As a club we distinguish upper equites as members who have not only put forward individual activity, but also contribute to their units and the club through leadership and project work. Yuki, or Jack as most of us know him, has been an Equite 3 since June of 2014. I can safely say that in those three plus years Jack has had an impact on most of COU's roster, through his contributions and leadership. As the parade of summit recommendations here attest, Jack has mentored all of us at one time or another. In addition to today's recommendations, if you examine the merits he has earned since his last promotion (2 Steel Crosses, an Anteian Cross and Dark Cross) you will see a consistent theme of Jack working behind the scenes to help young leaders and newer members. On top of that he has received two Scrolls of the Master for mentoring Maka Vossi (Gui Sol) and Keiji (Lavanth) to Knight. As Edgar details in his recommendation, Jack served as the Aedile for House Hoth as an Equite 3 for a critical four months in the House's development.

As an individual member Jack has participated in 121 competitions (with an additional 26 container competitions) bringing home 47 Crescents. In gaming he has earned 4 Pendants of Blood, 113 Clusters of Fire, and 735 Clusters of Earth. His passion has always been for writing, which shows in his 34 Clusters of Ice for fiction activity. In the most recent Great Jedi War, Jack showed up for 6 of the events and led his run-on team to a Silver Nova, no small feat.

On a more personal note, Jack mentored me when I was a young pup in House Odan-Urr. He made EQ3 a few weeks after I made Knight. I had no creative writing background before coming to the club, as a brand new BTL at that time I had maybe a run-on and three or four fiction competitions under my belt. I was often amazed at Jack's ability to write high quality fiction passages seemingly on the fly (I've watched him work live in a google doc). As a seasoned club veteran, he took the time to pull me, a young pup BTL with barely six months in the club, aside and work with me one on one through some character development and writing exercises. This went on for nearly a month, we must have written tens of thousands of words of fiction that never got turned in for anything. He never got recognized for the time he put in. That's just the kind of person Jack is. He encourages, mentors and fosters members who need it with no thought of recognition or reward. He sees the need and swoops in, taking the pup under his wing.

Thank you for all that you do, you literally helped build COU into what it is today. It has been a long time coming, but welcome to Equite 4. You have the heart of not only a leader, but an elder.

Turel Sorenn
Consul, Clan Odan-Urr

Champion Rajhin Cindertail, 2017-12-10 02:38:43 UTC

The man of many names... When I first met Yuki, it was under the name Acheron, followed shortly by Balthier d’Tana in early 2011. I had only been a member of this club for six months at this point and he was usually one of the first to volunteer to proofread my fiction attempts. Not only that, Jack patiently (in his own unique way) explained what I was doing wrong and how to fix it. Nearly seven years and who knows how many characters later, he’s not stopped this despite a very busy schedule, aiding the next generation in improving their own writing and critiquing whatever they submit — artistic attempts, character ideas, storyline concepts and many more.

Yuki encouraged me to apply for my current position and I cannot be more thankful for his tenacious prodding. The change of pace was just what I needed to reinvigorate my spark; there’s a line from a song that perfectly described my outlook at the time ‘The road that you followed, it turned, Can’t find where the fire once burned’. Though, to be fair, it’s an interesting role-reversal as I had only worked under him prior to this when he was an Aedile in Arcona whilst I was a brand new Battleteam Leader.

In the seven months I’ve been in this position, I’ve come to realize that Jack is an ideal member, one of the first to step up to the plate when he’s needed or there’s an activity that captures his interest. And every single thing that he sets his eye upon gets Yuki’s entire focus, blood, sweat and tears; a perfect example is how his Run-On Team in GJW XII: Retribution scored an astounding second place.

In my mind, there is no one more deserving of a promotion to Equite Four. Jack, it’s been a long time coming, and you’ve more than earned it. Congratulations!

Celevon Edraven Erinos
Aedile, House Hoth of Clan Odan-Urr

Adept Celevon Werd'a, 2017-12-07 07:48:36 UTC

Yuki aka "Jack" has been one of the core people in my Brotherhood experience, and I am honored to call him a friend. The first time I worked with Jack was on my very first run-on for a Clan event. While we did not complete enough to do anything more than qualify, the lessons I learned about writing from him have stuck with me. I have continued to have the honor of working on several more run-ons with Jack including a first place run on for the Desperate Measures event and a Silver Nova winning run on from the most recent Great Jedi War.

Jack has also been a part of my own character's development, including the addition of my character's second weapons skill - Explosives. He taught me to listen to what my character says and that has been the single biggest piece of advice I have received. Other pieces of advise have come when I was restructuring Len to make the character more realistic and balanced. Those lessons helped me further develop my alternate character Ken.

Jack you have been a good friend and I look forward to continue working with you in the future. You have definitely earned this, congratulations!

Oh and P.S.: I told you so!

Colonel Len Iode, 2017-12-09 03:30:34 UTC

Yuki Suoh or as I know him better Jack. Out of all the recommendations I have ever written this one is the hardest. Not because Jack doesn’t deserve this promotion and not because I think I would have to argue with the MAA about his worth. It’s hard cause the person I will have to strongly convince that Jack is worth this is Jack himself.

So let me say this about Jack, I honestly didn’t know you when I took over as Hoth’s Aedile 2 years ago until you made your presence known to me but immediately getting into my face and almost challenging me from that very first day. Honestly, I didn’t like you at all at that moment.

You were always in my case about writing fiction and letting you proofread it so you can see how I’m doing. You refused to let me rest and was constantly pushing me to be better. It took me a while to finally getting to know you and to see what you were doing. You were dragging me kicking and screaming out of my comfort zone and helping me be a better member, leader, and a better person.

This is what makes jack Special even when he is not in a leadership position he is doing everything he can to mentor someone to make them better. Sometimes if you like it or not if Jack see potential in you he will not stop till you improve and realize his vision. Jack was so instrumental in helping me and many members of the House improve and become a stronger house that when I became the Quaestor and had the chance to hire my first Aedile Jack was my first choice.

For 4 month Jack helped me run the house, create the Hothj Wiki project and was instrumental in the creation of Hoth’s The Scimitar of Lord Hoth. He was and has been one of my closest friends and one of my trusted advisors within the DJB. The amount of times Jack was they to offer support, sage advice or even the voice of reason to myself or any member within COU is almost staggering.

Jack, I could go on forever on how much you earned this promotion but I will end by saying this. You truly are a pillar of the Odanite family and you helped me so much in being the leader I am today that the day you take a leadership role again I would be one of the first people to want to join your unit. You have most definitely have earned my loyalty, my trust and my sword!

Congratulations. my dear friend, bask in the glory of being EQ4 cause you earned this!

Edgar Drachen, Quaestor of House Hoth

Edgar Drachen, 2017-12-10 01:10:35 UTC

Jack is a grouchy old bastard. Or at least it seems that way to the casual observer. However, looking around, it’s difficult to find a leader in Odan-Urr that Jack hasn’t managed to mentor, at least to some extent. Several others have already references their experiences and the things Jack’s taught them about leadership, writing, or just not being an idiot. For my part, Jack has become one of my primary sounding boards for fiction ideas, one of the few people who can successfully badger me into writing, and a gadfly who makes me a better leader. “I’ll keep you honest,” he’s said to me on various occasions, and he’s lived up to that promise by reminding me to congratulate members in chat and advocating for the new and low-ranked members who don’t have the clout, perspective, or volume of an upper-level equite. He is—dare I say it—kind, generous, and dedicated to nurturing new talent in Odan-Urr and everywhere else he goes.

As Ed pointed out, it’s difficult to really capture Jack’s contributions in a paragraph or two. They’re the kind you don’t notice at first, until they grow and snowball and two years later you realize that the man’s a trusted advisor to half the summit. He’s one of those members who makes the clan stronger just by his very presence. He’s a leader regardless of what position he holds.

Congrats, Jack. After eighteen years, it’s about damn you made it to EQ4.

Alethia Archenksova
Proconsul, Odan-Urr

Headmistress Alethia Archenksova, 2017-12-10 01:43:02 UTC