Zuji, Diy, the Goat, Flyndt... A m'they'dy of many names, titles and abilities. I'm going to zip us through the statistics of Zuji's antics since their last award last November. In this time Zuji has participated in a whopping 172 competitions, only 34 of which were containers. They also organised 1 comp, and co-organised 10 with me for the Gods, We Dine in Brimstone event. This earned them 38 Crescents, 2 of Diamond, 7 Ruby, 11 Amethyst, 9 Sapphire, 5 Emerald, 3 Topaz and 1 Quartz. Zuji has also participated in 32 gaming activities, earning 203 clusters of fire, along side 34 clusters of graphite and another 32 Fiction activities. These include 7 typical fictions, 22 participant roleplays and 2 DM'ed sessions, all coming together for a total 83 Clusters of Ice for 48,406 words written just in the last 7 months. That's INSANE. Though of course it doesn't cover everything as Zuji hit up the Shadow Academy recently, passing 17 courses for 3 additional degrees with all of their effort combined leading to a rank up in both roleplay socieities, 1 in the Shroud and 1 more in the Collegium itself. This activity has earned 679,620 credits for Clan Arcona.

But to speak only on Zuji's abilities to make the site weep as they complete puzzles on their phone, would be to miss out on the most important aspects of them.

For the last four months Zuji has been my Proconsul. It was a difficult decision to make at the time and I'm sure there's a few people who were sick of hearing me pondering it by the time the decision was made. I made the right decision, and that is proven every single day. They are constantly on the ball helping with members, whether its in the server channels or in dms you can count on Zuji to be there. They have been the back bone of the successful Arc-Announcements channel and there's been more than one time where I've dropped news personally and still been beaten out on getting it in the channel before they do. Zuj has also been pushing for reminders of recent conversations in our summit channel and its been invaluable. Sometimes conversations are quite long and their effort to ensure that a TLDR with the prominent talking points highlighted is provided has been vital for the summit. All this while being on the front lines of encouragment, knowing the members well enough to know what to throw their way in a lovely tactical manner.

And this is just what can be seen in our channels. Only myself and Atty can attest to how important Zuji was to the running of the Gods event. They wrote a huge chunk of all the event fictions, being the live soundboard for all the ideas. Originally the event was supposed to be 3 more entire events, with Tiexsema coming to light later on in the series. Zuji was an integral part of the conversations that managed to not just compress the event into what it became, but making my haphazard display of ideas into a flowing narrative. While I made spreadsheets for grading, they worked on making a physical map with the locations of the event pinpointed and the environmental effects so the membership would have a better mental view of what they were facing.

Not that this even covers everything, even now we have nights where we spend hours discussing Arcona's fictional future and the angles we might take. What the future holds and the plans for it. They've been a huge support to me, directly as we've introduced new structural changes and how best to trial and implement them. They were there for me, the summit and the clan as a whole back in January. From proofreading my announcements to the clan, to helping settle my anxiety and that of others, while also actively stepping up to make sure the correct information was being shared, they were a huge part of why things went so smoothly. When it comes to reports, Zuji has been pulling the competition and news hauls without even being asked, and we've settled into a fairly even split with it just naturally. They're also consistently looking for ways to get others non-site xp, looking into others who might be able to do those sweeps and get experience in the formatting and process of report writing even before they're considering leadership.

More recently, Zuji has been on the lead for the Award Sweep this quarter. Real life has stolen some time from me and I've not been worried for a moment because I know that Zuji is not only able, but proactive and willing to step up and ensure that with my limited time we can get it done and make sure our members get the best we can give them. And not to make this too long, but their efforts haven't been restricted to just within Arcona. Zuji regularly interacts and encourages members outside of the clan, and even has been noted stepping up as player in a roleplay beyond expectations. To quote Anders:

"Diy here has been aiding me with Immortal Sith Part 2.5. Even as a participant, they kept up to speed with all the RP scores, hit points, and rolls, making life a lot easier for both myself as the DM and their fellow participants."

This RP went on for months and while I wasn't in it, I've been in the same series of rps for part 2 and 3 and witnessed the organisation, level-headedness, improvisation and overall awesomeness you need. It's hours of effort, dedicated note taking and clear, kind communication that they weren't even asked to do. They just stepped up to help and honestly that alone, is the makings of greatness in this club.

Zuji. I may have surpassed you in rank and become the master, but I won't ever pass you in the impact, dedication and love you have put into this community.

Envoy Zuza Lottson, 2024-06-23 12:30:54 UTC

I don't think I have enough words available to me to express my pride in getting to work alongside Diy, better known as Zuji. They have been a consistent reassuring presence across my entire time in this club and its always a heartwarming moment to be able to recognise them for that. It's been just over 6 months since Zuji was last awarded, and as usual they've been a fluster of activity and my right hand man through everything.

I'll start us off with the numbers. Zuj has organised 19 competitions, co-organising 5 more all while participating in 248 comps (55 Container). This earned them 4 Crescents with Diamond Stars, 8 Ruby, 8 Amethyst, 12 Sapphire, 6 Emerald, 2 Topaz and 2 Quartz for the whole set! Across 56 gaming activities they've earned 442 Clusters of Fire, also raking in 31 Clusters of Graphite. Not that fiction has been neglected with 77 Clusters of Ice (38,500 words) gathered across 3 ACC battles, 5 fiction events and 14 roleplays! They even took another shadow academy course, hitting 2 birds with one stone and gaining 2 degrees from it! This has all earned them 5 society rank ups and 848,820 credits earned for Clan Arcona.

As always, a pretty beefy numbers drop though it pales in comparison to their efforts by my side. Including writing a report a while back, they have drafted the base template we use for all of Arcona's reports barring the quick-snap ones about hirings. They take the time to comb through all the live competitions and curate it to ensure our members are aware of everything ongoing. Zuji has also been a constant sound board for my fictional ideas and back for the final entrant to the False Gods events, took over the fiction almost entirely. I provided guidance but they put the time and hours in to create that story in full.

While the last Pro-Bowl was being prepared, Zuji took over many of the day to day clan duties, stepping into their position as my Pronconsul. They were there to provide information and deal with any requests, independently ensuring that the clan was still rolling along smoothly while my attention was firmly planted elsewhere. This has also been true for the last two award sweeps per quarter. Zuji has been the one who collected the names of those who needed awarding and helped make sure I was up to date while I was struggling to keep everything organised myself. They took over any awards that they could and helped with the delegation down to our Quaestors. I cannot put a number on the time committment of doing that kind of data collection, organisation and utilisation. We've spent hours discussing ideas and Zuji has talked through the weird and on-pointe with me as we've explored the future of Arc's Fiction. There is nothing more I could ask of Zuj.

So, for my (likely) last action as Consul, take a bonking stick my friend. Use it well, and know that its as much as a tool for causing concussions as it is a symbol of who you are to this clan. A shining star, for good and when you so choose, absolute chaos.

Envoy Zuza Lottson, 2025-02-15 01:54:33 UTC