This competition is in the Team-Based Fiction Bin. Participating in a competition in this bin for the first time awards 6 points from participation to your unit. Cumulatively, the placements in this competition are worth 5% of placement points in the Event Long phase. See the parent competition for detailed rules.

Introduction

Theaters of War is a Clan-wide Run On. This competition will take place on the Brotherhood’s Discourse platform. Members are encouraged to write multiple posts throughout the event and to engage with the wider story as they see fit. The overarching goal is for the Clan to attempt to complete the objective in the first Theater they choose. More information on Theaters is available below, and will be available on the Wiki.

The Run-Ons will be opened on Tuesday, July 23rd, after all Consuls have selected a Theater. More information on Theaters is available below, and these locations have already featured in fictional released. The Run-On will have a first starting post that states the primary theater of the Clan and contains snapshots of participating members. Snapshots can be added as members post. We will not be policing when snapshots are added but ask they be added when Consuls have time to do so at regular intervals. Consuls may also add a Links section to the first post, below Snapshots, that contain links they think would be useful for members while writing their posts. This first post should not contain anything other than this, as this first post is exclusively for administrative use. Please consult your Clan for the Discourse link to your Clan’s run-on.

In order to keep this event fair and fun, we have written a set of rules unique to this event. These rules are specifically designed to allow units flexibility. Because of this, units/members are expressly forbidden from asking members not to write.

Background and Theaters

As representatives of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood and The Collective met with leaders of the Severian Principate, Collective forces disguised as an element of the Brotherhood launched a false-flag surprise attack on the Principate, hitting targets across the Lyra System. The Collective feigns shock and ignorance as the Brotherhood scrambles to contain the situation and the Principate stands poised on the brink of war. Out of this discord, new opportunities have presented themselves to the Clans, from salvaging diplomatic ties with a new ally, to securing new sources of power and profit for themselves.

Lyra Colony

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: Explore the ancient temple ruins, and secure its secrets and artifacts.

SITUATION: The Brotherhood had been granted access to the ruins beneath Lyra Colony prior to the diplomatic mission to Lyra, but only a handful of Imperial Reclamation Service personnel had made planetfall before the Collective attack framing the Brotherhood as aggressors. Their communications have been completely cut-off, and their fate remains unknown. Meanwhile, the Collective has ‘come to the aid’ of the Principate, and now have a heavy presence in the area of Lyra Colony having deployed companies of Jedi Hunters, Mercenaries, and Fanatics at the only known entrance to the ruins. They are likely to employ the same suicide tactics used elsewhere to frame the Brotherhood. Early transmissions from the IRS unit before comms went down mentioned an artifact, quite similar to the Technocratic Artifact recovered from Meridian station, had been discovered in the Ordu Aspectu temple deep inside the ruins and moved off-world by the Principate. Nonetheless, IRS believes the temple ruins contain impressive knowledge. With the Collective now moving into the ruins themselves, that knowledge will be pillaged and lost should they reach it. Moreover, the Collective has been galvanizing residents of Lyra Colony on the surface against Force users and the Brotherhood, making for a volatile situation on the streets.

Moon of Thillon

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: Eliminate the Collective presence and prevent the Collective from acquiring the kyber crystals, securing them for the Brotherhood, or your Clan, instead.

SITUATION: When the Collective discovered kyber crystals on Thillon’s moon, they moved quickly to seize them. They quickly and easily ‘convinced’ Temnos Excavations Co., the sole private mining company operating on the moon to yield their rights to mining, but have not yet transported any of the already mined kyber crystals out of the mining colony. Inquisitorius agents report that the Collective intends to divert kyber crystals mined on Thillon to its secret weapons program which the Inquisitorius believes is focused on developing ship-mounted superlaser arrays. As such, the Collective have established a strong military presence including elements of Battle Group Elysium in orbit around the Moon of Thillon and a ground Battalion that reconnaissance suggests includes at least one Heavy Armor Company. Given the strategic importance of the kyber crystals, there may be key scientists and agents of the Technocratic Guild on-site with valuable knowledge of the Collective’s secret weapons program. The Collective is likely to aggressively engage Brotherhood forces that enter the area. As Thillon is operated by an independent contractor and not the Principate government itself, there is no Principate military presence, but there is a sizable private security force of around fifty officers in the employ of Temnos Excavations along with many civilian employees living in dormitories associated with the mining complex whose safety would be important to the Principate, and who could be at risk of joining the Collective given recent events in Lyra.

Thuvis Shipyards

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: Dispose of threats within the Shipyards and seize control of the facility- either for the Brotherhood, or to return to the Principate.

SITUATION: Thuvis Shipyards suffered heavy damage during the initial salvo of attacks blamed on the Brotherhood. Numerous sectors of the Shipyards have been ventilated to space, and the Principate defense forces protecting the Shipyards have been decimated, but not completely eliminated with around four dozen soldiers still on the station. The crew repairing the shipyards - and their families - are housed in a platform that is secured to the shipyards, and it has remained intact. Intelligence reports indicate that the Collective used their opening attacks as means to descend on the Shipyard, supposedly to protect its inhabitants from the plague of Force users. Inquisitorius agents report that the Collective is attempting to install an AI similar to the Technocratic Artifact recovered from Meridian station to establish full control of the shipyards for their own efforts. Several dreadnaughts from the Collective’s Battle Group Elysium are maintaining a defensive position in orbit around Thuvis Shipyards, and numerous Collective troops from that same battlegroup have moved to the Station, as well as members of Project Indigo. Moreover, the Principate has dispatched elements of its 5th Fleet to protect the shipyards is present both in space and on the Shipyards themselves.

Rubric and Rules

The Clan-Wide Run On will be graded following a unique rubric, located here.

• For participation credit, members must make two qualifying posts. For posts to qualify, they should be at minimum 250 words and be no longer than 1000 words. Posts shorter than 250, or longer than 1000 words, are 'disqualified', but do not disqualify a run-on or a participant, or the run-on from placing. They may be edited as per the Edit Rules below, but not after.
• A member’s snapshot must be added to the first “starting” post in the Run-Once once they post, but we will not pay any attention to loadouts in grading and realism will focus on general Star Wars/Brotherhood versus specifics Force powers and skills. Snapshots may also be added on the first post a member makes to a run-on and may be removed from that post and placed in the first post through edits by the Consul or Dark Council at any point thereafter.
• Members may write their alternative characters and NPCs into the run-on in addition to their main characters. Snapshots must be provided, and the use of alts/NPCs must comply with all other rules of this competition, including the Theater restrictions described below.
  
• Only qualifying posts will be considered in grading, others will be ignored. Subsequent writers may choose to ignore disqualified posts, but they will not be penalized if they pay attention to them. However, if a disqualified post includes resolution to a plot/subplot, it will NOT be considered in Story grading.
• Authors may reserve a post position with a post stating "Reserved". There may only be one post position reserved, and Consuls may request the reservation request be deleted if it has been up for more than 6 hours.
• Posts may be edited by their author before additional posts with content are made (that is, a post may ONLY be edited while the post immediately following it is Reserved). If a post is edited after content has been added, it will be disqualified.
• An author may NOT make consecutive posts. At least one other person must post (including reserved posts) before an author can make another post.
• Any post may be deleted within 10 minutes of it being posted, regardless of what other posts have been made after it.
• Each Clan Run-On must take place in a Theater. It does not need to remain in the theater, but at the beginning of the event all members of the Clan are assumed to be 1) On the 'ground' in or at the theater location, or 2) Orbiting above the theater in a way appropriate for a unit. Clans do not need to belabor arriving at a theater: members may address their arrival in their first post but a member’s second (and later) posts must engage with events in the theater or they will not count as qualifying posts.
• Clans may freely interact with, and do as they please, to any volunteers that have been added to the Theater Combatants list for that theater, to any members of the Collective, and any members of the Principate. Note that anything done to these characters is not canon for the character or Brotherhood unless its owner consents.
• The Clan’s primary objective is the primary Theater they choose. At the express discretion of the Consul, members may engage enemy forces in other Theaters. In addition, there will be a period between Phases where Clans are allowed to make a decision regarding changing their primary Theater. At this point, the Consul may choose to direct the Clan’s run-on towards the new theater and new objectives, but this is completely up to the Consul, and the first Theater’s objectives are the primary goal of the run-on. Completing additional Theater objectives will not benefit Story grading beyond the quality of the writing.