State of the Rebel Squadrons
Tuesday, February 27, 2007

I. State of the RS
II. High Command News
III. Fleet News Shorts
IV. ORW3 One Month Later
V. Other Executive Projects
VI. Recognitions
VII. Miscellaneous

Greetings, Members of the Rebel Squadrons!

Welcome to the SotRS address. There is a lot of exciting things going on around here lately! I'm not really sure where to begin. The RS is bustling with activity. Outer Rim War 3: The Subterrel Conflict is in full swing and has improved dramatically since the competition started a month ago. More on that later. The combined RS-wide storyline is also progressing nicely. I hope you all have been able to read up on that. There's plenty of news to report, so I won't go on for too long here. Suffice it to say that the RS is in good shape. We're engaging in a variety of activities internally and we're advertising our status externally through competitions. We know we're in good shape, and other organizations know it too.

II. High Command News

There were no important discussions in High Command this month. The council stands ready for any issues that it needs to resolve, but at the moment things are running very smoothly and HC therefore has little it needs to do. Since last report, Commander Galic Mars has been appointed VSG XO and along with Major Olith Hesto is assisting Major General David "Heavy" Pasiechnyk in running the VSG. In news received while I was writing this, Galic stepped down from the VSG XO position, so that remains vacant at the moment.

III. Fleet News Shorts

Patriot Battle Fleet: Tour 7 continues, with the seventh mission due in just a few days now. I know that PBF CO Josh Hawkins is a little distressed at the small number of reports so far. If you are in the PBF, please fly the mission and get your report in so that he is not overwhelmed at the last minute by an avalanche of reports. If you are not in the PBF - what's wrong with you? Join today!

Vigilance Starfighter Group: VSG102 was a resounding success. The missions were very well-made, and many pilots posted narratives on the forums which were entertaining to read. It's great to see folks getting into the storyline enough to write their own portion of it. VSG103 will be released very soon, so get ready to read up on the story so far, fly the mission, and write about how your character is involved in the saga of the RS!

Aurora Force: In the AF, the main storyline is continuing its new mission, albeit somewhat slowly. The AF kids line is also continuing to build up to the invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong.

Allegiance Battle Group: The ABG is dealing with some internal issues and improving its own database. ABG CO Michael Raven has been busy IRL and hasn't had the chance to do as much as he wanted to do, but more is in the works.

Redemption Fleet: In the RF, Righteous Indignation Division is about to launch into mission 3 of its tour. RID103 follows the same story as VSG103 and influences the RS storyline. RID102, in fact, was the deciding factor in determining which ships the Subterrel Strike Force lost in the 102 time period. The Commando Division is about to join the RS storyline with its mission CD103. In other RF news, LCM Kane Dev Redron is trying to bring the Strategical and Tactical Command group back to life and is seeking all members interested in playing Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds. The Hopeless storyline is also moving forward, and the story so far has been posted to the wiki.

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. Outer Rim War 3: The Subterrel Conflict one month later

It's hard to believe it, but ORW3 has already been running for four weeks. Battle 4 finished just two days ago, and is extremely notable because it is the first battle that the Rebel faction (which we are a part of) has won! Not only did the Rebel faction win, the RS also was the highest scoring individual club for the weekend. This is a very cool notch in our belts. Special congratulations to all the RS members who have participated so far in the event. A special Subterrel Conflict campaign citation is being designed and will be awarded to all participants at the end of the event. There are plenty of other incentives which are awarded on a weekly basis. All participants receive RS merit points for playing. Those who distinguish themselves in combat will earn higher-level Combat medals. Do you lose a lot? You may have a Violet Cluster, the RS equivalent of the Purple Heart, coming your way.

ORW3 has evolved considerably since it started one month ago. From being mainly a JO-oriented competition, we have progressed to a more even spread of games. In Battle 4, there were many EaW and BF2 games being played and much less JO than the first three battles. Two new clubs have been added to the competition. And very importantly, all reporting is now done via a form on the ORW3 page rather than through email. The match system, designed by DB_Orv, has given us a way to report more easily and keep track of live stats. The competition keeps getting better and better, and the RS continues to perform better and better as our members get into fighting trim. I invite you to join us next weekend in #Outerrim!

V. Other Executive Projects

Once again, some of the most exciting Executive news this month is on the fictional front. The RS-wide narratives continue to be put out regularly. Executive Officer Michael Raven writes the VSG/RID Tour narratives, which get posted monthly. Between those, I have been publishing FC narratives to describe the fictional situation from the viewpoint of our command staff and Fleet Commander. Recently the narratives began to diverge slightly as the Subterrel Strike Force left to go to the Subterrel Sector and the Greeop Defense Force remained behind in the Greeop Sector. In addition to these narratives, there are dozens of entries on the wiki on fictional topics that provide more in-depth background information on the RS-wide storyline. Try starting with the FC Narrative page.

The TacOps team that Logistics Officer David Vaughan has assembled is doing a fantastic job of putting together missions for the ITODs connected to the main RS-wide storyline. The team as a whole is responsible for putting together VSG/RID narratives as well as the ITOD missions for VSG, RID, and CD. Mission builders on the team include MGN David Pasiechnyk, COM Himm El-Syna, CMDR Luren "Dale" Ketan, COM Leonard Cable and GEN Harley "Jester" Quinn. COM Michael Raven has written all the VSG/RID narratives thus far. The coordinators for the TacOps team as a whole are BGN David Vaughan and MAJ Olith Hesto. There are other active members of this team who will be stepping up to do their part later as the ITOD unfolds. We all owe huge thanks to the members of this dedicated team.

Another effort of the Logistics Office is the Publication group. This crew is responsible for the Mediator News articles that you see periodically posted at the top of the main page. The writers for the Publication Office are MAJ Abi Ocopaqui and GEN Petr Tagge Margul. The overall editor-in-chief is BGN David Vaughan.

In other Executive news, the Medals system has received an update and freshening. Internet Officer Josh Hawkins went to considerable trouble to bring back older medals and list them as "retired medals." These medals are no longer available for nomination, but will continue to show on profiles of those RSers who received them. VA Spokes and I then went through the medals and rationalized their descriptions and the requirements for receiving them. Additional rules on medals, especially the awarding of combat medals, may be seen on the Medals wiki page.

There are also a few staff changes to report in the Executive Offices. Because of a change in his real life situation, LGN Jon Anchorage stepped down from the position of Operations Officer. GEN Harley "Jester" Quinn has been appointed the new OO. In addition, VA Spokes has been appointed the new Medals Officer. Congratulations to both of you, and I look forward to working with you more in the future.

VI. Recognitions

MGN David "Heavy" Pasiechnyk has been an instrumental part of the cool stuff going on in the RS in a number of ways. For the past month he has successfully led the VSG. In addition to this, he is involved in the TacOps team building missions in both XvT and EaW. For his hard work and dedication to the RS, I am happy to promote him to the rank of Lieutenant General. Congratulations, Heavy. ":)

GEN Josh Hawkins deserves special recognition for his painstaking work in fixing the medal system and separating out old retired medals from newer medals. This work required hours of sifting through code in the database and was certainly not easy on Josh's eyes. For his work fixing up the medals, I am happy to present him with a medal - the Alvace Star. Congratulations, Josh. ":)

MAJ Abi Ocopaqui has been of considerable assistance to BGN David Vaughan in the Publications section of the Logistics Office. He has helped to write several articles and Vaughan would like to honor him with a promotion. So, on behalf of Vaughan, I'm happy to promote Abi to the rank of Lieutenant Commander. Congratulations, Abi. ":)

Believe it or not, that's all that I have for this month. I gave out so many awards and promotions last month that I seem to have exhausted the storehouse for now. Everybody is doing a great job and I appreciate all your work, and I look forward to awarding more next month.

VII. Miscellaneous Notes

Again I must say, contribute to the RS Wiki! The wiki is YOUR chance to post up information on the web about the parts of the RS you feel are important. Character entries, ship entries, battle entries, squadron entries - anything connected to your experience in the RS is game. We'd love to read about your character or squadron on the wiki. The RS wiki page of the month is the Hopeless Storyline. The Hopeless Storyline is a fictional story group in Redemption Fleet, and their wiki entry is an excellent example of the way the wiki may be used. It is more than simply a repository for character information and may be used as a medium for activity as well. The writers of the Hopeless group post their stories to this page on the wiki where the text is easy to edit and categorize. I hope this wiki entry inspires you to think of ways to utilize the RS wiki in your unit!

Although I talk a lot about ORW3, the RS is involved in many other fun multiplayer competitions as well. The XvT Week of War recently ended, and the XWA WoW is ongoing right now. In addition to this, BF2 and EaW specific weekly competitions happen on a monthly basis over at Ecliptical Realms. So there are many game-specific competitions going on as well which provide a chance to prove yourself as a MP gamer. Big salute to all who represent us in any competition!

Here's a random bit of information which may not concern you at all, but it interested me. The leader of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood, Grand Master Jac Cotelin, stepped down earlier this month after two years of service in the position. His successor is GM Aristan "Sarin" Dantes. I send cheers to Jac on his good service and a salute to Sarin and welcome him to the group of SW club leaders.

I have one more thing to do. I am hereby ordering a distribution of pie to all RS members, in response to repeated requests for such culinary delights. Eat pie!

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