Difference between revisions of "Ruleset"

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== Ruleset and Gamestate ==
 
== Ruleset and Gamestate ==
This is the '''Ruleset''' for BlogNomic; all Vampire Lords shall obey it.
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This is the '''Ruleset''' for BlogNomic; all Genetic Engineers shall obey it.
  
It comprises four Sections: 1) the “core rules” of BlogNomic, covering the essential elements of gameplay; 2) the rules of the current Dynasty; 3) rules which apply in special cases; and 4) the appendix, which complements and clarifies the Ruleset.
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It comprises four Sections: 1) the “core rules” of BlogNomic, covering the essential elements of gameplay; 2) the rules of the current Dynasty; 3) rules which set metagame parameters for the current dynasty; and 4) the appendix, which complements and clarifies the Ruleset.
  
The Ruleset and Gamestate can only be altered in manners specified by the Ruleset.
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The Ruleset and Gamestate can only be altered in manners specified by the Ruleset. This document is considered to be, in effect, the only Ruleset for BlogNomic, so long as it is located at at the URL https://wiki.blognomic.com/index.php?title=Ruleset.
  
If the Ruleset does not properly reflect all legal changes that have been made to it, any Vampire Lord may update it to do so.
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If the text of the Ruleset document does not reflect all legal changes that have been authorised to be made to it, any Genetic Engineer may update it to do so.
  
== Vampire Lords ==
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The gamestate tracking page for this dynasty is the [[Sublogical Genomics Laboratory]] page of the wiki. Unless otherwise stated, all publicly tracked gamestate information is tracked on it.
The process of applying for access to the BlogNomic blog is outlined in the [[FAQ]]. A human with access to the blog who is not already a Vampire Lord may make a blog post making clear their wish to be a Vampire Lord (plural form Vampire Lords); in response, an Admin shall add them to the roster in the sidebar, at which moment they become a Vampire Lord.
 
  
A Vampire Lord may only change their name as a result of a Proposal approving the change.
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== Genetic Engineers ==
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A human with access to the blog who is not already a Genetic Engineer may make a blog post making clear their wish to be a Genetic Engineer (plural form Genetic Engineers); in response, an Admin shall add them to the roster in the sidebar, at which moment they become a Genetic Engineer. (See the [[FAQ#Can_I_join_in.3F|FAQ]] for guidance on how to apply for access to the BlogNomic blog.)
  
Some Vampire Lords are '''Admins''', responsible for updating the site and the Ruleset, and are signified as such in the sidebar. Vampire Lords who wish to become Admins may sign up with a username for the Ruleset Wiki, and submit a Proposal to make themselves Admins. Existing Admins may be removed from their posts by Proposal, CfJ, or voluntary resignation.
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A Genetic Engineer may only change their name as a result of a Proposal approving the change.
  
===Idle Vampire Lords===
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Some Genetic Engineers are '''Admins''', responsible for updating the site and the Ruleset, and are signified as such in the sidebar. Genetic Engineers who wish to become Admins may sign up with a username for the Ruleset Wiki, and submit a Proposal to make themselves Admins. Existing Admins may be removed from their posts by Proposal, CfJ, or voluntary resignation. Genetic Engineers may be made Admins through Proposal or CFJ.
  
If a Vampire Lord is Idle, this is tracked by their name being removed or concealed in the list of currently active Vampire Lords in the Sidebar. For the purposes of all Gamestate and the Ruleset, excluding the core and appendix Rules “Ruleset and Gamestate”, “Vampire Lords”, “Dynasties”, “Fair Play”, "Mentors" and any of those Rules’ subrules, Idle Vampire Lords are not counted as Vampire Lords.
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A Genetic Engineer may cease to be a Genetic Engineer at any time by posting an entry to the BlogNomic weblog requesting such an action. A human who has ceased to be a Genetic Engineer in this way may not become a Genetic Engineer again within the following two weeks.
  
If a Proposal contains a provision that targets a specifically named Idle Vampire Lord, then that Idle Vampire Lord is considered to be Unidle solely for the purposes of enacting that specific provision.
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===Idle Genetic Engineers ===
  
When a Vampire Lord is unidled, if they went Idle in the same Dynasty, their personal gamestate retains the last legally endowed values it had, if they are still valid. Otherwise (including if a value is invalid, does not exist, or the Vampire Lord Idled in a different Dynasty), the Vampire Lord is given the default value for new Vampire Lords, if such a value exists.
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If a Genetic Engineer is Idle, this is tracked by their name being removed or concealed in the list of currently active Genetic Engineers in the Sidebar. For the purposes of all Gamestate and the Ruleset, excluding the core and appendix Rules “Ruleset and Gamestate”, “ Genetic Engineers ”, “Dynasties”, “Fair Play”, "Mentors" and any of those Rules’ subrules, Idle Genetic Engineers are not counted as Genetic Engineers . The combined term “Idle Genetic Engineers” can be used to refer to Genetic Engineers who are Idle even in rules that do not treat them as Genetic Engineers.
  
An Admin may render a Vampire Lord Idle if that Vampire Lord has asked to become Idle in an entry or comment from the past four days, or if that Vampire Lord has not posted an entry or comment in the last seven days. In the latter case, the Admin must announce the idling in a blog post. Admins may render themselves Idle at any time, but should announce it in a post or comment when they do so. An Admin may Unidle a Vampire Lord if that Vampire Lord is Idle and has asked to become Unidle in an entry or comment from the past four days, and Idle Admins may Unidle themselves at any time, unless the Vampire Lord who would be Unidled asked to become (or rendered themselves) Idle within the previous four days, and within the current Dynasty.
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If a Proposal contains a provision that targets a specifically named Idle Genetic Engineer, then that Idle Genetic Engineer is considered to be Unidle solely for the purposes of enacting that specific provision.
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When a Genetic Engineer is unidled, if they went Idle in the same Dynasty, their personal gamestate retains the last legally endowed values it had, if they are still valid. Otherwise (including if a value is invalid, does not exist, or the Genetic Engineer Idled in a different Dynasty), the Genetic Engineer is given the default value for new Genetic Engineers, if such a value exists.
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An Admin may render a Genetic Engineer Idle if that Genetic Engineer has asked to become Idle in an entry or comment from the past 96 hours (4 Days), or if that Genetic Engineer has not posted an entry or comment in the past 168 Hours (7 days). In the latter case, the Admin must announce the idling in a blog post, and the 168 Hour idle timeout is considered to be reduced to 96 hours for that Genetic Engineer during the current and subsequent dynasty. Admins may render themselves Idle at any time, but should announce it in a post or comment when they do so. An Admin may Unidle a Genetic Engineer if that Genetic Engineer is Idle and has asked to become Unidle in an entry or comment from the past 96 hours (4 Days), and Idle Admins may Unidle themselves at any time, unless the Genetic Engineer who would be Unidled has become Idle within the past 96 hours (4 days), and within the current Dynasty.
  
 
Admins who are unidling themselves should, in their first vote following each unidling, highlight their changed idle status and any changes to Quorum to have come about as a result of it.
 
Admins who are unidling themselves should, in their first vote following each unidling, highlight their changed idle status and any changes to Quorum to have come about as a result of it.
  
Idle Admins can enact and fail Votable Matters.
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Idle admins can resolve Votable Matters as a non-idle admin would.
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 +
===Dormancy===
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If there are fewer than four Genetic Engineers (not including the Head Researcher), then BlogNomic is on Hiatus.
  
 
== Dynasties ==
 
== Dynasties ==
BlogNomic is divided into a number of '''Dynasties'''. Each Dynasty may be headed by a single Vampire Lord, known as the Richardo von Nestor. If there is no Richardo von Nestor, the Dynasty is a Metadynasty.
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BlogNomic is divided into a number of '''Dynasties'''. Each Dynasty may be headed by a single Genetic Engineer, known as the Head Researcher. If there is no Head Researcher, the Dynasty is a Metadynasty.
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 +
An Interregnum is the period between dynasties, after a DoV has been enacted and before a Dynastic Reset has been performed. During an Interregnum the game is in hiatus; additionally, no DoVs may be made, and no Genetic Engineer may achieve Victory. However, dynastic actions that are specifically permitted to be carried out during an Interregnum may be carried out.
  
An Interregnum is the period between dynasties, after a DoV has been enacted and before an Ascension Address has been posted. During an Interregnum the game is in hiatus; additionally, no DoVs may be made, and no Vampire Lord may achieve Victory. However, dynastic actions that are specifically permitted to be carried out during an Interregnum may be carried out.
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Unless otherwise stated by a dynastic or Building Blocks rule, then for the purposes of dynastic and Building Blocks rules, the Head Researcher is not a Genetic Engineer.
  
 
== Votable Matters ==
 
== Votable Matters ==
A '''Votable Matter''' is a post which Vampire Lords may cast Votes on, such as a Proposal, a Call for Judgement or a Declaration of Victory.
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A '''Votable Matter''' is a post which Genetic Engineers may cast Votes on, such as a Proposal, a Call for Judgement or a Declaration of Victory.
  
 
===Votes===
 
===Votes===
Each Vampire Lord may cast one Vote on a Votable Matter by making a comment to the Official Post that comprises that Votable Matter using a voting icon of FOR, AGAINST, or DEFERENTIAL. Additional voting icons may be permitted in some cases by other rules. A valid Vote is, except when otherwise specified, a Vote of FOR or AGAINST. A Vampire Lord’s Vote on a Votable Matter is the last valid voting icon that they have used in any comment on that Votable Matter. Additionally, if the author of a Votable Matter has not used a valid voting icon in a comment to the post, then the author’s Vote is FOR. A non-Vampire Lord never has a Vote, even if they were a Vampire Lord previously and had cast a valid Vote.
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Each Genetic Engineer may cast one Vote on a Votable Matter by making a comment to the Official Post that comprises that Votable Matter using a voting icon of FOR, AGAINST, or DEFERENTIAL. Additional voting icons may be permitted in some cases by other rules. A valid Vote is, except when otherwise specified, a Vote of FOR or AGAINST. A Genetic Engineer‘s Vote on a Votable Matter is the last valid voting icon that they have used in any comment on that Votable Matter. Additionally, if the author of a Votable Matter has not used a valid voting icon in a comment to the post, then the author’s Vote is FOR. A non-Genetic Engineer never has a Vote, even if they were a Genetic Engineer previously and had cast a valid Vote.
  
If a Vampire Lord other than the Richardo von Nestor casts a vote of DEFERENTIAL, then the Vote of DEFERENTIAL is an indication of confidence in the Richardo von Nestor. When the Richardo von Nestor has a valid Vote other than VETO on a Votable Matter, then all votes of DEFERENTIAL on that Votable Matter are instead considered to be valid and the same as the Richardo von Nestor’s Vote for the purposes of other rules unless otherwise specified.
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If a Genetic Engineer other than the Head Researcher casts a vote of DEFERENTIAL, then the Vote of DEFERENTIAL is an indication of confidence in the Head Researcher. When the Head Researcher has a valid Vote other than VETO on a Votable Matter, then all votes of DEFERENTIAL on that Votable Matter are instead considered to be valid and the same as the Head Researcher’s Vote for the purposes of other rules unless otherwise specified. When the Head Researcher themselves casts a vote of DEFERENTIAL, it indicates an indication of confidence in the votes of the other players; please see the Rules and Votable Matters section of the Appendix for more information on how this is resolved.
  
 
A Votable Matter is '''Popular''' if any of the following are true:
 
A Votable Matter is '''Popular''' if any of the following are true:
 
* It has a number of FOR Votes that exceed or equal Quorum.
 
* It has a number of FOR Votes that exceed or equal Quorum.
* It has been open for voting for at least 48 hours, it has more than 1 valid Vote cast on it, and more valid Votes cast on it are FOR than are AGAINST.
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* It has been open for voting for at least 48 hours, it has more than 1 valid Vote cast on it, and more valid Votes cast on it are FOR than are AGAINST.  
  
 
A Votable Matter is '''Unpopular''' if any of the following are true:
 
A Votable Matter is '''Unpopular''' if any of the following are true:
* The number of Vampire Lords who are not voting AGAINST it is less than Quorum.
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* The number of Genetic Engineers who are not voting AGAINST it is less than Quorum.
 
* It has been open for voting for at least 48 hours and it is not Popular.
 
* It has been open for voting for at least 48 hours and it is not Popular.
  
 
=== Enacting and Failing ===
 
=== Enacting and Failing ===
  
Votable Matters can either be Pending, Enacted, or Failed. When a Votable Matter is first put forward, it is considered Pending.
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Votable matters have a status, which can either be Pending, Enacted, Failed, or Illegal. When a votable matter is first put forward it is considered Pending (which is tracked as having no status in the current blog software), and it remains Pending until it is Resolved.
  
Whenever an Admin Resolves a Votable Matter, they should mark their name, and are highly encouraged to report the final tally of Votes (or the fact that it was self-killed or vetoed). Comments cannot be made on Enacted or Failed Votable Matters.
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A votable matter is resolved by an admin setting its status through use of the “status” field in the blog post editing form. When an admin resolves a votable matter they should mark their name, and are highly encouraged to report the final tally of Votes (or the fact that it was withdrawn or vetoed). Comments cannot be made on resolved Votable Matters.
  
This rule cannot be overruled by Dynastic Rules in its application to Calls for Judgement or Declarations of Victory.
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A votable matter may not be resolved except as directed by the ruleset, and the status of a resolved votable matter, once resolved, is determined by the votes cast upon it, as assessed by the rules that govern the specific kind of votable matter (as well as any other considerations regarding the legality of the votable matter, such as the stipulations put forward in the Appendix rule Official Posts). When a Failed proposal has been Vetoed it may optionally have the Vetoed status upon resolution, which is considered to be the same as Failed for the purposes of all other rules.
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This rule cannot be overruled by any other rule in its application to Calls for Judgement or Declarations of Victory.
  
 
===Tags===
 
===Tags===
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Votable Matters have zero or more tags. Tags are represented in the title of a Votable Matter with the format “[X]” (e.g. “[Core] Wording Fix”, where “[Core]” is the tag).
  
Votable Matters have zero or more tags. Tags are represented in the title of a Votable Matter with the format “[X]” (e.g. “[Core] Wording Fix”, where “[Core]” is the tag). Votable Matters require the “[Core]” tag in order to make changes to the Core Rules, the “[Special Case]” tag in order to make changes to the Special Case Rules and the “[Appendix]” tag in order to make changes to the Appendix Rules. Votable Matters other than [[#Victory and Ascension|DoVs]] require the “[Victory]” tag in order to grant victory to a Vampire Lord.
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Votable Matters making changes to the Core Rules, the Building Blocks Rules or the Appendix Rules require any of the following to be true for each such change in order to make that specific modification to the ruleset:
 
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* The Votable Matter has the appropriate Tag or Tags for that change: [Core] for Core Rules changes, [Building Blocks] for Building Blocks Rules changes and [Appendix] for Appendix Rules changes.
If a Votable Matter would make a modification to the rules and it does not have the tag to make that modification, that Votable Matter will still be able to make that specific modification if any of the following on the following list are true:
 
 
* The modification is preceded or followed immediately by an unambiguous statement of which section of the ruleset it takes place.
 
* The modification is preceded or followed immediately by an unambiguous statement of which section of the ruleset it takes place.
 
* The modification specifically states a rule using its number or the name of the stated rule only occurs once in the ruleset.
 
* The modification specifically states a rule using its number or the name of the stated rule only occurs once in the ruleset.
  
 
== Proposals ==
 
== Proposals ==
Any Vampire Lord may submit a '''Proposal''' to change the Ruleset or Gamestate, by posting an entry in the “Proposal” category that describes those changes (unless the Vampire Lord already has 2 Proposals pending, or has already made 3 Proposals that day).
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Any Genetic Engineer may submit a '''Proposal''' to change the Ruleset or Gamestate, by posting an entry in the “Proposal” category that describes those changes (unless the Genetic Engineer already has 2 Proposals pending or has already made 3 Proposals that day).
  
 
=== Special Proposal Voting ===
 
=== Special Proposal Voting ===
  
When a Vampire Lord casts a vote AGAINST their own Proposal (which is not in the form of a DEFERENTIAL vote), this renders the Proposal '''Self-Killed''', even if the author later changes their Vote. The Richardo von Nestor may use VETO as a voting icon to cast a Vote on a Proposal; when the Richardo von Nestor casts a vote of VETO on a Proposal, this renders the Proposal Vetoed, even if the Richardo von Nestor later changes their Vote.
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When a Genetic Engineer casts a vote AGAINST their own Proposal (which is not in the form of a DEFERENTIAL vote), this renders the Proposal '''Withdrawn''', even if the author later changes their Vote. The Head Researcher may use VETO as a voting icon to cast a Vote on a Proposal; when the Head Researcher casts a vote of VETO on a Proposal, this renders the Proposal Vetoed, even if the Head Researcher later changes their Vote.
  
 
=== Resolution of Proposals ===
 
=== Resolution of Proposals ===
  
The oldest Pending [[#Proposals|Proposal]] may be '''Enacted''' by any Admin (by updating the Ruleset and/or Gamestate to include the specified effects of that Proposal, and then setting that Proposal’s status to Enacted) if all of the following are true:
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The oldest Pending [[#Proposals|Proposal]] may be '''Enacted''' by any Admin if all of the following are true:
  
 
* It is Popular.
 
* It is Popular.
 
* It has been open for voting for at least 12 hours.
 
* It has been open for voting for at least 12 hours.
* It has not been Vetoed or Self-Killed.
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* It has not been Vetoed or Withdrawn.
  
 
The oldest Pending Proposal may be '''Failed''' by any Admin, if any of the following are true:
 
The oldest Pending Proposal may be '''Failed''' by any Admin, if any of the following are true:
  
 
* It is Unpopular.
 
* It is Unpopular.
* It has been Vetoed or Self-Killed.
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* It has been Vetoed or Withdrawn.
  
 
If a Proposal somehow ends up being pending for more than 7 days, it is ignored for the purpose of calculating the oldest pending Proposal, and can be failed by any Admin.
 
If a Proposal somehow ends up being pending for more than 7 days, it is ignored for the purpose of calculating the oldest pending Proposal, and can be failed by any Admin.
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When a Proposal is Enacted, its stated effects are applied by treating the text in the Proposal as a series of steps starting from the beginning of that Proposal’s text and performing each step until reaching the end of that Proposal’s text, except that if the Admin Enacting it reaches a step which cannot be applied immediately (e.g. “two days after this Votable Matter enacts, Genetic Engineer A gains 1 point”) or at all (e.g. applying to a rule which does not exist), that step is ignored for the purposes of Enactment; the Admin Enacting the Proposal shall update the Gamestate and Ruleset, and correct any gamestate-tracking entities, as specified in each step that was performed.
  
 
== Calls for Judgement ==
 
== Calls for Judgement ==
If two or more Vampire Lords actively disagree as to the interpretation of the Ruleset, or if a Vampire Lord feels that an aspect of the game needs urgent attention, then any Vampire Lord may raise a '''Call for Judgement''' (abbreviated “CfJ”) by posting an entry in the “Call for Judgement” category.
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If two or more Genetic Engineers actively disagree as to the interpretation of the Ruleset, or if a Genetic Engineer feels that an aspect of the game needs urgent attention, then any Genetic Engineer may raise a '''Call for Judgement''' (abbreviated “CfJ”) by posting an entry in the “Call for Judgement” category.
  
 
A Pending CfJ may be Enacted by any Admin if all of the following are true:
 
A Pending CfJ may be Enacted by any Admin if all of the following are true:
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== Victory and Ascension ==
 
== Victory and Ascension ==
  
If a Vampire Lord (other than the Richardo von Nestor) believes that they have achieved victory in the current Dynasty, they may make a '''Declaration of Victory''' (abbreviated “DoV”) detailing this, by posting an entry in the “Declaration of Victory” category.
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If a Genetic Engineer (other than the Head Researcher) believes that they have achieved victory in the current Dynasty, they may make a '''Declaration of Victory''' (abbreviated “DoV”) detailing this, by posting an entry in the “Declaration of Victory” category.
  
Every Vampire Lord may cast Votes on that DoV to indicate agreement or disagreement with the proposition that the poster has achieved victory in the current Dynasty. If there is at least one pending DoV, BlogNomic is [[#hiatus|on Hiatus]].
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A Genetic Engineer’s vote on a DoV is encouraged to reflect whether or not they agree with the proposition that the poster has achieved victory in the current Dynasty. If there is at least one pending DoV, BlogNomic is [[#hiatus|on Hiatus]], no Idle Genetic Engineer may be made unidle, and no new player joining requests may be administered.
  
 
A Pending DoV may be Enacted by any Admin if any of the following are true:
 
A Pending DoV may be Enacted by any Admin if any of the following are true:
  
* It is Popular, it has been open for at least 12 hours, and either the Richardo von Nestor has Voted FOR it or it has no AGAINST Votes.
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* It has a number of FOR Votes greater than 2/3rds of the number of Genetic Engineers, it has been open for at least 12 hours, and either the Head Researcher has Voted FOR it or it has no AGAINST Votes.
* It is Popular, and it has been open for at least 24 hours.
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* It has a number of FOR Votes greater than 2/3rds of the number of Genetic Engineers, and it has been open for at least 24 hours.
  
 
A Pending DoV may be Failed by any Admin if any of the following are true:
 
A Pending DoV may be Failed by any Admin if any of the following are true:
  
 
* It is Unpopular, and it has been open for at least 12 hours.
 
* It is Unpopular, and it has been open for at least 12 hours.
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* It is more than 48 hours old and cannot be Enacted
  
If a DoV is Failed and it had at least one AGAINST vote, the Vampire Lord who posted it cannot make another DoV until after 120 hours (5 days) have passed since the time their DoV was Failed.
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If a DoV is Failed and it had at least one AGAINST vote, the Genetic Engineer who posted it cannot make another DoV until after 120 hours (5 days) have passed since the time their DoV was Failed.
  
When a DoV is Enacted, all other pending DoVs are Failed, the Vampire Lord who posted the DoV becomes Richardo von Nestor, and the game enters an Interregnum. When a DoV is enacted then all game actions that led up to it are considered to be upheld.
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When a DoV is Enacted, all other pending DoVs are Failed, the Genetic Engineer who posted the DoV becomes Head Researcher, and the game enters an Interregnum. When a DoV is enacted then all game actions that led up to it are considered to be upheld.
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If the game is in an Interregnum then the new Head Researcher must make an Ascension Address by posting an entry in the “Ascension Address” category. The Ascension Address should specify the Head Researcher’s chosen theme for the new Dynasty, and it may optionally specifiy one or more of the following:
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* New dynasty-specific terms as outline in the rule “Synonyms”
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* A number of dynastic rules to keep (if none are specifed then the entire Dynastic Ruleset is repealed)
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* Any number of Building Blocks rules to remove or insert, as per the instructions in the Building Blocks section
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* The name of the gamestate tracking page referred to in the rule “Ruleset and Gamestate” to a different page that does not exist and does not start with the word “Ruleset”
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* The Head Researcher’s Imperial Style, which if specified is a set of nonbinding guidelines that the Head Researcher is encouraged to follow, using the terms defined on the wiki page Imperial Styles.
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If it has not been done since the most recent posting of an Ascension Address, the Head Researcher or any Genetic Engineer (if it’s the latter, they must wait until at least 4 hours after that Ascension Address has been posted) may perform a Dynastic Reset, which is an atomic action with the following steps:
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* Update the Ruleset to reflect any changed terms as outlined in the most recent Ascension Address.
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* Repeal any dynastic rules which were not listed to be kept in the most recent Ascension Address.
 +
* Update the gamestate tracking page referred to in the rule “Ruleset and Gamestate” with the name specified in the most recent Ascension Address, if any.
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* Make any specified or automatic changes to the Building Blocks section of the ruleset as described in the most recent Ascension Address.
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* Update the Building Blocks page to reflect any changes to the terms outlined in the rule Synonyms.</blockquote>
  
If the game is in an Interregnum then the new Richardo von Nestor must either Pass the Mantle, by making a post naming another Vampire Lord - in which case the Richardo von Nestor ceases to be the Richardo von Nestor and the Vampire Lord so named becomes the Richardo von Nestor - or start a new dynasty by completing the following Atomic Action:
 
* Make an Ascension Address by posting an entry in the “Ascension Address” category. This should specify the Richardo von Nestor’s chosen theme for the new Dynasty, and it may optionally specify new dynasty-specific terms as outline in the rule "Synonyms", and/or list a number of dynastic rules to keep (if none are specifed then the entire Dynastic Ruleset is repealed).
 
* Update the Ruleset to reflect any changed terms, and any dynastic rules which were not listed to be kept are repealed.
 
  
 
Once this Atomic Action has been completed the Interregnum ends and the new dynasty begins.
 
Once this Atomic Action has been completed the Interregnum ends and the new dynasty begins.
  
 
== Fair Play ==
 
== Fair Play ==
The following are BlogNomic’s rules of '''fair play'''. If any of these rules are found to have been broken, or if a Vampire Lord’s behaviour or actions are otherwise deemed unacceptable (socially or otherwise), a Proposal or CfJ may be made to reprimand or punish the perpetrator or, in cases of extreme or repeated violations, remove them from the game and bar them from rejoining. Vampire Lords should vote against any DoV that relies on having broken a fair play rule.
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The following are BlogNomic’s rules of '''fair play'''. If any of these rules are found to have been broken, or if a Genetic Engineer’s behaviour or actions are otherwise deemed unacceptable (socially or otherwise), a Proposal or CfJ may be made to reprimand or punish the perpetrator or, in cases of extreme or repeated violations, remove them from the game and bar them from rejoining. Genetic Engineers should vote against any DoV that relies on having broken a fair play rule.
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* A single person should not control more than one non-Idle Genetic Engineer within BlogNomic, and should announce publicly if they control both a non-Idle Genetic Engineer and any Idle Genetic Engineers. This extends to exerting full control over the actions of another Genetic Engineer, defined here as the controlled Genetic Engineer’s game behavior being functionally indistinguishable from if the controlling Genetic Engineer was logged into their account and playing through it, over a period of more than a day.
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* A Genetic Engineer should not “spam” the BlogNomic blog. What counts as spamming is subjective, but would typically include posting more than ten blog entries in a day, more than ten blog comments in a row, or posting a blog entry of more than 1000 words.
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* A Genetic Engineer should not deliberately exploit bugs or unexpected behaviours in the software running the game (ExpressionEngine, MediaWiki or other blognomic.com scripts).
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* A Genetic Engineer should not edit their own blog comments once posted, nor those of any other Genetic Engineer.
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* A Genetic Engineer should not edit the “Entry Date” field of a blog post.
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* A Genetic Engineer should not make a DoV primarily to delay the game by putting it into Hiatus.
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* A Genetic Engineer should not do any action meant to make the game unplayable (for example, changing multiple keywords to the same word in an Ascension Address).
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* A Genetic Engineer should not roll dice that are clearly associated with a particular action in the Ruleset, but with the intention to not use these rolled values to the best of their ability to resolve that action. a Genetic Engineer must use their own name in the Dice Roller, when rolling dice.
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* A Genetic Engineer should not deliberately and unreasonably prolong the performance of a game action once they have started it.
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* A Genetic Engineer should not use a Core, Building Blocks, or Appendix rules scam to directly or indirectly cause a Genetic Engineer to achieve victory.
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* A Genetic Engineer should not trade actions in BlogNomic for favors or compensation outside of BlogNomic, nor trade actions in any other game for favors within BlogNomic, nor trade actions or favours in one Dynasty of Blognomic for actions or favours in another Dynasty of Blognomic.
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*A person with administrative, moderation, or other heightened access to the software running or supporting BlogNomic should not take any action using such heightened access for the purpose of causing any Genetic Engineer or Genetic Engineers to gain, receive, maintain, or preserve gameplay advantage unless any of the following is true:
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**Such action is required or explicitly permitted by the rules or required to implement an action required or explicitly permitted by the rules.
 +
**A reasonable, impartial, and prudent external observer would deem such action necessary or reasonable for the purpose of supporting, moderating, or administering BlogNomic or such software.
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 +
All Genetic Engineers and idle Genetic Engineers should be aware of the BlogNomic [[Community Guidelines]]. The contents of this page are not ruletext and are nonbinding as pertains to the ruleset, but Genetic Engineers are encouraged to commit to upholding them to whatever extent is possible.
  
* A single person should not control more than one non-Idle Vampire Lord within BlogNomic, and should announce publicly if they control both a non-Idle Vampire Lord and any Idle Vampire Lords.
 
* A Vampire Lord should not “spam” the BlogNomic blog. What counts as spamming is subjective, but would typically include posting more than ten blog entries in a day, more than ten blog comments in a row, or posting a blog entry of more than 1000 words.
 
* A Vampire Lord should not deliberately exploit bugs or unexpected behaviours in the software running the game (ExpressionEngine, MediaWiki or other blognomic.com scripts).
 
* A Vampire Lord should not edit their own blog comments once posted, nor those of any other Vampire Lord.
 
* A Vampire Lord should not edit the “Entry Date” field of a blog post.
 
* A Vampire Lord should not make a DoV primarily to delay the game by putting it into Hiatus.
 
* A Vampire Lord should not do any action meant to make the game unplayable (for example, changing multiple keywords to the same word in an Ascension Address).
 
* A Vampire Lord should not roll dice that are clearly associated with a particular action in the Ruleset, but with the intention to not use these rolled values to the best of their ability to resolve that action. A Vampire Lord must use their own name in the Dice Roller, when rolling dice.
 
* A Vampire Lord should not deliberately and unreasonably prolong the performance of a game action once they have started it.
 
* A Vampire Lord should not use a core, special case or appendix rules scam to directly or indirectly cause a Vampire Lord to achieve victory.
 
 
</div>
 
</div>
  
 
= Dynastic Rules =
 
= Dynastic Rules =
  
==Vampire Lords==
+
== The Genome ==
 
 
Each Vampire Lord has a Puissance, which is a publicly tracked non-negative integer that defaults to 10. Power Actions may be performed at any time but always require that their Cost be spent from the Puissance of the Vampire Lord carrying it out. Spending the cost and performing of the action is considered to be an atomic action
 
 
 
Each Vampire Lord has an Allegiance, which is publicly tracked and which defaults to none. If a Vampire Lord’s Allegiance is set to the name of another Vampire Lord, then the former Vampire Lord is said to be Enthralled; to Enthrall another Vampire Lord is to set that Vampire Lord’s Allegiance to one’s own name. If a Vampire Lord’s Allegiance is set to the name of an idle Vampire Lord, they are not Enthralled, and may set their Allegiance to none at any time. A Vampire Lord may only Enthral another if that second Lord can be shown to have asked to be Enthralled by the first, in a blog post or comment made within the previous 24 hours.
 
 
 
If a Vampire Lord is Enthralled, then as a Daily Action that is also an Atomic Action and is known as Emancipating, they may grant the Vampire Lord who most recently Enthralled them a Favour, then set their Allegiance to none and cease being Enthralled.
 
 
 
Each Vampire Lord has an Influence, which is a publicly tracked non-negative integer defaulting to 0. While a Vampire Lord does not have a Sepulchre, changes which would increase their Influence instead do nothing, and any Vampire Lord or Richardo von Nestor may set their Influence to 0.
 
 
 
Each Vampire Lord has a number of Blood Mana Crystals, which is a publicly tracked non-negative integer defaulting to 0.
 
 
 
===Lair Actions===
 
 
 
Lighting a Room is a Power Action with a cost of 3 plus the total Shadow scores of the Features being placed in that Room’s Effect (the total cost of this action cannot be less than 1). The Vampire Lord carrying it out may select a room and set it to Lit, giving it a name and a description, marking it as Newly Furnished, and any number of Features as its Effect (or “none” if it has no Features), in an order of the Vampire Lord’s choosing. A Room may not have more than one copy of a Feature. When adding a Feature with the string '[x]' in its description, a Vampire Lord must replace [x] with their own name.
 
 
 
Engraving a Sigil is a Power Action with a cost of 1 plus 1 for each other Sigil the Vampire Lord performing the action has engraved across all rooms. The Vampire Lord carrying it out may select a room and add their name to the list of Vampire Lords with Sigils engraved in the room. A Vampire Lord cannot perform this action if the selected room is Newly Furnished, unless the Vampire Lord performing the action is also the Vampire Lord who most recently caused the selected room to become Lit.
 
 
 
Inhabiting a Room is a Power Action with a cost of 3, which can only be taken by a Vampire Lord with no Sepulchre. The Vampire Lord may select a Lit room that is not a Sepulchre and is neither the room located at E4 nor a Cornerstone Chamber, and set their Sepulchre to that room. This action can only be performed on a room that is diagonally adjacent to a room reachable from room E4 by a path of orthogonally connected Lit rooms.
 
 
 
Distilling is a Power Action with a cost of 1. The Vampire Lord carrying it out may spend 8 Influence to gain 1 Blood Mana Crystal.
 
 
 
Machination is a Power Action with a cost of 7. The Vampire Lord carrying it out chooses another Vampire Lord who does not have a Sepulchre; and chooses a Lit room that is neither a Sepulchre nor the room located at E4, but is diagonally adjacent to a room reachable from room E4 by a path of orthogonally connected Lit rooms; and sets that chosen Vampire Lord’s Sepulchre to that chosen room.
 
 
 
Blood Frenzy is an atomic Power Action with a cost of 7. When a Vampire Lord carries out a Blood Frenzy, they must take the following steps:
 
* Randomly select a Lit Room. If it contains any Features, randomly select one of those Features and remove it from that Room.
 
* Randomly select a Lit Room and randomly select a Threat Feature. Add that Feature to that Room.
 
 
 
===Unlife===
 
 
 
If a Vampire Lord’s Puissance is 0, then that Vampire Lord is Dust. While a Vampire Lord is Dust, they may not spend Puissance, their Puissance is 0, and their Puissance cannot be raised above 0 except by means defined in this rule. If a Vampire Lord is not Dust, then that Vampire Lord is Revenant.
 
  
If a Vampire Lord’s Puissance is above 13, then that Vampire Lord is Bloodthirsty. While a Vampire Lord is Bloodthirsty, they may not perform any Power Actions except Blood Frenzy.
+
The following letters are considered Nucleotides: A, C, G, T. The Genome is a publicly tracked sequence of Nucleotides.
  
If a given Vampire Lord is Dust, any other Vampire Lord who is Revenant but not Enthralled by the Dust Vampire Lord or Bloodthirsty may, as a Power Action that is also a Daily Action with a cost of 1, raise the Puissance of that Dust Vampire Lord to 1 and Enthrall that Vampire Lord.
+
== Synthesis ==
  
If a given Vampire Lord is Dust, any other Vampire Lord who is Bloodthirsty and not Enthralled by the Dust Vampire Lord may, as a Power Action that is also a Daily Action with a cost of 2, raise the Puissance of that Dust Vampire Lord to 3 and Enthrall that Vampire Lord.
+
If they have not done so since the last time the Synthesize action was performed (or if the Synthesize action has not yet been performed), each Genetic Engineer should, at their earliest convenience, privately submit to the Head Researcher a single Mutation that they wish to perform, or the fact that they do not want to perform any Mutations.
 +
The valid choices for Mutation are listed in the Mutations subrule. Each such Mutation has a Cost, which is the amount of Research Points that must be spent to submit the Mutation request and may be 0, and the Requirements, which must be true for the Genetic Engineer who is submitting the Mutation request and may be None. If a Genetic Engineer has made multiple such submissions, only their most recent submission is considered valid.
  
If a given Vampire Lord is Dust, and another Vampire Lord who is Revenant is currently Enthralled by that Dust Vampire Lord, then that Enthralled Revenant Vampire Lord may, as a Power Action with a cost of 1, raise the Puissance of the Dust Vampire Lord Enthralling them to 1, then set their own Allegiance to none and thereby cease to be Enthralled.
+
Submissions is the number of Genetic Engineers who have submitted Mutations since the last time the Synthesize action was performed (or since the beginning of the dynasty if the Synthesize action has never been performed) out of the total of active Genetic Engineers and is publicly tracked by the Head Researcher.
  
Shattering is a Power Action with a cost of zero. When a Vampire Lord Shatters, they must reduce their Blood Mana Crystals by 1 and then may increase their Puissance by 10, ceasing to be Dust if applicable, and may set their Allegiance to -.
+
The Head Researcher can and should perform the Synthesize action once every Healthy Genetic Researcher has made a new submission to the Head Researcher since the last time the Synthesize action was taken (or since this rule was enacted if the Synthesize action has not been performed yet).
  
===Sepulchres===
+
Synthesize is an atomic action consisting of the following steps:
 +
* Perform every valid Mutation submitted, with the following exception: if two or more Mutations specify the same position, those Mutations are instead not performed; for this purpose, insertion Mutations are not considered to specify the same position as any non-insertion Mutation. Perform insertions after all other Mutations, with insertions specifying later positions to be performed before insertions specifying earlier positions.
 +
* Processing them from left to right: for each set of three consecutive Nucleotides in the Genome, follow the corresponding instructions in the rule “Codons”.
 +
* Add a random Nucleotide to the beginning of the Genome.
 +
* For each Genetic Engineer whose non-empty Hypothesis is a subsequence of the Genome, increase their Understanding by N-3, where N is the length of their Hypothesis, and set their Hypothesis to empty.
 +
* For each Genetic Engineer with a Status of Injured who is in the Medlab, set their Status to Healthy.
  
A Vampire Lord may have up to one Sepulchre, which is a Lit room. The location of a Vampire Lord’s Sepulchre (if any) is publicly tracked. To collapse a Sepulchre is to take an Atomic Action that entails setting the Vampire Lord whose Sepulchre it was to have no Sepulchre, making the room that was most recently their Sepulchre Dark, and removing that room’s name, description and effect.
+
=== Mutations ===
  
When the Crypt Awakens, increase the Influence of each Vampire Lord with a Sepulchre by 1. When the Crypt Settles, if Richardo von Nestor moved into a room which was a Vampire Lord’s Sepulchre, then Richardo von Nestor must collapse the Sepulchre. When a Vampire Lord becomes idle while having a Sepulchre, then if no other Vampire Lord has collapsed that former Sepulchre since the idle Vampire Lord became idle, any Vampire Lord may collapse that former Sepulchre.
+
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|-
 +
! Mutation !! Cost !! Requirements
 +
|-
 +
| Change the Nucleotide at a specified position in the Genome to a different Nucleotide || 0 || None
 +
|-
 +
| Pick two distinct specified locations in the Genome and swap the two Nucleotides at those positions with each other || 1 || None
 +
|-
 +
| Insert any valid Nucleotide directly before a specified position in the Genome || 2 || Must be in the Computer Lab
 +
|}
  
===The Ancients===
+
When performing a Mutation, the Cost of that Mutation is increased by 1 for that performance if the changes caused by that performance would result in a Codon that has an Effect becoming a Codon with no Effect.
If an idle Vampire Lord has been idle for the entirety of the current dynasty, they may perform the Lighting a Room Action as if they were not idle, and without paying its Puissance cost, so long as doing so would not modify the values of any Vampire or idle Vampire, and its cost would have been no more than 10 Puissance. Such a Power Action is known as an Ancient Action.
 
  
Each idle Vampire Lord may take no more than one Ancient Action per dynasty, and an Ancient Action cannot be taken if one has already been taken that day.
+
== Codons ==
  
==The Crypt of Dracula==
+
The following table lists sequences of three Nucleotides (known as Codons), along with their corresponding effect when the Synthesize action is performed. If a Codon does not appear in the table, it is considered to have no effect.
  
[[Zahndorf Crypt]] contains a publicly tracked map of the known layout of the crypt beneath Zahndorf Cathedral. Each cell of the table that comprises that map represents one room of the lair, and so the terms “cell” and “room” are interchangeable throughout the ruleset. Rooms can also be referred to using their grid reference. Rooms can be Lit (but by default are not); any room that is not Lit is Dark.
+
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|-
 +
! Codon !! Effect
 +
|-
 +
| ACT || Add a new Organism to a random Containment Cell. The Genetic Engineers (if any) who most recently caused a Mutation in this Codon gain 1 Research Point each if they are in the Computer Room, 2 Research Points each if they are in any Room whose name starts with “Containment Cell” in which there is at least 1 Organism, and 0 Research Points otherwise..
 +
|-
 +
| ACC || Move each Organism to a random Room connected to its current Position (excluding all Rooms with the word “Airlock” or “Freezer” in their names).
 +
|-
 +
| CGA || Randomly select an Organism, then add 1 to its Stage if it is legal to do so
 +
|-
 +
| ATC || For each Room where the total Stages of all Organisms in that Room exceeds the number of Genetic Engineers in that Room, set the Status of all Genetic Engineers in that Room to Injured.
 +
|}
  
Dark rooms have a background colour of #444444 and have no text inside them, while Lit rooms have a background colour of #666666 (or #CCCC00, if they are a Sepulchre) and contain a room name. Room names must be unique and may be used to specifically refer to the room that carries them; otherwise, they are flavour text. Rooms may be Newly Furnished. Newly Furnished rooms are denoted by adding a * after their name. Rooms may not otherwise have a * in their name. Whenever the Crypt Awakens, all Newly Furnished rooms cease to be Newly Furnished. Room names may not contain the word “Dracula”.
+
Some Codons may be assigned to one or more Rooms, Organisms, and/or Genetic Engineers. There is a publicly tracked table that lists all such assignments.
  
There is a list of Lit rooms which is publicly tracked, showing - for each room - the name of the room, a brief flavour-text description of its contents, and its effect on Richardo von Nestor when he enters it. Only Lit rooms have names, effect, and descriptions; any other room with one of those properties immediately ceases to have it.
+
== Research Points ==
  
When Richardo von Nestor is Grievously Injured by an Effect, his Energy is reduced by 6. When Richardo von Nestor is Lightly Wounded by an Effect, his Energy is reduced by 1.
+
Each Genetic Engineer has a publicly tracked number of Research Points, defaulting to 0.
  
When the Crypt Awakens, each Vampire Lord who is not Bloodthirsty gains 1 Puissance.
+
Each Genetic Engineer has a publicly tracked number of Understanding, defaulting to 0.
  
===Features===
+
== The Laboratory ==
 +
[[File:Laboratory map.png|thumb|400px|The map of the Laboratory]]
 +
The Laboratory consists of a number of named Rooms. Each Genetic Engineer has a publicly tracked Position that is a Room in the Laboratory, defaulting to the Computer Room. A Genetic Engineer or an Organism who has a Position of a specific Room is said to be “in” that Room. Otherwise, they are not “in” that Room.
  
The sentences in the lists below are Features that Rooms may possess, with their Shadow scores given afterwards in brackets.
+
Each white-floored area on the map which is enclosed by a black wall and which also contains a text string is a Room, with the string as its name. The thin white rectangles with no text are Doors: if two Rooms both adjoin the same Door, then those two Rooms are Connected.
  
Glyphs and Sigils:<br>
+
If they have not done so since the last time that the Synthesize action was performed, a Genetic Engineer may change their Position to any Room that they can trace a path of Connected Rooms to from their current Position, so long as:-
This room contains a Glyph belonging to [x] (+1)<br>
 
If Richardo is not Enriched, he gains 1 Energy for each Active Sigil engraved here and becomes Enriched (+1).<br>
 
Each Vampire Lord gains 1 Puissance. (+1)<br>
 
Each Vampire Lord with an engraved Sigil here gains 1 Puissance. (+2)<br>
 
Each Vampire Lord that has an engraved Sigil in an orthogonally adjacent room to this room gains 1 Puissance.(+3)
 
  
Threats:<br>
+
* That path does not involve using both doors of the Personnel Airlock
Richardo von Nestor is Lightly Wounded if he is not Perceptive. (+1)<br>
+
* That path does not involve using the door that connects the Materials Airlock to the Wet Lab (the hatch is too small)
Richardo von Nestor is Grievously Injured if he is not Agile. (+3)<br>
 
Richardo von Nestor is Grievously Injured; if he is Agile he instead is Lightly Wounded. (+5)<br>
 
Richardo von Nestor is moved back to his previous location. (+1)<br>
 
Richardo von Nestor loses all of his equipped Items. (+2)<br>
 
The north exit is blocked (+1)<br>
 
The south exit is blocked (+1)<br>
 
The east exit is blocked (+1)<br>
 
The west exit is blocked (+1)
 
  
Opportunities:<br>
+
== Organisms ==
Richardo approaches a fine treasure chest (+1)<br>
 
Richardo approaches an average treasure chest (0)<br>
 
Richardo finds an ingress (+2)
 
  
Any Puissance or Influence that would accrue to an Enthralled Vampire Lord from the above Features instead accrues to the Vampire Lord who Enthralls them; when the Crypt Settles, each Enthralled Vampire Lord who would have gained Puissance or Influence if not for this sentence has their Allegiance set to none, and ceases to be Enthralled.
+
There is a publicly tracked list of Organisms, defaulting to an empty list. Each Organism has a Position that is a publicly tracked Room. When adding an Organism to the publicly tracked list, the name of the Organism should be the text “SGL-” following by a number generated from rolling DICE10000, repeating this roll until the resulting name does not match any in the existing Organisms list.
  
If a Feature says is that an exit is blocked, this means that the room in that direction from the room with the Feature is removed from the set of possible selections of Richardo von Nestor’s next destination, if it would be in that set. (North is towards the top of the map.)
+
=== Evolution ===
  
===Glyphs and Sigils===
+
Each Organism has a publicly tracked number named “Stage” which defaults to 1.
  
Glyphs are powerful markers used by Vampire Lords to signal their domain, while Sigils are cantrips used to power small blood magics. Each room may be engraved with up to one Glyph or Sigil from each Vampire Lord. If a room contains a Sigil from a Vampire Lord then no Glyph may be created for that Vampire Lord, and vice-versa.
+
If an Organism’s Stage is at least 3, a dynastic action may not increase that Organism’s Stage unless that Organism’s Codon can be found in the Genome at the time the dynastic action is performed.
  
A room may only contain one Glyph and a Glyph may belong to no more than three Vampire Lords.
+
== Hypotheses ==
  
Whenever a Room is Pacified, if that room contains a Glyph then the Vampire Lord/s who owns that Glyph gain Influence equal to the amount of Energy lost by Richardo during the completion of that Move.
+
Each Genetic Engineer has a Hypothesis which is privately tracked by the Head Researcher, which is either empty or a sequence of 4 or more Nucleotids and defaults to empty. As a virtual action, a Genetic Engineer may pay 1 Research Point to set their Hypothesis to any valid Hypothesis that is not a subsequence of the Genome.
  
When a Sigil in a room is destroyed, the corresponding Vampire Lord’s name is removed from the list of Sigils in that room.
+
== Injuries ==
  
A Vampire Lord may destroy one of their Sigils engraved in any room at any time.
+
Each Genetic Engineer has a publicly tracked Status which defaults to Healthy and may be one of the following: Healthy, Injured. When a Genetic Engineer’s Status is Injured, they may not take any dynastic actions other than changing their Position to another Room.
  
===Cornerstones===
+
<!-- DYNASTIC RULES GO ABOVE THIS COMMENT. DO NOT DELETE THE NEXT LINE WHEN CLEARING THE RULES FOR A NEW DYNASTY. --><br />
 
 
The four rooms in the corners of the Zahndorf Crypt map are known as the Cornerstone Chambers. Dark Cornerstone Chambers have a background colour of #333333 and cannot be the subject of dynastic actions. Non-feature sentences in the effect of Lit Cornerstone Chambers count as features for the purposes of the Enter the Crypt atomic action but cannot be removed from the room they are in or added to other rooms.
 
 
 
===Crypt Denizens===
 
 
 
A Crypt Denizen is an NPC inhabitant of the Zahndorf Crypt. Existing Crypt Denizens and the states of their attached variables are publicly tracked. Every Crypt Denizen has a name, which is flavour text determined by the Vampire Lord that spawned it; two numerical stats, Brutality and Cunning, which both default to 1; a Trait list which defaults to blank but can contain the names of any Denizen Traits whose effects are outlined in the Ruleset, separated by commas; a Location which is a text string that defaults to blank; and a Sycophancy which defaults to “None” but can contain the name of any active Vampire Lord.
 
 
 
When a new Crypt Denizen is created, its Location is set to the room whose effect spawned it. If a Crypt Denizen’s Location is ever any value that is not the name of a map cell, it is slain. When a Crypt Denizen is slain, it is removed from the game and gamestate.
 
 
 
The following Denizen Traits can be held by Crypt Denizens (and are Selectable, with the Trait Cost specified in parentheses at the end of their descriptions, unless otherwise specified):
 
*Evasive: When an evasive Denizen is Encountered, it may not be slain. When a Room is Pacified, if this Denizen would have been slain during this Move, it instead changes its Location to a randomly-selected Lit room that is orthogonally adjacent to its current Location, and it loses the trait Evasive. (+1)
 
*Industrious: When the Crypt Settles, each Vampire Lord whose name is contained in this Denizen’s Sycophancy gains 1 Puissance. (+2)
 
*Mischievous: If a Mischievous Denizen is not slain, immediately after Encountering it Richardo ceases to be holding one secretly randomly selected item that he is holding (if any such items exist). (+2)
 
*Nutritious: When Richardo Encounters and slays a Nutritious Denizen, once the room is Pacified, if his Energy is greater than 0 it increases by an amount equal the Denizen’s Brutality before it was slain. (-1)
 
*Quick: Quick Denizens are always encountered before non-quick Denizens, and are also encountered before room effects are applied (Not selectable)
 
 
 
When Richardo Encounters a Denizen, he first determines if the Denizen is immediately slain by an item Richardo possess, and then applies the effect of any Traits that the Denizen has. If the Denizen is still alive and present in that room, he then randomly generates a number between 1 and his current energy, and compares that result to the Denizen’s Brutality plus its Cunning. If the result of Richardo’s roll is higher, the Denizen is slain. If the result is equal, Richardo is Lightly Wounded. If the result is lower, Richardo is Lightly Wounded a number of times equal to the Denizen’s Brutality (at minimum once).
 
 
 
When a Denizen injures Richardo von Nestor, each Vampire Lord whose name is contained in its Sycophancy gains an amount of Influence equal to the amount of Energy Richardo von Nestor lost. This effect may be stacked with the Glyph effect.
 
 
 
====Denizen Actions====
 
Summon Denizen is a Power Action. To perform Summon Denizen, a Vampire Lord selects a Name for the Denizen (which cannot be nor contain “Dracula”), a string of flavour text; its Brutality and Cunning, each of which is a non-negative integer; zero or more Selectable Traits; and a Summoning Location, which must be a Lit Room that is neither the room located at E4 nor orthogonally adjacent to it.
 
 
 
The cost of this Power Action is equal to the chosen Brutality, plus the chosen Cunning, plus the total Trait Cost of the chosen traits (but is instead 2 if it would be less than 2). When this action is performed, a Denizen is created at the chosen Summoning Location, with the chosen Name, Brutality, Cunning, and Traits. Its initial Sycophancy contains only the Vampire Lord who performed the action.
 
 
 
Move Denizens is a Power Action and also a Daily Action, with a cost of 2. When performing it, a Vampire Lord chooses any number of Denizens whose Sycophancy contains the name of that Vampire Lord, and changes the locations of those Denizens, subject to the restrictions that each Denizen’s location after the change must be a Lit room orthogonally adjacent to (or the same as) its location before the change, and that no new location can be the room located at E4, nor a room orthogonally adjacent to it.
 
 
 
==Richardo’s Journey==
 
 
 
If it has been at least 24 hours since the Crypt was last entered, and at least 12 hours since the last Power Action was taken, and there are no pending calls for judgement which have the tag “[Pressing]”, Richardo von Nestor may Enter the Crypt, Richardo von Nestor may Enter the Crypt, which is an atomic action with the following steps:
 
 
 
*Set his location to be the his starting location; set his Energy to its starting value.
 
*Carry out any effects that take place when the Crypt Awakens.
 
*If Richardo can legally carry out a Move, do so. A Move consists of the following steps:
 
**Reduce his Energy by 1.
 
**Secretly randomly select a Lit room that is orthogonally adjacent to his current room and change his location to be that room. When randomly selecting a room for this step, Richardo may only select the Room which was his immediate previous location if it is the only option in the set of rooms he is randomly choosing from.
 
**Use or otherwise apply the effect of any items that he is holding (if appropriate and relevant based on its description)
 
**Encounter any Quick Denizens in that room, in a secretly random order
 
**Apply any effects of the features of that room, in the order that they are listed in the rule Features, to Richardo
 
**Encounter any other Denizens in that room, in a secretly random order
 
**That room is then Pacified; carry out any effects that take place when that room is Pacified.
 
**If his Energy is greater than 0, carry out another Move.
 
*He retreats; res<!-- -->et all of his gamestate variables to null values.
 
*Carry out any effects that take place when the Crypt S<!-- -->ettles.
 
*For each Vampire Lord without a Sepulchre, and with an Influence above zero, set their Influence to zero.
 
*Make a post to the blog summarising this Enter the Crypt action. It is recommended that this include an outline of Richardo von Nestor’s variable changes, and any changes made to the gamestate of any Vampire Lords as a result of this action.
 
 
 
If the effect of any Room causes Richardo to “become” anything, that state lasts until he retreats.
 
 
 
If a specific step of Entering the Crypt is impossible to perform, Richardo may skip it (this takes precedence over the Atomic Actions rule). If Richardo believes that the current Entering the Crypt action will include more than 50 Moves, and if at least 6 Moves have been performed, he should skip the step that includes the words “carry out another Move”.
 
 
 
===Treasure===
 
If Richardo approaches a treasure chest, and if he is holding two or fewer items, he will secretly randomly elect to whether or not to open it; if he does then he expends 1 Energy to do so and starts holding the contents of that chest. When Richardo uses an item he ceases to be holding it.
 
 
 
An average treasure chest will contain one item from the average treasures list. A fine treasure chest will contain one item from the fine treasures list and one item from the average treasures list. The contents of a chest are secretly randomly determined when that chest is opened. As a Power Action with a cost of 2, a Vampire Lord may predetermine the contents of a single treasure chest to any valid value by appending the names of the items to be contained in that chest to its entry in the relevant room effect, in brackets; when Richardo von Nestor opens a chest with one or more sets of predetermined values, the contents are one secretly randomly chosen set of values attached to the relevant chest, and then that set of values (along with the associated brackets) is deleted from the room effect.
 
 
 
The list of available Treasures are as follows:
 
 
 
'''Average treasures:'''
 
* Holy Tincture: Richardo immediately uses this item to gain two Energy
 
* Secret Passage Map: Richardo immediately uses this item and must randomly select from any Lit room to be his next destination
 
* Bandages: The first time during a journey when Richardo is Grievously Injured, he uses this item and is only Lightly Wounded instead
 
* Rusty crossbow: The first time Richardo encounters a Denizen, he uses this item and it is immediately slain
 
* Depleted Ring of Warding: The first time Richardo enters a room that contains active Sigils, he uses this item and one of those Sigils (selected secretly at random) is destroyed
 
* Roc’s Feather: Richardo immediately uses this to become Agile
 
 
 
'''Fine treasures:'''
 
* Rod of Smoothing: The first time Richardo enters a room while holding this item, he uses it and one feature (chosen secretly at random) is removed from that room, before any effects are enacted
 
* Elaborate crossbow: Richardo destroys any Denizen he encounters. This item is not used when this affect is applied.
 
* Empowered Ring of Warding: The first time Richardo enters a room that contains active Sigils, he uses this item and any Sigils in that room are destroyed
 
* Holy Distillate: Richardo immediately uses this item to gain 5 Energy
 
* Silver-Tipped Stake: If Richardo enters a room that is a Sepulchre, he uses this item and the Vampire Lord whose Sepulchre it is becomes Dust.
 
* Watchful Saint Figurine: Richardo immediately uses this to become Perceptive
 
 
 
==Run Initialisation==
 
During the Enter the Crypt action, Richardo has a value called Energy, which must be an integer.
 
 
 
The starting value for Richardo’s Energy varies based on the number of lit rooms in the crypt, as follows:
 
 
 
Less than 10 lit rooms: Starting energy 5<br/>
 
10-15 lit rooms: Starting energy 6<br/>
 
16-20 lit rooms: Starting energy 8<br/>
 
21-30 lit rooms: Starting energy 10<br/>
 
31-40 lit rooms: Starting energy 14<br/>
 
41-64 lit rooms: Starting energy 18
 
 
 
If every room that is orthogonally adjacent to Richardo’s starting location has no Effects then he must add 1 to his Energy’s starting value.
 
 
 
Richardo’s starting location is the Crypt Entrance. Whenever a room is Pacified, if Richardo found an ingress, he should change the name of the room in this paragraph to the name of the room in which that feature was found.
 
 
 
==Dark Favours==
 
This rule governs the use of favours in this dynasty. Wherever is contradicts the contents of another rule, this rule takes precedence.
 
 
 
All Favours are always ripe in this dynasty.
 
 
 
In this Dynasty, Favours may only be claimed, spent or exchanged through the favour transaction types detailed in this rule. Favour transactions are carried out between an Initiator and a Provider. In this dynasty, the following favour transactions are considered to be equivalent:
 
 
 
* Spend: An Initiator spending a Favour that they hold to transfer a resource or advantage from its Lender, the Provider, to the Initiator;
 
* Incur: An Initiator awarding a Favour as its lender to a Provider in exchange for a resource or advantage, with the Provider’s consent.
 
 
 
Whenever a dynastic rule specifies that dynastic resources or mechanics may be moved or generated as a result of a Favour transaction, either of the two types of transactions detailed above may be used, regardless of the language used in the rule text. This notwithstanding, no Vampire Lord may ever be in possession of more than five Favours in total at any time. Conducting a Favour transaction of any kind with each discrete partner is a daily action.
 
 
 
Favour transactions between a Vampire Lord and Richardo von Nestor may only take the form of a Spend transaction.
 
 
 
If the game is in Interregnum, any Vampire Lord may remove any duplicated Favours (i.e. repeated Favours with the same holder and lender) past the first from all Vampire Lords. They must then make all remaining Favours unripe.
 
 
 
The following lists detail the dynastic resources and effects that can be exchanged as part of a result of a single Favour transaction; any Dynastic resource or variable not specifically appearing on either list may not be exchanged in a Favour transaction:
 
 
 
Between Vampire Lords:
 
* Emancipating, as described in rule Vampire Lords
 
* 1 Influence
 
* The Sycophancy of 1 Crypt Denizen
 
* The inclusion of the Initiator’s name on a Glyph held by the Provider
 
 
 
Between a Vampire Lord and Richardo von Nestor:
 
* 1 Influence
 
* A Glyph with an Initiator’s name in a room that does not contain a Glyph
 
 
 
==Victory==
 
No Vampire Lord may have the name Dracula. If Dracula exists as an entity in the game, and Dracula is Dust, then the Vampire Lord with the most Blood Mana Crystals has achieved Victory.
 
 
 
==Cleanup Proposals==
 
A proposal from Richardo von Nestor is a Cleanup Proposal if it consists entirely of moving text between dynastic rules without changing that text, of reformatting a list of items as a list of bullet points, and/or adding bold markup and/or paragraph breaks to a rule. A Cleanup Proposal may be given the tag “[Cleanup]”.
 
 
 
Cleanup Proposals are not counted as proposals for the “already has 2 Proposals pending” of the rule “Proposals”, and may be made even if Richardo von Nestor has 2 Proposals pending.
 
 
 
<!-- DYNASTIC RULES GO ABOVE THIS COMMENT. DO NOT DELETE THE NEXT LINE WHEN CLEARING THE RULES FOR A NEW DYNASTY. --><br/>
 
 
<div style="padding:8px;background:#bbb;">
 
<div style="padding:8px;background:#bbb;">
  
= Special Case =
+
= Building Blocks =
'''Special Case Rules''' can be Active or Inactive. If the title of a Special Case Rule includes "[X]", where X is either Active or Inactive, then its status is X. Otherwise, its status is its Default Status.
+
Building Blocks are rules that can be substituted in and out of the ruleset as needed, usually as a result of an Ascension Address. All rules in the Building Blocks section are ruletext.
 
 
Special Case Rules have a '''Default Status''', which can be Active or Inactive. If the title of a Special Case Rule includes "[Rare]", its Default Status is Inactive, otherwise, its Default Status is Active.
 
 
 
When a new Dynasty is started, the Ascension Address may list any number of existing Special Case Rules to be set to a status other than their respective Default Status. All other Special Case Rules are set to their respective Default Status.
 
 
 
The text of a Special Case Rule that is Inactive is flavour text.
 
 
 
==Seasonal Downtime [Active]==
 
On the 24th, 25th and 26th of December, BlogNomic is [[#hiatus|on Hiatus]]. In addition, game actions defined by the core rules titled “Vampire Lords” and “Victory and Ascension” (with the exception of Voting in DoVs) may not be taken.
 
 
 
==Dormancy [Active]==
 
If there are fewer than five Vampire Lords, BlogNomic is [[#hiatus|on Hiatus]].
 
 
 
==Imperial Deferentials [Inactive]==
 
If the Richardo von Nestor has voted DEFERENTIAL on a Proposal, that vote is instead considered to be valid and either FOR (if more Vampire Lords have voted FOR the Proposal than have voted AGAINST it) or AGAINST (in all other cases). However, in either case, votes of DEFERENTIAL made by other Vampire Lords on the same Proposal are not considered be valid.
 
 
 
==Dynastic Distance [Active]==
 
For the purposes of dynastic rules which do not deal with voting, the Richardo von Nestor is not a Vampire Lord.
 
 
 
==The Traitor [Inactive]==
 
The Traitor for a particular Dynasty may be a Vampire Lord (including an idle one), or may be nobody, and it defaults to being nobody. The Traitor’s identity in the current Dynasty is tracked privately by the Richardo von Nestor, and the Richardo von Nestor should not share this information with Vampire Lords other than the Traitor.
 
 
 
If there is no Traitor for the current Dynasty, and BlogNomic is not on Hiatus, the Richardo von Nestor may secretly randomly select a Vampire Lord (other than the Richardo von Nestor) and privately inform them that they are the Traitor for the current Dynasty.
 
 
 
A Traitor is under no obligation to honour any informal promises they have made with other Vampire Lords, nor to tell the truth to them, and is encouraged to betray other Vampire Lords in order to achieve victory.
 
 
 
==Dynastic Tracking [Active]==
 
The gamestate tracking page for this dynasty is the [[Zahndorf Crypt]] page of the wiki. Unless otherwise stated, all publicly tracked gamestate information is tracked on it. A Richardo von Nestor may change the wiki page referred to in this rule to a different page as part of their Ascension Address, provided that page did not exist at the time the Ascension Address was posted and does not begin with the word “Ruleset”.
 
 
 
==No Collaboration [Inactive] [Rare]==
 
 
 
If “Dynastic Distance” is also active, the Richardo von Nestor is not considered a Vampire Lord for the purposes of this rule. The Richardo von Nestor is always permitted to inform the Traitor of their role if the Special Case rule “The Traitor” is active.
 
 
 
Vampire Lords may not privately communicate with each other about dynastic gameplay or votable matters that affect the dynastic ruleset or gamestate. Private communications are considered to be anything that any other Vampire Lord could not reasonably be privy to, perceive, or understand. Discussion conducted in plain English on the BlogNomic wiki and blog, and the #currentdynasty or #general channels of the BlogNomic slack, are not considered to be private communication. Idle Vampire Lords (or people who are not yet Vampire Lords) also face the same restrictions if they intend to become an active Vampire Lord during the course of the dynasty. The use of creative strategies to circumvent this rule may be considered to be a scam for the purposes of determining whether an infraction of Fair Play has taken place.
 
 
 
A mentor and mentee may still privately converse with each other, but should keep their conversations away from discussion specific gameplay strategy.
 
  
If information which was not allowed to be discussed is still privately discussed, the Vampire Lords who were part of the conversation should make a post to the blog disclosing what information was discussed as their earliest convenience.
+
Potential Building Blocks rules can be found at the [[Building Blocks]] page of the wiki. That page’s contents are not rulestext. When the contents of the Building Blocks page are referred to as ‘rules’ by the ruleset or by a votable matter, it should be assumed that said contents are being referred to as potential rules rather than actual rules.
  
==Favours [Active]==
+
When a Head Researcher specifies the Building Blocks rules in use for a new dynasty in an Ascension Address, they should specify (by name) the rules from the Building Blocks page that they would like to be included in this section of the ruleset. When a Dynastic Reset is performed, the Building Blocks rules selected in the most recent Ascension Address (if any) must be transcribed faithfully to this section of the ruleset, and any Building Blocks rules not so named in that Ascension Address must be removed from the Building Blocks section. Some rules on the Building Blocks page are listed as being Recommended; if the new Head Researcher makes no statement on Building Blocks rules to be included in their Ascension Address then the Recommended Building Blocks are considered to have been selected. There are currently no Recommended Building Blocks.
  
When a new dynasty starts, if at any point during the most recent dynasty any new favours were added which were owed by the new Richardo von Nestor to another Vampire Lord, the Richardo von Nestor must make this rule active.
+
==Virtual Actions==
 +
A Virtual Action is a type of action that the Head Researcher performs on behalf of a Genetic Engineer. A Genetic Engineer may initiate a virtual action by privately communicating to the Head Researcher their request to do so, along with any additional information needed to carry it out. The Head Researcher shall resolve the Virtual Action by performing the following Atomic Action:
 +
# Determine whether the Virtual Action fails (if it does not fail, it is successful).
 +
# If the action is successful, apply any specified effects on the gamestate and/or perform any specified actions on behalf of the Genetic Engineer.
  
While this rule is active, Vampire Lords can grant one another Favours via the methods defined in Dynastic Rules. Favours are resources unique to the individual who granted them (referred to as the Favour’s ‘lender’), but a given Vampire Lord cannot hold more than five Favours at a time regardless of their lenders. Favours have a ripeness, which defaults to unripe. Immediately after an Ascension Address is posted, all ripe Favours disappear and then all unripe Favours become ripe. If a Richardo von Nestor Passes the Mantle, any existing Favour for which they are the lender is turned into a Favour for which the new Richardo von Nestor is the lender.
+
If a Virtual Action fails, the Head Researcher should tell the Genetic Engineer why. A virtual action may fail for any of these reasons:
 +
* Some requirements/prerequisites to perform the action are not met.
 +
* The request does not contain all the information needed to resolve the action.
 +
* The request is unintelligible, or too vague to interpret unambiguously.
 +
* It would require the Head Researcher to do something they cannot do.
 +
* Any other reason specified by the action itself.
  
The list of Favours each Vampire Lord has is tracked in the wikipage [[Favours]]. When this rule is changed from Inactive to Active, the Favours that were tracked the last time this rule was Active remain.
+
Except where otherwise stated by the ruleset, the Head Researcher must resolve all virtual actions in the order that they are received. A virtual action is considered to have occurred at the time it was resolved.
  
A Vampire Lord may at any time choose to release any or all of the Favours they hold, losing them and gaining nothing in return. A Vampire Lord who has a ripe Favour may at any time claim it, spending it to gain a benefit based on the status of that Favour’s lender:
+
Until a virtual action is resolved, it is pending. A Genetic Engineer may cancel a pending Virtual Action by privately communicating to the Head Researcher their request to do so.
* If the lender is the Richardo von Nestor, the claiming Vampire Lord immediately gains a single point of any tabular resource of their choosing that is described only in the Dynastic Rules. Any details the gained resource has apart from quantity are chosen by the Richardo von Nestor, who should be generous if possible.
 
* If the lender is an active Vampire Lord who is not the Richardo von Nestor, the lender immediately gives to the claiming Vampire Lord (even if it could not normally be transferred) a single point of any tabular resource of the claiming Vampire Lord’s choosing, so long as the lender has at least one point of that resource to give.
 
* If the lender is idle, the claiming Vampire Lord immediately gains an unripe Favour with the lender as its lender.
 
 
 
A resource is tabular if the only Rules that it is described in are Dynastic Rules, and if it is being publicly tracked as a number, in a table that contains one row corresponding to each Vampire Lord.
 
  
 
</div>
 
</div>
Line 460: Line 313:
  
 
===Time===
 
===Time===
;Daily Action: If a game action is a Daily Action, each Vampire Lord able to perform it may take that action once each day, but not more than once every ten hours.
+
;Daily Action: If a game action is a Daily Action, each Genetic Engineer able to perform it may take that action once each day, but not more than once every ten hours.
;Daily Communal Action: A Daily Communal Action is a Daily Action that can only be performed by one Vampire Lord per day.
+
;Daily Communal Action: A Daily Communal Action is a Daily Action that can only be performed by one Genetic Engineer per day.
 
;Day: References to a “day” as an entity rather than as a duration (e.g. “Sunday”, “The day after performing this action”, or “August 2nd”), unless otherwise stated, refer to a day beginning at and including 00:00:00 UTC, ending when the next day begins. It can never be 2 different days at the same instant.
 
;Day: References to a “day” as an entity rather than as a duration (e.g. “Sunday”, “The day after performing this action”, or “August 2nd”), unless otherwise stated, refer to a day beginning at and including 00:00:00 UTC, ending when the next day begins. It can never be 2 different days at the same instant.
 
;Week: References to a week as an entity rather than as a duration (e.g. “At the beginning of each week”, or “already happened this week”), unless otherwise stated, refer to a period of time between the beginning of a Monday and the end of the following Sunday.
 
;Week: References to a week as an entity rather than as a duration (e.g. “At the beginning of each week”, or “already happened this week”), unless otherwise stated, refer to a period of time between the beginning of a Monday and the end of the following Sunday.
;Weekly Action: If a game action is a Weekly Action, each Vampire Lord able to perform it may take that action once each week, but not more than once every twenty-four hours.
+
;Weekly Action: If a game action is a Weekly Action, each Genetic Engineer able to perform it may take that action once each week, but not more than once every twenty-four hours.
;Weekly Communal Action: A Weekly Communal action is a Weekly Action that can only be performed by one Vampire Lord per week.  
+
;Weekly Communal Action: A Weekly Communal action is a Weekly Action that can only be performed by one Genetic Engineer per week.  
  
 
===Other===
 
===Other===
 
;Comment: A blog comment published to the BlogNomic weblog at [http://blognomic.com blognomic.com]
 
;Comment: A blog comment published to the BlogNomic weblog at [http://blognomic.com blognomic.com]
;Core Proposal: A Proposal which mandates changes that, even if conditionally, are limited to the creation, deletion, and/or amendment of core rules and/or the glossary, and/or renaming, banning, and/or the granting or removing of Admin status from one or more Vampire Lords.
+
;Core Proposal: A Proposal which mandates changes that, even if conditionally, are limited to the creation, deletion, and/or amendment of core rules and/or the glossary, and/or renaming, banning, and/or the granting or removing of Admin status from one or more Genetic Engineers.
 
;Dice: References to “DICEX” or “YDICEX” refer to X-sided dice and Y amount of X-sided dice, rolled using the Dice Roller.
 
;Dice: References to “DICEX” or “YDICEX” refer to X-sided dice and Y amount of X-sided dice, rolled using the Dice Roller.
 
;Dynastic Action: An action that is defined in the Dynastic rules.
 
;Dynastic Action: An action that is defined in the Dynastic rules.
 
;Dynastic Proposal: A Proposal which mandates changes that, even if conditionally, are limited to the creation, deletion, and/or amendment of dynastic rules and/or gamestate defined by dynastic rules.
 
;Dynastic Proposal: A Proposal which mandates changes that, even if conditionally, are limited to the creation, deletion, and/or amendment of dynastic rules and/or gamestate defined by dynastic rules.
;Effective Vote Comment (EVC): A Vampire Lord’s Effective Vote Comment with respect to a given Votable Matter is that Vampire Lord’s Comment to that Votable Matter, if any, that contains that Vampire Lord’s Vote on that Votable Matter.
+
;Effective Vote Comment (EVC): A Genetic Engineer's Effective Vote Comment with respect to a given Votable Matter is that Genetic Engineer's Comment to that Votable Matter, if any, that contains that Genetic Engineer's Vote on that Votable Matter.
;Commentary: When posting a blog entry, a Vampire Lord may use the “Commentary or flavour text” field of the blog publishing form to add their own comments or description of their post. For the purposes of all other rules, such text is not considered to be part of the post.
+
;Commentary: When posting a blog entry, a Genetic Engineer may use the “Commentary or flavour text” field of the blog publishing form to add their own comments or description of their post. For the purposes of all other rules, such text is not considered to be part of the post.
;Flavour Text: If a part of the ruleset is defined as being “flavour text”, it is gamestate and remains part of the ruleset document, but is not considered to have any meaning beyond being a string of characters. Vampire Lords are not required to obey flavour text and may not perform any action defined by it, and any statements that flavour text makes about gamestate are ignored.
+
;Discord: The BlogNomic Discord can be accessed at https://discord.gg/J7kP9KuHQK and is also linked to on the sidebar. Genetic Engineers , as well as people who are not Genetic Engineers but are interested in learning more about BlogNomic, may join the Discord by clicking the button in the sidebar.
;Gamestate: Any information which the Ruleset regulates the alteration of. All wiki pages that the Dynastic Rules explicitly mention (except for dynastic histories and discussion pages) and any images or Templates contained within those Wiki Pages are assumed to be Gamestate.
+
;Discord Channel: A Discord Channel is any channel on the BlogNomic Discord in the BlogNomic Discussion category. All Genetic Engineers who are in the Discord should have the ability to access all of these channels. To reference a Discord Channel, use a hash (#) followed by the name of that channel (e.g. #random).
 +
;Flavour Text: If a part of the ruleset or gamestate is defined as being “flavour text”, it retains its context, but is not considered to have any meaning beyond being a string of characters. Genetic Engineers are not required to obey flavour text and may not perform any action defined by it, and any statements that flavour text makes about gamestate are ignored.
 +
;Gamestate: Any information which the Ruleset regulates the alteration of. All wiki pages that the rules and Building Blocks explicitly mention (except for the FAQ, the dynastic histories and discussion pages) and any images or Templates contained within (or indirectly invoked by Templates contained within) those Wiki Pages are assumed to be Gamestate.
 
;<span id="hiatus">Hiatus</span>: If BlogNomic is on Hiatus, Dynastic Actions may not be taken (except where the rule defining the action explicitly requires it to be taken during Hiatus), and Proposals may not be submitted or Resolved. If multiple rules require BlogNomic to be on Hiatus at any given time, BlogNomic will continue to be on Hiatus until no rules require it.
 
;<span id="hiatus">Hiatus</span>: If BlogNomic is on Hiatus, Dynastic Actions may not be taken (except where the rule defining the action explicitly requires it to be taken during Hiatus), and Proposals may not be submitted or Resolved. If multiple rules require BlogNomic to be on Hiatus at any given time, BlogNomic will continue to be on Hiatus until no rules require it.
 
;Post: A blog post published to the BlogNomic weblog at [http://blognomic.com blognomic.com]
 
;Post: A blog post published to the BlogNomic weblog at [http://blognomic.com blognomic.com]
;Private Message: A message sent via BlogNomic’s Private Messages system at blognomic.com.
+
;Quorum: Quorum of a subset of Genetic Engineers is half the number of Genetic Engineers  in that subset, rounded down, plus one. If the word Quorum is used without qualifying which subset of Genetic Engineers it is referring to, it is referring to a Quorum of all Genetic Engineers.
;Quorum: Quorum of a subset of Vampire Lords is half the number of Vampire Lords in that subset, rounded down, plus one. If the word Quorum is used without qualifying which subset of Vampire Lords it is referring to, it is referring to a Quorum of all Vampire Lords.
+
;Resolve/Resolution: If used in a context of a Votable Matter, the word “Resolve” means to perform the act, as an Admin, of enacting, failing, or marking illegal a Votable Matter. The world “Resolution” means then the act of doing so. If used in any other context, the meaning of both “Resolve” and “Resolution” is the standard English meaning of these words. The resolution of a votable matter is tracked by reference to its status in the blog post edit form. If otherwise legally applied, the application of any status through the blog post editing form is sufficient to consider that votable matter to have been correctly resolved, but a resolved votable matter should have the correct status wherever possible; if any admin believes that a resolved votable matter has an incorrect status then they may correct it.
;Resolve/Resolution: If used in a context of a Votable Matter, the word “Resolve” means to perform the act, as an Admin, of enacting or failing a Votable Matter. The world “Resolution” means then the act of doing so. If used in any other context, the meaning of both “Resolve” and “Resolution” is the standard English meaning of these words.
+
;Rule: Each individually numbered and titled block of text (using the wikimedia section heading formatting) of the Ruleset is a rule, including rules that are subrules of other rules; with the exception that the top-level headings defined as ‘sections’ in the rule “Ruleset and Gamestate” are considered sections but not rules themselves.
;Rule: Each individually numbered section of the Ruleset is a rule, including sections that are subrules of other rules.
+
;Sticky Post: A blog post where the “Make Entry Sticky” option has been enabled. Changing the state of this option is not considering altering or modifying the post with regards to the rules on Official Posts. The sticky status of posts should generally be left to the discretion of the Head Researcher.
;Slack: The BlogNomic Slack is located at blognomic.slack.com. Vampire Lords may request an invite to the Slack while logged in by clicking the button in the sidebar.
 
;Slack Channel: A Slack Channel is any channel on the BlogNomic Slack. To reference a Slack Channel, use a hash (#) followed by the name of that channel (e.g. #random).
 
 
;Story Post: A Story Post is an entry in the “Story Post” category.
 
;Story Post: A Story Post is an entry in the “Story Post” category.
 
;Subject: The “subject” of a blog entry is the part of the Title of an entry which is after the first colon. If the Title does not contain a colon, then the whole Title is the subject. Any entry whose subject is “” (i.e. an empty string) is not valid.
 
;Subject: The “subject” of a blog entry is the part of the Title of an entry which is after the first colon. If the Title does not contain a colon, then the whole Title is the subject. Any entry whose subject is “” (i.e. an empty string) is not valid.
;Subrule: A subrule is a type of rule that is nested within another rule. A Proposal that specifically affects a rule affects all of its subrules; a Proposal that specifically affects a subrule does not affect its parent rule or any other subrule of that rule, unless they are also explicitly cited as being affected by that Proposal.
+
;Seasonal Downtime: On the 24th, 25th and 26th of December, BlogNomic is [[#hiatus|on Hiatus]]. In addition, game actions defined by the core rules titled “Genetic Engineers” and “Victory and Ascension” (with the exception of Voting in DoVs) may not be taken.
 +
;Subrule: A subrule is a type of rule that is hierarchically ordered beneath another rule. Rules and proposals that refer to a rule do not also refer to its subrules, unless otherwise specified.
 
;Table of Contents: The directory of section headings that is generated by the MediaWiki software for most pages in the wiki.
 
;Table of Contents: The directory of section headings that is generated by the MediaWiki software for most pages in the wiki.
 
;Uphold: To Uphold an illegal action is to retroactively declare the attempt to take it to have been successful, and to declare that all attempted game actions taken after it were attempted as if the Upheld action had been successful.
 
;Uphold: To Uphold an illegal action is to retroactively declare the attempt to take it to have been successful, and to declare that all attempted game actions taken after it were attempted as if the Upheld action had been successful.
Line 498: Line 352:
 
===Official Posts===
 
===Official Posts===
  
Votable Matters and other official posts, as well as specific gamestate information, shall be tracked by the BlogNomic blog at [http://blognomic.com http://blognomic.com]. Any Vampire Lord may [http://blognomic.com/update/index.php?C=publish post] to the blog at any time, but may only make official posts to the blog when the [[#Ruleset and Gamestate|Ruleset]] allows it. Posts following the format specified by a rule are considered official posts. Any single official post cannot be of two different types of official post unless a rule explicitly states otherwise.
+
Votable Matters and other official posts, as well as specific gamestate information, shall be tracked by the BlogNomic blog at [http://blognomic.com http://blognomic.com]. Any Genetic Engineer may [http://blognomic.com/update/index.php?C=publish post] to the blog at any time, but may only make official posts to the blog when the [[#Ruleset and Gamestate|Ruleset]] allows it. Posts following the format specified by a rule are considered official posts. Any single official post cannot be of two different types of official post unless a rule explicitly states otherwise. Dynastic rules cannot define posts in the “Call for Judgement” category to be a type of official post other than a Call for Judgement, and this restriction cannot be overridden by dynastic rules.
  
An official post may only be removed as allowed by the Ruleset.
+
An official post may only be removed as allowed by the Ruleset. An official post may be altered by its author if it is less than 4 hours old and either no Genetic Engineer has commented on it or (if it is a Votable Matter) if all comments on it contain no voting icons; otherwise this can only be done as allowed by the Ruleset. However, despite this, official posts can never be changed from one category to another, or changed to be a different sort of official post, if they have been posted for more than fifteen minutes. The Admin processing an official post is allowed to append to the post to reflect its new status. Anything appended to a post in this way must be placed in the Admin field of the post, and the post’s Status must be changed to reflect its status. An official blog post that has the status of Enacted or Failed cannot change categories, except that a votable matter’s illegal resolution may be overturned. An official blog post’s status may never be altered except in accordance with the rules that define that official post.
An official post may be altered by its author if it is less than eight hours old and either no Vampire Lord has commented on it or (if it is a Votable Matter) if all comments on it contain no voting icons; otherwise this can only be done as allowed by the Ruleset. However, despite this, official posts can never be changed from one category to another, or changed to be a different sort of official post, if they have been posted for more than fifteen minutes. The Admin processing an official post is allowed to append to the post to reflect its new status. Anything appended to a post in this way must be placed in the Admin field of the post, and the post’s Status must be changed to reflect its status. An official blog post that has the status of Enacted or Failed cannot change categories. An official blog post’s status may never be altered except in accordance with the rules that define that official post.
 
  
A non-official post may not, through editing of the blog or otherwise, be changed into an official post, with the following two exceptions: Firstly, whilst a non-official post has been posted for less than fifteen minutes and has no comments, the author may change the categories as they wish. Secondly, if a post by a New Vampire Lord is not in any category but follows the wording of a Proposal, in that it has written changes the gamestate and or Ruleset, and if it has been posted for less than six hours, then any Admin may change it to be in the Proposal category. A New Vampire Lord is defined as a Vampire Lord who has been a Vampire Lord for fewer than seven days or a Vampire Lord that has unidled in the past seven days after being idle for at least 3 months.
+
A non-official post may not, through editing of the blog or otherwise, be changed into an official post, with the following two exceptions: Firstly, whilst a non-official post has been posted for less than fifteen minutes and has no comments, the author may change the categories as they wish. Secondly, if a post is less than six hours old and appears to the Head Researcher to have been intended as a Proposal, and if its author does not already have two Proposals pending, then the Head Researcher may move it into the Proposal category, causing it to be considered to have been open for voting since the time that the post was first posted.
  
Any post that is or is made illegal as a result of an infraction against any of the prohibitions set out in this rule continues to be an Official Post but may no longer have any effect on the ruleset or the gamestate. If it is a Votable Matter then it is Unpopular, regardless of any other performance against criteria set out in the core rules. When it is resolved it may be marked as Illegal by the resolving admin. A post that is illegal in this manner cannot subsequently be made legal by any means.
+
Any post that is or is made illegal as a result of an infraction against any of the prohibitions set out in this rule, except for a votable matter’s illegal resolution that has been overturned, continues to be an Official Post but may no longer have any effect on the ruleset or the gamestate. If it is a Votable Matter then it is Unpopular, regardless of any other performance against criteria set out in the core rules. When it is resolved it may be marked as Illegal by the resolving admin. A post that is illegal in this manner cannot subsequently be made legal by any means, except for the legal enactment of a CFJ. An illegal CFJ cannot cause itself to become legal.
  
 
===Representations of the Gamestate===
 
===Representations of the Gamestate===
 +
If authorised by the rules as a result of a Genetic Engineer’s action, changes to gamestate which is tracked in a specific place (such as a wiki page) do not take effect until the representation of that gamestate has been updated to match the authorised change. One wiki update may contain one or more alterations, or one alteration may be split over multiple updates, as long as it is clear what is happening and the alterations are otherwise legal. The wiki merely represents the Gamestate tracked there, and is not the same thing. In the event that the Gamestate and its representations are different, any Genetic Engineer may correct the representations to comply with the Gamestate.
  
For gamestate which is tracked in a specific place (such as a wiki page), any alteration of that gamestate as a result of a Vampire Lord’s action is (and can only be) applied by editing that data in that place. One wiki update may contain one or more alterations, or one alteration may be split over multiple updates, as long as it is clear what is happening and the alterations are otherwise legal. The wiki merely represents the Gamestate tracked there, and is not the same thing. In the event that the Gamestate and its representations are different, any Vampire Lord may correct the representations to comply with the Gamestate.
+
If a Genetic Engineer feels that a representation of the gamestate (such as a wiki page) does not match the gamestate, they may either:
 
 
If a Vampire Lord feels that a representation of the gamestate (such as a wiki page) does not match the gamestate, they may either:
 
  
 
* Undo the effects of any alteration that led to it, if that alteration did not follow the rules at the time it was made.
 
* Undo the effects of any alteration that led to it, if that alteration did not follow the rules at the time it was made.
* Alter the representation to match what they believe to be the correct application of an incorrectly-applied alteration. This may include completing incomplete actions on behalf of the original Vampire Lord, if doing so would not require the correcting Vampire Lord to make any decisions on behalf of the original Vampire Lord.
+
* Alter the representation to match what they believe to be the correct application of an incorrectly-applied alteration. This may include completing incomplete actions on behalf of the original Genetic Engineer, if doing so would not require the correcting Genetic Engineer to make any decisions on behalf of the original Genetic Engineer.
 
+
Instead of repeatedly reverting and re-reverting a disputed alteration, however, Genetic Engineers are encouraged to raise a Call for Judgement.
Instead of repeatedly reverting and re-reverting a disputed alteration, however, Vampire Lords are encouraged to raise a Call for Judgement.
 
 
 
 
The historical fact of the occurrence of a defined game action is itself considered to be gamestate, tracked in the history of whatever resource is used to track the gamestate modified by that action, where possible, or in the wiki page [[Gamestate Modifications]] if this is not possible.
 
The historical fact of the occurrence of a defined game action is itself considered to be gamestate, tracked in the history of whatever resource is used to track the gamestate modified by that action, where possible, or in the wiki page [[Gamestate Modifications]] if this is not possible.
  
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An Orphan Variable is a dynastic gamestate variable which has neither a location in which it’s tracked, nor a reasonable manner in which it can be determined from other gamestate variables, specified in the Ruleset.
 
An Orphan Variable is a dynastic gamestate variable which has neither a location in which it’s tracked, nor a reasonable manner in which it can be determined from other gamestate variables, specified in the Ruleset.
  
A Vampire Lord may not take any dynastic actions that are contingent on the specific value of an Orphan Variable.
+
A Genetic Engineer may not take any dynastic actions that are contingent on the specific value of an Orphan Variable.
  
 
=== Random Generators ===
 
=== Random Generators ===
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* A list of comma-separated values in curly brackets (eg {x,y}) will return one of the values at random.
 
* A list of comma-separated values in curly brackets (eg {x,y}) will return one of the values at random.
  
Any changes to the potential outcomes of the Dice Roller’s random result commands must be made by Proposal.
+
Any changes to the potential outcomes of the Dice Roller’s random result commands must be made by Votable Matter.
  
If a Proposal proposes a change to this rule that would require server-level access to the BlogNomic site to fully enact its effects, that Proposal must name a Vampire Lord with such access. Only a Vampire Lord with such access may Enact that Proposal. If that Proposal does not name a Vampire Lord with such access, that Proposal is Illegal.
+
If a Votable Matter proposes a change to this rule that would require server-level access to the BlogNomic site to fully enact its effects, that Votable Matter must name a Genetic Engineer with such access. Only a Genetic Engineer with such access may Enact that Votable Matter. If that Votable Matter does not name a Genetic Engineer with such access, that Votable Matter is Illegal.
  
If a number or other game variable is selected “at random” or “randomly” from a range of possible values, its value shall always be taken from a uniform probability distribution over the entire range of possible values, unless otherwise specified. This value must be determined by an appropriate roll in the Dice Roller, unless otherwise specified. If a selection is explicitly specified as being “secretly” random, the Vampire Lord making this determination may do so using a private method of their choosing, instead of the Dice Roller.
+
If a number or other game variable is selected “at random” or “randomly” from a range of possible values, its value shall always be taken from a uniform probability distribution over the entire range of possible values, unless otherwise specified. This value must be determined by an appropriate roll in the Dice Roller, unless otherwise specified, and which value the roll result corresponds to must be reasonably inferable from the nature of the roll and any comments supplied by the Genetic Engineer making the roll before or while making the roll. If a selection is explicitly specified as being “secretly” random, the Genetic Engineer making this determination may do so using a private method of their choosing, instead of the Dice Roller.
  
 
==Atomic Actions==
 
==Atomic Actions==
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* All steps of an Atomic Action are considered one action, including the steps of an Atomic Action that is itself a step of a parent Atomic Action.
 
* All steps of an Atomic Action are considered one action, including the steps of an Atomic Action that is itself a step of a parent Atomic Action.
* When a Vampire Lord performs an Atomic Action, they must complete all its steps; they must complete them in order; and they may not take any other dynastic action, or achieve victory, until all the steps are complete.
+
* When a Genetic Engineer performs an Atomic Action, they must complete all its steps; they must complete them in order; and they may not take any other dynastic action, or achieve victory, until all the steps are complete.
* If a rule allows the Vampire Lord performing an Atomic Action to skip some of its steps, the skipped steps are considered to have been completed.
+
* If a rule allows the Genetic Engineer performing an Atomic Action to skip some of its steps, the skipped steps are considered to have been completed.
* If a Vampire Lord arrives at a step in an Atomic Action and they cannot perform that step, they undo all the steps they have performed of that Action and are considered never to have performed that Action.
+
* If a Genetic Engineer arrives at a step in an Atomic Action and they cannot perform that step, they undo all the steps they have performed of that Action and are considered never to have performed that Action.
* If one or more steps of an Atomic Action were done incorrectly, the Vampire Lord must redo the Atomic Action; for that purpose, the Vampire Lord uses any legal steps that have already been completed in the illegal Atomic Action and only redoes the illegal ones. (For example, if an Atomic Action consists of rolling a dice and then doing steps based upon its result, the Vampire Lord would have to reroll the dice only if they rolled the wrong one in the first place, and would then have to repeat any steps that depended upon the result of that dice; however, if they rolled the dice correctly but took an illegal step later on, the result of the original dice roll would still be used in the redone step.)
+
* If one or more steps of an Atomic Action were done incorrectly, the Genetic Engineer must redo the Atomic Action; for that purpose, the Genetic Engineer uses any legal steps that have already been completed in the illegal Atomic Action and only redoes the illegal ones. (For example, if an Atomic Action consists of rolling a dice and then doing steps based upon its result, the Genetic Engineer would have to reroll the dice only if they rolled the wrong one in the first place, and would then have to repeat any steps that depended upon the result of that dice; however, if they rolled the dice correctly but took an illegal step later on, the result of the original dice roll would still be used in the redone step.)
 
* For the purposes of determining the ordering or legality of game actions, the time of an Atomic Action shall be the time that it is completed. For Atomic Actions that are redone, the time of completion is the last redone step.
 
* For the purposes of determining the ordering or legality of game actions, the time of an Atomic Action shall be the time that it is completed. For Atomic Actions that are redone, the time of completion is the last redone step.
  
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* Any situation which would require a roll of DiceX when X is zero or lower always yields a value of 0 unless stated otherwise.
 
* Any situation which would require a roll of DiceX when X is zero or lower always yields a value of 0 unless stated otherwise.
 
* All numbers, unless stated otherwise by a rule, are in base ten.
 
* All numbers, unless stated otherwise by a rule, are in base ten.
* Unless otherwise specified, to “spend,” “pay” or “lose” an amount X of a numeric value “V” means to subtract X from V; to “gain” X of a numeric value “V” means to add X to V; and to “transfer” or “pay” X of a numeric value “V” from A to B means to subtract X from A’s V and add X to B’s V. Unless otherwise specified, only positive amounts can be spent, paid, lost, gained, or transferred, a Vampire Lord can spend or pay from only their own values, and a rule that allows Vampire Lords to transfer or pay a numeric value to another Vampire Lord only allows them to transfer that value from themselves to that other Vampire Lord (of their choice unless otherwise stated).
+
* Unless otherwise specified, to “spend,” “pay” or “lose” an amount X of a numeric value “V” means to subtract X from V; to “gain” X of a numeric value “V” means to add X to V; and to “transfer” or “pay” X of a numeric value “V” from A to B means to subtract X from A’s V and add X to B’s V. Unless otherwise specified, only positive amounts can be spent, paid, lost, gained, or transferred, a Genetic Engineer can spend or pay from only their own values, and a rule that allows Genetic Engineers to transfer or pay a numeric value to another Genetic Engineer only allows them to transfer that value from themselves to that other Genetic Engineer (of their choice unless otherwise stated).
 
* If a Dynastic Action is defined as having a cost X of numeric value V, or defines a requirement to spend, pay, or lose X of numeric value V to accomplish an effect or multiple effects, then the arithmetic effects of spending or payment and the act of carrying out those effects are considered to be subsequent steps in an Atomic Action, with the spending or payment step taking place before the effects step unless stated otherwise.
 
* If a Dynastic Action is defined as having a cost X of numeric value V, or defines a requirement to spend, pay, or lose X of numeric value V to accomplish an effect or multiple effects, then the arithmetic effects of spending or payment and the act of carrying out those effects are considered to be subsequent steps in an Atomic Action, with the spending or payment step taking place before the effects step unless stated otherwise.
* A Vampire Lord who has a choice in whether to take an action defined by a dynastic rule may not take that action if both of the following conditions are true: a) the action’s effects are limited to changing values tracked in gamestate-tracking entities (such as a wiki page), and b) the action would change one or more of those values to an illegal value.
+
* A Genetic Engineer who has a choice in whether to take an action defined by a dynastic rule may not take that action if both of the following conditions are true: a) the action’s effects are limited to changing values tracked in gamestate-tracking entities (such as a wiki page), and b) the action would change one or more of those values to an illegal value.
 
* If a rule implies that the result of any calculation should be an integer (for instance, by attempting to store that result in, or add it to, a gamestate variable that can only hold integers), the result of the calculation is instead the result rounded towards 0.
 
* If a rule implies that the result of any calculation should be an integer (for instance, by attempting to store that result in, or add it to, a gamestate variable that can only hold integers), the result of the calculation is instead the result rounded towards 0.
* If a game variable has a default value but no defined starting value, then its default value should also be considered a starting value. If a game variable has neither a default value nor a starting value, then both may be considered to be the nearest legal value to zero that it may take (for numerical variables, defaulting to positive if tied), blank (for a text string or list that may be blank), the alphabetically earliest legal text string it may take (for a text string which may not be blank, with the digits 0 through 9 considered to precede “A”), or the list which is alphabetically earliest from the set of lists with the fewest elements (for lists which may not be blank, and considering each list to be a single unpunctuated text string, with the digits 0 through 9 considered to precede “A”).
+
* If a game variable has a default value but no defined starting value, then its default value should also be considered a starting value. If a game variable has neither a default value nor a starting value, then both may be considered to be the nearest legal value to zero that it may take (for numerical variables, defaulting to positive if tied), blank (for a text string or list that may be blank), the alphabetically earliest legal text string it may take (for a text string which may not be blank, with the digits 0 through 9 considered to precede “A”), or the list which is alphabetically earliest from the set of lists with the fewest elements (for lists which may not be blank, and considering each list to be a single unpunctuated text string, with the digits 0 through 9 considered to precede “A”). For the purposes of this bullet point, the names of Genetic Engineers are not considered to be legal values for game variables, nor for list items within game variables.
 
* If the rules that define a game variable are amended, and some previously valid values become invalid as a consequence, any existing variables whose current values would become invalid are instead set to their starting value.
 
* If the rules that define a game variable are amended, and some previously valid values become invalid as a consequence, any existing variables whose current values would become invalid are instead set to their starting value.
 
* Invalid values for game variables can never be used, even if the values stored in a gamestate-tracking entity remain valid. (for example, if X appears in a formula referring to a value that is a non-negative integer, X must be used as a non-negative integer)
 
* Invalid values for game variables can never be used, even if the values stored in a gamestate-tracking entity remain valid. (for example, if X appears in a formula referring to a value that is a non-negative integer, X must be used as a non-negative integer)
 
* DICEN cannot be rolled in the Dice Roller if N is greater than one million.
 
* DICEN cannot be rolled in the Dice Roller if N is greater than one million.
* If a piece of information is described as being tracked secretly or privately by the Richardo von Nestor (including secretly random selections), then that information may only be revealed by the Richardo von Nestor when the ruleset allows it. If a Vampire Lord should already know such a piece of information (in that the Richardo von Nestor has already told them it, or vice versa, and there is no way that the information could have been changed since then), the Richardo von Nestor may repeat it to them.
+
* If a piece of information is described as being tracked secretly or privately by the Head Researcher (including secretly random selections), then that information may only be revealed by the Head Researcher when the ruleset allows it. If a Genetic Engineer should already know such a piece of information (in that the Head Researcher has already told them it, or vice versa, and there is no way that the information could have been changed since then), the Head Researcher may repeat it to them.
 +
* A range of numerical values stated to be “between” one value and another value is treated as an inclusive range unless otherwise explicitly stated.
  
===Rules and Proposals===
+
===Rules and Votable Matters===
* If a new rule is created by a Proposal and its location is not noted in that Proposal, that new rule is to be placed in the Dynastic Rules.
+
* If a new rule is created by a Votable Matter and its location is not noted in that Votable Matter, that new rule is to be placed in the Dynastic Rules.
* If a wiki page becomes gamestate as a result of a Proposal enacting, that page shall – unless otherwise specified – be reverted to whatever state it was in at the time of that Proposal’s submission (and if the page did not exist at that time, it shall be blanked).
+
* If a wiki page becomes gamestate as a result of a Votable Matter enacting, that page shall – unless otherwise specified – be reverted to whatever state it was in at the time of that Votable Matter’s submission (and if the page did not exist at that time, it shall be blanked).
* Where a [[#Proposals|Proposal]] would amend the effects of Proposal Enactment, this does not apply to its own enactment unless explicitly stated (e.g. a Proposal proposing that enacted Proposals earn their author a banana when enacted would not earn a banana for its own author, when enacted).
+
* Where a [[#Votable Matters|Votable Matter]] would amend the effects of Votable Matter Enactment, this does not apply to its own enactment unless explicitly stated (e.g. a Votable Matter proposing that enacted Votable Matters earn their author a banana when enacted would not earn a banana for its own author, when enacted).
 
* Rules which trigger upon the Resolution of a Votable Matter are the responsibility of the Admin who Resolves it.
 
* Rules which trigger upon the Resolution of a Votable Matter are the responsibility of the Admin who Resolves it.
 
* Unless otherwise specified, a new Dynastic rule shall be placed at the end of the Dynastic Rules.
 
* Unless otherwise specified, a new Dynastic rule shall be placed at the end of the Dynastic Rules.
* If the Admin enacting a Proposal reaches a step which cannot be applied immediately (e.g. “two days after this Proposal enacts, Vampire Lord A gains 1 point”), that step is ignored for the purposes of enactment. Once a Proposal has been enacted, it can have no further direct effect on the gamestate.
+
* If a dynastic rule has no text and no subrules, any Genetic Engineer may delete it from the ruleset.
* If a dynastic rule has no text and no subrules, any Vampire Lord may delete it from the ruleset.
 
 
* A rule may be accompanied by one or more illustrations, and an illustration may have a caption. In all situations, unless otherwise explicitly stated, an illustration and a caption to an illustration must be treated as flavour text.
 
* A rule may be accompanied by one or more illustrations, and an illustration may have a caption. In all situations, unless otherwise explicitly stated, an illustration and a caption to an illustration must be treated as flavour text.
 +
* When the ruleset calls for the use of a specific tool (such as the dice roller, or an off-domain website, or a specific piece of downloadable software), Genetic Engineers may not deliberately interfere with the function of that tool except in ways explicitly permitted by the ruleset.
 +
* If the Head Researcher has voted DEFERENTIAL on a Proposal, they are not considered to be a Genetic Engineer for the purposes of totaling quorum on that Proposal. Votes of DEFERENTIAL made by other Genetic Engineers on the same Proposal are not considered to be valid, but the Genetic Engineers who made them still contribute to quorum
  
 
===Time===
 
===Time===
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* All references to time must be either specific or defined within the Ruleset to be considered achievable in the gamestate. Abstract concepts of time (e.g. “dinnertime”, “twilight”) cannot be achieved until they fulfil one of these criteria.
 
* All references to time must be either specific or defined within the Ruleset to be considered achievable in the gamestate. Abstract concepts of time (e.g. “dinnertime”, “twilight”) cannot be achieved until they fulfil one of these criteria.
 
* Where the month, day and/or year of a calendar date are ambiguous (e.g. “04/10/09”), it shall be assumed that the date is in a day/month/year format.
 
* Where the month, day and/or year of a calendar date are ambiguous (e.g. “04/10/09”), it shall be assumed that the date is in a day/month/year format.
* A Vampire Lord may not take more than one dynastic game action at the same time (excluding any actions which have been ongoing for more than three hours).
+
* A Genetic Engineer may not take more than one dynastic game action at the same time (excluding any actions which have been ongoing for more than three hours).
  
===Spelling===
+
===Spelling and formatting===
 
* Superficial differences between the spelling of geographic versions of English, e.g. British English, American English and Australian English shall be construed as irrelevant for the purposes of play.
 
* Superficial differences between the spelling of geographic versions of English, e.g. British English, American English and Australian English shall be construed as irrelevant for the purposes of play.
* Vampire Lords may correct obvious spelling and typographical mistakes in the Ruleset and their own Pending Proposals at any time, including replacing Spivak and gender-specific pronouns with the singular “they”.
+
* Genetic Engineers may correct obvious spelling, punctuation, and/or typographical mistakes in the Ruleset, the Building Blocks page, and their own Pending Votable Matters at any time, including replacing Spivak and gender-specific pronouns that refer to Genetic Engineers with the corresponding forms of the singular “they”.
 +
* A Genetic Engineer may reformat a list of items in the dynastic ruleset to have bullet points or other appropriate list markup, if doing so would not change the order of that list, nor how any rules interpreted its content.
 +
* A Genetic Engineer may change the layout or design of a gamestate wiki page if doing so would not change how any rules interpreted its content.
  
 
===Names===
 
===Names===
* Within the Ruleset, a word only refers to the name of a Vampire Lord if it is explicitly stated that it refers to a Vampire Lord’s name.
+
* Within the Ruleset, a word only refers to the name of a Genetic Engineer if it is explicitly stated that it refers to a Genetic Engineer's name.
* If a rule would ever have no name, it is instead given the name of the proposal that created it, or (if this is not possible) the name “Unnamed Rule”.
+
* If a rule would ever have no name, it is instead given the name of the Votable Matter that created it, or (if this is not possible) the name “Unnamed Rule”.
 
* The names of rules and wiki pages (other than the Ruleset) are flavour text.
 
* The names of rules and wiki pages (other than the Ruleset) are flavour text.
 
* Subrules can be referred to by a name which incorporates name of the rule they are a subrule of. Example: a subrule of the rule “Gin” is a “Gin Rule”, however the rule “Gin” is not a “Gin Rule” because it’s not a subrule of the rule “Gin”.
 
* Subrules can be referred to by a name which incorporates name of the rule they are a subrule of. Example: a subrule of the rule “Gin” is a “Gin Rule”, however the rule “Gin” is not a “Gin Rule” because it’s not a subrule of the rule “Gin”.
* When referring to a Proposal, the name used in reference to a specific Proposal may be simplified by not including braces and any text between the opening and closing braces. i.e. a Proposal named “Changes [Core]” could instead be referred to by the name “Changes”.
+
* When referring to a Votable Matter, the name used in reference to a specific Votable Matter may be simplified by not including braces and any text between the opening and closing braces. i.e. a Votable Matter named “Changes [Core]” could instead be referred to by the name “Changes”.
 
* When referring to a Rule, the name used in reference to a specific Rule may be simplified by not including braces and any text between a pair of opening and closing braces, as long as such a reference would be unambiguous.
 
* When referring to a Rule, the name used in reference to a specific Rule may be simplified by not including braces and any text between a pair of opening and closing braces, as long as such a reference would be unambiguous.
* Where a proposal refers to a second proposal by name, it is assumed to refer to the most recently posted proposal of that name which pre-dates the first proposal.
+
* Where a Votable Matter refers to a second Votable Matter by name, it is assumed to refer to the most recently posted Votable Matter of that name which pre-dates the first Votable Matter.
 +
* When changing their name or joining the game for the first time, a Genetic Engineer's (or prospective Genetic Engineer's ) new name must be between 3 and 30 characters in length, and may only include the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, numbers, underscores, hyphens, full stops and apostrophes.
  
===Prioritisation===
+
==Prioritisation==
 
* If two parts of the Ruleset contradict each other, precedence shall be construed in the following order:
 
* If two parts of the Ruleset contradict each other, precedence shall be construed in the following order:
 
# The Appendix has precedence over any other Rule;
 
# The Appendix has precedence over any other Rule;
 
# If a Core Rule explicitly says it cannot be overruled by a Dynastic Rule, that Core Rule has precedence over a Dynastic Rule, otherwise a Dynastic Rule has precedence over that Core Rule;
 
# If a Core Rule explicitly says it cannot be overruled by a Dynastic Rule, that Core Rule has precedence over a Dynastic Rule, otherwise a Dynastic Rule has precedence over that Core Rule;
# If a Special Case Rule explicitly says that it cannot be overruled by a Dynastic Rule, that Special Case Rule has precedence over a Dynastic Rule, otherwise a Dynastic Rule has equal precedence as that Special Case Rule;
+
# If a Building Blocks Rule explicitly says that it cannot be overruled by a Dynastic Rule, that Building Blocks Rule has precedence over a Dynastic Rule, otherwise a Dynastic Rule has equal precedence as that Building Blocks Rule;
# If two contradicting parts have equal precedence, the part with more limited scope applies (e.g. if the rules “Vampire Lords may Kick each other” and “Vampire Lords may not Kick each other on Tuesdays” exist, and it is Tuesday, Vampire Lords may not Kick each other);
+
# If two contradicting parts have equal precedence, the part with more limited scope applies (e.g. if the rules “Genetic Engineers may Kick each other” and “Genetic Engineers may not Kick each other on Tuesdays” exist, and it is Tuesday, Genetic Engineers may not Kick each other);
# If two contradicting parts have the same scope, the negative rule applies (e.g. with “Vampire Lords may Punch a Spaceman on Friday” and “Vampire Lords may not Punch Spacemen on Friday”, then Vampire Lords may not Punch Spacemen on Friday).
+
# If two contradicting parts have the same scope, or have scopes that only overlap where they contradict each other, the negative rule applies (e.g. with “Genetic Engineers may Punch a Spaceman on Friday” and “Genetic Engineers may not Punch Spacemen on Friday”, then Genetic Engineers may not Punch Spacemen on Friday).
  
 
==Mentors==
 
==Mentors==
  
A Vampire Lord may have another Vampire Lord as a Mentor. Vampire Lords who are willing to act as a Mentor are listed on the [[Mentorships]] wiki page, and are said to be “Tenured”. An Admin may add or remove their own name, or the name of a Vampire Lord who has requested a change on their own behalf, from this list at any time.
+
A Genetic Engineer may have another Genetic Engineer as a Mentor. Genetic Engineers who are willing to act as a Mentor are listed on the [[Mentorships]] wiki page, and are said to be “Tenured”. An Admin may add or remove their own name, or the name of a Genetic Engineer who has requested a change on their own behalf, from this list at any time. The Mentorships page is also used to list the names of players who are prohibited from becoming Tenured; this list may only be amended by the effect of a votable matter.
  
If an unmentored Vampire Lord requests a Mentor, or a new Vampire Lord has joined the game and has no Mentor, the Richardo von Nestor should select a Tenured Vampire Lord and ask them to take that Vampire Lord on as a Mentee; if they accept, then such a Mentorship is established. The Richardo von Nestor should take care to consider game balance when selecting a potential mentor.
+
If an unmentored Genetic Engineer requests a Mentor, or a new Genetic Engineer has joined the game and has no Mentor, the Head Researcher should select a Tenured Genetic Engineer and ask them to take that Genetic Engineer on as a Mentee; if they accept, then such a Mentorship is established. The members and starting dates of all active Mentorships are tracked on the Mentorships wiki page, and whenever a new Mentorship is established, the Head Researcher should announce it in a blog post. The Head Researcher should take care to consider game balance when selecting a potential mentor.
  
A relationship between a mentor and a mentee is a Mentorship. The members and starting dates of all active Mentorships are tracked on the Mentorships wiki page, and whenever a new Mentorship is established, the Richardo von Nestor should announce it in a blog post. A Vampire Lord may dissolve a Mentorship they are part of at any time, by announcing this in a blog post.
+
A relationship between a mentor and a mentee is a Mentorship. A Genetic Engineer may dissolve a Mentorship they are part of at any time, by announcing this in a blog post.
  
If there is no Richardo von Nestor, any Vampire Lord who has been active in at least three previous dynasties may act as Richardo von Nestor for the purposes of this rule.
+
If there is no Head Researcher, any Genetic Engineer who has been active in at least three previous dynasties may act as Head Researcher for the purposes of this rule.
  
 
===Things that a mentor must do===
 
===Things that a mentor must do===
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*Make pro-active contact with their mentee when appointed, and explain the dynamics of the Mentorship system;
 
*Make pro-active contact with their mentee when appointed, and explain the dynamics of the Mentorship system;
 
*Be available to answer any questions that their mentee may have about the game, including explaining the rules, common standards and etiquette of play, proofreading posts and clarifying game events;
 
*Be available to answer any questions that their mentee may have about the game, including explaining the rules, common standards and etiquette of play, proofreading posts and clarifying game events;
*Introduce their mentee to the various platforms of the game, including the wiki, Slack, and end-of-dynasty notifications through the Facebook group or Twitter;
+
*Introduce their mentee to the various platforms of the game, including the wiki and Dice Roller, and optionally the game’s Discord and social media feeds
 
*If possible, give their mentee a nudge if it appears that they are at risk of becoming Idle;
 
*If possible, give their mentee a nudge if it appears that they are at risk of becoming Idle;
*If they themselves go idle, communicate with their mentee to either continue to support them as an idle Vampire Lord or arrange a handover to another mentor if requested.
+
*If they themselves go idle, communicate with their mentee to either continue to support them as an idle Genetic Engineer or arrange a handover to another mentor if requested.
  
 
===Things that a mentor should do===
 
===Things that a mentor should do===
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*The Mentorship lasts for four weeks or until the next Ascension Address, whichever occurs latest. It can continue informally for longer but after this threshold the mentor is no longer bound by any of the conditions set out in the parent rule to this rule, or any of its subrules.
 
*The Mentorship lasts for four weeks or until the next Ascension Address, whichever occurs latest. It can continue informally for longer but after this threshold the mentor is no longer bound by any of the conditions set out in the parent rule to this rule, or any of its subrules.
*The mentor can and should advise the mentee on how to proceed in the mentee’s own best interests. This can include making connections with other Vampire Lords.
+
*The mentor can and should advise the mentee on how to proceed in the mentee’s own best interests. This can include making connections with other Genetic Engineers .
 
*The mentor should consider copying the mentee in on private, game-related communications, where it does not unfairly prejudice their own interests. The mentee should keep this information private without explicit consent from the mentor.
 
*The mentor should consider copying the mentee in on private, game-related communications, where it does not unfairly prejudice their own interests. The mentee should keep this information private without explicit consent from the mentor.
 
*The mentor and mentee may work together to achieve victory. If a mentor achieves victory with support of their mentee then they should, if the mentee wishes it, pass the baton to the mentee.
 
*The mentor and mentee may work together to achieve victory. If a mentor achieves victory with support of their mentee then they should, if the mentee wishes it, pass the baton to the mentee.
Line 642: Line 497:
 
== Synonyms ==
 
== Synonyms ==
  
A dynasty may provide extra theming by using alternative terms for words like “Vampire Lord” and “Richardo von Nestor”.
+
A dynasty may provide extra theming by using alternative terms for words like “Genetic Engineer” and “Head Researcher”.
  
 
Each term in this list is synonymous with the term in parentheses
 
Each term in this list is synonymous with the term in parentheses
  
* Vampire Lord (Player)
+
* Genetic Engineer (Player)
* Richardo von Nestor (Emperor)
+
* Head Researcher (Emperor)
  
When a new Dynasty is started, the Ascension Address may specify new terms for each entry in the above list, provided the newly chosen term does not appear anywhere in the ruleset outside of this rule (though if it only appears in rules which are being removed as part of the Ascension Address, it is fine), and that doing so would not cause two terms in the above list to become synonymous with each other. Doing so causes the old corresponding value (including regional spelling variations) to be replaced by the new value everywhere in the ruleset except in any of the parenthesis in the above list.
+
When a new Dynasty is started, the Ascension Address may specify new terms for each entry in the above list, provided the newly chosen term does not appear anywhere in the Building Blocks page or the ruleset outside of this rule (though if it only appears in rules which are being removed as part of the Ascension Address, it is fine), and that doing so would not cause two terms in the above list to become synonymous with each other. Doing so causes the old corresponding value (including regional spelling variations) to be replaced by the new value everywhere in the ruleset except in any of the parentheses in the above list.
  
 
</div>
 
</div>

Latest revision as of 16:09, 31 October 2024

Core Rules

Ruleset and Gamestate

This is the Ruleset for BlogNomic; all Genetic Engineers shall obey it.

It comprises four Sections: 1) the “core rules” of BlogNomic, covering the essential elements of gameplay; 2) the rules of the current Dynasty; 3) rules which set metagame parameters for the current dynasty; and 4) the appendix, which complements and clarifies the Ruleset.

The Ruleset and Gamestate can only be altered in manners specified by the Ruleset. This document is considered to be, in effect, the only Ruleset for BlogNomic, so long as it is located at at the URL https://wiki.blognomic.com/index.php?title=Ruleset.

If the text of the Ruleset document does not reflect all legal changes that have been authorised to be made to it, any Genetic Engineer may update it to do so.

The gamestate tracking page for this dynasty is the Sublogical Genomics Laboratory page of the wiki. Unless otherwise stated, all publicly tracked gamestate information is tracked on it.

Genetic Engineers

A human with access to the blog who is not already a Genetic Engineer may make a blog post making clear their wish to be a Genetic Engineer (plural form Genetic Engineers); in response, an Admin shall add them to the roster in the sidebar, at which moment they become a Genetic Engineer. (See the FAQ for guidance on how to apply for access to the BlogNomic blog.)

A Genetic Engineer may only change their name as a result of a Proposal approving the change.

Some Genetic Engineers are Admins, responsible for updating the site and the Ruleset, and are signified as such in the sidebar. Genetic Engineers who wish to become Admins may sign up with a username for the Ruleset Wiki, and submit a Proposal to make themselves Admins. Existing Admins may be removed from their posts by Proposal, CfJ, or voluntary resignation. Genetic Engineers may be made Admins through Proposal or CFJ.

A Genetic Engineer may cease to be a Genetic Engineer at any time by posting an entry to the BlogNomic weblog requesting such an action. A human who has ceased to be a Genetic Engineer in this way may not become a Genetic Engineer again within the following two weeks.

Idle Genetic Engineers

If a Genetic Engineer is Idle, this is tracked by their name being removed or concealed in the list of currently active Genetic Engineers in the Sidebar. For the purposes of all Gamestate and the Ruleset, excluding the core and appendix Rules “Ruleset and Gamestate”, “ Genetic Engineers ”, “Dynasties”, “Fair Play”, "Mentors" and any of those Rules’ subrules, Idle Genetic Engineers are not counted as Genetic Engineers . The combined term “Idle Genetic Engineers” can be used to refer to Genetic Engineers who are Idle even in rules that do not treat them as Genetic Engineers.

If a Proposal contains a provision that targets a specifically named Idle Genetic Engineer, then that Idle Genetic Engineer is considered to be Unidle solely for the purposes of enacting that specific provision.

When a Genetic Engineer is unidled, if they went Idle in the same Dynasty, their personal gamestate retains the last legally endowed values it had, if they are still valid. Otherwise (including if a value is invalid, does not exist, or the Genetic Engineer Idled in a different Dynasty), the Genetic Engineer is given the default value for new Genetic Engineers, if such a value exists.

An Admin may render a Genetic Engineer Idle if that Genetic Engineer has asked to become Idle in an entry or comment from the past 96 hours (4 Days), or if that Genetic Engineer has not posted an entry or comment in the past 168 Hours (7 days). In the latter case, the Admin must announce the idling in a blog post, and the 168 Hour idle timeout is considered to be reduced to 96 hours for that Genetic Engineer during the current and subsequent dynasty. Admins may render themselves Idle at any time, but should announce it in a post or comment when they do so. An Admin may Unidle a Genetic Engineer if that Genetic Engineer is Idle and has asked to become Unidle in an entry or comment from the past 96 hours (4 Days), and Idle Admins may Unidle themselves at any time, unless the Genetic Engineer who would be Unidled has become Idle within the past 96 hours (4 days), and within the current Dynasty.

Admins who are unidling themselves should, in their first vote following each unidling, highlight their changed idle status and any changes to Quorum to have come about as a result of it.

Idle admins can resolve Votable Matters as a non-idle admin would.

Dormancy

If there are fewer than four Genetic Engineers (not including the Head Researcher), then BlogNomic is on Hiatus.

Dynasties

BlogNomic is divided into a number of Dynasties. Each Dynasty may be headed by a single Genetic Engineer, known as the Head Researcher. If there is no Head Researcher, the Dynasty is a Metadynasty.

An Interregnum is the period between dynasties, after a DoV has been enacted and before a Dynastic Reset has been performed. During an Interregnum the game is in hiatus; additionally, no DoVs may be made, and no Genetic Engineer may achieve Victory. However, dynastic actions that are specifically permitted to be carried out during an Interregnum may be carried out.

Unless otherwise stated by a dynastic or Building Blocks rule, then for the purposes of dynastic and Building Blocks rules, the Head Researcher is not a Genetic Engineer.

Votable Matters

A Votable Matter is a post which Genetic Engineers may cast Votes on, such as a Proposal, a Call for Judgement or a Declaration of Victory.

Votes

Each Genetic Engineer may cast one Vote on a Votable Matter by making a comment to the Official Post that comprises that Votable Matter using a voting icon of FOR, AGAINST, or DEFERENTIAL. Additional voting icons may be permitted in some cases by other rules. A valid Vote is, except when otherwise specified, a Vote of FOR or AGAINST. A Genetic Engineer‘s Vote on a Votable Matter is the last valid voting icon that they have used in any comment on that Votable Matter. Additionally, if the author of a Votable Matter has not used a valid voting icon in a comment to the post, then the author’s Vote is FOR. A non-Genetic Engineer never has a Vote, even if they were a Genetic Engineer previously and had cast a valid Vote.

If a Genetic Engineer other than the Head Researcher casts a vote of DEFERENTIAL, then the Vote of DEFERENTIAL is an indication of confidence in the Head Researcher. When the Head Researcher has a valid Vote other than VETO on a Votable Matter, then all votes of DEFERENTIAL on that Votable Matter are instead considered to be valid and the same as the Head Researcher’s Vote for the purposes of other rules unless otherwise specified. When the Head Researcher themselves casts a vote of DEFERENTIAL, it indicates an indication of confidence in the votes of the other players; please see the Rules and Votable Matters section of the Appendix for more information on how this is resolved.

A Votable Matter is Popular if any of the following are true:

  • It has a number of FOR Votes that exceed or equal Quorum.
  • It has been open for voting for at least 48 hours, it has more than 1 valid Vote cast on it, and more valid Votes cast on it are FOR than are AGAINST.

A Votable Matter is Unpopular if any of the following are true:

  • The number of Genetic Engineers who are not voting AGAINST it is less than Quorum.
  • It has been open for voting for at least 48 hours and it is not Popular.

Enacting and Failing

Votable matters have a status, which can either be Pending, Enacted, Failed, or Illegal. When a votable matter is first put forward it is considered Pending (which is tracked as having no status in the current blog software), and it remains Pending until it is Resolved.

A votable matter is resolved by an admin setting its status through use of the “status” field in the blog post editing form. When an admin resolves a votable matter they should mark their name, and are highly encouraged to report the final tally of Votes (or the fact that it was withdrawn or vetoed). Comments cannot be made on resolved Votable Matters.

A votable matter may not be resolved except as directed by the ruleset, and the status of a resolved votable matter, once resolved, is determined by the votes cast upon it, as assessed by the rules that govern the specific kind of votable matter (as well as any other considerations regarding the legality of the votable matter, such as the stipulations put forward in the Appendix rule Official Posts). When a Failed proposal has been Vetoed it may optionally have the Vetoed status upon resolution, which is considered to be the same as Failed for the purposes of all other rules.

This rule cannot be overruled by any other rule in its application to Calls for Judgement or Declarations of Victory.

Tags

Votable Matters have zero or more tags. Tags are represented in the title of a Votable Matter with the format “[X]” (e.g. “[Core] Wording Fix”, where “[Core]” is the tag).

Votable Matters making changes to the Core Rules, the Building Blocks Rules or the Appendix Rules require any of the following to be true for each such change in order to make that specific modification to the ruleset:

  • The Votable Matter has the appropriate Tag or Tags for that change: [Core] for Core Rules changes, [Building Blocks] for Building Blocks Rules changes and [Appendix] for Appendix Rules changes.
  • The modification is preceded or followed immediately by an unambiguous statement of which section of the ruleset it takes place.
  • The modification specifically states a rule using its number or the name of the stated rule only occurs once in the ruleset.

Proposals

Any Genetic Engineer may submit a Proposal to change the Ruleset or Gamestate, by posting an entry in the “Proposal” category that describes those changes (unless the Genetic Engineer already has 2 Proposals pending or has already made 3 Proposals that day).

Special Proposal Voting

When a Genetic Engineer casts a vote AGAINST their own Proposal (which is not in the form of a DEFERENTIAL vote), this renders the Proposal Withdrawn, even if the author later changes their Vote. The Head Researcher may use VETO as a voting icon to cast a Vote on a Proposal; when the Head Researcher casts a vote of VETO on a Proposal, this renders the Proposal Vetoed, even if the Head Researcher later changes their Vote.

Resolution of Proposals

The oldest Pending Proposal may be Enacted by any Admin if all of the following are true:

  • It is Popular.
  • It has been open for voting for at least 12 hours.
  • It has not been Vetoed or Withdrawn.

The oldest Pending Proposal may be Failed by any Admin, if any of the following are true:

  • It is Unpopular.
  • It has been Vetoed or Withdrawn.

If a Proposal somehow ends up being pending for more than 7 days, it is ignored for the purpose of calculating the oldest pending Proposal, and can be failed by any Admin.

When a Proposal is Enacted, its stated effects are applied by treating the text in the Proposal as a series of steps starting from the beginning of that Proposal’s text and performing each step until reaching the end of that Proposal’s text, except that if the Admin Enacting it reaches a step which cannot be applied immediately (e.g. “two days after this Votable Matter enacts, Genetic Engineer A gains 1 point”) or at all (e.g. applying to a rule which does not exist), that step is ignored for the purposes of Enactment; the Admin Enacting the Proposal shall update the Gamestate and Ruleset, and correct any gamestate-tracking entities, as specified in each step that was performed.

Calls for Judgement

If two or more Genetic Engineers actively disagree as to the interpretation of the Ruleset, or if a Genetic Engineer feels that an aspect of the game needs urgent attention, then any Genetic Engineer may raise a Call for Judgement (abbreviated “CfJ”) by posting an entry in the “Call for Judgement” category.

A Pending CfJ may be Enacted by any Admin if all of the following are true:

  • It is Popular.

A Pending CfJ may be Failed by any Admin if any of the following are true:

  • It is Unpopular.
  • It specifies neither changes to the Gamestate or Ruleset nor corrections to any gamestate-tracking entities.

When a CfJ is Enacted, the Admin Enacting it shall update the Gamestate and Ruleset, and correct any gamestate-tracking entities, as specified in the CfJ.

This Rule may not be overruled by Dynastic Rules.

Victory and Ascension

If a Genetic Engineer (other than the Head Researcher) believes that they have achieved victory in the current Dynasty, they may make a Declaration of Victory (abbreviated “DoV”) detailing this, by posting an entry in the “Declaration of Victory” category.

A Genetic Engineer’s vote on a DoV is encouraged to reflect whether or not they agree with the proposition that the poster has achieved victory in the current Dynasty. If there is at least one pending DoV, BlogNomic is on Hiatus, no Idle Genetic Engineer may be made unidle, and no new player joining requests may be administered.

A Pending DoV may be Enacted by any Admin if any of the following are true:

  • It has a number of FOR Votes greater than 2/3rds of the number of Genetic Engineers, it has been open for at least 12 hours, and either the Head Researcher has Voted FOR it or it has no AGAINST Votes.
  • It has a number of FOR Votes greater than 2/3rds of the number of Genetic Engineers, and it has been open for at least 24 hours.

A Pending DoV may be Failed by any Admin if any of the following are true:

  • It is Unpopular, and it has been open for at least 12 hours.
  • It is more than 48 hours old and cannot be Enacted

If a DoV is Failed and it had at least one AGAINST vote, the Genetic Engineer who posted it cannot make another DoV until after 120 hours (5 days) have passed since the time their DoV was Failed.

When a DoV is Enacted, all other pending DoVs are Failed, the Genetic Engineer who posted the DoV becomes Head Researcher, and the game enters an Interregnum. When a DoV is enacted then all game actions that led up to it are considered to be upheld.

If the game is in an Interregnum then the new Head Researcher must make an Ascension Address by posting an entry in the “Ascension Address” category. The Ascension Address should specify the Head Researcher’s chosen theme for the new Dynasty, and it may optionally specifiy one or more of the following:

  • New dynasty-specific terms as outline in the rule “Synonyms”
  • A number of dynastic rules to keep (if none are specifed then the entire Dynastic Ruleset is repealed)
  • Any number of Building Blocks rules to remove or insert, as per the instructions in the Building Blocks section
  • The name of the gamestate tracking page referred to in the rule “Ruleset and Gamestate” to a different page that does not exist and does not start with the word “Ruleset”
  • The Head Researcher’s Imperial Style, which if specified is a set of nonbinding guidelines that the Head Researcher is encouraged to follow, using the terms defined on the wiki page Imperial Styles.

If it has not been done since the most recent posting of an Ascension Address, the Head Researcher or any Genetic Engineer (if it’s the latter, they must wait until at least 4 hours after that Ascension Address has been posted) may perform a Dynastic Reset, which is an atomic action with the following steps:

  • Update the Ruleset to reflect any changed terms as outlined in the most recent Ascension Address.
  • Repeal any dynastic rules which were not listed to be kept in the most recent Ascension Address.
  • Update the gamestate tracking page referred to in the rule “Ruleset and Gamestate” with the name specified in the most recent Ascension Address, if any.
  • Make any specified or automatic changes to the Building Blocks section of the ruleset as described in the most recent Ascension Address.
  • Update the Building Blocks page to reflect any changes to the terms outlined in the rule Synonyms.


Once this Atomic Action has been completed the Interregnum ends and the new dynasty begins.

Fair Play

The following are BlogNomic’s rules of fair play. If any of these rules are found to have been broken, or if a Genetic Engineer’s behaviour or actions are otherwise deemed unacceptable (socially or otherwise), a Proposal or CfJ may be made to reprimand or punish the perpetrator or, in cases of extreme or repeated violations, remove them from the game and bar them from rejoining. Genetic Engineers should vote against any DoV that relies on having broken a fair play rule.

  • A single person should not control more than one non-Idle Genetic Engineer within BlogNomic, and should announce publicly if they control both a non-Idle Genetic Engineer and any Idle Genetic Engineers. This extends to exerting full control over the actions of another Genetic Engineer, defined here as the controlled Genetic Engineer’s game behavior being functionally indistinguishable from if the controlling Genetic Engineer was logged into their account and playing through it, over a period of more than a day.
  • A Genetic Engineer should not “spam” the BlogNomic blog. What counts as spamming is subjective, but would typically include posting more than ten blog entries in a day, more than ten blog comments in a row, or posting a blog entry of more than 1000 words.
  • A Genetic Engineer should not deliberately exploit bugs or unexpected behaviours in the software running the game (ExpressionEngine, MediaWiki or other blognomic.com scripts).
  • A Genetic Engineer should not edit their own blog comments once posted, nor those of any other Genetic Engineer.
  • A Genetic Engineer should not edit the “Entry Date” field of a blog post.
  • A Genetic Engineer should not make a DoV primarily to delay the game by putting it into Hiatus.
  • A Genetic Engineer should not do any action meant to make the game unplayable (for example, changing multiple keywords to the same word in an Ascension Address).
  • A Genetic Engineer should not roll dice that are clearly associated with a particular action in the Ruleset, but with the intention to not use these rolled values to the best of their ability to resolve that action. a Genetic Engineer must use their own name in the Dice Roller, when rolling dice.
  • A Genetic Engineer should not deliberately and unreasonably prolong the performance of a game action once they have started it.
  • A Genetic Engineer should not use a Core, Building Blocks, or Appendix rules scam to directly or indirectly cause a Genetic Engineer to achieve victory.
  • A Genetic Engineer should not trade actions in BlogNomic for favors or compensation outside of BlogNomic, nor trade actions in any other game for favors within BlogNomic, nor trade actions or favours in one Dynasty of Blognomic for actions or favours in another Dynasty of Blognomic.
  • A person with administrative, moderation, or other heightened access to the software running or supporting BlogNomic should not take any action using such heightened access for the purpose of causing any Genetic Engineer or Genetic Engineers to gain, receive, maintain, or preserve gameplay advantage unless any of the following is true:
    • Such action is required or explicitly permitted by the rules or required to implement an action required or explicitly permitted by the rules.
    • A reasonable, impartial, and prudent external observer would deem such action necessary or reasonable for the purpose of supporting, moderating, or administering BlogNomic or such software.

All Genetic Engineers and idle Genetic Engineers should be aware of the BlogNomic Community Guidelines. The contents of this page are not ruletext and are nonbinding as pertains to the ruleset, but Genetic Engineers are encouraged to commit to upholding them to whatever extent is possible.

Dynastic Rules

The Genome

The following letters are considered Nucleotides: A, C, G, T. The Genome is a publicly tracked sequence of Nucleotides.

Synthesis

If they have not done so since the last time the Synthesize action was performed (or if the Synthesize action has not yet been performed), each Genetic Engineer should, at their earliest convenience, privately submit to the Head Researcher a single Mutation that they wish to perform, or the fact that they do not want to perform any Mutations. The valid choices for Mutation are listed in the Mutations subrule. Each such Mutation has a Cost, which is the amount of Research Points that must be spent to submit the Mutation request and may be 0, and the Requirements, which must be true for the Genetic Engineer who is submitting the Mutation request and may be None. If a Genetic Engineer has made multiple such submissions, only their most recent submission is considered valid.

Submissions is the number of Genetic Engineers who have submitted Mutations since the last time the Synthesize action was performed (or since the beginning of the dynasty if the Synthesize action has never been performed) out of the total of active Genetic Engineers and is publicly tracked by the Head Researcher.

The Head Researcher can and should perform the Synthesize action once every Healthy Genetic Researcher has made a new submission to the Head Researcher since the last time the Synthesize action was taken (or since this rule was enacted if the Synthesize action has not been performed yet).

Synthesize is an atomic action consisting of the following steps:

  • Perform every valid Mutation submitted, with the following exception: if two or more Mutations specify the same position, those Mutations are instead not performed; for this purpose, insertion Mutations are not considered to specify the same position as any non-insertion Mutation. Perform insertions after all other Mutations, with insertions specifying later positions to be performed before insertions specifying earlier positions.
  • Processing them from left to right: for each set of three consecutive Nucleotides in the Genome, follow the corresponding instructions in the rule “Codons”.
  • Add a random Nucleotide to the beginning of the Genome.
  • For each Genetic Engineer whose non-empty Hypothesis is a subsequence of the Genome, increase their Understanding by N-3, where N is the length of their Hypothesis, and set their Hypothesis to empty.
  • For each Genetic Engineer with a Status of Injured who is in the Medlab, set their Status to Healthy.

Mutations

Mutation Cost Requirements
Change the Nucleotide at a specified position in the Genome to a different Nucleotide 0 None
Pick two distinct specified locations in the Genome and swap the two Nucleotides at those positions with each other 1 None
Insert any valid Nucleotide directly before a specified position in the Genome 2 Must be in the Computer Lab

When performing a Mutation, the Cost of that Mutation is increased by 1 for that performance if the changes caused by that performance would result in a Codon that has an Effect becoming a Codon with no Effect.

Codons

The following table lists sequences of three Nucleotides (known as Codons), along with their corresponding effect when the Synthesize action is performed. If a Codon does not appear in the table, it is considered to have no effect.

Codon Effect
ACT Add a new Organism to a random Containment Cell. The Genetic Engineers (if any) who most recently caused a Mutation in this Codon gain 1 Research Point each if they are in the Computer Room, 2 Research Points each if they are in any Room whose name starts with “Containment Cell” in which there is at least 1 Organism, and 0 Research Points otherwise..
ACC Move each Organism to a random Room connected to its current Position (excluding all Rooms with the word “Airlock” or “Freezer” in their names).
CGA Randomly select an Organism, then add 1 to its Stage if it is legal to do so
ATC For each Room where the total Stages of all Organisms in that Room exceeds the number of Genetic Engineers in that Room, set the Status of all Genetic Engineers in that Room to Injured.

Some Codons may be assigned to one or more Rooms, Organisms, and/or Genetic Engineers. There is a publicly tracked table that lists all such assignments.

Research Points

Each Genetic Engineer has a publicly tracked number of Research Points, defaulting to 0.

Each Genetic Engineer has a publicly tracked number of Understanding, defaulting to 0.

The Laboratory

The map of the Laboratory

The Laboratory consists of a number of named Rooms. Each Genetic Engineer has a publicly tracked Position that is a Room in the Laboratory, defaulting to the Computer Room. A Genetic Engineer or an Organism who has a Position of a specific Room is said to be “in” that Room. Otherwise, they are not “in” that Room.

Each white-floored area on the map which is enclosed by a black wall and which also contains a text string is a Room, with the string as its name. The thin white rectangles with no text are Doors: if two Rooms both adjoin the same Door, then those two Rooms are Connected.

If they have not done so since the last time that the Synthesize action was performed, a Genetic Engineer may change their Position to any Room that they can trace a path of Connected Rooms to from their current Position, so long as:-

  • That path does not involve using both doors of the Personnel Airlock
  • That path does not involve using the door that connects the Materials Airlock to the Wet Lab (the hatch is too small)

Organisms

There is a publicly tracked list of Organisms, defaulting to an empty list. Each Organism has a Position that is a publicly tracked Room. When adding an Organism to the publicly tracked list, the name of the Organism should be the text “SGL-” following by a number generated from rolling DICE10000, repeating this roll until the resulting name does not match any in the existing Organisms list.

Evolution

Each Organism has a publicly tracked number named “Stage” which defaults to 1.

If an Organism’s Stage is at least 3, a dynastic action may not increase that Organism’s Stage unless that Organism’s Codon can be found in the Genome at the time the dynastic action is performed.

Hypotheses

Each Genetic Engineer has a Hypothesis which is privately tracked by the Head Researcher, which is either empty or a sequence of 4 or more Nucleotids and defaults to empty. As a virtual action, a Genetic Engineer may pay 1 Research Point to set their Hypothesis to any valid Hypothesis that is not a subsequence of the Genome.

Injuries

Each Genetic Engineer has a publicly tracked Status which defaults to Healthy and may be one of the following: Healthy, Injured. When a Genetic Engineer’s Status is Injured, they may not take any dynastic actions other than changing their Position to another Room.


Building Blocks

Building Blocks are rules that can be substituted in and out of the ruleset as needed, usually as a result of an Ascension Address. All rules in the Building Blocks section are ruletext.

Potential Building Blocks rules can be found at the Building Blocks page of the wiki. That page’s contents are not rulestext. When the contents of the Building Blocks page are referred to as ‘rules’ by the ruleset or by a votable matter, it should be assumed that said contents are being referred to as potential rules rather than actual rules.

When a Head Researcher specifies the Building Blocks rules in use for a new dynasty in an Ascension Address, they should specify (by name) the rules from the Building Blocks page that they would like to be included in this section of the ruleset. When a Dynastic Reset is performed, the Building Blocks rules selected in the most recent Ascension Address (if any) must be transcribed faithfully to this section of the ruleset, and any Building Blocks rules not so named in that Ascension Address must be removed from the Building Blocks section. Some rules on the Building Blocks page are listed as being Recommended; if the new Head Researcher makes no statement on Building Blocks rules to be included in their Ascension Address then the Recommended Building Blocks are considered to have been selected. There are currently no Recommended Building Blocks.

Virtual Actions

A Virtual Action is a type of action that the Head Researcher performs on behalf of a Genetic Engineer. A Genetic Engineer may initiate a virtual action by privately communicating to the Head Researcher their request to do so, along with any additional information needed to carry it out. The Head Researcher shall resolve the Virtual Action by performing the following Atomic Action:

  1. Determine whether the Virtual Action fails (if it does not fail, it is successful).
  2. If the action is successful, apply any specified effects on the gamestate and/or perform any specified actions on behalf of the Genetic Engineer.

If a Virtual Action fails, the Head Researcher should tell the Genetic Engineer why. A virtual action may fail for any of these reasons:

  • Some requirements/prerequisites to perform the action are not met.
  • The request does not contain all the information needed to resolve the action.
  • The request is unintelligible, or too vague to interpret unambiguously.
  • It would require the Head Researcher to do something they cannot do.
  • Any other reason specified by the action itself.

Except where otherwise stated by the ruleset, the Head Researcher must resolve all virtual actions in the order that they are received. A virtual action is considered to have occurred at the time it was resolved.

Until a virtual action is resolved, it is pending. A Genetic Engineer may cancel a pending Virtual Action by privately communicating to the Head Researcher their request to do so.

Appendix

Keywords

A keyword defined by a rule supersedes the normal English usage of the word. A keyword defined in this glossary supersedes that defined by a rule. (e.g. A rule specifying “bananas are blue” cannot be overruled by posting a dictionary definition or a photo of a banana, and a rule specifying “every day is Sunday” will be overruled by the glossary entry below.)

Imperatives

Can
“is able to”
Shall
“is required to”
Should
“is recommended that”

Time

Daily Action
If a game action is a Daily Action, each Genetic Engineer able to perform it may take that action once each day, but not more than once every ten hours.
Daily Communal Action
A Daily Communal Action is a Daily Action that can only be performed by one Genetic Engineer per day.
Day
References to a “day” as an entity rather than as a duration (e.g. “Sunday”, “The day after performing this action”, or “August 2nd”), unless otherwise stated, refer to a day beginning at and including 00:00:00 UTC, ending when the next day begins. It can never be 2 different days at the same instant.
Week
References to a week as an entity rather than as a duration (e.g. “At the beginning of each week”, or “already happened this week”), unless otherwise stated, refer to a period of time between the beginning of a Monday and the end of the following Sunday.
Weekly Action
If a game action is a Weekly Action, each Genetic Engineer able to perform it may take that action once each week, but not more than once every twenty-four hours.
Weekly Communal Action
A Weekly Communal action is a Weekly Action that can only be performed by one Genetic Engineer per week.

Other

Comment
A blog comment published to the BlogNomic weblog at blognomic.com
Core Proposal
A Proposal which mandates changes that, even if conditionally, are limited to the creation, deletion, and/or amendment of core rules and/or the glossary, and/or renaming, banning, and/or the granting or removing of Admin status from one or more Genetic Engineers.
Dice
References to “DICEX” or “YDICEX” refer to X-sided dice and Y amount of X-sided dice, rolled using the Dice Roller.
Dynastic Action
An action that is defined in the Dynastic rules.
Dynastic Proposal
A Proposal which mandates changes that, even if conditionally, are limited to the creation, deletion, and/or amendment of dynastic rules and/or gamestate defined by dynastic rules.
Effective Vote Comment (EVC)
A Genetic Engineer's Effective Vote Comment with respect to a given Votable Matter is that Genetic Engineer's Comment to that Votable Matter, if any, that contains that Genetic Engineer's Vote on that Votable Matter.
Commentary
When posting a blog entry, a Genetic Engineer may use the “Commentary or flavour text” field of the blog publishing form to add their own comments or description of their post. For the purposes of all other rules, such text is not considered to be part of the post.
Discord
The BlogNomic Discord can be accessed at https://discord.gg/J7kP9KuHQK and is also linked to on the sidebar. Genetic Engineers , as well as people who are not Genetic Engineers but are interested in learning more about BlogNomic, may join the Discord by clicking the button in the sidebar.
Discord Channel
A Discord Channel is any channel on the BlogNomic Discord in the BlogNomic Discussion category. All Genetic Engineers who are in the Discord should have the ability to access all of these channels. To reference a Discord Channel, use a hash (#) followed by the name of that channel (e.g. #random).
Flavour Text
If a part of the ruleset or gamestate is defined as being “flavour text”, it retains its context, but is not considered to have any meaning beyond being a string of characters. Genetic Engineers are not required to obey flavour text and may not perform any action defined by it, and any statements that flavour text makes about gamestate are ignored.
Gamestate
Any information which the Ruleset regulates the alteration of. All wiki pages that the rules and Building Blocks explicitly mention (except for the FAQ, the dynastic histories and discussion pages) and any images or Templates contained within (or indirectly invoked by Templates contained within) those Wiki Pages are assumed to be Gamestate.
Hiatus
If BlogNomic is on Hiatus, Dynastic Actions may not be taken (except where the rule defining the action explicitly requires it to be taken during Hiatus), and Proposals may not be submitted or Resolved. If multiple rules require BlogNomic to be on Hiatus at any given time, BlogNomic will continue to be on Hiatus until no rules require it.
Post
A blog post published to the BlogNomic weblog at blognomic.com
Quorum
Quorum of a subset of Genetic Engineers is half the number of Genetic Engineers in that subset, rounded down, plus one. If the word Quorum is used without qualifying which subset of Genetic Engineers it is referring to, it is referring to a Quorum of all Genetic Engineers.
Resolve/Resolution
If used in a context of a Votable Matter, the word “Resolve” means to perform the act, as an Admin, of enacting, failing, or marking illegal a Votable Matter. The world “Resolution” means then the act of doing so. If used in any other context, the meaning of both “Resolve” and “Resolution” is the standard English meaning of these words. The resolution of a votable matter is tracked by reference to its status in the blog post edit form. If otherwise legally applied, the application of any status through the blog post editing form is sufficient to consider that votable matter to have been correctly resolved, but a resolved votable matter should have the correct status wherever possible; if any admin believes that a resolved votable matter has an incorrect status then they may correct it.
Rule
Each individually numbered and titled block of text (using the wikimedia section heading formatting) of the Ruleset is a rule, including rules that are subrules of other rules; with the exception that the top-level headings defined as ‘sections’ in the rule “Ruleset and Gamestate” are considered sections but not rules themselves.
Sticky Post
A blog post where the “Make Entry Sticky” option has been enabled. Changing the state of this option is not considering altering or modifying the post with regards to the rules on Official Posts. The sticky status of posts should generally be left to the discretion of the Head Researcher.
Story Post
A Story Post is an entry in the “Story Post” category.
Subject
The “subject” of a blog entry is the part of the Title of an entry which is after the first colon. If the Title does not contain a colon, then the whole Title is the subject. Any entry whose subject is “” (i.e. an empty string) is not valid.
Seasonal Downtime
On the 24th, 25th and 26th of December, BlogNomic is on Hiatus. In addition, game actions defined by the core rules titled “Genetic Engineers” and “Victory and Ascension” (with the exception of Voting in DoVs) may not be taken.
Subrule
A subrule is a type of rule that is hierarchically ordered beneath another rule. Rules and proposals that refer to a rule do not also refer to its subrules, unless otherwise specified.
Table of Contents
The directory of section headings that is generated by the MediaWiki software for most pages in the wiki.
Uphold
To Uphold an illegal action is to retroactively declare the attempt to take it to have been successful, and to declare that all attempted game actions taken after it were attempted as if the Upheld action had been successful.
Vote
The word “Vote”, used as a noun, means a Vote that is cast in accordance with Rule “Votable Matters”. The word “Vote”, used as a verb, means the act of casting such a Vote.
Voting Icons
For use in voting, a check box http://blognomic.com/images/vote/for.gif shall represent a Vote FOR, an X http://blognomic.com/images/vote/against.gif shall represent a Vote AGAINST, a DEF http://blognomic.com/images/vote/imperial.gif shall represent a Vote of DEFERENTIAL, and a crossed-out circle http://blognomic.com/images/vote/seal.gif shall represent a vote to VETO.
Wiki
The BlogNomic Wiki at http://wiki.blognomic.com

Gamestate Tracking

Official Posts

Votable Matters and other official posts, as well as specific gamestate information, shall be tracked by the BlogNomic blog at http://blognomic.com. Any Genetic Engineer may post to the blog at any time, but may only make official posts to the blog when the Ruleset allows it. Posts following the format specified by a rule are considered official posts. Any single official post cannot be of two different types of official post unless a rule explicitly states otherwise. Dynastic rules cannot define posts in the “Call for Judgement” category to be a type of official post other than a Call for Judgement, and this restriction cannot be overridden by dynastic rules.

An official post may only be removed as allowed by the Ruleset. An official post may be altered by its author if it is less than 4 hours old and either no Genetic Engineer has commented on it or (if it is a Votable Matter) if all comments on it contain no voting icons; otherwise this can only be done as allowed by the Ruleset. However, despite this, official posts can never be changed from one category to another, or changed to be a different sort of official post, if they have been posted for more than fifteen minutes. The Admin processing an official post is allowed to append to the post to reflect its new status. Anything appended to a post in this way must be placed in the Admin field of the post, and the post’s Status must be changed to reflect its status. An official blog post that has the status of Enacted or Failed cannot change categories, except that a votable matter’s illegal resolution may be overturned. An official blog post’s status may never be altered except in accordance with the rules that define that official post.

A non-official post may not, through editing of the blog or otherwise, be changed into an official post, with the following two exceptions: Firstly, whilst a non-official post has been posted for less than fifteen minutes and has no comments, the author may change the categories as they wish. Secondly, if a post is less than six hours old and appears to the Head Researcher to have been intended as a Proposal, and if its author does not already have two Proposals pending, then the Head Researcher may move it into the Proposal category, causing it to be considered to have been open for voting since the time that the post was first posted.

Any post that is or is made illegal as a result of an infraction against any of the prohibitions set out in this rule, except for a votable matter’s illegal resolution that has been overturned, continues to be an Official Post but may no longer have any effect on the ruleset or the gamestate. If it is a Votable Matter then it is Unpopular, regardless of any other performance against criteria set out in the core rules. When it is resolved it may be marked as Illegal by the resolving admin. A post that is illegal in this manner cannot subsequently be made legal by any means, except for the legal enactment of a CFJ. An illegal CFJ cannot cause itself to become legal.

Representations of the Gamestate

If authorised by the rules as a result of a Genetic Engineer’s action, changes to gamestate which is tracked in a specific place (such as a wiki page) do not take effect until the representation of that gamestate has been updated to match the authorised change. One wiki update may contain one or more alterations, or one alteration may be split over multiple updates, as long as it is clear what is happening and the alterations are otherwise legal. The wiki merely represents the Gamestate tracked there, and is not the same thing. In the event that the Gamestate and its representations are different, any Genetic Engineer may correct the representations to comply with the Gamestate.

If a Genetic Engineer feels that a representation of the gamestate (such as a wiki page) does not match the gamestate, they may either:

  • Undo the effects of any alteration that led to it, if that alteration did not follow the rules at the time it was made.
  • Alter the representation to match what they believe to be the correct application of an incorrectly-applied alteration. This may include completing incomplete actions on behalf of the original Genetic Engineer, if doing so would not require the correcting Genetic Engineer to make any decisions on behalf of the original Genetic Engineer.

Instead of repeatedly reverting and re-reverting a disputed alteration, however, Genetic Engineers are encouraged to raise a Call for Judgement. The historical fact of the occurrence of a defined game action is itself considered to be gamestate, tracked in the history of whatever resource is used to track the gamestate modified by that action, where possible, or in the wiki page Gamestate Modifications if this is not possible.

Orphan Variables

An Orphan Variable is a dynastic gamestate variable which has neither a location in which it’s tracked, nor a reasonable manner in which it can be determined from other gamestate variables, specified in the Ruleset.

A Genetic Engineer may not take any dynastic actions that are contingent on the specific value of an Orphan Variable.

Random Generators

The Dice Roller at https://blognomic.com/dice/roll.php can be used to generate random results.

  • The DICEN command can be used to generate a random number between 1 and N.
  • The FRUIT command will return a random result from the following options: Lemon, Orange, Kiwi, Grape, Cherry, Tangelo.
  • The COLOUR (or COLOR) command will return a random result from the following: White, Red, Green, Silver, Yellow, Turquoise, Magenta, Orange, Purple, Black.
  • The CARD command will return a card with a random suit (either Hearts, Diamonds, Spades or Clubs) and a random value (either Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King). A card with a value that is either Jack, Queen or King is a face card.
  • A list of comma-separated values in curly brackets (eg {x,y}) will return one of the values at random.

Any changes to the potential outcomes of the Dice Roller’s random result commands must be made by Votable Matter.

If a Votable Matter proposes a change to this rule that would require server-level access to the BlogNomic site to fully enact its effects, that Votable Matter must name a Genetic Engineer with such access. Only a Genetic Engineer with such access may Enact that Votable Matter. If that Votable Matter does not name a Genetic Engineer with such access, that Votable Matter is Illegal.

If a number or other game variable is selected “at random” or “randomly” from a range of possible values, its value shall always be taken from a uniform probability distribution over the entire range of possible values, unless otherwise specified. This value must be determined by an appropriate roll in the Dice Roller, unless otherwise specified, and which value the roll result corresponds to must be reasonably inferable from the nature of the roll and any comments supplied by the Genetic Engineer making the roll before or while making the roll. If a selection is explicitly specified as being “secretly” random, the Genetic Engineer making this determination may do so using a private method of their choosing, instead of the Dice Roller.

Atomic Actions

An Atomic Action combines otherwise separate game actions into a single action.

  • All steps of an Atomic Action are considered one action, including the steps of an Atomic Action that is itself a step of a parent Atomic Action.
  • When a Genetic Engineer performs an Atomic Action, they must complete all its steps; they must complete them in order; and they may not take any other dynastic action, or achieve victory, until all the steps are complete.
  • If a rule allows the Genetic Engineer performing an Atomic Action to skip some of its steps, the skipped steps are considered to have been completed.
  • If a Genetic Engineer arrives at a step in an Atomic Action and they cannot perform that step, they undo all the steps they have performed of that Action and are considered never to have performed that Action.
  • If one or more steps of an Atomic Action were done incorrectly, the Genetic Engineer must redo the Atomic Action; for that purpose, the Genetic Engineer uses any legal steps that have already been completed in the illegal Atomic Action and only redoes the illegal ones. (For example, if an Atomic Action consists of rolling a dice and then doing steps based upon its result, the Genetic Engineer would have to reroll the dice only if they rolled the wrong one in the first place, and would then have to repeat any steps that depended upon the result of that dice; however, if they rolled the dice correctly but took an illegal step later on, the result of the original dice roll would still be used in the redone step.)
  • For the purposes of determining the ordering or legality of game actions, the time of an Atomic Action shall be the time that it is completed. For Atomic Actions that are redone, the time of completion is the last redone step.

Clarifications

Numbers and Variables

  • If a set of valid values is not specified in their definition, game variables defined to hold numeric values can hold only non-negative integers. Any action that would set those values below zero is an illegal action unless explicitly otherwise stated in the Ruleset.
  • Any situation which would require a roll of DiceX when X is zero or lower always yields a value of 0 unless stated otherwise.
  • All numbers, unless stated otherwise by a rule, are in base ten.
  • Unless otherwise specified, to “spend,” “pay” or “lose” an amount X of a numeric value “V” means to subtract X from V; to “gain” X of a numeric value “V” means to add X to V; and to “transfer” or “pay” X of a numeric value “V” from A to B means to subtract X from A’s V and add X to B’s V. Unless otherwise specified, only positive amounts can be spent, paid, lost, gained, or transferred, a Genetic Engineer can spend or pay from only their own values, and a rule that allows Genetic Engineers to transfer or pay a numeric value to another Genetic Engineer only allows them to transfer that value from themselves to that other Genetic Engineer (of their choice unless otherwise stated).
  • If a Dynastic Action is defined as having a cost X of numeric value V, or defines a requirement to spend, pay, or lose X of numeric value V to accomplish an effect or multiple effects, then the arithmetic effects of spending or payment and the act of carrying out those effects are considered to be subsequent steps in an Atomic Action, with the spending or payment step taking place before the effects step unless stated otherwise.
  • A Genetic Engineer who has a choice in whether to take an action defined by a dynastic rule may not take that action if both of the following conditions are true: a) the action’s effects are limited to changing values tracked in gamestate-tracking entities (such as a wiki page), and b) the action would change one or more of those values to an illegal value.
  • If a rule implies that the result of any calculation should be an integer (for instance, by attempting to store that result in, or add it to, a gamestate variable that can only hold integers), the result of the calculation is instead the result rounded towards 0.
  • If a game variable has a default value but no defined starting value, then its default value should also be considered a starting value. If a game variable has neither a default value nor a starting value, then both may be considered to be the nearest legal value to zero that it may take (for numerical variables, defaulting to positive if tied), blank (for a text string or list that may be blank), the alphabetically earliest legal text string it may take (for a text string which may not be blank, with the digits 0 through 9 considered to precede “A”), or the list which is alphabetically earliest from the set of lists with the fewest elements (for lists which may not be blank, and considering each list to be a single unpunctuated text string, with the digits 0 through 9 considered to precede “A”). For the purposes of this bullet point, the names of Genetic Engineers are not considered to be legal values for game variables, nor for list items within game variables.
  • If the rules that define a game variable are amended, and some previously valid values become invalid as a consequence, any existing variables whose current values would become invalid are instead set to their starting value.
  • Invalid values for game variables can never be used, even if the values stored in a gamestate-tracking entity remain valid. (for example, if X appears in a formula referring to a value that is a non-negative integer, X must be used as a non-negative integer)
  • DICEN cannot be rolled in the Dice Roller if N is greater than one million.
  • If a piece of information is described as being tracked secretly or privately by the Head Researcher (including secretly random selections), then that information may only be revealed by the Head Researcher when the ruleset allows it. If a Genetic Engineer should already know such a piece of information (in that the Head Researcher has already told them it, or vice versa, and there is no way that the information could have been changed since then), the Head Researcher may repeat it to them.
  • A range of numerical values stated to be “between” one value and another value is treated as an inclusive range unless otherwise explicitly stated.

Rules and Votable Matters

  • If a new rule is created by a Votable Matter and its location is not noted in that Votable Matter, that new rule is to be placed in the Dynastic Rules.
  • If a wiki page becomes gamestate as a result of a Votable Matter enacting, that page shall – unless otherwise specified – be reverted to whatever state it was in at the time of that Votable Matter’s submission (and if the page did not exist at that time, it shall be blanked).
  • Where a Votable Matter would amend the effects of Votable Matter Enactment, this does not apply to its own enactment unless explicitly stated (e.g. a Votable Matter proposing that enacted Votable Matters earn their author a banana when enacted would not earn a banana for its own author, when enacted).
  • Rules which trigger upon the Resolution of a Votable Matter are the responsibility of the Admin who Resolves it.
  • Unless otherwise specified, a new Dynastic rule shall be placed at the end of the Dynastic Rules.
  • If a dynastic rule has no text and no subrules, any Genetic Engineer may delete it from the ruleset.
  • A rule may be accompanied by one or more illustrations, and an illustration may have a caption. In all situations, unless otherwise explicitly stated, an illustration and a caption to an illustration must be treated as flavour text.
  • When the ruleset calls for the use of a specific tool (such as the dice roller, or an off-domain website, or a specific piece of downloadable software), Genetic Engineers may not deliberately interfere with the function of that tool except in ways explicitly permitted by the ruleset.
  • If the Head Researcher has voted DEFERENTIAL on a Proposal, they are not considered to be a Genetic Engineer for the purposes of totaling quorum on that Proposal. Votes of DEFERENTIAL made by other Genetic Engineers on the same Proposal are not considered to be valid, but the Genetic Engineers who made them still contribute to quorum

Time

  • For the purpose of all rules, time in BlogNomic is in UTC.
  • All references to time must be either specific or defined within the Ruleset to be considered achievable in the gamestate. Abstract concepts of time (e.g. “dinnertime”, “twilight”) cannot be achieved until they fulfil one of these criteria.
  • Where the month, day and/or year of a calendar date are ambiguous (e.g. “04/10/09”), it shall be assumed that the date is in a day/month/year format.
  • A Genetic Engineer may not take more than one dynastic game action at the same time (excluding any actions which have been ongoing for more than three hours).

Spelling and formatting

  • Superficial differences between the spelling of geographic versions of English, e.g. British English, American English and Australian English shall be construed as irrelevant for the purposes of play.
  • Genetic Engineers may correct obvious spelling, punctuation, and/or typographical mistakes in the Ruleset, the Building Blocks page, and their own Pending Votable Matters at any time, including replacing Spivak and gender-specific pronouns that refer to Genetic Engineers with the corresponding forms of the singular “they”.
  • A Genetic Engineer may reformat a list of items in the dynastic ruleset to have bullet points or other appropriate list markup, if doing so would not change the order of that list, nor how any rules interpreted its content.
  • A Genetic Engineer may change the layout or design of a gamestate wiki page if doing so would not change how any rules interpreted its content.

Names

  • Within the Ruleset, a word only refers to the name of a Genetic Engineer if it is explicitly stated that it refers to a Genetic Engineer's name.
  • If a rule would ever have no name, it is instead given the name of the Votable Matter that created it, or (if this is not possible) the name “Unnamed Rule”.
  • The names of rules and wiki pages (other than the Ruleset) are flavour text.
  • Subrules can be referred to by a name which incorporates name of the rule they are a subrule of. Example: a subrule of the rule “Gin” is a “Gin Rule”, however the rule “Gin” is not a “Gin Rule” because it’s not a subrule of the rule “Gin”.
  • When referring to a Votable Matter, the name used in reference to a specific Votable Matter may be simplified by not including braces and any text between the opening and closing braces. i.e. a Votable Matter named “Changes [Core]” could instead be referred to by the name “Changes”.
  • When referring to a Rule, the name used in reference to a specific Rule may be simplified by not including braces and any text between a pair of opening and closing braces, as long as such a reference would be unambiguous.
  • Where a Votable Matter refers to a second Votable Matter by name, it is assumed to refer to the most recently posted Votable Matter of that name which pre-dates the first Votable Matter.
  • When changing their name or joining the game for the first time, a Genetic Engineer's (or prospective Genetic Engineer's ) new name must be between 3 and 30 characters in length, and may only include the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, numbers, underscores, hyphens, full stops and apostrophes.

Prioritisation

  • If two parts of the Ruleset contradict each other, precedence shall be construed in the following order:
  1. The Appendix has precedence over any other Rule;
  2. If a Core Rule explicitly says it cannot be overruled by a Dynastic Rule, that Core Rule has precedence over a Dynastic Rule, otherwise a Dynastic Rule has precedence over that Core Rule;
  3. If a Building Blocks Rule explicitly says that it cannot be overruled by a Dynastic Rule, that Building Blocks Rule has precedence over a Dynastic Rule, otherwise a Dynastic Rule has equal precedence as that Building Blocks Rule;
  4. If two contradicting parts have equal precedence, the part with more limited scope applies (e.g. if the rules “Genetic Engineers may Kick each other” and “Genetic Engineers may not Kick each other on Tuesdays” exist, and it is Tuesday, Genetic Engineers may not Kick each other);
  5. If two contradicting parts have the same scope, or have scopes that only overlap where they contradict each other, the negative rule applies (e.g. with “Genetic Engineers may Punch a Spaceman on Friday” and “Genetic Engineers may not Punch Spacemen on Friday”, then Genetic Engineers may not Punch Spacemen on Friday).

Mentors

A Genetic Engineer may have another Genetic Engineer as a Mentor. Genetic Engineers who are willing to act as a Mentor are listed on the Mentorships wiki page, and are said to be “Tenured”. An Admin may add or remove their own name, or the name of a Genetic Engineer who has requested a change on their own behalf, from this list at any time. The Mentorships page is also used to list the names of players who are prohibited from becoming Tenured; this list may only be amended by the effect of a votable matter.

If an unmentored Genetic Engineer requests a Mentor, or a new Genetic Engineer has joined the game and has no Mentor, the Head Researcher should select a Tenured Genetic Engineer and ask them to take that Genetic Engineer on as a Mentee; if they accept, then such a Mentorship is established. The members and starting dates of all active Mentorships are tracked on the Mentorships wiki page, and whenever a new Mentorship is established, the Head Researcher should announce it in a blog post. The Head Researcher should take care to consider game balance when selecting a potential mentor.

A relationship between a mentor and a mentee is a Mentorship. A Genetic Engineer may dissolve a Mentorship they are part of at any time, by announcing this in a blog post.

If there is no Head Researcher, any Genetic Engineer who has been active in at least three previous dynasties may act as Head Researcher for the purposes of this rule.

Things that a mentor must do

A mentor must do the following:

  • Make pro-active contact with their mentee when appointed, and explain the dynamics of the Mentorship system;
  • Be available to answer any questions that their mentee may have about the game, including explaining the rules, common standards and etiquette of play, proofreading posts and clarifying game events;
  • Introduce their mentee to the various platforms of the game, including the wiki and Dice Roller, and optionally the game’s Discord and social media feeds
  • If possible, give their mentee a nudge if it appears that they are at risk of becoming Idle;
  • If they themselves go idle, communicate with their mentee to either continue to support them as an idle Genetic Engineer or arrange a handover to another mentor if requested.

Things that a mentor should do

The following sets out suggested best practice for Mentorship relationships:

  • The Mentorship lasts for four weeks or until the next Ascension Address, whichever occurs latest. It can continue informally for longer but after this threshold the mentor is no longer bound by any of the conditions set out in the parent rule to this rule, or any of its subrules.
  • The mentor can and should advise the mentee on how to proceed in the mentee’s own best interests. This can include making connections with other Genetic Engineers .
  • The mentor should consider copying the mentee in on private, game-related communications, where it does not unfairly prejudice their own interests. The mentee should keep this information private without explicit consent from the mentor.
  • The mentor and mentee may work together to achieve victory. If a mentor achieves victory with support of their mentee then they should, if the mentee wishes it, pass the baton to the mentee.

Things that a mentor should not do

The following sets out a list of things that a mentor should not do in their relationship with their mentee. All of these are considered to be Fair Play rules, as per the rule Fair Play.

  • The mentor should not sock-puppet, bully, coerce or otherwise manipulate the mentee into performing any game actions.
  • The mentor should not seek to dissuade the mentee from pursuing other alliances.
  • A former mentor should not seek to use the fact of a prior Mentorship to influence the former mentee on an ongoing basis.

Synonyms

A dynasty may provide extra theming by using alternative terms for words like “Genetic Engineer” and “Head Researcher”.

Each term in this list is synonymous with the term in parentheses

  • Genetic Engineer (Player)
  • Head Researcher (Emperor)

When a new Dynasty is started, the Ascension Address may specify new terms for each entry in the above list, provided the newly chosen term does not appear anywhere in the Building Blocks page or the ruleset outside of this rule (though if it only appears in rules which are being removed as part of the Ascension Address, it is fine), and that doing so would not cause two terms in the above list to become synonymous with each other. Doing so causes the old corresponding value (including regional spelling variations) to be replaced by the new value everywhere in the ruleset except in any of the parentheses in the above list.