"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him beard."

The Bearded Tome: Chapter 12, Verse 57

Headlines that You Need to Know

• Eleven Years of Independence
• Prestige System has been Updated
• Gaming Updates
• Rollmaster's Corner
• Competition Planning & Suggestion Box

Eleven Years

So, it's been Eleven Years since the split. Forgive an old warhorse for waxing poetic a little bit, but I usually do around this time of year. For a great vast majority of the people left in this club these days, that doesn't mean a lot. What is often forgotten in the rhetoric is that eleven years ago, a great many people had to make a choice about which internet club they wanted to swear their allegiance to. There is very little doubt in my mind that moving away from the EH back then was absolutely necessary, but it was a hard choice for many of us. A lot of us back then had to essentially walk away from our friends who stayed behind.

Time heals all wounds, but remember today that those of us who came with the DB back in the day, did so at a cost. The DB we have today exists because we wanted to make sure that this crazy little internet club we call home was fair. The people who led the split, and those supported the DB in its infant years beyond the Hammer did so because we wanted to protect this club, and see it grow and evolve beyond what it was being limited.

I think we did a pretty good job, but there's always room to grow. The DB of 2005 is nowhere near the same as the DB of 2009, nor is the DB of 2009 similar to the DB of today. Things change, people add new ideas, we grow and try new things. The DB still exists today because people are willing to stand up and try new things. We exist because we were willing to try, and more than capable of admitting when we screwed up and going back to the drawing board.

It hasn't been an easy road, but the roads worth walking rarely are. So, ending this rambling... congrats DB on making it another year. Here's to many more.

As always, the anniversary of the split comes with it another round of SoLs and the yearly awarding of the Silver Sash. From Taldryan I would like to congratulate Shad, Howie, Halc and Ben for being such outstanding members of the DB and Taldryan in the past year. Congratulations are also due to everyone else who got a SoL, and of course Solari, for joining that rare group of people who have the SL.

Prestige Updates

Awhile back the DGM announced changes to the Prestige system. Prestige was formerly classed largely as an epeen metre for how awesomely awesome you are, and not much else, but in the future, it will recieve a much greater role in the fabled possessions system, unlocking newer and sexier versions of wearable epeen.

James recently rolled out the updates, so you can now see where you stack up since the retooling of it. Normally, I wouldn't even have bothered mentioning this, but as James says, take a look at your Credit History Report on your admin panel of the site to make sure that all your previous positions and such are being taken into account.

Also, Shad's prestige is too damned high.

Gaming Updates

The big news out of the Fist's office this week is the return of the DB's Teamspeak Server so everyone can all get together and talk in full technicolour, or whatever the sound equivalent of technicolour is.. maybe stereo? Dolby? I don't know. Anyways, it's back. Other news from the Fist Report include some awesome looks at the Star Citizen dogfighting mechanics, as well as a rundown of the current month's gaming comps, and a breakdown of the winners from the last few weeks in gaming. Special congrats to Zoron and Aiden who both featured as winners in this report.

Rollmaster's Corner

Hello all. This will be just a quick set of mentions to be added onto Yacks’ report. I am leaving for Seattle in the morning (very early), and I’ll be back on Tuesday (April 22). So if you have any Rollmastery type questions – I’ll answer them when I get back. If there are urgent matters, please direct your questions to Rian or Yacks! Also, have a good weekend. And do all the things. :P

I would like to welcome Apprentice jango to Clan Taldryan (And House Ekky)!

Journeymen progress

Here are some notable accomplishments of our clan's journeymen in the past few weeks:

• Acolyte Kooks: Completed the Old Republic Basics Shadow Academy course, and earned 29 Clusters of Fire

• Guardian Catmatui: Earned a Crescent with Emerald Star, 17 Clusters of Fire, and was promoted to GMRG Rank II!

Taldryan Competitions

• Taldryan Gate Keeper Trials, April 2014 – Fight for the honour of being the commander of Taldryan’s Honour Guard!
• The Wardens Weekly Puzzle #3 – A puzzle competition hosted by Aiden Dru!
• Tarax Has an Idea - A competition hosted by Aedile Mav and Tarax to name Tarax’s newest weapon!

DB Wide Competitions

• Ice. In Summer. – An NHL Playoffs bracket (Go Habs!) hosted by our own DJK Zoron! Don’t you want to make history – Of course you do!
• The Most Dangerous Bounty Hunter Game – A fiction competition hosted by Plagueis’ Zednich Wolfram.
• GMRG Gorefest: April 2014 – Another installment of the GMRG’s Gorefest is this coming weekend! Double CFs for those that participate! Just make sure you sign up for the GMRG first.
• Star Wars Assault Team: Arena Wins – Another mobile game hosted by Plagueis’ Meleu.
• Am I mad, in a coma, or back in time? – Hosted by Arcona’s Kookimarissia Mimosa and Sarin – this is a character driven competition wherein your character wakes up in their own past.
• Beat The Bounty Hunter....... – An upcoming competition hosted by the Brimstone – it starts April 7th!
• Rampaging Raiders – A Fist of the Brotherhood office sponsored Old Republic raiding competition!
• Monthly Mobile Gaming: Smash Hit – Another monthly installment of the Fist of the Brotherhood mobile gaming competitions.
• Diablo Monster Erradicator – A Fist of the Brotherhood sponsored competition - Kill as many hell spawn as you can by the end of the competition and you win the prize.
• Club Firsts: Diablo 3 Torment 6 DJB Group Malthael Kill – The first full group of DJB members to defeat Malthael (Act V End Game Boss) on Torment 6 Difficulty will all earn a Pendant of Blood.
• Club Firsts: Diablo 3 Torment 6 Solo Malthael Kill – A Pendant of Blood will be awarded to the first member to defeat Malthael (Act V End Game Boss) in a solo game on Torment 6 Difficulty in Diablo 3

Competition Planning & Suggestion Box

So, I mentioned last week that I'm going to be working on a few fiction related comps in the coming days, which has now officially stretched into weeks. Sorry, life's been a bit hectic. I also have some plans for the ACC, and runon, and gaming, and a whole whack-a-mole of everything under the sun to bring to you guys. However, balancing with the whole Fading Light competition that's going on, and will stretch into another GJW in the summer, trying to fit this stuff in is a tricky situation. At least one fiction comp is coming, and fairly soon, but there are definitely a few more planned for you guys to sink your teeth into soon. Sorry for the delays.

I also realized, after talking with Dru last night, that there are probably quite a few among the Clan who have ideas of their own for competitions they'd like to participate in, or run for themselves. So, consider this now an open invitation... if you would like to see a certain type of competition, or if you'd like to run a competition: Email me or any member of the summit. Between us, we have something ungodly like 60 years combined experience planning and executing competitions at every level of the DB. We'd like to share our knowledge, and make competitions that are exciting and interesting for you all to participate in.

So let us know!

Also, like Howie, I'm going to be away from home this weekend for Easter festivities with the parents. While this basically means my IRC presence will be gone, it will also mean my email turnaround will likely be a bit slower than usual, but I'll still try to get back to you all within 12 hours or so. Just not going to make any guarantees.

Oh, and if you're thinking about going to Celebration Anaheim next year? Maybe read this here post by Solari..

That's it for this week. Take it easy folks!