….something something, rhyme, rhyme, Dr. Seuss. Yeah, poetry is not my strongest suit. But I digress!

Good afternoon, Clan Naga Sadow. I hope that the season has been nice to all of you in the working sectors- particularly in retail- as we roll into the holiday/sithmas season. We have a bit to talk about today, and I want to apologize for the delay in the report. Sometimes, real life kicks us all when we are down. It can stink, but that is not why you are here! We have a bit to chat about in terms of the Rite of Supremacy, the impact of our fictional direction and the larger narrative, the path forward for Clan Naga Sadow, and a bit more. I know that things are probably still smarting a bit after the recent announcement of the results, but not all is dark.

The Path Behind Us

Well, the biggest thing and the freshest bit that we have is easily the Rite of Supremacy. This subject is still a little tender, but we will not be hovering over it for too long. The Vendetta was a bit rough for Clan Naga Sadow.

Now, I have been looking at the statistics and there are some things that we can easily take away from the Rite. If you reviewed the results you have seen that we trailed fairly shortly behind Taldryan and about larger margin of points behind Plagueis. Maybe this is not terribly comforting to you all, but it becomes more interesting when you stop and look at the results/participation. The picture that I see when looking at the Rite split up between Phases and the Event Long competitions paints a picture which at least better explains the results, and shows a bit of what we can do to address it.

During the first Phase, Naga Sadow was on the lower side of the Brotherhood. We trailed behind Clan Taldryan in placements, but were roughly on part with Plagueis and Taldryan in participation points before adjustment. Now, even after adjustment, we still beat Taldryan but the gap increased between us and Plagueis. We had a similar situation occur in the Second Phase competitions as well.

Now, the Third Phase was a bit kinder for Clan Naga Sadow. Our members, compared to the other Clans, topped over both Taldryan and Plagueis in placement. Before adjustment, we ended up topping Taldryan, but ended up roughly on par with TAL when participation was adjusted. The Event Long comps found us ranking along near Scholae Palatinae and Plagueis in placements. I mean, yes CSP beat us in that metric by about ten points, but still, it shows that we did not do quite so terribly as it might seem at a glance.

The biggest take away that I have seen from both participation and placements is pretty clear. With a bit more effort, with a bit more participation, we could have ranked a bit higher in the Vendetta. Now, the efforts of folks like Quaestor Darkhawk of Shar Dakhan I believe helped to really encourage his members to take part. I mean, daily he was in his House’s Telegram channel pushing the competitions. This is pretty much standard form for Darkhawk, as he regularly holds up his members achievements from competition placements to Society ascension. It certainly seems to have resulted in more happy members, if not just a marked increase in activity.

I believe that this is part of where our shortcoming was at. I can understand that some folks felt we had a limited investment in the Rite. I mean, yes, the Collective forced our Clan out of our home system a number of months ago, but our interactions with the Collective have been limited since that time. More than that, I feel that more of our Upper Summit, and this reflects more hard on myself, should have been on the ball like Darkhawk, offering encouragement, proofing, praise, and whatever support folks need to keep things rolling on. I believe that with a bit more participation, and a few more placements we could have found ourselves sitting up around at least where we were in the last Great Jedi War, in fourth place, or even higher.

The Path Forward

Now the path forward is much brighter for Clan Naga Sadow. We have a wealth of resources, with flavors in both old and nucanon that we can tap into to varying degrees. Now, given our club’s adherence to the Disney cannon, this does limit what we can do just a little bit where the House of Mouse has spoken. However, there are still gray areas, where Legends speak. While this means we will not likely be finding artifacts of Revan, for example, our hands are not as badly tied as it might sound like. After all, most Legends have some small grain of fact or truth to them. There is always a story behind a legend, and usually some grain of truth to a story in our galaxy far, far away.

So part of our fun? We are going to be exploring the mystical and legendary sides of our Clan’s own mythos. This might involve digging up some sweet pieces of history. We might end up finding a planet which might have once housed an ancient order of Force-wielding magicians. If there is anything my time playing Call of Cthulu has ever managed to teach me, there is always some cult or group hidden away just out of sight, engaging in dark deeds or rites. Plus, the galaxy is a big place. There will always be a bit of trouble to get into before we get back to sticking it to those worms that are occupying our system. With some new toys, we might even be able to force them back to space the hard way.

The possibilities are endless. I hope you all will stick around for the ride. It is gonna be wild.

There is quite a bit in the way of Seals to point out. Amongst our members, I do have to elevate Kojiro Keibatsu. He was mentioned in the results report as being the top participant of Clan Naga Sadow. Koji took part in every competition he was able. Myself and Tasha’Vel were also mentioned, as having taken part in every available bin, or being among those who “did all the things”. Still, the youngest Keibatsu stands out from among our number for his hard work.

Still, that does not mean I will not hold up our other members for their activities! Behold our members and their Vendetta activity!

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Malik Sadow: * 7 Seals of Fury

Teu Sadow: * 4 Seals of Fury

Etah Bloodfyre: * 21 Seals of Fury

Jurdan Krennel: * 7 Seals of Fury

Shimura Keibatsu: * 2 Seals of Fury

Armad: * 3 Seals of Fury

Alexander DelGotto: * 1 Seal of Fury

Syntari Bastiayn: * 3 Seals of Fury

Kodais Solatus: * 4 Seals of Fury

Xuner Holst: * 3 Seals of Fury

Calenhad Mobok'tel: * 5 Seals of Fury

Kojiro Keibatsu: * 29 Seals of Fury * 1 Gold Nova * 1 Bronze Nova

Muz Ashen Keibatsu: * 15 Seals of Fury * 1 Gold Nova * 2 Bronze Nova

Tagakari "Darkhawk" Keibatsu: * 12 Seals of Fury

Sanguinius Tsucyra Entar: * 7 Seals of Fury * 1 Gold Nova

Erik Cato: * 15 Seals of Fury

Locke Sonjie: * 10 Seals of Fury

Tasha'Vel Versea: * 16 Seals of Fury

Ashia Kagan Keibatsu: * 10 Seals of Fury * 1 Bronze Nova * 1 Gold Nova

Bentre Stahoes: * 21 Seals of Fury

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We have also seen some excellent gaming action from folks. Alsorna, Hilgrif, Calenhad, Locke, Sang, Dakor Terro’k, Kojiro and Muz. I hope you all will keep it up. It has been nice to see Clan Naga Sadow either at or near the top of the Gaming daily board of late. Hoorah.

Clan News

• The Quaestor of Shar Dakhan followed up the Rite of Supremacy with his monthly report

• Meanwhile, Quaestor Kojiro also released a short report to follow up the Vendetta

• Our Rollmaster took a moment to highlight some members in her latest report

• Battleteam Leader Locke talked about gaming and leadership in his latest report for the Night Hawks of House Marka Ragnos

News And Reports Across the Club

• If you haven’t noticed already, James has updated our website as well as making some other changes/improvements to our website to make it better for a modern Brotherhood. I highly suggest you read it if you have not done so already!

• The Praetor to the Fist has announced two open Magistrate positions and discusses a bit about gaming across the Brotherhood

• Dracpool has released his 25th report as the FIST of the Brotherhood. Included are a roadmap for gaming in the Brotherhood for 2019. This includes a number of future events, a test to decide whether we potentially support World of Warcraft and some other goodies. Like James’ report, I highly suggest you give it a read!

• A report has arrived from the Consul of Plagueis chatting about Clan shenangans and an opening.

• Arcona’s Summit wishes it’s members A Happy Frickin Sithmas and chats up their members

• Taldryan talks about ROS results and details member placements in their Clan

• Clan Odan-Urr released a report about the results of the ROS and their direction moving forward

• The Shroud Syndicate has opened up their special market again, offering some special goods for members to shop through following the Vendetta. Time if limited, so go and check it out!

Ongoing Competitions of Note

There are a number of different events going on. Check out the competitions running here. I normally like to highlight competitions, but this report is running a bit long in the tooth, so I will just leave this link right here.

You Asked Benny Your Questions, and He Answers! (#askbenny)

Kojiro asks: "Guess the obvious question is how do you feel about our outcome in the RoS and what do you as CON feel went wrong and hw can it be fixed?"

Oi. So the first question is a bit of a kick in the side. What went wrong? Well, for one I should have taken a more forthright stand from the front, cheering you lot on. Outside of that? We had some activity, but not as much as we could have. The time of year probably factored into that, yes. But at the very least, greater support from myself and my Summit (emphasis on myself, as I can control that most directly) would probably be the most immediate fix. There is more to it, but that involves steps and things that would take some time to detail. I will be glad to talk more in depth with anyone in private messages or email of course.

Locke asks: "what's next for CNS storyline?"

We are going to be delving into the mystical/legendary aspects of our lore/history. This means a bit of a return to some ideas that were discussed/implemented some degree in the past, but I have been in talks with Ashia and some others about how we can really dig into the Ancient-Sith-Empire-reborn shtick in a fun way. Stay tuned for more, kids!

Locke asks: "what DJB supported platform can one beat up their Consul in?"

Okay, so I guess I am baring my throat telling you this, but I like gaming, so hey what could be the harm? Where should I start? I am alright at Jedi Academy, but still I am no Blade. Play me in Overwatch, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm or really anything other than Jedi Academy and you probably have a hand up upon me. Still, practice is an important part of getting better, so getting beat could still do me some good. Should I take that as a challenge?

Actually, you know what, any Sadowans who want to test their Consul’s mettle? All you have to do is ask- as long as I can carve out the time away from work- and we will try to make it happen. #comeatmebro

...actually, ACC is a platform, just not a gaming one. So that counts too?

Atra asks: "what have you gleaned from looking at "successful" units and how does it relate to your own view on what makes a unit successful?"

Oh boy, this is something that I have been thinking about for a while. I think a big part of this is there is a lack of excitement we project to our members. There has been too much time between events. We have done less of the “make the members feel like their character lives and interacts in a living world” that I have so badly wanted, and while it doesn’t have to be as roleplay heavy as all that, I think that some units have been better engaging with their members.

My above statement could be digging into a given view a little too deeply. I have been discussing some things and seeing where we do not appeal to our members as well as we could for, what, not taking ourselves seriously enough in some ways? At other times it feels like we take ourselves too seriously. I mean, I guess it depends on how you define successful. If we are going by my definition, I think it does tie back into how one engages their members. It has shown me that we need to be a little more bold in what we do.

We need to have some time to be less serious, so we can give our members some time to just be folks in a Star Wars club having fun together. We are a bunch of folks brought together by a galaxy far, far away, but we are still folks playing mystical space wizards, pilots, smugglers, mercenaries and the like. We are all here to have fun.

I think to a degree there is that balance. But we really need to offer our members more than we have been. So in short, there is more that we can do and will do. Trivia and gaming nights are two things I want to bring back, for a start. It falls on me to make sure all the wheels are oiled and that our folks can have their fun.

Sang asks: "Why is Marcus such a pain in my arse?"

Marcus Kiriyu asks: "Why is Sang such an arse to be a pain for?"

Oh come on, we all know you guys like it. Just kiss and make up already. If you didn’t have that dynamic, we all know it wouldn’t be the same in the Clan.

TL;DR

• Rite of Supremacy chatter/review
• Talk about our path forward
• Seals and Nova earned (tell me if I missed anything)
• I tried to take some time to answer your burning and not-so-burning questions in my usual serious-though--not-always- so-serious

Parting Words

The Vendetta was a bump in the road. It might have been a little bitter for some, but it doesn’t have to define us. We have potential in our Clan that remains yet untapped. I hope that you will all will join me as we finish out the year. Keep your eyes open, in the next few weeks we will be exploring a bit of that potential together. The galaxy is a big place, and there are still mysteries that we can explore together.

If we walk together, I am very confident we can see a brighter Naga Sadow, and we will easily see our Clan achieve old heights and beyond. We are far from dead, and we have lots of room to grow, together.

I remain, as ever, your Servant in Darkness,

Consul of Naga Sadow