News and 20,000 Words

First, a lot has happened since my last report and this one isn't going to cover it all -- I'm still holding back a few things that are close to completion but need a little work. I'll release regular updates (which we have established are not reports) as things are wrapped up. On to the goodness!

As Ood noted, over the weekend we launched two completely re-written Dark Brotherhood History courses. That was only the tip of the iceberg. Today, I am very happy to announce that we are releasing an addtional eight Galactic History courses (and exams!). This is a total, from-the-ground-up rewrite of the entire Department of History. The ten new history courses are replacing the existing courses in chronological order, except for the final two:

Old Course =>	New Course!
Brotherhood History I	Dark Brotherhood History I
Brotherhood History II	Dark Brotherhood History II
Pre-Republic History	Galactic History I: Formation of the Galaxy
Old Republic History	Galactic History II: Origins of the Jedi Order
History of the Sith Empire I	Galactic History III: The Ascension of the Sith Empire
History of the Sith Empire II	Galactic History IV: The Great Sith War
History of the Sith Empire III	Galactic History V: Saga of Revan and Malak
History of the Sith Empire IV	Galactic History VI: Wars of the Force
N/A	Galactic History VII: Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire
N/A	Galactic History VIII: Trials of the New Republic

As a practical matter, this means that if you have taken one of the old history courses, you will now have credit for taking the new course instead; but, because Galactic History VII and VIII have no analogous old courses, everyone will be able to take them.

It is possible that people who have less than 100% on one of the old courses may run into technical problems trying to retake the exam due to the complete revamp of the exam questions. If that happens, contact me, Ood, and Aabsdu, and we'll handle it. Note that these course updates are being made in the database as I write this report, so you may have to wait a few minutes before you can see all of the wonderful things. :P

As for the Dark Maven - General History degree requirements, yes, they will be changing. See below for a full explanation of the upcoming degree changes.

Finally, I want to acknowledge my prolific Magistrate, Farrin Xies, for his incredible effort on this project. Farrin volunteered to help Aabs revamp the History Department. At first, the plan was simply to do a one-for-one replacement of existing courses, but as he worked, Farrin just kept writing and writing and writing and writing and writing and.... In the end, he wrote over 20,000 words of original content, spanning all ten courses. He is the primary reason this project was completed at all, and I am very grateful for his assistance.

I also want to thank Aabs, Ood, and Meleu for all of their work writing, editing, and publishing these courses. It's been quite a lot of work for everyone involved, and it's great to have such a reliable, talented team (this is true for the whole SA Staff). Thanks, guys!

A Matter of Degrees...

There's a lot going on here, so bear with me. I have two new degrees to announce and several changes to existing degrees. I'm not going to explain each and every change -- just compare to the current requirements on the Wiki. More degree changes are planned and will be announced in the not-to-distant-future.

(Name change) Dark Maven - Galactic History

• Galactic History I: Formation of the Galaxy
  
• Galactic History II: Origins of the Jedi Order
  
• Galactic History III: The Ascension of the Sith Empire
  
• Galactic History IV: The Great Sith War
  
• Galactic History V: Saga of Revan and Malak
  

Dark Maven - Philosophy

• Any three CORE exams
  
• Force Philosophy I : Views
  
• Force Philosophy II: Cults
  

(NEW!) Dark Maven - Lore

• Alchemy Studies
• Galactic Languages
• Mandalorian Studies
• Races and Species

(Note: All of the Lore required courses are due for editing/re-writing, so please pardon our dust. :p)

Dark Savant - Writing and Philosophy

• Dark Maven - Writing
  
• Dark Maven - Philosophy
  
• All six CORE exams (the remaining three after the Maven)
  
• Test of Wisdom
  

(NEW!) Dark Savant - History and Lore

• Dark Maven - Galactic History
  
• Dark Maven - Lore
  
• Dark Brotherhood History I
  
• Dark Brotherhood History II
  
• Galactic History VI: Wars of the Force
  
• Galactic History VII: Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire
  
• Galactic History VIII: Trials of the New Republic
  

These changes will go into effect as soon as I sacrifice a staff member before the altar of dbb0t.

The Audit!

As I noted in my last report, we have been working on the Department of Combat Studies while finishing up with CORE Studies. Combat Tactics I and II have been revised and published. The remaining courses in the Department of Combat Studies are going to be rewritten! Yay!

We have also started working on revising Planets and Stars, now part of the Department of Flight Studies. That revamped course should be available soon. Work has also commenced on a whole new batch of Astronomy-themed courses that will replace and expand upon both Planets and Stars and Astronomy Studies. More on that to come.

Top Exam Takers!

Since my last report, the top five exam takers at the SA are:

Name	# of Exams
PRT Zagro Fenn	38
DIS Gellm'arco'nuruodo	19
ACO Zetnom	19
ACO Gorn daa'murk	18
DEF Justin Wayne	17

Great work, everyone!

Conclusion

As always, I'd like to close this report by asking for your help. The SA is a massive wall of text that covers ever-shifting topics and is prone to typos and run-on sentences. If you spot substantive or grammatical problems, please let me, Ood, and the course PROF know so that we can fix them ASAP. As we work through the Departments during the audit, we're also going to be asking for help reading and editing -- if you have any particular expertise, let us know when we announce the next Department being audited. There are shiny things available. :P

Bubba

Sith Warlord Dacien Victae di Plagia
Headmaster of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood