I don't usually make nominations because I feel Wintreath's Finest is a for Citizens by Citizens thing. However, things have been inactive, we haven't had a new Wintreath's Finest in a few months, and I believe it's better for someone deserving to be recognized than for the honour to go unawarded out of an obscure personal principle that isn't related at all to our principles as a community.
I would like to nominate
@taulover for his work on Arena 8. It's a commitment to run a forum game even in the best of times, but for many it wouldn't be worth the time to do a game for just 4 players. We've had potential hosts in the past decide not to go through with their games because they didn't have enough players. However, taulover has been nothing but dedicated in this game...designing a new hitbox mechanic, creating an awesome map, adapting the game for fewer players, and overall making it one of the most fun Arena games I've played yet. It's inspired me to run my own forum game this summer, and maybe thanks to him it'll be a forum game summer despite how slow things are overall.
I would also like to nominate
@Ruguo for their work as Jarl of Foreign Affairs. It's only been two weeks since their appointment, but in that time they've already visited the Discords of most of the communities we have relations with and put out a survey to better understand where we stand with them. In hindsight these are very basic things to do, but it's been so long since we've done them if we ever have at all. In recent years Wintrean FA has come from a place of cynicism and defensiveness, which is very understandable given the struggles and outrages that the people leading our FA have had to suffer at times. However, it may be that Ruguo's methodical and open-minded approach to conducting foreign affairs is just what our community needs at the moment.
Finally, I would like to nominate
@Wuufu for the improvements he made to Zaphyr's Cards Against Humanity game, which in slow times has been a reliable source of activity since we revived CAH Nights. Having more decks to draw from will give our games greater variety (and reduce the odds of getting the dreaded haiku card), while his work in weighing the decks will make sure there's still a steady stream of Wintreath/NS cards so our own flavour of the game is protected. I know that Wuufu is often a very busy person, and despite that he's put in a lot of work with Zaphyr over the years that I don't think has always received the recognition that it should have. He is one of the few people who has developed things for Wintreath, and I deeply appreciate the time and work he's put into that.
