44,000 XP. Equite 4. A benchmark that haunts us and which serves as one of the last major benchmarks before Ryuu, or as we all affectionately know him, Nero moves on towards one of his lifetime goals with the Brotherhood, reaching Elder. 44,000 XP. A benchmark which a younger, less disillusioned Nero with the current systems of the Brotherhood would have raced towards, full of zeal, and broken while baiting me to catch up with him. When he first recruited me one of the first things Nero instilled in me was that promotions within the club were 'difficult' compared to the shared spaces we had back in the day, wherein some people could literally write their way from the bottom to the top over the course of a week. He told me of the requirements, time in position, participation in societies, and more. These days are much kinder for all of The Brotherhood, giving us clear requirements, a clear progression system, and helping to prevent burnout from stagnation.

Nero has been a driving force in Odan-Urr and has served us in several ways since his return, joining us as Magistrate to the Consul and acting as the head of our gaming sector, kickstarting the monthly COU Cluster Races, following the trends of hot releases and feeding that information back down to the Clan, routinely speaking with the FIST as well as other Councilors, and acting as a go-between (simply because he was often much more sociable than me as I was still learning the ins-and-outs of my position at the time). His experience having worked in various Staff positions through the years was a boon to us, and even beyond all of that, he has always been a friend of mine.

Though Nero has always had one golden rule during his time on our staff, one which saddened me with all the good work he put in; "Don't make me responsible for people." It meant that as Odan-Urr transitioned back to the traditional Houses format, he would willingly relinquish his position, despite the great work he did for the Clan, and the fact that even since his departure he has gone to bat for members of the Clan and for fairness throughout The Club when he felt there was a potential of disparity in systems, someone was being treated unfairly, or a competition was unfavorably tilted towards a certain group/demographic, situations he has routinely brought to my desk, and certainly others.

While Nero often plays himself off as a surly and disinterested person, in truth, he is deeply moved to provide fairness, balance, and equity for the entirety of the club. He will debate his stance on a matter tenaciously and stand on principle. While there have been plenty of times during our nearly 15+ years of knowing one another when we have disagreed, I know that if there is anyone in the Clan who will go to bat for fairness, it is Nero, even (especially) if it means calling me out and arguing publicly over the matter.

Congratulations on reaching EQ4 Nero, you're one step closer to being an "Old man" yourself, though not as old as I apparently am. You've fought a while for this and played a metric tonne of games to get yourself up here. Now if only we could get you back to writing and not just sniping me in chat for being older than dirt (I'm not) we could see about expediting your path to the Elder league, since, you know, you'd be opening yourself up to 4-5 times more competitions every month.

Ever onward, Nero, keep up the good fight and keep being one of the best friends I've had through the years.

High Councillor Masahiro Haku, 2024-10-22 05:19:51 UTC

Ryuu (or Nero, as I know him) has been House Sunrider's most active gamer and one of our most active members since its inception. His activity list speaks for itself, all I'm doing here is adding to the praise and cheer. I'm glad he worked hard for this promo and it is well earned.

Took you a bit, buddy, but you got there. Congrats! :)

Governor Tierra Suha'sen, 2024-10-20 09:46:21 UTC

Congratulations Nero! You are one promotion away from being old. For a long time now Nero has been a dependable member of COU, regularly adding competitions to help drive up activity. He is one of the clans more prolific gamers, but has been willing to branch out into other activities, like his participation in ACC Singularity.

Nero it has been a pleasure having you in the clan. You earned this.

Padawan Tisto Kingang, 2024-10-20 14:26:23 UTC

Going on ten years now, I've known Nero aka Ryuu. In that time, I've watched him grow from annoyance to friend. When he and I first started talking to one another, it felt like having a younger sibling. Annoying as hell and always wanting to hang out. I didn't know it then, but I had adopted my own little brother in that first moment.

Nero has had his own history with the club, spending time just like I have upset at something, burned all the way out, tired of one shenanigan or another, but this is a member who has the tenacity and the insanity to just keep at it. If it wasn't for his attitude of not being responsible for people (even though he does it anyway, shhh don't tell him that), he'd be an amazing leader because he has the compassion, the drive, the knowledge and the creativity to do just that.

In addition to organizing 55 competitions, Nero has participated in almost 300 for himself. In those competitions, he has earned a load of crescents including 1 Diamond, 12 Rubies, 35 Amethysts, 18 Sapphires, 7 Emeralds, 6 Topazeses, and 2 Quartzeses. As for clusters, this dude racked up 1846 Fires, 8 Ices and 13 Graphites. He's also earned 1 Indoctrination, 2 Foundations and 9 Seals of Transcendence. I'm pretty sure I could keep going if people really wanted, but let's face it. This boy has gone above and beyond what it means and requires to enter the final stage of the Equites.

And with this, I join my voice to the rest of this Summit and heartily recommend this promotion and my heartfelt congratulations to this member who has made his home with us and become family to many.

And also because I threatened to do it.

Yeah, woo. Congrats, Nero. Or whatever.

Proconsul Mihoshi Keibatsu, 2024-10-22 04:20:18 UTC