Event History

I wish to voice my support for Wally's award. He has done an excellent job managing the Character Sheet 2.0 project. He put together a large team of volunteers focused on specific areas, and later cut the team down to one with greater focus. During the entire project, he remained committed and positive, giving excellent direction and advice and listening to everyone's opinions – and there were a lot to listen to. From discussing mechanics to wording to judging implications to fiction, the CS 2.0 team hammered out an excellent system under Wally's guidance, and were able to deliver this in a reasonable timeframe considering the scope of the project.

Wally was a major part of this, keeping us on track with gentle nudges, reining us in when our ideas got too crazy or unbalanced, and writing up half a dozen new Aspects. He also contributed re-writes to existing material to bring them closer in line with what the Iron Throne was looking for; Wally personally re-wrote every single Force Power, and several of those re-writes became the final product. Out of our new and revamped Feats, Wally was by far the greatest contributor, penning 46 of them himself.

He was very easy to approach with new ideas, like the Slow Force Power, which A'lora invented and explained. Seeing its merits, Wally had it implemented as a replacement for Stasis. He also kept us informed with regular emails on important updates and matters, and led discussion on several key points as well.

He was a visionary; he had worked with Sarin, Mav and Shad previously and had a firm vision of what he wanted to deliver, and he was able to outline this, through species and venues, Force Power and Skills, Feats and Aspects, there is not a single piece of this project that Wally did not have his hands or mind in.

What beggars my belief, however, is the incredible patience he has shown in dealing with the aftermath of our launch. During this time, many questions and criticisms were leveled at him and he has smiled and discussed and provided answers to each of them, answers which almost always resulted in discussion amongst the team. Given the amount of feedback received, his patience in dealing with it all was a staggering example of professionalism and ethics, making it clear to me that Wally cares quite passionately about improving our club.

That is, ultimately, what the CS2.0 project represents; an opportunity to provide tremendous benefits to our club, by introducing a more open, more flexible and more powerful system than before. The amount of blood, sweat and tears he has put in to directing and contributing to this project actually makes him the MVP, though the compliment was certainly appreciated ;)

Congratulations Wally, on a well deserved award for your incredible work on this project. Well done, mate!

I could probably take a paragraph saying how awesome Wally is as a dude, but I’ll leave that to the folks who know him far better. I’m just going to get straight to the point. Wally, when you boil it all down, was the glue that held the CS 2.0 team together and kept us working well as a unit. In order to get the best possible product, Wally brought together a group of folks that had a wide range of backgrounds, skill sets, and experience in the DJB which included most if not all the clans. A number of these people were leaders or former leaders and many had very strong opinions. We’d argue, debate, and bicker about topics both important and not and Wally would hear out every one of those conversations. In the end he’d be there to make the call when it needed to be made and not a moment sooner or later. He also did his best to make sure we had all the information we needed to do our jobs and made sure that we all stayed on our assigned tasks, redeploying resources when needed. Dealing with a group and process like that might be worthy of an AK all by itself, but that’s not where it ended.

What really mattered in the end is that Wally made sure we put out a good product. I might not have agreed with every decision along the way, but in the end I knew that Wally had the big picture in mind. He made sure that the end result of all this work was a product that would please as many people as possible while being readily able to be applied by judges and others down the line. That took a lot of effort and probably more than a few sleepless nights to accomplish and thus can’t be ignored.

I want to close this with one important thing. While during this process Wally and I disagreed on things, sometimes vehemently, in the end I have to say he was a pleasure to work with. That, I think, is the most important thing I can say.

You deserve this man.

~ Battlelord Kz’set Magistrate to the Voice

My first contact with Wally was when I submitted my first character sheet with rudimentary custom aspects. He took the time to give personal feedback and encouragement to a snot-nosed Padawan and his passion for helping all members of the Brotherhood engage with the character driven aspects of the club inspired me then and inspires me now after having the privilege of helping him with CS 2.0.

Wally's tireless work as Combat Master and member of the Voice staff is something that should be held up as example of what a leader and an Elder of this club should be. He doesn't forego sleep coding feats into the site, pour countless hours into relatively esoteric google documents or wade through the sea of strong opinions on how a character sheet system should work for pointy stabby things or to have his name in lights. Wally sincerely does what he does so each and every one of us can have the best experience possible and tell the stories we want to tell.

I was brought into CS 2.0 fairly early in the process last spring to help neutralize the very dark side legacy disciplines and branched out from there. I got to watch as he assembled a team of some of the best and brightest in the club and skillfully parsed us out to work on the various pieces that would become the new system. He made adjustments, gave encouragement, patiently argued the various issues and most importantly he led from the front. Wally isn't just a project manager, he's a leader, he probably wrote more of CS 2.0 himself than any single member of the team, almost to a fault. There can be little doubt that it was his will, his passion and his drive that kept things on track and on time.

A few characters on a dossier line or a image on the site are a small payment on the debt we all owe Wally for all the time, effort and himself he poured into this project. On behalf of all the members you've helped, inspired and been a friend to, great work boss, now shut up and take your shiny.

While I might have been late to experience the earliest goals of CS 2.0, Wally brought me into the project just after Disciplined underwent their initial draft. His initiative to building something for the masses without including personal bias towards certain facets of the development process is something that I have admired since the beginning of working with him on this grand achievement. Weighing the merits of each argument over the mailer and Telegram channels, Wally listened to each of our debates and was decisive in drafting a course of action that was both fair and favorable. This in itself is the one quality that I feel made Marick so successful in managing one of the best-organized project that we have seen thus far in the Brotherhood, as he made each of us feel as though we had a voice in shaping the future of the Brotherhood.

Where some leaders will decide on a course of action without thought of making further adjustments,Wally’s response to changes that might not have been favorable to some made it clear that he was open to new ideas that might be better suited towards the topic of interest. He’s an open-minded person, and his commitment to making things favorable to the masses is something that speaks of his character.

This aside from the mountain of feats, aspects and adjustments he wrote for the project makes him someone that we can all hold up as an example whenever we decide to manage something on a similar scale. Having worked with him for the release of this project strengthened the respect I have for Wally as our Brotherhood’s Combat Master. That being said, someone of his talents deserves some recognition for his efforts. He’s done one hell of a job, and is more than deserving of one hell of a reward.

Though more of a late-comer to the Character Sheets 2.0 than some of the others of our team, I can say for certain that Wally was more than the coordinator, executor, and driving force of this project: he was its beating heart.

It is, I think, my recruitment for the latter stages of this task and its post-release that allow me to comment so surely. It's easy to have energy when you first start a project, especially an exciting one. You're usually pretty hyped, full of grand ideas and plans, just starting to put together a team that looks all shiny. At first the work is enthralling, the tentative camaraderie strong, the goals just on the other side of the horizon. And then...you get to work. You hit roadblocks. You discuss, edit, discuss again, then throw things in the trash. You go back to the drawing board. You get rejected. You come up with something new. Discussions turn to arguments and small squabbles, and people get cranky and tired. Maybe one or two pieces are half-done and well-liked, and everything else, it seems, is in shambles - and it's not even been a month yet.

Not a lot of people can take their ideas and execute them through all of that. Not everybody reaches the finish line. Wally did. He encountered all these obstacles and more, particularly once the project was actually released and the real critiquing could begin. Throughout the entire process of the CS 2.0 project and ongoing ACC revamp, Wally assembled a team, delegated each member tasks to which they'd best be suited, steered them with deadlines, and held them all together through disputes and discussions alike. This is a busy, opinionated team that could easily turn up about 300 - 500 Telegram messages on any given morning, let alone any given day, debating the specifics of a single Force Power and coming up with explanations and solutions to its usage and incorporation into our system - and that besides the scores of email threads and legions of different documents and spreadsheets the team worked off of. Wally not only mediated, directed, and managed all this, but also did so tirelessly. His dedication, energy, and patience in the final stages of the project were what I would've expect from someone bright-eyed and just beginning, not someone who had been handling such a large endeavor and all its associated pieces and parts for weeks upon weeks, sacrificing sleep each night and plenty of blood, sweat, and tears.

But that's just how Wally operates. What he does he does well, because he cares, and he encourages his team to do the same. He asks for solutions, not just opinions. He asks for feedback, and listens. He effectively disperses workloads as to not overwhelm any one person while still accomplishing all that needs to be done. He answers questions anyone has, even implementing an FAQ for the CS 2.0 release, and creates resources like the CS-related wiki pages for members. In short, Wally doesn't just throw out ideas and see what sticks: he seizes those ideas, finds a way, and passionately sees them through to their end. He is a builder, and a namer, and deserves a good deal of thanks for all that it took to finish this project, and for all his responsiveness in further improving it thereafter.

Congrats, Wally, and thank you.

Atyiru Caesura Entar

Consul of Clan Arcona

In February of 2015, I appointed A’lora of as the new Consul of Clan Odan Urr. This appointment occurred at a time of great transition within the Dark Brotherhood and a time of great importance to Odan Urr. A’lora’s steady hand, calm leadership, and dedication to Odan Urr made him an ideal choice for the Clan and the Dark Brotherhood.

A’lora has not let us down as the leader of Odan Urr and has succeeded in leading the former House to becoming one of our strongest Clans. A’lora is communicative: composing 9 reports in five months, authoring over 20 original messages to his Clan, participating in over 50 news threads on the forums, and maintaining constant communication with his his subordinates and superiors alike.
A’lora is active: A’lora has co-organized over 20 competitions, participated in 17 competitions, and earned awards across the full spectrum of Dark Brotherhood activity: Clusters of Fire, Clusters of Ice, Clusters of Earth, and Crescents. More importantly than the tangible activities, A’lora is active in subjective ways that are immeasurable. He is a steady leader and guiding hand who provides guidance, advice, and a friendly word to all those who need it.

Lastly, it cannot be overstated the time, energy, and desire it requires to serve as a Consul of one of our Clans. The time drain, the constant emails, the small fires, and the need to make sure everyone is doing okay is a tremendous effort. A’lora has accomplished these things while also serving as one of our leading graphic artists. A’lora’s “additional” work has improved our club and enhanced the customization our members enjoy.

Congratulations A’lora. I appreciate all you have done for our club and for your Clan.

• Darth Pravus, Grand Master

A'lora has been exactly the kind of member and leader we hoped for when we chose him to be Consul of Odan-Urr. Often, the decision on a Consul of a clan is a difficult one; not so in the case of A'lora, whose application and plan for COU was so robust and strong that it was perhaps one of the easiest choices we've made. But A'lora didn't just write a great application, he enacted it. Immediately, he was running non-stop competitions, pulling his members into activity and encouraging them to be part of a wider Brotherhood. Prior to A'lora, COU's activity was seen by many on the outside as stagnant, internal, and uninterested in the rest of the club. A'lora has worked hard to change this perception, working with Atyiru on the Tides of Change competition, which brought our two largest units together for a massive co-op competition spanning three week long rounds and twelve total competitions.

During Tides of Change, A'lora graded events and wrote the majority of the fiction for the event, over 5500 words for his chapters. He worked hard to provide an engaging competition, not just to his members, but also to Arcona's. He and Atyiru completed a succesful event that drew participation from more than 50 members that completed more than 160 entries across both Clans.

It has not just been organizing competitions for Tides of Change, either. A'lora has twenty five competitions organized under his belt in the last 5 months, inspiring his members in everything from help generate mottos to develop the fictional future of the Clan. Under his guidance, Odan Urr has become one our most active Clans. In the first activity review I conducted, Odan Urr tied for the most unique participants, had the second most competitions run, and the second highest number of competition entries at 445. No longer do we doubt Odan Urr's activity.

A’lora’s plan for revitalizing COU is well on track, and he has proved a great choice for Consul. Combined with his excellent work for the Herald's office detailed by V'yr, more than deserves this Amethyst Kukri! Congratulations, A’lora!

• Dark Prophet Telaris "Mav" Taldrya Cantor, Deputy Grand Master

Evant Taelyan, is one hell of a member, and one of the hardest working people this club has ever seen. We planned epic stories, plotted massive efforts, braced against the threats that faced Scholae Palatinae, and eventually weathered the storm to see Scholae Palatinae reclanned. He was a leading voice in the push for GJW activity, tracking said activity, and prepping the rewards for the members of CSP. With the return of clan status we worked together very closely in planning out the housing proposals. These first few months of clan status would have been far more rocky had Evant not been here to help calm the ship. Our most recent storyline, Forgotten, focusing in on the leftovers the Infinite Empire left in our system was fully plotted out by Evant, along with him running the first act of it entirely by himself. While seeing him go on to the DC is amazing, there is a big Evant shaped hole here in CSP. He certainly left his mark here, and CSP is far, far better for what he has done here.

While fulfilling his Praetor duties to Aabs and the office of the MAA in general, Evant was always helpful. No question that I’d have was to dumb, and he was quick to give a solid answer. He explained a lot of the functions that were suddenly at my fingertips, and advised me on how not to break the site. Whether teaching myself and Landon how not to bugger everything up, or what was a good recc and what was a bad one, Evant was never hard to reach for help. He also did an awesome job handling the Equite promotions, and explaining why he would approve, or remand them, so that we’d know better how to do our own jobs. Thanks for all the help, Evant, and good luck.

Evant served as Aabsdu's Praetor for about 9 months - and in that time that we worked together he was a steadfast and dedicated worker. Evant participated in every discussion of higher level awards (more often than not on the more reasonable and less angry side). He was always willing to look the opposing view, whether it was mine or someone else's, and moreover, he learned to see the nuances in the way the Brotherhood awards its members. To me personally? His different approaches did teach me things - his crazy whacky ideas were sometimes so unbelievably off the mark (:P) - but sometimes he looked at issues in a different and ultimately effective way.

Those somewhat vague notions of MAAly activity, combined with his willingness to buckle down and approve (or not!) things over the last nine months from my own observations, as well as his spearheading (even though I hate the damn thing :) the golden recommendations? I heartily recommend Evant for that weird purple stabby medal.

Congratulations!

I may be a bit bias when it comes to Evant, but that's because I have had the opportunity to work under him in both the MAA office and CSP. I could speak on his abilities in the MAA and go on for weeks as he has impacted it that much. I won't name everything done as many have covered it above. The biggest impact that Evant has made comes in his honest ability to care for each members request. Many times when members had questions that some might find silly, or even readily available on the wiki, Evant takes the time to detail to the members the appropriate steps needed to correct or push through a pending submission. This kind of thought and dedication to our members was huge. I know many personally appreciated it. Evant is one of a kind and I know he will keep doing great things in the DJB. This is just the tip of the iceberg for him. Keep up the good work brother.

Seeing as all statistics have been revealed, I see no need in repeating them for everyone to know how hard this bearded man works.  However, I can tell how he has inspirded me and many to give more then they thought they could.  I, and many others, witnessed what he has got Taldryan to do, he pulled us back from the brink of oblivion and helped turn the house back into a clan.  But he wouldnt’t rest there, he kept us goin, not by demanding we go do what he wants, but he lead by example and inspired others follow. To anyone who doubts this mans inspiration, all they need to see is that Yacks accomplished the impossible, he got me to compete in fiction…..

Yacks you have earnt this. Congrats!!!

Armags

Halc, being the bastard that he is, covered nearly all of Yacko’s numerical contributions to Taldryan, so I will elect to cover what little Halc did not cover, as well as Yacko’s significant qualitiative contributions. 
 Yacko is our engine and our leader, and his activity drives the rest of us to contribution and ultimately, to do well. Since his last merit award 11 months ago, Yacko has completed 31 Aedile/Proconsul reports. Let me be clear, that is only honest to goodness reports as a leader in Taldryan, and it does not include his contributions as Recruit Tribune, Right Hand of Justice, or even his posting of Star Wars news. In contrast, the Dark Council has a mean reporting rate of a little under 8 reports (7.8 repeating), and a median of 8, with a range of 1 report up to 16 reports during the same time period. So what, you might say? Reports do matter. They keep us, as members, informed of goings on within our House, Clan, and the wider Brotherhood at large. They inform of us what we need to know, and what we should care about. Equally important, reports are demonstratable pieces that show us our leaders are alive and kicking - and in an era where that fact has been called into question on a number of occasions, it matters.

Additionally, Yacko’s leadership activity was demonstrated nearly a year ago, when he spear-headed (and hell, wrote the majority of) our clanning document. That document distilled what Taldryan was (and continues to be) as a whole, and why we were ready for clanhood once again. Incidentally, it was Yacko as the driving force in 2013 and early 2014 that allowed us to be ready for Clanhood, both as individual mebers of Taldryan - and as a greater unit. More recently, it was Yacko as the driving force in the clan being awarded its First Clan status. There is no doubt in my mind that without Yacko’s leadership? In the forms of his personal motivation to our members, as well as his leading from the front (see Halcyon’s recommendation of his personal levels of activity) Taldryan would not be the First Clan of the Brotherhood - because we would not even be a clan.

Congratulations, Yacko. Well done.

Howie

It has been nearly a year since we last awarded Yacks for his activity and hard work.  Within that last year he has held a pace of activity that is equal to many in this club.  He has participated in a mind-blowing 140 competitions. His participation in these competitions has garnered him 58 Crescents, a Gold Nova and a Bronze Nova.  Those Novae were part of the year-long Fading Light competition where Yacks stood at the forefront of Taldryan’s re-emergence as First Clan.  He was instrumental ins helping guide the Clan to a place where it hasn’t been in a number of years.  Without him this Clan would not be where it is today.   

As a leader in the Clan and the Brotherhood he has organized, or helped organize, 40 competitions, including a large-scale Clan-wide competition that ran over a few months and included regular plot updates incorporating the winners of the previous events and furthering the overall fictional history of the Clan.  

In gaming, he has been no slouch, managing to earn over 1200 Clusters of Fire and 10 Pendants of Blood.  And just to round things out, he has also earned 4 Legions of Scholar, a Scroll of the Master, 3 Scrolls of Foundation, 18 Scrolls of Indoctrination, 6 Dark Side Scrolls and 22 Clusters of Ice.

The above activity, the cold hard facts of what Yacks has accomplished in nearly a year, are truly a match for any member of this club.  The facts do not lie, but what they don’t tell you is the job he has done as Proconsul.  He has dragged the Clan, many of us kicking and screaming, back into true respectability.  He has done every aspect of his job, and then some, being the one who has become the face of the Clan.  This award is just a token of appreciation both from myself and the rest of the Clan.  I don’t know what would have happened to the Clan without him, but I doubt we would even be a Clan, let alone First Clan of the Brotherhood without Yacks’ constant drive and devotion.  

DP Halcyon Rokir Taldrya

If there is one thing we can say about V'yr Vorsa it is that he is one of the most dedicated graphics artists in the Brotherhood, a group of people that, more often than not, are very sorely misunderstood. Their work, however, is some of the most important. They design warbanners, robes, lightsabers, accessories, the bread and butter of our club for we view it on a daily basis - and then beyond this they make a variety of images that go above and beyond, that give our club flavour. It is with great honour that I would add this recommendation to the list for this award for a great artist.

The Herald staff keeps a list of tasks done over time by its staffers. One look at V'yr's list and you see, immediately, that a lot of work that he does is of high quality. A lot of his projects have been mentioned by Socks, but I will detail a small handful of his work for House Odan-Urr and Clan Naga Sadow to prove a point. Once upon a time, V'yr (then known as Tyren) designed the original Tenebrae battleteam logo, with little to no prompting. Since then we have seen him perform a wide variety of tasks, most recently including four beautiful maps for House Odan-Urr and a wide variety of logos for military units, battleteam works and event imagery. These images have provided a House with a graphical base with which it can inspire its members. Looking beyond this, to his impact on the Club - he has provided a myriad works that can be seen on members' dossiers. His contributions to the Herald staff cannot possibly be understated. Some examples? Slagar's beautiful double-snake lightsaber. Shirai's incredible gold filigree dragon-head saber. Kah's wonderfully gritty tribal claw saber. His work is peerless. It's unique, has its own style. We speak of Muz and Orv and Socks being unique in their own arts, with talent beyond the scope that we mere mortals can aspire to.

V'yr is so prolific that his name sits on that list, too, and he has never been Herald himself.

He's also a great mentor to myself and others; not only does he provide feedback on graphics work whether you catch him in IRC or email, he does so thoughtfully and with constructive feedback, as well as suggestions for improvements. These suggestions have improved the quality of my own work, including how my custom lightsaber turned out. He's provided feedback on almost every project I've worked on, from the Dark Crusade ribbons to the warbanner rails/medallion changes recently implemented to include Order works. He made the custom saber tutorial, which as we all know was such a development for the club that not only Herald staffers could access but even others could work on, helping us train a new generation of graphics designers. In fact, without him, I would not be designing as much and to the quality I do for the club. I rely on his feedback, his input, his inspiring presence and his ability to put out some of the most breathtaking work this club has ever seen. He's inspired me to be a better leader, a better artist and a better person, and for that I can never be truly thankful enough.

From a grateful fellow Praetor, please accept this recommendation with my thanks. You're one of the best we've ever had.