The Sapphire Blade, beyond an XP milestone, has always been a symbol of long term dedication to not just competitions, but to service and loyalty to the Brotherhood or a position within it. I believe that serving on a DC or Society Leader staff, at any level, is going above and beyond the typical member churning through competitions, and deserves to be awarded on par with regular club leadership. Because giving of yourself to benefit others is something that cannot be quantified with XP or numbers.

For the past 2 years, Atty has been a consistent, day-in, day-out member of the Exarch Staff. She came in and immediately aligned with my goals for what RP needed to become, culturally, for this club. She saw the opportunity to build that community and did what she has always done best: engage directly with members that might have other been too shy or anxious about trying out the RP format and empowering/encouraging them by learning their characters, understanding them, and gently coaxing them into activity while building their confidence. This is highlighted by her commitment to running, on a dedicated consistent schedule, the Shame Corner RP series that she created and operated, which I'll expand upon next, as this award will focus on the intangible things that were achieved instead of just a copy and pasted datapoint. She has also been a part of our project proposals and policy documentation that we've had to clarify, draft, and implement as RP has changed and evolved.

The Shame Corner's premise, after its initial launch, has become that the RP would be run for 1 month only and would close consistently the last of the month to ensure that all participating members could generate or get their "streak" point towards RP Player Trophy progression. This has the result of getting members who might otherwise be shy or not sure how to get involved with RP to advance in the ranks and get the award-feedback loop we designed for the Envoy Corps. It also gave a familiar, consistent setting that grew and evolved with the members who took part regularly, and offered an "open-to-all" option for those who were not able to fully commit to a structured RP or felt otherwise lost in larger social RPs run by their units. There have been 16 iterations of the Shame Corner, and this consistency has held up through all her other efforts to be online and present for the members of these sessions. She also established the Shame Corner Wiki page and ran supplemental competitions to make it feel more like a living venue, increasing the value-add for members that engaged or took part in the activity.

Running a large social RP like this involves hours of work, planning, and coordination. And while we do award Golden Envoy Marks and CIs, neither really serve as a motivation as she was one of the first few to hit Rank 12 in the DM Trophy, but also the current record holder for most CI's in the clubs modern, documented history. Neither of those milestones stopped her commitment to helping members write their first times, or continue to write their characters into RPs with empathy, patience, and understanding. This has helped embody the definition of the culture I hope the Exarch Staff and its members can strive to achieve as continue forward.

Statistically, in her 2-year term, Atty has approved 112 RPs, a process that involves reading over/spot checking the RP before processing it to the site. This is more than any other member that's served on staff, which shows her around-the-clock dedication to making sure RPs are finalized in our workflow check/balance. That does not include the manual submissions that were handled before we had this workflow in place and the tracking. Similarly, she has lead the club with RP sessions organized at 26, and since RP can only be completed with at least 1 other member, this shows the commitment to engaging with others and getting them inspired or encouraged to write stories in our clubs sandbox. She has also lead the club, by example, with 129 RPs as a participant. This dual-commitment to running and participating in RP activity has, in one shape or form, helped RP reach the milestones it has over the past 2 years.

In closing, thank you for your service to the Exarch Staff, the Envoy Corps, and the clubs efforts to make RP it's marquee feature and a place where everyone is encouraged to write their character and stories.

-W

Legend Wally, 2025-11-25 00:22:07 UTC