Selen
South of Estle City
The Wilds

Corporal Mortich stepped around another large rock with a sigh. A month. It had been at least a month, by his reckoning, since the failed assault on that damn station in orbit. A month since the most terrifying re-entry in his life, the assault craft his team had been in hadn’t even launched yet when the ship had lost control and been sucked into the planetary well. Most of the crew hadn’t survived, as far as they’d been able to tell. Not that much of a rescue mission could be mounted after the ship crashed into the ocean.

They’d been lucky enough to come down near one of the few landmasses, he could only imagine what had happened to some of the other vessels that had crashed in the middle of nowhere. A mad scramble of trying to get to shore, helping others and the occasional attempt to get supplies had made the entire night a surreal experience. Since that night,they’d collected what survivors they could and been dodging the Arconan patrols, though those were surprisingly sparse all things considered. He’d have expected more flyovers, more troopers hitting the uncivilized lands near the crash site. Instead, it was rare to see more than a shuttle fly over at some point throughout the day.

Durtz and Pracht had managed to tap into some of the local communications at some point, though coverage was spotty this far out. From what Chief Oswardle had told them at the morning briefing, the older engineering chief being the ranking member of their group at this point, the Arconans were having problems at home. Enough that the downed Collective forces had been able to get around without much trouble. Not that there was much to see out here; trees, rocks, the shoreline. They’d spied some smaller settlements, roads heading north towards the mountain city that they could make out with magnoculars. That had been the primary target.

Getting supplies from the villages was deceptively easy. They’d been abandoned, anything fresh was rotten but there was the occasional sealed goods that the troops descended upon like a Hutt at a buffet. Eventually they’d have to move on to bigger things, which would be much more dangerous. But, from the smoke rising from the city to the north on an almost daily basis, they had decent odds of at least slipping inside the city with all the chaos. He grinned, maybe, just maybe his team would still get to put down some of those Force abusing freaks. And then find a way to get off this rock and go back home, he thought, touching the pendant hanging from his neck. He was starting to miss his kids.

Well we’re halfway through April! Well done for surviving everyone, keep showing life who’s boss. The above fiction update touches on possible future events, as we’ve been a bit busy putting our house back in order after Nancora, dealing with the issues we’d left behind for the War. Between problems at Estle, rebuilding Ol’val, and the fatigue and healing of our armed forces, it seems out security is a bit thin right now. Surely that won’t end poorly.

I want to shout out now to the 19 members who participated in the Consul Bride event, almost HALF of our standing roster! That’s fantastic! Well done all of you, expect results and a finale fiction shortly!

But for now, we’re steering back into the on-going Clan storyline, addressing the chaos at home. With the Consul Bride event wrapping up, our next big event to look forward to is Sins Episode IV. As such, Terran brings us a quick recap of the previous episodes to bring people up to speed and refresh memories!

Previously, on Sins of the Past...

The greedy and manipulative Tehr Lorden, former Chief Financial Officer of Naruba Investments and disgraced front-man for Arcona's economic activities, returned to the Dajorra system with several teams of mercenaries. One of the few "civillians" trusted with Arcona's true nature, he was blamed for the system's economic downfall after the events of the Incursion and was now determined to cash in on the debt he saw as owed. Through a campaign of bombing and sabotage, the mercenaries in his employ managed to interrupt Selen's industrial district and overall infrastructure. Though Lorden's forces were eventually caught and killed, the Muun himself escaped, reporting to his benefactor - the mysterious Mr. Blue, responsible for organizing the plot against Arcona - that their plan had been a complete success.

While the people of Selen attempted to recover from the shock of having their homeworld's security violated, and making slow, faltering first steps towards repairing the vast damage, a new plot was already being set in motion. Orchestrated by the envious Teroch Erinos, a former Arconae and clone of Consul Emeritus Sashar Erinos Arconae, strike teams attacked numerous locations across the Dajorra system. Military installations were sabotaged, high-ranking members of Arcona's Armed Forces were killed, Arconan Force Users were slaughtered, and Teroch himself led a near-fatal attack on former Consul Wuntila Arconae. Though he was eventually stopped aboard Dusk Station, attempting to free the mad Dark Jedi Mejas Doto, the toll Teroch took - in both lives and military readiness - would be sorely felt in the months to come.

Despite Teroch's failure to assassinate Arcona's leadership, Mr. Blue and Tehr Lorden have continued to move forward with their plans. To that end, the gluttonous Whallata Besadeii, backed by Blue or Lorden, soon attacked and boarded Port Ol'val. Whallata had run Ol'val for nearly three decades with the knowledge and help of Clan Arcona, eventually controlling nearly all major criminal enterprises in the Dajorra system before being forced off the station by Shadow Gate and having her criminal enterprise co-opted by House Qel-Droma. Upon re-seizing Ol'val, her first actions were to destroy Shadow Gate's Phantom Complex and any Arconan safe houses she could find. Most of Ol'val was destroyed in the attack, cutting off Arcona from most of their black market enterprises in the process, and weakening a major stream of revenue for the Shadow Clan. Though Whallata was beat back and Port Ol'val recaptured, the damage done to the Qel-Droma - both to the members and to the House's resources - was inexpressible. At the same time as Port Ol'val was being attacked, Whallata used plague carriers to release a virulent disease. It killed most of Eldar's native population and decimated Arcona's reserve military forces that were stationed on the planet. Worse yet, Selen was also infected. The deaths in Estle City were astronomical, with initial estimates placing the death toll at 30% of the population before the Citadel was able to discover and disseminate a cure.

In the midst of this chaos, a new threat has surfaced. The Citadel, either ignored and dismissed, or seen by the locals as a beacon of hope and a light in the darkness, has come under fire. For decades, the Citadel was believed to be a monastery filled with benevolent benefactors and guardians, offering wisdom and resources to the local population. Those suffering from illness could visit the Citadel and be healed, or at least comforted. Those on hard times and under crippling economic pressure could visit and find their coffers filled, or at least come away with sound financial advice. And though they leave none-the-wiser when it comes to Arcona's existence and goals, rumors of the Citadel's generosity - credible or not - have spread throughout Selen. Now the Citadel has come under rampant suspicion. Every week sees new anti-Citadel rallies being held, invective-filled diatribes painting the Citadel as a shadowy cabal secretly manipulating and experimenting on Estle City's population. These speakers often point to the Citadel as being to blame for the terrorism and economic hardship that has befallen Selen, and the size of the crowds at the rallies shows that their claims aren't falling on deaf ears.

To make matters worse, the regular peacekeeping and public aid forces of Selen have been absent in quelling the public unrest and unable to assist with relief efforts. With the Armed Forces preoccupied first by the Collective at Nancora and subsequently by missions to Canto Bight, the majority of Arcona's strength has been abroad for some time. Riots have broken out and many portions of the various rings of Estle City are nearly uninhabitable. Though reconstruction efforts are underway, this has led to fresh conflict with the citizenry. The rings closest to the Citadel have received priority for aid and reconstruction while the lower rings continue to suffer from deprivation. Though newly returned Arconan forces discreetly try to help with the situation, their efforts are slow-moving due to their low priority, and the homeworld continues to suffer from outbreaks of newly formed gang violence, power outages, food shortages, refugee displacement, and general disarray. Resistance cells have begun to spring up throughout Selen, intent on proving the evil machinations of the Citadel and bringing down the Deep State. And at their center is the charismatic and prideful Varon...

So, look forward to Sins in May and thank you, Terran, for that summination of the previous episodes!

Robes!

As some of you may recall, our placement in the last Great Jedi War earned us some Clan exclusive robes. Our DGM, Morgan delivered on them just recently, the Arconan Armed Forces robes! With a variety of options and colors, they’re rather snazzy.

You can find these under the robe construction tool under our Clan section, give ‘em a look and make sure to thank the Vyr for them.

Clan News

In Clan news this month, we saw some BTL shuffling in Galeres, with Grot taking the helm of Spectre Cell. Constantine has decided to stay on with the team as well, which we appreciate greatly. Grot is also running some BT centric competitions in the Spectre Cell event that is open to all of House Galeres. It's a good introduction to the team if you’re not already a part of it!

Be on the lookout for competitions from Qel-Droma as well, kids, as we start getting the Houses back into the swing of storylines before Sins!

We also saw some promotions this past month, with Grot to Equite 1, Eilen to Knight (woot!) and Canderous up to Courier! Congrats to all our hard workers!

Club News

• First off, the epilogue for the War has dropped, so be sure to check that out.

• A couple of spots got filled in the Plagueis Consul and Wiki Trubne, as well as Social Tribune.

• The Regent’s office put out new goodies.

• The Scenario Hall of the ACC reopened! Go check it out!

Ask The Ryn

• Skar asks,

  • Will Kordath ever forgive Skar
    • Will he ever forgive the Kaleesh who went nuts and stabbed his (hopefully) future wife in the gut with a lightsaber? We’ll see.

• Atty/Satsi asks several…

  • How will we interact with the collective going forward?
    • If they come at us, we blow them up. If we see an opportunity to raid or plunder them, well, we’ll have a pay day. I have no intention of having Arcona going out and looking for fights, but we’ll fight the battles we have to.
  • What about clans besides our waifu?
    • I feel my above answer stands :P
  • Will we make enemies with anyone, perhaps? If so I vote Plag :p
    • I, too, vote Plag. And we’ll see, some things have been discussed already.
  • What are your thoughts on coop comps vs regular ones?
    • Oomph. I enjoy doing cooperative competitions. I don’t enjoy running them because it never feels like we get a good turn out.
  • Is Arcona still moving towards being open as a presence in Dajorra? (With Sins, etc)
    • Sure seems that way. I’m sure that massive army we have will come in handy.
  • What's your favorite thing you've each ever written?
    • Probably one of my sad fics, Ribbon, Holos, etc.

• Xenna asks,

  • #asktheryn is Kord more of a kicking or punching kind of guy?
    • Both. He’s a big fan of K’thri, so, spinning like a five limbed top.

• Lucine asks,

  • #asktheRyn: Would you feed meth to a honey badger? I really think you should try it.
    • I feel like your attempts to get me killed are becoming transparent, possibly even lazy. I suspect this is a ruse to get me to lower my guard. I’ll have Strong feed some kind of spice to a badger and see what happens, though. For science.

• Lucine asks a bunch more!

  • Now that the war has formally been concluded, what future challenges await the clan?
    • Surviving Kordath, surviving Sins, a possible threat from inside the system...
  • Can Strong come over to play?
    • I don’t even know where he is half the time and he keeps coming back smelling like perfume, looking tired and with bite marks on him.
  • What do you say to allegations that you are a lecherous, drunken rodent of unusual size?
    • Show me the proof! Seriously, ever since Zuji cut him off he’s been blacking out from the drinking, he needs some evidence to refute or confirm.
  • When are you and Zuji getting back together?
    • Hopefully soon.
  • Would you consider letting a certain fashion-conscious redhead help with your outfits? A Consul should dress the part, after all.
    • Possibly. He’d have to bring Strong along to make sure nothing dangerous happened, wouldn’t want the Shadow Sloth getting caught literally with his pants down.
  • Any interesting death threats/ attempts on your life?
    • Someone released a bunch of badgers in the Citadel, very confused on that one. They seem hyperactive.
  • Seriously, when are you and Zuji getting back together?
    • I...I dunno.
  • Cheesecake or chocolate cake?
    • Cheesecake, oh yes.
  • What is the Ryn wearing to the ArcCou celebrations?
    • At the very least, pants, out of respect.
  • How many Ryn does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
    • Yes.
  • You and Zuji. When are you going to reconcile?
    • When indeed.

• Grot asks, *#asktheryn What's your favorite locae in Estle City?
  * Hard to say, I know Sugar’s is a fun place, though.

So in review, new robes, new competitions on the horizon, and Sins returning next month! Until Next Month Kids! Be good, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.