The door swished open to the oncoming footsteps of the Togruta sharpshooter. The rank air hit her like a hammer to the gut and clung to her nostrils like Mynocks to a ship’s underbelly. She did nothing to mask her disdain as she moved carefully, twisting hips, knees and ankles as she navigated the maze of empty bottles, discarded clothing, weapons and explosives that littered the floor.

And there he was, lying in the middle of his apartment, motes of dust dancing above his sweat-drenched mass in those few slits of sunlight that cut through the window blinds: House Excidium’s one and only Bale Andros. Her new Quaestor. The man she loved. And hated. And wanted to kill more often than not. In fact, she was leaning for the third option this morning. He gave out a rumbling snort as he rolled over, completely oblivious to her presence.

“How bad is it?” Calindra’s voice asked from the hall.

“Remember Maqor?”

“That bad huh? What were they thinking? I like the big guy well enough, but… yesterday the fellow was a hired gun. Now… he’s our boss? How does that happen?”

Zehsaa knew exactly how. In fact, it was the very same reason the Zabrak bounty hunter was lying in a drunken heap of his own filth right now. The Empress had dug her claws in deep and she wasn’t letting go any time soon. Of course, the Togruta knew better than to say that aloud.

“No idea, but I’ll tell you what, I’m not liking this any.”

“Come on, let’s wake him up.”

New QUA Address

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Greetings boys and girls! As you should hopefully know by now, our esteemed leaders have elected to entrust your well-being and happiness into my care. For this, I thank them, but I also wish you all the darndest of luck. Hopefully, no one is going “I’ve got a bad feeling about this” just yet.

I want to take this opportunity to first lay out my short and mid-term goals as we enter 2019. Ultimately, my vision for our House is simple: teamwork and unity. We Excidiacs are a House bursting with talents. I dare say, together we represent some of, nay, THE best the Dark Jedi Brotherhood has to offer, and I want to make sure we learn to use this as a cohesive unit. The many become one. By this, I do not mean for us to start churning out Run-Ons after Run-Ons right out the wazoo, but rather to explore together how we can share of our talents and benefit from one another’s expertise.

As such, I intend to encourage, yes, competition-level teamwork. Run-ons, battleplans, and miscellaneous fiction, art, possibly even some co-op and/or competitive gaming should sufficient people express interest in such activities. More importantly, I intend to urge each and everyone of you to proof one another, to review each other’s entries and share constructive criticism. Why? Because that’s the one tried and true way to help your peers improve. Praise only takes a person so far. Sure, it's a nice little motivating shot of endorphins, but only by offering, and learning to offer, solid constructive criticism can you hope to open their eyes (and yours) to new ways of doing things.

And between you and I? It’s the making of a strong leader. A leader can bark all they want, if they cannot help those in their care grow and evolve, they aren’t worth a damn whole lot.

Mission Contract Board

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My very first project as your Quaestor will be a new concept of sorts with a simple goal: ensure there is always a fiction prompt ready and available for my members. There’s nothing I personally find quite as disheartening as yearning to write and having no worthwhile outlet for it. Sure you can always write for your own benefit but then why not do so while earning some shiny, shiny crescents and a nice bagful of clusters?

As such, starting January 12th, I will be opening up the Mission Contract Board for a test run. This will be a quarter-long (3 months) competition. It will consist of three fiction-based competitions and two art-based competitions. These will run for the duration of the quarter through to early March.

The twist: Whenever a member completes all available prompts for a specific type (fiction, art and possibly gaming in future iterations) a new competition of the same type will open up with a brand new prompt, which will then run through to the end of the quarter from the date it opens. At the end of the said quarter, the top three crescent earners will win the Mission Board Contract.

If it sounds convoluted right now, stay tuned, I will go over it again in depth come January 12th.

The one key point I wish to add is that this is meant to be a casual event, something that runs in the background and ensures that you have something to do during down times. There is no obligation, no pressure.

Call Outs

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First, I want to thank Jorm for holding down the fort and keeping an eye on you fine folks during the Quaestor transition. He has always been a most valuable member of Excidium, our local architect, and it will be an honor to work with him.

Second I want to welcome Idris Adenn (The ever glorious Xen’mordin) and my good pal Ossk (aka Mord, Mordy, The Astonishing Mord) who recently joined our band of misfits. A pair of awesome fellows and equally awesome writers. I’m also happy to welcome Calindra back into action after a long absence.

I also want to commend everyone’s efforts during the RoS. We are coming hot out of another DB-wide event, finishing in our cozy ol’ third place, cementing our place as a top tier clan. There’s pride to be taken when you consider the two powerhouses sitting above us and it goes to show that we too are a powerhouse to be reckoned with. It is my hope that we can up the ante going forward. Let us further raise the bar!

Make sure to thank Vyr and the rest of the DC for all their efforts putting the event together. 29+ competitions, 1400+ entries to judge is no chump change.

I’m not going to spend much time on this as I’m not one to pat myself on the back, but there is one thing I hope my 3rd place overall in the RoS goes to prove: it is possible to contribute to your clan’s success (and personal success) even if you are unable to compete in every competition/bin. I’ll take a happy, motivated member who turns in a handful of well-developed, polished entries over one who’s stressed and burning himself out doing “all the things!” It is a highly honorable and commendable goal to want to give your all for your clan, but in the end, when it is all said and done, you need to be able to look back and tell yourself, “This was FUN!”

I want us to win. But I want us to win while enjoying ourselves.

And that is the kind of experience I want to offer you.

#askthebeard

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Mako asks: Is winter coming?

It is quite positively here. Nothing a good stiff drink can't stave off, though.

Kadrol asks: are you team reylo?

Coming out of the Last Jedi, I was 100% Reylo. Time has a knack for tempering expectations. Is Kylo too far gone? Will Rey remain a boyish blank canvas? Will Kylo put on a shirt?

Idris (Xen) asks: What do you see as the biggest challenges and biggest opportunities for Excidium as you step in as QUA?

For one, Excidium will have to put up with me. That right there is a challenge of epic proportions. The biggest opportunity is bringing my vision of fun to life in our little corner of paradise. Get ready to drink yourselves into a torpor!

Idris (Xen) asks: Do you plan on being responsible for more deaths of CSP summit members?

If I said yes, would you hold it against me?

Idris (Xen) asks: On a scale of 1-10 how happy are you to have Xen in Excidium now and why is it a 50?

Oh goodness! Look at my wrist! I gotta go!

Tldr:

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• New QUA here. Good luck, you will need it.
• Membership teamwork to be a focus during my tenure.
• Mission Contract Board coming January 12th.
• Thanks to Jorm for holding down the fort
• Kudos and well done to all who participated in the RoS
• Whatever you do in the DB, make sure you are having fun.

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