Chairman:
The Board of Directors has selected Cyrus Rex as their Sixth Chairman. Congratulations go out to Mr. Rex, we're all sure he will do a great job!

President:
If you have not heard already, Master Gui-Jan has stepped down as President. His letter to the membership can be found here. As the Vice President, Romsuiag has stepped up to become the Third President of Avian. He too has a letter that can be found here.

Foreign Affairs Operations:
After a recent chat session, Romsuiag has posted a thread to inform members on the progress of the reformation of Avian's foreign affairs operations. You can view it at, FAOps Reform

Deputy Directors:
The list of this terms Deputy Directors has been updated, and can be seen on the news article from April 21st.

We interrupt the thrilling stream of election news to bring you details of one of the most anticipated pieces of information for many.

Kevin "Q-3PO" O'Hara has finally given the masses our first look at the Artisan skill tree. Artisan will be the first step for many on their journey towards 'crafting' success.

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This week we bring you the skill tree for the Artisan profession!

Crafters are a vital part of the SWG economy. From furniture to blasters, they make virtually everything that players buy in the game. Although there are some interesting things to find in the world, all of the best items are made by players. There are mechanics in the game to ensure novice crafters have a place in the economy.

A little further information about the skill tree for you: Assembly affects the quality of the item made. Experimentation is used to make custom modification to the item's stats. Customization determines the colors you have to choose from when making items like clothes.

Have a great weekend!

-Kevin O'Hara
Community Relations Manager

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You can see the tree here.

Board of Director Elections:
The elections for BoD term Q2 2003 are complete. We have an interesting mix of new and old Directors so things should be interesting. Here are the Directors:
Section 1: Killgorian
Section 2: Golga Bolg
Section 3: Cyrus Rex
Section 4: Angus MacGregor
Section 5: Dumin
Section 6: Dragon Fire
Section 7: Marrok
Section 8: Vor Kragresh
Section 9: Ravage

Deputy Director Selection:
The new DDs have also been named for this upcoming term. They are:
Section 1: Blackjim
Section 2: Bossman Intrepid
Section 3: Afilex
Section 4: Xior
Section 5: Cetera
Section 6: Ricun Jalei
Section 7: Royur_Agnor
Section 8: dbakke
Section 9: Odds

Chairman Election:
After a tightly fought contest, Cyrus Rex emerged as the new chairman of the BoD.

The Voting stage has begun for the Board of Directors Q2 2003 term. You may want to read some of the candidates' platforms in the member boards or in President Gui-Jan's thread [url=http://www.swg-avian.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6227]Section Director Elections have Begun![/url] After that you can visit your Section Archive to vote.

Here are your candidates:
Section 1: Killgorian & LazyAmy
Section 2: Golga Bolg
Section 3: Cyrus Rex
Section 4: Angus MacGregor
Section 5: X2-PB, Brax & Dumin
Section 6: Dragon Fire, Red_Trosky, Arindel & Talon1977
Section 7: Rocklar & Marrok
Section 8: Kehotek & Vor Kragresh
Section 9: Ravage

Good luck to everyone!

In Other News:
President Gui-Jan made an important thread about [url=http://www.swg-avian.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6485]
trade alliances and server selection[/url]. You may want to check it out.

The Deparmtent vice Heads have all been selected by their Heads. Here they are right below.

Our new Department Vice Heads:
Master Edward Department of Resources
Mantison Tau'rus Department of the Interior
AcritusDepartment of Economic and Foreign Affairs
ShinDepartment of Security

Congratulations to all, and good luck with your new positions.

Board of Director Elections
The next BoD election session begins tomorrow. Starting Monday and for the next week you will be allowed to nominate yourseld in the Section Archive. The following week will be the actual election so please be sure to stop by and make your vote count.

New Role-playing thread.
Onto Kracken has started a new thread in the RP board entitled, "The Raid". Be sure to check it out, and if you're interested, make a few posts.

More election results to update.

Our new Department Heads are:
Orbital - Department of Resources (DoR)
Slugeater - Department of the Interior (DoI)
Deak Almar - Department of Economic and Foreign Affairs (DEFA) (Second Term)
Hyeriq - Department of Security (DoS)

Congratulations to everyone!

Department Vice Heads
The newly elected Heads are beginning to select their new Vice Heads. If you are interested in a Department Vice Head position let your Head know of your intentions. Once all Vice Heads have been chosen I'll be sure to let you know.

Status of the Department of Security:
Since Hyeriq was selected for the DS Head position, the DS now has an opening for Secretary. So, if you're in this Department and want to be Secretary, go ahead and nominate yourself at the thread [url=http://www.swg-avian.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6022]Interim Department Secretary Election ** Nomination Stage **[/url]

Server Selection
Currently the Foreign Affairs Committee is discussing what server to decide on. No decision has been made as of yet. For more information regarding this you can check out Obo al'Can Foreign Affairs Division Head's thread entitled [url=http://www.swg-avian.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6052]So what is the story on Server Selection?[/url]

We are about mid-way through our current 'stream' of elections. At this point we are currently taking official Department Head nominations. So, if you're interested in taking up the responsibility please visit your Department board and nominate yourself.

Since the last news update we finished up both the Presidential and the Department Secretary elections. Below are the results for those elections.

Presidential Office:
Master Gui-Jan as President
Romsuiag as Vice President

Department Secretaries:
Red Trosky - Department of Resources
Mantison Tau'rus - Department of the Interior
Onto Kracken - Department of Economic and Foreign Affairs
Hyeriq - Department of Security

Congratulations to all the winners and good luck for the next six months in your positions!

In Other News:
The newest version of the FAQ is now up on the main site for everyone to view. It has more information for current members, applicants, and even for members of other PAs.

We are now in the second half of the week long vote to elect the new President and Vice-President of Avian Technology and Trade, and if you haven't cast your vote already your time is running out.

It's been hard to avoid the month long debates in the member's forums, on every topic under the twin Tatooine suns. But if you are still unsure on who to give you vote to then go [url=http://www.swg-avian.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5403]here[/url] to find a review of the infamous Dumin Inquisition, which includes candidate responses on numerous policy questions and chat transcripts from the live debates.

To cast your vote, go to your Section Archive. You can find the link to the left, under your username. But be quick, the little Avian astromech droid A2-V2 will stop taking votes on Sunday evening.

With the Devs teasing us this week, saying that they had yet to decide on a PA size cap, Kevin Q-3PO O'Hara finally put an end to the continuous pleas with this weeks Firday FAQ...

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12.27 What are the maximum and minimum sizes for player associations?
When you first establish a player association hall, it's allowed to have only one member: you. But within 7 days, your PA must have at least 5 members, or the PA will be dissolved. We repeat this check every 7 days thereafter. The maximum size for a player association is 500.

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...and there was much rejoicing.
Q also updated FAQ 12.22, which changes the maximum size of a group from 8 up to 20.

You can see who won the race to be first [url=http://boards.station.sony.com/ubb/starwars/Forum3/HTML/096716.html]here[/url].

The voting for section representatives is over and A2-V2 has finished tallying up the results! The Q1 2003 BoD will consist of the following members:

S1 Killgorian
S2 Golga Bolg
S3 Raptore
S4 Angus MacGregor
S5 Cetera
S6 Dragon Fire
S7 Rocklar
S8 dbakke
S9 Armin Talmari

Congratulations to all, especially our newest Board members. This should shape up to be a very exciting term. Beta 3 should start anytime now, which means more information from the developers and eventually the lifting of the NDA, which means more work for the BoD.

It truly is a great time to be an Avian!