It's hard for me to put into words just the sheer volume of work and effort that Thran has given to the Regent Staff - and by extension, the Brotherhood at large - but I'm going to do my best to get the point across. A force to be reckoned with even by my own standards (which are fairly high as far as staffers go), this man has had his hand in pretty much everything we've done since becoming a member of the Regent Staff. He has at least a dozen projects under his belt during that time; earning himself an Amethyst Kukri along the way just for his efforts as a staffer, and continues to astound me with the level of dedication he's showing no sign of stopping anytime soon (I had to dig through four pages of his activity history just to find that sacramental recommendation in January, which I know Kamjin will detail below).

Thran continues to plow through just everything that gets put in his path - juggling multiple things at once and managing to never let me down - always hungering for more work to do. The man took the lead on and finished in only a couple months Planetary Assets - a project that I was sure wasn't going to be completed until sometime late this year - basically from scratch with little help, starting from the ground up to create the biggest expansion in Clan purchasing options (over 60 new items) since the possessions system first launched over half a decade ago, all while continuing to work and assist on other projects as he did so they wouldn't suffer or drag on. This entailed weekends upon weekends of hard work from description writing, figuring out how sub-item slotting was going to work and what numbers worked best with items contained within - which was no easy task, pricing all of these items in a way that made sense and shifted the cost from bases (which started off as expensive, later becoming dirt cheap) to the items themselves (an approach our Deputy Grand Master liked) to encourage clans to develop long-term plans for how to build out their bases and when, ensuring everything aligned with the feudal system in regards to shipyards, and really showing it's okay to step outside the box and work something a bit differently from a normal process - forcing even me outside my comfort zone as Regent.

In the words of our Deputy Grand Master in his reply to our email regarding the approval for Planetary Assets, "Overall, I think you and your team have done an outstanding job with this."

On top of all the hard work and effort he put into development of the Planetary Assets project, Thran saw it through to the end without skipping a beat and did not let the beast conquer him; he did most of the implementation of these items themselves, and had only minor assistance from Slagar during the course of this project and myself with implementation of these items. Without stopping, he threw his line back into the water immediately to wrestle down another beast; faction possessions. One after another, Thran reworked (with me overseeing and handling the system side of things due to his site access) all of the factions into new forces; sussing out who would get what and what was appropriate with our Deputy Grand Master and Voice, from a complete overhaul of the Severian Principate to conform to its new role in our stories, buffing the Brotherhood fleet enough that it still packed a punch but fit with the feudal system and assets acquired from the Severian Principate, downsizing and making the Tenixir Revenants actually feel like a pirate-themed asymmetrical fleet... the amount of work and sheer brainpower it took to make all of it fit together and more importantly, fit the stories that the Voice of the Brotherhood will be able to tell going forward, was staggering and had me struggling to keep up with slotting them all as he pounded them out one after another.

As if those two major projects just in the last couple months wasn't enough, Thran jumped in to help assist on implementing Armor Upgrades - a project he hadn't had the pleasure of working on while I had him focused on bigger fish - out of the blue, and without asking, tossing away a Friday night just because he had the time to spare and wanted to lend a hand. Just the other day, he completed descriptions for 16 new proposed items in our upcoming second booster release, completing both items myself and other staffers had proposed but not finished yet. Since joining my staff, Thran has touched hundreds of different prototypes already in the system, written and implemented dozens if not hundreds, and just continues to outright destroy any hurdles in his way. If he doesn't understand something, he isn't afraid to ask. If he thinks something works better a different way? he doesn't hesitate in saying so, but is still not afraid to carry out his duties even in disagreement. Thran is devoted to being the best staffer and overall best member that he can be so that one day, he too can be in the Regent chair and make the hard calls without hesitation and provide the best experience for our membership as possible.

A lot of people have a fundamental misunderstanding of how the possessions system works and why it exists, but Thran understands and he sees why it works the way it does. At this point there is no one else that I would trust to take over the role of Regent of the Brotherhood if I were to suddenly disappear, and if I ever needed to resign I could say wholeheartedly that I would tell our evil overlords they should just skip the application process and hire Thran. I have that much confidence in his abilities, in his work ethic, and of his demeanor. He hasn't let up the entire time he's been a staff member, and continues to accomplish this insane level of work while continuing to be an exemplary and incredibly active member of his clan.

Based on my own recommendation and that of the Clan Scholae Palatinae Consul below, I am so very proud to be able to recommend Warlord Thran Occasus-Palpatine to join the highest echelon of our club as an Elder, and there is zero doubt in my mind that the man deserves this honor.

Congratulations, Thran.

General Zxyl Bes'uliik, 2022-03-17 01:03:39 UTC

Usually I'd start off my recommendations for advancement with a wonderful listing of the metrics that Thran has accomplished since his last promotion. Don't get me wrong, I've built that spreadsheet, but that information is available on the website.

As I reflect upon Thran and started writing down all those metrics it felt...hollow. There's so much more to Thran than just those metrics. Which may disappoint him given how much he and I love to pour over complicated spreadsheets.

I guess I should start with how I met Thran, my impression of him, and how with some open-mindedness I gained one of my most trusted advisors.

To put it simply, when I met Thran, he was loud. His presence in Telegram was all consuming. There was a gravity to him that either pulled people into him or repelled them away. Now, I don't say this as a negative but rather as an acceptance of his personality. To put it mildly, I didn't care for him at first.

Yet, I refused to give into my prejudices and prejudgments and as we started to work on projects for the Clan I was presented with this amazing, multi-tabbed, buyers & sellers guide to our possessions.

Whatever it is you're picturing, it's not going to do this spreadsheet credit. This was a dynamic, living, document that he and I spent numerous days pouring over to determine how to structure the CSP fleet not just for the immediate future but for a sustainable growth model that future Consuls and Summits would never need to recreate.

From there, I dove into his fiction, and such a rich tapestry does he spin. Recently, while discussing the evolution of his character I likened it to Batman and it truly is reflective of who Thran is as a character and a person; he's layered.

From writing some of the most elaborate fictions I've ever seen in nearly 30 years (he wrote a legit choose your own adventure story you have to see to believe) to being a champion of gaming within Scholae Palatinae. The overall gaming statistics as of late have there genesis with Thran's drive to improve his GMRG rank and, ultimately, to take first within the GMRG quarterly leadership board. This has taken CSP from averaging 50-100 clusters a week to averaging 300-500 clusters a week.

Which speaks to the leadership shadow Thran casts. While this shouldn't be surprising as someone who was a former Consul of Scholae Palatinae, he encourages everyone to perform better. He's a beacon for others to aspire to become and people like to play into the world he's created.

If you spend any time in the Scholae Palatinae channel you'll find numerous in-jokes that can trace themselves back to Thran. From Terrence, our lovable alpha predator Taun-Taun to Kevin, our on retainer lawyer; Thran's creative mind has had a hand in their creation.

Speaking as a leader within the clan, I'm ecstatic to see the activity that springs forth from Thran and that he draws out of others. Moreso, I'm glad to have someone who challenges me. While we all know #beatkam is the rallying cry of the clan, it's done in a good natured competitive spirit. I've found myself trusting his advice more and more. From possessions, to competition planning, to general discussions on where we see the clan growing he's a consistent advisor.

As I reflect in closing, I went from thinking I was going to pull my hair out with Thran to looking forward to our long voice chats. I couldn't imagine the clan without him and, even as I was writing this recommendation, he and I were discussing what comes next!

I couldn't help myself...I had to add metrics.

• Over 200 competitions completed
  
• Over 120 gaming activities
  
• Over 75,000 words written
  
• Over 50 Shadow Academy courses completed
  
• Over 12 degrees earned
  
• Over 50 crescents earned
  
• Over 2,500 clusters earned
  
• Over a year as Consul of Scholae Palatinae
  
• ~4 months as M:GM
  
• ~5 months as P:RGT
  

Master Kamjin "Maverick" Lap'lamiz, 2022-03-16 17:19:25 UTC

I want to first reiterate what others have said before: Thran is an encouraging, thoughtful and decisive leader in this community. He cares deeply about this club, and spends his immense energies dedicated to some its operation and evolution via his passionate work with the Regent's office. His contributions to the Possessions system and this club's betterment are second to none. His positive impact is also felt through his friendship, advice, and feedback to others.

Thran's work ethic translates into his ability to have fun and participate in club activities. Since Thran's last promotion, he has also lead by example as a member, completing a novel's worth of some really engaging and well written fiction activities that I continually look forward to reading, a ton of fun hours spent gaming and having fun with fellow club members, and dozens of other crescents earned through various competitions. In all things, Thran is driven to have fun, and to bring his fellow Clan and club mates along for the ride.

I am so honoured to contribute just a short addition to this momentous promotion event. Thran represents the best of us, and is immensely deserving of this recognition. Congratulations and thank you, Thran. Keep up the amazing work.

Raleien Sonavarret, 2022-03-17 01:00:22 UTC