Introduction

Happy Memorial/Decoration Day, Galereians, hope everyone is surviving the weekend. In this update, we're gonna cover a few things, hit on some comps being run by Uji for the House, and a reminder about gaming conduct.

So without further ado, lets get into it!

Competitions

Uji Tameike, our recently returned friend from the Upper Summit, has sorted out a quartet of comps to get some life out of you lot and provide you with the opportunity for the greatest of greatest: Shinies. These are House level comps, so that means you're competing with yourselves, not the Clan, not the Club at large.

Some people don't consider local comps to be worth the effort; some don't think Club wide are, those are your choices, sure. We run local comps to be a lighter, more focused and entertaining and engaging bit of fun, with more chances for our people to earn some Crescents. So show us what you can do, Galeres.

• Through the cracks of society
  Crackdown on an illegal shipping ring, figuring out who's behind it and how to take it down. This is a fiction being run by both Uji and myself, so get them pens out and show us what for!

• Member Hunt 01
  Just as the name implies, a series of clues will be provided, and you get to tell Uji who you think the member in question is. Note: Not all members will be members of Arcona.

• Cluster Race 01
  The easiest of the easy, a local Cluster race for you gaming folks! Follow the rites of combat and have fun.

• Flash Game 01
  Its a flash game. Do it. Quick and easy participation (usually :P).

Comps Part Deux

We also have a few Clan comps running, two of which finish at the end of the month, they're quick and easy one-offs, so there's no reason any of you can't do them!

• Atty Wrote My Tinder Bio
  Write up a mock Tinder/Grindr bio for your character as if it was written up by the Shadow Lady in an effort to get your character some companionship. Expect a lot of funny entries to this one.

• Explain A Film Plot Badly
  Something that's been floating around on the Twitters for a while as a joke, pick a Star Wars movie and give a short, satirical summary for it.

• Aftermath
  A fiction comp being run by the new lead of Shadowgate, how is your character dealing with the aftermath of the events of Sins Episode 3?

• Ores for Arcona
  Another flash game, running until the 7th of June, so get your entries in!

Gaming Conduct, the RoCs, and representing Arcona

First of all, the Rites of Combat are always a good thing to refresh yourselves on. Things change, on occasion, and these things are documented in FIST updates and reports, but our current FIST staff is pretty good about wiki updates as well. So try to check this now and then, especially on the eve of a major event. Like a War.

As for gaming conduct itself, a lot of stuff is popping up on the news page lately, gaming exploits, misconduct, general crappiness and the like. Remember, if you ever even think something feels like an exploit, bring it to the FIST staff. Waiting till a number of your fellow members are involved, and you realize 'this might be abusing the system' isn't a great idea. We've seen how it ends before, and even if at best you catch a probation from activity, with the War on the horizon, do you really want to get knocked out now?

All that said, with the War (how many times can I say this, I wonder?) on the way, a lot of the goodwill and sportsmanship that our gaming community shows most of the time is gonna go out the window. People are going to start watching those not in their own Clans, looking for anything they can to change the equation in their favor. That isn't wrong per say; we should always be on the lookout for people breaking the Rites of Combat and causing problems.

The issue we do need to be aware of is the chain of command. Something goes wrong in gaming: you take it to the FIST staff. If you have an issue with another member, you bring it to your Summit first.

The 'first' step should never be going straight to the Justicar with your concerns, for example. One it's not the proper chain of mediation, two it marks you out as petty and kind of a dick.

The second thing to be concerned about, and I'll admit this is tapping into the Arconan Ego a bit, are people trying to draw you into non-gaming conflicts. We're the First Clan, we won the last Great Jedi War and have dominated a lot of events that have come along the past two years. That rubs some people the wrong way, people more concerned with winning at all cost than honest competition and good sportsmanship. I'm not here to name names, but believe me; some people may try to engage you in private messaging, they'll twist conversations and bait you into responses that, out of context, will be presented as harassment or intent to match dodge.

Please don't fall for this sort of stuff, if you even think someone is trying to pull one over on you, take it to your summit. Your BTL, your AED or QUA. And considering how near the War is, don't expect the current House summit to change again, your current leaders are going to be your Wartime support.

What I'm trying to say here: Keep Up On The Rites of Combat, Don't Feed the Trolls, and Keep An Eye Out For Cheating.

That said, don't let such things take priority away from enjoying yourselves and kicking ass. Because you're Galeres, and War is coming, which means we get to show off to everyone else. And I fully expect great things from you all, because I know you can!

In Closing

As any of you who read the mighty Q's latest report, he and I swapped positions for a time due to his military deployment. This is a temporary change, and he should be back in a couple of weeks, so while I did say above that our leadership won't change, I didn't say the structure wouldn't. Qyreia will be back in charge as Quaestor, but that doesn't mean I'm not around to help as well, I'll be staying on as Aedile as well.

So that said, review the Rites of Combat and be awesome to one another!

Till next time, Bleu out.