Factum de Gremio Rosa

The Factum de Gremio Rosa

NOW BE IT KNOWN by these presents that THE ORDER OF THE BLACK ROSE, by and through Our Majesty Queen ATERATRA, The Black Rose, does hereby publish and announce this ROYAL FACTUM touching the matter of Protectorates, and that we by this publication intend to be bound and obligated.

Brevis the First (I): Preamble

In the course of international relations and the pursuit of prosperity and peace, it is among the highest privileges of the Order of the Black Rose to be accorded the honor and friendship of certain fellow alliances in Digiterra by the affixing of those alliances’ signatures to our venerable Writ de Credo, and it is a sworn tenet of the Order that such Signatories are to be afforded all the support and protection to which that noble document entitles them. And now therefore, in the open spirit of friendship and chivalry, do we set forth these candid terms of our procedures for Protection of such Signatories as shall seek to be bound thereto, and do pledge our own obligations to the letter and the spirit of this document.

Brevis the Second (II): On Eligibility And Appeal

Any Signatory to the Writ de Credo which, as asserted by its leadership duly qualified and invested, desires to become a Protectorate of the Order, shall be eligible for such consideration upon appeal to the Order, and the Order shall make a timely decision whether or not to grant such Protectorate status in all such appeals.

Brevis the Third (III): On Defense and Hostility

It is the privilege and obligation of every alliance, including the Order and its Protectorates, to protect, uphold, and defend the sovereign rights of its member nations to the full extent of its adopted charters and pronounced ideals, and it is a core and central tenet of the Order and Protectorate that each and every Signatory Nation is entitled to sovereignty, peace and prosperity. Therefore, if any form of Hostility is leveled against a duly accepted Protectorate of the Order, the Order shall provide support to the Protectorate through its massed military, economic and political capacity according to the prevailing circumstances unless the Protectorate requests that the Order not intervene.

Brevis the Fourth (IV): On Sovereignty and the Writ de Credo

This Factum shall not interfere with the internal or foreign sovereignty of the Protectorate except concerning, and to the full extent of, the obligations incumbent upon the Order through its issuance of the Writ de Credo to which the Protectorate is a Signatory. Accordingly, the Protectorate agrees that it shall not commence, commit, further, aid, support, abet, prolong, or orchestrate hostilities against any Signatory of the Writ de Credo without due provocation while it remains a Protectorate of the Order, and that it shall lie in the discretion of the Order to determine what constitutes such provocation under the prevailing circumstances.

Brevis the Fifth (V): On Conduct and Just Cause

It is ever the ideal of the Order to deserve a reputation of chivalry, integrity, and honesty in its affairs, and to champion only those allies which equally repudiate actions born of bad faith and cleave to a model of righteousness. Therefore, all Signatories who appeal for Protectorate status agree by such an appeal that they shall, for the duration of their time as a Protectorate, refrain from all conduct that may diminish this reputation or traduce these ideals. Evidence of any such conduct shall be considered immediately and with the utmost seriousness, and should the Order in its sole discretion determine that such conduct constitutes just cause for hostility, the Order shall not be obliged to support the Protectorate through this Factum, and shall have the immediate and absolute right to abrogate its obligations hereunder.

Brevis the Sixth (VI): On Enactment and Extinguishment

This Factum shall be considered in full force with regard to the Order and the Protectorate as of the date on which both execute it, and shall remain in effect for the term stipulated upon execution or until extinguished by either the Order or the Protectorate. Such extinguishment shall be declared in writing by an empowered official from either the Order or the Signatory, as applicable, and shall take effect and release both parties from their obligations to one another as of 12 hours from the time of such an announcement. In cases where the Order abrogates this Factum for Just Cause as considered in Brevis the Fifth (V), such abrogation shall be effective immediately upon determination. In all cases and under all circumstances, adjudication on the terms and requirements of this Factum shall be made by and through the Order’s Chamber of Inquisition, and all such determinations by that Chamber shall be entered into the permanent record.