Grand Master Report

2005/02/04, 1:59 PM, Grand Master - The Council

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_The Fourth of February in the Year of Darkness,

Two-Thousand and Five  

**Report Eleven**_

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[- Plaintiff Submits a Motion to Compel a Jac -](#1)  

[- Situational Commentary -](#2)  

[- Dark Voice released -](#3)  

[- Guard Changes -](#4)  

[- Apply for Commander of the Guard -](#5)  

[- Medal Changes -](#6)  

[- Spears and Kaine -](#7)  

[- AK Conversions -](#7half)  

[- Flagship name -](#8)  

[- Jin Long and LM Stuff -](#9)  

[- The new Forums -](#10)  

[- JACtion Update: Covenant and Website Design -](#11)  

[- Big Props -](#Props)  




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"I don't feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in the mysterious universe without having any purpose, which is the way it really is, as far as I can tell..." </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" bgcolor="#333333" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="20"> <>- Plaintiff Submits a Motion to Compel a Jac -</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="5"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="340">

Yeah -- that's right, I got my certificate saying I'm on Dean's List in the 
mail today. I rock.  



This was a relatively shitty week. Pardon the language. It was though. I had 
this paper due this morning that was just a complete pain in the ass. I had 
done like 15 hours of research for the topic and that still wasn't enough in 
the end. I finished it, but I don't know how great it was. ::shrugs:: Legal 
Writing is going to bring down my GPA, I know it.  



Other than that, my grandpa is in the hospital again. It's a pretty regular 
occurrence these days, but it's still not easy to deal with. He's on pain 
management, meaning they are just making him comfortable until he goes. SO 
-- If I'm randomly gone for a couple days, you'll know why.  



Let's see, what else. Oh, the breaks on my car are going back....there goes 
another 200 bucks.  



I'm going home again this weekend for a wedding. Yippie.  



Good news: I've lost 16.5 pounds in the past 3-4 weeks.  



Other Good News: uhhh. cya?

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You know, there are some weeks that I really have to pull crap out of my ass 
to talk about. I wish this were one of them. There's just a ton of stuff 
going on, and I can't even remember half of it. If you caught the DV and 
read the rest of my report, you'll see some big changes today, including 
medal changes, DC position changes, and GMRG changes. That's not even to 
mention the changes in staff the last few days.  



I think I have to keep on reminding myself that this is an ever-changing 
ever-adapting club. It seems every time I get comfortable with the people 
I'm working with, or a system finally seems to go right, things turn down. 
Perhaps that's my fault, but then again, perhaps it's online living. We've 
had to remove a few people from positions this past week. That's never a fun 
thing to do at all, but we have to keep progressing. If we aren't moving 
forward, we're dying.  



What's my point with this? Well, I wanted to bring this to a point and 
address something: What is Project: Rebirth?  



I think it is universally misconstrued that Project: Rebirth is all about 
the website. Granted, the new website is a giant part of it, but I think 
that a lot of people are missing the subtle changes that were in the Rebirth 
plan to go along with the website changes. Things we are doing with races, 
artifacts, possessions. The medal changes, the DC structure changes. The 
things that I emphasize on a weekly basis. These are all things that I have 
been doing with the help of those around me, and it all leads to an eventual 
goal, which is rebirth. Rebirth is my shared vision for this club, not just 
a website.  



Things aren't happening around her by accident. I don't just come across 
random ideas, flip a coin and accept one. I know where I want to go with 
this club, and that is where I am taking it.  



What does that mean to you? Simple. We all need a vision for ourselves. 
Ambition is a great thing; ambition with vision is wondrous. If you can set 
goals for your clan, your house or your battleteam, set a vision for where 
you want to be in 4, 5, or 6 months and then move towards those goals at a 
pace suited for you, you will be a much better person in the end. If we all 
did that, we would be amazing.  



Too often we live in the NOW! I think the most important lesson I ever 
learned from Firefox is patience. Good things don't come over night. Visions 
are eventual.

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<>- Dark Voice Released -</td>

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I just finished compiling the Dark Voice today. I must say that I am pleased 
with the issue. Thanks to everyone who submitted. You'll get those DSS's 
soon.  



Go look at the
[DV here](http://dv.darkjedibrotherhood.com/DarkVoice_Vol1_Iss4.html).

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<>- Guard Changes -</td>

So it's finally release day! The Dark Council has been working on these 
changes for a while, and I am excited about them. BF and I put together a 
proposal for it, and I think 95% of the DC responses loved it. That's 
unheard of.  



The basic idea is that the guard members will be directly assigned to DC 
members. The DC members will be responsible for their activity, will play 
with them on occasion, and in return, the guard members will represent the 
DC member in combat. This will give members more DC interaction and give the 
DC an avenue to compete.  



The DV has some good details on it. You can also see the proposal that BF 
and I made [here](http://gm.darkjedibrotherhood.com/policies/)

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<>- Apply for Commander of the Guard -</td>

I am now taking applications for Commander of the Guard. You guys know the 
drill on these things, but I want to make sure you get some stuff down on 
this one.  



1. Please make sure you include a brief synopsis of your career,  

2. Please review the RG plans and give your frank and honest opinion  

3. Please give any new ideas you may want to implement  

4. Please give me a review of your gaming practices


Also remember, as CoG you will be my personal bodyguard, and 
will fight for me in competitions. If you don't think you can work with me, 
don't apply. :)

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<>- Medal Changes -</td>

Today has seen the most major change in the medal system of the Brotherhood 
since the split and maybe since its creation. A significant set of changes 
was made affecting all levels of medals, bringing the system back in line 
with what is established award practice in the Brotherhood now. Please 
provide me some time to explain all of them.  



1) The Amethyst Kukri - a priest's sacrificial blade but also a weapon that 
cannot, according to some, be drawn without shedding blood, has been added 
to the lineup of the major &quot;gem weapon&quot; awards. The Amethyst color was 
chosen in line with the Crescents and because it complements the ruby red 
and sapphire blue in a reinforced order triad. We felt that in recent times, 
we have more often run out of adequate options to reward members who have 
contributed on a large scale, leading to some of the weapons (especially 
Sapphire Blades) being awarded twice to the same recipient. With its award 
criteria of service to a Clan or single DC office, the AK goes in direct 
contrast to the ED's specification of benefitting the Order or DB as a 
whole. Both medals require similar services and achievements, but one on a 
more local level than the other. It should be noted that double-awarding of 
the weapon medals will be confined to extremely rare cases in the future, 
when there is really no other reward opportunity available. In this context, 
we are also taking away the multiplier from the ID line display on these 
awards. You may still have multiples of a gem weapon, but it won't show in 
the ID line, just in the full dossier listing.  



2) The Grand Cross - originally intended to be given only once, this medal 
has become a frequently repeated award. While the highest award count is 5, 
we have chosen to only give the second and third award a special name as the 
even higher numbers are exceedingly rare. The upgrades - a shoulder sash (in 
the order color for Equites / Journeymen or black with a silver stripe for 
Elders) to be worn in a location similar to the Silver Sash and a gold star 
to be affixed on the sash - are modeled after typical upgrades of national 
medals of honor throughout Europe, as befits the most major of the &quot;cross&quot; 
awards.  



3) The Steel Cross, Star of Antei and Dark Cross have all seen award counts 
far beyond the end of the cycle that was originally intended. While the 
repeating setup has proven capable of keeping count, this becomes unwieldy 
after the third loop and also does not add anything new. In all three cases, 
the new upgrades form a second cycle on top of the first, with similar 
themes:  

The Anger, Power and Immortality qualities of the Steel Cross are reflected 
in their Force embodiments of Rage, Force Storms and Transcendence (the 
power formerly known as Preparance) respectively. The order symbols of 
wings, quills and lightsabers have found their representation in the mark, 
seal and crown of the three planets associated with the respective Order in 
the Brotherhood (see e.g. the SA campuses) Finally, the traditional 
decorations of the Dark Cross have all been upgraded on the Lord's Cross - 
an Elder-themed variant of the Equite-level &quot;Knight's Cross&quot;.  



4) The upgrade cycles of three of the repeatable service medals have proven 
to be way out of sync with the actual award practice. Both on the Dark Side 
Scroll and the Scroll of Indoctrination, the top award was not realistically 
achievable; the numbers needed to achieve each level were thus lowered. On 
the other hand, the Legion of the Scholar had a very skewed upgrade table at 
2,3,4,5,15 and 30, resulting in the Platinum Legion being by far the most 
common version. This has been smoothened out. In this context we regret if 
you may have lost one or two upgrade levels in the process - this is the 
only case in the entire reform where we may have to take an upgrade level 
away from a member, but it has been inevitable. It also only affects members 
with an LS count of 3 to 9.  



If you wish to make the needed changes to your ID line manually, here's  

the affected areas:  



- If you have two of an ED or SB, you should remove the x2 designator. (You 
can keep it in private, but it's no longer official)  

- If you have 2 or more GC, add the appropriate upgrade.  

- If you have 5 or more SC or StA, remove all multiple listings and correct 
the upgrade on your first set.  

- If you have 6 or more DC, remove the -KC-O-C-D part and add the 
appropriate -LC level string.  

- If you have 3 or more DSS and/or 3 or more SI, your upgrade level will 
increase. Please look up the new upgrade level - usually you will have 
increased by one.  

- If you have 3 to 9 LS, your upgrade level will decrease - by two steps 
back to LSAg if you had exactly five, one step in all other cases. Members 
with 10 or more LS are not affected.  



Thanks to Kaiann for his help with all of this, and for writing that up. :)

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<>- Spears and Kaine -</td>

I have been waiting to award these two with something for the time when the 
new medal came out. There's an article in the DV about it.  



For real though, Spears is awesome. The guy is always working hard, coming 
to me with new ideas and finished projects. He is keep the SA running 
smoothly, revolutionizing the envoys and making a new assortment of courses. 
On top of that, he constantly helps with graphics around the house. Spears 
is a huge asset to this DC and I would be remiss to not say so.  



And Kaine -- what an improvement, man. I emailed Kaine a couple of months 
ago and he and I talked about what we could do to up the ante on the HRLD 
position. Well, Kaine has far exceeded my expectations. I am in love with 
the new Star Wars news section of his reports, the GoA redesign task is 
moving along nicely, and I am enjoying seeing him active on IRC and the 
Message boards. If makes a world of difference to have someone that has been 
around as long as Kaine giving their input. I am grateful to have him on the 
staff.  



Both Spears and Kaine are hereby awarded the very first Amethyst Kukris!


Congrats, and thanks.

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<>- AK Conversions -</td>

Also getting Amethyst Kukri's today are people that have 2 SBs and want to 
convert them.  



This includes:  



Telona  

Shotgun  

Goat  

Mejas  

Khobai  

Kaiann  

Arania  

CoFo  

Chi  

aaaaaaand.....me

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<>- Flagship name -</td>

So if you haven't seen our new flagship in the DV, go check it out. It's 
swett as can be. Spears did an amazing job in designing it. I am very happy 
with what he came up with.  



Now, for the next DV, I want to get a name for the ship. As is custom with 
tradition, the name of the first ship in a line of capital ships is the 
actual designation of the Ship. So if ee call it the Billy Class Destroyer, 
the name would be Billy. Get it?  



So what I want are suggestions for names -- You can post them
[
here on the MBs](http://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=225) Whoever comes up with the one we vote is best will get 
an SC.

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<>- Jin Long and LM stuff -</td>

So I hope you all get that the Jin stuff was a fictional excuse for him to 
step down. We like Mike.  



Mike is leaving the DC because we both felt that the position he had was 
losing its purpose without the RG under it and with the PA a guild again.  



I'd like to thank Mike for all of his service to us. Many of you didn't see 
it, but he was a major, major help to me in day to day work. I really 
appreciate it.

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<>- The new Forums -</td>

Yeah, so the new forums are sweet. I just wanted to give a big THANKS CYBEY AND JAM3Z!!!! You guys rock the hizouse.  



Jam3z just coded a new &quot;View New Posts Not Including Spam Forums&quot; ink. It's 
awesome.  



Make sure CG and Jam3z know how much you appreciate them.

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<>- JACtion Update: Covenant and Website 
Design -</td>

doo de dooooo.....nothin....:(

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<>- Big Props -</td>

- Me for getting on Dean's List -  

- Big Props to Spears for all that he does -   

-Huge Props to Kaine for being awesome -   

- Big Thanks to Kaiann for his help with the new medals -   

- Gigantic Props to me for compiling the DV -  

-Big Props to everyone who submitted to the DV -   

- YAAAAY CG and Jam3z are awesome! -  

- Congrats to Kir on the RS! -  

- W00000t! Telona got a SB! -  

- Yaaaay! for Korras's SB! Yaaaay! -  

- Big Props to Lan on the GC -  

- Big Yaaays to Welshman on getting Warmaster! -  

- YAAAAY! Duga Got a lightsaber! -  

- What What! Ma'ar is thrashin his new light blaaaaaade -  

- Me for writing out a long Big Props list! -

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![](gm/jac_chronicles_footer.jpg)</td>

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A deleted dossier, 4 Feb, 2005 2:15 PM

GAH! TOO MUCH NEW STUFF! BRAIN OVERLOAD! HELP ME!

Seriously... SWEET STUFF. I have to say that despite being very worried about all these new changes I am remarkably impressed.

Great work guys.

GMRG. I was really worried but actually this is almost EXACTLY like the formation of the GMRG that I've been bugging people about lately, Korras and Arania in particular, so I'm really glad to see it turn out similar to what I've long envisioned. The Bodyguard structure is a great change and I know I'll certainly be trying to bug some people to let me be their bodyguard, so this is a great idea :)
Amethyst Kukri. YAY! No more need be said.
GC Awards! YAY YAY YAY! I was really worried about these when CoFo accidentally posted them the other day. I was thinking "we don't need any more stinking upgrades!" but these are actually really cool. They actually give a reason to want to earn them beyond just something dumb on your ID line, so... YAY!
SC, StA and DC Upgrades! YAY! I can't pretend I wasn't pissing myself in anger when I first saw the proposed idea to add more upgrades to these medals. I was thinking "how many people with lives actually earn that many medals to make it worth it?!" but I'm pleasantly surprised with this idea of just reflecting the Knights Cross and Lord's Cross as your second and third completed Dark Crosses... that's a very creative innovation. Good job.
Meh. Service Medals. :P Good work again though, it certainly makes things far more realistically achievable.

Zekk, 4 Feb, 2005 7:59 PM

congrats to both of you. Have to love all the changes. Though, I noticed in the DC that when you click on the image of the Amethyst Kukri it says its a Ruby Sceptor. Im sure its a minor bug, but just thought I would bring it to your attention.

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