Greetings all,

We wanted to make a few important announcements regarding the upcoming Great Jedi War. First, we will cover the timeline of the event. We'll move on to announcements from the Master at Arms, and we'll close with a recap of recent important Dark Council announcements.

Start Date and Timeline

We are on schedule to start the War at the end of the month. As such, I am pleased to announce that the Great Jedi War will begin on May 30th site time - meaning it will release evening of 5/29 for those of us in North America. Competitions for Phase I and the Event Long phases will go live at that point.

As with past Wars, GJW XIV will award First, Second, and Third Clan, in addition to War Heroes. In addition, members that earn full participation points will be written into an upcoming Brotherhood fiction! Additional details on scoring will be published later this week, but the system will function the same way it did during our last Great Jedi War.

We have made a few major and minor adjustments to the War to help members impacted by the pandemic continue to participate and earn awards for their Clans. 1) We will use slightly fewer Bins than in past Wars, 2) We will offer alternatives, or perhaps lowered requirements, for competitions to encourage participation and accessibility, 3) We have extended the event timetable in such a way as to allow each Phase to cross 3 weekends.

The War will last nearly six total weeks. As with our past major events, there will be competitions offered in two-week (approximately - see below) Phases, as well as in an Event Long "phase". After consulting with membership and our Consuls, we have decided to slightly lower the number of bins that are typical, and to provide ample opportunity for members to complete each bin, even with limited time. But we encourage everyone to participate in as many competitions as they have time for!

Due to the timing of the event and the global pandemic, and in an effort to accomodate members with variable schedules, Phases will be slightly over two weeks, ensuring that each Phase occurs over 3 total weekends. In addition, because this event's end will overlap with Fourth of July Weekend, the second Phase will continue until the following Wednesday. As such, the GJW Schedule is as follows:

Phase I: 5/30 to 6/15 Phase II: 6/20 to 7/8 Event Long: 5/30 to 7/8

Transfer and Competition Holds

A few quick messages from the Master at Arms:

On Competition Holds

• I would ask that all competitions not be submitted during the GJW competition window.

• For those competitions that are already approved - no worries - with the way the competitions are right now on the site (I believe), almost nothing runs into the GJW window.

• That said, if you have a competition that runs into the GJW window, I'd ask that you reach out and we can talk about moving it back a day or two - but that isn't always necessary (it depends on the type of competition). I'll be contacting people individually where needed.

• If you have a competition running and you reach out earlier, you'll earn many Mav-bucks. Redeemable for Mav-hugs. (Mav has not agreed to this)

On the Vendetta Transfer Ban

• The clan to clan transfer ban will be enacted one-week prior (on May 23, site time). No members will be allowed to transfer between units at that time, but rogue transfers are still allowed.

To quote the Vendetta Wiki Page:

To prevent abuse of the transfer system and to prevent the problem of people moving into clans solely for the purpose of participation in one large event, it is hereby ordered that all inter-clan transfers stop one week prior to any DB-wide event (including the competing clans during a Clan Feud), and continue that way until the event's end.

Rogue members may still transfer into Clans during the transfer-ban-window, and may participate in the event as Rogues. Members participating as a Rogue do not accumulate points for any unit as a rogue, and will not transfer any points earned while a rogue to a Clan should they join a Clan mid-event. However, once a Rogue transfers to a Clan, any competitions the member enters while on a Clan roster will count for that Clan.

Remember what the Panda says: Have fun in the coming weeks, and do all the things!

A few additional notes

You'll hear much more from us soon, including details on scoring and other elements of the event. In the meantime, don't forget to sign up for gaming brackets. Gaming signups close three days from today, and be on the lookout for additional gaming information from our Fist! Finally, if you've never participated in a Great Jedi War, or perhaps not one in the modern era, you might want to check out our new Vendetta course.

Thanks all,

Telaris "Mav" Cantor

Grand Master