SA Debate League: Xantros vs. Alaris Jinn

Xantros will Affirm.
Alaris Jinn di Plagia will Oppose.

Topics:

1. The Dark Jedi Brotherhood should hold Vendetta Events at least three times a year.[/*:m]
   
2. The Dark Jedi Brotherhood should significantly increase the Clan and House ground forces allotments.[/*:m]
   
3. High level equite promotions should be made availible to members who have not served directly in leadership positions.[/*:m][/list:o]
   
   The opposition will strike a topic first, the affirmative will strike a topic second. The topic for the debate shall be the topic that remains. Please indicate which number topic you are striking here in the thread. Both sides must strike by 11:59 pm EST on Tuesday June 26th. Debates may begin at any point after 12:00 am EST on Saturday June 30th and will run through 11:59 EST on Friday July 6th. The intervening time between topic selection and the start of the debate is to be used for case construction and/or research. Depending on the topic, both real world and Star Wars canon examples and arguments may be used.
   
   The format for the debate will be as follows:
   
   
   1. First Affirmative constructive (Not to exceed 1000 words)[/*:m]
      
   2. First Negative constructive (Not to exceed 1200 words)[/*:m]
      
   3. First Affirmative rebuttal (Not to exceed 600 words)[/*:m]
      
   4. First Negative rebuttal (Not to exceed 800 words)[/*:m]
      
   5. Second Affirmative rebuttal (not to exceed 400 words)[/*:m][/list:o]
      
      No new arguments can be made in the rebuttals, you may however address any arguments brought up in the constructives. In addition, new examples can be used in rebuttals.

The Opposition strikes:

Topic #1

GLHF Xantros!

The affirmative strikes topic #2

Have fun and good luck, Alaris!

The topic will be: High level equite promotions should be made availible to members who have not served directly in leadership positions.

If both competitors would like to begin their debate during the prep period, send me an email and I'll turn you lose.

It is definitely an important matter that affects whole Dark Jedi Brotherhood – whether high level Equite promotions should be made availible to members who have not served directly in leadership positions or not. In my opinion, these promotions should be available to all members of the Brotherhood, no matter of their leadership experience in the Brotherhood. Now, I shall present the arguments to support my statement.

First of all, there is not enough suitable command positions available. The promotion requirements specify that to earn a promotion for high level Equite rank, one must serve on the position of an Aedile or higher. Currently, it limits the number of available command positions to twenty two, not including Dark Council positions, which are beyond the reach of most Equites. Due to this fact, many Equites are forced to hold their rank for very long periods of time, as they cannot meet the requirement of performing leadership duties for certain period of time.

Secondly, not all people may become leaders in the Brotherhood. Such situation may be caused by various reasons, like lack of time or lack of necessary qualities, just to mention two most important factors. In fact, it is sometimes much better not to allow one to become a leader, as a leadership tenure of such person might badly impact one’s unit and its members. Bad influence may be unintentional, but still may happen. It would be unfair to people, who does not have necessary abilities or enough time to become a leader, if they were refused a promotion, despite their dedicated service.

As mentioned before, not all people are born to become leaders. However, some of them exceed beyond the expectations towards an average member of the Brotherhood. Their service is flawless and they do much for their units and their friends from one’s House or Clan. They also display an extremely high level of activity. They use their skills and abilities in various fields for the best interest of the community. Shortly, such people are pillars of the Brotherhood and show brilliant example to follow. However, they may be refused what they deserve, if they have not served on a command position.

There are also certain positions, like Professors or Magistrates, which are not leadership positions, but are very important to the Brotherhood, as they impact various aspects of the club. Excellent service in such positions is definitely working for the community.

In fact, it is a matter of proper rewarding members of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood for their work. In some cases, it is not enough to recommend a merit or a sacramental award. Especially, when one displays great dedication and drive to excellence in one’s service. The Equite Promotion Guideline states that one, who wishes to earn a promotion to any Equite rank must start thinking about the community – a Battleteam, a House, a Clan or whole Dark Jedi Brotherhood. This statement does not imply leadership as a mandatory way of service to one’s unit.

We must also remember that various kinds of promotions are an important way of motivating members of any organisation. In case of the Brotherhood it is so in two ways. Firstly, an Equite promotion is a big event, especially for a recipient. During my service as the Magistrate to the Master At Arms, I have seen various recommendations to various Equite ranks. They have one thing in common – their content shows really great appreciation towards their recipients. I have seen situations, when a recommendation had to be rewritten, in order to make it more suitable for such a promotion. Not allowing one to be promoted, due to lack of leadership experience in the Brotherhood means, in fact, that we resign from a strong motivation tool.

The other reason of the importance of promotions for our club is the fact that they have great influence on one’s character in the Brotherhood. Former ACC Judge, KAP Xathia Tugrina, claims the sacramental awards may be used as weapons in variou RPG activities. However, this is the only use of the awards, apart from their motivation aspect. Their role pales into insignificance, when compared to the role of promotions. First of all, advancement in the ranks allows one to improve one’s character abilities. Higher rank provides more points to increase one’s attributes, skills’ mastery and to master available Force powers. Also, there are rites that decide what Force powers are available to one. Higher rank may allow one to learn new powers. All these factors have influence on one’s freedom in writing stories, as well as Run-On and ACC posts.

Ranks have great impact on one’s character background story. Accordingly to the description of the Dark Hall, only members of the Dark Council and the most trusted Elders are allowed to enter the Dark Hall Archives. Also, high level Equite ranks and Elder ranks are associated with great power, mysterious knowledge and access to artifacts that would kill less powerful Dark Jedi. Powers of high ranked Dark Jedi allow them to be successful at tasks and missions that any other Dark Jedi would fail at. These are just few ways of expanding a character background story, when one reach a high level Equite rank or advance beyond it. Refusal to promote members of the Brotherhood due to lack of leadership experience in the club deprives them from various ways to expand their character stories and to improve their character attributes.

In the summary, I believe that there is no reason not to allow members with no leadership experience in the Brotherhood to advance to high level Equite ranks and beyond. I am convinced that the club would benefit from adjusting the promotion requirements to the situation by allowing to replace the leadership experience with substitute requirements. In my opinion, members would be more motivated to do various works for the community, if they knew that there are no requirements that they are not able to fulfill, often because of external factors, which are beyond their control.