2023 Hall of Fame Inductees

With yet another July, it is again my great privilege to formally announce the newest members of the Independence Fleet Hall of Fame. Induction is the highest honor this club offers–reserved for those with exemplary service or extraordinary contributions to the fleet, according to the Hall of Fame Charter (pdf). Without further ado, your Hall of Fame Class of 2023 is as follows:

Inducted by Election:

Colonel Steven MayTa Death

of the USS Sanctuary

The longtime Commanding Officer of the Sanctuary, Steven MayTa Death was the fleet’s all-time leader in command months with 89 when he and his sim transferred to sister club UCIP in 2020. He also managed 17 posting titles during his IDF career. Finding his niche by leading offbeat missions, his crew enjoyed their Marine-centric and action-packed storylines. There will never be another MayTa!

Lt. Cmdr. Maryam Syed

of the USS Sunfire

A mainstay of the renaissance era Sunfire, Maryam Syed was an integral part of helping lead the fleet back to its earlier glory days. Her outstanding contributions in-story, affable nature, and excellent recruiting also ensured the Sunfire remained great for many years. Showing superb breadth, she won six total awards, including Rookie of the Month, Best Post, MVP, and the Recruitment award.

Lieutenant Spaardra Tamis

of the USS Sunfire

A first-rate team player, Spaardra Tamis was an indispensable member of both the Sunfire and the fleet. As IDF was reestablishing itself during the renaissance era, her superior posting quantity and wide recruiting efforts were exactly what was needed at the time to jumpstart operations. Of her five total awards, two were for Recruitment and three were for Most Posts.

Inducted by the Veterans Committee:

None this year.


Congratulations to our three 2023 inductees! Thank you for providing a timeless example for us still role playing today to emulate. You will hereby forever be remembered for your extraordinary service to Independence Fleet. Well done! There are now 41 total members of this most exclusive club.

That’s two more inductees from the Sunfire, and our first from the Sanctuary.

The Record Book Has Been Rewritten

With 2022 in the books, it’s high time we checked in with the latest version of the IDF Record Book over on our About page. As it turns out, we have a new all-time leader in monthly awards. Lieutenant Bonnie “Bon-Bon” Durnell of the USS Sunfire now has a grand total of 29.83 awards, passing the previous leader, Jenna Ramthorne (of a prior version of the Sunfire), who has 24.83. What’s even more incredible, is that both characters are played by the same person!

Best PostFunniest PostGenesisMVPMost PostsMost ImprovedRecruitmentTotal
Durnell5.055.78414129.83
Ramthorne4.83415124.83

Prolific across multiple award categories, the two stat lines seem to mirror each other. However, the difference is clearly Durnell’s five plus Funniest Post awards to Ramthorne’s zero. See what adding humor to your game can do! Congratulations to Lieutenant Durnell on this incredible accomplishment!

As it turns out, we have quite a few current or recent members who have moved up leader board since we brought the Awards back for March 2020:

Active Member — received an award within the last year or confirmed to currently be on a sim
Hall of Famer

All characters with five or more total monthly awards

In addition to all those who’ve won awards, I also want to thank each of our sim Commanding Officers for submitting nominations month-in and month-out and to Rear Admiral James “Rook” Mirtoh for running the program and selecting winners. Without their tireless efforts, the awards simply wouldn’t be possible.

I’ve long been of the opinion that the monthly awards are one of the absolute best features of this fleet, and they’re a key bonus that really distinguishes us from other groups out there. The numbers speak for themselves: Through the end of 2022, we have 969 total documented awards presented to 506 different individuals through 1,226 different award records. Each one is permanently part of our continuing history, starting all the way back with the five original awards presented for our very first month of July 2001 going up through today and beyond.

Now it’s time to add your legacy to the story…