It's the end of 2013 here in Australia. Today is New Years' Eve, a time for reflection, for resolutions, for looking back at the past and seeing just how far we've come. I think this year has been amazing, to be totally honest. I'm going to do one thing first before I go into my memories of 2013, and that is to welcome Yuriko back into CNS. Yuriko and I are huge TOR players (or, I was, before I started being productive) and I am super glad to have my playing partner back with us in the Clan. Here's to you, apprentice, and I hope you kick some serious butt.

Now let's take a look at this year, shall we?

2013 In Review

Overall? It's been great. So many memories, so many things happened. Let's see here...

We've seen the entirety of the Dark Crusade come and go (congrats again to Plagueis and Arcona for their awesome results!), as well as some absolutely awesome competition results. Who could forget the endless stream of run-ons - the surprise entry in the second phase of the Crusade from Syntari all of a sudden in the five-man team run-on that blew everyone away and put her suddenly in the spotlight? Who could forget Goat's Ch'hodos fiction that actually had blood in the submission and looked like a real diary entry? Best moment of the Crusade for me: my gold nova, hands-down, for gaming. How did I win it? Easy - by losing Jedi Academy to Arcona so much for their participation, with a win/loss record of 16 to 69 (this is not an exaggeration) that I won enough Clusters of Fire to take out the event. Just goes to show you that you don't need pure skill to win someone (though it does help). Thanks again to Wally and Cethgus for beating my ass for hours on end, to Wun for the hilarious voice-chats we had while playing, to the entirety of Arcona for playing me non-stop through that phase. The Crusade may have been long and harrowing, but we've all had some great memories from the Crusade. What's your favourite memory, I wonder? Let us know.

We've seen the entirety of the Clan Summit change hands, including the re-instatement of Aediles which hasn't happen since the reformation of the Clan. Locke stepped down, to be replaced by Korras in the interim for Malik, who was his PCON - and then Goat stepped up from the position of Shar Dakhan Quaestor to become our new Proconsul. For some reason, someone let me be HMR Quaestor - and, unfortunately, between the stress of no job, losing my father and some general DB problems at the time, I couldn't exactly handle that position and I had to step down. You know what, though, I'm glad I did, because it let Teu come up and take the job, who is infinitely better suited to it than I am. Not to mention Mirado stepping up as HSD Quaestor and bringing about some awesome changes that I'm mega-pumped to see, which is inspiring me to do some work too. And, hey, Aediles! We've got those again! Shirai and I are having tons of fun in our positions and I'm happy just to be doing this job and helping out. So, from me, thanks to everyone who's served on Summit this year for doing a wonderful job. This Clan's seen some hard times, but here we all are, back in the saddle and moving up. I'm thankful that I get to work with such amazing people on a daily basis.

We've had the Clan run-on for a few months. I was unfortunately pre-disposed at the start and by the time I could join, it was too late, so I was relegated to following along, but it's seriously brought out some of the best in this Clan's greatest traditions. Naga Sadow really does have some of the best writers in the Brotherhood, and you can see people improving just over the course of that run-on - Roxas has gotten a hell of a lot better, for instance. (Good job, bro!) With the run-on tying up, I'm hoping to jump into the next one. Actually, I'm hoping that we'll get two simultaneous ones, just so we can get everyone in on the writing action.

And that's just the big stuff. We get to see some awesome people come and join - Nyine smashing his way through awards left, right and centre in a month, the sudden arrival of Ar'rik, Amarande joining and being the most awesome chat lurker I've ever seen, Roxas actually being nice to people (I know!), the return of Trev all of a sudden a couple days ago, a whole bunch of the Sons of Sadow rearing their head. Whatever 2014 has in store, I'm looking forward to it, because everyone's on their way back and it's going to be utterly epic.

Bring on the Year of Sadow, ladies and gentlemen, because we're going to beat the hell out of it and make it ours. With so much in the works, I can't help but be mega-excited.

Current Competitions!

We only had two trivia entries this week, the usual suspects. Congrats to Locke for beating Syntari again! :D (You're slipping, Syn, come on.)

Given that basically every competition ends today or tomorrow, I won't tell you about all of them. I will say to, for sure, go and check out the Competitions Page and see which ones interest you to do last-minute, as well as draw your attention towards those that end later plus a couple of CNS-specific ones you should definitely do.

• Teu's Black Guard comp - it's a decrypt puzzle! It's fun.
• Mirado's Disorderly Conduct and Your Sithmas List are awesome fun. Do them!
• The Battle of the Bakers - Bake Star Wars cookies!
• Caption Contest #1 and Caption Contest #2 - caption some images! Easy as!
• Top Gun - With TOR's Galactic Starfighter going free to play in January, earn some CFs flying some spaceships!
  

Promotions and Awards!

Another quiet week on the awards front, because everything ends tomorrow/the next day. I fully expect this section to be absolutely full next week, so get your entries in, Marka Ragnos! Represent your House with pride, ladies and gents.

Ar'rik: Crescent with Topaz Star
Vaar Mai: Crescent with Emerald Star

Current Events!

In the spirit of the holiday season, all the Summits are working super-hard to bring you some new content. Without further ado:

• A Raken report with the Crusade results in full! Raken's back, yay!
• An Orv report with some graphical deliciousness and some reports about how much work the wonderful Herald staff does.
• The ACC update we've all bee n waiting for - go take ACC fundamentals, it's a wonderful exam. (Thanks guys!)
• A Shadow Academy update with the three new Core exams for Guardian, Consular and Sentinel Orders for those interested in the Light.
• And, just because this is probably the best report I've read this year, have a link to a Wally report.

Sadow News Network!

On the recruiting front, we're doing incredibly well. I just completed work on the visual advertisement and the new member's guide, which you can share with people you'd like to join to give them an overview of the DJB and CNS, and hopefully that'll show off our good traits and show people that anyone can join and that this club is utterly amazing. We're almost back up to 40 members, so if you know anyone who you'd like to hang out with here (and I mean anyone! Family, friends, acquaintances, that guy you play Magic: the Gathering with), then show them that stuff, sit down and have a chat to them, and bring 'em on board. This is super-high-priority, so make sure you do it now! Heck, if you know people who used to be members, bring them back. They know how great the DJB is!

With the new year will be coming the release of Clan Artisans. Your chance to influence the new fictional direction of Clan Naga Sadow is here in a few days. We'll be releasing competitions all across January, so make sure you get in on that sweet action.

That's about it for the wrap-up for right now.

You Know Who's Really Great?

In a slight cop-out... everyone. Seriously, every single one of you is great. I can't bring myself to do this when I think about, but we've got some wonderful people in this House and as a token of my thanks this year, it's been awesome. From Xia, who sat in on our first Conclave, to Yuriko just coming back, to Ar'rik who's been a rising star through the ranks, to the sudden return of Sledge who dominated the Crusade, Jeric's rock-solid performance all year, Maelous stepping up as BTL, Amarande being an amazing gamer with an insane breadth of knowledge... you're all great. I could keep going, but hey. Thank you all for making being Aedile a wonderful experience.

(I promise to do this again properly next year.)

In Closing

I don't think I can say much else other than a hearty thank you, whether you're in CNS or not. Thank you for an awesome year in the Brotherhood, and here's to 2014 being just as epic. It's been a great run of my first bit as being Aedile, and I hope there's more to come.

On that note, however, I'd like to ask one last favour in closing. I'm looking for some feedback as to how I'm doing my job, not just from my House, but from the people outside looking in as well. So, if you're reading this report, hey, why not leave a comment and let me know how I've done overall in the past six weeks? I'm looking for the 'hey, you did good, but you can improve this' or the 'this specific thing was good, you should keep doing that'. Point out the strengths and weaknesses, what I can improve, what I should keep doing, so I can make sure I bring you all the best experience possible. It'd be much appreciated!

That's it from me this year. Stay classy, Marka Ragnos.