Introduction

Today marks the completion of all six rounds of the second Shroud War Herald tournament, Shroud War II: Electric Boogaloo.

The final round has come and gone, and some truly astounding artwork has been submitted from our last four competitors. The final round prompt was a bit of a tribute to our former Herald (and DGM, but I'm focusing on the Herald bit) and founder of the Shroud Syndicate Morgan B. Sorenn aka Vyr:

Final Round Prompt: Interacting with the centers of power comes with the territory for even those on the fringe. From crime lords to planetary bureaucrats, the opportunities to serve those who hold the levers of power are plentiful. Smuggling in a planetary governor's favorite baubles, running weapons for a regional warlord, or tracking down those that have skipped out on debts to the crime syndicates means contact with those who commission such tasks.

Create a graphic of your character interacting with the founder of the Shroud Syndicate Morgan B. Sorenn. Is it a friendly interaction or an adversarial one? It's up to you!

The prior rounds had set up a match for first place between Emere Galo and Aylin Sajark, with a third place match featuring Satsi Tameike Arconae up against Muz Ashen Keibatsu. These matches were exceedingly difficult for me and my staff to grade. Out of a total possible score of 50 points, the third place match was decided on a margin of 1.33 points while the first place match came down to a margin of 0.12 points. So, with that in mind, the following results:

• In third place, Muz Ashen Keibatsu!

• In second place, Emere Galo!

• Meaning your tournament champion is none other than Aylin Sajark of Clan Scholae Palatinae!

It was my great pleasure to see the levels of excellence that was generated by members across the Brotherhood during this event. Full results, including prelim round results and overall rubric scores for all prelim matches can be found at this link. The biggest thing that I would take away from this tournament is simply this: Showing up will do a person a ton of good. There were people who wouldn't be thought of first as artists who went deep into the tournament simply through showing up. There were those who I thought would be going much farther who didn't simply for lack of the same. Not just for this tournament, but for all DJB activities, showing up means a lot!

Thanks to everyone who participated, and thanks to my staffers for being there to deal with the crazy ~24 hour grading turn around that my scheduling necessitated. Until next time!