News from the Nest
An Order of the Peacock Newsletter
Feast of The Leviathan XXIV:
Awards and Recognition
Once again this year we had a Feast of Leviathan without the traditional View From Valehaven awards. This is to be expected of course, it’s been a fairly untraditional few years and we are just now settling into a new normal. Even so, we decided that we would like to honor some of the folks who really went above and beyond to keep our community going through such difficult times and helped give us the opportunity to even be at an event handing out awards.
There were quite a few people absent at the feast, including many of the people we wished to honor. Rude, but understandable. The awards were also handed out by someone who should take her own advice on public speaking, but who is thankfully a better writer than a presenter, and we have been meaning to get something out to the community so that you can all thank them and they know that they are being thanked. These are the people who made great strides in providing content, keeping our spirits up, and helped not only to get us back up and running but worked to ensure that we never truly lost connection to the community.
Here are the recipients of this year’s ‘Cockys’.
Cal ‘Syruss’ Marsden - For compiling, editing, and producing the ‘Give a punch’ video. Very early on in our isolation when we were all a little unsure of what the future would bring and if and when we’d be back to seeing each other in person, he found a creative and fun way for us to engage from a distance. Making the clips gave us our first excuse in a long while to actually put on real clothing, comb our hair, and maybe even go outside! Thank you for bringing us all back together and taking our minds off of mundane problems for a little while.
Christopher ‘Janus’ Donnelly - For organizing the ‘Questing at Home’ series in the View From Valehaven. He somehow managed to take what we do every weekend in the Realms and somehow translate it to things we could do from the comfort and safety of our own homes. It was a wildly popular series that included many people in the form of both contestants and judges. Thank you for giving us all a little bit of adventure in the mundane monotony of quarantine.
Crystal ‘Cressida’ Welch - For presenting us with the ‘Animal Companion Competition’ series in the View From Valehaven. She took a fourth circle spell and turned it into a fun and engaging competition. People’s furry and feathered friends got to become more than just an extra source of magic and took center stage in all sorts of antics and essays. Lots of folks got involved as either the animal’s faithful valets, or the judges who got to weigh in on ‘butt capes’ and sophisticated mallards. Thank you for providing us with some whimsy and lighthearted fun.
RealmsCraft Team - For the RealmsCraft series of events. They managed to take a very mundane medium and turn it into something magical for the community. I have no idea what goes into creating a Minecraft world, but I am sure it is not a small amount of time and effort. While we couldn’t get together in person, they provided a different sort of event environment that was creative and fun. Thank you for providing event content in a safe and unique way.
Realms Community Forum Team - For organizing and hosting the ‘Realms Community Forum’. While we may be back to in person gatherings, it’s often hard to find the space to have organized conversations about the various aspects that make up both the magical and mundane in the Realms. This team has put the work into coming up with topics, gathering panelists, and moderating meetings on a wide variety of topics. Thank you for giving us a platform to discuss and debate in an organized fashion.
Jason ‘Aeston’ Rosa - For all the interactive View series (Boff Brawls, Loremaster quizzes, puzzles, etc.). These got a lot of engagement from the community. They were simple to participate in, were a lot of fun, and got surprisingly competitive. For taking on the project of completely remaking the Realms map in a brand new format and making us all really think about some world building for a while. For the ReCapp project which has gotten a lot more photos of our gatherings into albums and circulates some gold out into the economy. And for putting ‘Rhiassa Presents’ on pretty much every event right out of the gate, and even when he didn’t he still helped organize and run them. Thank you for assisting us through the rough times and helping to usher us into better ones.
The View From Valehaven staff - For everything. The majority of other awards were for series published in The View. Keeping going with daily posts during a time where there was limited content took a lot of effort from everyone involved, but the staff of The View definitely deserves a lot of credit for coming up with ideas, and organizing and recruiting content providers over an extended period of difficulty. And as they are the folks who never get awards because they are always giving them out, it’s nice to get to recognize them for a change. Thank you for all you do, every day, for our community.
If we were to give an award to everyone who has contributed to the community over the last few years we’d run out of paper. We have endured because of the efforts of many. And while we don’t put in that effort for rewards and recognition, it’s still nice to get some. When putting in time and energy for a community, it can often feel as though the community isn’t embracing it, which leads to us feeling that they don’t need it. We need everyone’s efforts. That’s what makes us ‘us’. So if you see someone doing something that you enjoy, that adds to your experience in the Realms, if you feel that you and yours are better for their efforts, tell them! Don’t wait for someone to give them an award to applaud their efforts. Just say ‘thank you’ when you can.
In service to The Realms
The Order of the Peacock