The Guide to Competitions and Medals of the Dark Brotherhood

1. Welcome

The purpose of this guide is to provide general guidelines when considering bestowing awards upon members of the Brotherhood. The information presented herein is essential for anyone who desires to be in a command position (Battle Team Leader and above).

Prior to this, there were no specific guidelines to the why and how of awarding medals; it was assumed that people knew from the verbose, unclear descriptions provided by the Dark Side Compendium. However, with recent developments within the Brotherhood itself, and the current misunderstanding of the medal system, it has become necessary to author this guide.

When one has finished reading (carefully) this guide, one should come away with a far greater understanding of the medal system, the types of competitions, and how they should award medals.

2. Introduction to Medals

There are several medals of the Dark Brotherhood. While the majority of them are for merit purposes, others are strictly for competitions, and others are awarded for special circumstances. A list of all medals of the Brotherhood may be found in the Dark Side Compendium. However, here are the definitions of the types of awards:

Merit: Awards that are given based on the actions and deeds of someone.

Competition: Awards that are given solely for participation in a type of competition. The competition may be on the Battle Team, House, Clan, Order, or Brotherhood level.

Special: There are not many special awards, only two in fact: the Dark Side Scroll and Legion of the Scholar. The circumstances for their awarding are listed in their respective descriptions.

It is important to understand and learn the definitions of each type of award so that you do not award the wrong award for the wrong circumstance. Also important is the understanding of the “Awarded for” section of each award. Many are self-explanatory, but it is sometimes difficult to decide how and when a particular award should be given. This is described more in depth in Section IV.

3. Competitions

There are different kinds of competitions that may be run in the Dark Brotherhood. Three kinds are run on the Brotherhood level, which are called Vendettas:

Great Jedi Wars: Clans fight for posessions awarded by the Dark Council.

Clan Feuds: Two or more Clans challenge each other for posessions.

Rites of Supremacy: Clans battle for the title of First Clan, Second Clan, and Third Clan.

Order-wide Rites of Supremacy and Clan Feuds are awarded with Crescents, not Novas, due to the fact they do not involve the entire Brotherhood. There is also a fourth kind of competition: Sanctioned Competition. This type of competition embodies every activity one could think of: run-on, high score mission, etc. These competitions, approved by the Deputy Grand Master, are also normally rewarded with Crescents. In order to avoid confusion in regards to how competitions are defined, the following definitions and regulations are offered:

• The term competition encompasses ALL Vendettas (Rites of Supremacy, Great Jedi War, Clan Feud) and any other activity that requires the creativity, participation and submission of materials by the membership.
• A Brotherhood-wide competition is one in which all Orders are participating in a single competition directed by the Main Body of the Dark Council.
• An Order-wide competition is one in which all Houses of their respective Order are engaged in a single competition directed by their Order Leader.
• A Clan-wide event is one in which all Houses of their respective Clan are engaged in a single competition as directed by their Clan Summit.
• A House-wide event is one in which all Phyles/Brigades/Squadrons of a House are engaged in a single competition directed by their House Summit.
• A Battle Team-wide event is one in which all Battle Team members are engaged in a single competition as directed by their Battle Team Leader.
• The conferment of Novas as an award for winning a competition may only be given during a Brotherhood-wide competition.
• All competitions must be approved by the Office of the Deputy Grand Master. Otherwise, the competition will not be considered approved and awards may not be given for participation.

For a full description of these competitions, as well as rules and regulations, see the Dark Side Compendium.

4. Awarding Members

When running a competition, determining the ultimate award is easy; it’s either a Crescent, a Nova or a Cluster of Fire. However, when it comes time to award a member for his or her own personal contributions or outstanding service, what is the proper award? The short answer is that there is no definite answer. There are guidelines, though, to help determine what criteria is necessary for the awards.

• When giving medals for a competition, the reason for recommending the award must include either a valid competition URL or details about the competition. Valid URLs include ones from the Deputy Grand Master, Clan, House and Battle Team websites, or the Combat Calendar.
• For all medals above and including the Steel Cross, the recommendation must consist of more than one sentence that gives the reason for the award. Background information on the awardee, as well as a list of more than one accomplishment, aids in making the recommendation more viable.
• For the Steel Cross and the Grand Cross of the Dark Side, at least one (1) specific example citing the person’s abilities or contributions. This may be either on the House level or Clan level, although a combination of both is preferred.
• For the Sapphire Blade and the Ruby Scepter, at least two (2) specific examples citing the person’s abilities or contributions. These examples may be either on the Clan or Order level, though a combination of all levels is preferred.
• For the Emerald Dagger and Diamond Sword, at least three (3) specific examples citing the person’s abilities or contributions are required. These examples may either be on the Order or Brotherhood-wide level, although a combination of all levels is preferred.
• In the event that a medal is rejected due to violating these guidelines, it is the responsibility of the RECOMMENDER to re-recommend the award with the requested information.

Even with these guidelines, it is still difficult to determine what activities warrant what awards. After all, three months as an active Battle Team Leader certainly carries more weight than a Novice who recommends a competition idea. Therefore, here are a few more ideas on how to reward members.

• If the member is new to the House, start by awarding their efforts with small medals, Dark Crosses and Stars of Eos.
• Do not over reward, meaning do not reward everything a member does with a medal. This will cheapen the medal itself, as well as make the member feel that anything he or she does warrants a reward — and not every leader in the Brotherhood thinks that way.
• In the same vein, do not under award, meaning do not be stingy with awards. If a member has done something, or some things that warrant recognition, let the member know you appreciate their efforts by giving them something tangible.
• Members who have provided consistent activity for several months often deserve something higher, perhaps a Steel Cross, especially if the member has run competition(s) or is part of the House or Clan leadership.
• Awards above and including the Grand Cross of the Dark Side are awarded for long, dedicated to service and thus are not rewarded often and should not be.

While members are easy to reward, leaders are often the subject of neglected recognition. Without leaders, the Brotherhood would be disorganized and chaotic, so one would think that leaders would reap the most rewards. This is not true. From Battle Team Leader to Dark Council member, every leader plays an important part in the management of our organization. Thus, the following recommendations are presented when considering appropriate awards for leaders.

• Battle Team Leaders are the responsibility of their individual House Summits. Quaestors and Aediles should take note on the activities of their Leaders and, at the end of the month, evaluate them on their job and award them appropriately. Battle Team members can also be a part of this process, giving their Quaestor and Aedile a personal evaluation of how their Leader is performing.
• The House Summits are the responsibility of the Clan Summits, as well as the members of the House. One of the tasks of the Consul and Proconsul should be to note the activity of their Quaestors and Aediles and evaluate and award them appropriately. Alternatively, the House members should be able to accurate gauge the activity and prescence of their leaders; if they feel their leaders are not getting adequate compensation, members are free to e-mail their Clan Summits or the Chancellor to request an award. Monthly awards are not recommended, but may be done at the Consul’s discretion.
• The Clan Summits, as well as the Dark Council, are the responsibility of the Deputy Grand Master and Grand Master. The Grand Master and his Deputy should be able to accurately gauge the activity and dedication of the Consuls, Proconsuls and Dark Council members and accomodate them appropriately after a certain length of time, perhaps two months or more. Since members are often a reflection of their leaders, the more active the members, then the more active the Consuls. If a Clan feels that his leaders are not being rewarded appropriately, they may e-mail the Chancellor, Grand Master and Deputy Grand Master with a request.

An important reminder is that though every medal has an “Awarded for” section in the Dark Side Compendium, there are times when a medal may be rewarded outside of that description. For example, though a Grand Cross of the Dark Side is normally awarded for “service to one’s Clan in areas meant to encourage competition and interaction between members,” the award itself is sometimes given to members who have aided a Dark Council member in an important way or have done something beyond their normal duties. Another important point is that medals are not given for just doing one’s job. Medals are given, in conjunction with one’s normal duties, for going beyond those duties, showing a desire to work and improve the Brotherhood, Clan, House or even Battle Team by doing things not normally required of the position.

5. Examples

Below are some good examples of medal recommendations. These are real recommendations written by members of the Dark Brotherhood. Names and the like have been removed in some cases.

Cluster of Fire (all competition medals should have a format similar to this)

Win at Obelisk Tourney - 7/6/02 -

Star of Eos

For his avid Jedi Outcast multiplayer action, activity-boosting emails, and almost-daily IRC presence (during which he was helpful and friendly to many), I believe deserves some form of recognition.

Grand Cross of the Dark Side

1) has forefronted the upcoming clan feud for Clan . He has taken initiative in contacting the other clan summits and communicating with them. He has also been instrumental in setting up the specific details of the feud.
2) Over the past 6 months, has made it his personal charge to improve Clan . He has performed his job well, serving as both the level-headed and rational element of the Clan Summit. has talked sense into me on more than one occasion. It as been a pleasureworking with him, and I feel he is more-than-deserving of this award.

Emerald Dagger

has been a great help to all clan members when ever they had things they wanted to know, he would spend the time seeing to their questions. If problems are raised he always does his best to get them solved quickly and fairly, thus preserving a feeling of unity in the houses and never letting conflicts get out of hand. During his time as CON the clan has risen to become second clan of the DB. His good choice of House Summits has worked its magic more than once! for example was a half dead house, but due to his wise choice and support, not only did well in The Rite of Supremacy, but also got second in the recent Great War. has seen a sharp rise in both numbers and activity! It seems as if it was long ago that our Obelisk House had something like 6-8 members, with low activity. Now it’s triple that count with a very high activity.
A year’s service in maintaining and expanding the Clan, as well as contributions to the AoC, JK training help in February for 100% clan report record (90% written by him, the others by Proconsuls), shouldn’t be mentioned because they are part of the job of a good Consul, and he IS a good Consul.
For over a year now he has been a great asset for the Clan. His work and dedication make him deserve this recognition!

6. Conclusion

Medals are an integral part of the Dark Brotherhood’s reward system. It is important to learn the system so one does not abuse it. I leave you with this bit of advice: In the event that you really don’t know what to award for something, e-mail the Chancellor to ask his or her opinion!

The Guide to Competitions and Medals of the Dark Brotherhood