Nomic VII Initial Ruleset

Rule 101 (Immutable)

All players must always abide by all the rules then in effect, in the form that they are then in effect. The game begins with the rules from the Initial Set in effect. The Initial Set consists of Rules 101-116 (which are immutable) and 201-212 (which are mutable).

Rule 102 (Immutable)

Rules have properties. Other rules may add additional properties for rules along with said properties’ default values, so long as said properties do not contradict the properties defined in this rule.

A rule’s number is a natural number used for reference. The set of rules currently in effect shall never contain multiple rules with the same number. A rule’s number cannot be modified.

A rule’s mutability designates whether said rule is mutable or immutable. Mutability must be either mutable or immutable; it cannot be neither nor both. Initially, rules in the 100s will be designated immutable and rules in the 200s mutable. Transmutation is defined as the modification of a rule’s mutability. Rules are mutable by default.

A rule’s body is the main section of the rule. For any rule currently in effect, players must always abide by the contents of this property.

Rule 103 (Immutable)

A rule-change is either of the following:

The enactment or repeal of a mutable rule

The modification of one of a rule’s properties

Rule 104 (Immutable)

A proposed rule-change, or proposal, is a motion to adopt a rule-change. All proposals shall be adopted if and only if they are put to a rules-defined vote and they receive the required number of votes.

Proposals have properties. Other rules may add additional properties for proposals along with said properties’ default values, so long as said properties do not contradict the properties defined in this rule.

A proposal’s rule-change is the rule-change that will take effect if the proposal is passed. Proposals must have a rule-change, and a proposal’s rule-change may be changed if explicitly allowed and if the proposal is not currently being put to vote.

A proposal’s number is a natural number used for reference once the proposal is put to a vote. Proposals not yet put to vote do not have numbers, and a proposal’s number cannot be changed once it is assigned.

A proposal’s author is the player who created the proposal. If the proposal was not created by a player, then the proposal does not have an author. If the player who created the proposal leaves the game, then the proposal loses its author. A proposal’s author cannot be modified otherwise.

Rule 105 (Immutable)

An adopted rule-change takes full effect at the moment of the start of the turn following the turn that it was voted on in the proper way. No rule-change may have retroactive application or change prior game state.

Rule 106 (Immutable)

The first proposal put to vote receives a number of 301. Each proposal put to a vote in the proper way receives the next successive number, whether or not the proposal is passed. Additional rules may clarify how numbers are distributed among proposals that are put to vote simultaneously.

When a proposal containing a rule-change that enacts a new rule is passed, the new rule receives said proposal’s number.

Rule 107 (Immutable)

Rule-changes that transmute immutable rules into mutable rules may be adopted if and only if the vote is unanimous among the voters. Transmutation shall not be implied, but must be stated explicitly in a proposal to take effect.

Rule 108 (Immutable)

In a conflict between a mutable and an immutable rule, the immutable rule takes precedence and the conflicting section of the mutable rule is void.

If two or more mutable rules conflict with one another, or if two or more immutable rules conflict with one another, then the rule with the lowest number takes precedence. If at least one of the rules in conflict explicitly says of itself that it defers to another rule (or set of rules) or takes precedence over another rule (or set of rules), then such provisions shall supersede the numerical method for determining precedence. If two or more rules claim to take precedence over one another or to defer to one another, then the numerical method again governs.

Rule 109 (Immutable)

A player is a person formally taking part in the game. The server moderators select the initial set of players upon the game’s commencement. Rules that facilitate other persons joining the game as new players are permitted.

Persons may not act as multiple players at once, nor may a player be composed of multiple persons. Persons in contravention of this rule may be banned from the game at the moderators’ discretion.

Players must be present on the server. If a person who is a player leaves or is removed from the server for more than 168 consecutive hours, said person is considered to have left the game and will no longer be a player.

A player always has the option to leave the game rather than continue to play or incur a game penalty.

A former player rejoining the game is treated as a new player. Player information is erased at the time of said player leaving the game and not carried over from the person’s previous time as a player.

Rule 110 (Immutable)

The game is ossified if both of the following conditions are true:

It is impossible to change the rules of the game

The game has either not ended or is not set to end at any specific time

If, but for this rule, the net effect of a rule would cause the game to be ossified, then the offending section or sections of said rule are void. If, but for this rule, the state of the game were to change in such a way as to render the game ossified, then said change is canceled and does not occur.

Rule 111 (Immutable)

Rules can make the following changes to the ruleset:

Change their own body

Repeal themselves

Define additional rule properties along with their default values

Rules may not make any other changes to the ruleset, nor change the interpretations of other rules, unless such a change is via the adoption of a rule-change. Rules that clarify or that define mechanisms that clarify, rather than change, the interpretations of other rules are permitted.

Rule 112 (Immutable)

A player’s vote must be unambiguous. A vote that would be ambiguous is not considered to be a vote. Additional rules may be made to clarify what constitutes ambiguity.

Rule 113 (Immutable)

Server moderators regulate the server and the game, regulate the components of the server and the game, and determine the state of the game.

Server moderators can, by majority decision:

Ban and unban persons from joining the server

Ban and unban persons from playing the game

Add or remove persons as server moderators

Server moderators are empowered to enact and enforce bans prior to the start of the game.

The game adheres to the Discord Terms of Service and the Discord Community Guidelines. Server moderators are empowered to remove content that violates the terms and guidelines as well as sanction violating persons, up to and including banning.

The instantiator of this instance of the game starts as a server moderator. If there are no server moderators, the instantiator becomes a server moderator.

Rule 114 (Immutable)

All actions, including voting, endorsing, rule-change proposals, and public declarations, must occur in the locations designated for them. Any action that does not occur in said action’s designated location is not considered a valid action.

Rule 115 (Immutable)

References to specific persons in a rule, including but not limited to references via legal name, username, display name, or commonly-used nickname, are considered to be references to the person or persons being referred to at the time the text containing said reference was proposed unless the rule explicitly states otherwise.

A person that is specifically referred to by a rule cannot stop being referred to by said rule by no longer associating with the identification being used in said rule, nor would a person start being referred to by a rule if they were to change their identification to match the rule’s reference.

References to a group of persons based on their identification fall outside the scope of this rule.

Rule 116 (Immutable)

Whatever is not prohibited or regulated by a rule is permitted and unregulated, with the sole exception of changing the rules, which is permitted only when a rule or set of rules explicitly or implicitly permits it.

Rule 201

The Proposal Queue is a queue that proposals go in. Players may have up to one proposal in the Proposal Queue. Active players may create a proposal to go in the Proposal Queue at any time; if a player that already has a proposal in the Proposal Queue creates another one, the first proposal is removed. Players may also remove their proposals from the Proposal Queue without replacement. Proposals in the Proposal Queue may not have their rule-changes edited.

The Deck is a collection that proposals go on. A proposal that is on the Deck can have its rule-change edited by that proposal’s author.

Active players may freely endorse and unendorse proposals in the Proposal Queue. Proposals in the Proposal Queue are sorted first in descending order of number of active endorsing players, then in ascending order of proposal creation time.

Players endorse their own proposals in the Proposal Queue by default.

Rule 202

At the start of each turn, proposals are added onto the Deck. At 96 hours after the start of the turn, proposals on the Deck are removed from the Deck and put to vote for the remainder of the turn.

By default, the proposals added onto the Deck are the top three proposals in the Proposal Queue, which they are removed from. Other rules may modify this behavior.

If there are fewer than three proposals in the Proposal Queue at the start of the turn, then every proposal in the Proposal Queue is removed from the Proposal Queue and added onto the Deck instead.

If no proposals are added onto the Deck during a turn, then no votes on proposals will be held on said turn. The length of such a turn will be unchanged, with the exception of the first turn of the game, which is 72 hours.

Proposals originating from the Proposal Queue that are put to vote simultaneously are given numbers in the order they were in in the Proposal Queue, with the topmost proposal from the Proposal Queue receiving the first available number, the second topmost receiving the next, and so on.

The length of a turn defaults to 168 hours.

Rule 203

A proposal is passed if and only if it receives a simple majority of votes in favor of its passing when compared to those against its passing.

Other rules may introduce additional conditions necessary for passing a proposal, notwithstanding the above paragraph.

Rule 204

All players start the game as active. An active player becomes inactive (*i.e.* loses their active status) if said active player has publicly declared that they are now inactive.

A player who has become inactive may attempt to become active again by declaring that they are active, attempting to cast a vote, or attempting to endorse a proposal. If the player then becomes active, then the vote or endorsement will be counted as though the player had cast or granted it while active.

Other rules can affect a player’s activity.

Rule 205

Players required by the rules to perform an action have a total of 48 hours to perform said action unless otherwise specified. A player who does not perform said action within the allotted 48 hours becomes inactive and cannot become active until either they do perform said action or said action becomes impossible to perform.

Rule 206

Each active player can vote up to once per vote. Inactive players cannot vote.

Players may change their votes by voting again. Players may withdraw their votes with the phrase “withdraw” or “abstain”. Players may not edit nor delete messages that contain votes. An edited or deleted message’s vote is invalid.

Rule 207

The following phrases, and only the following phrases, are considered to be unambiguous affirmative votes:

The following phrases, and only the following phrases, are considered to be unambiguous negative votes:

Phrases for voting are case-insensitive.

Rule 208

If the server moderators deem that any section of a rule is infeasible to implement manually to the point that a bot is required, and there is no such bot functional, then said rule’s section is void until said bot is functional.

Rule 209

If any player disagrees on the legality of a move or the interpretation or application of a rule, any of those players may insist on invoking Judgment. During Judgment, a randomly selected eligible player is to be the Judge and decide the question.

A term for Judges starts when Judgment is invoked without a current term, and ends at the start of the first turn that starts more than 168 hours after the start of the term. Invoking Judgment during the middle of a term does not affect the term’s length or the incumbent Judge.

The Judge is selected at the start of a term, or in the middle of an ongoing term if the previous Judge is disbarred. A player is eligible to be selected as Judge if and only if said player fulfills all of the following criteria:

The player is active

The player has voted on a proposed rule-change during the previous turn, or the player has voted on a proposed rule-change during the current turn, or fewer than two turns have ended

The player has not been disbarred as Judge for the current turn

The player has not explicitly opted out of being selected to be Judge

The incumbent Judge settles all questions arising from the game until the end of their term, including questions as to their own legitimacy and jurisdiction as Judge.

A Judge may be disbarred for the remainder of their term, in which case all Judgments made by said Judge during their current term are considered invalid and another random eligible player is selected to serve as Judge for the remainder of the term. The following events invoke disbarment:

A three-fourths majority of all active players vote in favor of the Judge’s disbarment

A simple majority of all server moderators vote in favor of the Judge’s disbarment

The Judge does not publicly acknowledge their position as Judge within 24 hours of Judgment’s invocation

The Judge recuses themselves from their position as Judge

Server moderators can only disbar a Judge in their capacity as server moderators if their Judgment egregiously conflicts with the rules.

A Judge may also resign from their position as Judge, which ends the term early. Unlike recusal, resignation does not invoke disbarment and the former Judge’s Judgements are not considered to be invalid.

Judges are not bound by the decisions of previous Judges. Judges may, however, settle only those questions on which Judgment has been invoked and that affect the current state of the game. All decisions by Judges shall be in accordance with all the rules then in effect, but when the rules are silent, inconsistent, or unclear on the point at issue, then the Judge shall consider game custom and the spirit of the game before applying other standards.

Rule 210

A Judicial Proposal is a kind of proposal that Judges may create to address or complement a Judgment they have made during their current term.

Incumbent Judges may create only one Judicial Proposal per term. Judicial Proposals are put onto the Deck and the start of the turn following their creation if and only if the Judge was not disbarred for the remainder of their term.

If a Judicial Proposal is put to vote simultaneously with proposals originating from the Proposal Queue, then it receives the first available number after the other proposals being put to vote have received theirs.

Judicial Proposals may have their rule-changes edited and may be deleted by their respective authors before they go on the Deck. An author that deletes a Judicial Proposal may create a replacement Judicial Proposal if and only if they are the incumbent Judge.

Rule 211

Unless otherwise specified, when a player declares one or more winners and a moderator has seconded this claim, then the game enters an End State. A moderator cannot second their own win.

The purpose of an End State is to adjudicate and come to a consensus on the existence and identity of the game’s winner or winners. During an End State, all in-game mechanics except for those outlined in the Initial Set are suspended, and Judgment on the claim of victory is considered to have been automatically invoked. The suspension of in-game mechanics does not affect or negate the claim of victory.

The current Judge can declare an End State to have been erroneously declared, in which case the End State ends prematurely and all suspended mechanics resume.

If, during an End State, a turn would end while the game has been in said End State for fewer than 168 hours, then the turn is extended by 168 hours instead.

If, during an End State, a turn would end while the game has been in said End State for at least 168 hours, then the game ends instead.

Rule 212

Persons wishing to become players may request to do so publicly. If no player objects to the requester joining the game within 24 hours of the request, either publicly or privately (to a server moderator), the requester will join the game as a new player at the start of the next turn. If such an objection occurs, a vote is immediately held on whether or not the requester joins the game. If there is a majority vote in favor 24 hours following the start of the vote, the requester will join the game as a player.