Anshar sat quietly at the desk in the quaestor's office in Castle Tarentum. It was both familiar and unfamiliar, as so much had changed since he had last been seated at this desk. So many members of the Brotherhood,especially younger members, did not realize that serving as Quaestor, while it had its perks, was very administrative, at least during times of peace.However, judging by the reports on Anshar's desk, the job was not going to be administrative for awhile. There was some definite need for some decisive action.

Tarentum had always been a clan dependent upon trade for its economy. While Anshar's own barony of Messina was largely self sufficient, and mainly focused on intra-system trade, the port facilities on Yridia IX were Tarentum's economic lifeline. Now, however, that lifeline was threatened by an increase in pirate activity. It was nothing new, and Tarentum had long tolerated less than legal business ventures. So long as Tarentum got her cut, smugglers moved various goods through the system. And, of course, legitimate corporate interests could not be interfered with. However, there were more and more reports of piracy, just outside the Itanna Belt, the asteroid field the floated in the last orbit of the system. Already a couple of ships had been destroyed,though many of the vessels and their crews had been left intact. Perhaps it was only to ensure that those same ships would be returning.

Anshar grimaced to himself. An increase in piracy could only lead to one of two things when all was said and done: either the pirates were dealt with, or the pirates would take larger and larger portions of Tarentum'd profits. And that was not going to happen. It was time to see how Dranik's work with the house military was proceeding. They would certainly be needed.

---

Good Day Everyone! There's a lot to talk about, but I promise that it is all good. Lots of activities for you guys to participate in and help influence Tarentum's future. So, without further ado...

New House Website

Tarentum has a nice little Wordpress site now, thanks to Dranik and Hazzan. It isn't much right now, but we will work on keeping it up to date.Here's the link: http://housetarentum.wordpress.com/

Competitions

I am officially announcing the start of Divergence, a House Tarentum story arc. This will contain multiple events across all platforms, which means there is a boatload of opportunities for crescents and merit medals. The great thing is that you guys get to influence the story. Right now,we’re in the Prologue Week, meant to help us flesh out a few things for later in the story (all entries are subject to be used in house fiction, especially winning entries), but also to help you guys get involved in the story itself.

We have two "Create a

" Competitions, running until 11:59 PM EST on Sunday March 18th.

First is "Create an Officer"

Make an officer for the Tarentum Military. You can make up to three to submit, however you may only make one of the following things: an officer in the army, a naval capital ship commander, executive officer, or a naval junior officer (pilot, weapons officer, squadron commander, etc). Once you have made one of those, any other submissions must be of one of the others.We want just the basic bio information, such as hair color, eye color, height,race, sex, weight etc in LIST form. You can, and should, also write a basic description of the person. I would also like for you to include a short piece on how the person behaves and their disposition and attitudes.

You may submit up to three entries (one for each category noted above). However, submitting more than one will not give you bonus points with the exception of a tie. All entries should be submitted to Dranik whileCCing Anshar and [Log in to view e-mail addresses]. All entries should be in word and your Full ID Line should be in both your email and the document itself. The event will run until 11:59 PM EST on Sunday the 18th of March.

Second is "Create aCorporation"

In this event, you are creating a profile of a business that operates within the Yridia system, perhaps even one headquartered here. Much as with the Officer creation competition, we want some basic information and a quick description. In a list form, include the name, industry (manufacturing, retail,shipping, etc), CEO's name, personnel level (how many are employed), and headquarters. Please also include a brief history of the company, such as who founded it and when, its success or lack thereof, especially during times of war.

Finally, there is "ABit of Fandom"

This is a fiction competition and is not related to the story arc, but it is meant to assist you with the story arc. If you get into a bit of writer's block for these, or any events, or just want to get back closer to the Brotherhood's Star Wars roots,write a short story explaining how "The Flailed Wookie" cantina got an autographed picture of Han Solo and Chewbacca.

Promotions and Awards

Congratulations go out to the following members on their promotions and awards since my last report:

· Egregious was promoted to Jedi Hunter, and also earned a Dark Cross and 13 Clusters of Fire. Egregious also earned his Combat Maven Degree from the Shadow Academy

· Pystra was promoted to Novice

· Tenda was promoted to Acolyte

· Jason earned a Crescent w/Sapphire Star

· Hazzan earned a Crescent w/Topaz Star, Crescent w/Emerald Star, and a Steel Cross

· Anshar earned two Crescents w/Topaz Star

We Want You!

I don't know the Star Wars equivalent to Uncle Sam, so I couldn't quite to it justice. Anyway, Dranik and Hazzan are restricting the house military, and there are open positions for you to join, if you are interested (this is on top of, and in conjunction with, the Create an Officer event). Consult his last report for more information: http://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/dbjedi/reports.php?report=14347

The Final Word

To conclude this report, I wanted to address the issue ofthe sudden change in the story arcs. I had originally planned on taking the house back down the road of necromancy, but after consulting with Dranik (evenbefore his appointment to Aedile) and getting some feedback from a few others,I realize that this is not the best route for the house. Necromancy is old andno longer recognized by the Dark Council anyway. That said, we will most likelyencounter the enemies mentioned in the “Return to the Shadows” run-on. Justbecause Tarentum no longer practices necromancy, it doesn’t mean that we can’tencounter people who do.

So, that’s why we started this story arc called “Divergence.”We are, in a sense, diverging from our tried and true path, and tryingsomething new. Yes, pirates have been done before (even on the Great Jedi Warlevel), but Dranik and I believe we have added some elements to make thisunique. It is also pretty straight forward; you don’t have to have greatknowledge of previous Tarentum adventures to participate well in this storyarc. This was not the case with necromancy.

So, please participate. Please help Tarentum grow andprosper. The Brotherhood is what you make of it, and the house even more so.