Cycle 17/Ruleset

Time

General

All times mentioned in this ruleset are in UTC. Days start at 00:00 UTC. Weeks start on Monday 00:00 UTC.

Phases

Each week is divided into two phases:

1. Election Phase: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday
2. Governance Phase: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

Rules

A rule is a body of text which governs the state of the game. Rules that are in effect apply continuously. When a player joins the game, they agree to abide by the rules in effect.

A subrule is a rule that claims another rule as its parent. The subrule is not part of the parent; instead this relationship is to be used for organizational purposes.

A rule that is not a subrule is a top-level rule.

Players

Any person may become a player by posting a message setting forth their intent to do so in the channel ⁠#game-actions, provided they have not been a player at any point in the past seven days. A player may cease being a player by sending a message that sets forth their intent to do so in #⁠game-actions.

A player is 'reputable' if they have continuously been a player for the previous seven days or if they have continuously been a player from a time that was within 3 days of the round starting. If two reputable players publicly declare that an unreputable player (i.e. a player who has not yet become reputable) is reputable then that unreputable player becomes reputable immediately.

Activity

A player is active if they have performed any action in the current or the previous phase, including voting on the results of other actions (elections, proposals, etc.). If an inactive player performs an action for the first time in a phase, they are considered having been active as the action is performed (in that conditions that depend on a player being active consider them active when considering the result of that action, not only after it resolves).

Proposals

Proposals are made by sending a message in the channel #proposals.

A 👍 or 👎 reaction from a player on a Proposal message at the time when the voting period ends constitutes a vote in favor or against, respectively. If a person's vote is unclear (excluding abstentions), it is considered to be against.

At the end of its voting period, a proposal takes effect if it is popular (as defined for its type) and the message in which it was submitted has been neither deleted nor edited. If more than one proposal would otherwise take effect simultaneously, they take effect in the order in which they were created. If a proposal becomes popular after its voting period due to retroactive action, it takes effect immediately.

The class of a proposal must be one of the classes listed below. When a proposal is submitted, the submitter may specify its class. if no class is specified, the proposal class defaults to Standard.

If a non-urgent proposal passes, the player that proposed it may receive an amount of points equal to the number of full phases that have passed since proposition minus one. Each player may do this at most once each phase.

Urgent Class Proposal

The voting period of an urgent proposal begins at the time it is submitted and ends two days after. An urgent proposal is popular if it has no more than two votes against it.

Rules to the contrary notwithstanding, only a reputable player can submit an urgent proposal. Urgent proposals should only be used to correct the game to its intended state and to maintain playability.

Standard Class Proposal

The voting period for a standard proposal is the phase that started after the proposal was submitted. A standard proposal is popular if it has not been vetoed by parliament and has more votes in favor than votes against.

At the end of a standard proposal's voting period, except for the submitter, players who voted on it with 👍 or 👎 , but not both, gain a ⬇️ or ⬆️ voting token, respectively. A voting token allocated to a standard proposal at the time when the voting period ends constitutes a vote according to its sentiment, and the voting token is destroyed.

ROFL

:rofl: counts as an 👍. This is for the bit.

This rule applies retroactively.

Parliament

Elections

Each election phase, an election is held where all players are both candidates and voters. Each voter may send an ordered list of distinct candidates in ⁠#elections as the ballot that contains their votes. If a player has sent multiple ballots during the active election cycle, the most recent ballot will be counted and older ballots will be ignored. At the end of the election phase, the following process is repeated until all seats have been allocated, with n initially 1 and incremented by 1 at each iteration:

1. The Droop Quota is calculated according to Q = ⌊ B / (S + 1) ⌋ + 1, where B is the total number of ballots cast in this election and S is the number of seats to yet to be filled.
2. Votes are counted for each ballot up to nth preference. Any candidate who meets or exceeds the droop quota are awarded seats and removed from the rest of the election.
   • If multiple candidates reach the quota, the order in which they are awarded a seat is determined by number of votes counted for them. If multiple candidates are tied for votes, they are awarded seats at the same time (for instance, 2 players may be awarded points for being the first player to win a seat).
   • If this would fill more seats than available, the candidates with the most votes are awarded seats. If there is a tie that would still result in an excess number of seats, the winner(s) of the remaining seat(s) are determined randomly from the tied candidates.

The elected players hold their seats for the following governance phase and next election phase.

Powers of Parliament

During an election phase, if there is currently no Reserve Chair, a player with a seat in Parliament may nominate a player who is not in Parliament for the role of Reserve Chair. Parliament may then confirm the nominated player with a majority vote.

The Reserve

The Reserve is composed of a single Reserve Chair. At the start of a governance phase, a player who was nominated and confirmed to the role of Reserve Chair by Parliament during the previous election phase becomes the Reserve Chair. If multiple players would meet this criteria, the one who was confirmed last becomes the Reserve Chair and all others do not. When a player becomes the Reserve Chair, they gain 5 points.

If, at any time, the Reserve Chair would hold a seat in Parliament, the Reserve Chair ceases to be the Reserve Chair.

At the start of an election phase, if a player was the Reserve Chair for the 3 most recent governance phases, they cease to be the Reserve Chair.

Once during each governance phase, the Reserve Chair may choose an integer between 0 and 10 (inclusive). At the end of that governance phase, if a number was chosen, all players receive that many coins.

Power of Attorney

If a voting player is unavailable before a phase change, a player may designate an "attorney" who may vote for candidates, or veto proposals on behalf of them prior to the end of the phase. There are however, two additional clauses to this proposal:

1. A player must invoke the power of attorney by stating their intent to do so as a game action and, must include the following;
   • name of nominated attorney
   • spirit of the decision to be made by the attorney.
2. The attorney must make decisions in accordance to the aforementioned spirit of the player's will. The power to interpret this lies with the attorney, and the player must abide by the attorney's decision.

Seats

There are 3 seats in the Parliament of Apeiros at the beginning of the game.

The first player to win a seat in each election gains 10 points, the second gains 8 and the third gains 5.

Members of Parliament

Players with seats are Members of the Parliament of Apeiros, or "In Parliament"

Players who are in parliament may veto any standard proposal. If at least half of all players in parliament veto a proposal it may not pass under any circumstances.

Members of Parliament, at the end of each phase, before elections take place, lose one point for every vetoed proposal that would be popular had it not been vetoed.

Projects

Any member of parliament can pay the cost of an incomplete project to perform the effect of that project, then that project is complete.

S-ular-TV

Parliament possesses a "Singular Transferable Vote" (S-ular-TV) to be used on each proposal. At the beginning of a governance Phase the S-ular-TV is given to the player awarded the highest rank seat (if multiple players have the highest rank seat it will be given to a random eligible player).

The S-ular-TV can be instantly transferred to any other player in parliament by the current holder.

The current holder of the S-ular-TV may vote for or against any active proposal by unambiguously stating so in ⁠#game-actions, upon doing so, 3 votes for or 3 votes against will be added to the proposal respectively.

The Nomarchy

The Nomarchy of Apeiros is a position that can be held by one player at a time. The player holding the position at present is referred to as the Nomarch of Apeiros. Whenever a player becomes the Nomarch of Apeiros they gain 3 points.

The Nomarch of Apeiros may appoint a prole as their heir. At the end of each Election Phase the Nomarch of Apeiros ceases to be the Nomarch of Apeiros, and is then replaced by their heir if one exists.

During the Governance Phase, if there is not already a Nomarch of Apeiros, any player may randomly select a prole. That prole becomes the Nomarch of Apeiros.

The Proletariat

The Proletariat is defined as the collective of all players not currently holding a seat or the Nomarchy of Apeiros. A prole is a single member of the Proletariat.

If one or more proles with a combined number of points equal to or greater than 50 collectively agree, they may stage a revolution. Upon beginning a revolution every participating prole loses an equal split of 50 points, every player with a seat instantly loses their seat along with all of their points, and the Nomarch of Apeiros is replaced by a randomly selected participating prole. A new election will then start following the usual rules with the following exceptions:

• The vote will last 24 hours

• The players who lost their seats in the revolution may not vote

Working

Any prole can work once per phase by announcement, creating 1 coin in The Cheese Drawer.

INSA (Infinite Nomic Space Agency)

At the beginning of each governance phase, after the seats of parliament have been elected, a random member of parliament is selected to become the new head of the INSA.

There is a percentage value called Rocket Technology that is initially 0.

The head of the INSA is able to request funding once a day by sending a message to #game-actions expressing the intent to do so, and receives funding in the form of 🪙 reactions on that message. Once at least 60% of Players have reacted with the 🪙 on the request, the funding is supplied and Rocket Technology advances by 5%. If Rocket Technology reaches 100%, the INSA will then begin the construction of a Solid Fuel Rocket.

Judgement

There shall be a sole Judge, responsible for resolving rules disputes. An incumbent Judge can be removed with the assent of two players, but they should not be removed in this manner except for abuse of office. A person can cease being the Judge by publicly stating so.

Ruling

Upon formal submission of a request for justice by a person other than themself in #request-for-justice, the Judge can and shall, as quickly as possible, issue a response to the request in ⁠#request-for-justice. This response shall be binding only to the extent that it reasonably directly pertains to the request, and only to the extent that it does not blatantly and obviously contradict rules text while still considering the expressed or clearly implied legislative intent.

Within 4 days of a judge issuing a ruling, a public vote of confidence on that ruling can be initiated in #request-for-justice. Votes may be cast in such a vote for a period of 2 days after initiation. Votes are to be cast by 👍 or 👎 reactions on a clearly designated poll message; if a person's vote is unclear, it is to affirm the judgement. A ruling is overturned if strictly more players vote in favor of overturning than affirming.

Candidacy

Any reputable player may become a candidate for the Judge by sending a message in the channel #judge-elections. If there are any Judge candidacies put forward during a week, the player whose message is both popular and has the most 👍 reactions from players becomes the Judge once that week ends. A Judge Candidacy message is popular if it has more 👍 than 👎 reactions from players on its initiating message. Ties are broken in favor of the player with the earliest text message during that week.

If no judge candidacies are put forward during a week, then the incumbent judge retains their position.

RFJ

A request for justice shall take the form of a question or statement. The proper response to a question is an answer to that question, and the proper response to a statement is the truth value of that statement.

Overturning of Ruling

A ruling may be overturned by the Judge who made it within one week of being made. When a ruling is overturned in this manner, the Judge shall then issue a new ruling on the initial request, which shall be binding in the same manner as the original ruling.

An overturned ruling shall have no bearing on the interpretation of the rules or of the gamestate.

Napkin Math

For any calculation or algorithm - other than single-operation addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division - a player may declare that they have arrived at an answer using Napkin Math. To do so, they must send a message to #⁠game-actions or a game channel more relevant to the calculation or algorithm in question, beginning with the phrase "So I've done some napkin math" or phrase of equivalent sense. The player then describes their logic for how they came to a particular answer. This logic does not need to be sound or logically accurate to the truth, but does need to follow a path that seems like it could be true.

A different player than the one that proposed the Napkin Math may reply in the same channel with the phrase "Yeah that makes sense to me" or phrase of equivalent sense. If both of these conditions are met, the second message is voted on by 👍 or 👎 reaction. When a 2/3rds quorum of the active players is reached on this vote and it has more 👍 than 👎 reactions, the conclusion reached by the Napkin Math is considered the truth for this instance of the calculation or algorithm in question.

Similarly, a different player than the one that proposed the Napkin Math may reply in the same channel with the phrase, "Come on, that doesn't make any sense" or phrase of equivalent sense. The player may then elaborate with their own Napkin Math, or they may leave the message as is to be voted on by 👍 or 👎 reaction. When a 2/3rds quorum of the active players is reached on this vote and it has more 👍 than 👎 reactions, the conclusion reached by the Napkin Math is discarded as nonsense.

The outlined Napkin Math method is also applicable to the interpretation of proposal text or rule text, if the Napkin Math interpretation is focused on fixing potential errors in spelling, grammar, syntax, punctuation, or similar components of language.

Randomness

When randomisation is concerned in this ruleset, it must be resolved by a generally trusted and fair method accessible to all players in the game, and as soon as possible.

When a rule would have a player determine something by random chance, that player should resolve the random chance as their next act, and must resolve it before other actions involving the result of the triggering event may take place - or by phase end. If the randomisation is not resolved, then the event either does not take place, or takes place with only the non-random, non-optional elements resolved.

For instance, if a player receives an item with an optional random chance of having a special trait, they must randomly determine that trait before they may perform actions involving that item, or else the gaining of that trait fails by default. If a player would receive an item with a random attribute that must be determined, they do not receive that item until the attribute is determined.

Random Choices

A person shall not deliberately select random values for a rules-defined action without intending to use those values to the best of their ability to resolve that action.

If a person has selected some or all of the random values necessary to perform an action, they shall not discard the valid specifications in order to attempt a substantially similar action with the goal of obtaining different random values. If there is consensus that a preponderance of the evidence exists, or if a Judge ruling, not overturned, finds that a player has done such a thing, all attempts other than the first are deemed to be invalid and to not have affected the gamestate.

Dice Rolls

A rule that requires a selection of an NdK value, for non-negative integer N and positive integer K, is requiring the random selection of N rolls of a K-sided die.

• If not otherwise specified, this produces the sum of N rolls of a K-sided die; that is, the sum of N independent selections of integers from 1 to K, using a uniform random distribution. If N is zero, the sum is zero.

• If a rule requires an NdK dice roll with a target number x, this instead produces the number of N independent 1dK rolls that meet or exceed the target number and can be abbreviated as "x+". For example, if a rule requires a dice roll with a target number of 3, this can be abbreviated to "3+".

Cheese Drawer

There is a cheese drawer.

Any player may put items from their inventory into the cheese drawer, or take items from the cheese drawer into their inventory. When an item has remained in the cheese drawer for at least one full phase, it turns into the cheese version of that item. The text “Cheesified “ is appended to the beginning of that item’s name. This process is called “Cheesifying”. An item which has already been Cheesified cannot be Cheesified again. An item which has been Cheesified can be eaten.

Items

Items are entities defined as such by the rules. Items can be owned by players and are stored in their inventory. When an item's owner cannot reasonably be determined using publicly available information, or if it would be owned by a non-player, it is instead destroyed.

Items with similar properties may be grouped together into item classes.

For an entity to gain an item is for that item to be created in that entity's possession. To grant an entity an item is to create it in that entity's possession.

For an entity to lose an item is for that item to be destroyed from that entity's possession. To revoke an item from an entity is to destroy it from that entity's possession.

Reputable players may trade items from their inventories with the consent of all parties.

Inventory

Each player has an inventory containing all of the items they possess.

Trading

A trade is an exchange or transfer of items between two entities, with each entity giving a specified finite set of items to the other.

When otherwise authorized, a trade between two players takes place when both players explicitly consent to the trade in #trades within 7 days of each other.

Trading

Unless otherwise specified, items can be given from their owner to any other valid owner by announcement.

Using items

If an item specifies an ability to be used, that item can be used by the player that owns it by posting to #⁠game-actions, specifying the item, and any other required details. When used, the item takes effect as specified in its description, then the item is destroyed. If an item's description references "you", it refers to the player who used the item. If it implies that a player does something, then the player who does it is the player who used the item.

Points

Points are items.

If a non-integer number of points is present in an inventory the fractional amount is automatically destroyed such that the amount of points is rounded down to the nearest whole integer.

Voting Tokens

⬆️ and ⬇️ tokens are voting tokens with sentiments in favor or against, respectively. Voting tokens are items. Voting tokens have a corresponding emoji, indicated in their name.

A voting token may be allocated to no more than one standard proposal. A ⬆️ or ⬇️ reaction from a player on a standard proposal at the time immediately before the voting period ends allocates one of their unallocated voting tokens to that proposal if one is available, accounting in the order the proposals were created.

Stickers

Stickers are items. Stickers cannot be traded after they have been applied. A player may apply stickers they own by posting a message to ⁠game-actions indicating the sticker and an item or player to apply it to. A player may only apply a sticker to themselves, or to any one item in their inventory. The following table defines a sticker with its name alongside its description.”

Caption text

Name	Description
I Voted
Extra-strength adhesive	When this sticker is applied on something, neither that sticker nor the thing it is attached to may be stolen.

During an election phase, whenever a player sends a message in #⁠elections, they may choose to gain an "I Voted" sticker. A player can do this at most once per phase.

If a sticker is applied to more than one item, then the items that it is stuck to must be specified by game actions in the same message.

Coins

Coins are Items. Coins are the official currency of Apeiros.

Victory

The first player(s) to have at least 100 points wins Cycle 17. If after the first phase, there is ever less than 3 players, the player(s) with the most points wins. After a player wins, the cycle then ends.