The Bylaws of the Beacon Hall Archive
Revised 06/08/2011
Beacon Hall Archives (heretofar also known as BHA) shall abide by established requirements of the Cooperative Houses of Elanthia dictates. Additional requirements may be added, but never contradict these preliminary requirements. (Refer to document Houses of Elanthia, parts 1 and 2, revision 2.2 as of this draft). All future changes made to CHE Guidelines will automatically reflect a change in BHA by-laws without requirements of membership vote.
No policy may be made that would lessen the minimums established hereafter within these by-laws. Changes to the by-laws themselves may be amended with 2/3 approval of House Officers.
I. OFFICER ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Note: these are offered as suggestions and to give loose guidance to future officers of the Beacon Hall Archive. They are not set in stone. Officers should be chosen on merit and ability to fulfill duties as seen fit by the Chairman/Co-chairman of BHA.
1. Chancellor (Chairman): the official BHA liaison to the GM CHE guru (GM Alyias as of 5/23/2011), all direct communication is made through the Chancellor. As such the Chancellor is directly responsible for overseeing the completion and timely submittal of all monthly and quarterly submissions. The Chancellor also performs inductions and any House administration duties as she or he sees fit.
2. Light Keeper (Co-chairman): the Light Keeper is endowed with identical powers and responsibilities as the Chancellor, and is bound to the same responsibilities should she or he be needed or asked to fulfill them. The Light Keeper can be more directly involved with the process of inducting new members into the Archive. The second-in-command, the Light Keeper need serve as a check and balance over all official Archive business. The title refers to the responsibility of maintaining the Archive’s most important treasure: it’s beacon of light.
3. Keeper (Secretary): the Keeper should hold direct responsibility for recording all official Archive business, with a direct emphasis on maintaining records on Archive membership. The office’s true service is as a true keeper of the records of all Archive business, including meeting minutes and all official Archive votes.
4. Hall Guardian (Treasurer): The Hall Guardian maintains and safeguards the treasure of the Archive, or in simpler terms: its bank account and valuable holdings. All expenditures in the form of purchases, loans, auctions and any other transaction concerning the coin of the realm, should be overseen by the Hall Guardian.
5. Event Coordinator (Co-secretary): the Event Coordinator is responsible for assisting Archive members and officers in the all the various protocols involved in running an official Archive event. These processes are outlined in the guidance set forth by the official Gemstone CHE guru. The office should serve as a bastion of information, the ability to help craft NEWS items and official crier messages also serves this position. The Event Coordinator is also tasked with fulfilling the duties of the Keeper if the need arises.
6. Vault Guardian (Co-treasurer): The Vault Guardian serves as an advocate for the history and traditions of the Archive. In an ever-evolving realm their role is to always keep one eye on the past, assuring that customs of the past are given their due when official Archive business is being conducted. The Vault Guardian also assumes the role of the Hall Guardian whenever necessary.
7. House Envoy: the role of the House Envoy is one of a goodwill ambassador to the other houses that make up the Cooperative Houses of Elanthia (CHE). When necessary (or whenever the fancy strikes), this officer should spread goodwill and show extreme decorum to officers and members of the other houses. The House Envoy is also tasked with keeping abreast of the goings on, and if she or he were to bring news of important goings on in far-off places, she or he would be certainly thanked for their duties.
8. Curator: this office is primarily tasked with collecting lore that would be of interest to Archive members or officers. Centrally important to the day-to-day tasks of the Archive, the role is most successful when served with passion for the tales of the realm with special emphasis on those that are spoken most near to the bluff upon which the Archive rests. The Lorekeeper will assist in planning and holding events and holds the heavy responsibility of keeping and searching out the history of the Archive and the lands of Elanthia.
9. Storyteller: the go-to officer when no ordinary tale will do, the Storyteller is the official Archive singer of lore. Owning a shy countenance will not serve this office, the Storyteller assists in all creative house business and will most shine when creating or helping to plan or hold an official Archive event. It is said that it can never hurt for one of this role to be easy on the eyes.
II. GOVERNMENT
Beacon Hall Archives is an established Democratic entity, with a governing body consisting of the nine officer positions outlined in section I. Elections are held for all nine positions every three (3) years. The next election is to take place in January, 2014.
III. ELECTED OFFICE
All nominations and elections shall be held the first month of the year. All offices shall be appointed no later than mid-month February.
Rules for the elected officerships of the Beacon Hall Archives are as follows:
1. Elected terms are three years.
2. Re-election to the same position is allowed.
3. One need only make their intent known through a written statement to the Chairman or Co-chairman of the Beacon Hall Archive to be considered for office.
4. A simple vote of all BHA members will determine who assumes the responsibility of office.
IV: GUIDELINES OF ELECTED OFFICE
House offices are held for the term of 3 years or until one of the following occurs:
1. The officer resigns.
2. The officer is declared inactive (defined below in INACTIVE MEMBERS section).
3. The officer is expelled or terminated by the Chairman.
- a. An officer can be terminated for not completing his or her duties as assigned or not adhering to the policy of behavior of an Officer of The Archives.
Vacant offices shall be filled by the following process:
In the event that a vacancy occurs due to one of the above actions:
1. Nominations shall be taken by the House Chairman or Co-chairman for one month.
2. All nominees will be interviewed by the current officers to determine suitability.
3. All suitable candidates shall be placed on a ballot, and a vote by the Archives Council shall be held
4. The candidate with the majority of votes shall win. Votes will be taken for a period of two weeks.
5. At the end of that two week period, the new officer shall be announced to the house, and will take office immediately
6. Emergencies: The chairman may make an immediate temporary appointment to a vacant office if, in his or her discretion, such appointment is crucial to the continued activities of the House. Such replacements are temporary only and last until the next scheduled meeting of the House, at which time the office shall be permanently filled in accordance with the provisions of this Section.
V. ACTIVE MEMBERSHIP
1. Active Members: An "active member" shall attend at the very least one Archive event every six (6) months.
2. Privileges: Active members shall be authorized to vote in public meetings of the Archives, in which it is deemed a public vote is necessary.
3. Inactive Members: An "inactive member" is a member of the House failing to qualify as "active" under Subsection A of this Section. Nothing in this Section shall serve to deny inactive members the freedom of the House, access to lockers, or any other privilege of House membership. Inactive members may freely become active members upon fulfillment of the provisions of the aforementioned Subsection 1.
4. Roster: The secretary shall maintain and provide upon request a roster of all known active members and mailed to the Archives mailing list in the first day of each Simutronics CHE-defined quarter.
VI. MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS
Regardless of the number of accounts, the same player may have no more than one (IC) Officer of the House at any given point in time. Likewise for any votes held for the entire membership of The Archive each player (RL) will have only one vote taken throughout their respective (IC) members of the house. Failure to honestly report control of more than one account per person will result in penalty, up to expulsion from BHA, as decided by the Chairman.
1. Prospective members:
- a. Shall be sponsored by a current member in good standing, and be screened for the following qualities
- - i. Willingness to contribute to the well-being of the House and its function
- - ii. Willingness to forego personal position for the interest of the will of the group
- - iii. Willingness to comply with dictates set forth in Membership Rules and Regulations
- - iv. Shall announce their intent to join to the House (via CHE Boards / BHA), including:
- - - 1. Declaration of intent to join
- - - 2. Disclosure of Sponsor
- - - 3. Brief personal introduction
- - - 4. Particulars (ie: why are you interested in joining BHA?)
- - v. Shall pay a one-time, non-refundable fee of 100,000 silver (BHA asks no regular dues of its members)
- - vi. Shall be a minimum of ten trainings at time of induction
- b. Archives membership shall have a period of two (2) weeks upon notice sent of potential interested candidates (via Archives mailing list AND play.net forum posting) to send a vote of opposition to said candidate being inducted as a member of The Archives. Upon receiving any opposition vote, the Chairman and Co-chairman will convene to discuss, with those that have opposed if necessary. The Chairman of the Archives has the authority of final approval on any and all induction decisions.
VII. PROVISIONAL MEMBERSHIP
Upon joining Beacon Hall, all new members are considered provisional. Provisional members hold all of the rights as Full Members, with the exceptions of voting and holding office. To ascend to Full membership, Provisional members must complete an original work, or thesis, to be submitted to the house. This definition is intentionally vague, but any work or thesis should involve history, lore, or culture.
Examples:
1. Writing a short manifesto on healing, herbs, and manners
2. Planning or assisting with a lore or history based event
3. Performing a skit with historical undertones
VIII. OFFICER AND MEMBER BEHAVIORAL GUIDELINES
Current Members
1. Shall maintain rules of decorum laid out in Membership Rules and Regulations
2. Shall NOT behave in any capacity as an agent of the House unless appointed specifically by duty or position
3. Shall conduct themselves in such a manner as to not bring great shame or disrepute upon the House or fellow members
Officers:
1. Shall be a member in good standing
2. Shall not be under unresolved internal or external investigation of any wrongdoing
3. Shall have completed a thesis or project requirement, substantiated by the Office of the Secretary
4. Shall fully read and understand the CHE Influence Points document as distributed upon receiving the duties of Officership.
5. Shall maintain “Active Member” status. Any Officer unable to communicate specific information regarding a Leave of Absence (LOA) or that is found to be inactive
IX. MEMBERSHIP SERVICES PROVIDED
1. All services generally afforded any Great House are afforded members of BHA to the extent BHA has invested in these opportunities
2. Private property ownership (Beacon Hall Archives, located just outside River’s Rest proper, and all amenities included therein)
3. Storage facilities within the House at River’s Rest, and at all Annexes funded by the House:
- a. Wehnimer’s Landing
- b. Solhaven
- c. Icemule Trace
- d. Ta’Illistim
- e. Kharam Dzu
- f. Zul Logoth
- g. Ta’Vaalor
4. Loan qualifications as set forth by CHE regulations
X. EXPULSION OF MEMBERS
Members may be expelled by a vote of Officers of BHA. The selling of a character may result in expulsion. Engaging in non-consensual PvP may result in expulsion. INACTIVITY will NOT result in expulsion.
Procedure for expulsion:
1. Any member may call for the expulsion of another member by appealing to a House officer verbally or in writing. This appeal will be sent to all officers.
2. Five of the ten officers must agree to proceed.
3. Notice will be sent to the complaining member and the member in question. Each will have two weeks to state their case. Both sides will be presented to the officers verbally or in writing.
4. Six of the ten officers must again agree to proceed.
5. Either party, the complainant or the defendant, may call for an oral or public presentation of issues and subsequent vote by the officers of the house shall take place either by special meeting, or via mailing list.
6. The vote will be recorded at the meeting and/or registered through the House mailing list - the statements of both parties will be included. There will be a one-week voting period. Votes will be sent to House officers only and the member will be expelled only if two-thirds of those responding concur. (this essentially means if only 5 officers vote, at least 4 would need to vote for expulsion to overcome the two-thirds)
7. EMERGENCY EXPULSION: In absolutely EXTREME cases, an emergency expulsion can occur under the authority of the BHA Chairman/Co-chair and his/her authority alone. Anyone expelled using an Emergency Expulsion is allowed to appeal and continue through the process of reinstatement outlined in sections a-f of this section, but will not be a member of the house during the process.
8. TEMPORARY EXPULSION: using the HOUSE EXPEL command an individual can be banned from the premises of BHA for a period of 48 hours with each use of the command. Some possible reasons for this use are:
- a. Individual is extremely disruptive at a house event
- b. Individual is breaking simutronics policy on house grounds
- c. Individual is engaging in non-consented PvP on house grounds
- d. And other offenses as decided by an officer of BHA
XI: HOUSE PLEDGE
The following text will serve as our House Pledge, which all newly inducted members will recite:
I pledge my commitment to the Beacon Hall Archive, its members, and its mission.
I pledge to pursue and support the purpose and goals of the Beacon Hall Archive, to promote the preservation and teaching of the history and culture of Elanthia.
I pledge to abide by and follow the By-Laws of the Beacon Hall Archive, and to accept the authority of the government thereof. I further pledge to uphold the dignity and honor of the Archive and pledge to take no action that would degrade or dishonor it.
To all of this I pledge, of my own free will, for the benefit of Elanthia and its people.
XII: BEACON HALL ARCHIVE LOAN AND MONETARY GUIDELINES
All expenditure of BHA house funds must be reported to the Hall Guardian. Emergency expenditures of funds less than 100,000 silvers can be done without prior approval from the Hall Guardian, although still must be reported at the earliest convenience. Any expenditures exceeding 100,000 silvers must be approved in advance by the Hall Guardian
Loans:
1. Loan Types
- a. Basic Loan - 1,000,000 silvers or less
- b. Advanced Loan - 1,000,001 silvers to 10,000,000 silvers
2. Loan qualifications as set by the acting Archive Treasurer
- a. Basic Loan
- - i. Member must be at least 20 trainings
- - ii. Member must be an active member for a minimum of 3 months
- b. Advanced Loan
- - i. Member must be at least 40 trainings
- - ii. Member must be an active member for a minimum of 1 year
- - iii. Member must be in good standing with the house
3. A member who has previously defaulted on a loan will not be eligible
4. Member must accept the repayment plan as set by the Treasurer
5. Payments
- a. All loans will be subject to a 10% interest fee on the initial loan value
- b. Basic loans will be required to repay 20% of the initial loan value per month or be subject to a late fees
- c. Advanced loans will be required to repay 15% of the initial loan value per month or be subject to late fees
- d. Failure to pay by the last day of the calender month will result in a 10% increase on all remaining payments.
6. Default
- a. A member who is over 30 days delinquent on a loan payment, has defaulted on the loan unless some other payment arrangements have been made
- b. A character who dies/rerolls will transfer the outstanding debt to the heir (next character) of the character, however the membership in the House does not transfer
- c. A member who has defaulted on a loan risks expulsion of their entire family from the house with no readmittance permitted
7. Disclaimer: The Archive Treasurer has final say on all loan activities!
