Table of Contents

1. Fiction Update
2. A New Shadow Lord
3. Events and News
4. Q&A With Qyreia and Ruka
5. Final Notes

Fiction Update

"Are yoooou s-s-sure about this?"

It seemed a bit of a silly question to ask, at this point, having followed this far through so much, but Jus couldn't help it. The drop before them was an open plunge into dark, torrid water, blacker than black, a sharp wide contrast to the endless darkness of the blinding white around them.

"Do you trust me, Jus?" Inpa asked, barely looking over her shoulder at the Gotal as she rooted for something in the snow. What was that, a rope? Surely they weren't climbing down. It would be frozen. It would break. There was nowhere to climb! "Have you no walked where I walk?"

She had, and that had gotten them out of Zainab. Across kilometers and kilometers of ice, Jus didn't know how. She only knew it had been days of travel because of the two minutes of liminal twilight that appeared with dim light in the sky, diffused because the sun didn't make it over the horizon, before darkness returned entirely.

Inpa has found them safe places to rest. Caught food. Kept her warm. And then fought off even more of those monsters she called caxqettes, until they'd been overwhelmed…

Jus had been sure they would die, trapped hiding under an overturned survey vehicle whose driver had already been half eaten. But then those people had shown up, from the Citadel or the military, a Zeltron, Mirialan, Pantoran, and some kind of Human, and…

"Ready?" Inpa's voice broke into her spiraling thoughts. Jus tried to think of salinity levels and feldspars to ground herself, but her heart was hammering.

"Um, yes, for what, exactly?"

"Going down."

"Yes, buuuuu-u-ut what's down there?"

"My home. Come." The Selenian girl wrapped a muscled arm around her, drawing them together. "Hold on to me close, Jus. Need my hands. No let go. No screaming. It carries over water, will bring the beasts. Can you do this thing for me?"

Easier said than done!

Still, despite her anxieties, Jus clutched on to the shorter woman, burying her face into Inpa's coral braids so that she wouldn't have to see the leap they were about to make. Her stomach lodged itself in her throat before they even took a step, and then—

Inpa threw them off a cliff.

Jus didn't make a sound. Her eyes rolled back and the world went black.

Read the rest of the fiction here.

TL;DR

• Jus and Inpa work together to convince the Tuncan Selenian tribes to help the Arconans.
• Together, Arconan forces at two separate points fend off the gods' offensive and rout them from Zainab. The Arconans recover the Cloak of Youtl. The gods are presumed defeated. Congrats! Thanks to your stellar participation, we knocked off a god and got the goodies.
• After action reports are given, and there is success, but there are also more meetings to come, and foreboding visions promise more on the horizon.

Nova Umbra Domina

This part of the report has been about a month in the making, and I’ve held off for the sake of continuity with the last clan event. So, straight from your new Consul of Clan Arcona: hello! Plenty of you know me, some are unfamiliar, and most are probably wondering what all of this means for Arcona in the long term. Well I’m glad you asked!

An Intro

In character, Qyreia is a Zeltron that’s seen some serious emotional ebbs and flows over the past… six-ish years in the Brotherhood. She’s a non-Force user (NFU) mercenary that is a blaster prodigy, better-side-of-decent pilot, and generally swears a lot. She cares for the people in her charge, and shows it by doing everything she can to maximize damage to their enemies and, accordingly, keep her people safe; socializing and friendliness is optional. There’s a lot of background and fictions to go along with her, but if you want to see the some quick-and-easy stuff, you can check out her out-of-date wiki or the contents of her biographical run-on (on GDrive since the Discourse forums got nixed for some reason). For reasons you’ll see in a future fiction update, she’s holding onto the title Shadow Lord rather than Lady (despite the Latin title above) while she’s in the Serpentine Throne.

Out of character, I’m not quite the “Arcona Invicta” screaming, chest thumping, tiger blood drinking Consul that’s previously sat in the seat. I’m more the type that plans, puts things together, and shoves it into the blinding light of day with the hopes that folks will enjoy the fruits of my labor. I speak plainly and often in a manner that can come off as rude, mean, or angry; even when I’m not any of those things at that moment in time. That said, much like Q in fiction, I’m a firm proponent of the “frack around and find out” (as they say in Star Wars) methodology: if I have to tell you to stop doing something in a chat, it stops, or “Auntie Kyew” is going to get mean. That comes with the understanding that I do so based on broad and acute observation and analysis; not merely emotional gut-check. I’m here to look out for you all as much as I am for content creation. On a less serious note, I love writing fiction, exploring canon character progression, casual coop gaming, alliteration, and making Atty roll her eyes.

Plans as Qonsul

I’m a fan of transparency, and the Clan deserves to know what shenanigans they can expect in the long and short term. Further down in the report is a more definitive outline for upcoming events and fictional progression (see Events and News). Here’s all the stuff that’s going on in the background that gradually sees the light of day and is revealed to your eyeballs.

• Predictability. Something I did with Galeres was a bullet-point event calendar so folks knew when something was coming up and could thus gird their loins for it. I aim to continue that trend, and your House and Battleteam Summit members have done a great job in developing a long-range planning calendar for events, competitions, and RPs. The intent to this is so we as units and sub-units don’t step on each other’s toes and take focus away from someone else’s stuff. It’s readability and value isn’t found in public consumption, but it will allow your House Summits to plan and convey their own events to you in whatever way they think you’ll digest best. Because of all this planning, we ask that if you as a member are looking to run a competition or RP, that you pass it up your chain of command for a quick bless-off. If you want it to be Clan-canon, it will need to be reviewed by the CON and PCON.
• Clan Possessions Development. A few months ago, Tali and Grot came up with an idea to give the Arcona Expeditionary Forces (AEF) a little more punch by adding more tanks, and armored vehicles to give our squishies some protection. Some lengthy discussion later, and we got a good idea of what that will look like, with some planned tweaks. Look forward to seeing this and other organizational changes to the Clan Possessions roster before the start of the GJW in a couple weeks. Additionally, something me and Kord have been plotting for the better part of a year-and-some-change is an Arcona Armed Forces (AAF) Development Project, which would give some fictional flair to the units that get involved in all our conflicts. This will include unit patches (graphics), NPC creation, unit names, and so on.
  
• Competition Workshops. We understand that some competition types are daunting by their very nature: five hundred words of fiction sounds like a lot of work, and drawings never seem to come out quite the way we want them to. Add to that the stiff competition from powerhouses both in and out of Arcona, and participating in competitions, much less events, can seem a bit intimidating. Acknowledging this, we as a collective Summit are working out the plan for a sort of familiarization workshop, using both mentorship and small-scale competitions for you members to get in some practice. Because the best way to get over the proverbial hump is experience.
  
• Always Wikiing. Wikis are in a perpetual state of “needing work”, and Arcona’s are no exception: from the main Clan page to the AAF sub-pages, and even my own character page (cough). But, after getting some practice in with a couple of the AAF pages, I know that a wiki can be ground out in an afternoon’s time with enough elbow grease and caf. To that end, once I’m out of the Consul kiddie pool and past the club event, my personal goal is to update/overhaul at least one article a month. If you want to volunteer, shoot an e-mail to me and Atty, and we’ll get a plan worked out.

Events and News

Here you’ll find the majority of news, plans, and a dose of OOC fiction stuff. The format will likely remain unchanged from report to report. Read and enjoy!

Brotherhood Events

As of now, Great Jedi War (GJW) XV is locked in to take place from the end of May through the beginning of July, with Phase I running from 28 May to 12 June, a week long break, and Phase 2 running from 19 June to 6 July. Our enemies this time around are the Children of Mortis, who like to capitalize the word “The” in their titles. For this reason, they must be crushed. Oh, and they’re also trying to kill us and/or turn us into crystal monsters. Both are bad.

During this time, competition organiztion will be on hold, and the same goes for in-Clan RPs so as not to distract from the labor-intensive WAHR stuff. You can find some of the most recent fiction releases in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3. And as you may recall from our Clan chat votes, our choices for the crystal research points will have some sort of impact on the story. What that is, we’ll soon find out.

There shall be hype. There shall be explosions. There shall be a burgeoning market in crystal jewelry and bedazzling. Prepare for WAHR, Arcona!

In-Clan Events

First, your Houses are running rampant with stuff. Qel-Droma just finished up it’s Paladins v. Cartels event, resulting in Port Ol’val and the House remaining in the “unlawful” spectrum of activity. How that pans out for the bigger picture remains to be seen. Likewise, Galeres’ ongoing Operation: Stormfront has just a few days remaining, setting the stage for future balances of power for the planet and, maybe, the Dajorra System. So don’t forget to get those entries in while you have time! Their next planned event is tentatively set to run from the end of July through August.

Next, Clan stuff. We are going to have a cram-packed late summer and autumn between the House events and the various Clan widgets. Expect two key Arcona-specific things before winter sets in: 1) a brief respite from the Selenian “gods” and something more Star Warsy, probably involving some Hutts; and 2) a mini-event involving the Selenian gods to set the stage for the next major event. Because our enemies don’t go away unless we finish the job. These will likely take place in mid-to-late July and in October, respectively, each lasting about a month. The dates are tentative and very subject to change at the moment. They will not have phases to them, so be aware.

We are also planning a potential event with Clan Odan Urr during December, plus a week on each end, that will revisit our alliance with Odan Urr, which was last addressed in 2018. Expect some competitive, some cooperative, and a whole lot of Sithmas/Life Day-themed shenanigans. More to come as plans get solidified.

Now, for some additional thematic expectation management. One of the things I’ve wanted to do since I first sat in Galeres’ Quaestor seat was to embrace the unit’s fictional purpose: be the military arm of Arcona, much like Qel-Droma was the sneaky/criminal arm of the Shadow Clan. While the Houses and their members don’t always necessarily hold to these themes, they still are there. So as we go into future events, you may start to see more fiction prompts with optional House-specific objectives to really explore these House directions. Tying that in, I’m aiming to start taking what’s happening with the Houses into the macro Clan plot to make everything more interconnected; almost like our characters are in a living, breathing galaxy. Along the same vein, expect that sometimes we will have to choose a side in a morally or ethically ambiguous situation during a competition or event. Not all enemies are obvious, mustache-twirling villains, nor are they always in clear-cut factions. As the saying goes, “The world doesn’t exist in black and white, but in shades of gray.”

Other News Highlights

• Turel, your new Fist of the Brotherhood, gives some updates to the Rites of Combat, which are critical to understand if you’re doing any gaming, much less during a club-wide event.
• The Voice made some clarification to Clusters of Ice for RPs in his supplemental report. Take a read if you want to collect those sweet Clusters for your RPing activity.
• While still a ways out for most of us, the Grand Master just inducted one of our own Arconae and sitting Seneschal of the Brotherhood, James Lucius Entar, to the newly-created rank of Elder 4. Further, some additional congratulations to Mune, Socorra, Kaled, and Tali on their Seals of Loyalty in celebration of May the Fourth “Star Wars Day”!

Q&A With Qyreia and Ruka

The parts of Qyreia will be played by herself, and Ruka by Atty. No cucumbers were harmed in the making of this production. The use of a step-ladder is confidential information.

Atra asks: What approach is Q going to take to being the now de facto leader of Arcona? Has the steady transition from mercenary to trusted leader gone smoothly or shall there be bumps in the road? And how might the powerful within Arcona take to an NFU merc taking the helm?

• Q: For transition, in the still-to-be-written-fiction capacity, it’s kinda jarring because it’s not gonna come with an assumed movement of Person X into Leadership Slot Y. Arcona’s elite probably take more affront to the mercenary part than the NFU part, given that Rhylance is an NFU; if that bleeds into any fictional capacity in the future remains to be seen. As for the personal approach, she’s gonna do what she always does: find the bad people, shoot the bad people in the face, go home with waifu-lady.
• R: There's no one else Ruka would follow or bend a knee to (in the leadership way, you pervs).

Tali asks: What is your favorite pickle?

• Q: Chopped and used as a topping (ie. relish). Sweet vs. dill is based on what it’s going on.
• R: OOC? I despise pickles. Ruka probably liked them just fine right up until Q made a joke about them or cucumbers and his anatomy and now avoids them out of sheer No.

Kamjin asks: What is your position on the Mother and why do you believe Kamjin?

• Q: Who and who? (this is an in-character response)
  
• R: Again, you have no idea how ready I am for Xen to let me loose on monster crystal m!preg, now featuring 10ft wide predatory hydra-worm tentacles.

Kordath asks: Can we repaint Dusk Station so it's the same color as Selen's oceans from orbit, so it's harder for enemies to see it?

• Q: You do know that only works if 1) they are approaching it from head-on, 2) Dusk Station isn’t hovering over a landmass at that given moment in time, and/or 3) they don’t just use their sensors like any sane ship would, right?
• R: All things in the rainbow fleet are rainbow. ALL. THINGS.

If we do can we rename it Garmis Station since it'll be blue?

• Q: No.
• R: No over my dead body. How are respective spouse characters dealing with the fun and new levels of stress the job entails?
  
• Q: Keira is… honestly doing better than Q. Mostly just trying to ease the burden with good food, some good mixed drinks, and lots of (adult) snuggling. Maybe some babber discussion.
• R: Cora has always believed in Ruka, and continues to believe in him. He's using the extra time since Q "dismissed" him to keep closer to Noga and Leda, support Ruka, and recenter attention on sharing his Jedi and diplomatic skills, between Odan-Urr and Arcona, Arcona and the Eldarians, and Arcona and the Selenian tribes, like on Tunca.

Atra also asks: Can I push the button?

• Q: If it’s the Muffin Button, then yes. For all other options: no.
• R: What she said.

Sera asks: What do y’all think about the creepy crystals that everyone seems so gung-ho about? Do you wanna build a giant evil space laser with rhylance, or yötē them into the sun?

• Q: A black hole would be preferable to a sun. And as of right now, the preference is a good hyuck into the crushing abyss.
• R: Is prepared and ready to yeet.

How is training going? Q still working on her saber work? Either need some butt-kicking from a friendly zabby?

• Q: My saber practice is going just fine, thankyouverymuch.
• R: "Be happy to dance with you, Serami."

What do Ruka and Q see as their responsibility, going into a war? Are they front-line commanders, or will they plan and control from the rear?

• Q: Might do some planning in the headquarters, but ol’ Q has always been a front-line girl.
• R: Ruka's a similar mindset, especially because he isn't a tactician by any means. He's a weapon, more or less, by his abilities. He and Cora will take the field together as ever and do their best to save people, under Q's direction, and Ruka will do it with faith that those who come next in the Chain of Command will do better than he ever could.

Speaking of rears, how does the throne feel? Have any cushions been installed?

• Q: Frack yes, a cushion was just about THE first thing to happen.
• R: He is not going near that thing unless Qyreia asks him to.

Need / want a hug?

• Q: Eh.
• R: This Is Fine Dog.gif

In the Children of Mortis, and Arcona’s own Old-God infestation, we have ancient eldritch entities claiming power over the force. How does that affect Q and Ruka’s own perception of the Force? Is Q even more jaded? Is Ruka’s faith in the traditional alignment of light and dark shaken at all?

• Q: Jaded? Who’s jaded? I’ll feel a little more jaded about you space wizards when you can fly your own butts around the battlefield. Ain’t the Red Qek that keeps having genocide-type purges and mysterious enemies for having magic powers.
• R: Ruka's faith isn't particularly focused on those strict alignments, but he does find these things frightening. Overwhelming. Insane. And infuriating. Anyone who steps over other people to call themselves a god or emperor or the chosen ones? They're wrong. It's just wrong. Those are people's lives. And he's not gonna stand for it, no matter how terrifying it is.

Beach party after the war?

• Q: Sure, why not. The last beach party went so well.
• R: [PTSD flashbacks]

Karran asks: Hi mom. Hi dad. How are y’all?

• Q: I’m… not… your mom? confused Zeltron noises
• R: "Looking to see if you earn my trust back, but not waiting for it. Hoping you're happier. Hoping for one of us the price was worth all of it."

Uji, aka Aginore asks: If you had to only play one game for the next year either solo or with friends - what would the game be?

• Q: Dungeons & Dragons. Not even an in-character answer on this one. With a good DM, decent dice rolls, and plenty of roleplaying, it’s one of the best games I’ve got on my schedule ever.
• R: Oh, that's a good answer, I'm taking that one too, been enjoying DnD. (In which Ruka is SOMEHOW sadder).

Qyreia asks: Hey Ru. I got a throne. Wanna be my scept-…? * R: No.

Final Notes

If you’re reading this, you’ve made it through what is possibly my beefiest report to date. I hope that in the coming weeks, months, and maybe even years, that I can do right by Arcona and it’s active population of members. As always, I can be reached by e-mail at [Log in to view e-mail addresses], on Telegram with @QyreiaArronen, or on Discord @Qyreia#9352. You can find Atty at [Log in to view e-mail addresses], or @Atty#3546 on Discord. And if you’re bored, feel free to follow my meant-for-recruiting-but-still-fun in-character Twitter feed @TheRedQek!

Sincerely,