THE SHORT LOGICAL RULESET http://www.nomictools.com/agora/rules/slr Last proposal with recorded effect on this ruleset: 7118 Last change to this ruleset: by Proposal 7118 Last ratification: Short Logical Ruleset of 12 August 2010 Last ratification date: 27 August 2010 Last updated: 26 August 2011 Highest Rule ID number ever assigned: 2354 ====================================================================== The Game of Agora ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2105/4 (Power=1) The Map of Agora ____ _ /| DARWIN -> \_ |/ | / \ __/ / | | <- DSV / / | \ _ \ \_ | \ MORNINGTON CRESCENT -> / | <- GOETHE BARRIER _ _/ | \_/\_/ \ REEF / \\ <- SHARK BAY | | / | | \ <- TOWNSVILLE ___/ | | \_ __/ | | .___o ) | / | | ~~vv ===~~~ <-OSCAR'S MIRE / O <- SHERLOCK NESS | |/\ | | | |_ | | | EMERALD -> \ \ |__________=_____, \ BRISBANE / | | | <-' \ O <- LT. ANNE MOORE | __ _\ \ | |_______/ \/ | LORD | __/\ <- TARACOOLA / HOWE -> \ PERTH __/ \_ / / | <-' _ __/ | /| IVANHOE -> | <-. / _/ \/ \ / / | / WOLLONGONG |_ / <- ESPERANTO v /__ |_ / <- CANBERRA \_/ \ | \_ _| __ __ | | \__/ \_ __ \ / __ \___=_ ___| \_ / \ | / \ MANUBOURNE -> \/ NEW C.LAND \} \|/ \) _,.---v---._ /\__ )`-'] /\__/\ / \ | | COPPRO STRAIGHT( ! \_ _/ / \ | / MICHAELTON->) / \ \_| @ __| \_/ <- HOBART |^\ (_/ \ \_ ( | \ ,__/ / / * ~~~`~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/~~~~ BREE_523->/~ / MURPHENDELL--> # / / |BOBCHURCH PAVRITTON->/ _| {__/ / @ WOOBLEING HEIGHTS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 101/13 (Power=3) The Rights of Agorans WHEREAS Agora, since its inception, has functioned not only as a game but as a society, and WHEREAS a society, to function, must balance its Rules with the natural rights of its participants, BE IT HEREBY PROCLAIMED that no interpretation of Agoran law or binding agreement may substantially limit or remove a person's rights as defined by this Rule, except through the explicit and legal amendment of this Rule. This rule takes precedence over any rule which would allow or mandate restrictions of the rights contained herein. i. Every person has the right, though not necessarily the ability, to perform actions that are not prohibited or regulated by the Rules, with the sole exception of changing the Rules, which is permitted only when the Rules explicitly or implicitly permit it. ii. Every person has the right to initiate a formal process to resolve matters of controversy, in the reasonable expectation that the controversy will thereby be resolved. Every person has the right to cause formal reconsideration of any judicial determination that e should be punished. iii. Every person has the right to refuse to become party to a binding agreement. The absence of a person's explicit, willful consent shall be considered a refusal. iv. Every person has the right to not be considered bound by an agreement, or an amendment to an agreement, or a Rule Change, which e has not had the reasonable opportunity to review. For the purpose of protecting this right, a rule change which would otherwise take effect without its substance being subject to general player review through a reasonably public process is wholly prevented from taking effect. v. Every player has the right of participation in the fora. vi. Every person has the right to not be penalized more than once for any single action or inaction. However, this right is not violated by replacing part or all of a penalty with a different but comparable penalty, e.g. when the rules governing penalties are amended. vii. Every player has the right to deregister; e may continue to accrue obligations and penalties after deregistration but, if e wishes to ignore the game, such penalties shall not unduly harass em. Please treat Agora right good forever. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2125/7 (Power=3) Regulation Regulations A regulated action is an action satisfying any of the following: a) It is IMPOSSIBLE. b) It is ILLEGAL. c) The rules explicitly state that it CAN be performed while certain conditions are satisfied. Such an action CANNOT be performed except as allowed by the rules. In particular, if the action in question is publishing a type of document, then a public message is not that type of document (even if it is labeled as such) except as allowed by the rules. d) The rules explicitly state that it MAY be performed while certain conditions are satisfied. Except as allowed by the rules, performing such an action is the Class-N Crime of Restricted Behavior, where N is the maximum power of the rules explicitly allowing it (rounded up as needed to become a valid Class of Crime). e) It would, as part of its effect, modify information for which some player is required to be a recordkeepor. Such an action CANNOT modify that information except as allowed by the rules. f) A judicial finding has determined that it is regulated, and has not been superseded by subsequent legislation. A person SHOULD NOT violate a rule. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1586/8 (Power=2) Definition and Continuity of Entities If multiple rules attempt to define an entity with the same name, then they refer to the same entity. A rule-defined entity's name CANNOT be changed to be the same as another rule-defined entity's name. A rule referring to an entity by name refers to the entity that had that name when the rule first came to include that reference, even if the entity's name has since changed. If the rules are amended such that they no longer define an entity, then that entity and its attributes cease to exist. If the rules are amended such that they define an entity both before and after the amendment, but with different attributes, then that entity and its attributes continue to exist to whatever extent is possible under the new definitions. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1688/6 (Power=3) Power The Power of an entity is a non-negative rational number. An Instrument is an entity with positive Power. The Power of an entity cannot be set or modified except as stipulated by the Rules. All entities have Power zero except where specifically allowed by the rules. A Rule that secures a change, action, or value (hereafter the securing Rule) thereby makes it IMPOSSIBLE to perform that change or action, or to set or modify that value, except as allowed by an Instrument with Power greater than or equal to the change's Power Threshold. This Threshold defaults to the securing Rule's Power, but CAN be lowered as allowed by that Rule (including by the Rule itself). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2140/1 (Power=3) Power Controls Mutability No entity with power below the power of this rule can (a) cause an entity to have power greater than its own. (b) adjust the power of an instrument with power greater than its own. (c) set or modify any other substantive aspect of an instrument with power greater than its own. A "substantive" aspect of an instrument is any aspect that affects the instrument's operation. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 104/0 (Power=3) First Speaker The Speaker for the first game shall be Michael Norrish. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2326/2 (Power=2) The President The President is a second-class person. Causing the President to act is secured. A first-class Player CAN cause the President to take actions Without Objection, or with Agoran Consent. Should the President incur obligations under the Rules, then the Speaker SHALL act to satisfy these obligations. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2348/0 (Power=1) Presidential Power The President's power is equal to the power of this Rule. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2344/0 (Power=1) Anarchy If a player causes the President to cease to be a player, then that player satisfies the Victory Condition of Anarchy. If the President is ever not a player, any person may register em by announcement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 103/10 (Power=2) The Speaker The Speaker is an imposed office and a figurehead of Agora. The Speaker is a person who has proven themselves to be worthy of the title, and for a time can direct Agoran government affairs. The Speaker is the single player who holds the most Postulated Offices, or if there is no such player, the player who was most recently Speaker. The Speaker CAN, by announcement, cause the President to take actions that are not otherwise IMPOSSIBLE, except for deregistration. Causing the President to perform ILLEGAL actions in this manner is the Class-6 crime of Misleading the Leader. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2339/1 (Power=1) Intention Agora Nomic is intended to be a person. When Agora Nomic is a person, any player CAN cause em to take actions without objection or with Agoran Consent. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2351/0 (Power=3) (untitled) Agora can make its own decisions. If, at any time, Agora wishes to counteract a decision, then that decision, rules to the contrary notwithstanding, has no effect. The game of Agora, but not any player of it, can make arbitrary changes to the gamestate. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2352/0 (Power=1) The Ambassador The Ambassador is an office; its holder is responsible for managing the affairs of state of Agora. When the office of Ambassador first becomes filled, the holder SHALL as soon as possible attempt to cause Agora to become a player of BlogNomic. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Rules ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2141/6 (Power=3) Role and Attributes of Rules A rule is a type of instrument with the capacity to govern the game generally, and is always taking effect. A rule's content takes the form of a text, and is unlimited in scope. In particular, a rule may define in-game entities and regulate their behaviour, make instantaneous changes to the state of in-game entities, prescribe or proscribe certain player behaviour, modify the rules or the application thereof, or do any of these things in a conditional manner. Every rule has power between one and four inclusive. It is not possible for a rule to have a power outside this range. Rules have ID numbers, to be assigned by the Rulekeepor. Every rule shall have a title to aid in identification. If a rule ever does not have a title, the Rulekeepor SHALL assign a title to it by announcement as soon as possible. For the purposes of rules governing modification of instruments, the text, power, ID number, and title of a rule are all substantive aspects of the rule. However, rules to the contrary notwithstanding, the Rulekeepor CAN set rule aspects as described elsewhere in this rule. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 217/6 (Power=3) Interpreting the Rules When interpreting and applying the rules, the text of the rules takes precedence. Where the text is silent, inconsistent, or unclear, it is to be augmented by game custom, common sense, past judgements, and consideration of the best interests of the game. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1030/9 (Power=3.2) Precedence between Rules In a conflict between Rules, the conflict shall be resolved by performing the following comparisons in the sequence written in this rule, until the conflict is resolved. - In a conflict between Rules with different Power, the Rule with the higher Power takes precedence over the Rule with the lower Power ; otherwise, - 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 be used to resolve the conflicts; otherwise, - 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 be used to resolve the conflict, unless they lead to contradictions between each other; otherwise, - The Rule with the lower ID number takes precedence. Clauses in any other rule that broadly claim precedence (e.g. over "all rules" of a certain class) shall be, prima facie, considered to be limited claims of precedence or deference that are applicable only when such claims are evaluated as described within the above sequence. No change to the Ruleset can occur that would cause a Rule to directly claim precedence over this Rule as a means of determining precedence. This applies to changes by the enactment or amendment of a Rule, or of any other form. This Rule takes precedence over any Rule that would permit such a change to the Ruleset. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2240/1 (Power=3) No Cretans Need Apply In a conflict between clauses of the same Rule, if exactly one claims precedence over the other, then it takes precedence; otherwise, the later clause takes precedence. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 105/5 (Power=3) Rule Changes Where permitted by other rules, an instrument generally can, as part of its effect, (a) enact a rule. The new rule has power equal to the minimum of the power specified by the enacting instrument, defaulting to one if the enacting instrument does not specify, and the maximum power permitted by other rules. The enacting instrument may specify a title for the new rule, which if present shall prevail. The ID number of the new rule cannot be specified by the enacting instrument; any attempt to so specify is null and void. (b) repeal a rule. When a rule is repealed, it ceases to be a rule, and the Rulekeepor need no longer maintain a record of it. (c) amend the text of a rule. (d) retitle a rule. (e) change the power of a rule. A rule change is any effect that falls into the above classes. Rule changes always occur sequentially, never simultaneously. Any ambiguity in the specification of a rule change causes that change to be void and without effect. An inconsequential variation in the quotation of an existing rule does not constitute ambiguity for the purposes of this rule, but any other variation does. This rule provides the only mechanism by which rules can be created, modified, or destroyed, or by which an entity can become a rule or cease to be a rule. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1681/18 (Power=1) The Logical Rulesets The Short Logical Ruleset (SLR) is a format of the ruleset. In this format, each rule is assigned to a category, and the rules are grouped according to their category. Rules are assigned to, ordered within, or moved between categories, and categories are added, changed, or empty categories removed, as the Rulekeepor sees fit. The listing of each rule in the SLR must include the rule's ID number, revision number, power, title, and text. The Rulekeepor is strongly DISCOURAGED from including any additional information in the SLR, except that which increases the readability of the SLR. The Full Logical Ruleset (FLR) is a format of the ruleset. 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, and any historical annotations which the Rulekeepor is required to record. The Rulekeepor SHOULD also include any other information which e feels may be helpful in the use of the ruleset in the FLR. Whenever a rule is changed in any way, the Rulekeepor SHALL record a historical annotation to the rule indicating: a) The type of change. b) The date on which the change took effect. c) The mechanism that specified the change. d) If the rule was changed due to a proposal, then that proposal's ID number, author, and co-author(s) (if any). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2340/1 (Power=1) Notability Notability is a judicial case switch with values Incidental (default) and Notable, tracked by the Rulekeepor in eir monthly report. A player CAN, with two support, make a case Notable. A player CAN, without two objections, make a case Incidental. The Rulekeepor SHALL annotate the FLR to draw attention to Notable cases, specifying the ID number of the case and including a brief description of the precedent it sets. The players involved in making a case Notable SHOULD suggest where the FLR should be so annotated. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1051/18 (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 includes the Short Logical Ruleset. The Rulekeepor's Monthly report includes the Full Logical Ruleset. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2327/1 (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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Players ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 869/32 (Power=2) How to Join and Leave Agora Citizenship is an entity switch with values Unregistered (default) and Registered, tracked by the registrar. A player is an entity whose citizenship is Registered. Changes to citizenship are secured. The verb "to be registered" means to become a player (i.e., to have one's citizenship changed from Unregistered to Registered), and the verb "to be deregistered" means to cease to be a player (i.e., to have one's citizenship changed from Registered to Unregistered). Where the verb "to register" or "to deregister" is used without an explicit direct object, the action is implicitly reflexive. A first-class person CAN (unless explicitly forbidden or prevented by the rules) register by publishing a message that indicates reasonably clearly and reasonably unambiguously that e intends to become a player at that time. A second-class person CAN register with Agoran Consent. A non-person CANNOT be registered (or created in a Registered state), rules to the contrary notwithstanding. A player CAN deregister by announcement. A person CANNOT register within thirty days after being deregistered, unless rules define the method of deregistration as passive. A player who is not a person and has never been a first-class person CAN be deregistered by any player by announcement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2170/6 (Power=3) Who Am I? Rules regarding persons pertain to those persons directly, not to rule-defined avatars or other entities representing those persons within Agora. A person SHALL NOT make a public statement intended to mislead others as to the identity of its publisher. A player SHALL NOT select a confusing nickname, including but not limited to a name that has generally been used to refer to another entity within the past three months. A public message's (possibly implicit) claim as to the identity of its publisher is self-ratifying, provided that the claim is neither ambiguous nor self-contradictory, and no challenge of identity pertaining to the claimed publisher has been issued within one month before its publication. Upon a judicial finding that the claimed publisher of one or more messages (hereafter the Sock Puppet) was not a person, if any of those claims have already self-ratified, then the judge SHALL as soon as possible publish a judicial declaration that the Sock Puppet was a person during one or more time periods, and SHOULD ensure that it corresponds to general belief prior to that finding. The Executor of a public message is the first-class person who sends it, or who most directly and immediately causes it to be sent. (Upon a judicial finding that the Executor of a public message cannot otherwise be determined within reasonable effort, the judge SHALL as soon as possible publish a judicial declaration specifying the identity of that message's Executor.) The executor of an action performed by announcement is the executor of the announcement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2150/6 (Power=3) Personhood A person is an entity defined as such by rules with power of at least 2. A person CAN generally be the subject of rights and obligations under the rules. Any biological organism that is generally capable of communicating by email in English (including via a translation service) is a person. A first-class person is a person of a biological nature. All other persons are second-class. The basis of a first-class person is the singleton set consisting of that person. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2328/0 (Power=2) Public Agreements An agreement between two or more players is a person if all of the following are true: a) It clearly indicates that it is intended to be a person. b) Its text has been published. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2139/3 (Power=2) The Registrar The Registrar is an office; its holder is responsible for keeping track of players. The Registrar's report includes: a) A list of all players, including information sufficient to identify and contact each player. b) The date on which each player most recently became a player. c) The Activity of each player, and when each Inactive player became Inactive. d) For each former player for which the information is reasonably available, the dates on which e registered and deregistered. The portion of a public message purporting to be a Registrar's report that lists each player implies that no players other than those listed exist and is self-ratifying. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1789/7 (Power=2) 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 Registrar, 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 Registrar shall publish this document along with a Writ of Fugere Agorae Grandissima Exprobratione, commanding the Player to be deregistered. The Registrar shall note the method of deregistration for that Player in subsequent Registrar Reports. 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2130/13 (Power=2) Activity Activity is a player switch with values Active (default) and Inactive, tracked by the Registrar. The Registrar's report includes the date on which each non-Active player's activity last changed. A player CAN flip eir activity by announcement. "To go on hold" is to become Inactive; "to come off hold" is to become Active. A player CAN flip another player's activity to Inactive without objection. A player who has been continuously Inactive for at least three months CAN be deregistered by any other player without objection. This is a passive method of deregistration. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Economy ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2166/16 (Power=2) Assets An asset is an entity defined as such by a rule or contest (hereafter its backing document), and existing solely because its backing document defines its existence. Each asset has exactly one owner. If an asset would otherwise lack an owner, it is owned by the Lost and Found Department. If an asset's backing document restricts its ownership to a class of entities, then that asset CANNOT be gained by or transferred to an entity outside that class, and is transferred to the Lost and Found Department if it is owned by an entity outside that class. If an asset is owned by the Lost and Found department any player CAN transfer or destroy it without objection. The Lost and Found department may own any asset, and have assets transferred to and from it, regardless of the asset's backing document or any Rule, Rules to the contrary notwithstanding. The recordkeepor of a class of assets is the entity (if any) defined as such by, and bound by, its backing document. That entity's report includes a list of all instances of that class and their owners. This portion of that entity's report is self-ratifying. An asset whose backing document is not a rule generally CAN be created by its recordkeepor by announcement, subject to modification by its backing document. To "gain" an asset is to have it created in one's possession; to "award" an asset to an entity is to create it in that entity's possession. An asset generally CAN be destroyed by its owner by announcement, and an asset owned by the Lost and Found Department generally CAN be destroyed by its recordkeepor by announcement, subject to modification by its backing document. To "lose" (syn. "spend") an asset is to have it destroyed from one's possession; to "revoke" an asset from an entity is to destroy it from that entity's possession. An asset generally CAN be transferred by its owner to another entity by announcement, subject to modification by its backing document. A fixed asset is one defined as such by its backing document, and CANNOT be transferred; any other asset is liquid. A currency is a class of asset defined as such by its backing document. Instances of a currency with the same owner are fungible. The Minimum Unit Quantity (MUQ) of each currency is one. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2330/2 (Power=2) Points Points are a currency. Ownership of points is restricted to Players. A player's score is the number of points e owns. Changes to point holdings are secured. The Scorekeepor is an office, and the recordkeepor of points. The maximum FINE amount for points is 25. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2349/0 (Power=2) Spending Points Where the Rules state that a player CAN perform an action 'as a Spending Action', this means that the player CAN perform this action by destroying a number of Points in eir possession equal to the cost of that action, provided they have enough Points. Each Point can only count towards one Spending Action. If a player CAN perform an action by spending 0 points, e CAN perform it by announcement. Each spending action has a base cost, which is a non-negative integer defaulting to five. The base cost of each spending action is tracked by the Scorekeepor, and players CAN change it without two objections. The cost of a spending action is generally its base cost, subject to modification by other Rules. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2331/2 (Power=2) Proposal Points When the Agoran Decision to adopt a proposal is resolved, if the outcome is ADOPTED, the author of the proposal gains 2 points for each valid vote FOR the proposal, less 1 point for each valid vote AGAINST the proposal. Each co-author of the proposal gains 2 points. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2335/1 (Power=2) Judge Points When a judge assigns a judgement to a non-appeal judicial case within any time limits for doing so, e gains 5 points, unless e has already assigned judgement to the same case before. If an appeals panel assigns a judgement with prejudice, then any member of the panel CAN, within a week of the disposition judgement being assigned, by announcement, destroy any points the prior judge earned for judging the case. When an appeals panel assigns a judgement to a case within any time limits for doing so, each member of the panel gains 2 points. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2336/1 (Power=2) Officer Points Weekly Salary is an office switch, tracked by the Scorekeepor, with values of the non-negative integers (default zero). At the beginning of each week, each officer gains a number of points equal to the Weekly Salary of eir office. Monthly Salary is an office switch, tracked by the Scorekeepor, with values of the non-negative integers (default zero). At the beginning of each month, each officer gains a number of points equal to the Monthly Salary of eir office. Players can change the Weekly or Monthly Salary of an office without two objections or with Agoran Consent. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2343/2 (Power=1.7) Victory Cases Victory cases are a subclass of judicial cases. Any person CAN initiate a victory case by announcement, specifying a person (the Enlaureled) that allegedly satisfied a Victory Condition, the Victory Condition allegedly satisfied, and the means by which it was allegedly satisfied. The entities eligible to be assigned as judges of a victory case are those judicial panels consisting of three first-class players, none of them having called the case or been disqualified as below. A player can be disqualified from judging a victory case with Agoran Consent. The CotC SHOULD NOT assign a panel to a victory case if there is a pending intent to disqualify one of its members unless it is clear that the intent will fail. Players SHOULD be disqualified only if they have a vested interest in the victory, such as having been a co-scammer. The valid judgements for a victory case are GLORY, appropriate if the Victory Condition was satisfied as described and a judgment of GLORY has not already been reached on an earlier case over substantially the same victory, and SHAME, appropriate otherwise. When a judgment of GLORY has continuously been in effect for two weeks, the Enlaureled is deemed to have won the game as specified. The Herald shall forthwith award the patent title Champion to the winner. Winning the game does not cause Agora to end. An appeal concerning any assignment of judgement in a victory case within the past week CAN be initiated by the Enlaureled by announcement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2337/3 (Power=3) Promises Promises are a class of assets. Horton is an Office and the recordkeepor for promises; Horton's weekly report includes the text, author, conditions, and owner of all existing promises. The Tree is an entity for holding promises. Ownership of promises is limited to persons, judicial panels, and the Tree. A Player (the promise's author) CAN create a promise in eir possession by announcement, clearly specifying its text. Optionally, the author CAN, in the creating message, specify one or more conditions required to be true for the promise to be cashed, and/or one or more conditions required to be true for the promise not to be destroyed when cashed. To submit a promise means to create that promise and then transfer it to the Tree. Promises with the same text, author, and conditions are fungible. Creating and cashing promises is secured with power threshold 3; any other modifications to promise holdings are secured with power threshold 2. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2338/2 (Power=3) Cashing Promises An entity CAN cash a promise in eir possession by announcing that e does so, provided either that all conditions required to be true for the promise to be cashed are true, or it has no such conditions. To do so, e must clearly and unambiguously identify the promise and SHOULD publish its text. When a promise is cashed, the text of the promise is interpreted as if it were published by its author as a standalone statement; if that statement requires additional context, that context MUST be supplied within the body of the message indicating the cashing. Cashing a promise destroys it, unless the promise has at least one condition required to be true for it not to be destroyed when cashed, and all such conditions are true. If a promise is possessed by the Tree, any player except the promise's author CAN transfer it to emself by announcement, if e cashes the promise in the same message in which e transfers it to emself. Horton CAN destroy any promise Without Objection. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2345/1 (Power=1) Bets The betting period for a decision on the adoption of a proposal or a degree begins when the proposal or thesis is submitted; the betting period for an election begins when the nomination period begins. The betting period for each decision ends when the decision is initiated. During the betting period for a given Agoran Decision, each active player (the Better) CAN submit a Bet privately to the vote collector for that decision. To be valid, a Bet must a) consist of an indication of which outcome the Better thinks Agora will select in a specified decision, b) clearly indicate the number of Points staked in the Bet - a number of Points less than or equal to the number of Points the Better owns, c) not be sent to anyone other than the Better and the vote collector, d) not be submitted by the vote collector, and e) be submitted during the betting period for the decision. The validity of a Bet is measured when its betting market is resolved. Only the last Bet submitted by each player (which would otherwise be valid) is valid. Players SHALL NOT reveal the details of any Bet to any person other than the vote collector before the betting period has finished, except where allowed by this Rule; violating this requirement is the Class-6 Crime of Collusion. If the vote collector for a decision changes before the decision has been resolved, and one or more Bets have been submitted for the decision, then the previous vote collector SHALL inform the new collector of these Bets and their contents privately, before the decision is resolved. The previous vote collector becomes eligible to submit Bets for the decision if the betting period has not ended, and any previous Bets submitted by the new vote collector become invalid. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2346/0 (Power=1) Betting Markets There is a betting market on a decision if a) more than one player has submitted a valid Bet on the decision, b) more than one outcome was Betted on, and c) at least one of the Bets was for the correct outcome. After a decision has been resolved, the vote collector CAN resolve the betting market (if any) on the decision, and SHALL do so as soon as possible. The resolution of a betting market reveals the outcome betted on by each Better, and the number of Points they staked, in valid Bets. Upon the valid resolution of a betting market a) any Points staked on an incorrect outcome are destroyed b) an equal (or less due to rounding) number of Points are awarded to the player(s) who Betted on the correct outcome, such that the proportion of Points gained by each winning Better is directly proportional to the number of Points they staked, rounded down as necessary. To be valid, the resolution must specify how many Points are lost and gained by each Better. The resolution of a betting market constitutes a self-ratifying claim that the Bets in the resolution are valid, and that no other valid Bets were submitted for the decision. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2354/0 (Power=1) Costs The documents defining the conditions for performing an action can specify another action as a cost; paying the cost becomes a condition for performing the original action. A person has paid the cost for an attempt to perform an action if e performed each action so defined as a cost: (1) in the same message as the attempt, (2) clearly indicating that the action was a payment of that cost for that attempt, and (3) not indicating that it was a payment for any other cost or attempt. If the cost is defined in assets, the required action is destroying those assets, or, if the documents specify a recipient entity, transferring them to that entity. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Definitions ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 754/15 (Power=3) Definition Definitions Regularity of communication being essential for the healthy function of any nomic, it is hereby resolved: (1) A difference in spelling, grammar, capitalization, 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, except for the purpose of reporting on or quoting the text of a legal document. A difference between two nonempty spans of whitespace is inconsequential in all forms of communication for all purposes. (2) A term explicitly defined by the Rules, along with its ordinary-language synonym not explicitly defined by the rules, by default has that meaning when used in any Rule of equal or lesser power, as well as any Rule of greater power that is clearly intended to comply with that meaning. The following clauses, where X and Y are both nouns or noun phrases, mean "X is/are defined as Y" unless they obviously have a different meaning: a) "X is/are Y" b) "Y is/are known as X" (3) Any term primarily used in mathematical or legal contexts, and not addressed by previous provisions of this Rule, by default has the meaning it has in those contexts. (4) Any term not addressed by previous provisions of this Rule by default has its ordinary-language meaning. In determining the ordinary-language meaning of a term, definitions contained in lower-powered Rules, are relevant and may provide guidance in helping to determine the meaning of a rule, but are not binding (especially if they differ greatly from the definitions that would be used otherwise). This rule takes precedence over any other rules which dictate terminology or grammar. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2152/6 (Power=3) Mother, May I? The following terms are defined. These definitions are used when a rule includes a term in all caps, and provide guidance in determining the ordinary-language meaning of a term when a rule includes a term otherwise. Earlier definitions take precedence over later ones. If a rule specifies one or more persons in connection with a term, then the term applies only to the specified person(s). 1. CANNOT, IMPOSSIBLE, INEFFECTIVE, INVALID: Attempts to perform the described action are unsuccessful. 2. MUST NOT, MAY NOT, SHALL NOT, ILLEGAL, PROHIBITED: Performing the described action violates the rule in question. 3. SHOULD NOT, DISCOURAGED, DEPRECATED: Before performing the described action, the full implications of performing it should be understood and carefully weighed. 4. CAN: Attempts to perform the described action are successful. 5. MAY: Performing the described action does not violate the rules. 6. MUST, SHALL, REQUIRED, MANDATORY: Failing to perform the described action violates the rule in question. 7. SHOULD, ENCOURAGED, RECOMMENDED: Before failing to perform the described action, the full implications of failing to perform it should (in the ordinary-language sense) be understood and carefully weighed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1023/28 (Power=2) Common Definitions The following terms are defined: (a) The phrases "in a timely fashion" and "as soon as possible" mean "within X days", where X is 14 when the Speed is Slow, 7 when it is Normal and 5 when it is Fast. This time period is set when the requirement is created (ie. X days before the limit ends). A requirement to perform an action at an exact instant (e.g. "when X, Y SHALL Z"), but not "in the same message", is instead interpreted as a requirement to perform that action in a timely fashion after that instant. (b) Agoran epochs: (1) Agoran days begin at midnight UTC. (2) Agoran weeks begin at midnight UTC on Monday. (3) Agoran months begin at midnight UTC on the first day of each Gregorian month. (4) Agoran quarters begin when the Agoran months of January, April, July, and October begin. (5) Agoran years begin when the Agoran month of January begins. (5) A pivot is either the instant at which Agora Nomic began (June 30, 1993, 00:04:30 GMT +1200) or an instant at which at least one person won the game. When used as a period of time, a "game" is the period of time between a pivot and the next pivot. These definitions do not apply to relative durations (e.g. "within days after "). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2347/1 (Power=2) Speed The Speed switch is an Agora Nomic switch, tracked by the Assessor, with values of Slow, Normal (default) and Fast. The Speed switch is secured. When the Speed has not been changed in the past month, the President CAN flip the Speed to Normal or Fast by announcement. At any time, players CAN flip it to a given value with Agoran Consent. In case of a lull, players CAN flip it to Slow without objection. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1769/8 (Power=3) Holidays A Holiday is a period of time designated as such by the Rules. During a Holiday, the Promotor SHALL NOT distribute any proposals, and judges SHALL NOT be assigned to any judicial case, and judges SHALL NOT assign judgement to any judicial case. 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 (including the time limit to perform an action) upon the time of another event, and a) that other event occurs during a Holiday, then the time at which that Holiday ends shall be used instead for the purpose of determining the time of the future event. b) the future event would occur during a Holiday, then the future event occurs 72 hours after the end of that Holiday instead. This Rule takes precedence over all Rules pertaining to the timing of events, and over all Rules which require events to be performed before a specified time. 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2329/0 (Power=1) Festival Days Agora Nomic recognizes and celebrates the following: * January 12-14 - Agora's Unbirthday observed (as described elsewhere) * April 1 - April Fool's Day * May 25 - Towel Day * June 30 - Agora's Birthday (as described elsewhere) * November 5 - Guy Fawkes Night * December 23 - Festivus ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2146/1 (Power=2) Indices Indices are elements of the extended real numbers, which is a total order consisting of the real numbers plus a minimum element, called negative infinity, and a maximum element, called positive infinity or unanimity. The ratio of a positive index to zero is positive infinity. The ratio of a negative index to zero is negative infinity. The ratio of zero to any index is zero. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2162/1 (Power=2) Switches A type of switch is a property that the rules define as a switch, and specify the following: a) The type(s) of entity possessing an instance of that switch. No other entity possesses an instance of that switch. b) One or more possible values for instances of that switch, exactly one of which is designated as the default. No other values are possible for instances of that switch. c) Exactly one officer who tracks instances of that switch. That officer's report includes the value of each instance of that switch whose value is not its default value. At any given time, each instance of a switch has exactly one possible value for that type of switch. If an instance of a switch comes to have a value, it ceases to have any other value. If an instance of a switch would otherwise fail to have a possible value, it comes to have its default value. "To flip an instance of a switch" is to make it come to have a given value. "To become X" (where X is a possible value of exactly one of the subject's switches) is to flip that switch to X. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2353/0 (Power=1) The Conductor The Conductor is an office; its holder is responsible for tracking any switches that would otherwise lack an officer to track them. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 478/30 (Power=3) Fora Freedom of speech being essential for the healthy functioning of any non-Imperial nomic, it is hereby resolved that no Player shall be prohibited from participating in the Fora. Publicity is a forum switch with values Public, Discussion, and Foreign (default), tracked by the Registrar. Changes to publicity are secured. The Registrar's report includes, for each forum with non-Foreign publicity, sufficient instructions for players to receive messages there. The Registrar may change 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. A public message is a message sent via a public forum, or sent to all players and containing a clear designation of intent to be public. A rule can also designate that a part of one public message is considered a public message in its own right. A person "publishes" or "announces" something by sending a public message. Where the rules define an action that CAN be performed "by announcement", a person performs that action by unambiguously and clearly specifying the action and announcing that e performs it. Any action performed by sending a message is performed at the time date-stamped on that message. Actions in messages (including sub-messages) are performed in the order they appear in the message, unless otherwise specified. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1728/32 (Power=3) Dependent Actions A rule which purports to allow a person (the performer) to perform an action by a set of one or more of the following methods (N is 1 unless otherwise specified): 1) Without N Objections, where N is a positive integer no greater than 8. ("Without Objection" is shorthand for this method with N = 1.) 2) With N Supporters, where N is a positive integer. ("With Support" is shorthand for this method with N = 1.) 3) With N Agoran Consent, where N is an integer multiple of 0.1 with a minimum of 1. 4) With Notice. thereby allows em to perform the action by announcement if all of the following are true: a) A person (the initiator) announced intent to perform the action, unambiguously and clearly specifying the action and method(s) (including the value of N for each method), at most fourteen days earlier, and (if the action depends on objections or notice) at least X days earlier, where X is a number which depends on the Speed at the time of intention as follows: Slow: 5, Normal: 4, Fast: 2. b) At least one of the following is true: 1) The performer is the initiator. 2) The initiator was authorized to perform the action due to holding a rule-defined position now held by the performer. 3) The initiator is authorized to perform the action, the action depends on support, the performer has supported the intent, and the rule authorizing the performance does not explicitly prohibit supporters from performing it. c) Agora is Satisfied with the announced intent, as defined by other rules. d) If a set of conditions for the performance of the action was given in the announcement of intent to perform the action, all those conditions are met. The actor SHOULD publish a list of supporters if the action depends on support, and a list of objectors if it depends on objections. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2288/2 (Power=3) Induction If a person CAN perform an action by announcement, e CAN perform it with N support, without N objections, with N Agoran Consent, or with notice, where N is a number appropriate for that form of dependent action. If a person CAN perform an action with notice, e CAN perform it without N objections, where N is an appropriate number. If a person CAN perform an action with M support, e CAN perform it with N support, where N is an appropriate number greater than M. If a person CAN perform an action without M objections, e CAN perform it without N objections, where N is an appropriate number less than M. If a person CAN perform an action via multiple different means of dependent actions, e CAN perform that action via multiple of them at the same time. If a player CAN perform an action with 0 support, then e CAN perform it by announcement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2124/16 (Power=2) Agoran Satisfaction A Supporter of a dependent action is an eligible entity who has publicly posted (and not withdrawn) support (syn. "consent") for an announcement of intent to perform the action. An Objector to a dependent action is an eligible entity who has publicly posted (and not withdrawn) an objection to the announcement of intent to perform the action. The entities eligible to support or object to a dependent action are, by default, all first-class players, subject to modification by the document authorizing the dependent action. However, the previous sentence notwithstanding, the Executor of the announcement of intent is not eligible to support it. Agora is Satisfied with an intent to perform a specific action if and only if: (1) if the action is to be performed Without N Objections, then it has fewer than N objectors; (2) if the action is to be performed With N supporters, then it has N or more supporters; and (3) if the action is to be performed with N Agoran Consent, then the ratio of supporters to objectors is greater than N, or the action has at least one supporter and no objectors. The above notwithstanding, if the action depends on objections, and an objection to it has been withdrawn within the past 24 hours, then Agora is not Satisfied with the intent. A person CANNOT support or object to an announcement of intent before the intent is announced, or after e has withdrawn the same type of response. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2333/2 (Power=1) Contests A player CAN make a non-contest document into a contest without 3 objections; he then becomes that contest's contestmaster. The document should contain a list of instructions for the players of Agora to play a type of subgame, which should be fair and generally allow all players to join and participate on an equal footing. Anyone CAN cause a contest to cease to be a contest with notice and with 3 support. The contest's instructions should include conditions under which persons "win the contest". Upon an announcement by the contestmaster that one or more persons satisfy those conditions, all those persons satisfy the Victory Condition of Victory. Intentionally making a false such announcement is the Class-4 Crime of Gaming the System. The contestmaster's weekly report contains all matters defined by the instructions to be part of eir weekly report, as well as the instructions. The contestmaster is, prima facie, the adjudicator of contest instructions and disputes. Disputes should in general, be resolved with the spirit of the instructions in mind. For the purpose of determining the internal gamestate of a contest (including whether its contestmaster falsely announced that persons won the contest), its instructions are generally interpreted in the same manner as a rule, but the reasonable opinion of the contestmaster takes precedence. The contestmaster CAN change the instructions, or any internal gamestate defined by them, without 3 objections, but SHOULD only do so to improve gameplay or resolve disputes within the spirit of the original contest. E can also appoint a new contestmaster without objection. An entity is bound by a contest if and only if it is its contestmaster. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2334/0 (Power=2) Timers A timer is a switch whose values are the non-negative integers (default zero), representing a number of seconds. Timer values and changes can be expressed in terms of larger durations (e.g. "1 day" is equivalent to "86400 seconds"). Each timer is either counting down or not counting down. When a timer has been continuously counting down for 1 second since its last change, it decreases by 1. When reporting a timer value, it is sufficient to provide enough information that its value at the time of the report can be calculated with reasonable effort (e.g. " as of 00:00:00 UTC and has been counting down since then"). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Offices ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1006/32 (Power=2) Offices An office is a role defined as such by the rules. Each office is either vacant (default) or filled (held) by exactly one player. An officer is the holder of an office, who may be referred to by the name of that office. An imposed office is an office described as such by the rule defining it. All others are elected. The holder of an elected office CAN resign it by announcement, causing it to become vacant. Any player CAN cause an office to become vacant without objection. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2143/15 (Power=1) Official Reports and Duties For each office: a) If any task is defined by the rules as part of that office's weekly duties, then the holder of that office SHALL perform it at least once each week, except if the Speed is Slow, in which case the duties SHALL be completed once each fortnight. If any information is defined by the rules as part of that office's weekly report, then the holder of that office SHALL maintain all such information, and the publication of all such information is part of that office's weekly duties. b) If any task is defined by the rules as part of that office's monthly duties, then the holder of that office SHALL perform it at least once each month. If any information is defined by the rules as part of that office's monthly report, then the holder of that office SHALL maintain all such information, and the publication of all such information is part of that office's monthly duties. Any information defined by the rules as part of an office's report, without specifying which one, is part of its weekly report. Failure of the holder of an office to perform any duty required of that office within the allotted time is the Class-2 crime of Tardiness. While performing weekly or monthly duties or publishing weekly or monthly reports, officers SHALL NOT publish information that is inaccurate or misleading. Reports SHALL be published in plain text. Tabular data must line up properly when viewed in a monospaced font. Publishing a report that deviates from these regulations is the Class 2 Crime of Making My Eyes Bleed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2160/7 (Power=3) Deputisation Any player (a deputy) CAN perform an action as if e held a particular office (deputise for that office) if all of the following are true: (a) The rules require the holder of that office, by virtue of holding that office, to perform the action (or, if the office is vacant, would so require if the office were filled). This requirement is fulfilled by the deputy performing the action. (b) A time limit by which the rules require the action to be performed has expired, or the office is vacant. (c) If the office is filled, then the deputy announced between two and fourteen days earlier that e intended to deputise for that office for the purposes of the particular action. (d) It would be POSSIBLE for the deputy to perform the action, other than by deputisation, if e held the office. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2154/34 (Power=2) Election Procedure A player CAN initiate an election for a specified elected office for which no election is already in progress a) by announcement, if e is the IADoP, or the office is vacant or assumed, or no election has been initiated for the office within 90 days before the announcement; b) with 4 Supporters, otherwise. When an election is initiated, the current holder of the office (if any) is initially considered to have been nominated and have accepted. During the first four days of the election (the nomination period), any player CAN by announcement nominate one or more active players. As soon as possible after the nomination period ends, the IADoP SHALL initiate an Agoran decision to determine the new officeholder. For this decision: 1) The valid options are the active players (hereafter the candidates) who, during the election, a) received and accepted a nomination for the office before the decision was initiated (self-nomination constitutes acceptance), and b) did not decline a nomination for the office. The set of candidates can change after the decision is initiated. 2) The eligible voters are the active first-class players. 3) Each eligible voter's voting limit is one. 4) If there are no valid options for the Decision, the IADoP SHALL, in place of initiating the decision, announce this fact, ending the election. If there is exactly one valid option for the Decision, the IADoP SHALL, in place of initiating the Decision, announce the valid option (the candidate), thus installing that candidate into the office and ending the election. Upon the resolution of this decision, its outcome (if a candidate) is installed into the office, and the election ends. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2276/3 (Power=2) Assumption of Vacant Offices Assumption is an elected office switch, tracked by the IADoP with values Postulated (default) and Assumed. Changes to Assumption are secured. An active first-class player can make emself the holder of an elected office by announcement, provided that the office is either vacant or Assumed. Upon doing so, the office's Assumption is flipped to Assumed. When the holder of an office ceases to be an active player, the office's Assumption is flipped to Assumed. When a person comes to hold an office, or would come to hold an office if e did not hold it already, by a means other than the one provided by this Rule, then the Assumption of that office is flipped to Postulated. If a player has held an Assumed office continuously since the last time it was Postulated, e can flip its Assumption to Postulated by announcement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2138/13 (Power=1) The Interstellar Associate Director of Personnel The Interstellar Associate Director of Personnel (IADoP) is an office; its holder is responsible for keeping track of officers and reports. The IADoP's report includes the following: a) The holder of each office. b) The date on which each holder last came to hold that office. c) The date when the most recent nomination period for that office began. d) The date when that office's reports were last published. The portion of a public message purporting to be an IADoP's report that lists the holder of each office is self-ratifying. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1551/15 (Power=3) Ratification A public document is part (possibly all) of a public message. When a public document is ratified, rules to the contrary notwithstanding, the gamestate is modified to what it would be if, at the time the ratified document was published, the gamestate had been minimally modified to make the ratified document as true and accurate as possible. Such a modification cannot add inconsistencies between the gamestate and the rules, and it cannot include a rule change unless the ratified document purports to include the text, title, and/or power of the rule being changed. If no such modification is possible, or multiple substantially distinct possible modifications would be equally appropriate, the ratification fails. An internally inconsistent document generally cannot be ratified; however, if such a document can be divided into a summary section and a main section, where the only purpose of the summary section is to summarize information in the main section, and the main section is internally consistent, ratification of the document proceeds as if it contained only the main section. Text purportedly about previous instances of ratification (e.g. a report's date of last ratification) is excluded from ratification. Ratifying a public document is secured. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2202/4 (Power=3) Ratification Without Objection Any player CAN, without objection, ratify a public document, specifying its scope. If that document is an official report or a substantial portion thereof, until such a time as that report or portion is again ratified, the date and scope of the ratification become a part of the report. Ratification Without Objection CANNOT cause the repeal, amendment, enactment, or mutation of any Rule, rules to the contrary notwithstanding. A player SHALL NOT knowingly use or announce intent to use Ratification Without Objection to ratify a (prior to ratification) incorrect document when a corrected document could be produced with reasonable effort, unless the general nature of the document's error and reason for ratifying it is clearly and plainly described in the announcement of intent. Such ratification or announcement of intent to ratify is the Class-8 Crime of Endorsing Forgery. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2201/5 (Power=3) Self-Ratification A public document defined by the rules as self-ratifying is ratified when it is continuously undoubted for one week. A doubt is an explicit public challenge via one of the following methods, identifying a document and explaining the scope and nature of a perceived error in it: a) An inquiry case, appropriate for questions of legal interpretation. b) A claim of error, appropriate for matters of fact. The publisher of the original document SHALL (if e was required to publish that document) or SHOULD (otherwise) do one of the following as soon as possible: i) Deny the claim (causing it to cease to be a doubt). ii) Publish a revision. iii) Initiate an inquiry case regarding the truth of the claim (if the subject is actually a matter of law), or cite a relevant existing inquiry case. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Agoran Decisions ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 693/14 (Power=3) Agoran Decisions When the rules calls for an Agoran decision to be made, the decision-making process takes place in the following three stages, each described elsewhere: (a) Initiation of the decision. (b) Voting of the people. (c) Resolution of the decision. When submitting a ballot, a player can select PRESENT (syn. ABSTAIN) rather than one of the options provided by the decision. Rules to the contrary notwithstanding, a ballot cast for PRESENT is considered to be a valid ballot, but, unless specified otherwise, does not count as a valid option. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 107/15 (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. This notice is invalid if it lacks any of the following information, and the lack is correctly identified within one week after the notice is published: (a) The matter to be decided (for example, "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) A clear indication of the options available. (d) The identity of the vote collector. (e) Any additional information defined by the rules as essential parameters. The publication of such a valid notice initiates the voting period for the decision. Where {X, Y} is a given Speed followed by a number of days, the voting period lasts for Y days when the Speed is X at the time of initiation: {Slow, 14}, {Normal, 7}, {Fast, 5}. The minimum voting period for a decision with at least two options is five days. The vote collector for a decision with less than two options CAN and SHALL end the voting period by announcement, if it has not ended already, and provided that e resolves the decision in the same message. The voting period for a decision cannot be set or changed to a duration longer than fourteen days. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 683/17 (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 during the voting period for the decision, and the submitter is an eligible voter at the time of submission. (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. ("Changing" a vote is equivalent to retracting it and casting a vote with the new value.) Among the otherwise-valid votes on an Agoran decision, only the first N submitted by each entity are valid, where N is the entity's voting limit on that decision. The voting limit of an entity that is not an eligible voter on an Agoran decision is zero. The voting limit of an eligible voter on an Agoran decision is two, except where rules say otherwise. 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 2127/6 (Power=1) Conditional Votes If a vote on an Agoran decision is submitted conditionally (e.g. "FOR if is true, otherwise AGAINST"), then the selected option is evaluated based on the value of the condition(s) at the end of the voting period, and is clearly specified if and only if the value of the condition(s) can be reasonably determined (without circularity or paradox) from information reasonably available during the voting period. If the option cannot be clearly identified, a vote of PRESENT is cast. Casting a vote endorsing another voter is equivalent to conditionally casting a vote whose value is the same as the most common value (if any) among that voter's valid votes on that decision. Casting a vote denouncing another voter is equivalent to conditionally casting a vote whose value is opposite to the most common value (if any) among that voter's valid votes on that decision. FOR and AGAINST are opposites. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2280/0 (Power=3) Implicit Votes When an eligible voter on an Agoran decision attempts to cast ballots without explicitly specifying the number of ballots to be cast (e.g. "FOR" instead of "FOR*1" or "FOR*3"), e casts a number of ballots equal to eir voting limit on that decision. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2168/7 (Power=1) Extending the voting period Whenever the voting period of an Agoran decision would end, and the result would be FAILED QUORUM, the length of the voting period for that decision is instead increased to 14 days, except if it is already that length, provided this has not already happened for the decision in question. Upon such an occurrence, the vote collector for the decision SHALL issue a humiliating public reminder to the slackers who have not yet cast any votes on it despite being eligible, and CAN end its voting period by announcement (resolving it constitutes an implicit announcement that its voting period is first ended) if the result would no longer be FAILED QUORUM, or if the decision is whether to adopt a proposal and no voter (other than possibly the proposal's author) has voted FOR. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 208/8 (Power=3) Resolving Agoran decisions The vote collector for an unresolved Agoran decision CAN resolve it by announcement, indicating the option selected by Agora. If it was required to be initiated, then e SHALL resolve it as soon as possible after the end of the voting period. To be valid, this announcement 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 specifies the outcome, as described elsewhere, and, if there was more than one valid option, provides a tally of the voters' valid ballots on the various options. Each Agoran decision has exactly one vote collector, defaulting to the initiator of the decision. If the vote collector is defined by reference to a position (or, in the default case, if the initiator was so defined), then the vote collector is the current holder of that position. This rule takes precedence over any rule that would provide another mechanism by which an Agoran decision may be resolved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 955/17 (Power=3) Determining the Will of Agora After an Agoran Decision's voting period ends, it has an outcome (syn. "the chosen by Agora"). (a) If there is more than one available option, and the number of distinct voters who submitted valid ballots is less than quorum, then the outcome is FAILED QUORUM, regardless of the remainder of this rule. Otherwise, the decision achieved quorum. (b) If the decision has an adoption index, then the voting index is the ratio of the strength of FOR to the strength of AGAINST. If the voting index is greater than 1, and greater than or equal to the decision's adoption index, then the outcome is ADOPTED; otherwise, the outcome is REJECTED. (c) Otherwise, the outcome is the option with the most votes. In case of a tie, the vote collector SHALL select one of the leaders as the outcome. If there are no options, the outcome is null. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 879/27 (Power=2) Quorum Quorum for an Agoran decision is N/3 (where N is the number of eligible voters with a positive voting limit on that decision), rounded up, with a minimum of five (unless this is greater than N, in which case quorum is N). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2034/6 (Power=3) Vote Protection and Cutoff for Challenges Any proposal that would otherwise change the validity of any existing vote on any specific unresolved Agoran decision is wholly without effect, rules to the contrary notwithstanding. This does not prevent amendment of the rules governing the validity of votes on Agoran decisions in general. Once an Agoran decision has been resolved, votes on it CANNOT be validly submitted or retracted, and its outcome CANNOT be changed in any way, rules to the contrary notwithstanding. This does not prevent correcting errors in reporting its resolution. A public document purporting to resolve an Agoran decision constitutes self-ratifying claims that a) such a decision existed, b) it was resolved as indicated, and c) (if the indicated outcome was to adopt a proposal) such a proposal existed, was adopted, and took effect. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Proposals ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2350/1 (Power=3) Proposals A proposal is a fixed body of text which has been made into a proposal using a process specifically described in the Rules. A player CAN create a proposal by publishing ("submitting") a body of text and an associated title with a clear indication that it is intended to become a proposal, which places the proposal in the Proposal Pool. The author (syn. proposer) of a proposal is the player who submitted it. A player CAN remove (syn. retract, withdraw) a proposal e authored from the Proposal Pool by announcement. A co-author of a proposal is a person (other than its author) unambiguously identified as such by its author when it was submitted. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 106/34 (Power=3) Adopting Proposals If the option selected by Agora on a decision about whether to adopt a proposal is ADOPTED, then the proposal in question 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. Except as prohibited by other rules, a proposal that takes effect CAN and does, as part of its effect, apply the changes that it specifies. If the proposal cannot make some such changes, this does not preclude the other changes from taking place. If there is no Agoran Decision to adopt a particular proposal that has an outcome of ADOPTED, that proposal CANNOT take effect, rules to the contrary notwithstanding. Preventing a proposal from taking effect is a secured change; this does not apply to generally preventing changes to specified areas of the gamestate, nor to a proposal preventing itself from taking effect (its no-effect clause is generally interpreted as applying only to the rest of the proposal). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1607/33 (Power=3) Distribution The Promotor is an office; its holder is responsible for receiving and distributing proposals. A player specifically permitted by the Rules to distribute a Proposal CAN distribute the proposal by publishing it with the clear intent of distributing it. 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. Removing a proposal from the Pool by a means other than initiating an Agoran Decision to adopt it is secured. The Promotor CAN distribute a proposal which is in the Proposal Pool at any time. In a given Agoran week, the Promotor SHALL, as part of eir weekly duties, distribute all proposals in the Proposal Pool that were in the Pool at the beginning of that week. Distributed proposals have ID numbers, to be assigned by the Promotor. If there is a Proposal in the Pool that it would otherwise be IMPOSSIBLE for any active player to distribute, then any player CAN distribute that Proposal Without 3 Objections. The Promotor's report includes a list of all proposals in the Proposal Pool. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1950/23 (Power=3) Decisions with Adoption Indices Adoption index is a switch possessed by Agoran decisions, whose value is either "none" (default) or an integral multiple of 0.1 from 1.0 to 9.9. Chamber is a switch possessed by Agoran decisions with adoption indices, with values Ordinary (default) and Democratic. Determining whether to adopt a proposal is an Agoran decision. By default, this decision has an adoption index of 1.0 and is Ordinary; if the proposer specified valid, non-"none" values for the adoption index and/or Chamber when submitting the proposal, those values are set at the initiation of the decision. Changing either value is secured with a power threshold of 2. The vote collector for this decision is the Assessor. An Agoran decision with an adoption index has the following essential parameters: a) Its adoption index. b) Its author (and co-authors, if any). c) Its Chamber. The eligible voters on a decision with an adoption index are those entities that were active first-class players at the start of its voting period. Setting or changing an entity's voting limit on such a decision is secured with a power threshold of 2 if the decision is Ordinary, or 3 otherwise. For any Agoran decision with an adoption index, the available options are FOR and AGAINST. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2137/2 (Power=1) The Assessor The Assessor is an office; its holder is responsible for collecting votes and keeping track of related properties. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1698/3 (Power=3) Agora Is A Nomic Agora is ossified if it is IMPOSSIBLE for any reasonable combination of actions by players to cause arbitrary rule changes to be made and/or arbitrary proposals to be adopted within a four-week period. If, but for this rule, the net effect of a proposal would cause Agora to become ossified, it cannot take effect, rules to the contrary notwithstanding. If any other single change to the gamestate would cause Agora to become ossified, it is cancelled and does not occur, rules to the contrary notwithstanding. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Adjudication ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 991/12 (Power=2) Judicial Cases Generally A judicial case, also known as a call for judgement (CFJ), is a procedure to settle a matter of controversy. Each judicial case has exactly one subclass, with particular features as defined by other rules. Subclasses of judicial case exist only as defined by the rules. Defining a subclass of judicial case is secured, with a power threshold of 1.7. A judicial case's subclass CAN be specified by its initiator, or otherwise defaults to inquiry. The Clerk of the Courts (CotC) is an office, responsible for managing judicial activity. The CotC's report includes the status of all judicial cases without a judgement. Judicial cases (other than appeal cases, which have historically been identified by reference to the prior case) have ID numbers, to be assigned by the Clerk of the Courts. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2158/10 (Power=2) Judges At any time, each judicial case is either open (default), suspended, or has exactly one judgement. This is a persistent status that changes only according to the rules. The possible types of judgement for a judicial case depend on the type of case. When a judicial case is open and has a judge assigned to it, the judge CAN assign a valid judgement to it by announcement, and SHALL do so as soon as possible, unless e is recused from the case before the time limit for doing so has expired. A judge SHOULD NOT assign an inappropriate judgement to any judicial case. A judgement is valid and/or appropriate only as defined by the rules. Defining these things is secured, with a power threshold of 1.7. If more than one judgement is valid and appropriate, then the choice between them is left to the judge's discretion. When a non-appeal judicial case is open, and its judge has violated a time limit to assign a judgement to it, or is not an active player, the Clerk of the Courts SHALL recuse that judge with cause by announcement as soon as possible; however, this requirement is waived if the judge assigns a judgement to it first. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 591/35 (Power=1.7) Inquiry Cases Inquiry cases are a subclass of judicial cases. An inquiry case's purpose is to determine the veracity of a particular statement. An inquiry case CAN be initiated by any first-class person, by announcement which includes the statement to be inquired into. (Including a yes/no question is equivalent to including a statement that the answer to that question is yes, and for such a case, YES and NO are synonymous with the judgements TRUE and FALSE respectively.) The initiator is unqualified to be assigned as judge of the case, and in the initiating announcement e CAN disqualify one person from assignment as judge of the case. The valid judgements for an inquiry case are as follows, based on the truth or falsity of the statement at the time the inquiry case was initiated: * FALSE, appropriate if the statement was factually and logically false * TRUE, appropriate if the statement was factually and logically true * UNDECIDABLE, appropriate if the statement was logically undecidable or otherwise not capable of being accurately described as either false or true * IRRELEVANT, appropriate if the veracity of the statement is not relevant to the game or is an overly hypothetical extrapolation of the game or its rules to conditions that don't actually exist, or if it can be trivially determined from the outcome of another (possibly still undecided) judicial case that was not itself judged IRRELEVANT * UNDETERMINED, appropriate if the statement is nonsensical or too vague, or if the information available to the judge is insufficient to determine which of the FALSE, TRUE, and UNDECIDABLE judgements is appropriate; however, uncertainty as to how to interpret or apply the rules cannot constitute insufficiency of information for this purpose * MALFORMED, appropriate if the text identified by the initiator as the statement cannot be parsed as a single statement in the ordinary-language sense; however, a compound statement (e.g. "X and Y", "X or Y") counts as a single statement Players SHOULD take the judgement of the question in an inquiry case, and the reasoning by which it was reached, into account when attempting to determine what is possible and/or legal in future play (including when making future judgements); but the judgement does not directly affect the veracity of the statement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1504/56 (Power=2) Criminal Cases Criminal cases are a subclass of judicial cases. Any person can initiate a criminal case by announcement, specifying: (a) a person (the Accused), (b) an action the Accused allegedly performed or failed to perform, and (c) a rule allegedly violated by that action/inaction. The initiator and each member of the Accused's basis are unqualified to be assigned as judge of the case. The valid judgements for a criminal case are as follows: * GUILTY with a valid sentence, appropriate if the judge finds, beyond a reasonable doubt, that ALL of the following are true: (a) the Accused breached the specified rule via the specified act; (b) the breach occurred within 30 days prior to the case being initiated; (c) judgement has not already been reached in another criminal case with the same Accused, the same rule, and substantially the same alleged act; (d) the Accused could have reasonably believed that the alleged act did violate the specified rule; (e) the Accused could have reasonably avoided committing the breach without committing a different breach of equal or greater severity. * NOT GUILTY, appropriate if GUILTY is not appropriate. In delivering this verdict, the judge SHOULD indicate which of the sub-requirements for a finding of guilty were not found to be true beyond a reasonable doubt. When a sentence has been assigned as part of a GUILTY judgement, the Accused is known as the ninny, and the sentence is in effect. The valid sentences are: * DISCHARGE, appropriate only in extraordinary circumstances, if any available non-null punishment would be manifestly unjust. Has no effect. * APOLOGY with a set of up to ten prescribed words (the empty set if none is explicitly specified), appropriate for rule breaches of small consequence. When in effect, the ninny SHALL as soon as possible publish a formal apology of at least 200 words, including all the prescribed words, explaining eir error, shame, remorse, and ardent desire for self-improvement. Failure to do so is a Class-3 Crime of Failure to Apologize. * FINE with an amount of one class of asset, appropriate for rule breaches of small consequence. An amount is only valid if the currency's backing document binds the ninny (the Rules are considered to bind all players) or the ninny has this amount of the asset, and the backing document specifies a maximum FINE amount, and the amount is no greater than the maximum. When in effect, the ninny SHALL, as soon as possible, either destroy this amount of eir asset or transfer it to the Lost and Found Department. The ninny is only obliged to perform one destruction or transfer per case, even if sentences of this type are assigned more than once or go into effect more than once. * COMMUNITY SERVICE with a set of up to five tasks (the prescribed tasks) that the ninny CAN reasonably and legally perform, appropriate for rule breaches of moderate consequence if the severity of the rule breach is reasonably correlated with the consequences of performing the tasks, and especially if any other available non-null punishment would be either unjust or insufficient. The balance between compensatory and punitive service is left to the judge's discretion. While a sentence of this type is in effect, the ninny SHALL perform the prescribed tasks (as soon as possible, unless a different time limit is specified). * TIME OUT with a number of days between 7 and 21. Stasis is a player timer, tracked by the Registrar. When a sentence of TIME OUT goes into effect, the ninny becomes inactive, and eir stasis timer increases by the specified amount; when it ceases to be in effect, eir stasis timer is decreased by the specified amount. While a player is inactive, eir stasis timer is counting down. While a player's stasis timer is positive, e CANNOT become active. * EXILE, appropriate for rule breaches of the highest severity. When a judgement of EXILE has been in effect continuously for one week, the ninny is deregistered and CANNOT register for two months after that time. Players SHOULD NOT create rules defining Crimes of a Class greater than 14. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2277/3 (Power=2) Appeals of Criminal Cases An appeal concerning any assignment of judgement in a criminal case within the past week CAN be initiated by the accused by announcement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2205/3 (Power=1) Judicial Arguments and Evidence Each of the following participants in a judicial case SHOULD present such arguments and/or evidence (explicitly labeled) relevant to that case as e is reasonably able to collect: 1) The initiator, when initiating the case. 2) For a criminal case, the defendant, during the pre-trial phase. 3) The judge, when delivering judgement. When submitting arguments and/or evidence, a player SHOULD classify matters of legal interpretation as arguments, and matters of fact as evidence. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2157/6 (Power=1.7) Judicial Panels A judicial panel is a structure whereby a group of two or more persons (its members) act together for the purpose of judging judicial cases. A judicial panel's membership cannot change, and if two panels have the same membership then they are the same panel. Judicial panels exist implicitly, without any specific act of formation. A judicial panel CAN send messages by means of any of its members sending a message identified as being from the panel, with the unanimous Support of the panel's other members. By this mechanism a judicial panel can act, in situations where the rules state that an action is performed by sending a message. The rules may specify other mechanisms by which the judicial panel CAN act. A judicial panel can incur obligations. The members of a panel SHALL act collectively to ensure that the panel satisfies all of its obligations. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2341/0 (Power=1.7) Judgements by Judicial Panels As soon as possible after a judicial panel is assigned to a case, each member of the panel SHALL publish an opinion indicating a valid judgement to assign to the case -- only the last such published opinion for each member is used to determine the outcome. Each member SHOULD choose an appropriate judgement, and include arguments for eir choice. If, immediately after either all members have so published or the time limit for so publishing has ended, a majority of the members have opined for the same judgement, the panel acts to deliver the judgement in question. If the panel publishes a valid judgement via another mechanism specified in the Rules, the requirement for individual members to publish individual opinions is waived. If an open case is assigned to a judicial panel, and one of its members previously published an opinion for that case as part of the same or a different judicial panel, then that opinion stands for the newly-assigned panel unless the case was judged and reopened in the meanwhile. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2318/2 (Power=1.7) Motions to Reconsider If a non-Appeals judicial case (1) has a judgement that has been in effect for less than seven days and not been appealed, and (2) has not had a Motion to Reconsider filed for it at any time while it has been assigned to its current judge, then any Player CAN file a Motion to Reconsider the case with 2 Support, or by announcement if e is that case's judge. When a Motion to Reconsider is so filed, the case is rendered open again. A player who files such a Motion SHOULD include arguments as to why the case needs reconsideration, and such arguments become part of the record of the case. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 911/46 (Power=1.7) Appeal Cases Appeal cases are a subclass of judicial cases. An appeal case's purpose is to determine the appropriateness of a judgement that has been assigned to a judicial case, and make remedy if the judgement was poorly chosen. The assignment of judgement being questioned (appealed against, or appealed) is referred to as the prior assignment; the word "prior" in this rule is used to refer to the circumstances of the prior assignment. An appeal concerning any assignment of judgement in a non-appeal case within the past two weeks CAN be initiated by any player with 2 support. However, rules to the contrary notwithstanding, an appeal CANNOT be initiated concerning an assignment caused by a judgement in an appeal case, nor an assignment for which an appeal has already been initiated. The entities qualified to be assigned as judge of an appeal case are the judicial panels consisting of three members, where each of the members is qualified to be assigned as judge of the prior case and none is the prior judge. If possible, the CotC SHALL assign a panel where each of the members is well qualified to be assigned as judge of the prior case. The valid judgements for an appeal case are of the form " with prejudice" or " without prejudice". Such a judgement is generally appropriate if and only if (1) the action is appropriate, and (2) the judgement is with prejudice if and only if the prior judge made an error in eir judgement which could have been reasonably avoided, or generally inappropriately discharged eir duties in the case. The valid values of and their associated effects are as follows: * AFFIRM, appropriate if the prior judgement was appropriate for the prior case; the prior judgement is assigned to the prior case again * REMAND, appropriate if there is serious doubt about whether the prior judgement was appropriate; the prior case is rendered open again; the judge SHOULD assign this judgement if the judge believes that the judge of the prior case will make a better judgement if given a new opportunity * REMIT, appropriate if there is serious doubt about whether the prior judgement was appropriate, or if the prior judge exhibited corruptive self-interest (material, with a specific and obvious impact on eir judgement and arguments, and not arising merely due to a difference of opinion or a wholly incidental material benefit common among many players); the judge of the prior case (if any) is recused, and the prior case is rendered open again; the judge SHOULD assign this judgement if the judge believes that the judge of the prior case will not make a better judgement if given a new opportunity * OVERRULE with a valid replacement judgement for the prior case, appropriate if the prior judgement was inappropriate in the prior case and the replacement judgement is appropriate for the prior case; the replacement judgement is assigned to the prior case The appropriateness of the prior judgement is measured at the time it was assigned. When an appeal case is initiated, the prior case is suspended, and remains so until the the appeal case is judged. The judge of a previously-appealed case SHALL NOT assign the same judgement to it without new reasoning that addresses the serious doubt about its appropriateness. Violating this prohibition is the Class-2 Crime of Lazy Judging. A person SHALL NOT appeal a judgement (except on a criminal case) unless e reasonably believes that the judgement might be inappropriate. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2342/0 (Power=1.7) Judicial Appeals Panels If the time period for judging an appeals case ends with no majority opinion among members of the panel assigned to it, then the CotC CAN, and SHALL as soon as possible, by announcement cause the panel to judge either REMAND or REMIT with or without prejudice, whichever e feels is most appropriate. E SHALL NOT assign the case to another panel solely due to its failure to judge. These requirements are waived if the panel delivers a judgment in the meanwhile. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2175/6 (Power=1) Judicial Retraction and Excess A new case is a judicial case (other than an appeal case) that has not had any judge assigned to it. The initiator of a new case CAN retract it by announcement, thus causing it to cease to be a judicial case. An excess case is a new case whose initiator previously initiated five or more cases during the same week as that case. A person SHALL NOT initiate an excess case. The Clerk of the Courts CAN refuse an excess case by announcement, thus causing it to cease to be a judicial case. When e does so, e fulfills any obligations with regards to that case. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1868/18 (Power=2) Judge Assignment Generally At any time, a judicial case either has no judge assigned to it (default) or has exactly one entity assigned to it as judge. This is a persistent status that changes only according to the rules. When a judicial case is open and has no judge assigned, the CotC CAN assign a qualified entity to be its judge by announcement, and SHALL do so as soon as possible. The entities qualified to be assigned as judge of a judicial case are the active first-class players who have not previously been assigned as its judge, subject to modification by other rules. Being unqualified to be assigned as a judge does not inherently prevent an entity from continuing to be judge of a case to which e is already assigned. Rules to the contrary notwithstanding, second-class players are always unqualified to judge. When a player is poorly qualified to be assigned as judge of a judicial case, the Clerk of the Courts SHALL not assign em to be the judge of that case; if e has done so, and that player is still the judge of that case, then e CAN recuse that judge from that case by announcement. Making an entity unqualified or poorly qualified to judge is secured, with a power threshold of 1.5. To recuse a judge from a case is to deassign em as its judge. Assigning a judge to a case implicitly recuses its existing judge, if any. A recusal "with cause" is a recusal defined as such by the rules. A player CAN favor or disfavor a judicial case by announcement. When assigning a judge to a judicial case, the CotC, if possible, SHALL assign a player who has favored it and SHALL NOT assign a player who has disfavored it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1871/28 (Power=1.5) The Standing Court Posture is a player switch, tracked by the Clerk of the Courts, with the following values: * Standing. Standing players are generally qualified to judge. * Sitting. Sitting players are poorly qualified to judge, but will generally become qualified when the CotC rotates the bench. * Leaning. Leaning players are poorly qualified to judge, but are generally qualified to serve on appeal panels. * Supine (default). Supine players are unqualified to judge. Changes to posture are secured. A player CAN flip eir posture to any non-standing value by announcement. When the CotC assigns a player as judge, that player becomes sitting. The CotC CAN rotate the bench (change all sitting players to standing) by announcement, but SHALL NOT do so unless, of the judicial cases requiring assignment: a) no entity is well-qualified to be assigned to any of them; b) e immediately afterwards (in the same announcement) assigns a judge to at least one of them. When the CotC recuses a non-supine player with cause, e CAN flip that player's posture to supine by announcement in a timely fashion. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2204/0 (Power=1.5) Linked Assignments When the Clerk of the Courts assigns a player as judge of two or more judicial cases consecutively in the same announcement, that player only becomes sitting upon the last such assignment, rules to the contrary notwithstanding. The CotC SHOULD NOT do this unless those cases are closely related in their subject matter. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2164/4 (Power=1) Judicial Self-Recusal and Case Transfer The judge of a judicial case CAN recuse emself from it at any time by announcement. Such a recusal is with cause if and only if e has been assigned to the case for at least four days. An entity (the transferee) CAN, with consent from the current judge of a judicial case (the transferor), assign emself as the new judge of that case, provided that e is qualified to be assigned as judge of that case, and e immediately (in the same announcement) assigns a judgement to that case. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2212/1 (Power=1.7) Judicial Declarations A judicial declaration is a document labeled as such and published by a person purporting to be the judge of a specific judicial case, which contains only information e would be required by the Rules, were e the judge, to publish in a judicial declaration. The author of a judicial declaration SHOULD attempt to ratify it without objection immediately after publishing it; players SHOULD NOT object to such an attempt unless the judicial declaration was invalid or illegally published. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Patent Titles and Degrees ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 649/32 (Power=1.5) Patent Titles A Patent Title is a legal item given in recognition of a person's distinction. The Herald is an office; its holder is responsible for tracking Patent Titles. A person specifically authorized by the rules to award (revoke) a Patent Title SHALL do so as soon as possible after the conditions authorizing em to do so are announced, unless there is an open judicial case contesting the validity of those conditions. Awarding or revoking a Patent Title by any other method is secured. While a Patent Title has been awarded to (and not revoked from) an entity, that entity is said to Bear that Patent Title. The status of Bearing a Patent Title can only be changed as explicitly set out in the Rules. The Herald's monthly report includes a list of each Patent Title that at least one entity Bears, with a list of which entities Bear it. As soon as possible after a patent title is awarded or revoked, the herald SHALL announce the award or revocation. When a patent title is used as a noun to refer to bearers of the patent title, it is assumed to refer only to persons who Bear that patent title unless context clearly indicates otherwise. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1367/15 (Power=3) Degrees Certain patent titles are known as degrees. The degrees are - Associate of Nomic (A.N.) - Bachelor of Nomic (B.N.) - Master of Nomic (M.N.) - Doctor of Nomic History (D.N.Hist.) - Doctor of Nomic Science (D.N.Sci.) - Doctor of Nomic Philosophy (D.N.Phil.) Degrees are ranked in the order they appear in this rule, with degrees listed later being ranked higher. A degree CANNOT be awarded to any person more than once, and CANNOT be revoked once awarded. After a player publishes a suitable thesis with explicit intent to qualify for a degree (the specific degree need not be mentioned), the Herald SHALL, as soon as possible, initiate an Agoran Decision to award that player (the author) a degree as follows: - The available options are FAILING GRADE and each degree that the author does not have. The available options can change during the voting period. - The eligible voters are each active player at the time the decision is initiated. - Each player's voting limit on the decision is one plus the number of degrees e holds. - The specific thesis for which the degree is to be awarded is an essential parameter of the decision (but not the text of that thesis). - The outcome is, rules to the contrary notwithstanding, the highest-ranked degree such that more than half the votes cast were for that degree or a higher degree, or FAILING GRADE if there was no such degree. When the Herald resolves the decision, e CAN and SHALL award the author the degree selected by Agora, or no degree if FAILING GRADE was the outcome. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2231/3 (Power=3) Order of the Hero of Agora Nomic The set of patent titles defined in this rule constitute the Order of the Hero of Agora Nomic; the titles may be collectively referred to as "Heroic titles" and a Bearer of a Heroic title as a Hero. Heroic titles are Agora's premier titles of distinction, and CAN be awarded to persons for meritorious service only by a proposal of power 3 or greater, which SHOULD explain why those persons are qualified. Players SHOULD NOT cause heroic titles to be revoked. Heroes are entitled to use the abbreviation of eir title as post-nomial letters in Agora communications and reports. The Heroic titles in decreasing precedence are: Grand Hero of Agora Nomic (GHAN) -- This title may be awarded to any person obviously and directly responsible for the existence of Agora and/or Nomic in general. As this title is the highest honour that Agora may bestow, a Bearer of this title OUGHT to be treated right good forever. Hero of Agora Nomic (HAN) -- This title may be awarded to any person for outstanding meritorious service to Agora above and beyond the call of duty. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Trophies ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1727/17 (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. BE IT FURTHERMORE RESOLVED that Agora's Unbirthday is defined to be the entire day of December 30, GMT +1200, of each year; but, since that falls within a Holiday, is observed during the entire days of January 12 through 14, GMT +1200, of each year. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- END OF THE SHORT LOGICAL RULESET