From geoff@cs.rmit.edu.auFri Apr 12 11:01:44 1996 Date: Thu, 11 Apr 1996 15:32:26 +1000 (EST) From: Geoff Wong <geoff@cs.rmit.edu.au> To: Doug Chatham <dchatham@utk.edu>
Subject: Re: Request for Obscure Nomic World Documents

Hi Doug,

> Geoff:
> Do you have any records of the Petitions of Intent of the > committees of Nomic World? In particular, I'm interested in the > Mutation and Fantasy Rule Committees. > If you don't have these, I'll understand. > I'd just like to get a copy of these documents if possible.

Hopefully I've got what you want in here. I just dragged out articles which had Petition and Intent in them :-)

Geoff

2b6790af: Petition of Intent (Evantine, Jan 18 17:54) Petition of Intent

We, the undersigned, hereby create a committee to be known as the "Ab Initio Committee."

Our identifier shall be "AI" and our initial set:

101. Evantine shall change this ordinance upon the formation of the committee.

Signed: Evantine, Goethe, Chatham, Steve, Blob, Chuck

**
2b694fb7: PETITION OF INTENT (Chuck, Jan 20 01:57)

This is a Petition of Intent to form a committee known as the Fairy Tale Committee. Its two-letter identifier shall be FT.

This petition is signed by the initial members of the Fairy Tale Committee:

Chuck
Goethe
Blob
Dave
Davidb

Its initial set of ordinances is:

Ordinance FT2001
Permissibility Of The Unprohibited
Whatever is not explicitly prohibited or regulated by a rule or ordinance is permitted and unregulated, with the sole exception of changing the ordinances, which is permitted only when an ordinance or set of ordinances explicitly or implicitly permits it.

Ordinance FT2002
Committee Proposals (CP's)
A Committee Proposal (CP) must consist of exactly one of the following:

A proposal to enact a new ordinance
A proposal to amend an ordinance
A proposal to repeal an ordianace
A proposal for a change in the committee state which does not change any ordinance
A statement to be judged.

1-4 above shall be referred to as "normal" CP's, while 5 shall be referred to as "CFJ" CP's.

Ordinance FT2003
Senior Members
Any committee member is a senior member of this committee if he fulfills either of the following two requirements:

Has been a committee member for the past fourteen days
Is an initial member of the committee and has been a member since the formation of the committee.

Ordinance FT2004
Making CP's
A CP (as defined by ordinance FT2002) is proposed by putting it up for vote on the committee voting board.

Once proposed, it must remain up for the prescribed voting period.

A proposal may be proposed by any member; however, if it is proposed by a member who is not a senior member, it must by seconded by a senior member. Proposals which are proposed by senior members do not require a second. Non-members may not make proposals.

Ordinance FT2005
When Normal CP's Can Not Take Effect
No normal CP may take effect before the end of the prescribed voting period on that CP, even if its wording explicitly states otherwise. No normal CP may have retroactive application.

Ordinance FT2006
Numbering Proposals and Ordinances
Each CP put on the Committee voting notice board shall be given the letters "FT" followed by an ordinal number for reference. The numbers shall begin with 2101, and each CP shall receive the next succussive ordinal, whether or not the CP is adopted. Newly enacted ordinances receive the ordinal number of the CP that adopted them. The ordinal number of an ordinance is the first ordinal number that was assigned to it, even if it is amended.

Ordinance FT2007
Prescribed Voting Period
The prescribed voting period is five days.

Ordinance FT2008
Votes
Each senior member receives one vote. Non-members and members who are not senior members may not vote.

Ordinance FT2009
Legal Votes
On each CP, each senior member may vote YES, NO, or UNDECIDED.

Ordinance FT2010
Quorum
Quorum is three votes.

Ordinance FT2011
Result of Normal CP's
A normal CP is adopted at the end of its voting period if the number of YES votes legally cast within the prescribed voting period is greater than the number of NO votes cast within the prescribed voting period, and quorum was reached.

Ordinance FT2012
Result of CFJ CP's
At the end of the voting period, a CFJ CP is Judged TRUE if quorum was reached and more than half the votes legally cast within the prescribed voting period were YES. It is judged FALSE if quorum was reached and more than half the votes legally cast within the prescribed voting period were NO. Otherwise it is judged UNDECIDED. In any case, the result becomes part of the current committee custom.

Ordinance FT2013
Judgements Are Not Ordinances
The result of a CFJ CP is not an ordinance, but merely defines the members' interpretation of the ordinances.

Ordinance FT2014
Dissolution of the Committee
This committee shall cease to exist when any of the following happen:

It has fewer than five members (in accord with rule 1162C)
It has fewer than three senior members who are recently active players and who are not on vacation
Play within the committee, as defined by the ordinances and by current committee custom, cannot continue.

Ordinance FT2015
Fairy Tale: Definitions
A fairy tale is a sequence of 1 or more sentences posted to the committee discussion board. A completed fairy tale begins with "Once upon a time" and ends with "they lived happily ever after." A fairy tale is completed when a member legally adds a sentence that ends with "they lived happily ever after."

Ordinance FT2016
Fairy Tale: Selection of Storyteller
A new Storyteller is selected whenever one of the following occurs:

Formation of this committee
The current Storyteller adds a sentence to the current fairy tale or posts a sentence beginning a new fairy tale.
Three days have passed since the selection of the last Storyteller.

When a Storyteller is selected, the previous Storyteller ceases to be Storyteller; there can be only one Storyteller at a time.

When a Storyteller is to be selected, the Storyteller is selected at random from all members who are recently active and not on vacation, except for the most recent Storyteller to add a sentence or begin a new fairy tale.

Ordinance FT2017
Fairy Tale: Duty of Storyteller
If there is currently a fairy tale which is not completed, the Storyteller shall add one sentence to that fairy tale. If there is no such fairy tale, the Storyteller shall begin a new fairy tale by writing one sentence beginning with "Once upon a time"

No player except for the current Storyteller may add a sentence to a fairy tale or begin a new fairy tale, as outlined in this rule.

Ordinance FT2018
Fairy Tale: Completing a Fairy Tale
The Storyteller may not add a sentence which ends in "they lived happily ever after" unless the fairy tale contains at least ten sentences.

Ordinance FT2019
Non-members
Players who are not members may enter the committee's territory and read the commitee discussion and committee voting boards. They may not post to the committee discussion board, make or second CP's, vote on CP's, or add sentences to or begin fairy tales.

Ordinance FT2020
Base for members
No member may be tagged by "it" while on the committee's territory.

[Note: I'm very sure the Paradox Committee never actually got formed. --- Doug C.] **
2b75c892: Petition of Intent - Paradox committee (Blob, Jan 29 13:19)

I am interested in creating a new committee, called the Paradox committee, with the following ordinance:

PA1000: No registered player may be a member of this committee.

Feel free to join me... rule 1162A says that "A committee member is any player who agrees to abide by all of that committee's ORDINANCES."

So, if you agree to abide by that ordinance, you are a committee member. Of course, that ordinance says that you aren't a committee member - and you agreed to abide by it, so you must be a Non-member.

Then again, 1162B says that:
No ordinance may be construed to affect non-members...

So, if you're a Non-member, the ordinance doesn't affect you anyhow. So you ARE a member!

Hmmmm....
I'm working on changing 1162, as you may have guessed.

Blob
**

2b7c6b54: Petition of Intent (Mutation Committee). (Geoff, Feb 3 14:24)

This is a Petition of Intent to form the Mutation Committee (abbrev: mc). The following people have agreed to become members (err sign?): Geoff, Joev, Blob, Vlad, Steve and Chuck.

Initial Ordinances.

Two classes of Ordinances. There shall be two classes of ordinances: immutable and mutable. Immutable ordinances shall have numbers less than 20 and greater than 0; mutable ordinances shall have numbers 20 or greater. Immutable ordinances shall not be subject to mutation, death or division.

#
2. Life Span.
All mutable ordinances shall have a total life span of 4 weeks from the time of their creation or transmutation to a mutable ordinance before they are subject to death except where they gain extra life span by subsuming another ordinance. A mutable ordinance's current life span shall be the time remaining until its death. A mutable ordinance's life span may never exceed 4 weeks.

#
3. Ordinance Changes
Ordinances may not be changed, except as dictated by the immutable ordinances.

#
4. Death
Death is the process of a mutable ordinance being removed from the ordinances set.

#
5. Transmutation
Transmutation is the process of renumbering an immutable ordinance. The transmuted ordinance loses its old ordinance number, and gains a number greater than or equal to twenty, which is not the number of an already exisiting ordinance. An immutable ordinance cannot be transmuted if there exists another immutable ordinance with a greater number.

#
6. Mutation.
Mutation is the process where a committee member replaces up to 4 consecutive words or 2 non-consecutive words in a mutable ordinance with from zero to 8 other words. A word is a contiguous sequence of non-whitespace characters.

The ordinance number is part of the text of an ordinance, and hence it may be mutated; however the number may not be mutated to an already existing number or an illegal number.

#
7. Subsumption
Subsumption is the process of a mutable ordinance appending the text of another mutable ordinance to its own text. The mutable ordinance that has been subsumed is subject to death. A mutable ordinance which subsumes another mutable ordinance gains one half (in days; integer portions are rounded down) of the other mutable ordinance's remaining life span.

#
8. Division

Division is the process of duplicating an ordinance and prepending a new number to the duplicate. The number prepended may not be an already existing number. Both the ordinance and its duplicate (if mutable) are given a life span equal to half the ordinance's life span before it divided, plus two weeks.

#
9. Precedence.
Lower number ordinances always take precedence over higher number ordinances, without exception.

#
10. Ordinance Numbers.
Ordinance numbers must be integers greater than 0. A ordinance number is always at the start of an ordinance and is terminated with a full stop followed by a space.

#
11. Committee Members' Actions.
Each week a committee member may perform up to two "actions". An action consists of mutating an ordinance, dividing an ordinance, transmuting an ordinance, or subsuming an ordinance on behalf of another ordinance.
Should less than 2 mutable ordinances remaining then the next action performed by a committee member must be to divide.

#
1001. Scoring.
A player shall gain 10 points by performing an action. All scores shall begin at zero on the formation of this committee.

#
1002. Permissibility of the Unprohibited. Whatever is not regulated or prohibited by these ordinances is permitted.

#
1003. Committee Members.
Only committee members may post to the committee notice board.

#
1004. New Committee Members.
New Committee Members are only allowed to join by the explicit regulation of an ordinance.

#
1005. Tag.
Committee members may only "tag" other committee members "it".

[The CS Committee never got started, due to an insufficient interest. --- Doug C.] **
2b800dc6: PETITION OF INTENT --- Clean Slate Committee (Chatham, Feb 6 08:34)

Petition of Intent for the Clean Slate Committee

We the undersigned hereby agree to form the Clean Slate Committee [with abbreviation 'cs'] with the following Initial Set of Ordinances:

The Initial Set of Ordinances of the Clean Slate Committee Immutable Ordinances

100. Purpose and Duration.
The purpose of this committee is to play a single game of Nomic, starting with an Initial Set similar to that enshrined Initial Set of Nomic World. When one or more players win this game, the game shall end and the committee shall be dissolved.

101. Obey The Ordinances
All players must always abide by all the ordinances then in effect, in the form in which they are then in effect, and interpreted in accordance with currently existing game custom.

102. Mutable/Immutable Ordinances
Until such time as they are legally transmuted, ordinances 100-115 are immutable, and ordinances 201-217 are mutable.

103. What Is A Proposal?
A proposal must propose exactly one of the following: (1) the enactment, repeal, or amendment of a mutable ordinance; (2) the enactment, repeal, or amendment of an amendment; (3) the transmutation of an immutable ordinance into a mutable ordinance, or vice versa;
(4) the overturning of a Judgment;
(5) a change in the game state which does not change any rule; or (6) a resolution stating the official opinion of the committee.

104. Adopting Proposals
All proposals made in the proper way shall be voted on. Three conditions must be satisfied for a proposal to be adopted: (1) a quorum must have been achieved;
(2) the required number of votes must have been cast in favor of the proposal; and
(3) the prescribed voting period must have elapsed.

105. Proposals Must Be Written Down
Any proposal must be written down (or otherwise communicated in print media) before it is voted on. If adopted, it must guide play in the form in which it was voted on.

106. When Proposals Can Not Take Effect No proposal may take effect before the end of the prescribed voting period on that proposal, even if its wording explicitly states otherwise. No proposal may have retroactive application.

107. Numbering Proposals
Each proposal shall be given an ordinal number for reference. The numbers shall begin with 300, and each proposal made in the proper way shall receive the next successive ordinal, whether or not the proposal is adopted. The effective ordinal number of a ordinance is the ordinal number of the most recent change to that ordinance.

108. Mutable/Immutable Inconsistencies
Mutable ordinances that are inconsistent in some way with some immutable ordinance (except by proposing to transmute it) are wholly void and without effect. They do not implicitly transmute immutable ordinances into mutable ordinances and at the same time amend them. Proposals that transmute immutable ordinances into mutable ordinances will be effective only if they explicitly state their transmuting effect.

109. Making Proposals
The proper way to make a proposal is to place it on the voting noticeboard. The prescribed voting period begins at the moment that the proposal is placed on the voting noticeboard, and the proposal then cannot be removed from the voting noticeboard until the end of the prescribed voting period.

110. Winning The Game
The state of affairs that constitutes winning the game may not be changed from achieving at least n points to any other state of affairs. However, the magnitude of n and the means of earning points may be changed, and ordinances that establish a winner when play cannot be continued may be enacted and (while mutable) be amended or repealed.

111. Forfeiting The Game
A player always has the option to forfeit the game rather than continue to play or incur a game penalty. No penalty worse than losing, in the judgement of the player to incur it, may be imposed. A forfeiting player automatically resigns from the committee.

112. At Least One Mutable Ordinance
There must always be at least one mutable ordinance. The adoption of ordinance changes must never become completely inpermissible.

113. Proposals That Affect Ordinance-Changing Ordinances Proposals that affect ordinances needed to allow or apply ordinance changes are as permissible as other proposals. Even proposals that amend or repeal their own authority are permissible. No proposal is impermissible solely on account of the self-reference or selfapplication of a ordinance.

114. Voting Options
Players may vote either for or against any proposal on the voting noticeboard during the prescribed voting period. Voting shall be by secret ballot. Players who do not vote within the prescribed period shall be deemed to have abstained.

115. Permissibility Of The Unprohibited Whatever is not explicitly prohibited or regulated by a ordinance is permitted and unregulated, with the sole exception of changing the ordinances, which is permitted only when a ordinance or set of ordinances explicitly or implicitly permits it.

Mutable Ordinances.

201. Quorum
Quorum is defined to be 50% of the players.

202. Required Number Of Votes
The number of votes required to pass a proposal is two-thirds of the votes legally cast within the prescribed voting period.

203. One Player One Vote
Each player has exactly one vote.

204. The Prescribed Voting Period
The prescribed voting period on a proposal is seven days, starting from the moment that the proposal is placed on the voting noticeboard.

205. When Proposals Take Effect
An adopted proposal takes effect at the moment that the prescribed voting period ends.

206. Scoring When A Proposal Is Adopted When a proposal is adopted, those players who voted against it receive 10 points each. A player whose proposal is adopted receives a random number of points in the range 1-10 inclusive.

207. Scoring When A Proposal Is Defeated When a proposal is defeated, the player who proposed it loses 10 points.

208. Required Number Of Points To Win
The winner is the first player to achieve a score of at least 100 points.

209. Resolving Conflicts
If two or more mutable ordinances conflict with one another, or if two or more immutable ordinances conflict with one another, then the ordinance with the lowest effective ordinal number takes precedence. If at least one of the ordinances in conflict explicitly says of itself that it defers to another ordinance (or type of ordinance) or takes precedence over another ordinance (or type of ordinance), then such provisions shall supercede the numerical method for determining precedence. If two or more ordinances claim to take precedence over one another, or to defer to one another, then the numerical method must again govern.

210. Invoking Judgement
Any player who has a question or complaint about any matter concerning the laws and their interpretation may place a statement on the discussion noticeboard and call for judgement on that statement.

211. Selecting A Judge
When Judgement has been called for, a Judge is randomly selected from among the other players. The player selected has exactly one week in which to post an official Judgement. A Judge who fails to deliver Judgement within that period is penalized 10 points.

212. Three Possible Judgements
There are only three possible Judgements: (1) True; (2) False; or (3) Undecided. A Judgement may be accompanied by reasons an arguments, but any such reasons and arguments form no part of the official Judgement itself.

213. Judgements Must Accord With The Ordinances All Judgements must be in accordance with all the ordinances then in effect. When the ordinances are silent, inconsistent, or unclear on the statement in question, however, then the Judge shall consider currently existing game custom and the spirit of the game in reaching a decision.

214. Judgements Are Not Ordinances
If a statement on which Judgement has been called is either judged to be true or judged to be false, and that judgment is not overruled, that judgement does not become an ordinance, or any part of an ordinance. If the statement is judged to be true, it becomes an explicit part of currently accepted game custom that that statement is true; if the statement is judged to be false, it becomes an explicit part of currently accepted game custom that that statement is false.

215. Overturning Judgements
At any time in the week following the posting of a Judgement of "true" or "false", any player may propose that the Judgement be overruled, i.e. changed to "undecided". If that proposal is adopted, according to whatever ordinances are currently in effect for the adoption of proposals, then the Judgement is overruled, and the Judge who made it penalized 20 points.

216. Players
A player is any person who is a member of the Committee. Anyone is allowed to observe the game and participate in discussion of any issue, but no person who is not a player may make a proposal, or vote on any proposal, or call for judgement, or judge, or score points, or win the game. A person who is not already a player may not become a player except as specified in these ordinances.

217. Winning By Paradox
If the ordinances are changed so that further play is impossible, or if the legality of some action cannot be determined with finality, or if some action appears equally legal and illegal, then a player may call for judgement on a statement to that effect. If the statement is judged true, and the judgement is not overruled, then the player who called for judgement shall receive n-p points, where n is the number of points necessary to win and p is the number of points that player has at the time this award is made. This ordinance takes precedence over every other ordinance for determining the winner of the game.

Signatures: Chatham, Psmith, Revenant, Luke, Vlad [You all may wish to confirm by using the sign command to sign this note.] @ sign Chatham:3182:Sat Feb 6 08:34:49 1993 @ sign Vlad:2839:Sat Feb 6 08:34:49 1993 @ sign Psmith:3095:Sat Feb 6 08:34:49 1993 @ sign Art:2741:Sat Feb 6 08:34:49 1993 **
[The AN Committee didn't get enough interest to start, either. -- Doug C.] 2b801caa: POI Alternate Nomic Committee (Chatham, Feb 6 08:45)

For those players who did not have a chance to sign the Clean Slate POI (and who wanted to try something like the CS), I present the following, which will remain open for signature for one week. I repeat, this Petition shall not go into effect until one week after it has been posted.

Petition of Intent for the Alternate Nomic Committee

We the undersigned hereby agree to form the Alternate Nomic Committee [with abbreviation "an"] with the following Initial Set of Ordinances:

The Initial Set of Ordinances of the Alternate Nomic Committee Immutable Ordinances