Another report?! Correct! I have a lot to discuss on my own in addition to the commencement of Phase 2 New Brotherhood (not an official title). The NFOs (Non-Force Orders) have gone live!
This report is lengthy, so I’ve tried to link a YouTube video to each sub-header.
There is a TL;DR at the end.
Come on, let’s go, and chat But only in a certain context Because it’s all about subtext Hopefully this leads to less spats
Anyway, that happened. Kordath assisted in formatting a new Wiki page for Golden Recommendations. This page serves as a database of competition winners along with a brief explanation of why they were selected. The goal is to have at least one example of each regular request; for example, we need an example of a sacramental recommendation. Almost any situation a leader finds themselves in will have some guidelines.
Guidelines. Not templates. Context matters. Ten Shadow Academy courses passed by a new member in her first day is more impressive than ten passed by a Jedi Knight over the last five weeks. Leadership Proposals is more impressive than DB Basics. This page will grow over time, but is meant as a database of examples I, as the current Master at Arms, find worthwhile.
As always, be patient and respectful when it comes to discussing remands or denials. Additionally, remember previous editorials on how best to utilize emails or Google docs.
I’ve pitched this to a few in recent weeks when explaining remands or denials. Let’s go public.
Requests are reviewed across a threshold. My staff may read the writing and compare the stats for a Grand Cross and immediately, instinctively, know it is worth it. That Grand Cross is “strong.” Alternatively, we may read one, look at the dossier, and hesitate, be uncertain. That Grand Cross is “weak.” This is when we look closer. Were the competitions all mobile games or more involved run-ons? Bob did a lot of Wiki work? Let’s check his user contributions to see what he edited. Sure, some Wiki work is done in Google. The point is a weak Grand Cross may still be approved, but we may also suggest it fit better as a strong Steel.
I have no fancy graphs or statistical margins of error. Some may not like it, but a large chunk of MAA review is “MAA instinct” where MAA = my staff as a whole. The Grand Master and, in turn, Brotherhood leaders, trust that my staff knows what a strong Steel is. I am never opposed to discussing merits and hearing your argument. Many times the solution is simply more detail.
None of this is meant as threatening nor in response to a certain event. I’ve been using the threshold analogy often and wanted to expand the idea to the Brotherhood.
Once again, email me with questions, concerns, or complaints. You’re also welcome to tell us we’re doing a swell job, but we mostly get negative inquiries. Oh well!
Landon Cruise and Kordath Bleu have served a stellar six months as Magistrates to this office. They learned quickly (a feat for which credit is due to Evant and Howie) and were eager to tackle the responsibilities given them.
Landon was promoted to EQ1 around a month ago and has been awarded an Anteian Cross for his home stretch of service. Congratulations!
Kordath, in addition to his MAA work, has been a stellar clan member and wholeheartedly earned his EQ2 promotion. Congratulations!
I am pleased to welcome Kelly Mendes of Clan Plagueis and Nero Inferni of Clan Taldryan to the MAA Staff as Magistrates. Every time I receive several wonderful applications, including a few who apply in multiple cycles, and the decision is a tough one. Howie and I looked at a combination of how strong a member you appeared in addition to how much we think you can gain from being a Magistrate. Congratulations, Kelly and Nero. You two have a busy six months ahead of you!
Keeping the Wiki up to date is a never ending task. Every now and then, I skim through MAA-related articles to see if any need updating. The new orders and ranks have brought about a lot of that, most of which has been covered by the Wiki Staff. Here’s a rundown of some updates.
For several years, families have been unofficial bands of Brotherhood members who form a role playing/in-character bond. The Wiki pages for families were spread across several pages, so I consolidated the census and policy pages for cleanliness.
The question comes up about once a year: families are unofficial. Take any name you chose, but remember we watch for signs of nepotism or bias among units, competitions, so on.
Novitiate My InitiateThe Journeyman tier of ranks has been split into two groups of four: Novitiate and Journeyman. We now have four tiers of four ranks each: Novitiate, Journeyman, Equite, and Elder (which quasi-includes Grand Master). Below is a cool chart created by P:HM Ood Bnar. This change was administrative only, but you will start seeing me refer to ranks by tier in order to cut down on confusion. Reaching JM4 is a big milestone for every member. I am currently an EL1. Check out all ranks on the Wiki.
Speed Dating
- The Crescents Wiki page was updated with a nice combo image courtesy of Socks
- Sarin talks about this a lot, but Telegram is not an official Brotherhood platform right now. It does not count for Promotheus requirements, but you can mention it when discussing general activity.
- Related, there’s a new trend to show how many news page comments a member has made in requests (since this data is shown on the assessment tool). List away, but know that we do not particularly care. News comments are like Telegram and email - the point comes from “Bob participates in conversation,” not the quantifiable number.
May Recommendation
Caesar has taken a lead role in Tarentum's efforts to recruit and retain high quality members by becoming our social media guru. We've already begun to see the fruits of his early efforts with 65 followers on our Twitter and a constant stream of interesting, useful, and just plain entertaining content posted on our Facebook. Thanks for all you're doing for us, Caesar, and keep it up!
Dark Crosses are largely designed as one-off recognition medals, a show of appreciation for completing a specific project that may only take a few cumulative hours. Farrin succinctly highlights Caesar’s work for Tarentum in social media with a few numbers to back things up.
July Recommendation
After being knighted in January last year, Zednich has slowly kept himself active with a mix of mobile competitions, writing and gaming. He has won himself 216 Clusters of Earth, 46 of Fire, and 11 of Ice. He has earnt 5 Pendants of Blood along the way. He has won Crescents with a Diamond, Topaz, Emerald, 2 Amethyst and 3 Sapphire Stars. He has won 6 Seals of the Crusader for participation in the Dark Crusade and the Fading Light ACC Tournament and Runons. For merit awards, he has received two Dark Crosses attesting to his activity. This effort, conducted across 26 competitions, and a further 22 competitions that he has co-organized, attest to Zednich’s activity across a range of fields.
This is only complimented by his hard work at the Star Wars Celebration convention earlier this year, where Zednich sacrificed his weekend to ensure that the Brotherhood was kept well informed of all the happenings and goings on. Having spoken with Pravus and Valhavoc, I have learnt that Zednich took 285 photos, filmed 7 videos and shared 357 messages, photos and videos over Telegram to keep the Brotherhood informed during the weekend of the Celebration. He also advertised extensively for the club, wearing a shirt and approaching total strangers to hand out recruitment cards. That takes some balls, to approach random strangers and advertise your geeky club to other random, awkward and shy individuals, but he committed the entire weekend between updating the Brotherhood, accosting random strangers and standing there, twiddling his thumbs while waiting for his phone to charge instead of just showing up and having a great time.
His efforts since becoming a Knight have made it clear to me that he has what it takes to succeed as an Equite, and today I wish to elevate him to Equite status. Congratulations, Zednich, and thank you for your hard work during the convention!
Equite 1 is largely a test of continued activity past the Knight milestone, typically an average of six months work. Nathan summarizes Zednich’s numbers in the first paragraph, staying away from just listing things, then spends the next paragraph discussing a specific project Zednich was involved in, here Celebration promoting, taking time to point out the exceptional IRL work accomplished.
Last month, I picked up the core rulebook for Edge of the Empire, Fantasy Flight’s Star Wars RPG, and have started a campaign in person/utilizing Roll20 with a group of friends. The experience has been great so far; I am playing a droid colonist doctor nicknamed “OZ” and loving the dynamics. The game has a crap ton of mechanics plus arguably too many custom dice, but we’re having fun.
I’m not officially asking, but if anyone else has played Edge sessions or wants to, let’s chat. Maybe there’s something there…
The Number GameI definitely did not remember to continue providing these statistics, so here are numbers as of March through the end of August.
- Promotions Approved: 389
- Medals Approved: 444
- Medals Remanded: 42
- Medals Denied: 46
- Competitions Approved: 606
- Competitions Remanded: 166
- Name Changes: 74
- Unit Transfers: 169
- Path Changes: 77 — Includes restructuring requests! —
- Order Changes: 42 — Includes restructuring requests! —
- AWOL to Rogues: 151
- Mercenary and Loyalist orders are now selectable
- Review recommendation examples
- Thank you, Landon and Kordath
- Welcome, Kelly and Nero
- Families are unofficial in all capacities
- The first four ranks are now a Novitiate Tier
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/news/reports-maa-report-a-new-sub-era
