Rhydin War Council
Conventions
Date: February 20, 2003
Preamble:
The Rhydin War Council (RWC) is owned and operated by the councilors and will only be
as great as the leaders' participation and perseverance. The RWC is a coalition of guild leaders
which exists to ensure justice for each of its participant guilds and their individual members.
We do this by three means:
1. Formulate, amend, and enforce the RWC conventions and operations which serves
as
the guidelines for conflict between guilds.
2. Confirm that all members comply with the RWC conventions and operations.
3. Defend the individual's gaming rights granted by the AOL Gods themselves, against
any who would seek to hinder or alter them.
Conventions:
I. Council Officers
A. First Chair - Executive Councilor
1. The First Chair (FC) is not the ruler of the council, but a steward of the council.
2. The duties of the FC include (but are not limited to):
a. Presiding over monthly meetings,
b. Handling forum affairs with other entities (Community Leader staff, etc.),
c. Monitoring the use and correcting the abuse of the council mailing list,
d. Enforcing penalties, bans, etc,
e. Keeping and updating the council roster and mailing list.
1) Council roster template:
Acronym - Guild Leader - Align - Guild Name
Ex: (KoL) - GaladrieI - Light - Kingdom of Lothlorien
2) Council roster reflects the status of inactive guilds and their return date.
Ex: (Gondor) - Aragorn - Light - Gondor (Inactive until 12/25).
3. The FC may make rulings and/or procedure changes without council vote,
including (but not limited to):
a. Changing monthly meeting times,
b. Extending the duration of a discussion/voting period.
B. Second Chair - Assistant to the First Council
1. The duties of the SC include (but are not limited to):
a. Aiding the FC with forum duties (as the FC sees fit),
b. Keeping and updating the rules (this duty may be delegated to the Rules
Committee Chair, but final responsibility lies with the SC),
c. Keeping and sending logs of current council meetings,
d. Keeping attendance records of council meetings,
e. Aiding the FC in keeping order during council meetings,
f. Keeping accurate voting records,
g. Announcing vote tally results,
h. Calling for issues to be discussed and voted upon in conjunction with the FC.
2. If the FC is inaccessible, the SC may act on the FC's behalf to include all of the
above listed duties.
C. Council Administrator - 2 seats
1. The duties of the CA's office include (but are not limited to):
a. Handling all new guild applications,
1) The CA's office verifies the accuracy of the application.
2) The CA's office must present the application to the Council 72 hours before
the guild is approved (see Procedures).
b. Checking guild rosters for accuracy and validity,
c. Appointing and training assistants,
d. Reporting the status of wars and war-related issues,
e. Mediating war talks or appointing a mediator for war talks,
f. Reviewing all war logs to;
1) Verify the accuracy of the recorded information,
2) Call for corrective actions to alleged cheating, etc.
g. Providing final war tally results to all participating guilds,
h. Handling war forfeiture calls.
D. Judge Advocate - Head of the Judiciary Committee
1. The duties of the JA office include (but are not limited to):
a. Assigning prosecutors to investigate cases,
b. Presiding over Judge selection and other JC functions,
c. Reporting case findings to the FC/SC.
E. Rules Committee Chair - Head of the Rules Committee
1. The duties of the RCC office include (but are not limited to):
a. Keeping and updating the
rules,
b. Handling all motions involving change to the rules;
1) The Rules Committee has a 7 day period on motions (to allow for meeting
discussion).
2) After the committee meeting discussion, the motion is presented to the SC.
2. Appointments to the committee are handled on a first come, first serve basis.
a. The Rules Committee is composed of:
1) The staff of Council Officers (FC, SC, CA(s), and JA),
2) 10 volunteer members, the number may increase if needed.
b. The head of the committee may dismiss a member for not participating
or being
disruptive/rude in committee meetings
or through committee mail.
3. The RC is allowed to debate/discuss new rule sets being worked on, for as long
as needed, but are urged to do so in as timely a fashion as possible.
F. Office Details and Stipulations
1. Only councilors may hold elected positions.
2. Councilors may not hold two positions at one time.
3. A councilor can either nominate or second one person per election of an office.
4. Term of office is considered 6 months of service.
5. All offices are elected and renewed by a majority vote of the council.
a. If only one councilor is nominated, that councilor gets the position.
b. Written resignation of any office sent to the council is final, only voting is used to
refill the vacancy.
c. Qualifying nominees are those who have trained as an assistant in the position
for at least 3 months.
d. Qualifying nominees are those that have not resigned from the same office within
3 months. (I.e., A former CA is disqualified from running or holding a CA position
for 3 months after their resignation date).
6. All council offices can appoint assistants or advisors as needed.
a. Such appointments are temporary and only remain in effect for as long as the
officer who appointed them remains in office.
b. No assistant/advisor assumes the role of a vacated office.
c. Assistants/advisors wishing to continue serving a particular office must be
reassigned by the new incoming officer.
7. All council offices are to provide and regularly update a listing of precedents set by
their respective offices, this includes:
a. Adding new instances as they occur and providing a dated brief explanation of the
instance,
b. Adding notations to precedents that have been eliminated and providing a dated
brief explanation of their removal.
8. The councilor holds office unless:
a. Their term is not renewed,
b. They are no longer a councilor,
c. They no longer wish to hold the office,
d. The council feels the councilor can no longer handle the responsibilities of that
office (see No Confidence).
e. There is distinct lack of participation on the officer's part (I.e., Unexplained
absences from the realms for extended periods of time).
G. No Confidence
1. No confidence is an action taken when one or more councilors feel that the elected
official is no longer able to function responsibly in that position.
2. The following must be done to begin such a call:
a. A letter sent to the FC, SC, and the accused detailing the reasons for the call.
b. The submission of proof the accuser has to the FC and SC.
3. The FC informs the council of the call, naming the accused and accuser, then
presents the evidence to the council for discussion and vote.
4. If the official should vacate the office before the vote is concluded, the vote is still
tallied and announced to the council.
5. If the call is passed by council, the official is removed from office.
6. If the call is failed by council, the official remains in office and the accusing councilor
is censured for one month for a frivolous no confidence call.
7. After three censures of this nature, the accusing councilor is individually banned.
II. Councilor Duties
A. Councilor
1. Two members from each certified guild will act as the guild councilors. It is
suggested that the councilors be the guild leader and the guild's second in
command.
2. The duties include (but are not limited to):
a. Maintaining a valid roster,
b. Voting on matters that concern the council,
c. Seeing to it that guild members under their jurisdiction abide by RWC mandates.
3. Any councilor changes must be written by the guild leader or second in command
and sent to the council mailing list to be considered a valid
leadership change.
B. Code of Conduct
1. Councilors are allowed to express their opinions, so long as they are expressed in
a mature and respectful manner. Councilors do not have to like one
another but
they are to respect each other.
2. References to "muns" or mundane issues need to be kept to a minimum wherever
and whenever possible (I.e., Respect the illusion).
C. Conduct Violations
1. The council will not tolerate the following:
a. Cheating (violating rules dishonestly or the practicing of fraud / trickery.)
b. Grossly verbal profane / derogatory behavior towards other councilors or their
members (Derogatory: having the effect of belittling. Profane: Manifesting
disrespect/vulgarity).
c. Mild expletives and non-sexual anatomical references are
allowed but strong
vulgar language, crude or explicit sexual references, hate speech,
etc, are not.
d. Maliciously slandering other councilors or their members (Slander: a false and
defamatory oral statement about a person).
e. Airing petty arguments / one liners.
f. Publicizing of private conversations or statements (I.e., Private mail or recorded
conversations in private rooms or Instant Messages), without permission from all
involved.
2. Corrective actions are taken when improper behavior becomes apparent in Official
RWC/War meetings, functions, and mailing lists.
D. Corrective Actions
Notification of corrective action is sent to the violator, FC, SC, CA(s), and JA:
1. First action - Warning (Lasts for 3 months from the date it was given)
2. Second action - Loss of 100 XP
3. Third action - Censure
a) Censure lasts one month (30 days) from the date issued.
b) If the member is a councilor (GL, SiC, Guild Rep.), the individual is denied voting
and mailing list privileges. Councilors may not have another councilor vote in their
stead.
c) If the member is not a councilor, the individual is denied mailing list privileges and
cannot participate in war or earn XP.
4. Fourth action - Individual's actions are put to council vote, majority vote removes that
individual for 3 months (90 days) with loss of all XP.
5. Fifth action - Once a guild has had three councilors/members removed in this manner,
it is removed and considered guild banned.
III. RWC Mailing List and Meetings
A. RWC Mailing List
1. The mailing list is used for official business by it's councilors and council officers
ONLY.
a. Small OOC references or notes
clarifying time, examples to explain motions,
or informing council of a leave of absence are allowed. A full mail of nothing but
mundane speech is not.
b. Councilors on the mailing list are expected to receive mail from every councilor
listed on the mailing list. Refusing receipt of mail places the guild under inactive
status until the issue is resolved.
2. Mailing List Protocols
a. All mail should indicate within the subject header exactly what official
correspondence the mail pertains to. This is done so that the mail's content is
easily identifiable to all (I.e., <RWC> Motion, Gondor/Mordor War Update 13,
<RC> Question/Comment, DoW on KoL, etc.).
b. All mail should be BCC'd (with the BCC list attached at the bottom).
B. RWC Meetings
1. When: All council meetings occur at 3:00 PM EST on the first Sunday of each
month. If this happens to be a holiday weekend, the meeting is bumped to the
following Sunday.
2. Where: The conference room "Orbital Velocity."
3. Who: Council meetings are attended by the councilors. Visitors or non-councilors
should not be told to leave unless a councilor cannot gain entry to the room.
4. What: An agenda is usually set forth prior to each meeting giving a basic outline of
what is to be discussed.
5. How: Council meetings are conducted according to parliamentary procedure.
Attendees answer the SC's roll call at the opening of the meeting and are tallied for
official records. Once the meeting is called to order, councilors are asked to:
a. Take all personal comments/conversations to IMs.
b. Refrain from unnecessary chatter/movement.
c. Indicate desire to speak/question by "!" or "?"
d. Leave guild politics and personal feuds outside the council chambers.
IV. Voting
A. Motions
1. Councilors may present 3 motions a month. Motions may be made by mail or
council meeting. After a motion is made, it must be seconded to be considered.
2. All new motions must be submitted by individual missive.
3. If a motion is failed by the council, it may not be presented again for 3 months.
4. Motions cannot be made to strike other motions until the initial motion has gone thru
its due process (I.e., voting, tallies disclosed, and addition to the rules).
5. Motions voted into the rules do not affect wars or war talks in progress before the
motion's passing.
6. Motions are routed as follows:
a. Motions that involve changes/additions to the rules go to the RC for discussion.
b. Motions that involve calls of NC/Censure or like accusations against a
councilor,
guild, or
guild member are sent to the FC and SC.
c. Any other motions not covered in the above two proposals are routed as follows:
A motion is made, seconded, then the FC puts the motion up for debate/vote.
B. Voting via mail
1. Councilors have 4 day discussion and 3 days to vote and return their ballot to the
FC, SC, and CA offices.
2. Votes are considered invalid if returned beyond the time allotted.
3. Any guilds not voting are counted as abstain votes.
4. The number of AYE votes must be greater than the NAY votes for a motion to pass.
C. Voting via council meeting
1. For major items, the FC mails the issue to be voted on before the meeting and calls
for the vote during the meeting.
2. For minor items brought up during council meetings, a vote shall be conducted
during the meeting without prior notification.
3. Procedure: The SC calls each guild by name and the councilor simply responds
"Aye" or "Nay." The SC then tallies the votes and announces the results.
D. Voting Stipulations
1. All combat guilds are counted as one council vote.
2. The FC does not participate in the voting process for any guild they represent unless
needed to break a deadlock, in which case the FC has one vote.
3. Voting is done by the guild leader, second in command, or designated rep.
4. If multiple votes are received from the same guild, the first vote is considered the valid
one.
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Character names from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings Trilogy and Copyrighted © by
J.R.R. Tolkien.
Copyrighted © 2003 - Rhydin War Council. All rights reserved.