Imperial Palace Judecca, Cocytus System

The whisperings and rumors had been making their way throughout the house. Xen'Mordin was certain the other Clans and Houses were experiencing their own hushed excitement over the stories. You could hear the disbelief in the quite tones from the Journeymen. You could hear the greedy want of glory from the Equites. The Elders weren't known to gossip near the ears of frivolous younger members, but behind closed doors you might have heard the eagerness to finally achieve the power of the Dark Lords.

Yet these thoughts were not the ones that raced through the Quaestor's mind. The Empire was damaged, but rebuilding from the attacks from Zoraan and Naga Sadow. It would endure as it had. The time had come for more than rebuilding. The time was coming for growth and it was at the command of the Dark Council. The Crusade was coming.

Hello Scholae Palatinae!

We survived another AWOL Check, have a long exciting year of events coming up and are continuing to grow. I've got a few important things to go over so bear with me.

Post-AWOL

Well as has been mentioned several times in emails to the house, the DB wide AWOL check came and went. The bulk of our loses came from the Journeymen. However, DJK+ people please pay attention to this as well.

First and foremost, thank you for replying to the AWOL check. It means you enjoy the DB and Scholae Palatinae enough to continue staying around. I know that for the newer members the DB can be a bit overwhelming in terms of things that are out there. I know that for older members, sometimes things feel really repetitive in terms of content.

But this club is dependent on all of you. HSP and the DB cannot survive without you guys. I know I say it a lot to you all but I really mean it. If you are ever confused, frustrated, bored, angry, or whatever, my door is always open to talk. It is my job here to provide a good experience for all of you, but I cannot do that if I don't hear from you guys.

Journeymen, new Apprentices to established Jedi Hunters, why not hop on IRC and visit #scholae? Come hang out and (re-)introduce yourselves to us. Why not send an email to myself or the other summit members if you are confused or want help on something. I promise we don't bite (Although Xantros may grin like weirdo). We see you join and would like to hear from you. We would like to help you come to fully enjoy this wonderful club.

Older members, you guys are the backbone of this house. Each of you responded to the AWOL check, so on some level there is still that connection of enjoyment to this club remaining. Some of you we see all the time on IRC, getting medals from competitions, replying to email threads on the mailing list. Others of you we see once in a blue moon, hardly at all. I extend to you the same challenge as the Journeymen. Hop on IRC now and again. I know I've seen pretty much all of you on there at one point or another. We need you now as much as ever if HSP is going to continue.

The Dark Crusade

The first of this year long crusade to reclaim historic Sith Empire planets is going to begin very very soon. These will be in a series of two weeklong vendettas as we go to reclaim various planets. This is all in a lead up to the next GJW which as many of you know, is always a big deal. These vendettas are going to have some very different things going on than usual.

First of all, is the opportunity to seize things for the house. New territories on these planets will be one of the many awards possible to the house. There are also going to be many awards given to the individual participants. On a basic level instead of the traditional Seals awarded in vendettas, campaign ribbons will be awarded. These will be unique to each step of the crusade and most likely you will never have a chance to earn ribbons again once this crusade is over. Of course there is always the opportunity for new glory and honor, shiny new awards and promotions! Plus who knows what other goodies the DC has planned.

But what is so important about this? It comes down to each and every one of you to secure these. I most definitely cannot win/secure things on my own. Think you aren’t skilled enough to place? You literally NEVER know what can happen in these. At the very least you earn points for participating. No one ever gets penalized for participating, in fact that is a sure fire way to get other kinds of awards. Are you a Journeyman looking to work your way to becoming a Dark Jedi Knight? These vendettas will help you get there. Every submission counts as competition participation. Participation leads to merit awards, which are also beneficial (and a must have to make it from Jedi Hunter, to Dark Jedi Knight).

Basically, go participate. Have fun and get excited over it. That is the whole point of these big events. And in the process you will help yourself earn lovely shiny new things. And you will help the entire house earn lovely shiny new things, which hopefully at the end of the day will end up with an expanded Empire!

This is going to be fun, unique, and a big game changer for everyone in the Brotherhood. And as the great Bob Dylan put it, "The Times they are a-changin".

Final Thoughts

Because past attempts at getting you guys to give suggestions and feedback have failed, I am stealing the idea for a suggestion box from Arcona. It is ANONYMOUS so you should have zero fear about me knowing who you are like you would if you sent me an email. Although you guys really shouldn't have fear about that to begin with. I'm honestly not mean.

Suggestion Box

And yes, unlike the fine people in ARC and CNS, I have no idea how to do a form thing on a googledoc so you guys get an actual website created one.

Also incase it hasn't been pointed out enough on here and you live under a rock, J.J. Abrams has been hired as the director for Episode VII. This plus a script that is by Michael Arndt (Who wrote Toy Story 3 and Little Miss Sunshine), means we are well on our way to a new movie that we can all love and enjoy and maybe, just maybe, cause us to forget about Jar Jar Binks. Or so we can hope.

Have a good one Scholae Palatinae and be ready for the awesomeness that is the Dark Crusade!

FOR THE EMPIRE!

Xen'Mordin Vismorsus Quaestor of Scholae Palatinae