Dock Warehouse 44-Mern
Coronet City Outskirts, Corellia
37 ABY

The sound of blaster fire had finally ceased, replaced by a deathly silence. The silence’s only disruption was the distant sound of emergency vehicle sirens, punctuated with a periodic creak of failing durasteel. As she wove her way through the throng of fallen thugs, Ness'arin Ohnaka, the director of the Dark Brotherhood's Inquisitorius, would pause periodically to lower herself and inspect the dead. To the average onlooker, these spot checks would appear random. Those who knew better would have realized that the fallen shared one key trait. Each and every one of them had been agents of the Collective.

Of course, at that moment there was no one present to question Ness’arin’s actions. The unfortunate few who were awake at this hour had their attention focused over a mile away where a massive fire churned dark smoke into the black night sky. No one would be venturing into the dock until morning.

Satisfied the body she was inspecting would yield no further information, she straightened herself. Before her was the main entrance to the dock’s warehouse. She had reached the end of the line. There was no delaying the meeting to come. The order was given, and her time had come to comply.

She walked head high, unperturbed by the flickering of overhead lights damaged in the battle that preceded her arrival. The bouts of unpredictable darkness did not even cause her to trip up over the additional bodies that lined the way inside the warehouse.

Inside the towering rows of containers were laid out like a labyrinth. Deep inside is where she found her quarry.

The Mandalorian knelt over yet another body. The twenty-third corpse by her count. A guard, a nobody. He was a flame in the darkness, his crimson armor lit afire by the glow of the holoterminal he had located within one of the many crates in the warehouse. As Ness’arin approached, her footfall ever silent, the bounty hunter gave no indication he was aware of her presence.

The bounty hunter fished something from one of the guard's pockets, looked it over. She was too far to see what it was that he had found, but it seemed to placate him. One second he was kneeling, and, with the blink of an eye, he was standing with one of his WESTAR-35s leveled at her.

Ness’arin froze as the bolt shrieked past her head, missing by only a few centimeters. A pain-filled groan came from behind. Somewhere in the darkness of the warehouse, a twenty-fourth body collapsed in a hollow thump. Idris held up his other hand, holding a datacard.

“I believe this is what you wanted,” Idris said tossing the card at the holoterminal. “I’d say that’s easier than going through all those pockets, no?”

“This was more about you than it was about the data on that terminal,” Ness’arin said.

“I am well aware, Director. I did take out all nine of those cameras you had set up to watch this little excursion,” he said. The Weequay smiled although her eyes did dart between the Mandalorian and the terminal several times as Idris spoke.

“There were eleven. You missed one in the container three rows in from the main entrance, and one by the trash compactor outside,” she replied. Idris shrugged.

“Eh, nobody is perfect. I was a bit busy,” he said before adding, “I charge extra for games.”

“We both know you enjoy the games. This whole exercise would have been unnecessary had you simply answered my call,” Ness’arin said. She didn’t bother masking her annoyance at his constant refusal to speak with her. She could have assigned any fledgling inquisitor to this data-retrieval task, and it could have been handled in a hundred different ways, each one resulting in a smaller body count than this.

At least, she had his attention now.

Her eyes darted back to the terminal yet again.

“Go on. Have a look before you give yourself a headache,” Idris responded. Ness’arin struggled to contain her burning curiosity, bouncing from one foot to the next as she weighed giving in. She was standing by the terminal within seconds.

“The Grand Master has a job for you. You will be compensated generously,” Ness’arin explained over her shoulder as she inserted the datacard.

“Yeah, well, does he know I charge extra for bowing and licking boots too?” Idris said leaning up against a nearby container. Ness’arin did not even attempt to hide her exasperation. After all, there was little she despised more than a cocky bounty hunter. They lacked the refinement of a true inquisitor and had about half the brains of a nerf.

“Look, I am going to forward system coordinates to your ship. You can’t possibly refuse an offer like this on—” The Mandalorian stopped her mid-sentence, calmly placing a gloved hand over her mouth.

“I know where I’m going,” Idris said. He removed his hand and started to walk towards the exit.

“You must learn to exercise discretion in the future. This job requires a deft hand,” Ness’arin said.

Idris paused and looked back at her. “I am always discrete. It was like that when I got here.”

Ness’arin pointed towards the exit and the visible glow of the fire in the distance.

“Not my fault the brake lines on that speeder were cut. Who knew someone would leave a whole fuel tank sitting right there in the middle of the road?” Idris continued.

Idris turned once more to leave. At the warehouse entrance, he pinged his ship. It was the ship’s mechanic, a Wookiee who first responded. Rayjax’s disgruntled growls came in through his comms as he took to the air with his powerful jetpack. The Wookiee must have been patiently waiting to hear Idris was still alive.

“Yes, it is handled,” Idris replied. There was a crackle of static before a different voice came through.

“Whatcha hear captain?”

“Nothing but the rain,” Idris stated. “Get the ship prepped for immediate departure, MJ. We are heading to Arx.”

An Introduction

Hello everyone! I hope you all will forgive the bit of introductory fiction above. This will be pretty much the only occasion you see me attach any form of “personal” level fiction to a report. I wanted to give a short and quick in-character introduction to Idris and let you all get a taste of what my writing style tends to be like.

First off I want to again give a shout out and thank Wally for the brilliant work he did as our Voice over the previous 3 years, and his time as Combat Master before that. He left some big shoes to fill and I hope I rise to the occasion. I urge you all to take a gander at his recently awarded Ruby Sceptor recommendation for just a small collection of his recent accomplishments. I also want to thank Mav and Evant for this opportunity as well as everyone who has reached out since I stepped in.

Who am I?

You all will see people refer to me as Idris, or Xen, or Matt, or ‘that dude’, or some variation thereof. I respond to pretty much any of those so just use what you feel most comfortable when pinging me. Idris Adenn is my lovely Mandalorian I started working on late last year. Before that my main character was Xen’Mordin for many many years. I led CSP from Feb 2011 to Aug 2017. I’ve served on the Voice Staff, Regent Staff, Headmaster Staff, and Herald Staff. Basically I’ve been around the block a few times.

What to expect

To pull a bit from the application I sent in for Voice, I strive to be the DERP this club needs in its Voice.

D rive
E xperience
R esolve
P assion

I think the fact I went to the trouble of filling out an acronym “DERP” for this tells you everything you need to know about me.

But, how does my DERPiness translate to you as a member?

I love fiction, I love this club, and I hope to help instill that same passion and drive within each of you. I am all about member empowerment. Bringing more options for you to play the characters you want to play and write the fiction you want to write.

I know that sounds like the same generic crap all leaders say. But I hope that we can see it done for you. I’ve got a lot of big ideas that I hope can pan out into functional improvements for the club.

An Invitation

All of this starts and ends with you the members. I’ve got several points to bring up.

Firstly, if you are on telegram and are not currently in the Fiction Chat Group I hope you come and join us. If you are looking for the join link check out the Brotherhood Chats page.

Secondly, if you ever need to reach me I am easily accessible via email: [Log in to view e-mail addresses]. I am also on Telegram with the user handle @idrisadenn.

Finally, I know sometimes people might be uncomfortable with directly coming to me (I promise I don’t bite), so to that end I’ve created an anonymous feedback form. There is an optional input line for if you would like a response back. I will be checking this form daily, but not with the same frequency as I check my email or telegram. I hope you all can feel comfortable enough talking to me in person that you don’t feel the need to use the form.

An Opportunity

The Voice Staff is currently operating short a Magistrate. As such I am opening up applications for the position until November 4th, 2019. Please submit applications to Atty ([Log in to view e-mail addresses]) and Myself ([Log in to view e-mail addresses]).

Some information about the position. Going forward I will be transitioning the two Magistrate positions to the rotating system used by several other DC offices. That is to say, expect this to be in general a one-year appointment. I have talked with TuQ’uan who has agreed to stay on while we train up the newest magistrate. My goal is to offset the rotation of the two magistrates so that not both magistrates aren’t “new” at the same time.

As for the position itself:

• Responsible for Character Sheet approval and remands (with comments for members).
• Responsible for Fiction Competition approval and remands.
• Work on assigned Voice projects/tasks.
• Help proofread
• Familiarize yourself with the Character Sheet and approval guidelines. Specifically what we look at regarding physical descriptions and custom aspects.
• We expect a quick turnaround for emails, the queue, and telegram messages.

A Q&A

Dek Iron'yikut asks: What are your short term and long term goals for fiction in the DJB?

Short term is to keep up the momentum and help with more build-up in incorporating the different clan storylines.

Fenrir asks: Who are the Voice staff and what are their responsibilities? Are such positions opening in the near future?

Currently, the P:Voice is Atty. We have one M:Voice, TuQ’uan. Both help with the queues for approving/remanding Character Sheets, Fiction Competitions, and proofing documentation that gets sent out. They also have to put up with me which is like an endurance Olympic sport. Applications are open currently for the second Magistrate position. Long term is help drive some awesome and fun new storylines with our array of new factions.

Alaisy Tir’eivra asks: What traits do you look for in others to work with you in office?

For starters, someone willing to put up with me. Voice staff requires close attention to detail specifically when it comes to processing other member’s character sheets and competitions.

Dek Iron'yikut asks: Where do you see the story going?

We’ve got a great enemy in the Collective, a new fragile alliance with the Principate, and a missing Deputy Grand Master. Immediately that is a pressing issue.

Tisto Kingang asks: Do you have any advice on updating character sheets? Anything you would like to see in new/updated Aspects or descriptions?

Character sheets definitely should be treated as living documents. Characters evolve or you might think of better aspects to define them. But I don’t think anyone should write new custom aspects just for the sake of writing new ones. And when you do, you don’t necessarily have to write them all as new and unique. If your character just has an updated approach to combat compared to one of their old ones just update that one.

The only thing I specifically want to see in new/updated aspects is if they work and follow the aspect guidelines. Aspects of a single character shouldn’t contradict each other. They should jive, and mesh. They should be balanced as well, no one character aspect suddenly turns them into an infallible person.

Dek Iron'yikut asks: Any major changes in the future?

This depends on the practical application of the bazillion ideas I have. Don’t expect fire to water levels of changes. My goal is to further refine and build upon what we have to make it even better.

Zentru’la asks: In what areas do think the voice office could to more to enhance the member experience of writing fiction in the club?

The number one thing I want to bring is more options for the members. I want to open up more types of storytelling and opportunities to write fiction beyond just the ACC and Competition formats we have now. I want to give more options for character creation. I want to empower members so they feel like they can have an impact.

Alaisy Tir’eivra asks: For how long do you want to be the Voice?

Long enough to do some good, not so long enough my butt fuses with the seat.

Dek Iron'yikut asks: Any chance for former Emperor Xen to make a comeback?

Xen is off doing his thing. Change is good and I’m enjoying Idris so probably not any time in the near future. If I’m feeling particularly self-serving I might use him for a cameo.

Alaisy Tir’eivra asks: What part of the job do you look forward to most?

Being able to create some (hopefully) fun fictional stories for people to play in.

Grot asks: What is your greatest fear?

On a personal level - that is just for me, it gets dark and not for you to know.
As Voice - That I drive this fiction train right off a cliff. Luckily we’ve got an awesome story group, and a team of people to tell me when I’m being too crazy.
Idris the character - something happening to his daughter or crew.

Alaisy Tir’eivra asks: What do you think will be the toughest part of your role?

A lot of Voice work comes down to balancing what the club needs in its fiction updates, what the members like to see and experience, and what the Voice finds enjoyable and interesting. Maintaining that balance of aspects isn’t an easy task.

Alaisy Tir’eivra asks: Planning any big things, like a new faction, NPC's, developments in current storylines that come purely from your own brainjuice?

I’ve got all manner of ideas. It doesn’t mean any of them are good or beneficial to the club. My first focus is the fall out from the war. The story group is a group, and we have lot of firepower in there and I look forward to seeing what our collective brain juices come up with.

Alaisy Tir’eivra asks: Can we have a rainbow colored fiction chat?

Nope. We are going to keep the #darkmode icon we’ve got. I miiiiiiiiiight be willing to add splashes of color for special events and holidays.

Multiple people ask: What sets you apart from previous Voices?

I’m not the previous Voices. I have a unique perspective and interests that differ from everyone else. I’ve also spent the last little while as a general member, which helps give some perspective on what members are experiencing.

That is it for now. I hope you all enjoy the currently running fiction competitions and will stop by in the Fiction Chat Group.