January 2020 - Katra Station Recognition Awards Ceremony (Jan 3, 2020)

[Archivist Four]

Tess tLhoell « on: January 03, 2020, 23:45:56 »

Welcome Katra Station Officers and Crew to the Bi-annual Awards Ceremony.

We have had a great past 6 months of amazing players letting their prowess and talents shine. These players and their talents we want to honor and recognize.

Over the course of the next few posts the Command Staff will each post a selection of Awards to be handed out. My humble self will start off with the Service Awards, the EPC/OTC Graduate Award and the Crew Choice. Followed by our Executive Officer Commander tr'Lhoell handing out several of the Posting Ability Awards and the Executive Merit Award. Then summed up by the Captain announcing the Extra Contribution Award and the Captain's Merit Award.

I am so very glad to be part of such an amazing crew and am looking forward to many more years with you all.

***

6 Month Service Ribbon

Awarded to players who have been with the fleet for six months.

Lieutenant jg. Kalem Michael
Lieutenant jg. Beja

***

1 Year Service Ribbon

Awarded to players who have been with the fleet for one year.

Lieutenant jg. John Saxon

***

2 Year Service Ribbon

Awarded to players who have been with the fleet for two years.

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
Captain Arrun Dihsar

***

3 Year Service Ribbon

Awarded to players who have been with the fleet for three years.

Senior Chief Petty Officer Jada

***

EPC/OTC Graduate Ribbon

Awarded to all enlisted players upon graduation from the Enlisted Persons Course or Officers Training Course.

Ensign Mike Corso

***

Crew Choice Award

Each award season we ask the crew to recognize one of their own. This time around the award goes to:

Lieutenant jg. Beja

Congratulations to all recipients!

[Archivist Four]

Rayek trLhoell « Reply #1 on: January 04, 2020, 01:55:59 »

I have the privilege and honour to hand out the awards for POSTING ABILITY.   These include Awards for Posting Excellence, Descriptive Combat, Technical Precision etc.  Before I begin however there is one last Service Award that needs to be handed out.

Meritorious Service Award
This is awarded to players on promotion to Lieutenant Commander or Chief Petty Officer. 
Last month this should have been presented one who was promoted to Lieutenant Commander.
Lieutenant Commander Tess Moreno

*** POSTING ABILITY AWARDS ***

Posting Excellence Award
Awarded in January and July to one player who has demonstrated consistent high quality posting skills.
Lieutenant jg. John 'Century' Saxon
I am constantly impressed by the quality of writing from this player.  He has a way of drawing in the reader and making scenes come alive.

***

Most Improved Player Award
Awarded to the player who has greatly improved since the last awards ceremony.
Lieutenant jg. Beja
The past six months has seemed to have drawn Beja out more.  She interacts more both in main missions and in holodecks.  The Command Staff had enjoyed bringing to life a bit of our  Klingon counselor's backstory and we look forward to learning more about her as the stories go forward.

***

Descriptive Combat Award
Awarded in January and July to the player who has demonstrated an ability to convey the action of combat in their posts.
Lieutenant jg. John Saxon
This award was so very difficult to assign. We had two very worth candidates in mind and even considered assigning it to both but in end felt that we had to recognize John. His battle with the DBT just proved our decision.

***

Best Newcomer Award
Awarded to the player who has demonstrated excellence, and who joined after the last awards ceremony.
Ensign Mike Corso
Corso has been with us just a month and we can see great things coming from him already.  His participation and ideas in game make our simm so much the better.  We thank you for finding us and look forward to the next six month of your stories with us.

***

Most Engaging Member Award
Awarded in January and July to the player who writes the most emotionally engaging, scene setting posts.
Lieutenant jg. Beja
Deciding on which player to assign this was also difficult, most of the players on Katra are highly engaging which makes selecting one who stands out challenging.  The Command Team picked Beja for this as so many her posts beautifully draw the reader into the psyche of the Klingon counselor.  She doesn't need ACTION to drive her posts.  Thank you for your gentle and character-building stories.

***

And lastly for my portion of the awards...

Executive Officer's Personal Merit Award
Awarded in January and July by the executive officer, to a player of his or her choosing.

Selecting the recipient for this award is never easy.  I personally want to recognize each and every one of you.  Rhade and Kalem for being willing to change departments when we found ourselves with a need in another department.  Kalem moved from Flight to Ops... and Rhade moved from Ops to Engineering.  All so that our simm could be more complete.   I want recognize those that join me in the holodecks, like Tess, and Beja, who help to build more background on not just my character but another peoples characters as well.  I even considered recognizing one of our reserved members, Arrun Dihsar, as a sort of send off for him and maybe an enticement for him to come back.

But in the end, I felt I had to recognize someone who has played an amazing character from the moment she joined our crew.  She wasn't happy with the move here.  No doubt if her previous simm hadn't been ripped out from under her feet, I would never have met the character at all and the player would be just another name on Discord.  But fate intervened and brought her to us and she has been a whirlwind of action and plot movement since day one.  She is by far one of our most active players.  Always involved, always posting and moving scenes ahead.

So in a way I am grateful for her misfortune because even in the writing of her struggles to find her place among us - there is amazing stories.  For all these reasons she is my pick for the Executive Officer's Personal Merit Award.  Congratulations! And thank you for being a part of Katra's simm.

Senior Chief Petty Officer Jada

[Archivist Four]

Solluk « Reply #2 on: January 04, 2020, 09:50:16 »

It is an honor to stand in a virtual room of amazing writers, all of whom contribute to this great sim called Katra, and recognize you all for the amazing players you are.  Any joy to be found in this game we share is a result of the brilliant contributions of each and every one of you.  Every word in every post on every page is a metaphorical bolt and strut that keeps our station floating in the black, and you have all done your part to make it happen.

But twice a year, it is my excruciating joy to extend extra accolades to a few of outstanding merit who have brought that much extra shine, polish, and depth to our experience here. 

Joy, because I relish the chance to remind you of how awesome you are. 

Excruciating, because I am forced to narrow the field to just a few from a crowd of contenders, each worthy of the honors here bestowed.

  The Rib Tickler Award is granted to players who bring that extra bit of humor even to gritty and dangerous scenes.  Although Solluk the character sometimes gives dour looks to this person for antics which prove too bold for his stick-in-the-mud stodginess, Anthony the player often enjoys a chuckle as she brings a bit of funloving joy into the fray.  Who can forget My Little Targ?  This award goes to Jada, for brightening the darkest of days with a humorous scene.

The Best Duo award is granted to a pair of players who create memorable scenes and development while working in tandem.  We are no stranger to the dynamic between this pair, who have brought one post after another that develop their characters while unfolding the drama of their lives for all to enjoy.  From anger, to disappointment, to shame, to forgiveness, to love and devotion, their story as a couple is beyond compare.  For this reason, I am proud to extend the award to Tess and Rayek, may their love fill the stars.

The technical precision award is one of the hardest to issue on Katra.  We are chock full of players who demand a taste of realism in their fiction, and go to great lengths in researching material to make their posts believable and interesting.   This season, I could have awarded this ribbon to half the ship.   But in the end, I decided that Hrafn would receive it.  Hrafn always takes the time to deeply consider the impossible Trek science that she is forced to work with as Chief Science Officer.  All the more impressive, because she also runs a ship of her own.

  The Fleet Service Award is given to officers and crew who spread the fruits of Katra Station to other sims by guest-starring in a mission.  These guest-appearances are a vital part of making Shadow Fleet seem like a cohesive whole, and not just an assemblage of disconnected sims.  For standing like a Colossus astride two sims at the same time, this award is granted to Jada.

The Outstanding Commitment Award is a ribbon of excellence granted to a player who is always online, always participating, always posting.  Some awards are difficult to decide, but there was a clear standout for this ribbon.  In fact, with this member of the sim, the challenge was not to embarrass her with too many awards.  Rayek, I have never cast my gaze towards Katra without finding you here.  Making chat in the Discord.  Answering questions.  Writing Holodecks.  Writing posts.  You are a whirling dervish that keeps all our windmills in motion.  For all these reasons, you deserve this award.

I sometimes think that Rayek could keep things running smoothly single-handedly.  But as amazing as my First Officer is, no one can be everywhere all the time.  When the sun sets, the moon must shine, and there is another great pillar of our community that ensures everything remains stable, on track, and entertaining.  Always collaborating, always asking how she can help.  Even running missions in superb fashion.  The Contribution award was made for such activity, contributing above and beyond the call of duty on a daily basis.  Tess, this award belongs to you.

When one makes outstanding commitments every day to the success of our game, it can hardly be a surprise that the Outstanding Commitment award is on the horizon.  The highest of our Outstanding Commitment awards is named for a beloved member of the fleet who gave us so much, and will always be warmly remembered.  Rayek, I know you did not want the weight of another ribbon on your uniform, but this great award must be honored by granting it to the most deserving of members.  It could only be you who wears the Lizzie Vaughan ribbon.

The Captain's Personal Merit Award.  It is a ribbon I can pin to the metaphorical chest of any player in our sim whom I feel is deserving of extra recognition.  I grappled with this one, because the individual I wanted to grant this to is no longer an active player in our sim.  But they had been with us almost since the very beginning, and have played a crucial role in many of our plot developments, allowing me to create intrigues that continue in the background while our main plots unfold elsewhere.  This award covers a span of time, and not just the most recent moments.  As such, I feel it is still warranted, in recognition of past contributions which made Katra a deeper and more vibrant community than it otherwise would have been.  Arrun Dishar, I do not know if we shall see you again. But if you see us, know that your time here was appreciated.  This award is for you. 

Thank you to each and every one of you who work so hard to make this sim a success.  And a hearty congratulations to all of our winners.

Here's to another great year of telling stories together.  :-)

[Archivist Four]

Jada « Reply #3 on: January 04, 2020, 10:07:14 »

Thank you, thank you, and thank you. It's lovely to see my chaos is appreciated, though I'm amazed to be awarded for being a sourpuss and a joker. 

[Archivist Four]

Rayek trLhoell « Reply #4 on: January 04, 2020, 11:06:19 »

Congratulations to all the recipients! 

And thank you Captain for your praise of my efforts here.  The past year and a bit since being asked to help run Katra have been without a doubt the best writing experience I have had.  I am so grateful to all the players that make up this wonderful simm.  But I am especially grateful to you, Captain, for taking over at the start of the year and encouraging us all to build this simm into the amazing community it is!  The task of being XO is super easy in comparison to the responsibilities of Captain yet you bear them well (even if IC Solluk may be facing some disciplinary action.  Teehee.).

Special thanks also to Tess. Without her, Katra wouldn't be quite the same.  Our relationship stories together have been a major highlight of each and every day.   Though with so many holodeck scenes together (and so many more pending)... my one regret...  I've really slowed on my one-shot prompts.

I hope I can build equally strong relationships with each and everyone of our members.  I am always willing to play out holodecks with others.  Be it more combat training, counseling sessions, flight practice,  holodeck team building exercises.  I know personal connections are sometimes hard to fit into the Order-Acknowledgement role of most missions, so if anyone is seeking more... I am available.

Congratulations to all once more!  HUGS!

[Archivist Four]

Tess tLhoell « Reply #5 on: January 04, 2020, 12:47:59 »

Congratulations to all of you!

Thank you Captain, for your kind words of recognition. I'm always amazed about the heart-warming words you find for each one of us and I'm grateful to be so fortunate to find some of them directed at me.

Rayek, thanks to you too. I can only give back the same, Rayess (shall we make it official?  ) has brought me so much joy and also some cheering up on some bad days and I hope their love story will have many more chapters.

And thanks to all of you for making this simm to what it is. I'm so glad to have been assigned here. My heart belongs to this simm and I will always put my blood, sweat and tears into Katra with zest!

Thank you, thank you, and thank you. It's lovely to see my chaos is appreciated, though I'm amazed to be awarded for being a sourpuss and a joker. 

You may be that, but you're our sourpuss and joker  

[Archivist Four]

John Saxon « Reply #6 on: January 04, 2020, 16:24:24 »

Wow. I was not expecting these awards. I am incredibly grateful; it feels undeserved, but nonetheless I am incredibly grateful. I have had a wonderful year on Katra, and although Saxon will be 'officially' 98 years (and a day) when the glorious nuptials of our very own Tess and Rayek goes ahead, I hope to have many more years participating in the story of a small, largely unsupported frontier starbase out in the wilderness of the Gamma Quadrant.

And I also want to echo the comments of my comrades: the success of this game could not be possible without the fact-meets-fiction leadership of Anthony, our tireless (and often very patient!) Captain on-and-off the proverbial page.

[Archivist Four]

Beja « Reply #7 on: January 04, 2020, 17:56:13 »

Congratulations to everyone!! Everyone is so deserving of all the rewards. I am always so amazed at the talent and enthusiasm of the crew of Katra. It truly is a delight to be able to write with all of you and become better for it. I've enjoyed my time here immensely and look forward to what the future will hold for Katra and the crew! Thank you all so much for your kind words and awards to me personally. I strive to be a better writer each and every day. Thank you!

[Archivist Four]

Solluk « Reply #8 on: January 05, 2020, 04:10:04 »

Gadzooks!

I forgot one!

Rayek has been advertising our site around the web, and deserves this ribbon:

   The Recruitment ribbon, for efforts to bring more people into the fleet.

Thank you, Rayek.

And thanks to all of you for these warm words and positive wishes.  I couldn't ask for a better team.

Cheers!

[Archivist Four]

Hrafn Falleg « Reply #9 on: February 05, 2020, 14:59:12 »

Awww just noticed this - thanks for that.  I'm really REALLY happy that the hours (ok part of that is my fault, I get interested and... well that's it lol, I end up reading and reading, but a LOT of it is note taking.  If I don't use in the mission I originally started researching then I bullet point things or at least bookmark the site to use stuff later!) reading up on stuff has finally paid off!

Cheers, Captain!