The Dark Jedi Brotherhood-- Elite Fan Group

Dark Greetings,

I am Krath Priest Scorpius, Quaestor of House Exar Kun of Clan Plagueis of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood. I am here to inform you of an elite Star Wars fansite, and why it is perfect for you.

If you are interested in any of the following topics, keep reading:
-Gaming (SWG, Battle Front 2, Jedi Academy, Jedi Outcast, etc)
-Writing (Fiction, poetry)
-Role Playing
-Website and graphic creation
-Debating
-Discussing Star Wars
-Participating in competitions
-Quizzing yourself on Star Wars knowledge
-Learning
-Leading

From the Brotherhood Splash Page:
The Dark Brotherhood is a Star Wars fan club devoted to exploring the mystical nature of the Dark Side of the Force. With support for every Star Wars game available and opportunities to play outside the Star Wars genre, the DB offers opportunities for any gamer. For those more interested in immersing themselves in the Star Wars Universe, the Dark Brotherhood also offers a full community involved in fan fiction, poetry, roleplaying and character developing activities.
The Dark Brotherhood is composed of three Dark Jedi Orders: The Sith, the Obelisk, and the Krath. The Order the member belongs to determines many qualities about what kind of Dark Jedi they are. For more information, feel free to read the Codex, the Dark Brotherhood's tome of knowledge.

Membership in the Brotherhood is limited to the strong and powerful. Only those who would be the greatest Dark Jedi in the Galaxy are admitted and permitted to enter study at the Shadow Academy. If you desire membership in this, the Dark Brotherhood, you must be consumed by the Dark Side. Should you feel yourself up to the task, then follow the link below to communicate your primal desires.



The Dark Brotherhood has been around for a decade and has literally hundreds of active members, divided into six clans that often compete against each other for glory. Within each clan is a certain amount of houses that members live and serve in. The Brotherhood is led by the Grand Master and Dark Council, the Clans are led by the Consuls and Clan Summits, and the Houses are led by the Quaestors and House Summits. You begin as an apprentice, working your way up to the rank of Protector be taking Shadow Academy courses, participating in the Antei Combat Centre, and maintaining active. Upon reaching Protector, you gain a master to lead you through several ranks until you reach the wanted position of Dark Jedi Knight. From there, you can gain more rank and prestige in your order (Krath, Sith, or Obelisk).

http://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/dbjedi/dossier.asp?ID=5037
That is a standard member dossier, depicting your positions, robes, warbanner, medals earned, lightsaber, and Shadow Academy courses taken. The website is currently undergoing some changes, involving highly-customized robes, cooler character sheets, and much more! We have roughly nine different skins you can choose to view the website with, each spectacular and different.

If you are interested in learning more, join us.
http://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/dbjedi/join.asp
Be sure to put the number 5037 in Step V: Recruitment. This will assure that you are placed in House Exar Kun of Clan Plagueis and that I can oversee your initial training and help you where needed, as well as answer any questions you might have.


In Darkness,
~KP Scorpius~
Quaestor of House Exar Kun
Second Prodigy of Plagueis
Eclectic Pedagog, General Studies: Leadership Applications
Second Knight of Plagueis
First Krath Knight of Plagueis
Senior Staff Writer of the Plaguies Chronicle
Neophyte of the Antei Combat Centre
Novice Officer of the Player's Association
His Lordship, the Count of Risban

 

Wow, I'm completely impressed. That's a very well designed site and it looks like a great place. The only problem I have is this:

"Copyright © 2006 Dark Jedi Brotherhood"

Because you have a Star Wars fan site, it is Copyright © 2006 LucasFilm, Ltd. as they own the Star Wars trademark and it's affiliates. If LucasFilm was to see that you copyrighted the site to yourself, you could potentially get into a lot of legal trouble.

 

Heh. I had a feeling someone was going to bring that up.

The Brotherhood has quite a history. It originally belonged to a group called the Emperor's Hammer as a subgroup. When the Fleet Commander of the Emperor's Hammer, Grand Admiral Ronin, began to grow weary of the growing strength and popularity of the Brotherhood and started excluding the Grand Master from leadership meetings. So the great Lord Firefox becan conspiring for the separation of the Brotherhood with the Hammer, all the while putting on the guise of being totally loyal to the Fleet Commander and his cronies.
Finally, in 2003, Lord Firefox and three former Grand Masters (Jac Cotelin, Justinian Khyron, and Chi Long) as well as several Elders (Corran Force, Pyralis, and Trevarus Caerick) petitioned to the Fleet Commander their grievances and asked for a friendly release from the rule of the Emperor's Hammer. Furious, the Fleet Commander ordered the removal of these leaders and accused any of joining them of treason.
Thus began the Exodus. Nearly all clans left the Emperor's Hammer, the only one remaining almost completely loyal to the EH being Clan Alvaak. The Brotherhood secured its domain name from the Hammer, and was finally independent. Every year we celebrate our independence with events like the Day of the Fox (in honor of Lord Firefox) and the Independence Games.
Recently, there have been more splits in the Emperor's Hammer as Ronin continues his tyrannous ways, and the Brotherhood has opened its arms widely to our former Brethren.

A more detailed, in-character history of independence can be found beginning on page 11 of Book 1 of the Dark Side Compendium: http://dsc.darkjedibrotherhood.com/page.php?section=3&page=11

As for the copyright, it is not for Star Wars itself. It is for the history, characters, and planets we have created, similar to how Star Wars authors copyright their stories and such. It is also a copyright for the website itself (design templates, graphics, etc) so that rivals, such as the Emperor's Hammer, do not steal from us. Also, all work done by our members is copyrighted by them and used at their discretion.
--For example, Lord Chi-Long created many graphics for the website. He had a bit of a falling out with the Dark Council several months ago, and left the Brotherhood, requesting that all of his graphics go with him. While unhappy, the Brotherhood obliged, and anything created by Chi Long was removed from the website. New, fantastic things were created in their stead. But the point is--anything done by a member of the Brotherhood (graphics, fiction, poetry) is there's, and can be removed at their discretion. We DO warn, however, that as most of it can be viewed by others, be wary and make sure you copyright it if you don't want people from somewhere outside of the Brotherhood to steal your work.


So, to summarize, we do not copyright Star Wars-- we copyright the website organization itself so that copy-cats cannot spring up.

 

Authors of the Star Wars novels don't get the copyright. LucasFilm does. You're going to have to make a note such as:

Star Wars and the Star Wars Trademark Copyright © 1977 - 2006 LucasFilm, Ltd.
All non-Star Wars related material Copyright © 2006 ___________

The __________ is up to you, as "Dark Jedi" is copyrighted to LucasFilm as well.

 

Welcome to Fan Sites - I really like the overall design and layout of your site. Very nicely done and I hope it does well!

 

@ jedimasterbac: I'll bring the issue to the Dark Council and let them do as they will. The Brotherhood has been around for ten years and hasn't run into problems like that yet, but they may want to take future precautions.


@DVeditor: Thanks! We're already doing quite well, actually. We have 2374 people on our rosters, though many are inactive. Active membership is probably between 400 and 500. We are merely looking to give even more people the chance to join our great organization, and we hope they do!



And, just a reminder, if joining, add 5037 to the reference. This will place you in House Exar Kun of Clan Plagueis, the House which I am Quaestor of.