As Creative Manager, unnamed characters allow me a little license to make silly jokes, such as with Ansomah and Belcalis from Showdown: Four Lights (see article).
On other occasions, I get to make more serious tributes, such as the naming of General Lompoc from Second Star to the Right for the late Dave Hines (see article).
And today's card is once again on the serious end of the scale: Axel Melhardt.
Alternate Universe: Twilight today brings us this new universal character, who unsurprisingly draws his name from the titular Enterprise episode "Twilight". There wasn't a huge array of new characters to use from this episode, but he still adds a very versatile mixture of skills (under the right conditions): ENGINEER, MEDICAL, Archaeology, Diplomacy and Music!
But it's the name, and that Music skill where I want to focus this article.
The real-life Axel Melhardt (father of Julius Melhardt - the CC's European Organised Play Coordinator) doesn't have a direct connection to First Edition, except through his son's love of the game. However, his passion for Jazz music has given us the Vienna-based music venue "Jazzland", which has played host to numerous Star Trek CCG tournaments over the last few years, including the World Championships in 2019. I'm sure those of you that attended those events can attest first hand to this being a great little venue, and in particular what a fabulous weekend that 2019 World Championship was!
Small bespoke venues, such as Jazzland, allow for niche interest groups like ourselves to thrive and flourish. When I was trying to organize the 2023 World Championships, it became obvious to me that the high cost of running city centre events made it essential to seek out these less corporate venues. Venues like Jazzland are crucial to the survival of the game, and we have pioneers like Axel to thank for that.
As many of you will know, Axel Melhardt died in May this year. I can't provide anything above the existing online tributes or the portrait of him on the Jazzland website (please go and read for yourselves) and the whole Continuing Committee offers our condolences to Axel's family.
While we've all lost family members, we don't immortalise them all within First Edition. But to honour the important role that Jazzland, it's founder Axel, and his son Julius have played in the European tournament scene, on this occasion it feels right for Axel's legacy to continue to live on in our game.
Thank You, Axel!
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