Sapphire Blade events for Envoy Zuza Lottson

Sapphire Blade events
Event ID
233527
Award
Sapphire Blade
Quantity
1
Requested by
Qyreia Arronen
Primary reason

Zuza has been a solid member of Arcona for a surprisingly short amount of time, and in those two years has already left an indelible mark on many in the Clan. Going over the raw stats since her promotion in April, she has been nothing but a powerhouse. Sixty-one competitions participated, placing in twenty-eight, not even counting the fourteen Seals of Ascension from GJW XV that also netted her a Silver Nova. Add to that fifteen Clusters of Fire, nineteen Clusters of Earth, fifteen Clusters of Graphite, and thirteen Clusters of Ice from an approximate 5,100 words of fiction shows that she is as accomplished as she is well-rounded in the activity-in-numbers department.

Less easy to capture in numbers is her impact on the Clan as a whole. Zuza started her tenure as Rollmaster in January, taking over from Kordath’s lengthy and successful legacy, and she’s been running with it ever since. Much of Arcona’s current retention rates are a testament to her efforts of engaging with the new members directly and regularly in ways that I could not manage even in the best of circumstances. In a cooperative effort with the Summit, she is even currently laying the groundwork for an independent Battleteam within the Clan to continue both the legacy and duties of the Rollmaster, nurturing and growing new members into more long-term personalities in the Club.

In a more direct fashion, she has been a second sanity check among the Clan Summit. She comes with energy and ideas tempered with logic and practicality. Her labors are quiet but many. She is someone that I look forward to hiring into greater positions of responsibility when she finally passes the reins on Rollmaster — whether in its official title or as the BTL of the same intent.

Zuza, thank you for all that you do.

Qyreia Arronen
Consul, Clan Arcona

Qyreia Arronen, 2022-12-11 19:23:27 UTC
Additional reasons

Coming into the Headmaster position without experience with the current SA staff was daunting, but a few people immediately stood out as invaluable. Almost immediately, Zuza presented me with complete rewrite of the outdated Essentials 103 course to bring it in line with the modern, Path-less Brotherhood. This included writing over 3000 words of course notes, an eight-question exam, and finding images for a previously imageless course. Essentials 103: Order & Disciplines (formerly Paths & Orders) is one of the first pieces of content many new members will see, making it a critical part of the club's onboarding process.

Since then, Zuza has continued her work on updating our Fundamentals courses, which are both the most popular courses in the SA catalogue and the ones most important to getting new and returning members oriented in the Brotherhood. This includes a significant update to Essentials 102: Societies undertaken at her own initiative, which covered changes that have occurred to the SAS/ACS, the ACC, and qualification for the GMRG and SYN. She did this despite knowing that the entire Essentials series will be overhauled, reasoning that ensuring new members receive correct instruction was worth it even if it meant she would need to replace her own work in the near future. That is dedication to the SA's mission above and beyond what most staff show.

On my instructions, she also completed a review and update of the Comms series. This proved to be a bigger task than I expected. She caught several minor issues with Comms 102: Discord and Comms 103: DJBWiki (An Introduction) that I missed. More significantly, Zuza found large chunks of Comms 101: Website Navigation were inaccurate due to changes over the last year. Correcting this involved not only rewrites but the creation of a new gif to cover the way our gaming pages work in the wake of the Casual Gaming queue and deemphasis on PVP. Zuza has been my second brain on this project and it would not have made nearly the amount of progress that it has without her efforts. I have an uncomfortably long to-do list and the renovation of the Fundamentals department is on track to be the first major project I can cross off of it, thanks entirely to Zuza's tireless and enthusiastic support. I'm honored and delighted to recommend her for her first sacramental award, and certain that it won't be her last.

Alethia Archenksova
Headmistress

Moff Alethia Archenksova, 2022-12-11 19:21:02 UTC