Hi!

So, I guess that with this being my first News Post, I ought to introduce myself. I'm Tim, your Combat Master. You probably won't notice me much, since most of our ACC announcements will by handled by our Voice, the inestimable Vodo. In this case, however, we felt it was appropriate to make an exception.

If you go to the ACC main page and take a look on the right hand side, you'll notice that there's a new addition added on the right hand side, under ACC Rules, named 'ReQualification'. These rules should take you to a PDF document stating a new set of rules intended to detail in what circumstances it is appropriate for the Staff to remove someone from their status as a qualified combatant.

The document was created, mostly, due to a perceived lack in that sometimes, members could really use a refresher course on the ACC rules, but there was no practical protocol to bring this about. While the Combat Master technically can remove members from the ACC entire on behavioral grounds, a concept of removing members from qualified status for cause simply did not exist. The document serves to remedy that.

If you read the document, you'll note that the procedure is fairly drawn-out. This is deliberate to prevent overuse, as we do not intend to use the document more than strictly necessary.

In the spirit of 'while we're changing things', the bottom rank of Initiate has also been changed to Candidate, both for the sake of accuracy and to prevent it being identically named to the lowest Brotherhood a rank.

A final note to the IG combatants: This protocol only starts for matches judged after the Independence Games, so you are not at risk from losing your qualified status in it. However, Halcyon will likely point out to you when you write in such a way as to possibly merit ReQualification.

-Tim