Phew. It has been a hell of a couple of weeks (more on that in the "Word" at the end). Welcome to my eleventh report as your Voice. Please take the time to read the great reports below this one, especially the news from Muz and Korras (now Darth Aeternus!). Everyone should take the time to thanks Korras for his years of work and dedication on the Dark Council. He has been a solid and consistent MAA and that is about the highest compliment you can pay someone who is in charge of all of our awards and promotions.

This report is going to have two gaming related topics (scoff, intermixing of DC positions!) that the Fist and I have been talking about. I've provided a forum thread for one of the topics and would like to see your xbox or ps gamer tags in the responses here for the other.

Also, be sure to play in the Fiction Competition listed below. It is a chance to make some high level crescents! Higher participation means higher crescents means better prestige.

This week's report will hit the standard topics:

• Character Sheets
• The ACC
• The Dark Crusade: The Next Event
• Fiction Update
• Nova Library Update
• Fiction Competition: The Heist
• Miscellaneous: Star Citizen
• Miscellaneous: GTA V
• The Voice's Word (Stolen from Jac)

Character Sheets

Character Sheets have been coming in fast and furious as members become more comfortable with the system. The bulk of those remanded are due to simple mistakes in describing your character. You will see various responses from the CM/Voice team concerning these mistakes ranging from our advise on re-writing your character descriptions to suggesting you use your House or Clan as editors before submitting. I encourage everyone to finish their character sheets as soon as possible because the ACC is nearing release (see 2. below!). As always, use the Character Sheet Guide: Character Sheet Guide: Express Guide.

The ACC

The ACC is nearing completion. The ACC grading rubric is complete, the user guide is a work in progress, and our future ACC Course (required to play in the ACC) will be based on the user guide. We are looking for a closed beta to begin in the next few days, the completion of the userguide and ACC course in early October, and a potential release by November. A lot of work is going on behind the scenes by Mav and his host of volunteers and we should see the fruits of their labor shortly. Thanks for being patient.

Dark Crusade: The Next Event

We have not decided if Fiction will be included in the next round of the Dark Crusade, but I am interested in hearing what type of events the membership would like to participate in. Please take the time to fill out poll you can find here: Dark Crusade Poll.

Fiction Update

1. The final round of the Dark Crusade will come with a major fiction update designed to wrap a bow on our expeditions in Sith Space. We will continue to focus on members of the Dark Brotherhood as well as set the stage for next Summer's GJW.

2. A small team has volunteered to help begin restructuring the DJB military along a more Star Wars line. This rewrite will look to set a standard for the Dark Council fleets and create the back story of exactly how we have all these ships, fleets, and personnel to man them.

3. Okemi/Tiamat/Ferran are the three archetypes for our orders and have played an important part in several of our major competitions. In 2007, I began to phase our character involvement in major DB history (no, you don't get to be Okemi's long lost grandson) and we are going to continue to do this with the big three. A volunteer has graciously offered to help clean up the big three and we should see their articles fleshed out in a manner more according of their position in DB lore. More to follow.

Nova Library

The Nova Library remains a great source of material for our writers to review. I have added recent entries from Trouty, Atty, and Rosh.

Fiction Competition: The Heist

"....Thirty two hours ago you stumbled across a coded message on the Shadow Academy’s network. The message was intended for the Headmaster and detailed the location of an emergency storage vault once used by Grand Admiral Zaarin on the planet Etti IV in the Corporate Sector."

Take a look at the following Voice competition that may or may not be inspired by GTA V: The Heist

Miscellaneous: Star Citizen

Star Citizen is a space based flight simulator that is designed by the creator of the Wingman series and funded through crowd sourcing. The game looks amazing and funding has reached an amazing 19.7 million. The Dark Brotherhood has been clamoring for a new flight sim for years and this looks like one of the most promising we have ever seen. The Fist (not FIST!) has been kind enough to allow me to take a minor lead in discussing the game and we have set up a new forum. Please take a look at http://forums.darkjedibrotherhood.com/viewtopic.php?f=230&t=6988 and add your information to the thread. I'm looking for your username, ships purchased, if you are a backer, and any other additional things you have bought (skins, ect).

Miscellaneous: GTA V

I play a lot of video games on the PC, XBOX 360, and PS3 and Grand Theft Auto V is simply amazing. This may be one of the best games we have seen during this generation of gaming platforms and most players have only scratched the surface of what can be done within in. In a few weeks GTA V Online will launch and offer us the opportunity to play together. Take the time to drop your Xbox Live or PS3 account names below if you have the game. I'm working feverishly to talk the Fist into letting us run a few competitions within the game.

The Voice's Word (:p)

I am horrific at viewing problems from different perspectives. I often rely on my experiences, upbringing, and training to solve problems or view DJB or real life situations. Smart people call this viewing problems through your own lens and framing problems within your own perspective. A few years ago I was guilty of scoffing at some of our student members who moaned or whined about time management. Waaaah, I'm a student and I have homework. Typically my mental response was something like, I'm in Iraq/Afghanistan, shush.

Fast forward a few years and now I'm also a student, albeit still one wearing a uniform. This past week I had two papers due, a test, an application for a job next year, and an application for an academic program next week. Waaaah, school is kicking my ass. Moan, moan, whine.

So, I'm not asking for your pity because I'm a student, I'm just pointing out that I have had a great lesson taught to me. Maybe we all have a lot to deal with no matter our age, job, or real life situation. And maybe it might just be helpful to step out of our own shoes and try to see problems from a different lens or a different frame.

Conclusion

Report done. Take the time to do the DJB things you want to do prior to the next round of the Dark Crusade. Also take the time to fill out the poll above and maybe we can get you what you want to do within the event. Be sure to throw xbox and ps gamer tags below if you want to start syncing up in GTA V.

Prav