Hi all! Welcome to the Scholae Palatinae Consul Report for April 2018. Admittedly this has been quite a quiet month but got some nice little bits of news to share with everyone.

Awards time! Paladins and Seals.

Redefinition of the Paladins

The Dark Paladin award is the CSP 'Member of the Quarter' award. Previously awarded by the clan summit to the most active non-positioned member, this award was kind of lonely, and never really linked in to anything else in the clan. In order to make this and the Palpatine title (the highest honour we can offer to a clan member) more relevant in the day to day running of the clan, the Dark Paladin award has been shifted in focus. The title will now be awarded by the Palpatines, to a non-Palpatine member, for activity not related to a leadership role. This puts everyone on a more level playing field, as house summits etc. are now eligible, but won't always win just because of their elevated role.

The Dark Paladin page of the wiki has now been moved to a section of the Legacy of Palpatine page and can be found here: https://wiki.darkjedibrotherhood.com/view/Legacy_of_Palpatine#Dark_Paladin

New Dark Paladin - Mako Henymory

On behalf of our named members, I'd like to congratulate and announce Mako Henymory as the Dark Paladin named for the first quarter of 2018! In this period (Jan - March) Mako participated in 40 different competitions, and was a standout member for the clan in terms of raw activity.

Jorm has written an excellent fiction to accompany this announcement, which can be found at the bottom of the report.

Seals of Loyalty

Seals of Loyalty don't come around often, and when they do, each clan gets to award 2 to its members. This time around, we decided to honour two long term members of Scholae Palatinae, two pillars of the community, neither of which had ever received a seal of loyalty before. So I'd like to congratulate Wagglehorn and Derek Cinn on their award, and thank both for their contributions to CSP

In Search of Friends

Inter-clan Relationships

In all the time I've been in the clan I can't really remember anything resembling an inter-clan alliance or partnership between Scholae and another clan, OOC or IC. In recent years we've had a few events with Naga Sadow, which usually starts with us on the same side and ends with us stabbing them in the back, and then all goes quiet again. The competitions have always been us vs them. Raiju and I have been in discussion with the leadership of Taldryan to discuss something a bit different this time around. Rather than standalone 4-5 week feuds, we're going to build this up over time, and rather than always being us vs them we're looking for something more genuinely co-operative.

Taldryan are in a similar position to us fictionally. They've lost their homeworld and don't really have a new one yet. They've been called to the system they're currently in to help the local government deal with a terrorist threat but are still mostly based on their flagship, not having any real territory on the system itself yet.

New Fiction Competition

To kick this off, Rian and I are co-hosting a fiction competition to establish a kind of first contact with the other clan. Prompt can be found here: https://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/competitions/13765

Feel free to take this prompt in whatever direction you choose. The most important thing is that you stay true to your character in everything you write.

News & Announcements

CSP Fleet Restructuring

This is more a change in philosophy than a change in structure. When we 'buy' a ship, what are we actually buying? We're not actually going into battle with it, we don't live or die by it. When we buy a ship, what we are really buying is a plot device for us to use in stories. For the clan story, we really have stories at BT, house, and clan level. Previously, Excidium had its own sub-flotilla because they're kind of incompatible due to their methods, and everyone else had some nebulous not very well defined access to everything else... which largely led to none of it ever being used.

This will be changing. I'm devoting a much larger pool of credits to every sub-unit in the clan. We're looking at about 25 million for houses and 10 million for battleteams, depending on what people decide on. This will give every BT a home ship to base off, and both houses a functional fighting force. This is an investment into the story at these levels and I hope it will give members more tools to use in the fiction. Rather than just picking a ship at random and not really knowing if it's right or not, you can just default to the BT / house ship.

New Justicar

One of the biggest bits of DB news in recent times, we have a new Justicar! The Justicar is a vitally important role in the club as the one who upholds the laws and regulations of the Dark Brotherhood.

For Science

Not really news but in case anyone doesn't know, I run a DB science chat for talk about science of all kinds. Join link at [Log in to view join link]

Ask The Eli

Korras asks: Pancakes or waffles? and as a follow up, sirup or sugar on them? :P also, chocolate chip cookies or snickerdoodles?
Elincia: Waffles, and with melted Nutella on them. And a lump of ice cream on the side. Also, what the hell is a snickerdoodles? Cookies for me! That said I'll take a classic Digestive over either :D Better for dunking in tea.

Calindra asks: If you could ask Einstein one thing...
Elincia: The thing is with science is that it constantly evolves. All of Einstein's most amazing work is now well understood by the average physics undergraduate student. So I'd probably just ask what he thinks of all the most ridiculous stuff attributed to him on the internet :Paladin

Raiju asks: It’s Monday morning and you are headed to the pub? How do I get your life? ;P
Elincia: It's a public holiday, and when it's sunny, lots of people go outside for an afternoon drink in the UK. In short, do a Rosh and come here :P

Mateus asks: As a brand new member of Scholae, other than just reading wiki, what do you recommend to get started with the Clan, both for new and veteran members?
Elincia: Obviously the wiki is the primary source of clan information. But reading blindly is dull and much of it is out of date. For a really quick update on clan fiction, the map at https://wiki.darkjedibrotherhood.com/view/Clan_Scholae_Palatinae#Dominion shows the borders we currently occupy, and the map basically sums up all of the last event. It's a nice one stop check up of our current situation. The actual fictions can be found in https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1qOKYrK9c6NXdzgM7KgPJcbvgu1X_X6lp for more detail. Of course, if you have any specific questions, anyone in the clan will always be more than happy to help out.

Elincia Rei,

Consul of Scholae Palatinae

Dark Paladin Fiction by Jorm Na'trej

Faint vibrations and the whisper of engines were the only signs of movement Mako Henymory experienced. No windows or screens offered any comfort in the shuttle’s passenger compartment, and his sole companion had buried his attention in a datapad.

Mako regarded Reiden through half-closed eyelids.
He looks drawn. Just the exhaustion of a month-long campaign, or is there more to it?
He filed the impression away for later reference and visualized their short flight path.

Reiden had requested of the Krath to meet him at the Emperor Adoniram Tower’s landing pad, ushering him into a waiting Lambda upon arrival.
“Just a short hop to the Sidious. Empress’ orders,” was all the explanation he had offered before the datapad consumed his attention.
The mumbled curses drifting to Mako’s ears made the older man think of administrative work. He almost smiled at the thought of not having to deal with that kind anymore.

Sidious, he thought and remembered the reports of both Clan and public sources. Following the annexation of Nethal, the Star Destroyer had descended from orbit. Now she hovered in position between the tips of the two prongs that enclosed the Caelestis Bay, a gleaming wedge kilometers above the waves, and protected the city to the north and the islands to the southwest with her massive guns and fighters.

The latter made their presence known with a fly-by. Mako could not see them, but the penetrating howl of the TIE engines provoked his ears nonetheless. Squawks and muffled voices from the cockpit betrayed an exchange of codes, then the shuttle’s noises changed. A shudder and the opening front hatch signalled their arrival.

Reiden stabbed at his pad with finality and urged Mako to follow him outside and into the hangar, where the Battlemaster acknowledged and dismissed the troopers on watch. The rest of their way was walked in silence, until it ended in an unremarkable if large office somewhere in the Destroyer’s superstructure.

At a desk topped with various holograms, Empress Elincia Rei and Kell Dante stood in conference. Reiden led Mako to join them.
“I appreciate your swift arrival,” the Togruta greeted the newcomers, who gave her nods bordering on bows with different degrees of fervor. Mako strained his senses to their limits trying to collect clues from the office.
What does she want? Is this more than a talk?
The weight of his lightsaber rested against his hip offered silent support, an unspoken option in case Sith would be Sith.

The Empress briefly glanced at Kell, who straightened up and place his hands flat on the table.
“Mako,” the man began, “you have been with us only for a few months now, but to say you did well would be an exercise in understatement.”
A wry smile caressed the Elder’s lips. “Of course, we expected performance from a man of your reputation, but you stood out nonetheless.”

Mako kept track of the conversation with annotations in his mind. Introduction...

“It’s a waste, really, that you turned down House Imperium. A capable man like you could have taken the world with them,” Kell went on. Elincia meanwhile showed little interest in the conversation, sighting holographic documents, and Reiden stood relaxed with his arms crossed. None of them gave Mako a sense of threat.

Setup...

“There is another option though. Another way to put your skills to maximum effect,” Kell finally came to the point.
“Become one of the Empress’ hands. A Dark Paladin.”

...and there’s the offer, Mako thought. Out loud, though, he dared questioning.
“Why should I?

Reiden suddenly looked like he had eaten something sour.
“That offer isn’t just for anyone. It’s for the one or two best of the whole Clan and Empire. It’s an honor, and it’s offered to you,” he managed to say with strained calm.

“Reiden has a point, but it’s hardly the whole truth,” Kell commented.
“I will not lie, becoming a Paladin will bind you closer to the Empress and the Palpatines. It will make you a more valuable tool. But that bond is a two-way street.”
He looked Mako straight in the eye.
“You will be expected to fulfill more dangerous missions and follow your orders without hesitation. On the other hand, you will get greater access to the Clan’s resources and secrets, in some cases even surpassing a Quaestor’s clearance. You will be too valuable to simply discard.”

Elincia looked up from her files.
“Apart from doing what I order you, when I order you to do it, I do not care all that much about what you do with your new privileges. Build a power base, hunt for ancient treasures, dig into forbidden libraries or go on vacation, just don’t start a war you can’t win.”

When she said nothing more, Kell took up the word again. “So, what say you?”
“I say I’ll consider it,” Mako replied.