Greetings all,

This is going to be a long report. I have a lot to say, new policies to report, GJW Heroes to crown, and a Magistrate spot to open up. Read on at your own risk. ;)

An Introduction. Again.

It has been nearly an entire decade since I last made a post as DGM, and in that time the Brotherhood has changed considerably, but so have I. Many of you have known me since before then, when I was Jac's DGM, but there have been a whole lot of new faces join the club in the last decade and many of you I have only recently met, so I wanted to open my first report with a bit of an introduction. I was active during the split with the EH, and when Jac took over for Firefox, he appointed me his DGM. I have been active in just about every position within a House, Clan, and many on the Dark Council. Real life struck, though, and I left the position of DGM. I returned to the club a bit more than two years ago, where I helped Shadow propose the Character Sheet system, then oversaw its implementation as CM, moving up to Voice once Pravus took DGM. I helped a bit with the last GJW, and here I am.

In the real world, I'm a PhD Candidate in Biology at a univeristy in Massachusetts. I teach, I research, and I try to spend a lot of time outside - difficult due to the recent blizzards. But most relevant to all of you, I love Star Wars, and I love the Brotherhood. I've been a member of this club for 17 years, and I have built friendships that have lasted more than half my lifetime. This is more than just some online club to me: this is a labor of love. I love bringing new and exciting features to the great people here, and I work tirelessly to see my ideas - and those of others - become reality. The shared universe we have all built here, and the tools we now have to enjoy it, are a testament to how creative and resourceful we all are. It is my goal to continue to build on what we now have, to prepare this club for the future, and to give you guys the best experience I am capable of.

In the coming weeks, we will be releasing more new projects and proposals for member input and consumption. For now, I'd like to get into what is really important: Honoring our Heroes from the last War!

Heroes of the Great Jedi War

Many members fought long and hard through the Great Jedi War. Twenty three different members earned Gold Novae. Ultimately, though, three stood above the rest, and now we recognize them for their efforts.

Dralin Fortea of Clan Plagueis is the Third Hero of the Eleventh Great Jedi War,

Baxir Vol of Clan Arcona is the Second Hero of the Eleventh Great Jedi War,

And finally...

Halcyon Rokir Taldrya of Clan Taldryan is the First Hero of the Eleventh Great Jedi War.

Congratulations to all three of you, and to all of our members that fought so hard through this War and the last two years of Vendettas! Our Title earners will have their Titles added shortly.

A Note On The Hero Titles

The organizers of the Great Jedi War decided to go with the traditional Olympic Medal format for Hero titles, with ties being broken by additional placement slots (e.g. Baxir had a GN and SN, just as Dralin did... but he had a 5th and 6th placement, while Dralin had only a 5th). We considered using total points, but because we had not previously announced that we would use such a measure for Hero status, we decided it would be inappropriate for us to switch without an announcement and period of discussion. We will look into other possibilities for Hero titles in the future!

New Policies for Clans and Houses

The Dark Council and Consuls have completed a review period for proposed Policies for Clans and Houses. Below are new policies for our units. These policies will shortly be updated to the apropriate places on the Wiki, either by my soon-to-be Staff, or the MAA, as apropriate.

• All Clans have a Consul, Proconsul, and Rollmaster. If a Consul will not be filling one of these slots, he or she should explain why to the MAA/DGM/GM.
  
• Clans may select a single Clan name to award to members at their discretion; see the Wiki for additional information on Clan Titles under the Titles article.
  
• New Clan Names for a unit (that is, an entirely new name) must be approved by the MAA/DGM/GM. This does NOT refer to members being given the name, but entirely new names.
  
• Any House added to a Clan will have at least a Quaestor. The Clan in question may choose not to utilize the Aedile position, and especially for small Clans, this is encouraged.
  
• Clans may have up to three Battleteams, plus an additional one per House. Battleteams may be aligned to the House level, or to the Clan level.
  
• Clan Titles and slots in the Round Robin Join Rotation are based on Clan status and are never decreased by probationary status of a Clan in regards to House number/total membership in the Clan as mentioned below.
  
• Clans may apply for houses to the GM, DGM, and MAA if they feel the activity is sufficient, and if membership totals are such that the additional leadership slot from the Quaestor position will be useful.
  
• House applications must include the name of the House, potential leadership of the House (at least the Quaestor), and how the House will improve membership experience in the Clan.
  
• Clans with thirty five members or more are heavily encouraged to have one house. No Clan below thirty members may add a house. Clans with a house will enter a probationary period of six months if the Clan drops below 25 members. If a Clan has below 25 members at the end of a 6 month probationary period, the House will be dissolved.
  
• Clans with fifty or more members are heavily encouraged to have two houses. No Clan below forty members may add a second house. Clans with two houses will enter a probationary period of six months if the Clan drops below 35 members. If a Clan has below 35 members at the end of this 6 month probationary period, one House will be dissolved of the Clan leadership's choosing.
  
• In addition to raw membership numbers, the Grand Master and Deputy Grand Master will assess an application for an additional House, as well as Clans on probation status, based on leadership potential and participation metrics. For leadership potential, the goal of any new House should not be to draw leaders from any other unit; to that end, the Clan must demonstrate, in its House application, it has sufficient leadership pool to operate another House. The Grand Master will also use participation-based metrics to assess whether to accept applications for a House, and will also use these metrics when evaluating whether or not to dissolve a House from a Clan on probationary status. These metrics will include, but are not limited to, number of unit-level competitions members are participating in, Vendetta participation, activity outside of competitions (e.g. Clusters of Fire and Ice), and Brotherhood-wide competition participation outside of Vendettas
  

These policies were crafted to avoid Probation as seeming punitive. The need to reduce House number in struggling Clans is NOT to punish these Clans, but to avoid unfilled and unneeded Leadership positions on Rosters. We also will be flexible in the future, and re-evaluate these policies as time goes on.

A Call For a Magistrate

I mentioned policy above, and one of my first goals will be to look over our existing policies, everywhere from nepotism to Council staff members, and update them as necessary and to make them more transparent and more accessible. This includes updating and moving policies, where needed, to the Wiki. To that end, I am in need of a Magistrate. I take my staff positions very seriously, and I expect any applicant to the position to be willing to put their full effort towards this spot. I've had a lot of questions about my staff already, but I only plan on opening up a single Magistrate spot right now. My Magistrates will have very specific project foci, and the first is this: I need someone to assist me in evaluating and updating the Policies as documented across the site, and making sure that we have the most updated policies on the Wiki and easily accessible for the membership. I'll be looking for someone with the following criteria:

• Knowledge of the club enough to know our current policies, or most of them, and where to find them.
  
• Knowledge of how to use the Wiki well.
  
• Enough time to devote up to several hours a week to working on various aspects of what this project may entail.
  
• Less than 24 hour turnaround time on all emails, even if just to let me know you're working on something.
  
• Not in any other Magistrate or Praetor position.
  

If you think you can fit these requirements, toss me an email. Include an example of your Wiki work, and anything else you think makes you a good candidate for my first M spot.

That's it for now! If you have any questions for me, feel free to leave them below. Special thanks to Baxir for the awesome rolling news Header he just made me on short notice. :)

TL;DR

• Lots of new stuff coming!
  
• Halc First Hero, Baxir Second Hero, Dralin Third Hero
  
• New Clan Policies Here!
  
• First M Spot Open For Apps
  

Telaris "Mav" Cantor

Deputy Grand Master