Ruleset 40

Core Rules

Ruleset and Gamestate

This is the Ruleset for BlogNomic; all Olympians must obey it. Section One consists of the "core rules" of blognomic, covering basic proposal mechanics; Section Two contains the rules of the current dynasty; and Section Three contains the glossary, which exists solely to clarify the remainder of the ruleset. Rules may be referred to by their type and entire number or type and name. (e.g. This Rule may be referred to as Rule 1.1 or the Rule entitled "Ruleset and Gamestate").

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

No Rule may contain a provision that bars itself from being altered and/or repealed. If at any moment a Rule exists or is altered in a manner that renders it to contain such a provision, the entirety of that Rule shall be considered void and with no effects on the Gamestate. The provisions on this paragraph supersede any text in a Rule.

Spivak pronouns, as defined in the Glossary, shall be used whenever a Olympian is referred to.

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

Olympians

Anybody may apply to join BlogNomic (if e is not already playing) by registering at http://blognomic.com via the Register link in the sidebar, and then making a post announcing eir arrival. An Admin will add em to the roster in the sidebar, at which moment e becomes a Olympian.

A Olympian may leave the game at any time by posting an entry to the BlogNomic weblog requesting such an action. A Olympian may only change eir name as a result of a proposal approving the change.

Some Olympians are Admins, responsible for updating the site and the Ruleset, and are signified as such in the sidebar. Olympians who wish to become Admins shall 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.

Some Olympians are Idle, and shall be marked as such in the sidebar. For the purposes of the Ruleset, excluding Rules 1.1 and 1.2, Idle Olympians are not counted as Olympians. Admins may render a Olympian Idle if that Olympian has failed to vote for more than 7 days or has asked to become Idle. Admins may de-Idle a Olympian at eir request - the Olympian's personal gamestate retains the values it had immediately prior to eir going Idle. If one or more values would be undefined, it is set to the value New Olympians receive, if such a value exists.

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

Proposals

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

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

Voting

Any Olympian may cast eir Vote on a Pending Proposal by making a comment on that entry using a voting icon of FOR, AGAINST or DEFERENTIAL.

If the Olympian who made a Proposal has not cast a Vote on it, eir Vote is counted as FOR. If a Olympian casts more than one Vote on a Proposal, only the most recent of those Votes is counted. If a Olympian leaves the game or goes Idle, eir Vote no longer counts. If a Olympian votes against eir own proposal, that vote may not be changed.

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

Enactment

The oldest pending Proposal may be enacted by any Admin (and the Ruleset and/or Gamestate updated to include the specified effects of that Proposal) if either of the following is true:-

• It has a number of FOR votes that exceed or equal Quorum, has been open for voting for at least 12 hours, and has not been vetoed or self-killed.
• It has been open for voting for at least 48 hours, it has more than 1 valid vote, more than half of its votes are FOR, and it has not been vetoed or self-killed.

The oldest pending Proposal may be failed by any Admin, if any of the following are true:-

• It has enough AGAINST votes that it could not be Enacted without one of those votes being changed.
• It has been open for voting for at least 48 hours and half or fewer of its votes are FOR.
• It has been open for voting for at least 48 hours and has fewer than 2 valid votes.
• The Olympian who proposed it has voted AGAINST it.
• The Coach has voted to VETO it.

Whenever an Admin marks a proposal as enacted or failed, e must also mark eir name, and report the final tally of votes (or the fact that the proposal was self-killed or vetoed).

Calls for Judgment

If two or more Olympians actively disagree as to the interpretation of the Ruleset, or if a Olympian feels that an aspect of the game needs urgent attention, then any Olympian may raise a Call for Judgment by posting an entry in the "Call for Judgment" category. If the Olympian wishes, e may post anonymously by choosing "Call for Judgment" from the Author drop-down menu on the OPTIONS tab. The post shall go on to describe the issue, and measures that shall be taken to resolve it.

All Olympians may add votes of agreement or disagreement in comments to this entry, using appropriate voting icons (a Olympian's later votes overriding eir earlier ones). Unfailed CfJs continue until they reach a quorum of FOR votes, a quorum of AGAINST votes, or if there is no hiatus going on, until four days have passed, and if there is a hiatus going on until two days have passed. After this time, if more than half of the cast votes are in favour, the Gamestate and Ruleset shall be amended as was specified. Otherwise, the CfJ fails. A Failed CfJ has no further effect.

Gamestate Tracking

Proposals, Calls for Judgment, and other official posts, as well as specific gamestate information, shall be tracked by the BlogNomic blog at http://blognomic.com. Any Olympian may post to the blog at any time, but may only make official posts to the blog when the Ruleset allows it. Posts following the format specified by a rule are considered official posts.

If no Olympian has commented on it, an official post may be altered or removed by its author; otherwise this can only be done as allowed by the Ruleset. The Admin processing an official post is allowed to append to the post to reflect its new status. Anything appended to a post in this way must be placed in the Admin field of the post, and the post's Status must changed to reflect its status.

A non-official post may not, through editing of the blog or otherwise, be changed into an official post, with the following exception. Whilst a non-official post has been posted for less than five minutes and has no comments, the author may change the categories as e wishes.

Voting and comments are accessible through the link at the bottom of every post.

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

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

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

Dynasties

BlogNomic is divided into a number of Dynasties. Each Dynasty is headed by a single Coach, and is named according to the number of Dynasties they have headed (eg. "The First Dynasty of Myke").

The Coach may vote to VETO any Proposal.

Victory and Ascension

If a Olympian (other than the Coach) believes that e has achieved victory in the current Dynasty, e may make a post to the Blognomic weblog in the Declaration of Victory category, detailing this.

Upon doing so, the game immediately game goes into Hiatus, if it hasn't already. During this time, the only game actions that may be taken are those covered by Rules 1.2, 1.6, 1.7 and 1.9.

Every Olympian may respond to an active DoV saying whether or not e believes the poster has achieved victory in the current Dynasty (using the FOR and AGAINST icons).

The Declaration of Victory may be resolved after 24 hours, or after 12 hours if the Coach has voted on it. Upon resolution, if a Quorum of Olympian's have voted on the DoV and more than half of those votes were in favour, then the DoV passes - otherwise the DoV fails, and if no other DoVs are still pending, the Hiatus ends.

When a DoV passes, all other active DoVs are failed, and a new Dynasty begins with the Olympian who made the DoV as its Coach. (That Olympian may pass this role to another Olympian at this point, if they wish.) The Hiatus continues until the new Coach posts an Ascension Address to the BlogNomic weblog - this shall specify Coach's chosen theme for the new Dynasty, and may optionally include a proclamation that any number of Dynastic Rules will be repealed, and that any keywords will be replaced with new theme-appropriate terms.

Dynastic Rules

Olympic Medals

Each Olympian has collection of medals. With respect to a particular Event, unless the description of the Event provides otherwise, all Medals for the Event will be deemed to have been awarded at the time that the Coach posts a notice to the blog that the Medals for that Event have been awarded. The Coach will also post to the "Old Events" section of the Events Page of the Wiki an indication of the time that the Medals have been awarded, as well as the identity of the winners of each medal. After the Medals for an Event are awarded, any subsequent circumstance that results in a change in the holder of any Medal of that Event will be reported by a notice to the blog and an appropriate indication in the "Old Events" section of the Events Page of the Wiki. Medals are tracked in the GNDT in three columns called "Gold", "Silver", and "Bronze"; tracking Gold Medals; Silver Medals; and Bronze Medals respectively.

Blognomic as a team also has a collection of medals. This collection is tracked in a separate row called "Blognomic" on the GNDT

The Blognomic Team consists exclusively of all Olympians (other than any one or more Olympians who have withdrawn from the Blognomic Team or been ejected from the Blognomic Team, to the extent permitted by the Rules). No Olympian may belong to more than one Team. Unless the context requires otherwise, the term "Team" means the Blognomic Team or any rival team listed in Rule 2.2.

Rivals

From time to time, our Olympians will fail to win a medal, and the medal will instead be awarded to a competitor from another nation. The bulleted list at the end of this rule contains the names of all other nations which are considered competitive enough to possibly win a medal from us. There is a GNDT row named for each such nation. The "Gold", "Silver", and "Bronze" entries in a nation's row track all the gold, silver, and bronze (respectively) medals won by competitors from that nation.

• Rand. In Rand , they wear hats on their feet! Rand can never compete in an event in which McNally competes.
• McNally. In McNally, hamburgers eat people! McNally can never compete in an event in which Rand competes.
• Klodistan (Klodistan has assembled a team of mostly one-dimensional athletes. Because of this, they are expected to do well only in the simplest events. Klodistannis are known for misinterpreting ethnic jokes as compliments.)
• Excalabur Homeland (Historically a ruthlessly imperialistic nation, which was eventually defeated by a coalition effort. Because of its former status as a superpower, it has one of the most diverse and flexable teams in the competition.)

Attributes

An Olympian's capacity to achieve sportive feats is measured by eir Attributes. The Attributes an Olympian have are listed at the end of this rule. The score an Olympian has in each Attribute is tracked by the GNDT's column "Att" as a comma separated list, with the Attributes in the same order they are listed here.

New Olympians start with a score of "2" in each Attribute.

• Attributes:
  • Strength - It's the raw, brute power of an Olympian. It governs how much weight an Olympian can lift, how much e can physically push an how hard e can hit another Olympian or an object.
  • Dexterity - It measures an Olympian's general physical prowess. It encompasses the Olympian's speed, agility and overall quickness, as well as indicating the Olympian's ability to manipulate objects with control and precision.
  • Stamina -It reflects an Olympian's health, toughness and resilience. It indicates how long an Olympian can exert eirself and how much punishment e can withstand before suffering physical trauma.
  • Wits -It measures an Olympian's ability to think on eir feet and react quickly to a certain situation.

Rolls

Any time a Rule or Event calls for an Attributes Roll, XDICE10 shall be rolled, where X is the sum of the scores an Olympian has in the listed Attributes. For Example, if an Olympian has a Att of 2,3,3,2 and a rule calls for a Strength Roll, e should roll 2DICE10. If the rule calls for a Dexterity+Stamina Roll, instead, tha same Olympian should roll 6DICE10. In a Stamina+Wits Roll e should roll 5DICE10.

Training

Each Olympian has a certain number of training points, marked in the GNDT is a column called "TP"

At any time, an Olympian may spend N of eir own training points to raise one of eir attributes from N to N+1.

Training Points can be earned in the following ways:

• Often, an Olympian may give every current Olympian two Training Points, provided no other Olympian has done so that day. If e does so, he must give every current Olympian the training points.
• Any time a proposal passes, its author gains one training point.
• Any time an Olympian makes an attribute roll less than 2X or greater than 9X(where X is the number of DICE10 rolled) during an Event, e gains X training points.
• If an new Olympian joins, e starts with X training points, where X is equal to the average(rounded down) of the total of each other Olympian's attributes. So if Clucky had 2,3,3,3; Elias had 4,2,2,3; and Bucky had 3,3,5,1 and then Thrawn joined, e would get (11+11+12)/3 = 11 Training Points.
• The Coach may often award up to 3 Training Points to any Olympian, or fine any Olympian up to 2 Training Points.
• The recipient of a Bronze medal in an Event receives TP equal to the cost of competing in that event.
• The recipient of a Silver medal in an Event receives TP equal to twice the cost of competing in that event.
• The recipient of a Gold medal in an Event receives TP equal to four times the cost of competing in that event.
• If e has not done so in the last 48 hours and X is greater than zero, an Olympian may set eir training points to X, where X is equal to the average (rounded down) of the total of each other Olympian's attributes minus the total of eir own attributes. So if Clucky had 2,3,3,3; Elias had 4,2,2,3; Bucky had 3,3,5,1 and Chronos had 2,2,2,2, e would set eir Training Points to 3: ((11+11+12)/3)-8 = 11-8 = 3
• Just before an Olympian goes Idle for not voting in a week, the Training Points that Olympian would have at the moment of Idling shall be distributed equally (round down) between all the remaining Olympians and the Idling Olympian's Training Points shall be set to zero.
• For each event run, the coach may award up to five TP to Olympian whom the coach deems helped write the event. The amount of TP should be proportional to the amount of help writing the event, that is, a near copy of the event should earn 5 TP while only a small idea should earn 1 TP.

Cheating

An Olympian may, at any time, make a comment of CHEAT DICE10. If the result of the dice roll is greater than N, where N is the number of times e has attempted to cheat this dynasty(including the current time), e gets way with the cheating and gains TP equal to the result of the dice roll. If the result of the dice roll is less than or equal to N, e is discovered and loses 10 popularity, all of eir medals, and cannot participate in any Olympic events for the next week, nor can e attempt to cheat again for that week. If, after a week is up, e attempts to cheat again and fails a second time; e is removed from the team and sent home--e cannot take any actions in part 2 of the rules, nor can any actions taken in part 2 of the rules affect eim for the duration of the dynasty In other words, e is basically limited to voting on proposals and enacting them if e is an admin

Popularity

Each Olympian has a "Popularity" which is a whole number between -10 and 10. An Olympian with a Popularity of -7 or below is called "Infamous". An Olympian with a Popularity of -3 or below is called "Unpopular". An Olympian with a Popularity of 3 or above is called "Popular". An Olympian with a Popularity of 7 or above is called "Star". New Olympians start with a popularity of 1.

Television

Whenever the same Olympian recieves a Medal in three (3) consecutive events in which e competes, e gains 1 popularity. No more than 3 popularity may be gained in this manner per 2 events in the winning streak, and no more than 6 may be gained in this manner per Dynasty. Whenever an Olympian fails to recieve a Medal in four (4) consecutive events in which e competes, e loses 1 popularity. No more than 1 popularity may be lost in this manner per 4 events in which e competes, and no more than 4 may be lost in this manner per Dynasty.

Obscurity

Every Sunday at noon, any Olympian who has done none of the things on the following list since the last Sunday at noon loses 1 popularity:

• Increased an Attribute
• Competed in an Event
• Had eir Popularity changed by any other Rule than this one
• Be granted an Exception for that week by the Coach.

Any Olympian who has just joined or become unidle (if e was idle before the previous Sunday) shall not be subject to this rule the first Sunday after e joins/becomes unidle.

Awe

Each Sunday at 12:00 AM, the Olympian with the highest value in each attribute gains one popularity point. The one with the lowest value in each attribute loses one popularity point. This is only applied if there is a unique point leader for the attribute (a tie will result in no points being awarded or taken away, as is the case), and each Olympian may only earn or lose one popularity point for each attribute per week.

Olympic Events

There is a post stickied to the top of the blog called "Upcoming Events". This post may Often be edited by the Coach to include new Events. Each upcoming Event must have a unique name, and its entry on the "Upcoming Events" stickied post must be accompanied by a brief summary.

For each upcoming Event, the coach must also update the "Upcoming Events" section of the Events Page on the Wiki detailing the event. The detailing should include:

• 1) A cost (In TP) for an Olympian to compete in in the Event.
• 2) Whether the Event is for individual Competitors or for Teams.
• 3) Any additional criteria for an Olympian to participate in the Event (these criteria that are stated in the description of the Event, in addition to any criteria of general applicability that are stated in the Rules, are referred to as that Event's "Criteria for Participation").
• 4) The Conditions for Termination of the Event.
• 5) The Conditions for Awarding Medals once the Event has terminated (i.e., a description of the methodology for determining which competitors will be awarded Medals for that Event)
• 6) If the Event is for individual competitors, a list of competitors (other than Olympians) who will be competing in the event. If the Event is for Teams, a description of the manner in which the performance of each Team (other than Teams composed of Olympians) is to be determined.

The term "Competitor", when used in the Ruleset (including this Rule) or in the description of any Event, refers to:

• 1) if the Event is for individual competitors, either (A) any Olympian who has signed up for the Event and who meets the Criteria for Participation; or (B) any individual competitor other than an Olympian who represents a rival Team and is described in the description of the Event; and
• 2) if the Event is for Teams, either (A) the Blognomic Team; or (B) any rival Team that is described in the description of the Event.

The Conditions for Termination for the Event must be possible to satisfy. The Conditions for Awarding Medals for the Event must be such that an equal number of Bronze, Silver and Gold medals are awarded. An Olympian will only be eligible to win a Medal if, in addition to satisfying the Conditions for Awarding Medals for that Event, e meets all the Criteria for Participation for that Event. Unless the description of the Event expressly provides otherwise, the Conditions for Awarding Medals must be the same for all Competitors.

When the Conditions for Termination are met, Medals are Awarded based on the Conditions for Awarding Medals. Any Olympian who earned a Medal will have eir proper Medal count increased by one in the GNDT (That is, an Olympian who wins a "Gold Medal" will have "Gold" increased by one). Any competitor other than an Olympian who is, or represents, a rival Team who earned a Medal will have that rival Team's proper medal count increased by one in the GNDT. The Medals will be deemed to have been awarded at the time specified in Rule 2.1. The blog post described in Rule 2.1 that announces the awarding of Medals for the Event must also include the score or result of each Competitor in the Event, whether or not that Competitor was awarded a Medal.

The event is then removed from the "Upcoming Events" section of the Events page and added,along with results, to the "Old Events" section of the Events Page on the Wiki. The event is also removed from the Upcoming events post on the blog.

Olympians are encouraged to send the Coach ideas for Events by updating the talk section of the events page on the Wiki.

The Upcoming Events page is considered part of the Gamestate and thus may only be edited as explicitly allowed by the Rules.

Specialization

An Olympian may choose to specialize in a certain area by using a special trainer. Trainers are marked in a column of the GNDT called "Trainer". An Olympian may often change eir trainer, but may not change eir trainer more than two times per week. Trainers, as well as the benefits and requirements for using the trainers, are described below:

• Normal Trainer: Requirements: None. Any Olympian without another kind of trainer has this trainer. Effect: An Olympian using this trainer may occasionally increase eir training points by one.
• Lucky Trainer: An Olympian must have attributes at least 1,1,1,10 and Popularity at least three to begin to use this trainer. Effect: When a Olympian using this trainer makes an attributes role, e rolls a DICE11 instead of a DICE10.
• Powerful Trainer: An Olympian must either have attributes of at least 5,5,5,5 or strength of at least 10 to begin to use this trainer. Effect: When an Olympian uses this trainer, the cost of training Strength is cut in half and rounded up. Thus, if e has attributes 11,5,4,3 e must only spend 6 TP to increase eir strength.
• Banned Trainer: An Olympian must have popularity below 0 to begin to use this trainer. Effect: The first time an Olympian switches to this trainer, e loses 3 popularity. When e attempts to cheat, e rolls a DICE12 instead of a DICE10. Eir Popularity cannot rise above -3 when e has this Trainer; if any effect would cause em to have this Trainer and a Popularity above -3, it becomes -3 instead.
• Star Trainer: An Olympian must have popularity above 5 to begin to use this trainer. Effect: An Olympian using this trainer may often spend 2N training points to increase eir popularity from N to N+1. If any Olympian with this Trainer has a Popularity below 3, eir Trainer is set to Normal.

Heroism

For the purposes of this Rule and its subrules, each Olympian has a Score equal to three times eir Gold Medals, plus twice eir Silver Medals, plus eir Bronze Medals, all times eir Popularity Multiplier That is, (3G+2S+B)*M. Eir Popularity Multiplier is 1/2 if e is Notorious, 3/4 if e is Unpopular but not Notorious, 2 if e is Star, 3/2 if e is Popular but not Star, and 1 if no other multiplier applies.

A Team has a Score equal to the total Score of its member Olympians plus the score an Olympian with its medals and a Popularity of 1 would have.

Any Olympian is considered a Hero and has achieved victory if:

• 1)E has a Score greater than any Team of which e is not a member.
• 2)If multple Olympians meet condition 1, e has a Popularity greater than or equal to all Olympians that meet condition 1.
• 3)If multiple Olympians meet conditions 1 and 2, e has a Score greater than or equal to all Olympians that meet condition 2.

If multiple Olympians meet all three conditions aat the same time, the first one to declare victory wins, as in past Dynasties.

Politics

Any Olympian with medals may decrease eir count of each type of medal, to a minimum of 0. If that Olympian has Popularity less than -3, e gains Popularity equal to twice the number of Gold medals e gave up, plus the number of Silver Medals e gave up, plus half the number of Bronze medals e gave up. This cannot raise eir Popularity above -3.

If an Olympian who signs up to participate in an event ends up in sole possession of last place among all competitors in that event (including both Olympians and other competitors, if any, that may be identified in the description of the event), and the Olympian does not win any Medals in the event, then the Olympian is awarded one Popularity point.

Closing Ceremonies

The closing ceremonies for the 2006/2007 Blognomic Olympic Games take place on Sunday, February 11th at 12:00 AM. If no Olympian has achieved victory by other means, the victor is determined as follows:

First, the total number of medals earned by each Olympian and the Blognomic team is added up. 3*(Golds) + 2*(Silvers) + 1*(Bronze) is totaled for each team, with Blognomic counting the medals earned by the Olympians in addition to the team medals earned. In order for an Olympian to win, Blognomic's total must be greater than any of the other totals. If this is not true upon the start of the closing ceremonies, no Olympian achieves victory, all dynamistic rules are repelled and the game enters a meta dynasty.

If Blognomic's total score is greater than each of the other teams total scores, the Olympian with the highest score(provided one exists) achieves victory. Score is defined the same as in rule 2.9, that is: three times eir Gold Medals, plus twice eir Silver Medals, plus eir Bronze Medals, all times eir Popularity Multiplier. Eir Popularity Multiplier is 1/2 if e is Notorious, 3/4 if e is Unpopular but not Notorious, 2 if e is Star, 3/2 if e is Popular but not Star, and 1 if no other multiplier applies. If two or more Olympians have the same score, the one with highest popularity(provided one exists) archives victory. If two or more Olympians have the same score and the same popularity, the one(s) with the most total medals achieves victory. At this point, if there is still a tie, whoever claims eir victory first achieves victory.

Act of Contrition

At any time, any Olympian with a Popularity of less than zero may make a post to the Blog that states "I request forgiveness" (such post being called a "Request for Forgiveness" Any Olympian (other than the Olympian who posted the Request for Forgiveness) may post a comment to the Request for Forgiveness, and if such a comment contains the text "I forgive you" (or text having a substantially similar meaning in the discretion of the Coach) (such a comment being called a "Grant of Forgiveness"), then the Olympian who posted the Grant of Forgiveness is awarded either one (1) Popularity point or two (2) TP, as the Olympian chooses. If three (3) or more Olympians post Grants of Forgiveness with respect to a particular Request for Forgiveness, then the Olympian who posted that Request for Forgiveness has eir Popularity reset to zero (0). Any Olympian who posts a Request for Forgiveness (whether or not any Grants of Forgiveness are posted) may no longer attempt to Cheat under Rule 2.3.3 for the remainder of this Dynasty.

Glossary

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

• It is noted that where a Proposal would amend the effects of Proposal Enactment, this does not apply to its own enactment unless explicitly stated (eg. a proposal proposing that enacted proposals earn their writer a banana when enacted would not earn a banana for its own writer, when enacted).
• Rules which trigger on Enactment or Failure of a Proposal are the responsibility of the acting Admin, who is responsible to check if Quorum is met at the moment of the Enactment.
• Appropriate Icons: For use in voting, a check box 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, an I http://blognomic.com/images/vote/imperial.gif shall represent a vote of DEFERENTIAL, and an Imperial Seal (currently http://blognomic.com/images/vote/seal.gif) shall represent the Imperial Veto.
• 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.
• "Posts" and "comments" refer only to those made to the BlogNomic weblog at blognomic.com
• A keyword defined by a rule supersedes the normal English usage of the word. A keyword defined in this glossary supersedes that defined by a rule. (eg. A rule specifying "Bananas are Blue" cannot be overruled by posting a dictionary definition or a photo of a banana, and a rule specifying "every day is Sunday" will be overruled by the glossary entry below.)
• Unless otherwise specified, game variables defined to hold numeric values can hold only non-negative integers, and any action that would set those values below zero instead sets them to zero. Any situation which would require a roll of DiceX when X is zero or lower always yields a value of 0 unless stated otherwise.
• Unless otherwise specified: When “X” is a number, to spend X of a numeric value “V” means to subtract X from V (i.e. replace V with V-X); no action may be taken which requires spending X of a numeric value when the subtraction would result in a number which is illegal as a replacement for that value (e.g. if the value represents a variable which is restricted to non-negative integers, but the subtraction comes up negative).
• Superficial differences between the spelling of geographic versions of English, e.g, British English, American English, Australian English shall be construed as irrelevant for the purposes of play.
• Gamestate is defined as any information which the Ruleset regulates the alteration of, such as Olympians' names and the blog colour scheme.

Typographic Conventions

• Italicized text is not considered part of the ruleset and may be used to clarify rules with examples, notes, and flavor text. For example, this italicized text provides an example of the use of italicized text.

Timespans

• References to "a day" (as an entity rather than a duration, eg. "Sunday") refer to that day in the timezone of the BlogNomic blog, which is considered to be GMT for all purposes.
• References to a "week" refer to the period of time between the start of a Monday and the end of the following Sunday.
• 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.
• An action which may be taken 'often' may be taken once per day, but not more than once every six hours.
• An action which may be taken 'occasionally' may be taken once per week, but not more than once per twenty-four hours.

Keywords

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

Dice

References to "YDICEX" refer to Y X-sided dice. To roll dice, post DICEX in the comments field of the GNDT, replacing X with the number of sides on the die you wish to roll.

Spivak

• The Spivak pronouns used in Blognomic are:
  • Subject case: "e";
  • Object case: "em";
  • Possessive Adjective case: "eir";
  • Possessive Pronoun case: "eirs";
  • Reflexive case: "emself".

IEEE

• The IEEE auxiliary verbs used in Blognomic are:
  • Is required to: "shall";
  • Is recommended that: "should";
  • Is permitted to: "may";
  • Is able to: "can".