[Citizen] Iskar (Patron: Aikanár) [PASSED]

[Aikanár]

My bit

Esteemed fellow Citizens,

sometimes you browse through the D&D, skimming threads for ToS violations interesting content. You take a sip of your coffee every once in a while and just when you think that's that for the day you come across a post that prompts you to and start reading with care. Such was the case when I first came across a post of Iskar in the Athenaeum.

A relatively new member with a low post count posting a post like this as his first appearance in the D&D? I was intrigued, but you never know, could well be simply a one post never come back poster or an alt of somebody or, or, or.

Anyways, the user caught my attention and so I followed his postings silently. Turns out, postings like this, this, that or this, this one, here and there, this and that and this one too are the kind of postings he contributes to the D&D on a regular basis. Yes, he also does post rather short postings too, but those are of high quality too. And then he goes on posting things like this, that, that which is actually an OP and that, that one, this here, also this, that OP here, that, this, another one or this piece, then there's this one, that, this, one more post of his, that, and this one.

So I think you get a picture of what quality he offers to the D&D. I also did find it noteworthy that the moment he started to set foot in the D&D he was caught and kept on contributing. I also really like his demeanor. He's a civil debater, which I think is in itself something to be acknowledged.

You'll probably know by now that I couldn't help but approach him concerning Citizenship. Turns out, he wasn't only interested in discussion and debate, no he's actually a modder too. Contributing mostly with written content and beta-testing. I smiled. A new contributor on several fields, stellar behavior and high quality contributions. This is exactly the kind of member that usually flies under the radar for quite some time, but I like to see promoted. TWC needs new members and people such as Iskar are a fine addition to TWC's residents.

So don't let his post count fool you, he already done a lot, his attitude leaves nothing to be desired and there's more to come. But enough of my words, let's hear him say his bit.

Iskar's Profile

His bit

Dear citizenry,

Would you grant Charles VIII and his army passage through your lands? How does one implement history in a game without negating choice? Are there universal criteria for "moral" choices? Do religion and science necessarily conflict? Are there limits to scientific knowledge? What happens inside a black hole? What is "space" actually? Is there even a world outside our mind? And seriously, why does kill_character not work?

My name is Iskar and if you're intrigued by the questions above at least a tad as much as I am, then we should get along quite well. (Even if you're not it would be my pleasure to attempt and demonstrate why you should be. )

I do not remember exactly why I first signed up on TWC in September 2013. I was probably redirected here in search of one of Gigantus' tutorials on modding in order to understand what aspects of the game could be manipulated, for at that time I started getting more involved with the event design of the (then still exclusively German) Italian Wars mod.
However, I did not participate actively in the forums until we started with translating our mod into English while simultaneously working on the extended historical events for version 3.0 in the latter half of 2014. In order to give people an impression of the events awaiting them I started a slightly unorthodox preview, called "If you were the Doge..." that featured written content rather than graphical aspects and confronted people with choices that had to be made by historical actors in renaissance Italy. Following the release I started posting episodes from my Florentine and German campaigns.
If you play the mod (which I can highly recommend) then you will find my chief work in the design of the events that form the early and middle part of the campaign, such as King Charles' War, the League of Venice, the Treaty of Granada, the Treaty of Blois, the League of Cambrai, the Veneto-Papal alliance, the Holy League, the Veneto-French alliance, the events of 1519 and the following war of 1521 including the English intervention, the Duke of Bourbon's case, the French-Ottoman alliance and the Treaty of Madrid.
In designing these events I put great emphasis on balancing the player's freedom against the historical blueprint and judging from feedback we have received so far it seems I was not too bad at conveying the feeling of being an actor in renaissance politics.

I have hence continued my service as a beta-tester, event designer, writer and translator for Neadal and currently we are busy working on version 4.1. Due to my studies in maths and physics it comes quite naturally to me to immediately associate the hidden game-mechanics to the output on the screen. I also have a pretty clear picture in mind of how the mod should ideally behave with respect to unit behaviour, strategical balance, historical events, etc. and so I usually play through the campaign with different factions and then report my findings and suggestions to Neadal.

It was not until March this year, however, that I stumbled into the D&D section of TWC and it was a question of Kyriakos about a variation on Russel's paradox that first sparked my interest. Since then I have been active mainly in the philosophy section of the D&D. Being a proponent of a moderate constructivism as well as of post-conciliar catholicism I quickly found myself in more or less fervent discussions about free will, ethics and the intricacies of Christian theology, the philosophy of quantum physics, the brain-mind dichotomy among other contributions in many of the more recent philosophy threads.
I was also happy to find an opportunity to answer science questions in the Athenaeum.

I have come to greatly appreciate the D&D section of TW and am currently just about to venture further into its other parts, such as arts and politics.

In fact such a (usually) level-headed, educated and sharp-minded community (of course including its exceptions that add a bit of ... spice to the discussions) has barely ever occured to me in such apparent continuity on the internet and I am genuinely amazed by what the generations of contributors and staff before me have accomplished.

My favourite quote, as one might tell from my signature, from my favourite thinker is "Not titles honour men, but men do titles honour". Judging from what TWC is now, many citizens have done their title a lot of honour, and I would in turn feel honoured if you allowed me to do the same as a civitate.

Respectfully

Iskar

[Aikanár]

Eh, I forgot: no moderation issues whatsoever.

[Hitai de Bodemloze]

Interesting application. Will have a more thorough read through his D&D posts when I get the time, although at first glance they look quite impressive. Would be good to hear some thoughts concerning his modding from any Artifexs hanging around. I do greatly respect translation work though.

[Halie Satanus]

Hmm.. Don't need to look, been catching his posts all week and it's an easy yes from me.

[Makrell]

I agree, he is an easy yes. Some people dont make 9000 posts of nothing(like fishes) and gets the citizenship, some people make 183 posts of quality, and deserves this.

[Dante Von Hespburg]

I love this guy, currently one of my favourite 'out-of-pit' D&Ders, his posts are considered and detailed, he discusses typically as opposed to shouty debates. This alone gets a heck-yes from me. Modding i don't really have a clue about, if he's done it, that's a cheeky bonus from my view. Slap a badge on the man.

[Veteraan]

After Tigellinus we now have another citizenship application from someone I never heard of. Well, that's not a problem of course, I'm sure there were enough people who never heard of me at the time of my bid for Citizenship.

I must confess I never frequent the D&D threads where Iskar seems to do most of his posting. For this I will rely on the the members that have and who already reported about it here.

Modding for Medieval II Kingdoms is of course one of my own interests and I can appreciate the work it takes to do that. I also enjoyed his posts in the {DIK} Sreenshots (that is not a typo by me!) thread.

And of course anybody who includes Monty Python in his interests list while still being only in his twenties, can't do much wrong as far as I'm concerned.

[Flinn]

Pretty much what the old fellow above said

Quality of posting seems high indeed (at least for my limited D&D experience) and we share a similar vision on existance of God, which is rather rare
moreover, the technical-philosofical poster compound is really intriguing and as usual a positive attitude is always a plus for me.

also

TWC needs new members and people such as Iskar are a fine addition to TWC's residents.

yes for me

[Aikanár]

Interesting application. Will have a more thorough read through his D&D posts when I get the time, although at first glance they look quite impressive. Would be good to hear some thoughts concerning his modding from any Artifexs hanging around. I do greatly respect translation work though.

I've taken the liberty to shoot Neadal, the mod leader of Italian Wars, a pm with regards to Iskar's work, here's what he says about it:

Sure, always a pleasure

We started working together quite a while ago, I had just finished Version 3.3.1 of TIW, when I asked him to join me.

Basically we supplement each other very well. Especially I know what is feasible and he has great ideas.
Most of the scripted events in TIW 4.0 are basing on his ideas. Also he lend me a hand with the translation. Without him, it would have been taking very much longer than it actually had. In writting event texts and giving them that kind of needed flair, which is a big part in TIW, goes also on his account

Currently he hunts bugs and problems, so we can fix them for the upcoming patch 4.1. He is very fussy and sometimes he drives me almost mad
But most of the problems and bugs get solved! So he is really doing a great job!

I have started a new project In Nomine Dei, he will lend me a hand on that project, too.

Hopefully, I could give you a small impression!

Cheers Neadal

[mishkin]

Looks like this users makes the D&D section a much better place.

[Sir Adrian]

The level of most discussions in the EMM so poor and shallow that anybody who posts there to broaden his horizon and learn/explore new ways of thinking instead of the standard fare of "winning" the debate and measuring their dick is automatically raising the quality of the place and therefore deserves the badge.

Iskar not only does that but he also goes the extra mile by actively trying to create a constructive discussion. Definite yes from me, the modding work is just extra.

[Hitai de Bodemloze]

I've taken the liberty to shoot Neadal, the mod leader of Italian Wars, a pm with regards to Iskar's work, here's what he says about it:

Many thanks I don't have a problem supporting this then.

[Quintus Hortensius Hortalus]

I just had the time to check 2 or 3 post of him but I like them. For the other part I trust my fellow citizens^^
Furthermore he is helping out with mods and he is a Rhinelander^^
So he will get a "yes" from me.

[Ngugi]

[Garbarsardar]

He passes the Borges test of Citizenship.

[Shankbot de Bodemloze]

Poll up.

[mishkin]

Voted

[Halie Satanus]

Voted.

[Kaiser Leonidas]

Voted

[Flinn]

voted as well