Soldiers

Here at the World of the Wheel Role Play Site only men may train as Soldiers to become Asha'man. They are enrolled from as young as sixteen, there is currently no upper level age for new Soldiers as the M'Hael will turn no channeller away from the fight against the Shadow. New Soldiers are welcomed from all walks of life although it is uncommon to see Seanchan, Sharan, Aiel, Tuatha'an or Sea Folk Black Tower trainee.

Pre-enrolment History/Background
Enrolment
Quarters
Lifestyle
Miscellaneous Details
Soldier Talents
Soldier Lessons

Pre-enrolment history/background

While we are not too restrictive on the kind of background allowed, we would ask that you keep it realistic and in line with expectations. Those who come to the Black Tower do not necessarily have to want to be there, in fact some Asha'man are fairly ruthless in their recruitment technique, even if it is not strictly Tower policy to force a possible initiate to join the ranks.  

Enrolment

Once a prospective Soldier enters the Tower they are taken to the office of the Master of Soldiers and Dedicated (MoSD) where they are issued with their uniform and added to the register. Little is asked of the trainee during the enrolment process; the Tower do not concern themselves with the past lives of their initiates; if a man has the ability to channel or be taught to then he is good enough for their ranks.  

Quarters

The new Soldier will be escorted to a local landlord where he will be issued with a room in one of the many houses in the original village. He will live with six other men or his family (wives and children are welcomed) and will be expected to find the money to pay a monthly rent.

Due to the recent cleansing of saidin, there are building works going on to provide more housing for the expected influx of new trainees. This includes quarters with offices for the Master of Soldiers and Dedicated and the M'Hael. Once the building works have been completed new trainees will be housed there and those trainees already enrolled at the Tower will have the choice of moving into the rent free rooms or staying in their houses. 

Lifestyle

The life of a Soldier centres around training in the correct handling of the One Power. The Black Tower's main focus is to ensure that each and every one of its trainees is capable of reaching their full potential, for the benefit of the Tower's battle against the Shadow; they are not considered with the individual where the individual does not provide a unique advantage. The pace of training at the Black Tower is fast and only the strongest survive; those who are weak hearted invariably die or are made stronger. Each trainee is expected to attend all of the lessons that are commanded of him and missing them is unacceptable, those who skip their lessons or ignore their duties even once will be severely punished.

A Soldier has little free time in a day and is expected to spend what few spare hours he has pursuing his own personal study, although this is not always the case. What goes on during a Soldier's spare time is purely the Soldier's business except where his activities put the reputation of the Tower at risk. He may marry and have a family, he may work in the village to earn his keep, or he may do none of these things. Soldiers are not prohibited from leaving the Tower grounds but it is heavily discouraged where the reason
for leaving is not of importance. 

Other miscellaneous details

Soldiers are expected to look after themselves; whilst a certain unofficial sense of stewardship over the Soldiers and Dedicated is felt it is not the duty of the Asha'man to baby-sit those of a lower rank. Currently food is not provided for the Soldiers, it must be purchased or farmed and prepared by the individual. In the future, with the building of a mess hall, meals will be available to be purchased and eaten in house.

Soldiers are expected to keep their quarters clean as no house staff are provided for the lower ranks; even the Asha'man must pay if they require a cleaner. All luxuries must be provided by the individual unless it can be proved that an item is required and the individual is unable to pay for it; then, if a proper and correct case is made the Tower may consider purchasing the item of behalf of the individual. 

Soldier Talents

You may have noticed that you were asked to declare your chosen talent(s) when you filled out your Soldier join form. However, this does not mean that you Soldier will be aware of his talents as soon as he enters the Tower. It will take time for them to manifest and it is up to you to role-play this effectively. If you wish to declare another talent you may do so upon raising to Dedicated.  

Soldier Lessons

Soldiers are frequently made aware of what lessons they must attend, where they must attend them and who will be teaching. They are expected to keep note of these lessons and attend without fail. Those who do not attend their lessons or arrive late will be sent to the Master of Soldiers and Dedicated to be punished; tardiness and poor memory are regarded as weaknesses within the Tower and those who display such personality traits will have them beaten out of them if such a method were considered effective.

However, we do not practise a raising credit system as some RPG sites do. Instead, the lessons that Soldiers must attend are optional Out of Character and compulsory In Character. This means that your character must attend lessons but as a writer you need not write these lessons out in order to be raised. 

Soldier Raising Requirements

Raising requirements for Soldiers at the Black Tower are fairly simple;

• Do whatever you like, as long as its fairly true to the books and as long as you do it over at least 6 strings of 5 posts
• You must be a Soldier for at least 4 active weeks, after that you may choose whether or not to raise your character.

Soldier Raising to Dedicated

Due to the speed at which the Black Tower wishes to raise their initiates there is no official raising to Dedicated. However, it is considered enough that an initiate has made it through the first stage of training without dying beneath the strain of such an intense programme.

When the time comes for a Soldier to be raised to the next level he will be summoned to the Master of Soldiers and Dedicated's Office where he will be presented with his Sword pin. Now he is one step closer to becoming Asha'man.  

Soldier Specific Rules and Regulations

• In Character, Soldiers are allowed to engage in romantic relationships and may even marry if they wish. However, it would be frowned upon, due to tensions between the Towers, if a Soldier engaged in a romantic relationship with a Gaidin in Training, a Novice or an Accepted.
• Soldiers are allowed to leave the Black Tower alone but they must inform the MSOD of their travels and may only leave for a couple of days.

Whenever you do something wrong OOC your punishment most likely will be a weeks' suspension from the site depending on the level of your crime. However, if your Soldier does something wrong (IC) then you will have to write a punishment post/string- the length and type of punishment depends on the Asha'man who caught your Soldier committing the crime.

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