Consul's Handbook

This article is part of the series:
Handbooks
Position Handbooks
Grand Master's Handbook
Master At Arms Handbook
Consul's Handbook
Proconsul's Handbook

Consul’s Handbook

Position Overview:

The position of Consul is integral to the Dark Brotherhood. As Consul, you lead one of Six Clans, the largest organisational unit in the Brotherhood. The Consul is the overall commander of those units, the face of a Clan with ultimate responsibility for those members falling on the Consul’s shoulders. Consul is the highest attainable position within a Clan, and as such, there is a degree of maturity and responsibility that one must have when becoming Consul.

As overseer of any and all Houses in a Clan, the Consul ensures that all of its members are active and engaged while the various leaders within the Clan are meeting the needs of the members. A Consul will guide and direct the leaders in their Clan, training and helping those who are new to a position of power. Such training is key, as the Consul is charged with ensuring the long-term success of the Clan by having members trained to replace their generation.

Communication with newer members is vital as well. Consuls must both welcome the newest members of the Clan while ensuring both Clan and House Envoys are maintaining their own high levels of communication. The Consul is also the voice of their Clan on the Dark Council, ensuring that information is passed along both ways so that neither party is kept in the dark. The Consul represents the Clan and its members in discussions and votes on important issues within the Dark Council.

Lastly, the Consul must still be a source of activity for the Clan. Whether it be running his own competition or leading the Clan in Clan Feuds or DB-wide Vendettas, the Consul must make activity within his Clan a priority. Finally, a Consul will be expected to contribute to the ongoing projects that the Brotherhood has, as well as any Clan or House level special projects. When all is said and done, everything that you do as Consul should be for the betterment of your Clan.

Expectations:

• Oversee and ensure the cohesive operation of all Houses in the Clan
• Work with the Grand Master and Brotherhood administrative staff to ensure that there is proper communication, activity and cohesion throughout
• Report to the rest of the Dark Council and the Clan on a regular and consistent basis
• Liaise between the Clan and the Dark Council: you represent your Clan on the Dark Council, and report important and significant Dark Council happenings to your Clan
• Have read and be familiar with the various Alacrity documents available on the Dark Brotherhood website
• Promote competitions, both internal and external, in which your members may participate
• Run Competitions internally; with other Clans and organize Clan feuds
• Reward and promote members of the Clan where appropriate
• Responsible for training new Summit Leadership
• Provides constructive criticism for subordinate leaders
• Guide all leaders, from Proconsul to Battleteam Leader, in their growth
• Welcome new members of the Clan and ensure smooth operation of Clan and House Envoys
• Manages any Clan Promotion Guidelines (APP through DJK)
• Maintain a Clan Website
• Maintain and develop a Clan “identity” including recording of Clan history, detail possessions and all other fictional aspects pertaining to the Clan
• Ensure that the Clan information in all Brotherhood publications, such as the Dark Voice, DSC, Codex and Covenant, are up-to-date
• Conduct himself in a mature and professional manner, leading by example both in terms of activity as well as adhering to the rules of conduct set forth by the Dark Council
• Leading in and being part of various projects either at the Dark Council level, or Clan and House levels as well

Difficulties of being a Consul:

The difficulties of a Consul can vary a great deal depending on the Clan itself and the Consul’s own personality. However, no matter the Clan, there will always be difficulties with such a position

• Clan Management

It will be difficult to find a balance between having direct input on the day-to-day activities of a house and taking the “hands-off” approach. Ensuring that stable and trusted leaders are placed in each house will alleviate such difficulties. Communications with your House and Clan leaders are vital in this, as they should help greatly in helping to run the Clan.

Each of the Houses should be autonomous units, the Quaestor’s having say in the bulk of what occurs within their House. A Consul should be taking a more direct role in the running of a House when there appears to be a “problem”, such as lack of communication from your leaders in the House or glaring issues with House members. Should a Consul have to take an active role in the running of a House, it is a good indicator of a lack of leadership in the House Summit.

In most cases however, the Consul shall be tasked with the role of the Clan as a whole, moving all members towards a goal. It should never involve day-to-day involvement in the individual Houses.

• Time Management

There will come points when a Consul becomes overwhelmed with the amount of work and attention that is needed to both run a Clan as well as complete the various tasks that the job entails. With an active Proconsul, sharing certain duties and projects can ease such difficulties. Furthermore, although distasteful to some, having a running checklist of things that need to be done and providing goals (Time-wise) towards achieving those goals can help immensely. This not only provides a single source of reference to see what is going on at any given point in time, you can also use the checklist (Or a modified version of it) and share it with your Clan and House leaders so that all can be in the loop. This will save countless amounts of work by preventing repetitive information being sent out to different people.

The Consul’s role on the Dark Council will also take time and energy. It is important that the Consul understand his limits and that the Clan comes first in any and all matters. The temptation to be involved in every aspect of the Brotherhood is great, but a Consul needs to recognize when he is being pulled too thin and make sure his energy is focussed on his primary tasks: overall clan development and activity. It can be difficult to manage time between the Clan and the Dark Council, but it is a skill that a Consul must dutifully perfect.

• Interacting with Clan Members

A Consul must have a high degree of patience and be able to deal with all members in a respectful manner. A Clan consists of a wide variety of personalities and cultures, each with their own ideas and thoughts. Listening and responding to all inquires and conversations in a calm and rationale manner are key to healthy relationships with the Clan members. You’ll also be expected to lead from the front, so to speak. The Consul, although generally not expected to by the membership, should be active in the various competitions that are going on. This helps build the, “Hey, the Consul is one of us” mentality, and provides you with a better base to deal with members.

Communication is key to having a healthy interaction with Clan members. Sending out regular e-mails over the Clan mailing lists shows that you are both active, and working for the Clan. The e-mails do not have to just be “official” announcements, but they can also be something light-hearted or fun. Also, joining your Clan IRC channel on a regular basis is also ideal so that you can interact with everyone first hand.

• Interacting with non-Clan Members

While you’re responsible for your Clan, there will also be times when you must deal with members from outside of your Clan, and have to mediate between Clan members and non-Clan members. A Consul is responsible for their Clan, and as such, should defend it from disruptive behaviours of members from other Clans. It is also prudent to work with the rest of the Dark Council to resolve such cases in a fast and stress-free manner so that everyone can go on and continue having fun.

You shall also interact with non-Clan members in other capacities, many times when working on projects for either the Dark Council, or for the Brotherhood in general. At all times, you are representing your Clan, and as such, you must act with both maturity and a level head. How you interact with others will have a direct impact on how they perceive your Clan. In all dealings with members from another Clan, also ensure that their Consul is aware of such interactions, whether positive or negative.

• Discipline

There comes a point when a member crosses a line or one of your leaders has to be removed. Your decisions may be unpopular as well as cause a strain on the Clan. Such unpopular decisions may involve having to remove friends or long-time veterans. Although seemingly distasteful at the time, such acts are for the benefit of the Clan. Once again, being calm in such situations is critical. Take as much time as you can, and try to get as much information as you can, but make a decision. Also, you must be firm once a decision is made. An indecisive commander is worse than a commander that makes bad decisions.

Effects of the Position:

A Consul influences an entire Clan and his actions can impact the entire Brotherhood as well. A Consul’s actions or inactions relate directly to how that Clan is viewed by the Brotherhood as a whole. For members new to the club, he is an example of the ideal member, as well as a guide to any questions that the member may have.

For the entire Clan, a Consul is their own ideal on how to conduct themselves with the rest of the Brotherhood. A Consul leads through example, maintaining a high degree of activity both through communications with the Clan as well as being a driving force in competitions involving their Clan. A Consul’s personal drive trickles down through the ranks, pushing the rest of the Clan onwards. A Consul’s relationship with his Clan reflects on how his Clan relates to others.

Between the Clans, a Consul can forge an understanding that brings about activity as well as initiate an exchange of information. Within the Dark Council, a Consul ideally interacts with other Council members and brings any concerns or comments to them in a calm and mature manner, fostering a strong bond that carries down to the members of the Clan. A Consul can touch almost every facet of the Brotherhood and help mould it for the better. In fact, due to this, the Consul brings much to the members of his Clan and the Brotherhood as a whole. Some of the legendary Consuls of the past were extremely influential in the shape that their respective Clans have taken, and also made an impact throughout the entire Brotherhood due to their actions.

On the flip side, there have been Consuls that have not performed anywhere near what they should have done. This is most delicately demonstrated right after the Exodus from the Emperor's Hammer, where the chaos of inadequate leadership almost caused a few Clans to go under. The threat of a bad Consul is a nightmare that all want to avoid, so don’t be that nightmare.

Position Organization:

The Consuls’ position lies on the Dark Council, making you the direct link in terms of communication between the Dark Council and your Clan members. Without this position it would be extremely difficult for the other Councillors to pass along information to the different sub-units of each Clan, quite possibly extending their work by an order of magnitude. The organization of the Brotherhood, and how a Consul interacts with each unit, shows it as such:

Grand Master and Deputy Grand Master

• "It is the Consul’s job to keep the leaders of the Dark Brotherhood appraised of the situation with your Clan. These are your “bosses”, and as such, must know that you are doing your job at all times, and to the best of your abilities.

Dark Council (including Consuls)

• There are ten others, not including yourself, who are a part of this unit. However, on a consistent basis, you are in direct contact with only a few of these members
  • Consuls – As it is necessary to foster good relations with the other Clans, Consuls interact with one another on a daily basis, using one another as resources for help or as a point of contact should there be any problems with members from each Clan
  • Master at Arms – As Consul, you are in constant contact with the MAA as he deals with all position appointments, medals and promotions. The bulk of all “awards” go through the MAA, and as such, the Consul is consistently interacting with the MAA
  • Headmaster – The Envoys are an integral part of the Clans, with their ultimate head being the Headmaster. As such, you must also interact with the HM on a consistent basis to ensure that all of your Envoys are doing their jobs in a proper manner. The HM is also a good resource of information concerning stats such as the percentage of Apprentice’s who are being promoted

Proconsul

• The Proconsul is your “right-hand”, and as such, the lines of communication must be constantly open. The job of a Proconsul depends specifically on the Consul, but no matter their description, they must always be in contact with the Consul. The Proconsul should be conferred with on all decisions concerning the Clan

Quaestors

• Much like your Proconsul, you should be in contact with your Quaestors at all times. Through them you will know the state of your Houses in a much more intimate fashion. As well, you must at all times ensure that the Quaestor is performing their job up to your standards, and is a positive force in the House

Aediles

Battleteam leaders

General membership

• While important in their own rights, these “positions” do not interact with the Consul on a formal basis in a consistent fashion. Your Quaestor is directly in charge of these members, and should be in contact with them at all times. As Consul, your interaction with these members is on a more informal basis, through IRC, messageboards or mailing lists and not direct one-on-one discussions. However, it is still imperative that a Consul maintains close relations with all of his members, no matter their current position.

As shown, the Consuls’ position is quite high, further highlighting its’ important nature.

Specific Duties

Although most of the duties involved with the Consulship will vary due to the dynamic nature of the Brotherhood and the Clans, certain duties are common to all. The below list will give you a general idea of what to expect on a regular basis:

• Welcoming new members to the Clan. This is simply done by keeping an eye in your email inbox and checking when the MAA sends an email showing a transfer request from either the SA or the Rouges. Keeping an email template is pretty effective at speeding up this process.
• Ensure that all Envoys within your Clan are active and keeping in constant contact with the newest members of the Clan. The Alacrity document, Clan Summit Management of Envoys, is a must-read for Consuls on how to effectively manage their Envoys.
• Overseeing promotion and medal requests done by the House Summits. Generally keep an eye on whom the House Summits award medals and promos to. Although not required, it may be helpful to keep a chart on which members have received what, as to help pinpoint those members that do activity but are for some reason overlooked, or to spot trends with inactivity and other such helpful information.
• Keep track of general over-all activities of each House. Self explanatory, this is needed to gauge general activity for each House.
• Keep track of all activity done by the House Summits. This is to ensure that they are both doing their jobs and to ensure that they are making life better for the general membership. Also offer constructive criticism on how they are doing their jobs
• Keep a firm idea of what each House Summit member’s status is towards a promotion and/or medal. Vitally important, there is nothing worse than losing a good House Summit member because you haven’t been keeping track of all the work that they’ve been doing. Your Summit members are very likely the most active members of your Clan, so they should be recognized and awarded as such.
• Keep track of general status of all House competitions. This is to ensure that the House Summits are giving the members fun/interesting stuff to do, which gives them a chance to be active (Thereby qualifying them for awards).
• Run and keep track of all Clan-wide competitions. This gives the opportunity for the Clan members to possibly get a higher quality level of medal, as well as stand out more visibly to the rest of their House/Clan.
• Keep close track of all DB-wide activity towards DB-wide competitions. Keeping track of the status of the membership in regards to activity during major DB events (Such as a GJW or a RoS) is very important. Not only will the activity of the members make the determination on how your Clan places with respect to others, it also opens up a large opportunity to allow the membership to earn prestigious medals and traditionally opens doors to promotions as well.
• Keep track of general communications between the Clan members (Via IRC, email, and message boards). This is a vital task. Keep control of the various methods of communications, as miscommunications are often the leading cause of the vast majority of problems that take place within the DB.
• Make an effort to be available via IRC, email, and message boards. This is to make you more accessible to the general membership, making them feel more comfortable with talking to you about anything that they wish. It’s a leadership function.
• Compile monthly Internal Reports for the GM, DGM and their Assistants. The due dates occasionally vary, but generally this is required once a month. The GM generally will give you a format for your report to follow as to let them know what’s going on with the Clan. At the very minimum, you’ll want to put in the status of the Clan as a whole, the status of the various Houses, activities done within the month, the status of various projects, and people of interest within the Clan (Either good or bad interest).
• Send out regular Consul reports to your Clan. These should be focused primarily on Clan-wide news, on-going projects and pertinent news concerning the rest of the Dark Brotherhood. It should also highlight the current competitions as well as point to members who have been going above and beyond what is required of them.
• Attempt to run at least one major inter-Clan competition per year. This allows for a vast amount of activity, and generally are very spirited affairs. This usually is a serious undertaking, as the preparations for this take a few months to completely work out for all the Clans involved. This also helps to develop your skills in running and helping to manage a large project.
• Attempt to run at least one major intra-Clan competition per year. This usually involves a House War or similar premise and this usually pits the Houses against each other in a struggle for bragging rights. Again, this sort of thing usually brings a vast amount of activity in. This should be planned carefully.
• Assist the other Dark Council members with various DB-wide projects. The Dark Council at any given point in time have various large projects going on that they need assistance with in bringing off. As a member of the Council, and a representative of your Clan, it is your duty to lend a helping hand, as well as familiarize yourself with other high-level responsibilities and personalities within the Brotherhood.
• Keep in constant contact with the rest of the Dark Council, commenting and advising on any topics of discussion that are brought up.
• Ensure you vote, on behalf of your Clan, concerning any policy changes or other areas of concern in which the Dark Council must decide upon. Before voting however, you should first poll your own Clan to gauge their thoughts on the specific subject. Such discussions should be done in a prompt fashion so as to not delay the voting procedure by an inordinate amount of time
• Attempt to perform a meaningful project that will benefit the Clan. This usually comes as a desire to help your own Clan. This can take many forms, so this is up to you. However, your superiors expect you to bring a higher level of involvement to the Clan, and anything that you can do to enhance the well-being of your Clan will be a very good thing for you to do. Use your imagination, and you should be ok.
• Assign special projects to various Clan members. This mainly deals with various projects that you’d like to be done, but either don’t have the necessary time or most likely don’t have the skill set to handle the project (Web sites and programming duties are usually two big ones). This obviously helps the Clan with the fruit of their works, but gives a chance for the member that is doing the project to shine in front of a lot of important people, which will be extremely helpful when the promotion or medal recommendation time comes along.
• Manage a Clan promotional guideline for those who are between the ranks of Apprentice and Dark Jedi Knight, while also helping put together or oversee a Master/Student program for your Clan.
• Assist with the running of major House-wide competitions. This is mainly as a back-up to the House Summits, although if you wish you can provide more input. Definitely an important task, as more minds working on a common project tend to help the quality of the project. Also ensure that you train new leaders in how to run an effective competition
• Enter in medal and promotion requests for House Summits that they are not able to submit on their own. Self explanatory, this is for those times when the House Summits would like to promote or award medals to a person that is outside of their promotional or awarding authority. It’s up to you to verify the veracity of these requests, as well as determining the eligibility of the candidate before submitting the request over for processing. This also gives you the chance to add in a few words yourself to the candidate.

Position Checklist:

This is something that you should act upon immediately upon your appointment to Consul. The rest will follow and should be accomplished within the suggested time frame:

• Immediately after your appointment:
  • Email the former Consul, and talk to them so that you can receive any and all of the old information that the former Consul had access too. It is also a good way to get yourself quickly caught up on the state of the Clan.
  • Get in contact with the Grand Master and discuss your role as Consul and what is expected of you. This is a good opportunity to discuss your Clan with someone not a current member, but who has knowledge of it.
  • Using the archive function of Google Groups, access the Dark Council group and go through previous discussions so that you may be caught up on any recent topics.
  • Email your Proconsul, if one is in place, and send a general email giving your expectations and what you hope to accomplish during your tenure. Also giving a brief description of your general contact time frames, what method of contact best works for you, and general working/command style would be of great help to them. Requesting a status update on anything that you should be aware of (Projects in motion, etc.) should be requested at this time.
  • If no Proconsul is in place, your first task would be to immediately set about to look for one, and submit that member for consideration to the GM and DGM for final approval.
  • Email your House Summit members. Give them a general run down giving your expectations and what you hope to accomplish during your tenure. Also giving a brief description of your general contact time frames, what method of contact best works for you, and general working/command style would be of great help to them. If you were previously a Quaestor within the Clan, getting your replacement in the House should be a top priority. Requesting a status update on anything that you should be aware of (Projects in motion, etc.) should be requested at this time.
  • Send the proper emails or messages to the proper persons regarding moderator access to the Clan message boards, as well as Ops access to the Clan IRC channel. If there are any other things that you may need administrator, ops, or moderator status to do your work, now is the time to do so.
  • Send a general email Clan-wide giving a general overview of what you expect to achieve and your general vision for the Clan should be sent. This will give everyone a chance to see you in a command role, and this email is critical.
  • Gather up a listing of any other projects, competitions, or other un-done work by the outgoing Consul and get them sorted out and attempt to complete them. This is especially critical for competition award medals that are awaiting the Consuls’ power to award or promotion requests that require your intervention to approve.
  • Run a quick competition. Mainly of the fast and easy kind, this is usually traditional amongst the Clans.
• Within two weeks of your appointment:
  • Ensure that any empty spots in the Clan and House leadership are now filled.
  • Ensure that you are on all the right distribution lists, and that you have moderator/admin access to the correct locations (Message boards, etc.)
  • Have a solid idea of the current strengths and weaknesses of the Clan, and have a plan to fix what needs to be fixed.
  • Work with your Proconsul on a checklist of what needs to be done with the Clan, and divide up the work between the both of you.
  • Complete any tasks that were left undone by the previous Consul, if possible.
  • Award any medals or promotions that were pending by the previous Consul.
  • Conclude your first competition and award the proper medals.
  • Have a clear short-term goal of what you want to do with the Clan, and commence working towards it.
  • Ensure that the House Summits are reporting properly to you.
  • Run a Clan-wide AWOL check, if one hasn’t been done recently.
  • Send a report to the GM/Dark Council indicating the state of the Clan as you see it and give updates of your tasks, goals and the current leadership
• Weekly Tasks:
  • Ensure that you get reports from the House Summits.
  • Properly note the activity done by the House Summits.
  • Ensure that any newly arriving members get a greeting email from you (This may be a daily thing).
  • Keep in regular contact with your members, through e-mails, IRC and reports
• Monthly tasks:
  • Compile the monthly Clan internal report for distribution to the GM, DGM and their Assistants
  • Evaluate all of your subordinate leaders, ensuring that they are still capable of doing their jobs
  • Get reports from all Envoys in your Clan on the specifics of what they have done with newer members
  • Award any medals and/or promotions for the month’s activities.
  • Go back through your checklist and ensure that you did not miss anything that is pending.
  • Go back through your email inbox and ensure that you did not miss anything that is pending.
  • Ensure that there are plans for a decent amount of competitions and such for the Clan in the coming month.
  • Ensure that you get a report on any big projects that are on-going.
• Quarterly Expectations:
  • Ensure that one major intra- or inter-Clan competition is being worked on.
  • Ensure that your House Summit has been properly awarded for their work.
  • Ensure that your Proconsul has been properly awarded for their work.
  • Ensure that any big projects are kept on track. A detailed status report would be very helpful.
  • Try to ensure that at least one Clan-wide project has been completed.
• Annual Expectations:
  • Give a “State of the Clan” report to the rest of the Dark Council. Putting in as much relevant statistics and completed projects in the report as possible are not required, but highly desired.
  • Give a separate “State of the Clan” report to the Clan in general. This report will not include most of the statistics that are present in the previous report, but will instead on concentrating on the various accomplishments of the Clan, the various Houses, and the members of the Clan. A section detailing your plans for the upcoming year would be greatly desired.

Document(s)

Consul's Handbook (.doc)