defy the tyrannous stars
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_AQFnqMY3E[/youtube]
A New DawnSo as most of you are by now aware, I am your new fearless leader. I'd like to thank everyone who voted and pulled together to raise concerns and give feedback throughout the election process, and a special thanks to [member="Jacen Voidstalker"] for being such an excellent candidate to run against. I cannot deny being intimidated at the prospect of living up to his standard. On that subject, I am very aware of how narrow a margin I won by, and while I know that a large part of that is the tremendous amount of respect we all have for Jacen as a person and how much time and effort he has put into the GA, I'd be a fool not to recognize it also had something to do with the platform he ran on and the policies he proposed.
Particularly, I think he had a point about both member driven content and information overload. More dynamic, freeform dominions without DM structure was a change we all agreed on before Astarii stepped down, and its a change I intend to keep. Initially, I ran on a platform of finishing the work Astarii did on faction information, but in light of his wishes and on the strength of Jacen's argument, I will be adopting a similar policy of letting the members be the one to flesh out our faction's lore and fluff. That is not to say I will not consider implementing programs and contests to motivate such player driven creation, but there is no use in articulating every nuance of the way the GA works if writers aren't interested in playing certain types of characters.
More information can be helpful to the creative process, but too much information can be constricting, and limits possibility and imagination for new writers or people looking to come up with a new alt. I am still very much in favor of us evolving realistically, we are a "galactic power" for better or worse, and while I know there is a real desire to hold on to our rag tag, alliance of misfits roots, we also have to recognize that we have much more in the way of resources, manpower, and time as an established government than we did starting out. But while my future efforts will reflect that, I expect you guys to write what feels fun, stick to your guns where you want to, and don't be afraid to adhere to the Rule of Cool.
The Court of the Crimson King
So while you all are aware that Astarii stepped down, what not as many of you might know is that we lost a few other staff members in the month or so prior, and of the replacements Astarii staffed, one stepped down due to shifting priorities in an uncertain time, and the other was me! So, I find myself in the position of haven to rebuild the faction staff basically from scratch. That means, yet again, applications for faction admin positions should be PMed to me by any interested candidates.
I also may or may not be asking certain people directly if they are interested in a position, or to help out in some way. Ideally I would just be recruiting from a pool of volunteer applicants, but since I find myself in the position of having to fill out an entire team, I want to be searching for candidates beyond the realm of just those confident enough to send in their own application. That said, don't assume I have my staff hand picked, I'm still getting to know everyone and all applications will be considered before final decisions are made.
Apart from official admin positions, and in the spirit of a member driven faction, I will be on the lookout for people who are interested to be stepping up to take their own initiative and help out with the challenges ahead of us where they may. We need people willing to come up with devs, help build out our planetary infrastructure in doms, help workshop new ideas for subunits and future RPs, and oh yeah people who can use Photoshop because I can't oh god please tell me some of you are good at art.
The Forever War
So while I am certainly interested in pursuing our current overarching storyline with the Charon in some form, I've heard what people have to say in faction chat and, after reaching out to the First Order admin team to discuss potential future collaboration, we are prepared to move forward in some form with conflict! What form that conflict takes, I'd like you guys to use this thread to discuss. With the no invasion policy in place on Chaos for December, I've assured them that in the short term no WAAAAGH level war would be coming their way. We have invited them to participate in our upcoming T2, and for GA and FO members to participate in each other's future doms, which they are open to, and a proposal for an espionage storyline is in the works. I'd like to know if you guys have any other ideas that don't include full scale war just yet.
They have also proposed the possibility of us organizing a series of invasions followed by a cease fire. While the ultimate political outcome would broadly be agreed upon, the invasions themselves would be very much up in the air competitions, and the threads themselves could potentially have serious ramifications for the future power dynamic between the two factions, but there would be no looming threat of a never ending invasion ping pong war that would burn out all of our writers. I am in favor of the idea personally, but I would like to hear your thoughts. If it is your wish, I am prepared, as is the First Order, for a no holds barred invasion war, but it is not my first choice.
Either way, we'll be starting things off again with them with some recon/spy stuff both in the T2 and in at least one other thread, and depending on how you all feel we can go from there come the new year. This may mean pushing back the Fondor Hex T3 back again, I'd like to do it in December but depending on people's holiday plans that may not be practical. We could always get it started and go slow, but if you guys want to prioritize First Order stuff or Core stuff instead that is also okay with me.
So let me know if the cold war with a hot flash of two invasions plan is enough to satisfy you warhawks, or if you hate the idea.
Yours,
Crown Regent Zark, king o al jediz
Steward of the Alliance, and Warden of the South
All Shall Love Me and Despair
