| Section 1: Conduct | |
| 1: All Members of SeeD shall comport themselves with honor and dignity at all times while representing the organization. This includes all time on-mission, especialy in the presence of clients or other military forces. Additionaly, any time a member of SeeD is in Uniform, he or she is assumed to be representing the organization at all times. Regardless of dress status, all SeeD members in the presence of Command Staff, or present in Communications or Tactical Briefing areas are required to adhere to the general codes of good conduct. | |
| A: Regardless of situation or dress status, no SeeD shall act in such a manner as to bring shame to the organization as a whole, by word or deed against heads of state, or by violating the laws of sovriegn nations without authorization from Garden. | |
| B: Violence between SeeDs is not tolerated. Any disputes should be taken to the commanding officer to arbitrate. Both brawling and dueling are offenses punishable by immediate demotion. | |
| C: Brawling with members of opposing militaries is prohibited, even if provoked verbally. The only possible excuse for engaging in combat with other military forces is defense. SeeDs may not attack members of other military when not specificaly engaged against them on mission, unless they are attacked first. Once attacked, a SeeD member may use his or her judgement as to the amount of force nessisary to resolve the situation, as long as it does not violate any further articles of this code. | |
| 2: SeeD members shall maintain a certain minimum standard of conduct within the organization. All Enlisted personnel will salute officers when they enter and leave the room, unless at attention. All Enlisted Personnel and junior officers will salute when reporting to a superior officer. All SeeD personnel will rise when a member of the Command Staff enters the room or comes within 20 feet, if sitting or laying down. All SeeDs will respect the chain of command. No SeeD shall refuse an order from a superior officer, unless the order is illegal, as presented in the exceptions to this article. | |
| A: No SeeD shall be required to accept an order to torture human beings, commit genocide, or murder helpless non-combatants or children. Taking such actions, or giving such orders is grounds for immediate incarceration and loss of all SeeD rank and status. In addition, this addendum covers acts such as rape, physical, mental, or magical abuse of any human being. No SeeD shall violate the basic human rights of any person. Note that enemy soldiers have given up their right to not be killed by entering military service and endangering the lives of SeeD personnel, but no SeeD shall deliberately prolong the suffering of enemy combatants, or 'play' with a human foe before dispatching them. | |
| B: Should an officer prove to be incapable or unfit for command by word, condition, or deed, it is the responsibility of the next highest ranking officer or Enlisted person to remove the officer from command. This may only be done with the support of at least 3/4 of the personnel under that officer's command. Any action to remove an officer from command will be reviewed by a Court Martial at the earliest opportunity. Officers who are incapacitated by magic, illness, or other outside condition may be returned to command as soon as they are treated, with no loss of status. | |
| C: SeeD members shall maintain a certain minimum of cordial behavior with each other. All interactions, if they cannot be kept on a friendly level, will not be reduced below a purely professional level. Harassment of SeeD personnel from within the organization will not be tolerated. No member of SeeD Firshall be required to maintain friendly relations with any other SeeD or Support Personnel. | |
| D: Public Displays of affection are not permitted on Garden grounds in public, nor while SeeD members are in uniform or on mission, while in the presence of persons outside the organization. While Garden understands that relationships will and do happen between SeeDs, private lives are to be kept private. Public Displays of affection include, but are not limited to, kissing on the lips more than briefly, extended and energetic embraces, touching inappropriate areas of the body, like the rear, and having hands underneath clothing. New: Fraternization between Enlisted Personnel and Officers is not permitted. Relationships must remain between Enlisted Personnel, or between Officers, no exceptions for new relationships that form after this addendum was added to the Code. Pre-Existing relationships will be permitted, though Enlisted Personnel who are romanticaly involved with officers will be strongly encouraged to undergo officer training. |
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| 3: SeeD members shall keep a certain standard of personal grooming and hygine, as well as appropriate dress. At all times a SeeD shall keep to dress and standards of grooming that reflect well on the organization. Acceptable dress will vary by culture and climate, and it is the responsibility of each SeeD member to determine what is appropriate, with the following Guidelines for dress codes within Garden grounds as a general guide for what the organization finds appropriate. | |
| A: SeeD members are to keep their hair in a neat and respectable condition. Hair for men shall not exceed the shoulders, without special dispensation for culture or special permission from Garden. Hair for women shall not be cut shorter than the jawline, and dyes of non-natural colors shall not be used for women or men, again, without special permission, and accounting for cultural norms. Beards and mustaches must be kept closely trimmed, and require special permission. | |
| B: Appropriate dress for men includes pants in the fall, winter, and spring seasons, and pants or shorts during the summer. All male SeeD members must be wearing a shirt while in public on Garden grounds. No clothing with derogatory, inflammatory, or controversial statements inscribed on it. Absolutely no clothing with symbols promoting other military forces. An exception to the previous rule is made for Samurai who wish to wear a Clan Mon. No extremely flashy or revealing clothing. No more than two peices of nonmagical jewlery. Swimming suits for Men must be of the shorts type, and must fall at least to midthigh, though to just above the knee is preferred. | |
| C: Appropriate dress for women includes pants or skirts in the fall, winter, and spring seasons, and pants or skirts during the summer. All female SeeD members must be wearing an opaque blouse and a bra while in public on Garden grounds. No clothing with derogatory, inflammatory, or controversial statements inscribed on it. Absolutely no clothing with symbols promoting other military forces. An exception to the previous rule is made for Samurai who wish to wear a Clan Mon. No extremely flashy or revealing clothing, including no skirts shorter than just above the knee. No low-cut blouses or dresses, no backless dresses. No more than four peices of nonmagical jewlery. Swimming suits for women must be one peice, and must be both opaque and reasonably modest. | |
| D: All SeeD members must be clean and groomed whenever possible. Combat conditions are an obvious exception, as is dirt and sweat from training, but SeeDs are to make an effort to be clean personally whenever possible. Similarly, SeeD living quarters are to be kept tidy and organized, with a minimum of both goods and mess. | |
| 4: SeeD members shall maintain the integrity of their bodies with respect to proper nutrition and dangerous substances. SeeD is a military organization who's members may be called upon to act at any time, and as such, all members must make an effort to remain in good health and fighting condition as much as possible. | |
| A: All SeeDs are to keep regular hours, and maintain good nutritional habits, as well as have regular physical checkups. While on liberty, it is perfectly permissable to indulge in late nights and party cuisine, but SeeDs should not make a habit of that behavior, nor endanger missions through lack of sleep and proper food. Regular hours on Garden Grounds are Curfew at 2200 hours, except for those on night watch, and reveille at 0600 hours. As part of an effort to keep regular hours in the garden, no excess noise shall be made after curfew, and before reveille. Excess noise includes loudly talking or shouting in hallways, noisy forms of combat training, especialy magical or summoning training, and music, performed or electronicaly played. As a general guideline, any noise being made in a room should not be audible outside that room after curfew. | |
| B: SeeD members are not prohibited from consuming alchohol, or smoking tobacco, but both are permitted only in moderation. SeeDs are not to make a habit of being drunk, nor are they to become dependant on alchohol or any other drug. No dispensation will be made for violations of the code of conduct that occur while a SeeD is intoxicated. | |
| C: Dangerous recreational drugs are not permitted for the use of SeeD members. Anyone caught using dangerous recreational substances for pleasure will recive immediate medical treatment and face disciplinary action. The use of hard drugs is not compatable with the SeeD lifestyle in any way. | |
| Section 2: Battle | |
| 1: No SeeD shall be left behind in battle, on mission or otherwise, unless saving the comrade would be nearly certain to cause the death of other SeeDs as well. Leaving a comrade behind is considered to be an extreme circumstance, all SeeDs are required to take whatever possible actions they can to prevent the loss of any personnel in action. There are no exceptions to the broad interpretation of this code, and SeeDs who are callous with the lives of their Squadmates will find themselves facing a Court Martial. | |
| A: If any living SeeD is left behind, due to unavoidable circumstances, or misconduct on the part of his or her squad, an immediate extraction operation will become the highest priority of the local SeeD forces, even superseeding paid contracts, if there is no chance of a loss of innocent life. Whatever nessisary resources must be expended to return the MIA member to garden shall be spent without regard for the cost of replacing them, again, as long as such expendatures do not endanger other SeeDs. | |
| B: If any SeeD member is captured by an opposing force, no ransom shall be paid. Instead, a rescue mission shall be organzied ASAP. Torture of SeeD captives will be answered by punative strike missions against the responsible party. Killing of SeeD captives will be answered by highly destructive punative strike missions, up to the total destruction of a nation's military, if deemed nessisary to deter further killing of SeeD captives. Under no circumstances will any MIA or POW member be abandoned. As many SeeD members as nessisary will mobilize to see that the fate of any MIA SeeDs is discovered, even if this restricts the contracts the organization can take on. | |
| C: SeeD members that are captured should remember that they are highly trained Special Forces operatives, and should do anything they can to aid rescue forces and escape on their own, circumstances permitting. | |
| 2: In battle, all SeeD members shall obey orders, through the chain of command. Following orders and working together as a team, independant of any personal problems team members may have is essential to the survival and success of SeeD as a whole. During battle, personal issues must be set aside until it is over. Each SeeD member should strive to be as productive and useful member of the team as possible, supporting comrades and attacking the enemy as is most situationaly appropriate, without regard for personal glory or gain. | |
| A: As Special Forces, SeeD members understand that independant action is sometimes required. There are two types of acceptable, independant action. In most cases, SeeD members will be given vauge battle objectives, and be expected to accomplish them in whatever fashion they consider to be best. This type of independant action is not only acceptable, but encouraged. The other type is acting contrary to orders. SeeDs should only act contrary to orders when there is some clear and present danger they belive their Commanding Officer to be ignorant of, and there is no time for warning or discussion. SeeDs should be extrodinarily careful in appealing to this clause in the regulations. Any SeeD who violates orders, especialy a directo order, can expect a Court Martial to convene and make an inquiry into the situation. | |
| B: SeeD members are fortified with some of the best magic and equipment avaliable in the world, as well as a training program that is without peer. There is no excuse for cowardice on the battlefield. Some fear is natural, even prudent, but SeeDs who abandon their comrades to danger from cowardice that was not magicaly imposed shall be subjected to immediate imprisonment and court-martial. Similarly, betrayal of the SeeD organization is excuseable only by the defense of Mind Control. Betraying SeeDs in such a manner that leads to the death of anyone in the organization is punishable by death. | |
| C: Spoils of battle are assigned to the use of the individual squad that aquired said spoils, unless the officer in command of the operation has some tactical use for them, or the Contract appropriates the spoils in question. Spoils are therefore to be shared among the entire squad, by mutual agreement. If an agreement cannot be reached, the officer in command of the squad shall make the decision. | |
| D: In battle against humans, SeeDs should fight cleanly and honorably. The suffering of foes should not be prolonged, human foes should not be humiliated or toyed with. In battle against monsters, some of this code is relaxed, but SeeDs should still not show excessive cruelty for the enjoyment of it. The enjoyment of the pain and suffering of others is considered a mental disorder by SeeD, and the treatment of it will be dealt with accordingly. | |
| E: SeeDs shall not act beyond the wording of a contract. Even if the Squad or other battlegroup has the power to carry the battle past the contract�s objectives, SeeDs shall not take that further action without some clear benifit to the Squad or the SeeD organization in mind. Regular over-performance of contracts will harm the SeeD organization as a whole. | |
| F: Corrallary to E - SeeD exists to defend against Sorceresses, and other tyrants. SeeDs who act in the defense of innocent people shall never be in violation of the regulations refering to acting beyond a contract. | |
| G: When in battle against extremely powerful malevolent forces, such as Enemy Sorceresses, Dragons and other powerful monsters, or any threat of a similar level of power, SeeDs should neither expect quarter, nor give it. When an enemy threatens all of Gaia and it�s People, SeeD should act, and act without hesitation or mercy. | |
| Section 3: Procedures | |
| 1: Chain of Command - All SeeDs will respect the Chain of Command. Orders that do not violate the regulations, given through the proper channels MUST be obeyed, in a timely and cooperative fashion. Questions to clarify the content of an order are permitted, if they do not unduely delay the execution of that order. Questions about the purpose of an order are permissible only at the sufferance of the officer giving the order, and should in general be saved until after the situation requiring orders has passed. | |
| 2: Advancement - SeeDs advance in rank over the course of time and good performance. All SeeDs are expected to have ambitions for advancement, and to perform their duties to their best ability. SeeDs who put forth a minimum effort and fail to advance will eventualy be discharged from the organization. Because of the scarcity of positions at very high ranks, SeeDs who recive ranks of O10 or E7, or higher, should not be worried if they fail to advance due to lack of avaliable positions, as long as they continue to show good performance. | |
| A: Commendations - SeeDs may recive commendations for especialy good performance, or taking on responsiblity without being asked to do so, or for any other reasons as determined by their CO. Commendations are an indicator of excellence, and SeeDs who regularly recive commendations should expect their rate of advancement to reflect this. Commendations are not, however, reason to lord superiority over fellow members of the organiztion. | |
| B: Reprimands - SeeDs who recive reprimands should note that they have recived disciplinary action that is less severe than demotion, but still serious. Gaining enough reprimands is a sure way to be demoted, even offenses that would not normally result in demotion may so result, if the SeeD in question has enough related reprimands. As much as Commendations affect advancement positively, reprimands affect it negatively. | |
| C: Promotion - SeeDs may apply for promotion once a year. Other promotions may be awarded by the command staff, at their discretion. After an application for promotion, a special comittee reviews the SeeD�s record, and makes a reccomendation to the command staff. One of the command staff will then confirm or overrule the comittee�s findings, and if they confirm, the SeeD will advance one grade. All SeeDs should be aware that as they advance in the ranks, they will be expected to take on more responsiblity, and the bar for good performance will be raised each time. | |
| D: Demotion - Extremely poor behavior, or violation of regulations may result in demotion. At the discretion of the Command Staff, or a SeeD�s commanding officer, a SeeD may be demoted. Demotions are considered extremely serious disciplinary action. Enough demotions will cause a SeeD to be discharged dishonorably from the organization. | |
| E: Performance Reports - Every three months, each Commanding Officer will write performance reports for all SeeDs under his or her direct command. These reports shall be as unbiased as the officer can possibly make them, to reflect the strengths and weaknesses of the SeeDs in question as such pertain to the total strength and health of the organization. As SeeD is more relaxed than some military organizations, personal habits and mannarisims are not cause for a poor performance report unless those mannarisims somehow conflict with the execution of the SeeD�s duty. Approximately every year, on a random scedule, the content of an officer�s performance reports will be checked against the actual facts by a contractor investigator. | |
| F: Appeals - In the case of a Reprimand, Demotion, or poor performance report that a SeeD wishes to dispute, an appeal can be made. Once the appeal is submitted, it will be presented to the appeals comittee as soon as possible. Appeals are processed in the order in which they are recived. The judgement of the appeals comittee can itself be appealed to Commander Lionheart, or Lady Lionheart, but SeeDs who make a second appeal should be prepared for further disciplinary action if the appeal is frivolous. The judgement of Commander Lionheart or Lady Lionheart on an appeal is final. | |
| 3: Special Offices - SeeDs may apply to take on a special office, provided they have the qualifications for such an office. Similarly, Enlisted Personnel may apply for Officer status, provided they are willing to undergo the leadership curriculum. The Special Offices avaliable to actual SeeDs are: Military Police, Instructor, Reasearcher, Technical Specialist, Emergency Response, and Medics. Application for a special office is handled much the same as a promotion application. SeeDs who hold a special office will be expected to act in that role either in addition to taking on contracts, or instead moving to a support role. A special office is no garuntee of being excused from combat situations. | |
| 4: Missions & Contracts - Upon reciving the order to take a contract, the CO of the squad assigned to that mission shall make any nessisary preparations and requests in time appropriate to the time scale demanded by the client. When faced with a decision to either cut the time limit closely, or complete the mission early, it is better to attempt an early ending, in the absence of compelling reasons to delay. | |
| 5: Contracts - SeeD officers of O5 rank or above may self-negotiate contracts with clients, subject to approval from the Command Staff. Officers of O5 and O6 grades require a member of the Command Staff to sign off on a contract after negotiations for final approval. Officers of O7 rank and above may have full authority to negotiate contracts. Officers who successfuly negotiate a contract will then be expected to carry it out if the contract lies within the capabilities of that officer�s troops. No contract beyond the scope of an officer�s personal command can be approved without the consent of a member of the command staff. Upon the successful completion of a contract negotated by an officer, that officer shall recive 10% of the value of the contract to distribute among his Squad if the officer�s Squad was capable of completing the contract. Officers who negotiate a contract that is carried out by other forces will recive 5% of the contract in reward for their proactive action. The most common split for the 10% of a contract is 4% directly to the officer with the remaining 6% to be divided by the enlisted members. | |
| Section 4: Equipment | |
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| Section 5: Spoils | |
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| Section 6: Rights | |
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| Section 7: Advancement | |
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| Section 8: Special Offices | |
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| Section 9: Civilian Contractors and Support Personnel | |
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| Section 10: Trainees | |
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