What is all this about?

I have been roaming around the DB site lately, and when I was looking at the layout options, I noticed something about one of the layouts being nessescitated after a "Split". I also found something about a "Split" and somebody called "Astatine" in one of the posts in the forum about "Project Rebirth: The Awakening". And when I went rummaging through the News Archives I found some more about "Astatine". I was wondering, what is all this about a "Split"? Can anyone clarify this? Thanks in advance.

The Dark Brotherhood was once part of a larger organization called the Emperor's Hammer. Astatine was the Executive Officer at the time (and now runs the club) when the Split occurred. Due to various problems with this individual, the Dark Brotherhood seperated from the EH and became what we are now.

The EH still does exist, and they have their own version of the DB, but in all honesty, it's nothing compared to what we have here.

This is the bare bones of it. If you'd like to read up on the specifics of why we split, you can view the various documents at http://www.ehdb.net/dsc/a_history_of_the_brotherhood_ff.html

Thanks for telling me, I was starting to wonder about that stuff.

You're right, the other "db" (if you could call it that) is emensely inferior to ours in almost every way. In my opinion, the only thing that they surpass us in it the pictures used for the robes and awards and such. They had some darn good people working for them. But, I heard that those things are being re-vamped in the Rebirth Project, and if I know nothing else about the DB and its members, I know that they truly are always expanding, growing and improving beyond anything that could be expected.

In terms of Robes, there has already been a preview of our new ones, and they far surpass what the EHDB has. Much more realistic looking. ANd I believe we'll only have three sets of robes...well, 4 actually. Journeyman, Equite, Elder and GM robes. Makes more sense as well.

And as for the medal images, they are also being re-worked, and a few of them have already been released. And they look amazing as well.

Their emerald dagger looks amazing...

ermm...im happy i wasnt in the db a long time ago, it seems that astatine was a real dunghole if you ask me...

i love the new awards that cyris has done, particularly the diamond sword and silver sash. can't wait to see the new robes. where can i see this preview? who's doing them? i want rebirth! NOW!!!
*ahem*
/me composes himself

I think that all the changes tha Rebirth'll wbring is awesome! Anyways, Revenant, here is the link to new Robes Preview.

http://gm.darkjedibrotherhood.com/robepreview.jpg

well i was bored and read the whole report on the split............and man does Astatine sound like an asshole.
how long ago did this happen? ive been in the DB for over 2 and a half years and can't remember it.

You probably joined just after the split then. The first IG's happened soon after the Split, and we're on our 3rd.

Yay for my six year anniversary in 12 days.

the robes look AWESOME i just hope they all dont look the same, i bet they wont but you never know

There will be a set of robes for the Journeymen, Equite, Elder and I think GM. That's the robe for equite up there.

Oh, are the Independence Games supposed to, like, celebrate our freedom from th EH? Is that why it's called 'independence'?

Yeah exactly.

Oh, I wondered why it was called the
'Independence' Games.

now that completely makes sence, i didnt even know what we were celebrating, though getting away from astatine is definitely something to celebrate

There are reasons on both sides as to why the Dark Brotherhood split away.

The main catalyst for the split was the big email (or was it message board post?) that called for Astatine's resignation. Grand Admiral Ronin (the leader of the EH) was outraged by this, and naturally (and rightly-so) he backed up Astatine - his second-in-command. After Ronin called the instigators of the email/post "traitors" and demanded their removal, the Dark Brotherhood had no choice to leave. The then-leaders knew it would end up that way (which brings up an interesting point: why all the unnecessary drama? Firefox should've just split away without a word), as they had already moved the database and created a new website well-in-advance of the emailed request for Ast's resignation.

The stuff you've been reading is understandably biased against Astatine. Although it may or may not be true (I have my personal opinions toward Astatine), the man isn't here to defend himself, so talking behind his back is pretty lame. It goes on the level of all the unprofessional smacktalk that GA Ronin did once you guys left the EH.

The separation of the "real" DB from the EH represents a leadership failure on both sides, in my opinion. Which side carries the brunt of this failure? That's a matter of your personal viewpoint.

In any case, this is dead, and just another part of the Dark Brotherhood's history. No need to bad-mouth the parties involved (read: Astatine) in order to ingratiate yourself with the older members of the club. Most of the folks who would give a crap if you liked Ast or not are already gone.

For Clan Taldryan's Codex I wrote this summery of the Split so new members could understand what others were talking about. I tried to make it a fair and unbiased telling of events that looks at the issue from multiple viewpoints. It might help anyone who is confused or curious about these events.



In April 2003, the leaders of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood declared their intentions to return to fully independent but allied "sister organization" status with the Emperor's Hammer Strike Fleet (http://www.emperorshammer.org/), another online gaming group the Brotherhood was closely involved with. The Dark Brotherhood's leaders felt the Emperor's Hammer command staff, specifically the Fleet Commander and Executive Officer, were leading the club (including the Brotherhood) away from the fun environment it had once been and into stagnation. Feeling that they were at a crux in which only decisive action could save the Brotherhood from the inactive fate dealt to many online clubs, the Brotherhood's leaders issued the List of Grievances (To read list: http://www.taldryan.org/tal_codex/grievanc..._complete.html) to the Emperor's Hammer command staff and membership at large.

Although the conclusion of the document declares that, "It is not the intention of the Brotherhood to separate from the Emperor's Hammer, but to server ties with the authorities that have allowed the reputation to slide into decay," the leaders of the Emperor's Hammer immediately and unilaterally declared the co-signers of this document along with all who agreed with them traitors, and the stated that this "sister organization" movement was null and void.

The authors of the grievances document had suspected this would be the reaction and had warned, "If the Emperor's Hammer Strike Fleet is to fail, however, then the Brotherhood of Dark Jedi will take immediate steps to ensure its continued survival." Acting upon these words, the leaders used backup copies of the Brotherhood's main database and websites to continue the normal day-to-day workings of the Brotherhood, independent of the Emperor's Hammer, who now persecuted this "Rogue Brotherhood" as a group of conspirators and thieves. Many members of the now "Rogue" Brotherhood looked at the Emperor's Hammer and saw an group with tyrannical leaders who would not let them take actions that were in the best interest of the club, others merely saw a lack of communication and cooperation between leaders of both groups.

This is not to say that this was the reaction of all the members of the Emperor's Hammer or Dark Brotherhood. Many members were caught on the fence, not knowing what side to choose. Others were simply confused by the complex turn of events. Tempers flared on both sides, derogatory terms were thrown around, and to a certain point confusion and chaos prevailed momentarily.

Finally an uneasy consensus was found; all members who wished to remain in the Emperor's Hammer could request that their dossier be deleted from the "Rogue" Brotherhood's database and retain their Hammer characters. Since the Brotherhood database and website were under the control of the "Rogues", the Emperor's Hammer stated that it would quickly rebuild its own Brotherhood (known as the EHDB). Therefore all members of the Brotherhood were forced to choose; stay with the Emperor's Hammer, or go with the "Rogues". For most members the choice boiled down to a simple decision, "where are my friends?" Unfortunately many members had friends on both sides of the conflict and were forced to make a very tough decision.

The Emperor's Hammer proceeded to ban all "Rogue" members from its IRC channels and message boards, and prohibited its own members from joining "Rogue" channels. The "Rogue" Brotherhood issued no such sanctions on its members, other than to request that they not harass any Emperor's Hammer members, which had become a regrettable pastime for some members. The Hammer's hard-line stance was unfortunate in the situation, for the Brotherhood and the Emperor's Hammer could have cooperated and worked out an arrangement that would have been beneficial to both parties, but instead the two parted ways.

Time went on and things settled down, and members choose finally which group they would stay with. The Brotherhood went in its own direction and has flourished since the split. The Emperor's Hammer Brotherhood (the EHDB) has unfortunately fallen into a state of relative inactivity. Many members on both sides of the split look hopefully forward to the day when the "Rogue" Dark Brotherhood and the Emperor's Hammer may open communications again, and reestablish the prosperous working relationship of the past. This would allow old friends to reunite and again work together in an enjoyable environment. Many other members think that this reunification will never occur due to the established mindsets on both sides. Whichever argument is ultimately correct, all that current Brotherhood members can do is attempt to understand the events of the past from both perspectives, and work to maintain the Brotherhood as the successful club that it is today.

which brings up an interesting point: why all the unnecessary drama? Firefox should've just split away without a word

Because splitting wasn't the intention of the petition, the intention was to restore independent authority to an independent club. The Seven were perfectly willing to peacefully co-exist as an allied club which is why they offered Ronin that option.

Its not as if there wouldn't have been any drama anyway. It took the space of about two hours before it was clear that Ronin was never going to negotiate so most members discovered things much like they would have been had we just split right away anyway.

I found the emperor's hammer dark brotherhood before i found this one. i was gonna join it but didn't have time. when i came back to it, i was looking for the emperor's hammer and found this place. thinking it was the same thing, i joined. now that rebirth's on the way i'm glad i made that particular mistake...

i stumbled on the db too

i stumbled on it looking for material for a story i was writing back then.

As it was said, the split really was not the intention. The membership was tired of being under the tyrant, and there was nothing anyone except Ronin could do about removing this corruption. Having served under Astatine I can honestly say he was hot and cold. Sometimes he was a total jackass, other times you weren't sure why people hated him so much. Granted the latter was very few and far between, but those situations did arise.

Of course I found the same to be true of another hated DB leader I served under - Zoraan.