It is my pleasure to once again recognize Len Iode. Since his last promotion he has participated in 104 competitions, 50 PvE activities, 2 ACC Battles, 14 Fiction Activities, 22,677 Words of Fiction, 9 Run On Posts for 4,721 words, 19 Shadow Academy courses, and 3 Shadow Academy Degrees. During these endeavors he accumulated the following awards: 1 Sapphire Blade, 1 Grand Cross, 1 Anteian Cross, 1 Gold Nova, 1 Silver Nova, 2 Crescents with Ruby Star, 7 Crescents with Amethyst Star, 4 Crescents with Sapphire Star, 1 Crescent with Emerald Star, 3 Pendants of Blood, 388 Clusters of Fire, 68 Clusters of Ice, 26 Clusters of Earth, 30 Clusters of Graphite, 1 Legion of the Scholar, 1 Seal of Loyalty, 13 Seals of Fury, 10 Seals of Discord, and 13 Seals of Visions. In addition, he has been an active presence in news post comments tallying up 45 news post comments. Sometimes when members climb the upper echelons of Equitehood they forget to do our clubs most fundamental activities, which are key. In contrast, Len Iode has remained an active member, whether he was in a leadership position or not. He stuck around for both the big stuff (3 GJWs, Clan events) and the little stuff in between. That dedication requires setting aside time for the club and not everyone can do it. Len Iode did though and for that I am very proud of him.

In addition to pure activity, Len Iode has contributed as a leader to the club, through engaging in clan leadership and helping the Dark Council. He served 3 months as Aedile, 18 months as Rollmaster, and 12 months as an Appeals Panelist. During this time, he earned a Sapphire Blade and a Grand Cross.

Each of these awards goes into a great deal of detail so I’ll instead focus on the highlight reel for his Clan work. First, I still remember the “emergency pup meetings” for our new joins, which never came at a good time or weren’t necessarily quick but they were very helpful to our newer members. The huddles he would lead to solve their problems quickly were always appreciated. Second, I remember his community projects/experiments like the mentor system, the telegram roleplay chat, and the new join chat. Each required bravery and the willingness to see something through to the end to solve very real problems. Moreover, they helped inform future solutions in use today. It’s easy to give up but Len stuck through it and helped our community in the process. Third, he helped run the Clan as a fill in PCON, during which he was there if I needed him, no matter what the tasks or even in emergencies. One memory that comes to mind is the two of us polishing off clan documents together, where a second point of view is very much appreciated. These documents eventually led to stuff like oh you know the creation of House Sunrider for example. Fourth, perhaps his favorite passion project, the Loyalist Academy on Kiast. Odan-Urr already had a home for its Jedi to train but Len created for us a home for our Loyalists to train that catered to their unique needs. This detailed creation even included facilities, training, and uniform standards. In short, a special place for a class of characters that can be popular in our clan.

Those are the highlights, but it's worth reading the awards themselves. Len Iode has been a dedicated leader and member, pouring in his passion for the club and its community. For the time and energy you have put into the club and our own little corner of it here in Odan-Urr, I am proud to recommend that Len Iode be promoted to the rank of Equite 4. Well done and congratulations!

Aura Ta’var
Consul, Odan-Urr

Aurora "Aura" Ta'var, 2020-11-07 04:56:16 UTC

Odan-Urr’s EQ4s are all individuals who came in as active members and who shifted from being consumers of DB competitions to the people putting in the work to keep things running, without losing their identity as an active member in the process. Len certainly lives up to that. He was on my summit for my entire term as consul. In many DB jobs, the stress and work requirements are offset by prestige, influence, awards, or simply getting to use a unit as your personal toybox. Len contributed to Odan-Urr for years without much in the way of those perks. As aedile, Len was often tasked with supporting the vision of a very different leader, Maximus Alvinius, with which he did not always agree. They made an effective team because Len’s dedication to Satele Shan was always foremost, and their partnership was a high point in the house’s history in terms of activity and member participation.

Len then moved on to rollmaster, which he held for a year and a half during a particularly difficult time for that position. Recruitment and retention are existential issues for this club and, as RM, Len served as the point person on the COU summit for this. His duties included handling the first interactions with each new member and taking responsibility for their development until they reached knighthood, even if they were also paired with a master—also Len’s responsibility—or placed in a subunit. Len was the first RM in COU to deal with the massive increase of dead-on-arrival joins, new members who created DB accounts in unprecedented numbers based on our social media outreach but who never logged in again. The job was not any less important, but suddenly Len was faced with more work conducting outreach to members who were only ever going to ignore him. This was also a time when the position’s future was uncertain, with the Dark Summit repeatedly, and often publicly, debating whether the job was worth staffing. For him to continue performing his duties, including taking on additional project work, when he faced attacks on his office and the possibility that his job would cease to exist any moment, is the best illustration I can think of for Len’s commitment to his community.

He has slowed down somewhat since leaving office, but only somewhat. Len has continued to participate in clan event series including Vatali Unsettled and Seven Pillars and, perhaps more importantly, he showed up to help seal our finish as Third Clan in the recent GJW. Len not only managed full participation, but he earned 417 points for the clan. If we’d had another half a Len the clan would have placed second overall.

Len is the guy who does thankless tasks because he cares more about benefiting the community than he does glamour or stroking his own ego. That attitude, combined with the volume of his activity as documented by Blade above, is indicative of an upper equite.

Alethia Archenksova
Consul Emeritus, Odan-Urr

Headmistress Alethia Archenksova, 2020-11-02 23:58:54 UTC