Rules
From B Nomic
Core
Rule 5E1: The Game of C Nomic
The only true name of this game is B Nomic. Long live B Nomic!
Rule 5E2: Game Objects (Essential)
The game of B Nomic consists entirely of Game Objects (which may be known simply as Objects), and attributes which are specifically mentioned by the rules; generally speaking, the rules should only track attributes on Game Objects, but they are not incapable of tracking attributes of External Forces that are not Game Objects, or of anything else.
All Game Objects have a Switch called Ownable, defaulting to Off.
All Ownable Game Objects have an Owner, which is either a Legal Entity or Nobody. Game Objects are said to be "in possession of" their Owner.
All Ownable Game Objects have a Switch called Transferrable, defaulting to On.
Any Legal Entity which possesses a Transferrable Game Object may, as a Game Action, transfer it to another Legal Entity (or Nobody) that is able to possess the Game Object unless such a transfer is restricted by the rules. Upon doing so, the new Owner of that Object becomes the specified one.
"Give" and "tip" are synonyms of "transfer".
Rule 5E3: Switches (Essential)
/* Attribute now has its standard English meaning */
A switch is a type of attribute of Game Objects, which is either On (aka Yes or True) or Off (aka No or False). The adjective form of a Switch or its negation can be applied to an Object to unambiguously denote whether the Object's relevant switch is On /*e.g., an Active Player is the same as a Player whose "Active" Switch is On; a Non-Vested Player's "Vested" Switch is Off. */
The phrases "have the X Property" and "have the property X" are synonyms for "have an switch called X in the 'On' position". To "gain a property" is a synonym for turning the switch with the same name On; to "lose a property" is a synonym for turning the switch with the same name Off.
Rule 5E4: External Forces (Essential)
An External Force is anything which exists independently of the game. That is, it is either not defined in the rules or it would still exist were it not defined in the rules.
An Outsider is an External Force that is also a Game Object.
Rule 5E6: Fora (Essential)
Fora are External Forces which are capable of allowing Outsiders in general to communicate.
Fora which are Outsiders are either Discussion Fora or Public Fora, Discussion Fora by default; this is a persistent attribute that can be changed by proposal or by other means generally capable of altering the gamestate. Fora which are not Outsiders are Private Fora.
Rule 5E7: Game Documents (Essential)
Game Documents are Game Objects that consist of plain, unobfuscated text.
In every Game Document, with the exception of this paragraph, text between a forward slash+asterisk character combination and an asterisk+forward slash character combination or between double square brackets (that is, text between "/*" and "*/" or between "[[" and "]]") shall be deemed Comment Text. Comment Text has no direct effect on the state of the game, although it can be read.
The text contained in a Game Document should generally be written in English using the ASCII character set.
Rule 5E8: Rules (Essential)
Rules are Game Documents. Rules define how this game is played. Each Rule must have a number and may have a name. When a new rule is created, the Minister of Law is obligated to assign it a number, and shall assign a number not already used by a rule in this era, to avoid confusion. Each rule number shall be prefixed with the notation "5E" (for Fifth Era) to distinguish it from past rules in previous eras of B Nomic. Where a Rule, Proposal, Game Action, or other Game Document refers to a Rule by its number without a prefix, it shall be taken, by default, to refer to a Rule prefixed with the notation "5E". /* For example, one can say "Rule 15" to refer to Rule 5E15 */
Rules have a Switch called Essential, by default Off.
There exists a ministry known as the Ministry of Law. The Minister of Law, also known as the Rulekeeper or Johnnie Cochran, is responsible for maintaining a Public Display of the current Rules and Victory Conditions.
The Rulekeeper may, as a Game Action without Objection, change a Rule's Title.
To "repeal" a rule is to destroy it.
Rule 5E9: Rule Precedence
If two Rules contradict each other and exactly one says it takes precedence over the other, that one takes precedence. If two Rules contradict each other and exactly one says the other takes precedence over it, that other one takes precedence.
If two Rules contradict each other and the above paragraph does not state which takes precedence, the one with a lower number takes precedence.
This Rule takes precedence over all other Rules that determine precedence of Rules.
Rule 5E10: Game Actions (Essential)
A Game Action is defined as any activity specified by the Rules that changes the state of the game. To perform a Game Action, an Outsider must post a message to a Public Forum specifying that they are taking that action. He must also specify any targets and/or parameters necessary for that action [[for example, you must specify a proposal in order to vote against a proposal]]. Unambiguous targets and parameters specified in Game Actions are valid regardless of capitalization, punctuation, or exact wording unless explicitly required by a Rule. They may list multiple actions that they wish to take, in which case they take them in the order they list them. They may also state a specific positive integer to perform a particular action that many times (if legal, of course) sequentially. The Rules also have the power to cause an Outsider to take Game Actions whether they post or not.
Game Actions occur upon reaching the appropriate fora, in the order they arrived, unless a rule states otherwise. A Game Action that is caused by a Rule instead of by a Forum Post takes place at the time specified by the rule.
Text to the effect that "any player may do X" should be interpreted to mean that X is a Game Action; but such a declaration implies that only players may take the Game Action X (unless another declaration permits other Outsiders to as well).
Game Actions which involve calculating things that are unreasonable, impossible or ambiguous fail and have no effect. Determining what meets that criteria is up to Ministries and the Consultation system.
Rule 5E11: Supporting & Objecting (Essential)
The Rules may explicitly require a specific type of action to be performed "without N objections" and/or "with N supporters" where N is a positive natural number. The phrase "without objection" is synonymous to "without 1 objection", the phrase "with support" is synonymous to "with 1 supporter", and the phrase "with more support than objection" is synonymous to "with 1 more Supporters than Objections". These actions are referred to as "dependent actions".
To perform a dependent action, a Player must first announce their intent to perform that action as a Game Action. Between 2 and 4 ndays after the intent was announced, the action may be performed by the Player if and only if:
- If it's without N objections: less than N Players have Objected to the action
- If it's with N supporters: at least N Players have Supported the Action
- If it's with N more Supporters than Objections, at least N more Players have Supported the Action than have Objected to the Action
If no players have Objected to the action, and at least 5 players have Supported the action, it can alternatively be taken between 3 and 5 rdays after the intent was announced; players should refrain from relying on this mechanism except to avoid ambiguity or to fix bugs in ntime. A rule may give a different timespan for the action to be resolved.
All Players may Object or Support an action before it is performed as a Game Action, unless they submitted the intent to perform the action in question.
Rule 5E13: Submission (Essential)
The rules may state that it is legal for Outsiders to Submit certain document types as a Game Action. To Submit a Game Document, an Outsider must provide a full description of the Document in the Public Forum message where they take the Action of Submitting.
Rule 5E54: Prerequisites
Text to the effect of "X may do Y to do Z" or "X may do Z by doing Y" should be interpreted as completely successful if all of the following are true, completely unsuccessful otherwise:
a) X is not otherwise prevented from doing Y by legislation /* e.g. Rules, Laws */ and/or circumstance /* e.g. spending more macks than one owns */
b) X is not attempting to count any part of a given Y toward more than one Z
In this context, Y is known as the Prerequisite of Z.
Time
Rule 5E14: NTime
Definition
There is a Game Object known as The Clock. The Clock consists of the following values:
- A positive integer known as the nweek
- A positive integer known as the nday
- A state of being Off or On
- A nonnegative integer known as the ndelay
Clock Changes
At midnight (00:00:00) Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), if the Clock is On, then the nday is incremented by 1. Otherwise, the ndelay is incremented by 1. [[An online UTC clock is available at http://www.time.gov/.]]
The Clock can be turned On or Off by any player as a game action; however, doing so is a violation of the rules unless the rules specifically state that it isn't. It can also be turned On or Off automatically by the rules.
If the nday would be set to a value greater than 12, instead it is set to 1, the nweek is incremented by 1, and the Clock becomes Off.
At the beginning of each Voting Period, the Clock becomes Off, and until the Clock next becomes On, the Chairman does not violate the rules by changing the clock to be On, provided he has first published a Ballot.
The MoM does not violate the rules by changing the clock from On to Off.
If the Clock is Off, there are no Vacant Ministries and there are no outstanding Ministerial obligations, the MoM is obligated to turn the Clock On, and fulfilling this obligation does not violate the rules.
Whenever the Clock is turned On, the ndelay is set to zero.
Time
Each time that the Clock nday value changes a new nday begins. /*the previous nday ends in the moment immediately before the Clock change*/ A period of one nday is the time intervening between two consecutive changes of the Clock nday value. Each time that the Clock nweek value changes a new nweek begins. /*the previous nweek ends in the moment immediately before the Clock change*/ A period of one nweek is the time intervening between two consecutive changes of the Clock nweek value.
When the clock turns off, and each time that the Clock ndelay value changes to a value different from 0 a new ndelay begins. When the clock turns on, the current ndelay immediately ends. While the clock is off a period of one ndelay is the time intervening between two consecutive changes of the Clock ndelay value.
Durations
A duration to the effect of "X ndays", where X is a number, shall be interpreted to mean that the duration ends at the end of the nday after X consecutive changes of that value. [[Thus, if it is currently the middle of nday 2, something happening "in 2 ndays" will occur at the end of nday 4.]]
A duration to the effect of "X ndelays", where X is a number, shall be interpreted to mean that the duration ends at the end of the ndelay after X consecutive changes of that value. The resetting of an ndelay to 0 from the Clock being turned On does not count as a change for the purposes of this paragraph.
A duration to the effect of "X nweeks", where X is a number, shall be interpreted to mean that the duration ends at the end of the nday when the nday is the same value, but the nweek is increased by X.
A duration to the effect of "X rdays", where X is a number, shall be interpreted to mean the duration ends after X occurrences of midnight UTC.
Nyears
A period of 10 nweeks is known as an nyear. Hence, the first 10 nweeks (1-10 on the Clock) comprise nyear 1, the second (11-20 on the Clock) comprise nyear 2, and so on.
Starts and ends of nday
All events occurring at the end of an nday occur before all events occurring at the beginning of the next nday.
Ordering
When any changes to the state of the game are scheduled to occur simultaneously (e.g. at the start of an nweek), they occur in the following order:
- Changes specified by a Victory Condition
- Changes detailed in the Rules, in order of precedence (highest first) of the Rules that call for each change.
- Non-Trick Game Actions.
Rule 5E16: Calendar
The ndays of the nweek have the following names:
- nday 1 = Breakday
- nday 2 = Winday
- nday 3 = Mulberry
- nday 4 = Tango
- nday 5 = Wonko
- nday 6 = Halfday
- nday 7 = Joel
- nday 8 = Rushnight
- nday 9 = Ballotday
- nday 10 = Teucer
- nday 11 = Zarpint
- nday 12 = Thirnight
- nday 13 = Armageddon
Public Holidays
Wonko of the 4th nweek of an nyear is known as "Agoran Silly Hat Day", in commemoration of the epic Agoran surrender of nyear 14. On this holiday, it is customary for B to send Agora a mildly offensive message. /* in the preceeding sentence, "Agoran" may refer to the single player BobTHJ */
Breakday of the 5th nweek of an nyear is known as "Paranoia-Free Day", in commemoration of the salutary relegation of all irrational panic to an upstart foreign nomic. On this holiday, it is customary for Players of B to flick their Panic Buttons.
Zarpint of the 10th nweek of an nyear is known as "Gift Day".
Breakday and Winday of the 2nd nweek of an nyear are collectively known as the Crisis Days, due to a record number of emergencies occuring in a single nday and ending the Fourth Era /* which of those ndays it was was unclear for some of those emergencies, so they both get the honour */. On these days, it is customary for players of B to reflect on how amazing it is that B has survived so far.
Rule 5E17: Eras
The First Era of B Nomic is the time starting with the creation of the game (approx. 5 Dec 2001, prompted by a five-month lull in A Nomic) and ending immediately before the start of The Second Era of B Nomic.
The Second Era of B Nomic is the time starting with nweek 85 (approx. 4 Apr 2005, prompted by data loss when the bnomic.org server crashed) and ending immediately before the start of The Third Era of B Nomic.
The Third Era of B Nomic is the time starting with nweek 112 (approx. 14 Nov 2006, prompted by another five-month lull) and ending immediately before the start of The Fourth Era of B Nomic.
The Fourth Era of B Nomic is the time starting with nweek 135 (10 Dec 2007, prompted by a second State of Emergency in 2 nweeks), and ending immediately before the start of The Fifth Era of B Nomic.
The Fifth Era of B Nomic is the time starting with nweek 153(2 Dec 2008, when http://b.nomic.net/index.php/User:Ehird/Make_it_Better passed), and continuing to the present.
Playerhood & Ministries
Rule 5E18: Joining and Leaving (Essential)
There exists a ministry known as the Ministry of Society. The Minister of Society, also known as the Registrar, is responsible for maintaining a Public Display of the current Players and their Rule-defined attributes, as well as a Public Display of the current Public and Discussion Fora.
A Player is an Outsider who consents to be governed by the rules, fulfills all requirements for continued playerhood specified by the rules, and has become a Player in a manner specified by the rules that were in effect at the time e became a Player.
Any Human External Force who is not already a Player and who has not been a player in the current or previous nweek can become a Player by posting a message to a Public Forum containing a request to become a Player and a uniquely identifying name that e wishes to be known by.
Any Player can change their name to any string not already the name of another Game Object as a Game Action.
A Player may cease to be a Player by Forfeiting the game; this must be done in a Public Forum unless there are no working public fora, in which case he may notify the Player he most recently knew was Registrar privately instead.
No restrictions may be placed on when a player may forfeit; any player may forfeit the game at any time (regardless of any timekeeping device used in the game).
In its request to become a player, an External Force may name a group of current players that were responsible for its desire to join the game. A recruitment bonus of 60 mackerel shall be evenly divided between the players so named when the External Force becomes a Player, with any fractional mackerel being destroyed.
Rule 5E19: Active Players
The group of Players that do not currently possess the Active property may be called "The Horde".
At the beginning of each nweek, the players that voted in the previous nweek gain the "Vested" property, the players that failed to vote in the previous nweek lose the "Vested" property.
When any Player performs a Game Action /* including registering as a Player */, they gain the Active property. Any Player can, as a Game Action, remove the Active property of another Player who has not performed a Game Action in the current or previous nweek.
Rule 5E20: Ministries (Essential)
A Ministry is a Game Object that can be assigned to at most one Player. It represents the responsibility of that Player to keep Players aware of the state of a particular aspect of the game, and may also represent the power of that Player to affect the gamestate in ways specified in the Ministry's definition. If a Ministry's defined powers conflict with any other part of the Rules, the latter takes precedence.
A Ministry that is not assigned to a Player is Vacant.
The terms "post holder", "pot holster", "post holder designate", and "Minister" refer to the Player in possession of a given Ministry. This can be abbreviated "PHD".
Rule 5E21: Assigning Ministries
Any Player may, as a Game Action, assign a Vacant Ministry to themselves, specifying for this Ministry a new Reward Value, which must be less than or equal to its current Reward.
Rule 5E22: Leaving Ministries
A Minister may Resign from their Ministry via Game Action. At that time, the Ministry becomes Vacant.
A Minister which loses the Active property or ceases to be a Player immediately vacates any Ministries it holds upon doing so.
Any Player may, with more support than objection, remove a Minister from his Ministry, causing the Ministry to become Vacant.
Rule 5E23: Electing Ministries
An Election for a Ministry is a type of Decision, with:
- the valid Votes being an ordered list, of at least length one, of any of the Candidates, without repeating any Candidate
- the Deadline being the end of nday 10 of the nweek the Election was created
- the valid Outcomes being any of the Candidates
Any Player may, as a Game Action, nominate a Player for a Ministry, causing them to become a Possible Candidate for that Ministry, unless that Ministry has an Election in Voting. Any Possible Candidate can accept a nomination, specifying a Wanted Reward in macks. They then become a Candidate for that Ministry. If there is no current Election for that Ministry, one is created.
If there is only one Candidate for a Ministry at the end of nday 8, that Candidate becomes the Chosen One for the Ministry and the Election is destroyed.
At the end of an Election's Voting Period, the following calculations and events happen:
- Set every candidate's score to 0.
- For each vote including a candidate, increase the candidate's score by 1/N, where N is the position of the candidate in the vote (starting at 1).
- Every candidate's popularity is their score divided by the number of votes cast.
- The winners are the candidates with the highest popularities.
- If there is only one winner, they are the Chosen One for the Ministry.
- Otherwise, the Bidding Period for the Ministry starts.
In the Bidding Period, any Candidate can change their Wanted Reward for the Ministry as a Game Action, as long as the new reward is lower than any other Candidate's for that Ministry. This is referred to as "bidding".
At the end of the nweek, all Bidding Periods end.
At the end of a Bidding Period, the Chosen One for the Ministry is the Candidate with the lowest Wanted Reward.
Whenever a Candidate for a Ministry becomes the Chosen One, the Reward for that Ministry becomes the Candidate's Wanted Reward and the Ministry is assigned to them.
Rule 5E24: Ministry Rewards
All Ministries have a Reward, which is an integer amount of mack from m1 to m100, defaulting to m100. At the beginning of each nweek, the Reward for any Vacant Ministry is set to the default value.
At the end of each nweek, for each Ministry that has been continuously held by the same minister since the clock was first turned on that nweek, its Minister earns that Ministry's Reward.
Rule 5E25: Public Displays (Essential)
A Public Display is a display of an aspect of the current state of the game in a form easily accessible to all Players. Good Public Displays can include the B Nomic wiki or posting on a regular basis to a Public Forum.
If the rules require a Ministry to maintain a public display, then that Ministry is obligated to update that public display to reflect the current gamestate whenever the data related to it is modified. However, this obligation is fulfilled even if there are accidental errors and/or omissions in the updated data of the public display.
Any player may challenge a public display as a Game Action by listing any errors he believes to be present in that public display. The Minister who maintains that display is obligated to address those errors by either correcting them or indicating why he believes them to be already correct.
A Player may, as a Game Action with 4 Support and no Objections within 2 rdays, Approve a Public Display. The Public Display in question must either be provided in full as part of the Game Action or linked to on a static web page [[e.g. permanent link on the wiki]]. When a Player successfully Approves a Public Display, the Gamestate is changed to reflect what it would be if the Approved Public Display were accurate as of the time the Player attempted to Approve it. Any subsequent changes (Game Actions or automatically triggered events) that would normally be reflected in this Public Display are retroactively simulated.
Rule 5E26: The MetaMin
There exists a Ministry called the Ministry of Ministry, also known as the MetaMinistry. The Minister of Ministry may be referred to as the MoM, the MetaMin, or Kurt Gödel.
The MetaMin is responsible for maintaining a Public Display of all existing Ministries, showing their names, responsibilities, retainers, and current holders.
Rule 5E27: Ministerial Obligations
A rule or passed proposal can create an obligation for a Ministry to take some action within its powers. A Minister shall fulfill any obligations on his Ministry in a Jiffy. Unless the rules explicitly state otherwise, a Minister has the power to make any changes to Game Objects strictly necessary to fulfill his Ministerial Obligations.
Any Minister who fails to perform an obligation within the allotted time can be removed from his Ministry by any Player as a Game Action. In the case where the only obligations a Minister has failed to fulfill within the allotted time concern the incompleteness or fallaciousness of their Public Display, however, he may only be removed after an explicit challenge to said Public Display has been issued and has not been addressed within the allotted time.
Whenever a new Minister takes over a Ministry, the time limit for any obligations on that Ministry are reset. Therefore a new Minister shall always have a Jiffy to fulfill any obligations on the Ministry he has taken over.
Currency
Rule 5E28: Currency
Currencies are types of Game Objects that are declared to be so by the rules.
All Currencies are Ownable and Transferrable. No type of Game Object that is not Ownable and Transferrable is a Currency.
Text to the effect of "X may destroy Y units of currency" refers to currency owned by X, unless otherwise specified. In this context, "spend" is synonymous with "destroy".
Text to the effect of "X may spend Y units of currency to do Z", where Y is zero, should be interpreted as "X may do Z as a Game Action".
Rule 5E29: Mackerel
Mackerel (aka mack, macks) is a Currency.
Only Legal Entities can own mackerel.
Any Legal Entity may destroy any amount of mackerel in their possession as a Game Action.
An amount of mackerel can be referred to by a lowercase m followed by the amount. /* e.g. "m5" = 5 mackerel */
Whenever an entity becomes a Player, if they have less than 100 macks, all their mackerel are destroyed and they gain m100.
At the beginning of each nweek, each Active Player gains m25.
Players with less than 50 mackerel are Bums.
Rule 5E53: Farming for Fish
At the end of each nweek, each Colour gains an amount of mackerel equal to five times the number of Squares having that colour plus twenty times the number of Squares having that colour and at least one Resident who is an Active Player.
Totems
Rule 5E30: Message of the Nweek
The Message of the Nweek is a string with a length from 1 to 256 characters, defaulting to "B Nomic: It's Better Than Sex".
The Registrar, as a Game Action with Support, may change the value of the motnw, but cannot change the value more than once in an nweek.
The motnw should be prominently posted on a Public Display. [[the main page of the B Nomic wiki is ideal]]
Rule 5E31: Threat Awareness
The Threat Awareness Flag is one of {Pink Ponies, Polka Dots, Setting Orange, Jolly Roger, Black Watch Plaid}, defaulting to Pink Ponies.
The Minister of Ministries is responsible for updating the Threat Flag, as they see fit, to notify players of the potential dangers to the state and integrity of the Game. The Minister of Ministries, as a Game Action, may change the value of the Threat Flag to either Pink Ponies, Polka Dots, Setting Orange, or Jolly Roger, but shall not change this value more than once per nday. A statement that says "hoisting the X flag" is equivalent to saying "setting the Threat Flag value to X".
The meanings of the Threat Flags, in order of ascending threat, are as follows:
- Pink Ponies: None (Nothing to see here, move along)
- Polka Dots: Low (Strange things are afoot at the Circle B)
- Setting Orange: Moderate (Something is rotten in the state of B)
- Jolly Roger: High (Find a helmet)
- Black Watch Plaid: Imminent (Put on the helmet)
If, at any time, there are four or more PEPs who are Paranoid, the value of the Threat Flag is set to Black Watch Plaid. If, at any time, there are less than four PEPs who are Paranoid, and the Threat Flag is Black Watch Plaid, the the Threat Flag becomes Jolly Roger.
Changes
Rule 5E32: Decisions (Essential)
Decisions are a type of Game Object consisting of a specification of:
- the valid Votes on that Decision
- the list of Eligible Voters for that Decision, by default all non-Bum, non-Prisoner, non-Dead Players at the start of that Decision's Voting Period
- the Decision's Deadline, a point in time after the start of Ballotday of the nweek, by default the end of the nweek (where "the nweek" is the nweek that the Decision was created), or the end of next nweek if it is after Ballotday
- a list of valid Outcomes of the Decision, and how to determine them at the end of the Voting Period
- what happens when the Decision's Voting Period ends
A Decision's Voting Period is the duration of time between Ballotday of the nweek it was created and its Deadline.
A Decision in its Voting Period is said to be in Voting.
A Decision before its Voting Period is said to be Pending.
There exists a ministry known as the Ministry of Change. The Minister of Change, also known as the Chairman or Barack Obama, is responsible for maintaining a Public Display of the current Decisions and their attributes.
At the end of the nday prior to the beginning of Ballotday, the Minister of Change is obligated to publish a Game Document known as a ballot. Such a document should list all Decisions to be voted on.
Any Eligible Voter for a Decision can cast a valid Vote on it as a Game Action.
Any Eligible Voter may retract their Vote on a Decision at any time.
At the end of a Decision's Voting Period, its Outcome is evaluated, and whatever is specified to happen at the end of its Voting Period happens. Unless specified otherwise in a another Rule, if two or more Decisions have the same Deadline, the events in the previous sentence happen in order of the Decisions' creation, earliest first. This is the process of Resolving. The Minister of Change is then obligated to publish the results of the voting, including each Vote received, the final Outcome, and the changes to any scoring as a result of voting.
Unless specified otherwise in another Rule, Decisions submitted simultaneously are destroyed post-Resolving.
Rule 5E33: Proposals (Essential)
Proposals are a type of Decision with the following attributes:
- Title (Range: all strings; Default: the empty string)
- Body (Range: all strings; Default: the empty string)
- Proposal Number (Range: null + all integers; Default: null)
- Conflicts (Range: all sets of other proposals; Default: the empty set)
- Dependencies (Range: all sets of other proposals; Default: the empty set)
A Proposal's Valid Votes are {FOR, AGAINST}.
A Proposal's Valid Outcomes are {Won, Lost, Discarded}.
If, in a set of two proposals, either lists the other as a Conflict, those proposals are said to Conflict with each other.
If one proposal lists another on its list of Dependencies, then the first is said to Depend on the second.
/* Note that a proposal may contain text in addition to its list of gamestate changes, but this text is generally ignored. It may be unclear whether or not a particular part of the text is a gamestate change; determining this is left to the Chairman and the justice system. */
Submission and Revision
Any player may submit a proposal at any time as a Game Action, causing it to become a Game Object, unless a rule says otherwise. Any player may revise a Pending proposal they own by resubmitting it as a Game Action. To submit a proposal, a player need only specify its Body. They may optionally also specify its Title, Conflicts, and Dependencies; if any of these are not specified, they default to being empty.
The player who submits a proposal is known as the Proposal's Author, and is said to own that proposal.
When a new proposal is submitted, it is assigned the Proposal Number null. The Chairman is obligated to assign a new Proposal Number that is greater than all previously used Proposal Numbers to each proposal with a number of null.
/* Note that this doesn't include other things called Proposal Numbers from the distant past; the fact that five years ago there were proposals numbered in the thousands is irrelevant. */
As a Game Action a Player may withdraw a Pending proposal if they are the Author of that Proposal. A Proposal that is withdrawn has its Status set to Historical and its Success state set to Lost.
Tallying the votes
A Proposal's Vote Count for a given vote value is the number of Eligible Voters whose Vote on that Proposal is that value.
A Proposal's Stamina is F+A and its Strength is F-A, where F is its Vote Count for FOR and A is its Vote Count for AGAINST.
When a Proposal's Voting Period ends:
- If its Stamina is less than one half the number of Vested players it is Discarded and Fails.
- If its Strength is Positive, it is Won.
- If its Strength is Negative, it is Lost.
- If it Depends on a Proposal that is Lost, it is Lost.
- If it has lower Strength than, or equal Strength and a higher Proposal Number than, a Proposal with which it Conflicts, it is Lost.
- If it is Won, it Passes.
- Otherwise, it Fails.
Whenever a proposal becomes Lost, it ceases to be Won. When a proposal Passes, the game is changed according to the instructions in its Body.
Rule 5E34: Proposal Rewards & Punishments
After a proposal Passes or Fails (but before it is destroyed),
- If the Proposal Passed, its Author gains an amount of mack equal to the Proposal's Strength, times five.
- If the Proposal Failed and was never Won, its Author loses 15 mack, or all their mack if they have less than m15.
Rule 5E35: Tweaks
A Tweak is a Game Document describing changes to be made to the rules and/or game state of B Nomic. A submitted Tweak cannot be revised after it has been submitted.
As a Game Action without Objection, a Player can Activate a Tweak he submitted during the current or previous nweek, provided he has not previously attempted to Activate the same Tweak. When a Tweak is Activated, the changes it describes take effect.
The Courts
Rule 5E36: Judgment
The Oracle
There exists a ministry known as the Ministry of Questions. The Minister of Questions, also known as the Oracle, is responsible for maintaining a Public Display of the current Consultations and their attributes. There exists an Object called the staff of ZOT. The Oracle holds the staff of ZOT.
Consultations
Any External Force may as a Game Action submit a Consultation.
Consultations are Game Documents that contain a Question or a Statement that is to be Answered. If a Statement is submitted, it shall be treated as a Question of the form "is it true that <statement>?". The Question or Statement must be posed in such a form as to permit a yes or no reply. Unless otherwise specified in the Question or Statement, the veracity of the Question or Statement shall be evaluated with respect to the time at which it was submitted. Consultations may also contain:
- Reasoning, meaning text that clarifies the intent of the Consultation.
- the name of a Player that is to be considered as the Unbeliever for that Consultation.
That player submitting the consultation will be known as Supplicant regarding that consultation.
Consultations are given a Consultation Number by the Oracle when assigned to a Priest. For each new Consultation, the Consultation number is usually equal to 1 or, if such Number is already in use, to the greatest existing Consultation Number incremented by one. The Oracle may arbitrarily override the normal assignment of Consultation numbers, and choose a number of his liking for a new Consultation.
A Consultation is in one of the states of Waiting, ZOTTED and Pondered. A Consultation is initially Waiting.
Whenever there exists a Waiting Consultation which has no priest assigned, the Oracle is obligated to either assign a priest to that Consultation or ZOT it.
Pondered Consultations have a Switch called Influential, by default On. The Answers to Influential Consultations (and the Reasoning, if any, of the final Priest to whom they were Assigned) are considered to reflect the generally agreed upon gamestate and should guide future interpretation of the Rules. However, it is entirely possible for them to be contradicted by future Answers. /* Contradictions may arise if, for instance, Players later realize that an earlier Answer should have been declared Inconsistent, or if the relevant Rules have since changed.*/
The Oracle may, without Objection, set the Influential Switch of any Pondered Consultation to On or to Off.
ZOTTING
Upon submission of a Consultation the Oracle shall as a Game Action select a Priest for that Consultation. Alternatively the Oracle may wield the staff of ZOT and cause the Consultation to be ZOTTED, if in his insight he considers the contained Question to be malformed, ambiguous, irrelevant or otherwise unworthy. ZOTTED consultations have no further effect.
The Oracle may also ZOT a Waiting Consultation if has not been Answered yet and its assigned Priest requests him to do so. In this case the Oracle is required to grant the request or immediately reassign the Consultation to a new Priest instead.
If a Consultation is ZOTTED by the Oracle before he assigns it to a Priest, the Oracle is not required to record the Consultation in the Public Display.
Selecting a Priest
An Active Player, as a Game Action, may gain the Ordained Property. Any Player, as a Game Action, may remove their own Ordained Property. Any Player that loses the Active Property also loses the Ordained Property.
Whenever a Priest is to be selected for a Consultation, the Oracle shall select one between the eligible Players. All Ordained Players, except the Supplicant, the Unbeliever if the Consultation names one, the Oracle and Players that have already been selected as Priests for that Consultation, are eligible for selection as Priests. It is a violation of the Rules for the Oracle to deliberately select a specific Priest for the purposes of fostering or protecting the Oracle's personal interests, monetary or otherwise If no Player is eligible, the Oracle is automatically selected as Priest.
The Answer
The selected Priest shall find inspiration in his knowledge of the Rules and, as a Game Action, Answer his assigned Consultation YES, NO, or, in cases where neither of these two answers can potentially be logically correct, PARADOX, causing it to become Answered. The Priest may also submit his own Reasoning, explaining how his mystical interpretation of the Rules has guided him in his Answer. The Priest may also submit a list of Obsolescences, in which he pronounces one or more Pondered Consultations to be in conflict with his own Answer.
If the Consultation's subject is on the matter of whether a Player has broken or violated the Rules, and the Answer is Yes, then the Priest may assign a Punishment that includes either Bail, specifying an amount of a Currency, Term, specifying a duration of ntime, or both Bail and Term as defined above.
If a Consultation remains Answered for four full Ndays (or Ndelays if the clock is off), it becomes Pondered.
When a Consultation with a Punishment becomes Pondered, the Player that has been found to have violated the rules becomes a Prisoner until:
- If the Punishment includes only Bail, he destroys the relevant amount of the Currency specified.
- If the Punishment includes only a Term, the specified duration elapses.
- If the Punishment includes both Bail and a Term, any one of the two events listed immediately above occurs.
When a Consultation with a list of Obsolescences becomes Pondered, the Pondered Consultations named in this list lose the Influential Property.
For the purposes of answering Consultations the words "True", "Affirmative" and "Correct" are to be considered synonymous with "Yes", the words "False", "Negative" and "Incorrect" are to be considered synonymous with "No", and the words "Maybe", "Undecidable" and "Göd Knows" are to be considered synonymous with "Paradox".
Automatic Reassignment
Any Priest, who is not the Oracle and has not answered a Consultation he has been assigned to within a Jiffy, ceases to be the Priest for any Consultations he is assigned to and loses the Ordained Property. If a Player loses the Ordained Property in this manner, he cannot regain the Ordained Property until the next nweek.
Overriding Consultations
When a Priest submits an answer to a consultation, within three rdays since its submission, any player except the Priest, Unbeliever, and the Supplicant may, as a Game Action, make a Claim regarding the Answer and the Oracularity (if one exists). Such Claims will ultimately state that the player believes the answer to be Consistent or Inconsistent. If a Player submits multiple Claims, only the last one submitted shall be counted.
A Jiffy after the Answer has been submitted the Oracle shall tally any such Claims. If there exist more Claims of Inconsistency than claims of Consistency, the consultation ceases to be Answered and becomes Waiting. The Oracle shall then assign a new Priest to the Consultation. The previous Priest's answer (if any) is discarded.
Rule 5E37: Shall I?
Taking a Game Action which the rules state a Player "shall not" take is a violation of the Rules.
Failing to take, within a Jiffy, a Game Action which the rules state a Player "shall" take is a violation of the Rules.
Rule 5E38: Stop that!
Mildly spamming one of the mailing lists or the wiki is a violation of the Rules.
Severely spamming one of the mailing lists or the wiki is a violation of the Rules.
/* You can make the case to the Priest as to whether what you're doing counts as spamming, and as to how severe it is. */
Rule 5E39: Contempt of Court
If a player submits 5 Consultations in the same nweek that are all ZOTTED, that player is Held in Contempt of Court.
Being Held in Contempt of Court is a violation of the rules.
Rule 5E40: Jail
A Prisoner is a Player declared to be so by the Rules. A Prisoner stops being a Prisoner at the end of the duration specified for them by the Rules.
Nitpicking & Definitions
Rule 5E41: Official Quantities
For all game purposes the following phrases are defined to mean the indicated numbers.
- A Few = 4
- A Jiffy = 3 rdays
- A Handful = 6
- An nDozen = 11
- A Thirnight = 12
- A Confused Baker's Dozen = 14
- A Bunch = 24
- A Metric Bunch = 25
- A Lot = 63
- A Bucketful = 96
- A Metric Bucketful = 100
- A Heck of a Lot = 365
- A Hell of a Lot = 366
- A Truckload = 960
- A Metric Truckload = 1000
- A Zillion = 100 000 000
- A Bajillion = 100 000 000 000 000
- An Insane Number = The number of players in the game
Rule 5E42: Disambiguation
No text in any Rule shall be interpreted as a specific Player's name, unless that rule explicitly states that said text shall be interpreted as a specific Player's name.
No Game Object may come to have the same name as another Game Object.
Rule 5E43: Pronouns
All personal pronouns shall be taken to refer to entities of any gender or of no gender regardless of the purported gender of the words used. Language intended to apply only to members of a specific gender must explicitly say that it does so.
Rule 5E44: Legal Entities
Players and Colours are Legal Entities.
Rule 5E45: Living up to our Name
Having recently come out of a slump, B is just now getting moving again. It has always and will always have recently come out of a slump. It will always be just now getting moving again.
Rule 5E46: Randomness
Whenever a random number is called for, the dice server at dice@nomic.net, described at http://dice.nomic.net/email.html, shall be used.
Any supposedly random number not from the dice server does not fulfill the requirement of being random.
Interaction
Rule 5E47: Victory
Trophies are Game Objects. The number of Trophies held by a player is known as that player's Win Count. Players may only receive Trophies in accordance with this rule. Each Trophy has a description, which is a block of text describing what the Trophy looks like.
The Rules can describe Victory Conditions, consisting of:
- A Trigger: The event that must happen to cause someone to win, plus any required conditions on the gamestate.
- Victors: A clause defining which player(s) win.
- A Cleanup: A set of gamestate changes that happen when this condition takes effect (presumably that make it so that the condition is no longer satisfied).
- A Prize: A description of the Trophy that is awarded to each Victor.
If the events in a Victory Condition's Trigger happen, then that Condition becomes Fulfilled, unless it already was. When a condition becomes Fulfilled, its Victors are each awarded a Trophy with the description given by its Prize, and then its Cleanup happens.
At the end of each nweek, every Fulfilled Victory Condition ceases to be Fulfilled.
/* In other words, you can't win the same way twice in an nweek. */
The following Victory Conditions exist:
Win By Mackerel
Trigger: At the beginning of a Winday [[nday 2]], at least one Player possesses at least 5000 mackerel.
Victors: The player with the greatest number of mackerel, or all players tied for the greatest number of mackerel.
Prize: A gleaming steel rapier. (but not the Weapon)
Cleanup: None /* this should possibly be changed */
Win By Dictatorship
Trigger: A rule is created whose text reads, in its entirety, "The player named X may change the gamestate in any way, at any time.", where X is replaced by the name of a current player.
Victors: The player whose name is in the aforementioned rule.
Prize: A Jeweled Crown and Scepter.
Cleanup: None - the dictator could simply turn one off if there were one. However, it is considered good form for the dictator to close whatever loophole allowed em to become dictator, and then to repeal eir dictatorship.
Win By Legislative Dominance
Trigger: Three proposals made by the same player pass during the same nweek, no more than one of this player's proposals fail during that nweek, and no proposals made by players other than that player pass during that nweek.
Victors: The aforementioned player.
Prize: A Plush Bob the Voting Fish that recites the entire Ruleset when squeezed.
Cleanup: None
Win By Paradox
Trigger: A Consultation that a player submitted becomes Pondered, is judged PARADOX, and has to do with a matter of interpretation of the rules.
Victors: The aforementioned player.
Prize: A Klein bottle.
Cleanup: The player shall attempt, to the best of their ability, to fix the paradox.
Win By Having Already Won
Trigger: A player wins via at least three different Victory Conditions during one nweek.
Victors: The aforementioned player.
Prize: A T-Shirt reading "I won B Nomic via at least three different Victory Conditions during an nweek, and had not won by the Win By Having Won condition during that nweek, and all I got was this stupid T-Shirt".
Cleanup: None
Win by Relic Collection
Trigger: A player becomes the Owner of all 6 Relics.
Victors: The aforementioned player.
Prize: Suber's Spelunking Helmet
Cleanup: The Rule entitled "Relics" is destroyed. This Victory Condition (the section of Rule 5E47 entitled "Win by Relic Collection") is destroyed.
Rule 5E48: The Grid
The Ministry of Grid is a Ministry responsible for keeping track of the Colours of Squares on the Grid, and the Players Resident in them.
The Grid consists of an infinite amount of Squares on a 2D board, from (-inf,-inf) to (inf,inf).
Squares are identified by their (x,y) positions.
Colours (aka Colors) are a type of Object, consisting of an RGB colour.
Each square has a priority list, which consists of a list of Colours and their Priority (a non-negative integer) in that square. By default the Priority of each color in each Square is 0. If a Colour in a Square has a higher Priority in that square than all other Colours that Square is said to be coloured with that Colour; otherwise that Square is uncoloured.
All Players are either Resident in exactly one Square, or Unsquared. Players Resident on a Square are said to be "on" the Square. Initially, all Players are Unsquared. Players can "move" from a square one place up, down, left or right from their current Square as a Game Action. They then become Resident in that Square. Prisoners and the Dead cannot move. A Player cannot move more than 5 Squares per nday, and cannot move when the Clock is Off.
Actions or events referencing a Player's Resident Square cannot be performed/do not happen for Unsquared Players.
An Unsquared Player can set their Resident Square as a Game Action, within the boundaries of (-100,-100) to (100,100).
All Colours have a set of Laws. Laws can define things which a Resident on them shall or shall not do, and can also define abstract entities that exist only within the scope of the Laws, and define what Residents on them can or cannot do with them. Laws however may not modify (or grant permission to modify) any gamestate created outside of that set of Laws unless using an already defined external and legal mechanism.
The Laws of a Colour are binding upon all Players Resident on Squares with that Colour. The Laws for a Colour can also define methods for changing the Colour of Squares of that Colour, and also specify methods for causing the Colour to take Game Actions.
The Laws of a Colour must specify a Tracker for that Colour; this Tracker must keep track of the Laws of that Colour. Laws without such a specification, if not fixed within a Jiffy, cease to become the Laws of the relevant Colour and they revert back to the default ones. This restriction does not apply to the initial Laws.
A Player can be punished via Consultation for violating Laws unless the Laws define their own punishment for the violation.
The Rules take precedence over all Laws.
The Laws for any Colour apart from Uncoloured are initially as follows:
A Resident of a $COLOUR Square can amend these Laws with the
unanimous consent of all other Residents of $COLOUR Squares.
with $COLOUR replaced with the relevant Colour.
Thrice per nweek as a Game Action a Player may increment or decrement the Priority of any one Colour on their Resident square by 1. The Laws of a Colour can not in anyway impede or restrict a Player's ability to perform this action.
Rule 5E49: Health, Food and Weapons
All Players have an amount of Health, initially 100. If a Player's Health would ever go below 0, it instead becomes 0.
A Player with 0 Health is Dead. When a Player becomes Dead, all their Weapons are transferred to the Colour of their Resident Square, or destroyed if the Square they are Resident in has no Colour. Any non-Dead Legal Entity may spend 50 macks to Revive another Player, at which point their Health becomes 100.
Any non-Dead Player may spend N macks (where N is any positive integer) to increase their Health by 5*N.
Weapons are a type of Game Objects that are Ownable and Transferrable.
There is a Ministry called the Ministry of Warfare, responsible for keeping track of Weapons and their attributes, and the Health of Players.
All Weapons have a Name, a Cost in macks, a Range (a number), a Damage in Health, optionally a Usage Cost in macks and optionally a Lifespan.
All Weapons have a Switch called Targeted, by default Off.
A Player may Purchase a Weapon (i.e. an instance of that Weapon is created in their possession) by spending macks equal to its Cost.
A non-Dead Player may use (synonyms: stab, detonate, fire, shoot, etc) a Weapon they own by paying its Usage Cost, specifying a Player to target if that weapon is Targeted. Then the following happens:
- The range of this usage is an amount of Squares equal to the Weapon's Range for each up, down, left and right, upleft, upright, downleft, downright from where the Player is.
- If the Weapon is Targeted and the target is not in the range of this usage, the usage fails.
- If the Weapon is not Targeted, the targets are everyone in the range of this usage. Unless specified otherwise by a Rule, the Player using it is not a target.
- The Health of all Targets decreases by the Weapon's Damage.
- If the Weapon has a Lifespan and has been used as many times as the Lifespan, it is destroyed.
These types of Weapon exist:
- Name: Well-sharpened pencil, Cost: m10, Range: 1 square, Damage: 2, Usage Cost: m1, Lifespan: 10, Targeted
- Name: Knife, Cost: m25, Range: 2 squares, Damage: 10, Usage Cost: m10, Lifespan: 10, Targeted
- Name: Rapier, Cost: m75, Range: 5 squares, Damage: 20, Usage Cost: m10, Lifespan: 25, Targeted
- Name: Pistol, Cost: m75, Range: 7 squares, Damage: 5, Usage Cost: m5, Lifespan: 50, Targeted
- Name: Machine gun, Cost: m200, Range: 10 squares, Damage: 35, Usage Cost: m25, Lifespan: 10, Targeted
- Name: Mother's stare, Cost: m275, Range: 10 squares, Damage: 75, Usage Cost: m50, Lifespan: 10, Targeted
- Name: Bomb, Cost: m400, Range: 20 squares, Damage: 50, Usage Cost: m75, Lifespan: 5
- Name: Large Hadron Collider, Cost: m1000, Range: 30 squares, Damage: 200, Usage Cost: m0, Lifespan: 1. Usage target includes user.
/* These are put together semi-randomly; they should be changed when we get experience with them. */
Rule 5E55: Relics
Relics are a type of Game Object that are Ownable and non-Transferrable. Initially, all Relics are Unowned (owned by Nobody).
Relics are Resident in exactly one Square of the Grid. When a Player becomes Resident on a Square in which any Unowned Relic is also Resident, he becomes the Owner of that Relic. When a Relic's Owner moves to a different Square, the Relic also moves to the same Square. When a Relic's Owner becomes Dead, the Relic becomes Unowned.
There are 6 Relics, which have the following names:
- Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster Gnome
- Eponymous Spoon
- Oracle's Font
- Suffused Panic Button
- pikhq's Rapier
- Ring of 4E13
Rule 5E56: Strategic Empire-Building
Any non-Dead, non-Bum player on a Coloured Square may, as a game action with 2 support, make an Imperial Attack. No player may make more than one Imperial Attack per nweek. The player must specify a Square of the Colour of the Square they are on (the Origin) and an Uncoloured Square with no residents (the Colony). There must be at least one Square adjacent to both the Origin and the Colony.
When an Imperial Attack is made, the Colony becomes Coloured the same Colour as the Origin.
If the Origin is not adjacent to the Colony, Origin becomes Uncoloured.
After this, any Coloured Squares adjacent to the Colony that are not the same Colour as the Colony /* or the Origin, if it hasn't become Uncoloured */ become the same Colour as the Colony. 5 mackerel possessed by the player making the Imperial Attack are destroyed for each Square so Coloured.
Rule 5E57: Contract Law
A Player may create a uniquely named Game Document known as a Contract. Players who are bound by a Contract are known as Parties to that contract. Contracts may be modified with the explicit approval of all parties, as well as in any other way allowed by that Contract. A Contract may specify ways for Players to become, or cease to become, Parties to it.
No Player shall be made a Party to a Contract without their explicit consent, and no Contract may impose any obligation upon a non-Party.
When a Party becomes obligated by a Contract to perform a specific game action, any Player may Trigger that action on the Public Forum, causing the obligated Party to attempt it.
Contracts may create Things, which are Game Objects that exist only within the scope of that Contract, but may be referenced from other contexts. Things may not be created with the same name as any existing Game Object. Any object or state that a Contract claims to create which is not authorized by the Rules is considered a Thing.
There exists a Ministry known as the Ministry of Business. The Minister of Business, also known as the Solicitor or Donald Trump, is responsible for maintaining a Public Display of all Contracts and their current text, parties and other game state. The Minister may delegate authority and responsibility of maintaining a specific Contract's Public Display to any Party of that Contract.
If a Contract has no Parties, any Player may cause it to cease to be a Game Object.
A Contract declaring itself to be a set of Articles of Incorporation creates a Legal Entity known as a Corporation. Articles of Incorporation must, at minimum, establish the name of the Corporation and at define at least one Officer. Only parties to a Corporation's Articles of Incorporation can be Officers of that Corporation.
Officers of a Corporation shall collectively ensure that the Corporation fulfills the obligations specified in its Articles or any other Contract to which it may be Party. Only a Party to the Articles of Incorporation may become an Officer of a Corporation. Unless otherwise restricted by the Articles of Incorporation, an officer may act on behalf of a Corporation by submitting a game action on behalf of the Corporation, explicitly stating the actions described in are being performed by the Corporation.
Any Corporation, whose Articles of Incorporation do not comply with this rule, ceases to be a Legal Entity and the Articles of Incorporation cease to be a Game Object.
A Contract may declare itself to be a Power of Attorney, specifying a Principal and an Agent, who must both be Parties to the Contract. A Power of Attorney is either General or Limited, defaulting to Limited. A General Power of Attorney authorizes the Agent to cause any actions except those specified as Reservations, while a Limited Power of Attorney authorizes the Agent to cause ONLY those actions specified as Delegations. When authorized, the Agent may send a message to a public forum causing the Principal to take any action which the Principal is legally able to take.
Monsters, Beasts, Poltergeists and Ghouls
Rule 5E50: Operant Conditioning
The Beast
The Operantly Conditioned Beast (aka The Beast or The OCB) is an Outsider and a Player whose name is Fred. The Beast performs Game Actions in one of two ways:
- Any given Player may, once per nweek, as a Game Action with no objection in two rdays, cause the Beast to take a single Game Action.
- The Beast is also capable of causing certain changes to the state of the Game, which are specified in Tricks (which are Game Objects). Tricks are randomly performed on a fixed schedule (see below), and no Player may cause the Beast to perform a Trick as a Game Action.
The Tricks
All Tricks have a Response, a positive integer defaulting to 10.
As a Game Action, a Player may Reinforce the last Trick that has been performed, increasing its Response value by 1.
As a Game Action, a Player may Punish the last Trick that has been performed, decreasing its Response value by 1.
A Player who has Reinforced or Punished may not perform either of these Game Actions until the OCB next performs a Trick.
All Tricks have a Timing, either Anytime (default) or Voting.
At the start of each nday 1, 5, and 9, the OCB performs a single Trick, randomly selected from among existing Tricks. The probability that a specific Trick is selected to be performed is equal to the proportion of the sum total of all Response values represented by the Response value of that Trick. When neither a Voting Period nor a Particular Voting Period are in progress, Tricks with a Timing of "Voting" are not included in the selection process and may not be performed.
As a Game Action, with support and without objection, a Player may Teach the OCB a new Trick, defining the changes to the gamestate that its performance enacts and, optionally, its Timing.
A Trick whose Response value would become 0 ceases to exist.
The Ranger
There exists a Ministry known as the Ministry of Fauna. The Minister of Fauna, also known as the Ranger or Chuck Norris, is responsible for maintaining a Public Display of the OCB's Rule-defined attributes and of all Tricks as well as their Attributes.
Whenever the OCB is scheduled to perform a Trick according to the Rules, the Ranger is obliged to randomly select a Trick to be performed, in accordance with the probabilities above and having previously announced the mode and modalities of this selection to the Public Forum. If the Ranger fails to do so within 1 rday, any Player who is the first to do so may carry out this selection, provided e respects all associated requirements.
Talking to the Beast
The Ranger is presumed to have the power to talk to the Operantly Conditioned Beast. Any player obligated to send any communication to the Beast may fulfill this obligation by sending that communication to the Ranger instead.
Rule 5E51: The Mad Scientist
There exists a ministry known as the Ministry of Mad Science; the Minister of Mad Science, also known as the Mad Scientist or Frankenstein, is responsible for building the Monster. The Mad Scientist can, as a Game Action, cause the monster to do anything that the rules say it may or can do, and shall cause the monster to do anything that the rules say that it must or shall do.
The Mad Scientist must, every nweek, do the following tasks in order:
a) Randomly select exactly one rule. If the selected rule is either this rule or the rule "The Monster", then the villagers have shown up with torches and pitchforks; skip directly to proposal submission.
b) Select one or more contiguous sentences from the selected rule.
c) Select exactly one noun from the selected text, and replace each instance of that noun with "Monster" (including grammatical variations, e.g. replacing "<noun>'s" with "Monster's").
d) Submit a proposal to append the modified text to the rule "The Monster" (or, if the villagers have shown up with torches and pitchforks, to repeal both that rule and this one).
Rule 5E52: The Monster
Raaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!
A public Monster purporting to resolve an Agoran decision is self-ratifying.
There is a format of the Monsterset known as the Short Logical Monsterset (SLM). In this format, each Monster is assigned to a category, and the Monsters are grouped according to their category.
Monsters are assigned to, ordered within, or moved between categories, and categories are added, changed, or empty categories removed, as the Monsterkeepor sees fit.
When the rules calls for an Agoran Monster to be made, the Monster-making process takes place in the following three stages, each described elsewhere:
- (a) Initiation of the Monster.
- (b) Voting of the people.
- (c) Resolution of the Monster.
Upon the adoption of a proposal awarding a win to one or more Monsters, all those Monsters satisfy the Winning Condition of Legislation.
The CotC's report includes the status of all Monster-related cases that either require a Monster or have at least one applicable Monster-related question that has no judgement.
"First-class Monster" means a Monster of a biological nature.
The Monster's adopted motto is "Le monstre n'est pas une fontaine."
The initiation of a Monstrous decree is a secured change. The initiating instrument must specify the target Monster and the changes to be made to it. Any ambiguity in the specification of a Monstrous decree causes it to be void and without effect. This is the only mechanism by which a Monstrous decree can be initiated.
If an instance of a switch comes to have a Monster, it ceases to have any other Monster.
A player CAN perform an action on behalf of The Monster with Monstrous Consent.
The holder of a Monster is a Monsterholdor, and may be referred to by the name of the Monster. A Monster is imposed if it is so described by the rule defining it; otherwise, it is elected.
Whenever a Monsteredict of GUILTY is assigned in a criminal case alleging that a partnership has violated this rule, the Monster SHOULD assign an EXILE Monsteredict to the question on sentencing in that case.
Any Monster (a deputy) CAN perform an action as if e held a particular office (deputise for that office) if:
- (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); and
- (b) a time limit by which the rules require the action to be performed has expired
The eligible Monsters on an ordinary decision are those entities that were active players at the start of its Monsterising period. The Monsterising limit of an eligible Monster on an ordinary decision is eir caste at the start of its Monsterising period, or half that (rounded up) if the Monster was in the chokey at that time.
Some types of Monster include a duration known as the tariff. When a Monster with a tariff is in effect, the Monster is active while all of the following are true, inactive otherwise:
- It is still in effect.
- At least one week has elapsed since it first took effect.
- Monsters of the same type on the same question on Monsterisation have been active for a total duration less than the tariff. (That is, if an active Monster is suspended and later reinstated or superseded by a similar Monster, then the defendant gets credit for time served prior to the suspension.)
The CotC's report includes the status of all active Monsters.
____ _ /|
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
| __/\ <- TARCOOLA / HOWE ->
\ PERTH __/ \_ / /
| <-' _ __/ | /| IVANHOE -> | <-.
/ _/ \/ \ / / | / WOLLONGONG
|_ / <- ESPERANTO v /__ |_ / <- CANBERRA
\_/ \ | \_ _|
_ _ | | \__/
_/0\/ \_ \___=_ ___|
.-. .-` \_/\0/ '-. MANUBOURNE -> \/
/:::\ / ,_________, \
/\:::/ \ '. (:::/ `'-; /\__
\ `-'`\ '._ `"'"'\__ \ | |
`'-. \ `)-=-=( `, | | /
jgs \ `-"` `"-` / \_/ <- HOBART
Game Documents are Game Objects that consist of plain, unobfuscated Monsters.
In every Game Document, with the exception of this paragraph, Monsters between a forward slash+asterisk character combination and an asterisk+forward slash character combination or between double square brackets (that is, text between "/*" and "*/" or between "" and "") shall be deemed Comment Monsters. Comment Monsters has no direct effect on the state of the game, although it can be read.
The Monsters contained in a Game Document should generally be written in English using the ASCII character set.
Emergencies
Rule 5E0: In Case of Emergency
For the purposes of this rule, the term "Potential Emergency Participant" (or PEP) shall mean each of the current players of the game as defined by other rules. However, if who the current players are in the game is unclear, uncertain, or ambiguous, or if there are less than five such players, then it shall instead mean who the players were before such uncertainty or drop in player count. Each PEP has a Mental State, which is exactly one of Calm (default) or Paranoid. Mental States can only change as explicitly described by this rule. A PEP can set his Mental State by posting a message to a Public Forum (or any forum that was a Public Forum within the past month) stating that he does so, and specifying his new Mental State. If at least five PEPs are Paranoid, B Nomic becomes in a State Of Emergency. When this occurs, the following Procedure happens:
1. Game time is stopped. Whatever means used in the Game to track time is stopped as of the beginning of the Emergency. Pending events and deadlines relative to Game time, with the exception of those specified in this rule, are postponed until Game time resumes. Pending events and deadlines with absolute dates and times do not occur.
2. The PEP who most recently held the Minister of Ministries becomes the Emergency Coordinator.
3. The Emergency Coordinator shall designate a means for PEPs to communicate as the Emergency Forum and make a reasonable effort to notify all other PEPs about the Forum's existence. If the Emergency Coordinator fails to do either of these within 24 hours, any PEP can designate an Emergency Forum if he notifies the other PEPs of its existence. The Emergency Forum must be reasonably accessible to all PEPs. Posting about the Emergency Forum on all official discussion and public fora is considered a sufficient effort.
4. The Emergency Coordinator shall make a statement to the Emergency Forum that he is initializing the Pause. If he fails to do so within 24 hours, any PEP can do so instead. The Procedure tracks time spent using the Pause. When the pause is initialized it is zero. Thereafter, until the completion of the Procedure, the Pause is increased by one each day at 00:00:00 UTC. Once per day, the Emergency Coordinator may announce to the Emergency forum their intention to increment the pause. If no PEP voices objection to this action on the Emergency Forum within 24 hours, then the value of the Pause is incremented by one. If, at any time, the Pause has been initialized but has not been incremented in the last 48 hours, it is incremented by one.
5. At any time before the value of the pause is 5, each PEP may submit a Refresh Proposal, aimed at either resuming or ending the Game, and may revise or withdraw his own Refresh Proposal, via the Emergency Forum. A Refresh Proposal consists of a list of changes which may affect any aspect of the Game or the state of the Game, including, but not limited to: rules, macks, player attributes, the valid list of players, current holders of any Ministries, the legitimacy and/or actuality of any action taken in the context of the Game, etc.
6. When the value of the Pause is 5, any PEP can, and the Emergency Coordinator shall, gather all submitted Refresh Proposals into a Ballot and publish it.
7. Each PEP may cast a single Ballot by announcing it via the Emergency Forum. This Ballot shall rank some (or all) of the Refresh Proposals in order of preference, with the most-preferred alternative being ranked first, and less-preferred alternatives being given subsequently higher integers.
8. When the value of the Pause is 7, any PEP can, and the Emergency Coordinator shall, tally the ballots using the Ranked Pairs algorithm.
9. All changes listed in the selected Refresh Proposal occur, implemented by the Emergency Coordinator as needed. All PEPs become Calm. If all current Emergency Procedures have been running for 14 days or more, any PEP can initiate another one, to run independently of the current one. This Emergency Procedure will start at step 3, and the PEP that initiated it will be the Emergency Coordinator. If, at any point during the State of Emergency, there are less than five Paranoid PEPs, all running Emergency Procedures stop and B Nomic stops being in a State of Emergency, and normal Game time resumes. At the beginning of Mulberry, nday 3, any PEPs who are Paranoid become Calm if, and only if, the value of the Threat Flag is Pink Ponies.
