Guardians and friends of Urr,

I'm sure that by now, most of you have heard about the upcoming GJW, set to begin at the end of the month - week one is expected to kick off on May 28th. For those of you unfamiliar with one, this is a Vendetta that will involve every Clan of the Brotherhood. We will be competing for the title of #1 Clan and participation is just as important, if not more important, than actually placing. You can support your Clan, earn credits, and brownie points that will go towards future medals and promotions, all by simply submitting to one of the many competitions that will be available. I can't stress enough how important and crucial participation is. I encourage you all to do your best and participate in whatever you can, whether you think you'll place or not.

House News

Progress!!

It's great to see. You guys have really stepped up and have been working hard across the board. As a Quaestor, this makes me very happy.

Our lore is expanding at a steady pace and while you may not have seen much of it yet (teaser below) Essik and I have been organizing ideas and typing things up. Expect for us to kick many of these ideas off soon after the GJW cool-down.

However, I was pleased with the turnout we had for the Run On. I enjoyed the story and am looking forward to Chapter 1. I hope you guys are excited for more mystery.

The Aedile's Update

Greetings all, here's a very quick update on events.

The GJW is the big one, so this is really going to just quickly cover our own story, and what that’s going to lead into.

The previous run-on - AKA A Long Way To Fall - outlined our characters delving into the mystery surrounding the death of a Vatali noble. We had requests for noir, so we went as NOIR as we could go with full descriptions. All those involved dived in head first with this, and we very much liked a lot of the concepts thrown about, both in terms of just who had bumped him off, but also a lot of the victim's own social histories. This is going to carry over into a much bigger event to come, but what each of you outlined there is going to be the starting point to that bigger event, along with all that was put down. So, to Ryan Hawkins, Creon, Blade, and Neza-Rem, thank you all for joining in, and expect for a lot of elements to show up in the fictions to come.

As for what will follow? Saying too much now would ruin it. However, we're going to stick with the same sort of style - A detective mystery event, but with some definite payoffs as we go along. The scale of the event is going to definitely increase along with the villains playing a much more active role, and the occult elements that the run-on featured are very much going to show up a good few more times as events progress. Though don't make too many predictions just yet, as we are going to throw a few curve-balls your way on this one.

As a final note in this matter, if you have any ideas on this, or even on events you want to run? Feel free to message either me or Gondor on this matter. We'll be taking competition entries as a major basis for this, but if you have an idea, we're always happy to hear you out.

Next up, you might know that the Great Jedi War is coming. We’re doing our best to prepare for this by pushing a few ideas, and working with a number that Raiju Kang brought forward as well. So, atop of a wealth of competitions to help prepare for the GJW - which you can find here - he deserves thanks for helping us with those preparations as well.

You’ll be getting an e-mail shortly after this is sent out to further outline our plans, and offer some helpful advice, so keep an eye out for that as well.

Until then, I’ll just leave you with Bruce Campbell:

With that said,

I hope you guys are getting used to the name of our new base!

Raiju Kang recently won the HGC Temple Naming competition with Creon and Zeon taking 2nd and 3rd place.

Torden Temple was the winning entry as I liked the thought that was put into it. I also liked some of the other names that were provided so you'll more than likely see them spring up for different things found within our universe.

I have also been developing our base quite a bit lately and will have a wiki article up for it soon. Content will include things like -

Torden Base

Torden Base can be found in the heart of the Judana plains, just a few clicks from the Wayfarer's Landing - (our spaceport). It is built into the mouth of a cave that reaches deep but opens up into a cavern that is filled with Kyber Crystals, contains a Force Nexus, and is the shield that suppresses a dark presence that grows in intensity the deeper you travel.

Outside, stairs lead away from a stone courtyard and to a grassy plain just above the main entrance. Defensive turrets are strategically positioned in a way that helps them blend into the terrain. A low wall frames a clearing, where individuals or groups gather for sparring sessions. Close by is a transportation hub that acts as a lifeline to and from Wayfarer's Landing and you will also see conduits that harness the energy from Daleem's electrical storms.

Inside you can find things like:

The Inner Sanctum

A ritualistic platform with stone seating surrounding it in a circle. Located inside one of the many caverns that run below the surface. Directly below the base. This is also where the knighting ceremonies take place.

Council Chambers

Four hallways link to the center of the facility, leading to a circular room open to the sky, with three large pots, each one slightly bigger than the other. These pots hold the seeds to a variety of plants that were also planted in reclamation zones across the planet. These plants are symbolic - the life in those pots is what the Guardians are fighting for, may it always be a reminder to the Council, to remain rooted and grounded in their mission.

and more, like the -

Guardian Beacon - this will be our version of a mission board. It will come in the form of selectable prompts that will allow you to participate in the way that you'd like. These container competitions are planned to tie into the Order of the Varactyl that Kah started months ago. I will be revisiting that idea and tweaking it. But it's something we will be utilizing more after the war.

In summation, I have big plans for us, but for now?

GJW prep.

Let this be our main focus. We'll be having a follow-up e-mail to focus purely upon GJW preparations, and it will be coming in the next day or so. Remember, your Summit and community is here to help. But most of all, remember to enjoy yourselves!

These members did!

Flow Of Credits

• Raiju Kang: has been awarded a Crescent with Diamond Star x2, Crescent with Ruby Star x4, Crescent with Amethyst Star x3, Crescent with Sapphire Star x3, Crescent with Emerald Star, Clusters of Earth x12, Clusters of Fire x4, Clusters of Graphite x33, Clusters of Ice x3!!

(Current bearer of the Scimitar of Lord Hoth!)

• Creon de Neverse: has been awarded a Crescent with, Crescent with Ruby Star, Emerald Star x2, Crescent with Sapphire Star x2, Crescent with Amethyst Star, Clusters of Earth x87, Clusters of Ice x3, Clusters of Fire x6!!

• Neza-Rem Zarabi: has been awarded Clusters of Earth x10, Clusters of Ice!!

• Zeon Blacktooth: has been awarded a Crescent with Topaz Star!!

• Waden Skylanders: was promoted from Proselyte to Neophyte and has been awarded a Clusters of Ice!!

• Ryan Hawkins: has been awarded Clusters of Ice!!

• Essik Lyccane: has been awarded Crescent with Sapphire Star, Clusters of Graphite x27, Clusters of Ice x4, Dark Side Scroll!!

(Current Wikipedian of the month!)

• Marl Gondor: has been awarded Clusters of Ice x4, Clusters of Fire x50, Clusters of Graphite x3, Scroll of Indoctrination!!

Q+A

Raiju Kang: "Hey folks, new to the unit so apologies if you’re repeating yourself. I’d be interested to know the following:

1. What plans do you have for HGC to complete by the end of Q2? And, end of the year?

2. What makes HGC different than HCC as an experience?

3. I see you have house specific comps, will this be a regular occurrence? If so, what kind of timeline; ie. monthly?

4. What incentive is there to be in HGC than anywhere else in the DJB? Better phrasing, what makes here a different experience?

5. What plans do you have to grow our numbers?

6. Finally, what plans are there to rally for the coming GJW?"

Marl Gondor: I appreciate this question and I'll answer it to the best of my ability without letting 'the cat out of the bag' I would like to start by addressing a couple of your questions at once in saying that - the experience you get from HGC will be what you make it. Essik and myself pride ourselves on providing constant avenues for members to actively participate in this House, Clan, and Club. Together we provide monthly competitions as well as shorter (quick and painless) comps in between. In fact, to touch upon this further, I would like to have a mission board where each mission will be unique and engaging enabling us to do what we do as Guardians. Out current goals are progressing as we speak. Since we are a fresh House. Most of what we're doing has been world-building and establishing our identity. We'll be wrapping up our RO (which has been acting as a prologue) to a broad new storyline that will involve a new enemy/enemies and will hopefully grow into a Guild War situation (more on that to come)

We are excited and engaged as leaders and like to constantly reach out to our membership. There is opportunity for growth in HGC and I am eager to work with veteran and new members alike. As for recruitment, that is a topic I can discuss for hours. However recruitment and retention has been an ongoing project of mine since I served as RM.

Essik - Please, you're more than welcome here Rhys, and thanks for the multitude of questions.

1. The big one is to run one full story arc to establish what we do in Odan-Urr and to establish what the House's strengths are among our members. We have a solid idea of both already, but the former especially is something we wish to carry out to give a clear guideline in what we do, and also to give our members a chance to steer that direction. For example, the Run-On we're drawing to a close this weekend is something we'll be using as a starting point for a bigger story arc. While we have a general guideline in what to do, a lot of member ideas and contributions will be used to better flesh out how that story will progress and what form it takes.

2. To give a short answer - Tone, direction, and scale of events. Odan-Urr has worked in the past to have one militant and one espionage focused house, and we're not trying to do that exactly, but we are trying to have clear differences in direction and focus. While the Conclave is focusing upon a galaxy sweeping hunt for lost relics of past Force sects, we're dealing with a local murder mystery with some indication of Sith lore being involved in either the means or reason behind it.

3. While the impending GJW is going to disrupt things a bit, we're hoping for bi-weekly at the moment. A lot of people are busy at this moment in time, and most of these have been made to be snap-shot events that people can cover in just a few minutes. This leaves plenty of opportunities for people to make credits, but also room to run any bigger or more impressive things around them. There's always a fine line between giving opportunities for storytelling and offering a wealth of content, and giving too much and forcing members to choose between competitions.

4. Story opportunities, direction, and focus, to be simple. A lot of this comes down to things we're working toward and we will be implementing soon, so I can't say much. However, we are trying to make sure that there is something at work or in progress to allow members to be involved with in some way. This can be directly impacting how certain stories play out, building our enemies, or adding new ideas to the House's own locations. We're also taking a very long look at the past few years both in Odan-Urr and the wider Brotherhood to try and at least experiment with a few different things, and break from a few narratives that have been repeated too many times of late.

5. Well, the starting point is maintaining a set level of activity and momentum behind events. We're not going to force people into participating at gunpoint, but we do want people to feel as if they always have something to do, whether that be to enhance their own characters through events, discuss how to flesh out their wikia pages, or just jump on a flash game competition. Gui's the main planner behind the rest but that's what we're focusing on right now.

6. Well... we'll be starting with a number of internal messages and communications and then going from there. We already have plans to establish a support network, beginning with organizational guides, and offering help for a number of the usual things people stumble on when it comes to big multi-competition events like this."

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Revak: "Will there be shuttles?"

Essik: "That depends, how many are you willing to buy?"

Revak: "All of them!"

Essik: "If you can figure out a way for them to transform and combine into a dreadnought, then yes, there will be shuttles."

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Everyone has done an amazing job. I would love to see this energy carry over into the Vendetta and I’m sure that I will. Keep up the great work and never forget to have fun, my friends!

May the Force forever whisper to us, in any arena