THE SHORT LOGICAL RULESET ====================================================================== The Game of Agora ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1020/0 (Power=3) Name Is Agora The Official Name of this Nomic shall be Agora. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2105/1 (Power=1) The Map of Agora ____ _ /| DARWIN -> \_ |/ | / \ __/ / | | <- DSV / / | \ _ \ \_ | \ MORNINGTON CRESCENT -> / | <- GOETHE BARRIER REEF _ _/ | \_/\_/ \ / \\ <- SHARK BAY | | / | | \ <- TOWNSVILLE ___/ | | \_ __/ | | | / | | \ / O <- SHERLOCK NESS | |/\ | | | |_ | | | EMERALD -> \ \ |__________=_____, \ / | | | <- BRISBANE \ O <- LT. ANNE MOORE | __ _\ \ | |_______/ \/ | | __/\ <- TARCOOLA / LORD HOWE -> \ __/ \_ / / PERTH -> | _ __/ | /| IVANHOE -> | <- WOLLONGONG / _/ \/ \ / / | / |_ / <- ESPERANTO v /__ |_ / <- CANBERRA \_/ \ | \_ _| __ __ | | \__/ __ \ / __ \___=_ ___| / \ | / \ MANUBOURNE -> \/ \|/ _,.---v---._ /\__ /\__/\ / \ | | \_ _/ / \ | / \ \_| @ __| \_/ <- HOBART \ \_ \ ,__/ / ~~~`~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/~~~~ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 101/2 (Power=3) Agora May I? Any player is permitted to perform an action which is not regulated. An action is regulated if: (a) the action is prohibited; (b) the rules indicate that if certain conditions are satisfied, then some player is permitted to perform the action; (c) the action would, as part of its effect, modify information for which some player is required to be a recordkeepor; (d) the action would, as part of its effect, make it impossible to make arbitrary modifications to the rules by any combinations of actions by players; or (e) the courts have held that the action is regulated, and this finding has not been overturned. A player besides the Speaker is always permitted to deregister rather than continue to play. Please treat Agora right good forever. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2110/0 (Power=3) Win by Paradox If the legality of an action cannot be determined with finality, or if by a Judge's best reasoning, not appealed within a week of eir Judgement, an action appears equally legal and illegal, then the Speaker shall award the Patent Title of Champion to the first Player to publicly note that condition. The Herald shall record that this Title was achieved "by paradox" in eir report. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1527/4 (Power=1) Unsnarling Tangles Whenever a message contains more than one note on which the rules place some legal significance, the notes shall be taken to have been sent sequentially in the order they appear in the message. A tangle is any set of two or more notes in a message, none of which can be determined to appear in the message before the others. If a message containing a tangle does not provide an order for the notes in that tangle, then the notes in that tangle shall be considered ambiguous and without effect if the effects of those notes on the gamestate would depend on the order in which they take effect, discounting the mere fact of their taking effect in a different order. Created by Proposal 1750, Oct. 21 1995 Infected and Amended(1) by Rule 1454, Feb. 2 1997, substantial (unattributed) Amended(2) by Proposal 3452 (Steve), Apr. 7 1997, substantial Amended(3) by Proposal 4150 (Elysion), 13 May 2001 Amended(4) by Proposal 4833 (Maud), 6 August 2005 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 754/5 (Power=3) Freedom of Communication Freedom of speech being essential for the healthy functioning of any non-Imperial nomic, it is hereby resolved: (1) No Player shall be prohibited from participating in the Fora. (2) No Player shall be punished for accurately quoting a Rule, Proposal, Statement, Judgement, another Player, or another reference. Regularity of communication being essential for the healthy function of any nomic, it is hereby resolved: (3) A difference in spelling, grammar, or dialect, or the use of a synonym or abbreviation in place of a word or phrase, is inconsequential in all forms of communication, as long as the difference does not create an ambiguity in meaning. (4) A term explicitly defined by the Rules shall be interpreted as having that meaning, as shall its ordinary-language synonyms not explicitly defined by the rules. In particular, the term "number" shall be interpreted as "real number". (5) Any term primarily used in mathematical or legal contexts, and not addressed by previous provisions of this Rule, shall be interpreted as having the meaning it has in those contexts. (6) Any term not addressed by previous provisions of this Rule shall be interpreted as having its ordinary-language meaning. This rule takes precedence over any other rules which dictate terminology or grammar. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1478/5 (Power=1) Executors and Limited Executors (a) An Executor of an entity is a Player who is empowered by the Rules to act on behalf of that entity, who is called the Executee. There may be more than one such Player. An Executor of an Executee may perform on behalf of the Executee all such actions as the Rules permit the Executee to perform. (b) A Limited Executor of an entity is a Player who is empowered by the Rules to perform on behalf of that entity a subset of the actions which the Rules permit the entity to perform. A Limited Executor is permitted to perform on behalf of an Executee only such actions as are explicitly permitted by the Rules. (c) A Player is always eir own Executor. Other entities have Executors (or Limited Executors) only as and when the Rules provide. (d) A Player acting on behalf of an entity other than emself must clearly indicate on whose behalf e is acting. A Player who does not clearly indicate that e is acting on behalf of some entity other than emself is presumed to be acting on eir own behalf. (e) Only persons may perform actions. Non-persons perform actions only via the agency of persons, as specified by the Rules. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Definitions ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1727/14 (Power=1) Happy Birthday WHEREAS, in June 1993, the world's only MUD-based nomic, Nomic World, had recently collapsed; yet, many of its players enjoyed nomic and did not wish to forego such a noble pursuit; And WHEREAS, Originator Chuck Carroll therefore composed an Initial Ruleset for an email nomic, based on the Initial Rulesets of Peter Suber, inventor of Nomic, and on the Rulesets of Nomic World and other nomics, And WHEREAS, a nomic thus rose like a phoenix from the ashes of Nomic World, played on the mailing list originally set up for discussion of Nomic World, and coming into existence at June 30, 1993, 00:04:30 GMT +1200, with a message sent by First Speaker Michael Norrish, which read, in part, "I see no reason to let this get bogged down; there are no precedents or rules that cover this situation, so I think we may as well begin directly.... Proposals for new rules are invited. In accordance with the rules, these will be published, numbered and distributed by me at my earliest convenience." And WHEREAS, this nomic began as a humble and nameless nomic, known unofficially as yoyo, after the mailing list it was played on, until its Players, much later, gave it its official name of Agora, And WHEREAS, Agora has now become the wisest, noblest, eldest, and most interesting of all active email nomics, due to the hard work and diligence of Agorans as well as the frequent advice of Agoraphobes, And WHEREAS, Agorans desire to joyously commemorate Agora's founding, BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that Agora's Birthday is defined to be the entire day of June 30, GMT +1200, of each year, and as soon as possible after the end of Agora's Birthday, the Herald shall award the boon of celebration to each Player who, during Agora's Birthday, publicly recognizes this Grand Event. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1586/2 (Power=2) Definition and Continuity of Entities No two Rule-defined entities shall have the same name or nickname. If the Rules defining some entity are repealed or amended such that they no longer define that entity, then that entity along with all its properties shall cease to exist. If the Rules defining an entity are amended such that they still define that entity but with different properties, that entity and its properties shall continue to exist to whatever extent is possible under the new definitions. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2040/4 (Power=2) Switches A switch is a set of states associated with a class of entities. Each switch shall have a default state, which if not otherwise specified shall be the first state mentioned in the rule defining the switch. The recordkeepor for a class of entities shall also maintain records of any switches associated with that class, as well as the current state of the switch for each entity of the class. If the recordkeepor is required to publish a report, that report shall include records of these switches. The rules may require a different player to maintain and report these records. Whenever an entity is created in a class of entities associated with a switch, it shall be in the state of the switch specified by the order or provision creating it; if no state is specified, it shall be in the default state of the switch. Whenever an entity joins a class of entities associated with a switch, the entity shall be in the default state of the switch. Whenever an instrument indicates that a switch on an entity is set or changed to some state, and the rules do not otherwise forbid it, the entity shall come to be in that state and simultaneously cease to be in any other state of the switch. A player who may flip a switch on an entity to some state other than the current state of the switch may do so by announcement. In eir announcement, e must indicate the entity, switch, and new state. Upon this announcement, provided it is valid, the switch is set to the named state. A switch is loose unless the rules define it as stuck. An executor of an entity may flip any of the loose switches on that entity, unless the rules otherwise prohibit doing so. The stuck switches on an entity can be flipped only when the rules so indicate. Whenever a switch is created, or becomes associated with a class of entities, then each entity in the class that had previously been in a state that is now a state of the switch shall continue to be in that state; all other entities in the class shall be in the default state of the switch. Whenever a state ceases to be a state of a switch, all entities in the class that had previously been in that state shall be in the default state of the switch. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 478/15 (Power=3) Fora Publicity is a stuck forum switch with values null, Discussion, and Public. A forum's publicity may not be changed except as described in this rule. The Registrar may flip the publicity of a forum without objection as long as: (a) e sends eir announcement of intent to that forum; and (b) if the forum is to be made public, the announcement by which the Registrar makes that forum public is sent to all existing public fora. Each active player should ensure e can receive messages via each public forum. The Registrar's report shall include a list of all public or discussion fora and sufficient data regarding each to allow players to receive messages via that medium. The Registrar need not keep track of null fora. A message is public if and only if it is sent via a public forum or is sent to all players and contains a clear designation of intent to be public. A player "publishes" or "announces" something by sending a public message. A player performs an action "by announcement" by announcing that e performs it. A player performs an action "by private message" to some player by sending an appropriate private message to the specified player. Any action performed by sending a message is performed at the time date-stamped on that message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 459/5 (Power=1) Agoran Epochs Days, weeks, months, quarters, and years are epochs. The corresponding Agoran epochs are Agoran days, Agoran weeks, Agoran months, Agoran quarters, and Agoran years, respectively. Agoran days begin at midnight GMT. Agoran weeks begin at midnight GMT on Monday. Agoran months begin at midnight GMT on the first day of each Gregorian month. Agoran quarters begin when the Agoran months of January, April, July, and October begin. Agoran years begin when the Agoran month of January begins. An Agoran epoch lasts until the next Agoran epoch of the same type begins. Except in this Rule, when the Rules refer to an epoch as an independent entity (e.g. "each month"), they shall be interpreted as referring to the corresponding Agoran epoch. However, when the Rules refer to an epoch as a relative duration (e.g. "one month after", "within one month", "for one month"), they shall be interpreted as referring to the ordinary-language meaning of that duration. Automatic events that happen daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly happen at the beginning of the corresponding Agoran epoch. Any activity that must be performed daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly must be performed at least once during each corresponding Agoran epoch. Other Rules may explicitly define alternate schedules for events or classes of events. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1688/2 (Power=3) Power The power of an entity is a natural number, which is zero unless otherwise defined or modified according to procedures defined by the rules. An instrument is an entity with positive power. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1023/16 (Power=2) Definition of "As Soon As Possible" A requirement to perform an action "as soon as possible" is a requirement to perform the action within a week. If a Player fails to observe such a requirement, and no other Rule defines a penalty for the failure, then the Player commits the Class 1 Infraction of Tardiness, which may be reported by any Player. This Rule does not prevent late actions from taking effect, but merely penalizes the Player for being late. Other Rules may grant extensions of the penalty-free period to non-active Players without conflicting with this Rule. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1079/4 (Power=1) Definition of "Random" (a) When a Rule requires a random choice to be made, then the choice shall be made using whatever probability distribution among the possible outcomes the Rules provide for making that choice. If the Rules do not specify a probability distribution, then a uniform probability distribution shall be used. (b) Where the Rules do not indicate who is required to make a particular random choice, it shall be made by the Speaker. (c) When making a random choice as required by the Rules, a Player may rely on any physical or computational process whose probability distribution among the possible outcomes is reasonably close to that required by the Rules. (d) For the purposes of this Rule, tossing a platonic solid that is not specially weighted has a probability distribution among the possible outcomes that is reasonably close to uniform. (e) For other methods, the Courts are the final arbiter of whether a method's probability distribution among the possible outcomes is reasonably close to that required by the Rules. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1769/2 (Power=2) Holidays A Holiday is a period of time, not to exceed 17 days in length, designated as such by the Rules. If one Holiday begins within 72 hours of the end of another Holiday, the two Holidays and the time between them are taken as a single Holiday, unless this would cause the combined Holiday to exceed 17 days in length, in which case the first Holiday is extended to 17 days and the second Holiday does not occur. During a Holiday, no Proposal may be distributed by the Promotor, nor may any Call for Judgement, Judgement, notice of Appeal, Decision of Appeals Boards, or Opinion be published by the Clerk of the Courts; however, if any of the above do take place during the Holiday in violation of this Rule, this Rule does not deprive them of their usual effects. If some Rule requires that an action be done prior to a given time, and that given time falls during a Holiday, or within the 72-hour period immediately following that Holiday, then that action need not be done until 72 hours after that Holiday ends. If some Rule bases the time of a future event upon the time of another event, or requires that a Player perform some action within some time of another event, and that other event occurs during a Holiday, the time at which the Holiday ends shall be used instead for the purpose of determining the time of the future event or of the time by which the Player must perform the specified action. This Rule takes precedence over all Rules pertaining to the timing of events, and over all Rules which require Players to perform events before a specified time. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1787/1 (Power=1) April Fool's Day A break from all the stress and strife and matters of much gravity, is what this Nomic sorely needs: a dithyramb to levity! In order that, just once a year, our hearts be light and gay, Let April Fool's Day, every year become a Holiday! And should it one day be observed by any wag who breaks a Rule, the Speaker will one Boon award to em who was the biggest Fool. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1870/3 (Power=1) Merry Christmas, Agora, And A Happy New Year! The period each year from midnight GMT on the morning of 24 December to the beginning of the first Agoran week to begin after 2 January is a Holiday. There exists a Boon known as Shiny New Toy, and an Albatross known as Lump of Coal. For the purposes of this rule, Players with a Stain of at least one Blot are known as Naughty, and Players with a Stain of less than one Blot are known as Nice. As soon as possible after the conclusion of the Holiday described above, the Herald shall award a Shiny New Toy to each Nice Player, and a Lump of Coal to each Naughty player. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1750/1 (Power=1) Read the Ruleset Week The first Agoran week each year which falls entirely in February is Read the Ruleset Week. Agorans are encouraged to read the ruleset during Read the Ruleset Week. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The Rules ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1482/1 (Power=3) Precedence between Rules with Unequal Power In a conflict between Rules with different Power, the Rule with the higher Power takes precedence over the Rule with the lower Power. CFJ 1103 (Judged TRUE, Aug. 21 1998): "In the case of conflict between Rules of unequal Power, the higher Powered Rule cannot defer to the lower Powered Rule, unless the higher Powered Rule takes precedence over Rule 1482." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1030/4 (Power=3) Precedence between Rules with Equal Power If two or more Rules with the same Power conflict with one another, then the Rule with the lower Number takes precedence. If at least one of the Rules in conflict explicitly says of itself that it defers to another Rule (or type of Rule) or takes precedence over another Rule (or type of Rule), then such provisions shall supercede the numerical method for determining precedence. If all of the Rules in conflict explicitly say that their precedence relations are determined by some other Rule for determining precedence relations, then the determinations of the precedence determining Rule shall supercede the numerical method for determining precedence. If two or more Rules claim to take precedence over one another or defer to one another, then the numerical method again governs. CFJ 1104 (Judged TRUE, Sep. 9 1998): "The presence in a Rule of deference clause, claiming that the Rule defers to another Rule, does not prevent a conflict with the other Rule arising, but shows only how the Rule says that conflict is to be resolved when it does arise." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1513/4 (Power=1) Authority of Non-Rule Entities The Rules may grant to certain entities the power to require Players to perform (or refrain from performing) actions. Such Entities shall have whatever power is granted to them by the Rules. In the event that the requirements of such an Entity conflicts with the Rules, the Rules shall always take precedence. If two or more such Entities conflict with one another, then the relative precedence of the respective Rules which grant coercive Power to the Entities in conflict shall determine which requirements take precedence. If two or more Entities authorized by the same Rule conflict, then the Entity mentioned first in that Rule takes precedence over the others. No entity (including any body of text) may require a Player to perform or refrain from performing any action unless that Player has previously been provided with the information of which actions may be required of or prohibited em by that entity. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2039/1 (Power=3) Ought implies can No player may be required to do anything e is not empowered to do, and the failure of a player to do something e was not empowered to do shall never constitute the commission of a crime or infraction. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The Players ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 869/17 (Power=1) How to Join and Leave Agora A person who is not currently registered as a player and is not prohibited from registering is permitted to register. A person registers or deregisters by announcement. Whenever a person registers, e becomes a player. Whenever a player deregisters or is deregistered, e ceases to be a player and is prohibited from registering for the next thirty days. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1677/14 (Power=1) Honoring the New Readiness is a stuck player switch with values unready and ready. A player may flip eir readiness to ready. Whenever a player registers who has not been registered within the previous year, e becomes unready and is subject to a Grace Period beginning immediately and lasting for sixty days, not including Holidays. At the end of eir Grace Period, e becomes ready. As soon as possible after the beginning of a player's Grace Period, the Registrar shall announce eir arrival. This announcement grants the player three free pending draws. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1976/5 (Power=1) Honoring the Old In the four weeks immediately after eir Grace Period ends, a Player (hereafter, the 'Protege') may post a single message of Gratitude, naming up to four other Players (hereafter, 'Mentors') e deems to have been helpful to em as a new Player. The effect of such a message is to award each Mentor the Boon of mentorship and award the Protege the Boon of politeness. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 103/1 (Power=3) The Speaker May Not Deregister At any time, there is exactly one Player who is the Speaker. The Speaker may not deregister or be deregistered for any reason, any other Rule to the contrary notwithstanding. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 104/0 (Power=3) First Speaker The Speaker for the first game shall be Michael Norrish. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1016/18 (Power=2) Activity Levels Activity is a stuck player switch with values active and inactive. "Off hold" and "on hold" are unambiguous synonyms for "active" and "inactive", respectively. A player may flip eir activity, unless e has done so within the past week. A player may, with Support and without 2 Objections, flip the activity of another player to inactive, if that other player has not made a public post in the last 30 days. A player made inactive by this method becomes active immediately upon eir next public post. Inactive players may not vote, make proposals, hold office, or be a judge of a CFJ. An inactive player may not be required by the rules to perform any duty or action, unless the rules explicitly state that they can require inactive players to perform that duty or action. This rule takes precedence over all other rules that regulate activity, or the powers or duties that a player may have because of eir activity. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2036/3 (Power=1) The Silent Treatment If a player (hereafter the Silent One) has been inactive continuously for three months, then any player may publish a Notice of Abandonment, identifying the silent one and alleging that e has abandoned the game. The publication of a Notice of Abandonment commences the Silent Treatment for the silent one. If at any time during the silent treatment the silent one is not, or ceases to be, inactive, then the treatment is terminated, and the Registrar is relieved of all powers and responsibilities regarding it. As soon as possible after the commencement of the silent treatment, the Registrar shall publish in all designated Public Fora, and send to each listed e-mail address of the silent one, a Notice of Intent to Deregister, announcing the Registrar's intent to deregister the silent one after one month has passed. If the silent treatement has not terminated a month after the publication of the Notice of Intent to Deregister, then the Registrar shall, as soon as possible, publish in all designated Public Fora, and send to each listed e-mail address of the silent one, a Notice of Deregistration identifying the silent one. A Notice of Deregistration is valid if and only if it is published by the Registrar, following the procedures described in this Rule. Upon publication of a valid Notice of Deregistration, the following events occur in order: (1) if the silent one is the Speaker, e ceases to be Speaker; (2) the silent one is deregistered; (3) the silent treatment for that player concludes. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1789/3 (Power=1) Cantus Cygneus Whenever a Player feels that e has been treated so egregiously by the Agoran community that e can no longer abide to be a part of it, e may submit a document to the Clerk of the Courts, clearly labeled a Cantus Cygneus, detailing eir grievances and expressing eir reproach for those who e feels have treated em so badly. As soon as possible after receiving a Cantus Cygneus, the Clerk of the Courts shall publish this document along with a Writ of Fugere Agorae Grandissima Exprobratione, commanding the Player to be deregistered and instructing the Registrar to note the method of deregistration for that Player in subsequent Registrar Reports, as long as the Player remains deregistered. The Player is deregistered as of the posting of the Writ, and the notation in the Registrar's Report will ensure that, henceforth, all may know said Player deregistered in a Writ of FAGE. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Officers ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1006/9 (Power=1) Offices The Rules may designate positions to be offices. No office may be held by more than one player. Each office that would otherwise not be held by any player shall be held by the Speaker, unless it is not possible for the Speaker to hold that office. The holder of an office may be referred to by the name of the office. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2098/0 (Power=1) May Day A Worker is any player who is not an Officer. On the First of May, any worker may remove any officer from an office by public declaration. The declaring worker becomes the holder although not electee of that office, providing e is otherwise eligible to hold the Office. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1686/16 (Power=1) Official Reports The Rules may designate certain information to be part of an Office's Weekly Report, Bi-Weekly Report or Monthly Report. An Office's Weekly Reports, Bi-Weekly Reports and Monthly Reports constitute the Office's Official Report. All information that is part of an Office's Official Report shall be maintained by the corresponding officer. Each officer with a Weekly Report must publish it weekly unless the content of the report would substantially be the same as in the previously published report. In this case, a report must only be published within one week of the next substantial change to the report's content, but must at least be published once per month. Each officer with a Bi-Weekly Report must publish it once every two weeks and each officer with a Monthly Report must publish it monthly. Failure to do so is the Class 2 Infraction of Failure to Report. If an officer fails to do so for at least three consecutive reporting periods, e may be cited for either Failure to Report or the Class 10 Infraction of Dereliction of Duty but not both. Any officer cited for Dereliction of Duty is immediately removed from that office. The Associate Director of Personnel and the Speaker may report these Infractions. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1431/16 (Power=1) Claims of Error A Claim of Error is a public message claiming that a specific public communication misrepresents the actual Game State, and documenting the nature of the error. The person who sent the original communication is hereafter known as the Journalist, and the portion of the communication claimed to be in error is hereafter known as the Yellow Document. A Response to a Claim of Error is a public message from the Journalist that either admits or denies the claim. An admission is not valid until the Journalist posts a corrected version of the Yellow Document. If the Journalist was required by the Rules to publish the information in the Yellow Document, then e must publish a Response as soon as possible, unless one of the following holds: a) E has already published a correction. b) A previous Claim was made concerning the same error. c) The Claim was posted more than three weeks after the Yellow Document. d) The Claim is in dispute. If the Claim ceases to be in dispute, then the Journalist must publish a Response as soon as possible after it ceases to be in dispute. If the Journalist was not required by the Rules to publish the information in the Yellow Document, then e is encouraged (but not required) to publish a Response in a timely fashion. A Player who incorrectly denies a Claim commits the Class 1 Crime of Implausible Deniability. However, if e admits the Claim within three days after the incorrect denial, then e shall not be convicted of this Crime. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1551/6 (Power=3) Ratification A document required to be maintained and published by a player can be ratified if and only if: (a) the correctness of the document is not under dispute; (b) the information within the document has not been superseded by a subsequent document which contradicts it and whose correctness is not under dispute; and (c) the document is not the ruleset. If a player attempts to ratify a document, or a legislative order executed by the adoption of a proposal would ratify a document, then that document is not ratified unless it can be ratified. The electee to an office is permitted to ratify, without objection, an official report e produced and was required to maintain by virtue of holding that office. The Speaker is permitted to ratify, without objection, any official report. In either case, a claim of error on such a report shall be deemed to constitute an objection to ratification. When a document is ratified, the gamestate is modified so that the ratified document was completely true and accurate at the time it was published. Nevertheless, the ratification of a document does not invalidate, reverse, alter, or cancel any messages or actions, even if they were unrecorded or overlooked, or change the legality of any attempted action. After a document has been ratified, its maintainer shall annotate all subsequent publications of that document with the date of publication of the most recent issue of that published that was ratified. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1919/1 (Power=2) Installing Officers through Proposal A Player may be Installed into an Office by the adoption of a Democratic Proposal. If that Office is already held by a Player, that Player is removed from the Office. The Player named in the Proposal then becomes the Electee to that Office. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1555/8 (Power=1) Electees and Removal from Office A Player who wins an Election for an Office, or is installed into Office by a Proposal, becomes the Electee to that Office, as well as its holder. When the Electee to an Office is retired from that Office, e ceases to be the Electee to that Office, but continues to hold the Office. When the Electee to an Office is removed from that Office, e ceases to be Electee to that Office. Furthermore, if the Electee currently holds the Office, the Speaker becomes the holder of that Office, unless another Rule provides that a different Player is to hold the Office. When a non-Electee is removed from an Office and there is an Electee to that Office, then the Electee becomes the holder of the Office. If there is no Electee, the Office is held by the Speaker. Whenever a player deregisters, is deregistered, or ceases to be active, e is removed from all Offices e holds. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1556/3 (Power=1) Terms of Service for Offices Unless otherwise specified, the Term of Service for an Office shall expire on the fifteenth day of the fourth month following the month in which the Officer in question was elected to that Office. At the exhaustion of an Office's Term of Service, the Officer holding that Office shall be retired from that Office. Other Rules may specify a different Term of Service for specific Offices. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1758/7 (Power=1) Holding an Office in Perpetuity If a Player is the Electee to an Office which e currently holds, then the Associate Director of Personnel may declare, Without Objection, that that Player holds that Office in perpetuity. The Player then holds the Office in perpetuity. The Term of Service of an Office held in perpetuity shall never expire, and a Player holding an Office in perpetuity continues to hold the Office in perpetuity while e holds the Office. If a Player holding an Office in perpetuity delegates the Office to another Player, and e is still the Electee to the Office at the end of the Period of Delegation, then e resumes holding the Office in perpetuity. This Rule takes precedence over other Rules defining the expiry of an Office's Term of Service. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 880/8 (Power=1) Resignation The holder of an Office may resign from it by announcing that e does so. If the holder of an Office is its Electee, and appoints a successor when e resigns, then: (a) The resigning Player is retired from that Office. (b) If the successor consents within a week, then e becomes holder of that Office. (c) If the successor does not consent within a week, then the resigning Player is removed from that Office. Otherwise, the resigning Player is immediately removed from that Office. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1645/9 (Power=1) Temporary Delegation of Office An Office is Delegated when all of these conditions are met: (a) The holder (hereafter known as the Delegating Player) publishes a Notice of Delegation, naming the Office, another Player (hereafter known as the Delegated Player), and a Period of Delegation no longer than three weeks. (b) The Delegating Player is Electee to the Office, or is the Speaker. This condition must hold when e publishes the Notice of Delegation, and must also hold at the beginning of the Period of Delegation. (c) The Delegated Player is permitted by the Rules to hold the Office at the beginning of the Period of Delegation. (d) The Delegated Player consents to the Delegation within seven days of the publication of the Notice of Delegation. (e) The Period of Delegation has begun and not yet ended. The Period of Delegation begins when the Notice of Delegation is published, or when consent is given, or at the time (if any) specified in the Notice of Delegation, whichever is latest. The Period of Delegation ends after the duration specified in the Notice of Delegation has elapsed, or when a Player other than the Delegating Player becomes Electee to the Office. During the Period of Delegation, the Delegated Player holds the Office, and earns its Salary as specified by other Rules. At the end of the Period of Delegation, if the Office has an Electee, then the Electee holds the Office; otherwise, the Delegated Player continues to hold the Office. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 790/14 (Power=1) Filling Vacant Offices An election to fill an office must be held whenever: (a) the office ceases to have an electee; (b) the office is created without installing an electee; or (c) an election to fill that office fails, and no election for that office is in progress. As long as an election to fill an office is in progress, no other election to fill that office may be initiated. An election is in progress from the time it is initiated until it is resolved. If a player required to initiate an election fails to do so as soon as possible, then any player may announce that the election has failed. Provided that this assertion is indeed correct, then upon this announcement the election fails. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1486/6 (Power=1) Procedure for an Orderly Witch Hunt An active player (the Witch Hunter) may hold a referendum to remove an officer from office. For this referendum: (a) The set of eligible voters is the set of active players besides the Witch Hunter and the named officer. (b) The adoption index is 2. (c) "BURN THE WITCH" is a synonym for "FOR". (d) "LET THE WITCH LIVE" is a synonym for "AGAINST". (e) "OF COURSE THE WITCH IS GUILTY, BUT I WANT TO SEE WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK" is a synonym for "PRESENT". If the referendum is adopted, it shall have the effect of removing the named player from the named office if e is electee to that office. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1665/2 (Power=1) Abuse of Responsibility The Rules can give certain Officers latitude to make certain decisions and determinations based upon their judgement. When these decisions and determinations have effect on the Game State, Players shall always have the ability to make Claims of Error alleging that these decisions and determinations were made outside the authority given to the Officer. This Rule takes precedence over any Rule which otherwise defines a final arbiter for such decisions and determinations. If such a Claim is denied by the Officer, the Player making the Claim is then permitted to make a Call for Judgement alleging that the Officer is guilty of Abuse of Responsibility, a Class 4 Crime. This is the only time such a CFJ is permitted. In Judging such a CFJ, to find the Officer guilty the Judge must establish that the Officer did one of the following: i) Went beyond all reasonable interpretations of the Rules. ii) That e disregarded explicit instructions the Rules gave in regard to eir decisions and determinations. iii) That e showed a pathological lack of judgement in such decisions and determinations. The accused Officer must be given the opportunity to explain eir actions. And such Judgements shall be made in accord to the strictest possible standard of proof. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1585/2 (Power=2) Official Duties upon Officer Change Whenever the holder of an Office changes, any duties which the Rules had imposed upon the prior holder of that Office as a consequence of holding that Office which have not been fulfilled must instead be fulfilled by the new holder of that Office, as soon as possible after the change of Officer occurs. The former holder of the Office is absolved of performing all such duties, any Rule to the contrary notwithstanding. CFJ 1061 (Judged TRUE, Nov. 2 1997): "Rule 1585 should be interpreted such that a Player who is newly installed into an Office does not commit the Infraction of Failure to Report (insofar as that Office is subject to such duties) if e posts the required Report within a week of eir being installed into Office." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1553/3 (Power=1) Officer Transition Whenever a Player ceases to hold an Office, that Player shall make a reasonable effort to ensure that all materials necessary for the conduct of that Office, including any records the holder of that Office is required to maintain, are made available to the next Player to hold that Office. A Player who fails to do so commits the Class 4 Crime of Improper Officer Transition. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1728/11 (Power=2) Dependent Actions An action is dependent, or may be performed dependently, if and only if it is an Action Without N Objections or an Action With N Supporters, where N is a nonnegative integer. The phrase "Without Objection" is synonymous with "Without 1 Objection", and the phrase "With Support" is synonymous with "With 1 Supporter". A player may publicly announce eir intent to perform an unambiguously described dependent action. A player may perform a previously unambiguously described dependent action if and only if: (a) no more than fourteen days have passed since the announcement of intent to perform the action; (b) if the action to be performed is an Action Without N Objections, at least four days have passed since the announcement made under (a) of this rule; (c) either the player who attempts to perform the action is the player who made the announcement under (a) of this rule, or (1) the player who made the announcement under (a) of this rule did so by a privilege or duty granted em by virtue of holding a rules-defined position; and (2) the player who attempts to perform the action is the holder of that position when e attempts to perform the action; (d) the rules explicitly authorise the player to perform the action dependently; (e) during the time between the announcement made under (a) of this rule and the attempt to perform the action, (1) if the action is to be performed Without N Objections, fewer than N players have publicly posted objections to the performance of the action; or (2) if the action is to be performed With N Supporters, at least N players other than the player who made the announcement under (a) of this rule have publicly posted support for the performance of the action; (f) the announcement made under (a) of this rule specifies whether the action is to be performed Without N Objections or With N Supporters, unless the rules either do not permit the action to be performed Without N Objections or do not permit the action to be performed With N Supporters; and (g) e announces that e performs the described action. A dependent action is not performed until announced as in (g). A player who posts an objection to the performance of an action may publicly retract eir objection. If e does so, e shall be deemed not have posted an objection to the performance of that action for the purposes of (e)(1) of this rule. The specification in the rules that an action may be performed dependently does not prohibit performing that action independently if doing so would otherwise be permissible. A rule authorising the performance of a dependent action may restrict the eligibility of players to support or object to that specific action. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1664/29 (Power=2) Rebellion A Call for Revolt is a notice submitted by a player (the Agitator) which alleges, roughly, that the current government is corrupt, oppressive and self-serving, that rather than watching over the people it is watching the people, that action must be taken, and furthermore asserts that we do not need a key, because we can break in. The Call is valid only if: (a) the Agitator was rebellious when e submitted the Call; (b) no other Call has been made during the same week; and (c) no Revolt has been successful for the previous thirty days. As soon as possible after a valid Call for Revolt has been submitted, the Registrar shall perform the following events in order: (a) select a random integer from 1 to the number of players (plus 1 if a player bears Miscreant); (b) if the selected number is less than or equal to the number of rebellious players (plus 1 if a rebellious player bears Miscreant), then: (1) announce that the Revolt succeeds; (2) expunge the blots of each rebellious player; (3) grant the ephemeral patent title Rebel Hero to each rebellious player; (4) set the initiative of each abiding player to Goethe, and return all stock cards held by abiding players to the Deck; (5) retire each abiding electee from office; and (6) flip each rebellious player's orthodoxy to abiding; otherwise: (1) announce that the Call for Revolt has failed; (2) assess each rebellious player 2 blots; and (3) assess the Agitator an additional 2 blots. The effects of a Call for Revolt shall be based on the orthodoxy of players at the time the Call was submitted. The Registrar shall notify the Herald of all blots gained or expunged as a result of this rule, and is empowered to perform the actions this rule would require em to perform. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1988/0 (Power=2) Bastille Day July 14 of each year shall be known as Bastille Day. For a Revolt called on this day the normal procedure is modified, as follows: i) Each Rebellious Player shall count twice for the purpose of determining success if, during that Bastille Day, e publicly hums a few bars of 'La Marseillaise'. This includes the determination of the number of players, and the Miscreant adjustment, which may become 2 rather than 1. ii) On success, rather than having all eir Blots expunged, each Rebellious Player shall be left with 1 Blot each, even if e was previously Immaculate. This Rule takes precedence over the normal Revolt Procedure. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1840/4 (Power=2) Political Status Orthodoxy is a stuck player switch with values abiding and rebellious. A player may flip eir orthodoxy, unless e has done so during the current month. At the beginning of each month, each Rebellious Player commits the Class 2 Infraction of Inciting to Riot (to be reported by the Registrar), unless all of the following are true at that time: i) The Registrar has not announced whether the last Call for Revolt succeeded or failed. ii) The Player was Rebellious at the time of the last Call for Revolt. iii) The Player has not changed from Abiding to Rebellious since the last Call for Revolt. in which case the Player is Hauled Into Kangaroo Court instead. When a Call for Revolt fails, each Player Hauled Into Kangaroo Court since the Call for Revolt commits the Infraction of Inciting to Riot, as defined above. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1975/7 (Power=1) The Associate Director of Personnel The Associate Director of Personnel (ADoP) is an office; its holder is recordkeepor for offices and the Speaker and is responsible for holding elections for offices. The ADoP's Weekly Report shall include: (a) a list of all offices; (b) for each office, the electee to the office and the date on which e most recently became electee to that office; (c) for each office for which the holder of the office is not the electee, the current holder of the office, and the date on which e most recently became holder of that office; (d) for each office, the date on which the term of service for that office ends, or an indication that the office is held in perpetuity; (e) the identity of the Speaker. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1940/10 (Power=1) Periodic Compensations The boon of Public Service exists for the purpose of awarding officers for serving. Paperwork is a stuck switch for offices with states low and high. The Associate Director of Personnel (ADoP) is the recordkeepor for paperwork. For the purpose of this rule, the Speaker and the Distributor are considered offices. The ADoP or the Speaker may flip the paperwork of an office with two supporters and without two objections. As soon as possible after the beginning of each month, the ADoP shall award 1 Public Service Boon for each office to the player (if any) who held that office for 16 or more days in the previous month; e shall award an additional Public Service boon to that player if the office is a high paperwork office. While a player is electee to an office, e may make one proposal distributable per month by publicly invoking that office's Civil Service Exemption, even if this would cause em to exceed eir per-player proposal limit. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The Oligarchy ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1932/12 (Power=2) Shareholders and the Corporation A Stock Card is a card with the Element "Shares [X]". The Share Holdings of an entity is the number of Shares possessed by that entity. The Number of Shares is the sum of the Share Holdings of all entities. A Shareholder is an entity with positive Share Holdings. A Plebeian is a player who is not a Shareholder. The Corporation is the collection of all Shareholders. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Making Proposals ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1483/12 (Power=1) Definition of Proposals A proposal is a document outlining changes to be made to Agora, including enacting, repealing, or amending rules, or making other explicit changes to the gamestate. A legislator submits a proposal by publishing it with a clear indication that it is intended to become a proposal. As soon as possible afterward, the Promotor shall add this proposal to the Proposal Pool. Before the Promotor distributes a proposal, its proposer may modify its adoption index by announcement. The default adoption index of a proposal is one. All players are legislators. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1698/0 (Power=3) The Proposal System Is Protected It must always be possible to adopt Proposals within a 4 week period. Any change to the game state which would result in this condition becoming false is cancelled and does not take place, any Rule to the contrary notwithstanding. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 105/1 (Power=3) What Is a Rule Change? A Rule Change is any of the following: * The enactment of a new Rule; * The repeal of an existing Rule; * The amendment of the text of an existing Rule; or * Any change to a substantive property of a Rule other than its text. A "substantive property of a Rule" is any property of that Rule (other than its text) which determines in part or in full the ability of that Rule to govern by itself or in conjunction with other Rules. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 107/2 (Power=3) Initiating Agoran Decisions An Agoran decision is initiated when a person authorized to initiate it publishes a valid notice which sets forth the intent to initiate the decision. To be valid, this notice must contain the following information: (a) The matter to be decided (for example, "the election for Scorekeepor" or "the adoption of proposal 4781"). (b) A description of the class of eligible voters sufficient to enable public agreement on which persons are eligible. In particular, an explicit list of the eligible voters is always sufficient for this purpose. (c) The identity of the vote collector. (d) Any additional information required by the rules for this announcement. The publication of such a valid notice initiates the voting period for the decision. By default, the voting period lasts for seven days. This rule takes precedence over any rule which would require a voting period for some decision to be shorter than seven days. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 594/9 (Power=3) Enactment of Rules A proposal can, as part of its effect, enact a rule, specifying its content and optionally specifying its power and title. If the proposal does not specify the power, the rule shall have power equal to one. If the proposal specifies the power, then the rule shall have power equal to the minimum of four, the power of the proposal, and the power specified by the proposal. If the title is not specified, the Rulekeepor may select any title e sees fit. When a rule is enacted, the Rulekeepor shall assign it a number, which must be greater than any number previously assigned, and shall assign it a revision number of zero. This rule provides the only mechanism by which rules can be enacted. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2119/0 (Power=3) Repeal of Rules A proposal can, as part of its effect, repeal a rule with power no greater than its own. When a rule is repealed, it ceases to be a rule, and the Rulekeepor need no longer maintain a record of it. This rule provides the only mechanism by which rules can be repealed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2045/1 (Power=3) Adoption Indices When a decision on whether to adopt a proposal or referendum is initiated, it shall be assigned an adoption index, which shall be one unless otherwise specified. Once the voting period for a decision has begun, the adoption index of that decision can only be changed by the Speaker's veto. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1607/11 (Power=1) The Promotor The Promotor is an office; its holder is responsible for receiving and distributing proposals. The Promotor's Weekly Report shall include a list of the titles and submission dates of all proposals in the proposal pool. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1952/6 (Power=1) Making Proposals Distributable The Promotor shall have a budget containing the per-player proposal limit, which shall be a positive integer defaulting to four. Depth is a stuck proposal switch with values undistributable and distributable. Before the Promotor distributes a proposal, its proposer may flip its depth by announcement as long as the number of eir distributable proposals which have been submitted but have not been distributed or retracted is less than the per-player proposal limit. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1770/17 (Power=1) Distributing Proposals (a) The Promotor is permitted to distribute a distributable proposal in the Proposal Pool at any time. (b) During each week, the Promotor must distribute each proposal which was distributable at the beginning of the week and which remains distributable. (c) If there were no proposals in the Proposal Pool at the beginning of a week, then the Promotor must announce this fact at some time during that week. (d) The Promotor legally distributes a proposal by publishing it accompanied by an explicit indication that it is being distributed. When a proposal is distributed, it is removed from the Proposal Pool. The distribution of a proposal initiates the Agoran decision of whether to adopt the proposal, as described elsewhere. (e) The Promotor shall include with the distribution of each proposal the identity of its proposer, the proposal's coauthors, if any, its chamber, and its adoption index. However, the failure of the Promotor to include any of these with a proposal does not deprive the distribution of the proposal of any legal effect. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1774/4 (Power=1) Discarding Proposals from the Pool If a proposal in the Proposal Pool has been undistributable and in the Pool for more than two weeks continuously, then the Promotor may remove that proposal from the Pool by announcement. The proposer of a proposal may remove it from the Pool by announcement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1003/2 (Power=2) No Coercive Proposals Proposals whose obvious and direct intent is to coerce a Player into voting against eir conscience shall not take effect even if adopted, any Rule to the contrary notwithstanding. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Voting on Proposals ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1449/17 (Power=1) The Assessor The Assessor is an office; its holder is responsible for receiving and announcing the results of votes on proposals. The Assessor's weekly report shall include a list of the identity and voting limit for proposals in each chamber for each entity with nonzero voting power in at least one chamber. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 106/2 (Power=3) Adopting Proposals Determining whether to adopt a proposal is an Agoran decision. For this decision, the available options are FOR, AGAINST, and PRESENT, and by default, the eligible voters are the active players, the adoption index is the adoption index of the proposal, and the vote collector is the Assessor. If the option selected by Agora on this decision is ADOPTED, then the proposal is adopted, and unless other rules prevent it from taking effect, its power is set to the minimum of four and its adoption index, and then it takes effect. It does not otherwise take effect. This rule takes precedence over any rule which would permit a proposal to take effect. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2034/2 (Power=3) Vote Protection and Cutoff for Challenges Any proposal that, as all or part of its effect, would change the validity of one or more of a voter's ballots on an Agoran decision whose voting period has begun but which has not yet been resolved shall be wholly without effect, any rule to the contrary notwithstanding. Once an Agoran decision has been resolved, no ballots on that decision may be validly submitted or retracted, and the outcome of the decision may not be changed in any way, any rule to the contrary notwithstanding. Nothing in this rule shall be construed as preventing the correction of errors in reporting the resolution of an Agoran decision. If the success of the resolution of an Agoran decision is not challenged within one week from the time the vote collector announces it, then the announced result is the true result of that decision, even if it would otherwise be in error. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 693/7 (Power=3) Agoran Decisions When the rules calls for an Agoran decision to be made, the decisionmaking process takes place in the following three stages: (a) Initiation of the decision: The decisionmaking process begins when a person authorized to initiate the decision announces the matter to be decided, including any additional information the rules require to be in that announcement. (b) Voting of the people: Immediately thereafter, the voting period for the decision begins. During the voting period, eligible voters may vote on the matter, as described elsewhere. (c) Resolution of the decision: After the voting period for the decision ends, any person authorized by the rules to resolve the decision may announce that the matter has been decided, specifying the option selected by Agora. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2117/0 (Power=3) Replacing the Vote Collector If the rules indicate that an office is to be responsible for collecting votes on a particular Agoran decision, then the holder of that office is the default vote collector for that decision. The vote collector for a particular Agoran decision is tardy if and only if the voting collector has continuously held that role for at least seven days following the end of the voting period and the decision has not yet been resolved. If a vote collector is tardy, then the first player to announce that e takes up the role of vote collector becomes the vote collector for that decision. This rule takes precedence over any rule that would allow the vote collector for an Agoran decision to be changed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1933/10 (Power=2) A Proposal's Chamber Chamber is a stuck proposal switch with values ordinary and democratic. The default chamber for a proposal with an adoption index of at least 2 is democratic. An ordinary proposal with an adoption index of two or greater is stalled. Rules to the contrary notwithstanding, a stalled proposal is undistributable, and if a proposal is distributed that was stalled at the time of distribution, its chamber shall immediately and automatically be set to democratic. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1950/12 (Power=3) Voting Limits The voting limit of an eligible voter on a referendum or an election is always one and cannot be changed. The voting limit of an eligible voter on a non-ordinary proposal is one. The voting limit of an eligible voter on an ordinary proposal is the sum of: (a) one; (b) eir Share Holdings; and (c) the minimum of three and the number of Share cards in the Deck, if e is the Deckmastor. After the voting period for an Agoran decision has ended, the vote collector shall permit the first valid ballots submitted by an eligible voter to remain valid, up to a number equal to that person's voting limit on that decision as determined when the voting period for that decision began, and shall invalidate all subsequent ballots submitted by that voter on that decision. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 683/12 (Power=3) Voting on Agoran Decisions An eligible voter on a particular Agoran decision submits a ballot to the vote collector by publishing a valid notice indicating which one of the available options e selects. To be valid, the ballot must satisfy the following conditions: (a) The ballot is submitted by an eligible voter during the voting period for the decision. (b) The ballot clearly identifies the matter to be decided. (c) The ballot clearly identifies the option selected by the voter. (d) The voter has not publicly retracted the ballot during the voting period. The strength of an option is the number of valid ballots selecting that option. Other rules may place further constraints on the validity of ballots. This rule takes precedence over any rule that would loosen the constraints specified by this rule. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2019/5 (Power=2) The Speaker's Veto The Speaker may veto an Ordinary Proposal in its voting period by announcement. Whenever a proposal is vetoed, its quorum is set to the current number of eligible voters on that proposal plus one, other rules governing quorum notwithstanding. As soon as possible after a vetoed proposal fails quorum, the Assessor shall place a copy of that proposal to the Proposal Pool. When e does so, that copy shall become distributable and democratic, and its adoption index shall be increased by one. The Speaker may Rubberstamp an Ordinary Proposal in its voting period by announcement. Quorum for a rubberstamped ordinary proposal is three, other rules governing quorum nonwithstanding. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1764/15 (Power=1) Modes of Nomination There are three modes of nomination for elections: selfless, selfish, and open. If the player who initiated the election does not specify the mode of nomination for an election, it is selfish. (1) In a selfless election, any nominator may nominate any prospective besides emself. (2) In a selfish election, any nominator who is a prospective may nominate emself. (3) In an open election, any nominator may nominate any prospective. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The End of the Voting Period ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 879/22 (Power=2) Quorum The quorum for an Agoran decision is one third the number of eligible voters, rounded up, with a minimum of five (unless there are fewer than five eligible voters, in which case the quorum level is the number of eligible voters). CFJ 1562 (Judged TRUE, 6 May 2005): "A cancelled vote on a Proposal does not count towards quorum." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 208/3 (Power=3) Resolving Agoran decisions The vote collector for a particular Agoran decision is authorized to resolve that decision, and does so by publishing a valid notice which states that the matter has been resolved, indicating the option selected by Agora. To be valid, this notice must satisfy the following conditions: (a) It is published after the voting period has ended. (b) It clearly identifies the matter to be resolved. (c) It clearly identifies the options available. (d) It specifies which option was selected by Agora, as described elsewhere, and provides a tally of the voters' valid ballots on the various options. Each Agoran decision shall have at most one vote collector at a time. The identity of the vote collector is set by the message initiating the decision, and can only be changed as specified by other rules with power at least as great as that of this rule. This rule takes precedence over any rule that would provide another mechanism by which an Agoran decision may be resolved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 955/9 (Power=3) Determining the Will of Agora To determine which option on a particular Agoran decision was selected by Agora, the vote collector shall perform the following steps in order after the voting period has ended. (a) E shall invalidate any ballots which the rules require em to invalidate, and no others. (b) E shall count the number of distinct voters who submitted ballots which remain valid. If this number is less than the quorum and there is more than one available option, then the option selected by Agora is FAILED QUORUM. Otherwise, the decision achieved quorum. (c) If the decision is whether to adopt a proposal or referendum, e shall determine the voting index as follows: (1) if the strength of FOR is positive and the strength of AGAINST is zero, then the voting index is Unanimity; but (2) if the strength of FOR is zero, then the voting index is zero; otherwise, (3) the voting index is the ratio of the strength of FOR to the strength of AGAINST. If the voting index exceeds one and meets or exceeds the adoption index of the decision, and if further quorum was achieved, then the option selected by Agora is ADOPTED. Otherwise, the option selected by Agora is REJECTED. (d) If the decision is an election, then as long as quorum is achieved, the vote collector has the privilege to choose any option the strength of which meets or exceeds that of any other option to be the option selected by Agora. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1322/4 (Power=3) Modification of Rules A proposal can generally, as part of its effect, modify the power, title, or text of a rule with power no greater than its own. However, a proposal cannot cause a rule to have power greater than its own. Any ambiguity in a modification specified by a proposal causes that modification to be void and without effect. A variation in whitespace or capitalization in the quotation of an existing rule does not constitute ambiguity for the purposes of this rule, but any other variation does. When a rule is modified, the Rulekeepor shall generally record an increase by one in its revision number. If a single proposal modifies a regulation several times, the Rulekeepor shall only record a single increase of its revision number. This rule provides the only mechanism by which rules can be modified. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 108/1 (Power=3) When May Rule Changes Take Effect? A given form of a Rule may not have effects earlier than the moment it came to have that form. The form of a Rule consists of its text and other substantive properties. No Rule Change may have retroactive application. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1891/0 (Power=1) Legislative Orders (a) A Proposal may contain one or more Orders. (b) The effect of adopting a Proposal which contains Orders is to execute those Orders. Such Orders are known as Legislative Orders, are deemed to have been executed by that Proposal, and are deemed to have been executed as of the date of the proclamation of the Proposal's adoption. (c) Legislative Orders may not be stayed, vacated, or amended except: (1) by a subsequent Legislative Order; (2) by a Judicial Order issued only after a judicial finding that the Proposal containing the Legislative Order was not adopted, was barred from taking effect, or was invalid; or (3) by the Clerk of the Courts, but only for the purpose of staying such an Order during the pendency of a dispute which might reasonably lead to a judicial finding of the sort mentioned in subdivision (c)(2) of this Rule. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1690/0 (Power=1) Power of New Rules The Power of a new Rule shall be as specified by the instrument which causes the creation of that Rule; if no such specification exists, the Power of the new Rule shall be 1. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 947/19 (Power=1) Bonus for Repeal If there are 100 or more rules, and a proposal is adopted containing a provision that one or more rules be repealed, and if, in the Rulekeepor's estimation, the proposal simplifies the ruleset, then the Rulekeepor shall award the Proposer the Boon of Tapecutter. If the Rulekeepor decides that the proposal does not simplify the ruleset, e must announce this decision. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2095/3 (Power=1) The Assessor's Boon Duties If a proposal is submitted and adopted during that player's Grace Period, then the Assessor shall award that player the boon of Prodigy. If a proposal is adopted, and nobody voted AGAINST it, then the Assessor shall award its proposer the boon of Zeitgeist. If a proposal submitted on Guy Fawkes Day is adopted, then the Assessor shall award its proposer the boon of A Penny. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2111/1 (Power=1) Hard Ruleset Limits If there are 200 or more Rules, and a Proposal is adopted that would increase the total number of Rules, the Proposer commits the Class 2 Infraction of Improper Rules Fattening, reportable by anyone. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Referenda and Elections ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1434/14 (Power=2) Default Procedure for Referendum Voting Determining whether to adopt a referendum is an Agoran decision. For this decision, the available options are FOR, AGAINST, and PRESENT, and the eligible voters are the players. If the option selected by Agora on this decision is ADOPTED, then the referendum is adopted, and unless other rules prevent it from taking effect, it takes effect. It does not otherwise take effect. This rule takes precedence over any rule which would permit a referendum to take effect. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2118/0 (Power=1) Nominations for Election A person is a nominator and a prospective in an election only if e is an active player. The rules may further restrict validity of nominators and prospectives. A nominator nominates a prospective in a specified election by announcement. That nominator may publicly retract eir nomination of that prospective. A prospective may publicly decline eir nomination; if e does so, e may not be further nominated in that election. A nominee in an election is a prospective who has been nominated and whose nomination has not been retracted or declined. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1445/19 (Power=1) Defaults for Elections When the rules require a player to hold an election, e shall perform the following actions in order, beginning as soon as possible: (a) E shall publish a call for nominees, optionally specifying the mode of nominations for the upcoming election. One week later, if there are no nominees, e shall repeat this step in its entirety. (b) E shall initiate an election, which is an Agoran decision. For this decision: (1) The available options are the nominees. Eir announcement initiating the election must indicate the available options. (2) The eligible voters are the active players. (3) E is the vote collector. (4) If the vote collector has not yet resolved the election, then any nominee may stand down by announcement. When a nominee stands down, e is removed from the list of options for the election. (c) The vote collector for an election is required to resolve the election as soon as possible after the end of its voting period. If the option selected by Agora is a nominee, that nominee is the winner of the election. Otherwise, the election has no winner. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1558/8 (Power=1) Defaults for Elections for Offices When the rules require that an election be held to fill an office, that election shall be conducted in accordance with the usual rules for elections, with the following exceptions: (a) If the election would be held to fill the office of Associate Director of Personnel, then the election shall be initiated by the Speaker; otherwise, it shall be initiated by the Associate Director of Personnel. (b) A player who is not eligible to hold the office for which the election is being held is not a prospective. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1957/3 (Power=1) Budgets A budget is a document maintained by an office which determines the values of various properties the office is empowered to determine. An office has a budget only if the Rules explicitly indicate that the office has a budget. Each budget shall be part of the corresponding office's Monthly Report. As soon as possible after a budget changes, the holder of the corresponding office (the maintainer) shall publish it. As soon as possible after a budget is discovered to be invalid, its maintainer shall create a valid budget as close as possible to the most recent valid version of the budget. The new budget shall be effective when the maintainer publishes it. While holding an office as electee, an officer may Without Objection amend the budget to adhere to a proto-budget which e must publish at the time e announces eir intent to amend. The Rules regarding a particular budget may specify a different procedure for its amendment. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1958/2 (Power=1) Nominating with Budgets (a) If an office has a budget, then a nomination in an election for that office is not valid unless a valid proto-budget is associated with it. (b) A proto-budget submitted by a nominee during the nominating period is associated with that nominee's nomination. A proto-budget is valid if it would be valid as a budget. (c) If a nominee for an Office fails to submit a valid proto-budget during the nominating period, then by default eir nomination is associated with a proto-budget identical to the current budget for that Office. If the current budget is not valid, tough cookies. (d) As soon as possible after the end of the nominating period, the vote collector shall announce each candidate's last valid proto-budget. (e) When the election ends, the winner's last valid proto-budget becomes the budget of that office, and the winner shall announce it as soon as possible. If the election ends without a winner, then the existing budget remains in effect. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1659/6 (Power=1) The Right to Call Elections The Speaker has the right to call elections, and e exercises this right by a publishing a notice listing a number of offices and declaring that e is exercising eir right to call elections for these offices. If e has not exercised this right since e last became Speaker, then upon the publication of this notice, the electee of each listed office is retired from office. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Applications ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1626/4 (Power=1) Applications An Application is any document which has been clearly labeled as an Application and which has been submitted as an Application by some person. That person is known as the Application's Sponsor. The Sponsor of an Application may attach the signatures of other persons, or signatories, to the Application at the time e submits it. The Sponsor may not attach any signature to an Application without first having obtained the explicit consent of the signatory. A signatory may revoke eir consent, once granted, by informing the Sponsor. An Application is submitted by sending it to a Player designed by the Rules to receive Applications of that particular type, bearing a clear indication that the document in question is intended to be an Application and that it is being submitted by the Sponsor as an Application. If the Rules do not otherwise designate a Player to receive a particular type of Application, the Speaker shall do so. The effect of submitting an valid Application is determined by the Rules pertaining to Applications of that particular type. A person who submits an Application with signatures attached belonging to any person who has not consented to having eir signature attached to that Application commits the Class 4 Crime of Application Fraud. An Application submitted with attached signatures belonging to a person who did not consent to such attachment is invalid. Signatures are presumed to have been attached with the consent of the signatory. This presumption shall be rebutted only by a declaration from the alleged signatory, made within 60 days of the submission of the Application, stating that the signatory did not consent or that e consented and then subsequently revoked eir consent. The Sponsor bears the burden of proof to show that such a declaration, once made, is false. It shall be a defense to the Crime of Application Fraud that the Sponsor did not receive a signatory's notice of revocation. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Orders ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1793/1 (Power=1) Orders An Order is a command, executed by a player and directed to some entity requiring that entity to perform exactly one action, or to refrain from performing one or more actions. An Order may be directed to the holder of an official position in eir capacity in that official position, and if the position changes hands before the Order is satisfied, the duty to abide by the Order automatically attaches to the new holder of that position. An Order may also be directed at a prior order so as to affect the prior order's operation, as the Rules permit. All Orders executed in the manner prescribed by the Rules for their class are presumed valid and enforceable until proven otherwise by CFJ. No Order may act to prevent or hinder its own appeal in any way. Knowingly and willfully executing invalid Orders constitutes the Class 10 Crime of Abuse of Authority. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1794/7 (Power=1) Classes of Orders Each Order is of exactly one of the following classes. If an Order could be of more than one of these classes, then it is of the first class that matches. (a) A Legislative Order is an Order executed as part of the effect of the adoption of a Proposal. (b) A Sentencing Order is an Order executed to impose the penalty for a Crime. (c) A Ticketing Order is an Order executed to impose the penalty for an Infraction. (d) An Appellate Order is an Order executed by a Board of Appeals. (e) A Judicial Order is an Order executed by a Judge in the course of performing eir duties or privileges as Judge. (f) A Timing Order is an Order which may be executed by any person and directed at any entity. A timing order is valid if and only if it orders the entity to perform, as soon as possible, a duty specifically required of em by the Rules that does not otherwise have a specified timing requirement, or for which the otherwise specified timing requirement will have been exceeded as soon as possible after the Order is executed. No other types of Orders are valid. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1795/4 (Power=1) Order Timing An Order may specify the time limit for the performance of an ordered action. If a time limit is less than 72 hours after the Order takes effect, the time limit shall be 72 hours. If no time limit is specified, time limit shall be as soon as possible after the Order takes effect. If an Order which commands the performance of an action is directed to an Office or other position of authority, and the holder of that position of authority changes after the Order takes effect, but before the Order is satisfied, and the time limit is before, or less than 72 hours after, the current holder of the position came to hold that position, then the current holder shall have as soon as possible to satisfy that order. Other Rules may establish other times by which orders must be performed. The noncompliance of an order with this Rule does not deprive that order of all effect, but instead modifies the timing requirements of the order. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1799/3 (Power=1) Stay and Vacation of Orders The effect of staying an Order is to temporarily prevent the stayed Order from having any effect. A stay may be ordered for a fixed time, in which case the stay expires at the time specified; or for an indefinite time, in which case the stay will not expire. If no specification is made in the Order to Stay, the stay shall be indefinite. When the stay expires or is vacated, the previously stayed order again has effect as if it had been originally executed at the moment the stay ceases to be effective. However, if at the time the staying Order expires or otherwise ceases to have effect, the stayed Order has been vacated or is subject to another staying Order, it does not regain effect. The effect of vacating an Order is to permanently deny the vacated Order from having any effect. Vacating an Order to Vacate reinstates the ability of the vacated Order to have effect, as of the moment the Order to Vacate is itself vacated. Any Order may always be stayed or vacated by the Player (or, in the case of Appellate Orders, Board of Appeal) who executed it. Certain classes of Orders may be stayed or vacated in other circumstances as well, but only as the Rules allow. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1810/4 (Power=1) Satisfying Orders An Order requiring an entity to perform an action is satisfied when that entity performs that action. Other Rules may define other ways for Orders to be satisfied. Except when otherwise specified, a single action can result in the satisfaction of at most one Order. If an action would satisfy more than one Order, and no other specification is made, the Action satisfies the oldest Order which it would satisfy. If an Order requires an entity to perform an action prior to a specified time, and the Order is not satisfied prior to that time specified in the Order commits the Class 4 Crime of Contempt by Inaction. Any entity who, while required by an Order to refrain from performing an action, performs the proscribed action while the Order is in effect commits the Class 4 Crime of Contempt by Action. This Rule shall have no application with respect to any Order which has been adjudicated to be invalid. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The Clerk of the Courts ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 889/13 (Power=1) The Clerk of the Courts The Clerk of the Courts (CotC) is an office; its holder is responsible for receiving and distributing Calls for Judgement (CFJs) and Appeals. The CotC's Bi-Weekly Report shall include the following: (i) Each Player's Orientation. The CotC's Monthly Report shall include the Stare Decisis, which is a list of past CFJs. The following information shall be included for each CFJ: (i) its statement; (ii) the date on which it was called; (iii) its outcome (if any) on Judgement; and (iv) its outcome (if any) on Appeal. Whenever a CFJ is made, the CotC shall add it to the list. E may, at eir discretion, add earlier CFJs. E may Without Objection remove any CFJ e deems no longer relevant from the list. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1450/4 (Power=1) Judicial Separation Whenever the Speaker is Electee to the Office of Clerk of the Courts, e is retired from that Office. Whenever the Speaker is Electee to the Office of Justiciar, e is retired from that Office. Whenever a Player is both Clerk of the Courts and Justiciar, e is removed from the Office of Justiciar. Neither the Speaker, the Justiciar, nor a nominee for Justiciar may be nominated for Clerk of the Courts. Neither the Speaker, the Clerk of the Courts, nor a nominee for Clerk of the Courts may be nominated for Justiciar. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Calling for Judgement ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 991/5 (Power=2) Invoking Judgement Any person may request formal resolution of a dispute pertaining to this Nomic by submitting a Call for Judgement (CFJ) to the Clerk of the Courts. The submission of a CFJ constitutes proof of the existence of such a dispute. A CFJ should be a single clearly-labeled Statement whose truth or falsity can be determined using logical reasoning, assuming perfect knowledge. A CFJ may be accompanied by Arguments, Evidence, or other related material; the Judge is encouraged, but not required, to take notice of these things. The Clerk of the Courts shall publish the text of a CFJ, along with any additional material submitted by the Caller (including but not limited to Arguments and Evidence), no later than the time e announces the identity of the first Judge assigned to that CFJ. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2023/1 (Power=2) Submitting a CFJ to the Justiciar A CFJ may be submitted to the Justiciar. For such a CFJ, the Justiciar shall perform all duties and fulfill all roles that would otherwise be assigned to the Clerk of the Courts. This takes precedence over Rules that would otherwise assign duties and roles regarding a CFJ to the Clerk of the Courts. All persons are encouraged to submit a CFJ to the Justiciar only when there is a good reason not to submit it to the Clerk of the Courts. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 897/3 (Power=1) Barring Players from Judgement A Player Barred from Judging a CFJ is ineligible to Judge that CFJ. Any Player sharing an Executor with the Caller of a CFJ is automatically Barred from Judging that CFJ. When submitting a CFJ, the Caller may Bar up to three Players from Judging that CFJ. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1562/7 (Power=1) Excess CFJs A CFJ made by a person who has previously made five or more CFJs during the same Agoran Week is an Excess CFJ. The Caller of an Excess CFJ commits the Class 1 Infraction of Excess CFJing, to be reported by the Clerk of the Courts. The Clerk of the Courts shall dismiss all Excess CFJs. If e instead assigns one to a Judge, then the Judge shall Judge it, but the Clerk of the Courts commits the Class 2 Infraction of Allowing Excess CFJing, to be reported by the Justiciar. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2024/2 (Power=1) Linked Statements Linked CFJs are multiple Calls for Judgement submitted in a single message and clearly labelled as Linked CFJs. The Clerk of the Courts shall assign a Judge to a set of Linked CFJs, as if they were a single CFJ. The Judge must be eligible to Judge each of the Linked CFJs, and is simultaneously assigned as Judge of each of the Linked CFJs. The Judge of a set of Linked CFJs shall submit eir Judgement of each of those CFJs in a single message. If one or more Linked CFJs are Excess CFJs, then the Clerk of the Courts shall either assign them all or dismiss them all, at eir discretion. If e assigns them all, then e does not commit Allowing Excess CFJing by doing so, Rules to the contrary notwithstanding. If one or more Linked CFJs beyond the first are unrelated in subject matter to the first, then a Trial Judge may remand those CFJs to the Clerk of the Courts; e ceases to be Judge of those CFJs. The Clerk of the Courts shall either treat those CFJs as Linked (to each other) or not Linked, as e sees fit. In either case, those CFJs are no longer Linked to any of the non-remanded CFJs. If a Trial Judge is recused from a Linked CFJ, then it ceases to be Linked to any other CFJ. If a Trial Judge is recused from two or more Linked CFJs in a single message, or if a Trial Judge is simultaneously and automatically recused from two or more Linked CFJs, then those CFJs continue to be Linked to each other, but not to any other CFJs to which the Judge is still assigned. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Selecting a Judge ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1868/3 (Power=1) Selecting a Judge A CFJ is open if it has not been Judged, or if an outstanding judicial motion pertaining to it has been neither granted nor denied. A CFJ is closed if it is not open. As soon as possible after becoming aware that an open CFJ has no Judge assigned to it, the Clerk of the Courts shall choose a Player eligible to Judge it, and announce them as its Trial Judge. That Player remains the Trial Judge of that CFJ until e is recused from it or becomes ineligible to Judge it. CFJ 1186 (Judged TRUE, Dec. 9 1999): "The Clerk of the Courts is required by Rule 1868 to select a Judge who is eligible at the time that the Judge is selected, regardless of whether that Player was eligible at the time that the CFJ was actually called for or when the identity of that Player is announced." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 698/14 (Power=1) Always an Eligible Judge (a) Each active player is eligible to judge a given Call for Judgement (CFJ), unless a rule specifically makes em ineligible. A player who is inactive or unready is ineligible to judge CFJs. (b) If the Clerk of the Courts is required to select a Judge, but after taking all other rules affecting eligibility into account, no player is eligible to judge that CFJ, then: (1) all ready, active, non-barred players become eligible to judge that CFJ; then (2) if there is still no player eligible to judge, then all ready, active, barred players, other than the caller emself, become eligible to judge that CFJ; (3) if there is still no player eligible to judge, then all active, players other than the caller emself, become eligible to judge that increasingly annoying CFJ; (4) if there is still no player eligible to judge, then don't panic. Somebody's bound to register someday; let em deal with it. (c) This rule takes precedence over other rules concerning who is and is not eligible to judge CFJs. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1871/7 (Power=1) Turns for All Orientation is a stuck player switch with values unturned and turned. Whenever a player is selected as Trial Judge of a CFJ, e becomes turned. Turned players are ineligible to be Trial Judge of any future CFJs. Whenever an open CFJ has no Trial Judge assigned to it, and there are no players eligible to be assigned, the Clerk of the Courts shall publish a Notice of Rotation, specifying at least one such CFJ. Upon such an announcement, all turned players become unturned. The CotC may flip the Orientation of players e expects to judge CFJs slowly or not at all to turned, without 2 objections. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2032/2 (Power=1) Errors in Judge Selection If the Clerk of the Courts errs in good faith by selecting a Player to Judge a CFJ or Appeal, who: a) e believes at the time of selection to be eligible to judge the CFJ or Appeal; and b) is not eligible to judge the CFJ or Appeal at the time of selection solely because e is turned; then that selection shall stand and the selected Player shall become a Judge of that CFJ or Appeal, as if e had been eligible to judge it; unless the Clerk of the Courts points out eir error and makes a new selection before the selected Player returns Judgement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1567/10 (Power=1) Making Oneself Ineligible to Judge a CFJ A Player makes emself ineligible to be the Judge of a specific CFJ or type of CFJ by informing the Clerk of the Courts that e does so. Such a notice remains in effect for one month, or until the Player informs the Clerk of the Courts that it is no longer in effect, whichever is soonest. If a Player makes emself ineligible to be a Judge of a CFJ for which e has already been selected as Judge, e commits the Class 0.1 Infraction of Shirking Judgeship, to be reported by the Clerk of the Courts. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1568/7 (Power=1) Non-active Judges A player who ceases to be active while selected as the judge of one or more calls for judgement (CFJs) commits the infraction of Judge Inactivity. This infraction is to be reported by the Clerk of the Courts, and has a Class of 0.1 times the number of CFJs for which the player was selected as judge when e ceased to be active. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Delivering Judgement ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2025/1 (Power=1) Transfer of Jurisdiction (a) A CFJ (the First Case) is transferred to the Judge of another CFJ (the Second Case), if all of the following are true: (1) the Second Judge is eligible to Judge the First Case (or is ineligible solely due to the Rule "Turns for All"); (2) the First Judge announces the transfer; and (3) the Second Judge consents to the transfer within a week after it is announced. (b) When the First Case is transferred in this way: (1) the First Case is assigned to the Second Judge, and ceases to be assigned to the First Judge; (2) the First Judge becomes eligible to Judge CFJs for the purposes of the Rule "Turns for All"; and (3) the First CFJ becomes Linked to the Second CFJ, and to any CFJs to which the Second CFJ had been Linked. It ceases to be Linked to any other CFJs. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 408/17 (Power=1) Late Judgement For each Judge assigned to a CFJ, eir Deliberation Period begins when the Clerk of the Courts announces eir assignment, and lasts seven days; eir Overtime Period begins when eir Deliberation Period ends, and lasts seven days. A Judge who Judges a CFJ during eir Overtime Period commits the Class 0.5 Infraction of Judging a Bit Late, to be reported by the Clerk of the Courts. During a Judge's Overtime Period, if e has not yet Judged the CFJ, then the Clerk of the Courts may recuse em by announcement. Upon the end of a Judge's Overtime Period, if e has not yet Judged the CFJ, then the Clerk of the Courts shall recuse em by announcement as soon as possible. A Judge recused according to this Rule commits the Infraction of Failure to Judge; the Class of this Infraction is Class 3 for an unlinked CFJ, or for a single incident of Linked CFJs, Class 2 plus the number of Linked CFJs. This Infraction is to be reported by the Clerk of the Courts. The recused Judge becomes ineligible to Judge any CFJ for one month, or until e publicly requests to become eligible again, whichever is sooner. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 591/18 (Power=1) Legal Judgements The Judge of a CFJ Judges it by submitting eir Judgement to the Clerk of the Courts. "Decision", "Finding", and "Response" are unambiguous synonyms for "Judgement". For a Trial Judge, a Judgement is exactly one of the following: TRUE, FALSE, or DISMISSED. As soon as possible after receiving a Judgement, the Clerk of the Courts shall publish it, along with any arguments, evidence, or other material included with the Judgement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 217/4 (Power=1) Judgements Must Accord with the Rules All Judgements must be in accordance with the Rules; however, if the Rules are silent, inconsistent, or unclear on the Statement to be Judged, then the Judge shall consider game custom, common sense, past Judgements, and the best interests of the game before applying other standards. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1575/5 (Power=1) Standards of Proof Unless otherwise specified, all Judgements shall be consistent with the preponderance of the evidence. A Judge shall not find that a Player has failed to perform a duty unless the preponderance of evidence provided by the Caller supports the claim. A Judge shall not find that a Player has violated a Rule or committed a Crime unless the evidence provided by the Caller places its certainty beyond reasonable doubt. Furthermore, a Judge shall not find that a Player committed a Crime if that Player reasonably believed that eir action or inaction was not a Crime at the time it occurred. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1768/0 (Power=1) Evidentiary Status of Officer Reports The published Report of an Officer constitutes prima facie evidence of the truth of those matters reported therein which that Officer is required by law to report. This presumption may be set aside only by clear and convincing evidence to the contrary. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 451/3 (Power=1) Determination of Judgement--Timing When a Judge is considering eir Judgement of a Statement contained in a CFJ, e shall make eir evaluation based on the truth or falsity of the Statement at the time the CFJ was issued. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1565/10 (Power=1) Dismissal of a CFJ A Judgement of DISMISSED should be delivered if and only if one or more of the following is true: i) The CFJ does not contain a single clearly-identified Statement. ii) After a reasonable effort to obtain all relevant information, the Judge can neither determine the Statement to be true nor determine it to be false. iii) The Statement does not relate to a matter relevant to the Rules. iv) The CFJ lacks standing, as defined elsewhere. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 502/9 (Power=1) Salary for Judges As soon as possible after a Judgement is delivered during the Deliberation Period, the Clerk of the Courts shall award the Judge the Boon of Wisdom. As soon as possible after a Judgement is overturned on appeal, the Clerk of the Courts shall award the Judge the Albatross of Foolishness. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1803/2 (Power=1) Judicial and Sentencing Orders Judicial Orders and Sentencing Orders are executed by being sent to the Clerk of the Courts, but do not take effect until their publication by the Clerk of the Courts. The Clerk of the Courts shall publish each Judicial Order and Sentencing Order as soon as possible after receiving it from the Judge who executed it. Any Player may formally request a Judge issue any Judicial Order by filing a motion requesting that Order. If granted, the Judge shall issue the Order requested. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1804/2 (Power=1) Appeal of Judicial and Sentencing Orders As soon as possible after a Judicial Order or Sentencing Order is Appealed, the Clerk of the Courts shall stay it. If the Appeal is sustained, then the Board of Appeals shall vacate this stay as soon as possible. If the Appeal is sustained, then the Board of Appeals shall vacate the stayed Order as soon as possible. In the Appeal of a Judicial Order or Sentencing Order, the Board of Appeals shall consider whether the Order was properly and validly executed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1826/0 (Power=1) Motions A Motion is a formal request made by a Player to the Judge of a CFJ. A Motion is made by submitting it to the Clerk of the Courts, clearly identifying the CFJ to which the Motion applies. The Clerk of the Courts shall forward each properly-filed Motion to the Judge of the CFJ to which the Motion applies as soon as possible after receiving it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1827/5 (Power=1) Granting or Denying Motions A Judge must either grant or deny each Motion forwarded to em by the Clerk of the Courts, within five days of when the Motion was received by the Judge. E may, but need not, state the reasons for eir grant or denial. A Judge grants or denies a Motion by sending eir determination on that Motion to the Clerk of the Courts, along with any reasons e chooses to provide. The effect of granting a Motion depends on the nature of the Motion granted, but generally amounts to requiring the Judge to perform as requested by the Motion. Upon receipt of a Judge's determination on a Motion, the Clerk shall note the determination made and the reasons, if any, on the record of the CFJ, and shall notify the Player who made the Motion of that determination. If a Judge fails to Grant or Deny a Motion within five days of when it was forwarded to em by the Clerk of the Courts, e commits the Class 0.5 Infraction of Slow Motion, which may be reported by the Clerk of the Courts. If this occurs, the Clerk of the Courts shall Recuse the Judge and assign a new one as usual. If a Motion is made after a case is closed, and the original Judge of that case is not active or is not a player, then a new Judge shall be assigned to the case as usual. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1509/4 (Power=1) Orders to Compel Upon a judicial finding that a Player has failed to perform a duty required of em by the Rules, the Judge so finding shall execute an Order, requiring that Player to perform that duty as soon as possible. Such an Order is known as an Order to Compel. If the duty in question arises because the Player in question holds a specific Office or other position of official responsibility, the Order shall be directed to that Office or position. If the Player holding that Office fails to perform the duty in question as ordered, the Judge shall Order that that Player be removed from Office or position. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1830/2 (Power=1) No Compulsion of Judges Any Order to Compel directed to a Judge, or requiring the performance of a duty required of a Player because that Player is a Judge, is invalid, unless that Order is a valid Appellate Order. Any CFJ alleging that a Judgement is incorrect, or that a Judge has failed to perform a judicial duty, lacks standing. Such a claim should instead be pursued via Appeal. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 789/5 (Power=1) Orders to Annotate Rules The Judge of any CFJ, the Statement of which alleges that a Rule should be interpreted in a certain way, which is judged TRUE, may, at eir discretion, issue an Order requiring the Rulekeepor to annotate the Rule in question with the Statement of that CFJ. Such an annotation, while it exists, shall guide application of that Rule. The Rulekeepor may remove such an annotation only if that Rule is repealed; if required to do so by a valid Order; or if the original Order to annotate is amended, stayed, or vacated. The Rulekeepor may vacate an Order to annotate a Rule Without Objection. Annotations to a Rule may not be modified in any way except as specified in this Rule. If a Player believes that an annotation is no longer pertinent, e may file, in the original CFJ from which the Order of Annotation arises, a Motion to Vacate the Order of Annotation. If such a Motion is granted, the Judge granting it shall Order the original Order Vacated and shall Order the Rulekeepor to remove the annotation in question. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1742/3 (Power=1) Agreements between Players Players may make agreements among themselves with the intention that such agreements will be binding under the rules. If such an agreement is subsequently broken, any player party to that agreement may then call a CFJ alleging that the agreement has been broken. If the judge of such a CFJ finds that the agreement was entered into with the intention that the agreement be binding under the rules, and that the agreement has in fact been broken, then e may order the breaching party to perform according to the agreement, or perform substitute acts that would fairly serve the interests of the agreement; e may further order the other parties of the agreement to perform such acts as may be necessary to preserve fairness and justice. Nothing in this rule shall be construed so as to impair the enforcement of an agreement which requires a Player to violate another agreement. If a CFJ alleging that an agreement has been broken is called by anyone who is not party to that agreement, then it lacks standing and shall be dismissed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1365/8 (Power=1) Concurring and Dissenting Opinions There shall exist a type of Application called an Application to Submit an Opinion. Such an Application, if effective, has the effect of annotating a Judgement in a given Call for Judgement. In order for such an Application to have effect upon submission, it must satisfy the following requirements: * It must clearly indicate to which CFJ it applies. * It must be labeled as either a Concurring Opinion or a Dissenting Opinion. * It must indicate whether the Judgement to which it applies is that of the Judge or that of the Appeals Court. * It must be accompanied by reasons and arguments, which may include, but are not necessarily limited to, citations of deciding Rules, past Judgements, and Game Custom. * It must bear the Signatures of at least two Players. * It must be submitted no earlier than the submission of the Judgement to which it applies, and no later than one week after the publication by the Clerk of the Courts of that Judgement. An Application to Submit an Opinion is submitted by submitting it to the Clerk of the Courts. Such an Application, having been submitted and having met all the requirements for effectiveness, is also called an Opinion. It is also referred to as a Concurring Opinion or a Dissenting Opinion, as indicated in the Opinion. Once an Application to Submit an Opinion is submitted and takes effect, the Clerk of the Courts must distribute the Opinion to all Players as soon as possible. Furthermore, the Opinion must be appended to the Legal Judgement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Overturning Judgement ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 911/13 (Power=1) The Board of Appeals When an Appeal is initiated, a Board of Appeals shall be selected to reach a decision about the subject of the Appeal. A Board of Appeals consists of three Appellate Judges. Any Judge assigned according to this Rule is an Appellate Judge. A Board of Appeals is selected when the Clerk of the Courts correctly announces the identity of all Appellate Judges, determined as follows: a) The Speaker is selected, if eligible. b) The Clerk of the Courts is selected, if eligible. c) The Justiciar is selected, if eligible. d) Any remaining positions are filled by selection by the Clerk of the Courts from all remaining eligible Players. A Player is ineligible for selection if any of the following is true: i) E has already been selected for that Board. ii) E has been dismissed from that Board. iii) E has been Trial Judge of the subject of the Appeal. iv) E is ineligible to Judge the CFJ at the time of selection. v) E is not Active. An Appellate Judge may appoint another eligible Player as eir replacement by informing the Clerk of the Courts, provided the Player consents. As soon as possible after an Appellate Judge is recused, the Clerk of the Courts shall randomly select an eligible Player to replace em. The last Appellate Judge selected is the Lead Judge for that Board. If the Lead Judge is replaced, then the replacement becomes Lead Judge. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 910/13 (Power=1) The Justiciar The Justiciar is an office; its holder is responsible for justice, serving on a Board of Appeals when necessary. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1570/2 (Power=1) Announcement of Appeal As soon as possible after an Appeal is initiated, the Clerk of the Courts shall announce the subject of the Appeal. As soon as possible after a Player becomes an Appellate Judge or ceases to be an Appellate Judge, the Clerk of the Courts shall announce the change. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1564/12 (Power=1) Initiating Appeals The following are subject to Appeal: a) The Judgement of a Trial Judge. b) The grant or denial of a Motion. c) The execution of a Judicial or Sentencing Order. d) A claim that a Trial Judge has failed to perform a required judicial duty. A subject is Appealed when any of the following occurs: i) Three Players Appeal it. ii) A Player Appeals a Judicial or Sentencing Order binding em. iii) A Player Appeals a Trial Judgement convicting em of a Crime. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1447/18 (Power=1) Final Judgement upon Appeal For an Appellate Judge, a Judgement is exactly one of the following: SUSTAIN or OVERTURN. Other Rules may modify this, based on the subject of the Appeal. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2026/1 (Power=1) Appellate Determinations As soon as possible after all members of a Board of Appeals have submitted eir Judgement, the Clerk of the Courts shall announce that this has happened. If a majority of the Appellate Judges Judge SUSTAIN, then the subject of the Appeal is sustained. Otherwise, it is overturned. The Board of Appeals shall execute whatever Appelate Orders are necessary to enforce its determination. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1693/2 (Power=1) Appeal of a Judgement If a Judgement of TRUE or FALSE is Appealed, the Board of Appeals shall consider the correctness of that Judgement. If a Judgement of DISMISSED is Appealed, the Board shall not consider the truth or falsity of the original CFJ; they shall only consider whether a Judgement of DISMISSED should have been delivered. For an Appelate Judge assigned to the Appeal of a Judgement, a Judgement is exactly one of the following: SUSTAIN, REVERSE, REASSIGN, or REMAND. When a Judgement is overturned: a) If a majority of the Appelate Judges Judge REVERSE, then the CFJ shall be treated as if it were Judged normally, with the Judgement being that which a majority of the Appelate Judges agree on. b) If a majority of the Appelate Judges Judge REASSIGN, then the original Judgement is ignored, the original Judge is recused, and the Clerk of the Courts shall reassign the CFJ to a new Judge in the same fashion as it was originally assigned. The new Judge cannot make the same Judgement as the original Judge for the same reason. c) If a majority of the Appelate Judges Judge REMAND, then the original Judgement shall be ignored, and the Clerk of the Courts shall reassign the CFJ to the original Judge as if it were being originally assigned. The Judge may not make the same Judgement for the same reason. d) If none of the above is true, then the CFJ shall be reassigned as described above. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1805/1 (Power=1) Appellate Orders Appellate Orders are executed by being sent to the Clerk of the Courts by the Lead Judge of a Board of Appeals, but do not take effect until their publication by the Clerk of the Courts. The Lead Judge shall certify in eir submission to the Clerk of the Courts that the Order is executed by the concurrence of the majority of the Justices comprising that Board of Appeals; failure to do so deprives the Order of effect. The Clerk of the Courts shall publish each Appellate Order as soon as possible after receiving it from the Board of Appeal which executed it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1806/0 (Power=1) No Appeal of Appellate Orders Appellate Orders are not subject to appeal. However, upon a judicial finding that the required certification was falsely provided, the Justiciar shall vacate the Order which was accompanied by that false certification. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1807/0 (Power=1) Validity of Appellate Orders Since Appellate Orders cannot be appealed, Appellate Orders are valid only if addressed to: a) The Clerk of the Courts in eir Official capacity; b) an Order issued by the Clerk of the Courts in eir Official Capacity; c) The Judge of the CFJ which that Board of Appeals was convened to consider, or any Order issued by that Judge in that particular CFJ; or d) any combination of the above. All other Appellate Orders are presumptively invalid. This Rule takes precedence over all Rules pertaining to the validity of Appellate Orders. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Rule Violations ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 908/15 (Power=1) Formal Apologies If a Player (hereafter the Ninny) is convicted of a Crime, then instead of executing Sentencing Orders, the Judge may (Without Objection) Order the Ninny to publish a Formal Apology. Such an Order is known as an Order to Apologize. A Formal Apology must be at least 200 words, and must explain the Ninny's error, shame, remorse, and ardent desire for self-improvement. Furthermore, the Order to Apologize may include up to ten Prescribed Words of the Judge's choice, all of which must appear in the Formal Apology. Failure to obey an Order to Apologize within 72 hours is the Class 3 Infraction of Shamelessness, to be reported by the Judge who issued the Order. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Crimes and Infractions ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1503/5 (Power=1) Crimes and Infractions An action or inaction is a Crime or an Infraction only if defined as such by the Rules. An entity may be convicted of a Crime only by a judicial finding that e has committed that Crime. An entity may be convicted of an Infraction only by announcement of a Player authorized by the Rules to report the commission of that Infraction. The commission of a Crime or Infraction may be penalized only as defined by the Rules. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1504/7 (Power=1) Sentencing Orders Upon a judicial finding that an entity has committed a Crime, the Judge so finding shall execute, as soon as possible, either: a) all and only those Sentencing Orders necessary and sufficient to impose the penalty for that Crime; or b) (Without Objection) an Order to Apologize. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1812/6 (Power=1) Notices of Infraction If an entity (hereafter the Jaywalker) commits an Infraction, then any Player authorized by the Rules to report the commission of that Infraction (hereafter the Traffic Cop) may publish a Notice of Infraction. This Notice shall explicitly specify the following: a) The Infraction that has been committed. b) The identity of the Jaywalker. c) The Rule(s) defining that action or inaction as an Infraction. d) The action or inaction by which the Jaywalker committed the Infraction. e) All and only those Ticketing Orders necessary and sufficient to impose the penalty for that Infraction. The Orders are executed and take effect upon publication. When a Player publishes a Claim of Error alleging that the Jaywalker did not commit the Infraction, e may (in the same message as the COE) stay one or more of the Ticketing Orders. If the COE is denied, then the Traffic Cop shall vacate the Order to Stay as soon as possible. If the COE is admitted, then the Traffic Cop shall vacate all the stayed Ticketing Orders as soon as possible. Players are encouraged to CFJ on the commission of Infractions only when a question of interpretation, rather than of fact, arises. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1814/1 (Power=1) Timing of Penalties for Crimes and Infractions The punishment for a Crime or Infraction shall be whatever was specified by the Rules at the time the action so designated as a Crime or an Infraction was committed, even if the Rule or Rules which specified the punishment, or which designated the action as a Crime or Infraction, have since been amended or repealed. This Rule takes precedence over any Rule which specifies a different penalty for a Crime or Infraction. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1816/2 (Power=3) No Double Jeopardy for Crimes No Player may be penalized more than once for any single action or inaction. If a non-dismissed CFJ alleges that a Player has committed a Crime through a given action or inaction, then any further CFJ alleging that the same Player has committed the same Crime through the same action or inaction lacks standing and shall be dismissed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1505/12 (Power=1) Standard Classes of Crimes and Infractions A Class N Infraction (where N is replaced with a number) is an Infraction for which the penalty is N Blots minus the number of Shares owned by the penalized entity at the time of the Infraction, with a minimum of 1. Such a penalty is assessed upon the execution of a Ticketing Order that Orders the Herald to record the penalty. A Class N Crime (where N is replaced with a number) is a Crime for which the penalty is N Blots. Such a penalty is assessed upon the execution of a Sentencing Order that Orders the Herald to record the penalty. If such a Sentencing or Ticketing Order is vacated after the Herald has already recorded the penalty, then an equal number of Blots are expunged from the penalized entity. (If the entity has less Blots than the amount of the penalty, then all eir Blots are expunged.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The Distributor ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1670/15 (Power=1) The Distributor The person who is most responsible for the maintenance of one or more Public Fora, in the opinion of the Registrar, shall be known as the Distributor. Any changes in the identity of the Distributor shall take effect when announced publicly by the Registrar. The Registrar is obliged to keep the Distributor informed of all listed e-mail addresses of all Players, as well as to inform the Distributor of any listing or unlisting as soon as possible after e learns of it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The Registrar ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 559/25 (Power=1) The Registrar The Registrar is an office; its holder is responsible for maintaining the register of players. The Registrar's Bi-Weekly Report shall include all of the following information: (i) a list of all registered players, with their nicknames, if any, and listed email addresses; (ii) a list of all Grace Periods in progress, including the player subject to the Grace period, the time at which it started, and the time at which it will end; (iii) a list of all Unready players; (iv) the most recent date on which each registered player registered; (v) each player's activity level, and the most recent date and method by which that player's activity level changed; (vi) the identity of the Distributor. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 514/2 (Power=1) Keep the Registrar Informed of Your Address Each Player may list or unlist an e-mail address by informing the Registrar that e is doing so. When a Player registers, the address used to send eir registration becomes listed. A listing is only valid if the Player sends a public message from the listed address within one week of the listing. (This message may be the listing itself.) An unlisting is only valid if the Player keeps at least one address listed. If a Player fails to notify the Registrar of a change of address, then the Registrar is not responsible for any e-mail that fails to reach that Player. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The Rulekeepor ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1051/17 (Power=1) The Rulekeepor The Rulekeepor is an office; its holder is responsible for maintaining the text of the rules of Agora. The Rulekeepor's Weekly Report shall include the Short Logical Ruleset. The Rulekeepor's Monthly Report shall include the Full Logical Ruleset. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1681/7 (Power=1) The Logical Rulesets There is a format of the ruleset known as the Short Logical Ruleset (SLR). In this format, each rule is assigned to a category, and the rules are grouped according to their category. Within a category, the ordering of rules is decided by the Rulekeepor. A new Rule is assigned to a category as the Rulekeepor sees fit. The Rulekeepor may, without 2 objections, move Rules between categories, change the name of a category, and add or remove empty categories. The listing of each rule in the SLR must include the rule's number, revision number, power, title, and text, and must also include any annotations to the rule required by order. The Rulekeepor is strongly encouraged not to include any additional information in the SLR, except that which increases the readability of the SLR. There is a format of the ruleset known as the Full Logical Ruleset (FLR). In this format, rules are assigned to the same category and presented in the same order as in the SLR. The FLR must contain all the information required to be in the SLR, as well as a brief description of each category and any historical annotations which the Rulekeepor is required to record. The Rulekeepor is also free to include any other information which e feels may be helpful in the use of the ruleset in the FLR. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1485/8 (Power=1) Titles for Rules Each Rule has a Title, which is a single line of text containing not more than 60 characters. The Title must be listed by the Rulekeepor along with the Rule. However, the Title is not part of the Rule itself and has no effect on the meaning or application of the Rule, being merely a convenience for the Players. A Rule Change that Creates a new Rule may specify a Title for the new Rule. If it does not, the Rulekeepor shall choose the new Rule's Title. The Rulekeepor is authorized to change the Title of a Rule Without Objection. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1430/6 (Power=1) Mandatory Rule Annotations Whenever a rule is changed in any way, the Rulekeeper shall record a historical annotation to the rule indicating: (a) the type of change; (b) if the rule was changed due to a proposal, a reference to that proposal, its proposer, and any coauthors explicitly named in that proposal; (c) if the rule was changed by some other mechanism, the mechanism which specified the change; and (d) the date on which the change took effect. Other rules may require additional information to appear in an annotation for certain types of Rule Change. Annotations to a rule are not part of the rule, and annotating a rule is not a rule change. The Rulekeepor shall indicate all annotations in such a way that they are readily distinguished from the text of the rule. When a rule is repealed, all annotations attached to it are discarded, and need not appear in the published Ruleset. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Kudos ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1661/11 (Power=1) The Right of Patronage A Speaker has the Right of Patronage. This Right is the authority to, once a week, award the Boon Gold Star to a single Player who has not received this award within the preceding four weeks. The Speaker must provide a reason along with the Notice of Award. Such awards are only permitted to recognize acts the Speaker believes to be of benefit to the Agora community, acts that the Speaker believes to exceed the call of duty, or acts that the Speaker believes to be of extreme sacrifice for the good of the Game. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Cards ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2068/5 (Power=1) The Deckmastor The Deckmastor is an office; its holder is responsible for fair play, shuffling, and dealing, and is the recordkeepor for cards. The Deckmastor's weekly report shall contain a record of all cards in existence, recent card actions, and what entity holds each card. The Deckmastor need not record or report transfers of cards to the table. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2112/0 (Power=1) Deckmastor's Budget The Deckmastor shall have a budget containing values for each of the following: (a) the Maximum Hand Size and the Minimum Hand Size, each of which is a positive integer between 2 and 10, with the Minimum being less than the Maximum. In the absence of a budget, the Maximum Hand Size shall be 5 and the Minimum Hand Size shall be 2. (b) the Maximum Deck Size, which shall be no less than the number of players in the game times the maximum hand size. (c) the Maximum Deck Diversity, which shall be no less than twice the number of players in the game. If the Budget does not specify values for (a-c) above, or specifies a value violating these limits, the value shall be the smallest value that does not violate these limits. The Deckmastor's Budget shall also contain a Quota, which is a non-negative integer, for each defined class of Card. If the quota for a particular class of card is not specified in the Budget, that card shall have a quota of 0. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2113/0 (Power=1) Card Constraints The following maxima exist for card frequencies: (a) For a card with a unique frequency, one. (b) For card with a rare frequency, the number of active players. If the current quota for a card class exceeds the maximum for its defined frequency, then any Player may, with 2 support, amend the Deckmastor's budget to set the card's quota to its maximum. When a card's frequency is defined or changed, and the mechanism changing it does not specify a new quota, its quota is set to the maximum for that frequency. If at any time the sum of all quotas for all cards is greater than the Maximum Deck Size, the Deckmastor may, with 2 support, amend the budget by reducing quotas so that the resulting sum is equal to this maximum. If at any time the number of card classes with positive quotas is greater than the Maximum Deck Diversity, the Deckmastor may, with 2 support, amend the budget by setting quotas to 0 so that the resulting number of card classes with positive quotas is equal to this maximum. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2114/2 (Power=1) Card Definitions A document is a cardbook if so designated by the rules. The Deckmastor is the recordkeepor of cardbooks; eir monthly report shall include each cardbook. As soon as possible after a cardbook changes, the Deckmastor shall publish that cardbook. A cardbook may only be changed as explicitly permitted by the rules. The Deckmastor may change non-substantial properties of any cardbook, specifically layout, whitespace, and the order of definitions, as e sees fit. A cardbook can define a class of cards by specifying its Caption, Frequency, zero or one Exploits, and optionally its Elements, and can define an Element or Scoring Instruction by specifying its name and description. Neither classes of cards Elements, nor Scoring Instructions may be otherwise defined. (a) The Caption is a string of text, unique to a particular class of cards. (b) The Frequency of a card is exactly one of the values Unique, Rare, or Common, defaulting to Unique if unspecified or incorrectly specified. (c) A card with a particular Element behaves according to the description of that Element. (d) An Exploit of a card may contain one or more Indications, Impositions, and Feats. (1) An Indication is a requirement for the gambler playing the card to select some entity or value. (2) An Imposition is a requirement the gambler may impose upon another gambler by playing the card. (3) A Feat is an action the gambler may perform by playing the card. (4) A Fuse is an Imposition or Feat that is not imposed or performed immediately, but rather when a stated condition occurs. A reference to "you" or "your" in any text on a card refers to the gambler holding the card unless it is on the table, and then refers to the gambler who played the card. The cards of a given class are fungible. Each individual instance of a card shall be considered to be a copy of that class of card. If there are conflicts between a card or element definition in a cardbook and the rules, then the conflict shall be resolved as if the definition were contained in the text of the rule that defines the particular cardbook. This rule takes precedence over any rule that would require a different method of resolving such conflicts. This rule takes precedence over any rule describing the definition or interpretation of card classes and card elements. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2115/0 (Power=2) Cards of Power There is a cardbook called the Twopower Cardbook, which may only be changed by a Proposal with a power of 2 or greater. If the definitions contained within the Twopower Cardbook would set, under certain conditions, the power of a copy of a card defined in it, then this Rule is considered to be the entity that sets the power of that card copy. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2116/0 (Power=1) Onepower Cardbook There is a cardbook called the Onepower Cardbook, which may only be changed by Proposal. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2069/9 (Power=1) Card Actions (a) A nonperson entity is a site if so designated by the rules or a cardbook. A site may have one or more Elements. (b) A gambler is a player or a site. All gamblers may hold cards. If a card is held by a nongambler, the Deckmastor shall transfer that card to the Deck as soon as possible. A gambler's hand is the collection of cards held by that gambler. A gambler's hand size is the size of this collection, plus one for each free pending draw for that gambler. (c) When a card must be created or destroyed, the Deckmastor shall be empowered to create or destroy that card, as appropriate, and must do so as soon as possible. The Deckmastor creates or destroys a card by announcement, specifying as appropriate its holder or its former holder. Cards can be neither created nor destroyed otherwise. Whenever the quota for a class of cards exceeds the number of existing copies of that card, a copy of that card must be created. The copy must be created in the deck's hand unless otherwise specified. Whenever the number of existing copies of a card exceeds the quota for its class, if the deck holds a copy of that card, a copy held by the deck must be destroyed, and if the deck does not, then a random copy of the card must be destroyed. (d) If a card would be transferred to the deck or the table, and the transfer is not performed automatically, as part of the Deckmastor's duties, or as the result of a card play, it is discarded instead. When a card is otherwise transferred from one gambler to another, the former gambler shall cease to hold the card and the latter gambler shall simultaneously come to hold the card. Discarding a card is synonymous with transferring it to the discard pile. Dealing a card to a gambler is synonymous with selecting a random card from the deck and transferring it from the deck to that gambler. A gambler may transfer a card e holds to another gambler by announcement, specifying the card to transfer and, if not discarding it, the gambler to receive the card. If the Deckmastor errs, in good faith, in selecting a particular card to deal, and that error does not greatly change the probability of selecting that card, that deal shall be allowed to stand. As soon as possible after a player correctly announces that the sum of the number of pending draws for each gambler is greater than the number of cards in the deck, or that there are no cards in the deck, then the Deckmastor shall reshuffle the deck. Whenever the deck is reshuffled, all cards in the discard pile are automatically transferred to the deck. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2106/1 (Power=1) Playing Cards A gambler plays a card with an Exploit by announcement, specifying the card to be played, indicating any entities or values mentioned in an Indication of the card's Exploit, and noting any fees required to play the card. A card without an Exploit cannot be played. When a gambler plays a card, the following events automatically occur in order: (a) The card is transferred to the table. (b) One at a time in the order listed on the card, the gambler places any Impositions listed in the Exploit on the appropriate gamblers and performs each Feat listed in the Exploit. (c) If the card is still on the table, it is discarded. If the card has any Fuses, then the first time the stated condition for a Fuse occurs, the gambler places the Imposition or performs the Feat associated with that Fuse as appropriate. The Elements or Exploit of a card may modify any of the above events. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2074/1 (Power=2) Hand Flux Flux is a stuck switch for Gamblers with states Free and Frozen. Rules to the contrary notwithstanding, a Gambler with frozen flux may not play, discard, or transfer cards from eir hand, nor may the Deckmastor satisfy pending draws for that hand. However, the Deckmastor may by public announcement discard cards from any Frozen Gambler as required by the Rules. The Deck's flux shall always be free, rules to the contrary notwithstanding. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2075/6 (Power=1) Winning Hands The Scoring Instructions contained in cardbooks, interpreted collectively, may define a nonsite gambler as holding a winning hand at a particular moment. If so, any Gambler has 72 hours from that moment to announce that a Gambler holds or has held a winning hand. If the announcement is false, the Deckmastor shall, as soon as possible, transfer 1 card at random from the announcing Gambler's Hand to the Deck. If the announcement is true, the holding Gambler Wins the Game, and is awarded the boon of Pokerface and the defined regular Patent Title Champion. Exactly one week after a true announcement, the Flux of all Gamblers except the Deck shall become frozen, and all heavy pending draws shall be deemed satisfied. If no true announcement of a winning hand or a Skunk has been made in the last six months, then any Gambler may announce a Skunk, which shall trigger the effects of a true announcement of a win above, except that no boon shall be awarded. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2083/0 (Power=1) Win Resolution As soon as possible after any gambler's hand becomes frozen, the Deckmastor shall perform the following actions in order: 1) Calculate and publicly announce the Card Tax for each frozen gambler. The Card Tax for a frozen gambler is equal to the hand size of that gambler less the minimum hand size. The Card Tax shall be calculated as of the moment the gambler's hand became frozen. 2) From every frozen gambler in turn, transfer cards selected at random from that gambler's hand to the Deck until eir hand size has been reduced by an amount not less than eir Card Tax or e has no cards remaining. 3) If the hands were frozen because of a win, deal cards to the winner until eir hand size has been increased by the maximum hand size less the minimum hand size, calculated as of the moment the winner's hand became frozen. 4) Publicly announce that the table is open for business. Upon publication of an announcement as in 4), the Flux of every gambler shall become free. If the Deckmastor makes a public announcement as in 4) when one or more gamblers are frozen but steps 1), 2), and 3) have not been completed, then the announcement is still valid, but the Deckmastor must complete steps 1), 2), and 3) as soon as possible. If the Deckmastor's error is not made in good faith, then e commits the Class 4 Crime of Stacking the Deck. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2080/5 (Power=1) Basic Draws The maximum hand size for a Player is defined as the maximum hand size in the Deckmastor's Budget plus the number of Offices (including the Speakership) that the Player holds. Any Player may draw up to three heavy cards in a single month by announcement. If a Player draws a card without specifying the explicit circumstances allowing the draw, it shall be considered an attempt to draw one of these heavy cards. Any Player may draw one free card in a single month, by noting it is eir free draw for the month. Any Player may draw one heavy card for each Proposal e proposes that is adopted, by noting the Proposal's number. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2120/0 (Power=1) Satisfying Draws When a gambler draws a card as specified by the Rules, e gains a Pending Draw. Encumbrance is a stuck switch for pending draws, with values Free and Heavy. Drawing a [Encumbrance value] card is a synonym for gaining a pending draw with the indicated encumbrance. As soon as possible after a gambler draws a card, the Deckmastor shall satisfy the draw by dealing a card to the gambler with the pending draw, but only if the draw is Satisfiable. A draw is satisfiable unless defined otherwise. A heavy pending draw is not satisfiable as long as the gambler with the draw has a hand size equal to or greater than eir defined maximum hand size. If a gambler has both heavy and free pending draws, the Deckmastor must satisfy all satisfiable heavy draws before satisfying any free draws for that gambler. If the Rules state that a gambler loses a pending draw, than that draw is considered satisfied without the dealing of a card, whether or not it is satisfiable. E shall first lose all free draws before losing any heavy draws. If e has no draws, the Deckmastor shall discard a random card from that gambler's hand. If e has no cards, then the deckmastor shall satisfy the next pending draw e gains without dealing a card. A satisfied draw is no longer pending. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2121/0 (Power=1) Cards for Ex-Cards When a class of cards ceases to exist, each non-site gambler gains a pending draw for each instance of that class that e possessed immediately before it ceased to exist. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Patent Titles ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 649/17 (Power=1) Patent Titles A Patent Title is a legal item of recognition of a person's distinction. When a Patent Title is awarded to a person, that person is said to Bear that Patent Title; the Patent Title is Borne by the person, and the person is its Bearor. When a Patent Title is revoked from a person, that person ceases to Bear that Patent Title. The status of Bearing a Patent Title can only be changed as explicitly set out in the Rules. Only persons may Bear Patent Titles. As soon as possible after the Rules state that a Patent title shall be awarded or revoked, the Herald shall publicly award or revoke that Patent Title. Significance is a stuck switch for Patent Titles with states Historical, Hysterical, and Ephemeral. The Herald may, Without Objection, flip a Title from Historical Significance to Hysterical Significance. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1044/8 (Power=1) Unique Patent Titles A Patent Title is unique when the rules say it is. If a person is awarded a unique Patent Title, then the Herald shall revoke it as soon as possible from any person already Bearing that Title. The following are Unique Patent Titles: (a) Robespierre, which shall be awarded to the Player who called for a Revolt, if the Revolt succeeds. (b) Miscreant, which shall be awarded to a Player who has at least ten Blots and has a greater number of Blots than any other Player, if there is such a Player. It shall automatically be revoked if either condition becomes false. (c) Pugachev, which shall be awarded to the player who called for a Revolt, if the Revolt fails. (d) Manouchian, which shall be awarded to the player who called for a Revolt and deregistered before the Registrar announced that the Revolt succeeded. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1922/9 (Power=1) Defined Regular Patent Titles The following are Patent Titles: (a) Scamster, which may be awarded to any Player who has shown great enthusiasm, persistence, or skill in the perpetrating of scams. This title may not be declined, retracted, or revoked. (b) A Patent Title (non-unique) now will Be known as "Bard", and granted those with wit. In order for one Title to be filled, A level of Support must call for it. Three players to a fourth may grant this name If these three write as 1, with 2 Support. A current Bard may also grant the same, Provided that a second Bard's a sport. And so we don't the name of Bard debase, A Player with 3 Supporters can conspire To (from a Bard), this Title to erase: Or Bard (plus 2 Bards) make a Bard retire. But lest we ruin some poor minstrel's fun No bard will be dis-bard for eir bad pun. (c) Filthy Bureaucrat, to be awarded to any player who at some point simultaneously holds and is Electee to three or more Offices. This Patent Title is revoked from a player who ceases to hold and be Electee to three or more Offices. (d) Three Months Long Service, Six Months Long Service, Nine Months Long Service, Twelve Months Long Service, to be awarded to any player who has held a particular Office continuously for the specified duration. Each of these titles shall be awarded only once per player. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2049/2 (Power=1) Ephemera Players may be permitted or required by the Rules to grant Boons or Albatrosses to other Players. If so, these awards are performed by public announcement. The Herald shall note the granting of all such awards. A Player who gains a Boon is considered to have drawn a free card for that boon. A Player who gains an Albatross loses a pending draw. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The University of Agora ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2086/3 (Power=1) The University of Agora The University, also known as the Library, is a site. The Speaker is the president of and a limited executor of the University. Education is a stuck player switch with values Student and Faculty Member. The Secretary of the University (SotU) is the recordkeepor of education. As soon as possible after a player is awarded a degree, the SotU shall flip the education of that player to Faculty Member. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2091/2 (Power=1) The Office of Secretary of the University The Secretary of the University (SotU) is an office; its holder is recordkeepor for the University. The SotU's Weekly Report shall include: (a) A list of all active Research Grants. (b) A list of all active Book Club Selections. (c) Each player's Education. (d) A list of who has checked out cards from the library. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2087/0 (Power=1) Research Grants The University offers Research Grants for projects that improve the intellectual, cultural and social life of Agora. The Speaker may announce a Research Grant by publicly describing a task to be performed and stating a number between one and five. If another Player completes this task to the Speaker's satisfaction within the next month, the Speaker shall award to that Player an equal number of Boons of Achievement, without two objections. No more than one Player may receive this award. If more than one Player undertakes the task, the Speaker shall choose only one Player to receive the award. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2088/0 (Power=1) The University Book Club The University sponsors a monthly Book Club. During the first week of each month the first Player who publically specifies a rule as that month's Book Club Selection becomes the Moderator for the University Book Club. The Assessor shall award one Boon of Refinement apiece to the Moderator and Proposer for the first passed proposal within the next thirty days that either amends or repeals this Selection. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2089/6 (Power=1) Gardner Library Whenever the Library's hand size is less than five, it gains a pending draw. A player (hereafter the Borrower) may check out a specified card from the Library by announcement, which must satisfy a number of satisfiable pending draws that e, in fact, possesses. The number is 2 pending draws for Students and 1 pending draw for Faculty Members. The card is reserved and may not be checked out by any player until it is dealt to the Library again by the Deckmastor. Whenever a card is checked out from the Library, it is transferred to the Borrower. The President of the University may discard any card in the possession of the Library without two objections. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1367/6 (Power=1) Degrees There shall exist a subset of the Patent Titles known as Degrees. A Patent Title is only a Degree if it is specifically made such by a Rule. A person may use a Degree with eir name for any official or unofficial business if and only if e currently Bears that Degree. Persons may come to Bear Degrees only as specified in the Rules. Once a person Bears a Degree, e shall keep that Degree forever. This Rule takes precedence over any Rule specifying default properties of Patent Titles. "Granting a Degree" and "awarding a Degree" are synonymous. A Player who has been awarded a Degree Bears that Degree. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1368/2 (Power=1) The Legal Degrees The following Degrees are hereby made legal: - Associate of Nomic (A.N.) - Bachelor of Nomic (B.N.) - Doctor of Nomic History (D.N. Hist) - Master of Nomic (M.N.) - Doctor of Nomic Philosophy (D.N.Phil) Degrees shall be ranked in the order they appear in this Rule, with Degrees listed latest in the Rule being ranked higher than Degrees listed earlier. The abbreviations in parentheses are not part of the actual Degree. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2092/0 (Power=2) Honorary Degrees A degree may be awarded by the operation of an adopted Proposal whose Power is at least two to any person who is not registered as a Player and who does not already bear that degree. The Proposal must specify both the recipient of the degree and the degree to be awarded. For a degree to be awarded in this manner, the recipient need not complete a Thesis, but all other requirements specific to the degree in question must be satisfied. Degrees awarded as described in this rule shall be marked as honorary degrees in the Herald's report. A person bearing an honorary degree may still be awarded the same degree by other rule-defined mechanisms. When this occurs, the person shall cease to bear the honorary degree and shall bear the new degree in its place. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1369/2 (Power=1) Theses A Thesis (plural: Theses) shall be an essay whose topic is any facet of Agora Nomic, or Nomic in general. The topic should be substantially different from all other Theses previously approved, but this is not a requirement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1370/14 (Power=1) How to Get a Degree A person becomes a Candidate for a Degree when e publishes a Thesis Draft, authored by emself, along with a statement explicitly indicating that the Thesis Draft is being submitted with the intent to qualify for a particular degree. If the Candidate is a Player, e may choose another Player to be the first member of eir Thesis Committee, called eir Chair, with the Chair's consent. For non-players, or if no other Player consents to be the Chair within one month of draft submission, the Speaker will serve as Chair. If the Speaker is neither the Chair nor the Candidate, the Speaker shall appoint a Player who is neither the Chair nor the Candidate to be the second Committee member. Otherwise, the Justiciar shall so appoint, unless the Chair or the Candidate is the Justiciar, in which case the Clerk of the Courts shall so appoint. The two Committee members shall then select, by mutual consent, a third person who is not the Candidate to be the third Committee member. The Committee shall examine the Candidate and eir Thesis to determine eir qualifications for the Degree. The Candidate may publish a new Thesis Draft at any time, in response to Committee requests or of eir own choosing, by indicating it is a new Thesis Draft for the same Degree. If the Committee is dissolved without granting a degree, the Committee ceases to be a Committee, and the Candidate ceases to be a Candidate, and any existent Thesis Draft must be republished and subject to a new Committee selection to be eligible for a Degree. The Chair of a Thesis Committee may dissolve the Committee without granting a degree, with the consent of at least one other Committee member. To so dissolve, the Chair must publish a notice of intent to dissolve at least 14 days before dissolving. The Candidate may so dissolve the Committee at any time by public announcement. The Chair of the Thesis Committee for a particular Candidate may award that Degree to the Candidate if and only if: * the Candidate has satisfied all prerequisites in the rules for the award of that Degree; * a majority of members of the Thesis Committee agree that the most recent Thesis draft produced by the Candidate is worthy of the Degree to be granted; and * fewer than seven years have passed since that Committee was formed. Each Committee Member may have up to 14 days after a Degree is awarded to publish a Commentary for the Thesis. After that time, the Chair shall publish the most recent Thesis Draft along with all Commentary so published. This combined publication shall become the Final Thesis. Upon publication of this Final Thesis the Committee members cease to be Committee members for that Thesis. The Rulekeepor shall retain a copy of each Final Thesis. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2044/1 (Power=1) Awardable Degrees The Degree of Associate of Nomic requires a Thesis of at least 150 words. A Candidate who already holds an AN Degree receives a credit of 100 words towards the Thesis requirement for any higher Degree, unless the Candidate also holds a BN Degree. The Degree of Bachelor of Nomic requires a Thesis of at least 500 words. A Candidate who already holds an BN Degree receives a credit of 250 words towards the Thesis requirement for any higher Degree. The Degree of Doctor of Nomic History requires a Thesis of at least 750 words and containing a narrative and analysis of past events of specific significance to Agora. The Degree of Master of Nomic requires a Thesis of at least 750 words. The Degree of Doctor of Nomic Philosophy requires a Thesis of at least 1000 words, and that the candidate has also published an additional creative work authored by emself whose topic or theme is related to Agora or Nomic in general. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2104/2 (Power=1) Contreras Card Labs The University encourages Card experimentation. There is a cardbook called the Blueprints Cardbook, which may be changed by Proposal, or as specified in this Rule. Any Player may, with support, add a Blueprint to the Blueprints cardbook. A Blueprint must be a valid card definition. Any card added in this manner shall have a quota of 0. Any Player may, with support, remove a Blueprint with a quota of 0 from the Blueprints cardbook. If a Blueprint has been in the Blueprints Cardbook for over four days, any Player may change the quota of that Blueprint from 0 to 1 (if the card is unique) or from 0 to a number not greater than the number of active Players (if the card is rare or common), without three Objections. If the quota of a card is changed in this manner, the Deckmastor shall create one of the copies of that card in The Library rather than in the Deck. Any Player may add, delete, or amend a Scoring Instruction in the Blueprints Cardbook, with M support and without N Objections, where M is greater than or equal to N at the time the change is performed, and N is at least 1. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Indulgences and Blots ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1377/18 (Power=1) The Herald The Herald is an office; its holder is responsible for keeping track of Blots. The Herald's Weekly Report shall include the following: (i) The Stain of each Player and Fugitive from Justice. (ii) A list of each Patent Title with Historical Significance that at least one person Bears and that is not a Degree, with a list of which persons Bear it. (iii) A list of Degrees which have been granted, and which persons Bear them. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2017/1 (Power=1) Blots The stain of an entity is an index measuring how unclean that entity is. An entity is immaculate, or squeaky clean, if its stain is zero. If an entity gains, is assessed, or is penalised a given number of Blots, then as soon as possible after the Herald is informed, either by emself or by others, of the change, e shall record an increase in that entity's stain of that amount (or half that amount if the entity is an unready player at the time of the change). If some number of an entity's Blots are expunged, then as soon as possible after the Herald is informed of the change, e shall record a decrease of that amount in the entity's stain. If this would result in a negative stain, then it instead results in a stain of zero. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1714/9 (Power=1) Lawlessness A player is lawless while e has more than 20 blots. A notice of lawlessness is an allegation by one player (the Inquisitor) that a specified player (the Scofflaw) is lawless. As soon as possible after the publication of such a notice, the Herald shall publicly confirm or deny the allegation. If the Herald confirms the allegation, then the following events occur in order: (a) if the Scofflaw is the Speaker, e ceases to be Speaker; (b) the Scofflaw is removed from any offices e holds; and (c) the Scofflaw is deregistered. If the Herald denies the allegation, then the Inquisitor should be punished. You know what to do. If a player is deregistered according to the provisions of this rule, e may not register again until a month has passed from eir deregistration. This rule takes precedence over any Rule that would prohibit a lawless player from being deregistered. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1437/6 (Power=1) Fugitives from Justice When a Player deregisters or is deregistered, e keeps eir Stain (though it may be modified by other Rules). A non-Player with a non-zero Stain is known as a Fugitive from Justice. At the beginning of the month, the Herald shall expunge half the Blots of each Fugitive from Justice; however, no Fugitive from Justice shall have eir Stain reduced to less than one by this method. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Changing Speakers ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 681/12 (Power=1) Conditions for Conclavity A conclave must be convened whenever any of the following events occur: (a) the Speaker resigns the Speakership; (b) the Speaker becomes inactive; (c) the Herald confirms an allegation that the Speaker is lawless; (d) a valid notice of deregistration naming the Speaker is published; (e) the success of a Call for Revolt is announced, and the Speaker was abiding at the time of the Call for Revolt, in which case the rebellious cardinals are the only qualified cardinals for the conclave; (f) two or more cardinals simultaneously win the game, in which case these cardinals are the only qualified cardinals for the conclave; (g) no pope has become Speaker in the past six months; (h) a pope ceases to be pope without becoming Speaker; or (i) a conclave has concluded with an inconclusive result. So there's always hope that you can be pope. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 786/15 (Power=1) Default Procedure for Conclaves When the rules require that a conclave be convened and no competing conclave is currently convened, then as soon as possible, the Associate Director of Personnel (ADoP) shall convene a conclave by announcement, specifying the collection of qualified cardinals. A cardinal is qualified for a conclave unless the rules specify otherwise. The announcement is ineffective if the ADoP is not required to convene a conclave or eir announcement does not list all and only the cardinals qualified for that conclave. However, if errors are not announced until after 7 days after the conclave concludes, the results shall stand. The convening of a conclave initiates an Agoran Decision to determine the Pope, a decision in which quorum is zero, the voting period is 7 days, all Players are eligible voters, all qualified cardinals are valid options as long as they remain qualified cardinals, and the ADoP has the privilege of resolving ties as for elections. The ADoP's announcement of the cardinal chosen by Agora makes that cardinal the pope and concludes the conclave. If no cardinal may be legally chosen by Agora, the ADoP shall so announce, and the conclave concludes as a cliffhanger. If a conclave has not concluded within a fortnight from the time it was convened, any player may announce that it is inconclusive and thus conclude it as a cliffhanger. When an conclave concludes as a cliffhanger, this canon calls for a consecutive conclave to be convened to calculate the correct cardinal. If the office of ADoP is ever vacant, or the identity of its holder cannot be determined with reasonable certainty, then the first player who announces that e convenes a conclave, with eir announcement adhering to the conditions for the ADoP's announcement, shall then be permitted and required to perform the actions that would have been required of the ADoP for that conclave. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 402/13 (Power=1) Church and State A cardinal is an active, ready player who is neither the current Speaker nor the Associate Director of Personnel. When a cardinal becomes a pope, any previous pope immediately ceases being a pope. Whenever a pope is not a cardinal, e immediately ceases being a pope. For seven days after a cardinal wins the game with no other players simultaneously winning, that cardinal may announce that e becomes a pope. Upon this announcement, that player becomes a pope, so please treat em right good forever. A notice of papal succession is a notice published by the Associate Director of Personnel, that declares that a specified player is a pope, and is valid if the named player is indeed a pope. Upon publication of a valid notice of papal succession, the current Speaker ceases to be Speaker, the pope becomes the new Speaker, and the pope ceases to be a pope. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2073/2 (Power=1) Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes? Whenever the Speaker is Electee to the Office of Associate Director of Personnel, e is retired from that Office. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Contracts ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2107/1 (Power=1) Contracts There exists a type of agreement known as a Contract. A Contract is an Entity. The content of a Contract is called its Regulations. The first Player to announce the creation of a Contract is its Executor and is known as the Notary of that Contract. Any other Player may decide to become part of a Contract by notifying that Contract's Notary. Players party to a Contract, including the Notary, are the Members of this Contract. A Member may leave a Contract at any time by notifying the Notary. A Contract may contain any number of Regulations. Regulations have the power to constrain the actions of Players in the same manner as the Rules. However, Regulations have power over only those Players that are Members of that Contract. All Members are required to abide by the Regulations, unless doing so would violate the Rules. Violation of this requirement is the Class 1 Crime of Insubordination. A Contract may include in its Regulations ways for Players to leave the Contract. Rules to the contrary notwithstanding, no Player shall ever involuntarily become a Member of a Contract. If the Notary of a Contract is deregistered, all Members of this Contract cease to be Members of this Contract and the Contract ceases to exist. Only Members of a Contract may CFJ that a Member has violated that Contract. All Members of a Contract are automatically ineligible to Judge a CFJ that a Member has violated that Contract. All Rules regulating agreements that are inconsistent with this Rule are superseded to the extent of such inconsistency. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2108/0 (Power=1) Contract Maintenance The Notary of a given Contract must provide a copy of its Regulations to any other Player who requests it, as soon as possible after the request is made. The Notary of a Contract must also provide an updated copy of the Regulations to all Members as soon as possible after the Regulations change for any reason. Regulations can not be changed except in accordance with the Rules. Regulations are permitted to define their own mechanisms for changing their own content, and any change to Regulations adopted in accordance with their own mechanisms is legal. The Notary may, without objection, change the Regulations provided e sends a copy of the new Regulations to all Members as soon as possible. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2109/0 (Power=1) Agoran Contracts There exists a type of Contract known as Agoran Contract. An Agoran Contract is a Contract between any two entities. An Agoran Contract may only be created or amended by a Proposal and becomes effective when the Proposal takes effect. Unless otherwise specified in the Rules or Regulations, All Players are automatically Members of Agoran Contracts and no Player may leave an Agoran Contract. All Rules regulating Contracts that are inconsistent with this Rule are superseded to the extent of such inconsistency. The ADoP is required to keep track of all Agoran Contracts. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Groups and Contests ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2097/1 (Power=1) Card-Carrying Contracts A Contract may be made into a Card-Carrying Contract by its Notary acting with two support and without two objections. A player may only be Notary of one Card-Carrying Contract at a time. A Card-Carrying Contract is a gambler, and may perform the following actions only as explicitly permitted by its regulations: 1. As long as the Contract has at least three Members and its hand size is less than the maximum hand size, it may draw a number of cards each month equal to its number of Members at the beginning of the month divided by two and rounded up. 2. Transfer or discard cards. A Card-Carrying Contract may not play cards. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Winners' Hall of Ugly Fountains ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2029/0 (Power=4) Town Fountain /\ /\ / \ / \ T his Power-4 Rule (the first ever) was placed to honor The Agoran Spirit Of The Game by Goethe, Steve, Murphy, root and OscarMeyr, Scamsters. Look on our works, ye Marvy, but do always Dance a Powerful Dance. Hail Eris! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [Last proposal with recorded effect on this ruleset: 4843]