Rhiassa Presents: Queen of Hearts XXVI

Hello all,

We'€™d like to take a minute to give thanks to the multitude of people without whom Queen of Hearts XXVI wouldn't have been possible. As I'm sure you can imagine, putting together an event of this complexity is far from easy. It requires many hours of mental and physical labor, the talents and commitment from a diverse set of individuals, and most of all continuous passion on the part of many people to bring forward the best event we can. These efforts and intentions are not something we take lightly. 

Every year we spend almost all of Friday on site setting up. This is never a painless afternoon and evening but it's made a lot easier when fellow members of our community take their entire day to come out and help us succeed, so w'd like to extend our endless thanks to Pat Bobell, Angie Gray, and Nataliya Kostenko for doing just that. 

Our marshaling staff was bolstered by some incredibly reliable and trustworthy individuals including Angie Gray, Tom Gallagher, Dave Hayden, Anthony Quintana, Zach Senchuck, and an extremely special thank you to Cal Marsden who tirelessly worked to not only marshal fights but to spread positivity and enhance everyone's Queen of Hearts experience in endless ways. 

Likewise, cleanup is a Herculean task and we appreciate all the efforts of everyone who helped move things around or pick up trash or anything of the type before they departed. We'd like to especially thank some individuals who stayed to a time well beyond the call of duty to make sure we could eventually leave site (after dark though it might have been). You have our deepest gratitude Dave Hayden, Joe Sims, Zach Senchuck, and especially Jerry Pierce and Pat Bobell who were two of the last people off site.

I'd like to earnestly thank all three of this year's queens. It takes a lot of energy and enthusiasm to put a team together and especially to take up the mantle of the figurehead of that team, but without those acts, Queen of Hearts would never work. So thank you Nataliya Kostenko, Tanner Wilson, and Arthur Granger. 

Before I get to my final points, we'd like to say a word to our loyal Rhiassans. It's easy to look at the red tabards around the field at Queen of hearts and see those of Aeston, Areni, and Gwen but truthfully our contributions hardly stand out compared to those of our nation members. While we might be directing people around the site or handing out cards or calling the start of fights, so many other Rhiassans are continuously engaged in dozens of different tasks from running smaller individual tournaments to constantly setting things up and breaking other things down, to keeping the kitchen stocked, to running supplies where they need to be. It is constant, draining, thankless work and without it the event could never happen. You are all Rhiassans because from the very beginning you demonstrated to us that you knew service to the community was the highest ideal you could achieve and you demonstrated that without fail all weekend long, no matter the adversity. 

Lastly, I'd like to address our players. In trying to figure out how to best extend our gratitude I've thought a lot about the moments that stood out to me as some of the best of the weekend. That was certainly one of the best Queen's Wars I have ever seen and the tournament fulfills its promise of giving us personal moments of triumph we can remember for years. I'll happily admit to being completely hoodwinked by the expert tactics in Team Grand Melee until that Cry of Life went off. There was certainly no shortage of good, close fights all weekend long. That said, the fights were only the tip of the sword. Because the other extremely gratifying part of this event is realizing how the great many of you fully embraced what the spirit of Queen of Hearts is all about. As we've seen in each passing year the skill and preparation that goes into the crafting and performance tournaments continues to climb to unforeseen heights. Moments in the non-com war maneuvers were some of my favorite of the weekend not the least of which was team Shader smashing their watermelon after winning the challenge race or the sheer volume of water necessary to bring down a crazed orc during the Water Missile Melee. The way teams encouraged each other, and celebrated each other, and overcame adversity together. That's what Queen of Hearts is all about. So to all of the players that helped Queen of Hearts be a success through your attitudes and your efforts, please know that we appreciate you and that we value you as members of our community. 

Already our heads are swimming with ideas on how to make next year's Queen of Hearts better. Our mission is to always seek improvement and always try to give you all the best event we can. That work started last night even as the sun was setting over Cold Spring Road and will continue throughout the whole of this coming year until we see you again at Swift River. Feedback is always appreciated in whatever manner you're willing to give it to help us make our goals a reality. 

Once again, thank you to everyone. See you at Rhiassa Presents: Queen of Hearts XXVII.

Jason, Jen, and Lani