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Dynastic Rules

The Universes

There exist two parallel Universes, respectively code-named “Alpha” and “Prime”. These Universes have a common past, having branched off the same single Universe, and started off as separate from each other but identical. The forces of chaos cause them to diverge, but very slowly at first, when they are still considered to be functionally identical.

Portal

The two Universes are currently separate and considered to be functionally identical. The text of the rule “Divergence” shall be interpreted as flavour text.

When Scientists in the two Universes find a way to establish contact between them, a Portal is created, joining the two Universes together and allowing passage from one Universe to the other.

Portal Procedure

Text inside of blockquotes in this rule is flavour text.

If a Portal exists or has been created between the two Universes, a Scientist should, as an Atomic Action:

1. Replace the first paragraph of “Divergence” with:

   A Portal has been created between the Universes, and Divergence has occurred. This means that the two Universes are diverging at an accelerated pace, and conditions in them are no longer functionally identical. The following is true:

2. Replace the text of the sub-rule “Portals” with:

   The two Universes have diverged, as a Portal has been created between them. Contact between the two Universes has been established.

3. Repeal this rule.

Divergence

When a Portal is created between the Universes, Divergence is understood to occur. This means that the two Universes diverge at an accelerated pace, and conditions in them are no longer functionally identical. If Divergence has occured, the following take effect:

• Three versions exist of the second Section of the Ruleset, two of which are initially identical except for their titles. The first is entitled “Dynastic Rules [Alpha]” (and may be referred to as the “Alpha Ruleset”) and the second is entitled “Dynastic Rules [Prime]” (and may be referred to as the “Prime Ruleset”). The effects of rules in the Alpha Ruleset apply only to the Alpha Universe and to those Scientists who are located in it, and the effects of rules in the Prime Ruleset apply only to the Prime Universe and to those Scientists who are located in it, unless such a rule specifically states that it has an effect on both Universes or the Scientists therein. The Third version of the dynastic rules is entitled Dynastic Rules [Para], and may be referred to as the “Para Ruleset”. It initially contains only this rule (named “Divergence”) within it.
• Each Scientist now controls two versions of themselves: one in the Alpha Universe and one in the Prime Universe. They may refer to each by using “Alpha” or “Prime” after their name; the undifferentiated name refers to the Scientist controlling them. This duplication has effect only for Dynastic Rules and for the Special Case rule “The Traitor”.
• A Proposal may include the tags “[Alpha]” and/or “[Prime]”; if it includes neither then it is considered to include both. If a Proposal not tagged Alpha would amend the Alpha Ruleset, or if one not tagged Prime would amend the Prime Ruleset, then that Proposal is Unstable.
• The only Scientists allowed to submit or vote on a Dynastic Proposal for the Ruleset of a Universe are those who control a version of themselves located in that Universe. If a Proposal to amend a Dynastic Ruleset is Pending and no version of the submitting Scientist is present in one of the Universes named in its tags, that Proposal is Unstable.

If a Proposal is Unstable, it may not be enacted and any admin may fail it at any time.

The Para ruleset has precedence over the alpha ruleset and the prime ruleset. If a proposal would amend the Para ruleset and does not include the tag [Para], that proposal is unstable. If a [victory] tag is included on a proposal with the tag [Alpha] or [Prime], that proposal is unstable.

Budget

As a Weekly Communal Action, a Scientist can grant all Scientists an amount of Budget equal to the Crisis amount, then double the Crisis amount. The Crisis amount begins at 1000. Budget is a non-negative integer value. A Scientist defaults to having 0 Budget. Budget and Crisis are tracked on the “Scientists” wikipage.

When a portal is created, the Crisis amount doubles.

If the crisis amount for a Universe would be set to over 1 million, it is instead set to 0.

Polarity

Each Scientist has a Polarity, which is an integer between -50 and 50, and is tracked on the Scientists page of the wiki. While there is no Portal open, this value defaults to zero; while there is a Portal open, the default to this value should be determined through a DICE2 roll, with a value of 1 corresponding to a Polarity of -1 and a value of 2 corresponding to a Polarity of 1.

Any Scientist with a Polarity that is negative is considered to be Prime-Oriented, while any Scientist with a Polarity that is positive is considered to be Alpha-Oriented. Any Scientist with a Polarity of zero is considered to be Balanced.

Shifting a Scientist’s Polarity in a negative direction can be referred to as shifting it Primeward, and shifting a Scientist’s Polarity in a positive direction can be referred to as shifting it Alphaward.

Star Signs

Each Scientist has a star sign, which is tracked on the Scientists page of the wiki. A Scientist’s star sign in the same regardless of which Universe they are in.

The possible values for a Scientist’s Star Sign are Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, or Pisces, or No Star Sign, which is the default value.

Once in the Dynasty, a Scientist may set their Star Sign by rolling DICE12 against the list above, and setting their star sign on the Scientists page of the wiki. Once a Scientist’s star sign is set it cannot be changed by any means.

Research Material

Two commodities are crucial to a Scientist’s research: Interuniversal Putty (or simply “Putty”) and Turboencabulators. Each Scientist has a positive integer amount of each, which defaults to 0 and is tracked on the Scientists wiki page.

Each commodity has a buy price and a sell price in each of the two Universes; these prices are tracked on the Scientists wiki page.

At any time, an X-oriented Scientist (where X is Alpha or Prime) may buy a commodity (decrease their Budget by that commodity’s buy price in Universe X and increase their amount of that commodity by 1) or sell a commodity if they have 1 or more (increase their budget by that commodity’s sell price in Universe X and decrease their amount of that commodity by 1).

Discrepant Actions

If an action is a Discrepant Action and it defines an effect for both an Upsider and a Downsider, then any Scientist may perform it as follows:-

• If no Portal is Open, they apply its effects with themselves as both its Upsider and Downsider
• If the Scientist is Prime-Oriented, they apply its effects with the Prime version of themselves as its Upsider and their Alpha version as its Downsider
• If the Scientist is Alpha-Oriented, they apply its effects with the Alpha version of themselves as its Upsider and their Prime version as its Downsider
• If a Portal is Open and the Scientist is Balanced, they randomly determine which version of themselves is its Upsider and which is its Downsider and then apply its effects

All Discrepant Actions are also considered to be Daily Actions.

The Discrepancies

Scanning is a Discrepant Action which raises or lowers (at the choice of the action’s performer) the Upsider’s Polarity by 1, and does the opposite to the Downsider’s Polarity.

Similarity

There is a Similarity amount that begins at 100. When similarity becomes 0 or lower, the following effects occur:

• A portal is created.
• This rule is removed.

When a Discrepant Action is taken, Similarity decreases by 5.

The Similarity amount is tracked on the Scientists wikipage.

Position and Prominence

Each Scientist has a position tracked on the Scientists page, which is one of academic, corporate, criminal, law enforcement, or political, defaulting to academic. Each Scientist has a prominence tracked on the Scientists page, which is a number greater than or equal to 0, defaulting to 0.

A scientist may change their position to any legal position by decreasing their prominence by two, or by setting it to 0.

Scientists may seek to interact with or capitalise on the other universe using the following actions:

• Plagiarism is a Discrepant Action which can only be taken by an Academic Scientist: it raises the Upsider’s Prominence by 1, and decreases the Downsider’s Prominence by 1 (to a minimum of zero).
• Siphoning is a Discrepant Action which can only be taken by a Corporate Scientist: it raises the Upsider’s Budget by 100, and decreases the Downsider’s Budget by 100 (to a minimum of zero).
• Grandstanding is a Discrepant Action which can only be taken by a Political Scientist: it raises the Upsider’s Prominence by 2, and decreases the Downsider’s Prominence by 2 (to a minimum of zero).
• Theft is a Discrepant Action which can only be taken by a Criminal Scientist who does not share a universe with a Law Enforcement Scientist: it raises the Upsider’s Budget by 250, decreases the Budget of any Scientist in any Universe by 250, and sets the Downsider’s Prominence to zero.

Portals

Whenever any Scientist takes a Discrepant Action, they must roll DICE12. On a result of 12, a Portal is opened. The Scientist whose action provoked the opening of a Portal is responsible for then carrying out the following atomic action:

• Give the Portal a name, made up of one of the names of their choice from this page http://www.gods-and-monsters.com/list-of-greek-gods-goddesses.html and a random 4-digit number;
• Randomly select a Star Sign for that Portal;
• Set the Portal’s Strength, which is the result of a DICEx roll where x is the current Crisis;
• Set the Portal’s Source as the Universe to which the Scientist who provoked its opening is Oriented, or a random Universe if they are Balanced;
• Make a story post to the blog announcing the opening of a new Portal, and update the Scientists page of the wiki with the name, Source, Star Sign and Strength of the new Portal.

Mindflaying

As soon as possible after Monday 10am UTC each week, any Scientist should, as a weekly communal action, Flay. Flaying is an atomic action with the following steps:

• If there are more than two open Portals, set the Polarity of all Balanced Scientists to either 1 or -1, seleted at random;
• Move the Polarity of all Prime-Oriented Scientists Primeward by a number equal to the number of open Portals with a Prime Source;
• Move the Polarity of all Alpha-Oriented Scientists Alphaward by a number equal to the number of open Portals with an Alpha Source;
• Double the Crisis.

Cataclysm

If both Universes are ever Cataclysmic then all Scientists have failed and no Scientist may declare Victory. Any Scientist may repeal all Dynastic rules and immediately start a new metadynasty with a blank Ascension Address.

A Universe is Cataclysmic if it has a crisis value of zero, or if all Scientists in that Universe have a Polarity that is at the most extreme value for the Orientation of that Universe (-50 for the Prime Universe, 50 for the Alpha Universe).