The Padawan and Master System

Should an applicant succeed at his/her Padawan Trial, he/she will be linked to a full member. This full member will then become the Master and the new member the Padawan.

The High Council will pick the Master for the new Padawan. In doing so, the High Council will do its best to make sure that the Master-Padawan pairing is good in terms of the skill levels of the members involved, possible conflicts or issues, time zone issues, and that a Master is not given two Padawans simultaneously. In doing so, however, the Master must accept the Padawan; a Master can not be forced to take a Padawan, and a Padawan can not be forced to accept a particular Master, although it usually is not an issue.

It will be the Masters task to get the Padawan ready for his/her Jedi Trial through proper guidance and training. This includes skill-based training but it also (more importantly) includes knowledge of (TNA) rules, (TNA) procedures, and (TNA) history. New full members of the clan should be what their title implies - FULL members who are overall well-rounded in aspects of the game and aspects of the clan.

During the Padawanship, the Padawan must fully obey his/her Master without question (Within the bounds of reason and rules). A Padawan is to respect and honor their Master, without question. However, that does not mean that they are required to take any sort of abuse or mistreatment should that, unfortunately, come to be the case. The ultimate goal is for the Master and Padawan to spend as much time together as they can and to develop a bond of friendship and respect.

The Master should be wary of a few things from his/her Padawan during the Padawanship. They should be mindful of the behavior and attitude of their Padawan, the skills of their Padawan (what needs improvement, what can be done to facilitate improvement/what are his or her strong and weak points?), the goals and desires of the Padawan in respect to their (TNA) membership, and the activity of the Padawan.

A Padawan is to be wary of the teachings of his/her Master. All Padawans are to be respectful to their respective Masters within the bounds of reason, and they are to be ready, able, and willing to learn in all aspects of (TNA) and the game(s) that it plays. A Padawan should strive, through personal scholarship, to learn as much about (TNA) as he or she can. This of course does not allow the Master to abdicate teaching responsibility in such subjects - on the contrary, it should foster continued learning and improvement. A Padawan should also be ready and willing to learn new fighting techniques, it being a core section of the Padawanship. Point: A student who is not willing to learn is, in effect, not a student at all.

Padawans should also note that their Master is probably not all-knowing or all-seeing and therefore, is not perfectly proficient in all aspects of the clan or the game. Knowing that, a Padawan should not feel awkward if they choose to seek out training or knowledge from other members of (TNA), and a Master should not feel insulted if the Padawan chooses to do so. On the contrary, such a thing should be encouraged; it fosters balance, growth, and friendship.

Should a Padawan be unwilling to learn, disobedient, troublesome, or anything else of the sort, action will be taken. We in (TNA) firmly believe that a probationary member who displays such signs has already failed his or her Jedi Trial. Probationary members who prove to be troublesome will be dealt with. Masters are urged to report any major problems to the clan leadership and, if the Master so chooses, the Padawan can be removed from the Master's teaching. If the leadership sees signs of trouble that perhaps the Master, for whatever reason, is not mentioning, then the leadership can and will, at its own whim, remove problem members. We will always work to avoid such situations but we will not allow people who bring problems to our clan to cause unreasonable amounts of trouble.

A Master who is disrespectful, rude, arrogant, or anything else of the sort toward his or her Padawan will be dealt with. Such action is a direct assault on the values and characters of (TNA), and, as a Master, such a member should definitley not be pursuing such courses of action. Padawans who have Masters that are disrespecting them or mistreating them are urged to come forward to the leadership so that such issues can be resolved. Please note that reporting misuse of power or mistreatment is not a knock against someone or a dishonorable move - we will not punish someone or make them feel bad for doing the right thing.

Although not necessary, the Master, if they so choose, may report on the progress of their Padawan to the leadership. This is generally appreciated although, once again, not necessary and helps the leadership to have a better understanding of how the Padawan is developing.

All Padawanships are to last a minimum of one month. After one month, the Padawans Master can, at their own whim, call the trial of their Padawan. Only the Master can call the Padawans trial and only in extreme circumstances is that course of action avoided. The Master does not need to be present at his or her Padawans trial, although if they would earnestly like to be, we will do our best to fulfill such request. However, please note that actually getting the trial done is more important than who attends it.

If successful at his/her trial, the Padawan will be considered a full member of The New Alliance and will relinquish his/her Probate/Padawan Tag, (tna), and have the honor of wearing the Full Member Tag, (TNA). A majority "yes" vote by the panel of voters at the trial is necessary to pass. Only in rare circumstances is such a situation bypassed.

Should a Padawan fail at his/her trail it is possible that he/she will be required to undergo a futher month of probation under a new Master, or be required to relinquish their membership of The New Alliance! Should this (historically) unlikely event take place, rest assured that the leadership will discuss the issues at hand and, unless we feel removal to be truly necessary, do our best to pair the Padawan with a new Master in a timely manner.