Address to The Empire
... from the desk of Grand Admiral Daemon <GADaemon@pangea.ca> ...



Officers of The Galactic Empire...

These past months have created what is now a landmark time for the GE. It is indeed debatable which is more impressive -- the recent surpassing of the one-hundred-members barrier, or the fact that this equates to tripling our membership in less than half of a year!

Much credit and thanks go to the fleet's diligent recruiters. The list is too long to mention here in its entirety, but I will draw special attention to Lieutenant Commander Dervin, current first officer of the Striker, who achieved the first Gold Grade Medal of Expansion in GE history, for recruiting over 26 of our current members. Congratulations!

Although our current membership technically puts us in the upper 10% of online Imperial Navys, this is by no means encouragement to cease viewing recruiting as a highly encouraged activity. Arrogance brings with it tardiness, and recruits may be lost as fast as they are gained. Some officers have done their fair share in this area, and to others it is quite new and open. Remember -- the Medal of Expansion is a prestigious award, and readily available to those who help the Empire to expand its ranks!

Of course, in the time period between the previous newsletter and this, the Galactic Empire has done more than simply "grow"... Indeed, we have seen the commissioning of the Victory Star Destroyer Striker, the registration of a dedicated Galactic Empire Undernet IRC Channel, improvement and expansion of the Imperial Security Bureau to include dedicated "police", the establishment of regular GE IRC meetings, as well as multiple updates and improvements to the Main HoloNet Site. (Not to mention that the GE Fleet Links page is growing appreciably with new member-created websites...) As you will also see in this newsletter, submissions are steadily rising, with the posting of several new custom missions for the combat chamber, and record numbers of graphic and fiction submissions.

The guns are warm, gentlemen, and if there is continued support and activity from the general membership, they're about to get a lot hotter! Even as we speak, the next several months are contained within plans that will soon unfold, and are now being made public...

This newsletter will be followed by the staffing of more units with "real-life" officers, and further changes-for-the-better in the command structure. Following closely will be the implementation of The Imperial Academy. (The Academy will not only serve to more easily bring new recruits into the Empire via the education of cadets to Ensigns, but will bring with it policies which will alleviate AWOL recruits from the Navy and, in time, also allow officers the optional opportunity of gaining further experience in Star Wars/Galactic Empire related talents that they wish to develop...) Last in this series of three will be the implementation of official Galactic Empire multiplayer operations, and most likely, coinciding support for the X-Wing: Alliance game platform from LucasArts.

Overall, I am quite pleased with the way this fleet has been handling. There are many officers that devote much time and effort to their units, to see that they are kept in shape. (Although a few select commanding officers need to be reminded that they should be emailing their direct subordinates and direct superiors at least once per week...) Also, more officers are beginning to take the initiative to organise unit and inter-unit competitions, and this is good to see!

At this time, I will give my personal commendations to Calorn, Stele, and Starbug, the three current captains of the Imperial fleet, who kept their vessels running like warships, even during those periods of time when overwhelming responsibilities in little available time severely delayed my responses... My thanks!

Our internal developments are significant, but indeed, some of the most impressive displays of Imperialism came during times of warfare. These past several months, we have seen defections of small groups to Rebel factions, attempts to cause fleet-wide disarray with the email accounts of high ranking officers, as well as infiltration attempts, and attempts to cause anarchy within GE IRC territory. As many of you know, those Rebel factions have subsequently collapsed, hackers have been traced and exposed, ISPs have been contacted, infiltrators have been rooted out and prosecuted, and public offenders were swiftly banned after their failure to halt registration processes. Our ability to co-ordinate and efficiently address issues has made our organisation impenetrable to all attempts thus far, and that, gentlemen, is what Imperialism is all about.

Let the Empire continue its rise to glory!

- Grand Admiral Daemon
   GA Daemon/SCS-FO/ISD Chimaera
   Supreme  Commander  of  GE  Forces