You'll excuse the un-orderliness of this as well as the mindless use of words as this is not something that I have done before, but I think this is as good of a time as any to start. I need to address some of the concerns of the members, explain things for our recent recruits, and re-establish things for members that have been with us for a while.

First off, the Vast Empire is not a democracy. Let me get this right out there in the open. I was not elected, the person before me was not elected, and the people that follow me will not be elected. There is a High Council, and while it may seem that the majority rules, they are in fact a council. I ask them how they feel about certain issues, and they give me their opinions. I alone have the final decision. Does this make me a dictator? Yes I guess it does, but you must remember the Vast Empire does simulate a military organization, and the people below must realize this. If my decisions are unpopular, it is the right and job of the High Council to ask for my resignation. Please keep this in mind as you read the rest of this address.

The Vast Empire is, at the moment, not very stable. Granted this has a lot to do with our shaky origination as well as some incidents that have taken place in the recent past. One of the things that is hurting us more than anything is the lack of activity. Granted the people that are reading this are more than likely not the problem, but allow me to preach to the choir for a bit.

Now I realize that the Vast Empire is not real life, and that most of us do have real life issues to deal with. Work, school, other issues, all are important. I also understand that the Vast Empire will and should take 2nd seat to the above things, but this should not be a reason for nothing to happen in the Vast Empire. If you do not have the time to handle a command position in the Vast Empire, then you should not have a command position in the Vast Empire. There's no easy way to put this, but the fact remains that if you don't have time to fulfill your role in the Vast Empire, then maybe you should allow someone else that has the time to do it instead.

FA Majere (ret.) stepped down as the leader of the Vast Empire and passed command onto me because both himself and Grand Moff Kadann did not have the time to give toward helping the Vast Empire prosper. Did this mean that they had to quit the Vast Empire? No, of course not. They just stepped down to a position that they could do with the time they had.

Now, part of having a command position is sending reports to those that are higher up on the ladder than you are. These are important. They let us know what you are doing, what is working, what isn't working, what we should try doing in the future. Part of the reason that nothing has happened recently is because nobody has been sending reports up to the High Council level so that we know what is going on. It is my belief, and I will probably be criticized for it later on, in fact I have been criticized for it already by retired members, but if you don't have the time to send in a report to your commander, then you don't have time to fulfill the rest of you command duties.

"But nothing is going on in my squad..." Then tell them why nothing is going on in your division. Is it activity problems? Is there nothing for your troopers to do? etc. etc.

Now I know that I have to give an incentive to some members before they'll do something. It's just the way the world works. I also know that taking away your IC's for not sending in reports is not a great incentive. Rewards are more favorable than punishments, therefore for each division report that is sent to myself, and Grand Moff Kadann (please notice it that it must be a division report, and it must be sent to myself AND Kadann) I will award the entire division 1000 IC's. Based on the information, (i.e. amount, and usefulness) Kadann and I will decide on how much of a bonus to assign to the entire division as well. Note that the 1000 IC's will not be divided among the division members, but each member will receive 1000 IC's each.

Now for the divisions that have nothing to do, I have a nice little list. Some items have already been done by some divisions, others have not.

• Division Web sites up - I have been waiting far too long for this to happen. I have seen that the Army has a web site that has some finishing touches that are left to be done, the Veec site has some finishing touches that have left to be done.
• Frequently Asked Questions - Grand Moff Kadann asked for the division leaders to do this some time ago, and so far only the army has done it.
• Manuals or some document explaining how the division is run.
• By next Monday: (the 18th) I would like to see several ideas (more than two) for campaigns or missions to be run by the division.
• And lets not forget those division reports. I would like them on Saturday. (I have yet to decide if I want them weekly or bi-weekly).

Division Leaders: You do not have to do all of this yourself. Use the members of your division. Members, volunteer to help out your division in whatever way possible. People that help to increase the activity of the division or help commanding officers are promoted faster than those that wait for someone else to do it. I'm sure that when the divisions finish these and are looking for something else to do, they will either know what to do on their own, or Kadann and I will be able to send them in the right direction. It is my belief that if these goals are not met then measures will be taken to meet these goals.

Now, to make this easier for FA Atrus, and because I want him to focus more on the Navy, effective immediately I'm placing Grand Moff Kadann as the temporary Grand Master of the Dark Jedi. I am not in anyway pulling Atrus out of the Dark Jedi, or saying that he will not be able to have the Grand Master position back. The Navy is one of two divisions that the Vast Empire gets it's main member base. The Dark Jedi is where we put some of our elite members, which means if we do not have a member base supported by the Navy and the Army, there is no need for the Dark Jedi. Now for those of you that do not know, Kadann does have experience running the Dark Jedi as he has done it before.

Some of these things need to change before I can feel good about the way the Vast Empire is running. Hopefully some of the things that I have set into motion here will help speed this along.

Depending on what kind of feedback I get from doing this, the Address may become a regular part of the Vast Empire. But we shall wait and see about that.

Respectfully Submitted,
Field Marshal Threeof4