MAA Policies

Awards and Promotions

All recommendations for rewards are required to contain specific, concrete details. We are not interested in the fact that someone is great; we are interested in how they are great.
The Promotheus function on the Brotherhood website is an excellent tool for tracking member progress for the purposes of promotion – but it is not the arbiter of promotions, the Master at Arms is. If you feel that a member has earned a promotion based upon the written requirements and guidelines for the rank, but for whatever reason the site does not recognize it, you absolutely should request the promotion and explain the discrepancy.
All medals and promotions should be known up and down the chain of command in an Independent Unit. The Independent Unit leadership should know what is going on in their sub-Houses (if applicable) and the Battleteams. This will lessen confusion, and avoid unfortunate (insofar that someone has a medal removed from their profile) situations of double awarding.
Do not double dip when recommending awards. Activity, once recognized by award or promotion, cannot be used for further awards. This does not apply to promotions, which are the sum total of all activity since the last promotion.
Time in rank and time in the Brotherhood factor into promotions. Journeymen ranks have specific requirements, which can be waived under certain circumstances. At higher levels there are no set limits on how much time you must spend at a certain rank or in the Brotherhood, but it is expected that people spend a reasonable time at each level. It is also expected that competent leaders consider this.
It is strongly suggested that all Summits start keeping a close account of all activities their members engage in. This ranges from hanging out on IRC, to participating in a competition, to completing a massive Unit project. Record what your members do. It will make it easier for you to justify an award when you want to reward them.
The promotion and medal awarding authority of Unit leaders is important, but is not a guarantee of approval. That said, the Master At Arms staff adopts the presumption that the member is deserving of an award and that the unit leader is honestly working within the system. However, the Master At Arms staff will ensure that the appropriate award guidelines are followed.
Do not presume that Independent Unit institutions confer validity on your recommendations. How an Independent Unit is ultimately run is determined by the Independent Unit leaders, not the Master At Arms. However, any authority that specific leaders and bodies within an Independent Unit may have (other than official Brotherhood positions) does not carry over to the awarding of medals or promotions.

Transfers

Do not use the transfer request form as a place for argument. If you have a problem with your superiors, address it to their superior. Do not just run away without addressing the problems. Transfers are the last resort. If you are transferring due to problems within your current Independent Unit, you are to email the Master At Arms office prior to transferring.
Transfers from Independent Unit to Independent Unit are examined and each one will be investigate by the Master at Arms office. Be sure to have a legitimate reason and any such requests should be discussed with your leaders before a transfer request is made.
Rogue hopping will not be allowed.
In the case of transfers, the Master at Arms office may impose a 48-hour cool down period; this period can be ended early with the consent of the leader of the originating Independent Unit.
Members accepting new positions in a Unit to which they do not already belong must first submit a transfer request before they will be appointed. Confirmation from their new unit leadership is required before appointment can be made.

Competitions

If you want to run a competition for a group that you are not currently in charge of or that you are not a member of, you must get prior approval from someone that is. If you wish to award a medal that you do not have access to recommend, you must get approval from someone that does. You must indicate this approval in competition requests that are submitted to the database.
When using the competition submission form on the website, manual competitions should ideally be the exception rather than the rule. Regular competitions allow for uploading of files and centralized storage of records. This is not meant to suggest that choosing the manual option will lead to a denial if the competition meets other guidelines. Regular competitions that have the submission through something other than the website will need to be submitted as manual competitions.

Other

Recruiting from other Independent Units is strongly discouraged. Blatant attempts to get someone to join your unit from another unit by offering people medals, promotions, or positions will be referred to the Chamber of Justice. This does not include legitimate open application periods for positions wherein someone could join another unit by applying for and being offered a new position. Other recruiting attempts (those without bribes) are strongly discouraged. If you develop a reputation for siphoning off members, you will not be protected from the harsh criticism of your colleagues.
No Emperor’s Hammer Dark Brotherhood ranks or awards are transferable to the Brotherhood except for those that were obtained prior to the split (April 12, 2003). Evidence of the pre-split dossier is required before a dossier can be restored.
Members who wish to leave the Brotherhood have several options. They may transfer to the Rogues, have their dossier marked as inactive, have their dossier made invisible and inactive, or have their dossier permanently deleted. Permanently deleted dossiers cannot and will not be restored.
Official dossier names are to contain only four parts for names. Hyphenated words will not be counted as one word, but as two. Nicknames or shortened portions of the original name are counted towards the four parts you are permitted to have.
Families cannot exceed 10 members in size.
Being in a family does not confer or allow any additional authority or privileges to do anything in regards to how Independent Units are run, or how medals or promotions are distributed within said Units. Families are merely a semi-formalized representation of a group of members that are friends. Membership in any family does not allow for any additional authority or privileges to do anything in the wider Brotherhood institutions as well.

Notes

Last updated December 7, 2013
Current version of this document was prepared by Dark Jedi Master Howlader, with editorial assistance from Dark Jedi Masters Korras and Kalen Aquillarum
Initial document prepared by Dark Jedi Master Syn Kaek