Dread Lord’s Office - Level 195

The Pinnacle

Aliso City

38 ABY

Ronovi responded to the closing of the transmission between Declan and her with an unceremonious slam of her fist on her desk. Her half-empty glass of whiskey rattled dangerously, teetering toward the edge of the table, and a knotted string of profanities spilled from her spittle-flecked lips. The words of the “Grand Master” - pfft. No worthier of her respect than the damned Lion of Tarthos was - seared into her mind, and if she could, she would utilize the Force to reach across the Unknown Regions into Zsoldos so she could throttle the Mandalorian to death.

You are taking this personally. It’s just business.

The woman sneered. In fact, she almost had to fight back a laugh. She paced back and forth a bit behind her desk, letting the sentence soak into her like scalding water. It was like getting slapped, but the sting that lingered was more invigorating than demeaning. The burst of adrenaline that now overpowered her senses was akin to drinking a highly carbonated beverage, and all the bubbles were coming to the surface and threatening to lift her up in the air.

Just business, was it, Roark? All right, then, Ronovi thought. She would make it business. In fact, she would make it her business. Not just Plagueis’s, but hers. And she would take this as seriously as possible.

Even if it meant an all-out assault.

Contemplating her options, the first thing Ronovi decided was not to alert TuQ’uan. In fact, he could simply receive the news later; he was a good helper, an excellent second body, but not much more than that. As Wrath, he could carry out Ronovi’s demands brilliantly, questioning and challenging be damned.

She punched in a few buttons on her transmission dock and sent a signal to the Instigator. In a mere minute or so, the staggering hulk that was the Dreadbringer appeared in pale blue on the nearest holopad. He was wearing his helmet - because of course he was - and Ronovi could spot the plumes of vapor emitting from the visor.

Before Wrathus could speak, the report of the ship’s turbolasers filled the comm, and a brief cheer rang out as the gunners, having just vaporized some poor schmuck, celebrated.

“Whatever or whoever you’re working on,” intoned Ronovi over the raucous din, “cut it off. I need you back on Aliso to speak with me.”

Wrathus silenced his crew with a hand. “And what could be happening to recall us, of all units?”

It was a rhetorical question, given Opress Squadron’s purpose in the clan, but Ronovi humored him, anyway. Besides, whenever he spoke with his modulator, the effect of it (multiplied voices) produced a slight twitch in her organic eye, no matter how much she had fought to ward it off - almost like how nails on a chalkboard never sounded less grating.

“Wrathus,” she asked, “would you do the honors of helping me start a wonderful war?”

If Wrathus still held joy in his heart, he might’ve sung, but he simply jettisoned another burst of vapor. “Who’s the lucky cadaver?”

Ronovi could almost hear him salivating. Her sneer turned into an outright smirk.

“You ever heard of a battle team called Deathwatch?”

---

To read the rest of the prologue fiction for our upcoming feud, titled, "A Fistful of Credits," click here.

Greetings, everyone, and welcome to the latest Dread Lord report. Well, the time has almost arrived. We've got one hell of a feud coming up, and you guys will now get to officially see what's in store for us.

So buckle up, keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times, and get ready.

A Fistful Of Credits

The official feud between Clan Plagueis and Clan Vizsla will be starting on Monday, February 10th, and mostly ending on Monday, March 2nd. A selective number of events, as you'll see soon, will last until Monday, March 9th. While it says there are fifteen events, we threw a bonus one in there for ya, so technically, we have five bins with sixteen events within said bins.

Remember: If you've participated in any vendetta before, you'll know that doing a bin (completing one event per bin) will get you points. Placements get you even more points, and completing all the bins entirely will get you even more points. I think it's entirely feasible for an overwhelming majority of our clan to max out on participation, but don't forget: Placement. Is. Important. Vizsla has a lot of heavy hitters in gaming, writing, and otherwise, so you don't just want to show up; you want to bring your A game. Submit to get a shiny, not just to fill a space!

Now, because your Dread Lord isn't always the brightest bulb in the box, I accidentally made the event's comps public a bit too early. Because of this, in order to make things fair, I will be providing the link for all of you so you can peruse the events and prepare.

CLICK RIGHT HERE FOR FEUD EVENT GLORY!

The Stakes

There are some things to keep in mind about a feud like this: I firmly believe, more so than wars and Rites of Supremacy, that feuds have serious stakes. While in most vendettas, clans work together, in this case, we are fighting each other. Plagueis wants war, and Vizsla will give them a war. And that means the winning clan may get more than just accolades.

For starters, whoever wins the feud, lore-wise, won't just have bragging rights. Whether or not Plagueis wins could determine the tone of future storylines. If we win, we are emboldened fictionally - as a clan, we are seen as powerful, able to topple this new hot shot Mandalorian clan. If we lose, that is a massive black eye, and Vizsla will gloat in more ways than one. This is not a co-op by any means, and while we're chill with Vizsla folks in real life, in character, we are not chill.

Secondly, our possessions will be affected by the outcome of the feud as well. Now, I said will be affected - not might. I won't get down to the nitty gritty details, but just know, if we win...we might get something really cool from Vizsla. If they win, we have to...ugh...give them something of our own.

Like...I dunno...a ship.

And we don't want that to happen, do we? So feud it up, and we will reap quite a few rewards!

Competitions

So despite the feud taking up a lot of space within Plagueian activities, there are still competitions to enjoy!

• OPRESS! You have ONE MORE DAY to submit to your Dreadbringer's NPC creator comp! Click here and make some crew members for your new ship!
• Our Fist has rolled out a slew of new GMRG competitions for the month of February! Click here to game it up!

DB News

(By the way, yes, I intentionally use Markdown to make these sentences bigger. Because you need to look at them)

Our Wiki Tribune, Bentre, has been keeping busy making our wiki awesome! Click here for his latest report. Also, update your wiki pages and CS pages, people!

In sadder news, Arch, our CM, is resigning. Read up on their final report here. Thanks for all your hard work, dude, and enjoy retirement!

Interested in working for the CoJ with the Bubs? There are tons of positions open there! If you wanna be an Appeals Panelist or a Hand of Justice click the link here for more info.

Our very own Vaeril Aeraeth just became a Magistrate in the Fist's Office! Well done, mate Read on for more Fist Supplemental shtuff.

Idris is working hard as Voice and making some changes to our character sheets and aspects thanks to the latest movie! Read his report for the deets.

Ask The Dread Lord

It's that time again! Two hours before I put up this report, I asked for questions relating to me, the clan, and the upcoming feud. And y'all delivered the goods.

Scudi Ferria asks:

How does Ronovi feel about the state of the clan since the restructuring?

Better, but not fully convinced it's been fully executed. She's expecting those below her to make Fort Dooku (Tyranus's base, which has a wiki page now, if you haven't read it) mighty and Opress Squadron a powerful enforcer of the Dread Lord's fury in the clan. She wants to see members rise up, take the future into their own hands (while remaining loyal to her, of course), and make Plagueis the empire's meant to be.

Yes, that's right...I said empire.

what does Ronovi think of the leaders under her within Plagueis?

Ooh! I'm actually gonna be IC for this. Ronnie, center stage!

(Ahem)

My subordinates, eh? Let's see, I'll give a rundown:

• TuQ'uan: He's...useful. Bit too cheery, given his position. People underestimate him. Still, not sure if he's Dread Lord material.* Non-Force sensitive and all. But he does the dirty work for me. I always like a good, loyal second.
• Scudi: Gotta hand it to her - I didn't expect a scavenger from New Raxulon to help build a place like Fort Dooku. I respect her. She'll do Tyranus well. So long as the Sith try not to irk her - after all, think of a Moff under Darth Vader. She's a tried and trusted "general," if I may say so myself.
• Julius: Bah. The old man's something else. Surprises me every day. Seems so...charming and unassuming. But I've seen the way he tortures, and I've seen the way he kills. Again, don't misjudge the capabilities of someone even without the Force.
• Tahiri: So lovely and adorable! Almost too much for a Sith. I often wonder about her...if she'll go light, if she'll find some issue with my more...ruthless regime. Not that she can stand a chance against me, but...I do like someone with a little pep in their step. Especially since I trod myself.
• Wrathus: Wasn't sure of him at first. A strange one. Disturbed, maybe even broken. But then again, so was I...am I. Never mind. He's creative, that's for sure. And with Opress now...well, I'm happy to call him my "little" Berserker. Little being ironic here, of course, because...y'know, he just had to be taller than me. Sigh.

Whew! That was fun! Some IC chatter is always a nice little break from the doom and gloom of the real world.

TuQ'uan asks:

with this being our first confrontation with Vizsla how is Ronovi feeling? Confident? Trepidatious? Out for blood?

The first one and the third one. Forget the second one. Ronovi never gets nervous about war.

Khryso asks:

How far into the future are you looking when planning or considering events/stories for Plagueis?

I tend to plan six months to a year in advance, but I make sure said plans are flexible. Nothing sucks more for a regular member than realizing that every storyline beat and arc is forged in concrete before they can get a say in it. So while I do plan major events and brainstorm ideas, I am always seeking out feedback, and I always react to the current interests, worries, or insights from the clan as a whole. It's just always good to have a timeline, and that's what we have.

I usually start fully planning in the summer for the next year, like we did in 2019 (hence how we planned Code: Dread, the feud, and the upcoming Pro Bowl in a few months. Yes, a Pro Bowl is happening again, as I've mentioned). I then like leaving room for my leaders and members to suggest events they can run so everyone has a chance to get a taste of competition and event planning and organization. I'm not going to be Dread Lord forever, so I may as well support others in case they want to take my place once I step down (which I don't plan to do for a while, but still. Life can be weird when you least expect it).

Tahiri asks:

What does Ronovi hope to gain from this feud? Respect? Heads? Or something else?

All of the above. Ronovi has been in a position of power many times - and for all those times, she has failed, been demoralized, or quit in frustration. Now that she's still recovering from being silent in the world for four years, she's back not just for blood, but also for consolidation of power. In her words: "I am the Dread Lord. And you are obligated to do the Dread Lord's bidding."

Conclusion

Plagueians: This feud will be a tremendous opportunity for a number of things. First, it will advance our lore and determine how powerful we truly are. Next, it will give us some rigorous, actually rival-based competition. Third, it could very well land us some legitimate rewards, including possessions. And finally, it will give us another reason to build up our clan and its community.

We are a very special group. We are a strong group. We have unique and candid voices; this sometimes cause tension and arguing, like with any family, but we always know when to reel back and take care of one another. We know how to be kind, but we also know how to kick some ass. We pump each other up, help each other out, and get. Things. Done.

So, I ask you:

Starting this Monday, will you pledge to...do all the things?

Catch you on Telegram where I'll badger you all incessantly about AFoC for three to four weeks!