Outer Rim Tingel Arm Drongar System Drongar

"That's the last of the guards," commented Cawel as his lithe form became visible again. The White Current adept's form blurred into view holding a vicious-looking vibrosword. Beside him, the body of a Republic guard dropped to the ground with a bloody gurgle, her throat neatly cut. The Zabrak prodded her with his boot in curiosity. “This place is a hell-hole. Bet she rots in just a few hours.” One hand placed on her chest drained the last few ergs of her life energy forth to re-invigorate the Adept.

Around them vines and creepers festered like verdant snakes greedily clutching at the scenery. A gaping moss-covered maw yawned before them both. Republic script identified it as "Security Level Ten - Off Limits"”. Although the hoary verdigris and soil of many millennia covered the mass, recent archaeological excavations identified the opening as part of an ancient space-faring vessel.

"This is the spot" nodded Renci Tosh as she clenched her azure lightsaber in one tight fist. "The Clone War records master Zoraan provided from his contact were accurate, it seems. This must be the wreck of the Dazilomswi." The woman peered into the darkness with eyes brimming with the Force as her sizzling blade provided illumination. "Fortunately the old Separatists weren’t thorough with their saturation bombing." Her battle-scarred face clenched in a grimace.

"Agreed," replied the Zabrak Fallanassi. "It must be the place. The aura is intense. It reeks of the Dark Side." His eyes closed, seeking for eddies in the White Current. "It is very, very old. Older than the Sith even. It reeks of power and pent-up hate." All around them faint screams echoed in the ether, subtle emotions heard only in the mind of those who could feel them. The evil that radiated from the shattered bulkhead wall was almost palatable. One thing was strange, however. It almost seemed to beckon them rather than push them away.

"In we go," remarked the human fallen Jedi. "Or are you too afraid, my pet?" She snickered at the Zabrak’s discomfort. Tosh had given up her Jedi view of the Potentium some time ago and now served a much darker Master. One she feared much more than any ancient stinking ship’s hold. "We have our orders. Or are you willing to risk the Fallen One’s wrath?"

"I am most certainly not willing to risk it," commented the Zabrak Force Adept dryly. Or his madness. Both of the Darksiders stepped into the breach gingerly, casting about with enhanced senses for danger. As they began to pick up items from the chests and walls, they had no idea that danger had already found them. In fact, it found them to be tasty.

Renci Tosh grasped a wicked-looking blade that radiated a faint red light. "The Sword of Lysu Thren," she whispered as greenish dust sifted down from the ancient blade to coat her hand and chest. "My Master will be pleased." The twenty thousand year old Bogan-imbued blade pulsed in her hand, emitting more sanguine light as it awakened.

The powdery cysts began their molting stage from the warmth of their bodies as the looters rummaged in the forbidden treasure box. It had begun. They were hungry, and now they had those who used the Force to infest. Dinner was served. Soon they would begin to spread as their long-dead Creator had foreseen.

Things were going exactly as planned. The pawns had taken the bait.

---

Antei Dark Hall Grand Master's Office

The room was darker than one might have expected, even for a Dark Lord. The dull sheen of polished wood and cortosis trim reflected what little light came from the wall sconce on the far side of the room. He sat there in silence, leaning over the datapad, the backlight turned almost all the way down. Lifting his arm, he noticed the dent worn in from more than five years of the same pose.

He let his fingers run across the groove, feeling the compressed wood before fanning out across the rest of the desk, feeling for traces of the others, those that came before. His mind wandered further, debating what those who would succeed him would feel, if they'd notice.

REPORT TIME.

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So, unless you've been living under a rock, you'll have noticed that Bioware's newest Star Wars Game has come out. The Old ZRepublic is a massively multiplayer online game, and it is set in ancient times.

Now, I typically don't do MMOs. I never played WOW, and though i played SWG for a few years, it was more to hang out with Kaine and friends in-game. I sucked at it, to be fair, but still, it was more of a thing i did once in a while. My computer wouldn't run it anyway, so I figured I'd just sit this one out and watch how things developed from the sidelines. I'm pretty notoriously cheap on computer stuff...heck, my laptop is five years old, and that is my newest computer.

Then Sarin sent me a facebook message. it was 'TOR is like IRC with badass graphics'

Then IRC went quiet, as everyone was exploring the game.

Then a geeky guy at work started harassing me and bragging about how he was downloading the game right as we spoke. He plays lighties.

That tore it.

I bought a computer from Worst Buy, bought a hard copy of the game off the shelf and started installing it that night.

I logged in, picked a Sith Warrior, and started playing. One of the first missions was to go into the Tomb of Marka Ragnos. and I went 'Hey, I'm From House Marka Ragnos!'. Then they started talking about Naga Sadow. That was it. I was stuck.

Three weeks later, I's up in the middle of the night, sending an apology email to the Dark Council for being essentially AWOL because of the game.

So yeah, that game is addictive.

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There are turning points, times in history where things could go one way or another depending on the actions of those involved. As we were staring down Bioware's nuclear bomb in the way of their new 'Old Republic' game, we were all knew what could be coming. MMOs are not typically great for clubs like ours. We worried, tried to get things set up to prepare for the inevitability of it's release. And here we are, a month after launch, and the DB's in-game presence is one of the largest on any server. We utterly dominate our home server. On top of that, the members aren't all in-game only. Many of them have joined in the Dark Brotherhood proper. I have heard and helped new members on Ventrilo, slogging through Shadow Academy courses in between missions in-game. I have seen members in guild-chat attack new joins and try to convince them to join their own clans and houses. The culture is Outstanding, and it shows the depth of work that Fremoc and his staff have put into the game and how we, as a Brotherhood are handling it. Even as we witness the quiet hours on IRC as our members talk like mad in-game, we still see the high level of activity, just in a different place. Considering how far wrong the launch could have gone, I am immensely happy and Proud of how Fremoc, as my Fist, has handled the situation. To that end, I hereby am compelled to recognize Fremoc with an elevation in rank to Equite IV. I appreciate all you have done, Fremoc, and I look forward to seeing how you continue on.

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I just recently asked the heads of houses and clans as well as all the Dark Council members for what we call Internal Reports... basically state of the office reports. Once those are in and a few other metrics configured, I'll have a 'State of the Brotherhood' report to put out.

One of those metrics will be contingent on the coming AWOL Check. These are MAA ran deals to figure out who is active and who is not. Look for an email and a news post from him and/or Dash relatively soonish.

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The next vendetta is being worked on. The story is about done, the comic commissions are under way after a rewrite of the script (the original script was done before GJWX even launched, and we were changing up some visual styles and elements that I think everyone will like). Major cool points go out to Macron, who has been helping me out on this (and doing almost all of the writing himself)since inception, even as a few of the other people involved backed away due to time constraints. He even wrote the first part of this report's fiction.

There was a teaser for the next vendetta at the end of the comic for GJWX. Click on the period at the end of the numbers for the pages and you can see it. The plotline for the GJW and this vendetta and through to GJWXI is a constant line. I'm pretty proud of a lot of the work that has gone into it, from Halc, from Vodo, et cetera.

As far as timeframe, we're probably looking at something near the summer. We were originally thiking april, but with ToR's launch keeping many of the Clan's and Houses people occupied and the way that we commission comics (they're expensive and we need time to pay for them), a summer launch is much more realistic for a solid event.

-> <- <p>

I have two very heavy awards to announce today.

Shikyo is a name that almost everyone in the Brotherhood is familiar with. His work in the Herald's office has been nothing short of outstanding. He has put forth hundreds, if not thousands of graphics for public consumption, working to make the Brotherhood a more appealing and immersive place to be. This is incredibly important work considering that we are competing with a multi-million dollar video game for member attentions. Above and beyond that, he has done a lot of this work while deployed, in the middle of the ocean on a warship. Yet, Shikyo is not an one trick pony. He has constantly and consistently come to me, seeking to do more for the club, trying to expand what we already have in more than just graphical ways. He has been a surrogate for me, and has been sent to units that need his unique wisdom and experience to grow beyond what they struggle with. When I noticed that Shikyo's dossier was pretty bare, despite his high rank, I sought immediately to make reparations in the form of an Emerald Dagger. He deserves that much, considering all that he has done for us.

Taigikori is the perfect Headmaster. I'll let that sit for a moment, as it could stand on it's own as a reccomendation for the Ruby Scepter that I am giving him. He has driven the expansion of the Shadow Academy since he took the office, creating and authoring new courses and degrees. He has worked with me to get more older members interested in the SA again with things like the society and character sheet and possessions integration. He has also taken the lead and done the lion's share of the work on the Grind Path, a new methodology to set our hooks into the new members better, to try to increase member retention. He is where the rubber meets the road for many of our new members. And he has done it seamlessly.

Check out their dossiers for the rest of the reccs, and give them your thanks when you see them around.

-> <- <p> Socorra asks: In the almost three years that you have been GM, has the DB changed from what you had expected or hoped for? Where do you see it in another three+ years?

Everything changes. That's the nature of anything that involves life...and we are definitely alive. Three years ago, we had virtually no gaming to speak of, the GMRG was a distant memory, clans were bloated with unnecessary positions to the point where all of the active members were in leadership posts getting burned out, and vendettas were told exclusively with long fictions that maybe a tenth of our people would read.

Those are just some key things. We've also changed up the structure of the Dark Council by adding the Voice and Fist, to good effect, and did a few shuffles as regards who reports to whom. Is it all I had expected or hoped for? The perfectionist in me says 'Hell no' and points out a list of projects longer than this report that are in various phases of completion or neglect as case may be. Where do I see it in three more years? Hard to say. I akways have big plans. It's not just me...it's how much blood, sweat and tears that the rest of us are willing to put into the club. Not just the Dark Council, but the regular members as well.

What would I like most to see accomplished before three years are up? I'd love to have possessions live and all the meta-games set up well before then. And to be honest, those will be such game-changers that it is hard to tell where we would evolve from there.

Andrelious asks: Is dexterity overpowered in the Antei Combat Centre? Yes, horrendously so.

That said, Dash and a bunch of old-time ACC badasses are working to help balance things out in that regard. Don't expect it to be the only thing that saves you.

Roxas asks: When was Mandalorian armor banned in the Antei Combat Centre?

A lot of ACC questions today. Anyway, the ACC is an old system, probably one of the oldest activity systems still in current rotation. At any rate, back in the day it was made, we were very much Dark Jedi Centric. We didn't have many mando fans or merc fans or anything back then... there were other clubs for those guys. At any rate, we had rules in place to prohibit the use of anything that could resist or defeat lightsaber blades. Mandalorian iron, cortosis, et cetera were all summarily banned. In fiction, it makes sense. Elders of the Brotherhood would obviously try to control any item that could negate one of our most powerful weapons. So it kinda has been an 'always' thing. Now, there are a few things available now, generally as award weapons and special awards that do defeat or resist lightsabers nowadays. Also, when possessions launches, if you get the credits to buy something, then you could use it in the ACC. That's still a few months out, however.

Socorra asks Out of all of your lightsabers, which one is your favorite and why? What does it symbolize?

I don't know that I have a favorite, really. I am mighty fond of them all. If i had to pick one, I probably would go for my main purple one. It's one of the older ones I have had, and it took me about a dozen attempts to get it just right.

-> <- <p>

So that's about all for this time. If I can help with anything, feel free to shoot over an email or catch me on IRC.

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