Selen, Estle City
The Citadel, Meeting Room

Kordath Bleu sipped his caf and grimaced, he was still getting used to the bitterness that accompanied the beverage untainted. He looked tired, which was the norm, but now the heavy bags and bloodshot eyes were the product of exhaustion, not over indulgence. He glanced across the broad conference table at his second in command, Terran Koul. The Kiffar looked tired as well, which was some small condolence to the Ryn. Other than the pair and some scattered datapads they were alone.

It was reports. It was always reports.Lists of damages and casualties from the security forces at work in Estle City, putting down riots and trying to maintain some form of order. Food shortages, labor issues, infrastructure in desperate need of repair after fires and plague had left things an absolute mess. He rubbed at his eyes and sighed again.

“Well, least the Tameikes are doin’ somethin’ about that,” he muttered, getting little more than a grunt of derision from across the table. Kord dropped the local report off to the side, the updates were always depressing, and picked up one that had come from the Galeres command. “Looks like Qyreia and her pet are smackin’ tha Collective about. No solid projection on when she thinks they’ll be done with clean up, but at least they’re being handled.”

Terran’s fingers moved across his own pad, and looked perplexed. “Ol’val is recovering, despite material shortages. They’re using whatever supplies they can find or salvage from buildings that were damaged in the Hutt’s bid for power to rebuild. Things will get harder when the population starts filling out again, but by the they might have the means to start building again.”

“They mention how they’re gettin’ more supplies in that report?”

“The...bake sale? I thought that was code at first so I looked into it. Unconventional, seems to have worked, though.”

The two men shook their heads and continued to stare at reports.

“Well, long as nothin’ else real bad happens soon, we oughta be fine, eh?” mused the Ryn, looking at a report about anomalous geosomething or the other readings from Arconae Primus.

Terran glanced at him over the top of the datapad, his impression deadpan.

“What? A guy can hope,” muttered the Consul with a sigh.

Clan News

Hello, Arcona! Welcome to the June report, where we’ll be talking about events, fiction updates, and everything else.

Currently, House Galeres is combatting the Collective congregating on our capital world of Selen. These insurgents are the leftovers from the failed Collective assault, survivors of shipwrecks and assault teams that managed to get through our defenses. While they’ve been getting organized and scavenging from the countryside, Galeres has prepared for their engagement. Go check out the event and (should you be a member of the House especially), contribute!

Out on the further reaches of the system, House Qel-Droma is recovering from the attacks by Whallata the Hutt, rebuilding that which was damaged or destroyed. The somewhat unconventional method of holding a bake sale to trade food for supplies has proved helpful, but not everyone on the Shadowport is on board. While the leadership of the house recently changed, with Rhylance taking over the role of Quaestor and the title of ‘The Blindman’, some of the locals are stepping out of line. Recently intercepted communications suggest someone may be organizing the station scum to rebel. This has caused setbacks, as well as casualties (not to mention outrage now that a certain Wook has been laid low). So, Qel-Droma, you’ve got plenty going on as well, get cracking, take back your home and build it back up!

Brotherhood News

In the Brotherhood wide setting of things it’s been mostly quiet, though we did get the coronation of the new Grandmaster, as well as introductions for the various DCer’s who got hired on in the past six months. You may notice in this fiction that the resident Shadow Sloth was not present, as Arcona’s standing with the DC these past few years has been questionable at best. The Collective may have killed Atyiru, but Kord at least still lays that entire mess at the feet of the Council.

That said, it seems a time of reconciliation is upon the Clans at large. The planet Arx is now considered ‘neutral ground’, so members of Arcona can walk in the open there.

Another thing of note, after lengthy discussions in the Fiction Chat concerning this, as many wondered how much the past few years of rebellious activity would affect characters. Many of you dived into the Lotus storyline and may consider your characters ‘enemies of the state’ when it comes to the larger Brotherhood. This is a choice you can make yourself, entirely, as the powers that be consider this event to be in the past. If you want to write your character being hunted by the Inquisitorius, that’s up to you. Unwelcome on Arx? Also up to you, but no member of the DC is going to say ‘you can’t go there, Lotus scum.’

Still, could be fun for character development.

Competition Spotlights

• Galeres Collective Clearance: House Galeres is fighting the good fight on Selen!

• Shadowport in Shambles: Port Ol’val is cleaning up its act with Qel-Droma’s help.

• Summer Puzzle Series: Week 7 is currently on going, plenty of time to rack up points (and participation!)

• You Done Fracked Up: A comp ran by our own Qyreia concerning your character having fracked up, hard. Fiction!

• Thirteen Stories: Outbreak: A mixture of fiction and graphics competitions being ran b our own Lucifer, check ‘em out, neat idea.

• MAA Puzzle 18: The Panda is running another puzzle comp (two actually, 19 starts shortly after this one ends), go flex your puzzle muscles.

Proconsul Prattle

My comments are going to be pretty quick this month. I don't have much of substance to add to what our fearless leader has already written, so I'll keep my own blurb brief. Real life has been doing a pretty good job of kicking my ass. Work has settled down for the first time in about a year, but I've been sick on and off the last couple months. Hopefully that won't last, as it really impacts my productivity.

On the Clan- and Club-wide front, we've had a new fictional update drop that finally shows us the coronation of our new Grand Master. If you haven't read it yet, I highly encourage you to do so. I'm thrilled that we're finally seeing more movement on the grander storyline post-GJW, and look forward to what the Dark Council has in store for us going forwards. While it doesn't change much at the moment, it's nice to know that there are developments in the pipeline. From an in-character perspective, we've had a few questions as to the ramifications of the update, primarily from Atra and Tali. I've tried to answer them in the questions below, but if you guys would like more follow-up, let me know.

On the Clan storyfront, things are progressing - albeit slowly, as I mentioned above. Our goal is to write out the next few episodes in advance, before kicking them off. One of the major problems we ran into in the past was having to settle for updates we weren't entirely happy with due to time constraints. If we can build up a "backlog" of events/updates in advance, we hopefully won't run into that. Either way, there should be some more visible movement on this in the near future.

In the meantime, I'm really happy with the events that the House Summits have put together for our members. They both look like a lot of fun, and I'm jealous that I can't compete in them myself. I encourage all of you to give them your best shot, and really leave your mark on your Houses. It's not just an opportunity for personal glory, but a chance to help direct and push forward your House's narrative into the future.

AsktheRyn

• Rhylance asks a few

  • Team Edward or Team Jacob?
    • I...I don't get it?
  • Can I have a blood sample? I have a feeling you must have strong inherent defenses against bodily fluid transitioned diseases and I'd love to study it.
    • I'll direct ya ta the records Atty held, if you can figure out her color coding/braille system. Don't ask me how she used color coding, I'm not even sure she knew she did.
  • Rhylance vs Qyreia, who would you put money on to win?
    • Qyreia. In a heartbeat. There's a reason she got to watch the kiddo.
  • Lucine vs Skar, same question.
    • Situational. Need more context.
  • How does one woo a potential female conquest? Asking for a friend.
    
    

• Tali Zorah asks a few

  • Question: Why?
  • Follow-up question: But Why though?
  • Follow follow-up question: But seriously, Why?
    • Yes.
  • How long do you reckon your reign as Consul will last? How do you see Kordath losing his post? Will he be losing it alongside other bodyparts?
    • Ideally, my reign will last through to Spring next year. Kord will lose his post quietly, I'm sure, and without dismemberment.
  • How do you see Arcona reacting to the recent DJB fiction update that seemed to hint at a GM-level desire at unification?
    • I think the War and the Purges are too fresh in Arcona's mind to simply toe the line, bend the knee. We're still allied with the Jedi, who it could be argued we owe a debt to now after their fleet assisted our own in defending Selen. I don't think Arcona feels very trusting of the Council right now, we'll see how that changes with further exploration of the new Grandmaster's intentions.
    • Terran: Somewhere between cautious optimism and complete disconcern. If unification means the DC stays out of the Dajorra system and leaves Arcona to its own affairs...great!
  • Will Arcona be accepting any assistance, if offered and if so, how willingly? Do we consider the DC or Collective as our main enemy at this time?
    • Currently we're wary of the DC, but the Collective is actively seeking our extermination, so.... As for assistance? Really depends on what it is, the Dajorra system was designed to be pretty self sufficient.
    • Terran: I doubt they would accept any assistance. The Dark Council's assistance never comes without strings. Ever. And there are no strings on us. As to which we consider our "main enemy", a better question would be "why should we consider them at all?" We have enough to deal with at home. What do we care if they slaughter other Clans or the Dark Council? Given the positioning of Dajorra, we'd hardly be any reasonable military's primary target. And any military that made us their primary target is clearly so incompetent that they wouldn't be a realistic threat.
  • When will lekwarmers become standard issue equipment in the AAF?
    • Those who require them surely have them by now, otherwise...back up socks?
  • Visited Ol'val recently? Like what we've done with the place? What are your feelings on the new(ish) Quaestor? Unrelated follow-up question, feelings on the Aedile's maidly new dress code?
    • Ol'val is recovering nicely, I'm sure it'll be up and fully functional in time. The new Quaestor is a man who Kord is putting some trust in, we'll see. Also, I'm unaware of this new dress code, but will be looking into it aggressively.
  • Unrelated, but it's gonna be asked anyway, Can Strong come out and play? I don't know why it keeps getting asked, but I wanted to save us all some trouble.
    • Strong does as Strong wills.

• Leeadra asks

  • Are you offering refunds for those who purchased the Redheads channel?
    • I can't see why, plenty of redheads out there.

• Zujenia asks

  • How does Kord feel when Shay gets to visit? Iarna?
    • Nervous, happy, sad, anxious. He loves his little girl and wants nothing but to have her and, um yeah, with him. But he doesn't think it's safe, so, every time he's in the same place as her it's a potential for 'something' to happen. Iarna is a good girl and deserves many head scratches and treats.
  • How are those summit meetings going? Such diverse characters and relations with one another.
    • Hahahahahah. Hah. Heh.

• Atra asks

  • How does Kord feel about the uneasy ceasefire with the DC and Telaris taking over? Did your rep actually tell you everything about the announcement, or do you think some info might have been withheld?
    • He's cautiously hopeful but overly pessimistic about the whole thing. He's not seen enough of Telaris's leadership to know if this is 'new boss, same as the old' or something else entirely. Right now his focus is getting everything back in Dajorra sorted so that Arcona will have a strong base to work from. And yes, Kord is relatively certain that Terran told him everything that mattered.
    • Terran adds: Kord would be right that Terran told him everything. For those of you not very familiar with Terran, he's a straight-forward sort of guy. He may be a rogue, and he may have joined Arcona under false pretenses, but he's come to see the Clan as his family, and he takes his responsibilities to it seriously - perhaps too seriously for his own good.

• Atty asks

  • what is your favorite ACC match you've ever done and why? Your least favorite? Share them with the class?
    • That's really hard to say. I've got 53 matches, currently, that went to full completion. Some of the standouts are various matches with Atyiru, the purse fight with Turel, and the sparring/flirting with Zujenia. Also the Strong and Lucine matches, all of them. I'm hesitant to list more because I'm sure I'm forgetting some that stand out and don't want to snub anyone.

Final Thoughts

So. Both Houses have exciting, narrative driven events going on that will help shape the future of both subunits storylines. Go check those out. Go read the Collective Prologue fiction to get a glimpse of the future of the club itself. Keep an eye out for a bigger Clan centric stroyline in the near future, and most of all, do the things, have fun, be good to one another.