South of Estle City
Selen, Dajorra

Small pits in the ground were still smoking from the ambush that had taken place almost an hour before. Dajorran Defense Force troops were scattered throughout the area, some in a perimeter while others scoured for any hidden Collective forces or equipment. Qyreia stepped out of the LAAT/i with her entourage — though to call it “hers” was something of an overstatement — dressed in DDF fatigues that were rather more pleasant than she’d expected. A little stuffy for the heat that wafted through the air, but she managed well enough. Mercy Braithe, the reporter that had so keenly if unknowingly come into Arcona’s employ, walked out from behind a column of smoke rising from a wrecked speeder.

“Miss Braithe. Good to see you’re all in one piece.”

“You as well… colonel?”

The Galerian Quaestor leaned close. “I had to wear something. Now,” she said, turning away from the group following her and guiding the reporter along, “tell me what’s been happening. I’ve gotten rather little from my own people.”

Read the full event fiction here.

The Storm Has Lost Momentum

In case you didn’t quite catch the proverbial drift from the fiction, or you didn’t bother to read it, the Collective has lost some of its power on Selen, but it isn’t gone; largely due in part to the lackluster performance of the Arconan personnel. Likewise, what might have been a great PR (that’s “public relations”) boost through Selenian news — vis a vis Mercy Braithe — was left hanging, and so whatever we might have gained was left to the DDF and its largely “unaided” efforts. The Collective is still here, contained, but no less a threat.

Competitions

The selection below shows a highlight reel of the active competitions. The full competitions list can be found here.

Ending Soon (1 week or less remaining)

• What would your character look like in a superhero outfit? Ends July 18th.
• Tell us about that time you were arrested and put on trial for that crime you did. Ends July 22nd.
• Part of the Summer Puzzle Series, check out this week’s challenge. Ends July 18th.

Ongoing (over 1 week remaining)

• Something from a member of our sister House. Complete some tactical objectives for your House and Clan. Ends July 28th.
• What makes your character sweat with fear in their sleep. Tell us in this fiction competition by Tali. Ends July 31st.
• The FIST is testing out Fortnite as a possible gaming platform for the club. If you play this game a lot, might be something to put your hat into. Ends July 31st.
• A quick flash game that’s a bit of a blast from the past. Play some Jezzball and get some Crescents. Ends August 10th.

Coming Up

• Never know when dem Sins will catch up to you.

News Items

Let’s go back in time for some news!

• Most recently in the news, the Herald is hiring. If you like drawing, this may just be your dream job within the Club.
• The P:FIST added some stuff to the FIST’s repertoire (see below) for your review concerning Battlefront 2 and Overwatch.
• Our wonderful, funderful James gave us the latest changelog in his latest report.
• The FIST gave us an update to its gaming portal and the nuances therein, as well as their supplemental report concerning Destiny (the first game) and some other bits and bobs.
• The Shadow Sloth put out his regular update to the Clan in his usual style.
• The MAA gives the big reveal for the new experience system as well as some competition creation tips and tricks.
• The CM revealed the Coach’s Corner event placements and some new ACC extensions interfaces in his report.

Activity in the Last Month

Satsi Tameiki

• 8 x Crescents with Ruby Star
• 2 x Crescents with Amethyst Star
• 2 x Crescents with Sapphire Star
• 1 x Crescent with Emerald Star
• 1 x Crescent with Quartz Star
• 10 x Clusters of Ice
• 26 x Clusters of Graphite

Maaz Sawyer

• 1 x Crescent with Amethyst Star
• 1 x Crescent with Sapphire Star
• 2 x Crescents with Topaz Star
• 1 x Crescent with Quartz Star
• 171 x Clusters of Fire
• 330 x Clusters of Earth
• 2 x Clusters of Graphite

Ood Bnar

• 1 x Scroll of Foundation

Rulvak Qurroc

• 4 x Crescents with Diamond Star
• 3 x Crescents with Ruby Star
• 2 x Crescents with Amethyst Star
• 1 x Crescent with Sapphire Star
• 2 x Pendants of Blood
• 904 x Clusters of Earth
• 777 x Clusters of Fire

Qyreia Arronen

• 1 x Crescent with Diamond Star
• 1 x Crescent with Emerald Star
• 3 x Pendants of Blood
• 82 x Clusters of Fire
• 68 x Clusters of Earth

Rrogon Skar Agrona

• 16 x Clusters of Earth

Grot

• 1 x Crescent with Amethyst Star
• 3 x Crescents with Emerald Star
• 1 x Cluster of Ice
• 64 x Clusters of Earth
• 2 x Clusters of Graphite
• 3 x Scrolls of Foundation

New Joins

As with last month, this little section is here to welcome the fresh faces to the Club, Clan, and House. So to all our new joins listed: welcome to Galeres, Arcona, and the DJB as a whole! These names include:

• Te-lil Soba
• Tba’Ris
• Fey’ala

Final Notes

I’m not sure what to say here, guys. We had a decently sized event, lots of options, and only three members of the House that participated. That’s not per event; that’s total out of the unit. The only other participant was Kordath. I had people saying they were going to prove it was easy to “game the system” with my custom grading rubric for HoTs, and they didn’t participate in it. So I’m curious as to what happened. Were the competitions not to your liking? Was there not enough time? Did real life just get in the way at that particular time? Was the pressure of having a fictional stake too much? I know that might be different than what most of you are used to, compared to the usual competition sets that feature members but maintain the same outcome with only minor fictional details to mix-and-match.

With that said, I’ll close this out with the miniature Q&A we got from you guys:

Kordath asks: Did we win?
Eh. Yes and no.

Donny/Maaz asks: How are you finding things so far as Qua and Aedile? What successes are you proud of? What do you still hope to accomplish? What are the challenges in your way?

Qybbles:
I’m finding it more frustrating the more ambitious I try to get. So far, success wise, I’m glad to have at least rebooted the fictional stuff with Galeres, as well as poking the Summit ad nauseum about Arcona’s military, bases, and NPCs, among many other things. My ever-present goal is to update the wiki. Challenges are, like most folk, time availability and motivation. Wiki work is tedious and, especially as a newer face in Arcona (compared to the old farts), I don’t know the history as well as some older members that want to do wiki work even less than me.

Skarbles:

Atty asks: Will we be wrapping up the Collective presence on Selen with the event over?

Imma just point you at the first part of the report.

That’s it for now folks. As always, I can be reached by e-mail at [Log in to view e-mail addresses] or on Telegram with @QyreiaArronen (PM or through our group chats). And if you’re bored, feel free to follow my meant-for-recruiting-but-still-fun in-character Twitter feed @TheRedQek!

Sincerely,