Ruleset 25

Forgive the poor formatting, this has just been pasted from another wiki with no accessible source code. Also, this may not be the very final version of the ruleset.

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1 - Ruleset and Gamestate

This is the Ruleset for BlogNomic; all Crewmembers must obey it. Rules 1-9 are the "core Ruleset", covering basic Crewmember and proposal mechanics; Rules 10 onwards are those specific to the current round.

The Ruleset and Gamestate can only be changed when a Rule specifically permits their being changed. ("Gamestate" is defined as any information which the Ruleset regulates the alteration of, such as Crewmember's names and the blog colour scheme.)

Spivak pronouns, as defined in the Glossary, shall be used throughout the Ruleset, whenever a Cremember is referred.

Admin Staff may correct obvious spelling and typographical mistakes in the Ruleset at any time.

2 - Crewmembers

Anybody may apply to join BlogNomic (if e is not already playing) by contacting any of the Admin Staff, specifying the name e wishes to use in the game and the URL or email address e wants eir name to link to in the Crewmember roster. The Admin may choose to approve or reject this application; if it is approved, the applicant will be signed up as a Member of the BlogNomic weblog, and will be considered a Crewmember from the moment that e first appears on the roster in the sidebar.

A Crewmember may change eir name or eir sidebar link, or leave the game, at any time, by posting an entry to the BlogNomic weblog requesting such action.

Some Crewmembers are Admin Staff, responsible for updating the site and the Ruleset, and are signified as such in the sidebar. Crewmembers who wish to become Admin should sign up with a username for the Ruleset Wiki, and submit a Proposal to make themselves Admins. Existing Admins may be removed from their post by Proposal, CfJ or voluntary resignation.

Some Crewmembers are idle, and should be marked as such in the sidebar. For the purposes of rules other than 1 and 2, idle Crewmembers are not counted as Crewmembers. Admin may render a Crewmember idle if that Crewmember has failed to vote for more than a week, or if it has asked to become idle. Admins may un-idle a Crewmember at eir request - the Crewmember's personal gamestate retains the values it had immediately prior to eir idling.

A single person may not control more than one Crewmember within BlogNomic. If anybody is suspected of controlling more than one Crewmember, then a Proposal may be made to remove any number of such Crewmember from the game, and to bar the perpetrator from rejoining.

3 - Proposals

Any Crewmember may propose a change to the Ruleset or gamestate by posting an entry with the subject "Proposal : [Title]" (where [Title] is a title of eir choosing), and describes the changes e wishs to be made.

Proposals can either be Pending, Enacted, Failed or Expired. When a Proposal is first put forward, it is considered Pending.

No ostensible Proposal shall be legal if its posting leads to its poster having more than 2 Proposals pending. Furthermore, no Crewmember may post more than 3 Proposals in the same day.

4 - Voting

Any Crewmember may cast eir vote on a Pending Proposal by declaring it in the comments of the entry. Valid votes are FOR, AGAINST, and DEFERENTIAL, which must be represented by appropriate icons. If there exists more than one Vote from a single Crewmember on a single Proposal, only the most recent of those Votes is counted. If a Crewmember leaves the game or goes idle, eir Vote no longer counts.

A vote of DEFERENTIAL is a vote of no opinion, or of faith in the decision of the Computer. The vote will count as the same as the Computers's vote. The Computer cannot cast a vote of DEFERENTIAL. If there is no Computer, a vote of DEFERENTIAL counts as an explicit vote of abstention.

If the Crewmember who made a Proposal has not cast an explicit Vote on it, eir Vote is counted as FOR.

5 - Enactment

Quorum is equal to half the number of Crewmembers, rounded down, plus one.

If the oldest pending Proposal's FOR votes exceed or equal Quorum and that Proposal has been open for voting for at least 12 hours, or if it is more than 48 hours old and more than half of its votes are FOR, then any Admin Staff may mark that Proposal as Enacted, then update the Ruleset and/or Gamestate to include the specified effects of that Proposal.

If the oldest pending Proposal has enough AGAINST votes that it could not be Enacted without one of those votes being changed, or if all Crewmembers have voted on it and it still cannot be Enacted, or if the Crewmember who proposed it has voted AGAINST it, or if it is more than 48 hours old and most of its votes are AGAINST, then any Admin Staff may mark that Proposal as Failed. When the proposer votes against his or her own proposal, that vote may not be changed.

whenever an admin marks a proposal as enacted or failed e must report the following information on the proposal: 1) the final tally of for to against votes, or whether the proposal was self-killed or vetoed 2) the time of enactment or failure 3) the identity of the enacting or failing admin

6 - Calls for Judgment

If two or more Crewmembers actively disagree as to the interpretation of the Ruleset, or if a Crewmember feels that an aspect of the game needs urgent attention, then any Crewmember may raise a Call for Judgment by posting an anonymous entry (via the blogger account that is specifically designated for CFJs) which begins with the paragraph "Call for Judgment" in bold text, and goes on to describe the issue, and measures that should be taken to resolve it.

All Crewmembers may add votes of agreement or disagreement in comments to this entry, using appropriate voting icons (a Crewmember's later votes overriding its earlier ones). CfJs continue until they reach a quorum of FOR votes, or until four days have passed. After this time, if more than half of the cast votes are in favour, the Gamestate and Ruleset should be amended as was specified. Otherwise, the CfJ fails and may have no further effect.

The name of the CFJ blogger account is: CallforJudgment? and it's password is: blognomic

7 - Gamestate Tracking

Proposals, Calls for Judgment, and other official posts, as well as specific gamestate information, shall be tracked by the BlogNomic blog at http://blognomic.blogspot.com. Any Crewmember 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.

If nobody else has commented on it, an official post may be altered or removed; otherwise this can only be done as allowed by the ruleset. 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 formatted

[data]

, where [result] is one of enact, fail, veto, or other.

A non-official post may not through editing of the blog be changed into an official post.

Voting and comments are tracked by backblog, accessible through the link at the bottom of every post.

Specific parts of the Gamestate data shall be tracked by the Generic Nomic Data Tracker at http://kevan.org/generic?nomic=blog. Any Crewmember may update any Crewmember's data via the GNDT, whenever the Ruleset permits it.

All updates to the GNDT are logged - if a Crewmember feels that an alteration goes against the Rules (as they were at the time of the alteration), e may simply undo the effects of that alteration. If such an undoing is disputed, a Call for Judgment should be raised.

Crewmembers shall be assigned a password for the GNDT when they join the Nomic.

8 - Dynasties

BlogNomic is divided into a number of Rounds, referred to as Dynasties.

Each Dynasty has a single Computer and is named according to the number of times which that Crewmember has been the Computer (or Computer equivalent) (eg. "The First Dynasty of Myke").

The Computer has the following powers:

• E may veto any Proposal; that Proposal immediately fails. (This veto may be contested with a CfJ if it is thought excessively unreasonable.)
• E may change the BlogNomic header, the colour scheme and the VETO icon, whenever e likes.

If there is no Computer, any Crewmember may propose a new header, color scheme, and/or VETO icon. If such a proposal passes, the changes will be made by any Admin.

A page of Dynasty Records are kept on a separate weblog, recording events that took place during past Dynasties, noting their themes, their Computer or equivalent, interesting rules, large arguments, the winning move, etc. A Dynasty record must accurately reflect the Dynasty it refers to. Crewmembers may submit Dynasty Records to the Computer.

9 - Victory and Ascension

If a Crewmember believes that e has achieved the victory conditions for the current Dynasty, e may post a Declaration of Victory to the BlogNomic weblog. At this point, BlogNomic immediately goes into Hiatus, during which no further game actions (other than Calls for Judgment, and all relevant actions specified in Rule 6) may be taken.

Every Crewmember may respond to the Declaration of Victory saying whether e regards it as legal or illegal (using the FOR, AGAINST and DEFERENTIAL icons). If more than half of Crewmember consider the win legal, then the poster of the Declaration is considered to have officially won the Dynasty - the Dynasty ends. If more than half consider it illegal, and if no CfJs remain pending, however, then the Hiatus ends and the current Dynasty continues. If no clear decision is reached after 24 hours, the Computer may optionally step in and decide the win's legality.

When a Dynasty has been won, all Crewmember's GNDT stats are reset to zero or blank. Any Crewmembers who were idle throughout that Dynasty may be removed from the game, at the Computers's discretion.

The Hiatus then continues until the new Computer posts an Ascension Address to the BlogNomic weblog - this should specify the Computer's chosen theme for the new round, and may optionally include a proclamation that any number of Rules will be repealed (excluding Rules 1-9), and/or that the words "Crewmember" and "Computer" will be replaced with new theme-appropriate terms. If the new Computer chooses not to repeal a rule with number over 9, e may also replace any keyword in those rules with a new theme-appropriate term. The remaining rules, after the new Computers's proclamation, shall be renumbered to keep a sequential progression. The new Computer may also proclaim at the Ascension Address the veto of any Pending Proposals. The failure of said proposals shall incur no Props penalty for the proposer.

Upon posting this Address, and having made the Ruleset changes, the Hiatus period ends and the new Dynasty commences.

The Computer may not declare victory in his or her own dynasty.

Rule 10 - The Crew

The word Crew may be used to indicate the set of all Crewmembers.

Unless otherwise specified, the computer is not a Crewmember. The computer Is a Crewmember for Rules 1 through 9.

Crew Members are (in descending order of vitality) either Healthy, Stunned, Wounded or Dead. This is tracked by the GNDT's UCSRS[6].

If a Crew Member is Stunned, e may not move between Locations. If a Crew Member becomes Wounded or Dead, eir Daily Points are reduced to zero.

If a Crew Member becomes Stunned, Wounded or Dead eir current Action is set to "-" and eir Action Points are reduced to zero.

Rule 11 - Buttons, Levers, inter alia

Currently, there are five types of mechanisms with which Crewmembers may operate the various machinery on the ship. Each mechanism has a corresponding action which a Crewmember must perform in order for the machine to work. Those mechanisms and their corresponding actions are described below:

1) Buttons - Push 2) Levers - Pull 3) Knobs - Turn 4) Switches - Flip 5) Any mechanism - Lock

Each machine on the ship must be equipped with at least of one of the mechanisms. A Crewmember may only perform one action at a given time.

A Crewmember may spend 1 Action Point to change his or her 'Actions' Field. Setting the 'Actions' field to null (no action) does not require a point to be spent.

An Action of "Lock" may only be performed by a Crewmember of the Delta Service Group. While this Action is being done Machinery at that Location does not respond to other Actions.

Rule 12 - Locations

Each Crewmember is considered to be present in a Location, which is tracked by the GNDT. When a Crewmember is allowed to move, e may do so by updating the GNDT field accordingly. The Computer is omnipresent.

There are several Locations, as follows:

• Bridge (Deck 1)
• Corridors (Deck 1)
• Viewing Bay (Deck 1)

• Briefing Room (Deck 2)
• Corridors (Deck 2)
• Sickbay (Deck 2)
• Ambulatory (Deck 2)
• Teleport Chamber (Deck 2)

• Bar (Deck 3)
• Corridors (Deck 3)
• Crew Dorms (Deck 3)
• Mess Hall (Deck 3)

• Corridors (Deck 4)
• Engineering (Deck 4)
• Escape Pod (Deck 4)

• Cargo Bay 1 (Deck 5)
• Cargo Bay 2 (Deck 5)
• Cell (Deck 5)
• Corridors (Deck 5)
• Holodeck (Deck 5)
• Security Post(Deck 5)

No game action may be taken that would cause the Escape Pod to contain more than three Crewmembers.

The decks are considered to be stacked one above the other, with Deck 1 being the topmost, Deck 2 the next one and so on, until Deck 5 being the bottommost.

Every Location is adjacent to all other Locations in the same Deck. If the Lifts are working, the Corridors on a deck are adjacent to the Corridors on all other decks.

A Crewmember may spend 1 Action Point to move to any Location adjacent to eir current one, unless e is in the Cell or in the Ambulatory.

New Crewmembers start in the Briefing Room.

Rule 13 - The Computer Is Never Wrong

Every Crew Member, including the Computer, has a Logic rating, tracked in the GNDT. This may be any integer value from -60 to 60. New Crew Members start with a Logic rating of 15.

A Crewmember or Computer with a negative Logic rating has Space Madness.

Rule 14 - Vocal Folds

A Crewmember may spend 1 Action Point to issue a Command to the Computer, this is done by making a post to the blog with a title that is a Command Phrase defined in the ruleset, and Command Parameters in the body of the post which follow the proper format defined for that Command.

The Computer must respond to the Command before taking any other game actions. The Computer must respond with "affirmative", "negative", or "error" (which can be represented by using the voting icons FOR, AGAINST or DEFERENTIAL, respectively). The Computer may also be required to respond with specific game actions, as indicated by the ruleset for that Command.

At any time the Computer may suspend Computer Access for all Crewmembers, by posting with the title "ACCESS DENIED". All pending Commands may be ignored until such time as the Computer posts with the title "ACCESS RESTORED" whereupon all pending Commands must be processed in order, or they must all be deleted from the Command Buffer (which is indicated by responding to each with a Veto icon).

If a Command allows the Computer to alter the Ruleset or the Gamestate in any manner, the Computer can only do so after announcing, in the main page, the altering. This announce is done by marking the post with the command as if it were an enacted Proposal, as specified in Rule 5 - Enactment. Within that marking, the Computer must also include an abstract, in italic type, of the alterations to be made.

Rule 15 - Data Banks

The Command Phrase is ">QUERY#", where "#" is a unique reference number, and the Command Parameters consist of a single question.

In its response, if the Computer responded "affirmative" or "negative", then it must also include a statement answering the question asked, and optionally announcing changes to the Ruleset as a result of this statement (which must be enacted by the Computer as part of the response). These changes are limited to the addition, removal and alteration of Machinery and Locations. If the Computer responded to the Query with an "error", then both the Computer and the querying Cremember must have their Logic rating lowered by 1.

A log of all Queries and their responses shall be kept in the QueryLog Wiki page; this needn't be updated as part of the response, and may be maintained by any Admin Crew Members.

Rule 16 - Machinery

The Caine is fitted with an extensive range of grey-plastic flashing-light Machinery, as listed below - each piece of Machinery may be found in one or more Locations around the ship, as specified. Even if listed in more than one Location, the Machinery is still considered to be only one, for effects of use limitations. If a Crew Member's Action corresponds to a piece of Machinery in eir Location, then e is considered to be using that Machinery, with effects specified. Machinery which is Damaged may not be used.

• Biological Sample Stasis Pods [Cargo Bay 2] Any Crewmember who is Pulling the Levers on the pods may attempt to open a pod by posting a comment to the GNDT stating 'Biosample Release DICEX' where X is either eir Logic score plus five, or 5, whichever is higher. On a result of two-thirds, rounded up, of X, or greater, the pod opens, and the sample is released. On a result of 2 or less, the pod malfunctions, and the sample dies. On any other result, nothing happens. A Crewmember who is Pushing the Buttons on the pods may run a Query through Howard to obtain the status of the sample or lifeform contained within the pod, without spending an extra Action Point.

• Command Unit [Bridge] The Command Unit is a fancy console mounted in some central location in the infrastructure on the Bridge, and is used to issue orders to the Crew and to the Caine's Service Robots.

     A Crewmember in the Bridge may spend an Action Point to manipulate the Command Unit by pushing its Buttons.

     A Crewmember pushing the Buttons on the Command Unit may spend two additional Action Points to order a Service Robot into to the Bridge. The Crewmember making this order must post the comment "Service Robot R### to the Bridge: DICE20" to the GNDT to check against his or her logic. The serial number R### must be not be the number of a Service Robot already in play--if it is, then the two points are spent and there is no effect.

     If the DICE20 check is strictly higher than the Crewmember's Logic score, then the two Action Points are spent and there is no effect.If the DICE20 check is lower than or equal to the Crewmember's Logic score, then that Crewmember may post the comment "Service Robot R### to the Bridge" to the front page, and any administrator may add that Service Robot to the GNDT at convenience. 

• Console [Bridge] The Console is a smallish I/O unit that the Crewmembers can use to access internal diagnostic functions as well as change a few of the voluntary ship settings.

     Any Crewmember may attempt to use the Console by Pushing its Buttons and posting a comment "Access Console: DICE50" to the GNDT to check against the Logic score. If the DICE50 is strictly greater than that Crewmember's Logic score, then that Action Point is spent and there is no further effect.

     If the DICE50 check is lower than or equal to the Crewmember's Logic score, then that Crewmember is considered to have successfully accessed the Console and may use the functions below without making another Logic check that day as long as e remains in the Briefing Room and keep the Action "Pushing".

     If any Crewmember in the Viewing Bay has the Action 'Pulling', then a Crewmember who has successfully accessed the Console may change the Action of the 'Pulling' Crewmember to 'No Action', in essence closing the Viewing Bay window through the Console. 

• Crewmember Detention Field [Security Post] A Crewmember belonging to the Epsilon Service Group may release any Crewmembers of eir choice from the Cell by pulling the Levers of the Crewmember Detention Field. A Crewmember is released by changing eir Location from Cell to Security Post.

• Hidden Speakers [Briefing Room] The Hidden Speakers are currently playing 'Brandenburg Concertos' by Johannes Sebastian Bach. The Computer may change this music at any time.

• Interdimensional Transporter [Cargo Bay 1] The Interdimensional Transporter appears to be a nondescript structural panel in a dark corner of Cargo Bay 1, adjoining a small metal platform with an inscribed circular pattern. Crewmembers with Space Madness can hear subtle whisperings, wheezings, and mechanical scrapings while inside Bay 1. Closer inspection of said panel under bright light reveals nothing outside of the ordinary.If a Crewmember is Flipping the Switches on the Interdimensional Transporter, nothing happens.If the Caine is in non-Euclidean space, then the Computer may change the rules regarding the Interdimensional Transporter at any time after posting a notice on the front page to that effect.

• Insta-Brain-o-Matic [Sickbay] Any Crewmember who is pulling the levers on the Insta-Brain-o-Matic may switch service groups if: ey have have not already attempted to do so in the last week; ey post a GNDT comment "Insta-Brain-o-Matic: G DICEX DICE5" where G is the service group ey wish to switch to and X is eir Logic; the result of eir DICEX roll is 20 or greater; and the result of DICE5 is not 5.

     If the result of the DICEX roll is less than 20 the attempt to generate a new brain fails. If the result of the DICE5 roll is 5, a brain is generated successfully but the operation is not successful and the Crewmember's Vitality becomes "Dead". If both rolls are successful the Crewmember has endured the brain transplant and can switch service groups, however eir memory is wiped and ey must reset eir Logic to the value for a new Crewmember. 

• Jettison Thrusters [Escape Pod] If three Crewmembers are Pulling the Levers on the Jettison Thrusters, then the Escape Pod is blasted away from the ship, taking everyone inside along with itself, and the effects listed below occur. This is permanent; if the Crewmembers stop Pulling, all the following effects still occur:

     1) The Escape Pod ceases to be located on a Deck, and is therefore not considered Adjacent to any other Locations.
     2) No Machinery located elsewhere on the ship can affect either the Escape Pod or any Crewmember in it, nor may any Crewmember use the Teleport Console to get there.
     3) No Crewmember in the Escape Pod can contact Howard.
     4) The Caine's Alert status is changed to Red.
     5) The Escape Pod holds enough supplies so that everyone inside can live comfortably for six days. After this time period has elapsed, once per day, any Crewmember may downgrade any Crewmember in the Escape Pod's Vitality by one grade. 

• Laser Display Board [Briefing Room] - An non-Officer Crewmember Pushing the Buttons on the Laser Display Board may have up to three Proposals pending. An Officer Crewmember Pushing the Buttons on the Laser Display Board may have up to four Proposals pending. (Any extra Proposals remain legal if the proposer stops using the Laser Display Board.)

• Ambulatory Control Panel [Sickbay] A Crewmember belonging to the Beta Service Group who is pulling the Levers at the ACP may move any number of Crewmembers of eir choice from the Sickbay to the Ambulatory or vice-versa, by changing eir Location accordingly.

A Crewmember belonging to the Beta Service Group who is pushing the Buttons at the ACP may at their discretion spend one extra Action Point to activate one of the Ambulatory Routines programmed in the ACP, as defined in the ruleset.

• Nanotechnological Beverage Synthesizer [Bar] A Crewmember who is Pushing the Buttons here may create a beverage by stating the desired beverage in the GNDT comments field. Beverages must be consumed in the bar and are desintegrated if the Crewmember who created it leaves the Bar. A Crewmember consuming alcohol in the Bar may become Stunned (at his or her own choice), which lowers eir Action Points by one.

• Nanotechnological Drug Synthesizer [Sickbay, Crew Dorms] A Crewmember who is Turning the Knobs here may create a drug described in the Ruleset by stating the desired one in the GNDT comments field. Drugs may be consumed in the place they are created and are desintegrated if the Crewmember who created it moves elsewhere.

• Nanotechnological Rations Synthesizer [Mess Hall] The Synthesizer is currently programmed only to construct nutritive substances that are non-toxic to humans. A Crewmember may create comestibles by stating the desired the desired item and Pushing the activation button. A Crewmember must consume all food generated by the Synthesizer within the bar. Furthermore, if the Crewmember requests 'Tangelos', that Crewmember must post a comment to the GNDT stating 'Tangelo smuggling DICE4'. If the DICE4 roll is 4, that Crewmember must reset his or her Action Points to the Daily Point total.

• Opacity Control Device [Viewing Bay] If any Crewmember is Pulling the Levers on the Opacity Control Device, then all Crewmembers in the Viewing Bay when the Levers are Pulled lose DICE60 Logic from their Logic score as their minds are warped by the sight of non-Euclidean space. Any Crewmember that changes location into the Viewing Bay while another Crewmember is Pulling the Levers on the Opacity Control Device loses DICE60 points from eir Logic score.

• Power Core [Engineering] - If anyone is Turning the Knobs on the Power Core, then the lifts stop working, and Crew Members may not use them. If anyone is Pushing the Buttons on the Power Core (marked 'Emergency Manual Power Initiation'), then the effects of Turning the Knobs on the Power Core are ignored.

• Teleport Console [Teleport Chamber, Crew Dorms] - Anyone who is Pulling its Levers in the Teleporte Console may ignore deck restrictions when moving eirself. Anyone who is Pushing the Teleport Console’s Buttons may choose a Location and move all Crew from that Location to the Teleport Chamber, no more than once per day.

• Training Devices [Bridge, Sickbay, Bar, Engineering, Security Post] There are traning devices located in various locations around the ships, designed to allow crewmembers to increase their skills, as well as improve their grade. Each device can only be used by members of the applicable group, as follows, and as such, crewmembers not in a group may not use the training devices:

     Alpha -- Bridge
     Beta -- Sickbay
     Gamma -- Bar
     Delta -- Engineering
     Epsilon -- Security Post

     A Crewmbember who is Flipping the Switches on a Training Device that e is authorized to use may take one of the following actions no more than once per day, as long as e is not suffering from space madness:

     E may post a comment to the GNDT stating "Skills Training: DiceX?", where X = eir logic plus 5. If this is greater than eir current logic, e may add the difference to eir logic score; however, if the result is less than or equal to eir logic/20, rounding up, eir logic is reduced by two to reflect overtraining.

     Alternatively, e may post a comment to the GNDT stating "Promotion test: DiceY?" where Y = 5 + eir logic/10, rounding down. If this is strictly greater than eir grade, e may add one to eir grade (UCRCS[3]), as long as e has not done so in the past week. 

• Video Bank [Viewing Bay] A good segment of wall space in the Viewing Bay is devoted to a sprawling Video Bank, which is divided into several medium sized panels and one largish one. The Computer cycles video feeds via a subroutine, although Crewmembers may manipulate the recording devices installed throughout the Caine to focus on internal phenomena as e sees fit.

     The controls on the Video Bank are difficult to master and somewhat intimidating in appearance--any Crewmember Pushing its Buttons must check Logic by posting the comment 'Logic Check DICEX' to the GNDT, where X is the Logic score of that crewmember. If the DICEX check is less than 20, then that Crewmember fails to manipulate the Video Bank and is unable to access its functions.

     For the purposes of using the Video Bank, a roll of 20 or greater on the DICEX will be referred to as a passing check.

     A Crewmember who is Pushing the Buttons on the Video Bank and has made a passing check may spend an additional Action Point to activate or deactivate any number of cameras on the Caine for Crew use by posting 'Activate Recorder Location(s) X,Y,Z...', 'Deactivate Recorder Locations X,Y,Z,..' to the GNDT, where X,Y,Z,.. are Locations on the Caine. The Recorders remain Active for 24 hours or until disabled by a Crewmember.If the Recorder in Cargo Bay 1 is Active, then the Interdimensional Transporter becomes temporarily inactive--the effects of the Interdimensional Transporter do not apply while the Recorder in Cargo Bay 1 is Active. 

Rule 17 - Service Groups

The Crew are divided into five Service Groups: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon. Each Crew Member either belongs to a single Group, or no Group at all, and this is tracked by the GNDT’s UCSRS.

Initially, Crew Members belong to no Service Group. Any Crew Member who has no Group may assign eirself to the Group with fewest members, at any time, with a rank of X and a grade of 0. (If several groups are tied for fewest members, the Crew Member may choose which to be assigned to.)

The Alpha Group consists of programmers, navigators, and machine operators. Any member of the Alpha Group may increase eir Logic by 1 after successfullly using a piece of Machinery if e has not done so earlier that day.

The Beta Group consists of nurses, doctors, and medics. Any member of the Beta Group may, while moving, move a Stunned, Wounded or Dead Crewmember with em by spending another Action Point. By spending 2 Action Points a Beta Group member can use eir medikit to change the Vitality of a Crewmember in the same Location from Stunned to Healthy or increase that Crewmember's Logic by 5 points if it is below 10.

No one knows for certain what the Gamma Group consists of but rumor has it that it consists of tangelo smugglers, laser harpoon wielding maniacs, and conspirators. Any member of the Gamma group will gain an Action point in addition to eir Daily Points.

The Delta Group consists of machine repairmen, mechanics, and engineers. By spending 3 Action Points a member of the Delta Group may repair any damaged piece of Machinery causing it to cease to be damaged by posting a blog entry to that effect, or repair a Service Robot by increasing its Daily Points by 1 (to a maximum of 5 DP). A Delta Service Group member may perform the "Lock" Action.

The Epsilon Group consists of guards, inspectors, and enforcers. Any member of the Epsilon Group may spend an Action Point to use eir neural stunner on a Crewmember in the same Location as em. Using the neural stunner on a Healthy Crewmember changes eir Vitality to Stunned. It has no effect on Stunned, Wounded, or Dead Crewmembers.

A member of Epsilon Group may spend an Action Point to move a Crewmember in eir Location to an adjacent Location, provided that the move is one the Epsilon Crewmember could make.

Rule 18 - Action Points

There is a field in the GNDT named "Action Points", which takes non-negative integers. This number represents the number of actions a Crewmember may take. A Crewmember may spend Action Points by decrementing the number in eir "Action Points" field by the amount spent. A Crewmember having zero Action Points may not spend any more that day.

There is a field in the GNDT named "Daily Points", which takes non-negative integers. This number represents the number of Action Points a Crewmember may receive in one day -- in some sense a count of turns per day. New Crewmembers start with a Daily Points equal 3.

If a Crewmember who is not Stunned has not done it in the last 24 hours, e can reset eir Actions field to null (no action) and eir Action Points to the same value as eir Daily Points.

If a Crewmember who is Stunned has not done it in the last 24 hours, e can reset eir Actions field to null (no action), eir Action Points to the same value as eir Daily Points minus 1 and eir Vitality to Healthy.

A Crewmember reseting eir Action Points when in the Crew Dorms is considered to have rested the night and receives 1 extra Action Point for doing so. If a Crewmember who has just rested the night has less than 15 Logic, e may increase eir Logic score by 2 points.

A non-Officer Crewmember reseting eir Action Points when in the same Location as an Officer of eir group is considered to have had a morale boost and receives 1 extra Action Point for doing so.

Rule 19 - Power On

A Power Check is a Command. The Command Phrase is >Power Check, and the Command Parameters consist of a name of a piece of Machinery, the description of said piece and the Location of the issuing Crewmember.

In its response, if the Computer responded with "Affirmative", the Machinery is activated in the Crewmember's Location.

A new Machine is then added to the rule "Machinery" with the name of the Machine, its Location, and the description of the Machinery to be taken from the Command Parameters. This new Machine is not part of the ruleset until it is added.

There is no effect if the Computer responds with a "Negative" or "Error".

Rule 20 - Wonder Drugs

A variety of drugs is available inside the Caine. These drugs are generally geared to the metabolism of the Crew. A Crewmember may only consume a drug if another rule in the Ruleset allows e so. A Crewmember may only minister a drug in another one if another rule in the Ruleset allows e so. A Crewmember using a drug on eirself or ministering a drug on another Crewmember must spend an Action Point in order to do so.

The drugs currently available are:

• Speedy:The Crewmember using or being ministered Speedy subtracts 22 from eir Logic Value and adds 1 to eir Daily Points. If the crewmember is space mad, e can not use this drug. If this drug makes a crewmember space mad, eir DP are not set to 5 if already greater than 5.

• Slowy: The Crewmember using or being ministered Slowy adds 22 to eir Logic Value and subtracts 1 from eir Daily Points. If e does not have any DP, e loses two levels of Vitality.

• Saner: If the Crewmember using or being ministered Saner is Space Mad, eir logic is set to 1, eir DP set to 3 if greater than three, and ey become Stunned if they are Healthy.

Rule 21 - UCSRS

Each Crewmember has an UCSRS - Universal Crewmember Status Record Sheet, stored by Howard’s data banks and tracked by the GNDT with the Field UCSRS. The UCSRS is represented by a string of characters, separated by dashes. (Dashes are used as dividers to make the code easier to read and are not counted as a character of the string.)

Crewmembers begin with the UCSRS XXX-XXH.

The single character parts of the UCSRS are called s-Codes and e may be identified by referencing their position in the format UCSRS[#]. (for example in XXX-XEX, UCSRS[5] = "E").

An "X" value means that position of the UCSRS is either unused, having no effect in the game, or non-filled, having the effects specified in the s-Code description.

These are the information currently tracked by the UCSRS:

• UCSRS[1] tracks the Service Group a Crewmember belongs to. Possible values are:

   A - Alpha Group 
   B - Beta Group
   G - Gamma Group
   D - Delta Group
   E - Epsilon Group
   X - No Group

• UCSRS[2] tracks the Rank a Crewmember holds, which can be either "X", "O", "*" or "@", where O indicates an Officer rank, * indicates an Officer who has a Golden Star, and @ indicates an Officer who has a Galactic Spiral. Crewmembers not belonging to a Service Group must have Rank X.

• UCSRS[3] tracks the Grade a Crewmember holds, which can be a numeral from 0 to 9. Crewmembers not belonging to a Service Group must have Grade X (no Grade).

• UCSRS[5] tracks the medical treatment record of a Crewmember. Whenever a Crewmember reset eir AP, e must also reset eir UCSRS[5] to “X”. Currently, its possible values are:

   E – This Crewmember is unaffected by the mind warping effects on viewing non-Euclidean space and doesn’t lose any logic if e is in or enters the Viewing Bay while the Opacity Control Device is activated. 
   L - This crewmember makes all logic checks as if eir logic is 10 points higher than its recorded value in the GNDT. 
   H – This crewmember is unaffected by exposure to the vacuum of space. 
   X – No treatment in effect. 

• UCSRS[6] contains the initial letter of a Crewmember's Vitality state (i.e. either of H, S, W, or D). If a Crewmember's UCSRS[6] s-code is X, e may change it to H at any time.

Rule 22 - Service Robots

There are service Robots on board the Caine. They are tracked in the GNDT as if they were Crewmembers, with name ‘Rnnn’ where ‘nnn’ is a serial number issued upon Robot creation. The Robots are not Crewmembers unless otherwise specified. They may not take part of any Group, and do not have a Vitality or Logic rating. They have 5 Daily Points.

If a Robot has not been moved during the current day, any Crewmember in the same Location as that Robot may take control of it, by posting a comment to the GNDT to that effect. Taking control of a robot costs that Crewmember one Action Point and causes the controlled Robot’s Action Points to be reset to its Daily Points. Once the Robot is under eir control, the controlling Crewmember may move the Robot or use it to control Machinery. The controlling Crewmember continues to control the Robot even after the Robot leaves the Crewmembers current Location. The Robot moves and operates Machinery in the same way as a Crewmember: it spends one AP per location traversed and one AP to change its Action field.

If a test against a Logic score is mandated in order to use Machinery, a Robot fails that test automatically.

Rule 23 - Police State

Removed. Kept here as placeholder to avoid renumbering of the others

Rule 24 - Change the Light Bulb

The Caine can operate under one of several Alert Modes - that is, one of Green, Blue, Amber, or Red - which is tracked in the Ruleset as the last sentence of this rule. These modes have certain effects, controlled by the Computer, on the Caine's systems - for example, the Computer may deny access to certain items of equipment, or power up different equipment as necessary. In addition, the Computer may change the Alert Mode at any time, by posting to the Blog with the title "Alert Mode: [new mode]", and detailing the changes to the Caine's operation in the body of the post.

Crew Members may change the Alert Status by making a Proposal as usual.

The Caine is currently in Blue Alert Mode, due to its inability to return to Euclidean Space.

Rule 25 - Ship's Protocol

Certain laws for Crewmember conduct exist aboard the Caine. Such laws are listed at the end of this rule. A crewmember violating any of the laws in this rule, as determined by the Computer, shall be known as a Criminal.

At any time (including when Queries are outstanding), the Computer may make a post with the subject "Criminal: [Name]", where [Name] is the Crewmember being branded a Criminal. Such a post is invalid and non-binding unless the Computer includes within the post the law or laws that have been broken by the Crewmember named.

Criminals must be escorted to the Cell by a member of the Epsilon group. After 48 hours, if a member of the Epsilon Group has not escorted a Criminal to the Cell, any crewmember may do so by use of the Teleport Chamber or any other means available to em.

Criminals must remain in the Cell for 72 hours. After this time has elapsed, Criminals shall be released if they promise never to break any laws again; upon doing so they are no longer Criminals (until violating another law).

• Law #1: No Crewmember may attempt to kill another Crewmember or any Criminal.
• Law #2: No Crewmember may harm or stun a non-Criminal.
• Law #3: No Crewmember may move another one without explicit permission of the moved one, except in the conditions delineated in this Law. Members of the Beta Group may use any means available to them to move a Crewmember who is either non-Healthy or suffering from Space Madness to the Ambulatory. Members of the Epsilon Group may use any means available to them to move a Criminal Crewmember to the Cell. No Crewmember may use the Teleport Chamber to remove a Criminal from the Cell.
• Law #4: No Crewmember may damage a piece of Machinery , a robot or any other part of the Caine.
• Law #5: No Crewmeber may cause a Crewmember or the Computer to have Space Madness.

Rule 26 - Uniforms

Each Crewmember has a Rank ("Officer" or "non-Officer") and a Grade (0-9), which confer authority over Crewmembers of lower Ranks and Grades, in the following way:-

• An Officer always outranks a non-Officer.
• If two Crewmembers have the same Rank, and are in the same Service Group, then the Crewmember with the highest Grade number outranks the other.
• Crewmembers of the same Rank in different Service Groups have no authority over one another.

(An outranking Crewmember is "Superior", an outranked Crewmember is "Subordinate".)

If an Crewmember's Grade would be lowered below 0, eir Officer Rank is removed and eir Grade becomes 9. If e were not an Officer, then e is removed from eir Service Group and eir Rank is set to 'X'.

If a Crewmember's Grade would be increased above 9, e becomes an Officer of Grade 0. If e already has a rank of Officer then e gets a Gold Star instead.

If a Service Group has no Crewmembers who are Officers, then the Crewmember with the highest Grade (if one exists) becomes an Officer of Grade 0.

An Officer may have up to three Proposals pending. (Any extra Proposals remain legal if the proposer stops being an Officer.)

Rule 27 - Orders

Once a day, an Officer may issue Orders to any number eir Subordinates. If an Officer performs any other GNDT action after issuing an order, e is considered to be done with eir orders for the current day, and may not issue any more orders in that day.

An order is issued by posting comments to the GNDT in the format "***ORDER [Subordinate Name]: [Order Action]". An Officer may only issue Orders to Subordinates in the same Location as em.

Each Order may only include a single defined GNDT action, or prohibition from doing such an action. For example "Go to Sickbay" is an Order action , as is "Don't leave the Bridge", but "Push the Buttons on the Medibank and Restore Crewmember X to Healthy" is two actions and should be broken into two Orders.

Once per day, an Officer may change the Grade of a Subordinate e has issued an Order to in the last 24 hours, by increasing or decreasing the Subordinate's Grade by one.

Once per week, an Officer may be reviewed by eir Subordinates. Either the Officer or any of eir Subordinates may begin the Performance Evaluation by posting to the blog with the format "[Service Group] Evaluate: [Officer Name]". Each Subordinate may respond once, including a FOR, AGAINST, or DEFERENTIAL vote. Each FOR vote increases the Officer's Grade by 1, each AGAINST vote decreases it by 1, and DEFERENTIAL votes have no effect.

If the officer in question loses sufficient grades that e is no longer an officer, and there are no other officers in the same Service Group, then a new Officer shall be chosen at random from amongst the members of the service group by any Admin staff not in that group, excluding the just-demoted officer.

Rule 28 - Victory

The Crewmember that causes the Caine to leave non-Euclidean space without damaging the Caine may declare victory.

Rule 29 - The Space Mad

A Crewmember with Space Madness has the following changes and additions to eir normal Crewmember abilities:

• E cannot belong to a Service Group and loses any Rank and Grade e previously held.
• Eir Daily Points are 5, but e cannot rest in the Crew Dorms.
• By spending 3 Action Points e can damage a piece of Machinery in eir Location by posting a blog entry to that effect.
• By spending 3 Action Points e can damage a Service Robot in eir Location. This reduces the Daily Points of the Robot by 1.
• By spending 3 Action Points e can reduce the Vitality of a Crewmember in the same Location by 1 level.
• By spending 1 Action Point e can reduce the Logic of all Crewmembers in the same Location by 1 (including eirself).

Rule 30 - Logic Tests

A Crewmember may have eir logic tested in order to perform some actions or as the result of actions performed by em or another Crewmember.

Logic tests have a Target Number, as specified by the rule mandating them. If a rule fails to specify a target number, them the current Logic score of the Crewmember shall be used as the Target Number.

A Logic Test is done by rolling a DICEX, where X is the Target Number.

If the result of the DICEX is equal to or greater than the Crewmember current Logic Score, the Test is failed. Otherwise, if the result of the DICEX is lower than the Crewmember current Logic Score, the Test is passed.

A Logic Test where the Target Number is lower than the Crewmember current Logic Score passes automatically, without rolling any DICE.

Rule 31 - Ambulatory Routines:

There are some Routines programmed in the Ambulatory Control Panel. Whenever a Crewmember activates one of those Routines, every Crewmember who happens to be at the Ambulatory in that moment suffers the Routine’s effects.

The routines currently programmed in the ACP are:

• Physical Cure Routine - Restore all Stunned or Wounded Crewmembers in the Ambulatory to a Healthy state. If healed from being Wounded or Dead, a Crew Member's Daily Points are set to the initial new-Crew value.

• Non-Euclidean De-sensitization Routine - Immunize all crewmembers in the Ambulatory to the mind warping effects on viewing non-Euclidean space. This is signed by changing the immunized Crewmembers’ UCSRS [5] to "E".

• Logical Empowerment Routine - Better the logical understanding of all crewmembers in the Ambulatory. This is signed by changing the immunized Crewmembers’ UCSRS [5] to "L".

• Psychical Cure Routine - Add 10 to the Logic of all crewmembers in the Ambulatory. If that would bring the Logic score of a Crewmember to greater than 0, set that Crewmember’s Logic score to 0, instead.

• Homeostatic Training Routine - Immunize all crewmembers in the Ambulatory to the exposure to the vacuum of space This is signed by changing the immunized Crewmembers’ UCSRS [5] to "H".

99 - Glossary

This Rule is always at the end of the Ruleset. Its only effect can be to clarify ambiguity.

• References to "a day" (as an entity rather than a duration, eg. "Sunday") refer to that day in the timezone of the BlogNomic blog.
• References to a "week" refer to the period of time between the start of a Monday and the end of the following Sunday.

• It is noted that where a Proposal would amend the effects of Proposal Enactment, this does not apply to its own enactment unless explicitly stated (eg. a proposal proposing that enacted proposals earn their writer a banana when enacted would not earn a banana for its own writer, when enacted).

• Rules which trigger on Enactment or Failure of a Proposal are the responsibility of the acting Admin, who is responsible to check if Quorum is met at the moment of the Enactment.
• Appropriate Icons: For use in voting, a check box shall represent a vote FOR, an X shall represent a vote AGAINST, an I shall represent a vote of DEFERENTIAL, and an Imperial Seal (currently ) shall represent the Imperial Veto.
• The "subject" of a blog entry is the first and only sentence in the Title of an entry. Any entry that does not have exactly one subject is not valid.
• "Posts" and "comments" refer only to those made to the BlogNomic weblog at blognomic.blogspot.com.
• 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. (eg. 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 above.)
• Unless otherwise specified, game variables defined to hold numeric values can hold only non-negative integers, and any action that would set those values below zero instead sets them to zero. Any situation which would require a roll of DiceX? when X is zero or lower always yields a value of 0 unless stated otherwise.
• The Spivak pronouns used in Blognomic are: Subject case: “e”; Object case: “em”, Possessive Adjective case: “eir”, Possessive Pronoun case: “eirs”, Reflexive case: “emself”.

Typographic Conventions

• Italicized text is not considered part of the ruleset and may be used to clarify rules with examples, notes and flavor text.

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