House Aleema of Satal Keto

Aedile's Report #7

Page Meridian sounding off...

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Page's Pub

The Aedile Page Meridian walked sadly to the familiar door of his pub. Under his arm clung a large, but thin package wrapped in brown. This was a sad day for not only Page, but his House, Clan, and even the entire Dark Brotherhood.

Walking through the door, Page made a direct route for the bar to take care of the first order of business.  For some reason, the bottle of Imperial Bourbon looked especially good today.  Taking two quick drinks from the bottle before pouring a tall glass, Page looked straight up above his head.  There was a small sliver of light shining directly on the bulk-head just above and center of the bar.  "This would be the perfect spot" Page thought as he began unwrapping the package.  Inside the brown paper was a large platinum picture frame which once housed the photo of his father, Flaas Meridian.  It now contained the most recent photo of his friend and mentor, Dark Jedi Master Shups.  Page stepped up on the nearest stool, and removed a piece of film from a pre-placed poly-adhesive strip, and hung the picture.  Tears began to well up in the Aedile's eyes.  

With Shups retired, what would become of Aleema now?  His efforts and methods were questionable to some, and loathed by others.  The only thing everyone agreed on was the respect given to the Master.  He had certainly earned it over the years.  He once was Headmaster of the Shadow Academy, and had the opportunity to mold the minds of hundreds of young Jedi.  We all knew this day would one day come; why did it have to be now!?! Page poured another tall glass and hunched over the bar.  It would be many hours until the rest of the House arrived.  That is, of course, if anyone even would.  Reccomendations have been made, farewells spoken, and as much as contact broken with the great Master.  Most likely he will live in solitude; and in the force.  Who can fill his chair?  Probably no one.  Who will have to opportunity to try?  We shall see.    

Shups, we'll never forget you brother.

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The links of the day (nah, year!)

Dark Brotherhood main/news: http://www.darkjedibrotherhood.org/dbjedi/news.asp

CSK Message Board (to include the Aleema, AoD, and SotN boards): http://www.isdchallenge.org/csk/forum/

Krath Combat Center (the K-Dub): http://krath.minos.net/combat/

The Dark Voice: http://www.minos.net/~darkvoice/main.php

Master/Student Competition: http://www25.brinkster.com/muertevip/msc/iii/

The DGM site (TET's use this for comp requests!): http://www.minos.net/~mairin/index.php

WE ALSO MEET ON IRC ON UNDERNET IN CHANNELS #DB AND #CSK DAILY. STOP BY AND SAY HELLO!!

Please be sure you are using the Dark Brotherhood web site regularly! All information can be found there, or through the links provided here. Should you need further assistance, my door is always open. However, try to familiarize yourselves with the basic layout and links. This will save time.

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Aedile's Challenge & other comps:

Krath Monthly for December:

Poem:

Topic: Your homeworld. Describe, discuss, reminisce, give the reader a vision of where you are from.

Type: Free form, no rhyme.

Length: Min - 1 page, Max - 2 pages.

Format: DOC, arial font size 12

Fiction:

Topic: The Krath in Combat. Many feel the Krath are ineffective in battle. Show the reader how wrong they are. Keep in spirit with the Order!

Length: Min - 2 pages, Max - 10 pages.

Format: DOC, arial font size 12

A special thanks to Kaiann for taking care of this month's MML 2 submission. Shups always took care of that, and with his sudden departure, I was sort of left in the dark. Thanks bro!

Clan Competition!!

Once again, the time had come. The dark side made its strong presence obvious in the halls of the clan. It was the time when a Jedi Padawan had submerged himself in the dark side to such a degree that she no longer needed a master. It was the time when a new Knight was born!

However, Sith Warlord Drako, the clan's mighty Consul, was away for the weekend on the vacation planet of Bristol 3. There was no forewarning that the Dark Side would manifest itself so powerfully in JH Selket Isis Entar so soon. The ceremony to officially elevate her to the rank of Dark Jedi Knight could not be postponed until the Consul’s return. Therefore, the Proconsul ordained that the ceremony would take place at dusk. Twilight was the perfect setting for the ceremony as it was when the last rays of light gave way to darkness on Desalmado.

The Dark Hall was crowded full with clan members of all ranks. The young acolytes dreamed of the day when they would climb the stairs leading to the pedestal and be knighted. The old Masters and Battlelords remembered the time when they ascended those steps for induction into the ring of the Knights of the Dark Side serving the mighty Clan of Satal Keto. Flanked by 8 Clan Honor Guards, Selket strode through the middle aisle towards the Sith Battlelord as silence spread through the hall. As she knelt down in her gleaming cortosis cermeonial dress, the Proconsul activated his light saber and said, "Today, you become a full member of this great clan. Many join us with high hopes, all talented in the ways of the Force, yet only a selected few endure the strain and requirements they face on their way to achieve what you have done. Selket, you have made us proud!" Gord Darkonian gazed upon the gathered members, "All of you make us proud!"

Then, as the lightsaber's bright light arc made it's way gracefully to the cortosis armored shoulder, a sudden flash of force lightning blinded every one in the hall just like the sound of the metal hilt of a lightsaber hitting the stone floor resounding throughout the hall. As the assembled members regained their sights, there was no trace of the PCON. All that was left was a cloud of smoke with the smell of electricity ...and a shining metal disc.

The heavy wooden door swung open, and out came Master Shups with a concerned face he looked at the assembled summits as he took his place at the meeting table, "it is as i feared! a Harulaan disk". In reply to the eyes filled with questions looking at him, he continued :" Harulaa was a might priestess of the Dark Side, she was both feared and respected for her knowledge of the Dark Side and for abilities using the Force ... and then there were those rumors about her high consumption of men!".

Drako started to chuckle and said "I wouldn't have minded being consumed by a priestess, they always look so cute!! "

Shups looked sternly at Drako and said "Consumed as in feed on them!" The laugh turned into a cough as Drakos smile froze. Pyralis turned to Shups asking:" But what has that got to do with the disappearance of Battlelord Darkonian? I mean if that priestess actually existed, and is not only a tale to frighten children.. and men then she must be long dead by now!"

Shups paused for a second before saying "Yes, one would think that is the case ... but apparently it is not. In fact this is the second time in recent years I got confronted with one of those discs ... Some time back the Krath High Priestess had invited me to go visit her on Eos , and that in a very urgent tone. I followed the invitation of course, and that was the first time I had a look at one of these disks! ", pointing at the disc in front of them on the table. "She told me that a day earlier former Grand Master Chi had disappeared and in his place that disc appeared, the disappearance was kept secret so no panic was caused. My task, simply put was to help solve the mystery of the disc. And so a hunt started for clues in the cellars of the great library on Eos, in old tomes that had not been opened in thousands of years even ... to cut a long story short, what we found out was interesting . First there was no real proof Harulaa had died, one day she was no longer in her temple. there was much rejoicing for the people had thought they got rid of her .. which they actually didn't Harulaa was apparently able to turn herself into some sort of an astral being on a higher level of consciousness , making her a sentient entity within the flow of the Dark Side of the Force. the only thing that didn't change in this process was her hunger for men, now apparently the hunger for their souls, and being the devious creature that she is, she thought to maximize the harvest of souls while minimizing the effort. From time to time she would kidnap a prominent and or respected person and leave one of those Discs behind, let me explain it to you.."

He was pointing to the center of the disc. "As you see it the disc is actually made of three parts - the inner blue circle with the golden inlay, the shining white circle with that little dark bit over there, and lastly this silvery wide border circle with the inscriptions. the golden inlay is actually a Rune from an old and long forgotten language, it is basically a question ..... a simple one ...yet one that is difficult to answer..."Worth it?!" is what it says."

"Worth what? What is worth what ?" Battlelord Djo'Turr asked in his rolling rumbling voice.

Shups pointed to the images inscribed on the border circle some of them depicting horrifying death scenes. "Worth dying for! It asks if we think Gord is worth dying for..."

" And what if we thought so...or not? What difference does it make? She already got him," Waza interrupted.

"Yes.. and no", replied Shups. "She got him alright, but he isn't lost just yet. If you look carefully at the images you might notice this one image of two persons emerging from a light arc leaving the carnage depicted on the rest of the disc behind them. As I told you, Harulaa wanted maximal results with minimal effort, so here she is basically saying it is possible to save him, but in the process you might lose your life in a very nasty way. So if you think the person captured is worth the try, you will by your own choice be putting your soul at her mercy. If you fail to rescue the person then she gets both souls, if you succeed she loses only one. And the more important the person is, the more people might be willing to take the risk of saving him, so that even if he gets saved at one point so many would have lost their life in the process that she even then still is the winner."

Pointing to the middle circle he continued. "If you look closely you will see the dark bit of the circle grows with the amount of time passing - it is basically a count down, one that will last 30 days. And as long as a part of this circle is shining Gord is still alive, after the time is over the disc will disappear and he would then be lost forever. I'm not sure on this, but I think should someone try the rescue, it would be better in case he succeeds to be back here before the time is over ... no knowing what will happen if the disc disappeared before they are back."

Page raised his eyes from the disc looking to Shups. "So how does one actually 'go' to try a rescue?".

Looking back Shups said :"The inner circle is essentially a teleporter - you put your hand on it and ZAP you are there... where ever that place is!"

Consul Drako motioned to one of the guards. " Let the Clan members gather in the Assembly Hall! We have an announcement to make!".

As the Clan summits strode into the hall Talon tipped Shups on the shoulder. "So what happened to former Grand Master Chi?!"

Shups raised his head and answered with a question. "You ever heard of him again since he disappeared?" he grinned evilly!

Phase 1: "Warm up!"

Uneasily, you ascend the steps, walking slowly to the disc hovering in front of you!

You know it is an uneasy task to take upon yourself, but the PCON is your paragon, your mentor, and your true friend. Under the eyes of your brethren and leaders you extend your hand and touch the center of the disc. A flash of lightning later...

Krath:

...You find your self atop a small platform, you see Gord suspended in an energy field on a platform not further than 3 meters from the one you are standing on. You look around and you can barely make out the walls of this expansive hall you are in. You look down, but you can't see the ground. You wonder what kind of a difficult test this is as you walk to the edge of the platform, but you trust the force and jump!... Your eyes widen in mid-air as you see the platforms moving away from you. The one you were standing on is no longer in sight and the one with the PCON comes to a stop in the distance. To your surprise, you reach the ground safe, it was not more than a 10 meter drop. As you look around, you notice the darkness moving away from you and you see…

Rules:

complete the above :P

You are totally free to choose what weapons you have, enemies you fight, and monsters or traps you encounter. Let your imagination run free but be realistic in what you write. You can't go into a room with hundred missiles firing at your enemies, kill them, and come out unscathed. Aside from this, there is only one thing to observe: In the end, no matter what shape you are in, you must reach the platform with your poor, expectant PCON and reach for him. It doesn't matter if you are or aren’t mortally wounded in the process of reaching the platform he is on.

Note: I would suggest a min of 2500 words for this! Submissions should be sent to Drako and myself.

Obelisk:

...You instinctively jump to the side and evade a blaster bolt that would have blown apart your head. You don't have time to think as you find yourself in the middle of an ambush with enemies attacking you from all sides. All you can do now is to try to survive!

Rules:

Download one of the following Single Player levels and complete it!

JK1 - PotE Part 1 - http://www.massassi.net/levels/files/12.shtml

JK2 - Emperor's Courthouse - http://www.massassi.net/levels/files/2322.shtml

This is a race, meaning, the first one sending a screen shot of the end of the level wins first, second screen shot gets second place, and third wins third place.

In such a situation, it would be quite tempting to cheat...especially if you have those cheats already built in like in Jedi Outcast. To counter this, you will have to do the following. I know it's a pain in the butt, but you wouldn't want someone else to win because he cheated and you didn’t, right? So, you have to take a screen shot with the console open as you start the game, and from there on, you must take another screen shot (always with console open) every couple of minutes to ensure that you have not entered cheat codes. Basically, we are trying to see what you have typed to the console all over the game! As said, it's a pain, but it’s an unfortunate necessity so that we can verify if you played fairly! For the JK1 players, in addition to sending a screen shot of the end of the level, you must also send a copy of your saved game file to Waza and myself. ALL screen shots go to Drako and myself (ZIPPED).

Sith:

... Your eyes accustom fast to the darkness around you, and you really don't like what you see! You pull the control stick of your fighter back in the last moment before crashing into the rebel ship. You turn your fighter around and your sight falls upon not only a major space battle taking place....but also an X-Wing that sees you, opens fire, and dives for your hull…

Rules:

Download one of the following Single Player battles and complete it!

http://www.emperorshammer.net/battles/battle.asp?record=458

http://www.emperorshammer.net/battles/battle.asp?record=432

http://www.emperorshammer.net/battles/battle.asp?record=816

Remember you must choose only one of the three battles and complete it. Send your pilot file to both CON Drako and myself (ZIPPED!!). The winner will be the one who receives the highest percentage score of the battle he chooses.

Summits:

With this being a clan comp, and you are not judging this event, you are not only permitted to participate, but you are also encouraged to set an example by your participation! Thanks :)

For phase one of the Clan Competition, you have until the end of December 18th.

** Thx to Orso and Pyralis for their help putting this in correct English! So should you notice any mistakes there...now you know who is to blame :P **

Please also be sure to check with your TET's for any of their exclusive Phyle comps.

Closing...

My apologies for the tardiness of this report everyone. A lightning storm knocken the power out here last night JUST as I was about 3/4 done with this. If I missed any competitions, please let me know as once again, Shups handled that. Sorry, No Aedile's Challenge for this month, as our House summit is a bit in shambles, and I'm not sure if I'm going to be AED for much longer as it is. However, I hope you all had a good week, and please contact me with any problems you might have, no matter how big or small!

Thanks for lending an ear and a quill...

Page Meridian