From william@interliant.com Tue Nov 11 22:00:08 1997
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 1997 11:35:36 -0600
From: william <william@interliant.com>
To: Thring@iagu.net
Subject: Thring: Game 8, Week 14 - Numbered Rules






Rule 100 -  (Immutable) <1.2.> [ ]
The name of this game of Nomic shall be Thring. In these rules, the
words Nomic and Thring shall be taken to mean Thring Nomic, unless it
is implied in the wording of the rule that the concept of Nomic as a
whole is being referred to.

Rule 101 -  (Immutable) <2.1.> [ ]
At any time in the Game there must be a Speaker. Any person may apply
to join the game of Thring as a Voter by sending an appropriate email
request to the current Speaker, or eir nominee. The Speaker, or eir
nominee, will then determine whether the application is successful.
Any successful applicant immediately becomes an eligible Voter and
must be added to any appropriate lists or documents. The term "Player"
shall refer to any Voter or the Speaker. No current Speaker may also
be a Voter. The position of Speaker is considered to be an Official
Position if such a concept exists in the game of Thring.

All Players must abide by all the Rules then in effect, in the form in
which they are then in effect, or suffer the prescribed penalty. In
the absence of a prescribed penalty, the Speaker is to decide upon an
appropriate penalty, but must, at all times, abide by the Rules. If
the Speaker is found guilty of any breach of the Rules, the remaining
Players shall, together, decide upon the penalty and are empowered to
enact whatever they decide, whilst abiding by the Rules.

Rule 102 -  (Immutable) <1.3.> [ ]
Each Rule shall be either immutable or mutable. This information is to
be clearly shown together with the Rule's wording, number and any other
defining quantities. The act of changing an immutable Rule into a
mutable Rule or vice versa shall be known as transmutation.

Rule 103 -  (Immutable) <1.4.> [ ]
A Proposal shall be an official submission by a Player to the current
Speaker. Only legal Proposals shall be considered by the Speaker, and
Proposals are the principle means by which the Rule Set is changed. If
the Rules ever forbid all Voters from making Proposals, then the
Speaker is empowered to make at most 3 emergency Proposals per week
until it becomes legal for Voters to make Proposals.

Rule 104 - The Memory Of Speakers  (Immutable) <2.1.> [ ]
The Speaker for the first game of Thring was David Wilson.

The Speakers for the second game of Thring were Adrian Corston and
then Luke Schubert.

The Speaker for the third game of Thring was Luke Schubert.

The Speakers for the fourth game of Thring were Anarchy and then
Paul Wayper.

The Speakers for the fifth game of Thring were Luke Schubert and
(temporarily) Paul Wayper.

The Speaker for the sixth game of Thring was Anthony.

The Speaker for the seventh game of Thring was Anthony.

The Speaker for the eighth game of Thring was William Li.

This rule will amend itself every time there the Speaker changes in a
game of Thring, to a form that includes the changes in a way similar to
the form shown above.

Rule 105 -  (Immutable) <1.4.> [ ]
Any Proposal must be one of the following types:
  enactment
  amendment
  repeal
  transmutation
  other

The action of each of these Proposals, once adopted in the prescribed
fashion is:

  enactment -     creates one new Rule to be added to the Rule Set.

  amendment -     changes the wording of one existing Rule in the
                  manner detailed in the Proposal.

  repeal -        removes one Rule, as specified by the Proposal,
                  from the Rule Set.

  transmutation - changes an immutable Rule into a mutable Rule,
                  or vice versa.

  other -         to be specified by later Rules, defaulting to no
                  effect.

Rule 106 -  (Immutable) <1.4.> [ ]
All Proposals shall be Voted on. They will be adopted if and only if
they receive the required number of Votes and Quorum is achieved.

Rule 107 -  (Immutable) <1.4.> [ ]
Proposals must be submitted to the Speaker, or eir nominee, be email.
Each Voter must receive a copy of all Proposals at least 4 days before
they are Voted on. Proposals must clearly state what type they are,
else the Speaker, or eir nominee, shall specify the type before
distribution to all Voters.  The wording of Proposals is to remain
unaltered for enactments and amendments except where the Speaker, or
eir nominee, decide minor changes may be made. Any changes must have
the permission of the Proposer and may not change the meaning or
intention of the Proposal.

Rule 108 - When Proposals Take Effect  (Immutable) <1.4.> [ ]
A newly enacted Proposal takes effect only at the moment of the completion
of the Voting on that proposal, when that proposal passes the voting
requirements.  No Proposal may have any retroactive effect, explicit or
otherwise.  The wording of the Proposal has no effect until the completion
of
the above Vote.

Rule 109 -  (Immutable) <1.5.> [ ]
Both Rules and Proposals shall be numbered for reference purposes. New
Rules which are enacted shall receive the next successive, integer
number after that of the last Rule in the current Rule Set. Proposals
shall be numbered with successive integers which carry on from Thring
Week to Thring Week and bear no relation to the Rule numbers.

If a Rule is amended, or transmuted, its number does not change.
Repealing one Rule does not affect the Rule number of any Rule,
except the one repealed, which is then removed

Rule 110 - Quorum Definition  (Immutable) <1.9.> [ ]
Quorum is defined as the proportion of Active Voters who have legally
cast votes on a given proposal.

    * Quorum for amending, repealing or otherwise changing an Immutable
      Rule is 75%.

    * Quorum for all other proposals is 30%.

Rule 111 -  (Immutable) <1.3.> [ ]
In a conflict between a mutable and an immutable Rule, the immutable
Rule takes precedence and the mutable Rule shall be entirely void. The
only exception to this is if an immutable Rule explicitly states that
it defers to a Rule of group of Rules, in which case this immutable is
considered void when such a conflict occurs.

Rule 112 -  (Immutable) <2.3.> [ ]
The game of Thring ends when any Player satisfies the winning
condition.  Provisions for beginning the next game are to be governed
by Rules when such Rules exist, otherwise the winning Player becomes
the Speaker and play continues using the same Game State that existed
at the end of the previous game. There need not be any winning
condition for play to proceed.

Rule 113 -  (Immutable) <2.4.> [ ]
A Player always has the option to forfeit the game rather than continue
to play or incur a game penalty.

Rule 114 -  (Immutable) <1.3.> [ ]
There must always be at least one mutable Rule.

Rule 115 -  (Immutable) <1.4.> [ ]
Proposals that affect Rules needed to allow or apply Proposals are as
permissible as other Proposals. Even Proposals that amend or repeal
their own authority are permissible. No Proposal or type of move is
impermissible solely on account of the self-reference or self-
application of a Rule.

Rule 116 -  (Immutable) <1.7.> [ ]
Whatever is not prohibited or regulated by a Rule is permitted and
unregulated, with the sole exception of changing an Official Document,
which is permitted only when a Rule or set of Rules explicitly or
implicitly permits it. Official Documents include the Rules, Player's
scores, Proposals, Votes cast and voting records maintained by the
Speaker, the list of current Players, and any other document so
designated by the Rules.

The Game State is defined as the state of all Official Documents at any
point in time.

Rule 117 -  (Immutable) <1.8.> [ ]
The Thring Week ends at 11:59pm Wednesday, Adelaide time, unless
altered by the Speaker. Only the end of the current week may be
extended (it cannot be shortened) and each Thring Week must be a
minimum of 4 days. After any extension, the end of the following Thring
Week defaults to the next Wednesday at 11:59pm which is over 4 days
from the end of the extended Thring Week. All Players must be informed
of the extension of a Thring Week, by the Speaker.  The next Thring
Week begins immediately after the previous Thring Week ends.

Rule 118 -  (Immutable) <1.4.> [ ]
No Player may submit more than 3 Proposals per Thring Week.

Rule 119 - Non-Proposed Rule Changes  (Immutable) <1.3.> [ ]
Rules may also be changed by Rules, subject to constraints in the
ruleset.  Such Rule Changes shall be known as "Non-Proposed Rule
Changes".  No Non-Proposed Rule Change may change in any way an
Immutable Rule.

Rule 120 - Points of Order and Judgements  (Immutable) <1.10> [ ]
If a Player is concerned about scores, rule or proposal numbers, the
application of a rule or other matters that e considers to be minor, e
may raise a Point of Order. Corrective action should be taken if the
Point of Order is resolved in such a way as to indicate this is
appropriate.

A Player, after raising a Point of Order, may then call for Judgement
on a Statement if they are unhappy with the outcome of the Point of
Order. Alternatively, if any Player is concerned about the
interpretation of a rule or rules or some serious matter, e may
directly invoke a Judgement without first raising a Point of Order.

A legal Judgement for a Statement is either TRUE, FALSE, or UNDECIDED.

If a Judge returns a legal Judgement of TRUE or FALSE on a Statement
to be Judged, then that Judgement is considered to decide the matter
in question and is binding within the Game of Thring (unless it is
later successfully Appealed.) Later Judgements take precedence over
earlier ones, in the case that a conflict between Judgements arises.
Any Judgement which is a direct interpretation of a particular Rule
shall be deemed part of the defining nature of that Rule and shall be
appended to the wording of that Rule as an Official Note. All Rules
must display any Official Notes together with their wording in all
relevant Official Documents.

Judgements are decisions that may be Appealed under the terms of The
Appealing Rule (Rule 433.) If a Judgement is Appealed a new Judge
shall be selected as if no Judgement had been made.

Rule 204 - Proposal Distribution  (Mutable) <1.4.> [Radioactive ]
The Speaker, or eir nominee, is responsible for distributing Proposals
to all Voters at least four days before the end of the Thring Week. E
is also responsible for assigning numbers to these Proposals before
distribution and for assigning Rule numbers as required.

When Players submit Proposals, these Proposals may include Comments which
are not intended to be entered into the text of the Rules themselves. Any
text which is indicated to be a Comment (by, for example, enclosing it in
curly braces and labelling it "Comments") shall be distributed with the
Proposal as normal, but shall not be entered into the text of any Rules
Enacted, Ammended or otherwise effected by this Proposal.

Rule 206 - When to Vote  (Mutable) <1.9.> [Immortal ]
All Votes for a Proposal must be submitted in the Thring Week
following the Thring Week in which that Proposal was submitted.
Votes submitted in the incorrect Week are deemed illegally cast.

Rule 207 - How to Vote  (Mutable) <1.9.> [Immortal ]
A Vote must be either For, Against, or Pass.  Any other Vote is deemed
to be an abstention.  Each Voter may only make one Vote per Proposal.
Votes must be submitted via Email to the Speaker, or eir nominee.  No
Votes may be revealed by the Speaker, or eir nominee, until the
following Thring Week.  Any Voter who does not submit a legally cast
Vote shall be deemed to have abstained.

Rule 209 - The Votes Required Rule  (Mutable) <1.9.> [Immortal ]
The required number of Votes FOR a Proposal in order for it to be
adopted is as follows.

For a Proposal which would directly alter the actions which are
required of and/or forbidden to the Speaker:

- more Votes than those cast AGAINST that Proposal, if the Speaker
  consents;

- twice or more Votes than those cast AGAINST that Proposal, if the Speaker
  does not consent.

For proposals which amend, repeal or otherwise modify the state of an
Immutable Rule, three times or more Votes than those cast AGAINST that
Proposal.  For all other Proposals, more Votes than those cast AGAINST
that Proposal.  The numbers of legally cast Votes FOR a Proposal
required for it to pass is the highest number of votes determined
under any formula given in this rule.

Rule 210 - Vacant Official Positions  (Mutable) <3.1.> [Immortal ]
If an Official Position is created by the adoption of a Rule, or the
Holder of an Official Position relinquishes, for any reason, their
Office then the Records and Voting Commissioner (hereafter referred
to as the R&VC) must Declare that the Official Position is Vacant as
soon as possible. An election for the Position will then take place.
The Period of Nominations (for that Position) begins when the
Vacancy has been Declared, and extends for one Thring Week.

During this time, any currently Active Player may nominate themselves
as a Candidate for the Vacant Position. Candidates must nominate
themselves by a Declaration of Candidature to the Records and Voting
Commissioner. This Declaration of Candidature is an Official Document
that must state:

- The Candidate's name

- The Official Position the Candidate is nominating for.

- A Statement of Worthiness that may include, but is not limited to,
  the reasons why the Candidate should be accepted as the next
  Holder of the Official Position.

At the close of the Period of Nominations, the R&VC shall distribute
all legal Declarations of Candidature to all Players.

While an Official Position is vacant, the Speaker shall either fulfil its
duties, nominate another player to do so (as per Rule 218), or decide
that its duties are non-essential and do not have to be fulfilled.

Rule 211 - The Voting Period  (Mutable) <3.1.> [Immortal ]
Following the close of the Period of Nominations for an Official
Position, the R&VC shall take one of the following actions:
- If no Candidate has nominated for the Official Position, the Speaker
  shall be the next Holder of that Official Position; unless e has just
  vacated it, in which case the R&VC shall become the Holder of that
  Official Position.
- If only one Candidate has nominated for the Official Position, e shall
  become the Holder of that Official Position.
- Otherwise, the R&VC shall declare the beginning of the Period of
  Voting for that Official Position, which lasts one Thring Week.

During the Period of Voting, any Active Player except the R&VC may
Vote.  This is done by sending email to the R&VC, Voting either FOR
or AGAINST each Candidate. Any other Vote is treated as abstaining.
If an Active Player (excluding the R&VC) abstains from all Votes for
an Official Position, e shall lose one point.

At the end of the Period of Voting, the R&VC shall reveal how many
FOR votes each Candidate received. If one Candidate received the
most FOR votes, e shall become the Holder of that Official Position; if
there is a tie in Voting, the R&VC shall decide which of the
Candidates tied for the most FOR votes shall become the Holder of
that Official Position.

In any case, the new Holder receives a bonus of two points upon
taking up eir Official Position.

Rule 212 - Determining Precedence  (Mutable) <1.3.> [Immortal ]
If two or more Mutable Rules conflict with one another, or if two or
more Immutable Rules conflict with one another, then the Rule with the
lowest ordinal Number takes precedence.

If at least one of the Rules in conflict explicitly says of itself that
it defers to another Rule (or type of Rule) or takes precedence over
another Rule (or type of Rule), then such provisions shall supersede
the numerical method for determining precedence.

If two or more Rules claim to take precedence over one another or
defer to one another, then the numerical method again governs.

Rule 213 - Making a Point of Order or Calling for Judgement  (Mutable)
<1.10> [Immortal ]
Points of Order are raised by sending an email message to the Speaker,
or eir nominee, detailing the perceived problem. The Speaker, or eir
nominee, must then decide what is the correct solution to the problem,
either alone or in consulation with any Player or group of Players.
They must then communicate their decision to the Player who submitted
the Point of Order. If it is of sufficient importance, this
information should also be sent to all Players.

To invoke a Judgement a Statement for Judgement must be submitted via
email to the Bailiff. When Judgement is invoked, the Bailiff, must, as
soon as possible, select a Judge as described in the Rules. The
Bailiff, must then distribute the Statement to be judged, along with
the identity of the Judge, to all Players.

No Player may make more than three Calls for Judgement in any one
Thring Week.  Any more CfJs submitted over this quota are either
discarded or kept until next week for redistribution, at the
discretion of the Speaker.

Rule 214 - Selection of Judges  (Mutable) <1.10> [Immortal ]
To select a Judge for a CfJ, the Bailiff shall make a random
appointment from the list of eligible Players. The appointee may
decline by informing the Bailiff that e wishes to do so, in which case
the Bailiff shall make another random appointment. If nobody is
eligible for appointment, then no further Judges are selected and a
Verdict of UNDECIDED is returned. A Player is eligible to be appointed
as a Judge for some CfJ if and only if e satisfies all of the
following requirements:

 - e did not make the CfJ,

 - e is not the Devil's Advocate for the CfJ,

 - e has not previously been appointed as the Judge for the CfJ,

 - e is Active.

The Bailiff can make eir own random determinations; in this, this Rule
takes precedence over Rule 218.

Rule 215 - Delivering Judgements  (Mutable) <1.10> [Immortal ]
After the Bailiff, has distributed the Statement to be judged and the
identity of the Judge, the Judge has one week in which to deliver a
legal Judgement. If a Judge does not decline eir assignment and fails
to deliver a Judgement within this time, e is penalised 10 points and
a new Judge is selected. A Judgement is delivered by submitting that
Judgement to the Bailiff, who must then distribute that Judgement to
all Players as soon as possible. A Judge is awarded 2 points if e
delivers a legal Judgement.

Judgements may be accompanied by reasons and arguments, but such
reasons and arguments form no part of the Judgement itself. If a
Judgement is accompanied by reasons and arguments, the Bailiff must
distribute the reasons and arguments along with the Judgement.

Rule 217 - Game Spirit  (Mutable) <1.3.> [Immortal ]
In the Play of Thring, Speaker, or a Judge who has been asked to
Judge some Statement, may be asked to decide some issue according to
their interpretation of the Rules. All interpretations of the Rules
must be in accordance with their text; however, if the Rules are
silent, inconsistent, or unclear on some matter, then the interpreter
shall consider Game Custom and the Spirit of the Game before applying
other standards. In particular, if a Rule seems unclear or
contradictory, the interpreter is free to interpret it according to
its intent, as understood by the interpreter.

Rule 218 -  (Mutable) <3.1.> [Immortal ]
In addition to duties which may be listed elsewhere in the Rules, the
Speaker shall have the following duties:

- maintain all Official Documents and make such a list available to
  all Players

- act as initial interpreter of all Rules and be responsible for
  enforcing them when requested by Players or as the Speaker feels
  the need

- make a random determination whenever such determination is
  required by the Rules.

Maintenance of Official Documents and random determinations may be
performed by nominees of the Speaker when the Rules permit. If the
Speaker selects a nominee, they must inform all Players of the
identity of the nominee and the exact duties which the nominee is to
perform as soon as possible after the nominee has agreed to undertake
those duties.  No Player may be forced to perform any duties for the
Speaker unless the Rules so state. This Rule defers to all other Rules
determining how a nominee may be selected and what tasks they may
perform.

Rule 304 - The Share and Enjoy Rule  (Immutable) <2.5.> [ ]
All Players in Thring have a numeric value associated with them,
called points.  Players may only gain or lose points through three
explicit methods:

1) Grants.  A Grant is usually a reward for some behaviour, or choice
   by the Speaker or another Official Position.

2) Payment.  A Payment is usually given in receipt of a service
   rendered.

3) Trade.  A Trade is a transfer of points from one Player or point-
   holding entity in Thring to another.

If a Player's score is more than 90 points higher than the scores of
every other Player, then any positive Grant or Trade shall be
discounted. All changes to a Player's score that are stated in any
Rule are Grants, unless they are explicitly stated as Payments or
Trades.  If any action would bring a player's score to be less than
zero, then that action will instead bring that player's score to zero.

All other forms of transferring points to or from a Player or any
other point-holding entity is illegal, and the trade shall not take
place.

At the beginning of any game of Thring, each player shall have 0
points. Any players joining after the start of the game shall begin
with a score equal to the average of all the current players' scores
(including the Speakers') rounded down to the nearest integer.

Any action of a Player which would result in that Player having a
negative score at that point in time will instead reduce eir score to
zero.

If there is doubt as to the score of a Player, anyone may consult the
Speaker to determine the score of that Player, including any credits
due to em, in order to determine if the action in question would result
in a score becoming negative.

At the very end of each Thring Week, after the score calculations
connected with the results of Voting, all new Grants, Payments and
Trades that are known by the Speaker to have been effected are
accumulated. It is only at that point that the scores of Players and
NPSEs are actually altered. If this alteration makes any Player's
score non-integral, it is instead rounded down to the next integer.

Rule 305 - The Thring Story  (Immutable) <3.3.> [ ]
There shall be a Thring Story, jointly written by all players.  Each
Thring Week, each Player may submit a piece of text to the Storyteller
(an Official Position), which shall be clearly marked as a submission
to the Thring Story.  The Storyteller may, after obtaining permission
from the submitter, alter the submission in order for it to fit in
with the current story and conform to the normal rules of spelling,
syntax and grammar.  The Storyteller may not change the meaning or
intent of the submission.

The Storyteller then chooses, from all the submissions available, eir
favourite one; this shall be appended to the current Thring Story.
The submission is then discarded from the list of available
submissions.  The Player that originally submitted the chosen
submission gains two points.  This procedure is done at the end of the
Thring Week, and the Storyteller then distributes the updated Thring
Story at the start of the new Thring Week to all players.

Submissions that have not been chosen in a Thring Week are not
published, but, instead, be kept by the Storyteller for upcoming
Thring Weeks.  Any submissions being kept will be discarded when
another submission is submitted by the same proposer.

The characters "<P>", in submissions for the Thring Story, shall be
taken to finish the current paragraph and begin a new one.  The
characters "~~~" shall likewise be taken to end the current paragraph,
insert an appropriate break in the text of the Thring Story, and begin
a new paragraph.

The Thring Story in existence at the end of this game of Thring shall
be carried over into the next game of Nomic/Thring.

Rule 326 - of the Wondrous Epithets  (Immutable) <3.4.> [ ]
Each Player shall have an (official) Epithet - for example, our Noble
Speaker may have "the Splendiforous" as an Epithet. The Epithet shall
have no effect except that it is listed after a Player's name on the
list of Scores - for example, "David Wilson the Splendiforous" - though
other effects may be defined by subsequent Rules.

Each Player shall submit an Epithet to the Speaker as soon as possible
after this Rule is accepted. The Speaker can veto any Epithet which is
tasteless, similar to another Player's or otherwise unacceptable, at
the Speaker's discretion; if so, no points are lost, but a new Epithet
must be submitted.  Each Player will gain a point once their Epithet
has been accepted by the Speaker, but suffer no penalties for late
submissions.

Epithets can be changed at any time by resubmitting a new Epithet to
the Speaker; no points will be lost or gained in the process.

Rule 328 - The Birthnames Bill  (Mutable) <1.4.> [Immortal ]
Each Proposal shall have a unique name, chosen by the proposer.

Failure to provide a name results in loss of one point. Proposals may
be referred to by either their name or number. The name of the Proposal
forms part of the Proposal itself. Existing Rules may be provided with
names by later Proposals.

Rule 344 - The "Opposite Proposal Rule" Clarification Rule  (Mutable)
<1.4.> [Immortal ]
Each Thring Week, before distributing the Proposals for that week, the
Speaker shall choose one of the Proposals and create its opposite. The
wording shall be at the Speaker's discretion but it must be legal and
should keep the spirit of being "opposite".

It shall be labelled "Opposite Proposal", distributed with the rest of
the Proposals, and Voted on as usual. Opposite Proposals are always
Philanthropic Gestures.

Rule 381 - Freedom of Information Act  (Mutable) <1.11> [Immortal ]
For the cost of L$5 any Player may make an application to the Speaker
to release information on the game of Thring. At the time of the
application all Players must be notified as to the contents of the
application (but not the result). Whether the information released
becomes widely known is at the applicant's discretion. If the Speaker
does not have the information the L$5 are still forfeited.

Rule 382 - Philanthropic Gestures (Mutable) <1.5.> [Radioactive,  weeks
old]

At the time of making a Proposal any Player may designate that Proposal
to be a "philanthropic gesture". If a Proposal is a philanthropic
gesture, the Player making the Proposal then cannot gain any points as
a direct result of the Vote on that Proposal. The Proposer of a Proposal
that has been designated as a Philanthropic Gesture shall lose no points
as a direct result of the Voting on that Proposal. This Rule overrides
all Rules adjusting Players' scores as a result of Votes on Proposals.

The proposing player may choose that any points that would have been gained
as a direct result of the Vote on the Proposal may choose that those
points, which would have been gained will be donated to the Charity Fund.
The player may do this by designating that the proposal to be a
"philanthropic gesture (charity)".  If the player so designates the
proposal, then any points that would have been lost as a direct result of
the Vote on the Proposal will not be lost by either the player or the
Charity Fund.

Rule 423 - The "No Such Thing as a Free Lunch" Bill  (Mutable) <1.4.>
[Immortal ]
All Proposals to transmute a Rule or amend, enact, repeal or
otherwise change an Immutable rule are considered to be
"Philanthropic Gestures", whether or not they are designated as
such.

Rule 433 - The Appealing Rule  (Mutable) <1.12> [Immortal ]
Within one Thring Week of the making of certain decisions, any Player
may post an Appeal against that decision, directly to all Players. The
Appeal will normally contain the reason(s) why the decision is
believed to be faulty. The Appeal does not imply that a decision is
necessarily illegal - such problems should be dealt with by the Point
of Order and CfJ processes.

Subsequently, the Appeal is treated as a Proposal, of type Other,
subtype Appeal, and is Voted on in the usual way, with the following
exceptions (a) double the normal changes occur to any Players' points
or L$ balance, and (b) the Appeal does not count as a Proposal for the
purposes of determining how many Proposals may be submitted each Week,
since it is not considered to be a submitted Proposal.

This Rule takes precedence over any other relevant Rules except where
such precedence would invalidate the rest of this Rule.

If the Appeal passes, then the decision in question is overturned, any
effects of the decision are reversed, and it shall be as if no
decision had been made in the first place.

Rule 436 - Speaker Slush Fund  (Mutable) <2.5.> [Immortal ]
At the end of each Thring Week, the Speaker can distribute bonus points
to any Players. To award a Player bonus points, the Speaker shall
announce the number of points awarded and a reason for the award. Then
the bonus points will be added to the Player's score. The Speaker may
not distribute more than 5 such points in any Thring Week, and does not
have to distribute all of the 5 points.

An allocation of Slush Fund points is a decision which may be
Appealed under The Appealing Rule (Rule 433.)

Rule 466 - Performance Related Pay  (Mutable) <2.5.> [Immortal ]
At the end of the voting period for a Proposal, the Proposer shall
receive 2F + 1P - 2A points, where F is the number of Votes cast FOR
the Proposal, P is the number of Votes of type 'PASS' assigned to the
Proposal, and A is the number of Votes cast AGAINST it.

This transfer of points is treated as a Payment by Rule 304.

A Player gains L$2 for every Proposal of eirs which is accepted.

Rule 473 - The Electoral Commission and Office of Record Keeping (Mutable)
<3.1.> [Immortal ]
There shall be a duly elected Official Position of Records and Voting
Commissioner (R&VC), which carries with it a salary of two points per
Thring Week. If there is no Records and Voting Commissioner, the
Speaker shall fulfil the responsibilities.

The duties and privileges of the Records and Voting Commissioner are:

In the event of a General Election all Votes for Candidates shall be
made by submitting them to the R&VC who may not reveal them until the
end of the Voting Period. At the end of the Voting Period for the
General Election the R&VC shall tally the Votes and distribute the
total Votes legally cast FOR and AGAINST each candidate to all
Players. In the event of a tie in Voting the R&VC shall issue a
requirement to the Speaker to give eir Casting Vote. The R&VC shall
then declare the Winning Candidate, who shall assume the duties and
privileges of the Official Position immediately.

If at least two other players request it, the R&VC shall call a
General Election for any particular currently occupied Official
Position except that of Speaker. The current Holder of that Official
Position may, but is not obliged to, contest the election, and shall
continue to perform eir duties until the end of the Election.

As part of es function as maintainer of the Offical Positions Officical
Document, the Records & Voting Commisioner will only list those Offical
Positions which exist through the explicit language of a current rule.

Rule 495 - Salaries for Official Positions  (Mutable) <3.1.> [Immortal ]
The default salary for all Official Positions shall be four points per
Thring Week.

If it is decided by the Speaker or by a relevant Judgement that a
player has not fulfilled the duties of an Official Position that e
holds in a Thring Week, e shall not receive eir salary for that
Official Position for that Thring Week.

Any salary paid to the holder of an Official Position is treated as a
Payment by Rule 304.

Rule 496 - The Duties of the Bailiff  (Mutable) <3.5.> [Immortal ]
There shall be a duly elected Official Position of Bailiff.

In addition to duties which may be listed elsewhere in the Rules, the
Bailiff shall have the following duties:


- maintain a list of all past Calls for Judgement and their results,
  and make such a list available to all Players upon request.

Rule 498 - The Duties of the WebMeister  (Mutable) <3.5.> [Immortal ]
That there be an elected Official Position of WebMeister with the duty
of maintaining the Thring presence on the www. The Thring presence must
include a home page, a list of players and their scores, the current
rules, and the Thring Story.

Rule 557 - Thring and InterNomic  (Mutable) <3.7.> [Immortal ]
Thring shall participate in the game known as "InterNomic".

In order to properly participate, there shall be an Official Position
of InterNomic Representative (INR). The salary of the INR shall be two
points per Thring Week.  The INR shall act as the liason of Thring in
the game of InterNomic, and is thus empowered to make decisions within
InterNomic on behalf of Thring. E is required to consult the players
of Thring about every decision which may be controversial and/or
directly affect the game of Thring; if it is considered that e hasn't,
or that e has made the wrong decision, e may be dismissed if any 3
players submit such a petition to the Speaker, and an election held
for the vacant position.

The INR also has the responsibility of deciding to withdraw from
InterNomic if e feels this is appropriate. If there is no INR, the
Speaker may make this decision.

The INR is required to regularly report on the progress of InterNomic,
especially as it applies to Thring.

Rule 567 - Nepotism Decriminalization Act  (Mutable) <3.1.> [Immortal ]
A holder of an Official Position who intends to resign may nominate a
successor. If the successor accepts the position, they gain the title
in place of the old holder, immediately without any election taking
place, and the mailing list shall be informed of this change. If the
successor declines the position, it is declared vacant and an election
is held.

A Player who holds an Official Position may Transfer the holding of
that Position to another Player temporarily if e has that Player's
consent so to do. The Transfer is accomplished by both Players
announcing it on the Thring mailing list.

After the Transfer, the second Player temporarily has all the duties
and responsibilities, abilities and privileges that holding the OP
entails, apart only from the ability to Transfer. (This includes
receiving the salary for this OP if e holds the Position at the time
of the Week at which salaries are paid.)

The Player who has temporarily Transfered the holding of an OP may
later retrieve it with or without the consent of the Player to which
the holding was Transfered. This retrieval is also accomplished by the
Player announcing it on the Thring mailing list.

Rule 568 - Ruleset Contraption  (Mutable) <1.4.> [Immortal ]
At the end of a game of Thring, the past Speaker, may propose to
amalgamate one or more rules.  This is performed as an ordinary
proposal.  An amalgamation of two rules is a process where the text of
one rule is moved into the text of another rule.  However, the rule to
be moved must be clearly a modification or addition to the second rule.
An example would be: a rule defining quorum for a specific case could
be amalgamated into a rule defining quorum generally. In all cases the
rule to be moved must have a higher number than the rule to be added
into.

The intent of the amalgamation must be to merge rules of like purpose
without confusing the ruleset.  The amalgamation shall, in effect,
repeal the higher numbered rule and amend the lower numbered rule.  An
Amalgamation proposal is automatically a Philanthropic Gesture.
Amalgamation proposals always have a 50% Quorum and a 50% majority vote
to pass.

Rule 569 - For a Faster Game of Thring  (Mutable) <1.4.> [Immortal ]
Proposals may be of type 'other' and subtype 'multiple'; they may then
be referred to as 'Multiple Proposals'.

A Multiple Proposal, if accepted, may create and/or change any number
of Mutable Rules as specified in the Proposal. However, it does not
create any rules unless explicitly specified otherwise.  If a Multiple
Proposal affects more than five rules, the proposer of the proposal
loses one point for each rule in excess of five that it affects.

A Multiple proposal may also change the sub-class of any number
of Mutable Rules, as specified in that proposal.

NOTES:

"CfJ #46 found that this Rule specified that "Multiple Proposals" are
actually only a single proposal."

"CfJ #47 found that not all sections of a Multiple Proposal need to be
legal for the proposal as a whole to be legal."

Rule 576 - Limiting Fossilisation  (Mutable) <1.3.> [Immortal ]
There may never be more than 100 Mutable Rules at any one time. A
proposal that, if passed, would cause the total number of Mutable
Rules to exceed 100 shall be deemed invalid.

Rule 578 - Mortal Rules  (Mutable) <1.3.> [Immortal ]
Mortal Rules and Immortal Rules arex subclasses of the Mutable
Rules. Every newly enacted Rule starts as a Mortal Rule by default,
unless some other Rule says otherwise.

Each Mortal Rule has an age in Weeks, which starts at zero when the
Rule is enacted. If a Mortal Rule does not have an age for some
reason, then it shall be given an age of 5 Weeks.

At the end of every Week, the age of each Mortal Rule increases by one
Week. Also, one of the Mutable Rules which are not currently a member
of any sub-class of Rule shall be randomly chosen, and placed into the
Mortal sub-class.

When a Rule is 7 or 8 Weeks old, the Speaker shall draw the attention
of the Players to this fact.

When a Mortal Rule becomes 10 Weeks old, it shall be Repealed. The
Rule shall be said to have expired, or died of old age.

If a Proposal that directly results in the amendment of a Mortal Rule
is passed, that rule shall have its subclass changed to Immortal.

Rule 1005 - Precedence Changing  (Mutable) <1.4.> [Immortal ]
A proposal can be given to change the number of an existing rule, by
supplying the new number of the rule.  If no rule exists with this rule
number, the rule number is changed, and any references to that rule in
the Rule Set will be changed to reflect the new number if necessary.
Any precedence changing proposal needs a 60% majority to pass.

Rule 1013 - Anonymity In Discussions  (Mutable) <3.8.> [Immortal ]
Any Player may send an e-mail explicitly indicated to be an Anonymous
Comment to the Speaker. The Speaker should then endeavour to send an
e-mail with the same (non-header) content to the entire Thring list,
although e need not feel obliged to do this if e does not have enough
time or energy. However, the Speaker may not reveal the identity of the
original sender of the Anonymous Comment until the Thring Week within
which the Anonymous Comment was sent to em has ended.

Rule 1014 - Numbat  (Mutable) <3.9.> [Immortal ]
There shall be a entity known as the Numbat which is not a Player,
but nevertheless may score points and has a score associated to it
(which shall be listed below players' scores each week).

It shall begin with 0 points, and gain 2 points each time a proposal
to change an Immutable rule is passed and 1 point each time a Player
changes eir Thring Profit Organisation. It shall also gain one point
every time its name is mentioned in a proposal.

The Numbat is currently the Mascot of PECT.

Rule 1015 - The Habits of the Numbat  (Mutable) <3.9.> [Immortal ]
At the beginning of each Thring Week, the Speaker shall randomly
choose one Active Player to be the Guardian of the Numbat ("Guardian")
for that week.

During that week, the Guardian may move the Numbat to any Thring
Questing Ground Clearing connected by a single path to the one it
currently resides in. The Numbat need not pass tests.

One third of all points gained by the Guardian that week, rounded
down, shall be transferred to the Numbat. If the Guardian has lost
points overall during the week, one third of this sum (rounded down)
shall be transferred from the Numbat to the Guardian.

During that Thring Week, the Guardian, and only the Guardian, may
designate one of eir three allowed proposals to be a "Numbat Proposal"
by informing the Speaker. The fact that a Proposal is a Numbat
Proposal shall not be publicly known and the Speaker and Proposer are
specifically disallowed from revealing the status of this proposal
until voting on the proposal is complete. This rule takes precedence
over all rules that regulate the revelation of game information.

A Numbat Proposal shall be voted on as if it were an ordinary
proposal, but all points gained or lost by the Proposer shall be
gained or lost by the Numbat instead. The Numbat will then transfer 5%
(rounded down) of its score to the Proposer if the proposal passes, or
take 5% (rounded down) of the Proposer's score if it fails.

If the Numbat has over 200 points, e may declare a General Election by
telling eir Guardian who then tells the R&VC.

Rule 1017 - Definition Of Inactivity  (Mutable) <2.1.> [Immortal ]
All Players in the game of Thring are either Active or
Inactive. Players are Active by default when they first join the game.

A Player may go Active or Inactive by stating that they are doing so
on the Thring list. They may specify the exact time in the future at
which they want their status to change: if no time is given, the time
of the e-mail distribution is used.

If a Voter is Inactive at the end of a Week, but they Voted
earlier in that Week before becoming Inactive, then they are
considered to be Active for the purposes of calculating the result of
the Voting and the scoring for those Votes. Similarly, if they are
Active at the end of a Week, but they did not Vote and were Inactive
earlier in the Week, they are considered to be Inactive for the same
purposes.

There is a new type of Thring Proposal [Type: Other, Subtype:
Inactivate]. Such a Proposal specifies a Player who is to be made
Inactive. The Speaker may not be the subject of the Proposal. If the
Player who is the subject of the Proposal Votes AGAINST the Proposal,
then they remain Active even if the Proposal passes. Proposals of the
Inactivation subtype are always Philanthropic Gestures, and the
Speaker will change the Proposal's status to be such before
distributing the Proposal.

Rule 1021 - Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species  (Mutable)
<1.3.> [Immortal ]
In addition to the existing Mortal subclass of Mutable rules, there
may exist other subclasses of rules. A rule can be in at most one
subclass at a time.

There exists a subtype of proposals of type other, known as
subclass-change; a proposal of this subtype, if adopted, may change the
subclass of a rule, put a rule in a sub-class, or remove a rule from a
sub-class, as specified by that proposal.

Rule 1022 - Marie Curie Rules OK  (Mutable) <1.3.> [Radioactive ]
Radioactive is a valid subclass of mutable rules. No radioactive rule
may be amended.

There shall be a non-player scoring entity known as "the Neutron Count",
whose score is initially set to 0 and increases by the number of
radioactive rules currently in the ruleset each week.

At the end of each Week, the Speaker shall select a random player; the
Neutron Count shall transfer one-quarter of its points to this player.

If there are ever more than 10 radioactive rules, the game is said to
have reached 'critical mass'; the Neutron Count then doubles at the
end of each Week, in addition to any other score changes that may take
place.

Rule 1024 - Mediocrity  (Mutable) <3.9.> [Immortal ]
There shall be a game called Mediocrity that is played Weekly, and an
Official Position of Mediator to referee this game. The Mediator draws
a salary of two points for each Week in which a Mediocrity game is
played. The Mediator may not play in the game of Mediocrity.

Every Week, any Player may choose a natural number and send it to the
Mediator as their entry in that Week's Mediocrity game. Numbers
greater than one hundred shall be considered invalid entries. At the
end of the week, the Mediator shall work out who has won the game and
shall inform all Players of all entries and the winner's identity.  If
no entries are received for the game of Mediocrity in that Week, then
the game is not played in that Week.

The winner of a Mediocrity game is calculated as follows.  If the
number of entries sent in by the end of the Week is even, then the
Mediator will consider an extra entry of 0 to have been made in
addition to the other entries in the Mediocrity game.  The Mediator
then selects the median (the middle value of the ordered series) of
the entries. The unique Player with that median is the winner of the
Mediocrity game; if more than one Player has made the median entry,
the Mediator is the winner. The winner receives a number of points
equal to that median.

Rule 1028 - Make Money Fast!!!  (Mutable) <2.8.> [Immortal ]
Thring shall have it's own unit of currency, the Lewc. (The name puts
the worthy Luke Schubert the Watchful in the same league as all the
Marks and Franks in this world.) The prefix abbreviation "L$" may be
used to denote amounts of this currency. Thus one Thring Lewc may be
written as L$1.

Players may own Lewcs and the amount of Lewcs owned by a Player is
known as their Balance. A Player's Balance is considered to be part of
an Official Document. It is not affected by the end of a Game. When a
new Player joins Thring, they will receive a starting Balance of
L$10. Similarly all Players will receive a starting Balance of L$10
when this Rule is first enacted. Players may use their Lewcs as they
see fit (for example, they may exchange things for Thring goods and
services) with the proviso that a Player may not cause their Balance
to fall below L$0.

By informing the Speaker, a Player may transfer any number of points
to an equivalent number of Lewcs, but not vice versa.

Rule 1033 - Federalism is Alive  (Mutable) <3.7.> [Immortal ]
The Internomic Representative must distribute all Internomic Proposals
on the mailing list of Thring. E must then hold a Ballot to see if
Thring approves of these proposals. The Internomic Representative is
the Collector for this Ballot; only Active Players may Vote; the
Quorum is 25% of all Active Players. If there are twice (or more) as
many votes FOR as AGAINST an Internomic Proposal, Thring shall vote
for that Proposal in Internomic.

Any Active Player of Thring may make a Proposal for Internomic (PfI) by
emailing it to the Internomic Representative. Only one PfI may be made
per Player per Week. The Internomic Representative shall then submit
this Proposal to Internomic, as an Internomic Proposal.

Players receive L$1 if they make a PfI; they receive a further 5 points
and L$3 if this Internomic Proposal is accepted. The Internomic
Representative is ineligible for both awards, though e may make PfI's.

This rule takes precedence over Rule 557.

Rule 1040 - The Devil's Advocate  (Mutable) <1.10> [Radioactive ]
Every time a Call for Judgement is made, the Bailiff shall randomly
appoint a Devil's Advocate from the list of eligible active players
excluding the judge. The appointed player may decline, in which case the
Bailiff shall randomly appoint someone else.

The Devil's Advocate should post to the mailing list an argument for
ruling the judgment FALSE before the judgment is made. This carries a 3
point reward.

Rule 1041 - Hero-ens Of Thring  (Mutable) <3.11> [Immortal ]
There shall be a Questing Ground, consisting of Clearings and Paths
between Clearings. Players are considered to be in one of these
Clearings, and may move between them on Paths, subject to the
following conditions. The Numbat is also considered to be in one of
these Clearings, and may move between them on Paths, at the whim of
the Guardian of the Numbat. The Numbat need never complete any Tests,
and receives no Rewards. The Numbat may never move to YQE.

To move between Clearings, a Player must email the Questmaster and
state which Clearing e wishes to move to (hereafter known as "the
Target"). A Player can only move to the Target if there is a Path from
the Clearing e is currently in to the Target, and if e has not yet
moved that Week. If so, when the Player passes the Test for the
Target, then e enters it.  The Player then receives the Reward
associated with the Target. All Rewards are considered to be Payments
unless otherwise specified.

Alternatively, rather than making eir move for the Week via a Path, a
Player may choose any Clearing as eir destination and Clap Eir
Hands. The Player is then transported automatically to that Clearing,
unless their is currently some other Character in the Clearing. This
restriction does not apply if the destination Clearing is "Your Quest
Begins."  A Player Claps Eir Hands by telling the Questmaster that e
wishes to do so and informing the Questmaster of eir destination.

All Characters have a "Hit Points" attribute, being a numerical
value that is stored within the Questing Ground Official Document.
Upon the passing of this Proposal, all Characters shall have their
Hit Points set to 20. If a Player's Hit Points ever reach or fall
below zero, that Player is killed - e immediately loses ten Thring
Points, has eir Hit Points raised to 20 and is moved to YQB. If
the Numbat's Hit Points ever reach or fall below zero, it is
killed - the Numbat immediately loses ten Thring Points, has its
Hit Points raised to 20 and is moved to the Numbat's Lair. If a
Player is killed by another Player, the killing Player gains ten
Thring Points, and all of eir victim's Lewcs. If a Player kills
the Numbat, e gains twenty Thring Points and L$25.

A Player may attack any single Character in the same Clearing
as em; the victim loses 2HP. If the Numbat finds itself in a
Clearing with at least one other Character, the Numbat attacks one
of those Players at random; the victim loses 4HP. Characters may
only make one attack per Thring Week. Characters may not make attacks in
"Your Quest Begins" or any other
clearing which specifically states that characters may not attack in it.
The Guardian
of the Numbat will never be attacked by the Numbat.

The Numbat starts play in the "Numbat's Lair" Clearing (currently
being proposed as a new clearing - if it doesn't get built by the time
these amendments are made, the Numbat starts play in the "Your Quest
Begins" Clearing).

Each Clearing consists of a Desc (short for description), Test,
Reward, and (one-way) Paths leading out from it.

There shall be the Official Position of Questmaster, whose
duties include the following:
* keeping track of which Clearing each Player is on;
* judging whether Players fulfil the necessary Tests;
* supplying to Players, on request, the Questing Ground; supplying
  to Players, at the beginning of each Week, the Abbreviated Questing
  Ground.

The Questing Ground consists of all currently defined Clearings
and which Clearing each Player is on, and is an Official Document.

The Abbreviated Questing Ground (or AQG) consists of the name and
Paths of each Clearing, the full details of new Clearings added in the
previous Week, the full details of any other Clearings the Questmaster
thinks are relevant, and the names, Locations, and Intentions (or
Targets) of all Players. (The Intention of a Player is the Clearing
which a Player intends to move to; "none" if the Questmaster is not
aware of any such intention of that Player.) The AQG is an Official
Document, but the full details of Clearings may be added or subtracted
by the Questmaster at will.

Players may propose new Clearings in the Questing Ground by notifying the
Questmaster.  The player must supply all the constituents of a Clearing
(as listed above) for this proposal to be valid.  If the Questmaster
decides that the proposed Clearing will benefit the Questing Ground by its
inclusion, and does not conflict with any other Clearings (in whatever
manner the Questmaster sees fit) then the Questmaster will add the proposed
Clearing to the Questing Ground.

The Questmaster can then Grant the player who proposed the Clearing between
zero and three points.  The number of points Granted is to be proportional
to the cumulative benefit of the addition of the Clearing to the Questing
Ground in the Questmaster's opinion.  As guidelines, three points would be
given for an outstandingly clever and useful addition, while zero points
would be given if the Clearing was mundane and serving only the most
trivial expediency.

A Player may also propose one or more new Paths by emailing the
Questmaster. The Questmaster shall accept or reject each Path
individually; if a Path is accepted, then it is added to the
appropriate Clearing. There are no bonuses as such for proposing
Paths. All decisions made by the Questmaster under the provisions of
this Rule may be Appealed under The Appealing Rule (Rule 433.)

The Questmaster is free to edit and correct the Description texts
of the Clearings as e sees fit, provided that the Player who
originally proposed the Clearing does not object.

The term "Character" refers to any Player or Non-Player-Scoring
Entity present in the Questing Ground. The term "Thring Points"
refers to a Player's score in the Game of Thring, and such a
phrase is used to avoid confusion with Hit Points.

NOTES:
"CfJ #48 found that when a Player is transported to a Questing Ground
Clearing by Clapping Their Hands, they do not have to take the Test
for that Clearing, and neither can they receive the Reward for passing
that Test."

Rule 1052 - Questing Ribbons  (Mutable) <3.11> [Immortal ]
There shall be Questing Ribbons.

Each Ribbon can only be either of one of the following types: Eternity,
Service, Power, Wit; or of a type specified in other Rules.

Players can own at most one Questing Ribbon of each Type. Owning a
Ribbon has no explicit effect.

Questing Ribbons can only be obtained as a Reward for entering certain
Clearings, or through trades between Players. To give a Ribbon to
another Player, a Player must email the Questmaster and specify the
other Player and the type of Ribbon to be traded. A Player may earn a
Ribbon as a Reward only if e has not Clapped Eir Hands since eir last
visit to the Clearing "Your Quest Begins."

The Questmaster is responsible for noting which types of Ribbon each
Player owns; this information is an Official Document, and shall be
made available to Players once per Week or on request.

Rule 1054 - Temporal Continuity Act (Mutable) <1.7.> [Immortal ]
All modifications to game entities, even those made in error, may be
decided to have become legal and in accordance with the Rules after a
period of one Thring Week has elapsed. In particular, erroneous states
of player scores and misapplications of rules by holders of Official
Positions may be left to stand following the passage of one full
Thring Week from the time of their publication on the mailing list,
should no correction or challenge to their validity be published
before that time. The decision that such retroactive corrections are
not allowed may be Appealed under the terms of Rule 433 (The Appealing
Rule.)

NOTES:

In CfJ #49, it was found that the observation (in fact, the existence)
of an error in a document published by the Speaker meant that the
document published was not an Official Document.

In CfJ#50, it was found that the presence of an error in a document
published by the Speaker means that the document published could be
an Official Document after that error has gone unobserved for more
than 1 week.

Rule 1057 - All Point-Holding Entities Are Equal  (Mutable) <3.12>
[Immortal ]
The Rules do not specify that only Voters may make Votes.  Therefore,
non-player scoring entities (NPSEs) may vote on proposals if
and only if the circumstances and manner of their voting is well
defined in the Rules, and a player informs the Speaker of this
vote. Votes cast by NPSEs do not count towards Quorum. Only one vote
per proposal may be made by any NPSE.

Rule 1059 - The Kangaroo Court Clause  (Mutable) <1.10> [Immortal ]
A Call For Judgement may not by verdict punish, penalize, or reward
the Speaker or a player except where expressly allowed by the rules.

Rule 1060 - Official Document Red Tape  (Mutable) <1.7.> [Immortal ]
The following shall be described by Official Documents.
 1. Scores of NPSEs

 2. Player's Epithets

 3. Player's Activity statuses

 4. The list of Official Positions, their holders, and any salaries
    paid for these Positions

 5. Points of Order

 6. CfJs, Statements for Judgement, assignments of Judges and the
    Judgements that they make, assignments of Devil's Advocates
    and the arguments that they present, and the list of Players who
    do not wish to make Judgements.

 7. The Thring Story, and sentences submitted for the Story.

 8. Definitions, moves, and league tables in the Colour-Country game.

 9. Entries, declarations of Entry, and Uncoverings in the Treasure
    Hiding Game.

10. Entries in the Mediocrity Game.

11. The possesion of Useful Items by Players

13. The Rules

14. Player's scores

15. Proposals submitted

16. Votes cast on Proposals and voting records

17. The list of current Players

18. Declarations of Candidature

19. Declarations of Victory

20. TPO memberships

22. The Questing Ground

23. Ownership of Questing Ribbons

24. The Past Winners Official Document

25. Player's Mana

These Official Documents are maintained by the Speaker with the
exception of

 4. maintained by the R&VC.

 6. maintained by the Bailiff.

 7. maintained by the Storyteller.

 8. maintained by the OTCCGSR.

 9. maintained by the Hidden Treasurer.

10. maintained by the Mediator.

11. maintained by the Medium

18. maintained by the candidate.

19. maintained by the R&VC.

22. maintained by the Questmaster.

23. maintained by the Questmaster.

If a rule creates or describes an official document (OD) not listed as
such in the body of rule 1060 (Official Document Red Tape) then the
name of that document shall be appended to the OD list in rule 1060,
and any pertinent information as to the maintenance page shall be
added also to rule 1060.

Specifically, if all rules that creates or describes a specific official
document (OD) listed  in the body of rule 1060 (Official Document Red Tape)
have been repealed then the name of that document shall be removed from OD
list in rule 1060.

Rule 1062 - Parlez-Vous Thring?  (Mutable) <1.6.> [Immortal ]
Within the Rules and other Official Documents, most words and phrases
should be given the interpretation they normally have in the English
language. However, some words and phrases may be explicitly redefined
within Official Documents to have a special interpretation in the game
of Thring. In particular, the capitalisation of a term tends to mean
that it is being used with some special Thring-specific interpretation
in mind. However, such capitalisation is not a necessity and
Thring-specific definitions for such words and phrases should also be
used when it seems more natural to do so.

Unless otherwise indicated, when a choice is specified to be made at
random, the intended meaning is that each possible selection should
have an equal probability of being chosen.

The Spivak terms "e", "em", "eir", "eirs", and "emself" should be
interpreted as gender-neutral third person pronouns which are the
singular variants of their plural counterparts "they", "them",
"their", "theirs", and "themselves" respectively.

If some Thring entity is specified to be an Official Document, then
unless otherwise indicated this should be taken to mean that there is
an Official Document the contents of which describe the status of the
Thring entity in question.

Rule 1063 - Thringset Reform Rule  (Mutable) <1.3.> [Immortal ]
There is an Official Document consisting of a
hierarchy of categories and an assignment of a primary category and an
optional collection of secondary categories to each Rule in the Rule
set. The Speaker should maintain this OD and have the power
to change it as appropriate; decisions concerning all changes
should be Appealable under Rule 433.

New Enactment Proposals should be accompanied by a category to place
the Rule in if the Proposal passes; this can be a new category if so
desired, in which case its place in the hierarchy should be specified,
and other Rules that should have this new category as one of their
secondary categories should be suggested. If this information is not
provided by the Proposer the Speaker should fill it in as appropriate
instead.

The Speaker should maintain a complete listing of the Rules sorted by
primary category and with each Rule listed by title under any
secondary categories to which it may belong, based on the above OD and
the Official Rule set, and make it available as e does the Rules OD.

Rule 1065 - This Is For Real  (Mutable) <1.6.> [Immortal ]
Unless otherwise specified, the numerical values associated with
Thring entities are real values.

It is recognised that dealing with arbitrary real numbers can be
impractical. Therefore some lassitude is allowed in the accuracy to
which these entities need to be calculated and recorded.

Unless otherwise specified, these values need only be calculated and
recorded to an accuracy of three decimal points, although greater
accuracy is allowed if the calculater or recorder so desires. Rounding
should be to the closest rounded value, or to the lower if the score
being rounded is midway between the two closest rounded values.

For values of entities measured in Lewcs (such as Balances) this
requirement is weakened to two decimal points.

Rule 1066 - We've Got A Little List  (Mutable) <2.1.> [Immortal ]
To help the Players communicate there exists an electronic mailing
list. References to "the Thring mailing list" and similar phrases in
Official Documents are understood to refer to this electronic mailing
list.

It is every Player's responsibility to try to maintain eir
subscription to this list. For the purposes of fulfilling the
requirement of sending e-mail to all Players, a Player may assume that
every other Player is so subscribed to the mailing list, and therefore
on such occasions it suffices to send the e-mail to the mailing
list. Similarly, a requirement to send e-mail to the list may be
discharged by sending it instead to the individual e-mail addresses of
all current Players.

Unless they have specified otherwise, any Inactive Player who remains
unsubscribed from the mailing list for a period of more than four
Thring Weeks is understood to have ceased playing the game of Thring.

The Universal Resource Locator of the list is currently
<URL:mailto:Thring@iagu.net>.

Rule 1069 - The Historian Of Thring  (Mutable) <3.15> [Immortal ]
There shall exist the official position of Thring Historian.  Eir
duties shall consist of observing the events of Thring each Thring
week and recording the narrative of those events.  The Thring
Historian shall then post these recordings to the Thring mailing list
upon completion. E shall also preserve an archive of present and past
histories to be made available to the players and the public either
upon request or on the World Wide Web.

The salary of the Thring Historian shall be at the discretion of the
Speaker, but shall be no less than two points every thring week.

Rule 1071 - Join Us, Join Us...  (Mutable) <2.1.> [Radioactive, 8 weeks
old]

Every new Player that joins the Game of Thring may, if they wish,
nominate any Active Player besides emself as being "the person who
persuaded em to play" - that Player receives ten Points and ten
Lewcs.

Once this award has been made once, it cannot be made again as a
result of the same Player joining again on any future occasions.

Every old Player who leaves the Game of Thring may, if they wish,
nominate any Active Player besides emself as being "the person who
persuaded em to leave" - that Player loses ten Points and ten
Lewcs.

Once this penalty has been taken once, it cannot be taken again as a
result of the same Player leaving again on any future occasions.

Rule 1075 - Past Winners (Mutable) <2.3.> [Mortal, 8 weeks old]


There shall be an Official Document known as "The Past Winners Official
Document", listing the Winners of all previous games of Thring, along with
the date at which they won and a brief paragraph (written by the Winner)
detailing how they came to Win.

Rule 1076 - Repeal Fodder (Mutable) <3.13> [Mortal, 8 weeks old]

If this Rule is Repealed, the Player who made the Proposal to Repeal it (or
 who caused the proposal to be Repealed by some other means) receives
twenty points.

Rule 1077 - The Word We Cannot Hear (Mutable) <3.13> [Immortal ]
At the beginning of every Thring Week, the Speaker picks a word at
random from the Ruleset. This Word is known as the "Word We Cannot
Hear" for the duration of that Week - any Proposals made which
contain the Word We Cannot Hear within their Proposal text (the
entirety of the Proposal, excluding the title text) are deemed
invalid.

If the Word We Cannot Hear has less than four letters, the Speaker
should select a replacement immediately.

Rule 1078 - Magic: The Gathring (Mutable) <3.17> [Mortal, 7 weeks old]

There shall be a property known as Mana, possessed by each of the Players.
A Player's Mana is a positive integer number between zero and 999, detailed
each Week in the Scores Official Document. If a Player's Mana is less than
three digits in length, it should have extra zeroes appended to the start
of
it to bring it up to three characters, when being listed in a Document.

There are three Colours of Mana - Red, Green and Blue. The first digit of a
Player's Mana indicates the amount of Red Mana e has, the second indicates
Green, the third Blue.

At the start of each Week, each Player receives one Mana of each Colour,
provided that eir total Mana for that Colour is less than nine.

At any time during the Thring Week, a Player may Cast a Spell by declaring
such an intention on the Mailing List. Spells can only be cast if they are
listed in the table in the "Spell Table" Rule, and if the Casting Player
has
the required Mana to Cast them. Once a Spell has been Cast, the Casting
Player's Mana totals are reduced accordingly. Some Spells require targets
to be specified - these must be stated in the Mailing List message in which
the Spell is Cast.

Rule 1079 - Spell table (Mutable) <3.17> [Mortal, 7 weeks old]

The table below lists Spells that can be Cast. The Casting Cost shows the
Mana of each Colour required, with "A" indicating "Mana of any Colour" (in
such a case, the Casting Player should specify the Mana being used). For
example, "1B2A" indicates "One Blue, Two of any Colour". "1RxA" indicates
"One Red, x of any Colour", where "x" is a positive integer number of the
Casting Player's choosing.

Bias (1B)
  Target Proposal receives an extra Vote of the Caster's choice, this Week.
  Each Player may cast only one Bias Spell per Week.

Charm Numbat (2B1A)
  Target Player becomes Guardian of the Numbat.

Counter Spell (2B)
  Any Spells targetted at the specified Player for the rest of the current
  Week have no effect.

Enrage Numbat (3G1A)
  The Numbat immediately claims 'n' points from the Guardian of the Numbat,
  where 'n' is one fifth of the Guardian's Score.

Fireball (1RxA)
  Target Player loses 5x Points.

Irradiate (1R)
  Target Rule becomes Radioactive.

Spirit Link (2G1B)
  Two target Players are selected - A and B. At the end of the current
Thring
  Week, Player B loses or gains however many points Player A lost or gained
  during that Week, in addition to eir own score changes. Player A and
  Player B may not be the same Player.

Stream of Life (1GxA)
  Target Player gains 5x Points.

Finger of Death (9R9B9G)
  Target Player becomes Dead.
Raise Dead (9G)
  Target Player becomes Alive.

Rule 1080 - Death (Mutable) <3.21> [Mortal, 7 weeks old]

All Players in the Game of Thring are either Alive or Dead. At the start
of each new Game and upon Enactment of this Rule, all Players are Alive.
When a new Player joins the game, e is Alive.

If only one Player is Alive, e is the Winner. If all Players are Dead,
all Players become Alive and the Game continues.

At the end of each Week, the following checks are made to see if any
Players have Died or been Reborn. Death checks are made first,
followed by Alive checks.

A Player becomes Dead if any of the following conditions are met:-

   *  E has zero points.

   *  E fulfils any criteria for Death specified in other Rules.

A Player becomes Alive if any of the following conditions are met:-

   *  E has more Points than all other Players.

   *  E fulfils any criteria for Life specified in other Rules.

Rule 1081 - Speaker Veto (Mutable) <1.4.> [Mortal, 7 weeks old]

The Speaker may only vote on one proposal per Thring week and then only
AGAINST the proposal.

Any proposal which the Speaker which the speaker votes against will fail
unless votes FOR the proposal are greater than twice the votes AGAINST the
proposal (Speaker's vote included.)

If the Speaker votes AGAINST a proposal which received more votes FOR than
AGAINST, then the proposal may be automatically  resubmitted by the
proposer with the same proposal number and voted on the week following it
orignal rejection.

Rule 1082 - Partners in Crime (Mutable) <3.17> [Mortal, 7 weeks old]

Each Player who does not currently have a Partner in Crime may select any
other Player to be eir Partner in Crime, providing that this Player does
not already have a Partner in Crime, and that this Player does not object
to being the Player's Partner in Crime.

At the end of each Thring Week, if a Player has a Partner in Crime, e
gains Points equal to one third of the points gained by eir Partner in
Crime that Week (excluding the Points eir Partner gains from this
Rule). E also loses Points equal to one third of the points lost by eir
Partner in Crime that Week (excluding the Points eir Partner loses from
this Rule).

A Player may abandon eir Partner in Crime at any time by announcing this
fact on the Mailing List. The abandoning does not take effect until the
beginning of the next Week, at which point both Partners will cease to
have a Partner in Crime allocated to them.
Details of Players' Partners in Crime should be listed in the Scores
Official Document.

Rule 1084 - Free, Open & Fair Trade Rule (Mutable) <2.5.> [Mortal, 6 weeks
old]

If a rule specifies adherence to this rule, then this rule will apply to
the commerce of negotiables within the scope of the referring rule.

A transaction in which some negotiable, which shall hence be referred to as
the currency and a another negotiable, which shall be referred to as the
commodity, is made in adherence to this rule if it is determined to be free
open and fair.

Free trade in this context is the condition where all who possess the
currency being demanded are permitted to offer a quantity of the currency
for the commodity being offered. And all who possess the commodity in
demand are permitted to offer bids in the currency for possession of the
commodity. The only allowable stipulations are by the commodity holder, who
may specify an minimum quanity of the currency and by the rule which sets
up trade, which may specify minimun lots of either negotiable.

Open trade in the context means that offers are made publicly on the
mailing list.

Fair trade means that the best valid offer must be accepted by the offerer,
which therefore means that a non-ambigious method must exist for
determining what is the best offer and what is a valid offer.

The terms Free, Open, and Fair trade is implicitly referential to this
rule.
FOF Trade is an acceptable abbreviation for Free, Open and Fair trade.


Rule 1085 - Charity (Mutable) <2.7.> [Immortal ]
    There will exist a Non-Player Scoring Entity which will be called
Charity Fund.  The sole purpose of this is to store monies and points to
give to impoverished Players.  The amounts of monies and points which are
held by the Charity Fund shall be made public via an Official Document
called the Charity Fund Balance Sheet.

     There shall be a duly elected Official Position of Charity Fund
Administrator which carries with it a salary of one (1) point per Thring
Week.  If there is no Charity Fund Administrator the position does not
revert to the Speaker but will remain vacant.  During this vacancy, the no
donations to or disbursements from the Charity Fund can take place.

     The duties of the Charity Fund Administrator are:
     1. To keep up-to-date, the Charity Fund Balance Sheet (an official
        document)

     2. To determine who the neediest Player(s) are at the end of a Thring
        week and to give to them a disbursement of points and/or Lewcs
        from the Charity Fund.  This will be done anytime after the
        Speaker posts the scores of the Players and before the end of the
        Thring Week.  A Player who is neediest with regards to points and
        one who is neediest with regards to Lewcs shall be determined
        seperately.

     3. Accept donations of Lewcs or points from any Player to the Charity
        Fund.

     The manner of the disbursement shall be as follows:   The neediest
Player shall be the Player with the lowest amount of points or Lewcs.
That Player shall be given a Grant of one quarter (0.25) of the points or
Lewcs
which are currently held by the Charity Fund.  If a Player is neediest of
points, they will recieve a disbursement of points.  If a Playeris neediest
of Lewcs, they will recieve a disbursement of Lewcs.

     Any Player may make a donation (which will be tax-deductable, when and
if there are rules defining this) to the Charity Fund by telling the
Charity Fund Administrator the amount that they wish to donate (These
transfers
shall be Grants).  The Charity Fund Administrator will notify the Speaker
of this
Grant so that the appropriate Official Documents can be updated.  The
donation will be a private matter unless the donator wishes it to be
public.   If
so, the Charity Fund Administrator will make a public statement announcing
the
donation to the Throng via the email list.

Rule 1088 - Speaker's Clerk (Mutable) <3.15> [Mortal, 5 weeks old]

"There shall exist the official position of Speaker's Clerk, which shall be
simply listed as 'Clerk' in the Roster.  Eir duties shall consist of
compiling the ruleset and observing the rules which are seven or eight
weeks old ('Die Mortal' rules) each Thring week following the publication
of the voting result.  The Speaker's clerk shall then submit eir draft of
the ruleset and the 'Die Moral' rules to the Speaker. The Speaker may
correct any errors in the draft, return the draft to the Clerk for further
revision, or publish the document.

The salary of the Speaker's Clerk shall be zero points per Thring Week if
the position is held by the Speaker, 1 point per Thring Week if held by the
Records & Voting Comissioner (unless the R&VC is also the Speaker, in which
case the salary shall be zero points per Thring Week), or otherwise three
points per Thring week."

Rule 1089 - Speaker's Bookkeeper (Mutable) <3.15> [Mortal, 5 weeks old]

"There shall exist the official position of Speaker's Bookkeeper, which
shall be simply listed as 'Bookkeeper' in the Roster.  Eir duty shall
consist of  compiling the Score document each Thring week following the
publication of the voting result.  Towards this end, the Speaker's
Bookkeeper may request or receive any pertinent information fromt the
Speaker. The Bookkeeper shall then submit eir draft of the Score document
to the Speaker. The Speaker may correct any errors in the draft, return the
draft to the Bookkeeper for further revision, or publish the document.

The salary of the Speaker's Bookkeeper shall be zero points per Thring Week
if the position is held by the Speaker, 1 point per Thring Week if held by
the Records & Voting Comissioner (unless the R&VC is also the Speaker, in
which case the salary shall be zero points per Thring Week), or otherwise
three points per Thring week."

Rule 1090 - Speaker's Registrar (Mutable) <3.15> [Immortal ]
There shall exist the official position of Speaker's Registrar, which
shall be simply listed as 'Registrar' in the Roster.  Eir duty shall
consist of  compiling the Roster each Thring week following the publication
of the Score. The Registrar shall then submit eir draft of the Roster
document to the Speaker. The Speaker may correct any errors in the draft,
return the draft to the Registrar for further revision, or publish the
document.

The salary of the Speaker's Registrar shall be zero points per Thring Week
if the position is held by the Speaker, 1 point per Thring Week if held by
the Records & Voting Comissioner (unless the R&VC is also the Speaker, in
which case the salary shall be zero points per Thring Week), or otherwise
three points per Thring week.

Rule 1091 - Positive Feedback (Mutable) <1.3.> [Immortal ]
 Any Player who by Proposal enacts a Radioactive Rule, or by any other
direct means (such as Proposal or Spell-Casting) makes a Rule
Radioactive that previously was not Radioactive, receives points in
number equal to the Neutron Count.

Rule 1092 - Radioactive Decay (Mutable) <1.4.> [Radioactive,  weeks old]

If at the end of a Week the number of Radioactive Rules exceeds 13;
  one  such rule (selected randomly by the Speaker) shall be changed
  from Radioactive to Mortal.  Its age will be between 0 and 5 weeks,
  determined randomly by the Speaker.

Rule 1093 - A Tidier Ruleset (Mutable) <1.61> [Immortal ]
The ASCII edition of the Thring Ruleset shall be reformatted according to
the following guidelines. This Rule shall then Repeal itself.

   * Every line listing a Rule title shall have a single blank line before
     and after it.

   * All paragraphs shall have a single blank line between them.

   * (At the Speaker's discretion:) All lines except Rule titles shall be
     indented by three spaces.