House Palpatine Report #1

Greetings, members of House Palpatine! We have merged both Stingray and Hyperion into a single House, and now we take the next great step towards the reorganization and transformation of the Dark Brotherhood, soon to be reborn as the Secret Order!

You may be wondering what this means for you? For the moment, the difference should be minimal: a shift in leadership if you were a member of Hyperion, the removal of divisions by Battleteams, the merger of a few Discord channels. Small items, in the short term. In the long term, however, this helps serve the goals being laid down by the Dark Council as they move forward with transforming the Dark Brotherhood into the Secret Order.

This will begin to reveal itself in the form of assets for Houses and members, character progression for members, House Vendettas, and much more. But don't take my word for it! If you haven't yet had a chance to do so, I highly recommend opening up the latest issue of the new Dark Voice newsletter, which is full of information and details regarding these upcoming changes and more. You can also continue to follow progress by taking a look at the Dark Council Meeting Notes, updated regularly, usually a week after each meeting.

In the meantime, welcome to your first House report! Credit and thanks to JUG Brutalist for providing his Gamma Squadron Report template for use for this report. This has fulfilled his first creative requirement, and given us a sleek, fresh look for these new reports!

But enough with introductions! There is plenty of news and activities to cover here within the Dark Brotherhood, so let us begin!

Off the bat, I'd like to ask a favor from each and every memory of the house. In order to help myself and leadership gain a better understanding of the interests and desires of House Palpatine, I've put together a small survey with a few questions about what you're looking for in the Dark Brotherhood. I promise it won't take more than a few minutes, but it'll go a long way towards helping me better understand what folks are interested in, and how best to advocate on your behalf.

Folks who were in Stingray during my first days will recall doing this before. This is similar, but I've added a few questions that will make things a bit different than before. And I suspect things have changed for you as well since we last did this! So I appreciate you taking the time to do it again. I promise I won't ask again for another year!

Survey is located here.

Survey will remain open for two weeks, until the end of day on February 5th, 2024. Thank you in advance for your assistance!

This was previously announced as a Stingray competition, but I'd like to now extend it to the entirety of House Palpatine as a full House competition!

For the next month, I'd like to take some time to put a spotlight on the Dark Brotherhood missions for the original flight sim platforms, with a competition that promotes flying the very best DB battle for the three traditional platforms (well, based on review score anyways...).

From now until the end of February 11th, 2024, members of House Palpatine are invited to compete over the best (?) Dark Brotherhood battles the Mission Compendium has to offer (based on review scores at the start of the competition. They may not be after the competition is over...).

Specifically, members of House Palpatine are invited to fly the following battles:

• XWA-DB #1
• XvT-DB #5
• TIE-DB #10

A Crescent with Emerald Star, Crescent with Topaz Star, and Crescent with Quartz Star will be awarded to the top three scorers for each platform respectively. Additionally, a Crescent with Emerald Star, Crescent with Topaz Star, and Crescent with Quartz Star will also be awarded to the top three performers across all platforms based on combined positioning.

Additional details can be found here. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out and ask me directly via email or Discord.

As announced on the Discord and in the pages of the latest Dark Voice newsletter, the Master-at-Arms has announced the formation of The Guard, a new iteration of the Royal Guard organization within the Dark Brotherhood! The six members of the Guard will be determined by a competition, in which the most active members of the Dark Brotherhood from January 1st, 2024 through April 30th, 2024 will be assigned to its ranks!

Points are determined by PvP matches, Crescents/awards from Dark Brotherhood competitions, and completed SP missions (when flying DB missions specifically). No action needs to be taken by members for PvP and Crescents; pilots that complete DB SP missions should send their pilot files to the MAA (INQ Taurus, themadbull99@gmail.com). DB SP battles can only be completed once per month.

Competition is currently active and will run through April 30th, 2024. Please reach out to the MAA, INQ Taurus, with any additional questions!

Additional Dark Brotherhood competitions that are currently ongoing that you may be interested in include...

• The Dark Council's Great Hunt! - Runs through February 17, 2024! The goal is to hunt specific creatures chosen by the Dark Council themselves in either Monster Hunter: World/Iceborne or Monster Hunter: Rise/Sunbreak! Please reach out to MRD Legion Ordo for any questions!

• Galaxy of Heroes Territory Wars - Ongoing! The Dark Brotherhood is regularly running competitions for Territory Wars in Galaxy of Heroes! If you're interested in participating (or just want to know more about Galaxy of Heroes), I highly recommend jumping into the #galaxy-of-heroes channel on the Discord and asking for help where needed!

On the TIE Corps side, you may be aware that a start date has been scheduled for the next Imperial Storm. To catch up anyone who isn't aware, this year's Imperial Storm will be occurring a bit earlier than last year, and is currently scheduled to start on February 17th, running through March 16th.

Just like Raise the Flag last year, there are currently plans afoot to conduct a Dark Brotherhood companion competition alongside it. So keep your eyes open to the Discord, Dark Council Meeting Minutes, and this space, and expect more news about Imperial Storm: Secret Orders to be announced as we get closer to the start date!

I've included this section in my Stingray reports, and found it helpful as a place to keep up-to-date information on the current guidelines and expectations for members of the Dark Brotherhood. So I'll include it here in this month's report, and continue to maintain it regularly as long as I see a need and it continues to serve a purpose!

EXPECTATIONS

The expectations here are pretty simple: participate with the Dark Brotherhood! That sounds obvious, but it's worth stating. Participation comes in many forms, of course - whether it's participating in a Dark Brotherhood competition, playing one of our many supported platforms, creating fiction or art, or simply hanging out in the Discord channel, the base expectation is that you're here to engage with the Dark Brotherhood. There's a lot of different avenues to participate in, and sometimes that can be overwhelming. But if you're having trouble finding something to do, please reach out to me directly and we'll work something out.

For our TC-dedicated members, there is an expectation that you do more than simply sign up for the Dark Brotherhood and forget about it. Yes, much of your TC activity will count here as well, but for rewards and progress, we'd still like to see some DB-specific participation - whether that be with the type of activities (CoFs, DB-centric SP missions, Shadow Academy, etc.), DB-specific platforms (GoH, STO, JA), or simply engaging in the Dark Brotherhood Discord channel with your fellow House Palpatine members. Please reach out if you have any questions!

CLUSTER OF FIRE

Clusters of Fire (CoFs), the DB medal for victory in PvP matches, are still submitted via a manual process. You must e-mail the screenshot of your MP winning match to our Master-At-Arms INQ Taurus (themadbull99@gmail.com) and (optionally) to myself, ST Locke Setzer (locke.f.setzer@gmail.com).

As a quick refresher, CoFs are earned not just by winning a PvP match, but by placing above over half of your team members. For example:

• In matches with 3 or less players on each team, only the 1st place player (according to score/kills/efficiency) would be eligible.
• In matches with 4-5 players on each team, only the 1st or 2nd place player (according to score/kills/efficiency) would be eligible.
• In matches with 6+ players on each team, only the 1st, 2nd or 3rd place player (according to score/kills/efficiency) would be eligible.

RANKS

Promotions are granted to individuals who have engaged in Dark Brotherhood related activities for the minimum specified time period for their current rank (at least). There are, however, three ranks that require an additional action to achieve.

• Acolyte - In order for a Novice to be promoted to Acolyte, they must complete the DB:CORE exam, located here.
• Stalker - In order for a Juggernaut to be promoted to Stalker, they must complete a creative work demonstrating how their character acquired the parts to make a lightsaber. Fiction is the common route, but there are many other options available. Please consult with the Herald (along with your House Leader) to identify if your desired creative work will be accepted before proceeding.
• Knight - In order for a Stalker to be promoted to Knight (and be granted the ability to wear a lightsaber openly, including on their TIE Corps uniform), they must complete all Shadow Academy courses regarding lightsaber construction, as well as a creative work demonstrating how their character assembled their lightsaber. Fiction is the common route, but there are many other options available. Please consult with the Herald (along with your House Leader) to identify if your desired creative work will be accepted before proceeding.

TRACKING ACTIVITY

As your Quaestor, I want to ensure that you are properly rewarded for everything you do. Keep in mind, however, that I can only see the things that appear in the database (SP/MP submissions, IU courses completed, competition awards granted, fiction submissions posted to your account, etc.). I do keep an eye on Discord (especially for things in #artworks-and-writing), but if you participate in a competition, game, or perform any kind of DB approved activity that doesn't include a submission or award through the website, I'll only know about it if you tell me. So please do so!

At the very least, as we come to the end of the month, if there's something you think I should know about that you participated in that I otherwise wouldn't, please drop me an e-mail or message on Discord so that I can include it. I want to make sure you're getting full marks for everything you do here, but I can only account for the things I can see. So please help me to see more, when needed!

With that stated, let us bring this first House Palpatine report to a close! I'm looking forward to uniting each of us under this new House banner as we continue to lay the groundwork for the exciting changes yet to come!

I will be reaching out to a number of you in the weeks ahead to discuss your current status and plans moving forward. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions about this new structure, the upcoming changes, or anything else that may be on your mind. My door is always open!

In Service,

ST Locke Setzer