- Event ID
- 100605
- Award
- Amethyst Kukri
- Quantity
- 1
-
Non-site XP
-
9965
XP
- Requested by
- Mandalorian Declan Roark
- Primary reason
-
When I first helped Shadow write up the proposal for the new Character System, I really didn't have an good idea of just how much raw time it would take to implement, but the immense amount of work needed became quickly apparent. Luckily for me, I've had an excellent team, and foremost among that team has been Wally, effectively my second in command. Wally has been a constant fixture on the Character System team. From the very beginning - even before I actually took over as CM - Wally was present and willing to help. He was admittedly skeptical at first, but he embraced the system quickly, and began to contribute almost instantly. From the middle of April onward, Wally has been tirelessly working by my side on the project. His work has included, but has not been limited to, writing the majority of Skill Descriptions, constant project feedback, constant feedback on how things would influence the ACC, generating Feats, names, Aspects, and is almost completely responsible for the entire Discipline writeups and Discipline Feats. In the last week alone, I suspect he has put in 20 hours of work (along with a few others), and he has been working on this project tirelessly for the last 3 months. I don't want to even guess at the number of hours he has put in, because it is easily in the hundreds. There were nights where Wally would apologize to me because he could only spend an hour on the project, as if the work he had already done wasn't already so significant and so impressive that I couldn't have gotten to that point without him. There is not a single member of this team that has basically been on the team since the start and contributed at a level of constant activity other than Wally.
Without his tireless devotion to the project and constant feedback and amazing work ethic, I really don't think this project could have been completed in the time it was. Wally more than deserves an Amethyst Kukri for his efforts!
~Mav
Combat Master
The Dark Brotherhood Character Sheet project was an enormous undertaking that involved months of planning, hard work, and dedication. Several members contributed to the success of the project by contributing to smaller projects, but only a few influenced and guided the entire project. One of those members is Marick "Wally" Arconae.
Wally's love for the ACC and our Character sheets was evident from the start of the project and was displayed in his tremendous effort to see this project succeed. He immersed himself in the FATE RPG system, Star Wars RPG systems, and the Dark Brotherhood's historical character sheets in an effort to help design a system that is not only better than anything we have ever had, but also synchronized with our future ACC development.
Wally edited and created thousands of individual entries for Force Powers, Feats, Skills, Character Attributes, and Disciplines. He worked insane hours staying up til 5 AM night after night to ensure that the project was on time and to standard. Additionally, Wally hand crafted the user guides and templates to help our members understand how to use the systems he was creating
It is not often that our members can attach their names to DJB wide projects that impact the entire club, but this is one that Wally can proudly declare as his. He has made our organization a better place and he has done so without expectation of reward or recognition. The Amethyst Kukri is the least we can do for him. Congrats Wally!
GM Sarin
Many will tell you of Marick's work over several years as Proconsul of Arcona. Many more will tell you of his recent transition to Consul and his work there thus far. More still will tell of his months of work on the new Character Sheet system and upcoming Antei Combat Center revamp. I will leave all those things for the others to note and laud.
What I would like to focus on, what I feel is most relevant to Marick's success in the club, is his Attitude.
Attitude is everything. It is a key fundamental of not only leaders, but those who follow them as well. Marick, whether leading or following, has maintained an outstanding attitude in all he does and with all whom he deals. This quality, this essential trait, is what has most impressed me about Marick and what has most encouraged me as to the future of this club.
I have had the pleasure of dealing with Marick across a number of ideas, projects, events, and concerns. Always, always with me he has been calm, cool, collected and professional. Exactly what one would expect from a leader in the club. Exactly what I would expect from someone receiving this award.
Marick, thank you for everything you do and continue to do on behalf of everyone in the club.
-Raken, Deputy Grand Master
One of the things that I worked hard to instill in those units who wanted to reclan was their ability to help the brotherhood at large, to turn their focus outside their own walls. This was an important differentiating factor in my mind, the shift from being self-absorbed to being concerned for the brotherhood beyond just a measure of self preservation.
One of those people I talked to during this situation was one new quaestor named Marick. He apparently took it to heart, embracing massive undertakings as he rose through the ranks. He broke bread with leaders of struggling units, trying to offer insight that could help them. He extended his help in trying to host events to increase activity across the club. He personally dove deep into the new character sheets and the new Antei Combat Center.
This is enough for him to warrant an award. For him to have done these things through the storm of acting as consul and holding together a clan that has been crushing almost all competition in vendettas is much more than that. I could say so much more, but such platitudes would only be glossed over by a man who has so much more to do, so much more to offer the club, that he would not care about what was written about him. So I will be brief. Give this man an amethyst kukri. Thank you, Wally. I'm looking forward to promoting you.
~Muz Ashen, Dark Lord of the Sith
Mandalorian Declan Roark, 2013-09-14 04:32:48 UTC
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- Event ID
- 131550
- Award
- Amethyst Kukri
- Quantity
- 1
-
Non-site XP
-
9965
XP
- Requested by
- Master Aramis Taelyan
- Primary reason
-
Wally managed the CS 2.0 project from the start to finish, as the member responsible for seeing it completed. As the head of the team, everything crossed his desk; every skill, Force power, Feat, Aspect and Discipline was reviewed and approved by him. From a team that was as large as 14 members at its peak, he divided up this work, assigning tasks, and keeping people on track to deliver on schedule. He allowed discussions and debates to proceed as members tackled their assigned tasks, assigning specific members to proposing resolutions, and making decisions himself as necessary to keep things moving. I personally got involved at the culmination of the project when I took over as Voice, where shortly following everything was itemized for GM approval, fixed as necessary, and then executed over a weekend to the site.
It’s hard to really quantify the amount of time spent managing people, so I won’t, but instead focus on the decisions that were made and the end product. It all resulted in a standardized language and comprehensive approach to the entire CS system as launch. It expanded on and improved everything.
During the process of the CS 2.0 updates, which expanded into Species and Venues, Wally did quite a bit of the work himself, creating all 3 of the new Disciplines (Arcanist, Defender and Techweaver), rewriting the existing Disciplines and descriptions of the existing 5 to standardize and improve them, including the recent work to write the Disciplines for 2 of the new NFO Loyalist/Mercenaries, wrote several new pre-written Aspects including 2 Templates that allow for minor customization that are pre-approved, reworked the mechanics for Skill descriptions so each level made sense, reworked the Force power descriptions so each level made sense, including writing and editing a majority of the descriptions himself, wrote over 40 new Feats to be added to the system, designed the template and plan for the new Species 2.0 information and framework for use by the team to standardize how Species are portrayed in the DJB, revised all the Venues in the ACC to improve their use for matches in a more generic way. With every individual word he contributed, he read and evaluated every word written by every member of the team for the entire project.
When the time came, and the words were written, ink still drying, Wally went to the site as one of few with access to do so and got to work himself. While the team wikified, he added Venues, new and edited Feats, new Disciplines and corresponding Feats, and Skills. He made sure the membership had ways to give feedback, and got answers, and continue a dialogue after launch. Including ways to submit bugs or issues they found. He continued these discussions and explanations to various concerned members in depth, implementing minor changes and adjustments as necessary, and has setup ways to continue that dialogue far after the team closes.
While managing the CS 2.0 project, Wally has dutifully kept up with his Combat Master duties over the past 6 months. A major portion of this has been Character Sheet approval, where he has approved about a quarter of all character sheets, and helping members of all ranks and Clans with their custom Aspects and creating the character they want in the DJB system. He has trained up 7 new Judges in the ACC, including myself, and kept the membership appraise of ACC ongoings.
I can’t really further quantify Wally’s contributions, but I feel I already have so I’ll toss in here and say that in absence of a Praetor to the Voice, Wally already basically fills that role on my staff in discussion on all matters. Looking entirely at the amount of activity he put forth, the scope of the project that was undertaken and impact to the DJB, I recommend Wally for this Amethyst Kikuri.
Master Aramis Taelyan, 2015-09-07 19:15:35 UTC
- Additional reasons
-
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!
Mandalorian Darcy Avarik, 2015-09-06 21:35:45 UTC
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
Grand Inquisitor Arden Karn di Plagia, 2015-09-06 21:35:16 UTC
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.
Champion Rajhin Cindertail, 2015-09-06 21:36:09 UTC
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.
Seer A'lora Kituri, 2015-09-06 21:36:37 UTC
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
Master Ruka Tenbriss Ya-ir, 2015-09-07 19:14:46 UTC
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- Event ID
- 215525
- Award
- Amethyst Kukri
- Quantity
- 1
-
Non-site XP
-
9965
XP
- Requested by
- Blade Master Aiden Lee Deshra
- Primary reason
-
Wally’s dedication to Arcona is unparalleled. Every action he takes is for the betterment of the Clan and the members who make it up. He is constantly working to make sure the members have a rewarding experience while they are here. He takes the time to work closely with leadership to ensure they are doing their jobs and know-how to effectively do so. I can always rely on him as a friend, a mentor, and an Elder DB’er.
Since his last time being rewarded for his achievements, Wally has organized 10 competitions. He has also participated in 169, winning crescents for his efforts (4 Amethyst, 4 Sapphire, 3 Emerald, and 2 Topaz). He has passed 4 SA courses. He has taken part in 8 PVP matches, 5 PVE matches, and has finished 8 ACC matches. He has also written taken part in 33 Fiction activities writing a total of 92,953 words of fiction. For his hard work, he has been awarded 8 Clusters of Fire, 28 Clusters of Earth, 247 Clusters of Ice, and 76 Clusters of Graphite. Hw has also been awarded 2 Legions of the Scholar and a Seal of Loyalty!
Wally was a full participant in both the last Great Jedi War and the last Rite of Supremacy. He made an outstanding effort to participate in each and every competition in both events! He earned 30 Seals of Visions and 28 Seals of Enmity. He also placed in several of those competitions earning 2 Gold Novae, 2 Silver Novae, and 3 Bronze Novae. He was named Third Hero of the 14th Great Jedi War!
Wally has been the Battleteam Leader of the Voidbreaker for the past 11 months. During that time he has taken painstaking care to ensure his members receive the fullest of his attention. He has run several RP’s and they’ve been highly rewarding for his members and successful in their job of driving our activity numbers. Wally’s work on the RP’s has been a cornerstone in teaching us how to effectively run them, and keep the members engaged.
He has also worked very closely with his Quaestor and Aedile’s. He teaches them and mentors them, utilizing years of experience and knowledge in running Houses and Clans. He has a tracking system that he designed to gauge and keep track of his member’s achievements and reward them when they’ve earned them.
I am incredibly thankful to have Wally on my team. He has been a pleasure to work with and I look forward to spending more time working alongside him on my Summit. There are few other people in this club that I believe truly cares about the members to the levels that he does. Wally, I happily award you this Amethyst Kukri! Thank you for everything you have done for this Clan.
Blade Master Aiden Lee Deshra, 2022-01-09 16:17:00 UTC
- Additional reasons
-
Wally/Zig/Marick has been an invaluable and endlessly enthusiastic Battleteam Leader, showcasing that no matter your relative position on the CoC, with drive and attitude, great things can be made! During his tenure (thus far), he’s really worked hard to drive up engagement within House Qel-Droma, especially in the field of Roleplay. As a literal pioneer in this field, he’s consistently run games and helped shape the mechanics of this new way of engagement which has, in my humble opinion, revolutionized how our membership interacts fictionally and led to some great character growth!
Further, he has worked tirelessly to document and expand the fictional impact of our members’ creativity, maintaining and expanding the Voidbreaker II’s crew roster and wiki-page. Never one to stick to tradition for tradition’s sake, he’s delighted us with new and more in-character flavored Battleteam reports (including Zig’s fanfiction corner), and his work as administrator of the finest Battleteam I have seen has been nothing but exemplary.
Despite his own and oft-repeated words to the contrary, he seems utterly incapable of just sitting in the sidelines. With great bemusement, often not an hour after exclaiming he’s taking his hands off the wheel and just letting things happen, does he come up with some new suggestion or engaging proposition, constantly poking and prodding both the Summit as well as the House membership to drive engagement in an enthusiastic and constructive fashion.
For his continued service, I am pleased as punch to support this curvy award for our not-so-straight Zygerrian Catpain!
Aedile Tali Sroka, 2022-01-09 16:15:55 UTC
Wally has been a constant mentor to me, a Senpai in the DJB who has taught me valuable lessons, not only in here but in life too.
He’s been a great friend for the almost 3 years I’ve known him. With him, I learned to always go PLUS ULTRA in vendettas and that “Any entry is better than no entry”.
He supported me through the last RoS, keeping not only me but many of his BTL members motivated, and even helping me in making sure I could get an entry to every competition without fail. Massive thanks for that.
As Voidbreaker’s BTL, Wally has done an outstanding job keeping the roster organized and active in chats and doing competitions. His work with the Exarch to make RP an accepted activity helped a lot of our members get Clusters of Ice when they normally wouldn’t, which is a massive plus in which it generates activity within the Clan.
Thank you for being a real friend Wally. One that teaches with patience and always tells the truth, not one who softens the blow so as to not hurt the others. I hope I can continue to learn with you for many more years!
I am more than happy to support this recommendation!
Dr. Aru Law, 2022-01-09 16:16:09 UTC
Since I’ve joined the Brotherhood, Wally has been one of my rocks not only keeping me focused, but always encouraging me to chase the goals I have whether it be IRL or for the DJB.
The lessons I’ve learned from him are undoubtedly invaluable. It’s because of his nudging I made another go at leadership! He is an awesome Battleteam Leader and is a delight to work with!
Congrats Wally, you deserve it!
Avery Watson, 2022-01-09 16:16:55 UTC
Wally has been a guiding hand of persistent belief for every one of Arcona. Not only does he regularly ensure that everyone under his stead is checked in on, he maintains documentation, offers help whenever he can and has been an amazing BTL over the last several months. In running several Roleplay missions, before and since the new implementation of it officially within the club, he has maintained consistent member activity and enjoyment. Through my time within the club I’ve found myself often going to him for proofreading and advice on applications, fictions, and proposal emails. He is truly non-stop in his efforts and encouragements, allowing me to take part in a BTL report and ensure that when the day comes I need to write one I would know what to do. His experience and guidance have shaped my progression in the club.
I am more than proud to be working beside him for the next year as Rollmaster and thus, enthuwusiastically recommend him for the Amethyst Kukri!
Envoy Zuza Lottson, 2022-01-09 16:17:14 UTC
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