Plagueis Consul Report: 4/8/2020
Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the latest Dread Lord report. The feud is over, we're all social distancing, and we've got some fun stuff coming down the pipe very quickly. Let's get started.
I'm Here For You
Folks, I understand all too well how difficult of a time this past month has been. Some of you may be essential workers, forced to put your lives on the line to make sure people get supplies. Some of you may have been laid off and are now filing for unemployment. Some of you, God forbid, may have friends or family members who have contracted COVID-19. This is a stressful, sad, and painful time for many of us.
More than winning an event, more than submitting to all the things, and more than building our clan's lore and characters' stories, I care about you all being safe, healthy, and supported. Plagueis isn't just a group of people that does comps, shares silly jokes and memes, and occasionally gets mad over the latest Star Wars media; we're a community, and in a way, we're a family. As Consul, I want to be there for all of you and provide opportunities for you all to socialize and find comfort in the people we're surrounded by.
So, yes, while your summit is working hard to give you clan-related stuff to do in the future, none of that matters if our membership is being tended to. I will be hosting video calls and games to help us relax, as well as checking in individually with members as needed. You all are also welcome to check in with me about anything bothering you during this crisis. You are not alone.
Upcoming Competitions
Quarantine Quests!
Now on to more fun stuff: Your very own Andrelious (Mark) and I are putting together not a one week, but a two week event DJB-wide for you all to enjoy! It consists of ten competitions and starts this upcoming Friday; namely, it's a series of little comps that should help pass the time and add some color and humor to your day. I'll put a link up the day it starts.
Pro Bowl
While a lot is in limbo in real life, we are still interested in following the tentative schedule for the Pro Bowl in my last report. That previous report stated, "Our hope is that the fourth Pro Bowl - which includes an old friend, Taldryan, and a new challenger to the bowl, Naga Sadow - will commence on July 20th with its prologue week, and then have three weeks of competitions from July 27th to August 17th." As we get closer to this date, the summit will provide members with insights on what a Pro Bowl looks like, should they have never participated in one before.
Currently, the summits are working on finalizing judges and team leaders for the event.
Autumn Onward
Recently, your summit and I had a meeting on hang-outs to discuss the results of the feud against Vizsla and events moving forward. We broke down a lot of what we saw as snags and issues within the feud that we can improve upon as a summit, and then, we broached a rather intense question that we have posed to you all before, but are still navigating:
What makes Plagueis Plagueis?
Namely, what do we offer that other clans don't? While we are the only solely dark side clan, all but Odan-Urr allows dark siders into their ranks. Your summit and I discussed ideas to make us stand out, but in the end, the events we run also have to be indicative of that clan identity, be it a year-long event/story arc with smaller comps, opportunities to write from antagonists or NPCs' perspectives, or otherwise.
So in lieu of a fancy survey, I'll just ask y'all to respond in the comments below: What, to you, makes Plagueis Plagueis? I wanna hear from everyone.
Odds and Ends
PlagCast Returns?
You heard that right, folks - after months of radio silence, we would like to restart the PlagCast. While the goal was to have me step back as Consul and let other members run the show, I have been asked to helm it again. So...yeah.
If any of you would like to be a guest or have ideas for what we can talk about, let us know!
Wiki Updates?!
Thanks to our very own Khryso, the Clan Plagueis history wiki page has been updated, and a new page for the Plagueis-Vizsla feud was created! Be sure to check those out, and while on the wiki, maybe update those character pages! We want some nice, fresh chapters included.
DB-Wide News
Here's the latest DB news since my last report:
- PulseFeed News Aggregator: Clan Updates #5
- TuQ'uan's Proconsul Report
- Amended Results for the Plagueis-Vizsla Feud
- Rajhin/Turel is Combat Master Now
- Regent Supplemental #4.3
In Closing
Just today, TuQ'uan brought back his song of the day, and while I'm not trying to steal his thunder, I, too, want to contribute. Out of many things that keep me sane during difficult times, music is one of the most important ones. The music we listen to can determine or amplify our current mood. It can make us dance, wonder, cry, scream, sleep, or smile.
So here's my offering as well: A pretty sweet instrumental by Kaki King, with a simplistic yet awesome music video. This is something I listen to when I just need to break away from reality a bit - and the visuals on the guitar are pretty smashing.
Anyway. Again, please comment on this report with your answer to the question, "What makes Plagueis Plagueis?" And stay safe and healthy.
Ronovi out.
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YAAAAAAAS PLAGCAST!!!
voulunteers as a guest speaker
So, apologies if this gets a bit rambly, but here's my answer to the posed question. Of course, my perspective is a bit limited, because while I am moderately familiar with modern Plagueis and its lore, I'm much less so familiar with its expansive history and the other Clans of the Brotherhood. So, since I can't quite collect my thoughts into a cohesive TL;DR, I'm gonna have to go about this the long way. Of course, I'm doing my best to answer this from a lore, in-universe perspective because I believe that's the spirit of the question.
Let me start with a point that was brought up in the report. Plagueis is the only sole dark side clan. I do see this as a part of our identity, we certainly live up to the expectations, in my opinion. In particular, Plagueis has always felt particularly Sith-y to me, despite the many non-Sith members of our ranks. Many members of the Clan are ambitious and there is a certain level of arrogance present as well. We don't back down from a challenge or a fight and have a pride about us. This can be partially seen in our nickname "the Ascendant Clan" and our clan motto, which is about rising to the occasion. I think a good phrase to sum up this section would be "Ambitious Ego".
I certainly see war as part of Plagueis' identity. While we aren't roving conquerors or malicious warmongers, we are always ready for a scrap and don't hesitate to start one. We have a robust military and, thanks in part to the Clan's history, I do think having a particularly notable Navy could be seen as a signature of the Clan. For the section I think I'll go with "Fleet at the Ready".
The tenuous link we hold to the CIS is certainly an interesting topic. While there's no direct connections, similarities can certainly be drawn. I, in particular, enjoy seeing the references because out of character I am a fan of the faction. How well it meshes with the Clan, however, is a different story. The CIS were a seccionist movement championed by corporations who became the pawns of a Sith Lord. Plagueis is not that at all. However, further pushing the envelope to closer match the features of the CIS could give us more of an identity, though I don't know if that would be stepping on other Clans' toes. Things like further developing our economy and looking to expand it, or becoming a collection of various disparate groups, or even becoming at odds with the Dark Council could all serve drawing closer parallels to the CIS. Whether those are things anyone wants, however, are up for debate. Let's call this section "Repurposing the CIS".
I believe those are the main points I wanted to cover. Knowing me, I probably forgot something obvious, but oh well. I'll wrap things up here. "Ambitious Ego", "Fleet at the ready", "Repurposing the CIS". I'd find some cool way to tie those all up in a bow if I could, but I think I'm done thinking for now, so I'll leave that to you.
I don't have an answer to what makes Plagueis 'Plagueis. Honestly I'm just kind of here and I don't know anything about the history of the clan enough to have an identity with the clan as a whole. The only that drew me initially to join was to be a dark side character, but I don't even really want to be a dark side character so I just exist to do comps and activities.
Would it be bad if I answered the question by linking to my "Evil is Complicated" post? :D
Not at all. We've even been discussing it. ;)
Part of what makes Plagueis Plagueis: the slaves