The Shroud Syndicate, or Graphics Society as it is otherwise known, has been a massive project that took two and a half years to complete, ever since I became Herald. From the very start I had support from some incredible people, but none as much as Arcia (Esca). Esca had been my Praetor through the whole project, through thick and thin, except the last several months when real life took over. In this recommendation I will cover his many contribution to a project as massive as this.
We started off with a basic idea of wanting to create a way of giving members a good reason to create competitions and art for the Brotherhood and it all started with the Cluster of Graphite. While others covered the design of the award, Esca helped me in doing the main legwork and math behind it. Through everyday communication we worked out which activities would be awarded and by how much. He helped me greatly in calculating actual scales of awarding for each tier of competition as well as developing the, then very basic, system of competition difficulty classes which we have in effect today.
As we moved towards the inception of the Society, Esca was instrumental in setting up the very basics of the Society, drafting initial point values both for Rank requirements, progression through said Ranks as well as developing policies that would later be the rock we based our whole system on. His suggestions on which activities should award points towards Ranks was a pointer for me on where we want the Society to go. His help and criticism of all steps from the very basics to the Society fiction and later on finalization of the math, made my job much easier as it evenly distributed the workload, cutting the work-time considerably. To say that he influenced Society fiction is an understatement, as he helped not only write the fictions included in the Society's origin but proofreading, criticizing and helping with making a high quality product.
During the latter stages of development, Esca helped in many of the areas he had always worked on, including final points calculations, last-minute changes to policy and solidifying the Shroud's identity through communication with the wider membership and competition organizing. As I mentioned earlier, the last several months saw him step away from the project and the staff due to real life, however it did not stop him from helping out when he was needed. Despite creating just two skins for the Society, totaling 20 images members could use freely, his timely intervention prevented unnecessary delays in the Society's release.
For his many years of work on this project; for his many hours of arguing points, fiction and awards with me; for his unyielding nature and a firm, critical approach to a major Society project; for sticking with me down this path that many said would lead nowhere, I am honored to recommend Arcia Cortel with his second ever Sacramental award. If only I could do more.
Thank you for your long service, your dedication and your determination to see our dream fulfilled.
Captain Morgan Sorenn, 2018-05-20 00:23:38 UTC