Our own personal guidelines

[Bree]

Hey ya'll.

So I think we should come up with a short list of guidelines to the BA for ourselves. We are necessarily going to be over-powered as characters and it would be very easy to step on toes. I propose:

• No compulsion without prior agreement to ranking the depth of the effectiveness.

• We need an effective defense to compulsion. A way to hold back necessary details.

• All discovery and use of 'forbidden weaves' needs to be approved by the entire ajah; eventually just the HOA and Sitters.

• Basic arc outlines should be submitted here before being initiated in the main forums so that the whole BA can be involved.

• Any arc objections that are not easily resolved among friends will be subject to a vote of BA membership.

What do you think?

[Bridget]

This is a great idea, Bree! We definitely need to set up some guidelines.

I agree about the first point; it's very important to communicate before the use of compulsion so that there is no godmoding. As for an effective defense, there is the strong will benefit. However, in canon, that just means that you wake up from the compulsion at some point, which can be a good deal of time later. Other than that, the best defense is to be holding the One Power at the time someone tries to use compulsion on you, so that you can simply cut through the weave.

As for the discovery of forbidden weaves, do you mean compulsion and balefire? If so, then I don't think the BA can have anything to do with approving the use/discovery of those talents. Or do you mean the BA weaves listed on the secret weaves page? 'Touch of Death' and 'Rend'? Do we even know what those do?

As for the Head of Ajah and Sitters comment- the Black definitely has a head, but no sitters. After all, the BA is not part of the Hall, and I don't remember anything like Sitters of the Black existing in canon. Should we come up with our own BA structure that includes something similar to sitters? Also, what do you mean by arc objections?

[Jenny]

100% agree on Compulsion.

However, I don't think the BA can approve the discovery of those Talents, because I think there are a few people outside of the BA who know Compulsion. Here is one.

But, it would make sense for the other BA members to have to approve using a weave. I think that the entire Ajah would control the use of forbidden weaves very tightly to lower the risk of discovery.

Also, I do remember that, in canon, there is a Supreme Council in the Black Ajah made up of thirteen members. Perhaps we could make it three members instead. So, a HOA and a Supreme Council of three?

Finally, how are we going to organize the "hearts"?

[Bridget]

I love the Supreme Council idea so much! We should definitely do something along those lines. As for the hearts, I suppose we can just add people to them as we go? So Makenna, Mirin, and Rhykana could be in a heart with a PSC, until we have a fourth BA member. I think we should do out best to have only PCs in the hearts.

As for preventing BA members from using the weave (Compulsion, etc) unless ordered to, I think it should be an IC rule. But I also think it will be one that it will be violated a lot. For plot reasons! Also the punishments if the HoA or Council find out will be interesting...

[Bree]

Makenna is necessarily going to be researching hard in the library for the inverted weave trifecta. There are some interesting bread crumbs in the Indigo vaults that I can use to further Makenna's cause to "save her daughter".

I am all for the Supreme Council as well. I think we NEED something of the sort just to make sure we have the same resources in officers as other ajahs. At the moment it is not that big of an urgency but I can see it becoming difficult to handle if we get even two or three more members.

Also, I want to ask for an initiation thread on top of the required Ajah exploration, BA contact that is already required. I think if people are going to want to get into the BA, they need to be willing to demonstrate the loyalty on the part of the character and, no, I do not think it is a good idea to allow this to be done through a fan fic. I feel very strongly about this one.

What say you?

[Jenny]

I agree. An initiation RP requirement is a fantastic idea. I also believe a fanfic would not suffice. Should the initiation RP occur only after being raised to full rank so that the RP can encompass removing the Oaths?

Also, what about Darkfriend Warders? Edit: Perhaps it is best to wait until someone shows interest to come up with guidelines for a dark Gaidar/Gaidin.

What is the inverted weave trifecta?

[Bree]

Oooooo yes please! We should talk to the Powers that Three (TM) to see if we can make it an official thing... But yeah after the Stairs, secret clandestine meeting in the dungeons or the loft or whatever with ... black licorice... >.> I don't know but yes, Oath Rod action and RP.

I think anyone who bonds a warder is going to have to discuss that between the two of them. Warders don't really choose an ajah but there is usually some kind of interactive agreement about their goals and purposes. Do you two think we need to worry with BA warder rules?

The inverted weaves trifecta is:
Inverted Weaves
Inversion is a forgotten skill whereby a channeler can hide the threads of their weave after they have been woven. It is a secret only recently rediscovered by the Indigo Ajah and kept tightly under wraps.
Reversed Flows
The ability to invert flows before channeling them so that no one can see what you have woven.
Masking the Ability
A weave very similar to Reversed Flows which completely masks your ability to channel from those who can sense it by use of inborn traits, weaves of detection, and the use of ter'angreal.

I was going to link you to the page where I found all this but I am too sleepy and too grumpy to go hunt it down again.

[Jenny]

Sounds cool. I assume that they take up Talent points?

Also, I hate to keep throwing these random questions out there....but what exactly are the three Oaths to the Dark One? The only two I know is 1) Not to reveal any current plots that the Black Ajah is involved in or to expose any other Black sisters, 2) Not to betray the Great Lord, to keep my secrets until the hour of my death.

We'll also need to come up with a ritualistic wording for the Three Dark Oaths.

[Bridget]

I actually strongly disagree with you about the initiation/loyalty requirement. First of all, I don't think that it is realistic to ask a character to be loyal to the Black Ajah. A lot of characters choose the Black for very personal reasons, and act entirely in their self interest. I think this is an important facet of the Black, and that we shouldn't try to pigeonhole characters into being loyal to the Black Ajah.

As for removing the Oaths, I disagree again! Oops... Anyways, I think that people should have a choice of a fic or a thread. Personally, I've been plotting the end of Rhykana's raising fic to include that for a long time, and have been thinking hard about how it will go. I think it's important to allow people different choices for this, because it's a major step for a character, and could cause a lot of changes in their personality and arch. I am never able to adequately create and write those types of major events in an rp post, and really require a fic to delve into my character and their response to such major life advents. I don't know if I'm the only person who feels this way about rp posts versus fics, but I don't think that we should limit people's creative options for the removal of the Oaths. Perhaps we could offer guidelines and different options?

Basically, I feel very strongly about allowing people to explore their character in any way they wish, and really don't want to curtail anyone's creativity. I think we should allow characters who are purely self motivated, and are simply using the Black Ajah for their own ends. I also think that we should allow writers to approach the removal of the Oaths and swearing of the Black Oaths in whatever creative fashion that they deem appropriate for their character.

As to other things, I'm really excited about the Supreme Council! We should work on writing up something about what they are and how they function, then speak to admin about it. Since other Ajahs have sitters, and there is a canon basis, I imagine that it won't be too much of a problem. And we'll have to ask for some pretty icon for people's bios, like the sitter chairs!

I definitely agree about the Black Oaths (are they actually called that? am I making this up?). Do we want to leave the last Oath open ended and never actually write it, or are you guys interested in coming up with an Oath?

I don't think we need to worry about BA warder rules. I think it is entirely in the realm of possibility (and existed in canon) that a BA character could have a warder that is not BA, and is not aware that the Aes Sedai or Asha'man that they are bonded to is BA.

[Bridget]

Oh, another thing! Does anyone have any ideas for the Black Ajah page on the wiki? Bree and I could spruce it up!