Hello House Ventress and welcome to another report! There has been some exciting developments in the last month so without further ado, let's get on with it!

Table of Contents

1. News
   1.1 Dark Brotherhood
   1.2 House Ventress
   1.3 Clan Plagueis
   
2. Competitions
   
3. Activity Report
   
4. Final Thoughts

News

DB News

I normally start in chronological order, but just a few days ago there was something huge that I want to address first. You might already know what it is, but about a week ago, Evant released a news post titled Recognizing Our Leaders. In it, he gave his thoughts on the glass ceiling that was Elder 1. For too long, to make it into the ranks of the Elders, you needed substantial DC, DC adjacent or CON level roles. This excluded a large number of worthy people. So while the Elder ranks are still limited to the leaders of the DB, there is now a clearer pathway for members to attain elevation to the ranks of the Elders. You no longer need to spend years in the DC or as a CON and this is fantastic news for many. Included in this news post was the Elder promotions for Alethia Archenksova, Kenath Zoron Ad Vizsla, Locke Sonjie, Kojiro Keibatsu Sadow, A'lora Kituri, Aurora "Aura" Ta'var, Luna Okami. Ira Ojiman, Xantros, Alaris Jinn di Plagia, Teylas Ramar and Rhylance. I was thrilled for each recipient of this honour.

That wasn't all either, Evant also announced an Amethyst Kukri for Kamjin "Maverick" Lap'lamiz, Sapphire Blades for Bentre Sadow and Revak K'Urr and a Grand Cross for Korvis. Congratulations to everyone who was honoured with a promotion or award!

Now onto your regularly scheduled DB news programming. First up is the Regent who has had a very busy month! It started with Anubis's 7th Regent report where a brand new Sithmas Booster pack was launched. Following on from that was a brief supplemental about restored dossiers sometimes not receiving sacramental weapons. You should check that out if it might apply to you.

Then there was the announcement that the new possessions for the Shadow Academy society replacement that I will discuss more soon, the Aurora Collegium of Sciences have been released. Finally, and again, something I will discuss in a bit more depth later on in this report was the announcement that all the Clan artefact possessions are now active and ready for use! There was also a brief update on planetary assets, the next booster release and armour upgrades.

Next up it was time to get FISTed! Sorry, I've been looking for an excuse to use that for literally minutes so I just had to. First up was a Year in Review which highlighted some very interesting things. It provides a glimpse as to what games members are playing most and how they are playing them. Well worth a look if you're a stats nerd like I am. Probably the biggest piece of news in the report was the adjustment of GMRG points based on activity. You might have noticed that you went up a GMRG rank in the last few weeks when you didn't do anything, this is why.

A supplemental followed with a call for applications for M:FIST. They remain open for a few more days if you're interested and it also included the news that Halo Infinite is now a supported gaming platform. Finally, there was one more bombshell report with the death of PvP, at least in the way the DB currently knows it. There are lots of details in the report which I suggest you have a look at.

It was Herald time next with a report showing off some of the tremendous work done by the team. Rian also announced some upcoming plans for 2022 as well as the chance to submit Emojis to the Herald office for the DB Discord server.

Speaking of Discord, Bubba released a news post asking that if anyone has any ideas for new chat channels on Discord to send a brief email to himself, Evant and James. So far, several of these Topical channels have been added including Tabletop Gaming, Cantina for food posts, the Foo Bar for all your programming and IT needs and finally Sports.

VOICE time now and Xen began with an exciting fiction update. I suspect the Children of Mortis will be involved in this year's vendetta which will be exciting. Finally, there was a report outlining an update to the Fiction Scoring Rubric. Version 3.0 can be found here. If you run fiction competitions, or even if you like to write and submit to them, I suggest giving it a careful look.

Atra released the next PulseFeed News Aggregator which updates everyone on the current storylines within the DB.

In another pretty big piece of news, Howie announced the imminent death of the position of Rollmaster. In what has been a slightly contentious decision, Clans that currently do not have a RM will be unable to fill the position, while Clans that do can retain them until January 1 2023. It is a shame to see this position fall by the wayside, but I agree with most of the points made about it being redundant and able to be fulfilled by others.

As I mentioned earlier, Ciara announced a pretty big change to the Shadow Academy Society. There is too much here to paraphrase, so I suggest you read over the news post for information on the new Aurora Collegium of Sciences.

Alethia released another Exarch report with lots of information on how the DB is moving towards better serving DB members who enjoy RP.

And the final piece of news in this marathon section was Blade on the next steps for expanding the DBs involvement in SWTOR! A brand new expansion launches in just a few weeks so get hyped!

House Ventress News

Two big pieces of news for this month. The first was, as mentioned above, the elevation of one of our own to the ranks of the Elders. Congratulations Adept Teylas Ramar. Your service to Clan Plagueis over these many years is thoroughly appreciated and this award was well deserved.

There was another Elder promotion in the clan, but I first, I also want to welcome back former Plagueis Consul Ronovi Tavisaen who has come back after a recent break!

Plagueis News

Also mentioned above and on the same day Teylas was promoted to Elder, was our Proconsul, Alaris! It was another thoroughly deserved elevation to the Elder ranks, congratulations Alaris!

As I mentioned in the DB section of this report, our Regent officially released all the Clan artefacts. For Plagueis, we have the Serreno Astrolabe, Rakatan Energy Transfer Device and the Mortis Crystal. As Slags said in his CON report, the Astrolabe will remain onboard the Star Destroyer Ascendancy, the flagship of the Ascendant Fleet, but the other two items can be attained by members of Clan Plagueis. The specifics are still being worked out, but the awarding the Mortis Crystal will be based on a holistic activity metric, while the Rakatan Energy Transfer Device will be awarded for performance in major competitions and Vendettas. Thanks to Slags, Alaris and the Regent Office for getting these items out the door!

Also in Slags's report was the announcement of the Echoes of Jusadih, a new event coming up towards the end of February. This event will dive into the history of Clan Plagueis as well as overall DB lore. Stay tuned over the coming weeks as more details emerge about this next event!

In the final piece of news, Tahiri and Khryso also released another Tyranus report. Khryso is running a survey at the moment where he asks what types of activities the members of the Clan are interested in. If you have not yet completed it, please do so! And a huge congrats to former Ventress member TuQ'uan Varick di Plagia on his promotion to EQ4!

Competitions

Here are a selection of currently running competitions that are either quick and easy to participate in or are especially interesting.

• Star Wars Movie Posters!
• Uncle A-Aru's Big Load of Puzzles
• [Regent] Planetary Assets Sneak Peek Puzzle Bonanza
• Make A Meme Monthly: January Edition
• SWTOR Scenic Adventures
• Final Moments

Activity Report

Adept Teylas Ramar

• Promoted to Adept!

Reaver Mauro Wynter

• 1x Crescent with Diamond Star
• 5x Crescent with Ruby Star
• 3x Crescent with Amethyst Star
• 2x Crescent with Sapphire Star
• 8x Cluster of Ice
• 27x Cluster of Graphite

Battlelord Tisto Kingang

• 6x Cluster of Fire

Battlemaster Qormus Aquila

• 1x Crescent with Diamond Star
• 1x Crescent with Ruby Star
• 2x Crescent with Amethyst Star
• 1x Crescent with Sapphire Star
• 30x Cluster of Earth
• 12x Cluster of Graphite

Final Thoughts

The breaking of the glass ceiling for Elder promotions is one of the best decisions the DB leadership has made in the last few years. There were so many extremely active and worthy members who were seemingly stuck at EQ4 that now have a route beyond that rank. Plus it gives everyone else something to aim for once they reach EQ4 themselves, knowing that this isn't necessarily the end of progression. It will still be hard and difficult, as it should be, but at least there is something else to aim for. Something to keep you motivated if that is what motivates you.

Signed,
Battlemaster Qormus Aquila
Left Hand of Dread