Storm Veritas

Foreword

This is a particularly difficult foreword, as I find myself in the awkward position of admittedly being not entirely neutral. That said, perhaps in some ways that isn't always a bad thing.

The first thing that Storm Veritas ever said to me on the forums was on a judgment for Canen Darkflight, circa, I think, 2006. I remember it still to this day, although I imagine Storm himself will have slept a few nights since then. "If I saw you describe his 'Emerald green eyes' one more time, I would have thumbed my fucking eyes out". Back then, I would never have guessed that one day we would look back on five, nearly six years of collaboration together. In fact, back then I was just happy to get a score of 55 from the guy!

Fast forward to 2021, and we are now celebrating Storm's nearly twenty year career on Althanas. Twenty years. In that time, the list of his achievements on Althanas goes on, and on, and on. It includes awards prior to the big crash which, unfortunately, was lost to father time. It also includes accolades from Althanas 3.1, such as Judge's Choice awards for To expedite, explore and extract..., To expedite, explore and extract (continued) and The Cleansing Corruption. It includes tournament victories at both the Gisela and the Serenti Invitational, two tournaments that are notoriously difficult to win. It includes a Lornius Corporation Challenge victory with Rayse Valentino.

Those are just the achievements I can quantify from memory, and the use of the old site. What we can't quantify is the level of passion and drive that Storm has for Althanas. We can't measure the amount of effort he has put into his writing, or the brilliant ideas he has during his collaborations and solos.

As I said before, it has been nearly six years since we started the Brotherhood and wrote our collection together. In that time, I got to know not just Storm the character, or the writer, but the man behind it all too. If you're lucky enough to know him, you'll know that he's a great guy off the site too. The fact he is still doing this nearly twenty years on despite holding down a full time job and being a full time parent too is testament to this very Hall of Fame entry.

Before this gets too soppy, Storm, I want to say thank you to you for everything you do for this site and our "industry", and for continuing to carry my ass through threads six years down the line. Not just that, but from a personal point of view also listening to my shit on discord and helping me talk through some of the more difficult parts of this year.

Now, over to you.

I've put a lot of thought in to how to respond to this, and genuinely had four different strategies to try to address such a genuine honor and thoughtful gesture. I think trying to explain why it means so much to me is the best way for me to express an appropriate "thank you". Simply, obviously, it's the people.

Althanas is in so many ways a community unlike any other I've experienced anywhere else on the internet. I've been coming here and writing and working with people since (and this is my best estimate) 2003; during that time there are too many people for me to thank. Screw it, I'm trying anyway.

Before I do this, I have to start by stating the obvious. By being on this forum for that long, so many great people have come through my orbit and made my experience uniquely wonderful that I couldn't possibly remember everyone. I haven't remembered everyone, and won't be particularly close. I'm sorry to those of you not listed. Hold my football-damaged brain to account, and not any lack of impact that you provided to my fortunate path.

First, I have Dirks to thank here. Tony is a unique character that isn't always the most polished personality manager (#diplomacy!). He's also been here the entire time, and was at the helm of the ship running the show for a very, very long time. Heavy is the head that wears the crown; it's a hell of a lot easier to complain about how much better things would be if YOU ran things. I can say with full confidence that Tony created and managed something genuinely special here that flat out doesn't exist without him, full stop. He pisses some people off, but has genuinely loved and nurtured Althanas for a very long time. Off the record, he's a great guy that is a hell of a time to hang with. Thank you.

Second, a MUCH bigger field, is the community. I started writing with people like Damon Kaosi ("The Showstopper"), Ebivoulya, Leopold, Hysteria and Ithermoss, and felt like I didn't belong in the same room. You let me hang around and made me better.

I developed further with people like Cyrus, Pav, Fez, JDD, Lye, Rayse, Yari, Pat (Slayer) and Rayleigh, who kept me going and inspired me with incredible skill. RIP to our sweet Skie & Avery ; we loved you and miss you still today.

A long time then pushed forward with two people that consistently blew me away: Karuka (whose grammatical skill will ALWAYS be leaps and bounds beyond mine) and Letho (whose imagination and skill was only matched by his output). Letho was my guy for a very long time, and he is missed.

Breaker, Philomel, Flames of Hyperion (whose skill was simply absurd), redford, and Flamebird all propelled me forward with creativity and patience and skill.

And that's it.

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OK, fine. I can't possibly thank everyone, but if I don't thank my buddy Chris then I might as well not post in the first place. A friend on the forum and off, Chris is a simply brilliant writer, terrific creative partner, thoughtful collaborator, and wonderful guy. We've both weathered crises together over the last few years that were truly brutal, and I never hesitated to share with him, knowing it would be received and reflected with empathy, thoughtful consideration, and a smart, insightful response. He's made me a better writer, and served as the type of friend that we all have but rarely recognize for being as important and instrumental as they are. Thank you, Chris.

Althanas is a home to me, a place I will always return to and have love for. This community has been a fantastic part of my life for so long; thank you all for making my time here so sweet. I hope we have twenty more together!