Val has a very well manicured thumb nail. Distracting.

Those cards are pretty cool. Shirt is a great idea as well. Still twitching at this 'non Force user' spoiler :P

Thanks for the updates!

The shirt and cards are awesome! I'm going to be at Star Wars Weekends down at Disney come May and will be promoted the DJB myself. If anyone plans on being down there let me know!

Wish I could have made it to celebration this year.

I was mentioned in the report!!! <3 and dam that's a nice business card.

We gonna add cool DJBstore.com now? :D

Also ^5 to Yacks, Wally and Aabs. Superior report writers ftw.

No DJB store, ever. This is a give away item funded out of our nerd accounts.

I like the streamlining of the Force using orders to Sith/Jedi, especially because even in the comics the Krath were just a flavor of Sith. The one question I have is how will this impact the CS system. I know that right now, the Sith/Krath/Obelisk division impacts how many points you have to spend with skills and Force powers, so will that still be something in the system?

Commenting for the update! Love that chart. Moar spoilers, kthnx. o/

Since they are free and some of us live not-in-Murica (:P), can we get them DJB logos and shirt patterns so we can make our own shirts at home?

This looks to be a massive change, but if pulled off will work much better than what we have now.

Great work, Sarin!

Hi Selika,

We will have more information for you soon; Orders will have impacts on the CS, but the current breakdown of +3/0/-3 will depart.

Just as a note, when your handing the cards out (Especially to people in Jedi costumes) make a comment about Light Side orders too. That seems to be a heavy pull for alot of people at conventions, and may bolster our ranks. Even if it is Jedi ranks. :D

First Tiamat, now all those who declare neutrality... the Mark's poison spreads further.

Seriously, love the new ideas. Like Selika said, Obelisk and Krath always had Sith cultist roots anyway.

The T-Shirt also looks neat, really like the logo with the red backing to it.

I had no idea that Sith/Krath/Obelisk had a different amount of points to pend... how big is the difference?

@Darkblade I think Krath got one extra Force Point, and Obelisk one extra Skill Point, while Sith were just equal?

I forget the exact numbers, but think that's what it was?

I'm going to be whatever path gets the TriForce as its symbol.

Darkblade: Krath have +3 to Force Powers (but lesser Skill powers), Sith have an equal number of both points, and Obelisk have +3 to spend on Skills (but just so, lesser to Force Powers).

Great report. Legitimately so excited for this! Will any alignment of character be able to join any alignment of Clan, and keep their character's alignment?

(Also: dat merchandise.)

Darkblade, Sith get equal numbers of force and skill points, krath get +3 force and -3 skill and obelisk get +3 skill and -3 force points.

Is that a new/updated DB logo? Are we going to start using it instead of the current one? So many questions? :P

Related to Shirt questions:

Link to the Logo on the Shirt here. It's the center of the Seal of Revelation, I thought it would look cool on a shirt so asked Socks to do some tweaking to it. The shirt company I placed the order from also cleaned it up a bit more and made it so the "black" portions of it do not print and use the shirt as the "black". The linked image is what they started with though and exactly what I uploaded for printing on the cards.

As far as shirt design. Its pretty simple really, I put the logo on the front pocket area and on the back sizing them to look about right. Added Dark Brotherhood and the other things around it on the back. I used CustomInk to place my order, for 10 shirts it cost about $25 each. If you tried ordering just 1 or 2 it would probably end up upwards of $33 per shirt. Unfortunately not exactly cheap, but our nerd-citement to wear DB Shirts at Star Wars Celebration outvoted our wallets.

After I saw the logo looked on the black shirt I fell in love with it and decided I'd put it on the business cards I was buying too. I never planned for it to be anything more than a logo on the shirts and cards we were buying, but if people really like it I guess you could ask Pravus/Mav/Socks to adopt it?

Managed to pull a picture of the touched up version off the Proof page. Here it is

It's too bad that I no longer have access to silk screening facilities. Love the designs, Val.

Will the cards be available on the website? Cause I would love to pass some out at SW Weekends. If not i'll whip up my own lol.

I only ordered 100 cards. I used VistaPrint for them though. Same logo as the one I linked earlier, and snagged a copy of the Roar Lightsaber Hilt from Muz to apply to the top left.

Although Seraphol made a good point about Light & Dark. I kind of wished I'd had a Rebel Logo or HOU-ish Logo on the top left and put something about Light and Dark Character Paths available on the card someplace.

Total cost for 100 cards was maybe $15? I got the Glossy print, looks good irl.

Really impressed with what's happening for Star Wars Celebration. Should see a few new members as a result.

I also really like the new Order stuff. Especially with Episode VII coming and hopefully a raft of new members, it will be good to give new recruits an option to be non-Force users, and to give Force users a bit more freedom with their character choices.

There is a TRIFORCE in this report. Awesome.

The Triforce IS pretty awesome. :P

great report. enjoy celebration

will be in the area but will not be able to come to the celebration. I will be like three blocks from the doors :( we are going to Disneyland with our daughter for her first trip there. How ever if you could some how get me a shirt I would wear it in Disneyland!!!!!! I would even hand out business cards to people that ask about it.

Nice report, and appreciate all the news. The business cards look pretty slick.

I do have a question. Where you say:

". The basic premise of the new system is to offer each Clan the ability to align with two paths, be it light, neutral, or Dark. These new alignments will also directly reflect the recruitment pool of new members into units. Individual members will select Orders that will define how a member interacts with the Force or if they interact with the Force at all (spoiler)."

Does this mean Clan's will be able to choose two paths, but new members will have three options so there will always be one new member choice where they would not go the Clan that did not account for that choice? Like, if a Clan is dark and light, and someone chooses neutral, will they not have a chance to get them because they don't have 'neutral' as one of their alignments?

The swag is great, and so are the pending alignment options. Should make for some really good storytelling; I'm excited!

Still jealous about Celebration. Here's hoping the next one is on the east coast!

Hi guys, I'll try to cover a couple questions. First, a caveat: The proposal is awaiting a final Dark Councilor look over before we send it to the summits and announce it more widely. The meat of it is above, but some specifics are still being outlined. As such, anything I tell you below can change.

Aty asked: Great report. Legitimately so excited for this! Will any alignment of character be able to join any alignment of Clan, and keep their character's alignment?

No. Members may only join Clans that accept their Path, just as today. Clans can declare more than one Path, but this process requires a proposal that accounts for current membership, unit story, and past unit history. Summits will have a chance to digest the plan and prepare unit proposals for Path well before the system goes live, such that on day one, membership can be accommodated in Clans where grey Force users are already present. ;)

Locke asked: Does this mean Clan's will be able to choose two paths, but new members will have three options so there will always be one new member choice where they would not go the Clan that did not account for that choice? Like, if a Clan is dark and light, and someone chooses neutral, will they not have a chance to get them because they don't have 'neutral' as one of their alignments?

This is correct. Slots in the join rotation of new members will be based on choices by units. This will be better explained in the proposal, but units will get new members based on the Paths they declare. This is to prevent Initiate Lightsider the Goodguy from being stuck in Clan Darkity Dark Sable Black.

"Is that a gram?"

"New card. Whaddya think?"

Bateman slides his card across the table; it's off-white, with the words PATRICK BATEMAN: VICE PRESIDENT centred and embossed in black.

The assembled party gasp in admiration.

"Very nice."

Bateman leans back in his chair.

"Picked 'em up from the printers yesterday."

"Good colouring."

"That's bone. And the lettering is something called Silian Grail."

Another broker interrupts.

"It's very cool, Bateman, but..."

He whips out his card, laying it next to Bateman's on the table. Off-white with the words ROBERT VAN PATTEN: VICE PRESIDENT centred and embossed in black, it is basically indistinguishable.

"Egg shell, with Roman."

Bateman smiles bitterly.

"Nice."

@Mav Just following up Locke's point, then, so Clans won't be able to open their doors to all three Paths, meaning they'll still have to retain some sense of a specific identity, be it Pure Dark, Neutral Light, whatever they pick, rather than just being a full free-for-all?

Yeah, that was sort of my question. If a Clan can't find a way to open their doors to all possible new joins, then I think there may still be issues down the line. Although, even so, it will be a lot better than now where one Clan gets everyone who chooses "light."

My initial impression was that a Clan could choose 'neutral' as one of their alignments or the alignment of one of their Houses, and both dark and light side choosers could potentially get sorted into that. Also, having new members put in the Clan and allowing the Clan leadership to choose which House to put them in allows the Clan's leaders to ensure that a light Jedi doesn't get stuck in a dark House, or vice versa.

I know in CNS, at least, we have already been considering how this would all work, since our Clan is the namesake of a Sith Lord, but we have members who are light and members who are grey, as well as dark side members. We want to be able to accommodate each of them in some way. It also creates an interesting fictional dynamic, because at the moment, the way it stands, the leader of one of our Houses is a light side Jedi, our Consul is somewhat neutral, and we have a few dark siders on our Summit as well, so I can see us having House vs House feuds in the future based on this becoming a conflict, and it gives my character as Consul something more interesting to deal with.

(Cause you know, rogue Sons get old after awhile. I'M LOOKING AT YOU, GOAT. :P)

Old? Pfft! I was just the Neutral Triangle Antagonist before there was a Neutral Triangle :P

My initial proposal includes the possibility a unit could open to three paths. I am unconvinced any unit could pull that off right now. There is absolutely no way that Naga Sadow could right now, for instance. Light just seems too removed from the lore of CNS. I am very strongly against placing a random Light join in a unit that has chosen Neutral. For instance, let's say Clan A has the identity of raping and pillaging all star systems it encounters, enslaving its populace, and doing unspeakable acts of evil at every turn - thus they'd have declared a dark path. Because they pay well, they may attract neutral individuals, etc - and thus they have also declared a neutral path (Note: I am not 100% convinced I would allow a neutral individual in a unit that basically just raped and pillaged as their central story :P). Neutral individuals themselves may be reluctant to commit murder for no reason, but they've got no real intention of stopping others doing it. Therefore, neutral can make sense, but it would depend on the proposal of the unit.

Now imagine a new member joins, picking Light Jedi as an option. What the heck are they going to do if they get sorted into that unit? It's a big problem, and one we can't overlook. We want new members to be able to identify with a unit based on their own early character choices, and that would be a problem in such a unit.

This brings about a question regarding what Yacks has brought up to me regarding if we should allow Neutral Jedi and Sith... because a Neutral Jedi may also have issues in that unit. So that's one discussion the summits will have.

For any who are interested, the argument I made was: If you're a Sith, you're Dark side. You're not neutral. You're Dark. Same with Jedi being light. In order to be either of those things, you must first be attuned to the light side or dark side. Jedi and Sith are basically the religious zealots of Light and Dark sides of the Force. This isn't to say you can't have a Dark side user who isn't a Sith (Ventress), or a neutral force user who is attuned to either light or dark, but to me... Sith and Jedi both are inherently tied to their side of the Force, and precludes the very notion of having a neutral person being either.

I look forward to the summits discussion on these matters.

Yeah, I'd agree with all those points really. When I first saw the chart, I assumed the "Neutral Dark Side Force-user" was basically what Yacks said, and not a Sith specifically, but more like, say, if someone wanted to roleplay, say, a Nightsister, which isn't a pureblown Sith, but still very, very dark, whereas True Neutral might be more like, I dunno, maybe the Jen'saari, they seemed to be going for something like that.

As for not letting Clans pick all three? I remember when I first read about the idea, Malik told me he just expected every unit to end up maxiimising their recruitment potential, and that made sense, but after reading your points Mav, about how if you get Luke Skywalker join Clan Palpatine, it's not going to end well.., I'm leaning more toward just the two paths now, as fullbown Light+Dark sounds a bit tricky to mix together (I mean, yeah, it can work and, in TOR, you had Light Sith trying to transform the Empire from within, but.. unless the recruit wants to be part of something that complicated, Jedi Skywalker isn't going to like waking up in a padded cell in the Imperial capital on his first day).

While Sith and Jedi may be inherently tied more towards the dark and light than vice versa, we see in multiple media that there are those that still personally believe they hold the Jedi Code or the Sith Code but have become far more neutral - we can see evidence of how such people would act in TOR and the like quite easily. These individuals would traditionally be viewed as neutral. If we want other example of neutral Sith, well... based on reading the last couple Vendettas worth of fiction, are the vast majority of current dark path members of all orders would fall under what I'd label as neutral Sith: They are pursuing power, primarily selfishly, but without true evil. Because these individuals are already neutral Sith, I wished to accommodate them with my proposal.

Another part of the proposal deals with how units will be getting new members. While it does depend on their paths, there is more to it than that, but because this is something I think the units will want to discuss, I'm not going to get into a ton of details. Essentially, units have limited slots to spend on where they want recruits to come from. :)

I've got to say, the idea that a clan could accommodate all three paths is a big stretch for me. There's just no logical way that would exist without an comically convoluted backstory that would really screw up most new recruits who are trying to figure out their characters as they come in. Even the idea of splitting the houses by path seems off, as your clan would rip itself apart pretty quickly - why would the Jedi light siders stay under the same banner as the Sith dark siders? They each have vastly different moral codes and internal laws that mean that the light siders would find actions taken by the dark siders to be abhorrent and they would have no reason to tie their names to the clan that allowed such acts to proceed. The light siders would pretty quickly find it easier just to break away and go find another clan or group whose ideals match theirs.

I think the idea of having neutrals makes a ton of sense in that regard, though. I expect most of us can think of a few types of characters who are happy to go where the money is best or whose goals mostly align with clan A vs clan B.

The terminology for what we'll call these neutral Jedi is something I'm curious about. When I'm writing fiction, I call my character a Sith because that's the order I'm in (and red is the best order colour BTW) though he is most decidedly not a evil character as Yacks would define a Sith. When I try to write something like "he spoke to the other PERSON", I struggle to find the appropriate way to describe a Force-user character who is not in the Sith order, but isn't a "Jedi", which I consider to be the do-gooders of the Force spectrum. Usually I settle for "Force-user", but it's a bit unwieldy.

There's other terms for those who might choose neither Jedi nor Sith. Some could be backstory dependant, such as Fallanassi, jensaarai, Imperial Knights, etcetera. I don't see it as an issue, personally.

For what it's worth, I just discovered on Wookieepedia there's the term"Forceful" you could also use (not that I like that word at all :P).

@Kenath Thinking about it last night, I suppose a Clan made up of polar opposites could maybe go the Je'daii route (from the Dawn of the Jedi comics), where the early Jedi Order hadn't yet embraced the Light Side exclusively, and you had more of a mix of all sorts, though... yeah, obviously would depend what the new recruit was hoping to roleplay, as I know the whole Je'daii stuff has always been something people either love or hate.

...and some of us will just stay Krath