Orders in Elanthia

An Official Order is a player-run organization that comes together for a given purpose in the game. Orders specifically exist to provide a role-playing vehicle to the players, to enhance the quality of the game and to provide assistance to other players both members of the Order and non-members alike.

DragonRealms Orders are an active part of Elanthian society and participate in many cultural events as well as social gatherings. However, Orders are much more than a group of people gathering in one certain area to have "fun" together.

Official Orders Versus Unofficial Orders

An official Order is sanctioned (see The Provincial Requirements for Order Sanctioning) by one of the provinces within Elanthia to perform a specific task or return a specific benefit back to the community. An official Order must follow certain guidelines in its creation and must follow certain regulations in order to maintain its official status.

An unofficial Organization may be a group of individuals gathered for the same causes, however they have either chosen not to seek sponsorship for reasons of their own, or some part of their design does not meet the criteria necessary for sanctioning.

Starting An Official Order

An official order starts, typically, with a small group of individuals that have a common goal or role-playing cause. This cause must be geared toward assisting Elanthia or must provide some benefit to the community: charity work, teaching history, promoting unity among the races -- any of the above are acceptable ideals as are many others. Once these folks unite themselves in their cause often they would like some sort of official backing for their purpose and at that point many choose to seek Official Sanctioning.

Official Sanctioning is a review process conducted by the DragonRealms staff members, during which the Order's purpose is carefully analyzed for adherance to policy, genre, in-character nature, and that it provides a unique and clear-cut purpose for the specific province they are located in. During this process it is quite feasible that the Order may have to regroup, restructure and reformat their design several times. However, as the saying goes, the strong survive, and in return the DragonRealms staff does their best to ensure the Order is supported provincially and often works with the Order in publicizing and assisting with their gatherings and events.

Official Order Requirements

Each Official Order must choose a province that is their home base, and select at least one purpose that specifically benefits that province or the members thereof. Their community events should reflect that purpose and they are required to set forth goals stating how they intend to maintain that purpose. To oversee the Order's functioning, each Order establishes a Speaker, a Vice-Speaker, a Treasurer and a standing council of 10. These positions are selected by the founding members and are maintained through voting processes of the continual members. The Order must also maintain a standing membership worthy of their Official Sanction.

After an Order is considered Official, the work does not end. While fun begins, it is still a constant process of ensuring that the Order performs up to the standards deemed necessary and should they fall behind, they must appropriately remedy the situation.

Official Order Perks and Benefits

In exchange for the Order's hard work and dedication the DragonRealms staff provides various benefits for the Official Orders.

Officially Recognized Orders and Organizations

The current GameMaster in charge of orders is GM Jhustis.
Former Orders gurus have included: GM Lyneya, GM Ariawen, GM Chadi, and GM Naiph.

Note: While The Locksmith Union is an official organization, it does not qualify as an Official Order due its structure. However, there are some in-game mechanics developed for The Locksmith Union.