They stood together, shoulder to shoulder, ebony cloaks flitting in the wind.
With their cowls drawn up, faces shadowed, the Arconae stood.
While at their center, their leader’s hood had been thrown back:
Marick Arconae, dark of hair, bright of eyes clear as crystals in the gloom of dusk.
At his feet, a sanguine man choked forth a cough, spitting blood.
A One Sith captain, proud and pious.
He had tried to infiltrate the Shadow Clan, and failed.
He raised a finger and pointed at the Arconans:
”The Old Republic was destroyed. The Jedi were destroyed. The Empire was destroyed,”
He rasped, panting.
”How long do you think your little Clan will last?”
A brisk breeze blew strands of long and thin hair across the Consul’s stoic face.
”Infinitely,”
He replied plainly as he drove the tip of his lightsaber into the traitor’s chest.

It’s been a while since my last official report. The above is something I wrote for fun, but that carries a theme I’ll be carrying as I go along. Buckle in, we have a lot of ground to cover.

In this report:

• Invicta Day
• Fading Light Update
• The ACC, Why It Matters
• Arcona Training Groups (ATGs)
• Shadesworn Reb00t
• The Fade Proposal
• Recognition: Promotions and Awards
• Proconsul Projects
• (New) Live Q&A Section for Ask The Consul
• Wallys Word

Invicta Day

“Today we celebrate...our independence day!" - Some guy in a movie about aliens trying to take over earth.

While April 13th is known as the day of the Exodus--the day in which we, as a club, left the Emperor's Hammer--it also holds a significant place in Arcona’s history. It was the day that Grand Master Muz Ashen deemed Arcona one of two units out of seven worthy of becoming a Clan once again. It wasn’t easy.

Our first proposal was actually rejected. Instead of throwing our hands up and pouting, however, we dove right back into it. I was only a humble BTL at the time, but I got to watch and then help with the revision under the guidance of Zandro, Dash, Wun, Tim, and the rest of the upper summit at the time. We tackled every counterpoint and came back twice as strong with our follow up.

Re-Clanning was an exciting time. I remember it clearly. I had the honor of being selected as Quaestor of House Qel-Droma and was given a clean slate with it. The level of passion that went into the creation of the House, Port Ol’val, and its Battleteams was empowering. Invigorating. We rode that momentum into the War, and continued to sprint forward, never hesitating or stopping to look back over our shoulders to see if anyone was even keeping pace. They were hard pressed, though a lot of the current active members and leaders in the club will overlook it.

I see that same excitement with the new blood of now-Clan Plagueis, and even see it with the old blood of now-Clan Taldryan. It’s nice to see other units experiencing it, and it does make me feel proud and happy to be part of an organization like the DJB.

However: just remember, Arconans, that we’ve been doing this for years. Clanship isn’t a new shiny thing for us. It’s simply business as usual for us, and we will continue to push forward as we always have. To any other unit members reading this, know that this is not meant as a flexing of arrogance. This is simply how things are. We welcome competition, but never mistake for a second that anything is going to cause us to back down--even a few minor set backs ;).

As a wise philosopher once proclaimed: “Come at us, bro.”

And so, I’d like to declare that the 14th day of April (the day after Exodus Day) will henceforth be known as “Invicta Day” here in Clan Arcona. This serves as a reminder that this was our first day as a Clan reborn.

The Invicta Games

Depending on how Fading Light progresses, Legorii and I would love to run our own smaller version of the Independence Games, where everyone in the Clan is encouraged to run an event and participate in the others. Is this something you guys would be interested in? Let us know in the comments or in e-mail!

So, congratulations to the Brotherhood on making it another year after freeing ourselves from the Emperor's Hammer. Speaking of Vendettas though...

Fading Light

Chapter 1 of the Fading Light Vendetta has finished. Arcona’s Team-2 (Legorii, Wuntila, Timmy, Socks, Verse, and Nadrin) took home Bronze Novae for the Clan, while Arcona Team-5 (Marick, Trouty, Atty, Sai, Teroch, Vic) managed to finish 5th overall, making Clan Arcona the only unit in the Brotherhood to have 2 teams in the Dark Jedi Brotherhood. Andrelious’ Team 6 also managed to qualify as well.

With 3rd place secured, Arcona earned 30 Placement Points and a club-high 152 Armed Forces Points for participation numbers.

Congratulations, however, go to Taldryan on their Run-On victory. Their story wasn’t the longest written, but told a great narrative that incorporated the backstory of the Triumvirate. What I want everyone to note after reading (and if you want to be a serious contender in Run-Ons for the DB, I’d highly recommend checking it out) is that it was Rathus, a Dark Jedi Knight, that got called out by the Voice as being the real gem of a team filled with Elders. This just goes to show you that it does not matter what rank you hold in the Brotherhood when it comes to competing.

On any given day, any member (regardless of rank) can rise up, contribute, and claim victory. I say this now because it leads in perfectly to the next chapter of the Fading Light Vendetta.

The ACC

”It’s better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.”

If you’ve spent any time in the Brotherhood over the past few months, you’ve probably gotten tired of hearing calls for “Qualify for the ACC!” Well, there is a reason we are so vehement on getting you guys to sign up, and maybe now you will see why:

The next chapter of the Fading Light will come in the form of massive ACC Ladder (Bracket Tournament). We do not have all the full details, but know that you will need to be qualified for the ACC to participate.

So, why should you ACC?

The ACC is one of the few competitions we have in the Brotherhood where your character is the center of attention. Run-Ons are a collaborative effort that see you focusing on a grand, overarching plot, multiple NPCs and other characters besides your own. A lot of the time it’s easy to feel like your own character gets lost in that process in the interest of the team effort. Fictions also, while personal, in the end are just solo endeavors.

The ACC, though, is all about your character. It’s all about how your character (not an NPC, not a member of the DC) battles against another character. It’s the only time where you are graded primarily on your ability to not only write combat, but to show how well you know your own character as well as your opponent’s. The shift has gone from gaming-type match-spam to a tournament bracket style that really puts a premium on your skill.

With that in mind, I can’t stress how important it is for everyone to give the ACC a try. I talk about it a bit more in person in the Live Q&A later in the report, but keeping an open mind is the secret to getting the most out of online clubs and organizations. At the end of the day, we are here because of your efforts. As your leader, and also a fierce competitor (tigerblood, yo) it always is inspiring to see how Arcona always finds a way to rally when it comes to numbers. And If there is one thing I’ve learned over the past year, it’s that the Dark Council is very serious about participation numbers. It’s been at the heart of every major competition we’ve done in the past two years as a club. Even if it’s not directly tied into how we win, it is still an incredibly positive reflection of our Clan.

So far, 24 of our 69 Arconans have qualified for the ACC. I have a bet going with Legz that we won’t get more than 25. Legz thinks we can hit 30, easily. What do you guys think? Prove me wrong here ;)

I get it. A lot of you are worn out from the seemingly endless competition after competition. We keep calling to arms, and eventually it gets to be numbing. I’m asking you guys now, however, to not give up the fight. The ACC has always been Arcona’s domain. To recap, here is some history of Arcona in the ACC during major competitions.

Great Jedi War X

Top 10 ACC Placement

• 1st - Timeros Caesus Entar Arconae (ARC)
  
• 2nd - Sashar Erinos Arconae (ARC) (Teroch)
• 3rd - Invictus (ARC)
  
• 4th - Socorra (ARC)
  
• T-5th - Manji Keibatsu Sadow (CNS)
  
• T-5th - Guinevere Deschain (HOU)
  
• 7th - Marick Del`Abbot (ARC)
  
• 8th - Xathia Vahillus (ARC)
  
• 9th - Arcadian (PLA)
  
• 10th - Macron Goura Sadow (CNS)
  

(In my defense...I proofed every post of the people who placed higher than me, just saying :P)

5th Championship Ladder

Finals: Timeros Entar Arconae vs Teroch Erinos Arconae

Champion: Timeros Entar Arconae

Horizons Vendetta

Top 5 Placements

• 1st - Timeros
  
• 2nd - Socorra
  
• 3rd - Legorii
  
• 4th - Marick
  
• 5th - Andrelious
  

It’s been a while, but even in the ACC Beta Tournament that is still ongoing we have two Arconans (Legorii and Verse) still fighting into the semi-finals.

Take pride in those placements, Arconans. Take pride in what it means to be a part of Clan Arcona.

In closing in regards to the ACC, I offer the reprise to the quote I lead with earlier.

“It’s better to live on your feet, than die on your knees.”

Stand with me Arcona. Let’s do it.

(But don’t worry, we’re not going to just blindly throw you into something...)

ACC Training Group

Legorii has mapped out a cool new initiative we are calling Arcona Training Groups (ATGs). ATGs will encompass the major competitions we have in the Brotherhood, and focus on small teams lead by two veterans in what could be considered “mini” Sage courses for those familiar with the SA terminology. The goal is to launch Fiction, Run-On, Gaming, and Graphics groups in hopes of giving you guys an opportunity to learn from Arcona’s best.

The first ATG we are going to launch, in the interest of time, is the ACC Training Group. This group will allow any member of Clan Arcona to sign up to join the ACC Group. In this group, we will review Beta ACC Matches, learn to better breakdown and analyze character sheets, and share tips and tricks we’ve noticed along the way. To sign up, use the Google Form!

Shadesworn Ranks

The new Shadesworn Rankings

Ok, so for those new to Arcona, you’ve probably at least heard the term “Shadesworn” thrown around. If you were so inclined to look it up on the wiki, you would find an old article that showed a breakdown of different rankings that helped outline the roles that Arconans served among the Arconan Military.

Shadesworn is the name given to Arconans by their mundane (non-Force sensitive) military. The Arcona Armed forces, our troops, are based on a mixture of loyalty and reverence to the Force-wielding Dark Jedi of Clan Arcona. The Shadesworn are called such because of their undying loyalty to the Shadow Lord, the honorific held by the acting Consul of Clan Arcona.

I sat down the other night and manually went through the entire Arcona Roster, and re-structured some things to reflect our current membership base. I also (being the Master Namer that I am) went and renamed more than a few things. If you have alternate suggestions, don’t be afraid to send suggestions to my inbox. I’m always open to hearing ideas :)

A quick breakdown on paper of the new Shadesworn Ranks:

• Shadow Lord (Acting Consul) - Supreme Commander of the Arcona Armed Forces
• Shadow Scion (Acting Proconsul) - Commander of the Arcona Armed Forces
• Shadeborn - Generals of the Arcona Armed Forces
• First Circle - Majors of the Arcona Armed Forces
• Second Circle - Captains of the Arcona Armed Forces
• Third Circle - Lieutenants of the Arcona Armed Forces
• Knights - Sergeants of the Arcona Armed Forces
• Shadelings - Soldiers of the Arcona Armed Forces
• Initiates - Privates of the Arcona Armed Forces

More detail can be found on each rank on the wikipedia article. However, you’ll notice that the requirements between each rank (especially below Second Circle) are dependent on contributions to Clan Arcona by means of prestige, leadership, and accomplishments. As we move forward, incentives to boost your rank to the next level will arise depending on the events available. The higher the stakes, the more opportunity for advancement there will be.

I would also like to note that these ranks have nothing to do with your Dark Jedi Brotherhood rank. These are fictional roles you guys can earn, and alternate titles you can give your characters when writing them interacting with the members of the Arcona Armed Forces. These ranks are in no way affiliated with your Dark Jedi Brotherhood rank, or the Master at Arms staff and are subject to approval and revision by the Consul of Clan Arcona and the Arconae.

The Fade

Another way of possibly helping jump rank comes in the form of recruitment, which we will be pushing very hard in the coming months.

The Fade proposal was an idea originally created by Dash and presented to me in hopes of having it adopted into the Shadesworn re-writes I was working on. The concept was to take some of our extra ground troops and use them as rewards to members who went out and recruited new members into Arcona, and then helped them rise to Dark Jedi Knight status.

Enter the "Fades”. Fades are NPC characters explicitly loyal to not Arcona, not the Brotherhood, but to your character directly! You will be responsible for creating the backstory for these Fades as to why they have sworn loyalty to your character. It can be anything from a life-debt to the more opportunistic mercenary attitude of sticking with the hand that feeds.

Justifying these NPCs, I purchased an extra phyle of Rangers with some of our hard-earned Fleet Points, as well as members of our Mandalorian Clan!

On paper, Fades will work like this:

• Recruit and Train your first member into Clan Arcona and help them achieve the rank of Dark Jedi Knight -- Earn (1) Mandalorian Fade.

• Recruit and Train any additional member(s) into Clan Arcona and help them achieve the rank of Dark Jedi Knights -- Earn (1) Ranger Fade.

Each NPC will be added to the official “Fade” Wikipedia page for reference and linking to your own personal wiki articles.

(We will be taking volunteers to help create this page: e-mail Legorii if interested) As these NPCs are really just personality and names given to existing members of the Arcona Fleet, they are not Force Sensitive and do not in anyway overlap with plans for possessions-related NPC’s that are planned.

Proconsul Projects - Legorii Style

Legorii here, gonna run through a lot of stuff somewhat quickly here, so bear with me.

The main focus of the past few weeks since Bosthirda has been ACC Qualifications -- we’ve been trying to work with as many of you guys who aren’t qualified as possible to get you up to speed in preparation for Fading Light II. Wally and I have also worked up a pretty extensive list of projects and changes we want to make internally, and those are mostly underway.

The biggest news on the Projects front is covered elsewhere in this report -- the fleet news, for example, has been a big effort (huge thank-you to Invictus for his work on that) that is still ongoing. The ATGs are also the result of a lot of thought and conversation, and we hope that they can help to revolutionise the way we do business in vendettas. The DeviantArt page that we kicked off a few weeks ago is also discussed below.

I want to take a moment to thank Andrelious for helping me go through our GoogleGroups to ensure that everything is up to date, that we have everyone included that should be included, and that we don’t have anyone in the groups that we don’t want. We’re trying to increase chatter both in #arcona and on the GoogleGroup, and having up-to-date groups is an important part of fostering that sense of community.

Wally also recently did a ton of work on updating Arcona’s signature Shadesworn Program -- each of you should check out that wiki page and see where you stand. There are more updates to come, some cool new fictional additions, so keep your eyes peeled for that. As always, if anyone is interested in helping out with some of our projects, just shoot me an email and I’ll find something for you to do! We’re always looking for bored people to knock out tasks for us.

If you have any suggestions, please contact me and we’ll talk.

Fleet Articles

These are still ongoing as we look to wikify and name our new squadrons and the crews of our new Fleet Purchases. Bored and looking for work? There is always money in the “Fleet Stand”.

Arcona Deviant Art Page - Volunteers

Still looking for volunteers to help with this. E-mail Atty at: [Log in to view e-mail addresses]

Arcona Tumblr

Did we mention we have a Tumblr as well!? Thanks to now awesomsauce Herald Socorra, we do!

Check out: http://clanarcona.tumblr.com/

Feel free to submit quotes from #arcona, rage comics you’ve made, or other art-work that relates to Clan Arcona!

We are currently working on a Clan Arcona Hub that will serve as a portal for all of our cool sub-sites such as tumblr and deviant art. Keep an eye out on the horizons and be patient. My coding skills are nonexistent, but I’m going to figure out a way to make it work ;).

Recognition

You will be typically (once we are back on schedule) get your share of medals and promotion updates through the House reports. However, I always like to take a part of the Clan Report to acknowledge some of the bigger accomplishments that have been recognized by the MAA Office and the Brotherhood.

Seals of Loyalty

The following members were honored by the Brotherhood with seals of Loyalty.

• Legorii
• Wuntila Arconae
• Baxir (Orv)
• Ernordeth
• Ood Benar
• Andrelious
• Marick Arconae

Awards

• Nadrin and Andrelious were both awarded Sapphire Blades!
• Legz, Wun, Timmy, Socks, Verse, and Nadrin won Bronze Novae! in the Fading Light Run-On!
  

Promotions

• Andraste to Guardian! (Welcome Back Andraste!)
• Skar to Jedi Hunter!

Around the DB

The most notable news that I wanted to quickly highlight is that our beloved Socorra has left us to take over as awesomesauce-Herald! It is both an honor and privilege to see my very own apprentice earn a seat on the Dark Council. Socks has worked her ass off and deserves it.

Arcona

• Rollmaster Report
• Qel-Droma Report
• Shadow Phyle Report
• Galeres Report
• Dark Forge Report
• Nighthawk Report

Fist Office

• Cethgus put out a ToR Guild Report.
• New Team Speak information, thanks to Valhavoc.

Grand Master

• Muz’s newest report- Exodus Day!
• Muz’s last report
• Solari Resigns, Headmaster applications open.
• Solari T:Recruiting!
• Our very own Riverche is the new T:Forums!

Deputy Grand Master

• Raken’s Shadow Hand report

The biggest news out of this report is actually the change to how Prestige will work. Basically, your prestige score will now incorporate time held in positions you’ve had in the past and currently hold. The concern this raises from some across the DB is the notion of members “idling” in positions and just “collecting” prestige. Legorii and I pay close attention to the Arcona Summit, and rest assured that if someone isn’t pulling their weight, they tend to realize it and step down themselves. I am extremely confident, however, that this is not an issue within Arcona.

Ask The Consul

FIRST EVER! Live Q&A w/ Consul Marick Arconae (aka Wally)

In an attempt to add more than a wall of text to reports, I decided to try out Google+’s Hangouts on Air. You’ve seen me do instructional “How To” videos in the past, but this time I took advantage of the Q&A features they have and answered questions live and in real time. The results are amusing, I think, and involve me attempting to twerk, some insight into my thoughts on the DJB, and plenty of Sheba cameos (my rl doge/mini-cythraul).

In the future, I now know to have the questions queued up prior, and will look to add one or two people into the actual hangout with me to provide some more banter in between.

Hopefully you guys enjoy. If you liked it, let us know in the comments on either Google+ or the Report. :)

TL;DR

Go read the report. I spent about a week working on it :P.

Consul’s Word

Teamwork is what allowed Arcona to get where it is today. We’ve worked together to win back to back Great Jedi Wars, and the Horizons Vendetta that followed it. If you look at each of those victories, one of the few things you’ll notice is that the top performers from each event were not the same people. While that might not seem like a big deal, it goes to show that Arcona’s success is not the result of any one individual. GJWX we saw Cethgus and Ronovi plow through the opposition. In Horizons, we saw Sarin and Raken beast through any form of resistance. Ronnie, Sarin, and Raken all went on to DC positions afterwards. And while the three of them might not call Arcona their home, they fought with us because they believed, at the time, that they belonged as part of our team.

That’s the true source of Arcona’s strength. That’s where our true success lies. Arcona is bigger than any one of us. It is our resilience, ability to adapt, and the fire to always compete at a high level no matter how tired or worn out we are.

Fast Forward to the Dark Crusade this past year. We saw Wuntila rally us to overcome Taldryan after suffering our first true loss in years. We watched as a newbie recruit wowed judges with a 50-page fiction. We maintained over the course of an entire year a level of competition that had us fighting until the very. Last. Event.

The point I’m making, I guess, is that we’ve had a unique combination of “homegrown” and “adopted” members that come together to compete. Some are still with us, some have moved on to help other units, and more than a few have even gone on to assist Muz on the Dark Council. For me, that’s what gives me the most pride of being an Arconan. Our success is not a flash in the pan. Our success is a long term drive that has kept us at the top for as long as we have.

Team is an acronym for “Together Everyone Accomplishes More”. Always remember that divided and as individuals, we are weak. If we get bitter over one person getting something that we didn’t, be happy for them instead, because a win for any of us is a win for all of us. Together, as one clan, one family, we are unbreakable. The second we start bickering with one another, however, will lead us to ruin. We must stand together.

Never forget that, Arconans.

Arcona Invicta.

Twitter: @MarickArconae
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