Greetings Tarenti!

December has certainly been an exciting month for us in House Tarentum. While we've kept it relatively quiet in terms of competitions for the holidays, it has not been quiet at all in terms of achievements of our members. Just to name a few, Saronyx and Levathan were both promoted and Anshar is one Sapphire Blade richer. There were a ton of other medals awarded for Crusade participation, and a whole raft of Shadow Academy courses passed.

More importantly in the past few days we've had an influx of new folks joining our ranks. Just today APP BLACKJACKIE transferred in. Yesterday, NOV Tanknec transferred in from the Rogues, and APP Soulspiker joined up. BLACKJACKIE and Tanknec were assigned to the Jen Kaari and Soulspiker is in the Knights of Tau.

If you're DJK or higher and don't already have a student, please let Raiju and I know if you'd be interested in working with an apprentice. It's by far the best way for a Journeyman to reach Knighthood, and it's one of my favorite ways for Equites and Elders to stay involved and give something truly meaningful and important back to the House.

We do have a fiction competition running right now for everybody during the holidays:

Nightmares Before Christmas - ends Jan 3 https://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/competitions/7407

Additionally, Anshar is running three competitions for the Jen Kaari through the end of the month:

Easier Made Than Kept - Dec 31 https://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/competitions/7385

Meanwhile And Elsewhere - Dec 31 https://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/competitions/7386

It's Not Stealing If I Ask First - Dec 31 https://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/competitions/7388

This is only a brief overview. Check the competitions page on the website for more!

Behind the scenes, December has been a month of planning. Raiju and I have been scheming in great depth about where to take Tarentum in the coming year, and I have to say I'm very excited about some of the things we've come up with. We're finalizing the overall storyline for the year and working out the specifics of how all of you will get to play a role in deciding how the story works out. We've been working with Hades and Dranik on deciding what to purchase with the fleet points we earned over the Crusade, and some necessary changes to how members can get involved with Tarentum's military. I'll leave it there as a teaser for now, but I'm looking forward to being able to announce both in January.

Finally, a word about the future of House Tarentum. We've had our problems, and we're not out of the woods yet. Our roster has been pretty thin for awhile now, but with time it will grow. Raiju and I have been building a strong plan for 2014 and I am very excited about what we're going to be able to offer you guys. However, the key in 2014 is going to be recruiting. We can't rely entirely on random joins to fill our ranks. It's great to get new people from any source, but people who were directly recruited have a much higher rate of sticking around. They come in already having a personal connection to someone in the House, not just liking what they saw on the website. So take a minute and try mentioning the Dark Brotherhood to someone in some other context. Post something you wrote on Facebook, or tell someone you play TOR with a pretty cool group. If you know someone who writes or games and enjoys Star Wars, mention us to them. I know from personal experience that a lot of folks won't be interested, but just one more person can make a huge difference. With a little extra effort we can build up a strong, active House together.