- Event ID
- 115784
- Target
- Grand Inquisitor Arden Karn di Plagia
- Award
- Sapphire Blade
- Quantity
- 1
- Requested by
- Vivackus Kavon di Plagia
- Primary reason
-
I’ve always seen choosing members for leadership in the DJB as somewhat of a gamble. It is easy to tell if a member is likely to be active by the amount they participated in things before joining leadership. It is easy to tell if they will be available by their response time to emails and their IRC presence. The general quality of their application to a given position will display their attention to detail and the bar of quality that they set for themselves. All these things are important, but they still only shed light on a fraction of the picture that is necessary to know if the member would be a good leader. The intangibles - the things you can’t know beforehand - these are where Arden shines, and how I know that my gamble for him as my PCON paid off.
Arden knows how I think, and any leader can attest to how useful of a quality that is in for a member of their staff. It is important for a leader to be on the same page as their staff, and I’m pretty sure that Arden and I are on the same sentence. When I ask Arden what he thinks on a subject of importance to Plagueis, his response is almost always identical to my own line of thinking. Recently when I moved to a new city for a new job, I was comfortable with letting Arden represent me, and by extension the entire Clan Plagueis, on the Dark Summit for some important discussions during the time I didn’t have reliable internet. This is not to say that we agree on everything, or that Arden is content to be a “Yes Man.” If he doesn’t agree with me on something, Arden isn’t afraid to say so, and will lay his case out in an extremely rational manner. Arrden handles himself with a high level of professionalism that is uncommon in the DJB.
Over the better part of the last year, Arden has also been one of the most active members of Plagueis. He has been a master to a student (Misium) and a participant in every event in the Fading Light competition (helping contribute to a Second place for Clan Plagueis in the Runon, and a run to the quarterfinal round of the ACC ladder). For various competitions, over the past couple of months, he placed in 9. Since the beginning of the summer, Arden accrued 100 CoFs (if my math is right) and Pennant of Blood for gaming. As one of the better writers in the Clan, he earned 15 Clusters of Ice, and recently joined the Voice’s office as a Magistrate to help with the fictional development of the DJB at large. Earlier this summer, Arden helped with the fictional components of the Spheres of Influence Feud, and this past month, he judged half of the Anchorage event.
All this while he performed the duties of Proconsul, and Quaestor before that. Arden is a very personable leader. When I returned to the DJB proper from the Rogues, Arden was the first person to reach out to me, and he always takes time to get to know the new Journeymen that join the Clan. As a Clan Summit member, Arden has been intimately involved in just about every aspect of running the Clan. He manages Plagueis’ Order of Battle, has mentored Taranae when she was learning the ropes at being Rollmaster, and takes the lead on Clan wiki projects.
Sacramental awards, not unlike Equite level promotions, do not come about easy and require a strong case to be made for a consistent, high level of dedication, and I believe I’ve outlined here that Arden has hit that mark.
Vivackus Kavon di Plagia, 2014-12-31 15:02:27 UTC
- Additional reasons
-
There isn't a lot I can say about Arden, as I believe Viv has it summed up. A fantastic PCON and also Magistrate to the voice, he excels in all he does. He seems to have taken it upon himself to be the first and foremost when it comes to having fiction entries proofed and does it with great gusto. One can always rely on Arden to make sure your i's are dotted and t's are crossed whenever you ask for help. He's always been there to lend a helping hand to anyone who needs it and will go above and beyond the call of duty to make sure people in the Brotherhood are happy, be they Plagueis or otherwise, and is approachable and friendly. He is one of those rare people that one always finds it easy to get along with, even if you bug him or vice versa.
I recommend Arden for a Sapphire Blade. This man is amazing and should be awarded for his work to the Brotherhood.
Envoy Taranae Rhode, 2014-12-31 14:58:37 UTC
Arden has been an excellent Magistrate, assisting in multiple projects since the end of Fading Light. While the majority of both his tenure as a staff member, and mine as Voice, has been swamped with Vendetta-related activities, Arden none the less has demonstrated consistent activity that is deserving of acknowledgement. From his first days on staff, he and I have been planning projects and working together to make the Brotherhood a better place. He has focused on on two important projects as of late, both aimed at improving transparency in Voice office expectations of membership competitions and character sheets.
First, he has written up the Voice competition approval guidelines. Arden noticed quickly that while we were consistent in what and how we were remanding competitions, new members seemed to struggle with requirements the Voice's staff had for competitions. While we had previously talked about such requirements in reports, we did not have a single place to store them. Arden changed that, creating a Wiki page and writing up our requirements. Second, Arden undertook an evaluation and updating of our character sheet approval guidelines, focusing initially on aspect length, though it has since branched into a larger review and update of our guidelines to better assist members, hopefully limiting remands they receive. Arden consulted forty randomly selected aspects, catalogued the length and membership information, and reported the median and mean values for aspects, important information that allowed us to make a decision on recommended aspect length, and requirements on Aspect length in response to staff feedback on Aspects getting unwieldy. Furthermore, he streamlined sections of the guide and attempted to improve uniformity in language use, improving clarity and readability.
While I can't speak directly to Arden's work within Plagueis, his work for the Brotherhood as a whole has been exemplary so far. It is my honor to be part of his recommendation for a Sapphire Blade. Congratulations, Arden!
Telaris "Mav" Cantor, 2014-12-31 14:59:04 UTC
I start with a fact: without the neverending contributions, dedication, hard work, and loyalty of Arden, Clan Plagueis would not only be a very different place but it may well not be a clan at all.
During the Plagueis house feud “Sphere of Influence,” Arden was instrumental in its crafting, promotion, and success. He assisted Solus and myself in generating the plotline, helped write profiles for the NPCs, and most importantly pushed their house members to participate. The entire point of the feud was participation, and the work of the house summit was invaluable in generating that activity. He didn’t just tell people to participate, he participated himself- in nine of the eleven events (placing in the Top Five in most of those nine). Arden's efforts paid off.
Arden was promoted in November '13 for his leadership and participation during the Dark Crusade, and one need ask anyone in Plagueis to hear about how he hasn’t stopped being awesome since.
First, after Plagueis resounding success during the Crusade, Arden assumed the vital position of House Rollmaster. Not an easy task, as any will tell, but he took up the call with vigor and eagerness. He crafted a great welcome email that he fired off to new joins within mere hours, following up as they moved through the early ranks. His clear organization and system of records through Google Drive made the transition to me as Rollmaster an easy one. Bigger still, Arden was key in developing Plagueis’ system of using the battle teams as training grounds for new members, almost House Rollmasters, until members have masters to guide them to DJK. Arden served as BTL and knew the importance of the position; as Rollmaster, Arden continued to support and encourage our BTLs even when the position can seem fruitless with dead joins.
Then the leadership went to work on our clanning proposal document. Monty, Bubba, Arden, Teylas, Slagar, and myself all participated in debate, discussion, and drafting of the proposal that was received well by Muz and Raken and turned Plagueis into a clan once again. Arden was a clear choice for a Quaestor position, and took up the mantle in House Karness Muur.
His performance is exceptional. There’s the usual - reports, hosting some competitions, keeping in touch with members, helping the BTL guide new joins into the experience, helping guide me into the RM position. Then there’s the extra awesome -- Arden is a crucial piece of Clan Plagueis’ fictional system of lore and history, working closely with Slagar and Teylas to develop our quasi-feudal system and craft our “masters from the shadows” style of roleplaying we now use. He is a strong and firm hand of Dread, even if HKM is fictionally the “subtle” ones.
This Sapphire Blade is a long time coming. Arden is one of Plagueis’ most active members, most lively members, most energetic members. He is a key piece in the puzzle of who we are, and for all of this work I am proud to put forth his first sacramental reward. Congratulations, Arden!
Zanet Xox, 2014-12-31 15:02:12 UTC
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