For the first time in nearly a year, I was unable to login to AncientWorlds at all on New Year’s Day. Traveling to visit relatives had me on the road for more than eleven hours. So far, I have been struggling just to connect reliably to the Internet in rural Tennessee. I have barely started to catch up on recent posts and unfinished work at AW – ironically I missed the official end of the Year of Four Emperors and my own intended post.

What a surprise then to find this unique award has been bestowed upon Mauricius Fabius, my co-creator of YFE, and me. It is certainly much appreciated after such a long period of work on this project, which at times seemed overwhelming. I will post further remarks on the end of the project elsewhere. For now, I would like to express my thanks for the reward and recognition from the demis. I also extend thanks to those who have posted the many generous and thoughtful remarks in this thread. When you have worked on something this long and intently, it certainly is nice to know that people have noticed. Thank you all.