Dark Greetings All,

Introduction:

As I warned you a few weeks ago when I was appointed, there are a few things that I would like to see happen in this Clan. Unfortunately due to some real life situations (I'll explain in a moment) things have been a bit difficult for me. However, after a few weeks of fine tuning one of my ideas with the Palpatine family and the Consul we have come to a conclusion, and I am very proud to announce it.

The Days of Palpatine:

One of the things that I have noticed about CSP since I have been around is that no one has been given the Clan Name in over a year. My first idea was to set up a system in which at least once a year the members of the roster were given a look over by the Consul, Proconsul, and the Palpatine family to establish whether or not anyone from the Clan had earned the name. After a few changes to the original idea the system is now in place.

Twice a year (in six month intervals) the above mentioned people will now get together and do a review of the roster. This in no way guarantees that someone will be named a Palpatine every six months, and I hope that you fully understand that so I'll say it again. IN NO WAY DOES THE REVIEW GUARANTEE THAT SOMEONE WILL BE NAMED PALPATINE. However, this WILL guarantee that everyone gets looked at twice a year, and that the proper steps are being taken to ensure that if one or more people do deserve the honor (based on our opinion of several things such as activity, leadership qualities, and loyalty just to name a few) they will get it.

I am also proud to announce that the first of these reviews has come to a conclusion. This time we have chosen not one, but two members of the Clan Scholae Palatinae roster that we feel have put forth their best efforts and have truly earned the name Palpatine over their course of time in the Clan. It is my honor to name the people who now have the option of placing Palpatine in their name, and those people are…(insert drum roll here)…

Dark Side Adept Vail Aquillarum Unteminar and Obelisk Templar RevengeX! Congratulations guys, if anyone deserves such an honor it's definitely you two. Make sure you give them your congratulations when you see them.

Feud Information:

I was hoping to have some more information in here about the Aranna Incident (Our major Clan Feud). However, it seems as though Week 3 for the event disappeared somewhere between the cracks of time. Hopefully more information will become available in the near future, and I will keep you as up to date as possible.

Mailing List Issues:

It would seem that there are some issues with the mailing list. Only a few of the people in the Clan (18 to be exact) ended up making it to the new Clan list. I'm not one hundred percent sure about what caused this, but I will say this. If you received an e-mail about Google Groups and activating your account (It would have been named Google Groups: Please confirm subscription to Scholae Palatinae) then you need to click the link in that e-mail in order to sign up for the new lists. I have a feeling that there are other factors involved, and myself and Dakari are going to be working on getting those issues resolved as quickly as we can. Until then, if you need to get something out to the whole Clan you might have to do what I did with this report and manually enter all the e-mail addresses (which is an enormous pain might I add).

Real Life Problems:

Ok, so I hinted above that I'm having some issues in real life, and I'd like to take a moment to elaborate on them. Maytag (a big washer/dryer/dishwasher company) has owned a factory in my home of Southern Illinois for years and years. Recently their company started struggling to make ends meet and as a result they sold their company to their biggest rival, Whirlpool. Whirlpool has now decided to close down the Maytag factory in my area along with two others in equally rural areas. As a result of this more than 4,500 people are losing their jobs (1,100 of which are from our factory). Unfortunately my mother was one of the people that lost their jobs. Because of that we also lose the insurance that the job provided, and because the area that I live in is so small it's hard to say who will and who won't be able to find a new job here. If you've talked to me on IRC before you might know that my father is a diabetic and that my mother has a disease called Fibromyalgia. Both of these diseases have the need for medication and both my mother and father were both on her insurance. I've tried to talk to the people at my work about having them put on my insurance, but they won't go for it.

So…come October when the plant starts laying people off in phases I might have to make some cutbacks so we can continue to get by. One of these cutbacks MIGHT be my internet. I'm unsure at this point, as I just don't know for certain how rough things are going to get yet. But the way I see it that is months from now, and should I have to give up my internet I will notify everyone with enough time to find a suitable replacement for me as PCON.

Conclusion:

Wow, this turned out much longer than I expected. :P I will cut it here though and say that there are still plenty of things that I would like to see happen within the Clan. There are a few issues to be resolved, and hopefully some cool things coming up to keep you all busy. Stay patient and active, and all will be great.

In Darkness,

SW Brujah Tamalar

Proconsul of Clan Scholae Palatinae

Judge of the Antei Combat Centre

Preceptor of the Grand Master's Royal Guard