The Citadel stood tall atop Estle City. A watchful eye scouring over the peons below, bustling in the streets and living menial, eventless lives. It was a sad sight as the Quaestor and his Aedile stood on the balcony, the torrents of wind tugging at their hair and robes. Nonetheless, these individuals funded Arcona, and in return, Arcona only had to offer protection. It was a reciprocal relationship, but one couldn't help thinking it was significantly skewed in Arcona's favour. Just the way Arconans liked it. Now, though, they were being tested, the forces of the Krikella Extraction Company and their attack on the Dajorra system had pushed the limits of protection; this, along with Arconan ventures of knowledge in, what the Quaestor had called 'Operation Haystack', really highlighted how thinly stretched Arconan forces really were. Not that it mattered. Arcona always prevailed.

"How do you propose we deal with the attacks, Zandro?" Wuntila struggled against the force of the wind battering his face, the cords and veins of his neck visible as he shouted over the whirr of invasive air.

"Our way. The Arconan way. With cunning, skill, humour and a shed-load of bullets." Zandro replied distantly. His mind seemed to float across his dominion, his eyes glazed and vacant.

"Ever calm in the face of danger, as always, Zandro."Wuntila spun on his heels, a smile teasing at the corners of his mouth, "I'd best go and address the men and women."

"You do that, kiddo. I'm staying here. I've got some things to plan." Zandro replied without a look over his shoulder.

Wuntila strolled off into the upper corridors of the citadel acquiescently, the dim, ochreous glow of the candlelight flickering with the wind that followed him. He headed to the turbolift and took a deep breath. Lead by example. He thought as he walked into the meeting room...

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"Something bothering you, ori'vod?" Sashar laid his hand on Zandro shoulder and he turned in beside him.

"Din'kartay" Zandro replied matter-of-factly.

"What are you planning?"

"You'll see, ori'vod. You'll see." Zandro stared off into the distance, acquiring a more upright and assertive stance. He turned and smiled to his brother before turning toward the door, his cape fluttering wildly in the gales.

Report

As per the norm from any leader, I present to you my third report as your Aedile. I'm sorry that this one's been long overdue - much like the others - but, with the alternating setup Zandro and I are taking, you should have a rotating report from us bi-weekly.

A lot has happened in the Dark Brotherhood since my last report, most of which has been encompassed by our fantastic Quaestor in his comprehensive analysis so I shall not run over what has already been mentioned. My intentions are not to bore you, but to simply alert you to how imperative report reading can be. As you're already reading this, I'm sure you have your head screwed on the right way, but as a note to anyone who has been influenced to read this report/is taking a look back, please take the opportunity to wet your whistle on the goings on of not only Arcona, but the DB as a whole by reading these nuggets of salient information. They're not only news posts - they give you an insight into activity, competitions and House dealings.

On a more sombre note, I'd like to make sure that the members feel the same way as the summit. Sitting in little offices, surrounded by paperwork and having heated debates on whether to carpet the corridors with a fine lilac, or a crimson red, Summits can tend to be a distant call from reality. I'd like to think that, having such an engaging and perhaps approachable summit makes for a better situation in that sense, and I'd like to think this is what we have in Arcona; a strong, dynamic summit willing to roll with the punches and take on board anything proposed to us by the members, ever striving to develop Arcona as an entity and a being, rather than just an institution.

If you feel that this is not the case, by all means get in contact with us and we'll be more than happy to take on board and change anything you feel needs revision, including ourselves and they way we present ourselves. Similarly, we're also very receptive to praise. This isn't necessarily in the sense of writing us an e-mail saying "OMGZ UR GR8!!1one!" But in the sense that, if you really enjoy a theme, a competition type, a certain type of story arc or even just an idea that has been proposed, let us know so we can incorporate it into further story lines to engage you guys a bit more. We're not here to tell you what we want you to do, we're here for you guys to tell us what you want us to do. Servants, not the masters as it were.

Anyway, enough with the boring jargon, let's get down to the nitty gritty.

Contents

• Announcements

• Commendations

• Competitions

• Last thoughts

Announcements

I'd just like to let you guys know that, as much as you're probably unaware, the Arcona Military Corps is still going. It's best if you select your particular Corps to add another level of depth to your character history and in order to assist the summit in task creation, competitions and the like. Here are the links to the different pages:

Arcona Military

Shadesworn | Shadesworn Rankings | Arcona Army Corps | Arcona Starfigher Corps | Arcona Navy Corps | Dajorra Intelligence Agency <-

• We've also been announced as under review for reclanning. I'd like to take this opportunity to not only thank all of you for your hard work and commitment during the AWOL checks, but for being some of the best in the Dark Brotherhood. You're a testament to your own ability and to the Dark Brotherhood as a whole and we're very proud to have such a fine membership in Arcona.

• Ronnie has stepped down as the Tarentum Quaestor. As a long-standing advocate of the Estle-Eden Axis. On behalf of the summit, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish her well in her future ventures and I hope she gets better soon! Congratulations to Bloodfyre for acquiring the position. It'll be nice to have a new chapter in Arcona-Tarentum politics.

• There's a Halo Reach Tournament at present. Keep an eye out for our resident gamers to see how they're doing.

  • Arcona has some pretty significant story arcs and competitions to get your hands into, especially the Communication Breakdown Runon. You can find the Run-on itself at this LINK and the Discussion post can be found at this LINK Get yourselves involved for some fun, run-on action.
  • Keep an eye out for the 2v1 ACC ladder. We have some very prestigious Arconans participating at the moment, so make sure to continue your support and keep an eye on their matches!

Commendations

Here is the part of the report where people get kudos for their astounding work. An astounding amount of activity has gone on since my last report, and Its hard to think of the length of the list and the time it would take to construct said list if I were to put it all into this report. Ergo, below you will find recent merit medals, and promotions. Congratulations to those who are listed below. You are an asset to our House and I hope that your activity can inspire those who are yet to reach this list to do so with integrity and haste:

• Sashar Erinos Arconae: Dark Cross

• Cethgus Entar: An abundance of Clusters of Fire and Pendants of blood. (If you ask him I'm sure he'll tell you exactly how many he has and talk at you about it for hours.)

• Marick Del`Abbot (Wally): Anteian Cross

• Talos Omerta: Anteian Cross

• _Amber:_Promotion to Novice

• _Celevon:_Promotion to Guardian and a tonne of SA courses

• _Voden:_Promotion to Templar and AC

Epic Kudos to you guys. You make Arcona what it is. Keep up the good work.

Competitions

Okay kids. As you know we've got a number of competitions going on at the moment, most of which are closing soon but fret no more!!! Zandro will be releasing Operation Haystack Part Two very soon indeed. For those of you who are intending on getting some last-minute submission in, here's a list of the current Haystack Comps!

Operation Haystack

Codebreaker | Fiction | Graphics | Poetry | Trivia

[Fist] Gaming Competitions

Halo Reach Tournament | BF2 | RC Team Up | Special: Sins of a Solar Empire | Starcraft 2

** Voice Competitions**

Load the Can(n)ons #6 | Bi-Weekly Mission #1: Clue| Bows and Arrows | Will you be a Valentine?

Miscellaneous Competitions

2v1 ACC Competition | Valentines Day | Communication Breakdown Run-On | [HM] Brotherhood Draft

<-

You're missing out on some easy shinies with the competitions - get those entries in!

Last Thoughts

Keep doing what you're doing guys. get those entries in and make Arcona proud to be the best House in the Brotherhood.

Enjoy,

Arcona Invicta

OP Wuntila Zratian Entar (Obelisk)/AED/Arcona [ACC: CL:1] DC-SP / Cr-1R-1A-5S-2E-5T-1Q / CF / SI / LS-BL / S:-2Do-2Dk

{SA: DMW - DMP - DSWP}