STRAP IN AND HOLD ONTO YOUR BILLOWY ROBES, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, CAUSE THIS ONE’S A BIG ‘UN. C’MON EVERYBODY, HERE WE GOOOO.

What’s goin’ on around town

Get ready to hit the ground running, my dear boys and girls, because the first and most important piece of Brotherhood business to discuss is that our beloved overlord, Sarin/Pravus, issued a Grandmaster Address and sent it out to every Clan. On every mailing list. And posted it on the newspage. It’s kind of important. :P

However, if you haven’t read it yet, here’s the rundown:

• A timeline/schedule was released for the rest of the year, touching on major fiction and event goals
• The Twelfth Great Jedi War will be around December/January of this year. It’s still in the earliest of developmental stages, but we want to know where we’re setting our sights (hint: at winning!)
• The CS2.0 project is almost finished and is scheduled to release sometime in August. Check out Wally’s CM update, linked below, for more info on the status of that!
• Order and Path changes, which have been the talk of Mav’s reports, along with the Fiction Society, are due for release by September. Get excited, guys, because this is the big change we’ve been buzzing about for months, and it’s almost upon us!
• The Possessions System will release its Beta in October. James has already been working on actually implementing some things on the site end! Squee!

It’s also important to note that our bracket for running Clan events in this timeline is suggested to be from September to November. I’m looking to see the Invicta Games take the spotlight there, if everyone is appropriately excited for it. ;P

Another note in Sarin’s address was that one of our own beloved success stories, Socorra, has retired from her position as Herald. She held an amazing reign, and I ask that you all join me in wishing her many thanks for all her work, for us and for the DB! You’re gorgeous, Socks!

Please take the time to read her final report. If supporting Socks isn’t enough reason, then also go look because ARCONA JUST GOT A NEW SET OF ROBES AND A SABER. AWWWW YEAH! Vyr worked with us to make some of Orv’s original male robe sketches really come to life, was patient in meeting our requests, and really did an amazing job on the saber and male/female robe set. They’re so awesome and Game of Thrones-eqsue. Squee!

Of course, this does mean that Herald is open to applications. If you’re interested, apply! Remember, you don’t need to be an artist. Managerial skills are just as valuable.

Meanwhile, Mav released a report earlier this week detailing some more information about Paths and Orders, and introduced Traditions. Traditions will be where our lore/role-centered current ranks (such as Krath and Obbie) go next. Go read to find out more. Note: you still can’t declare declare a Path against your unit’s current Path until all selections have been made and the Gray Path has been released around September.

In other news, Telegram has been catching on around the Brotherhood, and now you can find your fellow Arconans there too! Telegram is very similar to Whatsapp in much of its structure, design, and function, but does not require use of a phone number and has a couple extra features (including my personal favorite: gif use). Check it out! Just poke any of your summiteers and they can get you added to the DB, Gaming, ToR, Arcona, and individual House groups as you like.

The ACB (and the ACC)

Many of you have had questions about the ACB’s status of late — don’t worry, we heard you, and so did its caretakers. In his latest Combat Master update Wally talked about the ACB (Antei Contract Bureau for anyone unfamiliar), explaining what it is and what its goals are to the Brotherhood at large. He also released this poll that EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU SPARKLEFLAKES (Arcia says: I need to make a dictionary for Atty’s words) should defintely answer. I and your fellow summiteers and brethren have already done so, and if you want to see more of the ACB, showing your interest is the way to do it!

The Antei Contract Bureau is a fun way to improve your writing, further develop your character, and receive real-time feedback during a contract/mission that can be highly specific or purposely vague in the prompt. You can customize your prompt experience by requesting certain details in the Additional Notes section of the contract request form, or even ask that one of the staff contact you for details. Want your character to fully investigate and catch your target in an assassination mission? This is where you would get those details put into your prompt. There are many, many more possibilities available: you have but to ask, and that’s one of the best things about the ACB.

Interested yet? Already agree? Take the poll so the adventures can start! You heard me! Go, go, go!

Other news, reports, and happenings:

• GM Report #40
• DGM Report
• Combat Master Update
• Voice Report
• Herald Report/Farewell
• Telegram for DJB Gamers Clan Odan-Urr Prconsul Report - Pick up your roots and go say hey to our treebuddies.
• Wiki Tribune Report #2
• Galeres Report - June
• Qel-Droma June Report
• Nighthawk Report 001
• Shadow Gate Report - First Edition

Musicals Chairs has ended, please take your seats!

As any of you with eyes should know (and even some without!), the changing of the guard here in our amazing summit continued this month. I’m pleased to say they are now over, and to welcome the future and all its possibilities as we settle in, adapt, and seize it.

I won’t repeat the entirety of my address to the Clan, or wax too poetic. I would, however, like to again give Legz my sincerest thanks for standing by me even as the tides of life pulled him urgently away. Thank him, and send him off with the best of wishes for his future, in the db, at Harvard, and beyond.

Letting Legz go to rest (as much as law school lets him, anyway) left me in need of a Proconsul. It was something that'd been in the back of my mind since I became Arcona’s Consul. It was something I'd long known I would need someone capable for, someone competent, trustworthy and present that could work side by side with me as the minion - I mean, uh, partner - I needed. To that end, I introduced to you Arcona's newest Proconsul: Arcia Cortel, better known as Esca.

While Esca stepped forward to serve the Clan with me, there was left the matter of Galeres' Quaestor. I'd been planning for this as well. There was someone among our ranks who we all knew was a great leader. I could've only be speaking, of course, of Turel Sorenn.

Shortly after Turel's appointment, applications for Qel-Droma's Aedile also closed. After reviewing applications, Celevon made his selection and consulted with Esca on the matter. With all necessary approval, they presented Terran Koul, also known as Invictus, as the new Qel-Droman Aedile along with K'tana as Shadow Gate's new Battleteam Sergeant.

Listing everything out like this, even now, weeks later, sounds daunting. I am, however, undaunted, because I have had the privilege of working with these individuals, watching them quickly settle into their new roles and adapt to working with each other, and walking alongside them as they tackle their goals with incredible energy. I am undaunted, my friends, because we are Arconans, and we are going to forge for ourselves what we always have with the “tigerblood” spirit in our veins: victory.

So let’s hear some hoorahs for our summit, new and retiring, and get to sharpening our daggers, claws, and unicorn horns! We’ve got tournaments and Wars to prepare for, and when they come, we’re going to own them!

Actually, one more thing!

Zandro/Nadrin/Cox/Chris (this boy got names!) is taking a step back from Battleteam leader of Soulfire Strike Team to provide an opportunity to train and mentor a new leader. Please join us in thanking him for his continued service to the Clan and willingness to invest in our up-and-coming members.

Therefore, I would like to announce that the position of Battleteam leader for Soulfire is open for Clan Internal applications.

Applicants should have:

• Plans and ideas for the Battleteam and future activities. No strict format is required (such as a 30/60/90)
• Past leadership in the Brotherhood and notable achievements.
• Leadership experience outside of the club or in real life that may be relevant.
• ~ >24 Hour email turn-around
• IRC presence (Telegram presence is a big plus but not a strict requirement).
• Rank of at least Jedi Hunter.
• Answer the question: “What does it mean to be a leader in the Brotherhood? (specifically a Battleteam leader)” in your own words.

Applications are due 7:59PM EST / 2359 GMT on the 5th July, 2015. Send applications to [Log in to view e-mail addresses] and [Log in to view e-mail addresses]. *Failure to include both is not a way to make a good impression. *

Good luck!

Tides of Change Results!

In case you didn’t read the results newspost - in which case, SHAME on you! SHAAAAAME! - we have included Vyr’s beautifully crafted graphs of the results below! Please feel free to peruse them, but listen first for a moment.

In the interest of being as transparent as possible, I have long planned to talk to you all about the event: not just the results, but the process, the planning, the grading, and about its successes and shortcomings. To that end, I present you with the following video for all those interested. (I apologize in advance for the stumbles, stutters, and multitude of “ums.” There’s a reason most you know me as a writer. ;P)

Atty Explains: Tides of Change

I know no one is keen to listen to me talk at you for twenty-some minutes, so I’ve taken some tl;dr notes for you here. I hope the feedback sheds some light on our thoughts and process.

And speaking of feedback! In case you didn’t notice, or didn’t get to that part of the video, each of us, A’lora, V’yr, and I, all gave feedback to each submission entered for Tides of Change. That’s right. Every. Single. One. To view it, go to your Administration Tab and select View My Submissions. Expand the entry box for a competition, and you will see a place for supplied commentary.

Additionally, if you have any specific questions about the grading on your entries, wish for information on scoring, or just further opinions, my door is open - come and ask me! And, if you have any feedback you’d like to give about the event, please see this form here! Help us help you!

Now, without further ado, MOAR GRAPHS:

Tides of Change Rewards!

Oh, that’s right, there’s more.

While many a crescent sparkly and bright,

were awarded that fateful night,

we thought to ourselves, ‘Something more must be done,

that our brethren remember what they have won!’

And so we did toil, plot and plan,

and turn our eyes to a metal man,

a final accolade, shiny and chrome,

together with titles and this poem composed by a gnome.

—Mediocre literature from Atty

As the above snippet may or may not imply, we have several rewards, fictional and otherwise, in place for the victors of Tides of Change.

The first of those I’ll be announcing ties into the epilogue events, where our champions of the tides served as witnesses to and some of the original signers of the of the Dajorra-Yhi Concordat. The Concordat itself will be drawn up and outlined on the wiki through the respective efforts of the ARC and COU summits, so keep an eye out for that. Rather than a formal alliance between our Clans, it will serve as a pact linking the two fictionally — we may not be best friends (despite how magical that would be) but we can certainly do business. ;)

To that end, I hereby pronounce these scions of Dajorra, Turel Sorenn, Celevon Edraven, and Andrelious J. Mimosa-Inahj, as Concordat Councilmen. They will serve alongside Odan-Urrites Seridan Brehevik and Lu’aisha Greese, their fellow Councilman and Councilwoman. These members will be the standing body called upon to oversee matters of the pact between our Clans. Additionally, Turel, as an ambassador at one time of both Clans, will serve as the council’s mediator and chairman.

Finally, on a more general note, Turel will be granted ownership of one of Arcona’s eight Magna Guard droids for achieving first place in a Clan feud. These droids were originally purchased as part of our Armed Forces for use by Apex Brigade, but have since been reallocated as awards for performance in Clan operations and events due to the team’s retirement.

Congratulations, everyone!

Recognition

As your shiny new summit sat down to work and tackles all the things, we made one of our top priorities getting all of you who have worked so hard these last few months properly rewarded. Believe you me, there’s more to on the way yet along with the kickass list below!

For now, though, take a look and feel proud, my friends and lovelies. Through House events, the Clan event, various jobs, and the daily, quiet grind of all that you do...you deserve this.

Promotions!

• Kaiburr: Dark Jedi Knight!
• Nashiro Kakos: GRD -> JH
• Kintocass: PRT -> GRD
• Juliana Kelrune: ACO -> PRT

Awards!

• Strategos Thanatos Entar Arconae was awarded 1 Steel Cross
• Adam Bolera was awarded 1 Anteian Cross
• Alaris Jinn was awarded 1 Anteian Cross
• Rulvak Qurroc was awarded 1 Anteian Cross
• Zakath was awarded 1 Anteian Cross
• Nikola Valtiere was awarded 1 Scroll of the Master

Outstanding Achievements (or just general cool stuff)!

Recently the Wiki Tribune put out a report and guess what? The featured article is the Arcona Prospectus! Arcona Invicta!

I want to give Andrelious, otherwise known as Mark to most of us, a big shout out for the reasons behind his latest Dark Cross! He’s helped us immensely as one of our previous super successful Rollmasters and rewrote, from memory, a large document outlining how he performed the job so well. So thank you so much, Mark, for helping us out! We couldn’t do it without out!

Lastly, Arcona secured the TOP FIVE PLACES in the GMRG Rankings! Great job Ernor, Egregious, Arcia, Turel and Uji!

~E

In The Land of Melons

(May or may not be permanently located aboard the Nighthawk.)

Welcome welcome, Arconans!

It is I, the Melons of Selen! I have somehow rooted our wonderful Legz out of his office and gave it a spring cleaning. Some of the things I found in here, I’ll tell ya… But enough about my cold and interestingly stocked office, on to better things!

So hello! You all know me as Esca, roleplaying the character everyone has loved to hate, Arcia Cortel, the Ice-Witch of Dajorra. I’ve been in the DJB for almost half my life and I’ve had my ups and downs, but learned very much over the many years. Over a year and a half ago, I rejoined Arcona to help Dash bring his dream of Nighthawk to life. Well, look how far we’ve come! I hope to bring the same drive and effort offered to that team, and to Galeres on my way through, to the Clan and role as Proconsul. I plan to keep you all entertained, alert and ever so busy as we progress into the future together as one cohesive unit, especially now that whispers of the next Great Jedi War have begun to enter our ears!

Mentioned below are some projects in the works, but fret not, there are still plenty of other things to accomplish as well. You simply need to keep an eye on your email and IRC/TG as I begin to rant and rave about needing volunteers!

Well that’s it for me on this short but lovely mini-intro for you all! Keep on reading for the good stuff and don’t get stuck in an airlock!

~E

Projects

Workshops

Hijacked from the most recent Galeres Report:

What: an opportunity for members seeking to improve on their character design. Activities would include: Wikipedia Creation and Overhaul, Character Sheet Design and Point Allocation, Image Design.

How: we will be seeking volunteers who have specific aspects of their Character they would like to develop. This could be for new members who need an overall starting point (basic wiki, CS, character history, etc). Or a Veteran member who wants to strike the cobwebs from their sorely neglected characters.

Requirements: Use of IRC or Google Hangouts An available weekend night 1-3 hours depending on depth of work

Commentary:

Arcia:

Just this past weekend the first ‘Beta Test’ for the Character Workshops was hosted. I have to say, if you haven’t put your name down for this yet, then do so now by following this form. I was asked questions that I don’t think I would ever think of and ended up developing an even more in-depth personality for Arcia than ever. I feel that once I get the last bits and pieces put together and get back in touch with the advisors for a follow up, my character will be almost brand new in terms of how well everything fits together. I can’t wait to continue working on Arcia and get her wiki page populated with something other than a quote! So thank you Donny for getting this all together and thank you to the advisors for your invaluable help in fleshing out Arcia’s personality.

Atty:

This was an awesome experience, and I’m really excited to see more of these workshops happening. I’m hoping if we can get some drive behind these character development ones, then we can see some push for others to improve other skills. Being an “advisor” itself wasn’t terribly taxing an experience, and working with the group to divvy up focus and roles kept things concise but effective. The process, for a fairly thorough test run, took about two and a half hours including a bit of afterward review time to discuss the process itself (since it was a beta test). If you enjoy doing character development work, wiki work, or otherwise just like mentoring, I’d suggest signing up as an advisor and testing your hand at helping someone else.

And hey — I’d sign up as one of the participants too. It’s really cool to get outside perspectives on your character, and the preliminary questions before the actual session make it easy on you to get in that thinking mindset. Thank you to Donny, all the beta volunteers, and all future advisors and participants!

Recruitment Drive

Recently we called for volunteers to be part of Arcona’s brand new Recruitment Office. We’re still looking! If you are interested, quickly send Atty ([Log in to view e-mail addresses]) and Arcia ([Log in to view e-mail addresses]) an email titled ‘Recruitment Office’ and we’ll be in touch!

Things to include in your email:

• What sort of social media you have experience in
• New and exciting methods of reaching out to potential new joins
• Thoughts for Arcona styled ‘business cards’
• Anything else you feel would help!

And anyone can do this, too! You don’t have to be part of the Recruitment Office, since we’re only seeking two for the time being. To give an example, just today I found a potential new join while I was outside enjoying the sunshine (hahaha, it was cloudy). One of the new agents approached due to my Star Wars oriented shirt and we started talking SW. Next thing I know they’re begging for ‘business cards’ and/or more information on the DJB. It’s that easy sometimes!

So get out there and see what you can do! Don’t forget to give them your PIN if you’re recruiting them!

The Adventures of Atty and Arcy...a.k.a. Ask the A-Team

Previously AskTheAtty, now featuring Melon Lord, oh gawd!

Rhiann asked: “Any guesses on the enemy for the GJW later this year?”

• Arcia: Seeing as we are preparing to follow Disney into their new world of ‘What’s Canon,’ I feel the waters are still untested. Perhaps this mysterious ‘First Order’ will make various appearances if they continue through the trilogy. If not, then with the new change in power within the DJB, I could see allegiances falter and break down causing another battle of the Clans rising. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!

• Atty: Oh geez. Like Esca said, with so little info on the new canon and the way we’re trying to follow it, all my guesses would be fairly wild. The One Sith have had their tenure and will probably be out the window, and we’ve already had a cool Grandmaster conspiracy-cult-Tiamat but not-thing. I guess if I was just gonna take a wild swing at it, I’d say it’ll be another big bad group of enemy Force-users, or some order dedicated to the eradication of Force-users.

Atty asked: “How often do you think we'll be confused if we keep up AskTheArcy/Atty?”

• Arcia: Depends, is your confusion contagious?

Mirus asked: “Do you have any super-cool project or competition plans?”

• Arcia: Super-cool? Maybe. Things I can talk about? There’s a current reward system in Arcona that I feel could use some updating, more details, etc. Maybe even a buff to it, staff input pending. So keep on mentoring. ;)

• Atty: It’s hard to be as cool as a Kiwi, but if I had to call any of our competition/project plans super-cool, I’d point to the Workshops mentioned above, and the common resources Google folders that we mentioned building in the last report. Oh, and the Invicta Games. ;) For anyone unfamiliar with the concept, the Invicta Games would be our version of a previously Brotherhood-wide competition called the Independence Games. They were really cool because members submitted whatever competitions they could think of, and they all got put out there for everyone else to do, while you did all the other things! It kinda felt like the Olympics or something. Very fun. We hope to recreate it here for Arcona since it was officially shelved on the Brotherhood level the year before last.

Turel asked: “Dear Arcia, what can you tell us about the fictional direction of the Clan after the Tides event?”

• The A-Team: We can tell you that the fictional direction of Arcona will, in large part, be inevitably affected by the fictional direction of the Brotherhood. We've already taken steps to move our fictional background closer to the reality of our present member base, opening the way for some grayer and lighter elements, which will make easing into Path/Order changes easier. After that, the future grows blurry as we prepare to face canonization and possible revamps or new directions. What we can also say for sure is that one of Arcona's core strengths is adaptability. As some of our eldest members has said: “Arcona: Move first. Move best.” Whatever happens, we'll rise on the tides (heehee) and make more than the best of it.

Vyr asked: “How much fun did you have with the Tides of Change feud and do you have any comments for the organizers?”

• Arcia: Tides of Change was pretty darn fun. I loved the graphics and multimedia events, but I’m always keen on separating traditional art from digital art, so a different method of grading may have been better. Great submissions, though and the final result pie charts were fantastic. I will have to keep something like that in mind for the future. :)

Tim asked: “What are our plans for dealing with a possible influx of new members [on a Clan level] when the movies come out?

• The A-Team: Get into gear training up and preparing a good pool of mentors, masters, and junior leaders in the next few months, so that when the influx inevitably does come, we have a good buffer of readied people to take them on. We do what we've always done: communicate with those joins, make matches from our available pool, and make sure to keep their interest and coach them along as they integrate and adjust to the db's setting, since they're likely to be coming off of the movie's expectations.

• And once we have them all swaddled by their tutors and feasting on bottles of tigerblood like good little newbies, we'll be able to put them to use in, with any hope, expanding our rosters with solid members who may have a fresh interest in a fifth Battleteam...

Vic and Snabbie asked: “If Snabbie rejoins HQD, can he have his own one of these?

• Arcia: Looks at airlock

• Atty: Only if Arcia lets me have a droid to wink for me.

• Arcia: So basically, you’re not getting one.

In Closing

We leave you with something new to the monthly report:

The Adventures of Atty and Arcy: The Comic!

(In which everyone struggles to read Atty’s handwriting.)

Arcona Invicta!