Greetings all,

A relatively short report today, as I've spent the weekend working and am heading to bed soon. This report is without an Ask the Grand Master section - but have no fear, my intention is to alternate reports where I take questions.

Several important announcements coming today, including the introduction of our new Herald. I'm also announcing my Magistrate, and providing a few general thoughts and messages from the Dark Council. I'm also going to start connecting people interested in renaming some of our ranks, so if that's of interest, definitely read on. Finally, I've got a quick task I need a member to cover for me, which I will describe below.

Table of Contents

-A New Herald
-M:GM Announced
-Fictional update Soon (TM)
-Promotion checklists
-Improving the Brotherhood: An Emphasis on Quaestors
-Rank Renames?
-Quick Task: Major Timing of Star Wars Releases

The New Herald

We had a set of excellent applications, and the decision on the next Herald was as difficult a choice as I can remember for the position. It is a testament to the hard work that the Deputy Grand Master has put in that our Herald's office has such strong candidates to replace him. Ultimately, I have decided to appoint Dark Adept Selika Roh, the current Consul of Clan Plagueis and Wiki Tribune. The choice came down to his ability to lead a diverse group of members after serving admirably as a Consul, and his desire to continue to build an inclusive graphics community. Please, take time to congratulate Selika Roh, our new Herald, and I want to offer a personal thank you to all of our excellent applicants that made this such a tough choice.

We will provide an update on Clan Plagueis' Consul position, as well as Wiki Tribune, in the coming days.

Magistrate to the Grand Master

I have decided to name Laren Uscot as my Magistrate. He has already begun work on cataloging some of out most out of date policy pages, and we'll note any major changes to the membership. As any member that has browsed our Codex knows, there's a lot of information lacking and outdated - and this is one of the first places we will start!

Laren rounds out my staff right now, but I may open another Magistrate position in the future. In the mean time, if you're looking for opportunities, Clan Taldryan needs a Proconsul, Clan Naga Sadow has a few openings, and House Imperium in CSP is looking for a Quaestor. And of course, there's Social Media Tribune!

Fictional Update Coming Soon

I know you're all waiting for the Epilogue Fiction Update. It is on the way, and it'll be here very soon. There have been some delays due to the change over in GMs, but the Voice is hard at work and you will all have something to sink your teeth into soon. I agree that the wait time was unacceptable, and the Dark Council is committed to a faster turnaround time on all fictional releases from here on out. In the mean time, if any Clans are curious if their plans will somehow conflict with the fiction, please do not hesitate to reach out to the Voice.

And yes... my character sheet is getting some much needed love, too. ;)

Emphasizing Quaestors

Periodically in my reports, I will share my thoughts on a problem we are only just beginning to find solutions for. Today, I'll briefly discuss the Quaestor position. Quaestor is one of the most important positions in the Brotherhood, due to the intimate role it has in shaping membership experiences and shepherding members into the wider club community. I have always felt this position is among our most valuable, but I've noticed that it is becoming increasingly hard for our Summits to fill Quaestor positions. As others have noted, this doesn't seem to be due to a lack of members wanting to be involved, since there is no shortage of applications to Dark Council staff positions, but rather, a lack of members wanting to be in leadership positions at the House level. I have heard the argument that newer members are less interested in the hard work that Clan leadership often entails, but I'm skeptical this really explains the current circumstances. I've never been one to believe one generation of members was somehow better or worse than another. I believe today's new joins have every bit of potential that members two, four, ten, and twenty years ago had.

Instead, I wonder if it is an issue with the perceived rewards for being a Quaestor. There was a time when Quaestor was a gatekeeper position of sorts, in which a member had to serve in order to advance in the Brotherhood. While I think something quite this rigid isn't needed, I intend to take a closer look moving forward on how we can better reward and acknowledge the contributions of our Quaestors. I have heard from a few leaders, past and present, that felt the contributions of Quaestors were harder to describe/track and thus award. I also know some of our older members are reluctant to return to Quaestor positions, as they see them as a level too low to help in their advancement. While there is some truth that the contributions of a Quaestor are at a different level than a Proconsul or Consul, they are none the less integral to our Brotherhood, and I hope to find ways that we can better reflect that in our upcoming Experience System.

Changing the Brotherhood to a place where Quaestor positions are competitive across the club again will take time, but it is a challenge I think is important for the Brotherhood's long-term growth. In an effort to increase the visibility of Quaestors, a Clan's Quaestors have been added to the front of each Clan's roster page. Moving forward, we will be exploring ways to gather data on membership impressions of the position's workload, value, and rewards, as part of a larger emphasis on evaluating positions within our House and Clan structures to improve membership experience.

Potential to Rename Order Ranks

As has come up repeatedly, there's some interest in renaming one or more ranks from various Orders. I'd like to put together a few people interested in this area from a diverse background - even those that like all of the rank names. I know that the Gray and the Mercenary rank names are a favorite target of folks' ire! If you'd like to be involved in renaming ranks, shoot me an email. This is relatively informal at this point, and I have some specific goals and themes in mind (No Grey Wardens, Atty!), but I know there's some interest here and I'm happy to hear some new ideas.

Quick Task #1: Major Timing of Star Wars Releases

For my last report, Atra had a cool question on if I had any quick tasks for someone to pick up and do. Well... this time around, I do. Today marks my first 'Quick Task', and it's something I'll likely have intermittently in different reports as the need arises. The way this works is simple: The first person to email me or message me on Telegram (I will be going by Received timestamps) that they would like the below task will have a week to complete it. I'll acknowledge they were the first to get in contact with me, and I'll then post a comment on this report indicating that this Quick Task has been claimed. Completion of a Quick Task will be added to a member's Dossier Activity Notes, which will be usable in promotions and medals, and some tasks may warrant a medal on their own. Don't start if you don't hear from me or see a post - I don't want members wasting their time.

In order to better understand trends in Join Data, we would like a list with the dates of all Star Wars movie and game releases, TV show premiere dates (e.g. just the first episode of the series), major Star Wars conventions, and all major (e.g. GJW level) Dark Brotherhood events since 1/1/2010. If you have other events you want to toss in there, you may. Interested? If so, reach out to me... and soon, because I know a few people that will claim this pretty quick. As detailed above, I'll respond and let you know if you're the first to claim the task.

A note for members on other continents: I will make sure to post these kind of tasks at varying times so that members in different regions and under different schedules have a shot if they'd like.

Until next time... May the Force be with you!

Telaris "Mav" Cantor

Grand Master of the Brotherhood