I was really excited that get to give out these awards again this year as it is my favourite bit of Obsidian Day. Though unfortunately this year the nominations were low and meant that only five out of the ten could be judged. But that being said the awards that were nominated for were amazing.
There was a small pool of ships / Players for the awards but the quality was amazing and I want everyone else to know that even if you do not win you were still amazing enough to be nominated.
USS Elysium
NX- 05 Atlantis
SS Mary Rose
Obsidian Command
USS Potemkin
And USS Tesla but that ship was disbanded back in February unfortunately.
As some will know and others not Obsidian Day awards are not chosen by anyone in the fleet. So I want to say a quick thank you to our judges who I know are around and watching. You are legends and I really appreciate you guys taking the time to judge. You literally went in with fresh eyes and saw the quality and awesomeness that are the stories we weave.
Obsidian’s Outstanding Player
Okay, I love this award as it was an award that I believe is the first Obsidian Day Award won by two people
Lalor
Captain Lalor without a doubt is the most dedicated Captain I have ever come across. She is totally dedicated to her ship and crew and seeing to the well being of both. She goes above and beyond the call of duty in coming up with fun, challenging missions for crew that will keep everyone involved. She is also there to lend and ear to help a crew member who may have difficulty getting involved in the storyline or some other problem the crew member may be having. Captain Lalor makes everyone feel involved. She runs a tight ship but is fair in all her dealings with the crew. She is also incredibly professional in all her dealings. You may not like some of her decisions but she always takes the time to explain her reasoning. I believe Captain Lalor is the perfect candidate to receive this award.
Paul
Paul is more than dedicated, he makes all the best that Trek has to offer personal, and infects us all with it. He works to make everyone else better. Speak to anyone who has had the pleasure of knowing him, and you will find him a beacon of positivity and encouragement with a depth of skill, knowledge and passion that every one of us should aspire to. He came back to simming excited to make a difference and carry forward the belief in the best Trek has.
Obsidian’s Outstanding Newcomer (Ship/colony/station) – USS Potemkin
Potemkin opened up in just Spring ’21 and it’s been off like a shot! After the GM showed a photo of his towering stack of Modiphius Star Trek Adventure manuals and said he’d like to run an online table top Roleplay, he garnered a crew of valiant volunteers and technical support from the fleet which all brewed together to create a new mad experiment in gameplay AND podcasting.
Obsidian’s Community Engagement Award – Paul
Paul makes himself present to encourage others and to keep conversation light and lively. He’s always ready to share about movies, games, and television across a host of franchises and genres. He often brings in playful memes or little challenges and conversation starters. These seem like little things, but it’s just the kind of stuff that keeps people talking and coming to know one another better, taking off the pressure and letting everyone have equal opportunity to share. Whenever possible I’ve witnessed Paul quietly seek to understand people coming from different perspectives and always build up and bridge gaps wherever there are differences. Overall he’s very humble about himself, if maybe to a fault as the best people tend to be.
Golden PADD for outstanding creativity (Overall Ship) – NX05 Atlantis
The crew of the Atlantis is a very diverse writing group and I think they deserve to be acknowledged as such. Instances of their brilliance is not in only picking a time frame where not many ships thrive or join but in also making it a lost in space sim with not much change of getting home. The creativity in the long run, as well as their dedication to such talent in individual posts and missions alike.
Golden PADD for outstanding Mission
This is another award that two ships won –
Obsidian Command– Emergence
As the sim’s leading mission, much had to happen in the grand overall setting, and the absurd background circumstances— a Stardock gone missing in a Voyager-styled “”Void”” pocket in space for 18 months, and returned through application of Quantum effects to its original orbit— had to be given detail and substantive weight in the effects on the region of space and on the characters involved in the reestablishment of the station. Hence the Mission led to a battle against conglomerate forces with varied interests in the region to try to keep the destabilization the pirates, criminals, and warlords would much prefer to operate under. This mission all crescendos to a Climactic note at the very outset of the sim that will continue to feed into future missions indefinitely as the events and characters established in “”Emergence”” resonate through the station, the planet, the system, and the region over all.
SS Mary Rose – Railway
The crew of Rosie are tasked with delivering items to a refugee world when they get word from the Fenris Rangers that they need help searching for a refugee ship. On the way to the meeting point of another ship tasked to assist with the search, the crew find them in an awkward situation of swapping bodies with other members of the crew. How did that happen and how do they fix it back to allow them to do their jobs?
I loved this mission. It’s a bit cheeky as I helped develop the idea for it, but it was so much fun and plenty of people got involved and managed to make it both silly and intense at the same time. We had hilarious misunderstandings, as well as some deep/dark delves into what it would mean becoming someone else and literally walking in their shoes. And this storyline has had lasting consequences for many of the characters involved too.
*If anyone needs a dark mode of their image let me know asap.