Constitution of the Total War Centre
- Preamble
- Section 1 - The Executive
- Section 2 - The Legislature
- Section 3 - Member Ranks
- Section 4 - The Judiciary
- Section 5 - Additional Provisions
Preamble
This document exists to define the roles of the bodies that run and govern this site and community. The guiding principle of the site is to be that barring technical or fiscal obstacles, any considered mandate from the appropriate legislative body of contributing members will be implemented by the administrators.
This document is not absolutely authoritative. It is a compilation of the Curia, written and approved by the Citizens, which may become outdated or contain oversights. Furthermore, this document may be suspended by the administration by the procedure outlined herein.
Section 1 of this document and the procedure for a vote of No Confidence lie outside the remit of the Curia to modify or amend, unless such amendment is commenced and wholly authorised by the executive. The only exception to this is where an amendment changes the name of an Officer
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Section 1 - The Executive
The Executive is composed of the Council Officers, Senior Staff Officers and Staff Officers who run the Site.
Article 1 - The Council
The Council is the overarching governing body of the site. It is composed of Permanent Officers and Non Permanent Officers representing the needs of the Executive at any given time. All Council Officers fulfil normal day-to-day duties and all should discuss and co-ordinate their policies inside the Council.
Permanent Officers
There shall be 5 Permanent Officers on the Council
- The Site Owner
- Chief Moderator - Serves as Head of the Moderation Branch
- Chief of Content - Serves as Head of the Content Branch
- Chief Technician - Serves as Head of the Technical Branch
- Speaker of the House - Represents the Curia on the Council
The three Branch Chiefs shall lead their branch, and be the principal officer responsible for policy within the three branches. It shall normally be presumed that they shall be selected from within their branch.
The appointment of each branch chief is decided by the Council but must be ratified by the Staff of the branch they are being appointed too.
The Speaker of the House is elected by the Curia, as per the procedure in Section 2 Article 2, from among those members ranked as Patricians, and will serve a term of six months.
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Non Permanent Officers
An undefined number of non permanent Council Officer may be appointed by the Council as and when necessary. Normally these Council Officers shall be drawn from the Staff ranks, but other members of the site may be invited in.
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Every Council Officer, in addition to any other ratification and appointments procedure must be ratified by the Curia immediately after appointment, by the process in Section 2 Article 2. An appointed Council Officer who fails the ratification vote is returned to his previous position.
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Article 2 - The Moderation Branch
The Moderation Branch is responsible for maintaining order within the Site Forum and enforcement of the Terms of Service. Staff Officers of this branch are the only members of Staff invested with general moderating powers.
Senior Staff Officers - Strategos
The Strategos are Senior Moderators, led by the Chief of Branch, in charge of moderation within the Forum. They will all have Global Moderation powers, and some may have additional administrative powers depending upon their duties.
Senior Moderators are appointed by existing Senior Moderators from among the Staff Officers of this branch. Each appointment must also be ratified by the Curia in accordance with Section 2 Article 2.
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Staff Officers - Tribounos
The Staff Moderators form the front line moderation force on the Forum. They are drawn from the Citizens and appointed and fired by the Senior Moderators, but each appointment must be ratified by the Curia as per the procedure in Section 2 Article 2. A Staff Moderator who fails his ratification is removed from his position.
The total number of Staff Moderators, along with individual assignments and powers are set by the Senior Moderators.
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Article 3 - The Content Branch
The Content Branch oversees content produced on the main page of the site and the work of the official publications of the Site
- The Helios
- The Eagle Standard
- The TWC Wiki
- General Sun's Tent
- The TWC Podcast
- The Scriptorium
The Chief of Branch shall have general organizational and administrative control of all content areas of the site
Senior Staff Officers Editors
Each official publication shall have an Editor appointed by the Chief of Branch, with the exception of the TWC Wiki. Editors must be Citizens of the Forum. They shall have overall responsibility for running their publication and ensuring that content produced for their publication does not breach the Terms of Service.
The Editor of the TWC Wiki shall be appointed as a Curial Officer, not a Senior Staff Officer, see Section 3 Article 5 below.
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Content Staff Officers
Staff Officers of the Content Branch are contributors and writers of the various publications and articles on the front page. They may be drawn from any rank, and are hired and fired by the Editor of the publication for which they contribute.
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Article 4 - Technical Branch
The Technical Branch deals with the infrastructure of the site. They handle all administrative issues, maintain the forum software and ensure the security and reasonable running of the site overall.
Chief Technician
The Chief of Branch has overall control of all staff within this department. He decides the appropriate access levels for all Staff Officers of this branch and makes final decisions on issues relating to software. A principle concern of this Officer is the security of the site, and as such, has the right to remove administration and moderation privileges from any member and Staff Officer, though it is expected he will consult with the other Council members when doing so.
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Staff Officers - Technical Staff
These Technical Staff aid the Chief of branch in the maintenance and secure running of the site. They are hired and fired by the Chief of Branch and have levels of administrative access dependent upon the jobs detailed to them.
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Article 5 - Former Staff Officers
Upon retirement or resignation from an Officer position, all Moderators are awarded the honorary rank of Senatorii. All other Council Officers and Staff Officers are awarded the honorary rank of Officer Emeritus. These ranks are awarded automatically if time served as a Senior Moderator equals or exceeds 12 weeks. If the period in office is less than 12 weeks, these ranks can be awarded if The Council unanimously agrees. They are considered the same as honorary ranks awarded under Section 3.
All Moderators, Council Officers and Staff Officers are awarded a medal appropriate to the branch they have served in, in accordance with Section 5 of this document, if time served as an officer equals or exceeds 12 weeks.
The awarding of these ranks and medals is honorary and accords no additional rights or privileges except with regard to Senatorii as detailed in Section 4. The awarding of these ranks is the gift of the Council to retiring Staff Officers and may not be removed by the Curia.
The awarding of these ranks and awards to Staff Officers who are removed from their position following a vote of No Confidence, or are otherwise fired is at the discretion of the Council provided the 12 week service provision is also met.
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Article 6 - Council Veto
Any Council Officers can veto any act or decision on TWC. However this veto is considered provisional until approved by a majority of Council Officers. This approval should be obtained as soon as possible.
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Article 7 - Emergency Powers
In the event of a situation threatening or compromising the security, integrity or existence of the Site, a majority of the Council is empowered to suspend the operation of this document for a period of seventy-two hours. If necessary, and if the situation continues, the Council, acting unanimously, may, after seventy-two hours has expired, prolong the suspension for a further seventy-two hours, for a total suspension period of one hundred and forty four hours or six days.
For this to have affect, the Speaker of the House, or a Council Officers acting for him shall post an announcement in all Curia Forums stating the suspension of the constitutions and the reasons for doing so. When suspended, the work of all Curia Committees, including the Consilium de Civitates, is also suspended. Time under suspension does not count towards various time limits specified within this document.
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Section 2 - The Legislature
The Executive shall create within the Forum a place for all Citizens of the Site to discuss and propose Decisions that affect the governing of the Site and Site Policy, and also to amend this document. This place shall be known as the Curia and shall be a place for an exchange of ideas. As the Curia is considered the heartland of the Citizens right to influence their community, infractions of Forum Rules and the Terms of Service made in this forum are considered to be doubly serious.
Article 1 - Curia
The Curia is broken into distinct sections.
- Curia - For general discussion of governance matters. Polls are not permitted within the Curia main.
- Prothalamos - An area specifically for the proposal and discussion of legislation and decisions. Polls are not permitted within the Prothalamos
- Curia Votes - An area strictly used only for voting on matters that bind the Curia
- The Tabularium - A record chamber and archive.
- Consilium de Civitates - A special council chamber visible only to those elected members of the council as defined in Article 5
Additional areas may be added at the discretion of the Citizens following an appropriate Decision being passed.
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Article 2 - Election Procedure
When the Curia is required to elect an Officer or Rank, or ratify an appoint, the following process shall be applied.
Ratification Votes
When a member has been duly appointed as a Staff Officer, and where required, ratified by his branch, the Speaker of the House shall post a poll in the Curia Votes forum. The Speaker shall state which position the member has been appointed to, and that they have been ratified by their colleagues if appropriate. The vote shall last for one week, and the member shall be ratified if they receive a simple majority majority of non abstaining votes.
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Election Votes
When a Curial Election is required, the Curator shall open a qualification thread in the Curia and the Speaker of the House shall post an announcement in any relevant forum. Applicants for the vacant position must post their reasons for wishing to hold the position and any relevant qualifications in the qualification thread. Any comments, debates or off topic posting shall be deleted. The thread shall remain open for no longer than one week.
The Council may veto applicants, and should more than six members apply for any position, may shortlist six members to stand for the election. Once applications are complete, the Curator shall open a poll in the Curia Votes. The vote shall last for one week, and the member who receives the plurality of votes shall be elected.
Where more than one of the same position is vacant, the procedure is the same, and the members with the highest votes are elected. In the case of ties, a run off vote is held between the tied members lasting 3 days.
Where the vacant position is that of Curator, the Speaker of the House shall undertake the Curator's duties in relation to the vote.
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Votes of No Confidence
At any time, any Citizens of this site may initiate a vote of "No Confidence" in any Officer of the Council or any elected Officer for neglect of duty or abuse of authority by posting their case within the Curia. Frivolous use of this procedure may result in disciplinary proceedings. In all cases, a vote of "No Confidence" is exempt from veto, however the vote is non binding except in the case of staff officers. The debate and vote on a motion of "No Confidence" shall follow the same procedure as that of a bill as per Article 3 below, but shall be conducted in the Curia Main, and not the Prothalamos.
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Article 3 - Legislative Procedure
Any Citizens may table a bill for discussion by posting a thread in the Prothalamos. This citizen will remain the sole proposer for this thread. Bills can take two forms:
- Amendments - A proposal to alter the text of the Constitution. Amendments can alter or remove existing text and add entirely new text.
- Decisions - A proposal for the creation of an official Decision of the Curia on a topic relevant to the functioning of TWC. The Curia has authority to direct the Officers of TWC in this way on any topic of which the primary say has been delegated from the Officers, who shall take such Curia Decisions under strong advisement. The Speaker of the House shall determine if proposed Decisions fall within the jurisdiction of the Curia.
Each version of the bill requires named support from two Patricians and two Citizens. The final draft of the bill must be debated for at least three days in the Prothalamos before the proposer can request the bill be moved to vote. When a bill is moved to vote, the debate thread is left open, and the Curator shall post the newest draft of the bill, the name of the Proposer, the Bill's 3 named supporters, and a link to the debate, as a new poll in the Curia Votes forum. All bills shall be voted on for one week. Subsequent posts in this thread, are limited to notification of having voted. Messages lobbying to vote for or against, including via Signatures and Avatars, are prohibited except in the original debate thread. All bills shall pass on the basis of a two-thirds majority of non abstaining votes in favour. If any bill fails a vote, no re-vote on a substantially similar bill will be permitted within twenty-eight days.
All citizens are honour bound to not view the results of Curia Votes until they have themselves voted, unless necessary for the execution of any other duty to the site.
Upon passing a vote:
Amendents
The Curator shall post the text of all passed amendments in a stickied "Amendments" thread in the Tabularium and numbered consecutively in the order they pass. The poll is closed, moved to the Tabularium, and renamed to reflect the whether it passed or failed, and the numbers of votes. The sticked "Constitution" thread in the Curia is then edited to reflect the changes made by passed amendments. When a Section or Article is added or removed, all subsequent Sections and Articles are renumbered by the Curator appropriately.
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Decisions
The Curator shall post the text of all passed Decisions in a sticked "Decisions" thread in the Tabularium and consecutively in the order they pass. The poll is closed, moved to the Tabularium, and renamed to reflect the whether it passed or failed, and the numbers of votes.
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All Amendments and Decisions are considered to have immediate effect and no retroactive effect unless specifically stated otherwise.
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Minor Formative Changes
The Curator shall have the power to amend the text of the Constitution and any Curial Decision for the sole purpose of correcting any spelling and grammatical errors that are found within the documents. The details of any such changes must be recorded in the amendments thread of the Tabularium.
Should any such change be challenged by any Patrician, they may request that the Speaker of the House review the change and uphold or discard it. Further challenge may be put to a Curia Vote to veto the change via the procedure in Article 3.
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Article 4 - Curial Committees
At any time, a member of the Council can establish a Curial Committee to investigate and discuss an issue. These temporary committees are to last one month, and after one month, are subject to ratification and extension by the Curia.
To form a committee, the Speaker of the House will create a thread in the Curia asking for applicants. When the Council decides it has enough applicants, it will choose however many it deems fit, and create a subforum in the Curia for the Committee. The temporary committee can be dissolved at the discretion of the Council. It can also add and remove members when it sees fit. Each committee shall also contain a Council Officer as Chairman and the Speaker of the House.
After thirty days, the Speaker can create a vote for a one or two month extension, following the vote procedure in Article 3 above.
After a Decision is made by a temporary committee, it shall be posted in the Prothalamos for three days, prior to implementation. If three or more Patricians state an objection, implementation will be postponed. It will be at the discretion of the Curator, Committee, and Committee Chairman whether to take the proposal back to the committee for revision (the objecting Patricians are therefore expected to take part in the revision discussion), or continue the discussion in the Prothalamos until there are no more than two objections.
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Article 5 - Consilium de Civitates
The Consilium de Civitates manages the granting and removal of all Curia Ranks by voting. The Consilium de Civitates may also function as an advisory body to the staff of TWC in matters concerning the Curia and its Citizens.
Membership
The elected members of the CdeC are all Patricians. The full membership comprises of:
- Twelve elected Patricians, who may discuss and vote on all matters within the Consilium de Civitates Forum
- Council Officers, who may discuss all matters within the Consilium de Civitates Forum, but have no vote.
- The Curator, who may take part in all Consilium de Civitates discussions, and has the deciding vote only in the case of a tie. The Curator has veto powers over any Consilium de Civitates decision.
Elected members of the Consilium de Civitates and the Curator must actively participate in discussions and votes, Council Officers participation is optional.
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Elections
Consilium de Civitates members are elected as per Article 2 of this Section - with the added requirement that candidates hold the basic rank of Patrician and have no Staff warnings at the time of election. Each elected Consilium de Civitates member has a term of three months starting from their date of election. When their term expires, new elections will be held for membership to the Consilium de Civitates.
If a member of the Consilium de Civitates resigns during their term, or if during elections less than twelve eligible Patricians apply in the candidates thread, the vacant positions may be filled by a volunteering Staff Officer with at least Citizens rank until appropriate Patricians can be found to stand for election.
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Removal from Office
A Consilium de Civitates member may resign from office, or can be removed from office by a majority vote of the elected councillors, such a vote being triggered by any of the following:
- A successful vote of no confidence by the Curia
- Incurring a warning level of one
- Incurring 2 cautions in the space of 3 months
- Being subject to proceedings laid out in Section 4 Article 1
- Prolonged inactivity, as decided by a simple majority vote in the Consilium de Civitates
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