Introduction

Hello there Muurians, Muurderers, our fellow Plagueians and the rare members of other clans who consume these types of thing. You may have noticed that I am not TuQ’uan, we’ll get to that a little later. For now, I’m going to lay out how this report is going to work. First up, I’ll introduce myself for the benefit of those who perhaps don’t know me as well as others. Then we’ll move on to a bit of a chinwag about (un?)lucky GJW 13 before taking a look at a sample of competitions and news posts out there before tying everything together in a pretty little bow at the end.

Hey, Where’d TuQ Go? And Who’s The New Gal?

Let’s address the unusually tall Chiss in the room. As you should ideally be aware, TuQ was chosen by our Dear Leader to serve as her second. I wish TuQ all the best in his new role as it affects us all. That said, some of you may be unfortunate, or fortunate depending on who you ask, do not know who I am. First I’ll cover some stuff about me IRL and then explain who Scudi is.

I’m a 22-year-old British(English specifically) woman who works retail and I volunteer for a local children’s charity in my spare time. I’m into History, reading, writing, gaming, Star Wars(duh) and I’ve recently begun listening to Psychology lectures on YouTube. I’ve been in the club for 5 years, all of which has been in Plagueis. Apart from the top 2 jobs, I’ve held every position that exists within a clan. I’ve also served as an ACC Judge under Atra and then Arch, M: HM under Farrin and Seraphol, M: MAA under former Plagueian Aabs

Scudi is the character I made when I departed from leadership late last year. She’s an NFU, a Chiss, fairly tall, though not quite CONovi height, she’s also the same age as Ronovi but she doesn’t always act it. She’s a fairly introverted person and outside Tahiri hasn’t actually met any Plagueians, so this new role is going to be quite challenging for her.

There Be War Ahead

As you no doubt know, the 13th GJW will be upon us in 6 days. That’s not a lot of time, so I’ll offer you the CliffsNotes version. A GJW is where we go up against the other 6 clans for the title of First Clan of the Brotherhood. While we don’t know specifics about bins yet, we know it’ll last for 5 weeks total. Gaming bracket sign-ups are open, I’d encourage Muurians to sign up for one of the brackets, though the FIST has assured members that there will be opportunities to contribute to the bin without partaking in a bracket. Speaking of bins, it is usually more important to participate in a larger number of bins than say filling in the Miscellaneous bin and leaving other bins empty, that’s because unless you finish a bin, doing more than one competition in a bin doesn’t earn additional points for the clan.

So how does one prepare for a GJW? For me, I’d split it into the practical and the mental and I’ll cover both of those. On the practical side, I would say make sure you have something to do art on, whether it be paper and pencils for drawing or an app on your phone/laptop/PC. Also important if you want to partake in fiction is access to google docs or another word processor. I’d also have maybe one or two supported games installed on your device of choice, there’s no guarantee a specific game will be used outside those announced already, but if there’s a PvP score comp or something for a free platform it helps to be able to check off a bin. Time management is also important, for me I tend to do something in less time-consuming bins first, allowing me more time to write a fiction or whatever other bins takes more time. Also, don’t sign up to a team event(if there are any, which there have been recently) if you can’t guarantee you’ll be able to do your part.

Mentally, I would start by giving yourself an achievable goal. I would say for each phase target a number of bins to participate in based on how much free time you tend to have and what the time requirements would be for you to get an entry. Even in winning clans not everyone does every bin, so know your limits and do your best. Having your own criteria for success allows you to organise your time more effectively towards meeting the target you set yourself. For myself, I’ll be aiming to participate in every bin. While not a suitable goal for everyone, I’ve been able to do it twice in club-wide events and so I think for me it’s realistic.

Now that we’ve covered the leader-y aspects of the war, LET’S GO KICK SOME BUTT!

Comps, Comps, Comps!

• War Time Propaganda Former Plagueian Consul and now Herald Slags along with his Praetor task you with producing a propaganda poster.

• Summertime Sunshine Your task from the Herald staff is to depict some fun in the sun

• Speaking Beyond The Veil Write a fiction about speaking to a dead person.

• SA Decathlon-July Take SA exams for comp participation.

• Cryptogram week 10 Solve the Cryptogram.

Muurmurings From Around The World

• Plagueis PCON and HKM QUA announcement- the one that explains why Not TuQ is writing this report.

• FIST Report #2 The one where Alaris announces GJW bracket sign-ups, the RoC and some other stuff.

• Brotherhood Rising Epilogue Wally says goodbye to the Brotherhood Rising arc to lead into the GJW and beyond.

• The CON of COU reports, always good to know what your ideological opposition is up to.

• CON RON aka CONovi published her first Consul report as our new Consul.

• MAA Report Howie does a thing.

Sound Out Scudi

As a nice introduction/re-introduction, I asked the clan for questions and wasn’t disappointed. Here is what I received.

Brim asks a few things.

• What are your plans to prepare everyone not only for the GJW but future events?

• A: Honestly, with less than a week to go before the GJW and with a competition ban in place there's not much I can do right now other than encourage people to participate. As for future events, that also depends on how much preparation time there is. I plan to have 1-2 comps a month run between Julius and me in non-major event months, whether those major events be clan or club-wide.

• So now you are in charge, how much are you going to enjoy tightening your grip on Brim's neck?

• A: Scudi doesn't really know Brim but people who give her a hard time will be dealt with accordingly.

• What ways do you see to drum up active participation from your unit that will possibly encourage rogue members to return?

• A: For garnering participation, running competitions is vital, that said once I have a greater knowledge of what people in the House like doing, if people wanted to I could look into sending a round-up of competitions that match their preferences. Outside of that, I think being in touch with the membership is something that's important to provide engagement.

Tahiri posits a couple of questions

• How does Scudi feel now that she is fully (or mostly) integrated into the clan?

• A: Korada Monastery isn't steampunk enough, it's kinda backwards and doesn't really mesh with her, have to get some tech installed. Outside of that, she's not sure what to make of it, it's something of a surprise to her but it pays better than freelance work.

  • Do you believe she has some sort of bond with Tahiri now?

• A: Tahiri is a subject that requires more research. At first glance, Scudi doesn't see why Tahiri is with a group like Plagueis.

CON RON has a question for the new hire.

• What are Scudi's thoughts on the Principate?

• A: So one of the competitions run a while back was to write a fiction about how your character thinks of the SP, so I'll share my entry. If you don't like reading a bunch of dialogue, Scudi sees them as useful allies, though sadly the office of memes isn't DB canon. Scudi is definitely an advocate for industrialisation, so a business relationship with them would be her preferred option. In the fiction, she also thinks about how other clans may get on with the Principate.

Finally, a new Plagueian raises an interesting idea.

• What does the newly minted QUA think of the rumours that Taldryan defectors have arrived and been placed in HAP?

• A: Scudi doesn't know much about the other clans, so she would urge caution but ultimately it's up to Tahiri how she'll deal with them. If they were in HKM, she’d want to keep them nearby, she’s heard rumours one of them is a rather decorated individual and the other one controls the decorated individual.

Conclusion

That’s all from the HKM report for this month, though expect us to be in touch throughout the war. As a leadership team, we’re looking forward to working with each other and with our members as time goes on. We’ll be seeing you in the (metaphorical) trenches soon and in your inbox shortly.

HKM's New Boss