the pursuit of Brotherhood ones.<p> He held his tongue, watching the last Obelisk High Commander as he scanned through the list, noting a few names in particular, his finger highlighting them on the datapad.<p> "So, you'll be needing a new Aedile, I see." Korras' voice was subtle, but held gravity with the words.<p> Eiko just nodded, offering neither excuse or explanation. Neither was requested or needed.<p> Korras nodded, placing the datapad on the desk in front of him. "There's only a few days left for this audit, Quaestor."<p> He knew what that meant. He would have to make sure that as many of his members would make contact as possible.<p>

---

<p> "A year and two months?" Ollie snarled at the master as they walked away from the bar. "How long do you think they will last? I'm surprised they've made it this far."<p> Loira stopped in his stride. "How quickly can you amass an army worthy of this foe?"<p> He thought for a moment. About all of the things he had seen over his time with the enemy. All of the brigands and mercenaries dispatched with such abandon that it was like a game to them. Only the Vong gave them pause...<p> "...And they don't take commissions, my friend." Loira winked at him. He hated when he went in uninvited. "So, we have to go about it in a different fashion."<p>

---

<p> Taigikori grimaced as he sat back up slowly. His legs were asleep from too much time in the chair, and his head was woozy from fatigue not only on his mind but on his bones. He lifted his arm to his jaw, feeling the cold metal there and trying to get an approximation of how it looked as he waited for one of the doctors to bring him a mirror. <p> They prattled on about synthetic flesh covering to conceal the damage, and how it wouldn't be able to grow hair, how it would take him some time to relearn how to use his mouth, since there would be a slight delay in servo function. He ignored the words, storing them away as he felt the ridges along his throat, the sides of his face.<p> His tongue felt heavy, dry. He flicked it around, and experienced what they were talking about. It was slow. maybe only a fraction of a second, but it was enough to be wrong. He cursed Liu silently, before considering the alternative of eating through a nutrient tube for the rest of his life.<p> The mirror placed before him, Taigikori picked it up, glowering at his own visage within.<p>

-> <- <p>

<p>

<p> It's report time <p>

<p> Korras just told me that he's been working on indexing the recent AWOL check results so far. There's still a few days left, so go make sure that you responded to the check before you get sent down to the rogues. <p> In case it hasn't been drilled into your head by your Quaestors and Aediles by now, responding to the AWOL check not only keeps you in the house that you're in, but helps make sure that the houses are weighed properly as we go through and look at which houses may need to be clanned up, and which may need to be closed. So yeah, it's terribly important. <p>

<p> As I continue to work with my advisors and Dark Council as to how to increase our member retention and help grow the club, we find little gaps in where things could be streamlined, improved, or straightened out for the best result in the club. <p> The last week or so, there's been a big focus on Master-Student programs. Many houses have fairly formalized apprenticeship programs, others don't. If your house has one, then great. If yours doesn't, watch the next few weeks as they get that sorted out. If you are DJK or higher, you'll want to see about taking on a journeyman as an apprentice.<p> Not only is helping a journeyman learn about the club and rank up a beneficial thing for your house and the Brotherhood, but it also has significant benefits and rewards for the master. They get the ability to be very influential on the next generation of members, they get rewarded for their activities in mentoring by way of a scroll of indoctrination, and more.<p> Korras, Dash and I have put our heads together and come up with a requirement for the third Equite Ranking that mandates that a member must have raised an apprentice to knighthood in order to be eligible for the third equite rank.<p> Another thing that none of us thought needed to be said, but apparently must be, is regarding fiction and Non-player-characters or NPCs. There are many members in this club who rather than take on real flesh and blood apprentices, preferred to write up their own invented characters for apprentices. <p> In a day and age where so many of our journeymen get lost because of a lack of attention from masters or leaders within the clan, this is simply unacceptable. Tradition has long held that force users in the brotherhood were only player characters, and that NPCs were support staff, soldiers, maids, servants. Having discussed with the DC, we're formalizing that tradition into a rule. <p> The DB wiki staff has been instructed to delete any new NPC apprentices to Player characters on upload. Existing NPCs will have a short period for their respective owners to suitably kill them off, in the interest of keeping the storyline smooth.<p> In short, if you want an apprentice, get a real one. <p>

<p> Independence Games will be held this year in April. <p> For those of us who haven't been around to play in the Games before, the event is a series of competitions that we hold to celebrate the Brotherhood and all those things that make us different from every other club on the web, as well as to commemorate the Exodus.<p> The Independence games are not a house-based event, but rather an individual one. It's time for you to shine, to claim the glory for yourself. Expect a lot of competitions, a lot of fun, and some opportunities to score some first level crescents and a new seal for every event you play in.

<p> After the Independence Games, we're looking at a late summer Great Jedi War...and we're already setting things up for the vendetta after that. Interesting times. We've got a pretty solid line throughout, so that things should go nice and smoothly. <p>

<p> Since the last report I did, we came out with the Obelisk Awards for winning the Vendetta Disorder. They scored some sweet new sets of armor and a pretty sweet infiltration/assassination force power. The force Power was put in by Orv pretty quick, but you may need to make a new Character sheet to take advantage of it.<p> Good work to both Dash and Ronovi for helping brainstorm and flesh things out for this. <p>

<p> Ask the GM Time! <p> Cethgus asks: "What will we expect to see in the future with the Prestige system?" <p> I think Ceth is asking 'what will my prestige score impact?', since the values on medals and such aren't going to be changing. Prestige will have a direct impact on what you will be able to buy under the possessions system. Higher prestige is higher access. To steal an explanation that I think Jac used, it's not just about credits. Bill Gates is rich as all get out, but even he can't buy an aircraft carrier. <p> Taigikori asks: "How far out do you have the Brotherhood's fictional development planned?"" <p> Right now, I have firm plans through mid 2012, with decent ideas through the end of 2012.
<p> Xander asks: "A lot of the older wiki articles still refer to Consul and Pro-Consul, how does this translate now that there aren't any clans?" <p> Well, it translates just fine. We're not retconning the fact that the houses were once clans. Hopefully, they'll go back to being clans soon enough, but only time will tell that tale. I don't really see the need to change every little thing in the background. It's easy enough to explain that 'well, Xxx used to be a clan, and the person in charge of that was called a Consul', etc.<p>

<p> <p> <p> <p> <p> <p>

-> <- <p> TL:DR

*Fictional stuff

*Awol Check!

*EQ3 now requires being a mentor to achieve

*NPC apprentices are lame

*Independence Games coming in April

<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>

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