I am more than happy to second Farrin's recommendation of Darcy. It is often a difficult thing for members in other timezones to remain in contact and work with their clan mates. Darcy has not let that hinder him or his activity. I will let Farrin's Reccomendation do the heavily lifting here. Congrats on a well deserved award.

Korvyn, 2021-07-27 13:12:54 UTC

I don’t think anyone will be surprised at this reference, but when it comes to describing Appius’ contributions to the DB, I think Aaron Burr said it best: “Man, the man is non-stop!”

First, his numbers on the individual-member level are consistently high. Since his last recognition (a promotion to EQ2 on Dec. 24, 2020), Appius has participated in 49 competitions. He’s completed 7 fiction activities totalling 22,156 words, 9 ACC battles, and 2 run-on posts for 1460 words. As a result, he’s amassed a Crescent with Diamond Star, 3 Crescents with Ruby Stars, 3 Crescents with Amethyst Stars, and 2 Crescents with Sapphire Stars. Overall, his activities have earned him 2 Clusters of Fire, 81 Clusters of Ice, 25 Clusters of Graphite, and a Legion of the Scholar.

Second, Appius' contributions during Rite of Supremacy: Escalation were major factors in Taldryan's second-place finish. He participated in 22 out of 29 events, the most of any Taldryan member, and captured third place among the Expansionists faction. Besides his personal efforts, he contributed heavily as a leader, from the pre-Vendetta "RoS Hype" we sent out to persuading at least one Taldryan member to participate in the RoS when they hadn't originally planned to do so.

On a leadership note, Appius has organised 13 competitions since his last recognition in December, and has several others queued up for the near future. He's been a constant presence in both the Taldryan Summit and Taldryan Story Group chats, and took the lead on developing the storyline for our next Clan event. His "Character Questions" (which he posted several times per week prior to the RoS) have become a fixture in DB Fiction. I'll let Ciara speak to his contributions to the Shadow Academy.

In light of his continued outstanding contributions to both Taldryan and the Brotherhood at large, I hereby nominate Appius for a Sapphire Blade. Congratulations, App App!

Master Seraine "Erinyes" Taldrya Ténama, 2021-07-26 19:34:35 UTC

Since his last recognition (a Steel Cross in February of 2020), Zentru'la has participated in 83 competitions, earning 1 Crescent with Diamond Star, 4 Crescents with Ruby Stars, 9 Crescents with Amethyst Stars, 3 Crescents with Sapphire Stars, 2 Crescents with Emerald Stars, and 1 Crescent with Topaz Star. In particular, Zentru'la made very strong contributions to Taldryan in the past two Vendettas. In GJW XIV in 2020, he earned 2 Gold Novae, and 1 Silver Nova as part of the Taldryan run-on team. In RoS: Escalation, he earned a Gold Nova and two Silver Novae, and participated in every bin.

To get a general overview of Zentru'la's activity over the past eighteen months: In gaming, he's completed 2 PVP activities, earning 3 Clusters of Fire. In writing, he's submitted 35940 words of fiction and 1648 words of run-on posts, for a total of 91 Clusters of Ice. In graphics, he's earned 67 Clusters of Graphite for his competition entries. In the SHadow Academy, he's completed 34 courses, earning 13 degrees.

Zentru'la has also made his presence felt on the leadership front. He took over the Tavros BTL position from Bale last year, and served for a total of 5 months before the Clan Summit dissolved the BT. He's run three competitions open to all DB members. He's also been an active force in the Taldryan Story Group, regularly participating in discussions about the development of Taldryan's fictional lore and plotlines. Most notably, he's taken the "Vornskr Battalion" auxiliary division and run with it (including creating its Wiki page and featuring it regularly in his fiction), making it the most prominent of Taldryan's fictional divisions.

For his ongoing contributions to Taldryan and the Brotherhood as a whole, I hereby nominate Zentru'la for the Sapphire Blade. Congratulations!

Master Seraine "Erinyes" Taldrya Ténama, 2021-07-26 19:11:54 UTC

Since his last recognition (an Amethyst Kukri in February), Rian has participated in 18 competitions, earning himself a Crescent with Amethyst Star, a Crescent with Sapphire Star, 3 Clusters of Ice, and 6 Clusters of Graphite. In addition, Alaisy has informed me that he's completed an enormous amount of work in his capacities as Magistrate and later Praetor to the Herald, the details of which are included in her portion of the recommendation.

In light of his continued activity within Taldryan and his dedication to the HRLD Office, Alaisy and I hereby recommend Rian for the Sapphire Blade. Congratulations!

Master Seraine "Erinyes" Taldrya Ténama, 2021-07-26 17:37:38 UTC

Sera is without a doubt one of Arcona’s brightest lights. He consistently performs well, both as a member and as a leader.

Since his last promotion in November 2020, Sera has organized 11 competitions, co-organized 3, and has participated in 66 competitions. His participation has netted him 63 Clusters of Ice and 12 Clusters of Graphite. He has also won a significant number of Crescents (6 Ruby, 5 Amethyst, 7 Sapphire, 3 Emerald, 3 Topaz). He has also jumped into the ACC with both feet, participating in 7 matches and even taking second place in the recent SARLACC competition. Outside of the ACC, he has proven himself to be a prolific writer, having written 17,382 words of fiction. He has also passed 1 SA course, and gained 2 degrees and earned a LoS in the process.

In addition to all this activity, Sera also holds a couple of positions within the club. He has served as Aedile of Galeres since December of 2020; there will be more about his work below. Furthermore, he also works as a Magistrate to the Voice, and has done so for approximately six months.

Sera is constantly pleasant, upbeat, and an absolute joy to be around. Despite a very busy school schedule, he manages to be a constant presence on Telegram, where he provides a steady stream of encouragement and assistance to both newbies and jaded older members alike. For both his activity and his leadership, I am proud to recommend that he receive a Sapphire Blade. Congratulations and well done, Sera!

Lucine Vasano
Consul, Clan Arcona

Lucine Vasano, 2021-05-06 00:39:19 UTC

It is once again my pleasure to recognize Gui Sol for his activities since his last recognition. He has racked up 58 competitions, 4 PvP matches, 30 PvE matches, 1 ACC battle finished, 3 fiction activities worth 3121 words, 9 Shadow Academy courses passed, 5 Shadow Degrees obtained and 1 news post. While doing those he acquired 1 Crescent with Diamond Star, 3 Crescents with Ruby Star, 7 Crescents with Amethyst Star, 2 Pendants of Blood, 128 Clusters of Fire, 12 Clusters of Ice, 49 Clusters of Earth, 18 Clusters of Fire, 3 Scrolls of Indoctrination, and 3 Legions of Scholar. More recently, he led from the front in our clan vs clan feud, participating in 7 out of 8 feud bins and securing 16th place in the feud. Additionally, both as a regular member and as a leader, he actively reached out to members to ensure they got the most out of the feud.

Outside of regular activity, he spent 6 months as Rollmaster, and 3 months as Magistrate to the Fist. For rollmaster, he continued to do his everyday tasks like Master-student program, helping his fellow Odanites, giving them competitions to participate in, to name a few but I wanted to put a spotlight on his big recruitment project and a few other highlights. First, he created a RM group chat, where he and other Rollmasters help each other and strategize ways to improve the DB experience. This has gotten favorable reviews from his fellow Rollmasters. Second, he has helped support our community events with particularly our newer gamers by hosting 3 TOR events worth a total of ~9 hours worth of time. While this may not seem like a whole lot to some, he was critical to getting one of our newest members to not only play TOR, have fun doing it, but also he hyper motivated a member to do even more things than they normally would have.

His main project has been recruitment. Since his last recognition he has completed 1 major recruitment drive and is in the middle of another. With all of his recruitment drives combined, so far he has spent a total of 39 hours talking with 209 people. This has led to 10 people joining the site, light and dark side alike, and 3 of them reaching Journeyman 1. Those who haven’t reached the site yet know more about the DB than they did before Gui reached out to them and might one day still join us. A particular example comes to mind, where he expertly showed off the club’s characters sheets using his many droids, much to the pleasure of a fellow Star Wars fan. And then of course there are those that haven’t yet reached a high enough rank to award a scroll of indoctrination but are here solely because of his efforts. Not everyone is meant for the DB but he continually goes out and finds those who might join our little corner of the Star Wars universe. This has had the effect of keeping Odan-Urr’s roster high and brought in some wonderful additions to our community. :)

For all your above efforts, I am pleased to recommend that Gui Sol be awarded a Sapphire Blade. Thank you for the time and effort you’ve put into Odan-Urr. It is not only greatly appreciated but has improved the overall health of the club as well. Congratulations!

Aura Ta’var
Consul, Odan-Urr

Aurora "Aura" Ta'var, 2021-05-03 16:14:22 UTC

Since Mauro Wynter had become PCON, he has been a phenomenal leader and member of CSP. Always taking the initiative with projects like the formation of the wiki committee and working on the wiki to working with Sykes on rebuilding the CSP fleet, Mauro strove to help CSP grow and become as successful as possible. He was constantly engaged with members, even discussing with them to get input on CSP’s fleet. He also did his best to lead by example and took part in various competitions while hosting and co-hosting a few of his own.

To get into the metrics, since his last recognition, Mauro has participated in 128 competitions while hosting 10 of his own. He has engaged in 28 PVP and 5 PVE matches and has completed 1 ACC battle. Mauro has also passed 9 SA courses while gaining 2 degrees in the process. Mauro also has several awards under his belt including the following: 1 Crescent with Diamond Star, 4 Crescents with Amethyst Star, 6 Crescents with Sapphire Star, 7 Crescents with Emerald Star, 2 Crescents with Topaz Star, 5 Pendants of Blood, 165 Clusters of Fire, 14 Clusters of Ice, 173 Clusters of Graphite, and 14 Seals of Vision.

Overall, Mauro was a pinnacle of success and growth in CSP, helping to build the clan up from where it was before he became PCON. Many times he and I discussed what we could do to better the clan and the clan experience for the members, and how we could get people more involved with projects to help provide opportunities for awards and promotions. This led to the formation of the wiki committee where he led the charge in going through and either updating or archiving wiki pages. During the few times where RL had me take a step back from the saddle of CON, Mauro was always ready to take the reigns and made sure to be there for the clan in my place. With members, he was always there ready to listen for input and discuss concerns or ideas members had. As stated before, he devoted a lot of time with Sykes to the rebuilding of the CSP fleet, running simulations, and engaging in walls of conversation with the Summit and members discussing changes and results of said simulations in an effort to make sure our fleet was in top shape for the next vendetta event. Mauro also led the way in helping to set up an unofficial guideline for the summit in regards to evaluating activity on site towards promotions and awards given to members that followed the guidelines granted for such recognitions with both Syke’s help and one of the members of the MAA staff. In the end, Mauro was a spectacular PCON, and CSP is in a better place thanks to his dedication and resolve. He was absolutely fantastic to work with, and I am very honored to have had the privilege of doing so. It is with this reasoning I am more than excited to see Mauro receiving a Sapphire Blade. Congratulations, Mauro. Very well earned! I wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavors.

Blade Mistress Shadow Nighthunter, 2021-04-25 00:20:28 UTC

As I have been making a bit of a quest for the Clan to balance our books and ensure the recognition of our members, one member for whom recognition has been far too long in coming is Ashia Kagan Keibatsu. When I first became Consul, Ashia had volunteered to help give the Clan a kickstart by serving as my ProConsul. She went above and beyond for almost two years in the position- 21 months- before the siren’s call of real life drew her away. This is above and beyond what she had initially promised, and that alone is laudable. Over that time, there were plenty of talks in Google hangouts, over emails, and over Telegram. Despite my tendency at times to get distracted, Ashia would be there to help to keep things in focus. She was there as we plotted future plot developments, brainstormed story developments she was there as a steady hand with a less-than-steady new Consul. She was not afraid to give a nice swift kick in the butt when things needed done.

When you look at the successes in Clan Naga Sadow, like our Great Jedi War XIII placement as the Second Clan, a piece of that belongs to Ashia. When you look at many successes of the time in our Clan, dare I say all the successes, a piece of that belongs to Ashia. When you look at the success of Encounter at Citadel- an event we ended up having to pivot due to member feedback- the adjustment of course that helped ensure it ended up a well-received event was in no small part due to Ashia’s cool-headedness. A particular comp from the time run by Ashia was Conspiracy Theories which allowed our members to run with a rumor or story heard about the Summit. Besides this, there was the Old Fart Sadowans competition Ashia ran with our Rollmaster Tasha’Vel, in which characters would write a fictional account of what happens when our characters reach an old age. Then there also event like Operation: Antiquity, a co-operative event between Clans Naga Sadow and Plagueis taking part on a planet previously undiscovered by elements of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood. She helped to plan what we found on the surface and much more. Really, she acted as a HUGE push to get things done in that event, in both planning and execution.

She also helped in other competitions, like when we pitched the names of our new fleet assets to the Clan at large in A Rose By Any Other Name. The realization of Naga Sadow as a “Golden Era” style Sith Empire is in no small part thanks to the hard work of Ashia Keibatsu. As a group we took a good look at the strengths and weakness of Naga Sadow, and the discussion throughout the document where we discussed the whole concept as Summit members, I can see where Ashia addressed concerns or issues in a straightforward manner. She was not afraid to say where she was uncertain- rather she did not sugarcoat anything. Yet another thing I feel I have to thank her for.

On the whole, Ashia constantly worked with other Summit members in the background as it was needed. She would poke us to get things done. She would ensure we were staying on task. She would ensure we kept forward momentum. She acted as an overseer and a lynchpin during her time as the Clan second-in-command. She was a bulldog. She was the sort to go and to do. She would keep at people to get things done. We had fairly regular meetings about the ‘what do we have to do’ and ‘what do we need to do to get it done.’ I am probably getting a bit rambly at this point, but really Ashia was a glue at the time.

There is so much I feel that we owe her in where we are, and the manner with which Ashia operated has left an indelible mark. Today, I often take a more serious look at how I choose to operate, I think through it more, and while I can’t say I do so with a ‘what would Ashia do’ mindset, I can say that the memory of her time as my right-hand does bring those sorts of thoughts to mind: ‘is this really the best way we can do this’.

Some particular example of this would include how Ashia addressed the irregularity of our unit reports. Ashia directly engaged our Summit members, set dates where reports were expected and she followed up with members when those expectations were not met. She also evaluated the way that our Telegram activity was working for the Clan and realized that our members were spread out between no less than five distinct channels besides our core Clan channel. This meant we shuttered a lot of channels, but more than that Ashia also pushed on us to be sure we were engaging with members in our chat. Ensuring we were recognizing members for their accomplishments was a part of that!

She didn't limit that to just our Telegram channels, though. She pushed hard on each of our leaders to make full use of the mailing list to be sure that all our members were reached. These communication channels have been well-improved upon thanks to the actions of Ashia. As my Proconsul, she also pushed hype for things like the Great Jedi War hard. Beyond talking to just our membership, she also reached out to our title holders to try to rally the membership more thoroughly toward Great Jedi War XIII. These activities helped to push us to an excellent showing!

Actually thinking back Ashia also looked for places where we might be wanting in terms of recognition. As such, she provided a very new Consul with an overview of our membership, their activity and a list of recommendations for recognition both in awards and promotions. She addressed our leadership directly to get to know them and to find out about the members themselves, their temperaments and their goals.

One thing I think is quite worth pointing out: the addressing our reports, talking to our leadership and reviewing our membership's recognition were all things she did within days of taking up the mantle of Proconsul.

I realize that parts of this recc probably sound a bit flowery, and yet I find it hard to do a sufficient job of describing the appreciation I feel towards Ashia and the energy she put in during her term of service as PCON. Which is also part of the reason I feel some shame in that she did not receive this award sooner.

If you look at her dossier, you will see the 6 competitions she organized and the 23 that she co-organized. This includes the Encounter at Citadel, the OPERATION: ANTIQUITY, Rebels and Ruins and our return to Orian even in conception (and name) that became Redemption and Honor. That is another event that would not have gone down even half as well without her influence.

In the personal sphere, Ashia took part in 65 competitions, oftentimes supporting Naga Sadow and the club, such as in the Pro Bowl. She also supported the Clan by competing in Great Jedi War XIV: Homefront, Great Jedi War XIII: Discord and Rite of Supremacy: Meridian to name a few that stand out in memory. These were events for which she gained 4 Seals of Visions, 14 Seals of Discord and 10 Seals of Fury respectively. She took two Gold Novae in Great Jedi War XIII, a Gold Nova in Rite of Supremacy: Meridian and got a Bronze nova for the team-writing-faction-creation competition of the Rite of Supremacy. That is nothing to scoff at!

Additionally, she participated in 9 fiction activities with word count totalling 6382 words. She wrote 4 runon posts since her last recognition and composed an additional 2178 words. Again, she earned a total of 3 Gold Novae in the last three years and change since she was last recognized by an award as well as a Bronze Nova. Through her efforts she earned a Crescent with a Ruby Star, 2 Crescents with an Amethyst Star, 2 Crescents with a Sapphire Star, 2 Crescents with a Topaz Star, 2 Crescents with a Quartz Star, 18 Clusters of Ice, 34 Clusters of Graphite and a well-deserved Seal of Loyalty in 2019. I had already made mention of the 4 Seals of Vision, 10 Seals of Fury and the 14 Seals of Discord. On a lesser note she also wrote 7 reports as Proconsul of Clan Naga Sadow and even passed a 2 courses in the Shadow Academy.

Still, I feel like many of the statistics and accolades are really quite secondary to Ashia. I cannot and do not wish to deny any part of what she had done. I do think they show but a small part of whom she has been to Clan Naga Sadow over the years and as Proconsul. Really, that last spat of facts are but a small part. Given the lateness of this award, I am thankful I was able to detail in part the sacrifices she has made in time and energy, and that I might be able to better express the gratitude I feel for what she has done for Clan Naga Sadow and what she has done for this Consul. So without the slightest hesitation, I wish to submit this recommendation that Ashia Kagan Keibatsu receive this Sapphire Blade for all she has done, with the thankfulness of her Clan and the deep (and overdue) personal thanks of this dude.

Bentre Stahoes
Consul of Clan Naga Sadow

Bentre Stahoes, 2021-03-07 01:43:42 UTC

Since I returned to Clan Naga Sadow and House Shar Dakhan I’ve met a lot of newer members who have continued to make this a great Clan and House and make me want to stay here. Amongst those I think you would struggle to find one more consistently active as Augur Sanguinius Tsucyra Entar.

He first really came to my attention when I decided to try and max the Shadow Academy Society and decided to hit the courses hard. As quickly as I was submitting them, he and a fellow professor were marking and sending them back allowing me to keep going. When you look at the over four hundred he has marked since his last recognition, or the over eighteen hundred since he became an EQ4, that figure just keeps quietly rising which is why I am writing over four hundred because the figure goes up every day. I see newer members in our Clan working on the SA and being happy when they pass a course or get a degree and their society rank goes up and they’re onto the next course and Sanginius courses seem to be among the most frequently taken. It is the quiet work by Shadow Academy staff like Sanguinius that makes it an efficient process and rewarding for the members. As much as the high profile developments and changes that everyone notices and are written about in Dark Council reports are important, the work that quietly goes on behind the scenes every day is equally important and needs recognising for the benefit it gives to the Brotherhood and its members.

In addition to his work in the Shadow Academy, Sanginius continues to be one of the most active members of Clan Naga Sadow. Since his last recognition in 2019 he has organised thirteen competitions, noticeable amongst these was the Pro Bowl IV on which Sanginius worked with Clans Plagueis and Taldryan to create a fun multi clan competition for all their members, demonstrating his ability to look beyond his Clan to benefit members on a wider scale. In addition he has participated in forty four other competitions, earning an impressive sixteen crescents, three pendants of blood and over eight hundred clusters which shows his remarkably consistent level of activity. He is one of those members who has worked his way up House and Clan Summits to the Consul job, already has an astounding number of awards including four different sacramentals, and has never lost his enthusiasm for being an active member of his Clan and the Brotherhood. I feel that alone speaks volumes about his character.

Lastly, I am very happy to have him as my Aedile here in Shar Dakhan. Following the departure of his two predecessors in fairly rapid succession, Sanguinius expressed an interest in the role, and I was happy to accept. Since then along with a few other experienced members he is both a valuable advisor on processes that have changed since I was around before and a supportive but objective sounding board for ideas. He makes suggestions to develop or improve them such as the work we did last summer changing and developing our House’s fictional status. He also worked with me on the recent Inos Incursion competition, both helping develop it, hosting some of the comps, and heavily participating in the individual competitions I ran.

Having an Aedile and member who is both knowledgeable and supportive is invaluable to me, as is his activity that sets an amazing example to every member of our House and Clan. For all of his hard work for Naga Sadow, the Shadow Academy, and the Brotherhood, I am proud to recommend he receive a Sapphire Blade.

Malisane Sadow
Quaestor of Shar Dakhan

Bentre Stahoes, 2021-02-23 11:03:17 UTC

Qyreia Arronen is now sitting at one year on the Voice Staff, and his efforts here have been of the highest quality and quantity. Consistently present, and eternally insightful, Qyreia’s efforts have touched quite literally everything occurring in the #TeamVoice workload.

Over the last year, Qyreia has approved 47 of the character sheets that have come through the queue. With each approval, he has taken a careful eye to all the components of the pending sheet. More impressively Qyreia has been responsible for handling 67 of the remands in the last year. His remands are always professional and full of insightful wisdom to aid the member not only have a “passable” character sheet but one that fully utilizes the system we have in place. When not the direct author on remands, He still reviews and discusses every sheet that comes through for manual review, most often being the one to find logical inconsistencies between aspects and the skills selected on the sheet.

Beyond the day to day work of the CS and competition queues, Qyreia has been a massive aid on the many projects going on. He helped review and tweak the two new species, Skakoan and Ugnaught, after the proposals were received. He has been a very impactful contributor to the skills/force power changes, both pending and already implemented, especially as a logical/sanity checker for a lot of the changes going on. Most impressively however is his manual review of all the feats in the system. That is over 360 feats individually reviewed for consistency, grammar, and wording. This review caught dozens of errors.

Basically, Qyreia is a hell of a staff member, and one I am very grateful to have on #TeamVoice. For his remarkable efforts this last year, I recommend he be awarded this Sapphire Blade! Congrats Qyreia!

Idris Adenn
Voice of the Brotherhood

Lord Idris Adenn, 2020-11-05 22:47:43 UTC