~ Constitution of the United Servers of the Water Vikings ~
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of the Water Vikings, in order to ensure stability and innovation for the future of the army’s existence, along with guiding future generations, establish this Constitution for the Water Vikings army.
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Table of Contents
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Article I. High Council of Vikings
- The ‘High Council of Vikings‘—shortened to just HCOV—shall be the governing guardianship and supervision hoff of the Water Vikings army. They shall consist of legends chosen amongst themselves.
- HCOV shall be granted the following powers:
- Open (and likewise close) the army, including locking down the army for an indefinite period to rebuild;
- Sign off on the promotions of new leaders, and also dismiss any;
- Induct new legends and other Hall of Fame alumni;
- Grant assent to army protocols and constitutional amendments;
- Serve as the ombuds in any staff, higher command, or leadership misconduct investigations;
- Clear any individuals (who have met the editor requirement) for website administration;
- Grant administrator status on the Discord chatroom (for those who met the administrator requirement);
- Temporarily revoke the permissions of a role on the Discord Chatroom during a crisis;
- Declare golden ages (such as a Blue Summer);
- Oversight over any official affiliated Water Vikings chatrooms and services; and
- Overturn any leadership decision by unanimous decision—especially if the leadership decision was done unilaterally without the consultation of the other leaders—which can damage the image of the Water Vikings, sow internal rift, or aim to dismantle the army.
- Guardians may only be removed by the HCOV. They cannot be ‘couped’.
- Guardians should make all decisions in good faith and avoid micro-managing the duties of leadership and the staff unless necessary (or if asked by leadership to assist).
- All active serving guardians shall sit on the army’s advisory, and serve as an arbitrary body.
- All acting serving guardians shall have administrator permission on both the website and Discord chatroom (as well as any other official affiliated Water Vikings chatrooms and services).
- The HCOV shall have the power to interpret the Constitution and clear any loopholes.
Article II. Leadership and Ministry
- The Water Vikings’ leadership shall consist of two ‘Statsministers‘ (lit: state ministers; simply ‘Ministers‘)—the ‘First Minister‘ and ‘Second Minister‘— as part of the executive hoff who shall wield equal authority, except in regard to diplomatic representation in leagues and organizations (the First Minister shall hold that power).
- This does not mean the First Minister can unilaterally make decisions diplomatic-related; it also does not exclude other members of leadership and high command from being involved in diplomatic-related discussions. Their representative responsibility is purely symbolic and is comparable to a spokesperson.
- The Second Minister, by this logic, shall be the automatic and default backup if the First Minister is unavailable to represent the army in a meeting or discussion (unless they also abstain from representing the army).
- The First and Second Ministers’ equal authority cannot be used to undermine one another.
- The Ministers shall serve a term of 5 months (3 of which shall be a mutual option between them and HCOV after the first 2). Ministers cannot serve consecutive terms (though can return non-consecutively with the blessing of HCOV).
- Ministers will be allowed to retire before their term expires.
- The Ministers shall be granted the following powers:
- Be the primary leader in any battle, training, or raid directly relating to the Water Vikings;
- Hire (and fire) any higher command, staff, and advisors in a joint decision;
- Negotiate treaties, agreements, alliances, and ceasefires involving the Water Vikings in a joint decision;
- Host and conduct staff meetings;
- Appoint the deputy ministers for the interior, media, and moderation every month; and
- Designate trustworthy high command members as acting Viking Commanders if necessary.
- Subordinate to the Ministry, deputy ministers will be chosen every month for the following departments:
- Recruitment: Handles all internal and community affairs, including staff communication and management.
- Interior: Handles all internal and community affairs, including staff communication, management, and staff tasks.
- Media: Handles all affairs related to the army media outlet, the ‘Ocean Oracle’.
- Moderation: Deals with chat moderation.
- Staff Training: Deals with supervising the staff training program.
- There can be multiple deputy ministers for a specific department at a given time, and it will not be imperative to immediately refill the deputy ministership if it is not necessary. Deputy ministers can serve consecutively.
- The Ministry must make sure the people chosen for these departments are qualified and can be relieved by the Bygningsstyring in a vote or HCOV if they are not.
- The two Ministers shall also appoint members of the high command as acting Viking Commander. Their vote is equal to the Ministers except in decisions relating to diplomacy (their opinion is non-binding in diplomatic decisions). They shall serve on defined mandates decided by the Ministers with the approval of HCOV.
- Once the term of a Minister expires (and they did not formally retire), they will become an acting Viking Commander and be given a default mandate of 2 months unless extended with HCOV approval.
- Should an acting Viking Commander become a Minister, their mandate shall be nullified and replaced with their Ministerial mandate.
- It shall be understood that the two Ministers, whilst equal in a vote to their acting Viking Commander counterparts, are more senior to their colleagues.
- All acting Viking Commanders must have already served more than 2 months in a high command role. No person shall prematurely be promoted to acting Viking Commander nor shall anyone join for leader.
- All Ministerial successors will be chosen by the outgoing Minister from the pool of acting Viking Commanders who meet the following criteria:
- Have served more than 2 months in their acting Viking Commander role;
- Have served more than 3 months in their high command role (including their stint as a Commander);
- Have served as a Deputy Minister of a department at least prior to their appointment;
- Have been enlisted in Water Vikings for more than 3 months; and
- Have not been barred from the Minister role.
- No role on the Discord chatroom for the Ministry shall be made; instead, it will share the ‘Viking Commander‘ role with its fellow acting Viking Commanders. This will also apply to the army’s website ranks page.
- The two Minister positions shall only be necessary on the nation page as well when the army is engaged in something formal.
- The Discord leader role itself shall not have any general server permissions; rather, all members of the leadership shall have their own custom roles with all general server permissions (save for ‘administrator‘, ‘manage channels‘, and ‘manage server‘).
Article III. High Command, Staff, and Moderation
- The Water Vikings shall have a team of qualified enlistees who shall help carry out the duties of the army. This shall be split into the officer command and the high command. Both commands must work together to strive for the success of the army and to achieve its objectives.
- The officer command and high command shall both be a part of the ‘Bygningsstyring‘—or the legislative hoff. Each shall have their own roles and responsibilities in the army.
- Both the officer and high command must respect each others’ roles and responsibilities.
- High command—addressed formally as ‘counts‘ and shortened to HCOM—shall be the upper chamber of the legislative hoff.
- The duties of the high command are as follows:
- Scheduling of the weekly events;
- Meeting a minimum recruitment goal of 30 direct messages;
- Voting on the ratification of treaties, war declarations, and alliances;
- Leading events if no other leaders are available;
- All other duties the officer command has.
- Officer command—addressed formally as ‘barons‘ and shortened to OCOM—shall be the lower chamber of the legislative hoff.
- The duties of the officer command are as follows:
- Attending all events they are capable of attending;
- Taking event pictures;
- Writing event result posts;
- Suggest tactics for battles against other armies;
- Moderating the Discord chat;
- Meeting a minimum recruitment goal of 15 direct messages;
- Taking part in the community; and
- Welcoming new troops directly (in chat and privately).
- The Ministry shall, at their choice, adjust the amount of staff ranks there are. There must be a minimum of 1 at all times for both chambers, however.
- Should the Ministry not state an official staff hierarchy, there will be a default of 2 high command ranks (‘Viking General‘ and ‘Viking Lord‘) and 3 officer command ranks (‘Viking Chief‘, ‘Viking Guard‘, and ‘Viking Warrior‘).
- All members of the officer and high command shall be trusted as moderators of the Water Vikings Discord chat. The Ministry can also trust veterans who served 2 months at minimum as OCOM (or 1 month as HCOM) in a consecutive stint with the responsibility of ‘Ridder‘—a member of the staff member who is not bound to other responsibilities aside from solely moderating.
- Any member accepted as a staff member (and was not likewise hired to a specific rank) shall be enrolled in the ‘Change Institute of the Training Arts‘ in order to prepare to become a formal staff member.
- There will be four parts to this staff training program (in which they will formally earn the rank of ‘Staff-in-Training‘ after excelling at a quiz following the completion of the first two parts).
Article IV. Advisory
- The Water Vikings shall have a formal advisory making up the advisory hoff of the Water Vikings army to give feedback to the army’s leadership and staff on how to improve its institutions. The advisory’s formal name shall be the ‘Privy Council‘.
- The following shall be the different designations of advisors:
- Guardian: The highest tier of the advisory, is tied to the HCOV. They are the only advisors who do not report directly to the leadership and thus are omnipotent.
- Consigliere: The second tier of the advisory, they are trusted with being allowed in leadership-related group chats. They are typically former leaders who have legend (there may be exceptions) appointed by the leadership after confirmation by the HCOV.
- Adept Advisor: The third tier of the advisory, they are trusted with being allowed in staff-related group chats and occasionally also leadership-related discussions. They are typically former leaders or prominent former high command members appointed by the leadership after confirmation by the high command.
- Apprentice Advisor: The lowest tier of the advisory, they are involved with staff discussions and give advice but they ultimately have no security clearances. They are typically former high command members who can chime in every now and again appointed by the leadership after confirmation by the high command.
- The designation tiers of the advisory shall not be noted on the Discord chatroom itself; instead, it shall be noted on the website’s nation and/or rank page.
Article V. Membership Core
- All members of the Water Vikings army shall be considered ‘Viking Brethren‘ and shall be eligible for a variety of ranks (adjusted at the decision of the Ministry). There shall be a minimum of 6 member ranks (not including staff) at a given time; at maximum, there can be 15 member ranks.
- One member rank shall be a ‘join rank’. By default, it shall be ‘Viking Recruit‘.
- One member rank shall be a ‘registration rank’ for registering on at least one private server the Water Vikings officially operate one. By default, it shall be ‘Viking Cadet‘.
- There must be a minimum of two ranks in which troops may automatically be promoted for attending one formal event. By default, they shall be ‘Viking Seaman‘ and ‘Viking Sailor‘.
- Members are expected to maintain activity and can lose their ranks/be adjusted to Viking Cadet if they do not fill out activity counts issued by the leadership.
- Out of respect for all viking brethren, activity counts must be opened for a minimum of 2 weeks.
- After an activity count has concluded, leadership must wait 2 months before issuing another activity count.
- Activity counts must be bumped at least 3 times after its initial announcement to allow for viking brethren to fill it out.
Article VI. Events, Divisions, and Branches
- Events—known formally as ‘operations‘—shall be the standard deployment of members in a uniformed member involved in the Water Vikings.
- Unless the Water Vikings are in a formal lockdown (or are not open), there must be at least 2 events in the span of a 2-week window.
- Exemptions may be granted by HCOV for situations such as tournaments or army restructuring.
- All canceled operations must be made up unless it is a battle or season-specific event.
- There shall be three operational divisions:
- The ‘American Division‘ (nicknamed the ‘Langvingefalker Division‘ and abbreviated to just “AM” or “US“) consists of members from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, the Caribbean, or any other parts of North and South America.
- The ‘European Division‘ (nicknamed the ‘Løve Division‘ and abbreviated to just “EU“) consists of members from the United Kingdom, France, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Israel, Scandinavia, Italy, Poland, Russia, the Balkans, the Baltics, the Benelux, Egypt, or any other parts of Europe and Africa.
- The ‘Asia-Australia Division‘ (nicknamed the ‘Vannbøffel Division‘ and abbreviated to just “AUS” or “AUSIA“) consists of members from Ethiopia, Siberia, China, Taiwan, Russia, Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Pakistan, India, Australia, New Zealand, or any other parts of Asia and Oceania.
- Operations shall be designated under the jurisdiction of one of the aforementioned operational divisions. The choice of the operational division designated for an event shall be decided depending on the time at which the event is held (and what division it is most favorable to). Below are the UTC times that (by default) are favorable to the three operational divisions:
- 10:00 PM—4:00 AM: American Division;
- 3:00 PM—9:00 PM: European Division; and
- 5:00 AM—2:00 PM: Asia-Australia Division.
- Leadership can choose not to respect this if they wish to host an event in an operational division (not in its native time aforementioned) for symbolic purposes.
- The army shall have two branches. By default, they shall be the ‘Guardians‘ and ‘Marines‘ although leadership can adjust them to whatever they feel. Branches are formally inactive unless designated for a “civil war” event.
- For membership in the branches, leadership shall “draft” viking brethren and staff to be a part of the branches to make sure it is balanced.
Article VII. Cultural Statutes
- The formal nation name of the Water Vikings’ army shall be the United Servers of the Water Vikings—abbreviated to just USWV.
- The USWV consists of three governmental elements:
- Unitarianism: The Water Vikings consist of different servers (provinces) but ultimately are under the suzerainty of the government with no autonomy.
- Stratocracy: The Water Vikings is a state within an army—meaning the state revolves around the army itself.
- Constitutional Anocracy: The Water Vikings is a mixture of dictatorial and democratic institutions outlined by a formal constituting governing document.
- The following flag shall be adopted as the flag of the USWV, designed by Pjayo on April 13, 2022:
- The following shall be adopted as the meaning of the flag:
- Blue Field: Representation of the ocean (a core aspect of the Water Vikings’ aesthetic) and justice (standing up for other armies who cannot stand up for their own).
- White Raven: Representation of a raven (a core aspect of real-life Norse mythology due to its alleged connection to Odin) with a Viking helmet (the main item associated with the Water Vikings); the color representing harmony (a joyous and euphoric spirit among the community) and peace.
- The following coat of arms shall be adopted as the coat of arms of the USWV, designed by Dino on July 24, 2023:
- The following shall be adopted as the meaning of the coat of arms:
- Blue-and-white Shield: Representation of the two main colors of the USWV flag.
- Flanking of Flags: Representation of the USWV flag giving the arms paramouncy.
- Golden Viking Helmet: Representation of the Golden Guardians, the army that brought back Water Vikings in 2020.
- Blue Sunglasses and Pirate Bandana: Representation of the Water Troops, one of the two armies that merged to form the Water Vikings.
- Black Viking Helmet and Axe: Representation of the Masked Vikings, one of the two armies that merged to form the Water Vikings.
- Overarching Viking Helmet: Representation that Water Troops and Masked Vikings together made WV what it is.
- North Star: Representation of an important symbol in Scandinavia.
- The following flag shall be adopted as the war flag of the USWV (as well as the flag of the Vikingkommandoer), designed by Dino on November 29, 2022:
- The following shall be adopted as the meaning of the war flag:
- Blue Field: Representation of the ocean (a core aspect of the Water Vikings’ aesthetic) and justice (standing up for other armies who cannot stand up for their own).
- White Raven and Cross: Representation of a raven (a core aspect of real-life Norse mythology due to its alleged connection to Odin) with a Viking helmet (the main item associated with the Water Vikings); the color representing harmony (a joyous and euphoric spirit among the community) and peace.
- Black Cross: Representation of the might (when it matters most) of the Water Vikings.
- Swallowtail Design: Representation of the Nordic background (as Scandinavian countries use a swallowtail for their war flags).
- The following flag shall be adopted as the Vikingkommandoer emblem of the USWV, designed by Dino on November 29, 2022:
- The following flag shall be adopted as the official logo of the USWV, designed by Dino on November 5, 2022:
- The Water Vikings shall have the following as holidays:
- Viking Day — December 26th: the day the Water Vikings was founded.
- Reformation Day — May 19th: the day the Water Vikings were refounded in the CPPS era.
- Champions Day — October 23rd: the day the Water Vikings won the Champions Cup in 2021 against all odds for its first major tournament victory.
Article VIII. Constitutional Protocols and Amendments
- Discord Administrator Protocol: No person can be given ‘administrator‘ permission on the Water Vikings Discord without having served as a leader for more than 4 months, gained unanimous HCOV approval, and gained permission from the Discord owner. This goes for ‘manage channels‘ and ‘manage server‘ as well.
- As of this document, the current Water Vikings Discord owner is Aaronstone42.
- Per precedent set by Kingfunks4, the Water Vikings Discord owner role is tied to the informal position of “chair” of the HCOV. This role has no authority and is purely ceremonial.
- These permissions can either be granted to the person’s custom role or an administrator role (by default “~“).
- Should a leader retire, the aforementioned permissions are to be revoked from that person unless HCOV unanimously votes to allow them to keep those permissions.
- Website Administrator Protocol: No person can be given ‘administrator‘ permission on the Water Vikings Discord without having served as a leader for more than 4 months, gained unanimous HCOV approval, and gained permission from the site owner.
- As of this document, the current Water Vikings website owner is Superhero123.
- Website Editor Protocol: No person can be given ‘editor‘ permission on the Water Vikings website without having served as a high command for one month, been an author on the website for 2 weeks, and gained unanimous leadership or HCOV approval.
- Criminal Protocol: The Bygningsstyring and Ministry shall agree on a set of crimes in a separate, autonomous code document to address issues such as treason, espionage, multilogging/bottling, and other high crimes.
- Dual-enlistment Protocol: No member of the Water Vikings holding an office of authority or trust (including leadership, advisory, and staff) shall not be enlisted in another army. Rare exceptions can be granted by HCOV.
- Any exemptions granted by HCOV must be given a written justification to the Bygningsstyring and Ministry.
- Leave Protocol: All members of the Water Viking staff can go on leave and be excused from any mandatory tasks as long as they inform leadership and gain permission. Unauthorized absence without leave (AWOL) is not permitted.
- Noble Title Protocol: The Ministers and Guardians may decide to award honorific titles such as ‘Jarl‘, ‘Duke‘, and others if they like. These titles hold no weight other than cosmetic, although they must be awarded based on the merit of the holders for their hard work.
- Vikingkommandoer Protocol: The Ministry shall be permitted to erect a special operations army in case of war under the name of the Vikingkommandoer (Viking Commandos). They are to be formally independent of the USWV, cannot have any formal relations with them, cannot attend for one another, and cannot have shared memberships (meaning members of the Vikingkommandoer must temporarily forfeit their service in the Water Vikings).
- Those who forfeit their service in the Water Vikings to serve in the Vikingkommandoer shall have their consecutive service time still valid should they return after the deactivation of the Vikingkommandoer.
- Mandatory Pages Protocol: There must be a ranks page, a nation (or empire) page, a Constitution page, and a Hall of Fame (or Legends) page on the website.
- Discord Usage Protocol: Discord shall be the formal chatroom of the Water Vikings. This Constitution affirms that the Water Vikings will uphold the Terms and Service and Guidelines.
- Contingency Protocol: All rank holders as of the passage shall retain their ranks going into this new Constitution superseding the 2015 Constitution, including HCOV. The acting “Ministry” prior to the passage of this Constitution shall formally take office.
- Amendment Protocol: This Constitution shall be amended upon 2/3rd approval from the Bygningsstyring, a unanimous vote by the leadership, and a unanimous vote from the HCOV.
- Should a member not be available for a vote due to being on leave or has not cast a vote within 72 hours, their vote shall not be counted for the quorum.
- Ratification Protocol: This Constitution (and any Constitution that supersedes this) must require the signatures of all high command, HCOV, and leadership to come into effect.
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~ Signatures ~
x Count Dinorewrited ,
WV First Minister | November 5th, 2023
x Count Aaronstone ,
WV High Council of Vikings | November 5th, 2023
x Count Pjayo ,
WV High Council of Vikings | November 5th, 2023
x Count Cabin ,
WV Viking General | November 5th, 2023
x Count Meilisa ,
WV Viking General | November 6th, 2023
x Count DrQueen ,
WV Viking Advisor | November 6th, 2023
x Count Jojo Teri ,
WV Viking Commander | November 7th, 2023
x Count Mabel ,
WV Second Minister | November 8th, 2023
x Count Claire ,
WV Viking Commander | November 8th, 2023
x Count Chey ,
WV Viking General | November 8th, 2023
x Count Lunita ,
WV Viking Lord | November 8th, 2023
x Count Kingfunks ,
WV High Council of Vikings | November 9th, 2023
x Count Guncotton ,
WV High Council of Vikings | November 9th, 2023
x Count Leobaba ,
WV Advisor | November 10th, 2023
x Count Adden ,
WV High Council of Vikings | November 21st, 2023
x Count Buddy ,
WV High Council of Vikings | November 22nd, 2023
x Count Change ,
WV High Council of Vikings | November 23rd, 2023
