Odan-Urr Consul Report - October 2016 "A New Beginning"

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Odan-Urr Consul Report - October 2016 "A New Beginning"

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Greetings my fellow Odanites and onlookers from the Dark Side,

Welcome to my first report as Consul of Odan-Urr. There is a lot of ground to cover in this one so let’s get started.

The featured art this month was actually made by Vyr and was too “aww”-inspiring not to share...or write a fiction scene for :P

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A (re)Introduction

Let me first start off by thanking A’lora for his tremendous service as the first Consul of Odan-Urr. Working with him over the past year and some change was a real privilege. Looking back on where we were in February 2015 and where we are now, it's lightyears apart (literally) and that is due in no small part to his visionary leadership. While he’s moved on to lend his talents to the entire Brotherhood alongside Wally and Atra in the Voice office, I have no doubt he will continue to help the Clan.

Give it up

”So, who is this new Consul guy and what’s he going to do for me?” You may be asking yourself. Well, please allow me to (re)introduce myself. I’ve gone by Turel the entire time I’ve been in the Brotherhood. I joined House Odan-Urr roughly two and a half years ago because I was light side curious and seeking creative writing opportunities. What I found was a exciting and welcoming community of like-minded writers, artists and gamers who over time became an extended family of sorts. I never try to lose sight of what it was like being a new member in Odan-Urr. What struck me was how democratic the unit was, for lack of a better term. Every member’s ideas were taken seriously, no member was looked down upon for lack of tenure in the club and everyone could play a part in building our lore and system. That culture of inclusion has persisted into Clanhood and I will do everything in my power as Consul to not only maintain it but to improve upon it.

My journey in the club has had its share of ups and downs. I got my first taste of club leadership as a Padawan (JM3) when I took over for V’yr as the Knight Commander for the Knights of Allusis Battleteam. I had the honor of being adopted into the Arcona family and serving on their summit for the better part of a year (shout out to my Arconan brothers and sisters). Then the opportunity came to return to Odan-Urr as Proconsul where I’ve been for the past year or so until now. I’ve certainly made my share of mistakes, including one that landed me in front of the Justicar. Anyone who has known or worked with me knows that I strive to learn from each mistake and take feedback to heart. I take my knocks and drive on.

It’s important to not wallow in self pity when you make a mistake

So what can you, the membership, expect of me? I have three major priorities which will be my focus during my tenure as Consul: member experience, leader development and content development.

  • Member Experience

The rank and file members of Odan-Urr are my primary focus. Are they being welcomed into our community? Do they have plenty of opportunities to engage with the lore and develop their personal character story? Have they been provided with ample activities across the entire spectrum? Are they being taken care of administratively, both in awards and promotions? Is the Clan summit providing members with opportunities to develop and grow, both creatively and as leaders? Member experience ties into so much of what we do. If a member enjoys their time here, they will not only stay (retention) but they will want to bring others (recruitment). A healthy Clan is a happy Clan.

I believe it is incumbent upon all Brotherhood leaders at all levels to provide the best possible experience for our members. That’s what we sign up for when we raise our hands and say we want to be leaders. So if your experience could be better in any way, do not hesitate to let me know.

  • Leader Development

Leaders both in and out of the ranks are the engines of development. They are crucial to the Clan functioning to service our membership. All leaders should be in the business of creating more leaders. If we are not preparing and equipping the next generation to take our places we are wrong. We have a wealth of experience both in the serving summit and in the ranks, we need to ensure that is getting passed on. I’m not just talking about Journeymen either, you are never too much of an old dog to learn some new tricks. We have already had some smart people working on a formal leadership development program and will need more before all is said and done. However, this is a high priority for me. My goal is to retire, yes, you read that right. I measure my success as Consul partly on how well the organization can function without me.

  • Content Development

Last, but certainly not least, is the development of our unique content. This comes in the form of fiction updates, the Kiast system, our NPCs, our interaction with the larger DB story and all the interconnecting webs of individual character fiction. We have a fresh new system to develop and an ongoing war to fight. There are plenty of opportunities for members and leaders alike to create content and enrich our lore. The transition hasn’t always been smooth and there were some lessons learned along the way, but I still firmly believe there is no better time to be a member of Odan-Urr or the Brotherhood.

I will be the first to admit that of my top three, this is my weakest point as a club leader. I like to think I’m a skilled administrator but world building is something new to me. The part I find most challenging is how to build the key bits of lore framework while allowing for every single member to build upon it. Ideally a good club leader sets the stage and gets out of the way to let the members create the stories. Anyone who’s been around the DB for any length of time has seen at least one well-meaning leader who took their own personal fiction and drug their unit along for the ride with little or no chance for regular members to affect the outcome. I will strive to not fall into that trap. Every lore decision I make is made with a consideration toward how members will interact with and shape it.

What A’lora and I worked toward and my continued vision is to have a healthy rotation of events and activities. Right now that rotation looks like Clan system development, sub-unit development, larger DB story (SenNet), sub-unit development, Clan system development and so on. The delay of SenNet: Resurgence is entirely on me. I bit off more than I could chew by trying to do the whole thing myself at a time when I was not 100% due to real life. But as I said earlier, I own up to my mistakes and I learn from them. This iteration of SenNet has been scaled back to a run-on. Rather than clustering development into events I intend on constantly running SenNet competitions of some sort to keep the story moving in the background and give members a chance to shine in their character’s fight against the Iron Throne. Beyond that, the Houses and teams need room to develop and you will see sub-unit driven events starting in November and taking us through the end of the year. While the House summits are leading on Kiast development during November and December the Clan summit will focus on developing things like the wiki, the military and other projects that support everything else. The summit has had some shake ups and turnover recently and soon it will be back to a finely oiled machine.

Group choreography sessions are key to the function of any summit

So, that’s a bit of who I am, what I believe and generally bits of what I have planned for the Clan. As always my door is open to any member, I sincerely welcome your ideas and feedback. I thank you for your enthusiasm for the unit and the faith and trust you’ve placed in me. I am truly humbled to serve as the second Consul of Odan-Urr.

Let’s go build great things together.

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JOBS!

Brotherhood News

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Clan News

  • New PCON! - In case you missed the announcements on Telegram and the mailing list, Mar Sul aka Cable is our new PCON. We received a number of very high quality applications (77 pages worth) and the decision was certainly not an easy one. On behalf of the hiring committee I would like to thank everyone who submitted an application. Mar has a strong record of service to Odan-Urr and the fictional skillsets needed to round out the summit and help drive us into our next chapter. Please join me in welcoming Mar back home to Odan-Urr.

Hoth

Keep an an eye out for the Hoth Base design to be released along with some other major wiki article updates. Most of which were written by the members of the House, so we are honored to spotlight these articles and bring attention to the members who put a lot of hard work into them.

Also, be on the look out for the reveal of Hoth’s new enemy that should be a thorn in our side for a good long while. This enemy should have a major introduction in the next KoA event, which is in the final stages of preparation.

A lot of good things to come, so keep an eye out for the next Aedile Report in about a week!

Shan

Congratulations to Akaarn and Sa on their Dark Crosses. Garza’s Pathfinders is still recruiting active members to join.

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fiction

From the ashes, a phoenix rises. But a new shadow descends to consume it.

So, I’m not going to lie, this fiction update has been the source of this report’s delay. I struggle with writer’s block at times, as I know some of you do. Not an excuse, because I have a job to do.

I divided this chapter into parts (so I could get this report out). Subsequent parts will be out between now and the end of October to catch everyone up to where the Clan is now and lay the groundwork for where we are going. This particular part is more Turel focused than I’m normally comfortable with, but it was somewhat necessary to address the in-character change in leadership and to recap the past few months of fictional events. You also get to meet Grand Inquisitor Ishanta, Odan-Urr’s newest threat who will play a major role in the lore going forward. She’s the Agent Kallus to our Rebels crew.

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AskTurel

Tisto - #askTurel when is the SENnet run on starting my team is itching for action :p ?

I appreciate your team’s enthusiasm and patience with the delay. Unfortunately I’m not ready to give a precise date just yet. I have most definitely learned my lesson about not promoting something until it is for sure finished. That’s my one mulligan as Consul I guess. You will know dates by this coming weekend and the run time will be at least 30 days if not more to give teams a relaxed timeframe to do their thing.

Tisto - #askTurel How do you see COU daring in the next gjw?

We will stand and make the other Clans take notice of us. I firmly believe we will do better than we ever have before.

Tisto - #askTurel When is Arcou getting back together?

We never split up :P It’s more of an “open relationship.” I’m actually working on a super secret joint something that I think you guys will really enjoy.

Korroth - #askTurel Now that the Clan has settled into their new home, do you have any plans for interacting further with the Vatali, Quorahi, Vauzem etc.?

Absolutely. As I detailed above, I will keep us on a cycle that balances home system, sub-unit and DB-wide lore development. After SenNet you will see a shift toward House development and concurrently running smaller comps that build up the lore. Others have pointed out, and I tend to agree, that we’ve become almost too focused on major events to move things foward.

Nero - With Turel's sister as the current sitting Herald and V'yr being the Ex-Herald, are you going to use any information that they give you in future fictional updates or fictional plans?

Nero - #askTurel With the addition of the Regent position, and the fact that means the release of Possessions is extremely soon, how does that make you feel as both a leader and a member of the Brotherhood?

Excited! This is truly the best time to be a member of the Brotherhood.

Lexic - #askTurel Looking back to the last war we had, and comparing that level of activity to present-day COU, we can see a boost in members and high quality. What, in your mind, will prolong this high quality and retention of members through to 2017 and possibly beyond? What's your working method in keeping all these members active, bright-eyed and ready for a challenge?

Aside from my big three above I would say listen to your members. If you really take feedback to heart and build everything with an eye toward how your members will shape and interact with your activities and lore you almost can’t go wrong. Second and almost as important is to build a community people will want to be apart of. Shape the culture so that it is positive, welcoming and encouraging. Activity breeds activity and if you give people a reason to stay they will and will bring their friends too.

Edgar - #askTurel 2 part question How does it feel to be Consul of the Clan you started in? and Now that you are Consul what do you hope to accomplish in your first few months?

It’s amazing really. I was almost Naruto-esque as a Journeyman with how I dreamed of one day being the Hokage. Well now I am and I couldn’t be more humbled to serve such a great group of people. My goals now aren’t any different from when I was PCON, I want to set the stage for the members to build up our world and put their own marks on it and I want us to really engage with the larger DB narrative. Most importantly I want everyone to look at COU and say “wow, those guys really know how to have fun” because that’s why we are all here at the end of the day.

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Hey guys, by now you’ll all be aware that I’m your new Proconsul and I can say that I'm ecstatic to once again be working with many members I know and love; for those of you who don’t know me, I am Mar Sûl, more commonly known by the moniker ‘Cable’, and I joined the Brotherhood back in January 2012, was sorted into Odan-Urr and very quickly fell in love with the place. Throughout my early membership I created a few minor locations and tribes for New Tython and immediately became hooked so I began to look at leadership positions - since then I have held a few positions, almost all of which have been in Odan-Urr - I sat as the Battle-team Leader for Disciples of Baas before going on to becoming the Aedile of Satele Shan under our beloved Solari who I then succeeded as the Houses Quaestor; during my time as Quaestor I worked on developing the Harakoan metropolis of Seher as well as co-creating the Clan event ‘Rise of the Force Ascendant.’

After stepping down as Quaestor, I had a short break from leadership before getting back into it, becoming the Rollmaster for Clan Naga Sadow for a short period of time until I was called back to Odan-Urr as its new Proconsul, a position I look forward to experiencing alongside a Summit I hope to continue to be a part of for a good while.

Now with my previous positions out the way, I’d like to take this chance to make a note of who I am as both a Leader and a member. I consider myself to be quite chilled out but more importantly I am someone who does really care for the other members of Odan-Urr and I really do wish to stress that I enjoy listening to other members and would hope that any of you would feel that you could speak to me anytime in the knowledge that I’m happy to listen.

I’ll leave you by saying that I'm excited to be back in the Clan again and look forward to being a part of the future of Odan-Urr!

Closing

Closing

That’s all for today kids. Stay tuned for smaller updates in the next few days with newer fiction chapters and event launches.

Turel Sorenn

Consul, Clan Odan-Urr

dance

Kick step, kick step, body roll!

Excellent report, Turel!

My new mental image of Turel:
POTUS

Nice report turel, looking good over there in COU. TAL-COU alliance!

That poor twi'lek can't catch a break lol.. congrats Turel. Great report.

Awesome report!

Congrats Turel and Mar Sul! Thank you A'lora for you dedication and hard work.

Excited to see how COU progresses forward.

Great Report. Can't wait to see how things go in the future.

Nice work, my master. I'm looking forward to see where you take us - should be good!

That's my sistacon. Go COU!

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