Classified

The Tarentum Consul, clad in the resplendent formal robes he only wore for special occasions, knelt silently in the ring of light - the only light, as far as he could tell, in whatever room he had found himself led to. He had been contacted aboard the Corsair only the day previous and rather unceremoniously ordered to board the shuttle that would be rendezvousing with the ship to be transported to an unannounced location - on the orders of the Dark Council. Farrin had inquired discreetly to the Headmaster about the summons and had been met with professions of ignorance, which meant Dacien was either lying to his Magistrate or the rumors of the fracturing of the Council might be more true than previously thought. Now, here he was, led from the shuttle into the hanger bay of some unknown capital ship and then deep into its recesses.

Council summons were a lot easier when you knew you were going to Antei, the Consul mused, before reflecting that even that wasn't completely true - an unexpected summons, with all of its potential ramifications, was a concerning event no matter where it occurred. The entire flight to wherever he currently found himself Farrin had spent reflecting on his actions over the past months, racking his brain to figure where he could have possibly misstepped egregiously enough to warrant a formal and in-person summons to appear before the Council. Unfortunately through the entire flight, the former Krath could come up with nothing.

After waiting for what seemed like half an eternity - but was in reality likely no more than five to ten minutes - a hooded and robed figured appeared like a ghost at the edge of the circle of light. With a barely-suppressed start, Farrin thought he made out the features of the Deputy Grand Master himself, Telaris Cantor. Now his apprehension grew tenfold.

As he tried to process this new bit of information, a slight cough brought Farrin's attention to his left where the instantly-recognizable figure of his Master, Hades, knelt in a similar position to the Consul's own. Wait, what the frak is going on here? Farrin thought, and by the surreptitious glance Hades gave, his friend was likely wondering the same thing.

After a moment, Mav stepped into the circle of light between the two and lowered his hood. "Gentlemen, you have both been summoned by the Dark Council in recognition of your efforts on behalf of Tarentum. You have both labored hard for the Clan that you both clearly hold dear and Darth Pravus and I felt it was overdue that you were recognized for it." He paused for a moment before turning to regard Farrin. "I'm not one for too much in the way of unnecessary ceremony, so... Consul Farrin Xies, arise now as Battlemaster Farrin Xies. Congratulations."

After a the briefest of hesitations spent enjoying the moment, Farrin grinned and stood. "I live to serve, m'lord." For a second, he had forgotten that Hades was still there, kneeling, likely wondering what his reward would be. Luckily they didn't have to wait long, as Telaris turned to face the still-kneeling Sith.

"Battlemaster Hades, no one has ever served in your rank as long as you have. You've put in the time, you've put in the effort, and your Clan never saw fit to reward you for those efforts. Likely any other Clan would have done something about that long ago." Though the criticism of Tarentum was true, it still pained Farrin to hear it. His friend and mentor had been constantly passed up for promotion and even in the months he had spent on the Clan Summit he was just as guilty as his predecessors of never seeking to suitably reward Hades. The Tarentum Consul wasn't permitted to wallow in guilt for more than a moment, however, as the Deputy Grand Master continued on.

"Hades, because of what I mentioned, I've long wondered... why have you remained in Tarentum for this long?" It took the two Tarenti a moment to realize the question wasn't rhetorical.

Still kneeling, Hades turned his face upward to meet Telaris in the eye. "Tarentum is my home, and forever will be. I have my faults and weaknesses, but my loyalty to my Clan should never be doubted." It was a simple statement, to be honest, but it summed up Hades' character more than anything else would ever be able to.

After a moment, the Dark Councilor nodded. "No, Hades, I find no reason to doubt your loyalty to Tarentum now or, I expect, in the future. And it's precisely that reason that I'm proud to say today... rise, Battlelord Hades. May you always serve as an example of loyalty to one's Clan above all other things."

The newly-minted Battlelord slowly straightened, a look of pure satisfaction across his face. Turning to Farrin, both Tarenti broke out in grins before crossing to each other to shake hands and slap each other on the back. Master and Apprentice, they had served their Clan the best they could. For once, it seemed, their actions had been noticed.

Welcome to my fourth official report as your Consul, Tarentum. I want to apologize briefly if my online presence hasn't been quite up to my usual standard the past couple of weeks - as some of you may know, in that awful place we call RL I'm a speech and debate coach, and my biggest project every year is the hosting of a debate tournament on my campus. This year I ran the largest tournament I've ever overseen, with 31 schools from across Texas bringing close to 400 students and over 100 adults (coaches and volunteers) out to compete. An awful stress on a normal occasion, I also had to contend with random anti-abortion protests, an actual fire in my building, tornadoes, and flooding so bad I was considering building an ark to get home. All together, it turned me into a bit of a ghost for the past couple of weeks, with little time to do much else than clear my Telegram notifications and respond to email. However... I'm back, baby. :)

My absence I think was especially hard-felt on my counterpart in Plagueis, Teylas, who has been an absolute rockstar in the planning and execution of our Plagueis-Tarentum combined event, Forged Alliances. I readily admit that I have not been as much of an equal partner as Teylas was promised and as he deserves. For that I am truly sorry.

With all of that said... there's a lot going on to report, so let's dive right into it!

DJB-Wide News

• The Fist's Praetor put out a gaming update a couple of days ago outlining some changes to PoBs and updates to some of the gaming-related Wiki pages. I'd recommend taking a gander if you're a gamer and haven't read over it yet here. In other, awesome Fist related news, our wonderful Proconsul Beef has been named M:FIST for KOTOR, so if you're into TOR... well, you'll continue to be unable to escape him. :P

• There was an excellent Herald report that showed some additional work on weaponry for none-Force users as well as teased an image of what I'm almost certain is some starships. Cool stuff, always really awesome to see what the Herald and his crew are doing. He also published a quick note to let everyone know that the avatar guidelines have been relaxed as far as allowing images from KOTOR to serve as your avatar.

Tarentum News

• The biggest news to me within our Clan was the announcement a few days ago of Hades' elevation to the rank of Battlelord (EQ3). Hades has been stuck at EQ2 in the DJB for 12 years - his time-in-rank was almost old enough to legally get on a website without its parents' permission - and yet Hades remained a true and loyal member of Tarentum throughout. I strongly urge you to read some of the things we had to say about him in the recommendations, it'll give you a real testament to how awesome he is.

• Our joint event with Plagueis is still going strong in its third week. For the scores so far, I'll point you to Teylas' (far superior) report with the breakdown. Though there are some team aspects of this competition, even if you're not a part of a team most of the competitions are still open to you, so don't hesitate to hop in there and do all the things!

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My friends, I'm really proud to call Tarentum home. On a daily basis the entire group of you make me realize how lucky I am to get to be a part of this brotherhood-within-the-Brotherhood we call our Clan. Let's finish out Forged Alliances and the year strong and make 2016 the year where we continue to underscore just how far we've come since nearly being closed. Tarentum Momentum!