Congratulations, everyone! We made it through 2020!

(At least, I hope we all made it through 2020. I wouldn’t really be surprised if someone keeled over in the brief period between my posting this report and the year actually ending, though.)

Most end-of-year reports are a mixture of looking back at the year’s events and looking forward to what’s coming next, and I see no reason to break that pattern in this report. We have quite a bit to talk about this time around.

Clan News

• Phase I of Taldryan’s “Aggressive Expansion” Clan competition series runs until site reset on Friday, January 8. There are four competitions in this Phase: fiction, Flash gaming, gaming (via Squadrons), and graphics. For more details, head to the competition page. You can also see the fiction updates in the Discourse thread. Phase II will be coming in the second half of January.

• For all you ACC aficionados, Headmistress Ciara has announced that the Shadow Academy is running a co-operative ACC competition in January. Check out [her news post][SARLACC] for details on an event we’re calling SARLACC. If you’re interested in participating and aren’t qualified for the ACC yet, check out the ACC Qualification course at the Shadow Academy!

• Speaking of inter-Clan events, the Taldryan Summit has started discussions with Bentre and DarkHawk of Clan Naga Sadow about the possibility of a CNS-Taldryan joint event in early spring. Keep an eye out for more details!

• Starting in January, the Clan Summit will be reactivating and revamping the program to recognise the most active members of the Clan in each calendar quarter. In its most recent incarnation, the program awarded the titles of Gatekeeper and Lorekeeper to the members most active in gaming and fiction, respectively. To better reflect the diversity of activities among the current Taldryan membership, positions in the reformed Sentire Taldryae (wiki article to be updated Soon™) will now be awarded to the two most active Taldryan members overall, rather than focusing on specific fields. The details of how “activity” is calculated are still in progress, but a broad overview can be found in the Wiki article.

• Likewise starting in January, work will move ahead on Taldryan’s Clan anthology/newsletter (yes, I know I’ve been promising this for a while now). We’re still working out the details of things like formatting and publishing schedule, but I’m looking forward to having more opportunities for members to showcase their work.

Member News

• A few members got shinies in recognition of their activity and service to the Clan over the past few months. Please join me in congratulating Appius “Zappius” Wight on his promotion to Equite 2, to Dasha “Jala” Talus on her promotion to Equite 1, and to Zxyl Taldrya Venzos on his Amethyst Kukri.

• The thing that most people are probably reading this report to discover: Taldryan’s newest Proconsul. Without further ado, I’m pleased to announce that Xolarin will become the next Proconsul of Taldryan.

• We’ve also had a new arrival—or, well, returnee—to the Clan, as Andrelious J. Inahj, known to many of you as Mark, comes back to Taldryan from Plagueis. Welcome back!

#AskErin

Since I didn’t do it in my last report, here’s the latest questions you’ve all submitted for #AskErin!

First, several questions from Appius:

• Who's your favourite Mandaboo/Obi Wannabe and why is it me?

-1 point for originality, since this was clearly lifted from Arch’s question in my last #AskErin. For an actual answer, I’ll direct you (and everyone else) to your promotion request.

• Now that the Clan has moved to Ostara, is there any plan to expand our domain outside the Caelus System?

I think it would be cool to be able to tell more exploration-based stories instead of constantly having to find new enemies for Taldryan to fight (a view I have to credit to Bale, who sold me on the idea). The biggest practical hurdle is that it’s not entirely clear how much leeway we have to invent and conquer new systems out of the blue. That seems like the kind of thing the VOICE Staff would have some say over, and I haven’t gotten around to asking them about details yet.

• Are you worried about Mav pulling a Jac?

When you say “pulling a Jac”, I assume you’re talking about Jac destroying Taldryan’s former home system a few years back. IC, Erinyes doesn’t trust Mav any more or less than she trusts any other Grand Master, but I wouldn’t say she’s “worried” about it; realistically, if Mav decides that Taldryan needs to be stomped down, there’s nothing she or anyone else in the Clan could do about it. OOC, my understanding is that those events happened as an IC explanation of the canonpocalypse that came with Darth Mouse purchasing the rights to Star Wars, so I can’t imagine something similar happening again unless there was reason for the DB to go through another canon reboot.

• Anything you can tell us about phase 2 of Aggressive Expansion?

Not beyond what I said in my news item above. I’m not going to spoil the story for anyone, but you’ll be able to read the fiction updates on Discourse when they come out.

• Any big plans for 2021?

Scroll up.

Next, a question from Vodo:

• #asktheCon can I have a cookie?

You have plenty of perfectly good cookies already. You’ll have to finish the ones you already have first, or give me a better explanation for why you aren’t eating them than “ghosts don’t have digestive tracts”.

Next, Zxyl:

• #AskErin who is our next whipping boy.. I mean Proconsul

I’m guessing you’re asking this because you wanted to bask in the fact that it isn’t you. If not, scroll up.

Reflections

In my first report as Consul, I said that Taldryan was angling for the title of Most Improved Clan of 2020. Although I’ve since been informed that said title doesn’t actually exist, the ways the Clan has grown over the past year makes me think that if there were such a title, we’d be a shoe-in for it. Our members’ dedication and hard work have breathed new life into Taldryan. The Clan’s Telegram channel is buzzing, people are collaborating on creative projects like Appius and Dasha’s co-op fiction, Appius and Aylin’s numerous co-op fictions, Appius and Kalon’s co-op fiction (I think I’m seeing a pattern here), Crysenia and Vodo’s co-op fiction, or my own run-on with Alaisy and Kordath, and we gave a better showing in a club-wide Vendetta than anyone would’ve expected at this time last year. I’m grateful to and proud of every Taldryanite who’s been a part of the Clan’s revitalisation, and I can’t wait to see what you all accomplish in 2021.

That's it for this edition of the Taldryan Consul Report. Thanks for reading, and we'll see you in the new year!