Odanites, Allies, and those of the darker persuasion,

Another month, gone. I have several updates for you all as well as some valuable re-shares of some Odan-Urr gems we may have forgotten about or needed more explanation on. Most notably, I’ll [And Celevon adding random commentary here and there] be talking about our opportunities to directly impact clan lore, fictional update, our favorite Clan Holocron, project updates, Dark Council updates, and PCON projects. Allons-y!

Clan Updates & Fictional Opportunities

Rumble Down Under

I’m very excited to mention a set of competitions designed to allow you to directly impact Odan-Urr lore. One of my promises as CON was to enable each and every one of you to affect Clan fiction from the bottom up. Simply put, this means that you’ll get opportunities to influence the macro plot (For those that don’t speak computer, this means ‘greater’.) via competitions (Clan, House, Battleteam). If you don’t take them, I’ll gladly write some fiction but I’d much prefer that you all have some input in the process. That said, let’s unveil some competitions that will help you do that.

I, Quohari - Fiction

Internal strife on our home planet, Kiast, boiled over for a brief period of civil war called ‘Tipping point’ and now we are dealing with the remnants of that dispute. Rumors say that the Quorahi (aka: non-Sephi), a collection of diverse races with less wealth and political power, may be planning local revolts against the Vatali Empire. As the vassal of Empress Kaltani, we have been tasked to investigate the potential leads. What will your character find below the gilded halls of the Sephi nobles? What are the Quorahi up to? Will your character tell Empress Kaltani everything they saw or lie? There are no wrong sides. Feel free to follow your character’s heart.

My name, Democracy - NPC Creation

The Vatali Empire’s grip on the Kiast system has seemed near-invincible for quite some time but over the last year some unsettling cracks have appeared. In every empire, there are always those willing to speak out, if given an opportune moment. More specifically, it's high time the Vatali Empire had to deal with a citizen with some democratic ideals. This character will play a role in future Clan fiction so help us create it! What might this character look like? What’s their personality? How do they manage to survive? How do they fight their opponents? What’s something special about this character that others might not know? You decide!

Village Life - Map making

During Odan-Urr’s reconnaissance mission to the Quorahi, some of our agents have created maps to share back with Odan-Urr intelligence. In this simple graphics competition, you get the chance to draw a map of a Quorahi village or the overall Quorahi land holdings. For the latter, where are the villages in relation to each other? How far below the mountains and into the poisonous air do they live? Where are their assets? Be creative and imagine it as something similar to the map of a large country. If you don’t feel very comfortable with your graphics abilities, no worries. This can be a simple 2D overhead map. :)

Quorahi quiz - Simple Quiz

Don’t know much about the Quorahi yet? Take this simple quiz and learn a bit more about them. This might just give you some ideas for your ‘I, Quorahi fiction’ as well.

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I know I said it above but I’ll say it again. These competitions give you a chance to directly impact the Clan lore. I highly encourage you all to give them a try and take advantage of this great opportunity to make an impact on Odan-Urr.

Fictional Update

This month I’d like to revisit where we currently stand with regards to our home, Kiast. This includes some big players like the Vatali Empire, the ruling Sephi, the Quorahi (non-Sephi), the Vauzem Dominion, and some of our current Clan assets within the system.

Players on Kiast

• Vatali Empire: This is the ruling entity of the Kiast system that calls the planet of Kiast its home. This empire has ruled the system for almost a thousand years, relying on a powerful royal navy to enforce peace throughout their lands. Structurally, it is ruled as a monarchy with nobles underneath the current Emperor/Empress. Located within the Palioxis Cloud nebula, the Vatali Empire prefers to keep to itself hidden, the nebula effectively hiding them from potential new enemies. Of note, the Vatali Empire prides itself on its airships above the surface of their home planet, Kiast.

• Ruling Sephi: Sephi, a species with a long life span, has been in charge of the Vatali Empire since its inception. The monarchy was not only established by Sephi but the nobles underneath the royal bloodline are also Sephi as well. Their political power and material wealth are far greater than the Quorahi due to their long lives and the advantages given to them by a system made for Sephi.

• Quorahi: Otherwise known as ‘sky nomads’, Quorahi are a mixture of species that live in the Kiast system that are non-Sephi. The Quorahi usually scavenge the surface of Kiast for any and all usable pieces of machinery, and trade or repurpose them to work in their cities and airships.They live in city states under direct rule from the Vatali Empire, where they are considered citizens and serve as the working class to the Sephi. Imperial treaties and laws protect them, creating a delicate balance between them and the ruling Sephi. This is guaranteed by the ruling monarch lest civil unrest between the two distinct populations break out once more.

• Vauzem Dominion: Once part of the ruling Sephi, this is a splinter faction of the Vatali Empire who believe that the current Empress is not the rightful ruler. Led by Beldroth Anasaye, this group actively works to undermine the ruling monarch and restore the nobles’ unlimited authority to act within their domains, including their treatment of the Quorahi. So far, they’ve been instrumental in causing internal strife on the planets Solyiat, Daleem, and Kiast. In the process they have strengthened their political power amongst the ruling Sephi, all in the hope of seizing control of the throne for themselves.

• Clan Assets in the Kiast system:

  • Select areas of the planet Solyiat
    
  • Select areas of the planet Daleem
    
  • Velastari Temple: Old Jedi Academy on Kiast
    
  • Jedi Praxeum: Current Jedi Academy for training of Odan-Urr Jedi
    
  • Pharos Station: primary fleet base for the Odanite Expeditionary Force
    
  • Select areas of the Palioxis Station: trading hub for those outside the Palioxis Cloud nebula.
    
  • Kaerls: ice moon of Kiast inhabited by the Okami Mandalorians, who are affiliated with Odan-Urr and have sworn fealty to the Empress.

Those are the big players right now. How does Odan-Urr fit into all this?

• Odan-Urr currently serves the Empress of the Vatali Empire, who is our patron and the sole reason we are allowed to live in the system.
  
• Under this arrangement, we have spread throughout the Kiast system, establishing minor footholds to live on.
  
• Odan-Urr has a tenuous relationship with the ruling nobles and the Empress’ court, picking its battles wisely.
  
• The Quorahi and Odan-Urr do not have much historical interaction between them, the former busy toiling away for the ruling Sephi and the latter establishing a foothold in the system.
  
• Odan-Urr and the Vauzem Dominion are enemies with no contact, the latter actively trying to sabotage our efforts to keep the peace within the Vatali Empire. In addition, the Vauzem Dominion is actively trying to get Odan-Urr kicked out of the system.
  

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New PCON Corner

Hello, ladies and gents! This is Celevon hijacking Blade’s report for a few little updates to whet your appetites!

I know that it concerns people whenever I get quiet for extended periods, so here’s an idea of what I’ve been up to. First, I... may have also hijacked the Novice Guide to COU’s Lore project, because it’s complete! You can check it out here!

Secondly, I have had a project on the backburner since I joined COU as Aedile of House Hoth almost two years ago. Some of you may remember the Arcona or Antei Contract Bureau; however, if you don’t, that’s quite fine, as this will be an expanded edition of what it previously entailed.

In this, I will be launching an initiative to assist members of Odan-Urr with their fictional tasks. This will be everything from Character Sheet Creation, creating custom aspects to the actual writing itself and constructive, detailed feedback on your works. This will utilize a variety of functions, from Telegram and Discord to our main site and collaborative google documents. As a part of this, I will need volunteers who wish to either write with the member in question (such as a practice ACC match for those who are too shy or simply wish to gain a bit of experience before using such an open venue) or to make certain that this continues if I am absent for any reason.

That’s all I have to say for now, so I’ll give the pen back to the angry Zeltron that’s been glaring at me since I stole it in the first place. :P

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New Toys for Odan-Urr

Hijacking my report back (I gave the pen back, woman!) from a semi-single half-Echani who may or may not have several blind dates set up for him by now…

Do you have a fictional idea that you’d like to write with others but haven’t done so yet? If so, we have created a competition to help you out. You pitch us your idea and we’ll use it to help you find some more friends to write with. It’s a great opportunity to take advantage of and I highly recommend that you check it out. Anyone who gives us a submission will hear direct feedback from us.

Reminder of Bottom-up approach to Fiction

Just a quick recall back to my last report but I wanted to footstomp that you, the member, are really in the driver seat when it comes to clan fiction now. Rumble Down Under is the beginning but future competitions at all levels will continue to allow you some agency to have direct inputs into the fictional story. Just to reiterate with a pretty picture, here is some artwork:

How this works is I give you a ‘Start Point’ and then a ‘Target point’ to hit. I don’t dictate to you how we get there as long as the target is hit. Sometimes you move from target to target and sometimes you move from target to something called a ‘Decision Point’. At this stage you will have to meet a target but as a bonus you get to decide the outcome of that target. So, an easy example: if I asked you to tell me how you got to the fork in the road. You told me how you got there and then I said “left or right?” You get to decide. Lastly, those decision points can affect which future targets you get and which ‘End Point’ you can achieve.

I hope the above made sense. If it doesn’t yet, I give you this example. Imagine I told you the road you started your journey on and told you where to meet me. Along the way, I sprinkled targets to hit and decisions you have to make. Eventually, by working together, we reach our end destination. So, I hope you all have fun with this and provide us with your fictions. If you don’t, then we’ll have to fill in the gaps with fiction from above but I sincerely ask everyone to help write a story with us together. Your fiction choices matter, if you want them to.

Clan Holocron

I don’t know if you all remember but a while back we created an Odan-Urr folder on gdrive to share documents with each other. This includes project information, clan resources, official fictions at all levels, and a space for each and every member of Odan-Urr. This is a great place to share your creations. These can include art and fiction, amongst other things. I highly encourage everyone in Odan-Urr to take advantage of this resource or at the very least use it to share things with your fellow Odanites. You should see a shared link to the Clan Holocron in your inboxes soon.

Project Updates

Event Calendar

As you’ve all seen via email and telegram, part of my platform is a focus on group events. So far, we’ve been trying things out and seeing what works. Cards against Humanity seems pretty solid and we’ve heard of some interest in gaming and fiction. But, this needs more structure so moving forward we will be making an event calendar, where you can ideally rsvp to an individual event well in advance. This would be edited as needed to suit what you all want to do. That said here are the project goals:

• Establish the first event calendar, taking into consideration feedback from the clan survey
  
• Get more event volunteers
  
• Get more member feedback - Done
• Link the calendar to an RSVP system
  

Leadership Courses

We have a lot of experienced leaders and it's imperative that we pass on our knowledge to the next generation of leaders that will move Odan-Urr into the future. That said, we will be putting together a clan leadership guide that captures lessons learned and key values Odan-Urr prizes in its leaders. Our hope is that future and current leaders of Odan-Urr will take it to heart and follow its advice. Project goals for this first draft include:

• Review old leadership guide - Done
  
• Cover the basic leadership philosophy that applies to any clan leadership position
• Cover the key values Odan-Urr prizes in its leaders
  

If you would like to volunteer your help for either of them above anything mentioned in the PCON Corner, please pm either myself or Celevon. You get cool shinies for helping.

House Updates

Previous reports!

• House Shan Joint Report #1: Fun report from the Double T’s on Daleem.
  
• Hoth QUA Report #1: Fresh news from the grumpy old men on Solyiat.
  
• Hoth AED Report #1: News from the grumpy old men on Solyiat.

New Hoth Battleteam: Drakes of Widreth

I am happy to announce that Hoth has created a new battleteam to give some more love to mandalorians on Solyiat. They are going to be doing some really cool fiction stuff and explore mandalorians more on the mountains of widreth. Interested? If so, this team is now accepting new members. Please reach out to Edgar Drachen, Ka Tarvitz, and Dral Falgorth.

Hoth Fleet Update Coming Soon

Just a heads up to you all that the Hoth Summit is relooking at their assets and potentially making changes to its possessions. If you love playing around with assets and ships and stuff, please reach out to Edgar Drachen, Ka Tarvitz. This is your chance to make a mark on House Hoth.

Wiki spotlights

Over the last month, we have a few notable wiki page updates.

• Ka Tarvitz has been hard at work shining up Hoth’s side of the wiki spectrum, creating the Scimitar of Hoth page and providing nearly 5000 words on the main House Hoth wiki page.
  
• Celevon forgot that he updated the COU Communication Policy wiki page by refurbishing the rules of conduct.
  

Dark Council Updates

• Our Grand Master recognized the awesomeness of a few people and gave them shiny things (Blade got a purple slashy!)... he also released an announcement that they’re accepting new Clan Proposals.
  
• Combat Master Birdman released his second report and fled the crazy for a last-minute business trip.
  
• Wally released his twentieth report and helps hype the Birdman’s stuff.
  
• The FIST office was very busy this past month. The Praetor lady released her eighth report. There was this and this supplemental before Dracpool released his thirtieth report.
  
• Upcoming FIST competitions for the GMRG released soon. These directly impact your GMRG rankings so try them out!
  
• Selika released the sixth report with shiny new things to wear, shoot and a Herald Tournament!
  

AskAura&Cel

Splat Asks: “Why won’t you let Celevon stare into the abyss and descend into madness?”

Aura:

Keiji Asks: “Are lost souls like mine allowed to wander back?”

Aura: Absolutely!

Cel: I’d recommend avoiding Charon. He gets grumpy when people don’t pay him to cross the border.

Kris Asks: “Is it sushi or sushis?”

Aura: Sushi, the best creation of humankind! Doggos and cats love it too.

Cel: Yes.

Tisto asks: Whose Idea was it to let that Tisto guy back in charge?!

Cel: points at the sleepy dog

Aura: Hai. Here are some matches to play with. Go make beautiful fires.

~Signed with Pheromones [And Silver sharpie!]