Difference between revisions of "Ruleset"

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(→‎Winners at War: Enacting "Formalised Disputes.")
(→‎Dynastic Rules: Enacted "The Dying of the Trite")
 
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== Ruleset and Gamestate ==
 
== Ruleset and Gamestate ==
This is the '''Ruleset''' for BlogNomic; all Operators shall obey it.
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This is the '''Ruleset''' for BlogNomic; all Seekers shall obey it.
  
It comprises four Sections: 1) the “core rules” of BlogNomic, covering the essential elements of gameplay; 2) the rules of the current Dynasty; 3) rules which apply in special cases; and 4) the appendix, which complements and clarifies the Ruleset.
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It comprises four Sections: 1) the “core rules” of BlogNomic, covering the essential elements of gameplay; 2) the rules of the current Dynasty; 3) rules which set metagame parameters for the current dynasty; and 4) the appendix, which complements and clarifies the Ruleset.
  
The Ruleset and Gamestate can only be altered in manners specified by the Ruleset.
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The Ruleset and Gamestate can only be altered in manners specified by the Ruleset. This document is considered to be, in effect, the only Ruleset for BlogNomic, so long as it is located at at the URL https://wiki.blognomic.com/index.php?title=Ruleset.
  
If the Ruleset does not properly reflect all legal changes that have been made to it, any Operator may update it to do so.
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If the text of the Ruleset document does not reflect all legal changes that have been authorised to be made to it, any Seeker may update it to do so.
  
== Operators ==
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The gamestate tracking page for this dynasty is the [[Photo Gallery]] page of the wiki. Unless otherwise stated, all publicly tracked gamestate information is tracked on it.
The process of applying for access to the BlogNomic blog is outlined in the [[FAQ]]. A human with access to the blog who is not already an Operator may make a blog post making clear their wish to be an Operator (plural form Operators); in response, an Admin shall add them to the roster in the sidebar, at which moment they become an Operator.
 
  
An Operator may only change their name as a result of a Proposal approving the change.
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== Seekers ==
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A human with access to the blog who is not already a Seeker may make a blog post making clear their wish to be a Seeker (plural form Seekers); in response, an Admin shall add them to the roster in the sidebar, at which moment they become a Seeker. (See the [[FAQ#Can_I_join_in.3F|FAQ]] for guidance on how to apply for access to the BlogNomic blog.)
  
Some Operators are '''Admins''', responsible for updating the site and the Ruleset, and are signified as such in the sidebar. Operators who wish to become Admins may sign up with a username for the Ruleset Wiki, and submit a Proposal to make themselves Admins. Existing Admins may be removed from their posts by Proposal, CfJ, or voluntary resignation.
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A Seeker may only change their name as a result of a Proposal approving the change.
  
===Idle Operators===
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Some Seekers are '''Admins''', responsible for updating the site and the Ruleset, and are signified as such in the sidebar. Seekers 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. Seekers may be made Admins through Proposal or CFJ.
  
If an Operator is Idle, this is tracked by their name being removed or concealed in the list of currently active Operators in the Sidebar. For the purposes of all Gamestate and the Ruleset, excluding the core and appendix Rules “Ruleset and Gamestate”, “Operators”, “Dynasties”, “Fair Play”, "Mentors" and any of those Rules’ subrules, Idle Operators are not counted as Operators. The combined term “Idle Operator” can be used to refer to Operators who are Idle even in rules that do not treat them as Operators.
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A Seeker may cease to be a Seeker at any time by posting an entry to the BlogNomic weblog requesting such an action. A human who has ceased to be a Seeker in this way may not become a Seeker again within the following two weeks.
  
If a Proposal contains a provision that targets a specifically named Idle Operator, then that Idle Operator is considered to be Unidle solely for the purposes of enacting that specific provision.
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===Idle Seekers ===
  
When an Operator 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 Operator Idled in a different Dynasty), the Operator is given the default value for new Operators, if such a value exists.
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If a Seeker is Idle, this is tracked by their name being removed or concealed in the list of currently active Seekers in the Sidebar. For the purposes of all Gamestate and the Ruleset, excluding the core and appendix Rules “Ruleset and Gamestate”, “Seekers ”, “Dynasties”, “Fair Play”, "Mentors" and any of those Rules’ subrules, Idle Seekers are not counted as Seekers . The combined term “Idle Seeker” can be used to refer to Seekers who are Idle even in rules that do not treat them as Seekers.
  
An Admin may render an Operator Idle if that Operator has asked to become Idle in an entry or comment from the past 96 hours (4 Days), or if that Operator has not posted an entry or comment in the past 168 Hours (7 days). In the latter case, the Admin must announce the idling in a blog post. 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 an Operator if that Operator is Idle and has asked to become Unidle in an entry or comment from the past 96 hours (4 Days), and Idle Admins may Unidle themselves at any time, unless the Operator who would be Unidled asked to become (or rendered themselves) Idle within the past 96 hours (4 days), and within the current Dynasty.
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If a Proposal contains a provision that targets a specifically named Idle Seeker, then that Idle Seeker is considered to be Unidle solely for the purposes of enacting that specific provision.
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When a Seeker 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 Seeker Idled in a different Dynasty), the Seeker is given the default value for new Seekers, if such a value exists.
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An Admin may render a Seeker Idle if that Seeker has asked to become Idle in an entry or comment from the past 96 hours (4 Days), or if that Seeker has not posted an entry or comment in the past 168 Hours (7 days). In the latter case, the Admin must announce the idling in a blog post, and the 168 Hour idle timeout is considered to be reduced to 96 hours for that Seeker during the current and subsequent dynasty. Admins may render themselves Idle at any time, but should announce it in a post or comment when they do so. An Admin may Unidle a Seeker if that Seeker is Idle and has asked to become Unidle in an entry or comment from the past 96 hours (4 Days), and Idle Admins may Unidle themselves at any time, unless the Seeker who would be Unidled has become Idle within the past 96 hours (4 days), and within the current Dynasty.
  
 
Admins who are unidling themselves should, in their first vote following each unidling, highlight their changed idle status and any changes to Quorum to have come about as a result of it.
 
Admins who are unidling themselves should, in their first vote following each unidling, highlight their changed idle status and any changes to Quorum to have come about as a result of it.
  
Idle admins can resolve Votable Matters as if they were not idle.
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Idle admins can resolve Votable Matters as a non-idle admin would.
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===Dormancy===
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If there are fewer than four Seekers (not including the Observer), then BlogNomic is on Hiatus.
  
 
== Dynasties ==
 
== Dynasties ==
BlogNomic is divided into a number of '''Dynasties'''. Each Dynasty may be headed by a single Operator, known as the Announcer. If there is no Announcer, the Dynasty is a Metadynasty.
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BlogNomic is divided into a number of '''Dynasties'''. Each Dynasty may be headed by a single Seeker, known as the Observer. If there is no Observer, the Dynasty is a Metadynasty.
  
An Interregnum is the period between dynasties, after a DoV has been enacted and before an Ascension Address has been posted. During an Interregnum the game is in hiatus; additionally, no DoVs may be made, and no Operator may achieve Victory. However, dynastic actions that are specifically permitted to be carried out during an Interregnum may be carried out.
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An Interregnum is the period between dynasties, after a DoV has been enacted and before an Ascension Address has been posted. During an Interregnum the game is in hiatus; additionally, no DoVs may be made, and no Seeker may achieve Victory. However, dynastic actions that are specifically permitted to be carried out during an Interregnum may be carried out.
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Unless otherwise stated by a dynastic or Building Blocks rule, then for the purposes of dynastic and Building Blocks rules, the Observer is not a Seeker.
  
 
== Votable Matters ==
 
== Votable Matters ==
A '''Votable Matter''' is a post which Operators may cast Votes on, such as a Proposal, a Call for Judgement or a Declaration of Victory.
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A '''Votable Matter''' is a post which Seekers may cast Votes on, such as a Proposal, a Call for Judgement or a Declaration of Victory.
  
 
===Votes===
 
===Votes===
Each Operator 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. An Operator’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-Operator never has a Vote, even if they were an Operator previously and had cast a valid Vote.
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Each Seeker 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 Seeker'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-Seeker never has a Vote, even if they were a Seeker previously and had cast a valid Vote.
  
If an Operator other than the Announcer casts a vote of DEFERENTIAL, then the Vote of DEFERENTIAL is an indication of confidence in the Announcer. When the Announcer 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 Announcer's Vote for the purposes of other rules unless otherwise specified.
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If a Seeker other than the Observer casts a vote of DEFERENTIAL, then the Vote of DEFERENTIAL is an indication of confidence in the Observer. When the Observer 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 Observer's Vote for the purposes of other rules unless otherwise specified. When the Observer themselves casts a vote of DEFERENTIAL, it indicates an indication of confidence in the votes of the other players; please see the Rules and Votable Matters section of the Appendix for more information on how this is resolved.
  
 
A Votable Matter is '''Popular''' if any of the following are true:
 
A Votable Matter is '''Popular''' if any of the following are true:
 
* It has a number of FOR Votes that exceed or equal Quorum.
 
* It has a number of FOR Votes that exceed or equal Quorum.
* It has been open for voting for at least 48 hours, it has more than 1 valid Vote cast on it, and more valid Votes cast on it are FOR than are AGAINST. Exception: Proposals which would change the text of a Core, Special Case or Appendix rule if enacted cannot be Popular on this basis.
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* It has been open for voting for at least 48 hours, it has more than 1 valid Vote cast on it, and more valid Votes cast on it are FOR than are AGAINST.  
  
 
A Votable Matter is '''Unpopular''' if any of the following are true:
 
A Votable Matter is '''Unpopular''' if any of the following are true:
* The number of Operators who are not voting AGAINST it is less than Quorum.
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* The number of Seekers who are not voting AGAINST it is less than Quorum.
 
* It has been open for voting for at least 48 hours and it is not Popular.
 
* It has been open for voting for at least 48 hours and it is not Popular.
  
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===Tags===
 
===Tags===
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Votable Matters have zero or more tags. Tags are represented in the title of a Votable Matter with the format “[X]” (e.g. “[Core] Wording Fix”, where “[Core]” is the tag).
  
Votable Matters have zero or more tags. Tags are represented in the title of a Votable Matter with the format “[X]” (e.g. “[Core] Wording Fix”, where “[Core]” is the tag). Votable Matters require the “[Core]” tag in order to make changes to the Core Rules, the “[Special Case]” tag in order to make changes to the Special Case Rules, and the “[Appendix]” tag in order to make changes to the Appendix Rules. Votable Matters other than [[#Victory and Ascension|DoVs]] require the “[Victory]” tag in order to grant victory to an Operator.
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Votable Matters making changes to the Core Rules, the Building Blocks Rules or the Appendix Rules require any of the following to be true for each such change in order to make that specific modification to the ruleset:
 
+
* The Votable Matter has the appropriate Tag or Tags for that change: [Core] for Core Rules changes, [Building Blocks] for Building Blocks Rules changes and [Appendix] for Appendix Rules changes.
If a Votable Matter would make a modification to the rules and it does not have the tag to make that modification, that Votable Matter will still be able to make that specific modification if any of the following on the following list are true:
 
 
* The modification is preceded or followed immediately by an unambiguous statement of which section of the ruleset it takes place.
 
* The modification is preceded or followed immediately by an unambiguous statement of which section of the ruleset it takes place.
 
* The modification specifically states a rule using its number or the name of the stated rule only occurs once in the ruleset.
 
* The modification specifically states a rule using its number or the name of the stated rule only occurs once in the ruleset.
  
 
== Proposals ==
 
== Proposals ==
Any Operator may submit a '''Proposal''' to change the Ruleset or Gamestate, by posting an entry in the “Proposal” category that describes those changes (unless the Operator already has 2 Proposals pending or has already made 3 Proposals that day).
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Any Seeker may submit a '''Proposal''' to change the Ruleset or Gamestate, by posting an entry in the “Proposal” category that describes those changes (unless the Seeker already has 2 Proposals pending or has already made 3 Proposals that day).
  
 
=== Special Proposal Voting ===
 
=== Special Proposal Voting ===
  
When an Operator casts a vote AGAINST their own Proposal (which is not in the form of a DEFERENTIAL vote), this renders the Proposal '''Withdrawn''', even if the author later changes their Vote. The Announcer may use VETO as a voting icon to cast a Vote on a Proposal; when the Announcer casts a vote of VETO on a Proposal, this renders the Proposal Vetoed, even if the Announcer later changes their Vote.
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When a Seeker casts a vote AGAINST their own Proposal (which is not in the form of a DEFERENTIAL vote), this renders the Proposal '''Withdrawn''', even if the author later changes their Vote. The Observer may use VETO as a voting icon to cast a Vote on a Proposal; when the Observer casts a vote of VETO on a Proposal, this renders the Proposal Vetoed, even if the Observer later changes their Vote.
  
 
=== Resolution of Proposals ===
 
=== Resolution of Proposals ===
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If a Proposal somehow ends up being pending for more than 7 days, it is ignored for the purpose of calculating the oldest pending Proposal, and can be failed by any Admin.
 
If a Proposal somehow ends up being pending for more than 7 days, it is ignored for the purpose of calculating the oldest pending Proposal, and can be failed by any Admin.
  
When a Proposal is Enacted, its stated effects are immediately applied in full; the Admin Enacting it shall update the Gamestate and Ruleset, and correct any gamestate-tracking entities, as specified in the Proposal.
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When a Proposal is Enacted, its stated effects are applied by treating the text in the Proposal as a series of steps starting from the beginning of that Proposal’s text and performing each step until reaching the end of that Proposal’s text, except that if the Admin Enacting it reaches a step which cannot be applied immediately (e.g. “two days after this Votable Matter enacts, Seeker A gains 1 point”) or at all (e.g. applying to a rule which does not exist), that step is ignored for the purposes of Enactment; the Admin Enacting the Proposal shall update the Gamestate and Ruleset, and correct any gamestate-tracking entities, as specified in each step that was performed.
  
 
== Calls for Judgement ==
 
== Calls for Judgement ==
If two or more Operators actively disagree as to the interpretation of the Ruleset, or if an Operator feels that an aspect of the game needs urgent attention, then any Operator may raise a '''Call for Judgement''' (abbreviated “CfJ”) by posting an entry in the “Call for Judgement” category.
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If two or more Seekers actively disagree as to the interpretation of the Ruleset, or if a Seeker feels that an aspect of the game needs urgent attention, then any Seeker may raise a '''Call for Judgement''' (abbreviated “CfJ”) by posting an entry in the “Call for Judgement” category.
  
 
A Pending CfJ may be Enacted by any Admin if all of the following are true:
 
A Pending CfJ may be Enacted by any Admin if all of the following are true:
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== Victory and Ascension ==
 
== Victory and Ascension ==
  
If an Operator (other than the Announcer) believes that they have achieved victory in the current Dynasty, they may make a '''Declaration of Victory''' (abbreviated “DoV”) detailing this, by posting an entry in the “Declaration of Victory” category.
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If a Seeker (other than the Observer) 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.
  
An Operator’s vote on a DoV is encouraged to reflect whether or not they agree with the proposition that the poster has achieved victory in the current Dynasty. If there is at least one pending DoV, BlogNomic is [[#hiatus|on Hiatus]].
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A Seeker's vote on a DoV is encouraged to reflect whether or not they agree with the proposition that the poster has achieved victory in the current Dynasty. If there is at least one pending DoV, BlogNomic is [[#hiatus|on Hiatus]], no Idle Seeker may be made unidle, and no new player joining requests may be administered.
  
 
A Pending DoV may be Enacted by any Admin if any of the following are true:
 
A Pending DoV may be Enacted by any Admin if any of the following are true:
  
* It has a number of FOR Votes greater than 2/3rds of the number of Operators, it has been open for at least 12 hours, and either the Announcer has Voted FOR it or it has no AGAINST Votes.
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* It has a number of FOR Votes greater than 2/3rds of the number of Seekers, it has been open for at least 12 hours, and either the Observer has Voted FOR it or it has no AGAINST Votes.
* It has a number of FOR Votes greater than 2/3rds of the number of Operators, and it has been open for at least 24 hours.
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* It has a number of FOR Votes greater than 2/3rds of the number of Seekers, and it has been open for at least 24 hours.
  
 
A Pending DoV may be Failed by any Admin if any of the following are true:
 
A Pending DoV may be Failed by any Admin if any of the following are true:
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* It is more than 48 hours old and cannot be Enacted
 
* It is more than 48 hours old and cannot be Enacted
  
If a DoV is Failed and it had at least one AGAINST vote, the Operator who posted it cannot make another DoV until after 120 hours (5 days) have passed since the time their DoV was Failed.
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If a DoV is Failed and it had at least one AGAINST vote, the Seeker who posted it cannot make another DoV until after 120 hours (5 days) have passed since the time their DoV was Failed.
  
When a DoV is Enacted, all other pending DoVs are Failed, the Operator who posted the DoV becomes Announcer, and the game enters an Interregnum. When a DoV is enacted then all game actions that led up to it are considered to be upheld.
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When a DoV is Enacted, all other pending DoVs are Failed, the Seeker who posted the DoV becomes Observer, and the game enters an Interregnum. When a DoV is enacted then all game actions that led up to it are considered to be upheld.
  
If the game is in an Interregnum then the new Announcer must either Pass the Mantle (by making a post naming an Operator who was not the last dynasty’s Announcer, in which case the passing Operator ceases to be the Announcer and the Operator so named becomes the Announcer) or start a new dynasty by completing the following Atomic Action:
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If the game is in an Interregnum then the new Observer must either Pass the Mantle (by making a post naming a Seeker who was not the last dynasty’s Observer, in which case the passing Seeker ceases to be the Observer and the Seeker so named becomes the Observer) or start a new dynasty by completing the following Atomic Action:
* Make an Ascension Address by posting an entry in the “Ascension Address” category. This should specify the Announcer's chosen theme for the new Dynasty, and it may optionally specify new dynasty-specific terms as outline in the rule "Synonyms", and/or list a number of dynastic rules to keep (if none are specifed then the entire Dynastic Ruleset is repealed).
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* Make an Ascension Address by posting an entry in the “Ascension Address” category. This should specify the Observer's chosen theme for the new Dynasty, and it may optionally specify new dynasty-specific terms as outline in the rule "Synonyms", and/or list a number of dynastic rules to keep (if none are specifed then the entire Dynastic Ruleset is repealed).
* Update the Ruleset to reflect any changed terms, and any dynastic rules which were not listed to be kept are repealed.
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* Optionally specify any number of Building Blocks rules to remove or insert, as per the instructions in the Building Blocks section.
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* Update the Ruleset to reflect any changed terms, repeal any dynastic rules which were not listed to be kept, and make any specified or automatic changes to the Building Blocks section of the ruleset. Update the Building Blocks page to reflect any changes to the terms outlined in the rule Synonyms.
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* Optionally change the gamestate tracking page referred to in the rule “Ruleset and Gamestate” to a different page that does not exist and does not start with the word “Ruleset”.
  
 
Once this Atomic Action has been completed the Interregnum ends and the new dynasty begins.
 
Once this Atomic Action has been completed the Interregnum ends and the new dynasty begins.
  
 
== Fair Play ==
 
== Fair Play ==
The following are BlogNomic’s rules of '''fair play'''. If any of these rules are found to have been broken, or if an Operator’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. Operators should vote against any DoV that relies on having broken a fair play rule.
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The following are BlogNomic’s rules of '''fair play'''. If any of these rules are found to have been broken, or if a Seeker'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. Seekers 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 Operator within BlogNomic, and should announce publicly if they control both a non-Idle Operator and any Idle Operators. This extends to exerting full control over the actions of another Operator, defined here as the controlled Operator’s game behavior being functionally indistinguishable from if the controlling Operator was logged into their account and playing through it, over a period of more than a day.
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* A single person should not control more than one non-Idle Seeker within BlogNomic, and should announce publicly if they control both a non-Idle Seeker and any Idle Seekers. This extends to exerting full control over the actions of another Seeker, defined here as the controlled Seeker's game behavior being functionally indistinguishable from if the controlling Seeker was logged into their account and playing through it, over a period of more than a day.
* An Operator should not “spam” the BlogNomic blog. What counts as spamming is subjective, but would typically include posting more than ten blog entries in a day, more than ten blog comments in a row, or posting a blog entry of more than 1000 words.
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* A Seeker 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.
* An Operator should not deliberately exploit bugs or unexpected behaviours in the software running the game (ExpressionEngine, MediaWiki or other blognomic.com scripts).
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* A Seeker should not deliberately exploit bugs or unexpected behaviours in the software running the game (ExpressionEngine, MediaWiki or other blognomic.com scripts).
* An Operator should not edit their own blog comments once posted, nor those of any other Operator.
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* A Seeker should not edit their own blog comments once posted, nor those of any other Seeker.
* An Operator should not edit the “Entry Date” field of a blog post.
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* A Seeker should not edit the “Entry Date” field of a blog post.
* An Operator should not make a DoV primarily to delay the game by putting it into Hiatus.
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* A Seeker should not make a DoV primarily to delay the game by putting it into Hiatus.
* An Operator should not do any action meant to make the game unplayable (for example, changing multiple keywords to the same word in an Ascension Address).
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* A Seeker should not do any action meant to make the game unplayable (for example, changing multiple keywords to the same word in an Ascension Address).
* An Operator 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. An Operator must use their own name in the Dice Roller, when rolling dice.
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* A Seeker 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 Seeker must use their own name in the Dice Roller, when rolling dice.
* An Operator should not deliberately and unreasonably prolong the performance of a game action once they have started it.
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* A Seeker should not deliberately and unreasonably prolong the performance of a game action once they have started it.
* An Operator should not use a Core, Special Case, or Appendix rules scam to directly or indirectly cause an Operator to achieve victory.
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* A Seeker should not use a Core, Building Blocks, or Appendix rules scam to directly or indirectly cause a Seeker to achieve victory.
* An Operator should not trade actions in BlogNomic for favors or compensation outside of BlogNomic, nor trade actions in any other game for favors within BlogNomic.
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* A Seeker should not trade actions in BlogNomic for favors or compensation outside of BlogNomic, nor trade actions in any other game for favors within BlogNomic, nor trade actions or favours in one Dynasty of Blognomic for actions or favours in another Dynasty of Blognomic.
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*A person with administrative, moderation, or other heightened access to the software running or supporting BlogNomic should not take any action using such heightened access for the purpose of causing any Seeker or Seekers to gain, receive, maintain, or preserve gameplay advantage unless any of the following is true:
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**Such action is required or explicitly permitted by the rules or required to implement an action required or explicitly permitted by the rules.
 +
**A reasonable, impartial, and prudent external observer would deem such action necessary or reasonable for the purpose of supporting, moderating, or administering BlogNomic or such software.
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All Seekers and idle Seekers should be aware of the BlogNomic [[Community Guidelines]]. The contents of this page are not ruletext and are nonbinding as pertains to the ruleset, but Seekers are encouraged to commit to upholding them to whatever extent is possible.
  
All Operators and idle Operators should be aware of the BlogNomic [[Community Guidelines]]. The contents of this page are not ruletext and are nonbinding as pertains to the ruleset, but Operators are encouraged to commit to upholding them to whatever extent is possible.
 
 
</div>
 
</div>
  
 
= Dynastic Rules =
 
= Dynastic Rules =
  
==Bot Loadout==
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==Shots==
Each Operator has an amount of Money, which is publicly tracked and which defaults to ₩20,000. An Operator’s Money can not surpass ₩20,000.
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Seekers may create Shots by taking photographs (or having photographs taken on their behalf) and hosting them through the image hosting functionality offered by the BlogNomic wiki.
 
 
Each Operator possesses exactly one Bot, whose characteristics are publicly tracked. The characteristics that each Bot must have are as follows:
 
* A name, which may be freely selected by the Bot’s Operator and which is flavour text;
 
* An Engine, which is by default an Petrol motor
 
* A Chassis, which is by default an Apex Systems X1500
 
* An ordered list of Systems, of which a single Bot may have between none and a number equal to the number of hardpoints on the Bot’s Chassis, defaulting into none
 
 
 
The Engine, Chassis and each System of each Bot have a publicly tracked Condition rating, being a percentage from 0% to 100%. If a rule refers to the “Effective” quality of any of these items, and that value is numerical, then the value has the item’s Condition percentage applied to it, rounded down (eg. the Effective Cost of a ₩5,000 Engine in 50% Condition is ₩2,500).
 
 
 
If a Bot has Systems and a Chassis whose combined Consumption exceeds its Engine’s Effective Power Output, the Bot is considered to be Defunct. The Script of a Defunct Bot is always considered to be blank.
 
 
 
If the Condition of an Engine or Chassis of a Bot is 0%, then that Bot is said to be Trashed. (If the Condition of an Engine, Chassis or System would ever be reduced below 0%, it instead becomes 0%.)
 
 
 
===Engines===
 
 
 
A Bot’s Engine has the following characteristics: a fuel type (which also acts as its name), a one-off cost, and a power output. The characteristics of each type of engine can be found below.
 
 
 
{| class="wikitable"
 
|+ Engines
 
! Type || One-off Cost || Power Output
 
|-
 
| Electric || ₩2,500 || 240
 
|-
 
| Petrol || ₩4,000 || 550
 
|-
 
| Nitrogen || ₩5,500 || 900
 
|-
 
| Hydraulic || ₩7,300 || 1,100
 
|-
 
| Nuclear || ₩9,700 || 1,450
 
|}
 
 
 
At any time as an atomic action, an Operator whose Readiness is Workshop may:
 
*Either increase their money by the effective one-off cost of their engine or add their engine and its condition to their Spare Parts Bin.
 
*Replace the Engine of their Bot with another of any Condition by paying the Effective One-off Cost of the new Engine. If the new Engine is present in their Spare Parts Bin, they may instead remove it from their Spare Parts Bin.
 
 
 
===Chassises===
 
 
 
A Bot’s Chassis has the following characteristics: a model (which also acts as its name), a cost, a number of hardpoints, and a consumption. The characteristics of each type of chassis can be found below.
 
 
 
{| class="wikitable"
 
|+ Chassises
 
|-
 
! Model || Cost || Hardpoints || Consumption
 
|-
 
| Frictionless Inquisitor || ₩1,900 || 1 || 110
 
|-
 
| Apex Systems X1500 || ₩2,500 || 2 || 200
 
|-
 
| Tundra Industries #9 || ₩3,350 || 2 || 170
 
|-
 
| Echelon Hardcast || ₩3,900 || 3 || 440
 
|-
 
| Incisor TRN9P || ₩4,210 || 3 || 410
 
|-
 
| Numenatics Featherlight 44714 || ₩9,110 || 3 || 305
 
|-
 
| Camelot CG3 Rampart || ₩5,890 || 4 || 630
 
|-
 
| Titanium Holdfast || ₩8,870 || 4 || 480
 
|}
 
 
 
At any time as an atomic action, an Operator whose Readiness is Workshop may:
 
*Either increase their money by the effective one-off cost of their Chassis or add their Chassis and its condition to their Spare Parts Bin.
 
*Replace the Chassis of their Bot with another of any Condition by paying the Effective One-off Cost of the new Chassis. If the new Chassis is present in their Spare Parts Bin, they may instead choose to remove it from their Spare Parts Bin rather than paying the Effective One-off Cost.
 
 
 
===Systems===
 
  
A Bot’s Systems can each have the following characteristics: a name, a cost, a consumption, and an effect. The characteristics of each type of System can be found below.
+
A Shot is confirmed as Authentic if it includes an appearance of a hand-written note (as part of the Shot) which includes the name of an active Seeker and the Merriam Webster Word of the Day for the day on which the Shot was taken, or the preceding day (per http://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day). Such a post is known as a Snap. A typographical error does not prevent the Shot from being Authentic, as long as it’s obvious what the intended word is.
  
{| class="wikitable"
+
==Criteria==
|+ Systems
+
There exist a number of Public Criteria, which are a type of Criteria, and which are listed in this rule. Each Seeker has a set of up to five Private Criteria, which are a type of Criteria - defaulting to blank. Each Private Criteria is privately tracked by its seeker, and publicly tracked by its sha256 hash which includes the Private Criteria plus a salt of 5 characters or less. Each Private Criteria also has a publicly-tracked count of satisfying Shots and unsatisfying Shots, both defaulting to 0. At any time a Seeker may change any of their Private Criteria while also resetting its satisfying and unsatisfying counts to zero.
! Name || Cost || Consumption || Effect
 
|-
 
| Ram || ₩1,100 || 85 ||Passive: Scratch Damage dealt to opponents by this Bot as a result of Shoving or Bumping is multiplied by ten. This scratch damage increases tally as if it isn’t scratch damage.
 
|-
 
| Flipper || ₩1,600 || 185 || If the Actor is Flipped, it ceases to be Flipped. Otherwise, this counts as a Melee System and the Opponent becomes Flipped.
 
|-
 
| Axe || ₩2,200 || 250 || Melee System. The Condition of the Opponent’s Chassis has 25% subtracted, and the Condition of the Opponent’s Engine has 10% subtracted.
 
|-
 
| Grinder || ₩300 || 100 || Melee System. The Condition of the Opponent’s Exposed System (if it has one) has 25% subtracted.
 
|-
 
| Plate || ₩200 || 0 || No effect.
 
|-
 
| Taser || ₩1,500 || 290 || If the opponent is within six spaces, they take Scratch Damage and the system that loses condition from this scratch damage (or the engine if the chassis loses condition) is affected by Shock damage: it is treated as if it had a condition of 33 fewer percentage points than it actually has (to a minimum of 0) until the end of the Bout. Shock Damage is permitted to stack with itself. Scratch Damage from the Taser increases Tally as if it wasn’t Scratch Damage.
 
|-
 
| Mound-Shaped Body || ₩800 || 30 || Passive: If a bot with this system would gain the Flipped status, they do not. Due to being a larger target, any condition loss that any systems of the bot with this system would recieve is also recieved by its chassis.
 
|-
 
| Spikes || ₩1,100 || 30 || Passive: Scratch Damage opponents take which is caused by Bumping that involves this bot is multiplied by 15, and increases Tally as if it wasn’t Scratch Damage. This has no effect on damage from shoving.
 
|-
 
| Cow Catcher || ₩1,200 || 30 || Passive: When moving into or past an opponents space from any distance away, the excess move beyond the amount that it would take to move adjacent to the opponent is treated as a shove. This effect cannot cause the actor to move futher than their script declared that they would move.
 
|-
 
| Hookshot || ₩800 || 110 || If the opponent is within ten spaces, move the Actor to the square that is immediately adjacent to the Opponent; this System is not affected by Evasion and a Bot that is Evading is still affected by this System.
 
|-
 
| Grapple || ₩1,400 || 160 || Melee System: If the target Opponent has the status Anchored then this system has no effect. Otherwise, give them the status Anchored [x], where [x] is the name of the Bot using this system.
 
|-
 
| Targeting Module || ₩320 || 75 || Passive: Whenever another System Effect refers to the Exposed System of a Bot, it refers to the frontmost System with the lowest Condition instead (if it is facing the Bot using the Effect) or the rearmost System with the lowest Condition (if it is not).
 
|-
 
| Lead Weight || ₩1300 || 30 || Passive: If a bot with this system would be Shoved, its Shove Power is multiplied by ten times the Condition of this system.
 
|-
 
| Back-up Battery || ₩260 || 0 ||  Passive: The Condition of the Engine on this Bot is instead calculated as the Condition of the Engine plus 25% of the Condition of this system, up to a maximum of 100%.
 
|-
 
| LED Banner || ₩3,200 || 120 || Displays the name of every distinct Operator that Bot has defeated in a Bout while using this System; these names are publicly tracked. Has no other effect.
 
|-
 
| Nox Tank || ₩800 || 88 || Passive: At the start of a Bout this System’s Condition drops to 0%. If more than one Bot in a Bout has this System then it has no further effect. This Bot always starts a Bout on the left
 
|-
 
| Inverter Driver || ₩2,700 || 310 || Passive: A Bot with this system that is flipped automatically ceases to be flipped at the start of its turn, before its script is run
 
|-
 
| Flamethrower || ₩1,900 || 200 || Melee System: The Opponent takes 15% Chassis condition reduction and 5% condition reduction to all Systems, and becomes Scorched
 
|-
 
| Pincers || ₩1,100 || 190 || Melee System: The Opponent becomes Loose
 
|-
 
| Signal Jammer || ₩900 || 330 || The Opponent becomes Scrambled for the next two turns
 
|-
 
| Giant Mitt || ₩900 || 0 || Passive: This bot is always blocking.
 
|-
 
| Modular Breakpoint || ₩3,100 || 170 || Passive: The Operator of the Actor may privately message the Announcer to add a System from their Spare Parts Bin to their Bot while their Readiness is Staging, if they have enough spare Hardpoints to do so. The Announcer should add that System to the Actor once its Operator’s Readiness is Set, but before processing the Bout.
 
|-
 
| Howitzer || ₩2,600 || 260 || If no Opponent is less than eight spaces away from the Actor then the Condition of all Opponents’ Chassises is reduced by 50% and the Opponents gains the Status Loose
 
|-
 
| Ablative Plating || ₩3,700 || 120 || Passive: All Condition loss incurred by other Components on the Actor is reduced by 50% and is incurred to this System instead of any other Component that it might be incurred to. Regardless of Statuses or the effects of other Systems on this Bot, no damage incurred to this System as a result of this Effect may cause damage to be incurred to other Components on this Bot.
 
|}
 
  
At any time, an Operator whose Readiness is Workshop may add a System of a desired Condition to their Bot by spending its Effective Cost or removing that system from their Spare Parts Bin as long as that system is present in their Spare Parts Bin at that condition. An Operator whose Readiness is not Set may remove a System from their Bot at any time by either increasing their money by the Effective Cost of the system being removed or adding that system at the appropriate condition to their Spare Parts Bin.
+
An Authentic Shot’s Criteria Score is equal to the number of Criteria it meets.
  
The list of a Bot’s Systems represent the mounted positions of those systems, listed from front to back. When a System Effect refers to the Exposed System of a Bot, it means its frontmost System (if the Bot is facing the Bot using the Effect) or its rearmost System (if it is not). While a Bot is Flipped, none of its Systems are Exposed.
+
The following Public Criteria exist:
 +
* The Shot was taken in an outside location.
 +
* A Snap which includes a specific named entity that had its own Wikipedia page at Mon 18/03/24—09:00 UTC
 +
* A Snap in which at least one article of clothing worn by the posting Seeker at the time that the Snap was taken is visible
 +
* A Snap that contains a message to the viewer
  
While a System has a Condition of 0%, then its Effect is considered to be “No effect.”, and it is skipped when determining the frontmost or rearmost System of a Bot.
+
Two Criteria are considered to be equivalent if any shot which meets the first criteria also meets the second criteria, and any shot which does not meet the first criteria also does not meet the second criteria. None of a Seekers private criteria can be equivalent to another of that Seekers private criteria.
  
If a System effect is preceded by “Passive:”, then it has no effect when used, and instead applies to a Bot with that System at all times.
+
A Private Criteria is considered Saturated if its satisfying count or its unsatisfying count is greater than or equal to five (or half the number of seekers, whichever is greater).
  
===Spare Parts Bin===
+
A Private Criteria’s Exposure is equal to its Unsatisfying Score plus its Satisfying Score.
  
Each Operator has a Spare Parts Bin, which is a publicly tracked list of Chassisses, Engines, and Systems as well as their conditions.
+
The date and time (to nearest minute) a given Private Criteria was last changed should be tracked on the gamestate tracking page in a column called “last modified”.
  
===Scratch Damage===
+
===Reasonable Limits===
When rules state that a Bot takes Scratch Damage, this is interpreted as losing 1 condition percentage point from its frontmost system, or its chassis if it has no frontmost system. A Bot that would take Scratch Damage more than once in a given turn only takes Scratch Damage once in that turn instead. (This does not affect how Scratch Damage is multiplied.)
 
  
===Statuses===
+
A Criteria must have the following characteristics:
 +
* May be no longer than 50 characters in length
 +
* Must be expressed in vernacular English
  
Statuses are states of being that a Bot may have during a bout. Each Status has a name, which is flavor text, and an effect. The following are all statuses that a bot may have:
+
===Audit===
* Flipped: When an Actor is Flipped, any step in its Script that results in it moving or using a System is ignored, unless that step would also result in them ceasing to be Flipped. If a Bot is Flipped, it will cease to be Flipped after 3 turns have passed. When a Bot ceases to be Flipped, it can not be Flipped again for one turn. A Bot cannot become Flipped while it is Flipped. While a bot is Flipped, its Shove Power is considered to be multiplied by 0.5 for the purposes of resolving Shoves.
 
* Scorched: When a Bot is Scorched, any Scratch Damage it would take is multiplied by 5 and it takes Scratch Damage whenever it uses a System.
 
* Loose: When an Actor is Loose, half (rounded up) of any Condition loss incurred by the Chassis or System of that Bot is also applied to that Bot’s Engine.
 
* Scrambled: When a Bot becomes Scrambled, the Announcer randomises the order of its Script. When it ceases to be Scrambled its Script regains its standard order.
 
* Anchored [x] (where [x] is the name of another Bot): Whenever this Bot moves or bypasses, any Bot in the same Bout whose name is [x] (‘the Anchorer’) moves to the closest square to its current position that is in bounds, not occupied by another Bot, and within three squares of the Bot with this Status; if this isn’t possible then the Anchorer retains its position and the Bot with this Status loses this Status. If this Bot has multiple iterations of this Status attributed to multiple named Bots then this impact resolves for those Bots in turn order. A Bot with this Status takes an additional 10 percentage points of Chassis condition damage from any melee System which does Chassis damage. For the purposes of BotScript triggers or System effects, ‘Anchored’ refers to this status in any of its variations.
 
  
==Bouts==
+
As part of a Declaration of Victory, the Seeker posting the DoV must include a history of their Private Criteria and corresponding salt in the body of the DoV post. Any DoV which does not contain this information is not considered a valid DoV and should be marked as illegal.
  
Operators pit their Bots against each other in Bouts. At any time, each Operator may be engaged in at most one Bout. The number of bouts an Operator’s bot has been engaged in is publicly tracked, and includes announced bouts that include the bot that are yet to be resolved. This publicly tracked value may be referred to as the Bout Count.
+
==Scoring==
 +
Each Seeker has a Development Interval, which is a publicly tracked number that defaults to 5 which is at least 2, and a Score, which is a publicly tracked number defaulting to 0.
  
Operators have a Readiness, which is publicly tracked, which may be either Workshop, Ready, Staging, or Set, and which defaults to Workshop.
+
No more than once per number of days equal to their Development Interval, a Seeker may make a post in the story post category with the title of their choice which includes a single Authentic Shot.
* When an Operator’s Readiness is Workshop and their Bot is not Trashed, they may set their Readiness to Ready at any time
 
* When an Operator’s Readiness has been set to Ready for the past 48 hours, they may set it to Workshop
 
* When an Operator’s Readiness is Ready and they are named in an Announcement Post then the Announcer should set their Readiness to Staging
 
* When an Operator’s Readiness is Staging then they may set it to Set at any time
 
* When an Operator’s Readiness is Set and they are participating in a Bout then the Announcer should set their Readiness to Workshop
 
  
Operator changes to any of a Bot’s physical hardware components (i.e. anything defined in the rule Bot Loadout) may only be made when the Operator’s Readiness is Workshop. Operator changes to a Bot’s software (i.e. anything defined in the rule BotScript) can only be made when the Operator’s Readiness is Workshop, Ready or Staging.
+
Within 48 hours of such a Shot having been posted, each Seeker (including the poster) may at most once respond to it stating which of their own Private Criteria that Shot satisfies and does not satisfy, provided that none of their Private Criteria has been changed since that Shot was posted and provided that there are no other Shots that were posted before the shot in question, within the last 48 hours, and which the Seeker in question has not already responded to in this manner. Upon doing so:
 +
* For each non-Saturated Private Criteria in the response that the Shot satisfies, that Private Criteria’s satisfying count is incremented by one, and its owner’s Score is incremented by that Private Criteria’s unsatisfying count.
 +
* For each non-Saturated Private Criteria in the response that the Shot does not satisfy, that Private Criteria’s unsatisfying count is incremented by one, and its owner’s Score is incremented by that Private Criteria’s satisfying count.
  
If, at any point during a Bout, one of the participating Operators has had their Readiness set to Set for the last 48 hours and the other has not changed their Readiness from Staging since the Announcement Post for that Bout, then the Operator whose Readiness is Staging forfeits the match and the other Operator is the Winner for that Bout.
+
Each Seeker has a Development Bonus which is publicly tracked and defaults to 0. Whenever a Seeker posts a Snap, they gain an amount of Score equal to three times their Development Bonus.
  
As a Daily Action, the Announcer may Announce any number of upcoming Bouts, by randomly select two Operators using the Selection Criteria in this rule for each Bout and making a post Announcing their names.
+
===Editing Disclaimer===
 +
Any new post that contains a Shot must include a description of any edits or changes made to the photograph prior to it being made a Shot, with a lack of such a description indicating that no editing was done. If a post is found to have broken this rule, the Seeker responsible or any Admin should replace the Shot in the offending post with [https://wiki.blognomic.com/images/6/69/Dunce_cap.jpg this] image, no scoring may be performed for that post (and any scoring already awarded to the poster should be reverted), and the responsible Seeker may create a new post as if they had not made the offending post.
  
The Selection Criteria for selecting bots to engage in a bout is:
+
==Guesses==
*If an Operator has a higher Bout Count than any other Operator, they may not be selected by the Announcer, except if there are no other available Operators to select.
+
As a Weekly Action, a Seeker (the Guesser) with a score of at least 3 guess a private criteria of another Seeker (the Target) who is not currently Targeted by performing the following Atomic Action known as Initiating a Guess
*If an Operator has a Readiness that is not Ready, it may not be selected by the Announcer.
 
*The random selection of eligible Operators is weighted towards Operators with a smaller Bout Count - for each eligible Operator, subtract the current Bout Count for that Operator from the highest Bout Count of all eligible Operators then add 1 to get the weighting that the random selection will use.
 
  
Whenever the Announcer is required to randomly generate an outcome as part of administering a Bout they may do so privately.
+
* Reduce the score of the Guesser by 3
 +
* Make a story post to the blog clearly declaring the name of the Targeted Seeker, and what the guesser thinks one of their Private Criteria are
  
===The Arena===
+
The Target is now considered Targeted, and may not take any other dynastic action until they perform the following Atomic Action known as Resolving the Guess
  
Bouts take place in the Arena, which is mapped as an infinite row of spaces from left (i.e. from minus infinity) to right (i.e. to infinity). The spaces 1 to 19 are considered In Bounds. Each Bot in the Arena may face either left or right. When a Bout begins, the bots are randomly assigned to one of two starting locations: one bot is placed in space 4 and the other bot in space 16, both facing each other. All of this is tracked privately by the Announcer.
+
* If the guess is equivalent to one of their private Criteria, respond to the post with a :FOR:, reduce their own Score by the Exposure of that private criteria, and increase the score of the Guesser by the same amount, and then remove that Private Criteria from the Target’s private criteria list (resetting its satisfying and unsatisfying counts to zero in the process)
 +
* If the guess is not equivalent to any of their private Criteria, respond to the post with a :AGAINST:
  
The Arena for each individual Bout may have differences in configuration, as set out in the rule Configuration. The specific Arena configuration for each Bout must be detailed in the Announcement for that Bout.
+
At this point, the target is no longer considered targeted
  
During a Bout, the Announcer runs the Script of each Bot in turn, starting with the Bot on the left. and announcing its final Tallies and the Winner (if any). The current turn of a bout increases each time a bot’s script is run to completion (even if the result is no action). Each time X turns have passed since the last time the current round increased or was set to 1, where X is equal to the number of bots in the bout, the current round increases by 1. Both turns and rounds start at 1 in a bout.
+
==Upgrades==
  
Relative to each Bot’s Script, the Bot who is performing the Script may be referred to as the Actor, and any other Bot participating in a Bout with the Actor may be referred to as an Opponent.
+
If a Seeker believes that a Shot that they have previously posted (but which has not previously been the subject of an Upgrade Request) meets an Upgrade Benchmark then they may make an Upgrade Request.
  
===Ending a Bout===
+
An Upgrade Request is a post in the Story Post - Votable Matter category which indicates a single Snap posted by the same author and a single Upgrade Benchmark that it purports to meet, and nothing else.
A Bout can be Ended by any of the following conditions being met:
 
* TKO: One or more of the Bots participating in that Bout are Trashed
 
* Domination: Sixty turns have elapsed without a TKO taking place, and one Bot has a Tally that is higher than its Opponent by at least 10%
 
*Ring-out: One of more of the Bots participating in the Bout are not In Bounds
 
  
After it has ended, each Bout must have a Winner. The Winner of a Bout is determined based on how the Bout ended, as follows:
+
An Upgrade Request is voted on and resolved in the same manner as a Proposal, with the exceptions that it does not need to be resolved in chronological order (nor does it count as a proposal for the purposes of determining the oldest pending Proposal). Seekers should vote FOR on any Upgrade Request where they believe that the specified Snap does meet the specified Upgrade Benchmark. When an Upgrade Request is enacted, the Development Interval of its poster is reduced by 1 (if it is three or higher) or their Development Bonus is increased by one (if their Development Interval is already 2), unless the same Seeker has already had a Upgrade Request enacted for the same Upgrade Benchmark previously in the dynasty, in which case their development interval is not reduced and their development bonus is not increased. (Which Upgrade Benchmarks have been enacted for which seekers should be tracked on the gamestate tracking page for easy reference).
* TKO or Ring-out: If, at the end of a turn, every Bot in the Bout except one is either Trashed or not In Bounds, then that one Bot is the Winner. If all Bots in the Bout are Trashed or not In Bounds then the average Condition of its components is used as a tiebreaker, with the highest result being the Winner. If this still results in a tie then the Winner is determined secretly-randomly.
 
* Domination: Each Bot in a Bout has a Tally, which is privately tracked by the Announcer and which starts the Bout at zero. Whenever an action by a Bot in a Bout causes the Condition of another Bot’s Engine, Chassis or System to be reduced by any means other than [[#Scratch Damage|Scratch Damage]], the Tally of the Bot that took the action, for that Bout, increases by the same amount. If, after sixty turns, one Bot has a Tally that is higher than its Opponent by at least 10% then that Bot is the Winner. If sixty turns have elapsed without a Bot Winning through Tally then Sudden Death occurs instead.
 
* Sudden Death: In Sudden Death, the Announcer continues to process turns as normal until the Bout ends due to TKO, with the following changes: all Condition losses are doubled, and each turn, every square has a chance to Detonate, with its chance to Detonate being defined as follows: (x+y)*y%, where x is the square’s proximity to the middle of the arena (with square 10 having an x of 1 and squares 1 and 19 having proximities of 10) and where y is how much time has elapsed in Sudden Death (i.e. the current turn number minus 60). Any Bot who is on a square when it Detonates takes 50% Chassis damage.
 
  
When a Bout has Ended, the Announcer posts an entry to the blog summarising the events of the Bout and its Winner. All Operators who had Bots in the Bout gain ₩1,000, plus ₩500 for each Opponent; when these values are awarded, the Readiness of all Operators to have participated in that Bout are set to Workshop if they are not already at that value. Once this summary post has been posted, that Bout is considered to be fully concluded and may have no further impact on the gamestate.
+
Upgrade Benchmarks are listed in this rule and are as follows:
 +
* A Snap that was taken in the same place as another Snap taken by a different Seeker.
 +
* A Snap on which, after 48 hours, every Private Criteria claimed by another Seeker was Unsatisfied
 +
* A Snap which meets every Public Criteria
 +
* A Snap which includes a found instance of the BlogNomic username of another Seeker
  
===Configuration===
+
==Catching up with the Photos==
Prior to Announcing a Bout, the Announcer must generate the Configuration for that Bout. This is an atomic action with the following steps:
+
While a Seeker has exactly 0 Score and has more than one Private Criteria having a non-null value, a Seeker may perform the following Atomic Action once per week:
 +
* For the previous three Shots in chronological order, perform the following bullet points:
 +
** Respond to the Shot stating which of their own Private Criteria that Shot satisfies and does not satisfy.
 +
** For each Private Criteria in the response that the Shot satisfies, that Private Criteria’s satisfying count is incremented by one, and increment their Score by that Private Criteria’s unsatisfying count.
 +
** For each Private Criteria in the response that the Shot does not satisfies, that Private Criteria’s satisfying count is incremented by one, and increment their Score by that Private Criteria’s satisfying count
  
* Set the Configuration for that Bout to be is a single row of infinite squares, with those numbered from 1 on the left to 19 at the right being in bounds and all others being out of bounds.
+
==Awards==
* Randomly determine between zero and two Configuration Variations.
+
Each Seeker can have a number of Awards, which is publicly tracked and defaults to zero.
* For each Configuration Variation thus selected, follow its instructions and add them to the Configuration.
 
  
Potential Configuration Variations are as follows:
+
At any time, if a Seeker has met the Standard for an Award then they may claim it by making a blog post announcing as such and then incrementing their Awards by 1. A Seeker may only claim each individual Award once in the dynasty.
  
* Physical Obstacles: Add between 2 and 6 squares above or below existing squares in the Configuration. Label them with letters in alphabetical order from left to right, starting with A; all such squares are In Bounds. A Bot can only be shoved from a Square on the same row as itself. If a Shove is taking place and, during the resolution of that Shove, the Opponent passes through a square that has another square above or below it, instead of being moved backwards, it is moved into one of the squares above or below it (at random if both are present) and is flipped, and then the Shove immediately ends. When a Bot is in a square that is labelled with a letter and moves forwards or backwards, and there isn’t another lettered square that it can move into, it instead moves into the next numbered square in the direction of travel.
+
Any Seeker who has claimed 5 Awards has achieved Victory.
*  Trap panels: Add between 1 and 3 trap panels on random squares, each of which may randomly be one of: flip panel, flame panel, explosion panel, shock panel. When a Bot ends its turn on a trap panel it subtracts 5% from its Chassis and Engine, and gains a Status as follows: flip panels give Flipped, flame panels give Scorched, explosion panel gives Loose, and shock panel gives Scrambled. Trap panels are not considered when a Script tests whether a square is empty.
 
* Bumper sides: When a Bot would go out of bounds, it is instead set to a random empty square, subtracts 20% Chassis condition, and becomes flipped.
 
* House bot: Randomly select one House Bot and set the Condition of all of its components to 80%. The selected House Bot starts in square 10, facing in a random direction. The House Bot takes its turn second in each Round (i.e. between the moves of the first and second Operator-controlled Bot).
 
  
==BotScript==
+
The possible Awards and their Standards are as follows:
  
Each Bot has a Script, being a list of up to ten Triggers, each Trigger having a corresponding Reaction. Up to two Triggers may also be optionally combined into a single Trigger. This is formatted as “A and B”, where A is the first Trigger being combined and B is the second one. Combined triggers are accompanied by a single Reaction as normal. Bots’ Scripts are tracked privately by the Announcer. All legal Triggers and Reactions can be found in lists in this rule.
+
{| class="wikitable sortable"
 
+
|-
An Operator may change their Bot’s Script at any time by privately informing the Announcer of this.
+
! Award !! Standard
 
+
|-
Triggers are:-
+
| Fine Art Photographer of the Year || Have more than 200 Score
 
+
|-
* “If the X space(s) [in front of / behind the] Actor are empty…”, where X is a positive integer.
+
| Excellence in War Photography || Have a Development Bonus of at least 3
* “If [the space / any of the X spaces] [in front of / behind the] Actor are occupied by an Opponent…”, where X is a positive integer.
+
|-
* “If the Actor [has / does not have] Y…”, where Y is any Status.
+
| Outstanding Composition || Have five private Criteria, each of which has an Unsatisfying score of 0 and a Satisfying score of 5
* "If the [first / second / third / [...]] closest Opponent [has / does not have] Y…” where Y is any Status.
+
|-
* “If the current [turn / round] is X [or [less / more]]..”, where X is any positive integer.
+
| Grand Prix in Advertising Photography || Successfully Guess (i.e. post a Guess and have the target respond with a FOR mark to that Guess)
* "If the [first / second / third / [...]] closest Opponent [has / does not have] Z…”, where Z is any system.
+
|}
* "If [the space / any of the X spaces] [in front of / behind the] Actor are occupied by a House Bot…”, where X is a positive integer.
 
* "If [the space / any of the X spaces] [in front of / behind the] Actor are occupied by an Bot that is not a House Bot…”, where X is a positive integer.
 
* "If the [first / second / third / [...]] closest Opponent is evading…"
 
* "If the current [turn / round] number is [odd / even]..."
 
* “If the Actor is in the space numbered X [or [higher / lower]]...”, where X is a positive integer.
 
* “If the Actor is in the space lettered X [or [earlier / later]]...”, where X is a letter from A to F.
 
 
 
Possible Reactions are:-
 
 
 
* “...move forwards X times”, where X is a positive integer
 
* “...move backwards X times”, where X is a positive integer
 
* “...turn to face the other way”
 
* "...use the following System [on the [first / second / third / [...]] closest Opponent]:” followed by the name of a System that the Actor has. If it’s a Melee System and the Opponent’s Bot is not in any of the three spaces immediately in front of the reacting Bot, then the System’s Effect is instead not used.
 
* "...evade"
 
* “...bypass forwards X times”, where X is a positive integer
 
* “...bypass backwards X times”, where X is a positive integer
 
* "...block"
 
* "...then [Use system Y / Move X spaces [toward / away from]] the bot that inflicted Z status." Where Y is a valid system on the bot, X is a positive integer, and Z is a status
 
 
 
All otherwise-legal Reactions are Resolvable, except if that Reaction:
 
* attempts to use a System the Actor has and the System’s Effect is “No effect.”
 
 
 
To run a Script, the Announcer reads through its list from top to bottom until they find a Trigger which is true for the Bot in question and its corresponding Reaction is Resolvable: upon finding one, they apply the corresponding effect, and this ends the run of the Script. If they reach the end of the Script and no Triggers are true, nothing happens as a result.
 
 
 
A Bot can only move into an empty space: if a move reaction would take the Bot into an occupied space, the Bot remains in its position instead and takes  [[#Scratch Damage|Scratch Damage]]. If the occupied space was occupied by a Bot, that Bot also takes Scratch Damage. This act of moving into a bot in this way, or being moved into in this way, is referred to as Bumping. If a Bot ever ends its turn in a space that is not In Bounds, they are said to have Fallen Out of Bounds and take Scratch Damage.
 
 
 
When a System is used as part of a Script then, provided that any criteria specified in that System’s Effect or elsewhere in the ruleset are all met, its Effect is applied to the Opponent in its current Bout.
 
 
 
If a line in a script is not a legal entry but may be clearly assessed (without context) as having the same meaning as a single, specific instance of legally compliant wording, without changing the meaning that that line had at the time of being provided to the announcer, the announcer should strive to treat it as if it had that legal wording if possible. If an illegal entry cannot be treated as if it was legal in that way, it should be ignored. In either case, the operator who submitted the script should be informed at the earliest convenience.
 
 
 
If an opponent is being referred to with an ordinal by a trigger or reaction but that opponent is not valid (either due to not enough opponents being in range or otherwise), then the closest valid ordinal to that ordinal is used (rounding down where there is a tie). If no such opponents exist, then the Reaction in that reaction/trigger pair is not considered resolvable. If an ordinal would be required but none is provided (such as if multiple enemies are within range of a system), the ordinal defaults to “first” and the appropriate snippet is implicitly assumed to be in that script entry for the purposes of resolving that instance of that trigger/reaction pair.
 
 
 
When a Bot Bypasses, it moves in the allocated direction the set number of times, without interacting (bumping/shoving etc) with any non-blocking Bots in the intervening squares. If a Bypass would result in a Bot ending its movement in a Square that is Occupied then it instead ends it turn in the empty square between its origin point and its destination point that is closest to the destination point.
 
 
 
===When Push Comes to Shove===
 
When an actor has an opponent in a space adjacent to it and and its reaction is to move into or beyond that opponent’s space, the existing reaction ceases to take effect and instead a Shove occurs.
 
 
 
A Shove is resolved as follows:
 
* The Shove Power of the actor and opponent is calculated, where Shove Power is Effective Power Output minus 50% of the consumption of the chassis and every system on the bot.
 
* For every 50 that the Shove Power of the Actor exceeds the Shove Power of the Opponent, both the Actor and Opponent move in the direction that the Actor stated they were moving in by 1 space, up to the number of spaces the Actor’s script stated they were moving.
 
* Scratch Damage is taken by both the Actor and the Opponent.
 
 
 
The Shove Power of a bot is halved if they are shoving (or being shoved by) a bot they are facing away from.
 
 
 
===Evasion===
 
When a Bot evades, it moves out of the direct line of attack, requiring its opponent to compensate. If the evading bot did not evade on its previous turn this bout, the evading Bot is not considered to be present in any space until the start of its next Turn; except for the purposes of BotScript Triggers, Sudden Death detonations and being In Bounds.
 
 
 
If multiple Bots occupy the same space, they both take Scratch Damage and the bot that moved most recently bypasses forwards to the first empty space it reaches.
 
 
 
==Income==
 
 
 
As a Weekly Communal Action, any Operator or Announcer may increase all Operator’s Money by 3,000.
 
 
 
At any time while their Readiness is Workshop, an Operator may add 5% condition to each component in their Bot for each full 24 hour period that has elapsed since they last performed this action or since the end of the last Bout in which they were a participant, whichever is most recent.
 
 
 
==Showboating==
 
If a Bot wins a Bout while using an LED Banner that displays the name of more than four Operators then the operator of that Bot has achieved Victory.
 
 
 
==House Bots==
 
At any time, there may be up to three House Bots, which are publicly tracked. House Bots are Bots that are controlled by the Announcer.
 
 
 
If there are less than three House Bots then the Announcer may create a new House Bot at any time. A House Bot must have a name, an engine, chassis and at least one system (a House Bot may have any of the components that are available to any other kind of Bot), and a script, all of which is publicly tracked. One House Bot may have a Bot Value of up to ₩15,000; the other two must have Bot Values that do not exceed ₩12,000. Once created, the Announcer may amend or remove the House Bots at any time, unless the House Bot in question has been drawn as a Configuration in an Announcement for a Bout that has not yet taken place.
 
 
 
A House Bot may not the the Winner of the Bout and is not considered for the purposes of any clause in the rule Ending a Bout.
 
 
 
A trashed or defunct house bot is immediately removed from the bout, and if its current space does not have a physical obstacles (as defined in the configuration physical obstacles), then it gains a physical obstacle and is handled as per that configuration.
 
 
 
==Taunt==
 
 
 
Each Operator has a value for Red Mist, which is a publicly tracked integer that defaults to zero.
 
 
 
An Operator may Taunt another Operator (the Taunt Target) at any time provided that any of the following are true:
 
 
 
*They have not Taunted that Taunt target in the past 48 hours
 
* Both the acting Operator and the Taunt Target have their Readiness set to Workshop or Ready
 
* The acting Operator and the Taunt Target are Announced to be participants in the same upcoming Bout, and at least one of those Operators has a Readiness of Staging
 
 
 
If all three of the previous conditions are true, the operator taunting the Taunt target may add one the amount of red mist given to the Taunt Target additionally.
 
 
 
When an Operator Taunts a Taunt Target they increase the Taunt Target’s Red Mist to any value up to two higher than their own Red Mist.
 
 
 
When a Bout concludes, the Winner gains additional Money equal to one hundred times their own Red Mist, and any non-winning participants lose percentage points of Condition to their chassis and exposed system equal to five times their Red Mist, to minimums of zero; then, the Red Mist of all participants in that Bout is set to zero.
 
 
 
==Winners at War==
 
If the date is on or after August 22 2022 then the game has entered Tournament Mode. If no Operator have had their readiness changed in the last 96 hours, and no bouts are currently pending resolution, then the game has entered Tournament Mode. If the game is not in Tournament Mode then the rest of this rule is flavour text.
 
 
 
The rules Showboating and Taunt have no effect and are flavour text; any Operator or Announcer may remove them from the ruleset.
 
 
 
On the day that Tournament Mode begins or as soon as possible thereafter, the Announcer should post a Provisional Seed List. The Provisional Seed List is the Announcer’s subjective opinion of which Operators in the Dynasty have the best Bots, ordered from 1 being the best to the highest number being the weakest. The Operator is allowed to use whatever private metrics they please to assess this, with the single exception that they cannot consider the number of names on any Bot’s LED Banner.
 
 
 
Three days after Tournament Mode begins or as soon as possible thereafter, the Announcer should post the Final Seed List. The Final Seed list is the same in form, purpose and rules for composition as the Provisional Seed List, updated to take into account any changes between the posting of the two documents. Once the Final Seed List has been posted, all Operators have their Readiness set to Workshop, Operators may not change their Readiness, and unidling Operators are considered not to be Operators for the purposes of the remainder of this rule for the remainder of the Dynasty.
 
 
 
When the Final Seed List has been posted, the Announcer should at their earliest opportunity post a Bracket. The Bracket is the organised list of Bouts that will comprise the Final Tournament, and the Announcer may organise those Bouts as they determine best, following where possible the following principles:
 
* In round 1 of the Bracket, all Operators with no LED Banner or no names on their LED Banner should participate in a Bout
 
* In round 1 of the Bracket, Bouts should be organised with the top seed Operators (the top n/2 names on the Final Seed List, where n is the number of Operators participating in round 1) being matched with the non-top-seed Operators
 
* If there are an uneven or otherwise unmanageable number of Operators in round 1 then the top-most seeded Operators may be deferred into round 2
 
* Whenever an Operator loses a Bout in the Tournament, they are eliminated from the Tournament and cannot be scheduled in a future Tournament Bout, cannot win the Tournament, and cannot achieve Victory in this dynasty
 
* In Round 2 of the Bracket, all Operators to have won their round 1 Bout should progress to be matched against Operators deferred into round 2 (due to having populated LED banners or being too high-seeded for round 1)
 
* If there are an uneven or otherwise unmanageable number of Operators in round 2 then the Operator with the most names in their LED Banner (using top-most seededness as a tiebreaker) may be deferred into round 3
 
* Rounds then proceed with winning Operators proceding into further rounds, until a final Bout of 2 Operators is due to take place
 
* In any round after round 2 (i.e. round 3 or above), if there are uneven number of Operators in the round, then before any of the Bouts in that round take place an elimination bout is held between the two bottom seeded Operators in that round; the loser of an elimination bout is eliminated
 
* All Bouts in the Bracket should have their Configurations detailed in the Bracket document
 
 
 
Once the Bracket has been posted, the following schedule takes effect:
 
 
 
* 24 hours after the Bracket has been posted, all Operators have their Readiness set to Staging
 
* 12 hours after that, all Operators have their Readiness set to Set; as soon as possible thereafter, the Announcer should run the first round Bouts in the Tournament Bracket,
 
* 24 hours after the result of the final Round 1 Bout has been posted, all Operators due to participate in a Round 2 Bout have their Readiness set to Staging
 
* 12 hours after that, all Round 2 participant Operators have their Readiness set to Set; as soon as possible thereafter, the Announcer should run the second round Bouts in the Tournament Bracket
 
 
 
...continuing in the same pattern until the single Bout in the last round of the Tournament Bracket has concluded.
 
 
 
The winner of the final Bout in the Tournament has achieved Victory.
 
 
 
===Formalised Disputes===
 
 
 
This rule is flavour text if the game is not in Tournament Mode.
 
 
 
If the events of a bout in tournament mode are ever being challenged by a call for judgement and that call for judgement’s text requests a pause in the tournament, the schedule in Winners at War is paused for as long as that call for judgement is not resolved; time spent with the tournament being paused is not counted towards the 12 hour and 24 hour thresholds in the schedule. Only the Announcer is permitted to enact calls for judgement that request that the tournament be paused.
 
 
 
Where multiple open calls for judgement each request a pause, that pause lasts until all of them have been resolved.
 
 
 
In cases where a rule has been unambiguously applied incorrectly by the Announcer in a bout in tournament mode in the opinion of the Announcer, the Announcer is permitted to recalculate the results of that bout without the use of a proposal or call for judgement so long as less than 24 hours have passed since the end of that bout. The new ending time for a recalculated bout is considered to be the ending time of that bout’s Round, with the most recent ending time being used in the case of multiple recalculated bouts in the same round. This ending time recalculation applies whether the bout was recalculated as a result of the enactment of votable matter, or as a result of the Announcer choosing to recalculate without the use of a votable matter.
 
 
 
In the case of a declaration of victory existing while a call for judgement requests a pause in the tournament, all Operators are encouraged to vote against that declaration of victory if they believe that the revelation of new or secret information as a result of the possible enactment of that call for judgement could change their vote. There is no 120 hour cooldown on the use of a Declaration of Victory while the game is in Tournament Mode, though fair play rules still apply.
 
 
 
Where this rule refers to a Round, it uses Round in the context implied in Winners at War rather than the context in The Arena.
 
  
 
<!-- DYNASTIC RULES GO ABOVE THIS COMMENT. DO NOT DELETE THE NEXT LINE WHEN CLEARING THE RULES FOR A NEW DYNASTY. --><br />
 
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<div style="padding:8px;background:#bbb;">
  
= Special Case =
+
= Building Blocks =
'''Special Case Rules''' can be Active or Inactive. If the title of a Special Case Rule includes "[X]", where X is either Active or Inactive, then its status is X. Otherwise, its status is its Default Status.
+
Building Blocks are rules that can be substituted in and out of the ruleset as needed, usually as a result of an Ascension Address. All rules in the Building Blocks section are ruletext.
 
 
Special Case Rules have a '''Default Status''', which can be Active or Inactive. If the title of a Special Case Rule includes "[Rare]", its Default Status is Inactive, otherwise, its Default Status is Active.
 
  
When a new Dynasty is started, the Ascension Address may list any number of existing Special Case Rules to be set to a status other than their respective Default Status. All other Special Case Rules are set to their respective Default Status.
+
Potential Building Blocks rules can be found at the [[Building Blocks]] page of the wiki. That page is gamestate and may not be altered except as specified by the ruleset or through the passage of a Proposal or CfJ; however, its contents are not rulestext. When the contents of the Building Blocks page are referred to as ‘rules’ by the ruleset or by a votable matter, it should be assumed that said contents are being referred to as potential rules rather than actual rules.
  
The text of a Special Case Rule that is Inactive is flavour text.
+
When a Observer specifies the Building Blocks rules in use for a new dynasty in an Ascension Address, they should specify (by name) the rules from the Building Blocks page that they would like to be included in this section of the ruleset; these rules must then be transcribed faithfully to this section of the ruleset, and any Building Blocks rules not so named must be removed from the Building Blocks section. Some rules on the Building Blocks page are listed as being Recommended; if the new Observer makes no statement on Building Blocks rules to be included in their Ascension Address then the Recommended Building Blocks are considered to have been selected. There are currently no Recommended Building Blocks.
  
==Seasonal Downtime [Active]==
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==Low-Player Mode==
On the 24th, 25th and 26th of December, BlogNomic is [[#hiatus|on Hiatus]]. In addition, game actions defined by the core rules titled “Operators” and “Victory and Ascension” (with the exception of Voting in DoVs) may not be taken.
+
The Core Rule Dormancy is flavour text.
  
==Dormancy [Active]==
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==Everyone's Playing==
While BlogNomic is Dormant, this fact is tracked in the sidebar of the blog. If BlogNomic is Dormant, then it is on Hiatus.
+
For the purposes of all dynastic and Building Blocks rules, the Observer is a Seeker.  
  
The criteria for Dormancy are:
+
==No Cooperation==
* That there are four or fewer Operators; or
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In this dynasty, Seekers are expected to avoid co-operating to achieve Victory, except through the use of co-operative mechanisms defined in the Dynastic rules.
* That of the Operators, two or fewer of them have posted an Official Post or made an edit to the gamestate tracking page as part of a defined dynastic action during the past seven days.
 
  
If either criterion is met and BlogNomic is not Dormant, any admin may make BlogNomic Dormant by updating the sidebar to that effect. If neither criterion is met and BlogNomic is Dormant, any admin may remove BlogNomic’s Dormant status by updating the sidebar to that effect.
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If a Seeker feels that another Seeker has gone against this expectation in some way during the current dynasty, then they are encouraged to vote against all DoVs from that Seeker during that dynasty. This overrules the encouragement to vote according to the perception of a victory in the rule “Victory in Ascension”.
 
 
==Imperial Deferentials [Inactive]==
 
If the Announcer has voted DEFERENTIAL on a Proposal, that vote is instead considered to be valid and either FOR (if more Operators have a valid FOR vote on that Proposal than have a valid AGAINST vote on it) or AGAINST (in all other cases). However, in either case, votes of DEFERENTIAL made by other Operators on the same Proposal are not considered to be valid.
 
 
 
==Dynastic Distance [Active]==
 
For the purposes of dynastic rules which do not deal with voting, the Announcer is not an Operator.
 
 
 
==Malign Emperors [Inactive] [Rare]==
 
The Announcer may be recipient of the Mantle, as if they were an Operator, during an Interregnum, as per the rule Victory and Ascension. The Announcer may not cast a vote of VETO on any Proposal whose effect is limited to the dynastic rules or gamestate; any such vote is disregarded for the purposes of proposal resolution.
 
 
 
If the Special Case rule “No Collaboration” is Active, any Operator may set it to Inactive. (The combo is too strong.)
 
 
 
==Dynastic Tracking [Active]==
 
The gamestate tracking page for this dynasty is the [[Workshop]] page of the wiki. Unless otherwise stated, all publicly tracked gamestate information is tracked on it. An Announcer may change the wiki page referred to in this rule to a different page as part of their Ascension Address, provided that page did not exist at the time the Ascension Address was posted and does not begin with the word “Ruleset”.
 
 
 
==No Collaboration [Inactive] [Rare]==
 
 
 
If “Dynastic Distance” is also active, the Announcer is not considered an Operator for the purposes of this rule.
 
 
 
Operators may not privately communicate with each other about dynastic gameplay or votable matters that affect the dynastic ruleset or gamestate. Private communications are considered to be anything that any other Operator could not reasonably be privy to, perceive, or understand. Discussion conducted in plain English on the BlogNomic wiki and blog, and Discord channels, are not considered to be private communication. Idle Operators (or people who are not yet Operators) also face the same restrictions if they intend to become an active Operator during the course of the dynasty. The use of creative strategies to circumvent this rule may be considered to be a scam for the purposes of determining whether an infraction of Fair Play has taken place.
 
 
 
A mentor and mentee may still privately converse with each other, but should keep their conversations away from discussing specific gameplay strategy.
 
 
 
If information which was not allowed to be discussed is still privately discussed, the Operators who were part of the conversation should make a post to the blog disclosing what information was discussed as their earliest convenience.
 
 
 
==Mantle Limitations [Active] [Rare]==
 
The mantle may not be passed. (Operators should also not make deals based on being made Emperor of the next dynasty by other means than achieving victory or being passed the mantle.)
 
 
 
==Alliances [Inactive] [Rare]==
 
 
 
Each Operator may have an Alliance, which is publicly tracked, and consists of the distinct names of no more than two other Operators; an Operator’s Alliance defaults to an empty set. An Operator may change their Alliance as a daily action.
 
 
 
If "Mantle Limitations" is also active, and if an Operator has achieved victory in this dynasty, has posted a Declaration of Victory which has been enacted, and did not change their Alliance for at least the 48 hours immediately prior to the posting time of their Declaration of Victory: then that Operator may pass the Mantle to an Operator who was named in their Alliance at the posting time of their Declaration of Victory.
 
 
 
If “No Collaboration” is active, it does not apply to communications between Operators who each have the other’s names in their Alliance, nor does the prohibition on deals in “Mantle Limitations” (if it is active) apply to Operators who have each other’s names in their Alliance.
 
 
 
==Event Types [Active]==
 
An Event is an official post that meets a type definition in the dynastic rules, if and only if that type definition is specified as defining a type of Event; the type definition must include the following:
 
* A type name, such as “Auction” or “Quest”. A post with the Event type’s name as a tag is an Event of that type, provided it was (legally) posted while the type had a complete definition.
 
* A Response Format, the format by which a comment on that type of Event is classified as a Response for that Event. While other comments are allowed on an Event, only those comments which conform to its type’s Response Format are officially considered Responses. Whether or not a comment is currently considered a Response may change according to circumstances, but comments submitted on an Event while it is Ended can never be considered Responses.
 
 
 
An Event type definition may also optionally stipulate:
 
* Creation Condition(s). Unless they are met, an Event of that type may not be posted. They may include a format for the body of the post.
 
* Ending Condition(s). Unless they are met, an Open Event of that type may not be Ended.
 
* Ending Action(s). An Operator must do these when they End an Open Event of that type.
 
 
 
An Event is either Open or Ended, defaulting to Open. Except as otherwise specified, any Operator may post or may End an Event. To End an Event is to make it Ended by submitting a comment on that post saying it is Ended or is being Ended, and then immediately taking its Ending Action(s), if any. Once an Event has been Ended, it may not become Open again, nor may any Operator End it again.
 
 
 
==Bounties [Rare][Inactive]==
 
A Bounty Notice is a post in the Story Posts category which broadly requests a single mechanical or ruleset change. A Bounty Notice may be Open or Closed, being Open by default and being when set to the ‘Closed’ category in the post backend.
 
 
 
This sentence names, at the end of this sentence after a colon, a single dynastic resource or variable, which is the Bounty Reward Variable for this dynasty: Qubits
 
 
 
The Announcer may post a Bounty Notice, close an open Bounty Notice, or change the Bounty Reward Variable in this rule at any time.
 
 
 
If the Announcer believes that an enacted votable matter satisfies the demand of an open Bounty Notice then they may iterate the Bounty Reward Variable of that votable matter’s author by a single step (unless that author was themselves) and set that Bounty Notice to closed.
 
  
 
</div>
 
</div>
Line 606: Line 314:
  
 
===Time===
 
===Time===
;Daily Action: If a game action is a Daily Action, each Operator able to perform it may take that action once each day, but not more than once every ten hours.
+
;Daily Action: If a game action is a Daily Action, each Seeker 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 Operator per day.
+
;Daily Communal Action: A Daily Communal Action is a Daily Action that can only be performed by one Seeker per day.
 
;Day: References to a “day” as an entity rather than as a duration (e.g. “Sunday”, “The day after performing this action”, or “August 2nd”), unless otherwise stated, refer to a day beginning at and including 00:00:00 UTC, ending when the next day begins. It can never be 2 different days at the same instant.
 
;Day: References to a “day” as an entity rather than as a duration (e.g. “Sunday”, “The day after performing this action”, or “August 2nd”), unless otherwise stated, refer to a day beginning at and including 00:00:00 UTC, ending when the next day begins. It can never be 2 different days at the same instant.
 
;Week: References to a week as an entity rather than as a duration (e.g. “At the beginning of each week”, or “already happened this week”), unless otherwise stated, refer to a period of time between the beginning of a Monday and the end of the following Sunday.
 
;Week: References to a week as an entity rather than as a duration (e.g. “At the beginning of each week”, or “already happened this week”), unless otherwise stated, refer to a period of time between the beginning of a Monday and the end of the following Sunday.
;Weekly Action: If a game action is a Weekly Action, each Operator able to perform it may take that action once each week, but not more than once every twenty-four hours.
+
;Weekly Action: If a game action is a Weekly Action, each Seeker 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 Operator per week.  
+
;Weekly Communal Action: A Weekly Communal action is a Weekly Action that can only be performed by one Seeker per week.  
  
 
===Other===
 
===Other===
 
;Comment: A blog comment published to the BlogNomic weblog at [http://blognomic.com blognomic.com]
 
;Comment: A blog comment published to the BlogNomic weblog at [http://blognomic.com blognomic.com]
;Core Proposal: A Proposal which mandates changes that, even if conditionally, are limited to the creation, deletion, and/or amendment of core rules and/or the glossary, and/or renaming, banning, and/or the granting or removing of Admin status from one or more Operators.
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;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 Seekers.
 
;Dice: References to “DICEX” or “YDICEX” refer to X-sided dice and Y amount of X-sided dice, rolled using the Dice Roller.
 
;Dice: References to “DICEX” or “YDICEX” refer to X-sided dice and Y amount of X-sided dice, rolled using the Dice Roller.
 
;Dynastic Action: An action that is defined in the Dynastic rules.
 
;Dynastic Action: An action that is defined in the Dynastic rules.
 
;Dynastic Proposal: A Proposal which mandates changes that, even if conditionally, are limited to the creation, deletion, and/or amendment of dynastic rules and/or gamestate defined by dynastic rules.
 
;Dynastic Proposal: A Proposal which mandates changes that, even if conditionally, are limited to the creation, deletion, and/or amendment of dynastic rules and/or gamestate defined by dynastic rules.
;Effective Vote Comment (EVC): An Operator’s Effective Vote Comment with respect to a given Votable Matter is that Operator’s Comment to that Votable Matter, if any, that contains that Operator’s Vote on that Votable Matter.
+
;Effective Vote Comment (EVC): A Seeker's Effective Vote Comment with respect to a given Votable Matter is that Seeker's Comment to that Votable Matter, if any, that contains that Seeker's Vote on that Votable Matter.
;Commentary: When posting a blog entry, an Operator 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.
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;Commentary: When posting a blog entry, a Seeker may use the “Commentary or flavour text” field of the blog publishing form to add their own comments or description of their post. For the purposes of all other rules, such text is not considered to be part of the post.
;Discord: The BlogNomic Discord can be accessed at https://discord.gg/J7kP9KuHQK and is also linked to on the sidebar. Operators, as well as people who are not Operators but are interested in learning more about BlogNomic, may join the Discord by clicking the button in the sidebar.
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;Discord: The BlogNomic Discord can be accessed at https://discord.gg/J7kP9KuHQK and is also linked to on the sidebar. Seekers , as well as people who are not Seekers but are interested in learning more about BlogNomic, may join the Discord by clicking the button in the sidebar.
;Discord Channel: A Discord Channel is any channel on the BlogNomic Discord in the BlogNomic Discussion category. All Operators who are in the Discord should have the ability to access all of these channels. To reference a Discord Channel, use a hash (#) followed by the name of that channel (e.g. #random).
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;Discord Channel: A Discord Channel is any channel on the BlogNomic Discord in the BlogNomic Discussion category. All Seekers who are in the Discord should have the ability to access all of these channels. To reference a Discord Channel, use a hash (#) followed by the name of that channel (e.g. #random).
;Flavour Text: If a part of the ruleset or gamestate is defined as being “flavour text”, it retains its context, but is not considered to have any meaning beyond being a string of characters. Operators 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.
+
;Flavour Text: If a part of the ruleset or gamestate is defined as being “flavour text”, it retains its context, but is not considered to have any meaning beyond being a string of characters. Seekers 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.
+
;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 (or indirectly invoked by Templates contained within) those Wiki Pages are assumed to be Gamestate.
 
;<span id="hiatus">Hiatus</span>: If BlogNomic is on Hiatus, Dynastic Actions may not be taken (except where the rule defining the action explicitly requires it to be taken during Hiatus), and Proposals may not be submitted or Resolved. If multiple rules require BlogNomic to be on Hiatus at any given time, BlogNomic will continue to be on Hiatus until no rules require it.
 
;<span id="hiatus">Hiatus</span>: If BlogNomic is on Hiatus, Dynastic Actions may not be taken (except where the rule defining the action explicitly requires it to be taken during Hiatus), and Proposals may not be submitted or Resolved. If multiple rules require BlogNomic to be on Hiatus at any given time, BlogNomic will continue to be on Hiatus until no rules require it.
 +
;Pass the Mantle: Passing the Mantle is a mechanism by which, during an Interregnum, a Observer may nominate another Seeker to become the Observer in the upcoming dynasty.
 
;Post: A blog post published to the BlogNomic weblog at [http://blognomic.com blognomic.com]
 
;Post: A blog post published to the BlogNomic weblog at [http://blognomic.com blognomic.com]
;Private Message: A message sent via BlogNomic’s Private Messages system at blognomic.com.
+
;Quorum: Quorum of a subset of Seekers is half the number of Seekers  in that subset, rounded down, plus one. If the word Quorum is used without qualifying which subset of Seekers it is referring to, it is referring to a Quorum of all Seekers.
;Quorum: Quorum of a subset of Operators is half the number of Operators in that subset, rounded down, plus one. If the word Quorum is used without qualifying which subset of Operators it is referring to, it is referring to a Quorum of all Operators.
 
 
;Resolve/Resolution: If used in a context of a Votable Matter, the word “Resolve” means to perform the act, as an Admin, of enacting, failing, or marking illegal a Votable Matter. The world “Resolution” means then the act of doing so. If used in any other context, the meaning of both “Resolve” and “Resolution” is the standard English meaning of these words. The resolution of a votable matter is tracked by reference to its status in the blog post edit form. If otherwise legally applied, the application of any status through the blog post editing form is sufficient to consider that votable matter to have been correctly resolved, but a resolved votable matter should have the correct status wherever possible; if any admin believes that a resolved votable matter has an incorrect status then they may correct it.
 
;Resolve/Resolution: If used in a context of a Votable Matter, the word “Resolve” means to perform the act, as an Admin, of enacting, failing, or marking illegal a Votable Matter. The world “Resolution” means then the act of doing so. If used in any other context, the meaning of both “Resolve” and “Resolution” is the standard English meaning of these words. The resolution of a votable matter is tracked by reference to its status in the blog post edit form. If otherwise legally applied, the application of any status through the blog post editing form is sufficient to consider that votable matter to have been correctly resolved, but a resolved votable matter should have the correct status wherever possible; if any admin believes that a resolved votable matter has an incorrect status then they may correct it.
 
;Rule: Each individually numbered and titled block of text (using the wikimedia section heading formatting) of the Ruleset is a rule, including rules that are subrules of other rules; with the exception that the top-level headings defined as ‘sections’ in the rule “Ruleset and Gamestate” are considered sections but not rules themselves.
 
;Rule: Each individually numbered and titled block of text (using the wikimedia section heading formatting) of the Ruleset is a rule, including rules that are subrules of other rules; with the exception that the top-level headings defined as ‘sections’ in the rule “Ruleset and Gamestate” are considered sections but not rules themselves.
 +
;Sticky Post: A blog post where the “Make Entry Sticky” option has been enabled. Changing the state of this option is not considering altering or modifying the post with regards to the rules on Official Posts. The sticky status of posts should generally be left to the discretion of the Observer.
 
;Story Post: A Story Post is an entry in the “Story Post” category.
 
;Story Post: A Story Post is an entry in the “Story Post” category.
 
;Subject: The “subject” of a blog entry is the part of the Title of an entry which is after the first colon. If the Title does not contain a colon, then the whole Title is the subject. Any entry whose subject is “” (i.e. an empty string) is not valid.
 
;Subject: The “subject” of a blog entry is the part of the Title of an entry which is after the first colon. If the Title does not contain a colon, then the whole Title is the subject. Any entry whose subject is “” (i.e. an empty string) is not valid.
 +
;Seasonal Downtime: On the 24th, 25th and 26th of December, BlogNomic is [[#hiatus|on Hiatus]]. In addition, game actions defined by the core rules titled “Seekers” and “Victory and Ascension” (with the exception of Voting in DoVs) may not be taken.
 
;Subrule: A subrule is a type of rule that is hierarchically ordered beneath another rule. Rules and proposals that refer to a rule do not also refer to its subrules, unless otherwise specified.
 
;Subrule: A subrule is a type of rule that is hierarchically ordered beneath another rule. Rules and proposals that refer to a rule do not also refer to its subrules, unless otherwise specified.
 
;Table of Contents: The directory of section headings that is generated by the MediaWiki software for most pages in the wiki.
 
;Table of Contents: The directory of section headings that is generated by the MediaWiki software for most pages in the wiki.
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===Official Posts===
 
===Official Posts===
  
Votable Matters and other official posts, as well as specific gamestate information, shall be tracked by the BlogNomic blog at [http://blognomic.com http://blognomic.com]. Any Operator may [http://blognomic.com/update/index.php?C=publish post] to the blog at any time, but may only make official posts to the blog when the [[#Ruleset and Gamestate|Ruleset]] allows it. Posts following the format specified by a rule are considered official posts. Any single official post cannot be of two different types of official post unless a rule explicitly states otherwise. Dynastic rules cannot define posts in the “Call for Judgement” category to be a type of official post other than a Call for Judgement, and this restriction cannot be overridden by dynastic rules.
+
Votable Matters and other official posts, as well as specific gamestate information, shall be tracked by the BlogNomic blog at [http://blognomic.com http://blognomic.com]. Any Seeker may [http://blognomic.com/update/index.php?C=publish post] to the blog at any time, but may only make official posts to the blog when the [[#Ruleset and Gamestate|Ruleset]] allows it. Posts following the format specified by a rule are considered official posts. Any single official post cannot be of two different types of official post unless a rule explicitly states otherwise. Dynastic rules cannot define posts in the “Call for Judgement” category to be a type of official post other than a Call for Judgement, and this restriction cannot be overridden by dynastic rules.
  
An official post may only be removed as allowed by the Ruleset. An official post may be altered by its author if it is less than 4 hours old and either no Operator has commented on it or (if it is a Votable Matter) if all comments on it contain no voting icons; otherwise this can only be done as allowed by the Ruleset. However, despite this, official posts can never be changed from one category to another, or changed to be a different sort of official post, if they have been posted for more than fifteen minutes. The Admin processing an official post is allowed to append to the post to reflect its new status. Anything appended to a post in this way must be placed in the Admin field of the post, and the post’s Status must be changed to reflect its status. An official blog post that has the status of Enacted or Failed cannot change categories, except that a votable matter’s illegal resolution may be overturned. An official blog post’s status may never be altered except in accordance with the rules that define that official post.
+
An official post may only be removed as allowed by the Ruleset. An official post may be altered by its author if it is less than 4 hours old and either no Seeker has commented on it or (if it is a Votable Matter) if all comments on it contain no voting icons; otherwise this can only be done as allowed by the Ruleset. However, despite this, official posts can never be changed from one category to another, or changed to be a different sort of official post, if they have been posted for more than fifteen minutes. The Admin processing an official post is allowed to append to the post to reflect its new status. Anything appended to a post in this way must be placed in the Admin field of the post, and the post’s Status must be changed to reflect its status. An official blog post that has the status of Enacted or Failed cannot change categories, except that a votable matter’s illegal resolution may be overturned. An official blog post’s status may never be altered except in accordance with the rules that define that official post.
  
A non-official post may not, through editing of the blog or otherwise, be changed into an official post, with the following two exceptions: Firstly, whilst a non-official post has been posted for less than fifteen minutes and has no comments, the author may change the categories as they wish. Secondly, if a post by a New Operator 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 Operator is defined as an Operator who has been an Operator for fewer than seven days or an Operator that has unidled in the past seven days after being idle for at least 3 months.
+
A non-official post may not, through editing of the blog or otherwise, be changed into an official post, with the following two exceptions: Firstly, whilst a non-official post has been posted for less than fifteen minutes and has no comments, the author may change the categories as they wish. Secondly, if a post is less than six hours old and appears to the Observer to have been intended as a Proposal, and if its author does not already have two Proposals pending, then the Observer may move it into the Proposal category, causing it to be considered to have been open for voting since the time that the post was first posted.
  
 
Any post that is or is made illegal as a result of an infraction against any of the prohibitions set out in this rule, except for a votable matter’s illegal resolution that has been overturned, continues to be an Official Post but may no longer have any effect on the ruleset or the gamestate. If it is a Votable Matter then it is Unpopular, regardless of any other performance against criteria set out in the core rules. When it is resolved it may be marked as Illegal by the resolving admin. A post that is illegal in this manner cannot subsequently be made legal by any means, except for the legal enactment of a CFJ. An illegal CFJ cannot cause itself to become legal.
 
Any post that is or is made illegal as a result of an infraction against any of the prohibitions set out in this rule, except for a votable matter’s illegal resolution that has been overturned, continues to be an Official Post but may no longer have any effect on the ruleset or the gamestate. If it is a Votable Matter then it is Unpopular, regardless of any other performance against criteria set out in the core rules. When it is resolved it may be marked as Illegal by the resolving admin. A post that is illegal in this manner cannot subsequently be made legal by any means, except for the legal enactment of a CFJ. An illegal CFJ cannot cause itself to become legal.
  
 
===Representations of the Gamestate===
 
===Representations of the Gamestate===
 +
If authorised by the rules as a result of a Seeker’s action, changes to gamestate which is tracked in a specific place (such as a wiki page) do not take effect until the representation of that gamestate has been updated to match the authorised change. One wiki update may contain one or more alterations, or one alteration may be split over multiple updates, as long as it is clear what is happening and the alterations are otherwise legal. The wiki merely represents the Gamestate tracked there, and is not the same thing. In the event that the Gamestate and its representations are different, any Seeker may correct the representations to comply with the Gamestate.
  
For gamestate which is tracked in a specific place (such as a wiki page), any alteration of that gamestate as a result of an Operator’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 Operator may correct the representations to comply with the Gamestate.
+
If a Seeker feels that a representation of the gamestate (such as a wiki page) does not match the gamestate, they may either:
 
 
If an Operator feels that a representation of the gamestate (such as a wiki page) does not match the gamestate, they may either:
 
  
 
* Undo the effects of any alteration that led to it, if that alteration did not follow the rules at the time it was made.
 
* Undo the effects of any alteration that led to it, if that alteration did not follow the rules at the time it was made.
* Alter the representation to match what they believe to be the correct application of an incorrectly-applied alteration. This may include completing incomplete actions on behalf of the original Operator, if doing so would not require the correcting Operator to make any decisions on behalf of the original Operator.
+
* Alter the representation to match what they believe to be the correct application of an incorrectly-applied alteration. This may include completing incomplete actions on behalf of the original Seeker, if doing so would not require the correcting Seeker to make any decisions on behalf of the original Seeker.
 
+
Instead of repeatedly reverting and re-reverting a disputed alteration, however, Seekers are encouraged to raise a Call for Judgement.
Instead of repeatedly reverting and re-reverting a disputed alteration, however, Operators are encouraged to raise a Call for Judgement.
 
 
 
 
The historical fact of the occurrence of a defined game action is itself considered to be gamestate, tracked in the history of whatever resource is used to track the gamestate modified by that action, where possible, or in the wiki page [[Gamestate Modifications]] if this is not possible.
 
The historical fact of the occurrence of a defined game action is itself considered to be gamestate, tracked in the history of whatever resource is used to track the gamestate modified by that action, where possible, or in the wiki page [[Gamestate Modifications]] if this is not possible.
  
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An Orphan Variable is a dynastic gamestate variable which has neither a location in which it’s tracked, nor a reasonable manner in which it can be determined from other gamestate variables, specified in the Ruleset.
 
An Orphan Variable is a dynastic gamestate variable which has neither a location in which it’s tracked, nor a reasonable manner in which it can be determined from other gamestate variables, specified in the Ruleset.
  
An Operator may not take any dynastic actions that are contingent on the specific value of an Orphan Variable.
+
A Seeker may not take any dynastic actions that are contingent on the specific value of an Orphan Variable.
  
 
=== Random Generators ===
 
=== Random Generators ===
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* The DICE''N'' command can be used to generate a random number between 1 and N.
 
* The DICE''N'' 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 FRUIT command will return a random result from the following options: Lemon, Orange, Kiwi, Grape, Cherry, Tangelo.
* The COLOUR (or COLOR) command will return a random result from the following: White, Red, Green, Silver, Yellow, Turquoise, Magenta, Orange, Purple, Black.
+
* The COLOUR (or COLOR) command will return a random result from the following: White, Red, Green, Silver, Yellow, Turquoise, MSeekera, Orange, Purple, Black.
 
* The CARD command will return a card with a random suit (either Hearts, Diamonds, Spades or Clubs) and a random value (either Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King). A card with a value that is either Jack, Queen or King is a face card.
 
* The CARD command will return a card with a random suit (either Hearts, Diamonds, Spades or Clubs) and a random value (either Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King). A card with a value that is either Jack, Queen or King is a face card.
 
* A list of comma-separated values in curly brackets (eg {x,y}) will return one of the values at random.
 
* A list of comma-separated values in curly brackets (eg {x,y}) will return one of the values at random.
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Any changes to the potential outcomes of the Dice Roller’s random result commands must be made by Votable Matter.
 
Any changes to the potential outcomes of the Dice Roller’s random result commands must be made by Votable Matter.
  
If a Votable Matter proposes a change to this rule that would require server-level access to the BlogNomic site to fully enact its effects, that Votable Matter must name an Operator with such access. Only an Operator with such access may Enact that Votable Matter. If that Votable Matter does not name an Operator with such access, that Votable Matter is Illegal.
+
If a Votable Matter proposes a change to this rule that would require server-level access to the BlogNomic site to fully enact its effects, that Votable Matter must name a Seeker with such access. Only a Seeker with such access may Enact that Votable Matter. If that Votable Matter does not name a Seeker with such access, that Votable Matter is Illegal.
  
If a number or other game variable is selected “at random” or “randomly” from a range of possible values, its value shall always be taken from a uniform probability distribution over the entire range of possible values, unless otherwise specified. This value must be determined by an appropriate roll in the Dice Roller, unless otherwise specified, and which value the roll result corresponds to must be reasonably inferable from the nature of the roll and any comments supplied by the Operator making the roll before or while making the roll. If a selection is explicitly specified as being “secretly” random, the Operator making this determination may do so using a private method of their choosing, instead of the Dice Roller.
+
If a number or other game variable is selected “at random” or “randomly” from a range of possible values, its value shall always be taken from a uniform probability distribution over the entire range of possible values, unless otherwise specified. This value must be determined by an appropriate roll in the Dice Roller, unless otherwise specified, and which value the roll result corresponds to must be reasonably inferable from the nature of the roll and any comments supplied by the Seeker making the roll before or while making the roll. If a selection is explicitly specified as being “secretly” random, the Seeker making this determination may do so using a private method of their choosing, instead of the Dice Roller.
  
 
==Atomic Actions==
 
==Atomic Actions==
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* All steps of an Atomic Action are considered one action, including the steps of an Atomic Action that is itself a step of a parent Atomic Action.
 
* All steps of an Atomic Action are considered one action, including the steps of an Atomic Action that is itself a step of a parent Atomic Action.
* When an Operator performs an Atomic Action, they must complete all its steps; they must complete them in order; and they may not take any other dynastic action, or achieve victory, until all the steps are complete.
+
* When a Seeker performs an Atomic Action, they must complete all its steps; they must complete them in order; and they may not take any other dynastic action, or achieve victory, until all the steps are complete.
* If a rule allows the Operator performing an Atomic Action to skip some of its steps, the skipped steps are considered to have been completed.
+
* If a rule allows the Seeker performing an Atomic Action to skip some of its steps, the skipped steps are considered to have been completed.
* If an Operator arrives at a step in an Atomic Action and they cannot perform that step, they undo all the steps they have performed of that Action and are considered never to have performed that Action.
+
* If a Seeker 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 Operator must redo the Atomic Action; for that purpose, the Operator 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 Operator would have to reroll the dice only if they rolled the wrong one in the first place, and would then have to repeat any steps that depended upon the result of that dice; however, if they rolled the dice correctly but took an illegal step later on, the result of the original dice roll would still be used in the redone step.)
+
* If one or more steps of an Atomic Action were done incorrectly, the Seeker must redo the Atomic Action; for that purpose, the Seeker 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 Seeker would have to reroll the dice only if they rolled the wrong one in the first place, and would then have to repeat any steps that depended upon the result of that dice; however, if they rolled the dice correctly but took an illegal step later on, the result of the original dice roll would still be used in the redone step.)
 
* For the purposes of determining the ordering or legality of game actions, the time of an Atomic Action shall be the time that it is completed. For Atomic Actions that are redone, the time of completion is the last redone step.
 
* For the purposes of determining the ordering or legality of game actions, the time of an Atomic Action shall be the time that it is completed. For Atomic Actions that are redone, the time of completion is the last redone step.
  
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* Any situation which would require a roll of DiceX when X is zero or lower always yields a value of 0 unless stated otherwise.
 
* Any situation which would require a roll of DiceX when X is zero or lower always yields a value of 0 unless stated otherwise.
 
* All numbers, unless stated otherwise by a rule, are in base ten.
 
* All numbers, unless stated otherwise by a rule, are in base ten.
* Unless otherwise specified, to “spend,” “pay” or “lose” an amount X of a numeric value “V” means to subtract X from V; to “gain” X of a numeric value “V” means to add X to V; and to “transfer” or “pay” X of a numeric value “V” from A to B means to subtract X from A’s V and add X to B’s V. Unless otherwise specified, only positive amounts can be spent, paid, lost, gained, or transferred, an Operator can spend or pay from only their own values, and a rule that allows Operators to transfer or pay a numeric value to another Operator only allows them to transfer that value from themselves to that other Operator (of their choice unless otherwise stated).
+
* Unless otherwise specified, to “spend,” “pay” or “lose” an amount X of a numeric value “V” means to subtract X from V; to “gain” X of a numeric value “V” means to add X to V; and to “transfer” or “pay” X of a numeric value “V” from A to B means to subtract X from A’s V and add X to B’s V. Unless otherwise specified, only positive amounts can be spent, paid, lost, gained, or transferred, a Seeker can spend or pay from only their own values, and a rule that allows Seekers to transfer or pay a numeric value to another Seeker only allows them to transfer that value from themselves to that other Seeker (of their choice unless otherwise stated).
 
* If a Dynastic Action is defined as having a cost X of numeric value V, or defines a requirement to spend, pay, or lose X of numeric value V to accomplish an effect or multiple effects, then the arithmetic effects of spending or payment and the act of carrying out those effects are considered to be subsequent steps in an Atomic Action, with the spending or payment step taking place before the effects step unless stated otherwise.
 
* If a Dynastic Action is defined as having a cost X of numeric value V, or defines a requirement to spend, pay, or lose X of numeric value V to accomplish an effect or multiple effects, then the arithmetic effects of spending or payment and the act of carrying out those effects are considered to be subsequent steps in an Atomic Action, with the spending or payment step taking place before the effects step unless stated otherwise.
* An Operator who has a choice in whether to take an action defined by a dynastic rule may not take that action if both of the following conditions are true: a) the action’s effects are limited to changing values tracked in gamestate-tracking entities (such as a wiki page), and b) the action would change one or more of those values to an illegal value.
+
* A Seeker who has a choice in whether to take an action defined by a dynastic rule may not take that action if both of the following conditions are true: a) the action’s effects are limited to changing values tracked in gamestate-tracking entities (such as a wiki page), and b) the action would change one or more of those values to an illegal value.
 
* If a rule implies that the result of any calculation should be an integer (for instance, by attempting to store that result in, or add it to, a gamestate variable that can only hold integers), the result of the calculation is instead the result rounded towards 0.
 
* If a rule implies that the result of any calculation should be an integer (for instance, by attempting to store that result in, or add it to, a gamestate variable that can only hold integers), the result of the calculation is instead the result rounded towards 0.
* If a game variable has a default value but no defined starting value, then its default value should also be considered a starting value. If a game variable has neither a default value nor a starting value, then both may be considered to be the nearest legal value to zero that it may take (for numerical variables, defaulting to positive if tied), blank (for a text string or list that may be blank), the alphabetically earliest legal text string it may take (for a text string which may not be blank, with the digits 0 through 9 considered to precede “A”), or the list which is alphabetically earliest from the set of lists with the fewest elements (for lists which may not be blank, and considering each list to be a single unpunctuated text string, with the digits 0 through 9 considered to precede “A”).
+
* If a game variable has a default value but no defined starting value, then its default value should also be considered a starting value. If a game variable has neither a default value nor a starting value, then both may be considered to be the nearest legal value to zero that it may take (for numerical variables, defaulting to positive if tied), blank (for a text string or list that may be blank), the alphabetically earliest legal text string it may take (for a text string which may not be blank, with the digits 0 through 9 considered to precede “A”), or the list which is alphabetically earliest from the set of lists with the fewest elements (for lists which may not be blank, and considering each list to be a single unpunctuated text string, with the digits 0 through 9 considered to precede “A”). For the purposes of this bullet point, the names of Seekers are not considered to be legal values for game variables, nor for list items within game variables.
 
* If the rules that define a game variable are amended, and some previously valid values become invalid as a consequence, any existing variables whose current values would become invalid are instead set to their starting value.
 
* If the rules that define a game variable are amended, and some previously valid values become invalid as a consequence, any existing variables whose current values would become invalid are instead set to their starting value.
 
* Invalid values for game variables can never be used, even if the values stored in a gamestate-tracking entity remain valid. (for example, if X appears in a formula referring to a value that is a non-negative integer, X must be used as a non-negative integer)
 
* Invalid values for game variables can never be used, even if the values stored in a gamestate-tracking entity remain valid. (for example, if X appears in a formula referring to a value that is a non-negative integer, X must be used as a non-negative integer)
 
* DICEN cannot be rolled in the Dice Roller if N is greater than one million.
 
* DICEN cannot be rolled in the Dice Roller if N is greater than one million.
* If a piece of information is described as being tracked secretly or privately by the Announcer (including secretly random selections), then that information may only be revealed by the Announcer when the ruleset allows it. If an Operator should already know such a piece of information (in that the Announcer has already told them it, or vice versa, and there is no way that the information could have been changed since then), the Announcer may repeat it to them.
+
* If a piece of information is described as being tracked secretly or privately by the Observer (including secretly random selections), then that information may only be revealed by the Observer when the ruleset allows it. If a Seeker should already know such a piece of information (in that the Observer has already told them it, or vice versa, and there is no way that the information could have been changed since then), the Observer may repeat it to them.
  
 
===Rules and Votable Matters===
 
===Rules and Votable Matters===
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* Rules which trigger upon the Resolution of a Votable Matter are the responsibility of the Admin who Resolves it.
 
* Rules which trigger upon the Resolution of a Votable Matter are the responsibility of the Admin who Resolves it.
 
* Unless otherwise specified, a new Dynastic rule shall be placed at the end of the Dynastic Rules.
 
* Unless otherwise specified, a new Dynastic rule shall be placed at the end of the Dynastic Rules.
* If the Admin enacting a Votable Matter reaches a step which cannot be applied immediately (e.g. “two days after this Votable Matter enacts, Operator A gains 1 point”), that step is ignored for the purposes of enactment. Once a Votable Matter has been enacted, it can have no further direct effect on the gamestate.
+
* If a dynastic rule has no text and no subrules, any Seeker may delete it from the ruleset.
* If a dynastic rule has no text and no subrules, any Operator may delete it from the ruleset.
 
 
* A rule may be accompanied by one or more illustrations, and an illustration may have a caption. In all situations, unless otherwise explicitly stated, an illustration and a caption to an illustration must be treated as flavour text.
 
* A rule may be accompanied by one or more illustrations, and an illustration may have a caption. In all situations, unless otherwise explicitly stated, an illustration and a caption to an illustration must be treated as flavour text.
* When the ruleset calls for the use of a specific tool (such as the dice roller, or an off-domain website, or a specific piece of downloadable software), Operators may not deliberately interfere with the function of that tool except in ways explicitly permitted by the ruleset.
+
* When the ruleset calls for the use of a specific tool (such as the dice roller, or an off-domain website, or a specific piece of downloadable software), Seekers may not deliberately interfere with the function of that tool except in ways explicitly permitted by the ruleset.
 +
* If the Observer has voted DEFERENTIAL on a Proposal, that vote is instead considered to be valid and either FOR (if more Seekers have a valid FOR vote on that Proposal than have a valid AGAINST vote on it) or AGAINST (in all other cases). However, in either case, votes of DEFERENTIAL made by other Seekers on the same Proposal are not considered to be valid. If there are six or fewer Seekers, then the Observer’s vote of DEFERENTIAL on a proposal is only affected by this rule if all Seekers who are not the Observer have cast a vote on that proposal.
  
 
===Time===
 
===Time===
Line 728: Line 435:
 
* All references to time must be either specific or defined within the Ruleset to be considered achievable in the gamestate. Abstract concepts of time (e.g. “dinnertime”, “twilight”) cannot be achieved until they fulfil one of these criteria.
 
* All references to time must be either specific or defined within the Ruleset to be considered achievable in the gamestate. Abstract concepts of time (e.g. “dinnertime”, “twilight”) cannot be achieved until they fulfil one of these criteria.
 
* Where the month, day and/or year of a calendar date are ambiguous (e.g. “04/10/09”), it shall be assumed that the date is in a day/month/year format.
 
* Where the month, day and/or year of a calendar date are ambiguous (e.g. “04/10/09”), it shall be assumed that the date is in a day/month/year format.
* An Operator may not take more than one dynastic game action at the same time (excluding any actions which have been ongoing for more than three hours).
+
* A Seeker may not take more than one dynastic game action at the same time (excluding any actions which have been ongoing for more than three hours).
  
 
===Spelling and formatting===
 
===Spelling and formatting===
 
* Superficial differences between the spelling of geographic versions of English, e.g. British English, American English and Australian English shall be construed as irrelevant for the purposes of play.
 
* Superficial differences between the spelling of geographic versions of English, e.g. British English, American English and Australian English shall be construed as irrelevant for the purposes of play.
* Operators may correct obvious spelling and typographical mistakes in the Ruleset and their own Pending Votable Matters at any time, including replacing Spivak and gender-specific pronouns with the singular “they”.
+
* Seekers may correct obvious spelling, punctuation, and/or typographical mistakes in the Ruleset and their own Pending Votable Matters at any time, including replacing Spivak and gender-specific pronouns that refer to Seekers with the corresponding forms of the singular “they”.
* An Operator may reformat a list of items in the dynastic ruleset to have bullet points or other appropriate list markup, if doing so would not change the order of that list, nor how any rules interpreted its content.
+
* A Seeker may reformat a list of items in the dynastic ruleset to have bullet points or other appropriate list markup, if doing so would not change the order of that list, nor how any rules interpreted its content.
  
 
===Names===
 
===Names===
* Within the Ruleset, a word only refers to the name of an Operator if it is explicitly stated that it refers to an Operator’s name.
+
* Within the Ruleset, a word only refers to the name of a Seeker if it is explicitly stated that it refers to a Seeker's name.
 
* If a rule would ever have no name, it is instead given the name of the Votable Matter that created it, or (if this is not possible) the name “Unnamed Rule”.
 
* If a rule would ever have no name, it is instead given the name of the Votable Matter that created it, or (if this is not possible) the name “Unnamed Rule”.
 
* The names of rules and wiki pages (other than the Ruleset) are flavour text.
 
* The names of rules and wiki pages (other than the Ruleset) are flavour text.
Line 743: Line 450:
 
* When referring to a Rule, the name used in reference to a specific Rule may be simplified by not including braces and any text between a pair of opening and closing braces, as long as such a reference would be unambiguous.
 
* When referring to a Rule, the name used in reference to a specific Rule may be simplified by not including braces and any text between a pair of opening and closing braces, as long as such a reference would be unambiguous.
 
* Where a Votable Matter refers to a second Votable Matter by name, it is assumed to refer to the most recently posted Votable Matter of that name which pre-dates the first Votable Matter.
 
* Where a Votable Matter refers to a second Votable Matter by name, it is assumed to refer to the most recently posted Votable Matter of that name which pre-dates the first Votable Matter.
* When changing their name or joining the game for the first time, an Operator’s (or prospective Operator’s) new name must be between 4 and 30 characters in length, and may only include the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, numbers, underscores, hyphens, full stops and apostrophes.
+
* When changing their name or joining the game for the first time, a Seeker's (or prospective Seeker's ) new name must be between 4 and 30 characters in length, and may only include the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, numbers, underscores, hyphens, full stops and apostrophes.
  
 
==Prioritisation==
 
==Prioritisation==
Line 749: Line 456:
 
# The Appendix has precedence over any other Rule;
 
# The Appendix has precedence over any other Rule;
 
# If a Core Rule explicitly says it cannot be overruled by a Dynastic Rule, that Core Rule has precedence over a Dynastic Rule, otherwise a Dynastic Rule has precedence over that Core Rule;
 
# If a Core Rule explicitly says it cannot be overruled by a Dynastic Rule, that Core Rule has precedence over a Dynastic Rule, otherwise a Dynastic Rule has precedence over that Core Rule;
# If a Special Case Rule explicitly says that it cannot be overruled by a Dynastic Rule, that Special Case Rule has precedence over a Dynastic Rule, otherwise a Dynastic Rule has equal precedence as that Special Case Rule;
+
# If a Building Blocks Rule explicitly says that it cannot be overruled by a Dynastic Rule, that Building Blocks Rule has precedence over a Dynastic Rule, otherwise a Dynastic Rule has equal precedence as that Building Blocks Rule;
# If two contradicting parts have equal precedence, the part with more limited scope applies (e.g. if the rules “Operators may Kick each other” and “Operators may not Kick each other on Tuesdays” exist, and it is Tuesday, Operators may not Kick each other);
+
# If two contradicting parts have equal precedence, the part with more limited scope applies (e.g. if the rules “Seekers may Kick each other” and “Seekers may not Kick each other on Tuesdays” exist, and it is Tuesday, Seekers may not Kick each other);
# If two contradicting parts have the same scope, or have scopes that only overlap where they contradict each other, the negative rule applies (e.g. with “Operators may Punch a Spaceman on Friday” and “Operators may not Punch Spacemen on Friday”, then Operators may not Punch Spacemen on Friday).
+
# If two contradicting parts have the same scope, or have scopes that only overlap where they contradict each other, the negative rule applies (e.g. with “Seekers may Punch a Spaceman on Friday” and “Seekers may not Punch Spacemen on Friday”, then Seekers may not Punch Spacemen on Friday).
===Archives===
 
This document is considered to be, in effect, the only Ruleset for BlogNomic, so long as it is located at at the URL https://wiki.blognomic.com/index.php?title=Ruleset.
 
  
 
==Mentors==
 
==Mentors==
  
An Operator may have another Operator as a Mentor. Operators who are willing to act as a Mentor are listed on the [[Mentorships]] wiki page, and are said to be “Tenured”. An Admin may add or remove their own name, or the name of an Operator who has requested a change on their own behalf, from this list at any time.
+
A Seeker may have another Seeker as a Mentor. Seekers who are willing to act as a Mentor are listed on the [[Mentorships]] wiki page, and are said to be “Tenured”. An Admin may add or remove their own name, or the name of a Seeker who has requested a change on their own behalf, from this list at any time. The Mentorships page is also used to list the names of players who are prohibited from becoming Tenured; this list may only be amended by the effect of a votable matter.
  
If an unmentored Operator requests a Mentor, or a new Operator has joined the game and has no Mentor, the Announcer should select a Tenured Operator and ask them to take that Operator on as a Mentee; if they accept, then such a Mentorship is established. The members and starting dates of all active Mentorships are tracked on the Mentorships wiki page, and whenever a new Mentorship is established, the Announcer should announce it in a blog post. The Announcer should take care to consider game balance when selecting a potential mentor.
+
If an unmentored Seeker requests a Mentor, or a new Seeker has joined the game and has no Mentor, the Observer should select a Tenured Seeker and ask them to take that Seeker on as a Mentee; if they accept, then such a Mentorship is established. The members and starting dates of all active Mentorships are tracked on the Mentorships wiki page, and whenever a new Mentorship is established, the Observer should announce it in a blog post. The Observer should take care to consider game balance when selecting a potential mentor.
  
A relationship between a mentor and a mentee is a Mentorship. An Operator may dissolve a Mentorship they are part of at any time, by announcing this in a blog post.
+
A relationship between a mentor and a mentee is a Mentorship. A Seeker may dissolve a Mentorship they are part of at any time, by announcing this in a blog post.
  
If there is no Announcer, any Operator who has been active in at least three previous dynasties may act as Announcer for the purposes of this rule.
+
If there is no Observer, any Seeker who has been active in at least three previous dynasties may act as Observer for the purposes of this rule.
  
 
===Things that a mentor must do===
 
===Things that a mentor must do===
Line 771: Line 476:
 
*Make pro-active contact with their mentee when appointed, and explain the dynamics of the Mentorship system;
 
*Make pro-active contact with their mentee when appointed, and explain the dynamics of the Mentorship system;
 
*Be available to answer any questions that their mentee may have about the game, including explaining the rules, common standards and etiquette of play, proofreading posts and clarifying game events;
 
*Be available to answer any questions that their mentee may have about the game, including explaining the rules, common standards and etiquette of play, proofreading posts and clarifying game events;
*Introduce their mentee to the various platforms of the game, including the wiki, Discord, and end-of-dynasty notifications through the Facebook group or Twitter;
+
*Introduce their mentee to the various platforms of the game, including the wiki and Dice Roller, and optionally the game’s Discord and social media feeds
 
*If possible, give their mentee a nudge if it appears that they are at risk of becoming Idle;
 
*If possible, give their mentee a nudge if it appears that they are at risk of becoming Idle;
*If they themselves go idle, communicate with their mentee to either continue to support them as an idle Operator or arrange a handover to another mentor if requested.
+
*If they themselves go idle, communicate with their mentee to either continue to support them as an idle Seeker or arrange a handover to another mentor if requested.
  
 
===Things that a mentor should do===
 
===Things that a mentor should do===
Line 779: Line 484:
  
 
*The Mentorship lasts for four weeks or until the next Ascension Address, whichever occurs latest. It can continue informally for longer but after this threshold the mentor is no longer bound by any of the conditions set out in the parent rule to this rule, or any of its subrules.
 
*The Mentorship lasts for four weeks or until the next Ascension Address, whichever occurs latest. It can continue informally for longer but after this threshold the mentor is no longer bound by any of the conditions set out in the parent rule to this rule, or any of its subrules.
*The mentor can and should advise the mentee on how to proceed in the mentee’s own best interests. This can include making connections with other Operators.
+
*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 Seekers .
 
*The mentor should consider copying the mentee in on private, game-related communications, where it does not unfairly prejudice their own interests. The mentee should keep this information private without explicit consent from the mentor.
 
*The mentor should consider copying the mentee in on private, game-related communications, where it does not unfairly prejudice their own interests. The mentee should keep this information private without explicit consent from the mentor.
 
*The mentor and mentee may work together to achieve victory. If a mentor achieves victory with support of their mentee then they should, if the mentee wishes it, pass the baton to the mentee.
 
*The mentor and mentee may work together to achieve victory. If a mentor achieves victory with support of their mentee then they should, if the mentee wishes it, pass the baton to the mentee.
Line 792: Line 497:
 
== Synonyms ==
 
== Synonyms ==
  
A dynasty may provide extra theming by using alternative terms for words like “Operator” and “Announcer”.
+
A dynasty may provide extra theming by using alternative terms for words like “Seeker” and “Observer”.
  
 
Each term in this list is synonymous with the term in parentheses
 
Each term in this list is synonymous with the term in parentheses
  
* Operator (Player)
+
* Seeker (Player)
* Announcer (Emperor)
+
* Observer (Emperor)
  
When a new Dynasty is started, the Ascension Address may specify new terms for each entry in the above list, provided the newly chosen term does not appear anywhere in the ruleset outside of this rule (though if it only appears in rules which are being removed as part of the Ascension Address, it is fine), and that doing so would not cause two terms in the above list to become synonymous with each other. Doing so causes the old corresponding value (including regional spelling variations) to be replaced by the new value everywhere in the ruleset except in any of the parentheses in the above list.
+
When a new Dynasty is started, the Ascension Address may specify new terms for each entry in the above list, provided the newly chosen term does not appear anywhere in the Building Blocks page or the ruleset outside of this rule (though if it only appears in rules which are being removed as part of the Ascension Address, it is fine), and that doing so would not cause two terms in the above list to become synonymous with each other. Doing so causes the old corresponding value (including regional spelling variations) to be replaced by the new value everywhere in the ruleset except in any of the parentheses in the above list.
  
 
</div>
 
</div>

Latest revision as of 16:25, 27 March 2024

Core Rules

Ruleset and Gamestate

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

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

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

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

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

Seekers

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

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

Some Seekers are Admins, responsible for updating the site and the Ruleset, and are signified as such in the sidebar. Seekers 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. Seekers may be made Admins through Proposal or CFJ.

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

Idle Seekers

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dormancy

If there are fewer than four Seekers (not including the Observer), then BlogNomic is on Hiatus.

Dynasties

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

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

Unless otherwise stated by a dynastic or Building Blocks rule, then for the purposes of dynastic and Building Blocks rules, the Observer is not a Seeker.

Votable Matters

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

Votes

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

If a Seeker other than the Observer casts a vote of DEFERENTIAL, then the Vote of DEFERENTIAL is an indication of confidence in the Observer. When the Observer 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 Observer's Vote for the purposes of other rules unless otherwise specified. When the Observer themselves casts a vote of DEFERENTIAL, it indicates an indication of confidence in the votes of the other players; please see the Rules and Votable Matters section of the Appendix for more information on how this is resolved.

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

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

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

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

Enacting and Failing

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

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

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

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

Tags

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

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

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

Proposals

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

Special Proposal Voting

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

Resolution of Proposals

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

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

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

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

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

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

Calls for Judgement

If two or more Seekers actively disagree as to the interpretation of the Ruleset, or if a Seeker feels that an aspect of the game needs urgent attention, then any Seeker 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 Seeker (other than the Observer) believes that they have achieved victory in the current Dynasty, they may make a Declaration of Victory (abbreviated “DoV”) detailing this, by posting an entry in the “Declaration of Victory” category.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

If the game is in an Interregnum then the new Observer must either Pass the Mantle (by making a post naming a Seeker who was not the last dynasty’s Observer, in which case the passing Seeker ceases to be the Observer and the Seeker so named becomes the Observer) or start a new dynasty by completing the following Atomic Action:

  • Make an Ascension Address by posting an entry in the “Ascension Address” category. This should specify the Observer's chosen theme for the new Dynasty, and it may optionally specify new dynasty-specific terms as outline in the rule "Synonyms", and/or list a number of dynastic rules to keep (if none are specifed then the entire Dynastic Ruleset is repealed).
  • Optionally specify any number of Building Blocks rules to remove or insert, as per the instructions in the Building Blocks section.
  • Update the Ruleset to reflect any changed terms, repeal any dynastic rules which were not listed to be kept, and make any specified or automatic changes to the Building Blocks section of the ruleset. Update the Building Blocks page to reflect any changes to the terms outlined in the rule Synonyms.
  • Optionally change the gamestate tracking page referred to in the rule “Ruleset and Gamestate” to a different page that does not exist and does not start with the word “Ruleset”.

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

Fair Play

The following are BlogNomic’s rules of fair play. If any of these rules are found to have been broken, or if a Seeker'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. Seekers 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 Seeker within BlogNomic, and should announce publicly if they control both a non-Idle Seeker and any Idle Seekers. This extends to exerting full control over the actions of another Seeker, defined here as the controlled Seeker's game behavior being functionally indistinguishable from if the controlling Seeker was logged into their account and playing through it, over a period of more than a day.
  • A Seeker 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 Seeker should not deliberately exploit bugs or unexpected behaviours in the software running the game (ExpressionEngine, MediaWiki or other blognomic.com scripts).
  • A Seeker should not edit their own blog comments once posted, nor those of any other Seeker.
  • A Seeker should not edit the “Entry Date” field of a blog post.
  • A Seeker should not make a DoV primarily to delay the game by putting it into Hiatus.
  • A Seeker 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 Seeker 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 Seeker must use their own name in the Dice Roller, when rolling dice.
  • A Seeker should not deliberately and unreasonably prolong the performance of a game action once they have started it.
  • A Seeker should not use a Core, Building Blocks, or Appendix rules scam to directly or indirectly cause a Seeker to achieve victory.
  • A Seeker should not trade actions in BlogNomic for favors or compensation outside of BlogNomic, nor trade actions in any other game for favors within BlogNomic, nor trade actions or favours in one Dynasty of Blognomic for actions or favours in another Dynasty of Blognomic.
  • A person with administrative, moderation, or other heightened access to the software running or supporting BlogNomic should not take any action using such heightened access for the purpose of causing any Seeker or Seekers to gain, receive, maintain, or preserve gameplay advantage unless any of the following is true:
    • Such action is required or explicitly permitted by the rules or required to implement an action required or explicitly permitted by the rules.
    • A reasonable, impartial, and prudent external observer would deem such action necessary or reasonable for the purpose of supporting, moderating, or administering BlogNomic or such software.

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

Dynastic Rules

Shots

Seekers may create Shots by taking photographs (or having photographs taken on their behalf) and hosting them through the image hosting functionality offered by the BlogNomic wiki.

A Shot is confirmed as Authentic if it includes an appearance of a hand-written note (as part of the Shot) which includes the name of an active Seeker and the Merriam Webster Word of the Day for the day on which the Shot was taken, or the preceding day (per http://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day). Such a post is known as a Snap. A typographical error does not prevent the Shot from being Authentic, as long as it’s obvious what the intended word is.

Criteria

There exist a number of Public Criteria, which are a type of Criteria, and which are listed in this rule. Each Seeker has a set of up to five Private Criteria, which are a type of Criteria - defaulting to blank. Each Private Criteria is privately tracked by its seeker, and publicly tracked by its sha256 hash which includes the Private Criteria plus a salt of 5 characters or less. Each Private Criteria also has a publicly-tracked count of satisfying Shots and unsatisfying Shots, both defaulting to 0. At any time a Seeker may change any of their Private Criteria while also resetting its satisfying and unsatisfying counts to zero.

An Authentic Shot’s Criteria Score is equal to the number of Criteria it meets.

The following Public Criteria exist:

  • The Shot was taken in an outside location.
  • A Snap which includes a specific named entity that had its own Wikipedia page at Mon 18/03/24—09:00 UTC
  • A Snap in which at least one article of clothing worn by the posting Seeker at the time that the Snap was taken is visible
  • A Snap that contains a message to the viewer

Two Criteria are considered to be equivalent if any shot which meets the first criteria also meets the second criteria, and any shot which does not meet the first criteria also does not meet the second criteria. None of a Seekers private criteria can be equivalent to another of that Seekers private criteria.

A Private Criteria is considered Saturated if its satisfying count or its unsatisfying count is greater than or equal to five (or half the number of seekers, whichever is greater).

A Private Criteria’s Exposure is equal to its Unsatisfying Score plus its Satisfying Score.

The date and time (to nearest minute) a given Private Criteria was last changed should be tracked on the gamestate tracking page in a column called “last modified”.

Reasonable Limits

A Criteria must have the following characteristics:

  • May be no longer than 50 characters in length
  • Must be expressed in vernacular English

Audit

As part of a Declaration of Victory, the Seeker posting the DoV must include a history of their Private Criteria and corresponding salt in the body of the DoV post. Any DoV which does not contain this information is not considered a valid DoV and should be marked as illegal.

Scoring

Each Seeker has a Development Interval, which is a publicly tracked number that defaults to 5 which is at least 2, and a Score, which is a publicly tracked number defaulting to 0.

No more than once per number of days equal to their Development Interval, a Seeker may make a post in the story post category with the title of their choice which includes a single Authentic Shot.

Within 48 hours of such a Shot having been posted, each Seeker (including the poster) may at most once respond to it stating which of their own Private Criteria that Shot satisfies and does not satisfy, provided that none of their Private Criteria has been changed since that Shot was posted and provided that there are no other Shots that were posted before the shot in question, within the last 48 hours, and which the Seeker in question has not already responded to in this manner. Upon doing so:

  • For each non-Saturated Private Criteria in the response that the Shot satisfies, that Private Criteria’s satisfying count is incremented by one, and its owner’s Score is incremented by that Private Criteria’s unsatisfying count.
  • For each non-Saturated Private Criteria in the response that the Shot does not satisfy, that Private Criteria’s unsatisfying count is incremented by one, and its owner’s Score is incremented by that Private Criteria’s satisfying count.

Each Seeker has a Development Bonus which is publicly tracked and defaults to 0. Whenever a Seeker posts a Snap, they gain an amount of Score equal to three times their Development Bonus.

Editing Disclaimer

Any new post that contains a Shot must include a description of any edits or changes made to the photograph prior to it being made a Shot, with a lack of such a description indicating that no editing was done. If a post is found to have broken this rule, the Seeker responsible or any Admin should replace the Shot in the offending post with this image, no scoring may be performed for that post (and any scoring already awarded to the poster should be reverted), and the responsible Seeker may create a new post as if they had not made the offending post.

Guesses

As a Weekly Action, a Seeker (the Guesser) with a score of at least 3 guess a private criteria of another Seeker (the Target) who is not currently Targeted by performing the following Atomic Action known as Initiating a Guess

  • Reduce the score of the Guesser by 3
  • Make a story post to the blog clearly declaring the name of the Targeted Seeker, and what the guesser thinks one of their Private Criteria are

The Target is now considered Targeted, and may not take any other dynastic action until they perform the following Atomic Action known as Resolving the Guess

  • If the guess is equivalent to one of their private Criteria, respond to the post with a :FOR:, reduce their own Score by the Exposure of that private criteria, and increase the score of the Guesser by the same amount, and then remove that Private Criteria from the Target’s private criteria list (resetting its satisfying and unsatisfying counts to zero in the process)
  • If the guess is not equivalent to any of their private Criteria, respond to the post with a :AGAINST:

At this point, the target is no longer considered targeted

Upgrades

If a Seeker believes that a Shot that they have previously posted (but which has not previously been the subject of an Upgrade Request) meets an Upgrade Benchmark then they may make an Upgrade Request.

An Upgrade Request is a post in the Story Post - Votable Matter category which indicates a single Snap posted by the same author and a single Upgrade Benchmark that it purports to meet, and nothing else.

An Upgrade Request is voted on and resolved in the same manner as a Proposal, with the exceptions that it does not need to be resolved in chronological order (nor does it count as a proposal for the purposes of determining the oldest pending Proposal). Seekers should vote FOR on any Upgrade Request where they believe that the specified Snap does meet the specified Upgrade Benchmark. When an Upgrade Request is enacted, the Development Interval of its poster is reduced by 1 (if it is three or higher) or their Development Bonus is increased by one (if their Development Interval is already 2), unless the same Seeker has already had a Upgrade Request enacted for the same Upgrade Benchmark previously in the dynasty, in which case their development interval is not reduced and their development bonus is not increased. (Which Upgrade Benchmarks have been enacted for which seekers should be tracked on the gamestate tracking page for easy reference).

Upgrade Benchmarks are listed in this rule and are as follows:

  • A Snap that was taken in the same place as another Snap taken by a different Seeker.
  • A Snap on which, after 48 hours, every Private Criteria claimed by another Seeker was Unsatisfied
  • A Snap which meets every Public Criteria
  • A Snap which includes a found instance of the BlogNomic username of another Seeker

Catching up with the Photos

While a Seeker has exactly 0 Score and has more than one Private Criteria having a non-null value, a Seeker may perform the following Atomic Action once per week:

  • For the previous three Shots in chronological order, perform the following bullet points:
    • Respond to the Shot stating which of their own Private Criteria that Shot satisfies and does not satisfy.
    • For each Private Criteria in the response that the Shot satisfies, that Private Criteria’s satisfying count is incremented by one, and increment their Score by that Private Criteria’s unsatisfying count.
    • For each Private Criteria in the response that the Shot does not satisfies, that Private Criteria’s satisfying count is incremented by one, and increment their Score by that Private Criteria’s satisfying count

Awards

Each Seeker can have a number of Awards, which is publicly tracked and defaults to zero.

At any time, if a Seeker has met the Standard for an Award then they may claim it by making a blog post announcing as such and then incrementing their Awards by 1. A Seeker may only claim each individual Award once in the dynasty.

Any Seeker who has claimed 5 Awards has achieved Victory.

The possible Awards and their Standards are as follows:

Award Standard
Fine Art Photographer of the Year Have more than 200 Score
Excellence in War Photography Have a Development Bonus of at least 3
Outstanding Composition Have five private Criteria, each of which has an Unsatisfying score of 0 and a Satisfying score of 5
Grand Prix in Advertising Photography Successfully Guess (i.e. post a Guess and have the target respond with a FOR mark to that Guess)


Building Blocks

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

Potential Building Blocks rules can be found at the Building Blocks page of the wiki. That page is gamestate and may not be altered except as specified by the ruleset or through the passage of a Proposal or CfJ; however, its contents are not rulestext. When the contents of the Building Blocks page are referred to as ‘rules’ by the ruleset or by a votable matter, it should be assumed that said contents are being referred to as potential rules rather than actual rules.

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

Low-Player Mode

The Core Rule Dormancy is flavour text.

Everyone's Playing

For the purposes of all dynastic and Building Blocks rules, the Observer is a Seeker.

No Cooperation

In this dynasty, Seekers are expected to avoid co-operating to achieve Victory, except through the use of co-operative mechanisms defined in the Dynastic rules.

If a Seeker feels that another Seeker has gone against this expectation in some way during the current dynasty, then they are encouraged to vote against all DoVs from that Seeker during that dynasty. This overrules the encouragement to vote according to the perception of a victory in the rule “Victory in Ascension”.

Appendix

Keywords

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

Imperatives

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

Time

Daily Action
If a game action is a Daily Action, each Seeker 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 Seeker per day.
Day
References to a “day” as an entity rather than as a duration (e.g. “Sunday”, “The day after performing this action”, or “August 2nd”), unless otherwise stated, refer to a day beginning at and including 00:00:00 UTC, ending when the next day begins. It can never be 2 different days at the same instant.
Week
References to a week as an entity rather than as a duration (e.g. “At the beginning of each week”, or “already happened this week”), unless otherwise stated, refer to a period of time between the beginning of a Monday and the end of the following Sunday.
Weekly Action
If a game action is a Weekly Action, each Seeker 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 Seeker per week.

Other

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

Gamestate Tracking

Official Posts

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

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

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

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

Representations of the Gamestate

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

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

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

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

Orphan Variables

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

A Seeker 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, MSeekera, Orange, Purple, Black.
  • The CARD command will return a card with a random suit (either Hearts, Diamonds, Spades or Clubs) and a random value (either Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King). A card with a value that is either Jack, Queen or King is a face card.
  • A list of comma-separated values in curly brackets (eg {x,y}) will return one of the values at random.

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

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

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

Atomic Actions

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

  • All steps of an Atomic Action are considered one action, including the steps of an Atomic Action that is itself a step of a parent Atomic Action.
  • When a Seeker performs an Atomic Action, they must complete all its steps; they must complete them in order; and they may not take any other dynastic action, or achieve victory, until all the steps are complete.
  • If a rule allows the Seeker performing an Atomic Action to skip some of its steps, the skipped steps are considered to have been completed.
  • If a Seeker 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 Seeker must redo the Atomic Action; for that purpose, the Seeker 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 Seeker would have to reroll the dice only if they rolled the wrong one in the first place, and would then have to repeat any steps that depended upon the result of that dice; however, if they rolled the dice correctly but took an illegal step later on, the result of the original dice roll would still be used in the redone step.)
  • For the purposes of determining the ordering or legality of game actions, the time of an Atomic Action shall be the time that it is completed. For Atomic Actions that are redone, the time of completion is the last redone step.

Clarifications

Numbers and Variables

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

Rules and Votable Matters

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

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 Seeker may not take more than one dynastic game action at the same time (excluding any actions which have been ongoing for more than three hours).

Spelling and formatting

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

Names

  • Within the Ruleset, a word only refers to the name of a Seeker if it is explicitly stated that it refers to a Seeker's name.
  • If a rule would ever have no name, it is instead given the name of the Votable Matter that created it, or (if this is not possible) the name “Unnamed Rule”.
  • The names of rules and wiki pages (other than the Ruleset) are flavour text.
  • Subrules can be referred to by a name which incorporates name of the rule they are a subrule of. Example: a subrule of the rule “Gin” is a “Gin Rule”, however the rule “Gin” is not a “Gin Rule” because it’s not a subrule of the rule “Gin”.
  • When referring to a Votable Matter, the name used in reference to a specific Votable Matter may be simplified by not including braces and any text between the opening and closing braces. i.e. a Votable Matter named “Changes [Core]” could instead be referred to by the name “Changes”.
  • When referring to a Rule, the name used in reference to a specific Rule may be simplified by not including braces and any text between a pair of opening and closing braces, as long as such a reference would be unambiguous.
  • Where a Votable Matter refers to a second Votable Matter by name, it is assumed to refer to the most recently posted Votable Matter of that name which pre-dates the first Votable Matter.
  • When changing their name or joining the game for the first time, a Seeker's (or prospective Seeker's ) new name must be between 4 and 30 characters in length, and may only include the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, numbers, underscores, hyphens, full stops and apostrophes.

Prioritisation

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

Mentors

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

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

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

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

Things that a mentor must do

A mentor must do the following:

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

Things that a mentor should do

The following sets out suggested best practice for Mentorship relationships:

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

Things that a mentor should not do

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

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

Synonyms

A dynasty may provide extra theming by using alternative terms for words like “Seeker” and “Observer”.

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

  • Seeker (Player)
  • Observer (Emperor)

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