Dark dudes and dudettes! (TM)

Important news... As this news is quite important, (well I think it is) I have decided not to include the other House reports in this Clan report. Saitou may do this in a report of his own as he wishes.

It is with great sorrow that I announce my resignation as Consul of Scholae Palatinae. I have been in CSP since I first came to the DB and it would not be fair if I were to move to a different Clan, but at the same time, I don't know whether I want to be in CSP, or part of the DB at all. I shall be suggesting that Saitou be elevated to the position of Consul, as he has done an excellent job while I have been away, which I seem to have been a lot recently, and I have also left him a huge list of jobs that still need to be done. :)

Real life. I cannot say enough how important real life is. In the DB you should regard everyone as Star Wars cyber geeks, unless of course you have made any true friendships which I am happy to say I have. Real life should always come first, over anything in Emperor's Hammer. That is where you are supposed to live, not staring at some monitor at home, school or at work. Nothing that happens away from that screen should be allowed to deteriorate at the expense of answering an email in one of the Yahoo groups or for the sake of you making a post on a message board. Real life is where it is at, or where it should be. Yes, internet aliases and all that malarkey can be an outlet for what you want to say or experience, but who you are is judged by what you do in real life, not in a Star Wars fan-club.

Seeing as I brought it up, my time in CSP would not have been so good if it were not for certain individuals, such as Mike, who I must count as my closest DB mate, Maverick, Karva, Timbal, Jorddyn, Anga, Xythian, Loor, Death, and of course all those other members way-back-when when I first joined. Of course you will notice that Saitou's name is missing from the list above. That's cos he's a dick. Hahaha. No, Saitou was one of the newer members of what I think is the old-school and is a great bridge between the two different times of the DB I have gone through. He will be a good leader for CSP.

I would like to think that I have some good advice to give to people and, for anyone that cares, here it is. If you are in a command position, then you are here to make things fun for the members under your direct control. If that isn't happening, then you are doing something wrong.
I will still be about on IRC and all that crap, and will be happy to help anyone out wherever I can. You are their servant, not the other way about. You have to put in a lot of work and help all of the members under your control, and you need to think long and hard about whether you being a Battle Team Commander, AED, QUA or anything else is in the best interests of the House and Clan you belong to. You will be asked to do a lot of work as well as the work you have to do to set a good example to everyone else.

Don't know if you are a good leader? Then ask the members. Not just those that you see online all the time, but especially the ones who are never on IRC or ICQ. Why aren't they online all the time? If someone has just transferred out, then why did they transfer? As a leader it is up to you to find out what you are doing wrong, it isn't up to the individual to come to you. Only by asking the people you are supposed to control will you get a full picture of what people think about your leadership skills.

As you get older and wiser (in DB terms) you will realise that people have misplaced their judgments in how this club should be run. Certain members of the DB seem to think that their only goal is to get to the next level of command, and try and get their name in the DSC as the person who changed this, or the person who did that. That's bollocks. Everyone in the DB should be made to realise that as they progress through their careers and take the next position above them they have more and more people to answer to, and more and more people to work for.

Politics. Politics should not be allowed to exist in a 'fun' club such as this, but it does, and it is a shame. Be grateful if you have not been in a command position to witness this, as it sometimes saps your will to continue. Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing and should be exercised at every opportunity, and if you feel that someone is doing a crap job then you should let them know.

Too... much... rambling...
I'm sure most of you pretty much don't care that I'm leaving as I'm the kinda person to leave the organisation of Houses to the Quaestors and Aediles, as they know their members better than I do, so I'll leave it at that... kinda. Seeing as I mentioned the QUA's, Mejas, you're doing a great job and HAD should be at #1 again very soon, Darkmage, you're da man and Cali is going from strength under your control, and Ric - HDS being an Obbie QUA is a difficult job, but I'd like to think you've found your footing now and Dorimad Sol is about to explode with activity.

I still have loads to say, but why bore you more. I haven't even touched on the reasons why I'm resigning, though all the points above are contributory factors. But those reasons are my own and no-one could do anything about them. I will leave with one thing:-

A position is there to serve the membership, the membership is not there to serve the position.

VICTIM KE Cuchulain (Krath)/P:KHP-CON/Clan Scholae Palatinae