Event Details

Event ID
280353
Target
General Zentru'la
Award
Amethyst Kukri
Quantity
1
Non-site XP
10500 XP
Requested by
Supreme Chancellor Ood Bnar
Primary reason

Since their last award, Zen has participated in 8 competitions, written over 8.000 words of fiction and earned 5 Crescents (2 Diamond, 1 Ruby, 1 Sapphire, 1 Emerald. They also earned 57 Clusters of Ice and 8 Scrolls of Foundation.

Zen is a constant source of activity within the Clan. Organise a fiction competition, you’re bound to find his name in the list of participants. On the social side of things, he’s a constant presence on Discord. Always pitching in with comments and advice. Always ready to offer advice or a nice word.

As Praetor to the Voice, Zen has also been a steady source of activity. But I’ll let the Voice handle that part himself.

However it is in his work for the Shadow Academy that Zentru’la truly stands out in dedication and commitment to the club. He is the grader of the Test of Wisdom, one of the more longer lived pearls of the Academy. I’ll let the Headmaster properly handle his work as part of the Shadow Academy Staff but wanted to illustrate a specific example of the Test of Wisdom. A member submits x pages of fiction as their exam answer. Zen will have graded this inside 48h hours. That’s the part people know. The last exam he graded consisted of 16 pages (small font), Zen still got it graded inside the 48h window. He also provides in depth feedback. He spends at least 5 hours on each Test of Wisdom exam he grades. Overall, he’s graded 39 exams in the last 7 months and I’m scared to inquire how many Tests of Wisdom were in there. Additionally, he’s been doing this degree of work for 2 years now and does not have any indications of burning out.

As a member of Taldryan, Zentru’la is always there to help the fictional development of the Clan. Whether by organizing the Taldryan Military, planning future purchases, or helping to plan out how said military would react to certain fictional developments or how they’d best be arranged to support certain scenarios and so on. He’s been integral in getting me up to speed on how the Taldryan military is set up, how it would best support the ideas and plans for the clan’s storyline I was bringing to the table and how those would be affected by the inclusion and reaction of said elements. His efforts help ground the Clan’s overall storylines in a reality of sorts that only serves to increase the levels of realism inherently needed to have them carry any form of gravitas. Overall, his work has been of an unmistakable impact on myself and the clan as a whole. To give but one highly specific example: our latest planned fleetpurchase has been hotly debated for well over two months now, will cost us 34million credits and has led to a change in how the RGT staff and possessions look at Carriers. Now expand that example across plans to optimize our usage of at least 3 planets in our dominion and their planetary assets (while adhering to budget), and the structural management of how to structure and organize one of the largest fleets and militaries in the Brotherhood.

Zen, you’re one of the pillars of the Clan. Enjoy the Amethyst Kukri and keep up your insane levels of highly dedicated service to making the Club a better and more enjoyable place for everyone within it!

Supreme Chancellor Ood Bnar, 2025-01-29 07:14:17 UTC
Additional reasons

Zen has the blessed job (or punishment, depending on the day I guess) of assisting me as P:Voice and working within the mysterious story group. To this end, in addition to helping manage the Voice queues (competition approvals, word count checks, character sheet discussion) he gets to help on my bigger projects.

The biggest one of note has been the long-in-progress Custom Disciplines. This project involved creating (and proofing) some 16 new tiered feats as selectable options for members. This wasn’t an easy task, due to how great the existing feats covered different archetypes, but Zen contributed massively to both the idea generation and the actual writing of the feats into an appropriate tiered system.

This system is also 100% manual on our end, and Zen is the only Voice staff member besides myself who can create these custom disciplines for the members, helping us keep that turnaround for requests to be mere hours from the member filing out the form to being able to use it on their sheets.

Story Group is its own bucket of fun, especially with the incoming “season” format. While Zen has always been a helpful participant in narrative discussion and proofing, he took it to the next level by helping write sections of the recent Resource Rush story and helped with input on the narrative for this first cycle of Seasons (which is written but pending club-wide release on the 3rd).

All in all Zen is both a workhorse, and one of the most dedicated members of the entire “fictional” component of the club. I cannot think of anyone else who takes our stories as seriously and with deep thought as he does, cementing his place as one of the best writers in the club, and best council staffer around.

Lord Idris Adenn, 2025-01-28 19:03:34 UTC

Zen is simply the best when it comes to Professors. The dedication that he puts in when grading Shadow Academy exams is second to none. Since his last awarding for Shadow Academy work, he has graded 56 Exams, and aside from the Test of Wisdom he keeps these gradings within the established 24 hour grading window.

Grading exams in our fiction department is a beast all of its own. It's not simply looking for correct responses to multiple choice questions. You have to dissect and discern the writing of the examinees and judge their comprehension of the discussed topics. To this end, Zen takes the time to really explain his reasons for the grades he gives out. He also offers examples of how to improve their writing.

I mentioned the Test of Wisdom earlier, and that Test alone is a juggernaut for grading. The fictions submitted are at times a significant length. We're talking 15+ pages of text. Zen grades the fictions as a whole dedicating hours of his time to ensure a fair and appropriate score is given. And again, he gives very detailed breakdowns of these scores and ideas for improvement. This is not required of him, but he chooses to ensure all members get the same dedication in his work as a professor.

Zen has more than earned this award in my eyes, and I look forward to continue working with him on my staff. Congratulations Zentru'la!

Doctor Rhylance

Headmaster

Dr. Rhylance, 2025-01-29 06:31:39 UTC