Introduction

Howdy everyone and welcome to another report from your Headmaster. This is a bit of a sad report, so I’m not going to spend much time here trying to delay the inevitable. Let’s go ahead and get right to it.

Bon Voyage

My incredible right-hand man, Marcus, has been my Praetor since almost the very beginning of my time as Headmaster. Today, he informed me that because of some incredible opportunities in the real world he had to tender his resignation. I’ve written a couple of times for various reccs about how instrumental Marcus was to what we’ve accomplished in my time as HM, and I will truly miss him serving with me. Thank you for all you’ve done, my friend.

That also means that I’m going to be searching for someone to take over the mantle of Praetor. This is a very important position for me, as I like to give a lot of leeway for things such as project management and personnel to my Praetor. Additionally, they’re involved in practically everything that the SA or I as Headmaster do. This is a work-intensive position with the real possibility of recognition for hard work. Here are some other requirements:

• Minimum rank of JM4 (Knight, etc.)
• High level of communication and quick response turn-around via email. Telegram is a huge bonus. Email response time must be less than 24 hours, with a preference for 12 hours or less.
• Solid command of the written English language to assist as needed with proofreading and editing.
• Ability to work with all members of the DJB but especially the DC and the SA Staff.
• Project management experience

This is a position I want to fill quickly, so I ask all applicants email me by this Saturday, 4/15.

Reorg Update

We’ve prepared the back-end stuff and will be going live with it as soon as James can do so. The first step will be course tags and prereqs. I can’t guarantee it’ll be 100% error free when we roll this out, so I’m going to preemptively ask for y’all’s patience as we work hard to improve the user experience of the SA for all of you. I’ll have a new post later on this week with more information.

Ask the HM!

Blade asked: “When will IRC301 be removed as a course required for the Dark Savant leadership degree?

• Reworking the degree requirements is on the to do list for the next month or so.

Atra asked: “How can we be like you? Also, what pro tips do you have for tackling courses in such a way that they feel more exciting than the school work they resemble?”

• The answer to the first question is simple: drink and know things (my wife is watching GoT in the background right now). As to the second, I took them for the sake of taking them because I'm a bit of a completionist and because I wanted to earn the degrees; basically, find a reason to do them and try to keep that in mind.

Kromtal Stormfyld asked: “When are the degrees going to be fixed so the unattainable ones are again attainable? A couple require CoJ exams that no longer exist. And, will Leadership ever recognize Rollmaster for completion? Even BTL counts, but RM, which is on the Clan Summit doesn't. It seems a bit odd to me”

• I'm going to be working this month on the degree requirements. As for RM... that's a discussion above my head. RM is not a fully recognized leadership position by the full DC, and until that changes unfortunately RM won't count for degrees. Pravus had this to add: "I have a long email exchange with the clan leaders. Almost every clan uses their RMs in different manners with different responsibilities. The core responsibilities, welcome new members, run the master and apprentice, are actually duties that a few of us see as those of the CON/PCON/qua/aed. In other words, there is a view that the position is redundant and it's duties should be handled by the house and clan leaders. Especially when we have a lack of applicants for core positions."

Silent asked: “is there a chamber of secrets under the academy? If so will I have to play some sort of chess game to get in?”

• There’s also a mechu-deru basilisk guarding it.

Projects

Current

Shadow Academy Staff are currently engaged in the following projects:

• SW History Department Rewrite - Lexic: Because of the evil Darth Mickey, my beloved Galactic History courses aren't fully canon anymore. The courses are being pared down (almost in half) and will be added to the Legends Department. Lexic has put some solid work into completed this project but has asked to step down from it. Because of that, the Magistrates have added it to their task list. Estimated completion: Soon (tm)

• DJB History I & II Update/Rewrite - Alishu: Alishu has completed first drafts of both courses and they've been sent to the DC for approval. The DC has a lot on its plate right now, but I think we'll see some movement on this soon to get these courses released for all to enjoy. Estimated completion: TBD

• Operation Remodel - SA Staff: In an effort to streamline the organization of the Shadow Academy and make it easier to initially get to information and then to find similar information, the SA will see a fairly extensive reorganization. As discussed above, the first phase of the reorg has been completed and we’re moving onto the second phase. Estimated completion: end of 4/2017

• Operation Prereq - SA Staff: In order to make a more focused new member experience, different options are going to be explored to create prerequisite courses before other courses open up to a member. The backend to assist with this has been completed, and we’ll be working with James over the next couple of weeks to finish this up. Estimated completion: end of 4/2017.

• Operation Remodel (Degrees) - SA Staff: The reorganization, as well as the addition/removal of various courses, has left some of our degrees a bit outdated. Working with the rest of the DC as applicable, we’re going to take a thorough look at these and make changes where necessary. Estimated completion: 4/2017

Upcoming

• There are a couple of things in the earliest planning stages, but aren’t quite ready for prime time. Stay tuned for more.

Top Exam Takers

Name	# of Exams	# of ACs
Neophyte Sereph Buio	64	38
Hunter Obsidian	30	50
Knight Magik	23	49
Neophyte CharLotteGoesStarWars	22	6
Corsair Eli Denan	18	29

Note: these numbers cover the period from 3/5/17 to 4/10/17.

Conclusion

The Shadow Academy covers tens if not hundreds of thousands of words, and those words were written by imperfect humans (GASP!). We try our best to catch and fix any and all errors before we release courses, but we're not always successful. Because of that, we will always need your help. If you spot an error, please report it to the SA Staff using this simple form; if it's a major enough error, or you spot enough, you'll be rewarded. At the very least, you'll get the thanks of a grateful HM... that's gotta count for something, right?

In Darkness -
Farrin Xies,
Headmaster of the Shadow Academy