Tradition Charter

Dedication

This is the Charter for the new Covenant of the Nine Traditions in the city of Houston, Texas, United States of America; The year 2010. Here upon, we the undersigned do commit our labors and our efforts for the betterment of the sleeper and awakened communities; to foster a spirit of cooperation and growth for all of good conscience; and to be a bastion for the causes of the Alliance of Nine Mystical Traditions.

Terms

  • Covenant Council - The Elected Covenant Leadership that handles executive administration and day-to-day affairs of the Covenant.
  • Members Assembly - The entire number of Fellows of the Covenant, excluding specifically Deacons and Affiliates; the body which elects the Covenant Council and votes in changes to the Covenant Charter, addition of new Fellows, and when required support or withdrawal of Covenant Council policies.

Membership

At this time, The Council of Nine encourages, but does not require, all will workers of good conscience operating within the City of Houston to be affiliated with a Chantry within the city, be it Bleak Island Chantry (Established at the time of this writing.) or another.
If one's business is short term, one should report to the Covenant Council to clarify your purpose locally, and again upon completion and then leave. If one intends to dwell within the city or operate within for a period longer than one lunar month, then one is requested to become either an Affiliate/Fellow of the Covenant or a Member of a recognized Chantry. Failure to honor this request will open one up for pursuit by the Covenant of the Fallen Oaks for the purpose of enforcing the claim of environ and the will of the resident community.

Affiliates/Fellows: Any magus and their custos, in good standing with the Traditions of the Council of Nine, including those of Crafts, Solitaries or Orphans, may enjoy the status of an affiliate upon swearing an oath satisfactory to the Covenant Council establishing a basis for trust and cooperation. This oath may take varied forms but should include:
1) An assurance under Entropic confirmation that the oath taker is in fact in good standing with his or her Tradition or the Alliance in general if not from one of the Nine Traditions, and likewise so are any Custos aligned with the oath taker.
2) An assurance under Entropic confirmation that the oath taker will comply with the Protocols of the Alliance of Nine Mystical Traditions while an affiliate, and that the oath taker will abide by the decisions of the Members Assembly of the Covenant of Houston and it's Council.

Having made such an oath, the Affiliate may then enjoy the succor of the Covenant and its resources as determined just and fair by the membership at the time. As circumstances will dictate various degrees of support and aide, no specifics will be presented here to allow policy of the day to determine such rather than a policy built on an unknown future.

Offices

The Covenant will elect an Executive Council that will consist of three Awakened Fellows of the Covenant. All qualifying Fellows may elect to take such an office. At the time of an election each Fellow will vote for three persons from the available list, comprised of any recognized Affiliates of the Covenant. The three qualified members with the most individual votes will comprise the Council. If three members from the same Tradition are elected, the one with the least individual votes will defer to the qualified candidate of another Tradition who received the next most individual votes. Council seats will be held for a one year period. A councilor will appoint a qualified second to cover their seat in case of injury or death on the part of the councilor. This second, if ascendant, will hold this seat for the remainder of the term until the next election is held. A councilor may also step down voluntarily or be removed by judicial process or a vote of No Confidence by the Members Assembly, in such a case the second moves up to the seat as above.

Other offices:

Committees: Committees can be formed by the Covenant Council, dissolved and created at their discretion. All powers and responsibilities of any Covenant Committee draws its power from the Covenant Council and so may be over-ruled by the Members Assembly like any other executive ruling by the Council as described above.
Cabals: Cabals are independent voluntary associations formed by the Affiliates and Fellows of the Covenant and therefore do not fall under the authority of the Covenant Council internally. This means that while the Council's policies and powers apply to each member of the Cabal, the Cabal's internal policies are the concerns of the Cabal and the Cabal only unless they violate the policies of the Covenant. Cabal's pick their own agendas from those allowed by the will of the Covenant, their own structure and their own internal policies.

For clarity, Committees are official bodies of the Covenant governance and answer to the Council; Cabals are independent of the Covenant Council and only answer to the Council in the form of each individual member. The Council may not dictate internal cabal policy, membership, or tasks. Cabals have the option to make their talents as a group available to the Council at their discretion.

Chantry Offices:

Each established Chantry will be governed by a Chantry Head, elected or appointed as appropriate to the individual Chantry's needs. Chantry Heads cannot serve as an elected member of the Covenant Council but will be given advisory and voting rights, representative of their membership, amongst the voting Council.

Rights and Responsibilities

  • The Covenant Council may appoint tasks or a task to an individual or group of affiliates or Fellows, as long as it is clearly established this task is for the good of the Covenant or the Sleeper Community. This said, the Council cannot insist tasks be taken on by the unqualified as determined by a reasonable standard, or require tasks be conducted that violate established Covenant policy, Alliance Law, the legal or philosophical obligations of the assignee's tradition, or the personal ethics of the individual.
  • The Council may call an Affiliate refusing a task before the Members Assembly for review; likewise, the member may bring a complaint about an assigned task to the Council and is relieved of said task while such an appeal is pending.
  • The members of any established Chantry are required to honor requests and directives from the Alliance of Nine Mystic Traditions.
  • The members of any established Chantry are required to honor the persons and property of all Fellows and their associated Custos.
  • The members of any established Chantry are obligated to honor and facilitate the philosophy espoused by the Dedication to this Charter.
  • Disputes between individual Fellows must be settled through Certmen or Mediation.
  • All Affiliates and their associated custos are entitled to all rights and privileges afforded them by the Law of the Alliance, their individual Traditions of Affiliation so long as said Tradition is a member of the Alliance. Rights and protections afforded by Sleeper Society are also to be respected when reasonable and not presenting a risk to the Covenant.
  • At any time, any Affiliate or Fellow may suggest a policy or policy change by simply taking a poll of the members on that topic. If the poll indicates a simple majority of support among the residents, the matter can be sent to the Council for consideration and implementation. If the Council declines to implement, the matter may be taken to the Membership to call for a Members Assembly vote, in which case only Fellows may vote to make same a policy or not.
  • Custos of the Covenant, if terminated from service to a Tradition for any reason, may appeal to become Custos of the Covenant itself. If granted, and it requires a three-quarters vote by the Members Assembly, the Custos then answers to the Council of the Covenant for day-to-day tasks, and the Council is responsible for the actions of the Custos.

To this, we the undersigned swear to uphold as the Charter of the Covenant of the Nine Traditions of Houston on this day, (date).

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