Hello all my lovely Galerians and fellow Arconans — and anyone else who might be reading this! Well, we’ve survived three months of me in the hot seat, and now I’m going to be taking a “break,” so to speak. Thanks to my personal life and job requirements, I won’t have as much time to devote to the House or Clan in the coming months. However, in the Summit’s wisdom, we’ve realized that some normalcy and consistency is a good thing, so rather than fire me they’re switching me out with Kord at the start of May. This way there are no gaps to fill, I still get to learn House-level leadership, and you all are spared from having to once again learn a new name and face. Who knows? I might even return to the Quaestor post once I’ve got a bit of my own normalcy back.

Now, without further ado, I’ll get onto the good stuff.

Promotion Fiction

Galeres Quaestor Office
Arcona Citadel, Selen, Dajorra System

Port Ol’val was retaken but the Nighthawk was lost to the cold, listing broken amidst the asteroids of the Dajorra System. While the Battleteam was still nominally intact, Xenna still counted the ship’s loss on her inaugural mission as the Battleteam Leader as one of the worse possible outcomes. Thus it seemed too convenient that, only days after she’d arrived back on Selen with the rest of what remained of the Galeres forces, her Quaestor would call her in without any purported reason given in the holo-missive.

Xenna only cared enough about the Zeltron that Qyreia was not on the Force user’s “to kill” list. That had to count for something. Not that she would ever know unless the status changed.

Rather than ring the bell or ask permission to enter, the human walked unceremoniously into the room, showing only so much propriety as she felt necessary. Her mercenary boss was seated behind the desk, poring over some reports on a datapad, initially only looking up to see who it was that had walked in so unannounced. The arm that seemed to readjust itself beneath the desk’s surface belied how close Azara had come to facing down a blaster. The Quaestor was just a little on edge, it would seem.

“You wanted to talk to me about something?” she asked almost impatiently. She was supposed to be on a recovery leave of absence.

Qyreia finished reading the particular passage she was reading before setting down the datapad and looking at her guest. “Yes. Definitely. Do you wanna sit?”

“Is this going to take that long?”

“Hey, it’s your choice,” she said dismissively as she leaned back in her chair. Xenna decided to sit. “So, I read your report about what happened on Ol’val — along with about a dozen others…”

“If this is about the ship, there was nothing I could do.”

“I know, Xenna.” The Zeltron’s expression was reassuring; soft even. “You did really well. As much as I love my ships, I prefer to save the people. Honestly, I wish I’d have been out there with you guys. You’ve no idea how much my blood was boiling when I finally found out what was happening on that asteroid.”

The Force user felt reassured, if still a little confused. “So… what exactly did you call me in for then?”

Qyreia stood from her seat and walked around to the front of the desk, leaning back against its surface. “You did good, kid. Better than a lot of people would have, given the circumstances.” She turned and picked up a separate datapad and penned in an order. “I hope you like credits, ‘cause I’m promoting you.”

“What?”

“Can’t say anything about what you can do with the Force — not my area of expertise, you understand — but you’ve been at this a while, and the fiasco with that Hutt was as good a trial by fire as any.” She took the dumbstruck human’s hand and gave it a firm shake. “Congratulations Xenna Azara. You’re officially promoted.”

It’s not often I get to personally promote anyone; Knightings tend to get handled by the member’s master. Thus I’m happy to say Xenna got promoted to EQ2 today! (yay rhyming) Make sure to give her some love!

Key Business

Wiki Work

Yep, we’re still plugging away at it. The only “change” from our last request/desperate plea for assistance is that we are not requiring the assistance come from Arconans/Galerians; at least not on the information gathering front. This isn’t even so much a change as it is something that I forgot to write down in my last report.

Post-Sins Projects

With Possessions for Clans coming to the forefront and the official club fiction relieving us of our previous military, we’ll be making our new Clan military “soon” (technically it’s already underway). Expect some light competitions and small projects to give it a bit of personality and flair. With our position as Arcona’s go-to military arm, we will definitely have a major role in restructuring in the post-Sins of the Past world.

Awards & Promotions

Val Cole

• 2 Clusters of Graphite
• 24 Clusters of Earth

Maré Littus

• 49 Clusters of Earth

Atra Ventus

• Awarded an Anteian Cross, which should show he earned a Sage degree; not a Savant. Sorry Atrapants.
• 1 Crescent with Diamond Star
• 1 Crescent with Ruby Star
• 2 Crescent with Amethyst Star
• 1 Crescent with Emerald Star
• 11 Clusters of Ice
• 259 Clusters of Earth
• 2 Clusters of Graphite
• Took 1st in the Sins III competition set! Good work!

Rulvak Qurroc

• Awarded a Steel Cross for his phenomenal activity! Keep it up!
• 2 Crescents with Diamond Star
• 1 Crescent with Ruby Star
• 1 Crescent with Amethyst Star
• 2 Crescents with Sapphire Star
• 1 Pendant of Blood
• 405 Clusters of Fire
• 1546 Clusters of Earth
• 2 Clusters of Graphite

Ernordeth Puer-Irae

• 63 Clusters of Earth
• 12 Clusters of Fire
• 2 Clusters of Graphite

Log, aka Uji Tameike

• Joined Galeres what with the stepping down from Proconsul. Welcome! I am the captain now!
• 1 Crescent with Amethyst Star
• 67 Clusters of Fire
• 484 Clusters of Earth

Kordath Bleu

• 2 Crescents with Amethyst Star
• 1 Crescents with Sapphire Star
• 10 Clusters of Ice
• 9 Clusters of Fire
• 86 Clusters of Earth
• 2 Clusters of Graphite

Qyreia Arronen

• 2 Crescents with Ruby Star
• 1 Crescent with Sapphire Star
• 10 Clusters of Ice
• 65 Clusters of Earth
• 2 Clusters of Graphite

Mac

• Awarded an Anteian Cross!
• 191 Clusters of Fire
• 753 Clusters of Earth

Xenna Azara

• Promoted to Savant!
• 1 Crescent with Amethyst Star
• 2 Clusters of Graphite

Kharoc Garrlan

• 1 Crescent with Ruby Star
• 1 Cluster of Ice

Zednich Wolfram

• 3 Clusters of Fire
• 76 Clusters of Earth

Jake Blazer

• 73 Clusters of Fire
• 272 Clusters of Earth

Plaid Sadira

• Promoted from Acolyte to Hunter! Good job!

Elania Li

• 10 Clusters of Earth

The Cramped Corner

This is where I put any news tidbits, big competitions, final notes, et cetera.

• Got some news from the Consul about PCON applications, the final PCON report from Mr. Tameike, and the monthly reports from Kordath and Xenna.
• Bit of shameless self-advertising here. Blade (aka Aurora, the Odan Urr RM) and her long-running gag of Zeltron pheromone-laced cookies has finally come to a head. This totally non-canon (#fornow) thing has manifested in a fiction and graphics competition. Try it out for something a little different from the norm.
• Kord has a competition where you stand in court at the mercy of the Consul, the Shadow Lady, the white-haired minx of Arcona: Atty. How will your character fare in the legal onslaught and after-party shenanigans?

Final Notes

Rather than have some sappy farewell message I thought that, since I’m not actually going anywhere, I would do a Q&A session from the Clan. Some were already answered in Telegram, but I’ll do my best to address them all right meow.

Wally: Wouldn’t it be a nonseQUAtr?

• No. That was bad and you should feel bad. (To which he responded that he did indeed feel bad about it, since Ernordeth put him up to it.)

Xenna: How would you react if all strawberries suddenly tasted like lemons and everyone else on earth acted like it was like they always tasted?

• Where am I?! I don’t know this planet, but there are a lot of people screaming “Murica!” and this whole lemon crisis is the least of my worries! Beyond that… I dunno, kinda sad that my pie selection has reduced substantially.

Atra: Do you have plans to promote/expand the fictional, well, anything of Galeres? Other than "soldiers and ooc gamers that smash stuff", I got nothin' and would love to learn more.

• Yes, actually. With the freshly-bought fleet and troops for Arcona, plus the fictional aftermath of Sins, there’s going to be at least a home base and some other fictional goodies, as well as some likely competitions to go along with it.

Atty: What are your favorite and least favorite things to write, and why?

• Assuming we’re talking about fiction (because who likes to write reports?), I’d say combat is one of my least favorite things to write. It’s still fun, but it can eat up space in an otherwise plot-heavy scene, and can get boring really quick if not done right. Favorite thing is feels: good feels, sad feels, mad feels. The reader might not always share in the feels, especially if they have an overt aversion to something in the story, but it’s still something that I like to write, even if it challenges me intellectually and emotionally.

Juliane: What do you think needs improving in Galeres and what plans do you have to bring about those improvements? Conversely, what do you think are the greatest current strengths in Galeres and what do you do to nurture and utilize those strengths for the benefit of the unit?

• Serious question gets a serious answer. Improving? I have no idea. At the moment, the big hurdle is in getting people other than the Summit and the older members to speak up and do something other than gaming in the background. However, that is what Galeres is great at: gaming. I’ve never seen so many Clusters on a monthly or even weekly report in my time in the DJB. I also wish there were more fiction folk, but as the saying goes: you can’t have everything.

Leeadra: Can I have a hug?

• Yes, of course.

Ernordeth: What would you do for a Klondike bar?

• Pay the relevant and appropriate amount of credits for it.

That’s it for the queries that came up during #askQ! I’ll see y’all again as Aedile starting next month! If there are any questions, concerns, comments, gripes, or complaints, you can get a hold of me via e-mail or Telegram.

Sincerely,