** Good news, some not so good news, and a few things in between. All below…**

First up…course news

Well, I’d like to say that I have more news over last time, but I’m afraid I don’t. Dranik had some non-work related real life stuff come up, so that has delayed the release of Sith Empire III. But, he has said it should be up soon. Also, the Core course rewrites have been delayed a bit so we can double check ourselves, and make certain that what is written elsewhere doesn’t conflict with what the course notes say. After all, we don’t want to be saying two different things. But, we’re getting there, so don’t worry. They will be up ASAP. Especially since I’m tired of saying stuff like this…

After we get Sith Empire III up and the Core updates done, I will likely end the moratorium on official new course proposals. I’d like to do Clan history courses, and I’ll be talking to the Consuls, but those have to wait until the clans are ready, not when I am ready. This is not an invitation to bombard me with dozens of useless course proposals. But, I know some of you have some good ideas that you’ve been itching to get to me. You can still air out your ideas on the message board topic. Also, when the moratorium ends, all new course ideas should follow the outline laid out on the SA site (see the link of the left hand side). I’ll remember to mention that when the moratorium ends.

SA competitions

Well, the run-on competition has hit its end date, but without a single run-on actually being completed. A few have been closed due to inactivity, but I’m allowing the others to continue so they can finish up. This whole thing has taught me one big thing: for events like the run-ons, you really need someone (or a few someones) who can help guide the storyline. In some cases, this may mean the organizer him or herself, perhaps with some confederates, or some people who are part of the run-on team to take a guiding hand and move the story along. That sounds kind of bad, doesn’t it?

Well, in reality, I don’t think it is. First off, the goal of the run-on is to finish the story, as if you were writing the story by yourself. In the event of larger competitions (such as Rites of Supremacy or Great Jedi Wars), you may want to ensure that a certain event occurs. Now, this is not to say that the plot should be static because, quite frankly, that’s boring. You have to go with what people write, and be adaptable. This is all a very roundabout way of saying that A) I foresee another run-on event hosted by the SA in the future and B) it’ll be more organized, at least plot wise. Myself and others (chosen around that time) will be heavily involved in it. But, this new run-on event will NOT happen until after the upcoming Rite of Supremacy and Great Jedi War are over.

SA trivia continues to go well. Participants average about eight per week, with new people dropping in from time to time; they range in “age” from brand new members to crazy old coots like Mejas :P All are welcome: we typically run the events on Saturdays at 1:00 (1300) EST in #shadowacademy on IRC, though we have done message board events, too.

New member competitions: This has been tossed around before, but we’re going to implement it. In short, every 2-3 weeks, the SA will host one or two competitions restricted only to people at or below PRT. This will give the new members a chance to earn a crescent right off the bat, introduce them to how competitions work in the Brotherhood, and hopefully help get them interested. This program will work along side any such clan systems.

Spam, Spam, Spam

I just want to be very brief on this. We’ve had several people (new members) quit because of the amount of useless e-mail sent over the clan mailing lists. While I agree that there are legitimate uses of the mailing lists, please understand that a lot of one word, useless e-mails is annoying. In my mind, congratulating someone on a promotion = ok. Saying “lol” over the mailing list = bad, especially when that’s all you say. For the idle chit-chat, use the message boards and IRC, or, as some clans may have, set up a spam mailing list. Not everyone uses Gmail, so not everyone has that nice feature of putting all the individual e-mails into one thread.

** Really far advance notice…**

The last week in March, I will be in Switzerland on a Model UN trip (got to make my last year of college count for something :P ). I highly doubt that I’ll have internet then; even if I do, I won’t use it much. So, just to give everyone this notice now, and I’ll repeat it in other reports as it draws closer.

Conclusion and Summary

So, that’s this report, all nice and wrapped up. There isn’t much going on, save for the upcoming Rite of Supremacy and Great Jedi War. Those you really need to look out for, and participate in. I can say this: there’s a lot of planning and work going into it. It sounds like it should be pretty good. And now, the summary

• New courses still coming; sorry for the delay. Dranik now working under threat of torture.

• SA to continue holding competitions from time to time, some restricted only to newer members.

• Please be responsible with the mailing lists.

• I’ll actually be taking a week long leave of absence, at the end of March!