Introduction

I hope everyone had/is having a wonderful holiday. The last six months have been incredibly stressful for me IRL as I studied for/kicked ass on the GRE, entered grad school, and took on more responsibilities at work. That’s made this break delightful for me - I’ve lounged around in my pajamas and played vidya games. There’s some really awesome news out of the SA this month, though, so rather than have me prattle on for much longer let’s get right into it.

Audit Status

It’s done.

You heard me right, it’s done. We have one course left in the hopper that’s receiving some minor touch-ups (and there’s a few that are special projects, like the Writing Department) but we have completed a full audit of the Shadow Academy’s 80+ courses. I want to thank the entire Shadow Academy team for their dedication and hardwork in achieving this goal - I’ll be honest, I was beginning to wonder if the scope of the project was too big to complete, but we got it done. I do need to single out one person in particular for thanks, and that would be The World’s Best Praetor, Marcus. In gratitude for what he’s accomplished overseeing the audit, I wrote some nice words about him (and gave him a nice shiny). You should take a look and then rush back to the comments of this news post to praise him, it’s really the least he deserves.

Degree Changes (Change from last month)

Last month I announced that three of the Dark Side Degrees would be changed with the addition of Ranged Weaponry and removal of the IRC and CoJ courses. After discussion with the DC and others, I’ve asked James to modify our modifications. The Dark Maven - Combat now requires Ranged Weaponry (as originally intended) but the Dark Savant - Leadership and Communication as well as the Dark Sage - Law have not had their requirements altered. Yes, that means for now that those degrees are unobtainable. Yes, I’m aware that sucks. Yes, you’re welcome to discuss this with me. No, you won’t change my mind. These degrees will be revisited once the new CoJ courses are in place.

Projects

Current

Shadow Academy Staff are currently engaged in the following projects:

• SW History Department Rewrite - Lexic: Because of the evil Darth Mickey, my beloved Galactic History courses aren't fully canon anymore. The courses are being pared down (almost in half) and will be added to the Legends Department. Lexic’s draft is being imaged and examed, and should be released in January. Estimated completion: Beginning of January, 2017

• DJB History I & II Update/Rewrite - Alishu: Alishu has completed first drafts of both courses and they've been sent to the DC for approval. The DC has a lot on its plate right now, but I think we'll see some movement on this soon to get these courses released for all to enjoy. Estimated completion: TBD

• The Dreaded... AUDIT! (non-SW courses) - PROFs/DOCs, Farrin & Ood: The non-Star Wars courses will be audited for accuracy, typos, etc. Exams are going to be reconfigured and updated. DONE!

• The Dreaded... AUDIT! (SW courses) - PROFs/DOCs, Marcus, Rins'zler, Ophelia: The Star Wars-based courses will be audited for accuracy, typos, etc. Exams are going to be reconfigured and updated. After the last course is finished (I’ve been told tomorrow)... DONE!

Upcoming

• Operation Remodel - SA Staff: In an effort to streamline the organization of the Shadow Academy and make it easier to initially get to information and then to find similar information, the SA will see a fairly extensive reorganization. Now that the audit is out of the way, Marcus and I are going to sit down and begin planning this out. I hope to have an initial draft proposal ready for DC review within the next couple of weeks, and we’ll start implementing that with James after. Expected Start: 1/2017; Expected Completion: 2/2017

• Operation Prereq - Farrin: In order to make a more focused new member experience, different options are going to be explored to create prerequisite courses before other courses open up to a member. Expected Start: 1/2017; Expected Completion: 2/2017.

There are some other really exciting things in the planning stages that aren't quite ready for prime time yet, but hopefully will be within the next couple of months. Stay tuned, sports fans.

Top Exam Takers

Name	# of Exams	# of ACs
Acolyte Reiyden Rosenau	45	56
Battlemaster Shimura Keibatsu	35	54
Proselyte Liarah	15	6
Proselyte Ethan Martes	12	0
Augur Terran Koul	11	24

Note: these numbers cover the period from 11/29/16 to 12/29/16.

Conclusion

The Shadow Academy covers tens if not hundreds of thousands of words, and those words were written by imperfect humans (GASP!). We try our best to catch and fix any and all errors before we release courses, but we're not always successful. Because of that, we will always need your help. If you spot an error, please report it to the SA Staff using this simple form; if it's a major enough error, or you spot enough, you'll be rewarded. At the very least, you'll get the thanks of a grateful HM... that's got to count for something, right?

In Darkness -
Farrin Xies,
Headmaster of the Shadow Academy