Master at Arms’s Handbook
Position Overview
The position of the Master at Arms is the keeper of records in the Dark Brotherhood. While it doesn’t hold a direct leadership function, he’s responsible for the approval of any given request made by members, be it a medal, a promotion or more trivial requests such as email changes or transfers. The MAA is required to make sure any request receive the same treatment regardless the entity of request or the identity of the requester. Also, any promotions or medals need to be clearly looked upon to make sure every member receives the same amount of rewards for their work for the improvement of the whole Brotherhood. Also the MAA is requested to approve or deny any competition within the Brotherhood. To make sure any give competition is correctly rewarded depending from his magnitude. The two main qualities needed by a good MAA are fairness and patience.
As Master at Arms, what are my main expectations?
- To help the new members to settle themselves into our ranks.
- To oversee the daily activities of the Office, making sure no request is unheard.
- To oversee competition processing, from request to reward.
- To assist clans in any possible way for all matters regarding transfers, appointments and removal.
- To promote positive relations with members and all other online presences
- To conduct a successful transition with successor
The MAA is requested to be present more then once daily, or in coordination with his stuff, to make sure every request is processed in a timely manner.
Difficulties of being the Master at Arms
The main difficulty as MAA is to judge the requests made by the other members with clear mind and without prejudice. When a request is processed, there shouldn’t be any doubt a medal or a promotion is well earned. To make sure of this a good MAA need to check deeply the profile of whom is receiving the award or promotion and eventually gather more information from his superior to avoid any favoritism.
The second biggest difficulties arise when for some reasons the MAA have to deny a request. This usually lead to a exchange of not-exactly-nice mails with the requester about why the request has been denied. As member of the Dark Council the MAA is requested to behave in a civil manner at any given time, for this reason reply to every main with all relevant information on why the medal or promotion has been denied and what can or should be done in order to have the request approved. This may range from more work on the receiving member part or a better recommendation for the summit.
Effects of the positions
The Master at Arms with his work influence the whole Brotherhood. Being responsible for the approval of every medal, promotion, transfer, email change, order transfer, name change, competition approval; have a deep impact on every activity run in the Brotherhood. This have obviously a drawback: any mistake made may lead one or more members to leave the Brotherhood. For this reasons the MAA is requested to have good judgment capabilities, a strong presence, good communication skills AND a whole load of patience. Each time a member approach the MAA with questions or clarification, answers need to be clear. The MAA, like any Dark Council member, is requested to have a very fast reply time, usually within 24 hours. A faster reply time has been proven to be more effective in dealing members whom feel more cared by a fast answer.
As above mentioned, a MAA is many times requested to email summit members requesting more information regarding their recommendations. For this reason, every time this is required, clear reasons why this is done should be stated.
Position Organization
The MAA reports to the Deputy Grand Master and the Grand Master directly. While he doesn’t have any command over the clan or house summits, he will often work in close contact with them, as well as with the Headmaster.
- Superiors: GM, DGM
- Subordinates: P:MAA, M:MAA
- Close working relationships: HM, Summits
Specific Duties
Promotion Approval
Every time a member rises in rank, he rises in power within his Order and the Brotherhood. As such this is the most prized reward a member can receive. Every promotion need to be deeply controlled before being approved to be sure the member has done enough work to warrant a promotion, to make sure every member is treated in the same, fair, way.
Medal Approval
The second most important award a member can receive are medals, ranging from competition medals to merit medals. As with promotions, medals need to be verified before being approved. For competition medals, it is required to ensure the request fits with the related competition and the level of award originally submitted.
Competition Approval
Competitions are the heart of the Brotherhood and as such they deserve a proper recognition for the winners. All competitions should be aimed to the whole unit, battle group/house/clan that it is requested for and reward must follow the guidelines in the Dark Side Compendium.
Roster updates
All appointment, from Rollmaster to Consul need to be approved before being announced:
- Aedile: If the request is made by the Quaestor, Contact the Clan summit for their approval.
- Quaestor: If the request come from the Proconsul contact the consul for confirmation.
- CON and PCON are appointed directly by the Grand Master or Deputy Grand Master.
- DC Assistants: Update the roster as requested.
All appointments from AED and above NEED the Grand Master or Deputy Grand Master approval before being processed.
Name change
The only thing to make sure when approving a member’s name change is that NO TITLE or famous character names are used.
Order change
With the unrestriction of Order platforms, now each member can enjoy all kind of activities regardless his Order of membership. For this reasons all Order change must be approved only if roleplaying related reasons are stated.
Clan transfer
Each time a request comes in to change clans to either another clan or the rogues, the MAA should mail the member’s clan summit requesting their interview of his clanmate to make sure the transfer is not due ill reasons or animosity with other member of the same clan. This is to avoid fights and to make sure our members are enjoying their time in the Brotherhood.
The only exception if for when a member join requests to transfer to rogue due personal issues. Most of the time such decision are made due odd work schedule or similar reasons and there are very few possibility the member will be able to mail back in time. For this reason it has been decided that if transfer is submitted for this reason are simply to be approved right away.
Email change
This is always approved by default.
Dark Council Commitments
The Master at Arms often finds ways into projects within the Dark Council. This includes things like the CRAPS (STANDS FOR?) committee and Rebirth projects. These are very much on an as-and-when basis, but should be treated as an essential element of the job.
Position Checklist
- Immediately Following Election:
- Meet with the former Master at Arms and discuss any ongoing projects, the status of the Office as well as all other pertinent information
- Notify the former MAA’s Praetors, Magistrates and Royal Guard of whether they will be retained or not
- Ensure that there are no ‘left-over’ competitions – it’s extremely important to finish off any competitions that your predecessor had started or announced, otherwise the members who put effort into them will be disillusioned.
- Write a news post introducing yourself and telling people what you plan to do with the position.
- Don’t do anything radical. Unless your predecessor’s reign was dreadful, give yourself time to settle into the post before you try changing anything big.
- clans are doing, and their schedules.
- Daily Tasks:
- Process every available pending request.
- Respond to e-mail queries.
- Weekly Tasks:
- Report on djb.com and irc.
- Talk with members on irc.
- Respond to e-mail queries.
- Bi-weekly Tasks:
- Report to the Grand Master for the internal report.
Document(s)
Master At Arms Handbook (.doc)