Outside the panoramic window which overlooked the Gilded Archipelago, a tropical storm delivered massive amounts of rain, punctuated by the occasional strike of lightning and crack of thunder. Certainly, the defense shields surrounding the city could be raised, sparing the citizens the harsh weather, but this storm was weak in relation to others the city had endured, so the man in the penthouse office saw no justification to the expense. Besides, his people would only grow closer and stronger in the hardship. So power grew from the bottom up.

Inside the penthouse, the appointments were sparse, but well maintained, and tasteful. Plants of myriad types grew, lending an almost wild quality to the atmosphere. Those in the know understood that this flora all shared a trait however; extreme toxicity. It was of course, fortunate, that Shirai Dupar, Syntari Bastian, and Alexander DelGotto were among those in the know.

“He should have been here by now,” Shirai grumbled as he picked lint balls from his clothes.

“Have a drink,” Syntari purred, handing the Sith a tumbler of whiskey. “It helps pass the time.”

“Should we be drinking his booze?” Alexander asked, eying the Bpfasshi warily. “Especially without permission?” He had no desire to see his name on the assassin’s to-do list.

“It’s for show, so I’ve heard.” Syn said with a shrug, turning back to make her own drink.

“You heard right,” a low baritone voice said from the doorway. Without waiting, Mirado strolled into his office, rainwater dripping from the ends of his hair. While he had a reputation for being a grouch, at least now, he seemed almost jolly. It was indeed frightening.

“You wanted to see us Lord Quaestor?” Shirai asked as he rose, the precision of his movements a testament to his Sith indoctrination.

“Yes, Lord Aedile.” Mirado said with an over-exaggerated bow. Upon rising, he removed his sunglasses to reveal the empty eye sockets that were a common trait to his species. “I’ve been in contact with the Consul and Proconsul. We have work ahead of us.”

Reports Times!

Hello House Shar Dakhan, I want to take a moment to apologize for my lack of reporting in what I feel is a timely manner. The holidays are a very busy time when you work pizza and have a three year old. This was coupled with a death in my family (we pretty well knew it was coming) and I could probably make more excuses but at the end of the day, all I can say is, sorry about that.

HSD is moving along nicely, especially post Crusade. There’s big things coming soon and now I can tell you all about them. You may, or may not, have noticed that there’s two battleteams now. For the moment, they are Battleteam Placeholder 1, and Battleteam Placeholder 2. The Force willing, they will not remain so for very long.

My goal, lofty as it is, is to run two competing battleteams, who hopefully will always vie for the favor of the Architect and the summit. (Note: Favor from the Architect is mostly inclusion into really mediocre report fiction.) Alexander DelGotto and Syntari Bastiayn are the new (or returning) BTL’s.

So, because of this, I would like everyone in HSD to either comment below or email me, or gchat me, or maybe even smoke signal me (bit rusty on that though, gotta tell you.) And tell me one of two things. Are you interested in a grittier Blue collar approach to how you do business, or a more refined White collar approach? This way I can skip the hat and sort you based on your own desires instead of my best guess or whim. (the whim is less dangerous, fair warning)

Thoughts from the Architect.

We recently had a really sweet competition from the Voice where we designed ACC Venues. Curious to get an idea of some of the new places we have to lock sabers in mortal combat, I went and checked out some of the entries. If you never knew about that, just check out the competition and see the participation.

The thing is though, not everyone chose to publish their entries. (there’s a box to check if you want to publish, by default, it is unchecked.) Now, I get it if you’re not feeling too confident in your entries, but I want to take a moment to share a thought with you. The person scoring your entries is exactly that, a person. There’s no telling what’s going to flip their switch. I know I personally have scored very well on DB wide competitions on entries that I personally thought were garbage. Halc himself handed me my first Diamond Crescent for such an entry. As Praetor (and Pretend) Voice, I had some VERY tough judgment calls on the entries I received, which is because I am a human and have thoughts and opinions. One instance was an entry that was grammatically perfect, but lacked in content. The other was an incredibly compelling piece that looked written by a fifth grader who tried hard. Perfect grammar got second place.

So what I’m saying is, show it off. Let the entirety of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood know what I’ve known for ages. My people are some heavy duty badasses, people I feel privileged to work for.

Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted, one moment, would you capture it or just let it slip?