I would like to make this plain for anyone who is mistaken. Montresor did not ask us to be Consul of Plagueis. We asked him. We did not do him a favor. He did us one. And he does not owe us for anything we did. We owe him.

It is said a leader is responsible for everything his men do or fail to do. Monty knows this well, but let me explain.

Back in September of 2013 House Plagueis underwent an unprecedented failure of its leadership. Due to their missteps, the entire Summit was removed and tried by the Chamber of Justice. All while in the middle of The Dark Crusade, the largest Vendetta in the club's history, which Plagueis was in contention to win.

This was about as bad as it gets.

Muz and I knew that in order for Plagueis to continue its progress as a unit we had to get someone to take charge, square them away, and get them back in the fight not only for The Dark Crusade, but more importantly, for their identity. Plagueis has a long history. I started there myself. Since its formation it was never really a top contender in competitions though it did possess an excellent core group of members, many of whom later went on to distinguish themselves on the Dark Council. All the pieces were there for greatness. Someone just had to put them together.

Enter Monty in late September 2013.

His drive, energy, and enthusiasm immediately woke Plagueis from the malaise that had set in following the recent unsavory events. It was directly due to Monty that many stayed in Plagueis to continue the fight and many more rejoined their old unit to see what they could accomplish...together. Because that is how Monty preached his message, his vision, the entire time, that ultimately made all things possible. Teamwork, teamwork, teamwork.

He should know.

His entire real-life career has been centered around this concept. Sometimes we strangely discount real-life experience in this club. Yet every strength we have, every decision we make, each idea we bring to life, derives directly from it. Like it or not. No clearer example of this could be made than in the case of Montresor. I will not go into details, but Monty has a real life resume that would absolutely be the envy of any of us. I am proud to know the man an honored to be his friend before we even get to the word, "club."

So it makes perfect sense that the success Monty has earned in real-life would carry over to our little fantasy world here on the internet. In order to help Plagueis, and Muz and I, Monty left a successful "career" in an already established and flourishing unit. But why leave it? Why risk being part of a favorite to win Vendettas, receive accolades, gain recognition? Simple answer:

We needed him. Plagueis needed him.

We saw what Monty accomplished in his home unit. We saw how quickly he rose. We saw how he had earned the respect of his peers. Monty was a quick study. Quick to adapt. Quick to act. And quick to succeed. Exactly what was needed to rescue Plagueis.

With Monty in place, Plagueis did not miss a beat when The Dark Crusade resumed. As he did in his previous unit, Monty led by example. Over the entirety of the Vendetta, from two different units, Monty had scored just shy of 100% participation. He asked no more of anyone than he gave of himself. Exactly as a leader should.

By December of 2013, Plagueis had won The Dark Crusade, the longest, largest, most complex event ever put on by the club. Barely three months after assuming responsibility for Plagueis, Monty had led them to their first-ever Vendetta win. Monty could have quit there. It would have been easy to shift into neutral and coast on his accomplishments. But there was one more prize that Plagueis wanted on its mantle: Clanhood.

By February of 2014, that goal too was realized and Plagueis was a Clan again. Spearheaded once again by Monty, now Clan Plagueis, achieved yet another goal that only months earlier seemed unlikely, if not impossible. What more could be accomplished so well and so quickly? Not a whole hell of a lot truth be told.

So Monty is moving on to other challenges. As is the standard for all leaders, he has left his unit better than he found it. Much, much, better. He has done all he could and more and now it is for someone else to take the reins and build on the foundation Monty has built with his own two hands. But before we let him go, a trinket. A tiny, inconsequential bauble for his efforts that in no way will mean anything to someone like Monty.

But what I imagine will mean something to a man like Monty are our words, the words of his many friends and peers on this recommendation; hopefully the words we say here together will give him some idea of just how much we appreciate him. There is no greater honor. The respect of one's friends and peers: more valuable than any award and far more enduring.

Thank you, Monty.

On behalf of a grateful Brotherhood and from an even more grateful Deputy Grand Master, please accept this Emerald Dagger as a simple token for all the great things you have done for Muz and I, for Plagueis, and for the Brotherhood.

-Raken, Deputy Grand Master

When Montresor stepped into the position of Quaestor of House Plagueis in September of 2013 he faced a plethora of challenges. The House had gone through a significant leadership change, with nearly its entire Summit removed. While House Plagueis had fought hard through the previous months of the Dark Crusade at this time they were on the edge of a precipice. In short order Monty reached out to former members of House Plagueis, some veterans from days past and others more recent members who chose to part ways due to the recent turmoil the House had faced. Monty's leadership and interpersonal skills allowed him to bring together under the Plagueis banner a formidable House, ready to face any challengers. And they did. The final round of the Dark Crusade was a winner takes all showdown. House Plagueis bore the full weight of Clan Arcona's charge, and as the dust settled the two behemoths found themselves at a draw. In the end the participation and motivation of House Plagueis' members in that final round carried them forward to victory.

Many would be content to relax following such an upset victory. Not Montresor and House Plagueis. Under Monty's guiding hand the House pushed forward, over the next three months the Plagues summit toiled away to produce a viable plan to reach their ultimate goal. The re-Clanning of Plagueis. On February 20th that goal was realized and the future of Plagueis took a significant shift. New goals would be realized, new challenges would be uncovered, and old friendships would remain.

Montresor's work at the helm of Plagueis has made a significant impact on the unit, one that I am sure will remain for years to come. Congratulations Monty!

-Valhavoc, Fist of the Brotherhood

No one in Plagueis saw him coming. We were shocked by the culling of our Summit, dismayed by our abrupt change in fortune after such a long, hard path to success. Victory in the Dark Crusade was in sight, but it suddenly seemed utterly distant. Monty changed that, reversed it, and by sheer force of personality rebuilt Team Plag into a fierce competitor. He took an impossible task one step at a time until he accomplished everything he had set out to do and more. He did not do it alone, but it could not have happened without him.

The reason for his success is easy to understand, really. He embodies all of the best traits of leadership: he understands people and their motivations; he sets clear goals and has a plan to achieve them; he is both patient and driven; and, most of all, he doesn't do it for personal glory but for his team. Leading an underdog to its first-ever vendetta victory and then to clanhood in rapid succession is a nice notch on his belt, but his focus was only ever on helping Plagueis realize its greatness. With this changing of the guard, Monty has left a revived Clan with a taste of victory, hungry for more and equipped to achieve it.

I have met a lot of great, talented people in my time with the Brotherhood. But until I worked with Monty, I had never met anyone who could move mountains with a slogan. Monty, you did great work, son.

-Dacien, Headmaster

Did you know that Montresor is not a fan of Star Wars? Did you know that he has never read a comic, guide, or novel in the Star Wars universe? Did you know that he can't tell the difference between Jango and Boba Fett? All of these things are true and all of these things are reasons why his performance in our club is so utterly impressive. Monty is a guy who joined our club to be a part of a gaming community, he liked what he say, liked the people he met, and offered to help out in small ways to make the community better. As days and weeks passed, Monty's involvement in our club grew and so did his impact on making the DJB a better place. He has participated in competitions, led at the House level, led at the Clan Level, and he has contributed to some of the largest projects the Dark Brotherhood has released over the past year. Fiction updates, he edits them; Voice projects, he edits them; Gaming rule changes, he provides input; and on and on.

For a guy who doesn't know Tatooine from Degobah, Monty is a stud. He has joined our club and made it a better place by being a normal human being interested in interacting and having fun with others. I'm glad he is around and I'm very happy to see him receive an Emerald Dagger.

-Grand Master Pravus, Voice

I think my fellow Councilors have summed it up better than I can, and it won't do to rehash the same points. I was on the Arcona summit with Monty for a good long while, and I was confident with leaving my legacy with Val and Monty because I knew they would do a fine job. Neither happened though, as Val was promoted to Fist shortly after I stepped down and Monty suddenly became Quaestor of Plagueis, something that I don't think anyone saw coming on the summit. Having been there through the Arcona CoJ and Plagueis CoJs of the last year+ I knew that Monty was doing something extraordinary, something extremely bold by leaving Arcona to head Plagueis. Leaving Arcona essentially meant that he was leaving his friends and his own legacy behind. He knew there might be backlash. Whether there would be didn't matter, because he had a mission. As Monty said to me once, "Someone had to do it."

He was right. It would be an extremely difficult and often very lonely venture; I didn't envy anyone that would step up for it, but someone had to do it. I think many had doubts just based upon the fact that Plagueis had been left in such dire shape. Knowing Monty, I'm fairly certain that he not only wanted to do it because it needed to be done, but because he was out to prove everyone wrong. In the end, he did, Plagueis came back to life and with Monty at the helm it not only showed its claws again and won the vendetta but somehow re-clanned. Someone had to run Plagueis. I'm fairly certain they didn't say, "Do it with style, win the vendetta, oh and reclan too, kthx," but would Monty do it any other way?

Extraordinary and bold. That's what you are, Battle Buddy. Thanks for all you've done, and I look forward to this year's ugly sweater. I know you'll find a way to top the last, somehow.

-Socks, Herald

One needs to be an extraordinary brave soul to leave the comfort and safety of an established clan, leave behind a promising career, and dive head-first into the unknown. Montresor did just that. He left the comfort of Arcona and took the job of leading a house that shortly before saw its entire leadership removed by the Chamber of Justice. Many thought these cases would ultimately lead to the end of Plagueis, but nothing was farther from the truth: Primarily due to Monty's efforts, Plagueis not only emerged as victor of the Dark Crusade, but was granted Clan status not long after.

My fellow councillors have done a splendid job enumerating why Monty is as awesome as he is, and I couldn't agree more. Many, many thanks for doing the work, son, and heartfelt congratulations on this much deserved Emerald Dagger.

-James, Seneschal

Eight months ago, Montresor applied for Quaestor of Plagueis. There had been a more or less catastrophic failure of the summit prior to that that had seen them all removed and sent to the Chamber of Justice. Such a thing is without precedence in the modern Brotherhood. The need to get a capable leader into that position as soon as possible, to stem the bleeding of talent and get people in the house back on task was paramount. It was going to be a lot of hard work, and there was no guarantee of real returns on it.

Montresor left the very stable and relative success of Arcona to try his hand at this challenge. Bringing with him decades of real world leadership experience as well as a deep-seated desire to see Plagueis through to the end of the campaign that they had fought so hard for already, he volunteered.

An outsider, coming in from an enemy unit, taking command of another house. I am certain that people figured that it was a ringer...someone sent to put on a good show and yet throw the match, let another unit win.

That was not it.

Plagueis was breaking, make no mistake. For all of their hard work, for all of their late nights and hard pushes, they still would have crumbled, had things continued on the path that was laid in. It would have been too easy to half-ass it, to slow the death just enough to make people think it was okay. But that's not what happened.

He came into the house, guns hot. He pulled people back from the brink. He pulled people away from the ledge even after they had jumped. He fought for something that wasn't yet his, and I think that generated all manner of goodwill for him. He didn't do it for himself. He did it to push Plagueis forward, to keep their momentum going, to complete the task that was at hand. He knitted back together the splintering house and reminded them what they were there for. He took the breaking point and made it into a rallying cry.

And Plagueis responded. They came back. They doubled down, fought harder, and answered Montresor's call. They broke Arcona's streak, they won the campaign, they earned clanhood.

Montresor would say that Plagueis earned it for herself. His humility would show, and he'd try to use it as a reason to promote and award more of the people who answered his call. Those elements within the Clan would snark about how he was stealing credit that was not rightly his. That he was swooping in at the last moment to claim the rewards from years of work. Those elements are wrong. When that critical moment came, they were the ones hiding; from themselves, from their brothers, from duty, from greatness. I hope that everyone sees what happened there, and recognizes it for what it is, clear of any ego, of any self-righteous hubris. It was Montresor who made them come back and see what was at stake. It was Monty who reminded them that the battle wasn't over. It was Monty who pushed them when they would not or could not push themselves. It was Monty who insisted that he did nothing special, that the credit belonged to everyone in the Clan. It was Monty who did this for you. Not for himself, but for you.

He is an example to us of what a Consul should be. Of what a Leader can accomplish. Of what happens when you refuse to accept what all assume.

Thank you, Montresor. I appreciate all that you have done, and I look forward to the day when you can spend some more of your formidable talents with us. From a grateful Grand Master and an encouraged Brotherhood, I am more than honored to present you with this Emerald Dagger. Thank you again.

-Muz Ashen, the Lion of Tarthos

Raken, 2014-05-23 15:10:09 UTC