Punishments for Learning Ranks

In the world of the Wheel of Time, actions have consequences. Within the White and Black Towers in particular, discipline is vital amongst those who channel the One Power. At the Grey Tower, we have to strike a balance. On the one hand, we want to make sure RP is realistic: if characters in the learning ranks misbehave, they will be punished, and realistically, they would be very wary of the rules. On the other hand, players want to have fun with their characters: pranks are far from rare in the White Tower; some characters simply have problems with authority, and some situations leave characters with no choice but to break a rule of the Tower.

In order to represent both sides of this situation, the Hall of Sitters of the Grey Tower has created this page, to explain the process of punishment for characters in the learning ranks. It must be emphasized that the idea of "punishment" on this page is In Character only. Nowhere on this page is a player being punished. This page only outlines the IC consequences for characters at the Grey Tower whose players roleplay breaking the rules. Overall, this aids realistic roleplay, keeping players reluctant to make their characters unrealistically disobedient, while allowing more interesting roleplays.

Who sets Punishments?

Any Aes Sedai or Asha'man or Gaidin may issue a punishment to a character of lower rank, for any incident occurring in roleplay. They should use the rules for Novices and Soldiers, their knowledge of respect and discipline in the world of WoT, and their character's personal traits, as a guide for when to do this. Henceforth, this page will only refer to "Aes Sedai", but is equally applicable to Asha'man and Gaidin.

What is a Punishment?

A punishment can be anything the Aes Sedai wishes. A list of ideas for punishments is given here, with a suggestion of what sort of disobedience warrants each level of punishment. However, these are only a few suggestions- the form of the punishment is up to the Aes Sedai's imagination.

Misbehaviour	Suggestion for Punishment
Failing to return a library book on time	Help out in the library for an afternoon
Keeping an untidy room	Clean all the rooms on your floor
Arriving late for classes or training	Run laps of the Warder Yard, stand on one leg
Being discovered out of bed after the curfew	Confined to room after Low for a week
Wearing incorrect or scruffy uniform	Sweep the Gardens
Found in a forbidden area	Confined to room during any free time, polishing silverware or mending clothes
Channeling without supervision	Scrub pots in the kitchen
Disrespectful to an Aes Sedai, Asha'man, Gaidin	Muck out the stables for a week
Being involved in an improper relationship	Banned from seeing each other, sent to the Farms for two days
Serious misconduct, bringing the Tower into disrepute	Months of chores, character sent to Farms.
Being involved in a bonding before full Raising	Bond passed to another, banned from further contact, characters sent to Farms for a month
Anything worse, repeated bad offences	Character referred to official authorities for trial, or put out of the Tower for a period of at least 3 months. As a footnote, IC exile is different from OOC exile. IC exile only means that the character is put out of the Tower in the same way as if (s)he had failed the Arches, or refused to go in three times. You can bring the character back after 3 months, and you can start playing with a new character immediately. OOC exile, along with demotion, etc, is for bad behaviour OOC, threatening other members, abusing the boards and so on. Not only will your character be removed, but you will be banned from the GT until the Amyrlin and M'Hael let you back. That's nothing to do with the IC punishment system: it's an OOC issue.

There are two forms of punishment: informal, and formal, and the Aes Sedai decides which to give.

Informal Punishments

An informal punishment is dictated then and there in RP, usually a minor punishment for minor things. The punished character would be ICly expected to complete this punishment, but there is no OOC obligation, and the punishment does not *have* to be specifically roleplayed; it can just be referred to. In many cases, these are just quick roleplay references, not requiring any further action.

eg:

Aes Sedai: "Novice, this library book is late. You will stack all those books over there in alphabetical order to remind you of the important job the librarians must do."

Novice: "Fmerana sighed. She hadn't meant for the book to be late. She resigned herself to an afternoon of book stacking."

--Thread Ends: punishment complete. Novice may choose to actually RP the stacking or not--

Informal punishments are effectively those which do not involve any of the procedures lower down this page. They are for when the Aes Sedai cannot be bothered to go through the full punishment procedure, or the disobedience is small, or if there is some other reason why a formal punishment is not required.

Formal Punishments

• A formal punishment consists of a mail from the Aes Sedai, sent to the Mistress of Novices, Master of Soldiers or Master of Training, detailing the reason for the punishment, and also specifying what the suggested punishment will be, or leaving that blank for the officer to devise.
• The MoS/N/T considers the email from the Aes Sedai, and whether the punishment they suggest is justified. If they believe it is, they email the offender (IC) and inform them of their sentence. They may worsen or decrease the Aes Sedai's punishment recommendation, but only rarely.
• The punished player MUST RP any formal punishments before he/she can be Raised to the next rank. The RP can take place anywhere appropriate to the details of the sentence, but the most suitable board would be the Chores board, which encompasses such places as the Farms and the Kitchens. Other possible boards are the MoS/N/T's offices, and the Gardens
• Alternatively, if appropriate, the player may write a short (500 words +) fanfic describing the character completing the punishment. This might not be possible if the punishment was something like standing on one leg for an hour, but it will be if, for instance, the character had to spend a few days on the Farm. Questions about whether a fanfic is acceptable should be directed to the MoN/S/T.
• The MoS/N/T keeps a record of formal punishments dealt out. When Raising time comes, the applicant must, in addition to his/her usual RRs, also provide evidence that any outstanding formal punishments have been completed. In effect, formal punishments are extra Raising Requirements.

Minor Points of IC Protocol

• These are IC details to make the whole system more intruiguing to roleplay.
• Only the relevant official can officialise a formal punishment to the relevant learning rank: the MoT cannot punish a Novice, but must ask the MoN to do so. If for any reason the relevant officer is not available, the M'Hael, Amyrlin or Master of Arms will deal with the punishment.
• If a severe punishment is considered unjust, the victim may appeal to the M'Hael or Amyrlin or Master of Arms, all IC. In most cases, they will uphold the decision of the MoS/N/T, but in rare cases, they may reduce the sentence.
• The MoS/T/N may also quash any punishments as they see fit, on compassionate grounds (IC). This will be rare, and there must be a good and necessary IC reason. i.e.: you cannot just suddenly RP the death of a close family member in order to escape a punishment and complete your Raising.
• An Accepted/Dedicated/Ji wishing to punish another member of the learning ranks can do so only by contacting an Aes Sedai or Asha'man, and dealing out the punishment through them. In this way, they may even have another A/D/J punished, if they have a strong enough influence over an Aes Sedai/Asha'man. The victim may of course then use his/her own connections above to have to squealer punished in return, and so we go on ;)

• One Novices/Soldier/Drin is highly unlikely ever to be able to influence an Aes Sedai or Asha'man to give out a punishment to another N/S/D. Any Brother or Sister who did allow himself/herself to be influenced in this way would be seen amongst his/her peers as a weakling overinterested in the affairs of small children in the playground, and a supporter of tattling younglings. It is more likely that, if a N/S/D approached a Brother/Sister/Gaidin, that they would themselves be punished for wasting time.

an example of a formal punishment:

Aes Sedai: " IC: 'Novice, I have discovered your bond with that stableboy. You are in serious trouble. I shall be contacting the Mistress of Novices to deal with you. He will, of course, be passed to an experienced Sister to toughen up, and I imagine you will be sent packing to the Farms for a good long time.' OOC: Sorry, dear: my character is going to have to give you a formal punishment for something like this. Enjoy the Farms! ;) "

Novice: "IC: 'Yes, Aes Sedai.' OOC: No problem; I guess my Novice is going to have to get used to the Farms ;)"

--AS player emails MoN player, recommending the punishment. MoN approves this, and mails the Novice player IC, informing her of her sentence. Novice player must RP spending time on the Farms, and her emotions at losing her bondmate, as either board roleplays or a fanfic, before she can be Raised.

Above all, this is IC ONLY. Players must respect the punishment system, as their characters would, but there is no OOC problem with RPing a disobedient character, as long as you accept that the Tower needs to RP the realistic consequences. We are not trying to stamp out variety and make all learning ranks comply, but we are trying to introduce another element of fun and realism to RP around here.

To summarise, if your character is bad, Aes Sedai will punish you. If your character continues to be bad, and either doesn't complete this punishment, or offends the Aes Sedai further, the AS has the power, through the MoN, to impose a formal punishment which *must* be completed before your character can be Raised. If your character flaunts all of this discipline and proves completely uncontrollable, (s)he may be put out of the Tower, but you are free to make a new character.