Greetings all,

Today I am pleased to announce that Deputy Grand Master Evant Taelyan has received unanimous ratification from the Electorate and approval from the Star Chamber. Evant has been an excellent Deputy, and before that, his work on Possessions has shaped the membership experience in profound ways. I know he will be an excellent Grand Master, and that the Dark Council staff he has around him will continue to grow the Brotherhood's membership experience in important ways. We will make the transition official this evening. If you have not yet done so, please check out his plans for the club moving forward.

Today marked my final day as Grand Master. The Brotherhood today is deeply different from the club I joined more than two decades ago. From communication systems to the website, it barely resembles the Star Wars clubs I found on the Flight Sim Resource Center on AOL. When I helped design Rebirth - the series of proposals that would lay the foundation for everything from possessions to character sheets - after the Exodus, none of us could have foreseen the amazing character and possession elements that would come from it. And yet, at its core, the Brotherhood remains much the same as it always has been: We are interlocking communities of Star Wars fans that want to capture a bit of the magic of the movies and - with our motley collection of friends, Clanmates, and even rivals - leave our own brief imprint on this version of the Star Wars galaxy. The ways we do that has changed through the years, from a club once primarily made up of and driven by competitive gamers, to one that is heavily driven by fictional development and story. Through it all, over more than two decades, community has always remained paramount in the Brotherhood.

I have been extremely lucky to work with a great group of Dark Councilors and Consuls throughout my time as Grand Master. In many ways, these individuals, and the many informal advisors from which I benefited greatly, have been my own community and gave me a sense of strength and pride during my time as Grand Master. We pushed each other to develop the best content we could for the Brotherhood, to appeal to the widest swath of members, and to provide a stable basis for further growth across systems and experiences. While no term as GM is without its hiccups, I succeeded because of the efforts of an excellent team around me. So, to Councilors past and present, thank you for making my time as Grand Master such a success!

I hope all of you take every opportunity you can to get involved, and to make the Brotherhood a better place. This club is driven by the interest and focus of its broad membership base, and I know all of you are full of excellent ideas. Don't get discouraged if a given proposal isn't accepted - I have had just as many proposals of mine dismissed as implemented. Find your passion in the Brotherhood and keep at it.

I know I leave the Brotherhood in capable hands, and I look forward to watching the continued development of our organization from the sidelines for the first time in more than a decade. And although I will shortly leave my role as Grand Master, I’ll still be around, shaking my cane at all the animated gifs on Telegram. Perhaps I’ll even get to participate in the next Vendetta!

Grand Master Telaris “Mav” Cantor