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State of the Rebel Squadrons, December 2006
State of the Rebel Squadrons
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
I. State of the RS
II. High Command
III. Fleet News Shorts
IV. ORW 3 Progress
V. Other Executive Projects
VI. Recognitions
VII. Miscellaneous
Greetings, Members of the Rebel Squadrons!
Welcome to another SotRS address. I write to you now as we embark upon a great project: an RS-wide storyline tied to a multi-fleet Interactive Tour of Duty that will soon be enmeshed in a multi-club competition. Backing up this project is a grand structure that has been created by several people on the Executive Staff. This is an exciting time. The RS overall is in good shape, with activity across the board and seemingly countless ways for our members to become further involved. In this address, I will explain some of the exciting things that are going on in the RS, how you can personally be involved in them, and what you can look forward to seeing in the future.
High Command remains fully staffed, having recently welcomed Major Rixar Kovani as the Executive Officer of Vigilance Starfighter Group. All other personnel are the same as last month. HC recently debated and then approved a modification to the Bylaws. HC has ruled that while a member may select a Primary Fleet, he or she may be promoted by any Chain of Command they belong to and not only by their Primary Chain of Command. What this means for you is that any of your commanding officers may promote you, not just the CO in your Primary Fleet. The actual text of the change may be seen in Section 4.2 of the bylaws.
Patriot Battle Fleet: Tour 7 marches onward, currently in its sixth mission. PBF CO Josh Hawkins is doing an excellent job of writing intriguing narratives for each mission. Reports are only just beginning to come in for PBF706, but the competition for Top Gun is already fierce. Gold Squadron remains the unit to beat, but the other squadrons are posting strong showings recently and participation across the fleet is high.
Vigilance Starfighter Group: As I mentioned above, VSG CO Rekio Corsair has selected Major Rixar Kovani as the VSG XO. VSG began its first ITOD earlier this month. VSG Tour 1 will run concurrently with Righteous Indignation Division Tour 1 and the story will be chronicled in monthly narratives written by the RSXO, Michael Raven. Anybody may fly VSG101, which is available in both X-Wing vs. TF BoP and X-Wing Alliance, so check it out! The mission due date is December 30th.
Aurora Force: In the AF, the main storyline is on the verge of a new mission, which is scheduled to begin after the New Year. The subgroup AF-kids is going strong and the writers are trying to work their way through various issues as the characters await the unexpected invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong.
Allegiance Battle Group: The ABG continues to chug along with regular sims under the capable leadership of ABG CO Michael Raven. Raven plans to introduce a new simming unit that will sim in the era concurrent with VSG/RID Tour 1 and the main RS storyline. Contact Raven if you are interested in simming in this era or in any of the others that the ABG covers.
Redemption Fleet: In the RF, Righteous Indignation Division just started its Tour 1, which will run concurrently and be closely connected to VSG's Tour 1. The due date for VSG101 is also December 30th. Kaz's Writing Group is continuing to be active and features the exploits of the crew of the Hopewell.
Vanguard Fleet: Nothing new to report from our Star Wars: Galaxies fleet, which continues to represent our name in the virtual world of SWG.
Progress on Outer Rim Wars III looked grim earlier this month. We were in a serious bind as far as technical issues. I'm happy to be able to let you all know, however, that we now have a coder for the project. Major General Mystic Warrior, an experienced coder who used to be an Assistant IO, has agreed to take on the project. He is working on putting together an IRC bot and linking it to the ORW3 webpage. This will give the competition substantial automation in match-making and scoring which will allow many matches to be played without overburdening a human moderator. Since the rules have already been hammered out, the competition will be ready to begin as soon as this coding is complete. A big thank you in advance to Mystic for helping us out in this way!
This section of the SotRS will be somewhat long, but it is important because it will tell you what exactly the Executive Staff and I are doing for you. We've all been busy this month. Here's what we have been up to lately:
With the advice of Brigadier General David Vaughan and Major General Rekio Corsair, Internet Officer Josh Hawkins and I devised a new way to list our fleets and divisions on the navbar of the RS roster. The new listing emphasizes the role of each fleet/division in the fictional setting of the RS. For example, RID (which plays Empire at War, a game of tactical command) is the RS' naval command arm, while the PBF and VSG are part of the RS Starfighter Corps.
In a generous spurt of energy, IO Josh Hawkins added a new feature to the RS email system, which allows any member to mail all their squadron mates through the RS roster.
It's important that the Operations Manual remain up-to-date, because most of our new members read that first to attempt to understand what the RS is all about. Reading the Ops Manual is even an important part of the Beginner's Path system. Because of this, IO Josh Hawkins and I went through the Ops Manual page-by-page and thoroughly updated it to reflect various changes in the RS over the past year. It is now current and hopefully reflects the RS as it actually is. If you notice anything incorrect in the Ops Manual, please email me.
RSXO Michael Raven and I are working extremely closely with LO David Vaughan and the Logistics Office to provide a narrative background of what is going on in the RS fictionally right now. You have already noticed that I have posted two FC narratives. Raven is posting the official narratives for the VSG/RID Tour 1 missions. Another of these may be expected soon. So far, the RS has experienced a shattering defeat at the Battle of Blerthmore. Previously unknown imperial forces battered through RS defenses and struck a serious blow at the RS capital world of Blerthmore, destroying many ships in battle and many that were being repaired in drydock. The forces of the old Renegade and Intrepid Battle Group fleets rushed to the rescue of Blerthmore, but were intercepted by interdicting imperial forces. Blerthmore currently stands in great danger of complete devastation, but help from RgF and IBG cannot be far away...
Rekio Corsair, the Deputy Logistics Officer, has redesigned the RS Order of Battle (OOB), which is a complete list of the ships that are used regularly in RS fiction. IO Josh Hawkins made the new OOB a reality by seriously updating the OOB webpage. The new RS OOB is much smaller than the old and reflects the Logistics Office's vision of the RS fictional universe. In this design, the RS has been downsized to approximately the size of a task force (it was previously a battlegroup of many fleets) in order to fit better into the Star Wars Extended Universe continuity and provide a more intimate setting for inter-fleet cooperation. The RS OOB now contains all the ships that pilots will see in PBF Tour 7, VSG/RID Tour 1, and in my FC narratives.
RSXO Michael Raven, under the watchful eye of Logistics Officer David Vaughan, has created an RS timeline. This timeline includes the starting and finishing date of every major Tour of Duty in RS history and fits all this information into a fictional setting. This provides a backdrop for our fictional universe and firmly places us in a timeline that will continue to advance as real time progresses. You can check out the work on this project in Vaughan's recent news post.
LO David Vaughan, in conjunction with this timeline project, is pushing to have members select fictional birthdates for their characters. This would give further background to character biographies and would determine how old your character is in RS fiction right now. If you are interested in doing this, please see Vaughan's news announcement for more information.
One last bit of news from the Logistics Office: The Publications department of the LO will soon begin pumping out fictional galactic news through the Mediator News Service that you may notice has appeared on the RS main page. Mediator will provide news on events in the RS home sectors, in other theaters of space where RS forces are engaged, and will also cover major events in the galaxy at large.
I have appointed a new Historical Officer, Captain Gavin Starseeker. Assisting him are AHOs Fleet Admiral Mike "MacMan" McEwen and Commander Galic Mars. Seeks has been hard at work on a full-length narrative history of the PBF. He has been seeking advice and tips from several old timers and is putting together a very nice history. It is not yet ready for public consumption, but you can expect to hear a report from him when he makes the history public.
I owe my thanks to my entire Executive staff. As you can see from above, many individuals have put in hard work to further the RS this past month. I'm extremely proud of all of them. One name however that keeps popping up repeatedly is Josh Hawkins. Josh, who is both PBF CO and Internet Officer, has been extremely helpful. He cheerfully takes on difficult tasks, coordinates access to all parts of the RS domain, and is kind enough to humor me when I wish to do some editing of my own. Without his help, the RS domain would probably be falling apart at the seams and would certainly look a lot less pretty than it does now. I and the rest of the staff constantly come up with ideas, but Josh is the one that implements them and makes them reality on our webpages. Josh, I hereby present you with the Kessel Cup in recognition of your hard work in the Internet Office. Thank you and congratulations!
The RS Wiki remains a valuable tool for recording your activities and contributions to the RS and those of your fellow members. It is a webpage that you can edit, no matter what your rank or position in the RS. Make your mark on the RS by posting articles about yourself or your unit! The RS Wiki page of the month is "Noble." It is a person page that describes the career of Bar Admiral Noble, a key member of the RS in 1995 and 1996. This is a perfect example of a historical Wiki entry that describes an individual member and his contributions to the RS. It is also a good example of the work that remains to be done on the RS wiki, because it contains several links to empty pages.
I have created an entry for the RS on "Wookieepedia" (The Star Wars Wiki). This may help us out in the Wiki-world by giving us some added publicity. You can see the RS entry here.
Get involved in RS fiction! As you can see from the numerous RS-wide narratives that are being posted and emailed recently, the RS is trying to emphasize a central fictional continuity and storyline. You are invited to get involved in this by writing your character's biography in such a way as to fit it into the timeline we are following. Contact the Logistics Officer, Brigadier General David Vaughan for more information.
The RS has an excellent Medals system which has recently been reworked and updated by Major General Rekio Corsair. If you think a fellow member should be rewarded for hard work that he or she has done for the RS, please nominate them for a medal. Some of our medals are extremely prestigious and they all look pretty on uniforms - they make great awards for service!
I would like to close on another positive note. Individual squadron ITODs are making a resurgence in the RS! Long ago, it was fairly common for each squadron to run its own Tour of Duty, but with the rise in importance of fleet-wide ITODs, these individual squadron tours declined and disappeared. Spurred on by the possibility of integration into RS-wide fiction, some squadrons are bringing back the Squadron ITOD. I know that Gold and Dragon Squadrons are both either running or about to start their own squadron ITODs. If you would like to see your squadron do something like this, check in with your commanding officer.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions.
":)
Dave Trebonious-Astoris
Fleet Commander
=The Rebel Squadrons=
A H.I.E.R. Organization: Honesty, Integrity, Equanimity, Respect
"I want you to understand this, and I want future generations to believe it; you and they will do more than adequate service to my reputation if I am held to be worthy of my forebears, careful for your interests, steadfast in danger, and not afraid to be unpopular if I am serving the national good." -Tiberius Caesar Augustus
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
I. State of the RS
II. High Command
III. Fleet News Shorts
IV. ORW 3 Progress
V. Other Executive Projects
VI. Recognitions
VII. Miscellaneous
Greetings, Members of the Rebel Squadrons!
Welcome to another SotRS address. I write to you now as we embark upon a great project: an RS-wide storyline tied to a multi-fleet Interactive Tour of Duty that will soon be enmeshed in a multi-club competition. Backing up this project is a grand structure that has been created by several people on the Executive Staff. This is an exciting time. The RS overall is in good shape, with activity across the board and seemingly countless ways for our members to become further involved. In this address, I will explain some of the exciting things that are going on in the RS, how you can personally be involved in them, and what you can look forward to seeing in the future.
II. High Command
High Command remains fully staffed, having recently welcomed Major Rixar Kovani as the Executive Officer of Vigilance Starfighter Group. All other personnel are the same as last month. HC recently debated and then approved a modification to the Bylaws. HC has ruled that while a member may select a Primary Fleet, he or she may be promoted by any Chain of Command they belong to and not only by their Primary Chain of Command. What this means for you is that any of your commanding officers may promote you, not just the CO in your Primary Fleet. The actual text of the change may be seen in Section 4.2 of the bylaws.
III. Fleet News Shorts
Patriot Battle Fleet: Tour 7 marches onward, currently in its sixth mission. PBF CO Josh Hawkins is doing an excellent job of writing intriguing narratives for each mission. Reports are only just beginning to come in for PBF706, but the competition for Top Gun is already fierce. Gold Squadron remains the unit to beat, but the other squadrons are posting strong showings recently and participation across the fleet is high.
Vigilance Starfighter Group: As I mentioned above, VSG CO Rekio Corsair has selected Major Rixar Kovani as the VSG XO. VSG began its first ITOD earlier this month. VSG Tour 1 will run concurrently with Righteous Indignation Division Tour 1 and the story will be chronicled in monthly narratives written by the RSXO, Michael Raven. Anybody may fly VSG101, which is available in both X-Wing vs. TF BoP and X-Wing Alliance, so check it out! The mission due date is December 30th.
Aurora Force: In the AF, the main storyline is on the verge of a new mission, which is scheduled to begin after the New Year. The subgroup AF-kids is going strong and the writers are trying to work their way through various issues as the characters await the unexpected invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong.
Allegiance Battle Group: The ABG continues to chug along with regular sims under the capable leadership of ABG CO Michael Raven. Raven plans to introduce a new simming unit that will sim in the era concurrent with VSG/RID Tour 1 and the main RS storyline. Contact Raven if you are interested in simming in this era or in any of the others that the ABG covers.
Redemption Fleet: In the RF, Righteous Indignation Division just started its Tour 1, which will run concurrently and be closely connected to VSG's Tour 1. The due date for VSG101 is also December 30th. Kaz's Writing Group is continuing to be active and features the exploits of the crew of the Hopewell.
Vanguard Fleet: Nothing new to report from our Star Wars: Galaxies fleet, which continues to represent our name in the virtual world of SWG.
IV. ORW 3 Progress
Progress on Outer Rim Wars III looked grim earlier this month. We were in a serious bind as far as technical issues. I'm happy to be able to let you all know, however, that we now have a coder for the project. Major General Mystic Warrior, an experienced coder who used to be an Assistant IO, has agreed to take on the project. He is working on putting together an IRC bot and linking it to the ORW3 webpage. This will give the competition substantial automation in match-making and scoring which will allow many matches to be played without overburdening a human moderator. Since the rules have already been hammered out, the competition will be ready to begin as soon as this coding is complete. A big thank you in advance to Mystic for helping us out in this way!
V. Other Executive Projects
This section of the SotRS will be somewhat long, but it is important because it will tell you what exactly the Executive Staff and I are doing for you. We've all been busy this month. Here's what we have been up to lately:
With the advice of Brigadier General David Vaughan and Major General Rekio Corsair, Internet Officer Josh Hawkins and I devised a new way to list our fleets and divisions on the navbar of the RS roster. The new listing emphasizes the role of each fleet/division in the fictional setting of the RS. For example, RID (which plays Empire at War, a game of tactical command) is the RS' naval command arm, while the PBF and VSG are part of the RS Starfighter Corps.
In a generous spurt of energy, IO Josh Hawkins added a new feature to the RS email system, which allows any member to mail all their squadron mates through the RS roster.
It's important that the Operations Manual remain up-to-date, because most of our new members read that first to attempt to understand what the RS is all about. Reading the Ops Manual is even an important part of the Beginner's Path system. Because of this, IO Josh Hawkins and I went through the Ops Manual page-by-page and thoroughly updated it to reflect various changes in the RS over the past year. It is now current and hopefully reflects the RS as it actually is. If you notice anything incorrect in the Ops Manual, please email me.
RSXO Michael Raven and I are working extremely closely with LO David Vaughan and the Logistics Office to provide a narrative background of what is going on in the RS fictionally right now. You have already noticed that I have posted two FC narratives. Raven is posting the official narratives for the VSG/RID Tour 1 missions. Another of these may be expected soon. So far, the RS has experienced a shattering defeat at the Battle of Blerthmore. Previously unknown imperial forces battered through RS defenses and struck a serious blow at the RS capital world of Blerthmore, destroying many ships in battle and many that were being repaired in drydock. The forces of the old Renegade and Intrepid Battle Group fleets rushed to the rescue of Blerthmore, but were intercepted by interdicting imperial forces. Blerthmore currently stands in great danger of complete devastation, but help from RgF and IBG cannot be far away...
Rekio Corsair, the Deputy Logistics Officer, has redesigned the RS Order of Battle (OOB), which is a complete list of the ships that are used regularly in RS fiction. IO Josh Hawkins made the new OOB a reality by seriously updating the OOB webpage. The new RS OOB is much smaller than the old and reflects the Logistics Office's vision of the RS fictional universe. In this design, the RS has been downsized to approximately the size of a task force (it was previously a battlegroup of many fleets) in order to fit better into the Star Wars Extended Universe continuity and provide a more intimate setting for inter-fleet cooperation. The RS OOB now contains all the ships that pilots will see in PBF Tour 7, VSG/RID Tour 1, and in my FC narratives.
RSXO Michael Raven, under the watchful eye of Logistics Officer David Vaughan, has created an RS timeline. This timeline includes the starting and finishing date of every major Tour of Duty in RS history and fits all this information into a fictional setting. This provides a backdrop for our fictional universe and firmly places us in a timeline that will continue to advance as real time progresses. You can check out the work on this project in Vaughan's recent news post.
LO David Vaughan, in conjunction with this timeline project, is pushing to have members select fictional birthdates for their characters. This would give further background to character biographies and would determine how old your character is in RS fiction right now. If you are interested in doing this, please see Vaughan's news announcement for more information.
One last bit of news from the Logistics Office: The Publications department of the LO will soon begin pumping out fictional galactic news through the Mediator News Service that you may notice has appeared on the RS main page. Mediator will provide news on events in the RS home sectors, in other theaters of space where RS forces are engaged, and will also cover major events in the galaxy at large.
I have appointed a new Historical Officer, Captain Gavin Starseeker. Assisting him are AHOs Fleet Admiral Mike "MacMan" McEwen and Commander Galic Mars. Seeks has been hard at work on a full-length narrative history of the PBF. He has been seeking advice and tips from several old timers and is putting together a very nice history. It is not yet ready for public consumption, but you can expect to hear a report from him when he makes the history public.
VI. Recognitions
I owe my thanks to my entire Executive staff. As you can see from above, many individuals have put in hard work to further the RS this past month. I'm extremely proud of all of them. One name however that keeps popping up repeatedly is Josh Hawkins. Josh, who is both PBF CO and Internet Officer, has been extremely helpful. He cheerfully takes on difficult tasks, coordinates access to all parts of the RS domain, and is kind enough to humor me when I wish to do some editing of my own. Without his help, the RS domain would probably be falling apart at the seams and would certainly look a lot less pretty than it does now. I and the rest of the staff constantly come up with ideas, but Josh is the one that implements them and makes them reality on our webpages. Josh, I hereby present you with the Kessel Cup in recognition of your hard work in the Internet Office. Thank you and congratulations!
VII. Miscellaneous
The RS Wiki remains a valuable tool for recording your activities and contributions to the RS and those of your fellow members. It is a webpage that you can edit, no matter what your rank or position in the RS. Make your mark on the RS by posting articles about yourself or your unit! The RS Wiki page of the month is "Noble." It is a person page that describes the career of Bar Admiral Noble, a key member of the RS in 1995 and 1996. This is a perfect example of a historical Wiki entry that describes an individual member and his contributions to the RS. It is also a good example of the work that remains to be done on the RS wiki, because it contains several links to empty pages.
I have created an entry for the RS on "Wookieepedia" (The Star Wars Wiki). This may help us out in the Wiki-world by giving us some added publicity. You can see the RS entry here.
Get involved in RS fiction! As you can see from the numerous RS-wide narratives that are being posted and emailed recently, the RS is trying to emphasize a central fictional continuity and storyline. You are invited to get involved in this by writing your character's biography in such a way as to fit it into the timeline we are following. Contact the Logistics Officer, Brigadier General David Vaughan for more information.
The RS has an excellent Medals system which has recently been reworked and updated by Major General Rekio Corsair. If you think a fellow member should be rewarded for hard work that he or she has done for the RS, please nominate them for a medal. Some of our medals are extremely prestigious and they all look pretty on uniforms - they make great awards for service!
I would like to close on another positive note. Individual squadron ITODs are making a resurgence in the RS! Long ago, it was fairly common for each squadron to run its own Tour of Duty, but with the rise in importance of fleet-wide ITODs, these individual squadron tours declined and disappeared. Spurred on by the possibility of integration into RS-wide fiction, some squadrons are bringing back the Squadron ITOD. I know that Gold and Dragon Squadrons are both either running or about to start their own squadron ITODs. If you would like to see your squadron do something like this, check in with your commanding officer.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions.
":)
Dave Trebonious-Astoris
Fleet Commander
=The Rebel Squadrons=
A H.I.E.R. Organization: Honesty, Integrity, Equanimity, Respect
"I want you to understand this, and I want future generations to believe it; you and they will do more than adequate service to my reputation if I am held to be worthy of my forebears, careful for your interests, steadfast in danger, and not afraid to be unpopular if I am serving the national good." -Tiberius Caesar Augustus
Comments
FA Joshua Hawkins - Thu Dec 28 2006, 7:55am
I like pie. FA Dave Trebonious-Astoris - Thu Dec 28 2006, 7:52pm
Ok Josh, next time I'll give you pie instead. :P FA Joshua Hawkins - Fri Dec 29 2006, 11:30pm
w00t! I get pie!