When a leader looks to evaluate whether one of their subordinates is ready for a senior Equite promotion, in this case to the rank of Equite 3, there are three metrics by which we should measure: Personal achievements, Clan contributions, and Brotherhood-wide impacts. It is not possible when examining what Teylas Ramar has achieved in those three areas to come to any other conclusion other than that he is deserving of promotion.

On a purely personal level, his list of awards is quite extensive: A sapphire blade, steel cross, anteian cross, 3 novae, 3 crescents, 12 pendants of blood, 2533 clusters of fire, 18 clusters of ice, and 33 vendetta seals.He is one of the most active gamers in the Brotherhood as shown by his impressive ability to earn clusters of fire and pendants of blood. His vendetta seal total speaks to just how active he is when competition time rolls around and Plagueis needs its best on the front lines. Even serving in a leadership position where the opportunities to participate in clan competitions are limited (mostly because he was organizing and running most of them), Teylas still entered 41 individual competitions between the date of his last promotion and now. An impressive list when presented, it's more important to look at what that list means. All too often, there are people that are active in fits and starts, blowing the doors off the Brotherhood in between bouts of extended hibernation. Teylas is not one of those people. He is the absolute benchmark of what it is to be a consistently active participant in the organization we all love to play around in. Every day, every competition, every opportunity. While Teylas is part of Plagueis, he is one who lives by Howlader's motto for Taldryan: Do all the things!

All too often, those in leadership positions end up either focusing on their job to the detriment of their own participation in our organization or allowing their leadership obligations to take second place to their own personal achievement. I think Teylas, by contrast, has been able to find a perfect balance with his continuing contributions to Clan Plagueis. He has served at some level of the Plagueis summit for pretty much every day since his last promotion, he was integral in helping prepare our clanning proposal, he has published a report for whatever position he held 11 times without fail in that time. All of that is great, but it really only rises to the level of doing your job. While that is important, advancement truly hinges on going above and beyond. After Plagueis had scored its victory in the Dark Crusade and finally reached the mountain top of becoming a clan, the clan entered the doldrums. Clan Plagueis was a reality, and as such the long term goal that had been driving activity in the unit was gone. The unit did begin to drift like a ship without a course. Seeing this, and knowing that such directionless wandering could be the death of the Clan we had all recently fought so hard for, Teylas championed a new course. Six months into 2014 Teylas, along with several other members of Plagueis, approached then-Consul Aabsdu about holding a intra-clan feud to help build activity again. He was integral in it's development and presentation. The Sphere of Influence feud was a resounding success, and was absolutely critical to prevent the slide back into lethargy that was afflicting Plagueis at the time. Fading Light III was not an overwhelming success for Plagueis on the activity front, so Teylas went to bat for yet another event to rally activity again with the Great Jedi War looming on the horizon. Developing, running, and grading the event along with Kz'set allowed me as Consul the luxury of sitting back and being a participant again, and I have no doubt that Plaugies's activity would have floundered come the Great Jedi War without the shot in the arm that the Anchorage event gave to our unit. During the war itself Teylas was a commanding presence on the battlefield, leading from the front with both his activity and encouragement to other members. In short, without Teylas's presence I have no doubt that we would not be the Clan we are today.

One would assume that the above achievements to both himself and our Clan would be enough for any one person, but Teylas apparently would disagree. Six months ago Teylas joined the Master At Arms' office and threw himself into the life of the most time intensive (and possibly soul crushing) departments the Brotherhood has to offer. The MAA's office isn't about long term projects, it's about making the day to day operations of the Brotherhood function. Medals, promotions, competition requests, all of these things have to be processed in a timely manner to ensure that the wheels don't come off. Teylas has been an important part of keeping the MAA's office smoothly serving the needs of our membership as a whole. He served his time in the dungeon, telling people no and helping them make their recommendations better, and is currently looking to re-up for one more tour. Teylas also has made sure to focus on bettering our organization on a more micro level beyond such macro focus on his MAA duties. His personal recommendation brought Evoroth Stigaryl to the Brotherhood and helped him to the rank of Dark Jedi Knight; he also took Marduss under his wing as a new join and mentored him to Knighthood as well. The Brotherhood's ongoing success is built on bringing new members to our organization and mentoring those that find their way here on their own, and Teylas does not disappoint in either capacity.

If Teylas Ramar were a professional athlete, he’d be what they refer to as a “complete player.” I’m thankful to have Teylas by my side as a colleague in Plagueis and happy that I could see him reach the rank of Sith Battlelord.

Vivackus Kavon di Plagia, 2015-02-26 02:17:08 UTC

Teylas, HAP Quaestor. I speak the name in awe. Honestly I don't know how he puts up with everyone sometimes, but he does. And he's damned good at his job too. I've known him by name since I joined and have had communications with him over both IRC and email. Always quick to help out if you find yourself in trouble, always quick to pick you up when you're down. His leadership qualities in Ajunta Pall always shine and he goes from strength to strength.

Admittedly, I don't know Teylas as well as Arden, but from what I do know of him he is great with members old and new alike. Always there to help if it's needed and quick to point out anything you can do to better yourself, he excels in his job. Having two apprentices trained to DJK is a fantastic feat, and his recent Gold Nova show his commitment to the members of Ajunta Pall and to the Brotherhood as a whole. All in all a great member/leader who deserves recognition for all the hard work he puts into this club. Congratulations, Teylas. May you continue your steadfast approach to bettering everyone's Brotherhood experience and enjoy your EQ3!

Envoy Taranae Rhode, 2015-02-26 02:15:15 UTC

I got the great opportunity to work with Teylas as part of the MAA staff over the past six months, as someone who I only knew prior to the experience as a member of Plagueis who hadn’t been around very long, things have come a far way to this recommendation for a promotion to Sith Battlelord. He certainly can stand among those who have earned the rank of Equite 3 and stand among them as an equal. Speaking specifically of his work on the MAA staff, he has taken on Wiki improvements and streamlining to improve communication with the membership, taken on dossier details discussions and people take their dossiers very seriously, worked on competition policy and administration decisions, MAA policy on many matters from members restarting their dossiers from scratch to promotional authority discussions to if a member is considered AWOL if they idle on IRC, improving the crescent levels, ideas and suggestions and thoughts of things never implemented, and things that will continue to be implemented going forward as things adapt, recommendation quality and policy discussions about how and when to push back for improvements and when to just approve as is, unit transfers that aren’t always straightforward as they should be, and countless different medal and promotion decision discussions from Dark Cross to Sapphire Blade, from Apprentice to Elder, and from every single unit across a wide range of personalities. He also remains very angry to this day about people replying to all on emails. Congratulations on your promotion to Sith Battlelord Teylas, it’s well deserved.

Lord Nevan Taelyan, 2015-02-26 02:15:42 UTC

When selecting Magistrates, Teylas was my pick for “leadership experience but little MAA experience.” I hoped to teach one of Plagueis’ and the Brotherhood’s strongest leaders more about the MAA process and expectations, and I think the experiment has gone very well. Teylas is always an active participant in the regular email thread discussions my staff gets into about everything possible: character restarts, competition detail forms, sacramental award standards, and his favorite topic of all -- people replying all to automated emails. He also pulls his weight in approving and remanding requests, helping to create the fastest turnaround I could ask for on everything that doesn’t need a greater discussion. Teylas has performed exceptionally as a Magistrate and, I hope, learned a lot in the process. The MAA office, when it works, is a well honed machine. Every gear grinds smoothly and quickly, but you rarely notice each individual cog. Teylas has excelled at keeping the machine running over these past seven months as while continuing to perform in his roles within Plagueis. Thank you, Teylas, this is well earned

Zanet Xox, 2015-02-26 02:16:51 UTC

Let me start with an honest truth, Plagueis wouldn’t be what it is without Teylas. We have plenty of people who are as active as he is. We have a few that put out the consistent quality of work that he does. There may even be a couple who are experts in rocks. OK, probably not that last one, but that’s not his only unique quality. Above all else Teylas puts everything he can into the unit and that is what makes him truly stand above others.

Lots of people can rack up lots of Clusters of Fire and Pendants of blood, though few have done quite as much. Lots of people can do “all of the things” (TM - Howie) and can rack up crescents and novae. Teylas has done all that while at the same time doing everything they can to ensure the unit’s success, sometimes in subtle ways. There have been a number of occasions where something important has slipped my mind and Teylas was right there to make sure I got done what I needed to do. This was particularly clear during the Anchorage event where there were a couple times he kept me on task. To some, things like this could be seen as annoying, but it’s not. It shows he cares and wants things to go well, and that is something I personally value quite a bit.

I could go on for a very long time about all the things he’s earned over the past year or so. Even though he’s earned more CFs than I can count, participated in 37 competitions, and earned a number of crescents and novae, those things aren’t what is truly important. Teylas’ dedication to the cause is what makes him truly special and deserving of this honor. I hope to see more in the future. Good job, and good luck!

Grand Inquisitor Arden Karn di Plagia, 2015-02-26 02:16:07 UTC