Greetings folks,
Welcome to another edition of your weekly Aedile Report, bringing you the newest and greatest news from around the Dark Brotherhood… and that's the end of my attempt at a Radio DJ opening. Onto the news and shit!
So, initially I had planned on this report being a light news day, with the interview with Rian to fill it up. Blame an active week or so in the DB, and it turned out to be a huge report, so anyways, the Get to Know a Tally segment with our fearless leader is still here, but it's at the bottom. Anyways, news stuff first, then Rian being awesome at the end. Let's do this!
Well, the turnout for this one wasn't as great as I had hoped. This tidbit especially goes out to all of our journeymen in the House. Participating in competitions is one of the benchmarks that exists at every rank for Journeymen that helps you progress. Participating in these little competitions is a very easy way to stay active, and get some needed notches under your belts. They're also being designed in such a way as to help you get familiar with the varying systems we use throughout the DB, and grow in familiarity with using the wiki, forums, and other commonly used resources. So yea, come on guys, try to get some submissions in for Episode 2… which can be found a bit lower down.
The DB recently went through an AWOL check, and if you're confused as to why you didn't get any emails, it's because AWOL checks shouldn't be about just responding to one email a month. The summit went through all our recent interactions with members, and whether we'd seen you on IRC, or submitting to competitions, and if we knew you'd been active recently, we didn't mark you as AWOL. Efficient eh? Taldryan did fairly well, all things told, having one of the lowest AWOL percentages in the DB, which honestly doesn't surprise me at all given how fricken awesome you all were in the latest round of the crusades.
Speaking of the Crusades, many of you will have noted that the Fist and Voice have both compiled and awarded the Clusters of Fire and Ice that were earned by people for their gaming and runon contributions. Beyond those, there hasn't been much in the way of awards to note, as far as I can remember. If I did miss something, I apologize.
We've had one new addition to the Taldryan family over the past week, in the form of Vaj Carn. Vaj joined Tal and immediately set the place on fire, earning his promotions from Initiate to Protector in less than 24 hours. Hell, by the time we got him added to the mailing list, he was already up to PRT; so a huge congrats and welcome to him.
Also of note, is Retden, who has been kicking the crap out of the SA of late, recently earning his Dark Maven of Flight. Grats on that, Ret!
We've got two fun competitions on the docket right now, with maybe a few more coming. This is a good chance to earn some medals and get some more participation under your belts.
Being run by our very own Retden, this competition requires you to play the Flash Game Rebuild (Located Here) and rebuild your civilization from the ashes of the zombie apocalypse. Once you're happy with your score, take a screenshot and email it to [Log in to view e-mail addresses] and [Log in to view e-mail addresses]
It's the return of the webhunt! Webhunts are an old school competition where people are given an image, and then have to track down the star wars character that is visible in said image. You go about this by using the provided clues, and searching the webs. For example if you see a dude with a squid face, your first search is probably something like "Star wars squid face" to identify the race, and then you use your sleuthing skills to figure it all out until you find the character in question.
This used to be a lot harder before wookiepedia was a thing, but now that it is, I strongly suggest you use that. This competition will be run entirely by using the DB's Competition Interface, so starting at Midnight Eastern on August 1st, login to the site and subscribe to the competition here and follow your nose! Submissions will also be done on the site. Fastest person to track down the target time wise (from subscription to submission) will take home some crescents.
Wish I had better news for ya folks, but beyond the fact that we know how awesome our Special Forces did, we still have no Regular Forces results available to us. The DGM has assured me they'll be out by Friday at the latest, so it's coming guys. Just know that Taldryan was the only unit in the Dark Brotherhood to achieve an activity percentage of 150%, and thus we'll be the only unit in the next round of the crusades with a 9 Man Special Forces team. You guys did that. So congrats to you again.
The Fist has told us that we should be prepared to make use of the game Alien Swarm in the next round of the crusades. This is a free game available for Windows PCs from Steam, located here.
Our very own Talon Drear has been manfully trying to arrange practice games on IRC with folks, so if you want to try your hand out at it, pop on by or toss an email on the list to see what it's all about. I've played it a bit, and I admit its pretty damned fun, so give it a shot.
Well Yacks offered me the chance to do a little intro about myself here, and those who know me well, know that I really suck at such things. Still, I'll try my best to do so now… I have never been a man of many words, nor do I think I will ever be one either. I am a person with high values, in both Real Life and in the DB. I am a combination of the big brother taking care of you and the nice old uncle always knowing what to do. I am the one jumping in and helping one out when the need is the most. But I know that this sometimes allows other to exploit me for their own advancement, I know that but I am what I am.
This year I had my fourth anniversary within the DB and Taldryan, I have never been in any other Unit and I don’t ever want to be. Back then were the days Taldryan still was a Clan and I always felt influenced by Sid who had been Quaestor of Ektrosis at that time and it was him who inspired me to stretch out my hands at trying to take on leadership positions. So enough about me, let’s move over the questions:
Yacks: Congrats on your 4 year banner! After 4 years, what about the DB makes you want to stick around?
Rian: There are two things that make me want to stick around, and though I might sound like a politician, I can tell you that it's Taldryan and its members. No matter if I am following a conversation on IRC, writing an e-mail or doing some comps with you guys, I feel at home here.
Y: What's your favorite thing to do in the DB?
R: My favorite thing for me in the DB is everything related to fiction, from combat writing, to run-ons and over to the wiki I love the way I can use it to develop my own character and interact with other characters of the DB and Star Wars universe.
Y: What do you want to accomplish in the DB and Taldryan?
R: I don’t have any major plans for the DB, but seeing Taldryan as my second family I want to take care of it, and thus I want to see it rise again as Clan as it has before.
Y: What sort of stuff are you working on for Taldryan right now?
R: For quite some time now I have been working on the Taldryan Planets and Locations project. Except that I have a Run-On running around the edges of my mind that will confront us with an enemy from within our midst, and though there will be some sort of fighting required it won’t be as hard as the Avenger II Run-On. Additionally Sid and I have been working on some forms of ACC-Ladder events before he stepped down and after the ACC was closed. I am also working on some other events that I would like to remain in the shadows for the moment.
Y: Two part question... A) Why don't people wear those Oktoberfest clothes year round, and B) Can you explain just what the hell schnitzel is?
R: As for A) That’s not totally true; there are certain regions in Bavaria, Germany where people wear traditional “Trachten” all year round just as though they were regular clothes. During times like the Oktoberfest the Tracht is worn as a sign of local ties by the local people, which most people aren’t aware off at all, they simple dress like them to blend into the crowd. B) Schnitzel is thin cut piece of meat without bones, most times even more flattened with a tenderizer, coated with breadcrumbs before being fried.
Y: Jac Cotelin: Great Grand Master, or Greatest Grand Master?
R: Jac is an awesome person to meet; he has done great things for the Club and Taldryan and keeps doing it, so in easy words Jac is the Greatest Grand Master.
Y. In your own words, can you tell me why Taldryan is the greatest Unit in the Dark Brotherhood?
R: Have you ever met a person or even a bunch of people you instantly felt comfortable with? From the very first e-mail I got from Sid when I joined Taldryan I had this feeling, and I still have it when thinking of Tal’s members. The camaraderie between us is incomparable this makes us different to all other Units in the DB I think.
Y: And that folks, is our interview with Quaestor Rian Aslar of Taldryan. I hope you enjoyed it, and feel as if you know him just a little bit better now. Until next episode of the Get to Know a Tally Program: stay classy Taldryaniego.
OK, seriously. I'll stfu now. This report was immense.
Your Cranky Neighbourhood Aedile,
Dark Jedi Master Keirdagh Taldrya Cantor
And like an idiot, I forgot to congratulate the actual winners of RTFR2.0 Ep 1..
Honourable mention goes out to our dearly missed Shadow, who submitted from the Rogues, despite it being a Tal only competition :P
Great report and awesome job showing up for the Chapter One of this new phase of the Crusade!
I miss Shad.
I miss being bent..
Not even the site can withstand his thrusts