Merit Badges - October 2021
Author: Jahily al'Karee
Published: October 13 2021 - Tar Valon Times Blog Link
Welcome back readers to our series that will run each quarter, highlighting our TarValon.Net Merit Badges!
What are Merit Badges? First introduced in 2011, Merit Badges (i.e. “Merits”) are a way to acknowledge the time and effort that our members put into the Community. The program has expanded over the years, and we have Merits for a variety of categories. From time spent as an active Member, volunteering at an official event, mentoring Junior Members, taking or teaching classes, or serving in a staff position. These are just a few of our Merit Badge categories. Merits are listed in each member’s profile in the Library, and some of them will earn you “perks” like discounts for Official Events.
Here are the Merit Badges awarded this quarter with a little explanation of what they are for:
Membership Merit This Merit is awarded for “time served” as a community member. Members earn a Gold Merit for every five years of membership, and a Silver Merit for 2.5 years.
Officer Merit There are several different merits under the heading “Administrative Service.” They are based on time serving in different positions in the Community. The first of these is the Officer Merit for those in our Executive Branch. Members earn a gold merit after serving as an Officer for two years. A second gold is earned after serving four years. A silver merit is earned after serving as an Officer for one year.
Administrator Merit Many of our staff positions qualify for the Admin Merit, which again is awarded for a certain amount of time served. These are cumulative across departments, not just time spent in one position. Members earn a gold merit after serving as an Administrator for four or more years. A silver merit is earned after serving as an Administrator for two or more years.
Staff Merit Still other Administrative Service positions qualify for the Staff Merit, which again is awarded for a certain amount of time served. These are cumulative across departments, not just time spent in one position. Five years earns a Gold Merit, while 2.5 years earns a Silver Merit.
Group Service Merit This is a newer Merit, introduced in 2017. It falls under the “Administrative Service” category and is a silver merit. It is awarded annually to one person in each community group as chosen by their group leader. It can be awarded once per year for each group.
Attendance Merit This is a Merit introduced in 2011 under the category of Event Attendance. Attending 20 Official events/conferences earns a Gold Merit, while attending 10 earns a Silver Merit.
Group Pride Merit This is a gold only merit. Members earn this Merit after serving a full term of each role as Sitter, Heart and Head of their Ajah; or Warder Councillor, Honour Guard and Company Commander of their [[Ajahs and Companies (TarValon.Net}|Company]].
Gleeman’s Merit This is an “Online Spirit” Merit introduced in 2016 for running Mafia and Assassins games. A gold merit is earned after running four Mafia or Assassins games, with a requirement that at least one is a Mafia game; and a silver is earned after running two games of any type. It can only be earned once.
You can see the list of the October 2021 Merit awardees here. Want to know more about Merits you can earn? Our Library is a great source of information (used as reference material for this article), as is this post at the Head Librarian’s Desk. Thanks to everyone for your membership and service to the TarValon.Net community!
