House Palpatine Report #4

Greetings, members of House Palpatine! Let us not waste time with idle prattle! There are new competitions to announce and tales to be told!

Let us begin!

As your Quaestor, it's my duty to encourage you to seek greater and greater power - the type that can come by advancement in the ranks! And advancement towards Knight requires the completion of two creative works: the first regarding the obtainment of lightsaber components, and the second involving the construction of your lightsaber.

As such, we'll be running a competition in the month of May to help encourage the completion of your creative works! And for those of you that are also in the TIE Corps... there may be other incentives for you to put together some fiction in the month of May...

So, without further ado, please allow me to introduce... the Annals of House Palpatine! But what are the Annals of House Palpatine, you may ask? Allow me to explain...

This competition calls for members of House Palpatine to submit a creative work (fiction is likely the norm, but other creative works will be accepted) intended to fulfill your next creative work requirement. This is intended to help those who have not yet completed the creative work requirements for future ranks. If you have yet to achieve the rank of Stalker (and do not have a previously submitted creative work), this should be about finding the parts you need to assemble a lightsaber. If you have achieved the rank of Stalker (or have already submitted a creative work about finding your lightsaber pieces), this should be about assembling your lightsaber. For those who already hold the blade – you are welcome to compete as well! For you, I ask that you submit a piece about your efforts to help (or hinder) other members of House Palpatine in their respective quests. The choice is yours!

Besides staying within the prompt, there's only a few rules for this one. Entries outside of fiction (art being the most common, but don't let me tell you what to do! Would love a music entry...) will be accepted, but I may need further consultation with the Herald to determine if it can be accepted for fulfilling your creative work requirement (but it will be accepted as an entry in this competition regardless of that decision). You're more than welcome to collaborate with each other or bounce ideas off one another, but the submitted work must ultimately be your own. One submission per member (you may replace an existing submission with another, if desired, but you must tell me which to use; otherwise, I'll use the last submitted). I ask that fiction entries be limited to a word count between 1000 - 6000 words. And finally, as much fun as they can be, I have to ask that we not include any AI derived creations for this competition.

Crescents will be awarded for the top ranked entries, based on the number of participants. For more information about this competition, please review the competition listing or reach out to me directly with any questions you may have!

Helldivers 2 continues to tear through the Secret Order, and the Master-at-Arms has announced a new competition in support of this platform!

Members are encouraged to submit screenshots of the "Mission Complete" screen using the following Google form linked here. Friendly reminder that only one match per group needs to be submitted; multiple members playing together do not need to send in separate submissions.

Points will be awarded for this competition using the following criteria:

• Base Value of 1 Point per completed Round (you can submit Solo Rounds)
• Additional ⅓ Bonus Points for every EH Player, you are playing with.
  • Each player must be listed in the "Mission Complete" screenshot as part of your party.
  • Please only submit one match per group; multiple members playing together should not send in separate submissions
• The difficulty you played on. Higher difficulties will give you more additional points (T4: +1; T5: +2; ....; T9: +6).

Crescents will be awarded for the top ranked entries, based on the number of participants. Additionally, a Kaiburr Star will be awarded for the member with the most completed Mission on Helldive/T9 (Ties broken by most points overall).

For more information, please view the competition listing. Reach out to the MAA, INQ Taurus or the P:MAA, ST Legion Ordo, if you have any questions!

Happy Diving!

Speaking of the Master-at-Arms, a new Praetor has been assigned to that office! Congrats to ST Legion Ordo, who leaves our comfortable abode here in House Palpatine for handling whatever tasks and paperwork the Master-At-Arms has planned for him!

Good luck in the new role Legion!

With a regular influx new arrivals to the Secret Order, I believe there's still value in a monthly drop of current guidelines and expectations for members of the Secret Order. So please find this month's updated section below, with some additions to account for new platforms and guideline clarifications.

EXPECTATIONS

The expectations here are pretty simple: participate with the Secret Order! That sounds obvious, but it's worth stating. Participation comes in many forms, of course - whether it's participating in a Secret Order 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 Secret Order. 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 Secret Order 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 SO-specific participation - whether that be with the type of activities (CoFs, DB SP missions, Shadow Academy, etc.), SO-specific platforms (GoH, Helldivers 2, STO, JA), or simply engaging in the Secret Order 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, for all platforms except Galaxy of Heroes (which just requires winning a round in a Grand Arena Event), CoFs are earned not just by winning a PvP match, but by placing in the top 50% of all participants. Or, in other words, placing in the top half of all participants (not just 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 Secret Order 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.) or submitted through a SO-approved form (such as the Helldivers 2 submissions form). 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!

That's all for this month! Please reach out if you have any questions about any competition or activity currently going on (whether it be Annals of House Palpatine, Helldivers, or something else), or just have any questions about the Secret Order in general. My door is always open!

In Service,

KNT Locke Setzer