The Commonverse is an inherently democratic and consensus-based roleplay based around participatory decision-making. Decision-making is determined first from the Pacific’s Empress, then by the will of active RP participants, which is executed through assistance from the Pacific’s Internal Affairs Branch and Roleplaying Office.
To do this, the RP has the following structure:
All shared world-building decisions, in-character rulings, and decisions around the RMB RP Compact will be directly decided upon by popular consensus. A full listing of things that fall under the purview of popular consensus can be found in Section II -- ‘Shared Worldbuilding.’
A small ‘Overseer’s Council’ will handle the administrative and visual needs of the RP. A full listing of the checks, balances, and duties of the Overseer’s Council can be found in Section III -- ‘The Council.’
The Roleplaying Office facilitates the democratic process, handles public communications with the Pacific, and serves as an advisory role to the Council. A full listing of the checks, balances, and duties of the Roleplaying Office can be found in Section IV -- ‘The Roleplaying Office.’
The world of Enessa is one built by the roleplayers -- so rules and shared worldbuilding questions will be determined by the roleplayers as well. This includes:
Amendments to the RP Compact;
The meaning of NationStates stats, policies, and categorizations in the RP;
The actions of non-player controlled nations or inactive nations;
The creation of new non-player controlled nations;
The role and restrictiveness of ‘realism’ in the shared world;
The desirability of certain technologies, phenomena, or themes in the RP world;
Global organizations and historical events.
In general, Commonverse will embody a non-restrictive form of RP that allows the fullest range of expression. This means that anything popular consensus has not explicitly agreed to restrict will be allowed in the RP; however, it is encouraged to ask for consensus before pursuing radical themes, technologies, or powers to prevent large-scale debates.
Deliberation for each shared worldbuilding question will take place on discord threads, compiled on a channel called #Shared_Worldbuilding in the RP server.
All participating roleplayers may bring a proposal to the Roleplaying Office Department Head, who must present that proposal to #Shared_Worldbuilding. There will then be a three-day long deliberation session where all members can present arguments and potential options to the table, to be compiled by the Roleplaying Office Department Head (see: Section IV). After three days, the Roleplaying Office Department Head will organize a referendum on #Shared_Worldbuilding with a three-day voting period. The option with the most votes will become the consensus-based RP rule.
If there is a complete tie, the Overseer’s Council will vote on the motion to break the tie.
Popular consensus can repeal a decision the roleplayers previously voted on as times change.
The Overseer’s Council has the duty to take on the administrative, visual, and mentorship needs of the RP. These roles -- and these roles only -- fall under the purview and powers of the council:
Map-making -- the Overseer’s Council is responsible for updating the shared Pacific RMB Map, mapping all participating nations and keeping track of map claims for interested nations.
Recruitment -- Overseers will be in regular contact with interested participants in the RP, guide them through the map inclusion process, and provide balanced feedback on concepts, posts, and factbooks if prompted. In accordance with Section II, overseers are not to judge an applicant or a nation concept based on its in-character worldbuilding or feasibility outside of an advisory capacity, as this falls under the purview of popular consensus.
Moderation -- Overseers may make short-term moderation calls, temporarily putting a plot on pause if there is a RP-related rule violation, a community rule violation, or a consent violation. To take fully permanent actions surrounding RP-related questions, popular consensus will be required; community safekeeping is ultimately handled by the moderators of the Pacific. Meanwhile, individual consent is an inalienable right for all roleplayers in the Commonverse.
As of present, the Council shall be composed of three members.
For convenience’s sake, the map-maker, who shall hold the primary responsibility to update map claims, will permanently hold their seat, barring a popular vote of no confidence, inactivity, or a decree from the New Pacific Order.
The other two seats of the council will be popularly elected every six months. The voting period will last three days. Additionally, there will be a one-week transition period between offices.
To get elected into the Overseer Council, a roleplayer must publicly declare their intention to run on (#commonverse) in the RP Discord and inform the Roleplaying Office Department Head at least one week ahead of the elections. Their name will then go on an anonymous ballot. A ranked choice voting system will be used to elect the two representative council members.
All overseer candidates must have at least two months of experience in the RP. In addition, they cannot have community moderation warnings at the time of their candidacy.
All participating roleplayers are welcome and encouraged to vote.
Overseers are subject to all decisions and restrictions made by the overseer council and popular consensus, with no exceptions.
Overseer Council decisions in map-making and moderation can be repealed by popular consensus. To do this, any participating roleplayer may publicly or anonymously motion for a specific decision to be overridden. The Roleplaying Office will then hold a 3-day referendum that all roleplayers can anonymously participate in. To override a council decision, at least 2/3rds of all total collected votes must be to repeal.
A vote of no-confidence can be held for anyone in the Overseer Council. To start a vote of no-confidence, any participating roleplayer may anonymously motion to start a vote of no-confidence to the Roleplaying Office Department Head. The Roleplaying Office will then hold a one-week referendum that all roleplayers can anonymously participate in. A vote of no-confidence requires at least 3/4th of all collected votes to be no confidence.
Overseer Council deliberations shall take place on a channel called #Overseer_Council, on the RP Discord.
In the Commonverse, the Roleplaying Office has the duty to organize the electoral processes for the popular consensus and relay any community-wide communications with the New Pacific Order. The Roleplaying Office is led by the Roleplaying Office Department Head, who is directly appointed and retired by the Pacific’s Senate and the Internal Affairs Department.
The Roleplaying Office Department Head will do the following to ensure a fair democratic process in shared worldbuilding:
Create open discussion threads for all requested shared world-building decisions and post them on the channel #Shared_Worldbuilding.
Host Discord-Based polls for each issue under deliberation, after the week-long deliberative process has passed.
Compile previous consensus-based decisions.
For ease of reading deliberations to those short on time, pin one message from any participating roleplayer to a deliberation thread, explaining their position on the issue at hand.
Keep shared world-building discussions on track.
The Roleplaying Office Department Head may not hold a seat on the Overseer_Council nor publicly endorse a candidate for the Overseer’s Council.
However, they may make advisory arguments in #Overseer_Council.
The Roleplaying Office Department Head may share personal opinions or potential solutions on an issue under deliberation. However, to make sure all arguments will be heard in equal merit, they must wait either for 24 hours or at least two other players to have typed first.
The Roleplaying Office Department Head is subject to all decisions and restrictions made by the overseer council and popular consensus that pertain to shared worldbuilding.
If desired, participating or prospective roleplaying members may anonymously address concerns to the Roleplaying Office Department Head by requesting a member of the Oversight Council to anonymously relay a message on their behalf.
To formally gain a place on the shared map, nations should meet all of these criteria:
Nations must communicate their desire to join the shared map to the Oversight Council. The Oversight Council will then work with the interested nation to help them through the rest of the process.
Nations must be endorsing the Delegate of the Pacific or have a puppet nation that is doing so, with exemptions for Legio-related work.
Nations must have resided in the Pacific for at least two active weeks, to ensure commitment to the roleplaying scene on what could be desired map space.
Nations must have their desired place on the map approved by the Oversight Council.
In addition, nations should meet one of these two criteria:
Nations must make at least four in-character posts on the RMB, of at least two-to-three sentences. Upon full acceptance, these posts will all be a part of Commonverse canon, including participation in shared plots.
Nations must make at least two in-character posts and have one in-character factbook or dispatch. Upon full acceptance, these posts and factbook will all be a part of Commonverse canon, including participation in shared plots.
After these criteria are met:
The Oversight Council will hold a vote on accepting, holding, or denying the interested nation based on their character, residency, and claims. Generally, the council should vote to accept all members unless there is a pressing and immediate concern that would require otherwise. A supermajority in the council, defined as a 2:1 ratio for accept, will finish this part of the process.
The general public will then be given a 48-hour period to either publicly or anonymously raise any major concerns to the Roleplaying Office.
However, one is encouraged to engage in all Commonverse plots and write to their heart’s content even before the map is updated to include their nation! This process is ultimately meant to be inclusive as it helps guide new and interested roleplayers into the Pacific’s RMB RP scene with the quickest turn-around time possible.
All community based guidelines for the New Pacific Order apply for Commonverse. These guidelines can be boiled down to acting in good faith, keeping posts PG-13, and not making out-of-character discriminatory remarks towards anyone.
In addition, the following guidelines should apply to foster the highly cooperative nature of RP:
Avoid God-Modding, or the act of claiming unfeasible and noninteractive levels of invincibility or near-invincibility, especially surrounding (but not limited to) matters regarding military conflicts, comparisons, or equipment.
Keep in mind what your nation and its people would know in-character, as opposed to out-of-character, and make sure each action has some sort of in-character justification.
Finally, the concept of consent is inalienable to every roleplayer. In the roleplaying context, consent is the idea that a different roleplayer may not take an action that directly impacts one’s nation without the prior out-of-character agreement of both players involved.
For example, Nation A may not unilaterally launch a surprise cyber attack on Nation B if Player A has not agreed with Player B on what the consequences and portrayal of that surprise cyber attack would be.
For this reason, it is highly encouraged that international conflicts be coordinated out-of-character before they are roleplayed out on the boards.
NPCs do not have to consent by default. However, as they are part of shared worldbuilding, major plotlines and activities involving NPCs require popular consensus first.
The Most Serene Republic of NPO Roleplay Office.
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