The stewards of the realm
The staff handbook
The code every member of the staff keeps. It is public, so that every player knows what to expect of the staff - and so that anyone who applies knows what they are promising.
In one line
Staff powers serve the realm, never the person who holds them.
I. Why the staff exist
The staff of Blood & Banners keep the realm fair, so that every player can trust that the story is decided by role-play and not by who knows whom. Your powers are lent to you for that alone, and every rule below follows from it.
II. No favouritism
Friends, rivals, your faction and strangers are judged by the same rules and the same scale of punishment. If you would not do it for a stranger, do not do it for a friend.
Do not promise outcomes, give private warnings ahead of a punishment, or soften a punishment because you like someone.
III. Your powers stay out of your own role-play
You may play a character like anyone else, but your staff powers never touch your own story. No teleporting, spawning, healing, freeing, punishing or watching others for the good of your character, your friends or your faction.
Nothing you learn as staff - from reports, logs, tickets or the staff's own talk - may be used in character. Your faction gains nothing from your office: no warning of a raid, no knowledge of a plot, no quiet help in a war.
IV. Log every punishment, with a reason
Every warning, jailing, kick and ban goes on the record with a reason a stranger could understand: what happened, when, and which rule it broke. Use the commands and pages that keep a record: /warn in the game, the warnings and the accounts in the steward's hall.
A punishment that is not logged did not happen, and you will be asked why it was given.
V. Be neutral in disputes
Hear both sides before you decide. Ask for evidence: the realm's log, clips, screenshots and witnesses. Speak calmly and out of character. Judge the act, not the person.
When you are unsure, ask another member of the staff before you act. A decision made slowly and fairly is better than one made quickly.
VI. Step aside when you are involved
If a report concerns you, your friends, your faction or a quarrel you were part of, you do not handle it. Hand it to another member of the staff, and to an admin when nobody else is free or when the matter is serious.
The same holds for appeals against your own punishments: another member of the staff reads them.
VII. Reports are private
What players tell the staff, what the logs show and what the staff say among themselves stays with the staff. Never share a report, who made it, a ticket, a note on an application or a staff discussion with anyone outside the staff, in character or out of it.
Players' email addresses, connections and personal details are never shared with anyone.
VIII. How a trial works
A new moderator serves a trial of 30 days. During the trial you have a moderator's powers and a moderator's duties. The admins watch how you work, read your logs and may ask you about your decisions.
At the end of the trial the admins decide: you are confirmed as a moderator, your trial is extended, or you return to being a player. The admins may end a trial early, either way. A trial that does not work out is no mark against you, and you may apply again later.
IX. When the code is broken
A member of the staff who breaks this code may be warned, put back on trial or removed from the staff. Abuse of staff powers means removal at once, and may be punished like any player's offence.