GT: Hall of Sitters

W-C Rep - MoS - MoA - Keeper - M'Hael - Amyrlin Seat - MoT - MoN - GC

General Information:

Welcome to the Hall of Sitters, which is where the Sitters, the main governing body of the Tower, make important decisions. Each Ajah is represented by three Sitters and its Ajah Head.

Most of the discussion between the Hall takes place on this message board. You're not allowed to post there if you're not a Sitter or officer, but feel free to go along and see what's happening there right now.

If you're interested in what's happened at the Hall of Sitters in the past, we have an Archives page which lists past decisions, and the results of votes.

If you have any questions on how the Hall of Sitters operates, the officers are always willing to help, as are the Sitters themselves.

Officer Duties: The duties of the Master or Mistress of Education are:

Helping to develop, proofread, and approve new classes based upon clarity, content, and realism to the books.
To monitor classes (so that each lesson is responded to within 4 days - that means, stepping in and grading them oneself and then contacting the teacher if necessary)
Closing down inactive classes and taking them off the list when there is no longer interest in teaching/attending them.
To archive classes once they are removed from the list.
To oversee/teach large, ongoing, classes like the Tower Introductory and Intermediate Classes, and One Power Basics class.
To conduct the bi-annual Class Census and all updates to pages that result.
To create class MBs when necessary to assist new/inexperienced teachers.
To oversee the University and Orphanage Message boards, the latter with the help of Asha'man Riven Trimak (founder of the Orphanage).

The duties of the Master of Soldiers and the Mistress of Novices are:

To accept and welcome new members/Secondary Characters
To suggest revisions for Applications which need improvement
To add new members to the Members Lists
To add new members to the IM Lists
To find mentors for new members
To add them to the mentor list
To be available to roleplay with the learning ranks
To be available to deal with any problems encountered by the learning ranks
To represent learning ranks in the Hall
To send people the Raising Tests when they request them, after showing their RRs
To grade raising tests
To raise members once they pass Raising Tests and announce Raisings.
To change Member List and related Listings to reflect member's Raisings.
To perform Mentor Census once every six months
To process Amyrlin Seat and M'Hael requests for activity recognition in the form of Ajah Benefit points.
To process Ajah Benefit applications in the case that anyone (including the Keeper and Warders of the Amyrlin Seat and M'Hael) applies for an Ajah Benefit from the Amyrlin Seat and M'Hael's tier.

The duties of the Keeper of the Chronicles and the Keeper of the Archives are:

To mantain the Tower library:

Uploading (and updating when necessary) character biographies.
Approving and adding fanfics.
Ensuring that biography pages include links to any fanfics written by that player.

To add character pictures to the artwork account.
To be available to roleplay with all Tower members
To be available to give OOC help to all Tower members.
To represent the best interests of the Tower in the Hall of Sitters.
To fill in for the Amyrlin/M'Hael if one or both are absent.
To receive Ajah Benefit applications and forwarding them to the appropriate person, or in the case of a shara, reviewing them him/herself.
To update the Benefit List when Ajah Benefits are approved by the appropriate person and notify the Amyrlin Seat and M'Hael of any One Power Strength increases and the First Seeker of Talent increases.

The duties of the Amyrlin and the M'hael are:

To guide the discussion in the Hall of Sitters by presenting points of information and to ensure that discussion stays on track and that the number of issues being presented remains at a reasonable level
To vote on issues in the Hall of Sitters
To organize the votes in the Hall of Sitters, making voting forms and calculate the results using the voting forms submitted, announce the results to the Hall of Sitters and make appropriate updates in the Archives, FAQ and other areas as needed
To ensure the pages get updated promptly, emails sent to the admin account are dealt with accordingly by the appropriate person, that all officers complete their assigned duties and ensure that a substitute is found for an admin member on shara, which may be the Amyrlin or M’Hael if no other admin member is available
To be available as a resource for Tower members to come to with questions, comments or concerns about anything, and have them dealt with immediately
To discuss any decision or action with one another before proceeding and maintain communication with one another and among the various levels of the administration and the Tower
To handle matters of OOC discipline, ensure that the rules of the Grey Tower are not broken, and if they are, that the appropriate action is taken within the guidelines
The Amyrlin and M’Hael may not infringe on the running of the Ajahs or other Ajah business without just cause or situations as outlined in the guidelines of the Tower.
To review Ajah Head activity and award Ajah Benefit points based on usual evidence but also voting records.
Any decision or action regarding the Tower which is outside of the normal duty of the aforementioned officers must be preceded by consultation with the other.

Information on the duties of the Warder Council (Warder-channeler Representative, Gaidin Captain, Master of Training, Mistress of Arms) can be found in the Warder FAQ. Information on the duties of the Sitters and Ajah Heads can be found Here.

Selection and Removal of Officers:

The Warder Channeler Representative and the Mistress or Master of Education are appointed by the Amyrlin and M'Hael. As such the appointees receive additional Talent Points above that of the average Aes Sedai or Asha'man (totaling 11, or 12 if they were raised Indigo). Also since these positions are appointed and not elected, the appointees receive no official voting rights within the Hall of Sitters as a direct consequence of their appointed position (If they also serve as Sitters for their Ajah, then they would get the vote for that position alone).

The Hall of Sitters has approved the following measures for appointing Officers (M'hael, Amyrlin, Keeper of the Chronicles, Keeper of the Archives, Master of Soldiers, Mistress of Novices):

The Amyrlin or the M'Hael petitions the Hall of Sitters for formal nominations of candidates. Each member of the hall may submit a single nomination, and all nominations should be for fully-raised channelers of the appropriate gender. It is suggested that the request for Nominations also include a request that anyone interested in running for a position put themselves forward, as this makes it easier for the Hall to find suitable candidates to nominate.

Anyone receiving three or more nominations is then formally asked if they are willing to put themselves forward for the position. If there is only one candidate with sufficient nominations, and if they are willing to accept, then they are appointed to that position.

If plural candidates receive sufficient nominations and are willing to run, then a vote is held. Each Sitter, Ajah Head, and Officer (including members of the Warder COuncil) may submit one vote. Whichever candidate receives the most votes will be appointed to the position.

In the event of a tie, the Amyrlin and/or the M'hael will consult with the rest of Admin and choose between the tied candidates.

The Amyrlin and M’Hael are accountable to each other, and next to the Keepers. All other officers are accountable to the Amyrlin and M’Hael. These include the Keeper of the Chronicles, the Keeper of the Archives, the Gaidin Captain, the Master/Mistress of Arms, Master/Mistress of Training, the Master of Soldiers, the Mistress of Novices, and the Mistress or Master of Education.

Applications and submissions must be responded to in a timely manner, even if the response is by means of forwarding the application to another official as in the case of Benefit applications. A response would entail anything from an email to the applicant letting them know that it is being looked at, or a request to resubmit with changes or alterations, or even a response that it has been approved. The time limits as set forth by the Hall include:

Application / Submission	Response deadline
Joining applications	3 days
Raising applications	4 days
Benefit applications	3 days
Larger transcripts	4 days
Fanfics	3 days

If approved, all applications and submissions must be processed fully within 3 days of sending the appropriate response.

An Officer must request an extension from the appropriate Official(s), stating exactly how long it will be. A casual IM or e-mail will suffice, no shara form is required. If the extension is deemed by the official(s) to be too long, a suitable replacement will be asked to fill in.

Web page updates (HoS archive, HoS Queue, Main Page Announcements, etc.) must be done at least on a weekly basis. Any delays will follow the same delay policy outlined below.

Any delay counts as a Semi-Shara (up to 2 days after the original deadline) or Shara (4 or more days after the deadline).

Typically Officers can expect their duties to require anywhere from 5 to 15 hours per week, with the average falling between 8 to 11 hours per week (not including non-admin role plays and interactions)

All absences (full or semi-shara) above 2 days should be posted by an Officer on an official Shara form at least 2 days before the Shara is to begin so that appropriate replacements or assistants can be found and the other Officers are not left with an indeterminate amount of time filling in for the Officer on Shara.

Official Shara is limited to a maximum of 90 days throughout one calendar year (60 days of announced Shara, and 30 days added extension if needed). Every 2 days of Semi-Shara counts as one day of Shara.

Any unexcused or unexplained extended Shara will be met by an email from the appropriate Officials after one week has passed. The missing Officer has exactly one week after this to respond to the Official before being removed from their office, and replaced.

Unexcused absences or unexplained extended Shara will be punished as follows according to the consensus of the Hall:

Number of Offenses	Punishment
1	Warning from the Mother/Father
2	A second warning from the Mother/Father
3	Discussion among all of the Officers
4	Removal from Office

If an Officer is removed from their office according to these guidelines, they will be given one chance to redeem themselves. If removed a second time the punishment is to be banned from future office permanently (unless they are able to plead their case before the Hall and receive clemency)

Officers who have been banned from holding office have the right to plead their case before the Hall of Sitters and ask for clemency. If the clemency is granted the Officer will be allowed to take office once again under these guidelines. He or she will be banned again permanently if removed from office for a third and final time.

Officers must give two weeks notice before stepping down from a position. This is just enough time to hold a nomination and voting period. Should an officer fail to provide advanced notice, they will be unable to retake office for at least 6 months of uninterrupted activity as a member of the Tower before they will be eligible for office again. If re-elected, the previous offender will be placed under the watch of an appointed Official to see that he or she is keeping up with their duties as outlined in these guidelines

The period between December 21st and January 2nd each year is considered a Tower Holiday time. The Hall and the Tower are on leave, meaning that any and all time guidelines are suspended for this period and No Administrative Shara is accrued.

This policy shall be institute on a trial period first in order to evaluate if it is too unwieldy or if the guidelines set forth seem to be realistic. It will be re-evaluated in six months.

Information on the appointment and removal of members of the Warder Council (Warder-channeler Representative, Gaidin Captain, Master of Training, Mistress of Arms) can be found in the Warder FAQ. Information on the appointment and removal of Sitters and Ajah Heads can be found Here.