The Initial Cult of Nomic Patterns of Worship

• The Immutable Patterns

  101. All worshippers must abide by all patterns of worship then in effect. The patterns in effect at the beginning of worship are the Initial Set, Patterns 101 - 117 (immutable) and Patterns 201 - 218 (mutable).
  102. Initially forms of worship on the 100's are immutable and forms of worship in the 200's mutable. Forms of worship subsequently awarded Holy Sanction or Holy Transmutation (changed from immutable to mutable or vice versa) may be then be either mutable or immutable regardless of their number. Initial forms of worship may be transmuted via Holy Transmutation.
  103. At each time, all members of the congregation may be either a Glorious Leader or a Faithful Follower, no worshipper may be both. There may only be one Glorious Leader at any time. The term 'worshipper' in the patterns of worship may refer to either the Glorious Leader or a Faithful Follower.
  104. The Glorious Leader for the First Great Cycle will be Mary Gardiner.
  105. A pattern change is any of the following:
       1. The enactment of a new pattern of worship via Holy Sanction.
       2. The repeal of an old pattern of worship via Holy Destruction.
       3. A change in a pattern of worship via Holy Reformation.
       4. The transmutation of a pattern of worship via Holy Transmutation.
  106. Initially, all new patterns of worship are mutable.
  107. All changes in the Pattern of Worship properly proposed will be sanctioned or discarded by recourse to the Democratic Wisdom of the worshippers via voting. They will receive Holy Sanction only by majority vote of a quorum of worshippers.
  108. Any proposed change to the Pattern of Worship must be posted to the Holy Mailing List
  109. No Pattern of Worship shall take effect earlier than its receipt of Holy Sanction via a majority vote, even if the new/amended Pattern explicitly states otherwise. No Pattern shall have retrospective effects.
  110. The Glorious Leader shall give each proposed change to the Pattern a number for reference. These numbers shall begin with 301 and each successive proposal shall receive the next integer, regardless of receiving Holy Sanction, Reformation or Transmutation. If a Pattern receives Holy Reformation, it will take the number of the proposal to Reform it.
  111. Propsals for Transmutation of an immutable Pattern will receive Holy Transmutation only upon a unimous legal vote of a quorum of worshippers. A proposal for Transmutation must be explicit, not implied in the wording of a proposal for Reformation.
  112. In the event of a conflict between a mutable and immutable Pattern, the immutable Pattern takes precedence. For the purposes of this rule, a proposal to Tranmute an immutable rule does not conflict with this rule.
  113. The state that constitutes Enlightenment may not be changed from acheiving n Tokens of Enlightenment to any other state of affairs. The magnitude of n and the means of earning Tokens may be changed and Patterns that establish a Recipient of Enlightenment when worship must be discontinued may receive Holy Sanction, and whilst mutable, be Reformed or Destroyed.
  114. A worshipper always has the option to discontinue worship rather than continue until the conclusion of the Great Cycle, or incur penalites in their quest for Enlightenment.
  115. There must always be one or more mutable Pattern/s. Changes of Patterns (constituting Sanction, Destruction, Reformation or Transformation) must never be prohibited by the Pattern.
  116. Changes that affect Patterns needed to allow or imply Pattern changes are as permitted as any other change. No Pattern change is prohibited on the basis of self-reference or self-application.
  117. Whatever is not expressly Prohibited by a Pattern is permitted, except for Changes to the Pattern, which is permitted only when a Pattern or set of Patterns explicitly or implicitly permits it.

• The Mutable Patterns:

  201. Quorum for a proposed Change of Pattern will be 20% of worshippers at the beginning of the prescribed voting eriod for that change.
  202. All worshippers begin with 0 Tokens of Enlightenment. Tokens may not be gained, lost or traded with other worshippers except as explicitly permited by the Pattern.
  203. A worshipper receives Enlightenment if they accumulate 100 Enlightenment Tokens. If more than one worshipper acheives 100 Tokens simultaneiously, all such worshippers receive Enlightenment. When a worshipper has received Enlightenment, the Great Cycle ends. If the Cycle ends in this manner:
       • If only one worshipper received Enlightenment, that worshipper becomes the Glorious Leader.
       • If more than one worshipper received Enlightenment, the Glorious Leader chooses a replacement from among the number of the Enlightened.
       At this time, all worshippers Enlightenment Tokens are reset to 0 and a new Great Cycle commences, with all Patterns, and proposals of changes retaining the status they had at the end of the last Cycle.
  204. A proposal to Change the Pattern shall be made to the Glorious Leader . As soon as possible, the Glorious Leader will assign that proposal a number and post it to the Holy Mailing List.
  205. The voting period on such a proposal shall be one week commencing from the post by the Glorious Leader to the mailing list.
  206. Each worshipper has exactly one vote, asside from the Glorious Leader, who has none.
  207. A vote is cast by being e-mailed to the Glorious Leader. The Glorious Leader must not reveal any votes until after that period. Any worshipper not voting shall be deemed to have abstained.
  208. At the end of such period, the Glorious Leader shall reveal all votes. If the Glorious Leader's consent is required, then they shall grant it or refuse it at that time. Failure to do so shall constitue consent.
  209. The required votes for a Change in Pattern which will alter the powers of the Glorious Leader shall be:
       • Two-thirds of legally voting worshippers or,
       • A majority of legally voting worshippers if the Glorious Leader consents.
       Otherwise a proposal must earn a simple majority of votes. This Pattern is superseded by any Patterns specifying the number of votes for Holy Transmutation.
  210. An adopted Change takes place at the moment of the completion of the vote that authorized it.
  211. Worshippers who voted against an adopted change will receive 10 Tokens of Enlightenment each. Worshippers whose proposals are adopted shall receive a number of Tokens between 1 and 15 (inclusive), as determined by the Glorious Leader. Worshippers whose proposals are not adopted shall lose 10 Tokens.
  212. If two mutable Patterns conflict, or two immutable Patterns conflict, the Pattern with the lowest number will take precedence. If one of the conflicting Patterns explicity states its deference to, or supersedance of, the other Pattern, then it defers to, or supersedes the other Pattern as stated, regardless of numbers. If both Patterns claim deference or supercedance, than the numerical rule again governs.
  213. If worshippers disagree about the legality of a Change or Proposal, one may invoke judgement simply by insisting upon it in an email submission to the Glorious Leader. If a judgement is invoked, the Glorious Leader must invoke a judgement as soon as possible by selecting a Judge in accordance with the rules and distributing the identity of the judge and the email submission to the mailing list.
  214. If Judgement was invoked by a worshipper, the first Judge shall be the Glorious Leader. If Judgement was invoked by the Glorious Leader, the first Judge shall be a worshipper other than themself chosen by them. In all cases, if a Judge beyond the first must be chosen, they shall be selected by the Glorious Leader, and may not be the most recent Judge or the invoker of Judgement.
  215. The Judge has one week to deliver a Judgement. If they fail to do so they shall lose 10 Tokens of Enlightenment and a new Judge shall be selected. A Judgement is made by submitting it to the Glorious Leader who must then deliver it the Holy Mailing List as soon as possible.
  216. A Judgement is either TRUE, FALSE or UNDECIDED. It may be accompanied by reasons and argumnets - if so, they constitute no part of the official Judgement. If they are given to the Glorious Leader, however, they too must be distributed.
  217. All Judgements must be in accordance with the Pattern. If the Pattern is silent, inconsistent or unclear, the Judge must consider the spirit of the Pattern and custom before applying other standards.
  218. The Glorious Leader shall do the following if necessary:
       • Recruit new worshippers.
       • Maintain a list of all worshippers and their status, as determined by their Tokens, and provide it on the website.
       • Maintain a complete and correct current Pattern and make it available on the website.
       • Make a determination when required by the rules.