March 4th 2014 -

Hey all,

"What is dead may never die..."

As a few of you may know from my whining in the IRC channels, my laptop broke almost 2 weeks ago. What I thought was a completely out of the blue melt down, turns out to be a reoccurring trait with acer laptops (since when is a laptop only expected to last 2 years?!). Unfortunately that has delayed this report, the next fictional update, and crippled my gaming ability. But like a phoenix, I arise....with a macbook. So this report is gonna be big, too big to be a space station ;) or what a regular report should be but for once I'll put a TL;DR at the bottom.

I must say, for years I have been entirely against the Apple hype. Then two years ago I got an iphone and I swore it wasn't going to change me. Last year I got a new ipod, AND the 5s when it came out...still not proud of that. Now I am stuck on a macbook for the next two months which was loaned to me by my brother until I buy a new laptop.

After several days of having this laptop - I can't promise my next purchase won't be apple. When I found out there's an app called bootcamp that would solve all gaming concerns I had, I think I may have promised my soul to Steve Jobs. If he uses it to comes back to life and attempts to conquer the world, I just want the DJB to know Tarentum claims him and everything Zombie-Steve Jobs does as our own.

In Darkness We Trust

Dark Crusades

Fading Light

Like a bad case of the herpes (edit: what do you mean it never goes away?!?), the Dark Crusades is back. This however is the Epilogue and is meant to connect the past year to the GJW this summer. As Raken announced in his report we do have a rough schedule of how this Epilogue with go down:

• February (28th to March 16th) - Bosthirda
• April (TBD) - Planet Two
• June (TBD) - Planet Three

It will be based over three planets, winner will be the unit that gets the most points over the course of these three planets (I believe its Gold Nove = 15points, Silver = 10, Bronze=5). Individual hero titles are available for the top winners.

Oh, and:

• This round the Run-On team that wins earns Ferran's sword for their unit, and the MVP of that run-on gets to have it on their dossier. No big deal :P
• Next planet will be ACC focused. We have several people qualified, let's get a few more on the roster. (Also, if you want to practice/get familiar with the ACC - feel free to challenge me).

Planet One: Bosthirda

This month's planet is Bosthirda. Its about to receive a pounding from the DB fleet overhead. Run-on teams are racing towards getting Ferran's sword before Muz wipes the city off the face of the world. Tarentum got 2 teams together and entered:

Team One:

• SBL Scion Altera
• DJM Anshar Kahn Tarentae
• SBM Hades
• KP Altheseus Levathan
• DJK Saronyx

Team Two:

• SBM Raiju Kang
• DA Maxamillian von Oberst
• SBM Archean Tarentae
• SBM Rax Von-Klug
• GRD Garloaf

For those not involved, please feel free to cheer your housemates and watch the two run-ons (linked above). Looks like some big character development will happen for our members.

House News

Tarentum Website

For awhile now Scion and I have been discussing with the Tarentae what our future goals are for this house. While this has gone on to a number of different ideas, which you will see more of below or will witness in the coming changes in our lore/wiki, a bunch of ideas intertwine. These focus on highlighting what Tarentum is, what our members offer, and what makes us stand out from the other units or the DB at large. So it was decided that we needed a central hub for this, a place to house it and only Tarentum-specific stuff. This does play into other plans (see below) but mainly we want a specific spot to celebrate Tarentum. At the moment Scion is taking the lead on this (no surprise given his job ;D ) but anyone who wants to help build this site is welcome to join. Just throw Scion an email and let him know what you can do. Otherwise, stay on watch for this to launch.

House Recruiter

Members are what make this house. It's what will get us to clanhood. It's the lifeblood of this whole club. While the DB gets tons of hits each day, and we continue to have people joining the club on a daily basis - it has been observed that direct-recruits (someone who is coached to come here by someone already a member) do a lot better than random-joins (someone who stumbled on the site and joins). Don't get me wrong, I was a random-join way back when - random-joins can be quite successful and are just important to our future. But we cannot just focus on random-joins for our house. We need direct-recruits, and the other units have shown how much of an impact that can be. So today, Scion and I are looking for a House Recruiter.

We need someone to take the lead of promoting Tarentum to the world, who's willing to advocate on our House's behalf to the deepest and darkest part of the internet, and someone who is willing to take our house to social media and pump the shit out of it. Considering all this, we need someone who's active. Someone with knowledge of social media (who will be promoting content that is posted to the Tarentum site once launched). And we need someone who has a customer service background, who can be that gentle coaching soul to help people get to the DB site and signed up with Tarentum. If you are the person for this, email Scion and I.

Military Purchases

After the poll on the discussion forums, Scion and I will follow your wishes and not spend our points right now. We will be waiting until the end of the GJW to use all of the points to fill some big gaps in our miliary (which have been outlined in the discussion) as well as looking to boost our taskforces without going outside of their design. I want to thank everyone for their participation in this.

Wiki Updates

Lately Rax and I have been updating the wiki for Tarentum. Rax has been cleaning up some of the military pages since the restructure as well as starting out some kick-ass NPCs to assume control of the military. I've been updating categories, moving around articles and trying to get the lore ready for a major update. There still is plenty to be done and I always welcome the help so let me know if you are interested in helping.

Change of the Guard

Back in January I announced that we were looking for someone new to take over as BTL. Originally this was for Jen Kaari, as Anshar was willing to let someone new step up and take the reigns if they were willing. However, in a twist of fate; Frosty in Knights of Tau unfortunately had to resign due to RL around this same time so Scion and I made the call to use the applications for KoT instead. As you may has seen in his report two weeks ago, Hades has been selected to run Knights of Tau. He's been nailing it ever since and I just want to take the time to publicly welcome him to the House Summit.

Discussion Piece: Get to Know a Tarenti

This subject has been revived with a nomination for Scion. Let's get a few more nominations and I'll start a poll. I'll aim to have the next Tarenti to be interviewed in my next report.

Word from the Battleteams

Jen Kaari

• Anshar is back, snow storms suck eh?
• Jason Hunter unfortunately went to rogues because of RL, he'll be missed
• Recruitment a priority, know someone that might be interested in joining Tarentum?
• Lots of awards (see below)
• Anshar is willing to step aside for anyone interested in being BTL, let the Summit know if you are

Knights of Tau

• Hades is new BTL
• Alien Swarm comp running
• Hades wants to remind you to log in every week, avoid the dreaded AWOL check! :)

DB News

• Diablo 3 currently has a 50% experience bonus
• The Fist released a report on D3, CFs and PoB changes
• James' has a new SCL report out!
• New TOR goodies coming!
• New DGM Report
• More SW Ep7 Casting News
• Voice Report
• Muz announces his 5th anniversy as GM and Two Units are granted Clanhood

Raiju's Rant

And then there were three. In case you missed it; Muz announced that two iHouses (that's independent houses) would rise to clanhood once more. This has left the club with three iHouses, 2 which were former clans and 1 modern creation. To me, this is awesome news! Putting these clans to the side for a moment (I don't even feel sorry, you guys got your week of fame :P) this has two important points for the rest of the iHouses:

1) There still is a way to reach clanhood in the modern DB

&

2) There is more than one way to do so

Like I said, awesome news. For too long now the DB has gone without more clans being added. Unlike some, I came into the DB where there were no Independent Houses. A house was part of a clan, and there were seven of them at that time: Arcona, Exar Kun, Naga Sadow, Satal Keto, Scholae Palpatine, Taldryan, Tarentum. Those days have long since gone; with several major changes taking place. And frankly, when Arcona and Naga Sadow made clanhood and the years dragged on with no one else stepping up; it hurt morale. I've always tried to remain positive (which admittedly wasn't always possible) and no matter what unit I was in I've tried pushing the thought of that unit regaining clanhood - and I met resistance from some individual or another. Even when I was in the two units that were just recently raised. I certainly don't hold it against those individuals though, considering what it would be like to build something and have someone else tear it down - that would suck beyond explanation. And I am happy to listen to anyone who wants to get their frustrations off their chests. But I am also going to be looking forward. If they can do it, we can too. We know the doors will open, it's just a matter of getting to that moment like they did.

And as I mentioned, the second point I take is there is certainly more than one way to reach clanhood. I've been in a leadership position for over a year straight now; BTL, RM and now AED. No matter what position I was in I kept hearing "we need to be more like Arcona" (sorry CNS). I've been in leadership positions several times since the clans first were busted down to iHouses and never had I heard that sentence as much as I did in the last year. Well a week ago that sentence was shattered. We don't have to be Arcona (no offense guys), we can try it like one of the other three clans; or better yet, we can find Tarentum's own way to clanhood. One way or another, Tarentum will get out of this pit - or own it. We won't be consumed.

Tarentum Competitions

• Keeping Enemies Close
• Knights of Tau vs Alien Swarm

DB Wide Competitions

• Madness?! Madness!!
• PVP Master
• Monthly Mobile Gaming: Basketball Mania
• Create-an-NPC
• Feeling a bit Poe-ish today?

Shadow Academy

GRD Garloaf

• Obelisk Core
• Planets and Stars
• Shadow Academy Rank elevated

SBM Hades

• TOR Basics

SBM Rax Von-Klug

• ACC Fundamentals
• ACC Qualification
• Cryptography 101

SBM Raiju Kang

• ACC Fundamentals

Transfers

KAP Jason Hunter leaves for Rogues, you can see a cool outro fiction he wrote here

*Disclaimer, Jason didn't have a title so I kinda just went for it. Jason, if you want it changed just let me know :)

GRD Garloaf

• Legion of the Scholar

KP Altheseus Levathan

• Cluster of Ice x6
• Legion of the Scholar
• Crescent w/ Amethyst
• Crescent w/ Emerald
• Crescent w/ Topaz x2

SW Ayden Dane

• Dark Cross
• Crescent w/ Topaz
• Cluster of Fire x72

SBM Rax Von-Klug

• Dark Cross
• Legion of the Scholar
• Crescent w/ Sapphire
• Crescent w/ Emerald
• Crescent w/ Quartz
• Cluster of Fire x5

SBM Raiju Kang

• Cluster of Ice x3

• Cluster of Fire x4 DJM Anshar Kahn Tarentae

• Legion of the Scholar

• Crescent w/ Sapphire

• Crescent w/ Emerald x2

• Crescent w/ Topaz

Zero was promoted to Novice, Congrats!

Ravaged

Raiders of Oricon finished a few weeks back. Unfortunately, it was around this time my laptop died and I haven't done the epilogue piece. No worries, I'll get it finished shortly which will finished our event on Oricon and set us up for our next location (of course will the tie in to Bosthirda as a little detour for us). However, out of character news:

• We had three events that would have the winners of them impact the story in the future
  • Rax won the Heroic moment and will see his character in a very important way
  • Anshar won the Story Development event and will have part of his fiction involved in the closing fiction
  • Anshar also won the Lasting Change category, which will see his beast come into play later in the story
• Of all the placements, Levathan came out on top as the winner of the event. He will also see his character in some very important way

For those that didn't see the rest of the competition placements:

New Leads:

• 1st: Rax
• 2nd: Lev
• 3rd: Anshar

Zoology of Sith Alchemy:

• 1st: Anshar
• 2nd: Lev

Field Report:

• 1st: Lev

To Take What is Owed:

• 1st: Anshar

Tomes of Sith Alchemy:

• 1st: Lev
• 2nd: Rax
• 3rd: Anshar

Overall:

• 1st: Lev
• 2nd: Anshar
• 3rd: Rax

Conclusion

That's it for this report. Thanks for sticking with it, that was a lot to go through. I'll make sure not to go so long without a report again. :)

TL;DR

• Raiju's laptop broke, brothers are awesome
• Dark Crusades into Epilogue
  • First planet is has only Run-On event
  • Winning unit also gets Ferran's sword, MVP of winning team gets it on dossier
  • Tarentum field 2 teams
• Work starts on new Tarentum website/central hub, email Scion if interested in helping
• House Recruiter wanted as need for direct-recruits rises, email Scion & Raiju if interested
• Military Purchases on hold until GJW, saving for big spending
• Hades is new KoT BTL
• Looking for new Get to Know your Tarenti nominations on the forums
• Lot's of BT and DB news
• Raiju rants about two houses becoming clans, why its a good thing for Tarentum
• Competitions listed
• Membership promos, awards, transfers
• Ravaged: Raiders of Oricon results and news

~RK~