Candidate Elections
Regional Candidate Nomination Process
1. Has to have been in National Legion as a founding member of their local chapter. (In the future, when the NL celebrates its three year anniversary, the restriction will be changed 'has to have been a member of the NL for a minimum of three years'.)
[DM: This certainly keeps Johnny-come-latelies from being candidates. I like the suggestion, in order to be the National Leader you have to show you put your money where your mouth is, so to speak.]
2. Has to have been involved in two national initiatives of the NL during each year of their membership time.
[DM: There was a request from some Legionnaires - Karen, Trent, et. al. - that in addition, the RCs shouldn't have held any leadership position either in the Chapters or outside, say at the secondary school level. Think of it as the "anti-brown nose rule". I get the idea that people who want power shouldn't be allowed to have it. Unfortunately, I suspect what would have happened was that several of our Chapter Leaders - people who are of the "leadership type" who also hold high school offices - would have walked out on the NL and we would have lost a lot of talent. I think the random selection process by itself is good enough to keep Sally Applepolishers away. Yes, the random process can deliver such people to prominence by chance, but in the majority of cases, it will not.]
Regional Candidate Selection Process
1. Each region: Northeast, Midwest, South, and West will hold its own election. The Regions are defined by the United States Census Bureau. Canadian NL members shall be assigned to one of the four Regions through an appropriate method based on geography.
[DM: Can't forget about our friends up North. I've just learned that there are some self-selected Mexican chapters requesting formal recognition by the NL. I don't know how International Chapters are going to be treated, right now only the only countries the NL operates in are the US and Canada.]
2. The computer will then order the list of candidates of each region from first to last. All persons meeting the above criteria, regardless of initial interest, become candidates.
[DM: Rather than just pick four people out of a giant bin, order the list from the very beginning, just to keep from having to go back to the bin again if we have to throw someone out.]
3. The NL will go down the list and make formal offers to each person in order of their appearance on the candidate list.
4. If a person accepts the offer, a formal investigation will be made by the NL with regard to the person's character - this includes a formal background check and an interview either with race and gender opposite Legionnaires from National Chapter #1 or those persons desigated as Legion representatives by NL #1.
[DM: Unfortunately, we're a pretty White group. Tiffany, the only Asian of the group, spends the majority of her time with USAES and that leaves Jodie and Mack as the only members that can provide a non-White perspective. The "persons designated" clause is added so that Jodie and Mack don't have to interview sixteen-plus people if they don't want to - they can pass that duty on to someone they designate given their inclinations/schedules.]
5. If a person passes the background check, they are placed on the Regional Ballot.
6. If a person either a) declines to become a candidate, or b) fails the background check, the process continues down the list until four candidates have moved on to the Regional Ballot.
Regional Election Process
1. In each Region, the four candidates will run for spots on the NL Advisory Council. Each Region will select its candidate by popular ballot. The person obtaining the majority of votes will gain seats on the NL Advisory Council.
National Leader Selection
1. The National Leader of the Legion shall be selected at random from one of the four National Advisors by suitable random method, with each member having an equal chance of selection.
[DM: CR placed an objection: "yeah, but what happens if the next three National Leaders all get picked from the same Region? Wouldn't that depress interest?" Maybe so, but there's no guarantee that even if we removed the Regions and just chose four candidates from a national pool that the random process wouldn't do the same thing. At least with the Four Regions method each Region is guaranteed to have someone on the NL Advisory Council.]
2. As for those NL Advisors not selected become members of the National Legion Advisory Council, their position shall be to assist the National Leader in carrying out their duties as well as to provide opposing viewpoints.
[DM: I haven't really figured out how this works. My advice is to let them figure it out.]
3. The terms of the National Leader and the other Advisors will last for one year. If an Advisory Council is forced by circumstances to leave their position, they shall not be replaced. If the National Leader is forced by circumstances to leave their position, a new National Leader will be chosen by random from the National Legion Advisory Council, said vacancy in the National Council not replaced.
[DM: I call this the "let's not keep doing this over and over" method. If, God help us, something horrible happens and all four NL Advisors can't complete a term, we'll let the Legionnaires of 2200 figure out a solution.]
1. Has to have been in National Legion as a founding member of their local chapter. (In the future, when the NL celebrates its three year anniversary, the restriction will be changed 'has to have been a member of the NL for a minimum of three years'.)
[DM: This certainly keeps Johnny-come-latelies from being candidates. I like the suggestion, in order to be the National Leader you have to show you put your money where your mouth is, so to speak.]
2. Has to have been involved in two national initiatives of the NL during each year of their membership time.
[DM: There was a request from some Legionnaires - Karen, Trent, et. al. - that in addition, the RCs shouldn't have held any leadership position either in the Chapters or outside, say at the secondary school level. Think of it as the "anti-brown nose rule". I get the idea that people who want power shouldn't be allowed to have it. Unfortunately, I suspect what would have happened was that several of our Chapter Leaders - people who are of the "leadership type" who also hold high school offices - would have walked out on the NL and we would have lost a lot of talent. I think the random selection process by itself is good enough to keep Sally Applepolishers away. Yes, the random process can deliver such people to prominence by chance, but in the majority of cases, it will not.]
Regional Candidate Selection Process
1. Each region: Northeast, Midwest, South, and West will hold its own election. The Regions are defined by the United States Census Bureau. Canadian NL members shall be assigned to one of the four Regions through an appropriate method based on geography.
[DM: Can't forget about our friends up North. I've just learned that there are some self-selected Mexican chapters requesting formal recognition by the NL. I don't know how International Chapters are going to be treated, right now only the only countries the NL operates in are the US and Canada.]
2. The computer will then order the list of candidates of each region from first to last. All persons meeting the above criteria, regardless of initial interest, become candidates.
[DM: Rather than just pick four people out of a giant bin, order the list from the very beginning, just to keep from having to go back to the bin again if we have to throw someone out.]
3. The NL will go down the list and make formal offers to each person in order of their appearance on the candidate list.
4. If a person accepts the offer, a formal investigation will be made by the NL with regard to the person's character - this includes a formal background check and an interview either with race and gender opposite Legionnaires from National Chapter #1 or those persons desigated as Legion representatives by NL #1.
[DM: Unfortunately, we're a pretty White group. Tiffany, the only Asian of the group, spends the majority of her time with USAES and that leaves Jodie and Mack as the only members that can provide a non-White perspective. The "persons designated" clause is added so that Jodie and Mack don't have to interview sixteen-plus people if they don't want to - they can pass that duty on to someone they designate given their inclinations/schedules.]
5. If a person passes the background check, they are placed on the Regional Ballot.
6. If a person either a) declines to become a candidate, or b) fails the background check, the process continues down the list until four candidates have moved on to the Regional Ballot.
Regional Election Process
1. In each Region, the four candidates will run for spots on the NL Advisory Council. Each Region will select its candidate by popular ballot. The person obtaining the majority of votes will gain seats on the NL Advisory Council.
National Leader Selection
1. The National Leader of the Legion shall be selected at random from one of the four National Advisors by suitable random method, with each member having an equal chance of selection.
[DM: CR placed an objection: "yeah, but what happens if the next three National Leaders all get picked from the same Region? Wouldn't that depress interest?" Maybe so, but there's no guarantee that even if we removed the Regions and just chose four candidates from a national pool that the random process wouldn't do the same thing. At least with the Four Regions method each Region is guaranteed to have someone on the NL Advisory Council.]
2. As for those NL Advisors not selected become members of the National Legion Advisory Council, their position shall be to assist the National Leader in carrying out their duties as well as to provide opposing viewpoints.
[DM: I haven't really figured out how this works. My advice is to let them figure it out.]
3. The terms of the National Leader and the other Advisors will last for one year. If an Advisory Council is forced by circumstances to leave their position, they shall not be replaced. If the National Leader is forced by circumstances to leave their position, a new National Leader will be chosen by random from the National Legion Advisory Council, said vacancy in the National Council not replaced.
[DM: I call this the "let's not keep doing this over and over" method. If, God help us, something horrible happens and all four NL Advisors can't complete a term, we'll let the Legionnaires of 2200 figure out a solution.]
So, let me get this straight, mate. One can only belong to either the National Legion or Chapter Number One in the USA? What about those kids in other countries who want to improve their lot and change their part of the world for the better? Are they simply not allowed to open their own Legion Chapters in their own countries to do that? Bollocks!
ReplyDelete(Captain Marbles).
I've never given much thought to what would happen if the NL decided to "expand the franchise" to other countries." I put the comment in because a) extending the Legion to an international org adds several layers of complexity and b) I don't know if the NL has the infrastructure. However, with BG stating that the NL now has not only college chapters but chapters in Canada, I'm now strongly inclined to conclude that the popularity of the NL is exploding with countries other than Mexico saying, "fuck it, we'll just form our own NL chapters and wait for you to come crawling to us. " Looks like Daria and company will be doing some unexpected travel Real Soon.
DeleteIt's always been in the back of my head that the Legion (to be specific, the National Legion) is an American organization (as far too many people consider to be an adjunct of the U.S., nobody really bitched when National Legion chapters were created - Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Ottowa and Montreal are the cities represented, with Toronto being the de facto 'Chapter Number One' for the Canadian Legion chapters). However, as Russell Stark almost certainly meant for the 'children of the world' to be empowered through the Legion, it's also certain that Legion members of Chapter Number One would eventually come from other nations (as the LSH had members from a number of worlds besides Earth).
DeleteHowever, we have to remember that the NL and CN1 are slightly separate (for now, as long as The Masquerade is in operation), so security is still a predominant necessity in allowing people to join Chapter Number One. (I'd say that it really hasn't escaped notice that only certain people have joined that chapter; the only reason most people haven't really said anything is because of what's always seemed the National Legion policy of 'Go ahead - start your own chapter wherever you are, and we'll support it fully!' The thing is, sooner or later, kids with powers ARE going to pop up in those NL chapters.
My solution? Numerical chapters - 'special' chapters that form, which will eventually become the regional hubs/headquarters for Legion activities in those areas of the U.S. and Canada (and eventually Mexico, as sooner or later, NL chapters will be established there, also). Legion Tower is Chapter Number One/Northeast, so eventually we would have Chapter Number Two/Midwest-Canada, Chapter Number Three/South, and Chapter Number Four/West-Mexico. Those would be the Legion metahuman chapters.
One more thing. Other nations will have/DO have their own metahuman programs, and after what happened with The Alliance and the Legion, you can be damn well certain that they have started grabbing their most eligible under-21s to build similar teams. In my notes, the French have 'Force Majeure', which may already have young members, while the German Government (in cooperation with the H.I.V.E.) has created DKT - 'Das Korps Tomorrow'... and they will show up soon enough for a visit. A pleasant one.
DeleteThe Mexican Government seems to have focused on mystical talents - I'll send you my notes on the 'Lost City' and their training academy - and I've held that since the 1980's, the Soviet (now Russian) Government has run a program similar to Canada's Flight Program - the 'Thrust Program', with three tiers: Amber Thrust is their indoctrination and initial training program/team, Emerald Thrust is for advanced training and education, and their main operations team is Scarlet Thrust. (The Russians also like powered armor systems - they just aren't that proficient in building them. They want powerful systems that have fail-safes in case the operators go off the reservation.) Oh, yeah. The Brits (in my head) don't really have metahuman teams like everyone else. While they do use metahuman operatives, they prefer technology and advanced weapons; they're also considered the world leaders in both teleportation and temporal-manipulation tech.
Of course, the Japanese are the leaders in technology - and Lord, they DO love their mecha, particularly the giant mecha. Unfortunately and unsurprisingly... they're also the experts in genetic mutation and radiation damage.
The Chinese are the bio-technology and disease specialists... and (in my TotR stuff) it's almost a certainty that you need to keep a very close watch at the area around the Three Gorges Dam. If there's a major zombie outbreak possible on your world, you have a one in three chance that it will start there. The Japanese did some horrific things in that area during WWII... and the Chinese decided to keep the balls rolling in secret.
Don't even ask about North Korea. Even though they're under the Bowman Acts, and they KNOW that SHARD Rangers will drop into Pyongyang if its necessary for sanitation purposes... just don't even ask about that country. Don't even think about them.
Yeah, a bit too much info. :-)
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ReplyDeleteYes, kids from other nations WILL be allowed to start their own Legion Chapters - and when the first one does, they'll have to change the name to the 'International Legion' or the 'Global Legion', or something like that. Hell, maybe some kids are already planning that, and it'll be interesting to see some of the Legionnaires in other nations; also, how the U.S. Government (as well as the governments of some of those nations) will react will be interesting to see... especially since TPTB in those nations are not stupid about what exactly the Legionnaires are and can do.
ReplyDelete