SJO Rebranding

[Stephanie Swail]

Hi all my lovely SJOers.

As you may - or may not be aware - the wheels have been in motion for a while now to shake up the Silver Jedi Order.

For months we have had to struggle to try shake off bad experiences from the past that many people have clung onto and while we have managed to keep our head above water, I want to make sure we have chance to breathe again.

As Faction Owner I feel I should try to work with Staff and you to inject something new into the Faction to present something new, edgy and exciting to challenge old writers, attract new ones and give more room for creativity to florish.

While some aspects are being worked on even now, one factor I will do is rebrand the Silver Jedi Order.

- - - - -​

The Silver Jedi Order name is linked to past failures and associations, so we need to cut away the past and start a fresh almost.

A couple of new names are floating around:

The Silver Sanctum
The Silver Flame

Both will take the heart of the Silver Jedi but now represent us as a different sort of Jedi. We have tried to play by the "Jedi" rules, but it seems to give people ammunition to knock us down, so now we need to play by "Chaos Jedi" rules. Don't be so serious with things; have some fun; immerse the Star Wars galaxy.

- - - - -​

Another point we are looking at is moving our base of operations. We are standing in the way of the Sith Empire who want to claim their slice of the map. Do we want to be constantly locked in battles in the map game or simply focus on what we came here for - stories and development? Staff are looking at a place to rebirth the new Faction and begin a new adventure to expand and explore.

- - - - -​

I also propose with the rebrand that another new aspect will be to allow Dark Jedi and Grey to join our ranks. We lost many good writers when we tried to be faithful to the Jedi Codes of the past, but for a RP site it probably was harder than expected.

I want to open the doors again and show that we aren't afraid to fight fire with fire. While we will not seek war and battles, we will teach and understand our Jedi, pilots, soldiers etc about the Light and Dark Side of the Force to understand both sides. The enemy has changed, so we must change to stand against them.

By doing this we hope to welcome new writers and add some spice to the Faction and to see it evolve IC from the Jedi of the past to the Jedi of the future.

- - - - -​

We welcome your feedback and view as always, but remember we have your best interest at heart and will encourage cooperative writing across many Factions and creative submissions and story development within our own.

Our Admins if you want to reach out are:

[member="Valae Kitra"] - [member="Valkren Calderon"] - [member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

- - - - -​

Thank you, once again, for your commitment to the Faction and your support and dedication.

This isn't the end. This is just the beginning of a new era for the Silvers!

 

[WelshGuy]

Don't think we should recruit Dark Jedi, most tend to fall in line with Sith Factions, however welcoming Grey or Rogue Jedi is fine by me.

 

[Stephanie Swail]

[member="Yuroic Xeraic"] There WILL be strict guidelines to follow on any coming in our Faction I can assure you. They will need to abibde by the Faction rules as I know there are some out there who are anti-Sith. It's those we can benefit from.

Thank you for your feedback!

 

[Sky'ito Yumi]

Hey I am a dark/grey [member="Yuroic Xeraic"]

Honestly I like the idea of becoming more militaristic but remain in the light, allowing more to join us that keep to our rules.

[member="Stephanie Swail"]

 

[Rozalyne Kurganova]

[member="Stephanie Swail"]

Grey Jedi, Rogues, and Neutral FU are already welcome within the Silver Jedi Order, and have been since our reversion from the SSC back to the SJO last year. I don't want to see us return to accepting Dark Siders within our organization (ICily). Currently, the board is already dominated by neutral organizations with a similar policy, and I feel we would be lost within that sea of gray. We do better standing out as an LS faction. As far as major factions go, there's only two of us out there, and the SJO is by far the most active Jedi organization on the board.

I think the focus should be on recruiting different kinds of characters to help round out our Jedi roster. Folks like soldiers, politicians, doctors, etc. We should try making that effort as the SJO first, then if that doesn't work out, consider a name change.

Um, we should probably stay away from calling ourselves the Silver Flames if there is a name change. The first thing I thought of when saw that suggestion pop up was Mirial. So I recommended the Silver Sanctum instead. In any case, talks of rebranding seem a bit premature, and I feel like we're getting caught up in a knee jerk reaction to recent events. Right now, I think it's enough to complete our move and give ourselves a soft reset for recovery.

 

[Jsc]

[member="Stephanie Swail"]

I have no frustrations with the SJO as we now stand. But yeah. Go nuts. Change all the things!

 

[Matsu Ike]

So the goal is to regress back to the Silver Sanctum where we lost a number of writers because we didn't have a direction and Coci and Thurion wanted to go back to being lightside. I don't see how going back is new but whatever you've tried always pushed for jedi to use the darkside against darksiders now you are just in the place to force it on people. Though in hindsight we'd likely get more writers and friends going for popularity then picking a goal and sticking to it. Sure there are very to none fresh ideas, everything has been done before and will be done again, with a new spin. I am sure if the faction disagrees enough the Silver Civil War will be brought up again. You wanted to do that, if we get more invasions against us, going minor to avoid them will be brought up.

Sadly I don't claim to be the best, I supported Sorel and when she disagreed with the popular people she was run out hard and I expect the same but damn please stop being lazy and come up with something new. Something interesting or at least that hasn't been done by others in the same faction. Presenting something we did that slowly lost us members and writers because we were directionless and lacked any goal aside from "just tell stories" as the new thing is lazy in my opinion. Just because there are a small handful of people who might remember it doesn't make it new just shows we don't really have the mindset to change or progress forward just retreat back to something.

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

1) Please god don't go back to the Sanctum name, that's going to send the wrong message. "The Silver Flame" is fine.

2) I'm fine with taking Grey Jedi, the Order as a whole has been grey regardless. But I'd really rather we not accept Dark Jedi. ICly there would be way too much distrust, it wouldn't work IC. ICly... I don't think my character would be comfortable with it either, personally. And I say this with him being somewhere between Light and Grey.

It's best we keep our identity as a Light Side faction.

 

[Zak Dymo]

"...to present something new, edgy and exciting to challenge old writers, attract new ones and give more room for creativity to florish."

I'll be honest and say I don't get any of the above from the OP.

We had an identity crisis when we were the Silver Sanctum Coalition. One that we felt needed to be addressed, leading us down the road we've been on. Now we seem to be trying to go back to a formula we previously tried and decided did not work.

I also propose with the rebrand that another new aspect will be to allow Dark Jedi and Grey to join our ranks. We lost many good writers when we tried to be faithful to the Jedi Codes of the past, but for a RP site it probably was harder than expected.

I want to open the doors again and show that we aren't afraid to fight fire with fire. While we will not seek war and battles, we will teach and understand our Jedi, pilots, soldiers etc about the Light and Dark Side of the Force to understand both sides. The enemy has changed, so we must change to stand against them.

By doing this we hope to welcome new writers and add some spice to the Faction and to see it evolve IC from the Jedi of the past to the Jedi of the future.

Based on the above, there's not a lot recognizable that would distinguish this as a Jedi faction then. Instead, the description of using both the light and dark side of the Force makes me envision the Knights of Ren or the Iron Legion over in the Iron Empire, or the Force Praxeum of the Commenor Systems Alliance.

Being a Jedi faction is one of the primary distinguishing characteristics of this faction. This proposal seems to want to sacrifice that for a plan that would make us generically similar to a number of other factions instead.

 

[Stephanie Swail]

Thank you all - keep it coming, this is what I need. The members to bounce off our ideas so we know which are the favoured options. So far, it's taking shape, and thank you.

--

I have to say [member="Matsu Ike"] I don't really get the tone of what you're saying even if you're trying to be constructive, which is fine, but it's not easy when a majority of the board don't like your Faction due to what happened before.

This is not about being lazy, and I don't appreciate that comment. There are limited options left for us to do. And I think that in making a move and changing the name it's a pretty interesting and hasn't been done since the SJO was formed. The eggshells around us currently are greater than ever, with people even in Jedi Factions trying to catch us out and make us fold.

If you have direct issues with me leading the SJO or my ideas, feel free to message me here or Discord.

 

[Zak Dymo]

Thank you all - keep it coming, this is what I need. The members to bounce off our ideas so we know which are the favoured options. So far, it's taking shape, and thank you.

--

I have to say [member="Matsu Ike"] I don't really get the tone of what you're saying even if you're trying to be constructive, which is fine, but it's not easy when a majority of the board don't like your Faction due to what happened before.

This is not about being lazy, and I don't appreciate that comment. There are limited options left for us to do. And I think that in making a move and changing the name it's a pretty interesting and hasn't been done since the SJO was formed. The eggshells around us currently are greater than ever, with people even in Jedi Factions trying to catch us out and make us fold.

If you have direct issues with me leading the SJO or my ideas, feel free to message me here or Discord.

Except the people who don't like the faction are not the one's writing in it.

We should concern ourselves less about what others think of the SJO and concern ourselves more with keeping the writers we have, recruiting new blood, and inspiring both to write compelling stories.

So if the re-branding is being done to appease people who are outside the faction, I think our focus is on the wrong thing myself.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

I think you guys just need to pick a direction...and stick with it.


Not so long ago, a majority of SJO members wanted to go minor or be nomads (not sure which had more votes, but that was the direction).


Then, after GE announced that it would abort the Felucia invasion, a majority wanted to be a major faction with the defensive stronghold mandate, though SJO's overall strategic situation had not changed that much, minus the fact that it would not be hammered with invasions at this juncture.


Now, after losing the Mirial invasion, I understand that most want to be nomads and the intention is to move a couple hexes south. And now there's a proposal to essentially go back to being the Silver Sanctum because there's a perception that being SJO has not worked out and the faction needs to attract people outside of its usual spectrum to garner support.


In short, the pendulum swings this way, then that one and then back again. Not inclined to say which course may or may not be the best since I'm an observer. But just pick one. Stay major, don't stay major. Be pure lightsiders (whatever that means these days), don't be pure lightsiders. Constantly debating a change of direction and mission statement is extremely counterproductive, especially when it comes to retaining and attracting members.


As for TSE, I cannot claim to possess any deep insight into their leadership, but it's worth noting that till the Mirial invasion, they spent most of their time doing dominions that actually took them away from SJO territory.

 

[Matsu Ike]

One moment

This is not about being lazy, and I don't appreciate that comment. There are limited options left for us to do. And I think that in making a move and changing the name it's a pretty interesting and hasn't been done since the SJO was formed.

So did you miss when we went from Silver Jedi order to Silver Sanctum Coalition back to the Silver Jedi order or does that interesting and hasn't been done before direction require forgetting the bulk of what has happened to the faction since it started?

If you have direct issues with me leading the SJO or my ideas, feel free to message me here or Discord.

I never said I had a problem with you leading, I said I have a problem with you taking ideas that were previously done, saying their are your own. I have always said I have a problem with changes made not because they make sense but because they are for others instead of the actual faction. I supported you time and again as a potential leader when you were here. You being in charge isn't the problem, you having the same three ideas and cycling through them is just as I said lazy.

If I wanted a change, I would be patient and wait, I am not popular, nor political. I don't believe in being underhanded and acting like a girl in high school spreading gossip and things behind your back. I'd rather look you in the metaphorical eye/screen and do it there in public. I don't like being backhanded with people, I don't like the idea of making another writers experience bad or running them out of a faction or off the site because "they don't rp how I do.... horrible" doesn't mean I am not going to call a fish a fish just because it might hurt the feelings of someone on the internet I am more then likely never going to meet in real life. If your feelings are going to be that hurt then snowflake you are in for a whole real world of rude awakenings.

The eggshells around us currently are greater than ever, with people even in Jedi Factions trying to catch us out and make us fold.

[member="Kiriko"] said it best

Except the people who don't like the faction are not the one's writing in it.

We are jedi. it isn't supposed to be easy, it is supposed to be difficult, it is supposed to be a challenge. The opinions of people outside the faction are always going to be there. Likely to not change, the opinions of your member base you want to keep interested however is what should matter and can change. That change can be for the better or for the worse but if all you do is try to attract new members whole ignoring the old, or vice versa then you aren't going to get very far.

Not so long ago, a majority of SJO members wanted to go minor or be nomads (not sure which had more votes, but that was the direction).


Then, after GE announced that it would abort the Felucia invasion, a majority wanted to be a major faction with the defensive stronghold mandate, though SJO's overall strategic situation had not changed that much, minus the fact that it would not be hammered with invasions at this juncture.


Now, after losing the Mirial invasion, I understand that most want to be nomads and the intention is to move a couple hexes south. And now there's a proposal to essentially go back to being the Silver Sanctum because there's a perception that being SJO has not worked out and the faction needs to attract people outside of its usual spectrum to garner support.


In short, the pendulum swings this way, then that one and then back again. Not inclined to say which course may or may not be the best since I'm an observer. But just pick one. Stay major, don't stay major. Be pure lightsiders (whatever that means these days), don't be pure lightsiders. Constantly debating a change of direction and mission statement is extremely counterproductive, especially when it comes to retaining and attracting members.

[member="Moira Skaldi"] speaks very true, we have more discussions that go no where generally after a week or so.

 

[Kaiza Pawaro]

I admit I don't see the reason for any of these changes.

Why change the name? The Order of the Silver Jedi is widely recognized by everyone, associated with writers who have the desire to write actual Jedi who fight against evil. The name itself instantly tells people what to imagine under it. As it stands, we are the most active and most inclusive Jedi group on Chaos. No need to do anything about it.

I don't believe taking in DS characters would do the faction much good - who is to say it would't drive away some of our current members? Aside from getting a few new writers, I don't see any benefits to it. There are so many factions that accept all alignments, what would make us attractive and different then? I say we stay focused on the light side - and people interested in writing Jedi will find us. Isn't that the most important thing? Provide writers with a strong, active, Jedi-focused faction?

That's my take on the matter

 

[Stephanie Swail]

Thank you, all valid points. Safe to say I didn't expect it to be quote so tough to decide what is best for a Faction.

It's clear a name and remit change is not favourable, so that will not happen.

I think the move should happen as that seems a popular notion to get behind and it's increasing some drive for members to do new Faction threads, subs and explorations from where I thought - 'Sanctuary' was a popular place to go.

 

[Lina Renning]

Honestly, I think caring too much about our image is one of our biggest pitfalls as a faction. Rebranding ourselves in the hopes of improving our reputation not only won't work, it'll end up with us having less fun.

Let's stop caring how we're perceived. Let's stop caring if we win or lose, or who wants to wipe us off the map. Instead of reworking our image, let's start being consistent with our current one and change how we exist as a faction OOCly rather than ICly.

Chaos is sorely missing a Jedi faction at the moment. I want the SJO to be that faction again.

EDIT: I also still think being minor would be a big help. As the OP even says, none of us want to be locked in a battle. We can be a strong Jedi faction without invasions.

 

[Stephanie Swail]

Ok.

Taking into account all your views, and after weeks of dliberating the best course of action, we have decided to use the GALACTIC NOMAD Mandate and establish KASHYYYK as our new Capital World.

This will be now launched with Faction threads so it is a logical IC story. This is to take time to focus on making our Faction great again and proving we can come back as a real tight Light Side Jedi Order for all.

Get your muse and creativity ready because we have planets to dom and new adventures to have, characters to meet and Jedi...things to do.

Thank you for your patience, and I hope this new move gives you the muse to invest in making the Faction what is can be, and what you remind me it can be, a truly great Jedi Order.

 

[Placeholder 0128]

Rebrand yourselves as the Army of Light. Embrace your anti-Sith stance, it'll bring you droves of writers.

 

[Ronin Wendigo]

Dunno if this be a bit late but just the same reckon post in anyways....


Above all else, I say think between Dark or Grey Jedi the Grey ones would be more feasible one go with. As for me connotes that despite being tainted by the dark in whatever way they sort still have some hold to the lightside. Which is something those in the order can help them strengthen? Seeing as despite the fact they cannot change their past they still use it to make good the future. As sort of a way for them amends for the sins of the past sort thing? Which would be one thing that works well in terms give us a bit more distinction from say the main Jedi Order?Where in taking in consideration what was said.....

Chaos is sorely missing a Jedi faction at the moment. I want the SJO to be that faction again.

We could still keep being a Jedi Faction but with a twist..... wherein we could be the sanctuary of sorts where all manner/Level/profession of FU or Force dedicates could be welcomed. Wherein one could have the choice not go and totally forget to do away with whatever dark past or ability they have. And instead, could find a sanctuary to rehabilitate and find ways to use said skill or whatnot to good use. Much like say maybe as an example a former Sith Assassin could be rehabilitated or reform to become a special forces type of agent. Who could be sent in to eliminate only a specific target inside hostile territory? Which could be view as bad and go against the Jedi Code of keeping with the will of the force or something. One can argue that it's not the Jedi way to do but it is right or just way go. As its what needs to be done sort of thing. Play with what was said.....

Rebrand yourselves as the Army of Light. Embrace your anti-Sith stance, it'll bring you droves of writers

And maybe it could help those that are interested or want to join a lightside faction but write non-FU char or something? Which could work out be sorts like what had been mention in some SW Books or movies? That not everybody can be a Jedi or be gifted in the force to be a full-fledged Jedi but all can contribute to the cause of the light. Sort of like the concept Jedi Service Corps, Church of the Force, Order Dai Bendu etc.which is something we can or could incorporate to SJO that could contribute to give it some uniqueness in the sea of so many other lightside or factions. And be a place where writers/rpers for non-traditional/obscure lightsider class or group could congregate or join?

I think you guys just need to pick a direction...and stick with it.

Which could be maybe the direction we could stick with.... of being not just the light but the shield against the darkness that seem ravage the universe at large. Of is also the sanctuary for those that are determined to stand by the light inclusive of who, what or wherever they are from. We all stand together and fight ....may you be a non-FU smuggler who provides the intel, the tech or corporation that provides the equipment, the pilot who's just force sensitive but not forces adept who files for us, a diplomat, or scholar that provide and aids in keeping the archives.

 

[RC 212]

[member="Stephanie Swail"]

What is the overall goal of the faction.

Do you want to play the map game or not? If not, then get off the map. If yes then hit back hard.

The GA built a huge story and member base off campaigns. A linear storyline of the underdog fight against the most powerful faction on the board in those days.

I think maybe opening up a bit would be cool, or doing a vagrant Silver Fleet thing would be cool too. Just ideas, though I confess, I watch you guys but are not involved.

Plot arc though. Long term plot, that's going somewhere. Otherwise your just going in every direction, and accomplishing not too much.

Are the Silvers going to focus on reclaiming Jedi artifacts?

Are they going to focus on developing the worlds they own?

Will they create new Enclaves on every world to fortify their position?

Will they focus on diplomatic alliances?

Will they focus on protecting their new worlds from an NPC threat?

You need some kind of conflict and resolution for a story.

There's so much that can be done.