Ladies and gentlemen of the team, fellow Qel-Dromans and Arconans (and various onlookers), welcome to the inaugural report of Tyrant Sword. Again, this is an honour to be here and to be penning this report. What started as a tiny little idea has snowballed into a battleteam that has already expanded drastically beyond my original expectations - so, thank you to each and every one of you that has shown interested, joined up, or even offered words of encouragement (lookin' at you, pretty Shadow Lady!) for the belief in myself and my team.

Let's get cracking, because as anyone who knows me will happily tell you: I love reports. This will be as informative a report as I can hopefully make it, so let's get on with it.

Home Is Where The Heart Was

The imposing figure of the Broken Blade scythed its way through the blackness of space, out towards the very edges of the Dajorra Asteroid Field. Hidden within the asteroid belt were innumerable mining facilities geared towards the collection of minerals and metals for the continued production of the Arconan war machine, myriad pirates and criminals testing their luck, and one asteroid base left alone for what was approaching six months.

Once a mining facility, this asteroid base had been converted by House Qel-Droma to be the headquarters for Apex Brigade, the enforcers of the will of the House and the Clan. They were once responsible for keeping the peace across the Dajorra System - and its last leader had been Rhiann Hi'ija. She, Mirus and Adem had all once been part of the team in its waning days and were highly familiar with the asteroid that they were travelling to. It was certainly large enough to house the Blade and was enough to hold all their loot, refurbishment facilities, living quarters, their cantina - the list went on. As far as asteroid bases went, the old rock was perfect.

The three of them convened on the bridge of the Blade as Corso, their new chief navigator, took the ship through the asteroid belt deftly, maneuvering their way around tiny rocks in space, skillfully taking them towards their new haven.

"Strange how many memories this place holds," Adem commented as he looked out over the vista of space. Unlike Rhi and Mirus, he'd been a member of Apex far longer than the two of them.

"Agreed," murmured the Sephi woman as she clasped her hands together, knuckles turning white. Most of those memories left a rather sour taste in her mouth to consider. While she had been the one person to escape the fate of the team relatively unharmed - and with a Magnaguard wardroid in tow - many others were simply absorbed back into the House's resource pool, though some had transferred over to Shadow Gate to serve more... underhanded operations. This was a chance that some did not relish. For some, Tyrant Sword was an escape from the politics and from the watchful eyes of Summits and rules.

Want to read more? The tale continues here.

On Deck - An Overview

Ladies and gents, I would be remiss were I not to explain the team - not only for our newer members, but also for the onlookers, and also to give you guys a reference point and some transparency on my part. I like to ensure you guys are kept apprised of all developments; I do intend my reports to be as informative as humanly possible so that you guys have a one-stop shop for the month to refer back to.

Tyrant Sword is a battleteam that thrives upon its continued, persistent fiction. The results of competitions will determine what happens in those fictions and will ultimately shape the fate of the crew of the Broken Blade. These competitions will always have a two-week timeframe, from the 1st to the 14th and then the 15th to the 28th, with a battleteam report published on the 5th of each month. As such, these two competitions will be the minimum official competitions of the battleteam, with one fiction comp per month and one competition that will be determined by what you guys express to me as being generally relevant and/or interesting. I always promote going out there and participating in the millions of other available Brotherhood competitions and activities - a list of competitions currently running will be published in my reports to that end.

For example - the second competition this month will determine our two enemies. Top two placements will help me determine our enemies over time. Want to know more? Stay tuned to our competition starting the 15th to find out!

In the coming days we will be developing our wiki page and expanding upon each crew member's role aboard the ship - stay tuned! Emails to you guys will be going out about this subject and what I have in mind, as I feel this would be a great project for a newer member or two to help out with for some credit towards a big promotion - so don't hesitate to volunteer, even if you're unsure!

One final thing: Celahir, Battleteam Leader of Soulfire Strike Team over in House Galeres, has created a form for us as your Summit to keep track of your interests and goals in the Brotherhood so that we can help to deliver you the absolute best possible experience. I would greatly appreciate it if you guys gave me five minutes of your time to fill out this form.

If you have any questions, queries or concerns, I am always fairly immediately available by email ([Log in to view e-mail addresses]) as well as via Telegram (@MirusDB). I am also frequently available on IRC in Arcona's channel.

Through The Spyglass - The Brotherhood

At this point in time, the Brotherhood is undergoing a massive amount of change. For our newer members, this may not seem like a big deal, but for some of us old folk this is a massive deal as it represents progress like we've never seen. The Brotherhood has not seen an upheaval like this in the way things are done in many, many years and it is absolutely glorious. Allow me to expand on some of the most important changes and how they may affect you all:

• First and foremost is the fact that we now have access to Non-Force Users, as well as the Light, Gray and Dark Paths. The interplay between them essentially means that you are able to be a Loyalist (think more of a soldier), a Mercenary (cash money!) or a Force-User of various Paths. Clan Arcona exists on the Gray and Dark Paths, meaning that you can be anything but a Jedi by default - and a Jedi with a fictional reason approved by the Grand Master. Deputy Grand Master Telaris Taldrya Cantor (aka Mav) expands upon this in his newest report. I would like to just state for the record that I think Loyalists are amazing and if I was not so massively attached to Mirus I would be one. Definitely check it out.
• Ranks are undergoing a very slight change. Your first four ranks are now the Novitiate tier - the easiest way to remember it is that all the promotions you get up until Journeyman 1 are automatic by the system. If you'd like to check out the full rank chart, Praetor to the Headmaster Ood Bnar created this wonderful graphic that explains the Ranks and Paths in full. For our new members, if you need assistance navigating how to earn those promotions up the ranks, please consult the Promotion Guidelines DBWiki page and have a chat with your Master for some ideas!
• New Character Sheet options have been rolled out! Most of you have already done this, and that's amazing to see. However, at this point in time, even more new Disciplines are being generated, meaning your existing sheets may have some slight changes or even perhaps some great new ways to be fleshed out in the full. Combat Master Marick Arconae aka Wally has pointed out a great resource he lovingly calls C-Dawg - the Character Sheet Reference Document, that lists every species, feat, aspect, venue - you name it about the Character Sheet, it's there. Some of you still have work on your character sheets you'd like to do - check out this stuff and enjoy!
• The Herald, my good friend V'yr Vorsa, is making some incredible strides in deploying new robes and weapons options. In fact, one such change is that we now have a pirate cutlass designed by yours truly on the selector. I may or may not have been thinking about us when I made it. ;) There are new swords and blasters on the selector for you to display on your dossier, as well as a huge selection of old robes newly available to Journeyman 4 (Knight) ranked members and above. Check your Robe and Lightsaber Selector Tools and display your new shinies with pride! Shoutouts to V'yr and Esca for some brilliant designs.

In other news:

• Valhavoc has made some changes to Diablo 3-related Clusters earnings, showcased a great video about how to report your gaming activity and headlined a new Jedi Academy tournament. Check out his latest Gaming Update for more information!
• Star Wars Battlefront beta? New Star Wars VII teaser? Yes. This pleases me. What would we ever do without you, Yacko?

Through The Spyglass - Arcona

The biggest news to come out of the Shadow Clan is the House Galeres event The Fall of SCEPTER. This event is available to all of Clan Arcona and details are available in the parent competition. I urge all of you, very strongly, to participate. There are some short competitions from flash games to extended fiction and gaming events, so there is absolutely something for everyone here. Especially our newest members - please get involved! This is the kind of thing that gets your name out there - Arcona is even known to reward high participation in Clan events... ;)

Watch for a Tyrant Sword fictional mini-update to accompany this event! I feel that as fellow Arconans we should all collaborate and work together on this and I'm very excited for how we can get ourselves involved with the rest of the Clan. For further information about the event, please check your emails - Galeres Quaestor Braecen Kaeth has made some information and fiction snippets available to you. If you for whatever reason are not receiving these emails, please notify me immediately so we can have this situation rectified.

The Crewlist

Every month this section will contain a full update of what everyone's done, new members since the last report, and will conveniently serve as an ongoing record of our wonderful team for posterity. If I miss anything in this, please feel free to correct me.

This month... well, more like a week and a half, we're already looking great. I'm proud of you guys. Keep it up!

Adem Bol'era

• Joined the team! Welcome, Adem!
• 1x Dark Cross

Dash Rowsdower

• Joined the team! Welcome to the DB, Dash!
• Promotion to Neophyte

Dorn Alder'ax

• Joined the team! Welcome aboard, Dorn!

Eringuard Edmons

• Joined the team! Welcome, Erin!
• Promotion to Acolyte

Mirus Hi'ija (ew)

• Scrublord maximus.
• 1x Dark Cross
• 1x Anteian Cross

Nashiro Kakos

• Joined the team! Glad to have you, Kakos!
• 1x Pendant of Blood
• 1x Diamond Crescent
• 1x Scroll of Indoctrination
• Elevation to GMRG Rank V

Rhiann Hi'ija

• Definitely an elf.

From the First Mate’s Datapad

Hello! I’m Rhiann Hi’ija, formally known as Rhiann Baenre. I kinda changed my name because despite what my incredibly outdated wiki page says, Rhiann and Mirus are married. I figured it was about time I changed my name thingy to reflect that. So yeah! Some of you have known me for some time, but some of you I’ve never met before. I’m fairly easy to contact and to talk to, despite the fact that I’m a pretty quiet person. Or you can bug Mirus. He can pretty much talk on my behalf because he’d know what I’d say in most situations. And me to him for the most part.

So welcome to the battleteam! I really hope you all enjoy being here and that the fictionally driven idea gets your creativity going and you enjoy being the main thing that shapes what this battleteam does and how our stories and adventures end up.

Boarding Parties - Competitions

• Strands of Fate - Ready For Battle - Part one of a fiction comp that runs every 2 weeks. 750 word max prompts based on your character!
• Antei Contract Bureau - The Antei Contract Bureau is one of the best fiction activities in the DB. Ask for a mission based on what you want to write and at a difficulty of your choice, then write it! The feedback is incredible.
• Rivalries ACC Tournament - If you're interested in the Antei Combat Centre, check this tournament out. Sign up for a match and write a shared ending match with your random opponent.
• Diablo 3 S4 Greater Rift Ladder (Seasonal) and Diablo 3 S4 Greater Rift Ladder (Non-Seasonal) - Can you complete the highest level Greater Rift? Find out!
• Caption That Phase One - Part one of a caption comp running. Use Star Wars stuff to create a funny picture to be captioned in the next part!
• Star Wars Galactic Defense - Kashyyyk - Are you a Galactic Defense player? Here's your chance to earn a boatload of stars on Kashyyyk and grab a Crescent for it!
• Return of the Pacman - Play Pacman. I don't think this comp can get any simpler.
• DJB Duels - JA/Pazaak - Earn as many Clusters as you can playing these two platforms and submit to this comp while doing so. Easy fun and great for PvP gaming!
• ComPUNction for Puns - It's pun season. Prepare to groan. Take the topic and generate as many bad puns as you can.
• A PUN little Fiction Competition - This time you have to write fiction with puns woven into it. Oh god.
• Star Conflict PvP - This is a simple Star Conflict competition. Play Star Conflict, submit the matches, and whoever gets the most CFs wins! I'll be playing in this for sure.
• Mobile Gaming: Cytus - Play Cytus and submit a song you've finished. You'll get five Clusters of Earth out of it!
• Darkblade's Mobile Game Corner: Goat Evolution Part 2: Aliens! - Longest comp name I've ever seen for sure. Popular last time. I guess you farm goats? I don't know. Try it out.

And that's it, boys and girls. It's been a pleasure writing this report - thank you to Rhiann for penning her section and helping me with this report, and most importantly thank you for reading it. Stay on the lookout for some emails headed your way about updates and what we'll be doing with Tyrant Sword. We're about to kick things into overdrive for you guys - now that we're getting settled, we can do just that. I'd definitely like to see about getting our newer members some chunks done through their promotions (I love promotions, they're great!) and if you're interested in some help regarding that, definitely hit me up.

Welcome aboard, boys and girls. This is going to be a wild ride.