Port O'lval

The staff had distracted the Shadow Lord from the flight and landing with reports. He sat quietly with the datapad, distracted by the memos, updates, and statistics. His issues with space travel were well known by now, and no one wanted to clean up after the Ryn.

Spectre Cell is gettin' inta tha swing o' things, that's good. Looks like Qybbles and her...second, are gearin' up ta deal with the unwelcome guests on Selen. That's good, need ta dump all tha trouble we can while Estle City is on the verge of riotin', thought Kordath as he paged through missives from Galeres. The sounds of the airlocks cycling brought his attention away from the datapad. Strangely, the scent of fresh baked goods flooded the shuttle.

"What tha hell?" Even the Consul guard, lead by Bly, was looking around in surprise, if not alarm.

He hesitated while disembarking. The Quaestor of Qel-Droma, the resident overseer of the Ol'val reconstruction efforts, was right outside. He could feel her. He'd been able to sense her ever since they approached the station, and had been trying to steel himself for it. With a deep breath, he stepped out into the shadowport's Docks area.

Zujenia stood ahead of him. Her white hair tied up in a bun and wearing an apron. She was directing loaders carrying crates upon crates. Not exactly how he'd expected to be received onboard the Port, but then again Arcona's presence was meant to be covert. While this wasn't a military parade or anything so loud, it wasn't exactly subtle, either.

She spotted him, amber eyes swiveling towards him. Her fingers stopped on the datapad she was holding before resuming, finishing giving directions to a couple of loaders before taking a breath and stepping down towards the shuttle.

"Bake sale," she stated, cutting him off before he could speak. She looked away and towards the various ships that littered the area. Smugglers, pirates, even honest merchants were loading up cargo, even while leaving pallets filled with building supplies behind.

"Thought it smelled like home," he mumbled, wincing as he saw her stiffen. "Sorry."

The half-Ryn chewed at her lip for a moment before sighing, seeming to come to a decision.

"We've been trading baked goods with merchants for supplies, okay? I've had most of the House on it. To make up for what we can't get through raiding or buying."

"This why ya called me out here instead of sending a progress report?"

"No," she stated, flatly, "I called you out here to let you know that when this is done I'm...I'm done, too. For now."

Kordath stared at his Quaestor and estranged...something. "Ya needin' a break, luv?"

She nodded. He nodded in reply.

"Fine, we'll...sort somethin' out. Thanks for not doin' this right when I had ta take over, I guess. I know workin' for me has been rough."

Zujenia shook her head, "I'm tired, Kord. Ever since Atyiru, I just need a break. It's not you."

Kordath nodded. Not far away, keeping an eye on the proceedings was a red-haired human woman with a knowing smirk on her face.

Clan News

First bit of news: Thank you, Zujenia! She’s been in leadership for a good while now, running a successful Battleteam and House across multiple positions. With the added pressures of real life, she’s decided to take a break. So again, we say thank you, you magnificent half-Ryn lady you.

The position of Quaestor for House Qel-Droma has been filled, as some of you have no doubt noticed. I’ll allow Rhylance, the new man in charge over there, make his own introduction. For now, on to clan and club news!

Besides Zuji stepping down and Rhylance stepping up, we’ve also had the Consul Bride ending this past month. You can find it here, give it a read!

We’ve seen a large influx of people which Terran will cover in his bit below, just want to give a shoutout to all the newbies. Also, we’ve seen some Equite promotions this month! Congratulations to Qyreia and Lucine on their rank advancements!

This month has seen a lot of planning on the summit side of things, as well as some execution. Expect more fleshed out events in the near future!

Brotherhood News

• Policy Update from the Justicar!
  Some important information about changes to the rules. Very important if you're one of our younger members, especially.

• Combat Master #16
  Some very slight but important changes to the ACC judging rubric to help clean up tied matches.

• Remember the Fallen
  The Club lost one of it’s own this month, go and say something nice.

• Voice #16
  New race added and some wiki stuff updated.

• Headmaster Open!
  The mighty Farrin will be resigning soon, so if you’ve got what it takes to take over the Academy, check it out!

• Regent #13
  An update from the illustrious Evant

Competition Spotlights

• Summer Puzzle Series Puzzles! 12 weeks of them!

• Music and Art, Shapes in the Sound 6 A graphics comp focusing on musical inspiration.

• Hobby Time! What’s your character do for kicks?

• Breaking the Wall, Again A fiction inspired by our favorite 4th Wall breaking Merc with a Mouth.

• You Have Not Yet Completed Your Training Explore the training methods of your character, or their past.

• Great Droid Revolution The droids are rising up, go check out this comp series!

Proconsul Prattle

Howdy, Space Cowboys! I'll try and keep this short and sweet, but there's a couple items I wanted to highlight this month.

First off, the GM released the quarterly review of the various units, and I wanted to let you all know that Arcona has been kicking some serious ass! Despite the quarter cutting off prior to the huge influx of new joins, we had the highest change in membership (new joins minus leaving members) of any Clan. Considering we're only middle-of-the-pack when it comes to unit size, that's excellent - and I'm confident in saying that it's primarily due to the welcoming, friendly community all of you help foster. On top of that, we're second in terms of Participation Ratio (trailing COU) - we'll get you next time, bird-Gadget. Next time!

On the topic of roster changes, I'm sure you've all noticed that we've had a ton of recruits. This is due to the excellent work of our new Social Media Tribune. I can't say enough terrific things about his work here. That being said, it's up to us to keep them around and interested. On that front, if you're interested in mentoring one of these amazing new members, please reach out to Kord and I to express that interest.

AsktheRyn

• Xenna asks:

  • What's kords IC opinion of Xenna? *Corsets ain't exacty shirts, but he ain't exactly complain' about it neither.

• Wally asks:

  • As someone that has seen both sides of the fence, so to speak, as a member and introductory level leader in the club, to being the leader of an entire unit, are there any traits such as patience, understanding, managing realistic expectations etc. that you now have a better appreciation for now that you have been PCON/Consul? Any moments where you caught yourself saying something a former Consul of yours said to you, that you are now saying to some other new kid? ;P
    • Patience is good, telling people not to do anything to get themselves CoJ'd is always fun as well. Lots of flashbacks, yes.

• Rhylance asks a few.

  • IC does the current state of the summit scare you a bit as consul? Afraid of someone attempting a coup? I mean, that could never happen right?
    • No idea what you mean. All business from the Consul's office shall be conducted from the throne room. Sealed. Holo projected from the throne room. Yup.
  • Have you been taking your prescription? We don't need those... burning sensations returning now do we?
    • Again, no idea what you're talking about. Unlike you, the Force is Kord's ally, he takes care of things as they come along.

• Maaz/The Log asks several!

  • What is Kord's "Get out of town" plan for if things really went up in smoke?
    • Easy, loot the treasury and take the Will of our Lady for a ride.
  • I've been contemplating ideas around a future DB where the Clans are eliminated due to the constant strife/war/etc and it leaves many former members spread out and struggling throughout the Galaxy. What would you picture for any of your characters in a scenario like this?
    • Kord: Again, make off with all the credits he can carry, collecting (hopefully) Zuji and running away.
    • Strong: Probably dead at that point.
  • Who is your favorite Tameike? (easy answer)
    • You're right, easy, Sammie.
  • What DC Position if you were to ever take one would you want and why?
    • I really enjoyed working in the MAA office.
  • Bacon or Pancakes? or Bacon-Pancakes?
    • Both and yes.
  • Favorite DB approved game? / least favorite?
    • Favorite is hard to say, Diablo or Overwatch I guess. Least favorite that's active is Battlefront 2, least favorite that's out at the moment would be Pazaak.
  • Are you leaving the NFU in charge when you go on Vacation?
    • Last I checked my Proconsul was a Force User
  • Are you prepared to be forced to learn new tabletop games?
    • Duh
  • Are we actually going to order custom T-shirts for the future Koul wedding?
    • I’m down
  • What RPG system would you try if you had the choice of any system to play in?
    • I have no idea, I really don’t. The easy out would be Deathwatch, because it’s the only 40K I’ve not done yet :P

• Tech/Eilen asks several!

  • In light of so many questiions about a possible coup, how many times during your rule has there actually been an attempt at one?
    • Technically? None, yet. Nothing so organized as one, anyway.
  • In the event of a coup, who would you trust to actually protect your position? Who do you think would be the most likely to try and assist in overthrowing his tailiness?
    • Kord would trust his bodyguard Strong (not the captain of his bodyguard team so much as Kord has a thing about Mandos) and Zujenia over most everyone. Probably Satsi as well. Who would most likely be trying to overthrow him? I can see a Lucine, a Rhylance, a Skar, any of the Arconae...

• Juliana/Scarlett asks:

  • Are the new Voidbreaker uniforms standard now? :P
    • More or less optional, just like all wearing of uniforms.

• Qyreia asks:

  • How are things with Zuj, and when can I see Shay again?
    • Not great, but they’re talking somewhat. Shay is in Zuji’s care for her safety and totally not a play on Kord’s part to get her talking to him more.

• Atra asks:

  • From your long list of experiences, what are some of the best "get out of the bantha poodoo" techniques? And when those fail, what would you fall back on?
    • Talk fast, apologize profusely while looking for exits. If that fails, kick ;’em in the nadgers and hoof it.

• Rins'zler/Edema asks:

  • Are battle teams going to be having a change?
    • Nope. Voidbreaker is humming along nicely and Spectre Cell is finding their stride.

• Rins'zler/Edema asks:

  • What’s the future of the clan and qd
    • This depends on how events and storylines go. Member driven stories are the goal, so be active and participate in events to have an influence on them.

• Atty/Satsi asks:

  • So how did Spectre Cell do on their inspection?
    • Ask me after the next ‘surprise’ inspection, trying to be kind and doing a staged one resulted in a mess.

• Skar asks:

  • How did Kord react to the bantha stuck the Specter Cell base
    • Surprise was a big part of it.

• Lucine asks:

  • So, any interesting attempts on your life recently?
    • N...no...I...don’t think so... Leeadra asks [In reply to Lucine/Erin Vasano]:
  • If no, would you like one?
    • Why is everyone trying to kill me today?

• Rhylance asks a few:

  • Regretting this yet?
    • Nah, never. I love talking to our people.
  • Can beauty come out of ashes?
    • Sure. Why not.

• Lucine asks:

  • Should the hashtag for the HQD Q&A be #KordsMistake?
    • Maaaybe.

• Tech/Eilen asks:

  • If Kordath himself was one of your customers at a bar, what would you think of him as his server?
    • ‘What’s up with this tail? The hell did he just say? Oh, whoa, nice tip.’

• Xenna asks:

  • Can i charge the clan for my commission of starkiller base?
    • Depends, we talking a holo or a lifesize version?

• Leeadra/Smolblue asks:

  • Will Kord ever get his head out of his backside and fix things with Zuji?
    • He’s trying. Lord is he trying. Avenues of communication are open, again, sorta, after he left their girl with Zuji.
  • What is the best aspect of being Consul so far? The worst?
    • In character: Best? Probably running inspections. Worst? The constant threats on his life, good lord.
    • Out of Character: Best? Having a greater hand in shaping the future of the Clan’s narrative. Worst? Having a greater hand in shaping the future of the Clan’s narrative.
  • Why did I find a skitters in my quarters yesterday?
    • The ID9 units designated ‘Skitters’ are there for your protection. They’re tasked with monitoring ship systems and personnel, alerting the DIA and the Consul’s office of potential threats or dangers. That you spotted one shows that they now consider you trustworthy enough to perform their duties in your presence, congratulations!
  • How did you get skitters on my ship?
    • All ships have skitters!
  • How long have there been skitters on my ship?
    • That’s classified.
  • Is the phenomenal cosmic power worth the itty bitty living space?
    • Not usually.
  • Is this enough questions or do you want more?
    • Eh, I can do one more.
  • How many drinks would it take for you to cut Kord off?
    • A lot. I’m terrible about cutting people off due to the nature of my work location having regular shuttle vans back to the hotels.

• Lucine asks:

  • Given the new HQD Quaestor's inexplicable disdain for Strong, it appears all future playdates will have to be at the Citadel. Is there any wine left there, or will I have to bring my own?
    • There is always wine. The Ryn drinks little of it.
  • Have you managed to deal with the spice-addled badger situation yet?
    • They’ve for the most part been domesticated and issued to the perimeter guards as guard-badgers. They’ve been deemed unsuitable for anti-riot work, sadly, but made pretty good defensive assets.

And that’s it for the month of May! Keep an eye out for events and competitions, do the things and make Arcona even more awesome than we already are. I’m proud of all of you and fully expect us to keep being amazing.

Until next time…