Today: One Year

I'll keep this part fairly short, but I wanted to thank my staff and Muz for their assistance in making my first year as Herald a very fulfilling and excellent one. I didn't fully expect to expand the office's role as much as I did and it really wouldn't have been possible without their support and hard work. Some of my initiatives became projects and some didn't make it but it was good to learn our capabilities and at some points, our bandwidths. I had plans to make the office more transparent and I think we've succeeded in that, at least a bit. Most of what we do isn't really secret, unless I want to withhold some surprises like a few I list below.

I want to thank the membership too, for supporting the Herald staff, either through your emails, irc comments, even news and report comments. Volunteer work is much more fulfilling when you know the work is being appreciated. So thank you for that, and we never get tired of hearing it. :)

On the first day of Spring, my true love gave to meeee...

Three Herald office compe-ti-tions!

It sure wasn't warm weather and flowers... >:(

Today the Herald Staff has launched a small series of competitions where members get to graphically design (all mediums) their own lightsaber, robes, and medal, and not only will Staff judge entries, but will also create the winning designs for winners or for future use! Feel free to go nuts, but try to maintain some realism so that it can actually be made (unless you want to waive that right then go for it!)

These comps run for 2 weeks to give everyone time to work on all 3. Good luck!

• Design Your Own Lightsaber
• Design Your Own Robes
• Design Your Own Medal

Announcements

Staff

With the downsizing of the DC office staffs, V'yr/Echo is our senior artist and once again my Praetor. V'yr does pretty much everything from lightsabers to logos to robes (and is amazeballs at shadows). He's able to take some of my ideas and make them better as well as execute them, which is a feat in and of itself. A'lora is mainly on lightsabers and Rhiann works on a variety of things as well but takes care of our warbanners and will be putting those purdy crusade ribbons on your dossiers. Both of them have talents well beyond that as seen in HSH and the Alchemy guide so sabers and banners aren't usually the only projects they're on. Baxir/Orv is my predecessor and a self-taught digital artist that has come back to lend some of those skills in a few areas. He is working with the war placement units for their unit rewards and will be working on a new Herald project that I'll dive into below. For my part, I do a lot of the organization required to keep us on track (the forms I go on about, they help tremendously), make sure staff and non staff projects are being worked on, brainstorming new stuff to kick around and see what would make good additions (some you'll see below). I pick up various miscellaneous things that need to be done or I just happen to have the files for, most of which are usually listed in the "Misc" list we publish. I'm also on some slow burning projects like the Badges page and likely Possessions.

That's the Herald staff in a nutshell. We're all a bit looney on some days, but it can't always be srs bizness around here!

Orv-atars

I've been debating holding off announcing this but I think members will understand (I hope!). The Herald staff is going to start drawing Avatars for DJK+/JK+ on a trial basis. For the most part this is Orv's corner. Unfortunately he is temporarily predisposed due to RL circumstances. However, eventually we all would like to learn and do them. To that end we've put together a YAF/yet another form that allows you to give us details on the type of character you would like to have made.

Did I say this is a trial? Yes, yes I did. :)

These are very basic character images just to give everyone an idea of what your character looks like. Everyone is still more than welcome to search out other artists for commissions for something more polished or full bodied, etc. Journeymen can still request permission from other artists to use their images and then request a Herald staff avatar once they have reached the rank of DJK.

It is a perk that the Herald staff will be providing on a trial basis and could be pulled at any time before or after it has run through. It will have a slow start as we have several items on our plates and we are still refining the skill to do it (and Orv is temp afk). Please be patient as we start up this new service and get the hang of it. I do not have a timeframe of when to expect an avatar to be finished as we have not had a queue yet. :)

We have a good number of members that change characters so I am going to limit it to one avatar for the duration of the trial. It'll keep the work down, make sure they're used, and I'll also get to see just how many members will use the service so we'll know what kind of bandwidth we'll need.

Rally the Bannermen!

The Warbanner form has been updated with the images from the wiki so members don't have to keep referencing the website as they are choosing the design of their banners. Now for the goodies:

We are releasing some huge warbanner updates today:

Crests/Patterns:

• Unit logos can no longer be requested as personal crests
• Members are now able to request Clan logos as background patterns
• If a unit logo is the BG pattern, it is in lieu of the warbanner medallion
• Warbanner medallion, if qualified, replaces a unit logo as pattern
• Background patterns still replace a stripe until custom stripes at EQ4

Other nifty stuff:

• Brand new shapes with stripes based on rank

)

• New "sashes": DC & Assistants (including Society Leaders, CM & Tribunes) will be able to earn these after 6 months in position (past or present)

• DC and Assistants are able to use their respective DC office logo as their medallion logo

• Personal logos in medallions are DC only plus their designates with approval

• New Fabric texture: Satin. Hemp = standard

These all should be accessible in the warbanner form now... in theory! It was a lot of updates, so don't kill the Emissary (haha, get it?) if there's an error somewhere. Just send me an email and I'll get to work right away, same with any wiki errors. All of these were a labor of love and everyone pitched in in some way, either with ideas, making ideas better, putting prototypes together, and of course, making final products. So as it was with HSH, we hope you enjoy!

Crusade Ribbons

Now that the war is over and the dust is settled, we are going to start rolling out the Ribbons. For an example of how they will look, my dossier has a sample uploaded to my Accessory slot where they will go and Rhiann and Mirus have put together the wiki to better explain their specific details.

Second Sons Volunteers

Unfortunately this initiative fell to the wayside, which is ultimately my responsibility and disappointment. Instead of trying to revive the egroup or disbanding it, I've decided to use the Second Sons to put together a master list of our volunteer artists and their skills. We have numerous projects in the DB that need graphics in some form or another and I am asked for help on a semi regular basis. Having been one of the judges in the war, I know we have some greatly talented members in the DB, some that were lurking in the shadows all this time! I want to use this opportunity to invite folks to come and share their skills to help out the club.

To that end I've put together a YAF/yet another form where you can sign up. Some tasks are low stress, like once in a while we might need logo ideas. Once in a while I need someone to do paperwork. Some are a lot more involved like the Lightsaber or Alchemy guides. Ultimately it is up to you how much time you would like to commit and what it is that you'd like to do. At the end of the day we are all volunteers and I strive to make sure both my staff and the extra hands are enjoying their time while working on various projects, and of course, are rewarded for their work.

Unit and Position Requests:

We have a YAF that units should begin using for report header, logo, etc. requests. Staff can answer questions via email of course, but with the influx of new units (and even DC members) needing work, we need to begin tracking them for the same reasons as those above, so that we can make sure they are not only completed but that we know whom did what, when, etc. This is already in use and we have a good sized queue, which I thank everyone for, because it's no longer being buried in our inboxes!

Standards

...of Care

The Herald staff makes a lot of graphics for members. In all of them we strive to make them both look good according to our standards and of course look good to the member. I am CC'd on all emails and know the lengths that my staff go to in this endeavor. Sometimes the requests are beyond our skills, and even then we still make a good faith attempt to come up with something. And then sometimes they go through several revisions beyond normal. We like to make members happy with their items. But ultimately there's a lot of them to do and we need to move on at some point. If I need to step in and say enough is enough, then that is that. The above may need to be said, but members can expect professionalism from us regardless. In return I would hope for the same of the membership.

...of Excellence

While the Herald office creates graphics for the Brotherhood, it does not regulate report headers and such. Units are free to go outside of the office for their requests if they would like. We do like to know about them though; we like to see what work others have done!

The Herald office does, however, retain the rights to all House- and Clan-level logos. These may not be modified, added, or removed without herald approval.

...of Regulation

Lastly, while we may not regulate the artists for the various graphics on the site, we do require a standard of quality to be maintained. To that end, we may request an image be modified or removed if deemed inappropriate. It doesn't happen often but I wanted to put out the reminder that still still falls under the Herald's jurisdiction.

Finally...The Pixels You're Looking for

Today some lucky EQ2s get this:

Animus Lightsaber by A'lora

Today some lucky EQ4s get this:

"Thoroughgauge" Hybrid Lightsaber by Mirado

And this!

”Elder Wand” Hybrid Lightsaber by Mirado

(May not be uploaded yet, but will be very shortly)

Some recent graphics:

GJWXI Seal by Socks

Lightsabers

By Aidan Kincaid & Vyr/Echo-1

• Aidan Kincaid

By A’lora

• Mako Henymory

By Vyr/Echo-1

• Vyr/Echo-1

Warbanners

By Rhiann, since January 1st:

• Shirai Dupar
• Drake Starfire
• Celevon Edraven
• Landon Cruise
• Ra'gnar
• Aule Jr
• Galleros Sjl
• Aeson Rhys
• Ulfsark
• Nicolai "Rod" Rodell
• K'tana
• Junazee
• Talis
• Dracaryis
• Bobecc Varga
• Dek Rott
• Rulvak Qurroc
• Koryn Thraagus
• Arcia Cortel
• Kenath Zoron
• Revak Kur
• Daedric Turelles
• Salbecca

By Vyr:

• Echo-1

Avatars

V'yr:

• Landon Cruise
• Nathan Deciarus
• Achilleus

Baxir:

• K'tana
• Terran Koul
• Soccora
• Lexiconus
• Mako
• Arcia
• Ernordeth
• Atyiru
• Saskia
• Montresor
• Rrogan Skar

Socks:

• Esoteric! (who won the guess comp anyway?)

Miscellaneous Tasks:

• Muz - GJW11 call to action banner
• Socks - Esoteric avatar
• Vyr - Landon Cruise (13876) Character image
• Vyr - Nathan Deciarus (307) Character image
• Vyr - Achilleus (13033) Character image
• Baxir Vol - CON/PCON headers for CNS
• Baxir Vol - News header for Mav Baxir Vol - Created avatar for K'tana
• Baxir Vol - Created avatar for Terran Koul
• Baxir Vol - Avatar for Soccora
• Baxir Vol - Avatar for Lexiconus
• Baxir Vol - Avatar for Mako
• Baxir Vol - Avatar for Arcia
• Baxir Vol - Avatar for Ernordeth
• Baxir Vol - Avatar for Atyiru
• Baxir Vol - News header for Socorra
• Baxir Vol - Avatar for Saskia
• Baxir Vol - Avatar for Montresor
• Baxir Vol - Avatar for Rrogan Skar
• Vyr - Report Banners for A'lora Kituri
• Vyr - Tales of New tython logo and teaser
• Vyr - Devil's Shroud battleteam header
• Vyr - GMRG Accessory - Voice - Shad
• Vyr - GMRG Accessory - JST - Jac
• Baxir Vol - Avatar for Armags
• Socks - Changed warbanner form to reflect BTL/RMs medallion
• Socks - Created Avatar request form
• Socks - Created Unit gfx request form
• Socks - Changed WB form to add images for each category
• Muz - Modified Cethgus Lightsabers and Banner for CNS logo
• Baxir Vol - Tarentum Under Renovations logo for Raiju
• Baxir Vol - Avatar request form example images
• Baxir Vol - Tarentum Consul report header & dividers
• Socks - Updated Pravus lightsaber for Montresor
• Socks - Updated warbanner for Montresor
• Vyr - Pravus report header (GM)
• Vyr - Pravus report section breakers (GM)
• Vyr - Socks report header (HRLD)
• Socks - Changed WB form to reflect new updates (all shapes, rail colors, patterns, etc)
• Vyr - Updated WB wiki page for new updates
• Mirus/Rhiann Baenre - Updated Crusade Ribbons wiki page
• Socks - Created Second Sons volunteer form

Last Words

Special thanks to Cethgus for testing out the warbanner form after all of the updates and finding a couple errors that would have really sucked. Much love to V'yr for doublechecking this long report. He is the wind beneath my wings (not really, his character is a frikkin Prometheus giant).

If you've done something Herald related for the DB, or even unrelated to DB, give us a shout as we would love to see it, and also reward any club work done. Don't forget to post it on DA and the forum, or just email us a link so we can showcase it!

There's a Form for That

• Warbanners GRD+
• Custom EQ2+ Lightsabers
• Herald-created Avatars DJK+
• Unit & Position Requests
• Second Sons Volunteers

Since January 1st:

• 24 warbanners
• 3 lightsabers
• 40 miscellaneous
• 15 avatars

TL:DR

• Graphics Competitions
• Tons of warbanner updates
• A few goodies!
• Ribbons rolling out
• Staff changes
• Need more artists!