The Constitution of the Republic of the Free Peoples of Ravenwood
Composed by;
St. Edlrin the Black
Bard of Arun-dar
1. Citizenship in the Republic
There are four types of people who reside in the Republic; Guests, Active Members, Provincial Citizens, and Full citizens.
Guest
To be a guest all one must do is show up to a Ravenwood sponsored event or practice.
Active Membership
To be an active member an individual must
►Be in attendance of Realm gatherings* on the average of 1 time per month (This is also known as minimum active attendance) for 3 months
►Have a vocation or one legal Dagorhir Weapon
►Have minimum garb for Dagorhir
If an individual completes and maintains these criteria that individual will then be an Active Member. Active members have no legislative or judicial rights. However, an Active Member may swear in (With the Province Governor only) at any time to become a Provincial Citizen.
Provincial Citizenship
Provincial Citizens have full Judicial rights and limited legislative rights. Legislative rights are restricted to;
►Right to Vote on any general populace proposal at province or realm meetings
►Right to make proposals at province meetings only
►Right to run for the position of Thane only
►Right to start a unit
also;
►Provincial Citizens will receive or make a Ravenwood Belt flag.
►Provincial Citizens have a 6-month grace period for in which their attendance shall not be considered. If a provincial citizen has an average lower than one practice/meeting a month, after up to a 6-month absence(or a 6-month period with attendance below a once a month average), the Provincial Citizen is returned to the status of guest.
Provincial Citizens must have an average attendance of 1 time a month or greater for 6 months to renew their grace period.
Exceptions; 1. The province Governor may suspend this in the case of extraordinary events (i.e. illness, school, work, conflicting schedules or other real life factors.) To properly exercise exception 1, speak, call or e-mail your province governor prior to a LOA (leave of absence) 2. See Article ROR 11.
Full Citizenship
If a Provincial Citizen maintains minimum active attendance (average of 1 or more times a month) for 1 year, the Provincial citizen will then attain Full Citizenship. The Citizen will swear in again under the Realm Administrator (If the Realm Admin is not available, a provincial Governor may do the Honors.)
Full Citizens have full Judicial and Legislative rights.
►Right to Vote on any general populace proposal at province or realm meetings
►Right to make proposals at province or realm meetings
►Right to start a unit
►Right to run for any public office other than Provincial Governor
►Right to become a retainer for an elected official (Note: Succesful Retainership allows for appointment to Province Governor of a province of Fief size or greater.)
also;
►Full Citizens have a 1 year grace period for citizenship in which their attendance shall not be considered. If a Full Citizen has an average lower than one practice/meeting a month, after up to a 1 year absence(or a one year period with attendance below a once a month average), the Full Citizen is returned to the status of guest.
Citizens must have an average attendance of 1 time a month or greater for 6 months to renew their grace period.
Exceptions; 1. The province Governor may suspend this in the case of extraordinary events (i.e. illness, school, work, conflicting schedules or other real life factors. Apathy, however, is not an excuse.) To properly exercise exception 1, speak, call or e-mail your province governor prior to a LOA(leave of absence) 2. See Article ROR 11.
*This counts for any organized gathering made known to all citizens. Feasts, government meetings, and battles. Meetings for guild or unit business do not count. Attendance to a dagorhir event with the realm counts as attendance for the realm for the month the dagorhir event is in.
Why swear in?
It simple to explain why we would want people to “swear in”. We only want people to be a part of Ravenwood that want to be a part of Ravenwood. You come to us not the other way around. But “swearing in” doesn’t mean your obligated to work for the realm’s good. Though that is of course our wish (that everyone help each other) it is not intended to mean everyone has to labor for the realm to maintain citizenship. To maintain citizenship a person is only required to keep up with the requirements at the start of this section.
Citizen’s Swear in
"I, _____(Character name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the Republic of Ravenwood against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that my efforts will be for the good of the Republic and her citizens above all others.
**Any person who became a citizen before Jan, 2008 is considered a full Citizen
2. Vocations
Not everyone is a soldier or a warrior; often times the people off the battlefield are more important then the ones on it. The realm has many vocations which are beneficial to everyone and allow people who don’t fight to be just as involved and important in the realm as a fighter.
What is a vocation?
It is a job or responsibility that helps everyone in the realm (and is also a good means to make money at Renaissance fairs and/or Dagorhir events, Depending on the vocation). Depending on the skill level of the person doing the vocation there are 4 ranks involved with each vocation.
Apprentice- Usually learns a trade from an expert or master of the vocation but not always. Entry level rank for a trade.
Journeyman- Second level of skill for a trade. Still under supervision of an expert or master but can do more alone.
Expert- Third level of skill for a vocation. This rank implies complete freedom in completing tasks in their chosen vocation.
Master- Highest rank for a vocation. This rank implies outstanding accomplishment in this trade.
What are the vocations?
(1)Bard
1. Sings, tells stories or recites poetry for entertainment
or
2. Writes chronicles and stories about events and activities of the realm. (Must be approved by officials)
(2)Sheriff
1. Herald for battles and events.
or
2. Handles weapons check
(3)Field Marshall
1. Creates and organizes fun and interesting battles for events and general realm meets.
Seamster/Seamstress
1. Creates Garb, belt flags, banners and weapon covers.
Armorer
1. Repairs and creates armor.
Weaponsmith
1. Repairs and creates weapons. Helps to provide loaner weapons for the province.
(4)Scholar/Sage/Scribe
1. Keeps organized records of paperwork for the realm. Waivers, meeting minutes etc. etc.
2. Document things in the realm via, recording or writing in a factual manner. (Combat training videos, Weapons making videos
3. Runs province and realm meetings as impartial meeting head. This person will be in charge of bringing ballots (This job may only go to an expert or greater Scholar/Sage/Scribe)
(5)Priest/Priestess/Cleric*
1. Is First Aide/CPR certified and brings a first aide kit to battles, feasts and events.
Or,
2. Ensures hydration at event and battles
3. May start a church instead of a guild.
(6)Retainer
1. Works for an elected official as an assistant. (An individual must be a retainer for 4 months before running for elected office)
(7)Druid/Ranger
1. Helps ensure that camping at events is done properly. Firewood appropriation, camp cleanup, food for events with camping and organizing camp.
(8)Brewer (Must be 21)
1. Mixes and supplies appetizing drinks for events
2. Brews mead or beer
*Note-The realm does not approve of irresponsible or under-age drinking
(9)Artist
1.May ply there trade in any non-musical or poetic trade, such as
Painting
Sculpting
Jewelry
Etc., etc.
(10)Mentor
1. An expert in any 2 Vocations.
(11) Other vocations may be subject to approval by you local representative.
3. Counsel and Tribunate
The counsel presides over all realm business. Aside from central government elected officials any recognized, organized group within the realm may have 1 elected official per 10 members.
Ravenwood is a Republic so these officials represent the people. An elected official that is not Government or military has the title of Tribune. Tribunes don’t have all the same central powers of Government elected officials but do maintain the same decision making powers.
These are: (1) All collective Tribunes in a province(Entitled the “Tribunate”) have a collective vote equal to half the number of Central Government elected officials in that province. (2) A Tribune may vote in a veto motion. (3) A Tribune may make realm wide law proposals. (4) A Tribune has the same technical rank as their central Government counterpart. (5) A tribune is considered for all purposes a member of council. The Elected official chart shows the level of the groups representative.(Note that a tribune doesn’t have the same privileges due to the fact that they are elected by their group, not the entire realm or province.)
How are Tribunes Elected?
Publicly or privately by the group they represent. The realm as a whole has no say in who will represent a particular group.
Representatives for Groups in the realm
The Republic wishes to facilitate the will of her citizens but realizes that many voices become a muddle. Tribunes have more power over legislation changes than an ordinary citizen. These “Representatives” (Entitled Tribunes) are voted to represent their peers wishes and desires. They are voted in by their peers.
It is very important to understand that elected officials are no ones boss (like at your job) but merely enforce the policies and rules of the realm and Dagorhir. Any 2/3 vote from the governmental elected officials may impugn a representative if they step out of bounds and become oppressive. A second official impugnment will remove the tribune from any office for 6 months.
While impugnment is undesirable it is more undesirable for us (the writers of the constitution) than an elected official to become oppressive and hold their office(Which is given as a gift from our citizens, by the way) above anyone else’s head.* Our realm is one of equals, the Tribunes maintain the structure needed to carry out group needs.
*I will add that a unit may be run in whatever manner a unit leader desires. A unit leader may still be impugned if any abuse occurs or if the majority of a unit brings an injustice to a council meeting.
An elected official of any sort only has one vote at counsel no matter how many elected offices they hold. A person could be the tribune of a unit, guild and then be a government official; this person would still on have one vote at counsel, not one plus 2 tribunate votes.
Basic rules for Recognized, Organized Groups
Members of an organized group must be active citizens of the realm
A Tribune may be impugned for misrepresenting the number of members in their group to obtain more counsel members; thus more votes at counsel.
A unit or guild may have its own rules as long as it is not abusive or hurtful to its members.
Members/elected officials quick reference
4-10 /1
11-20/2
21-30/3
31-40/4
Impugnment:
Shall be fair and impartial
Shall include all elected officials possible for judgment
Shall be a last result after counseling and after attempting non-confrontational problem solving.
4. Elected officials, Positions, and Chain of Command
*A citizen must be 18 to run for office
*An elected officer that will sit on counsel must be sworn in by the highest elected official and/or the realm Administrator before they may do so.
Active members / Elected official title / # of elected officials / Province’s Rank
4-10 / Thane / 1 / Hold
11-20 / Steward / 2 / Fief
21-30 / Regent / 3 / State
31-40 / Lord Regent / 4 / Regency
41-50 / Baron / 5 / Barony
51-60 / Duke / 6 / Duchy
61-70 / Prince or Counsel / 7 / Principality
71-80 / Pro-Counsel / 8 / Precinct
81-90 / Lord / 9 / District
91-100 / High-Lord / 10 / Demesne
About the Chart
The chart is made so that the greater number of active members there are in the realm the more elected officials are there to run things. So, an example regency would have the following elected officials running the province they were a part of; Thane, Steward, Regent and a Lord Regent.
Oath of Elected Office
Oath for any elected official (Government, guild, or unit)
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of (Title) of The Republic of Ravenwood ,and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and people of the Republic; that I will cause Law and Justice, in Mercy, to be executed in all my judgments; that I will carry out the will of those I represent to the best of my ability; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.
The highest ranking elected official in the province shall be known as Provincial Governor.
Republic Positions
(In Order of Rights and Responsibilities)
Chancellor
(Realm Administrator)
(Elected)
-Makes decisions not outlined by the Constitution
-Is responsible for Administrative duties not outlined by the Constitution
-Communicates the republic’s wishes with other realms.
-One of the Ragnarok War council Representatives
-Organizes all provinces and Provincial Governors to work towards one goal
-Elected official voting rights
Vice-Chancellor
(Vice Administrator)
(Elected)
-Fills in for Chancellor when absent
- Duties not defined by the Constitution
-Elected official voting rights
-One of the Ragnarok War council Representatives
Provincial Governor
-Highest Elected official(On Section 4 Chart hierarchy) in a Province
-Makes Administrative Decisions on behalf of their province
-Channel through which the people of that province are heard by the Chancellor
-Responsible for accurate attendance records for their province
- Duties not defined by the Constitution
-Elected official voting rights
Magister(as needed)
(Realm Secretary)
(Appointed by Chancellor)
-Must be an Expert Sage
-Responsible for(having on file) realm wide records on attendance, awards, officials, and any other factual records not dealing with money
-Runs business at realm business meetings in similar fashion to Roberts rules of order
-Print any fliers, letters, or other news of the Republic or Chancellor
-Keep the minutes of all meetings
Censor(as needed)
(Secretarial assistant)
(Appointed by Chancellor or, with permission, the Magister)
-Assistant to the Magister
-With permission from the Magister, has all rights of the Magister position
-Keeps Duplicates of all Magister related Documents
Quaestor(as needed)
(Treasurer)
(Appointed by Chancellor)
-Keeps accurate financial records
-Only access to realm monetary accounts
-With Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor, decides monetary disbursement for realm activities
Praetor (as needed)
(Master of Arms)
(Appointed by Chancellor)
-Manages, Schedules, and Organizes monthly realm battles
-Responsible for Weapons check at Ravenwood hosted events
-Responsible for heralds(if needed)
Praefector (as needed)
(Master of Services)
(Appointed by Chancellor)
-Manages, schedules, and Organizes non-combat portions of realm battles and meetings(Such as feasts, business meetings, etc.)
Provincial Officials
(Officials under Provincial Governor)
(Elected)
-Assistants to Provincial Governors
Such as, Provincial level; Quaestor, Magister, Censor, Praetor, Praefector, etc.
-Elected official Voting rights
Tribune
(Officials representing guilds or units)
(Appointed by the group they are part of)
-Represent groups within the realm(Guilds and Units)
-Partial Voting rights(1/2 x # of elected official in a province / by number of tribunes in a province)
Ambassador
(Any Citizen or trusted ally)
(Appointed by Provincial Governor or Greater)
-Represents republic to other realms
-Gains “honorary Citizenship” if not a part of the realm
Realm Champion
(Master of Orientation)
(Decided by qualifications and Melee tournament)
-The Champion is the individual who placed first in the Champion tourney.
-Organizes and educates provincial Champions
-Encourages new members to learn and understand about weapons, Republic politics, characterization, and any other aspects of Dagohir.
-Elected Official Voting rights
-Mentor to new members
-May receive the title of Knight(Sir/Dame) after term
-Shall maintain a lost and found for the organization
-Shall be the defender of the Chancellor
Captain of the Guard
(Assistant to the Champion)
-Champion on a Provincial scale
-Share duties with Realm Champion at the realm champions discretion
-May receive the title of Esquire after term
(All appointed positions can be vetoed by a 75% vote of elected officials or a 75% vote of the general populace)
Elected official will make decisions necessary to the republic in the absence of higher ranking officials and between realm meetings. It is unlikely that anything would get done if a vote were to be taken for every action the republic wanted to take. Though the actions of the elected officials should be following the wants of the people, they are not beholden to them unless otherwise stated in the constitution. Anyone may become a tyrant, but in Ravenwood for only a short time. A tyrant is unlikely to stay in office.
Command Chain
The Chancellor will delegate duties to Provincial Governors as he/she sees fit
The Provincial Governor will delegate duties to lesser elected officials and Tribunes as he/she sees fit.
High Tribunes (i.e. highest-ranking tribune in a guild/unit) will delegate responsibilities within their respective units/guilds to other Tribunes or members.
Outside of elected officials and Chartered Groups, responsibilities may only be delegated to citizens on a voluntary basis. No one may be “forced” to do any job.
If a person cannot carry out a responsibility delegated to them due to financial, time, or other constraints, it is that person's responsibility to tell the person giving them the responsibility as soon as possible when the issue comes up.
5. New Provinces
A new province shall be called a protectorate for 6 months and not be an official province during that time. At the end of that time if the protectorate has 4 or more active members it shall be made into a province of the realm and gain its rank according to the number of active members.
If a new province does not have 4 or more members after six months then it shall remain a protectorate for another 6 months. After this time it may again petition for full provincial grant and gain an elected official with counsel voting rights.
It is also important to remember that a protectorate of less then 4 may not have voting right on counsel, but its citizens do retain citizen proposal and voting rights.
6. Parliamentary procedure for the Republic (General)
► All yea or nay proposals shall require a 2/3 majority vote in order to become law
►All election based votes shall require majority vote (51%)
►All proposals with greater then 2 proposals shall require majority vote
►All votes shall be ballot votes (Written not spoken or by show of hands)
►All votes shall be anonymous
Proposals
► In order for a proposal to be considered valid it must be proposed in clear wording and neatly written or printed (Unless overruled by highest ranking elected official.)
►A proposal must be seconded in order to be brought up for a vote.
►A proposal that has been voted into law may be vetoed at that meeting by a 2/3’s vote from all elected officials.
Greater Detail and Examples for Council Procedure
Proposals shall fall into 2 general categories;
-Proposals that effect the Republic as a whole-(Realm)
or;
-Proposals that effect merely a single province-(Province)
Proposals may be anything of relevance
Examples
-Any change to the Constitution itself. (Realm)
-Change of Battle/feast time and place. (Province)
-Fundraising proposal. (Province or realm)
-Appropriation of Republic or province funds. (Province or Realm)
7. Axis of Power and Republic of Ravenwood General Council Articles
“The Axis of power in the realm shall be fairly and justly spread where it rightly should be. The power shall not go to the few but the many; this is the majority way.”
There shall be 3 groups within the realm with counsel rights. These groups are as follows; Government, Units, and Guilds. The Government counsel takes precedence over the other groups’ elected officials.
The Government officials are responsible for the province and realm and, thus, more important individually than elected officials of groups of the realm.
Article ROR-1- Vying for provincial power shall be judged by Government officials by proposal. This proposal shall strip a province of any counsel votes that are judged inappropriate or excessive.
Example- A new province of the realm has four members (1 official for counsel) and wishes to have more counsel votes than one. This province starts a Unit with all its members (all four to be recognized as an organized group in the realm) and names a different person then their elected official as tribune. This province then starts a guild (assuming all 4 members are experts in one specific trade) and names a third party as Tribune. By this tactic a 4 person group gained 3 counsel votes. This is improper.
The judgment for the precluding situation would thus be.
The elected official of said province was voted in by at least 3 of the 4 (For a 51% vote) members and thus they view that official as their leader in majority. This official is then the official for all three recognized, organized groups in that province. Thus the counsel votes of the tribunes are stripped at this counsel.
This would be a right and proper judgment. All similar matters would need to be fairly judged by legitimate council members.
Article ROR 2-Prohibition on Political Campaign-Campaigning for political office shall be looked down upon. This rule shall be fairly loose but any overt campaigning shall be prohibited.
Article ROR 3-Adminastrative rights clarification-Elected Central Government officials (As well in a minor way the Tribunate) are elected in trust to run the realm. They are the people who run the province and the realm. They are the people who make decisions without slowing down the process by calling a vote every time they do. The officials should ask the citizens of their province their opinions but are not bound by them. The Chancellor shall guide the elected officials, but will not be a King in essence.
Article ROR 4-No meeting head-If there is no appointed expert sage to head up a meeting of a province or the realm than the republic Administrator, Vice-Administrator or the highest ranking official present shall head up the meeting in a neutral manner and thus have no vote(s) or motion capabilities.
Article ROR 5-Elections-Elections may only be approved of once every six months. Once a year at Shieldmeet one of these elections shall take place. The provinces may then conduct their own election no sooner than 4 months after and no later than 8 months. After 8 months has passed the province must then wait until Shieldmeet to hold an election.
Provision ROR 5-A-Emergency Provision for Article ROR 483-For the following reason a province may call an emergency election at anytime. (With Realm Administrator approval.)
-Population growth of 100% or more (Active Citizens count for this growth only)
-Elected official leaving office voluntarily
-Elected official impugned a second time and removed from office involuntarily
Stipulations of Provision ROR 5-A
1. Emergency election must have a minimum of 2 weeksnotice in that province so as many Citizens as possible may attend.
2. Election must have all current elected officials present (Including the resigning or impungned official if possible.)
Article ROR 6-Emergency realm meetings-Emergency realm meetings must follow the following criteria to be considered a valid meeting. Any decisions made at a non-valid meeting shall have no bearing whatsoever.
-All elected officials of the Republic present
-75% of all Republic citizens present
-1 month prior notice to all province elected officials.
The reason for an emergency meeting should be drastic and not called lightly. The undertaking of this would be difficult on all officials of the Republic. Extreme abuses of elected official powers or votes of no confidence (removal from office) for an Central Government official must be at a Realm wide meeting (Either Shieldmeet or an emergency meeting)
Article ROR 7- Chapter Administrator- All meeting minutes, election results and any other information involving the realm in any way shall be made known to the Administrator of the Chapter via e-mail, postal service or another acceptable written form. This info need not be detailed but only as informative as it needs to be to convey the information contained therein accurately. Any serious decision not made known to the Chapter Administrator may be called into question and stricken from use.
Article ROR 8-Voluntary status-All elected positions within the realm are purely voluntary. All assigned tasks to citizens of the realm are voluntary. A person in the Republic may not be “forced” into doing any task, labor or action they do not wish to.
Article ROR 9-Trial by Triumvirate- The Realm Administrator shall act as head and Justicar in all trials of the realm. Then the highest or second highest elected official of the realm shall act as Judicator Minoris. The accused shall then have the right to choose any elected official in the realm as the 2nd Judicator Minoris. The Justicar shall lead the trial and at the end the Triumvirate shall decide the ruling.
Trials may be called for
-Impugnment
-Expulsion from realm practice
-Appeal on expulsion from realm practice
-Personal disagreements between citizens or officials that are causing disruption to the realm or a province.
-as needed
Article ROR 10-Charters of the Republic- Throughout the document the term, “recognized, organized group”, and this is actually a Charter. A Charter is when a group within the realm wants to be represented at council within the number of Tribunes they are allowed to have. Also, a Charter makes any group within the Republic official. Charters must be requested from a Provincial Council or at a Realm council. The highest ranking official in a province may give a temporary Charter to a group. A temporary charter is one where the group given the chart is an official group of the Realm until the next council meeting of any sort. Then the temporary charter should be brought up to a vote of the council. The Charter may either be waived or made into a permanent Charter.
If a Chartered group drops below 4 active citizens for a 6 month period the Charter is put on hold at the council meeting immediately following the 6 month period of absence or low census.
All members in a Chartered group must be citizens. Non-citizens are not allowed into any chartered group. Non-citizens do not count for the census of a group. (Officially only)
The two types of Chartered groups that are allowed to have Tribunes for council are;
1. Guilds- In order for a guild to be started four experts of the same vocation must begin the guild. A guild must have one chosen representative and a standard (emblem).
2. Unit- In order for a unit to be started in the republic four citizens must begin the unit. A Unit must have an emblem and at least one representative.
Article ROR 11- Maintaining Citizen status waiver-If an individual lives more than 40 miles from an active province of Ravenwood then there attendance requirement to maintain citizenship is waived.
8. Facilitation of Shieldmeet
The realm as a whole shall decide at the business meeting of Shieldmeet when and where the next Shieldmeet shall be held. It must be a minimum of 8 months after that Shieldmeet and no later than 13 months after. If certain matters require it to be sooner or later it may be taken into consideration, but this is not preferred.
What is Shieldmeet?
Shieldmeet is a Time of battles and the generally merrymaking of the realm. It is a celebration of the founding of the Republic. All other realms friendly to the Republic should be encouraged to come and share our mirth.
Shieldmeet is also the time of counsels and decisions. Most if not all of the major decisions shall be made at the annual Republic Governmental Synod. Any other realm wide decision can only be made through an emergency meeting of the realm(Which is discouraged unless an extreme emergency)
