Ruleset Reconstruction

Laws

Ruleset and Gamestate

This is not the Ruleset for BlogNomic; Swashbucklers may ignore it. Section One consists of the "laws" of blognomic, covering basic Swashbuckler and proposal mechanics; Section Two contains the "rules" of the current round, and Section Three contains the glossary, which exists solely to clarify the remainder of the ruleset. Laws and rules may be referred to by eir type and entire number or type and name. (e.g. This Law may be referred to as Law 1.1 or the Law entitled "Ruleset and Gamestate"). No Rule may contain a provision that bars itself from being altered and/or repealed.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.

The Ruleset and Gamestate can only be changed when the Ruleset specifically permits eir being changed.

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

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

Swashbucklers

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 Swashbuckler.

A Swashbuckler may change eir name or eir sidebar link by editing eir blognomic.com profile. A Swashbuckler’s name may only ever act as a signifier identifying a certain player. A name change may never create a meaning in the Ruleset that was not present before it. E may leave the game by posting an entry to the BlogNomic weblog requesting such action.

Some Swashbucklers are Admin Staff, responsible for updating the site and the Ruleset, and are signified as such in the sidebar. Swashbucklers 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 eir post by Proposal, CfJ or voluntary resignation.

Some Swashbucklers are Idle, and shall be marked as such in the sidebar. For the purposes of the ruleset, excluding Laws 1.1 and 1.2, idle Swashbucklers are not counted as Swashbucklers. Admin may render a Swashbuckler idle if that Swashbuckler has failed to vote for more than a week, or if it has asked to become idle. Admins may un-idle a Swashbuckler at eir request - the Swashbuckler's personal gamestate retains the values it had immediately prior to eir idling.

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

Proposals

Any Swashbuckler may propose a change to the Ruleset or gamestate by posting an entry in the "Proposal" category that describes the changes e wishes to be made.

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

No ostensible Proposal shall be legal if its posting leads to its poster having more than 2 Proposals pending. Furthermore, no Swashbuckler may post more than 3 Proposals in the same day. Rules may take precedence over this paragraph.

Voting

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

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

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

Enactment

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

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

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

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

Rules may take precedence over any part of this law.

Calls for Judgment

If two or more Swashbucklers actively disagree as to the interpretation of the Ruleset, or if a Swashbuckler feels that an aspect of the game needs urgent attention, then any Swashbuckler may raise a Call for Judgment by posting an entry in the "Call for Judgment" category . If the Swashbuckler 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 Swashbucklers may add votes of agreement or disagreement in comments to this entry, using appropriate voting icons (a Swashbuckler's later votes overriding eir earlier ones). 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 and may have 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 Swashbuckler 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 other Swashbuckler has commented on it, an official post may be altered or removed; otherwise this can only be done as allowed by the Ruleset. The Admin processing an official post is allowed to append to the post to reflect its new status. Anything appended to a post in this way must be 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 be changed into an official post.

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 Swashbuckler may update any Swashbuckler's data via the GNDT, whenever the Ruleset permits it.

All updates to the GNDT are logged - if a Swashbuckler 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.

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

Dynasties

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

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

The Captain has the following powers:

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

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

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

Victory and Ascension

If a Swashbuckler believes that e has achieved victory as specified in the current Ruleset, e may Make a Post to the Blognomic frontpage entitled "Declaration of Victory", and a Hiatus begins. So long as the Hiatus is in effect, the only game actions that may be taken are those covered by laws 1.2, 1.6, and 1.9.

Every Swashbuckler may respond to the Declaration of Victory saying whether e regards it as legal or illegal (using the FOR, AGAINST and DEFERENTIAL icons). The following stipulations must be true before a DoV may pass or fail.

• 12 hours have passed since the posting of the DoV.
• If less than 24 hours have passed since the posting of the DoV the current Captain has voted upon the DoV.

If both of these stipulations are true and at least half of all Swashbucklers have voted FOR the DoV passes and the poster of the Declaration is considered to have officially won the Dynasty - the Dynasty ends. If both of these stipulations are true and at least half of all Swashbucklers have voted AGAINST the DoV the the DoV fails. If no clear decision is reached after 24 hours, the Captain may optionally Pass or Fail the DoV on his own accord.

Hiatus may not end if either of the following stipulations are false and ends once they are both true:

• There is no active DoV.
• There are no pending CFJs.

At the winner's discretion, e may choose another active Swashbuckler to be the Captain for the next dynasty. This is known as Passing the Mantle. If the selected Swashbuckler agrees, then all rights and responsibilities of the Captain transfer to the selected Swashbuckler. If the winner makes no mention of Passing the Mantle, it is assumed that the winner has decided to become the next Captain.

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

The Hiatus then continues until the new Captain posts an Ascension Address to the BlogNomic weblog - this shall specify the Captain's chosen theme for the new round, and may optionally include a proclamation that any number of Rules will be repealed, and/or that the words "Swashbuckler" and "Captain" will be replaced with new theme-appropriate terms. If the new Captain chooses not to repeal a rule, e may also replace any keyword in those rules with a new theme-appropriate term. The remaining rules, after the new Captain's proclamation, shall be renumbered to keep a sequential progression. The new Captain may also proclaim at the Ascension Address the veto of any Pending Proposals.

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

The Captain may not declare victory in eir own dynasty.

Rules

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 first and only sentence in the Title of an entry. Any entry that does not have exactly one subject is not valid.
• "Posts" and "comments" refer only to those made to the BlogNomic weblog at blognomic.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.
• 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 Countries' 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.

Dice

References to "YDICEX" refer to Y X-sided dice. To roll dice, post DICEX in the comments field of a post, 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”.