Table of Contents

1. Arcona Fiction Update
2. Great Slug Raid Results
3. Events and News
4. Final Notes

Arcona Fiction Update

“We’ve got eyes inside,” the crewman onboard the Sentinel shuttle said in somewhat hushed tones, as if speaking louder might alert the Hutt’s guards some distance away through the woods.

“Lemme see.”

Qyreia strode over quickly, stomach tight with worry over how this all might pan out. After so much work to make this attack a secret, she was left with the overwhelming worry that there wasn’t enough planning done to make it go well. When the Zeltron saw the interior of Chutil’ah’s pleasure den on the screen, coupled with the image of a familiar Zygerrian sashaying away, she breathed a sigh of relief.

“Good job, Zig.” She would have to congratulate her properly later. For the moment, she keyed her personal comm. “Ruka, we have eyes inside. We’ll feed you data as it comes. Get the ground team moving.”

Further on ahead and fast approaching the outer perimeter of the compound, the Proconsul sighed, relieved but nervous. “Understood.”

“We good to go, boss?” Zuza asked, her E-11 gripped tightly and a level of anticipation in her voice.

He looked at the others, noting Aru’s presence with reluctant tolerance. Doon and Jael were familiar faces, with the newly minted Quaestor of Galeres keeping a good account of his old friends in Qel-Droma. Based on how relaxed everyone around him looked, his characteristic humor was keeping the raiding party in good spirits. Diy was likewise making her usual rounds, trying to touch as many people’s things as possible. She’d look like a bad kleptomaniac if Ruka didn’t know better. She seemed to notice his gaze and wormed her way up through the scattered crowd of Arconans.

“Seems the whole gang is out here. Not seen so many in one place outside a bar or the Voidbreaker hot tub, eh Lottie?”

Zuza flustered at the use of the pet name right before they were about to go into the action, but smiled all the same. Her gaze went back to Ruka for her answer.

“We’re ready. Move forward toward the outbuildings and start taking out sentries. Keep it quiet. Sroka said she had something planned at the starport. That’ll be our signal.”

Read the whole fiction here!

Missed the fiction before this one? Here it is!

The TL;DR

• The Arconans successfully managed to sneak in at several points, with Zig providing an inside look while Ruka led the better part of the team that consisted of Jael, Zuza, and Diy, among others. Tali and company meanwhile conducted a little sabotage to distract from the main attack.
• The Ghanta Black’s response allowed them to slow the Arconans’ advance, going so far as to stop them outright, just shy of the hangars. The timely arrival of the shuttles allowed the Clan to do some final damage before the remainder of Chutil’ah’s assets escaped.
• While in space, thinking themselves completely safe, the Children of Mortis continue to parley with the temporarily deposed Hutt gangster. During the conversation, they receive a not-so-cryptic message on all of their comms displays: the Arconan logo, as a reminder to those that cross the Shadow Clan.

Great Slug Raid Results

The raid is over and the results are in! Overall we tried to have as broad of a competition selection as possible to give everyone at least a little something to play around with, so we hope that worked well for you all. For the event, our top placers were:

• Jael Chi’ra at 16.5 placement points
• Zuza Lottson at 15.5 placement points
• Marick Tyris at 15 placement points

And in an astounding upset, we also nearly had a three-way tie for 4th place with Tali just nudging in at 14.5 points. Results for 5th place are still pending as Diy and Aru both took the spot at 13.5 placement points.

Statistics & Notes

With fifteen unique participants across the whole event, that accounts for about 35% of Arcona jumping into the saddle. Not abysmal, but not super fantastic either. I am not one for dictating the outcome of an event on a railroad track, which allowed for the result as seen in the Clan fiction: Chutil’ah escaped with her life and at least a small portion of her assets. Other things that played into this outcome were unique participants by individual competitions, as well as specific actions taken in fictions (an effort to acknowledge in-character actions taken).

For placements, the general results show that while participation points can bump you up by one or two spots, a few high-quality showings can really make the difference. Participation then serves to seal the deal. Especially for those weighted competitions like fiction and graphics, those points can make a huge difference.

That said, those two competition types in particular take a good deal of time and effort. Once you’ve knocked out the easy/fast comps, start picking away at the long-haul ones. Don’t wait until the last week!

We also noted some other things worth mention from the submissions and general activity for the duration:

• In competitions that are on a timer (ex. puzzles & browser games), typing notes into the text box to go with the screenshot doesn’t do anything for you. That’s time that could’ve been spent trying to get a better score or faster time.
  
• For fictions, make sure you select or link the chosen Loadouts for the characters your using, and adhere to them. If the Loadout deviates (sometimes a thing isn’t in Possessions, or your character acquires something in-universe), then put that into part of the narrative. It can only help you to set the scene just that much more, and could save you in grading and placement.
• Pay attention to the competition details, including the subscriber details. Browser games, for example, are not always the most user-friendly, as we saw with this one. That said, there was a warning in both the competition details and the subscriber details to capture the score before the death screen faded to black. As we still had multiple comments about lost scores, please let us know if you have any suggestions for a different warning/instruction format.

Events and News

Taking a departure from the usual format, we want to announce that Arcona now has all of it’s artifacts finalized, as well as our swag from the War. This has been a thing overdue, and we’re happy to finally be able to announce and show it off to you all. First, our Clan Artifacts, two of which are rather familiar, and one that is shiny and chrome (kinda).

The Serpentine Throne (Arcona)

The Serpentine Throne is a massive throne four meters tall and forged from different carefully interwoven metals to give it a contrasting light and dark appearance, shaped like a pair of coil serpents twisting around each other. Their tails constrict around the legs, their bodies the arms, eventually reaching the top where the grim visage of the serpent's heads stares out menacingly at anyone who approaches. Carved into the top is the symbol of Clan Arcona. It serves a major conduit of sensory abilities that reach up to 1 AU from where it rests. When someone is on the throne, they are able to passively connect to the minds of the people of the planet, most notably every member of the Clan, similar in fashion to that of a master-student bond. This allows them to discern the roaring collective’s surface-level emotions, moods, and intentions. The throne is a permanent feature of the throne room in Arcona's Citadel, and may only be used by the Consul of Clan Arcona.

The Blind Key (House Qel-Droma, awarded monthly)

The Blind Key is a small access key device that is geometrically flat and squared, with a translucent casing and multi-tool like toggle for numerous access ports and locks, from code cylinders to contactless pads. It's most prominent feature is the symbol of the "Blind Eye", a metallic eyeless skull hologram. The key has the ability to bypass or cut through any security system on the Ol'val Shadowport, also providing access to exclusive safe rooms and storage caches hidden throughout the hollowed-out asteroid. It is biometrically attuned to each recipient with a thumb pin-prick, a bit of clever Sith Alchemy ensuring only the owner of the key can utilize its abilities. It is awarded on a rotating basis to members of House Qel-Droma that distinguish themselves through actions and service to the House.

The Glory of Galeres (House Galeres, awarded quarterly)

The Glory of Galeres is a sword crafted combining items and materials of great symbolic value to its namesake House. The hilt holds a ruby red gem to signify the heart of all Galeres, while the blade itself is made from an alloy of metals found both on Eldar and Selen, both of which serve as past, present, and future homes to the House. The crystalline mass along the spine of the blade is a neutralized remnant of the crystals left behind in the attack on Fort Blindshot: a symbol of Galeres' spirit to fight Arcona's enemies against all odds and emerge victorious. The result is a sword as ornamental as its fine cutting edge, relying on the wielder's ability and strength over cliche technology like vibro-weapons. It is awarded on a rotating basis to members of House Galeres that distinguish themselves through actions and service to the House.

And now, our shiny new thing to help keep us safe and secure at home for the next time some schmuck decides to try their hand at attacking Selen.

The Crystal Baffler Array

A large emitter array consisting of carefully tuned purified crystals and amplifier antennae, the Crystal Baffler Array is able to shroud half a planet in a near impenetrable electromagnetic cloud. The effects on electronic sensors are a combination of distorted readings, false positives, and ghost returns, while visual scans would indicate nothing but a constantly shifting canopy of multispectral light, the combined effect of which is to prevent any orbital scans across the shielded hemisphere.

And now, a brief NEWS overview

• Galeres announces the receipt of its newest shiny, and Jael/Kris goes over how its awarding will work. The latest awardee is Zuji, aka Diryan “Diy” Grivna!
• Qel-Droma says goodbye to its latest Aedile, Jazzy/Avery, who is taking a sabbatical from the DJB and handle some real-life #stuff. We thank Jazzy for all her time, and wish her not only the best, but a speedy return. Qel-Droma also rocked a fiction update that might just be worth a little ready-read. In the meantime, AED applications are open until November 27th. If you want to get in on the Brotherhood leadership train, this is a great learning opportunity.
• In Brotherhood news, the Exarch released a report detailing staff updates and future plans, including hints at both a Society and society rank goodies. Headed by our own Wally. Go check it out.
• There was also a release of new stuff from the Regent, as well as an update to lightsaber-resistant materials. There is also an opening of the Celebration Store to herald in Life Day.
• Since we’re going to be eventing with these guys soon, it might be worth reading COU’s latest report. They also have a QUA opening and taking applications through December 1st. Great if you’re looking for a little more responsibility and a change of scenery to really test yourself.

In-Clan Events

Got plenty to do through the rest of the calendar year. Thus far, only AVD is tentatively scheduled next year (in February as one might expect).

• 27 Nov - 07 Jan — ARCCOU Coop Event. Trying to put the final pieces together on this event to address the old alliance and follow up on the last event. Possibly pushed a week or two to the right; TBD.
• January-ish — Competition Workshops. Possible pilot program start. Will be composed of multiple small competitions with external class material and on-Discord discussion.
• February-ish — Arcona Valentines Day (AVD). Possibly one of the most infamous of Arcona-sponsored events, and open to the whole Brotherhood as every year previous. It’s a great time for exploring character canon and non-canon stories alike while generally just having a good time.

We are still working out the start time(s) and details for the Arcona Armed Forces (AAF) development competitions, and the potential Selen Development Project.

Competition Workshops

A quick but separate note on these workshops, as we haven’t really talked about them in depth for a while. As the name suggests, these are intended as a way to build confidence in competition types that are normally considered to be on the more intimidating side, either for lack of knowledge and/or practice. The hopeful end result is that there is a reduced attitude of “Well [X person] is participating, so I might as well not bother.”

At least the initial run(s) will be Arcona-internal as a litmus test for 1) how much folks actually want to do this, and 2) feedback and response so that we can make the initial product better. I am all about trying new things as much as I am for building on the bones of the old, so when this gets released, don’t hesitate to participate if improvement is what you seek!

That said, this is not a competition for “participation points”. There is a full expectation that any participants in the workshops will make a genuine effort, and that anyone not participating in the workshop should not enter into the micro-comps.

The first series will likely start off with Battle Plans, and will later branch out into graphics and fiction as lesson plans are developed. Scheduling of each is subject to response and class size.

Final Notes

As always, I can be reached by e-mail at [Log in to view e-mail addresses], on Telegram with @QyreiaArronen, or on Discord @Qyreia#9352. You can find Atty at [Log in to view e-mail addresses], or @Atty#3546 on Discord. And if you’re bored, feel free to follow my meant-for-recruiting-but-still-fun in-character Twitter feed @TheRedQek!

Sincerely,