Rule 1301/14
Church
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
1. Churches are Organizations.2. Any may Player may declare eir intent to found a Church. A Church officially exists when the player has three Followers in addition to eirself, and publically announces all of the following details of the Church:
- a) the name of the Church
- b) the name of the Founder (who must be a church member)
- c) the names of all the members
- d) a document called Church Dogma. Church Dogma includes any information concerning the Church that the Church wishes to make public.
3. a.Each Church may have a Church Policy.
b.Church Policy is an internal Church document.
c. A Player who disobeys the Church Policy of a Church of which he or she is a member is guilty of Iconoclasm, which is a Crime. It is impermissible for a Player to take a game action which constitutes Iconoclasm if he or she has any legal alternative which would not constitute Iconoclasm. [That is, Iconoclasm normally doesn't happen unless there is no alternative. It is possible for a player to commit Iconoclasm by inaction, though.]
d. The initial Church Policy will be set by the Founder. Church Policy may only change according to Church Policy.
e. A Church is not obliged to divulge Church Policy, in whole or in part, in a public forum.
f. Church Policy has no effect over the power to ordain Priests. It cannot take this power away from the Founder, neither can it give this power to anyone else.
g. Church Policy cannot prevent a Church member from leaving a Church.
4.a. The Church Founder has the power to ordain Priests.
b. A Founder may ordain a Player as a Priest if and only if that Player is a member of eir Church.
c. The Founder may delegate any of his duties or authorities to the Priesthood, except for the power to ordain Priests.
d.In the absence of the Founder, the most senior Priest will perform the duties, and have the authority of the Founder, except for the power to ordain Priests.
If seniority is not defined in Church Policy, then the most senior Priest, will the one who has been Priest for the longest duration of time.e. If a decision is to be made by the Priesthood, and no method for making such decisions is defined in Church Policy, then the decision will be made by a simple majority rule. In case of a tie, then seniority is taken into account. If seniority is not defined in Church Policy, then the seniority of a Priest will be defined as the length of time that has passed since that Player has been ordained as a Priest in that Church. If there is still a tie after this, then the Founder will break the tie.
5. a. A Church may define its own alternative terminology for the Church specific terms defined in this rule.
b. Any terms that the Church intends to use in a public forum, must be defined in Church Dogma.
c. If undefined terminology is used by Church members in a public forum, any player may publically request the Church to provide an explanation of that term.
Members of the Church may respond to this however they like, and any such response has the official Ackanomic Seal of Politeness, regardless of how brain-stoppingly offensive it is.d. A Church mailing list is not considered a public forum.
6. A player may not be a member of more than three Churches at the same time.
7. a. Any player may petition the Founder of a Church for membership in that Church.
b. If Church Policy has nothing to say on accepting new members, then Church membership will be up to the Founder. However, a Player cannot become a member of a Church until the Founder of the Church sends a public announcement to that effect.
c. A player may leave a Church at any time.
8. a. If a Church ever has no Priests or (Heaven forbid) has fewer than zero Priests, that Church is disbanded. That is, it no longer exists as a Church.
b. If a Church ever has fewer than four members, it is disbanded.
c. For purposes of membership, the Church Founder is considered a Priest.
d. Any function that can be performed by a Priest, can also be performed by the Church Founder.
e. If at any time a Church does not meet its membership criteria, that is, it either has less than four members, or has no Priest, it is officially disbanded. When a Church is disbanded, a public announcement is made to that effect.
f. If a Priest refuses to recognize that the Church has been disbanded, then the remaining Church members may be known as a Cult. A Cult has no official status whatsoever.
9. Church, Church membership, Foundership, Priesthood, and Church Dogma are Protected.
10. A Church may own and trade currency and assets. If Church policy is silent about the managing the Church's Currency and Assets, then the Church Founder manages the Church's Currency and Assets.
Rule 1303/6
Synod
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
1. There exists an Institution called Synod.
2.Each Church may have at most 1 seat in the Synod. Each Organization with a Trade License may have at most 1 seat in the Synod. No other entity may have a Seat in the Synod. An Organization with a Trade License is referred to in this rule as a TLO.
3. The Synod is in session when there are two or more occupied Seats in the Synod, at least one of which is occupied by a Church Delegate.
4. A Church (or TLO) which does not have a seat in the Synod can purchase a Seat for an Entry Fee of A$50 plus (A$5 multiplied by the maximum number of members of that Church (or TLO) had over the 14-day period preceding the date of purchase). If A Church (or TLO) withdraws from the Synod within 14 days, it is refunded the entire Entry Fee. If a Church (or TLO) withdraws at any time after that, it is refunded 3/5 of its Entry Fee.
Entry fees are transferred from the Church or TLO) to the Synod. Refunds, when paid, are transferred from the Synod to the Organization receiving the refund.
5.
a.
(i) A Church which has a Seat in the Synod may appoint a Priest of that Church to occupy that Seat. The Priest is known as the Church Delegate, and the Seat is known by the name of the Church, or an abbreviation approved by the Church. A Delegate may resign at any time. If the Delegate goes on Vacation the Church may appoint another Priest of that Church as an acting-Delegate. If a Delegate resigns, The Church may appoint another Priest as Delegate. A Church may leave its Seat unoccupied. This section takes precedence over R457.(ii) A TLO which has a Seat in the Synod may appoint a member of that TLO to occupy that Seat. The appointed member is known as the Trade Delegate, and the Seat is known by the name of the TLO, or an abbreviation approved by the TLO. A Delegate may resign at any time. If the Delegate goes on Vacation the TLO may appoint another member of that TLO as an acting-Delegate. If a Delegate resigns, the TLO may appoint another member as Delegate. A TLO may leave its Seat unoccupied.
b.
One of the Church Delegates is given the title of Yor-Delegate. The Yor-Delegate is always the Delegate of the largest Church in the Synod. If there are two or more Delegates who represent Churches of the same size, and there is no other Delegates who represents a larger Church then the Delegate who has been longer in the Synod, from among the Delegates of said Churches, shall be the Yor-Delegate. The Yor-Delegate has the duty of acting on behalf of the Synod, in accordance with the decisions of the Synod. The Yor-Delegate may have other duties defined by other sections of this rule, or by other rules. The Yor-Delegate has no privileges.c.
When a Seat has been left unoccupied for a period of three weeks, it is the duty of the Yor-Delegate to contact the Organization or TLO that owns that Seat and inquire as to whether or not e intends to appoint a Delegate for that Seat. If the Founder either replies that e does not intend to appoint a Delegate, or does not appoint a Delegate within a week, or fails to respond within a week, then that Organization is considered to have withdrawn from the Synod. If a Organization which owns a Seat is dissolved, then its Seat is destroyed.6. All actions carried out by the Synod must be approved by the Delegates. Each Delegate's vote is multiplied by the number of non-vacationing members of eir Organization. When there more votes in favor of some action than against it the Synod is considered to support that action. Organizations whose Seats are unoccupied during the vote are said to have abstained from the Vote.
7. When the Synod is in session it can trade currency and assets.
8. Profit Sharing Day - whenever the Synod has been in session for at least 14 consecutive days and there was no Profit Sharing Day for at least 14 consecutive days. An Organization is eligible for getting a share of the profits if (a) it has a Delegate in the Synod and (b) it had a Delegate in the Synod for at least 90% of the time during the 14 days previous to the Profit Sharing Day.
Profits are defines the number of A$ owned by the Synod at the moment Profit Sharing Day is anounced, minus the number of A$ owned by the Synod at the end of the previous Profit Sharing Day, or the most recent day on which the Synod was not in Session, which was more recent. If this number is determined to be negative, then Profits are defined to be equal to zero.
Let TotalMem be the total number of members of all Organizations. For each Organization let NoM be the number of members of that Organization. Each Organization receives (NoM*2)/(TotalMem*5), rounded down to the nearest integer. For the purpose of Profit Sharing Day, vacationing members are counted as well. It is the duty of the Yor-Delegate to track and declare Profit Sharing days, calculate the amount of A$ each Organization receives, report it to the Financier, and record the amount of A$ at the end of the Profit Sharing day.
Whenever the word Organization or the word Organizations appear in the second paragraph of this section, it means an eligible Organization as defined in the first paragraph of this section.
9. When the Synod is not in Session it is impermissible for the Synod to trade, distribute profits to member Churches, or take any other action, except for the duty of contacting Founders of Churches with unoccupied Seats, as described in section 5 of this rule.
10. a. A Church is not eligible for a Seat in the Synod if there is at least one Church which already owns a Seat in the Synod whose M Similarity with the former Church is equal to or greater than 30.
b. A Church is not eligible for a Seat in the Synod if the total M Similarities with all the other Churches which are members of the Synod is equal to or greater than 80. Should more than one Church become ineligible simultaneously, then the Church which had a Delegate for the shortest duration from among the ineligible Churches, loses its Seat. This process is repeated until there no more Churches which are ineligible for a Seat.
c. A TLO is not eligible for a Seat in the Synod if there is at least one Organization which owns a Seat in the Synod whose M Similarity with the former Organization is equal to or greater than 60. When ever a Church acquires a Seat in the Synod, any TLO which becomes ineligible for a Seat loses its Seat in the Synod and receives its full entry fee as a refund, regardless of the time that passed since it joined the Synod.
d. For the purposes of this rule, and for the purposes of all Synod actions, TLOs are considered to have an active size of 1, regardless of eir actual size.
Rule 1307/11
Ackanomic Middle Ages
Bascule (Matt Black)
The Earth is flat. The Earth is flat. Contradiction of this fact is Heresy.If a Player publicly refers to the Earth being round any other Player may start a Witchhunt by sending a public message that names the alleged witch, quotes his or her allegedly heretical message, and calls for a Witchhunt, provided a Witchhunt is not already in progress against that player, and provided there are less than 5 Witchhunts in progress.
A Witchhunt is a Hearing. It is also a Very Grave Matter. The valid responses to a Witchhunt are 'No! E said the Earth is flat' and 'BURN THE WITCH!' The Player who tabulates the responses to a Witchhunt shall be called Witchfinder General while it is in session.
If the verdict is 'BURN THE WITCH!' the alleged witch shall be branded a witch and heretic. E shall then be incinerated atop a bonfire large enough that it not only reduces the witch to eir component atoms but also inspires righteous terror in all who see it. When a witch is burned, e shall enter the Ackanomic Afterlife, and shall lose 10 points. Any player who has ever been burned as a heretic is considered Enlightened. An Enlightened player may never have a Witchhunt called against them, or be burned as a heretic.
A member of a Church may save any player from being burned as a witch, or as a heretic, provided e posts a public message (before a Witchhunt called on that player is resolved) saying 'I am running to the Church', then the name of the Church of which e is a member, then 'and I hold the Altar by the Horns for' followed by the player's name. This is called granting Sanctuary Of Salvation.
Rule 1309/4
We don't need Gravity
snowgod (Phil Ackley)
Ackanomic exists on the underside of the earth, which is, of course, flat. Ackanomic, and everything it contains, is held onto the earth with Suction Cups so that it doesn't fall off.Communications with entities residing on the topside of the earth are made possible through a series of incredibly complex devices that even the inventor cannot begin to understand. These devices too, are attached to the earth with suction cups.
In the event that any item loses its suction cups, which may only happen in accordance with the rules, it shall fall off of the earth and dangle from its surface by the attached emergency tether.
If a building is dangling by its emergency tether, players may still enter and leave the building, by climbing up and down the tether. If a building has its emergency tether break and floats free, no one may enter or leave that building unless they have wings, or are given a ride by a winged player. Objects that reside in a floating building cannot be accessed or used by anyone who is not also inside that building.
Rule 1311/1
If we don't need Gravity, we'd better have Pressure
mr cwm (Eric Murray)
[The empirical observations outlined in "We don't need Gravity" reveal a great deal about the nature of the Earth and the Universe. This cosmology, while including some speculation, is consistent with and explains those observations.]The Universe consists of a semi-infinite block of 2024 aluminium alloy joined to a semi-infinite block of Type 304 stainless steel. The sole defect in these semi-infinite blocks is a spherical hollow centered at the interface with a diameter two average cat-heights greater than the greatest distance defined or implied in any other Rule. The Earth lies centered within this hollow, oriented parallel to the interface between the blocks with Ackanomia facing the stainless steel side. The spherical hollow is pressurized to 1 atmosphere with life-sustaining gas.
Note that the asymmetry of the Universe will cause anything that becomes detached from the underside of the Earth to fall to the the stainless steel surface of the hollow.
This Rule takes precedence over any Rule that would define or imply any distance greater than the greatest distance defined or implied by this Rule.
Rule 1313/5
Tornado
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
A Tornado shall sweep though Acka at the time of the Summer Solstice, Winter Solstice, Vernal Equinox, and Autumnal Equinox. Tornadoes are dangerous entities.Whenever a Tornado sweeps through Acka, the scores of all non-Sheltered players shall be randomly reassigned among the non-Sheltered players. All non-Sheltered players shall be involved in the random reassignment of scores, including non-active ones. In other words, the score of each non-Sheltered player is placed in a pool, all non-Sheltered player's scores are set to 0, a random score is chosen from the above pool, without replacement, and added to the score of a randomly chosen (without replacement) non-Sheltered player, until the pool is exhausted. ("without replacement" means the randomly chosen entity may not be re-chosen for the duration of a single instance of this process, once it has been randomly chosen). If there are no non-Sheltered players, the Tornado has no effect on players' scores as detailed previously in this paragraph. Sheltered players are unaffected, in any case.
The Officer in charge of random things is responsible for carrying out this procedure, when the Rules call for it to occur.
Players in the Ackanomic Afterlife and Gaol are Sheltered. If a Bomb Shelter exists, all players are Sheltered, regardless of their Location.
A Bomb Shelter may only be created by methods specified in the Rules. Players may only become Sheltered by methods specified in the Rules.
The Rules may specify other ways or times that a Tornado sweeps through Acka.
Whenever a Tornado sweeps through Acka, each player's or haunted house that is dangling from its emergency tether stands a separate 50% chance of losing its tether and being swept off the face of Acka. The player or undead shall retain possession or haunt of the land the building was sitting on. A player so bereaved of shelter may rebuild his house for A$100, and he must name it upon its reconstruction. Until such time, he shall be issued a small tent for use as his Home.
If the house belonged to a player who was on vacation, that player shall be assumed to be vacationing in a far-off land with a two-letter name. Upon his return, he may submit a report containing the name of this far-off land and a summary of his journeys there. If he does so within seven days of his return, he shall receive five points.
A dangling house may be saved from this chance of being blown away if within the five days preceding the tornado, a Priest in good standing with the weather gods blessed the house. Such a blessing must state that which house is being blessed and contain at least two words of at least six syllables. A priest is said to be in good standing with the weather gods if he posted a prayer of deliverance, as defined by the rules, at the beginning of the current calendar month.
Rule 1317/2
Codex of Kra
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
The Codex of Kra has recently been unearthed outside the window of the Ackanomic House of Pancakes. It is an ancient tome in an arcane language, probably scribed by the Elder Ackanomians who created the Machine that goes *ping*. All that has been discovered about it initially is that it seems to describe the laws of Ackanomican physics, and the empirical observations and theory which led to the formulation of those laws.The optional office of AckaPhysicist exists. It is a privilege of the AckaPhysicist to translate the Codex of Kra, and report its contents to the people of Acka [maintaining, or arranging to maintain a web page of its contents would be ideal].
Such translations shall describe the Acka world and universe (multiverse?) in terms of the Ackanomican physics, mathematics, observations, theory, experiments, etc, as discovered by the Ancients, as well as any additional conclusions the AckaPhysicist draws from his translations of the Codex.
If any player believes a particular translation posted by the AckaPhysicist to be an obvious forgery, or otherwise doubts its accuracy, they may publically accuse the AckaPhysicist of being a quack, if they do so within three days of the translation being published. In this case, there will then be a Hearing, with valid responses of "the Ancients weren't that clueless" and "my own experiments have produced similar results". A verdict of "the Ancients weren't that clueless" will prove that the AckaPhysicist is a quack in the case of this particular translation.
If the AckaPhysicist is found to be a quack, he is fined A$25 for misleading the masses with bogus science, and the translation in question is stricken from the official records. If the translation is proven to be genuine, however, the accuser must publically apologize to the AckaPhysicist, and pay him A$25 compensation for the damage to his reputation.
Upon the AckaPhysicist being found a quack for the third time in a single term, he is immediately impeached from the office, and has 7 days to write a piece on Elvis returning from the dead in an alien spaceship for one of Acka's newspapers, if any exist. If none exist, or he cannot get permission from the owner of one to publish the piece, he must start his own in accordance with the rules for doing so, and publish the piece.
Any results not found bogus are added to the official publication of the Codex of Kra. Such writings become part of game custom where they do not contradict the Rules. Translations of the Codex of Kra hold legal sway only if, when, and where the rules indicate that they do.
The Codex of Kra is unique and owned by no player, but it remains in the custody of the AckaPhysicist while he is translating it, with translated passages being available for view at the Library.
Rule 1319/2
Round Earth Restoration Society
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)
At some time in the distant past, the Earth was indeed round, and through a great cataclysm, it became flat when two massive roughly hemispherical chunks broke off of it, one from the north, and one from the south. Like all things which fall off the Earth, these two fragments of the Earth now dangle from emergency tethers.The Round Earth Restoration Society exists. Its goal to restore a round shape to the Earth by building enormous winch-like machines to reel in these two dangling fragments. Unfortunately, the cost of such machines is very high -- 15,000 A$. At any time, a player may make a contribution to the Round Earth Restoration Society by posting a public message containing a non-negative amount of A$ less than that player's current balance that they wish to transfer to the Treasury on behalf of the Round Earth Restoration Society. If taxes should ever exist in Acka, such contributions are tax-deductible. It is a duty of the Financier to keep track of how much money has been donated to the Treasury on behalf of the Society, and by whom.
Once the Round Earth Restoration Society has raised 15,000 A$, a large machine shall be built, and the northern fragment joined to the earth, giving it a roughly hemispherical shape. Once an additional 15,000 A$ has been raised, the southern fragment will be likewise joined, restoring a spherical shape to the Earth.
If the earth should become hemispherical, saying such is not Heresy, and this takes precedence over Rule 1307. If the Earth should ever become a sphere, all occurrences of the words "flat" and "round" in Rule 1307 shall become "round" and "flat," respectively, and this paragraph shall then be repealed.
Rule 1320/1
This is the way the world ends
Vynd (John McCoy)
If the Earth is ever made to be round via the method described in Rule 1319, then the End of the World will have occurred. The world ending has no effect on the game of Ackanomic, except as specified in the rules.Players are encouraged to scream in terror when the world ends, and it is considered good form for the President to post a public message which he begins by calling for order but then ruins by panicking, repenting his sins, and crying like a baby. If any newspaper fails to publicly post an article notifying its subscribers of the End of the World within 7 days of its occurrence, its owner will be fined A$5 for poor coverage of the news.
The End of the World causes the cycle to immediately end. The winner of the cycle will be the active or vacationing player who had donated the most A$ to The Round Earth Restoration Society at the time that the Earth was made round. If this selection method results in a tie, or the player who would win is for some reason ineligible to win the cycle, then the player who most recently became Enlightened out of those players who are tied will be the winner of the cycle. If none of the players who are tied for most A$ donated to The Round Earth Society are Enlightened, then the Speaker will randomly select with equal probability one of the players who are tied to be the winner. In any of these cases, the winner will recieve the title of Prophet of Doom.
All players who became Enlightened at least 14 days before the End of the World will recieve a Boon of the Ancients for their incredible foresight and wisdom. The active player who has been Enlightened the longest should post a public message in which he castigates those who persecuted him. It should include the phrase "You have paid the price for your lack of vision."
When a player wins due to The End of the World, the Fat Lady will not sing as described in rule 667. Instead, she will sing the song "It's The End Of The World As We Know It" by R.E.M. for a full 24 hours, this singing cannot be stoped or accompanied by any means. Players are permitted to whimper.
This Rule takes precedence over any other Rule discussing the End of the World, or the singing of the Fat Lady.
Rule 1321/7
Rama-lama-ding-dong
snowgod (Phil Ackley)
Deep in the rain forest it was doing what it usually does in rain forests, which was raining: hence the name. This rain will cause a horrible flood to sweep through Ackanomic destroying all of the suction cups that keep us attached to the bottom of the earth is something is not done. Therefore, sometime during the first three days of each month every non-vacationing priest must post a prayer of deliverance to the public forum. This prayer must contain at least 3 words with 6 syllables, and one line of text that is "spoken in tongues". For the purposes of this rule, a non-vacationing priest is any priest who was not on Vacation at the end of the prayer period.If exactly one priest fails to comply with this rule his house shall lose its suctions cups and dangle from the bottom of the earth. If two priest fail to comply, 5 buildings chosen at random will lose their suctions cups. If more than two priest fail to comply, the floods shall destroy all of the suction cups in Ackanomic, causing everything to dangle.
This rule defers to all other Rules which do not contain this sentence outside of quotation marks.
Rule 1322/1
Doomsday! Part II
Robert Sevin (Mitchell Harding)
All hell shall hereby break loose. Chaos shall reign until June 8, 2001, at which time this rule shall repeal itself. This rule defers to all other rules.[Original Author: Jason Orendorff aka Mohammed, Proposal 740]
Rule 1323/0
Repent And Mend Thy Ways
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)
If there has not been a single flood in the past 6 months big enough to detach the suction cups of at least 5 buildings, then Acka is said to be experiencing a drought. A flood that detaches the suction cups of at least 5 buildings removes the drought status.On the first day of the months following the month when the drought begun, and on the first of every month after that while the drought is still in effect, there shall be a plague of locusts. Locusts are annoying little creatures that think only of eating.
When there is a plague of locusts, 4 randomly selected buildings will have their tethers eaten away (destroyed) by these locusts. Tethers can be repaired at the cost of A$10 to the treasury, provided the thing the tether was holding hasn't floated away.
After each plague of locusts, it is good form for priests to make a public speech promising that the Acka will mend its evil ways and become virtuous again. Heretics may giggle.
Rule 1324/2
More Blatant Elitism
Robert Sevin (Mitchell Harding)
Decision: Accepted
This rule allows any player of Ackanomic to assume a title, based on their current score. No player may use any title on this list except the title that their score entitles them to. Observers may use the title Harmless.[[ This table is best viewed using a non-proportional font, eg Courier ]]
Score Title 0 or below Harmless 1-20 Mostly Harmless 21-40 Poor 41-70 Average 71-100 Above Average 101-150 Competent 151-200 Dangerous 201-250 Deadly 251 or over EliteIf a player assumes a title which requires a score higher than their own, in addition to any penalties required by other rules, that player is deemed to have been ambushed by Thargoids in hyperspace and blasted into a million pieces, leading to the loss of 1 point.[Original Author: Matt Black aka Bascule, Proposal 795]
Rule 1325/1
Universal Nomic strikes back!
Robert Sevin (Mitchell Harding)
By this rule, Ackanomic recognizes that the Universe is a Nomic, and that Gravity was its initial ruleset.[Original Author: Randy Hall aka Malenkai, Proposal 896]
Rule 1326/0
Gimme that Gnome yet again
Robert Sevin (Mitchell Harding)
Doctor Who, not Star Trek or any other science fiction serial, is the official science fiction television serial of Ackanomic.The official science fiction television serial is Protected.
[Original Author: Randy Hall aka Malenkai, Proposal 923]
