Section A: Game Dynamics
Article 1: No ONE is allowed to download and play out a saved game. This is grounds for impeachment and/or eviction from the Democracy game. All citizens may load and view a save game but no action within the game is permitted.
Article 2: Turn rate is 10 turns every 2 days. This can be modified during the turn chat with a spot Council Vote.
Article 3: The game consists of the Executive Branch, The Council, Governors, Citizens and Moderators.
Article 4: The President will post the specific time and date for the next turn chat at least 24 hours before the chat starts. This should be in GMT and posted in the chat thread.
Article 5: The designated player (see Chain of Command) should start the chat at least 10 minutes before the scheduled time and begin play at the specified start time.
Article 6: If the designated player is more than 10 minutes late a new player will be chosen from the officials present following the Chain of Command.
Article 7: Once a player has started playing, he/she is the designated player for that chat turn and will not relinquish play to a late arriving but higher ranked official.
Article 8: Once the turn is finished the designated player will post a save game and turn info. Screen shots should also be uploaded for review.
Article 9: Polls and discussions should be posted after the turn info has been posted.
Article 10: Flag and Nation Name changes can ONLY be presented in times of Anarchy, while the nation is changing to a new government.
Section B: Government
Article 1: Six council members each head a department. Departments are Domestic, Foreign, Military, Science, Culture and Trade. Two council members are "at-large", are responsible only to the citizens and have no direct governmental responsibilities.
Article 2: Below the department heads are the deputy leaders. They make decisions in the absence of their departmental leader.
Article 3: Civilian agencies/groups may form to do a certain task. Examples include a history tracking group or activists against War.
Article 4: There will be NO political parties.
Section C: The Executive Branch
Article 1: The President is responsible for actually playing the game. He/she also gathers info from other Department Heads on how the game is to be played.
Article 2: The President may break ties and make decisions that haven't been made by department heads.
Article 3: The President may initiate certain Council votes.
Article 4: The President is the Department Head of the Department Head's and has privileges thereof.
Article 5: The Vice President is the deputy of the Executive Branch and takes over in the event that the President is missing.
Section D: The Cabinet
Article 1: The Cabinet consists of the Six Department Heads plus two Council Members At-Large.
Article 2: The Department heads duties include deciding their department policy and activities based on the wishes of the citizens. Department heads should post polls and posts to get citizen input. With the poll results and input they give instructions and advice to the President who then plays them out in the game.
Article 3: The Department heads have the right to break ties on polls in their departments and make decisions on their own. In case of forum outage or low participation they would be allowed to make all decision in their related area.
Article 4: At-large council members are responsible for representing the will of the people in Cabinet Votes. They will poll for popular opinion on prospective Cabinet issues and MUST vote according to those poll results.
Section E: Departments
Article 1: Military Leader: Makes decisions on military actions, defense, and (if war has been declared) war time actions. Reports military decisions to the President. Can override Governors on production issues during time of invasion (when there are troops in our territory from a country we are at war with). Takes over from the President when the Economy has been placed in Mobilization mode).
Article 2: Science Leader: Decides technology goals through research, espionage, and conquering.
Article 3: Cultural Leader: Makes decisions regarding city expansion and construction of cultural city improvements. The Cultural leader can override a governor's decisions for the construction of cultural improvement's.
Article 4: Foreign Minister: Makes decisions regarding Diplomatic relations such as war, peace, Right of Passage treaties and Mutual Defense Pacts.
Article 5: Trade Leader: Makes decisions and provides advice to the President on establishing trade deals. Tracks the status and expiration dates on established deals, advising the President and other council members of the same.
Article 6: Domestic Leader: Makes decisions about settler placement, wonder building and budget. Is responsible for setting the science/lux/tax rate. He/she is also the Provincial Governor of the Capital Province.
Section F: Governors and Provinces
Article 1: A governor controls the production (building queues) of the cities within a province. A governor's production decision can be overturned by a council vote or by the Military Leader during time of invasion.
Article 2: Provincial borders are geography based and will be approved by a council vote. A Province may contain any number of cities. Provincial borders should be defined ahead of territorial expansion.
Article 3: The Domestic leader is the governor of the capitol province. The citizens elect governors for other provinces. Regular gubernatorial elections are held for all provinces that contain at least 1 city.
Article 4: The Domestic leader is the defacto governor for provinces acquired between election years. A special election will be held for a new governor when a newly acquired province grows to 3 or more cities.
Article 5: The Governor controls tile use within his/her province when those tiles lie within a city radius. If Province A wishes to use tiles from Province B that are within the city radius of a Province B city, Governor A must get permission from Governor B. If no city in Province B could use the tiles, Governor A would not need Governor B's permission to use them.
Section G: Citizens
Article 1: Every citizen belongs to a city of the nation and can move to other cities when they please. This should be updated it the Citizens' registry.
Article 2: Every citizen has the duty of voting in election polls, opinion polls and posting their view on different events.
Article 3: Citizens can't hold polls on rule changes or any matter of state covered by a department.
Artilce 4: If a citizen would like a rule changed or a matter of state changed they may request that the appropriate Council member or Moderator post a poll. If refused, the citizen may start a thread suggesting a poll. When 2 other citizens voice approval of the poll (proposal seconded and carried) the Council member or Moderator must post the poll.
Section H: Moderators
Article 1: Moderators are responsible for handling elections, site maintenance and record keeping on the members, polls, etc.
Article 2: They are also responsible for clarifying the Constitution if there is confusion on one or more of its points.
Article 3: These are NOT elected positions. They have NO council Power.
Section I: Elections
Article 1: Elections will be held for the Presidency, each Council position and each Provincial Governor position.
Article 2: Terms last 30 days
Article 3: There are no Term Limits.
Article 4: Only existing council members may run for the presidency. Other elections are open to all citizens. Runner-ups for department heads automatically become deputy leaders for that department. The runner up in the presidential election becomes the Vice President.
Article 5: There are two polls for the At-Large positions, one for the Senior position and one for the Junior position. These polls share the same candidate pool.
Article 6: If there are no runner-ups the new leader can appoint a deputy. (Deputies are not a required position.)
Article 7: On day 24 of the term, nominations begin. On day 29 the Moderators will post polls for all positions of nominated members. On day 31 a winner is declared, and a new term begins.
Article 8: We will allow Self-Nomination.
Article 9: Citizens can run for a maximum of two positions but may only hold one department leader position at a time. Citizens are allowed to serve as Leader and Deputy Leader in two different departments. Thus if they win 2 elections they must choose one and the runner-up of the unselected position will be declared the winner.
Article 10: Citizens can hold multiple Deputy Positions..
Article 11: The Moderator runs the election, starts, edits and closes polls.
Article 12: A civilian organization can be formed to construct the questions for the nominees. These questions are given to the Moderator who conducts a debate. No one is allowed to post in the thread except for the participants and Moderator.
Article 13: The Moderator may run Primaries if there are over five nominees for a department.
Article 14: In the event of a tie, a second election will be run with only the nominees that were tied.
Section J: Impeachment
Article 1: It may become evident that an elected official isn't making decisions based on the results of the opinon polls.
Article 2: Anyone can call an impeachment hearing and pose evidence against an elected official.
Article 3: The accused is given an opportunity to defend themselves.
Article 4: A Moderator acts as Judge and initiates an Impeachment Cabinet Vote.
Article 5: The remaining council members vote.
Article 6: While an Impeachment trial is ongoing the deputy leader takes over for the leader in question.
Section K: Chain of Command
Article 1: In the event of the absence or death of one or more council members, this Chain of Command will dictate who should take over.
Article 2: COC
- President
- Vice President
- Domestic Leader
- Military Leader
- Foreign Minister
- Science Leader
- Cultural Leader
- Trade Leader
- Senior Council Member At-Large
- Junior Council Member At-Large
- Domestic Deputy
- Military Deputy
- Foreign Deputy
- Science Deputy
- Cultural Deputy
- Trade Deputy
- Remaining Elected Officials (example - Governors)
- Appointed Officials (example - Designated Chat Representatives)
Article 3: If the COC should fall to the "Remaining Elected Officials" or "Appointed Officials" a spot vote will be conducted in the Turn Chat to determine which Elected Official will play the game.
Section L: Council Votes
Article 1: Council votes are very powerful and can affect the very fabric of the game. Only Council members may vote.
Article 2: Polled council votes will last a minimum of 48 hours or until all council members have responded. Spot votes (in the Turn Chat) will be tallied and carried immediately.
Article 3: Impeachment votes are called by the Moderators following citizen complaint. An affirmative result removes an elected official from office.
Article 4: Administrative votes are called by the President. An affirmative result overrules an elected official's instructions and decisions for game play.
Article 5: Legislative votes are called by any Council member or the President. An affirmative result alters or amends the Constitution. The President can veto a legislative vote, preventing a change in the constitution.
Article 6: Mobilization votes are called by the President, Military Leader or Domestic Leader. An affirmative result places the economy in Mobilization mode.
Article 7: Spot votes are Administrative votes carried out within the turn chat. They are called by the designated player.
Article 8: A plurality of the responding voters is required for a Council Vote to pass. The President may cast a vote to break a tie. The President does not otherwise vote.
Article 9: A single official will have one vote, no matter how many departments they are currently representing.
Section M: Naming Rites
Article 1: Naming rights for new cities will be given following the Chain of Command. When more than one citizen has the same spot in the COC (example - "Elected Officials" group) rank will be determined by their seniority as a citizen (who signed the Registry first). This priority chain will be rearranged by elections as different people move up and down the Chain of Command.
Article 2: The designated player will decide if a captured city is subject to renaming. He/She will post this decision for each newly captured city with the turn brief and save game. Renaming rights follow the chain in Point 1 above.
Article 3: Provinces will be named by the first elected governor of the province.
Article 4: Natural terrain features (mountain chains, lakes, deserts, etc) may be named by Provincial Governors. If the Provincial Governor does not wish to name a feature it may be passed to the naming rights chain in Point 1 above.
Article 5: A newly elected governor may request name changes for cities within his/her province. This can only be done in the first week of the governor's term of office. The governor will post a poll with the suggested name change in an APPROVED / DISAPPROVED / ABSTAIN format and a 2 day time frame. Popular support will allow or deny the proposed name change.
Article 6: Naming rights must pass through all citizens before a citizen is given a second naming right in the chain (from Point 1). That is, if you've already named a city you do not get to name another one because you moved positions in the Chain of Command.
