Welcome to the first official Clan Arcona Report of 2014. It's been an action packed and busy month for both the DB and the Brotherhood as a whole. In this report we will cover a wide range of topics including the conclusion and results of Operation: Sojourn, where all those fleet points we earned in the Dark Crusade went, recognition, q&a's and of course the future of Clan Arcona.

Let’s do it.

Operation: Sojourn

Operation: Sojourn has finally reached it’s conclusion. Placements, rankings, and scores were actually all finalized before the weekend. I just had this really funny thing called real-life work pop up that pushed this report back a few days. For this, and the ensuing delay in result, I do apologize. Legorii and I worked hard to make this Op as seamless and efficient as possible in terms of immersion and quick turn-around time.

Operations in Arcona have always held their own unique level of quality and execution that make them hard to really label. The closest way of looking at an Operation is to think of it as an internal-vendetta. For anyone who missed it, every week there was a new set of 3 competitions, paired with a recurring 1v1 gaming ladder and an on-going Run-On. The Run-On and all the topics were organically tied in to the main fiction penned by myself.

Usually, we would create a separate website to chronicalize the operation. With some of the awesome new visual tweaks to the Wiki, however, (thanks Orvles <3) I talked with Ben and asked if we could try out something new and use the Wiki as the main hub for the story, events, and prompts. I think it worked out incredibly well.

You can view Operation: Sojourn right here!. I strongly encourage everyone to look at the competitions listed, because if the author/artist indicated it, you can see the entries in all their awesomeness!

And so, without further preamble, I’d like to announce the results of O:S. Congratulations to Nighthawk Battleteam on their empowering victory!

Nighthawk started as a crazy idea from Teroch. He showed why he is a Consul Emeritus and one of the top authors of Arcona literature and wiki articles over his career when it comes to creating new ideas. With putting the Nighthawk together as a team of members from different backgrounds; he sparked activity to levels I have not seen in quite some time. Their efforts will solidify the Nighthawk Project going forward as a legitimate Battleteam in Clan Arcona.

Score Sheet/Tracker

You can view the full results here, including the team-by-team breakdown, Week-to-Week Scoring, and the results of the gaming ladder.

A lot of collaboration went into the creation and execution of that spreadsheet tracker. I certainly learned things I never thought were possible in Google Sheets, and even worked my first automagic! I wanted to give a big shoutout to Legorii, Anduriel, Celahir, Invictus, and Esca for helping out with a variety of tasks like formatting, formula and script writing, and color coding. I also wanted to take a second to explain why we went with the scoring system we did.

For every event, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place received a set number of points. From 4th place down, however, points were still awarded in descending value. We did this to show how important participation is, and how you don’t always have to place to help contribute to your team. For example, Ernordeth, for all his talent, did not place in anything except for gaming. If you look at the rest of his events, however, he still managed to secure a point or two every time, even if he finished dead last. He finished overall at 16th/33 places. This is just an example of how participation matters!

Speaking of that number, you read it right. We had 33 members submit to at least one event. When looking over the rest of the DB’s activity, and even looking back on the crusades, this is truly a monumental achievement on your guys’ part. I just wanted to quickly compliment each of you and remind you of how awesome you all are.

However, while individual merits are nice, O:S was designed and geared towards team effort. While we did track your scores to create an individual leader board, the focus was always on getting those points for your teams. If you look closely at the color coding, you’ll see that while Team Galeres had the highest overall scorer, as well as 5th place (apparently the Katacorn has returned). Nighthawk managed to sweep 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 7th places, and that really shows when you look at the overall team scores. This also goes to show, however, that one person alone cannot win for the team. It requires all of us to give our best, and only our very best is good enough.

Congratulations go to Atyiru, Maaks, Kalon, Uji, and K’tana for finishing in the top 5! Stellar work all around!

Last but not least, I want to highlight the Run-On results.

The way we decided to break this down was to judge it two ways. The first was to determine which teams worked best together to create the best overarching story. The second was to break down every writer individually based on a combination of readability, team incorporation, and quality of writing mixed with post count and post length. All these things factored together to create a progression that honestly comes down to my preferences as the Narrator of the overall story. The top three were my picks as members who outshone the rest in terms of the qualities I listed above. At a certain point it becomes subjective, but that’s the nature of grading any type of artwork.

In that light, Nighthawk proved to be the most cohesive team, true to their design. Most of the members had never worked together, however, and it was Teroch’s dizzying 8 posts that really kept the team on track. The team rallied around him and formed new relations. For that reason, he was awarded first overall for the Run-On. In second place we saw Verse show a unique patience and vision to her writing when thrown into an otherwise unfamiliar scenario. I felt that the quality of her writing, in this case, stood out to me the most due to its level of detail and vivid imagery. In 3rd place we had Adam Bolera who, in a feat few could see coming, hammered out over 5,000 words in his 6 posts. He put his Battleteam on his back and really stepped up in a way that impressed not just me, but many of his peerss. Congratulations to everyone who participated! You’ll notice that even at the bottom, the base points were capped at a minimum of 5. This was because I view the time and effort one puts into a Run-On to be special compared to a regular fiction, poetry, or graphics competition.

The story for O:S itself was something very personal to me and my character, so I just wanted to again thank everyone for rolling with my vision, coming along for the ride, and dealing with some of my quirks as a DM. It was a huge learning experience for me, and it was great to get to learn about each of your characters throughout the course of the event.

The events were structured as closely as possible to the ones we got familiar with during the Dark Crusade. I hope that the prompts were not only engaging and fun for you guys, but that both veterans and new members brushed up on old skills, discovered new ones, learned how to utilize the new websites features when submitting to competitions, and got some practice with how to get entries in before deadlines ;).

So, thank you guys so much for participating each week and grinding it out.

Arcona Invicta!

HQD: Downsizing for Growth - Shadow Gate Closes

Sometimes in business you need to reevaluate what is working and what is not working and make educated guesses on how to improve. Over the past 2 months since Project R3boot went live, Shadow Gate has seen some of its most promising and stalwart members move on to other teams or, sadly, go rogue. Each of these cases in no way downplays Shadow Gate’s importance, history, or impact on Arcona. It is simply the natural progression of things. And sometimes we reach a cross-roads where activity hits a point with which I am simply not comfortable. I feel it drains the respective members instead of enabling them.

Ernordeth covered most of what I wanted to say in his House Report, including the rationale behind closing the team.

I just wanted to add that doing things like R3boot, and this, do not come easily. However, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it. Thank you guys for your continued support to the House and Clan Summits, and for trusting that we know what we are doing.

I think Arete, Nighthawk, and Shadow Phyle have all hit on exactly how I envisioned them when they were greenlit. Like Ernor and Valt mentioned, all it takes is a small core of people to share a single vision, and a creative and cool idea to rally others to the cause. I’ve always believed in adapting to the talent you have as opposed to trying to mold that talent against their strongest suits.

So, pay attention through the rest of the report. Brainstorm ideas. I am always open to new ideas, and even if they are crazy, I will always at the very least field them and give you my opinion on them. I can’t promise I will agree, green-light them, or support them, but I will always listen to ideas. I was going to plug in a quote about ideas, but the only one that comes to mind is “Ideas are bulletproof”...and now I want to go watch V for Vendetta...

With the closing of Shadow Gate, we sadly had to see Deimos step down as Battleteam Leader. D did a great job inheriting the team that had it’s own existing history and purpose, and showed a strong initiative and drive in making it work. Its longevity is due in no small part to his talent and drive. I would have honestly considered closing it sooner if Deimos had not done such a good job as its XO.

And so I’d like to personally thank Deimos for his contributions to Arcona as an XO and Battleteam Leader. We wish him the best of luck in his new home in House Plagueis, and I know that Monty and Co. will take good care of him.

Thank you. :)

GAL: Dark Forge BTL: Open for Applications

As sad as we are to see him go, Kordath has decided to step down from his position as Battleteam Leader of Dark Forge, but will stay along with the team and remain active on TOR and on IRC. Kord stepped up in huge ways for us during the Dark Crusade, and we thank him for his fearlessness in going for and earning a position he was unsure of and making the most of it!

With this move, we now have an open Battleteam Leader position. Battleteam Leaders in Arcona function as beacons of activity, as well as work with their team members to keep communications flowing, and to act as both a point of contact and the face of the summit at the base level.

Duties include:

• Maintaining the Battleteam roster
• Running competitions within and outside the team
• Forward any communications from higher in the command chain to team members when applicable
• Report to the House Summit on a regular basis
• Make promotion and/or award recommendations for members where appropriate
• Set an example, both in conduct and activity (ie. following the set requirements towards conduct, participating in competitions, on message boards, etc)
• Promote competitions and other events within the Dark Brotherhood

An active presence on IRC throughout the week is also favored, as well as quick e-mail turnaround time. You join the ARcona Summit; the largest team in the brotherhood that works around the clock to deliver the best possible member experience.

Send Applications to:

• Cethgus: [Log in to view e-mail addresses]
• Atyiru: [Log in to view e-mail addresses]

And make sure to cc: Legorii ([Log in to view e-mail addresses]) and myself ([Log in to view e-mail addresses])

Fleet Points: Pew-Pew!

Oh, shinies, right.

After all our hard work over the past few years, and Wuntila’s wise approach to saving our points for this very scenario- we decided it was time to add some new additions to the Arcona Fleet. As most of you know, I’m not the go-to person when you think of spaceships in the Star Wars universe. I have purposely not read any of the X-Wing series, tend to get bored with space-combat, and have never even tried to play a pilot-type character. I went a majority of my time in Arcona not really fully grasping how cool our fleet really was, until I found myself slowly becoming in charge of ordering it around through the fictions. So, after talking with my advisers, I put a lot of time into researching these things on my own.

As a note, all decisions for the Arcona Fleet fall under the responsibility of the Consul, and I maintained a small team of advisers that helped me reach these decisions. At the end of the day, however, the decisions were mine and mine alone. I will share my process as much as possible with each of you and am going to be opening up these new additions to your collective creativity and vision. Legz will talk more about that in his section, I and hope you are as excited as I am to get them integrated with our existing strength! I hope that by sharing this with you guys you will take it upon yourselves to read up on the awesome wiki work Mark and the others have done with spiffing up the Arcona Fleet. Check out the articles, read up, and get ready for some new toys!

We had roughly 6,000 points to spend. I only mention this because we don’t get this took everything we had over the past few years. That’s the results of hard work in Horizons followed by the heroic efforts each of you put in for the Dark Crusade. Regardless of the final outcome, Arcona had the most accumulated Fleet Points to spend of any unit. I want you guys to remember that, and be proud that your hard work counted towards making Arcona stronger!

Fighters

As most of you know, the one area of our fleet we’ve been a bit light on has been fighters. So, when looking over Fleet Points this was our major area of focus, and where a large bulk of our points (2,750pts) went. Imperial Loyalists (read: Mark) are not going to be happy, but after carefully looking over all options, and weighing opinions from both sides of the argument, I have gone ahead and purchased the following to fill out our fleet:

• 5x squads of XJ-Wings
• 2x squads of B-Wings
• 3x squads of E-Wings

Sticking with the vision of selling our imperial crafts in favor of using the extra money to buy more of the same quality fighters. Here is the reasoning I followed:

Imperial fighter doctrine was initially that the fighters should be easy to mass produce and replace. They didn't value their pilots as highly, and as such in the long run it cost them more in training new pilots. As a result, the advent of the TIE Advanced and TIE Defender came later as a reaction to rebel fighter superiority. In effect, they were poor imitations and were 'too little, too late.' Rebel Fighters were better designed and more specialised from the get go, which is why they have their mainstay X-Wings, the B-Wings for anti-cap ship jobs, the E-Wings as heavy fighters, A-Wings as interceptors, K-Wings as heavy/ground bombers (we avoid A-Wings because they're dated now; the XJ-wing has all the speed of an A-Wing and better armour and armament, so it can be multi-role) etc. Also, if we wanted to try and blend in, rebel fighters are far more common and wouldn't necessarily attract the same attention that old Imperial fighters would.

So in essence what we are doing is basing our fighter disposition on Imperial style wings, but with Rebel Fighters, giving us the best of both worlds. We can buy more of them, get the same quality, but not spend as much money.

...I will fully let all jew jokes to fly free here. Get them in now while it’s hot.

Ships

Agave-class Picket Ship - Nighthawk

• Cloaking Device
• Additional Hangar
• 2 Nu-Class Attack Shuttles
• 16 SF Commando's
• 10 Heavy Infantry

Teroch came to me with a unique proposal. I was skeptical at first, but after seeing the Nighthawk team in action during Operation: Sojourn, I can see that they really do mean business. As such, we’ve purchased an Agave-class Picket ship to be fitted with it’s own Cloaking Drive for the sake of missions that require the subtly one would associate with the Shadow Clan. As a reward for winning O:S, they are also getting an additional Hangar, and an attachment of 16 Special Forces Commandos to go with a squad of heavy infantry.

If anyone is familiar with Mass-Effect, the Normandy SR-2 was a big inspiration for the Nighthawk. So, if you need help conceptualizing it, that’s the best way I can describe it. Needless to say, the ‘hawk will be for the use of Battleteam Nighthawk alone.

Acclamator I- class Assault Ship NAME-TBD

The 752-meter-long Acclamator I-class assault transport carried thousands of Republic clone troopers into battle. The Acclamator I favored a wedge or dagger shaped design, like the Republic warships during the Mandalorian Wars, due to its effectiveness—it allowed concentration of firepower while minimizing target profile.

Um, okay?

These ships were armed with 4 heavy torpedo launch tubes; 24 point-defense laser cannons, rated at 6 megatons per shot; and 12 quad turbolaser turrets, each rated at a maximum of 200 gigatons per shot. They were also armed with concussion missiles.

Ooo...

Over the past few year, we’ve seen a very heavy focus and theme of of planet-invasion-styled-warfare. Going back to GJWX, the story revolved around the occupation of New Tython. And as I’m sure you all remember, the entire Dark Crusade was about conquering and taking control of planets. With that in mind, I wanted us to have a way of having a mobile frakking warstation to land on planets and jack-things up as our instant-Forward Operating Base. The Acclamator gives us that, and more, providing an upgrade method of transporting the bulk of our troops planetside as opposed to the cadre of AIC’s we were relying on to move them.

I think this will give Arcona an intimidating ground-presence to compliment the more cloak-and-shadows approach the Shadow Clan typically takes. Legz will brief you on what we need from you guys for this, as well as a naming competition!

Troops!

IG-100 MagnaGuard

The IG-100’s are Grievous’ body guards and hunters. You can see how a few of these guys give a pair of Jedi Master a hard time.

The IG-100 MagnaGuard, was an advanced type of battle droid that was used during the Clone Wars as bodyguards of General Grievous, as per Count Dooku's order, as well as being specialized infantry on the battlefield. The cyborg general demanded a cadre of "more intelligent battle droids" to serve him. The construction of the MagnaGuards was then commissioned for Grievous's service, though the Jedi-killing droids were also occasionally employed to escort Count Dooku himself.

I’m really excited with how these guys could potentially be used for Arcona; and there are multiple ways we can do this. See below in Legorii’s section for more details on how to get involved.

K-22 Aero Interceptors

We now have 48 of these little guys and I plan to pick up more on the side as we get more points. The concept was to have them work as patrol crafts all around Estle City on Selen for security purposes. Think of them as flying police cars. We are going to need a name for this force, and some fiction behind them. Again see below in Legorii’s section for more details on getting involved there.

Upgrade to Dusk Station

We had already outgrown and stretched (giggity) Dusk Station to it’s limit, and so we made a big jump from a Cardan I to a Cardan V. Check it out, revel in the new and hottness, and get involved with the wiki revamps for the fleet!

Recognition

Promotions

Adam Bolera promoted to Jedi Hunter

Donblas promoted to Protector

Vosh Kon promoted to Novice

Xanazeris Lokar promoted to Acolyte

Draven Voidwalker promoted to Novice

Z8-K4 promoted to Acolyte

Medals for Operation: Sojourn will be handed out over the next week as the Summit works together to push them out. We also have some higher awards in the works for some of our more senior members who have been contributing at a higher level.

Proconsul Projects - Legorii Style

Alright guys, it’s your turn. You’ve seen the sweet new stuff we’ve purchased with your hard work, and now it’s time for you to leave your mark on the wiki articles that we’re going to need as a result. For all of the pages, we’re looking for images, and they’re going to have to be formatted properly. Check out the existing pages we have for our ships and NPCs, and use Wookieepedia.

I’m going to be overseeing the work on each of these articles, and if you want to sign up to help on one or more of them, simply shoot me an email at [Log in to view e-mail addresses], or catch me on IRC. I’ll be setting up docs in a few days for us all to collaborate on. I will also be sending out a survey later this week for you guys to fill out to give us feedback on how O:S went!

Fleet Articles

IG-100 MagnaGuard

We’ve got eight of these, and it’s up to you guys how we use them. Wally’s original concept was to have them enhance Citadel Patrol duty and act as Summit Guard. However, judging by how effective they were against Jedi, they could also be integrated into a unique type of Battleteam that focuses on pairing a member with one of the elite droids. The goal could be to deploy them as “rangers” with a focus on hunting down and taking out Force-Sensitive threats. Could we retrofit Wolf Guard Battleteam? This is how Wally and I want you guys to be thinking when I talk about the potential for new teams and ideas to keep Arcona fresh!

Once we’ve decided on their purpose, they will need an article, some images, a color scheme for their capes, and names and a leader NPC-type character. (Think Wormtail of the Unsullied in GoT, for anyone that watches/reads).

Acclamator I-Class Assault Ship

We don’t have a name for it yet -- we’re leaving that up to you guys. But we will need a wiki article for it, and it’s gotta be a good one. In addition to a page with the ship’s specifications and its place in Arcona’s fleet (plus a line or two of the ship’s history, which is, we just bought it), we’re going to need an NPC captain created as well.

K-22 Aero Interceptors

We’ve got four brand-new sets of twelve K-22 Interceptors, and we’re going to be using them as one force of patrol crafts for Estle City. Think kind of an NYPD-type thing, but starships and Estle City. This article is going to be a lot different from any other fighter articles that we have, so it should be fun to do. This is Estle City’s airborne police force -- they’re pretty sweet ships, too. See what you can do with them.

Dusk Station

The easiest of the group, this is just an upgrade to our existing Dusk Station article. We’ve upgraded Dusk Station to a Cardan V-Class Station, so the specifications, image, and so on are going to have to be modified to reflect that awesomeness.

Operation: Sojourn Wiki-Page

• A Summary Stub need for the main Arcona Article
• Additional Images, Links, and enhancements to make the article hold up over time.

Arcona Deviant Art Page - Volunteers

Atty and Socks will be setting up a Deviant Art page for Arcona. I have been told this is the most effective way for us to show off the amazing artwork that gets created here and could be used a viable recruiting technique to boot!

What Socktyiru (seewhatididthere?) are going to need is members who are willing to go through the graphics competitions with them, and have them upload each entry. Each addition would be detailed with:

• The person who created it
• What the prompt was
• Where they placed (1st, 10th, ect)
• A link to the competition page

Ask The Wally

Esca asks: Looking at the results of O:S, how do you feel Arcona is prepared for the upcoming conflicts?

Great question. It is hard to really say because we do not yet know what format will be used in the upcoming Great Jedi War. Without that information, I can only stand by the fact that my confidence in Arcona’s strength has never been higher in all my time as a member of it. We are pushing innovation with fresh ideas, spreading out towards the rest of the Brotherhood in attempt to help and leading by example in setting the bar for activity. Arcona’s strength does not lie in one single person. It rests in all of us, together, as a team. Regardless, whatever challenges awaits, Arcona will be ready.

Vaar asks: Does Arcona have any major plans with other units?

Excellent question, Kiwi. At the current time, there are no major plans with any of the other units. With the last few chapters of the Dark Crusade still left to play out, I’m waiting for some more hard timetables to know when the free time will be there to possibly reach out and coordinate with another unit to run some form of joint operation. Kal and I have discussed such things in passing, and I would not mind pairing up with another unit leader to run something. My focus has been solely on Arcona in the past few months, however, as we recover from the Dark Crusade and ready ourselves for the challenges ahead leading to the Great Jedi War.

Ood asks: If you were forced to live together (irl) with a member of the Clan, who would you pick and why?

Timmy, because this actually probably will happen eventually. I know he will take care of rent for me, and we could go randomly drinking around the city whenever we wanted ~Rule1~. He will be a big time banker and I can pursue my art. It’s going to be duh--wait for it--winning.

Second choice would be Vic, because we could be in different rooms proof-reading each others posts back and forth. Also we both look baller in suits.

Third choice though, I’m going to have to say Chris (Nadrin). Why? Because when I have a sad, I know he will come and give me a hug and everything will be better. Also we can play Madden together and our combined cuteness will make panties drop everywhere. Also, this is a trick-answer because I know this would also grant me Jon as well, since he’s attached to Chris pretty closely. Win-win IMO.

Legz, Sai...if If you moved up to NYC I’d consider it. Can’t do DC or Philly though...

Wow, I get around :P

Around the DB

Raken is on a traveling LoA, and Kalen will be in and out.

ACC Beta Tournament -- Go cheer on your Clanmates in the ACC Beta tournament! If you aren’t qualified yet, what are you waiting for?

BTL Positions Open in Plagueis and Tarentum -- Raiju throwing out a quick update on some open BTL spots, looks like applications are open for another week.

Master at Arms Report -- Kalen on changes to awards for Twitter content, get ‘em while they’re hot!

Praetor to the Headmaster Update -- in Solari’s absence, Arcona’s own Ood Bnar brings us the Scroll of the Master!

Quick Update from the Voice -- Sarin announced that participants in Voice competitions will now receive one CoI for every 500 words written.

Fist Report -- the latest from Valhavoc on changes to Pazaak scoring and potential future platforms.

Closing

Well, that was longer than I expected. Anyway, I just wanted to close out with one personal thing.

A lot has been said in the past about Arcona’s attitude, or our “swagger” as the kids call it these days. You will see some of us veteran members throw around the terms “Tigerblood” and “duh, winning”, and think that we’re just being sore winners, reveling in our past victories, or looking down on others.

For me, “Tigerblood” has always been more about a state of mind than anything else. It encompasses a confidence in knowing that you are good at what you do, and have pride in it. Pride is an important thing, but it can also cloud our judgments and lead us to sometimes act against our better natures. Finding balance, as with all things, is important and it’s something that every single member has to do for themselves.

I don’t expect everyone to agree with me. I can only hope that by setting the example in my way you can see the benefits of working with people not just from your own unit. At the end of the day, though, I can only share my insight with the examples I try and set. I leave your choices in your hands, however.

I’d also like to make a quick note on personal communication. I still maintain my AMA (ask me anything) policy and encourage you to never be afraid to ask me for my opinion on a matter. If I happen to be busy with other tasks, I might tell you to ask another time, but ultimately I do care and like hearing from you guys.

In that same breath, I’d like to remind everyone that we have one of the largest and most active Summits in the club. Our team consists of members from all around the world, and all of them are currently on staff to answer your questions and concerns and things that might not necessarily need to be brought to me. Always check with them first before bringing small stuff to me. If it is something to do with real life, or an emergency don’t hesitate to tell me or any of the Summit though. Your personal health and lives always come first, and no matter what happens we will always be here to support you as friends.

LOA

I also would like to announce that starting February 17th, 2014, I will be taking a one week full-LOA from the Brotherhood, until roughly February 21st, 2014. This means that I will be off IRC for the duration of this break, and will not be responding to any non-emergency e-mails, will halt my personal work on any Clan projects I have as well as my duties to the voice staff and the brotherhood. I don’t have anything planned really, but I do have some video games and TV shows I could catch up on. It is an honor and privilege to serve you guys, but sometimes it’s nice to just shut down for a bit.

Legorii will be running the show and has my cell number if someone blows something up. I trust you guys will be alright, though ;).

Alright, I’m going to cap it off here. I was trying to break Timmy’s report record for word count, but apparently I’m 400 short. Oh well.

Until next time, you know where to find me.