Event History

Raistline Taldrya Majere is one of my oldest friends in the Brotherhood, and perhaps the second most important member of Taldryan’s summit currently. It’s hard to quantify the value of having someone like Raist on your team, he brings so much to the table while being relatively unassuming doing it. In retrospect, I feel like much of Raist’s career in the DB has been like that, and I for one am going to try my damnedest to stop taking him for granted. Howie will, as is tradition, go into greater detail about all of the specifics of Raist’s constant activity in the year since he was last recognized, but I want to talk about just a couple things.

Raist is always there for Taldryan. He’s always around to pick up the slack, and to go that little extra mile. Just recently, when both Howie and myself were completely tapped out in real life and with work, and didn’t have time to get some stuff going, Raist stepped up with his Gods amongst us competition. He organized with his fellow Quaestor Omega a series of 9 competitions, to give the Clan something to do in the month leading up to the new movie. Even the topic choice for those competitions was inspired. His constant presence within our chat channels led him to notice there’d been a lot of talk about comics, and how much our members enjoyed them, so he decided to use that and run a series of competitions based off the expressed interests of our membership. It’s the kind of thing only the best leaders in the DB are capable of… and Raist does it without thinking.

Raist’s abilities and desire to be a leader for the Clan are special. He’s a man who values absolute substance over meaningless style, and it’s a virtue I think we could all benefit from emulating. He’s always willing to do what is necessary and whatever is asked of him, without any complaint. He goes about his business without the fanfare and egos that have become part and parcel of most of the leaders in this club, and quietly works to better his House and his Clan and perhaps most importantly, himself in any way he can. I remember that at one point, Raist was unhappy with the quality of his own reports. He thought he could do better, so he went out and sought the help of Halc in order to be able to write reports he felt he could be proud of. He also is a man who understands that some of the most important work a leader in this club is preparing the future. Since his elevation to Quaestor, Raist has been a constant mentor to his Aedile Bobecc, and his battleteam leader Seyda Norith, and even his colleagues in Dinaari. I’ve personally seen him working hand in hand with every member of Taldryan’s summit to make sure they know that they always have his support and guidance.

But it’s not just those under him that he lends his support to, even while he was a Battleteam Leader Raist has been supporting me in my position as Consul. He’s a trusted advisor who benefits from both being an old school tally as well as being fresh enough to have a hint of new car smell. His insights and opinions have led me to make numerous policy changes and try different projects out in Taldryan, not the least of which was implementing a gaming and fiction related House within the Clan. Perhaps more importantly, Raist was one of the first to point out to me that the experiment had failed. Being able to come up with good ideas is one thing, it takes a rare person to be able to move effortlessly past a failed idea without becoming overly sentimental and attached, and just keep moving forward.

These are just a few examples of all the help Raist has given Howie and I over the last year as first a Battleteam Leader, then Aedile and finally Quaestor in House Ektrosis. Raist has been a true constant, and a very able assistant to us, and he’s done it all while continuing to be personally active and balancing a terribly busy real life schedule. I’m thankful that I have Raist in Taldryan, and I am extremely grateful that I can call on him to help me carry the burden of leadership.

For all of your hard work, and dedication over the past year Raistline, I am pleased to present you your very first Sacramental award: the Sapphire Blade. Congratulations bud.

Keirdagh Taldrya Cantor,

Consul of Clan Taldryan

Keirdagh Taldrya Cantor, 2016-02-04 04:03:20 UTC

Kordath is, in short, brilliant enough to improve any office or accomplish any task in this club, whether or not he thinks it. He's a natural leader even if he'd rather not people follow him, an example of the best a member can be even though he'd deny it, and a preacher of fun and humanism that's ever in need of reminding when things get too competitive or dramatic. Though he's currently doing a stint as our Rollmaster, and was a Battleteam leader before that, his status in those position is hardly his only accomplishment. He's absurdly active, ridiculously inspirational, and undeniably helpful in every aspect of Clan and Brotherhood life. And for all that...it's about time he got a pointy blue stick to prod the Journeymen with.

Braecen will elaborate on Kordath’s Rollmaster time to you all but, in brief, Rollmaster is a unique position in the club to begin with, and in Arcona, our Rollmasters have always had their work cut out for them. We currently have 40 Journeymen or Novitiate rank members, and Kordath is responsible for looking after every single one of them. Used effectively, a Rollmaster like him must keep track of all those little ones' activity, presence, and status, even those that present little more than pixel lines on the site; manage and track their Masters, discussing the students' welfare and the pairings’ health; communicate with each member's Quaestors and Aediles as they work; and chip in on any recommendation or evaluation of any given member in the clan, as though a Rollmaster primarily serves Journeymen, he also serves the Clan as a whole. With so many changes happening at the entry level for our club and the Star Wars universe in general behind all this, and new membership numbers expected to spike, the position has become paramount to member retention now more than ever. Kordath has long gone above and beyond in every single regard of his position, throwing himself at every task, large and small, while balancing the demands of being a extraordinary member for both participation and production. He is, in honesty, considered a "third" Quaestor for Arcona, not only excelling in his Rollmaster duties but also generating activity while to keep up with the Brotherhood's largest active roster. And, as if all that work with the Clan’s Journeymen and Equites alike wasn’t enough, Kordath also trained a student of his own, Lonewolf, to Dark Jedi Knight at the same time.

While others attached to this recommendation can further detail not only the ins and outs of Kordath’s Rollmaster and Battleteam leader tenures further, I will also acknowledge his gratuitous activity as a member and brilliance as a role model. You would be hard pressed to find one better. Since his last recognition a mere two months ago, he has participated in 70 competitions, organized 8 competitions, co-organized 1 competition, submitted 18 PvP matches, 69 PvE activities, written 10 fiction activities totalling a whopping 20,157 words, 5 Run-On posts of 7,498 words, and gained 2 Shadow Academy Degrees. He has also collected 16 Crescents (2 Cr-D, 3 Cr-R, 7 Cr-A, 1 Cr-S, 2 Cr-E, 1 Cr-T), 5 Pendants of Blood, 1894 Clusters of Fire, 45 Clusters of Ice, 79 Clusters of Earth, 1 Scroll of the Master, and 1 Legion of the Scholar. He has also closed in on the pinnacle of 260 career competition submissions and over 100,000 words of fiction written, a beacon of demonstrable activity for his peers. It does not stop there, though. He was instrumental in writing the story for the Clan event ‘Fall of SCEPTER’ and helped create another clan event titled ‘Captain Arcona: Civil War,’ which was just greenlit by the Clan Summit and MAA and has already begun receiving submissions. His contributions to the proposal, fiction, and brainstorming of events was impressive when the scope of the competition as a whole is taken into account.

For not only being an exemplar Rollmaster but also for being an utterly incredible member — as others will detail — it’s our great pleasure to award Kordath his first sacramental blade. There’s not another Ryn I can name or any Arconan would go to hell and back with. He’s more than earned it.

Atyiru Caesura Entar

Consul of Clan Arcona

Golden Envoy Abbey Atty Attiter Ann, 2016-01-18 16:16:05 UTC

Adept Braecen Kaeth has returned to the Dark Jedi Brotherhood with the activity that is consistent with his past performance. Braecen's efforts towards our club are long standing and his recent efforts are even more impressive. Braecen, we are appreciative of your dedication towards our new members and the work you have put in towards the overall improvement of their club experience.

Grand Master Declan Roark, 2015-12-26 04:36:00 UTC

Eighteen months of continuous service in a term lasting between five positions is no small thing. Adjusting to each of these positions of leadership is something this is by tradition a gruelling experience that requires someone to sit down and get to work on introducing their ideas outlined in the applications before being chosen for the position. Maintaining oversight for longer than I can remember in Odan-Urr, I have seen Nathan overcome this obstacle times beyond measure and without breaking a sweat. Rather, he has been able to have his ideas readied before tackling the challenge of settling into a new position with a focus on different members than before. This is an invaluable skill, and one that makes him suited towards whatever position we toss at him whether as a Battle Team Leader, Quaestor, Rollmaster or Proconsul.

Divided from this continuous term, we also seen another three months of leadership from him as the Battle Team Leader of Strike Team Ooroo. Most in our Clan haven’t been around long enough with the oversight to have witnessed all that he done for the team, but those who have are well aware of the task we set for him—to breathe life into a declining Battle Team that was on the verge of closure. Nathan, of course, managed to see the team’s numbers swell to rival that of our other Battle Team, the Knights of Allusis with the activity to call his term a success.

It wasn’t long before Nathan found the time once more to lead our then-House as one of the best Rollmasters to manage an otherwise overwhelming number of recruits. As I have so often stressed, Odan-Urr is one of the few units to have placed a massive workload on the Rollmaster position, until it was re-imagined under Nathan’s guidance in his next term in that same position. We once held the most members in one unit—double that of most Clans and far surpassing Arcona’s roster. Most of these were recruits seeking guidance and without the leadership numbers to manage, the task fell as a burden on the Rollmaster’s shoulders. Nathan bore this well, establishing a working record of not just the recruits, but the entire membership’s achievements that included a full list of awards, time since last merit medal and time since their last promotions in what I still view as the best record-keeping in the Brotherhood. Although it wasn’t in his list of duties, Nathan also hosted two competitions during this time.

More notable was his concurrent term as the Battle Team Leader of the Disciples of Baas, a new Battle Team that was then geared towards our Consulars. Although the model has fallen out of favour in recent times, he introduced this as a conceptual model that worked in alignment with the Guardian-centered Knights of Allusis and the Sentinel-aligned Strike Team Ooroo. Working alongside the Battle Team Leaders of both other subunits, a wiki was drafted for each that outlined their fictional roles and the roster was filled with active members to compete with the Knights of Allusis and Strike Team Ooroo. Eleven events were hosted for the Battle Team for three events that were written in the same manner as our current Clan-wide events, which include a fictional narrative to guide the event. One other competition was hosted as a clan-wide filler to grant members with some opportunities to gain crescents.

Knowing his success and long career working with our recruits and Battle Teams, we wanted to see if Nathan’s drive would hold under the strain of the Aedile position, acting as second to Liam Torun during the Dark Crusades. Though the Vendetta-scale event hadn’t allowed him to run more than two competitions, Nathan focused his energies towards bolstering a dwindling unit that was then burning out from endless phases of the Dark Crusade while suffering from a loss of House events. As our later numbers in the Crusades can attest to, we recovered despite facing the threat of closure at the time as Nathan ushered in a new drive with his Summit to see our participation numbers rise.

As greater evidence to attest to our improvement, our elevation to Clan was a strong one that brought with it a foundation rivalling Arcona’s, even though we lacked the experience of being an older unit. Nathan was one of those that had a hand in the two-week transition where we were able to establish a foothold with our doubled resources in record time. His involvement included having authored a number of documents in a project known as “Transcendance,” which was a roadmap we would follow on attaining Clan status with a working method to see our duties become defined in less than a week. Although we haven’t been notified of the possibilities of adding additional planets to our domain, Nathan still had worked on the redundancies that would have brought with it two wiki pages of existing planets in our solar system and a fictional backstory revolving around what was to be the Kit-Kunis Corporation.

Returning to the oversight of new members in the position of Rollmaster, Nathan was effective in training our Quaestors to take over the former Rollmaster duties in favour of transitioning the Rollmaster into an auxiliary position that worked in tandem with the Consul and Proconsul as a third voice and contributor to events. 42 individual competitions that included his involvement in running our Clan-wide events Tales of New Tython: Lost Civilization, Sentinel Network: Sanctuary and Rise of the Force Ascendant have made this his crowning achievement. Moreover, turned the Rollmaster position into something more than the usual mentorship program, creating far more oversight into individual members than all other clans—that is nothing to scoff at, being that this man has single-handedly tracked over 70 members while the remainder of the Summit focused on content creation. His work ensured that Odan-Urr, as a house and now as a clan, is able to produce awards without someone falling through the ice. Without these records in the form of multi-page excel documents and constant calls for recommendations (to which he already has the relevant information, well in advance of a member being prepared for an award,) we would have fallen short on awarding our members. Throughout his service (in this position and others,) he has provided me with regular internal reports on all the issues he sees, tracking reminders, and suggestions. In addition to this, he created the core guidelines for our refurbished position inside of a multi-page document for future Rollmasters.

More than often, we have asked ourselves—how does Nathan do it? To which, he introduced to us a network of spreadsheets, graphs and google documents that now form the foundations of our Clan—that is, how we have been able to ensure that our members are cared for without falling through the cracks. With one of the largest rosters in the Brotherhood, the importance of having such a net should be obvious in the interest of keeping a large portion of our active membership satisfied. Even though these members are here for fun, retention rates can often be linked to how members are being awarded; it is in our club’s nature to follow a model that awards for participation in activities.

Over 34 competitions Nathan has participated in since his last award for service to his Clan, he has amassed a Crescent with Ruby Star, two Crescents with Amethyst Stars, a Crescent with Emerald Star, three Crescents with Topaz Stars and three Crescents with Quartz Stars. He’s also earned 7 Clusters of Fire and 24 Clusters of Earth for gaming activities, with 9 Clusters of Ice for fictional contributions. For Vendetta-level events, Nathan has gained six Seals of the Crusader and two Seals of Revelation. His crowing award, however, is the Scroll of the Master earned for training Edgar Drachen to Jedi Knight—one of our most active members that has a reputation of being a top gamer for the Brotherhood.

I can’t begin to fathom the number and quality of his recommendations for our members for awards ranging from Dark Crosses to promotions, totalling 69 distinct recommendations. Most would see this as a meaningless task that is expected of all of our leaders and members; however, the extent to which he is involved in collecting records of each member in advance of an award being considered and the fact that his name is on a long list of award recommendations both inside and outside of his expected domain is nothing to scoff at. Other units restrict their recommendations to direct leadership, whereas Nathan has awarded members from all across the club.

Most recent, and sending his efforts over the edge for a Sacramental was his assistance in running our latest (and largest) event as a Clan, being the Rise of the Force Ascendant. He was crucial to developing thirteen events were co-organized between himself and the Summit, having graded 138 submissions and 23,503 words of fiction from 30 unique participants. The event fiction—a collaboration between the organizers—consisted of 6948 words of fiction that he was a massive boon to editing, planning and drafting for final release. This, however, does not include his own efforts in boosting our fiction with his own series “Sins of the Father” consisting of 5606 words of fiction.

His track record speaks for itself, and I could not think of a better way to thank him than giving him the sacramental that he deserves. Congratulations!

A'lora Kituri, 2015-11-16 09:32:32 UTC

Well on his way to two-and-a-half years as Praetor to the Headmaster, Ood continues to play a role in nearly everything that happens in the Shadow Academy. Every single course released during my tenure has been either edited or coded for markdown by Ood. He keeps the behind-the-scenes work of the Shadow Academy organized and helps me track and address the errors -- typographical, substantive, and database-related -- that are brought to our attention by test takers. He also helps me by stepping in to grade exams as needed, whether by filling in for a retired Professor or covering for a staff member on vacation.

Since his promotion to EQ4 last summer, Ood has graded 98 exams, advised on most degree and Shadow Academy Society changes, helped manage the magistrates and other staff, and edited or coded for markdown dozens of new courses and revisions, including:

• Ten new and revised history courses launched last year
  
• Major revisions of the six old CORE courses and Dark Brotherhood Basics
• All five new CORE courses and exams
  
• Major revisions to Philosophy 1 and 2
  
• The brand new Planets and Moons and Regions of the Galaxy astronomy courses
  
• Work on all of the new leadership courses: Rewards, Competitions, Reports, and Management
• Rewrites of Alchemy Studies and IRC Basics
• Countless minor edits to all of these courses and others

Ood continues to play an important role at the Shadow Academy, and I am very happy to be able to recommend this Sapphire Blade.

Lord Dacien Victae, 2015-10-09 13:34:39 UTC

This medal is actually extremely late. Upon assuming the position of Grand Master I had intended on awarding multiple individuals who supported Muz during his incredible reign as the Grand Master. One of those members was Ashia. It is uncomfortable awarding family members, awarding spouses, awarding anyone connected to you, but that does not mean that those members did not participate in the improvement of this club or provide invaluable insight on untold projects.

Ashia's last sacramental award was never. Take that in, never. Her last promotion was five years ago. Members might look at those statistics and find an incredibly unfair and comparable time period with the exact same time her husband was in charge of our club. He wouldn't award her to avoid impropriety or at the very least complaints of impropriety.

So, I will fix it. Ashia Keibatsu served as not only an adviser to her husband, but also to myself, and a host of other Dark Council members. She participated in nearly every competition, project, and award for a period of four years with out award. Many of us would go to the JST with a violation this heavy, but Ash just dropped her head and accepted her role as a an unspoken adviser to the GM/DC.

I think we are probably way past the days of saying the wife, and active wife, of the Grand Master is beyond receiving awards. The unfairness of 5 years without a promotion and an entire DJB career without a SAC is agitating and incredibly disgusting.

Ashia provided insight, help, and work on nearly four years of projects, fictions, and quite frankly the existing state of the DJB without receiving one shred of credit. I'm not in favor of that now, or never.

I apologize for the late submission of this award, the attitudes that say "what did she really do", or any discrediting behavior to someone who has done so much for us.

Thanks Ash. I am indebted to your sacrifices and dedication to this club. I appreciate both you and your family for all you have done on our behalf.

Sarin

Grand Master Declan Roark, 2015-09-13 01:36:18 UTC

The Herald has created six new versions of the website, new order logos, possession weapons, robes, ribbons, and new avatars. He has done this in a short amount of time and that hides the sheer volume of work accomplished. I asked V'yr to revitalize the office of the Herald and he has accomplished it. Time does not diminish achievement.

Congratulations.

Grand Master Declan Roark, 2015-09-09 21:03:37 UTC

I am proud to submit KE Locke Sonjie for the Dark Brotherhood's Sapphire Blade. Locke has been a tremendous addition to the role of Consuls and has served in the best way I can image. Locke serves by caring about his members, checking on his members, and fighting for his members. He engages the DC for their awards, he engages the DC on their behalf, and he generates a solid foundation for Naga Sadow to operate from. Congrats Locke!

GM Pravus

In a time where activity wasn’t exactly at a high point in Naga Sadow Locke stepped up as an Aedile and showed people, including his fellow summit members, that it is perfectly possible to participate in all events in a given competition, first by participating in all five events in the third round of Fading Lights, as one of only two people in the Clan to do so, and later by being the only Sadowan who participated in all 11 events in the eleventh Great Jedi War, he also participated in the first round of the Fading Lights where his run on team just missed out on the medals in fourth place.

In the last 14 months he has also participated in 20 Clan competitions, placing in the top three in 13 of them, seven out of those he placed first. Beyond participating in competitions he has also organized or co-organized 26 competitions in the last year, some of them were part of a multi-event clan competition he ran together with the Proconsul at the time, Macron Sadow. This event, Orian Assembly Three: Vengeance, ran for a little over three weeks and it came with many fictional updates from both organizers to help the people of the Clan to not only see the fictional direction the competition was going in but the clan as a whole as it played a big part of our fictional advancement, following the Dark Crusade and Fading Lights, the two major Brotherhood wide events that had helped stall the fictional advancement of Naga Sadow for the better part of two years which further emphasized the need for plot updates like the ones Locke and Macron provided. His most recent series of competitions, Proving Grounds, is a series of short and fun competitions with three competitions per week over three weeks, these have seen more participation than most competitions in the Clan has for the past two years.

His fictional updates also showed in his regular reports where he would start the report off with a brief piece of fiction revolving around mostly Shar Dakhan but sometimes the Clan as well and most recently he posted a rather long piece of fiction that explained the transition from me being Consul to him taking over, how a former Arconan had become his Proconsul and how the Clan would now be taking a more prominent and more public role in the running of our home system, Orian.

Outside of his regular duties as Aedile he also served as my sounding board last fall when we had to decide how to spend the many fleet points Naga Sadow had earned during the Dark Crusade and Fading Lights, I’m not exaggerating when I say we spent 20-30 hours discussing this, if not more. His input played a big part in our move towards trying to make the way our navy and army would work more realistic, even if the Brotherhood as a whole pays little attention to this. Of course this meant that I couldn’t have my Brotherhood-class Star Battlecruiser… damn him. In the end the many hours of discussions lead to a more well-rounded fleet and a much more well-rounded army, which may not have been the case if I’d been left to my own devices with the fleet points.

In the past year or longer Locke has consistently been the most active summit member, and member in Naga Sadow and I can’t think of anyone more worthy of this Sapphire Blade. Congratulations Misty… I mean Locke.

Son of Sadow

…………………………….

I am honoured to be recommending Locke for this Sapphire Blade. He has been a hard working and dedicated member of the Brotherhood, participating heavily during the Great Jedi War as well as the Crusade. As well as trying to help motivate members and keep them driven inside of the Clan, taking valuable time in his very busy personal life to go out of his way to assist them with anything and everything he can.

Since his last award, Locke has been a driving force inside of the Clan. Though most of his time has been spent leading, first House Shar Dakhan, then the Clan, as Malik has spoken about, I am here to point out all the things that are taken for granted. Since his last elevation Locke has managed to participate in a spectacular forty competitions, these include Fading Light, Great Jedi War XI and the Crusade in general, helping Naga Sadow continue to participate in events and giving the approach of leading by example. All the while encouraging members to participate themselves. For all his efforts he has managed to earn himself: Two Crescents with Sapphire Star, Five Crescents with Amethyst Star, One Crescent with Topaz Star, One Crescent with Quartz Star, Five Crescents with Emerald Star and Two Legions of the Scholar.

If this wasn't enough for the participation in competitions, Vendettas and the Great Jedi War, it has also seen Locke pick up Twenty-Seven Seals of the Crusader and Eleven Seals of Revelation in response to the competitions he has participated in. With Locke its almost a guarantee that he loves his fiction. Its something that I have come to expect from him and he has undoubtedly proved it to most. For his work inside of Run-Ons, fiction events or just general writing activities offered by the Brotherhood he has managed to earn himself a total of Twenty-Seven Clusters of Ice.

But Locke, having spent most of his time in the Brotherhood in leadership, listens to what the members want. For that reason he has run a huge amount of competitions, supplying members with things to get stuck into and engage with the lore and direction of the Clan. Needless to say he has aimed to please everyone and in doing so, has given the members of Clan Naga Sadow forty-two different competitions to get involved in! That’s an insane number, yet continuing to promote each of them with the same passion he has always had for this Club.

For all of his efforts Locke has put in inside of Clan Naga Sadow, he continues to earn himself merit medals. Through dedication, drive and passion he has managed to achieve One Steel Cross, One Anteian Cross and One Dark Cross since his last elevation. Locke is never one to want praise or thanks for his work, he keeps his head down and tries to stay under the radar. Even for the good that he does, all of his efforts and time he committed into the Clan saw him receive Two Seals of Loyalty as recognition for this time consuming, hard work.

He goes out of his way to help others, I have seen him come in exhausted from work and instantly sit down and start interacting with members and leaders alike, all to improve the working of Clan Naga Sadow. Though he may not care to admit it, he puts the members of this Clan above himself all the time, if he has a spare five minutes he will speak to members and try and get their opinion on matters like where to take the Clan in the future, what they want to see inside of the unit, competitions, events, anything you can think of. All geared towards getting everyone and anyone involved in the progression of the Clan.

Sometimes what people ask of him takes him out of his comfort zone. With Locke very much preferring to write, he has taken up the call of gaming when it is needed, as such he has also managed to earn himself Ten Clusters of Fire. All the while encouraging the gamers of the Clan to continue their quests, their raids and their flashpoints.

Since I’ve joined Clan Naga Sadow, my journey with Locke has been a non-stop upwards ride. Sure, we have had some downs, but that is always going to happen in any endeavor. He has always looked ahead; what we want to achieve, what we want to happen and has not stopped getting everyone involved in learning their roles and responsibilities. Since stepping up to the position of Consul of Naga Sadow, Locke has released multiple joint report informing members of all the changes that have been taking place inside the Brotherhood as well as trying to get older members back in the swing of things on the site.

He has had to take control of a relatively new Summit since taking on the responsibilities. Having to teach a Proconsul on the fly, and having to adjust him into the way Naga Sadow operates. Something I can say he did with great detail and quickly, making me feel part of the team almost instantly and getting me to the level of understanding I have for this great Clan to date. Though he has pushed me further, making me think on everything and never taking out of the equation the way to speak and interact with members and deal with every kind of situation that takes place inside of the Brotherhood.

As well as showing me all of my roles, we have recently had to start over with a new House summit within House Shar Dakhan and a new Quaestor of House Marka Ragnos. Locke has been interacting with them and getting them to a level where they have been productive and hell-bent on the expansion of Clan Naga Sadow, keeping the clan at an all time high in terms of membership. When Locke took over the Consulship, we had forty-one members at best, now we sit at sixty members with activity flooding our inboxes on a daily basis.

He has been productive in organizing and maintaining smooth and effective communication with both members and leaders. Recently, Locke has organised and run a three week long event with a series of competitions called ‘Proving Grounds’ which have been wildly successful so far in attracting members of all ranks and experience to participate. In a Clan that that had so recently suffered from a lack of activity during the last few rounds of the Dark Crusade, the work Locke has put in to capitalize on the revamping of the Clan, the new Summit and the drive towards the future has produced that activity that was so needed.

Since Naga Sadow change we have seen steady progress, something that the Clan needed for some time. Leadership is about giving and Locke continues to do so, making sure that the members under him are always busy with something to do, from running competitions to having events to get involved in. It seems that he is always looking at new ways that he can expand and progress the Clan something that is expected of every Consul. During my time serving under him he has seen Clan Naga Sadow get involved in a joint event with Scholae Palatine. This event was something that was planned form the start, with Locke constantly communicating with the summit of Scholae to get the event organised as well as having a plan on how to deliver fun competitions to the members.

The event was well executed from the beginning to the end, making sure that he knew each step and that everyone did there jobs, as well as pushing the Leaders of Naga Sadow to get there members involved, for all these late nights of planning and constant back and forth communication we saw a well organised event that brought us more activity. Locke is a stable figure head for Naga Sadow and always knows whats going on, as well as how to drive and encourage his members keeping open communication with everyone. Its an awesome sight to see and one that has been missed in Naga Sadow.

For all of your hard work, it is with joyous and well deserved honour that I see you awarded this Sacramental Blade. You have been completely outstanding in everything you strive to do; from day to day IRC presence to emailing members, to working with the leadership and guiding new journeymen. All of it is to a very high standard. Thank you for everything Locke and I look forward to our huge pile of work in the future. Congratulations bud, looks like the drinks are going to be on you tonight!

Proconsul of Naga Sadow

I’m not one to mince words. Locke has been a godsend to Naga Sadow.

His work within the Clan has given hope to it, revitalized the love that the members have, encouraged new members to join and contribute. We often find that units are like families. They have the jokers, the parents, the annoying children, the weird uncle. Locke is the guiding light within that family, the father figure.

My interactions with Locke have always been interesting. We first hit it off when I was Quaestor of House Galeres all those years ago and Locke was in his first stint as Consul of Naga Sadow. We often had long discussions via pm about issues we were facing and possible solutions and ideas. I cherished those namely because Locke always had a unique way of solving those problems and made me think about how I as a leader could contribute and continue to both involve and motivate my members. Since then, I’ve counted him as both a friend and an example to follow.

Locke has always been an inspiration to those around him, even though he won’t admit it or even thought about it himself. He creates lore, he teaches both leaders and members how to behave, what he expects from them and what they can expect from him. He gives so much, his time, his ideas, his dedication.

Locke is more than deserving of the rank this Sacramental. As such, I’m adding my recommendation so that he can stand as a veritable beacon of what it means to continually put others before . Congratulations, Locke. I know it won’t go to your head when I say nice things.

Grand Master Declan Roark, 2015-06-29 19:13:28 UTC

Howlader was one of the applicants during my initial Praetor search, and while I ultimately select Evant I also knew Howie’s experience and wisdom were not things to brush aside. He had, after all, already served as P:MAA before! So I tweaked the system and arranged for a Special Magistrate, an advisor of sorts with specific instructions not to process requests (because I wanted my Magistrate to learn how to do these things). Instead, he helped guide discussions. He helped answer questions. After a time he helped correct backend mistakes with competitions. He also helped returning members restore dossier medals and accomplishments.

Howie is also Howie, and pretty much everyone knows what that means: no nonsense, tell it straight, not afraid to let you have it. He’s seen it all before. He’s one of those single digit dossier types. And he has not agreed with all of my MAA ideas. I specifically wanted Magistrates to process requests, not he. He presented potential issues, but went along for the ride. He’s never liked MAA competitions (not that there are many), but all the same helps us select golden recommendations. Sometimes we discuss things in way too much detail, but he also helps bounce ideas around or provides much needed “how does this compare to previous MAA” feedback.

I consider my staff to be the absolute fundamental reason why the MAA Office succeeds. They are awesome, and from August 2014 to June 2015 Howie served an integral part of that staff. Nearly every Equite and Elder promotion, every sacramental award, and most everything else involved discussion. Sometimes everyone walks away agreeing; sometimes the room is divided, but Howie always keeps pushing forward (all while achieving leadership milestones in Taldryan, I will add). He served perfectly in his made up Special Magistrate position, and I want to recognize these feats as he now moves on to real responsibilities as Praetor. Thank you, Howie, for all your hard work and tireless ranting. — Aabsdu Dupar, Master at Arms

Zanet Xox, 2015-06-28 16:32:58 UTC

Since I have begun working with Cethgus, I have witnessed a member with an amazing amount of dedication, drive, and commitment to the Brotherhood. Detailed below is his work not only with me, but as an awesome leader to his new Clan, as a project coordinator, and as a motivator. I can safely say that I would not be where I am today were it not for Cethgus.

To begin with, Cethgus has shown a remarkable ability to coordinate projects. As soon as he became Proconsul in Naga Sadow, Cethgus looked at the Clan wiki pages and catalogued what needed work or what would need revision. He then called for volunteers to work on the pages, and assigned pages to each volunteer as they came in. After this, Cethgus got them onto a Hangouts call where he could do one page as an example, demonstrating exactly what was expected and clarifying that for anyone that did not know how to do it. This has resulted in several pages being completed quickly and efficiently. Cethgus was able to demonstrate what was necessary, keep everyone organized, and also keep them on task.

Cethgus is also a leader in the more social aspects of the Clan. He regularly gets members involved in IRC conversations and Google+ Hangouts, gradually helping those who are more shy to socialize and also emailing older members to get them involved. Cethgus has organized weekly Hangouts, often scheduling them far in advance so everyone has a chance to join in. These activities have greatly increased the level of involvement from the Clan. Members are glad to have a Proconsul who reaches out to and speaks to them. As a result of Cethgus' efforts, they join our conversations, and then continue to be involved in Clan activities.

Cethgus has set an awesome example for other Summit members, in addition to his efforts to help the Clan. He takes the time in Hangouts or in written discussion to explain to them in detail what they need to do. For instance, our House leaders were recently planning events for April, and when it seemed like they might not know how to approach it, Cethgus got everyone together and explained how to get started. He has integrated quickly with the Clan, and worked alongside myself to provide stronger guidelines on Summit requirements, ensuring the effective operation of our Summit. For instance, with Cethgus' help, I have been able to get a lot more effort out of the Clan Summit, while keeping them interested and enthusiastic.

One way Cethgus exemplifies great leadership was represented in the recent week when we had no Rollmaster. Cethgus took it upon himself to perform the duties during this time, taking the initiative to volunteer for it immediately. In this role, he contacted every Journeyman in the Clan, he established at least three Master-Student Pairs out of existing members, and assisted a long time member of the Clan to get to Knighthood. In this way, Cethgus demonstrated the proper role of a Rollmaster, while we were running applications to fill the position.

In addition, Cethus has been a great partner to me in returning to Clan leadership. He his almost always available for me to bounce ideas off of and discuss things with. He has brought many good ideas to the table, and offers a unique perspective. When I ask for a blunt, honest opinion, Cethgus doesn't hesitate to provide one. We have also been able to coordinate our actions really well, so that when one of us is busy, the other is usually able to address Summit and member concerns. One example where Cethgus was very helpful was in the recent Proving Grounds event we ran for Naga Sadow. He helped me brainstorm competition ideas and write the competitions. Then he encouraged members to participate by building a friendly, competitive atmosphere. Finally, when it came to judging, Cethgus helped with a lot of the leg work with the competitions and offered constructive opinions on the ones that were more difficult to judge.

Furthermore, Cethgus' accolades have demonstrated his drive and dedication to the club since his previous award. He was Quaestor of House Galeres in Arcona for thirteen months, from his previous award in January 2014, to his transfer to Naga Sadow in February of 2015. He served as a Magistrate to the Fist for six months, from that same January to June 2014. He ran 25 competitions during this time and participated in 22. The competitions he ran included a Clan wide event called "Figureheads", which he jointly ran with SBM Nikola Valtiere. He also wrote much of a wiki page for this event. He earned 521 Clusters of Fire, 20 Clusters of Ice, three Pendants of Blood, and an Emerald Crescent during this time as well. Finally, he earned a Scroll of the Master for mentoring a student to Dark Jedi Knight. As a House leader, Cethgus led the way, having high participation in both Fading Lights and the Great Jedi War. As Quaestor, Cethgus released a report every month, and as Magistrate, he helped coordinate the TOR guild, releasing four news announcements to promote it.

Though I was not present for the Quaestor activities, and am not a TOR player myself, the facts of Cethgus' history speak volumes about his involvement in his Clan and the club, and his dedication and leadership. He led from the front lines in competitions with high participation. He set a quality example for other leaders with his regular, well-done reports, while also taking the time to mentor a student to Dark Jedi Knight, as noted above.

The above paragraphs show again and again that Cethgus is a highly dedicated individual and a value to the Brotherhood as a whole, as well as any Clan in which he involves himself. He served for a long time in Arcona before switching to Naga Sadow. Cethgus exemplified the example that Arcona seeks to set in helping the Brotherhood, by sacrificing his career in a highly successful Clan to transfer and assist one that was really struggling. In just a short time, Cethgus has helped me turn Naga Sadow into a powerhouse that shows little signs of the stagnation and defeat it suffered from only months before.

For these reasons, I would like to recognize Cethgus Tiberius Entar with this Sapphire Blade, for his extensive efforts across two Clans. Thank you, Cethgus, for being such a valuable part of our Brotherhood.

KE Locke Sonjie
Consul of Naga Sadow

Epis Locke Sonjie, 2015-04-15 18:10:29 UTC