I guess half of the DB has at some or the other point thought about what they'd write in their traditional first speech upon getting a DC position, but I'll tell you a secret: It won't help - the day it happens, you have a hundred things to say, a few dozen people to thank and a million emotions...

I'll still try to get this into a mostly coherent shape. First thanks and props go to my predecessor, Pyralis, without whom the Shadow Academy wouldn't be half of what it is today. He's left me with an extremely well-functioning and organized situation to start my work from, which is of course a benefit to all plans to come but also a liability - how do you improve on something that was already very close to perfection ?

Thanks also go to GM Darth Firefox and DGM Jac Cotelin who entrusted me with this difficult yet fascinating task of making something already good even better. I'll do everything not to disappoint you.

Of course I have goals for my tenure - an expansion of the Shadow Academy to offer more courses, interesting, relevant and of a practical use to the members of the Brotherhood is just the first of them. I won't be able to do this alone, instead I will be relying on those of you who know certain subjects well to pass on their experience and knowledge to a new generation of members. Of course these new courses will most notably include the new advanced leadership curriculum Pyralis planned - a course that will ideally be taught in a format somewhat dissimilar from the good old "Read notes, answer questions" format.

I'm also committed to keeping the same working atmosphere as Pyralis did - an environment in which assistants and anyone who contributes will have actual responsibility and ability instead of just following orders to the letter. To this end, however, I will not select staff by a standard formalized application process. If you want to join the SA staff and do some real stuff, you'll have to impress me with some good ideas, a thorough motivation to contribute to projects and do some of your own and with at least some proof you can put things into practice. This means if you entitle a letter "Application for Praetor", you've reduced your chances already because your focus shouldn't be your position, your focus should be what you want to make happen for the membership and how you plan to achieve it. Benefits packages for regular contributors include appropriate medals, credit on the SA and DB pages, seeing your name highlighted as a reliable, valuable and creative member before those who might select you as a leader for their Battle teams, Houses and Clans and of course ultimately a permanent position on the Academy staff. I'm expecting 48 hour email return times, at least 2-3 times a week IRC presence and a commitment to see any projects through that you begin.

If you have questions, ideas, suggestions or feedback regarding the Shadow Academy, the best way (in fact the only one) to get them answered and acted upon is to personally contact me - my email address is [Log in to view e-mail addresses] and my IRC name is Kaiann (I'm on 24/7 unless my client crashes, if you see some variation of the nick involving ZZZs, I'm away, leave a message and I'll get back to you by mail or IRC as soon as I see it, just make sure you give me a contact addy or your ID line so that I know who asked).

I'm looking forward to working with the Dark Council, the summits and of course all the membership in keeping and improving training in the Dark Brotherhood an interesting, valuable, fun and relevant resource. I'm also planning on having some regular - small but fun - academy-related competitions whose results will not only get you medals but directly improve courses.

Lastly, a special request to those who recently took courses and still remember the exams: Please let me know if any exam questions were ambiguous or unclear or if you believe the answer cannot be found in the course materials. We're trying our best to make clear what a question means, but ultimately the only guide to whether we achieved this is actual member feedback.

Thanks to all (also for the patience of sticking through this way too long speech ;-) ) and to the future of the Shadow Academy,

Krath Pontifex Kaiann, Headmaster of the Shadow Academy