Introduction

Blockade is a small-group Run-On competition. 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. Members are given an opportunity to team up with other members from their pledged sub-faction from across the Dark Jedi Brotherhood. The choices and decisions made by members of the team will help to shape the fictional development of the Brotherhood. The higher placing a run-on is in the competition, the more will be drawn from it for the final official telling of the story. More information is available below and on the wiki.

Background

The fallout of the Tenixir Incident and the Collective’s false-flag assault on the Lyra system has plunged the Severian Principate into crisis. Thirsty for revenge and plunder, Tenixir Revenant cells have stepped up piracy throughout Principate space. Beset by these marauders and still hunting the remnants of its own mutineers, the Principate’s once-feared navy seems powerless to reassert order.

Drawn to the Hutt planet Dandoran by an illicit auction of mysterious items, Severian and Revenant forces have come face-to-face, caught off-guard by their rivals’ presence. Although both factions’ presence in orbit was strictly limited to a handful of smaller vessels by the Hutts, the conflict on the surface compelled both sides to immediately call for reinforcements and to scramble to regroup.

Within minutes, the Geta, an interdictor cruiser from the Principate’s 1st Fleet, arrived in orbit from a nearby staging point. Further elements of the 1st Fleet are enroute. For now, the Geta has trapped the upstart Revenant forces at Dandoran and given the Principate a powerful platform from which to command orbital superiority. The Revenants cannot allow this to go unanswered.

Prompts

During Phase 1, your team will write the following faction-specific prompt. Following the end of Phase 1 (6/13), a second prompt will be added to this competition. At that time, you should begin to shift your focus from the Phase 1 prompt to the Phase 2 prompt, so plan accordingly.

Phase 1

Tenixir Revenants: Teams pledged to the Expansionists and Retributionists have been tasked with boarding and disabling or destroying the Geta. The ship is defended by one TIE/LN and one TIE/SA Bomber squadron. The Principate’s VSD Vel, previously anchored in orbit, is approaching to protect the Geta but will take some time to arrive. It’s up to your team how you reach and board the Geta. Likewise, how you accomplish the ultimate goal of disabling or destroying the ship is your choice, but should be influenced by the alignment of your pledged sub-faction.

Severian Principate: Teams pledged to the Restorers and Harmonists must deploy to defend the Geta. Revenant forces have engaged the ship’s TIE squadrons and will begin boarding imminently. The VSD Vel, previously anchored in orbit, is approaching to protect the Geta but will not arrive in time to prevent the pirates from boarding the interdictor. It’s up to your team how you reach the Geta and engage with the Revenant forces assaulting it. How you accomplish the ultimate goal of protecting or retaking the ship is your choice, but should be influenced by the alignment of your pledged sub-faction.

Phase 2

An unknown group of Force users led by an enigmatic prophet has landed in the midst of a battle between Severian and Tenixir forces and unleashed a grotesque Force abomination on Tipool City. Meanwhile, the Severian Principate has begun deploying squads of its own twisted creations, threatening to tip the balance against the Tenixir Revenants.

In orbit, the VSD Vel has drawn within weapons range of the Geta and begun firing indiscriminately without attempting to make contact with either Principate or Revenant forces. Principate, Revenant, Hutt, and civilian ships alike have been targeted.

Tenixir Revenants: Teams pledged to the Expansionists and Retributionists must complete the task of neutralizing the Geta’s interdictor field. Once the Geta is disabled or destroyed, the Revenants must either find a way to escape the VSD Vel’s onslaught and join Revenant forces in their battle against the unknown Force users, the Force abomination, and Restoration Troopers on the surface, or fight their way onto the Vel and attempt to stop its attacks on Revenant and neutral vessels.

Severian Principate: Teams pledged to the Harmonists and Restorers must finish clearing the Geta of Revenant forces. Once the Geta is safe from the pirates, Principate teams must either find a way to escape the VSD Vel’s onslaught and join the battle on the surface against the unknown Force users, their Force abomination, and the Revenants, or fight their way onto the Vel, learn why the vessel is behaving so erratically, and stop its attacks on Principate forces.

Run-on rules:

• To participate, form a team of three (3) to five (5) members of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood from any unit, including members of the Clans and rogues. All teams must be composed of members who have pledged to the same sub-faction.
• Members can only be part of one (1) team.
• Each team must create one (1) thread on Discourse under the Run-On category, and all posts must be published to the thread to count.
• Thread names should include [RoS: Escalation] and a team name to properly tag it as part of the competition.
• 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, will not be counted towards participation requirements but do not otherwise disqualify a run-on or a participant, or prevent a run-on from placing. They may be edited as per the Edit Rules below, but not after.
  
• 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.
  
• A member’s snapshot must be added to the first “starting” post in the Run-On once they post, but we will not pay any attention to loadouts in grading, and realism will focus on general Star Wars/Brotherhood versus the specifics of 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 original post through edits by the thread creator or the 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. Alts and NPCs do not have to be pledged to the same sub-faction as your main character, but you and your team must focus on the perspective of your pledged sub-faction.
  
• Authors may reserve a post position with a post stating "Reserved". There may only be one post position reserved, and teams 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 Run-On must focus on the perspective of the team’s pledged sub-faction.
• Teams may freely interact with, and do as they please, to any members of the Principate or Tenixir Revenants. Note that anything done to these characters is not canon for the character or Brotherhood.
  
• Grading will be handled using the Run-On Grading Rubric.