The Winter has been long and hard and greatly fraught with peril!   Numerous incidents and setbacks have tested our courage and resolves.   In the beginning there were moments were things looked bleak.  But despite these early appearances, we have made great strides forward this winter.   We suffered a string of defeats up the east coast, followed by a series of small unsuccessful insurrections.   Our losses were heavy, but we came back and hit our enemies with such a force that I beamed with pride at my army's success.   We demolished Og in a series of skirmishes culminating in a battle at Redspire which saw complete decimation of the superior Og force.    Our Veteran warriors passed on their knowledge of ambush and evasion to a new generation of emerging raiders.   Many of our past foes have been brought carefully into the fold, even as we tighten our security and restrictions.   The noose is tightened another inch around our enemies necks.  Many suits have been looted this month, many weapons/rares/pristines and bars as well.   This may be one of our most successful raiding loot months of all time.   We also accomplished a great number of quests and better equipped a large section of our forces.   Combined with our ever increasing effectiveness on the field I have taken it upon myself to continually undercut, harass and defame our competition on an economic level.  Remember, Buy Blackarrow! It's Isparian owned and run!   My favorite item I got this month was Solus's 10xed BD 8 400 weild bludge rend UA, inscribed by Mushy Kelvartis as a welcome back present to Solus.  Its hanging above the villa doorway now for them to see when they try to raid.