The purpose of the various ranks are as follows:
New Order - re-establish SX back to its roots and restore the greatness that once was.
High Council - maintain order and vote on various issues that arise in SX.
Member - make viable contributions to the group and carry out various tasks from the High Council.
Inductee - continue to prove your worth until you are granted access into the circle of full membership.
Recruit - prove that you are worthy of being indoctrinated into SX.
Retired - fade into obscurity.
Exiled - run and hide.
The transitions of the various ranks are as follows:
recruit <-> inductee -> member <-> high council <-> new order
high council/member <-> retirement
high council/member -> exiled (wall of shame)
In other words, a person can go back and forth between being an inductee and a recruit depending if they're succeeding/failing in their inductee tasks. If somebody is not doing their job in the high council, they can also go back to regular member status. If somebody decides to leave the group after becoming a member/high council then they go into retirement (they can also be forced into retirement if they are not doing their job). Any retired member can come out of retirement with the permission of the high council. If somebody commits a great offense against the group as a whole, they can end up in the wall of shame. This is generally reserved for liars and snitches. Throughout all of the years (since 1997), we have only had one person make it to the wall of shame. That person is Durandal.