Selen
Estle City
The Citadel

Gummy eyelids blinked at the shadows, slowly rousing from a deep and dark sleep. Gray eyes squinted, and the body shifted, before falling back against the hardness of the throne. A groan came from the Ryn as he rubbed at his face, blinking again as he noted the clear lines leading from needles in his arm to the metal stand next to the chair, hooked to bags. Clear liquids.

"You were dangerously dehydrated, Master Bleu. The medics felt this was for the best," came a voice from his left, making the Ryn's head pound.

"Bly?"

"Yes."

"What the 'ell, man?"

The throne room was lit fitfully, the backing flame wall behind the dais low and a muted orange without the Consul around. The guard captain laid something on the arm of the chair, and Kordath looked down at it, finding a folding note and a glass of juice.

"Apologies, I believe security had to bring you in from down in the city. With all of the chaos and your penchant for slipping away when feeling threatened they took...unreasonable measures. They feared you'd not wait for an explanation before fleeing, and employed tranquilizers. I imagine between that and your liquid diet the past few weeks, you must feel rather rough."

Bleu grunted, picking up the piece of paper and squinting at it in the low light. Beside him, Bly produced a glowrod, illuminating the note. Gray eyes tracked across line after line of script that he easily recognized as Satsi Tameike's. They returned to the top of the missive, scrutinizing.

"You read this, Bly?" the Ryn's tone was filled with forlorn hope.

"No, Sir," stated the captain, drawing a sigh of relief from Kordath. "But, I was informed of the contents."

Kark me, so much for that.

The Ryn's head thumped into the back of the Serpentine Throne, the note falling from his hands as realization set in. His eyes closed, and he felt the power of the throne in the back of his mind. He'd used it a few times at her behest, but it always struck him as somewhat...creepy. Now, instead, he focused on it, reaching out for a few bright points across the system. Some were closer than he'd expected, others further.

His eyes opened again and he sighed, straightening in the throne. Estle City, just below the Citadel, was practically burning with disorder and chaos. He had a sense that his friends, the Tameikes, were trying to do something about it. And others. One who was dear to him, even if estranged, was even on world trying to help.

Of course she is, he thought with a sad smile. But I suppose it's my mess, now.

With grim determination, trying to ignore the creeping hangover that was finally trying to settle the bill, he looked up at Bly. The room brightened, the flames on the back wall rising and changing to a purple hue that threw unnatural shadows across the chamber.

"Well, guess I gotta keep it together fer a while, eh?"

He glanced down at the note, now on the floor, the words echoing about trust and ability, and sighed again.

"Bly? Get me Koul, comm him, tell 'im ta come in. Gotta have a talk. Probably get Qyreia as well...," he trailed off.

"And Miss Zujenia, Sir?"

Kordath grimaced, "Maybe not just yet, eh? Let’s see how things shake out with those two, first."

"Very good, Shadow Lord," spoke the captain, giving a short bow.

Kordath groaned at the use of the title, running his hand through his hair and picking up his juice. It was going to be a long, long day. A chill ran down his spine as he realized one other problem. The Arconae weren’t big fans of his.

Welcome to another month of Arcona awesomeness! As the above fiction shows, we’ve moved, storywise, to the new administration/regime/benevolent dictatorship that runs this show. Gods help us all, eh?

So, a few things going on Clan side. The Estle City RO is going on, this Run On is informally formal. What this means is...no, no rewards, this is mostly so people can explore what’s going on in the Clan’s capital. It’s also extended to our allies in Odan-Urr should they wish to jump in and build relationships with some of our characters. While there’s no formal rewarding going on here, it is helping shape the current situation the Clan is dealing with, the aftermath of the War and the plague. With last month’s update which dealt with the Collective’s attempted assault on Selen we may see some enemies beyond gangs and rioters in the future. Estle City is your playground, kids, we’ve expanded on it in the Development Project and this is your chance to play around in it.

Spectre Cell Battleteam Leader is open for applications. The recently change over from Nighthawk to this new team means an opportunity to shape and guide the future of House Galeres’s new Battleteam! So go and read up on the requirements, and remember that a big part of leadership in Arcona is being social and active.

Aaaaand Herald is open for applications! So go check that out! Also a Social Media Tribune which will be handling getting the DB’s message out there for the purposes of recruitment is open for applications.

And finally, in the very, very near future expect a joint competition series with our allies over in Odan-Urr! This is going to be a celebration of our alliance, as well as our first proper foray into the Club-wide plot concerning the Collective. Be on the lookout, should be a lot of fun and give plenty of chances for participation and shinies!

Important Club News

• FIST Update for the Gaming League
  
• FIST Report #17
  
• DGM Report #1
  
• Combat Master Report #14, now with Armor support
  
• Master At Arms Report #9
  
• Voice Report #13
  

Competitions

There are a ton of competitions running right now, many being ran by members of Arcona for the Club. In an effort not to overwhelm with links, I’ll be highlighting a few here and trust you all can find your way to the Competitions tab on the site.

• Collective Chronicles

  • A series of competitions focusing on expanding the background of the Brotherhood’s current antagonists, being ran by the Voice office. Currently they’re running a mock report comp and a fiction one. These are worth the big Crescents, kids.
    

• Brotherhood Gaming League

  • A series of gaming competitions focused on competitive play and rankings.

• Diablo 3 Seasons 13

  • Yes, it’s that time again! The seasonal competitions for Diablo 3 have returned. Go out and kill stuff.

More Competitions can be found here, of course! Make sure you check the Long-Running tab for additional opportunities!

Reports

• House Qel-Droma
  
• House Galeres
  

Ask The Ryn

• Qyreia asks

  • #asktheryn Rather than for the Clan as a whole, do you have anything planned for the individual Houses (fictionally or otherwise)?
    • I liked this question so it’s going first. I almost feel like both Houses are having an identity crisis right now. HQD has shifted from almost the entire House being in Shadow Gate, and the fictional direction that team had was primarily Port Ol’val, to Voidbreaker, where they’re a ship based team and Ol’val is in recovery. Lucine and Zujenia are already working to differentiate the Team and the House storylines so that those outside of the team aren’t left out. On the Galeres side, we’ve floundered, fictionally, ever since we cut Eldar loose. We’ve already taken some strides, settling on a new home base (Fort Blindshot) for the House command. I’d like us to take some time to lock down the roles of the Quaestor and Aedile in the Arconan Military chain of command, as well as see some House-centric stuff going on. With the recent assault by the Collective, this could be mopping up the enemy troops who landed, or any number of other things.

• Donny asks a few

  • #AskTheRyn - What is your favorite TV Show?
    • T...V…? I dunno, I’m partial to a few things lately (binged all 4 seasons of Letterkenny, regularly watch the Grand Tour despite my complete indifference to cars). Usually I just go ‘oh hey, this looks neat’ and binge for a weekend.
  • #AskTheRyn - If you could name a single thing, what most inspires your writing?
    • ‘I must get this idea out of my head’ is a big part. Another is reaction; sometimes I write things purely to see how the comp organizer will react.
  • #AskTheRyn - If Kordath ran the DJB for a day what kind of influence would he have on history?
    • So much blood. So many lives lost. The entire lot would have their starship piloting licenses revoked.
  • #AskTheRyn - If you could have any single video game be the most played game in the DJB what game would it be?
    • I dunno, Titanfall 2 was pretty fun though.
  • #AskTheRyn - As the new Consul of Arcona, what are your goals surrounding activity? do you have any metrics? any specifics you're looking to achieve?
    • My goals are to see our activity continue to grow, and to see variety in the things we do. Also more comps ran by members, rather than a few people. Specifics? Not really, I just want people to enjoy what they’re doing.
  • #AskTheRyn - What would you think about organizing a Run-On series where teams would compete and be able to make adjustments to the primary story (potentially different choices, or more free form options) after each phase.
    • I think if you’ve got an idea for this, put it together and talk to me :P

• Xenna asks a few

  • #asktheryn it's your time of the month again?
    • We’re trying to remain regular, yes.
  • #asktheryn was the ryn space program more american or soviet style? or possibly vaguely kerbal?
    • Probably more kerbal. Chaos abounds.
  • #asktheryn can you steal zuji's hammer and bash into people that scandinavia and nordic aren't the same thing?
    • Maybe. She’s quite attached to that thing.
  • #asktheryn Which limb would you cannibalize first if you are stuck in a cave on Hoth? How about if the cave was on Tatooine or Kamino?
    • Probably a leg. Hands are important.
  • #asktheryn What do babies taste like?
    • Dunno, ask Grot.
      

• Constainte asks

  • #asktheryn Fiction wise how do you see your character, in 15 years. Also do you drive a BMW
    • Kord in 15 years will hopefully be a family man who’s stressing out about the crazy stuff his kids are doing. And right now I don’t drive at all.

• Atra-Senpai asks

  • #AskTheRyn - how would Kordath respond, as the defacto leader of Arcona, to a perceived "no win" scenario?
    • Throw Elders at the problem till it's no longer no-win. There’s no fight Arcona should ever get into that’s worth sacrificing the bulk of our people. It’s a big galaxy, we can always retreat ‘somewhere’.

• Lucine Asks

  • 1.) Had any interesting assassination attempts recently?
    
    • Not just yet. Still waiting.
  • 2.) How would you describe the fictional working relationship with Terran?
    
    • Not sure yet, we’re still figuring that out. Prior to this the two characters didn’t really interact much.
  • 3.) Can Strong come over to play?
    
    • Strong is a big boy, he can make those decisions himself (ON THE WAY)
      
  • 4.) Of all of the various groups out there, who does the Shadow Sloth view as the greatest threat to Arcona?
    
    • Probably still the Dark Council.

• Turel asks

  • #AsktheRyn Arcona has a storied history, what from past generations would you carry forward and what do you feel needs to change to carry the clan forward in 2018?
    • Except for some very specific things from old canon that the DC doesn’t want us to run with (mysterious alien race), nothing gets ‘changed’. Part of the current Wiki efforts is bringing our history up to date, this may result in some summarizing but we’re going to do our best to carry everything forward. I say nothing changes for our history, but obviously our Clan has changed in the past couple of years, and our image has evolved. We’re no longer just another one of the Dark clans that some people on high believe we should be. We’ve become very, very Gray, and I feel like going forward that’ll be more obvious.

• Zujenia asks several!

  • #AskTheRyn what animal, being, or sentient species would you have eradicated and why?
    • I can’t think of any that I’d have eradicated, that’s pretty extreme for Kord. If I can lump a group into ‘being’ I’d say slavers :P
  • #AskTheRyn what smells bring back great memories?
    • Blueberries. Bittersweet right now.
  • #AskTheRyn Who would be the worst person to be stuck in an elevator with? How about the best person to be stuck in an elevator with?
    • Worst? Strong. The conscience is strong right now, as is the disappointment. Also he’s really, really loud. Best? Probably Zujenia, so he could not so subtly disable the elevator so they’d be forced to talk to one another.
  • #AskTheRyn If you opened a restaurant, what kind of food would you serve?
    • Pub grub, surprise dishes, having been widely traveled the Ryn has quite the strange set of recipes to work with.
  • #AskTheRyn What is the most disgusting thing you have heard about that happened at a restaurant?
    • ‘No, sir, no one in the kitchen has hair as long as what you just pulled out of your carnitas (that one’s from real life).
  • #AskTheRyn What do you like to do in spring? What do you like to do in springs? ;)
    • Spring is a time for cleaning, refreshing the body and mind, exercise. Springs are for baths, preferably with company.

• The Atty asks some!

  • Favorite SW movie and why?
    • Empire. Ends on such a down note.
  • Favorite Doctor and why?
    • Oh so we’re fighting today? Hard to say. The most impactful episode I ever watched was Vincent, so Smith is pretty high up there.
      
  • How is Kord feeling right now with Zuji, Satsi, etc? What about leaving Shay to his friends to look out for? Still on that bender?
    • Not great. About any of it. At all. He’d prefer if anything that Shay be with Zuji right now, the kid deserves the parent who’s not a kark up. As for the bender, see the fiction.
      
  • How will Kord accept the new summit members?
    • Nervously. He’s had some proper fights with most of them. One’s pretty ticked off at him, and probably wants to hurt another one of them. One wants Kord out of the picture. And who knows what Skar actually ‘wants’ right now.
  • Is Strong just going to do it for him with very excellent stationary passed down for generations?
    • Do what for him?
      
  • How many Armstrong quotes can you fit into one fiction?
    • You doubt my ability?
  • You've already been asked your goals as Consul, what about your goals for you? What do you want to manage next month, six months, end of the year?
    • End of the year? Hopefully by then we’ll be looking at the lead up to another Consul and stable lower leadership. Six months? An active and healthy Clan, still. Next month? Be nice to have the next major Clan event about ready to go.
  • Are you coming to my wedding and will you wear a kilt and talk in a funny accent in order to convince everyone you're Irish/Scottish the entire time?
    • I can totally do that, as long as my date is okay with me making an arse of myself.

• Jazzy asks

  • #AskTheRyn How are you today? I don't really have a question, I just want to participate.
    • Not too shabby, bit tired.

• Rins'zler/Edema asks

  • #AskTheRyn when are we going to be taking over the galaxy
    • Tonight, and every night, what else would we be doing?

• Tali asks several!

  • How do you respondt to allegations that Sentient Resources complaint chute leadts directly to Citadel boiler room?
    • We have a complaint chute? I thought that was the garbage disposal?
  • Is there a conflict of interest vith Arcona purchasing many subscriptions to the Ryn Streaming Service, vhich you also happen to be a majority shareholder of?
    • A percentage of all RSS subscriptions goes to help provide for the Arconan Military Veterans Associate and the Atyiru Sunshine Orphanage, why would you feel the need to attack these goodwill organizations with such claims? Shame.
  • How do you respondt to claims of you having an affair vith previous Consul andt thus gaining your current position?
    • Satsi and Kordath have been close, good friends ever since she came to Arcona. They’ve had a fruitful and fun friendship. He was her second and jacket holder for the War, and now that she’s taking a break, he’s found himself in the hot seat.
  • Have your administration paidt hush money to silence the Zeltron playmate "Tempestuous Zaniels"?
    • Good question, except I have no idea who that is.
  • Vhat is the current administration's stance on the #LekToo movement andt repeatedt calls to combat inequality in the vorkplace andt discrimination of lek-kindt?
    • My stance is they should speak louder, or send more interesting representatives that actually are capable of catching my attention.

And that just about covers this month, kids! Before we leave, we’re gonna touch on something that I mentioned at the start about one of our leadership spots that’s open. I made a note of ‘being social and active’ when talking about the open BTL spot. This is important. You’re the first measuring stick of your BT’s activity, you’re also the example they’ll be striving to follow. So yes, being active, both as a participant and an organizer is important, and I believe that pertains to all levels of Clan leadership. Equally as important is a willingness to engage your team members in conversation and discussion.

If I’m presented two different candidates (mind you, the House Summit is going to have a major say in who runs the Team, they’re the ones who are going to have to train the new guy after all) who have solid applications and good ideas, I’m going to lean heavily towards the one who I know is socially active as well. Because a silent Battleteam Leader leads to a dead Battleteam. You have an interest in being a leader in Arcona? Become a part of the conversation. Be a part of the Clan. I cannot stress this enough.

So, until next time, keep an eye out for the upcoming ARCOU event and keep being awesome!