Falling from grace, I watch it all come apart

Knowing I could have changed it all from the start

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//Retrieve Information: Quermia Battlemap.
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//Query: SeNetBattleIntel.Local
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//Error 503

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Fire Fire:

Lagrange Point 2, Quermia
Quermian System, Nilgaard Sector
43 ABY

As the battle ignited Vokara's Grief attempted to withdraw using the silhouette of the captured ”medical” ship as their shield against hostile plasma. Her engine profile did her no favors as they banked and the starboard thruster took direct fire, causing the vessel to list as they scrambled to disengage the other and course correct. Plasma scarred her hull and peeled the rear sections, lifeboats jettisoned, taking their chances among the hail of fire, rather than burning in the stern of the ship or slowly asphyxiating where the hull had been compromised.

Another ship ran into the chaos, their thrusters pushing far beyond spec as they angled to put themselves between the Grief, their captured vessel, and the ionized plasma fire, their name fitting their recklessness all too well; The Idiot’s Array. The Array had been serving as the Third Fleet’s rescue and repair vessel, nevertheless, some of her greatest weapons had never been removed from her, a cunning crew, a damaged Vauzem vessel secured for rescue and repair, and specially retrofitted cargoholds.

In a moment some called “tactical brilliance”, others “momentary ingenuity”, the Vauzem recognized the “pure savagery” of The Idiot’s Array’s origins. Once the vessel had reached speed advanced targeting computers began computing the likely spread of the ‘shotgun’ effect as a series of debris and water-filled containers connected to the various systems of the Array were explosively pushed outwards from the inner frame of the ship, connected by a loose mesh of wires and clamps. Once the targeting computers found their best solution a series of events unfolded in quick succession and unfettered chaos was loosed upon the Vauzem picket. The Array, with no active gravity on deck, ignited its retrothrusters, a series of boosters nearly as large as its main engines, arresting its momentum while relinquishing the clamps on all of their debris and water canisters, as well as the disabled ship in their cargo bay, creating a massive and fast-moving debris field with a center-line slug aimed for their flagship.

The sheer devastation caused as the Laws of Inertia, Acceleration, and Action-and-Reaction were tested by a cargo-hauler-turned-rescue vessel welcomed the remainder of the Third Fleet as they arrived at the Quermian System’s Second Lagrange Point among the debris and the guttering hulk that once crowned the Vauzem fleet, as well as the responsible vessel and the damaged medical ship, the rear of Vokara’s Grief nestled within the modified maw of The Idiot’s Array as the rescue-and-repair vessel attempted to repair the damaged structures.

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Louder Machine:

We’re in the back half of the Western Marches now, and new events are kicking off around The Brotherhood, some of you may likely have noticed that February’s event load is lower than previous months. This was calculated largely as we prepared for the launch of Seasons, to see the response, competition load, and how comfortable people would be with the pacing of competitions. Now that Seasons are live and it’s clear that they are meant to be easier entry events with larger windows for people to attach to, we will be resuming March at pace so you can enjoy your regularly scheduled content!

This month, we’re primarily focusing on roleplay as the clankers Vauzem-controlled Droid Army marches on the Eastern Front and the fallout from the wide-ranging naval battle above wreaks havoc on the communications network of those on the ground. Tisto has been running this month’s session due to largely unexpected health issues on my end, to great effect. If you’re not already a part of the storyline, I recommend you jump in and take a gander.

Fear to Fly:

Undelm, now a returned part of the Vatali Empire, is experiencing a massive upheaval to their social order as they adjust to life above the tibana clouds of Kiast. Reconstruction efforts underway have faced little opposition, and the remaining noble families of the once-segregated domain have turned their attention to helping the people instead of clinging to glory, this attitude isn’t true of all, and others who threw their weight behind the Separatists on Quermia are sought for legal persecution.

Bad Luck Charm

Office of the High Councilor,
Jedi Praxeum, Kiast
Kiast System, Nilgaard Sector
43 ABY

Masahiro’s head lifted as his office doors opened, the soft hiss of the sliding mechanism a gentle warning ahead of their arrival. Silver eyes leveled on the trio escorted by Temple Guards. Two were known quantities, a Sentinel in service to the Temple, Sirra Werd’la, a member of the Mandalorian Clan Werd’la, informant and contact, the third, however, was an unknown. A sharply dressed Barabel, standing somewhere around two and a half meters tall, Masahiro took a moment to regard him and the others before he spoke, feigning a lack of relation to the two before Sirra spoke up.

“You can drop it he’s one of us. John knew Essik and Ka, even if he wasn’t a dyed-in-the-wool Templar like them. That’s also why he’s here.” The young Kiffar spoke up, nudging the Barabel’s arm.

“Correct. My name is John Blackwood; I’m a detective. You know my associations, what you don’t know is why I’m here. I was hired to investigate government spending, back-alley deals, embezzlement. What I can’t tell you; Who hired me. Professional courtesy, but, there are questions about the mismanagement of funds.” The Barabel man said as he addressed the High Councilor and took a step forward.

The Temple Guard both stepped in time with the man, but a gesture from the Half-Sephi Councilor dissuaded their action.

“Every government in existence has doubts about its spending, if I knew I could hire a detective to track down where our funds are going, I’d hire you to help me cut down the cost of pastries here in the Temple.” Masahiro chuckled as he eyed the man with speculation.

Government spending was not the reason why this man was here.

“The healer tending the younglings your battle master leaves bruised has a fondness for the Palatial Pastries. I’ll give you that one for free.” Blackwood said as he reached into his suit jacket and produced a holo puck. “You’re right; most governments need to prove their spending to their planetary government, who then have to prove theirs to the system government.” He shot back to the Half-Sephi as he placed the puck on the desk and nudged it toward him.

The Councillor tapped the puck, and video footage cycled, showcasing several figures as they discussed due arrangements and payments before one face stood out Masahiro. He tapped the puck once more, pausing the video, and looked between Blackwood and his entourage. Things just had just become complicated.

“Local government likes clear and open spending, accountability. My investigations pointed out only that Government contracts were being paid for and waived ‘off the records’ and waived after payment. As it turns out, nobody wants their name on a war machine.” The Barabel’s eyes focused on the Jedi for a moment with the pointed last words of his statement.

“Just who are Arx Capital Exchange, and why are both the Severian Principate and The Acolytes of Urr purchasing ships from them?”

There it was, the rub. The detective had reached the edge, the Guardians took another step forward before Masahiro lifted his hand again.

“I’ll answer your question, honestly, but first, I want you to answer two. Are you ready to open the path that lies behind the answer, and if so, what exactly are the Principate purchasing from the exchange?”

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Seasons have officially begun, The Council’s putting out feelers for us to aid The Severian Principate, between their own efforts to arm and train the protectorate. Questions swirl around the how and why, as well as the overall involvement of the Clans with the Principate, as news reaches the Odanite High Councilor of their renewed arms build-up first through a Detective, we move ahead cautiously.

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I wholly encourage each of you to Cast Your Pledge and jump in on the events of the Season to make them count, the competitions are easily digestible. You only need to complete one for your Pledge to count, but there are plenty of goodies fresh off the presses if you take part in more, including but limited to items in the new shop and some new trophies! The awards aren’t just for you however, the Clan also gets a nice payout for your participation, with each phase of the season giving us payout based on overall participation. If we can keep our overall participation over 35% Odanites, we’ll reap additional payouts, and I’ll sweeten the deal for you a bit.

If Odan-Urr meets the 35% Activity Ratio, for each Season we reach goal the House with the most activity for the period will have half of the bonus applied to their House Discretionary Funds.

Vorpal Bunny:

In Battleteam News, we’ve had a small shakeup. Our loveable himbo Jovian, otherwise known as Drewy, has had a series of events in his everyday life that have made maintaining the Templar Jensaarai a bit difficult and we’ve chosen to take on training a new Team Leader while life calms down. Stepping up to the post and working on a new narrative is the Mandobunny herself, Asani Armis, who has begun piecing together some ideas for the Team but is first touching down and learning every conceivable idea about them while she plans for the future.

Scimitar of Lord Hoth:

January:

The new year was rung in with our very own Sentinel rip-roaring his way through the leaderboard. Turel has made a strong showing with gaming, getting other members of the clan active and playing well with others. If his scores this month are anything to go off of, it’s going to be a healthy competition down through the year.

After reviewing some numbers from last year and the amount of competitions and activity across Odan-Urr, we have chosen to revert one policy change made last year going forward. It will not affect the January Scimitar as only one placing was affected, but those going forward. The value of Clusters of Fire will be halved, solely due to the expeditious nature of their accrual. It was one point we changed early last year when most of our returning activity was gaming and we did not have a fair comparison, but, seeing the number of competitions some members have placed against our prolific gamers and the disparity, we’ve chosen in the spirit of fairness to return to standard.

And Justice For All:

Did you guys know that Kamjin, not Jinkam (supposedly he died), is hiring? The Chamber of Justice is seeking applicants for the 2025-’26 Term and is accepting applicants for both the Right and Left Hands of Justice, as well as the Appeals Panel, so it’s a full slate, join me in making Kam’s choices hard and get a front-row seat to learning how the judicial side of The Brotherhood works, as well as a lot about our Collectible Card Game and all about OnlyHutts.

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Chippin’ In:

There's a mass of competitions ongoing and upcoming across the Brotherhood currently, so I'm just going to focus in on a few here. Looking at personal favorites, easy access, and forwarding Member-hosted Competitions.

• Clubwide: Season 1: Parabellum
  
• Clubwide: Jack’s Haiku Extravaganza!
  
• Clubwide: ACC: New Year’s Resolution
  
• Clubwide: ACC: Clan Venue Creation
• Clubwide: [Fist] To the Battlefront!
  
• COU: The Western Marches
  
• COU:Clan Cluster Race
  
• COU:Design a Station: Aldebaran
  
• COU: Design a Site: Daleem (Spring)
• Sundrider: All Bad Things
• Allusis: A Pirate’s Reckoning
  

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News Corner!

My favorite part of these things is the part where we get to shout out all of the people who got new shinies recently.

• Jovian Grey was awarded a Grand Cross
• Len Iode was awarded a Scroll of Foundation
• Onasha was promoted to Novice
• Turel Sorenn was awarded an Amethyst Kukri
• Frenek Mausma was awarded a Grand Cross
• Neko was awarded a Steel Cross
• Welcome Angara to Odan-Urr!
• Welcome Jester Fallstar to Odan-Urr!
• Tierra Suha’sen (Vyr) was awarded an Amethyst Kukri

Closing Thoughts from the CON:

Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces

It’s a fairly straightforward closing from me this month, nothing too large, nothing too little. A good year filled with good events on the horizon, both at the Club and Clan level, new recruits, new friends throughout the club, and a love of mutual nerdiness abounds. Just let that settle in your hearts and weigh on your mind as we deal with the ugliness in life and try and find beauty in negative spaces instead.

Ever onwards, folks.