A few quick notes before I head out for a week and a half!

The Mav Report, Going Away Edition!

So as my header suggests, I'm headed away for a few days. Beginning tomorrow, I'll be on leave until August 4th. I will have very limited email access during that time period and will go completely dark in the middle of the trip as I head off into the wilderness. So long as I avoid being consumed by a wolf or bear (I am going dangerously close to Howie's homeland), I'll return to regular activity on the 5th. In the mean time, expect slow responses to email and low IRC/Telegram presence.

What's in a name?

During creation of ranks for each of our new Orders, it was pointed out that naming an order Enlisted implies a specific military career path. This was not our intention, so after a discussion with the Dark Council, we've decided on the name Loyalist. This name embodies the purpose of the Order as being those driven by loyalty initially (either to the Brotherhood or specific entities within it), allows military involvement without explicitly stating so, and contrasts very nicely with our "Mercenary" Order. The Loyalist order will be for those non-Force users that feel an obligation to serve the Brotherhood or the Clans, either as pilots, soldiers, support personnel... or really, any other profession. This is what we will likely go with for the Order name, but things could change.

Speaking of ranks...

The biggest project I've been working on so far this last week or so has been ranks. Following some discussion on the summit list, we've taken the feedback and begun working on a new set of ranks for our upcoming Orders. We are not yet ready to release any definitive names yet, but I wanted to run by the general theme of each Order's ranks. In condensing Orders, we had to face the fact that we would not be able to please everyone. Ranks are NOT meant to be strong definers of character archetypes at all. You can think of them more as honorary titles, whereas the rank level is a determinant of power (e.g Knight at JM8). Just because you are a Knight doesn't mean you have to wear shiny armor and joust people. :p

Anyway, with the Sith ranks, we went with what we already have more or less for simplicity's sake, and because they embody a war-like group that is constantly growing in power. For Jedi Ranks, we are going with a set of ranks that embody the idea of a defender or peacekeeper and are pulled largely from the existing ranks. For the Gray Jedi ranks, we are going with ranks that embody more of a mysticism. Loyalist ranks will feature some military connection in some form, while Mercenary ranks should engender thoughts of fame or notoriety.

Not long after I return we should have more to share on the rank front, so stay tuned!

Path choices...

As many of you know, units are currently crafting their first Path declaration documents. These documents will allow our units to declare their paths in preparation for our new system. Each Path has its own random join wheel, and units have three slots across all join wheels. Each Path declared must have at least one slot in a join wheel for that Path associated with the Clan. Units can have up to three in a single Path, but must define their choices based on impact on current membership, current unit story, and relevance to the paths to unit history. These proposals will be reviewed following my leave.

Thought it'd also be wise to clarify some of the Path stuff, as we've had some questions about what orders are in which Path, and what Paths mean. Selika was kind enough to write up the base description for each Path used below, which fit pretty well to what we are going for. Thanks, Selika!

Here, Gray and Dark Jedi are actually the same Order in terms of ranks, but we maintain the use of the word Dark Jedi because... well... yeah. ;) While it may seem confusing this way to display Gray Jedi in two different Paths, when members choose Orders, it will be once they've chosen a Path. Thus, they won't have to try to figure out "which gray jedi" they are, because they will be picking from the Orders for their Path, each explained in detail to them!

A possessons teaser

I've been testing a bit of the new possessions system, and damn does it look sweet. James is doing a great job here and we can't wait to get enough into the system to really start showing it off. Seems people really enjoyed James' last set of teasers, so here's another!

We are taking perhaps our most popular feature from the character sheet system and working it into the system. What do I mean? Here's a little teaser below, courtesy of James: (Mav's ENORMOUS caveat: THIS IS TENTATIVE! IT COULD CHANGE! We are still working out details of this "aspect" of the system)

We are not yet ready to discuss the finer details of how this will play out in the larger system as a whole, but I thought people might get a kick out of the idea. :)

Recognizing a Consul

Perhaps the best part of my job is being able to recognize the people that I work with for all they do. It has now been several months since I took over as Deputy Grand Master, and so many of our leaders are showing why they belong in their positions. One such example is A'lora, whose dedication to the Brotherhood and his Clan are obvious.

A'lora served in the Herald's office admirably for months, as V'yr describes, where he lead many projects and oversaw the creation of many new robes and sabers. Just as importantly, A'lora has revitalized Clan Odan Urr. His application for the position was excellent, and he wasted no time in setting his plan into motion. Since then, he has run dozens of competitions, including a major co-op event with Arcona. There is no doubting that he has brought strong leadership and direction to Odan Urr, and for that, we thank him with an Amethyst Kukri.

Other items of note, big and small

• Meleu has been promoted to EQ2 for his hard work in both Tarentum, in my office, and during his time working in the Shadow Academy! Meleu has shown himself to be a devoted member, not just to his Clan, but to the Brotherhood as a whole. Thank you, Meleu!
  
• Evant and I have begun updating the text on what will be our new "Test of Identity" for our new orders, a very basic character creation. Much of the coding is done, but we have a bit of testing to do, and making sure we are properly reflecting cannon species etc.
  
• We've updated the Nepotism policy a bit: Previous, we'd required public disclosure of relationships when exceptions were made to this policy. Right now, it has been modified such that the relationships are recorded but not required to be publicly announced to the club. The recordings are made in a secure location on the site, but it also prevents us from waving people's personal lives out in the open too much for a simple appointment of a Battleteam leader.
  

That's it for this now!

TL;DR

• Mav is going away until early August.
  
• Loyalist is the current name for what was Enlisted.
  
• Work continues on the new ranks.
  
• Units are choosing Paths.
  
• A new aspect of possessions revealed.
  
• AK for A'lora! Congrats!
  
• Meleu hits EQ2! Congrats!
  

Telaris "Mav" Cantor

Deputy Grand Master