Spa day, anybody?

And just like that, another war has gone and passed.

I am proud to report that our house, and battleteam, did incredibly well over the last few weeks. In all honesty, I couldn’t be prouder. A full six house members participated in nine out of nine bins, and we had an incredible amount of participation across the board. Combine that with the fantastic entries that I saw along the way -including two confirmed Novae already from Grot and Donny’s amazing performances in the gaming brackets- I feel like we’ll have a pretty good day once all the scores are tallied up.

But, in the meantime…

Rest. Relax. Pat yourself on the back, and take a moment to breathe. I wish that I could say that our global conditions have improved since my last report, but I really can’t. So, I’ll offer one bit of advice, to help all of us escape from the moment. Go outside (wearing a mask). When I say outside, I mean the real outside; find a spot with no buildings, where the trees soar and the grass grows or the waves roar. Enjoy the summer.

Anyway… take a load off. Do some competitions, or don’t. Maybe join in some RP; those are fun. Whatever floats your metaphorical boat. Stay golden, and be kind, friends, and as my favorite weary traveller once said…

Don’t be downcast, the time has come

When we can have our rest. Our small crosses will stand,

On the bright edge of the road together.

And summer rain falls, and winter snow falls

And the winds will come and go

But we will rest, for a time, together

Orion

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A Survey!

That’s right! Here’s a post-war survey for House and Battle Team members, just a sort of check-in as we move forward. Please take the time to respond fully and accurately, and let me know if you’ve got any questions!

News

• WAAAAAARRRR…. has finished. Congrats to all who participated! For a better recap, check our Consul report.
• ANYWAY, super huge congratulations to all of our clans participants! May special laud and honor go to Donny, for 1st place in the HOTS tournament and 2nd in JA, Alaisy for 1st in JA and a perfect 30/30 comps participated (ermagerd), Grot for 2nd in the HOTS bracket, and Wally for another perfect 30/30 (double ermagerd).
• There are a slew of job positions open. If you’re interested in being a magistrate to the Fist, check the FIST Supplemental here. Clan Scholae Palatinae is looking for a Proconsul, Rollmaster, and an Aedile. Clan Plagueis wants a Proconsul. And, finally, Clan Naga Sadow is looking for an Aedile.

And that’s it for the news, folks. Onward to the shinies!

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Spectre Cell Shoutouts

As stated in the last report, our team has a new reward. The Spectre Dagger, an ornamental weapon, is presented to a team member each month who has demonstrated worthy initiative, activity, skill, and ballsiness in general. With its vaulted history, this weapon is a mark of prestige, and a considerable store of bragging rights. Last month’s recipient was Atty. Now, while she continued to display her immeasurable and inimitable levels of activity, helpfulness, and indelible enthusiasm, I thought that the dagger, this month, should go to someone else. Perhaps the one member of the team who is confirmed to have earned a shiny during the war.

You know who it is. Congratulations to Grot, for his exquisite performance in the HOTS bracket! You get ‘em, lizard man! Enjoy your pokey implement, and wallow in your bragging rights for the month to come. I’m sure there’ll be even more shinies for you, and the rest of us, in the near future.

Now, as there’s been a war going on for the last month or so, there’s not many other wards to talk about. So, instead, I’ll hype up all our team members who participated in war comps!

• Atty! 9/9! (of course)
• Kris! 9/9!
• Diy!
• Grot! (And a Novae!)
• Zul!
• Aay!
• Zodac!

And that’s it for now, folks. I can’t wait to see all of the shinies that we earn coming up soon…

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Competitions!

• Do a Summer Break Puzzle from our very own Junazee! Expect some wet Stormtroopers…
• Shameless plug for my Having Pride competition. Celebrate pride month a month late, and let your loving side shine!
• Alternatively, let out your inner screenwriter in the Great Jedi War 14: The Movie comps!
• Experience the straw that broke the metaphorical camel’s back in this fiction and art comp!
• Hmmm. F&@*. Hunt some monsters, seduce some ladies, and dye your hair an edgy silver in this WItcher comp!

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#AskTheKickyCaptain!

More great questions, more attempted answers! Thanks for sending these my way, guys.

Atty asks:

1. What's Sera feeling after the war? What's your personal canon of events for her, knowing parts of your fiction ostensibly wouldn't be for everyone.

Right now, Sera is grateful that she managed to get her friends, her family, through the war alive. She’s weary, disgusted with violence, and is growing a healthy resentment of the Collective for what they’ve done to the people that she loves. As for my personal canon of events; she led her team onto the Ensolat station, and fought alongside her former Voidbreaker crew. When Karran got ‘splodied, she was right there, unable to protect or heal him, and pulled him out of the crater afterward. Forced to leave him with behind, her team made its way to the planet’s surface in an escape pod, where she rallied a wayward, broken squadron of Brotherhood legionnaires. Not long after this, her face got slashed by a Hive Mind Marine, leaving her with a visible reminder of the conflict for a good time to come.

1. Any lessening of faith yet?

No, not yet, although her eyes are being opened to the fact that bad things very often happen to good people. This development is disturbing to her… but so far, her faith in those around her remains totally unshaken.

1. Plans for RP?

While the Scoundrel’s running around with the Voidbreakerss, Sera and Spectre Cell have several things facing them; most directly, a pirate bunker that we haven’t yet stormed...

1. What is one thing you've read this war you really liked and one thing you've done that you did?

I looooooved how our Clan Run-On turned our, and I adored Tali and Karran’s phase 1 writings. As for my own stuff… well, I broke ten thousand words for the first time, and I actually think that the end product was half-decent. That says something, right?

1. what are your thoughts on our team as stands? Hopes?

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it a million times more; identity, identity, identity. I believe that developing a distinct identity for our team is absolutely essential, establishing a creative fabric that binds us together. We have activity, we have drive, we have potential; I feel like a strong team identity will be central to moving us forward further.

6) if you were gonna add one creature to Selen what would it be?

I would add this big, fluffy fella, something that I’ve been fan-inserting into star wars for a while:

The Furok is a tree-dwelling hyper-avian that has evolved alongside native Selenians for centuries. Although it may seem large, the animal is in fact quite light, with a narrow, hollow bone structure padded by layers of water resistant feathers, ranging in shade from dark brown in the while to a golden tawny when “reared” by Selenians. The rearing process does not preclude taming the Furok, in the normal sense. Rather, it is a sort of deal or alliance between a Furok family and a Selenian, or oftentimes an entire village of the latter. Providing the Furok with stores of fresh fish, meat, and a cloth to pad a nest, the Furok in turn protects the village from forest or water dwelling predators, creates fertilizer through rich droppings, and can predict inclement weather weeks in advance. Considering that a Furok can live well over two centuries, these alliances are often very long-lasting, and are essential to more remote villages.

Diy Asks:

1. What are your top exercises for one armed people? Asking for a friend.

For people who have recently lost an arm, there are several dilemmas; one, is the obvious difficulty in maintaining upper body strength where the arm was lost. The second is that having two arms is an essential part of maintaining balance; one activity that helps to satisfy both of these needs is yoga, best accompanied by resistance training with an elastic band.

1. Where is Sera's quiet place? Place to recollect and destress? Or activity to?

Sera “happy place” is out in nature. Even if its not the desert that she grew up in, Sera’s natural environment is in the wild. If she needs to meditate, she seeks out a quiet clearing in nature, where she can open her mind to the life around her. Any old habitat works, but a desert is best; there’s nothing quite like peace on the home range.

1. Eggs or gumbo? Its vegetarian though, sorry.

Eggs, all the way.

1. What's next for the battle team in the horizon?

Ghosts, the children of sins long past.

Donny Asks:

1. May have asked this before - why should someone join your BT?

I think that the Battleteam captures the quintessential experience of what its like to actively participate in the DJB. If you’re new, it’s the best place to start getting involved. That’s how I really got sucked in, all those months ago. If you’re an older member, it can be a place to rediscover why people actually stay on in this club, without drama or other concerns.

1. What do you offer for members to do/partake in?

Obviously there’s the development comps, but I’m also looking to ramp up more BT-centric fiction and art competitions, alongside RP and maybe even some gaming things. Maybe a Battleteam JA/HOTS training center? Could be neat.

1. What is something you'd like to change about your BT and/or are working on changing?

Same thing I said to Atty; I want to give us an identity. Something that defines us, something that inspires us to think as an actual unit. I want us to BE a team, and a place where new members can really find themselves; not just a random add-on to the house, without purpose, meaning, or direction.

Lucine asks:

1. How did the war go for you?

I think the war went quite well; I got all 9 bins participated in, and I’m actually quite proud of some of my submissions, my writing in particular, and especially our team competitions. I’m really looking forward to see how our Battle Plan and Run-On do, when we get down to brass tacks.

1. How would Sera react to a situation in which she has to lead, despite seemingly impossible odds?

Exactly how one would expect. With honor, courage, and a grin in the face of death… though, little in the way of life-saving tactics or schemes, probably.

1. What would you say is the hardest lesson Sera has learned so far?

Terrible things happen to good people, and people that she loves are not spared from this truth. But, even in that case, pain is temporary, and her love is unconditional.After all, it is better to have the person, even if they are a permanently changed person, than to lose them entirely.

1. Coruscant Fashion Week?

Sera will wear leather trousers and boots, unless otherwise ordered. The dagger in non-negotiable. Call it a fashion statement.

1. Is a hot dog a sandwich?

A sandwich is generally defined to a ‘filling’ -be it meat, vegetables, cheese, or any other number of ingredients- placed between two slices of bread. This is the definition stuck to by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, and the American Culinary Society. A hot dog is a meat filling placed on top of a single piece of bread. Though often formed into two-seperate ‘buns’ this bread is still one whole piece, not two separate pieces on either side of the filling. This is best typified by the many poor-man’s hot dogs that I have eaten in my lifetime; a hot dog placed atop a single slice of white bread, not two slices. Thus, not a sandwich.

Case closed. Now I’m hungry.

And don’t you dare start infringing on tacos. I’ll cut a ‘hotdogs are tacos’ theorist without hesitation or guilt. Don’t do it.

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And a monthly Bun Pic to round us off

<3