"Last but not least, I would say you should have great beards, full beards, not goatees. You know, it's very simple. You can't put a large box in a small box. Well, you cannot put a full beard in a small goatee."

The Bearded Tome: Chapter 68, Verse 1.

Headlines that you need to know

• Fading Light ACC Tournament: Sign-Ups Open
• Too Hot for Teacher: New Headmaster
• New Clan-wide Competition
• The Star Wars Universe is on Fire
• Rollmaster's Corner
• Competitions Around the DB

Fading Light ACC Tournament: Sign-Ups Open

Well, the time is finally upon us. I've literally been talking about it for months at this point, and it's finally here. Fading Light Round 2 is fast approaching. If for some reason you've missed the continued prompts to take the ACC Fundamentals course and get Qualified for the ACC, or thought you had plenty of time... well, you're now on the clock. You have until the end of day on May 14th to get yourselves set up with an approved Character Sheet and signed up to the official competition.

What we know about the upcoming round of the Fading Light tournament is outweighed by what we don't. We know for example that it's a tournament, but the form of it? We don't. We know for example that it's taking part in the ACC, but we don't know which format or the posting rules. But we're going to know soon.

That information is secondary. For now? Your jobs are to head over to the SA and take a couple courses, and get yourself ready to fight.

What we do know for certain about the upcoming round though, is that it will be fought on the planet of Begeren. The new ACC isn't like the stolid boring one of the past where it was just a blow by blow account of you smashing another guy's face in. Story plays a factor now. Knowing your surroundings is going to help. Be sure you read up on the planet as you're prepping for the coming rounds.

It's time to step back up to the plate Tal, and show what we can do. I know you won't let me down.

Too Hot for Teacher: New Headmaster

Another reason (beyond the obvious) why I want you to start hammering in those ACC Qualifications, is this: I know from experience that one of the best welcomes you can get to a job on the DC in this club is a flurry of activity. Well, today we get to offer our congratulations to Dacien Victae di Plagia, former Proconsul of Clan Plagueis, and new Headmaster of the Dark Brotherhood.

Dacien (or Bubba to those who stoicly refuse to accept name changes) has a huge pair of shoes to fill in taking over from Solari, but as he's a proper Sith, and not some weirdo lighty, I'm sure he'll do just fine. Again Bubba, my fullest congrats.

Join the rest of the DB by congratulating him on the GM's Report Here.

New Clan-wide Competition

In keeping with the trend of flooding Bubba's mailbox with a slew of course emails is the new Clan wide competition that just opened today.

The backstory of the competition is...

There's a storm coming, and your Proconsul is worried. Drums of war are beating around the Brotherhood, and he fears another call to the battlefield will soon be upon us. Taldryan blood has painted the lands of the conquered Sith Worlds red so far, and Keirdagh still has no idea why it's happening. Now, mysteriously the Headmaster of the Brotherhood has stepped down, and a replacement is being sought.

Keirdagh wants you to investigate why, by infiltrating the source of his worries: the Shadow Academy. The Force tells him the answers he seeks may be found there, and he wants you to find them for him.

In practice? I want everyone to head on over to the SA and start doing some more courses. A lot of people have worked very hard on the SA and the course material in there, and there's some really cool stuff in there if you haven't checked it out.

You can access the further details of this competition in website's competition centre.

The Star Wars Universe is on Fire

Just in case you missed the news of Star Wars breaking the internet... here's a bit of a roundup of what has been going on in and around the Star Wars Universe of Late.

• Starting in September of this Year The Expanded Universe is changing. The DB itself obvious exists in the EU, but the GM and Voice have assured us that they're working on a plan of how to deal with it. For now? It's an exciting time to be a Star Wars fan, even if it is a little terrifying also.
• Part of the reason the Star Wars EU is changing, is obviously the fact that Episode VII of the saga is soon going to begin filming. Just recently the Cast of the film was announced, damned near crashing twitter and the internet. It was glorious. We still don't know a whole lot about the film, and I hope JJ manages to do a better job of hiding the plot than he did with Star Trek Into Darkness, because at this point? I just want to be surprised. I don't want to have to dread the changes and be proven wrong, I want to experience the blissful joy and confusion of seeing the movie, and then endlessly debating its merits over the next four times I watch it in theatres.
• May the Fourth, otherwise known as Star Wars Day is fast approaching. While it may have started off with a bit of a tongue in cheek celebration, is blossoming into a full fledged celebration for Star Wars. This year, we've been promised that the DB is getting involved with the action with some special projects being churned out by the Recruitment and Herald teams, as well as some celebratory fun competitions for us to take part in. Make sure you keep yourselves tuned to the site this Sunday!

Rollmaster's Corner

Hello from the Rollmaster! This week, I have the distinct pleasure of welcoming two new members to Clan Taldryan! Jedi Hunter Ondur Lkaetur joined us from the rogues late last week, and has already earned himself a promotion and is well on the way to becoming a Dark Jedi Knight! Guardian Damirael also joined us from the rogues, and has taken to the Brotherhood with many questions and quite a lot of activity. I look forward to seeing them both advance!

This week also saw the return of Sith Battlelord Talon Jade, a long-time member! Welcome back!

Journeymen progress

Here are some notable accomplishments of our clan's journeymen (and woman!) in the past week:

• Protector Kooks: Kooks was awarded a Dark Cross a couple of days ago! Congratulations! He also completed ACC Fundamentals and was promoted to Freshman (rank II) in the Shadow Academy Society.
• Guardian Catmatui: Earned 3 Clusters of Fire!
• Guardian Damirael: Completed all the Essentials Shadow Academy courses and earned the Dark Pundit * Essentials Degree. He also completed three other courses, and has been restored to his proper rank of Guardian
• Jedi Hunter Ondur Lkaetur: Ondur was promoted to Jedi Hunter from Guardian this week, congratulations! He also completed the Races and Species, History of the Sith Empire II & III Shadow Academy Courses. These courses culminated in his earning of a Dark Maven – General History.

Competitions Around the DB

As always, there are a fair few competitions going on around in the DB and in Taldryan for you to jump in on. See them below.

Taldryan Competitions

• ACC Prep: Creating Another's Aspect – Create a character sheet aspect for another Clan Taldryan member. You must subscribe by May 2nd (this coming Friday) – and then the pairs will be assigned May 3rd!
• The Wardens Weekly Puzzle #5 – Another installment of Aiden Dru’s ongoing puzzle competitions!
• Creating the Harbingers' Motto – This is a House Dinaari only competition – create a motto for Battleteam Harbingers!

DB Wide Competitions

• Fading Light ACC Tournament – The next phase of the non-crusade Crusade starts in mid May! Go sign up!
• 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!
• DJB ToR Elite Raiders' Squad Name – This competition is hosted by our own Armags! The Brotherhood’s Old Republic Guild has a new face for raiding, and it needs a name!
• Star Conflict – Valhavoc is hosting a Star Conflict, earn Clusters of Fire and crescents for placement!
• The Most Dangerous Bounty Hunter Game – A fiction competition hosted by Plagueis’ Zednich Wolfram.
• Beat The Bounty Hunter....... – An upcoming competition hosted by the Brimstone – it starts April 7th!
• 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

That's it for this week. Make sure you take a look at the most recent Ekky and Dinaari reports to see what's happening in your houses, as well as check for updates from the DC on the main page of the site.

Also, again...

• ACC Fundamentals
• ACC Qualification
• Fading Light ACC Tournament Signups

Take it easy folks!