Taldryan Consul Report: Putting rubber to the road...

"Only the wisest of beards have come to the realization that control is a illusion. Every other poor fool out there is teetering on the brink of chaos and oblivion and is never aware of it. How I envy the fools."

-- An Excerpt from The Bearded Tome: Chapter 9, Verse 4

Today's random report art comes from the legendary Ralph McQuarrie

Hey Folks! I know I messed up and missed my report last week, but the holiday weekend sort of destroyed any productivity I may have been able to muster together. Something about the best laid plans and mice being smarter than me should go here. But regardless of all that, I return now, and bring with me glorious news!

Headlines that you need to know

• Help us plan Taldryan's next great adventure
• Big changes on the Horizon, where will you stand?
• The Consul Shamelessly Plugs his fiction competition
• Bronies Attacked, XWA Tournament Open, Telegram might be cool and CFs are Changing!
• Star Wars has had a busy couple weeks...

The Undertaking is Beginning

Over the past couple weeks, Halc and I have been spinning our wheels around the direction we want Taldryan moving forward in. Finally, we sort of realized that we were falling into the age old trap of trying to plan too much, and because of that we weren't really getting much done. So while Rax has started Operation Blackhand over in Dinaari, and Zoron's been busy keeping Ekky busy with other stuff, Halc and I finally started putting some rubber to the road as it were, and began planning out the next few months (aka the summer) tentatively with some competitions and episodic events we can focus on moving forward.

Right now though, we want to know what you guys want to do in terms of competitions. What sort of events would you most like to see us running? What types of games/fictions/team events would you prefer to work on? What sort of stuff can we do for you guys to make your time here in the DB just that much better? Howie has put together a survey which is available in the emailed version of the report for you to fill out.

You can find the survey link in the email version of this report.

The Good, The Bad, and the Muggles?

Quite recently, the Grand Master dropped a bit of a bomb on the DB when he announced a preview of the upcoming changes to the Path and Order system of the Brotherhood. Most notably in the preview was the announcement that in the near(ish?) future, members of the Brotherhood will be able to play a more Gray Jedi style character, or even play characters who don't make use of the force whatsoever!

This is a huge change, and one that is long overdue given the proclivities of people to tend toward the centre rather than the edges (myself included), and I'm excited to see what sort of opportunities this unlocks for all our membership.

Pravus also announced that he'll be attending Celebration with a few of our members, and there will be a lot of live events from the biggest Star Wars convention there is around!

Shameless Plug

As well as being your Consul, I am also the Dark Brotherhood's Recruitment Tribune, which means I am largely involved with trying to make the DB's Social Media Accounts active and informative, as well as trying to figure out new ways to attract new members to join our ranks from around the internet. My most recent endeavour on this front is to start creating more accessible Star Wars content to the average fan, and finding ways to showcase our club's amazing writers to the internet at large.

This isn't a Taldryan only competition, but it is one I'd like to see all of you guys take a good look at, and hopefully participate in.

News from Around the DB

• There was a brief, eye bleaching invasion of neon bronies on the front page. Thankfully the pink tide has subsided.
• There's still some time to sign up for Mark's XWA Tournament. Join Howie, Zoron and I and kick some space sim ass!
• People are playing around with a new Instant Messaging Program name Telegram and the DGM and JST both say it's cool. Sadly my phone won't run it :P
• There are some changes coming to the way Clusters of Fire are awarded in relation to Diablo 3 and Destiny. Also there may be some updates to JA in the near future *fingers crossed.*

Star Wars News Headlines

• Star Wars Going Digital
• DB Reviews: Heir to the Jedi
• Disney: X-Wings!
• Win a Life Sized Yoda!
• New Trailer Along with Age of Ultron

Rollmaster’s Corner

Hello Taldryan! Welcome to another addition of the Rollmaster’s Corner! A couple of pieces of business before we move onto the highlight’s the last two weeks!

First of all, I would like to welcome Novice Satanous to Taldryan, he’s been assigned to House Dinaari! When you get a chance, please say hello!

Second, Seyda Norith was promoted to Jedi Hunter earlier this week, please offer congratulations to her!

Finally, Bobecc Varga reached an important milestone earlier in the week – when he was promoted to Dark Jedi Knight! Well done!

Journeymen Activities

Below are the highlights of our journeymen during the past week!

• Novice Satanous: Promoted to Novice!
• Jedi Hunter Seyda Norith: Earned a Dark Cross, Crescents with an Emerald, a Topaz, and an Amethyst star, and 9 Clusters of Fire! Seyda also completed the Leadership Rewards and Competitions Shadow Academy courses! Seyda was also promoted to Freshman in the Shadow Academy Society!
• Jedi Hunter Artorias: Earned a Crescent with Diamond Star, 3 Crescents with Ruby Star, 1 Crescent with Amethyst Star and 46 Clusters of Fire!
• Dark Jedi Knight Bobecc Varga: Promoted to Dark Jedi Knight, earned an Anteian Cross, a Crescent with Emerald Star, and 25 Clusters of Fire!

Competition round up

Taldryan Hosted Competitions

• Consular Puzzle Competition – Compete against the Dark Council and fellow members of Taldryan!
• Operation Blackhand - House Dinaari is running a series of competitions!
• Taldryan Gatekeeper Trials, April 2015 – Best PVP Score wins!
• Speed Sporcle Challenge #10 – Hosted by our very own Zoron! Answer questions on sporcle
• Canon Fodder Episode 1 - The Inquisitor – Write a story from the perspective of Star Wars Rebels’ Inquisitor

Brotherhood Wide

• The X-Wing Games: Round I - X-Wing Alliance – An X-Wing Alliance bracket!
• GMRG Gorefest: March 2015 (in April) – Double Clusters of Fire for GMRG members! Runs the weekend of the 10th to the 12th!
• GMRG Gorefest: April 2015 – Double Clusters of Fire for GMRG members! Runs the weekend of the 24th to the 26th!
• Star Wars v Game of Thrones – Write your character as in Game of Thrones!
• Revenge – Write a revenge story!
• Star Conflict Destruction of everything good – Another Landon Star Conflict competition!
• Haiku Fun – Write a Star Wars themed haiku!
• Monthly Mobile Gaming: Jelly Jump – Another mobile competition from the Fist’s Office!
• Star Wars Galactic Defense: The Emperor's Wrath – Another Galactic Defense mobile game!
• Star Wars Commander: 03Apr2015 Tournament – Another Star Wars: Commander competition!
• Smile, say cheese....- Take a funny Star Wars themed photo!
• TOR Pairs: Warzone - Stay on Target! - Team up with another member of the Brotherhood and complete TOR Warzones. Obtain the highest "Objective" scores, both you and your partner's scores will be added for your Team Total.

Well, that's another report in the bag. I'm really looking forward to reading your responses on the survey and getting some competitions up and running. Hopefully by next report I'll have the major direction stuff done, so I can start getting to work on a few more of my passion projects like the wiki updates! I hope everyone had a great Holiday, and is refreshed and ready to get to work!