It is my honor and privilege to bestow the rank of Obelisk Prelate upon one of the most active, dedicated and all-around impressive members Arcona has seen in a long time. I am of course referring to Obelisk Templar Malidir Dinistr Erinos. Since the time of his last promotion, occurring on December 20th, 2007, Malidir has repeatedly demonstrated not only his ongoing faith in his House and Clan, but also his dedication to the furtherance of quality activity as it relates to the Dark Brotherhood as a whole.

During his nearly six months as a Templar, Malidir has served with distinction within Arcona, holding and executing such posts as Battle Team Leader, Rollmaster/House Envoy and Quaestor. His time spent in this last position was during the Arcona/CSP Feud and the most recent Rite of Supremacy, during both of which he played the dual role of active member and motivating leader. Malidir took over as Quaestor of Galeres in late January, after Selene had left. His first priority was the imminent Feud, and he passed that test with flying colours. Aside from his individual activity, the vast majority of top participants in the Feud were from Galeres. He also contributed in the motivation area, as a good Quaestor should, and could usually be found on IRC encouraging other members to participate. Arcona's crushing eight to nothing victory was owed in no small part to Malidir efforts – both his participation and his leadership.

While it has been said that leadership is an oft-elusive thing to measure, coming from someone who has been around during times of true unrest within Arcona, I can honestly attest to the fact that Malidir went to great lengths to gather members around – particularly in the RoS – and present a unified front in times of internal crisis. Such solidarity would likely not have been possible without his influence (along with his humour, quick wit and occasional sarcastic view of things). Additionally, Mal held posts as a staff member for the Fiction, Gaming and ICTE Tribunes, assisting in such ways as carrying out various assigned menial duties; including work on the Monthly Topics, ICTE moderation, game/server testing and score tabulation.

Malidir has been bestowed with a number of awards over the course of his DB career for various contributions, participation and excellence in the arenas of leadership, loyalty, writing and gaming. Focusing just on the non-competition/vendetta-related medals earned over the past five to six months since his elevation to the Equite class, he was awarded a Grand Cross of the Dark Side for his continued high-quality service, along with an Anteian Cross for consistent activity and success in ICTE events. Malidir’s dedication to his Clan was rewarded with the Seal of Loyalty and he also netted a trio of Legions of the Scholar for placing in trivia events.

Moving on to the awards handed down for specific competition or vendetta participation/placing, the list gets a bit longer. One Gold Nova and three Bronze Novae were earned in the most recent Rite of Supremacy, all as a result of gaming, which I’ll address more fully later. Stemming from various other competitions – and including the Arcona/CSP Feud and Outer Rim War III events – Malidir earned 14 total Crescents as an Obelisk Templar: five with Ruby Star, two with Amethyst Star, four with Sapphire Star, two with Topaz Star and a single Crescent with Quartz Star. Along with this, he earned 13 Pendants of Blood: six for defeating Guardsman of the GMRG and six for winning gaming nights. Last but not least, his participation in the Outer Rim War III and Rite of Supremacy provided him with additional honours, including six Seals of Darkness and five Seals of Dominance.

Not just active in standard competitions or general leadership roles, Malidir’s work as an Envoy for House Galeres must receive mention here. Again, during his time in his current rank, he has initiated contact with over 35 Initiates, Apprentices and other individuals that have transferred into Galeres from elsewhere. In many cases going over and above the standard boilerplate greeting and working to imbue said members with a true sense of what the DB has to offer and, more specifically, what they can do to advance through the ranks while still helping their Clan achieve greatness. Other areas of his efforts as a mentor are evident in his desire to promote his (obvious) favourite game, BF2. Having helped to train at least a half-dozen others – both within and outside of his Clan – his desire to work with others to set up team matches, learn new tactics and get everything from this platform is truly a rare and refreshing thing to behold.

Now, just to briefly touch on Malidir’s activity and influence in the area of multiplayer gaming within the Dark Brotherhood. First of all, one statistic seems more impressive to me than anything else I can say in this portion of my recommendation: during the time between his last promotion and now, he has earned more Clusters of Fire than all but four others have in their entire DB careers, to the tune of 1,923. He still maintains a rather comfortable 500+ CF lead over the next closest person to him in the all-time rankings. This alone is notable, but one must also take into account the impact on the rest of the DB gaming community. Had he won every match that he played (which he hasn’t, of course), that would equate to over 1,500 matches played with others, representing a great deal of activity that has been generated within the whole of the Dark Brotherhood and beyond. This is, to me, truly indicative of the dedication and devotion that should be dearly prized in the furtherance of keeping others active and involved.

Malidir participated in six ICTE events out of a possible 13 since being elevated to Obelisk Templar. In all but one of these events in which he gamed, he accumulated more CFs than the actual “All-Star,” a title that he refuses to be granted as he works on the staff and tries to secure additional participation whenever he is able. During those five events, he outscored the All-Star by an overall margin of 598 Clusters of Fire to 460.

In the bitterly contested Arcona vs. CSP Feud, Malidir again displayed his devotion to gaming, while still managing to achieve respectable results in other events, winning two gaming events outright and taking a third and a fifth place finish in two other events (one gaming and one writing). After participating in seven of nine events, he ended up with the highest overall point total out of all competitors – beating out 50-60 other people – as well as 150 CFs and numerous Crescents, solidly leading Arcona to a total victory.

When it came time for the DB to engage eight opposing clubs in the Outer Rim War III, Malidir again answered the call and participated in gaming in a noteworthy fashion. He participated in five of seven events; placing second overall twice, along with a fifth overall finish and two finishes of top ten within the DB competitors. Malidir earned 145 Clusters of Fire during the 170 matches that he participated in. Of the five events that he contributed to, the Sith faction was victorious in every one.

In the recent Rite of Supremacy, Mal participated heavily in the gaming events, choosing to focus his time and effort there and there alone. He achieved a first place finish in BF/BF2, two third places in JO and EaW (second and first in Arcona, respectively) and third overall in gaming (second in Arcona). All in all, he performed in seven of 16 events (counting overall gaming) and won Novae in four of those seven, also walking off with 340 Clusters of Fire for his efforts. The most notable things about his service to Arcona as it pertains to this Vendetta follow. Though he was only ranked 14th overall, he was ranked third in Arcona and second overall out of people who only participated in the gaming events. He also; in the space of two weeks; played (and won) more gaming matches than anyone else, with a 221-176 record putting him at nearly 400 games overall. Most notable of his achievements was his win in the BF/BF2 Ladder, with the largest margin seen in any RoS event (Malidir had 420 points, while his closest competitor had 108 points). Sure, your average person would have given up after gaining a modest lead and done something else, but he didn’t. To say that an effort of this magnitude was “wasted” or “needless” would surely be an affront to anyone who ever threw themselves into anything, declining to stop their efforts just because they had done what was perceived by some to be “enough”.

In closing, Mal is quite simply a source of inspiration to everyone in this Clan. When things get a bit rocky, he's always there to reassure people and to calm them down, often with his own brand of humour. His leadership has both made and kept Soulfire and Galeres the active, fun environments they are now, and if there's anyone "leading by example", it's him. I hope this document has sufficiently made clear why Malidir is absolutely deserving of this elevation, and I just want to add my sincerest congratulations to an all-around awesome guy. You deserve it, Mal.

KPN Strategos T. Entar, Consul of Arcona

Malidir Trepidus Erinos Arconae, 2007-06-19 22:00:00 UTC