**Judecca Coliseum

Judecca, Cocytus System**

The sun was slowly rising over the horizon as the Emperor made his way around the Coliseum. The air was still crisp from the night's chill and a layer of dew could be seen on the ground outside. It was a rather peaceful moment.

But that peace ended rather quickly as yet another advisor came running up to the Emperor.

"Sir, one of the shipments of fireworks still hasn't arrived and I fear there wont be enough time to get them properly rigged before the ceremony!" The advisor said frantically. Xen raised a hand to calm the man.

"If it isn't one thing it's another. Fireworks don't concern me near as much as keeping Thran away from the alcohol until after the ceremony is over. Minor issues I can handle. Having Thran run naked around the field isn't a minor issue. Understand?" Xen said. The advisor nodded and then ran off to continue making sure all the last minute details were in place.

"This is going to be a long day..." Xen muttered aloud before turning his attention to the next issue.

***

Xen took his seat in the center of the box. The coliseum was packed to capacity. It was good to see such a turnout from the locals. A little sense of pride and patriotism goes a long way in keeping the people submissive. They needn't know that the victors of these games would all have an unfair advantage, or darker motives. They would just see some of best of the best who called the Cocytus System home. Xen sat and talked with Archangel and Akatsuki while the final minutes ticked away. When the time came he stood.

"Welcome to the opening ceremonies of these games!" Xen said, his voice being projected out over the cheers of the crowd.

Hello once again Scholae Palatinae! I know its been a little while but don't worry. I've still been around working to get the 2012 HSP Winter Games going! There has been quite a bit going on so I hope I can boil everything down for you all so you can get on and enjoy participating in the games.

DB News

By now I am sure many of you have seen that Kir has stepped down as the Justicar. He has spent a long time working in this position and continuing to insure that the DB functions as fairly as possible for all. I want to thank him for all the effort he put into keeping the covenant and pursuing any issues that have been brought up over the last several years.

Also by now many of us are well entrenched in the world that is The Old Republic. The DB Guild has been kicking some major butt and even had a server first of completing the Eternity Vault and Karagaa's Palace on Nightmare mode. For those of you thinking about checking it out, I highly recommend the game, it is massive fun and the guild is continuing to prove how awesome it can be. We are on The Keller's Void server and I hope to see many of you in game. I have several characters I play so if you are looking for me in game I have: Xenmordin my Sith Warrior, Tezon my Sith inquisitor, and Zasma my Bounty Hunter. Hope on and have some good times.

Another important note is some changes to how the Voice's office is running competitions. For now on ALL Voice competition submissions must be sent to [Log in to view e-mail addresses] and not just to the Voice and P:Voice. They are also changing how often they are running new competitions. The Voice competitions are an excellent source of activity specifically for you writers out there. Even if you don't see yourself as a writer, you will be surprised by how much fun these competitions are to work on.

House News

Once again it is time for the Winter Games. For the newer members let me give a bit of an explanation / back-story about this house event. There have been several iterations of Winter/Spring/Summer games here in HSP in the past. It has been quite a while since one has been done, but they are always met with a great deal of interest. Whereas most House-events, inter-House events, and DB wide vendettas are looked at as serious large-scale events, the Games are structured to be very different.

The games are geared to be a large collection of relatively simple and easy competitions focused on spurring activity and the simple joy of competition. For example they often utilized simple flash games, that while on the surface look easy. However, because of that simplistic nature, everyone can easily participate. Everyone can easily get decent scores. You have to push yourself if you want to be able to get the high score and win the event.

And it isn't just flash games. There are fictions, poetry, and in this case my favorite event: Create a rage comic! These are silly, simple, fun competitions that allow you to do some things you normally wouldn't do in big scale events. It also evens the playing field because quite literally anyone could win one of these competitions. Don't think you are a writer? So what! You can turn in a hilarious piece and win it. You don't have to be Shakespeare to take home a medal here. You have to be dedicated and just have the resolve to try. You never know how it will turn out.

Anyway, previous times this type of event have been run have led to create turnout. As well, it has led to people finding new ways to push themselves over the top in events. It can get really competitive with many people vying for that top spot. I hope to see a lot of turn out to these 10 events over the next two weeks. I will be sending out a separate email about all these events to the house. I hope each of you tries to outdo the rest of the house in these events.

The 23rd marked my one year anniversary as QUA. I am incredibly happy with how much progress this house has made in the last year. We have made some huge strides in proving ourselves. I am grateful for everyone on the summit and advice our senior members give. Most importantly I am grateful for all of you who continue to do your best for this house. Thank you for your continued support. I am looking forward to seeing how much further we can take this house.

That said, we are going to continue to work on improving how things work here in HSP. I know I still have a lot to work on as a leader, and a lot I can bring to this house. So even when things get hard, lets keep our heads high because I know this house can do great things. I'm really excited about some of the things that are in the works and I hope you all enjoy it when it is all said and done.

That wraps up another report. Have fun during the Winter Games, and remember if you ever help, need advice or have suggestions my door is wide open.

tl;dr

TOR is awesome

Kir has stepped down as JST

Winter Games begin Monday!

Xen just passed 1 year as QUA!

FOR THE EMPIRE!

Xen'Mordin Vismorsus Quaestor of Scholae Palatinae