Arcona Fiction Update #1 - Part II- "Blank Spaces"

Estel City, Selen

Arcona Citadel

Throne Room

The curtain of pure-white flame cast a soft luminescence on the Serpentine Throne, fueling the din of crackling fire that stretched throughout the chamber. Atyiru Caesus Entar led the small procession into the throne room. They were a small, varied bunch. Arcia and Andrelious bowed in unison at the Aedile’s side. Turel, Mako and Celevon mirrored the motion, followed by Rhiann and Skar respectively. Atyiru noticed something off in Rhiann’s face, and realized through her unique vision that she had her eye replaced with a cybernetic. She made a mental note to inquire later.

Standing beside the throne were some of the Arconae: Strategos Entar and Nadrin Erinos to one side while a holographic representation of James Entar flickered slightly to the other. Almost unnoticed, standing near the back, was Legorii, his eyes glittering in the light like chips of glass.

The veterans fell into place, with the newer leaders following suit. There was a practiced ritual to everything, but there were awkward spaces left unfilled.

“The War is over,” the Consul began to speak. “Arcona has prevailed victorious, but we are not without losses.”

His words hung in silence for a pregnant moment before he continued.

“We were unable to recover the scrolls requested of us by Grand Master Ashen. Our team was betrayed by Invictus, who thought that aiding Ashen was folly. In the heart of Korriban we fought, and by the power invested in me as Shadow Lord, he is hereby vanished from Dajorra space.”

There was a round of murmurs.

“And what of Cethgus?” Troutrooper spoke freely, his watery voice unperturbed by the gravity of the dialogue.

“Cethgus has left to lend aid to Naga Sadow,” Atyiru answered woodenly without looking.

Silence.

“Darth Pravus has claimed the Iron Throne. He has made quick work of implementing changes in the Brotherhood, and we must be ready to adapt to the *new Grand Master.”*

Another round of murmurs, this one a bit louder and intermixed with swearing and clipped chatter.

“The road ahead will be difficult,” Marick continued. “Arcona’s future rests in each of your hands. I have done everything in my power to get us to this point, but the time has come for another to lead us forward. If a Consul remains in place too long, they’ll either get assassinated, killed in battle or become a liability to Arcona. With those thoughts in mind, Atyiru Ceasus Entar will take my position as Shadow Lord, and I expect that each of you will give her—”

“Wait, Atyiru is the new what?” Atyiru sputtered and looked around self-consciously. “I...what?”

There was a series of loud whispers as members of the gathered Summit exchanged glances, some knowing, some concerned, and others indifferent. To her surprise and everyone’s in the room, Marick’s lips quirked into faint, weary smile. He looked at her expectantly.

“We...we can’t make Atyiru Consul,” she explained, rushing the words out as quickly as she could.

“And why not?” Marick replied evenly, not so much as blinking.

“Because *I’m Atyiru!” she practically yelled.*

There were a few sighs that mixed with chuckles. The sounds tumbled into one another and coalescing into communal laughter, breaking the aura of gloom and lifting it like away like gust of wind.

“Atyiru has been studying with me for the past year,” Marick continued. “She has proven time and again how valuable she is to Arcona, through all her faults shortcomings. She is the guiding light that we need right now, and is ready to take the mantle.”

Hushed conversations broke out, but Marick raised his hand and everyone quieted. “Step forward, Atyiru.”

Gingerly, the Miraluka stepped forward, passing through the white curtain of flame and onto the dais.

“All hail the Shadow Lady,” Marick said, as he lowered himself to one knee. The rest of the room followed suit.

“Marick, I can’t, this is—”

Atyiru’s protest was cut off as the doors to the massive doors to Throne Room opened, and a cloaked figure entered...

Read the full story here on the discourse forums.

Meet your new regime...er, masters. Er! Overlords! No, wait…

Hello, lovelies. Yes, this is Atty. Everyone please take your seats, strap in, and remember, smile!

It’s about to get real.

Now, if you’ll all just imagine that last line in that cool, actiony voice from every movie trailer ever, we can get on to business!

House Galeres Leadership Changes

As many of you will now know after reading my appointment announcement (READ YOUR EMAILS OR ELSE...SOMETHING. BLEH) concerning Galeres’ new summit, Esca and Sight, known to some as Mako, have taken up the mantles of Quaestor and Aedile respectively. I have absolute faith in both these gentlemen. I trust they’ll quickly earn yours too.

In looking to hear what their members want, the boys created this survery for Galerens to take. If you’re part of the House, give them your feedback! They need it if they’re going to keep you happy. GO. GO. GO.

cough.

Now, with Sight stepping into the part of Aedile, we are obviously in need of a new Rollmaster…

Dat RM tho

Yes, that’s right, there’s a new Rollmaster on the block. Will he be able to do the job? Will he carry the flame of his esteemed predecessors with grace and strength? Will he lead n00bz once more unto the breach, and turn them into warriors?

Well, duh and or hello, it’s in his name! Folks, meet Will, better known as Valtiere, your Rollmaster. Valt’s served this summit faithfully before, and I very much appreciate his willingness and eagerness to do so again now. Will, do great things. We believe in you.

The Highest Gift and Honor

...is having you for a daughter.

J/k. Ahem.

Arconans, I will be blunt: there is no higher honor or mark of recognition in this Clan that to be awarded the title of di Tenebrous Arconae. These are the individuals we look up to, the ones who we aspire to be. These are those that are told of in legend and in whispers. These are the people who younglings like me and you grow up, so to speak, admiring. They have all dedicated themselves to the service of this Clan, and though personalities may clash and we may not all agree, they all deserve our respect.

It is my delight to present to you two heroes of Arcona: Legorii di Tenebrous Arconae and Baxir Vol di Tenebrous Arconae. Legz has just been inducted into the Arcona in recognition of all his efforts for the Clan, and Baxir, better known as Orv, has been reinstated after having left the title behind when his last character was murdered (/me sobs).

Congratulations, gentlemen. For this occasion, even I have no words. Let your names speak for you. On behalf of us all, thank you.

Awards and Recognition

As you all would have seen in Wally’s final address, many of our people were racking up awards for being absolutely fantastic during not only the War, but also in their other activities. Below, you will see a list of the rest of the beautiful snowflakes that earned their accolades:

• Marick Arconae - Emerald Dagger

• Terran Koul - Grand Cross of the Dark Side

• Nikola Valtiere - Grand Cross of the Dark Side

• Meleu Karthdo - Steel Cross

• Nath Voth - Dark Cross

• Turel Sorenn - Grand Cross of the Dark Side

• Rulvak Qurroc - Anteian Cross

Arconans, I simply want you to know how proud I am of each and every one of you every day. The tigerblood you carry in your veins is with you wherever you go and through whatever trials you face. No matter what, you will always have a home here, and you will always receive what you have worked for.

We’re a family. We’ll leave no one behind.

On that sentimental note (ilu guys <3), please turn your attention to the respective House Reports of Awesomeness and Winning for a full list of just how much our members have achieved and a look at what everyone’s up to!

• House Qel-Droma
• House Galeres

Projects

Hey guys, Legz chiming in for a bit here.

Projects have essentially been on hold since before the Great Jedi War, and we haven’t had much of a chance to evaluate them in the past two weeks, given all of the leadership changes and our focus on rewarding everyone for their awesome GJW efforts. But with things starting to settle down a bit, it’s time to dust them back off again.

Vosh has been awesome about supplying some logos and graphics for some wiki pages in need, so for now, we seem to be alright on that front. Our military is relatively up-to-date -- if you haven’t checked out the Arconan Armed Forces Portal yet, be sure to do so -- but we’ll be working on some small modifications and updates in the coming weeks.

What we could still use is some more NPCs. Meleu and I ran a competition in December that supplied three great new NPCs, and if there’s interest, we can run another one -- just let me know. It’s a cool opportunity to leave your mark on Arcona’s military. I, personally, created some NPCs as fighter squadron commanders back in like 2009 that have since been promoted to some commodore and executive officer positions in the fleet, which is kinda cool.

As our new Summit continues to sketch out our direction, we’ll be evaluating and determining what projects need to be pursued, so stay tuned for calls for volunteers. In the meantime, if there are any projects that you feel we should be undertaking, or that you’d like to get involved in, let me know and we’ll figure something out.

That’s all from me for now!

Ask The Atty

You all asked when you responded to this survey and ye shall receive! Coming to you now is the first ever edition of AskTheAtty, a live Q&A inspired by Wally’s selfsame interviews, wherein your new Consul of Sunshine answers some srsface questions about the future, discusses various projects and plans, and makes fun of Wally. As a bonus, Wally does a special dance for everyone! Get your popcorn and watch it here!

In Closing

My friends, my family, we walk now into a new age. For over two years now, all we have known is War. For some of us, that’s been our entire Brotherhood career. For others, its been a unique epic in a much longer journey.

Peacetime is our time to build, to have fun, to foster friendships and relationships. Chat up your Battleteam members or get a G+ Hangout going with them! Do some spare competitions if you feel like it. Join another Clan’s IRC channel and find some new faces - they won’t bite. Xen over there leading CSP is one of my new favorite people for his ability to quote along to Firefly with me.

It’s our time, Arcona. We earned the title of First Clan, but these next months are when we’ll make it mean something: when we come together, united and strong, and make our stand on our own two feet. It’s not just those big, fancy milestones that define us. It is what we do with the time we’re given in between. It is what we do on every single normal day. That’s what makes or breaks us.

Journey before destination.

And my friends? I couldn’t be more excited for our journey! Arcona Invicta!

P.S. Super big thanks to Mirus for my beautiful, shiny, awesome report graphics. Henceforth you shall be Skittle Lord. <3