Since Halc retired, I have had a lot of top-notch members applying for the position he left vacant. It has been a difficult couple of days, with several of the applications being quite long and complex.

I want to take a moment and thank everyone who applied. There was some good stuff in there, a lot of thought-provoking ideas and concepts, and it was plain that a lot of time and effort went into those applications. Hopefully, we'll be able to work with you on some of those ideas even though I can only pick one person as Deputy Grand Master.

And that is what it came down to. Having consulted with a few high level advisors, a decision had to be made.

Most of us should be familiar with the man who is taking the role up. Raken has served very admirably as Praetor to the Grand Master, as fiction Tribune, and his work in forming the first new house in the Brotherhood for years was almost as impressive as his creative energy. His recent successes in Horizons was a huge boon for his new home in Arcona.

With his creativity added to the already excellent Dark Council we have right now, I feel that there are truly some great things in store for the Brotherhood.