Contents 1: The Initial Rule 2: Darth Vader 3: On Conditional Probability 4: On Use Of The Polling Feature 5: Bob 6: Consistency Axiom 7: Final Rule 8: On Voting By Default 9: On The Expulsion Of Players 10: On The Naming Of The Initial Rule 11: On Legislative Nomenclature 12: On Unnamed Rules 13: On The Renaming Of Rules 14: Definition Of Continent 15: Definition Of Countries And Possession 16: Pork-Barrel Rule 17: On The Territorial Outcome Of The Twenty-Fifth Rule 18: On The Untying Of Ties 19: On Elephants 20: On The Breaking Of Rules 21: On The Official List Of Rules 22: On Fireflies 23: On Rules And Procedure 24: On The Choices Offered 25: On The Official List Of Players 26: On The Official List Of Countries Still Available 27: On Notification 28: On Reasonable Doubt I 29: Spivak Pronouns 30: The Taking of Monaco, 1, 2, 3 31: Monaco and Her Many Masters 32: On Reasonable Doubt II 33: On The Overturning Of Rulings ==================================== 1: The Initial Rule The rules may not be changed without the agreement of all players. 2: Darth Vader The poll on each proposal shall be set by its creator at the time of its creation to close on the tenth day after its creation; except that if the proposal is amended before this time the poll shall be set by its amender at the time of its amendment to close on the tenth day after the amendment. No proposal withdrawn before this time shall be considered passed. 3: On Conditional Probability It is forbidden to discuss the mathematics of conditional probability on this list. 4: On Use Of The Polling Feature The polling feature is to be used only for the proposal of rules, rule amendments, and procedural motions. 5: Bob All polls should be presented in the English language. 6: Consistency Axiom Should two or more rules contradict each other on a given issue, the newest rule will be considered to override the other(s). 7: Final Rule The first person to possess an entire continent is the winner of this game, if and only if at that time a proper definition of "possession" exists. 8: On Voting By Default If by the end of the time-limit for a given proposal there have been no votes against said proposal, it is considered passed. 9: On The Expulsion Of Players A player can be expelled from the game only by the successful passing of procedural motion stating that the player is expelled. The text of the motion must contain the phrase 'Expulsion of Player' followed by the name or yahoo i.d. of the player to be expelled. The poll on the motion shall be set by its creator to close on the tenth day after its creation, and shall be considered passed if there are no votes against it at the time it closes. One of the choices offered in the poll must be explicitly negative: any vote for this option shall be considered a vote against the motion. 10: On The Naming Of The Initial Rule The initial rule shall be officially named 'The Initial Rule', and shall henceforth appear in the official list of rules under that name. 11: On Legislative Nomenclature Every new rule shall be given a name by its proposer at the time of proposal. In the case of rules already entered in the official list of rules, each rule shall be given a name by its original proposer as soon as possible. No rule may be given a name which is already the name of another rule. 12: On Unnamed Rules If after 1st January 2002 any rule in the official list of rules is without a name as prescribed by the rule 'On Legislative Nomenclature', that rule shall be given a name by a method to be determined at the time. 13: On The Renaming Of Rules Once entered in to the list of rules, the name of a rule can only be changed by the successful passage of an amendment to that effect. 14: Definition of Continent The continents in existence on planet Earth have a corresponding virtual existence in the game world. A player in possession of all of the countries in a continent is said to be in possession of that continent. 15: Definition of Countries and Possession A country is a game entity that players may possess that corresponds to a country in the real world as of January 1, 2001. A player may gain possession of a country by proposing a procedural motion to that effect. If said proposal passes in accordance with the rules then in effect, the player gains possession of the country. 16: Pork-Barrel Rule When a rule is proposed, the proposer may include the name of a country as an element of the proposal. It must be included after the regular wording of the rule, and it must be exactly in the form of "Coup d'etat: ", where is the name of a country as defined in rule 15: Definition of Countries and Possession. If the proposal is passed and entered into the rules, the proposer is said to be in the possession of . In addition, when the rule is entered into the listing of "The Rules Thus Far," an addendum shall be made following the rule, declaring that " takes possession of on ," where is the proposer's preferred title, is the name of the country in question, and is the date that the rule is passed, in the form of DDMMYY. 17: On The Territorial Outcome Of The Twenty-Fifth Rule Upon Rule 25 being passed and entered in the official list of Rules Thus Far, under whatever name it may be entered, the eldest player in the game shall be awarded possession of Monaco; the player whose age most nearly approaches the mean age of all the players at the time shall be awarded possession of Brazil; the player whose age is closest to the date of the day on which the poll by which Rule 25 is passed closes (that is, the number of the day in the month) shall be awarded possession of Japan; and the two players whose ages are closest together shall be awarded joint possession of the United States of America. When there are several players who meet the same demand, they will be ordered lexicographically by the last letter of their legal first name, and the last one will be picked. Where this does not resolve the issue, the procedures outlined in Rule 18 shall be followed. 18: On The Untying Of Ties In the case of a tie between players for possession of a country, the player who has successfully proposed the most rules in the preceding three months shall be appointed Arbiter, and must decide which of the tied players receives the aforementioned country, or whether they are to share possession equally. In the event that there is a tie for the position of Arbiter, the position shall be taken by the proposer of the rule most recently passed. 19: On Elephants Players shall give assistance to any elephant if said elephant requests assistance. (Jamie Johnston takes possession of Mexico on 121002) 20: On The Breaking Of Rules An official list of players shall be created, listing players in alphabetical order of family name. This list shall be updated whenever a player joins or leaves the game. The list shall be kept in the 'Files' section of the game's yahoogroups page. Also, an official list of the countries still available shall be created, kept in the same section and updated whenever a country becomes unavailable. When any player is found beyond reasonable doubt to have broken a rule, a player from the list of players shall be given possession of a country from the list of countries. The player to receive the country shall be, in the first case, the first on the list, and in the next case the next, continuing until the last and then returning to the first, except that at no time shall it be the player who broke the rule in question. The country given to that player shall be the first on the list of countries. 21: On The Official List Of Rules The official and authoritative list of the rules shall be that contained in the plain-text file named 'The Rules Thus Far', located at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Pure_Nomic/files/The%20Rules%20Thus%20Far. No rule shall be valid until it has been entered in this list. Any rule duly passed in the manner proscribed by the rules then in force shall be entered into this list as soon as possible, and numbered as the next in the numerical sequence. 22: On Fireflies Players shall give assistance to any firefly if said firefly requests assistance. (Jamie Johnston takes possession of Canada on 122002) 23: On Rules And Procedure Any game action taken in violation of a rule in effect at the time the action is taken shall be invalid. 24: On The Choices Offered The proposer of a proposal shall, in creating the poll on that proposal, provide those voting on it with an explicitly negative option (such as 'Against', 'No'). Any vote cast for this option shall be considered a vote 'against said proposal' as specified in Rule 8: On Voting By Default. A vote for any other option shall not be so considered. 25: On The Official List of Players Pursuant to Rule 20: On The Breaking Of Rules, the official and authoritative list of players shall be that contained in the plain-text file named 'List Of Players', located at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Pure_Nomic /files/List%20Of 20Players. No person shall be considered a player unless he or she is on this list. Any person joining the Pure Nomic e-mail list will be entered into this list as soon as possible, and any person leaving the e-mail list or being expelled from the game in the manner proscribed in Rule 9: On The Expulsion Of Players shall be removed as soon as possible. 26: On The Official List Of Countries Still Available Pursuant to Rule 20: On The Breaking Of Rules, the official and authoritative list of countries still available shall be that contained in the plain-text file named 'List Of Countries Still Available', located at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Pure_Nomic /files/List%20Of%20Countries%20Still% 20Available. No country not contained in this list shall be considered a country in this game. For the purposes of Rule 20: On the Breaking Of Rules, the country to be given to the player in question shall be the first on the list which is not enclosed in square brackets. When there are no such countries left, it shall be the country which has been possessed by its current possessor for longest. When a players acquires possession of a country, the name of that country in the list shall be placed in square brackets as soon as possible. If a country enters a state of being possessed by no one, the square brackets shall be removed from its name in the list as soon as possible. 27: On Notification Any player amending a proposal for which the poll is still open shall on the same day send a message to the Pure_Nomic@yahoogroups.com e-mail list announcing the change. 28: On Reasonable Doubt I Any player may at any time formally point out a suspected rule infringment by sending a message to the Pure_Nomic@yahoogroups.com e-mail list stating which rule seems to have been broken and in what way and by which player it seems to have been broken. The subject line of the message must contain, in this order, the phrase 'Rule Broken', the initials of the player suspected and the number of the rule apparently broken. (Such a message may deal with only one case of suspect rule infringment by only one player. Where more than one player is suspected, or where more than one infringment is suspected, multiple messages may be sent. If multiple messages to be sent would have the same subject line, a letter A should be added to the end of the subject line of the first, B to that of the second, and so on.) Any player may then formally raise doubt about the validity of the suspicion by sending a message to the e-mail list with the same subject line as the original message, except that the phrase 'Rule Broken' should be replaced with the phrase 'Doubt Raised'. The message should set out the grounds on which the suspicion is to be doubted. If on the tenth day after the original 'Rule Broken' message appeared on the Pure_Nomic@yahoogroups.com e- mail list no 'Doubt Raised' messages have appeared, it will be considered for the purposes of Rule 20: On The Breaking Of Rules to have been established beyond reasonable doubt that the suspected player has broken a rule. 29: Spivak Pronouns Spivak pronouns will not be used. 30: The Taking of Monaco, 1, 2, 3 At the moment when a player gains control of Monaco (excluding the first time that Monaco becomes Possessed by any player), that player receives the Power of Monaco. The Power of Monaco allows the player to chose any one country that is possessed by any player and immediately award possession of that country to any other player besides him or herself. The ability to use the Power of Monaco exists until either a) another player takes possession of Monaco or b) the instant after the player has used the Power of Monaco, whichever comes first. 31: Monaco and Her Many Masters Whenever a Rule is passed which includes the name of a type of animal anywhere in the text or Name of the Rule (and which has not been mentioned in any other Rule), Monaco immediately becomes un- possessed (or "liberated"). Also, after any poll has closed, if there are more than 5 votes cast, AND EXACTLY 2 of the votes are negative (against the passing of the poll), Monaco immediately becomes un-possessed (or "liberated"). In either case, Possession of Monaco is then immediately transferred to the person who made the most recent previous proposal which was passed and entered into the List of Rules. 32: On Reasonable Doubt II If the suspicion that a player has broken a rule is formally raised (in accordance with Rule 28: On Reasonable Doubt I), and if doubt about the validity of that suspicion is formally raised (in accordance with Rule 28: On Reasonable Doubt I and within the time limit set by that rule), the List Owner, or, if the List Owner is the player who stands to gain a country if the suspicion is upheld, the other List Moderator, shall send a message to the Pure_Nomic@yahoogroups.com e-mail list, not later than the tenth day after the doubt about the validity of the suspicion was formally raised, stating whether the doubt is reasonable or not. The message shall have the same subject line as the 'Rule Broken' message, except that the phrase 'Rule Broken' shall be replaced with the word 'Ruling'. If the ruling is that the doubt is not reasonable, then it shall be considered for the purposes of Rule 20: On The Breaking Of Rules to have been established beyond reasonable doubt that the suspected player has broken a rule; if the ruling is that the doubt is reasonable, it shall not be so considered. 33: On The Overturning Of Rulings In any case in which a Ruling is made by the List Owner (or List Moderator) in accordance with any rule then in effect, the ruling of the List Owner (or List Moderator) may be overturned by the successful passage of a Procedural Motion to that effect. Such a Procedural Motion may be proposed by any player, but may not be proposed later than the tenth day after the 'Ruling' message appears on the e-mail list. The text of the Motion must be the same as the subject line of the original 'Ruling' message, except that the word 'Ruling' shall be replaced with the phrase 'Ruling Overturned'. The poll on the Motion shall close on the tenth day after its creation, and shall pass if there are no votes against it when it closes. In creating the poll the creator shall provide an explicitly negative option (such as 'Against'), and any vote for this option shall be a vote against the motion. The vote of the List Owner or List Moderator who made the original ruling shall not be counted. The 'display voter identity' option shall be selected when the poll is created. If the Motion passes, any country given to any player as a result of the original ruling shall be returned to its previous possessor, if any, or else to 'available' state. [Last updated 27th January 2003] [An HTML version of this document is available at http://nomic.strategikon.org]