Core Rules

Ruleset and Gamestate

This is the Ruleset for BlogNomic; all Scientists 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.

The Ruleset and Gamestate can only be altered in manners specified by the Ruleset.

If the Ruleset does not properly reflect all legal changes that have been made to it, any Scientist may update it to do so.

Scientists

Any human may apply to join BlogNomic (if they are not already a Scientist) by registering at http://blognomic.com via the Register link in the sidebar, and then making a post making clear their wish to be an Scientist (plural form Scientists). An Admin shall add them to the roster in the sidebar, at which moment they become a Scientist.

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

Some Scientists are Admins, responsible for updating the site and the Ruleset, and are signified as such in the sidebar. Scientists 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.

Idle Scientists

If a Scientist is not listed in the Sidebar in the section “Current Active Players” or only appears there in a comment, they are Idle. For the purposes of all Gamestate and the Ruleset, excluding Rules “Ruleset and Gamestate”, “Scientists”, “Dynasties”, “Fair Play” and any of those Rules’ subrules, Idle Scientists are not counted as Scientists.

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

When a Scientist 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 Scientist Idled in a different Dynasty), the Scientist is given the default value for new Scientists, if such a value exists.

An Admin may render a Scientist Idle if that Scientist has asked to become Idle in an entry or comment from the past four days, or if that Scientist 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 Scientist if that Scientist 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 Scientist who would be Unidled asked to become (or rendered themselves) Idle within the previous four 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 enact and fail Votable Matters.

Dynasties

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

Votable Matters

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

Votes

Each Scientist 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 Scientist’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-Scientist never has a Vote, even if they were a Scientist previously and had cast a valid Vote.

If a Scientist other than the Liaison casts a vote of DEFERENTIAL, then the Vote of DEFERENTIAL is an indication of confidence in the Liaison. When the Liaison 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 Liaison’s Vote for the purposes of other rules unless otherwise specified.

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 Scientists 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 can either be Pending, Enacted, or Failed. When a Votable Matter is first put forward, it is considered Pending.

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.

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

Proposals

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

Special Proposal Voting

When a Scientist 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 Liaison may use VETO as a voting icon to cast a Vote on a Proposal; when the Liaison casts a vote of VETO on a Proposal, this renders the Proposal Vetoed, even if the Liaison later changes their Vote.

Resolution of Proposals

The oldest Pending 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:

It is Popular.
It has been open for voting for at least 12 hours.
It has not been Vetoed or Self-Killed.

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 Self-Killed.

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.

Calls for Judgement

If two or more Scientists actively disagree as to the interpretation of the Ruleset, or if a Scientist feels that an aspect of the game needs urgent attention, then any Scientist 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 Scientist (other than the Liaison) 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 Scientist 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 on Hiatus.

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 Liaison has Voted FOR it or it has no AGAINST Votes.
It is Popular, 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.

If a DoV is Failed and it had at least one AGAINST vote, the Scientist 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, and a new Dynasty begins in which the Scientist who made the DoV becomes the Liaison. That Scientist may pass the role of Liaison to another Scientist by making a post to that effect, provided they haven’t yet made an Ascension Address for the new Dynasty. Between the enactment of the DoV and the posting of the Ascension Address, no new DoV may be made and BlogNomic is on Hiatus.

The new Liaison will make an Ascension Address by posting an entry in the “Ascension Address” category. This should specify the Liaison’s chosen theme for the new Dynasty, and it may optionally specify that the terms Scientist and Liaison will be replaced with theme-specific terms throughout the entire Ruleset, and/or list a number of dynastic rules to keep. When such an Ascension Address is posted, the Ruleset is updated to reflect any changed terms, and any dynastic rules which were not listed to be kept are repealed.

This rule cannot be overruled by Dynastic Rules as it relates to Declarations of Victory, but it can be overruled in other matters.

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 Scientist’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. Scientists 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 Scientist within BlogNomic, and should announce publicly if they control both a non-Idle Scientist and any Idle Scientists.
A Scientist 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 Scientist should not deliberately exploit bugs or unexpected behaviours in the software running the game (ExpressionEngine, MediaWiki or other blognomic.com scripts).
A Scientist should not edit their own blog comments once posted, nor those of any other Scientist.
A Scientist should not edit the “Entry Date” field of a blog post.
A Scientist should not make a DoV primarily to delay the game by putting it into Hiatus.
A Scientist 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 Scientist 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 Scientist must use their own name in the Dice Roller, when rolling dice.
A Scientist should not deliberately and unreasonably prolong the performance of a game action once they have started it.
A Scientist should not use a core, special case or appendix rules scam to directly or indirectly achieve victory.

Dynastic Rules [Para]

The Universes [Para]

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.

First Connection [Para]

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

Multiverse Mechanics [Para]

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:

Scientists [Para]

Each Scientist controls two versions of themselves, also known as Selves: one Self originates in the Alpha Universe and one Self originates in the Prime Universe. Each Self is located in their Universe of origin at the time of Divergence, and may be referred to by the addition of “Alpha” or “Prime” respectively 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”.

Dynastic Rulesets [Para]

What until the occurrence of Divergence was the second Section of the Ruleset, entitled “Dynastic Rules” (which may be referred to as the “Old Dynastic Ruleset”), has been replaced by three new Dynastic Rulesets. All rules contained within each of these Rulesets are Dynastic Rules.

The first Dynastic Ruleset is entitled “Dynastic Rules [Para]” and may be referred to as the “Paradynastic Ruleset” or “Para Ruleset”. At the time its creation, the Para Ruleset comprises the following rules from the Old Dynastic Ruleset: “The Universes”, “Multiverse Mechanics”, “Portals” and “Cataclysm”.

The second of these Rulesets is entitled “Dynastic Rules [Alpha]” and may be referred to as the “Alpha Ruleset”; the third is entitled “Dynastic Rules [Prime]” and may be referred to as the “Prime Ruleset”. Each of these two Rulesets is associated with the Alpha Universe and the Prime Universe respectively, and for this reason it may also be referred to as a “Universe Ruleset”. At the time of their creation, the Universe Rulesets are identical with each other (except for specific references to named Universes), and each initially contains a copy of all rules that the Old Dynastic Ruleset contained at the time of its replacement, with the exception of any rules listed in the previous paragraph as comprising the Para Ruleset.

The effects of rules in the Alpha Ruleset (also known as “Alpha Rules”) apply only to the Alpha Universe and to those Scientists who are located in it, and the effects of rules in the Prime Ruleset (also known as “Prime Rules”) 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 Para Ruleset has precedence over both Universe Rulesets; the effects of rules in the Para Ruleset (also known as “Para Rules”) apply to both Universes and to all Scientists.

Proposals [Para]

A Proposal may include the tags “[Alpha]” and/or “[Prime]”; if it includes neither and includes no other tags defined by the Dynastic Rules, then it is considered to include both and may be updated by the submitting Scientist or any Admin to do so. If a Proposal not tagged “[Alpha]” would amend the Ruleset or Gamestate of the Alpha Universe, or if one not tagged “[Prime]” would amend the Ruleset or Gamestate of the Prime Universe, then that Proposal is Unstable.

A Proposal may include the tag “[Para]”. If a Proposal not tagged “[Para]” would amend the Para Ruleset, then that Proposal is Unstable.

If a Proposal includes the tag/s “[Alpha]” and/or “[Prime]” and includes any other tags defined by the Dynastic Rules, then that Proposal is Unstable.

Each Scientist may cast no more than one Vote on a Votable Matter, including on any Proposal that would amend the Rulesets or Gamestate of both Universes.

A Scientist may not submit or vote on a Proposal that would amend a Universe's Ruleset or Gamestate unless they control a Self located in one of the Universes named in that Proposal's tags. If such a Proposal is Pending and no Self controlled by the submitting Scientist is present in one of the Universes named in that Proposal's tags, that Proposal is Unstable.

If a Proposal is Unstable, any Scientist or the Liaison may make a comment to that Proposal indicating that it is Unstable and why. An Unstable Proposal thus indicated may not be Enacted and any Admin may Fail it at any time.

Portals [Para]

Portals are game entities which have a Name (a string), a Star Sign (with the same possible values as a Scientist’s Star Sign), Strength (a number) and a Source (either Alpha or Prime). They are tracked on both Scientists pages of the wiki.

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:

Create a Portal with 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.

Cataclysm [Para]

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.

Cleanup [Para]

Whenever an admin enacts an Ascension Address they must also change the name of the “Dynastic Rules [Para]” section of the ruleset to “Dynastic Rules”, and remove the “Dynastic Rules [Alpha]” and “Dynastic Rules [Para]” sections from the ruleset.

Traversal [Para]

As a weekly action, a Scientist can move one of their Selves from a Universe that is the Source for an open Portal to the other Universe by removing the line for that Self from the Source Universe’s gamestate tracking page and adding it to the gamestate tracking page for the destination Universe.

A Scientist does not exist in any Universe where they do not have a Self.

A Scientist may not move a Self in this way if that Self is Balanced.

Dynastic Rules [Alpha]

University Resources [Alpha]

Budget [Alpha]

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 Alpha page of the wiki.

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.

Star Signs [Alpha]

Each Scientist has a Star Sign, which is tracked on the Scientists Alpha page of the wiki. A Scientist’s Star Sign is the same for both their Selves.

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 Alpha page of the wiki. Once a Scientist’s Star Sign is set it cannot be changed by any means.

Polarity [Alpha]

Each Scientist has a Polarity, which is an integer between -50 and 50 (inclusive) and is tracked on the Scientists Alpha page of the wiki. While there is no Portal open, this value defaults to zero; while there is a Portal open, each Scientist determines their own default to this value through a DICE2 roll, with a dice 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.

Mindflaying [Alpha]

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, selected 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.

Supremacy Victory [Alpha]

If the Alpha Universe is not Cataclysmic, and the Prime Universe is Cataclysmic, and there are no Prime-Oriented Scientist Selves in the Alpha Universe, and there are no Scientists with the Position of Law Enforcement in the Alpha Universe, and one Scientist (called the Supreme Scientist) has a sum of their Polarity and Prominence that is greater than the sum of any other Scientist’s Polarity and Prominence, then that Supreme Scientist has achieved victory.

Discrepant Actions [Alpha]

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 the Action's effects with themselves as both its Upsider and Downsider
If the Scientist is Prime-Oriented, they apply its effects with their Prime Self as its Upsider and their Alpha Self as its Downsider
If the Scientist is Alpha-Oriented, they apply its effects with their Alpha Self as its Upsider and their Prime Self as its Downsider
If a Portal is Open and the Scientist is Balanced, they randomly determine which of their Selves is the Action's Upsider and which is its Downsider and then apply the Action's effects

All Discrepant Actions are also considered to be Daily Actions.

The Discrepancies [Alpha]

Scanning [Alpha]

Scanning is a Discrepant Action and an Atomic Action that can only be taken if at least one Portal is open, with the following steps, which all occur before the check to see if a new Portal is opened:

The Scientist who is Scanning (the Scanner) selects a single Portal in a Universe where they are present (the Scanned Portal) and rolls DICE13 in the Blognomic Dice Roller, naming the Scanned Portal and the Universe in question in the comment for that roll without naming any other Portals or Universes.
The Scanner then changes the Star Sign of the Scanned Portal in all Universes to match the Star Sign designated by that die roll, in order from the list in the rule “Star Signs [Prime]” with 1 being the first Star Sign so listed and 13 being No Star Sign.
If the Scanned Portal’s Star Sign would be set to No Star Sign, instead, its Strength is set to 0 in all Universes.
The Scanner doubles the Polarity and Prominence of the Upsider.
The Scanner sets the Polarity and Prominence of the Downsider to 0.
All Scientists in the same Universe as the Scanned Portal, who have the same Star Sign as the Scanned Portal and who have a Polarity with an absolute value less than or equal to the Strength of the Scanned Portal, are moved to the Prime Universe.

Position and Prominence [Alpha]

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 Alpha page of the wiki, 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.

Dynastic Rules [Prime]

University Resources [Prime]

Budget [Prime]

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 Prime page of the wiki.

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.

Research Material [Prime]

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 Prime page of the wiki.

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

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).

Research Victory [Prime]

If a Prime-Oriented Scientist who controls a Self in the Prime Universe has an amount of Putty greater than or equal to the current Crisis of the Prime Universe, and the Prime Universe is not Cataclysmic, that Scientist has achieved victory.

Star Signs [Prime]

Each Scientist has a Star Sign, which is tracked on the Scientists Prime page of the wiki. A Scientist’s Star Sign is the same for both their Selves.

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 Prime page of the wiki. Once a Scientist’s Star Sign is set it cannot be changed by any means.

Polarity [Prime]

Each Scientist has a Polarity, which is an integer between -50 and 50 (inclusive) and is tracked on the Scientists Prime page of the wiki. While there is no Portal open, this value defaults to zero; while there is a Portal open, each Scientist determines their own default to this value through a DICE2 roll, with a dice 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.

Discrepant Actions [Prime]

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 the Action's effects with themselves as both its Upsider and Downsider
If the Scientist is Prime-Oriented, they apply its effects with their Prime Self as its Upsider and their Alpha Self as its Downsider
If the Scientist is Alpha-Oriented, they apply its effects with their Alpha Self as its Upsider and their Prime Self as its Downsider
If a Portal is Open and the Scientist is Balanced, they randomly determine which of their Selves is the Action's Upsider and which is its Downsider and then apply the Action's effects

All Discrepant Actions are also considered to be Daily Actions.

The Discrepancies [Prime]

Scanning [Prime]

Scanning is a Discrepant Action and an Atomic Action that can only be taken if at least one Portal is open, with the following steps, which all occur before the check to see if a new Portal is opened:

The Scientist who is Scanning (the Scanner) selects a single Portal in a Universe where they are present (the Scanned Portal) and rolls DICE13 in the Blognomic Dice Roller, naming the Scanned Portal and the Universe in question in the comment for that roll without naming any other Portals or Universes.
The Scanner then changes the Star Sign of the Scanned Portal in all Universes to match the Star Sign designated by that die roll, in order from the list in the rule “Star Signs [Prime]” with 1 being the first Star Sign so listed and 13 being No Star Sign.
If the Scanned Portal’s Star Sign would be set to No Star Sign, instead, its Strength is set to 0 in all Universes.
If the Scanner’s Star Sign matches the Scanned Portal’s Star Sign, then both the Upsider and the Downsider are moved to the Universe that is the Source of the Scanned Portal.

Position and Prominence [Prime]

Each Scientist has a position tracked on the Scientists Prime page of the wiki, which is one of academic, corporate, criminal, law enforcement, or political, defaulting to academic. Each Scientist has a prominence tracked on the Scientists Prime page of the wiki, 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.

Special Case

Special Case Rules can be active or inactive and default to active. The status of a Special Case rule is notated in the title of that rule ending in “[X]” where X is the word Active or Inactive, denoting that Rule’s status. When a new Dynasty is started, the Ascension Address may state any existing Special Case Rules that are set to inactive; any Special Case Rules not set in the Ascension Address become Active.

The text of Special Case Rules that are inactive shall be interpreted, for the purpose of play, to mean nothing.

Seasonal Downtime [Active]

On the 24th, 25th and 26th of December, BlogNomic is on Hiatus. In addition, game actions defined by the rules titled “Scientists” and “Victory and Ascension” (with the exception of Voting in DoVs) may not be taken.

Dormancy [Active]

If there are fewer than five Scientists, BlogNomic is on Hiatus.

Imperial Deferentials [Active]

If the Liaison has voted DEFERENTIAL on a Proposal, that vote is instead considered to be valid and either FOR (if more Scientists have voted FOR the Proposal than have voted AGAINST it) or AGAINST (in all other cases).

Dynastic Distance [Active]

For the purposes of dynastic rules which do not deal with voting, the Liaison is not a Scientist.

The Traitor [Active]

The Traitor for a particular Dynasty may be a Scientist (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 Liaison, and the Liaison should not share this information with Scientists other than the Traitor.

If there is no Traitor for the current Dynasty, and BlogNomic is not on Hiatus, the Liaison may secretly randomly select a Scientist (other than the Liaison) 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 Scientists, nor to tell the truth to them, and is encouraged to betray other Scientists in order to achieve victory.

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.)

Can: “is able to”

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 Scientists.

Daily Action: If a game action is a Daily Action, each Scientist 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 Scientist 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.

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 Scientist’s Effective Vote Comment with respect to a given Votable Matter is that Scientist’s Comment to that Votable Matter, if any, that contains that Scientist’s Vote on that Votable Matter.

Commentary: When posting a blog entry, a Scientist 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. Scientists 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 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.

Hiatus: If BlogNomic is on Hiatus, Dynastic Actions may not be taken, 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

Private Message: A message sent via BlogNomic’s Private Messages system at blognomic.com.

Quorum: Quorum of a subset of Scientists is half the number of Scientists in that subset, rounded down, plus one. If the word Quorum is used without qualifying which subset of Scientists it is referring to, it is referring to a Quorum of all Scientists.

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 section of the Ruleset is a rule, including sections that are subrules of other rules.

Shall: “is required to”

Should: “is recommended that”

Sibling Rule: Two rules are “siblings” of each other if they are both direct subrules of the same rule.

Slack: The BlogNomic Slack is located at blognomic.slack.com. Scientists 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.

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.

Table of Contents: The Director of section headings that is generated by the MediaWiki software for most pages in the wiki.

TOC: Table of Contents.

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.

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 Scientist 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 Scientist per week.

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 Scientist 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.

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 two hours old and either no Scientist 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 Scientist 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 Scientist is defined as a Scientist who has been a Scientist for fewer than seven days or a Scientist that has unidled in the past seven days after being idle for at least 3 months.

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 Mater 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.

Representations of 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 Scientist’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 Scientist may correct the representations to comply with the Gamestate.

If a Scientist feels that a representation of the gamestate (such as a wiki page) was altered such that it no longer matches the gamestate (such as by performing an action which was against the Rules as they were at the time of the alteration, or by any other means), they may simply undo the effects of that alteration. Instead of repeatedly reverting and re-reverting a disputed alteration, Scientists are encouraged to raise a Call for Judgement instead.

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 Scientist 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.

Any changes to the potential outcomes of the Dice Roller’s random result commands must be made by Proposal; and any Proposal that seeks to nominate a change to this rule must first identify a Scientist with server-level access to the BlogNomic site who is able to perform the changes, and must also update this rule to reflect the new potential outcomes.

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 DICE roll in the Dice Roller, unless otherwise specified. If a selection is explicitly specified as being “secretly” random, the Scientist 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 an Individual 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.
An Atomic Action may direct the Individual performing it to skip some of its steps, which the Individual must do and in which case the skipped steps are considered completed for this rule.
If an Individual 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 Individual must redo the Atomic Action; for that purpose, the Individual 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 Individual 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” 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” 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, lost, gained, or transferred, a Scientist can spend only their own values, and a rule that allows Scientists to transfer a numeric value only allows them to transfer that value from themselves to another Scientist (of their choice unless otherwise stated).
A Scientist 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 no defined starting value, then that starting value is 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”).
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.

Rules and Proposals

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 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).
Where a 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).
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 the Admin enacting a Proposal reaches a step which cannot be applied immediately (e.g. “two days after this Proposal enacts, Scientist 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.

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 Scientist 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

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.
The terms “Scientist” and “Player” are synonyms.
Scientists 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”.

Names

Within the Ruleset, a word only refers to the name of a Scientist if it is explicitly stated that it refers to a Scientist’s name.
If a rule would ever have no name, it is instead named “Unnamed Rule”.
The names of rules are not themselves rule text and have no effect other than being rule names.
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”.

Prioritisation

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;
A Dynastic Rule has precedence over a Core Rule, unless that Core Rule explicitly says it can’t be overruled by a Dynastic Rule;
A Special Case Rule has equal precedence as a Dynastic Rule, unless that Special Case Rule explicitly says it can’t be overruled by a Dynastic Rule;
If two contradicting parts have equal precedence, the part with more limited scope applies (e.g. if the rules “Individuals may Kick each other” and “Individuals may not Kick each other on Tuesdays” exist, and it is Tuesday, Individuals may not Kick each other);
If two contradicting parts have the same scope, the negative rule applies (e.g. with “Individuals may Punch a Spaceman on Friday” and “Individuals may not Punch Spacemen on Friday”, then Individuals may not Punch Spacemen on Friday).

Mentors

Whenever a new Individual joins the game, the Director should select an active Individual who has indicated their willingness to act as a mentor and ask them to take that new Individual on as a mentee. The Director should wherever possible take care to consider game balance when selecting a potential mentor. The approached prospective mentor may decline to act as a mentor, in which case the Director should continue to approach other prospective mentors until one agrees or there are no available candidates who have not declined. If there are no available candidates then the Director may act as the new Individual’s mentor themselves, or the new Individual must go without a mentor.

A relationship between a mentor and a mentee is a Mentorship. Whenever a new Mentorship is established, the Director should announce it in a blog post.

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, Slack, and end-of-dynasty notifications through the Facebook group or Twitter;
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 Individual 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 should last for at least four weeks or until the next Ascension Address, whichever occurs latest. It can continue 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 Individuals.
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.

Ruleset

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