Compendium of RP Conclave Rulings

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The RP Conclave has been asked to rule on the question of whether to permit the use of Christianity in Eras. After hearing testimony from many members of the RP community, and aware that given the controversial nature of the topic we will certainly not please everyone with this ruling, we have decided on the following:

Summary: Christianity will be permitted, with alterations.



Question 1: Does Christianity exist in some form on Eras?

To answer this question, we considered three points: Originality, potential exclusion of players, and the future growth of the community.

The existence of Christianity within Eras is inherently unoriginal. It is a real world religion, and Eras is not the real world. Eras is a fantasy constructed world that only maintains a semblance of realism compared to real life Earth. Christianity is a real life Earth religion, founded by a denizen of Earth in locations found on Earth, not Eras.

However, the majority of roleplayers in our community with nations on Eras already violate originality in other ways. The vast majority of government structures established by the player base are also unoriginal. The concepts of Kings and Queens, elected parliaments and communist dictatorships are all systems founded on Earth, not Eras. Most languages are unoriginal, either being based on an existing language, such as the relationship between Gotic to German, or straight-up copies. (Mercanti is a special exception where it is a language of real-life convenience so that every player can simply type posts in English and be understood.)

Religion could potentially fall under the same umbrella, and we must keep in mind that religion is also one of the most contentious areas of human thought. Wars have been fought over it, unlike languages. The prohibition of real-life religions could potentially create a moral dilemma for players who believe that the practice or promotion of other religions, fictional or not, or the practice of no religion, is heretical or immoral. For players who believe strongly that their constructed nation must, under their moral code, be Christian, a ban on real-world religions would prove to be exclusionary, diminishing the player base.

There are certainly high-caliber roleplayers who can commit to inventing everything about their nation from scratch, and we both congratulate and revere those players. But there are also players that don't quite meet a perfect originality target that are still high-caliber players. It would also be wrong of us to demand such high creativity and time requirements of all players without considering each player's unique situation and availability. The potential for players to simply abandon TNP roleplay would be too high if we fail to take such factors into consideration. We must also consider that our community is derived from a feeder region on NationStates that actively promotes the RP community, so we will naturally attract players of all skill levels, and we should be accommodating within reasonable limits and within the rules of the world's realism we have established, of which we do not feel Christianity would run afoul of.

Therefore, in the interest of being an open, accommodating, and welcoming roleplay community, the RP Conclave rules that Christianity can exist in Eras, with limitations.

Question 2: Where does Christianity originate on Eras?

In the interest of ensuring that no player can claim to be the originator of a real-life religion, and considering that our portion of Eras is only about 1/3rd the surface area of Earth, Christianity shall be considered to be founded outside of our area, off-screen. Christianity simply migrated to our region from far away lands.

Question 3: How should we deal with church history?

The foundation of the religion itself is off-screen, and so should its history. For regional purposes, the history of the church shall be ignored. Each player can come up with a history on how the religion spread to their nation, but no player can claim to be the originator of the religion and set its off-screen history. This also means that each nation is responsible for creating their own denomination or working with other players on a shared denomination. The moderation team and the conclave reserve the right to break up any partnership seen as attempting to hold a monopoly on the religion or possessing any other factor that creates an unfair or un-fun experience for other players.

Question 4: Should the name "Christianity" be changed?

There are options available to make real-world religions less obvious by using alternative names, and we have decided that Christianity shall be subject to that. We have considered multiple alternative names but the one that has been settled on at the moment is "Messianism" (short name) or "the Messianic Church" (long name). This name is derived from the word Messiah which is an alternative for the title of "Christ". Should anyone have further suggestions for the alternative name, the RP Conclave is open to ideas but for the time being, this shall be the name used.

Question 5: Should the name of "Jesus" be changed?

Given that we have already stated that the origin of the religion is off-screen, the early formative history is ignored, and the religion is not pegged to any individual player, we do not believe changing the name Jesus is necessary.

Question 6: Should the Via be removed from the map?

So that no player can claim ownership of a single organization that claims to be the governing body of the church, and so that we do not have a governing body in Eras that tries to do that regardless of player control, we recommend that the Via be removed from the map.

Question 7: Are other real-life religions impacted?

It would be best if all religions with established doctrines and histories should have said history left off screen, but there are religions with no shared history, mainly neo-pagan and reconstructionist religions that could easily be explained at a national level. The use of elements of real-life religions to construct a new religion is also fine, as long as it is unique to each player. Use your best judgment, and consult with the moderation team and the conclave.

"The existence of railguns has been challenged by a complaint brought to the RP Conclave. The Conclave looked into this complaint, focusing on plausibility, cost and performance. The Conclave has ruled that Railgun technology is permitted to be deployed by naval vessels, with some caveats. First there is a limit of 8 railguns per nation. This is due to their extreme cost and limitations met IRL. Second, there is a limit of 1 railgun per vessel and the vessel must be of significant size to believably provide sufficient power. This is due to the difficulties met with providing power to even a single weapon. Third, the power of the Railguns is limited to 32 megajoules, this shall also be utilised to restrict the number of shots in a battle, there is no fixed limit but common sense should be used. This is due to IRL limitations. Fourth, the rate of fire is limited to 10 rounds per minute, again due to IRL constraints. Fifth the railguns shall require repairs after 1000 shots, again due to IRL constraints. The Conclave must stress that 8 is not a goal, it is a limit. Railgun capable vessels and Railguns are nearly prohibitively expensive. We don't want every nation to now claim to posses 8 railgun carrying vessels, as such the Conclave reserves the right to rule on individual nations quantity of railguns, and potentially limit numbers further on a case by case basis"

After receiving both Discord-submitted and Forum-submitted species proposals essentially asking for unrestricted allowance of anthropomorphic animals (animals basically walking and acting like humans) in Eras, the RP Conclave has decided to issue the following ruling to cover both pending proposals and set precedent for future proposals of the same classification. To clarify, this reactively covers Notboss Dragonking's Discord proposal for the "Tiginian", "Canor", "Lizinian" and "Crocilian", Taluna's Forum proposal for "Ambulans Animalis", and proactively covers Emalunya Skye's "A-cgwä" ("catgirls"). This does not cover Syrixia's "Dubal'Ne" (That proposal is still being considered).

Summary: The proposals as presented are denied.


The RP Conclave has decided not to accept species proposals for the sole purpose of adding anthropomorphic animals to Eras for no reason other than to have them. This deviation from realism is too great to allow without a specific narrative purpose to justify them. The Conclave would ordinarily consider added value versus lost realism. However, the petitioners, through either their proposals or their writing, have not demonstrated how these species add value to the Eras environment beyond what could be contributed with normal humans with regional cultural differences.

We suggest that in cases where multiple "species" fall under this umbrella and are a critical component of the nation that these groups adopt an approach similar to The Clans from the BattleTech series. These groups remain human but adopt cultures, religions, and rituals that center around the desired animal worshipped by each group. This will actually grant players that implement this suggestion greater freedom to design multiple cultures without the need for the Conclave's approval, but at a small "cost" of staying human.

The RP Conclave was tasked with the creation of a solar system surrounding and including Eras to better flesh out the setting in which forum RP takes place. A link to the original proposal is HERE.




Planetary Order:


(Star) Jua: FV2 Star with 1.0 times the mass of the Real World's sun, and a surface temperature of ~6000 degrees kelvin. Burns with a yellow-white hue.


Mot: Rocky planet weighing in at .8 Terrestrial Masses (TM) and orbiting Jua at .42 AU. Negligible Atmosphere. Orbit period of 101 days. No moons. Named after Yanto seer and bringer of death.


Hakoa: Rocky planet weighing in at .57 TM and orbiting Jua at .57 AU. Thin CO₂ atmosphere, frozen water in polar regions and high sulfur content in sands. Has three small, unnamed moons. Orbit period of 203 days.


(Us) Eras: Rocky planet weighing in at 1.0 TM and orbiting Jua at 1.0 AU. Earth-like Atmosphere. Two moons, one large and one small, named Yama and Beiras.


Ethra: Rocky planet weighing in at 1.1 TM and orbiting Jua at 1.6 AU. Dense nitrogen and methane atmosphere, leading to a similar appearance to Eras. Two moons, Demuun and Dementiora. Orbital period of 694 days.


Ru-Yesham: Rocky Planet weighing in at 2.44 TM and orbiting Jua at 2.26 AU. Has one small moon, named Myanak, and one large moon, named Dikaai. Dense, phosphoric atmosphere creates a thick white atmosphere. Orbital period of 1019 days.


Asteroid Belt: Orbits Jua at 4.1 AU and likely contains many valuable minerals currently inaccessible to Eras due to technological limits.


Othyr: Gas giant primarily composed of hydrogen and helium, and weighing in at 14.7 TM. Orbits Jua at 5.66 AU and has a revolution period of 4923 days. Has 70 moons, 12 of which are major. Insignificant rings.


Freya: Gas giant primarily composed of hydrogen, helium, and ammonium hydrosulfide, lending a striped red appearance. Weights in at 12.5 TM and orbits Jua at 9.63 AU and has a revolution period of 10,928 days. Has impressive rings and 58 moons, 8 of which are major.


Abaddon: Gas giant primarily composed of hydrogen, helium, and sulfur atmosphere. Orbits Jua at 14.67 AU and has a revolution period of 20,550 days. Insignificant rings and 5 major moons.


Rudra: Gas giant primarily composed of hydrogen, helium and neon atmosphere weighing in at 4.4 TM. Has 22 known moons, four of them being major. Orbits at 20.85 AU and has an orbital period of 37,304 days. Photographs display constant bright yellow, orange, and red storms due to ionization of the atmosphere causing high conductivity.


Handa: Gas giant primarily composed of hydrogen, helium, and methane weighing in at 4.2 TM. Has 17 known moons, two of which are major. Orbits Jua at 32.08 AU and has an orbital period of 66,391.5 days.


Kaas & Lugen: Rocky binary planet system of primarily silicate composition and little to no atmosphere. Kaas weighs in at .27 TM and Lugen at .21 TM. The system lacks any moons due to the odd rotation and orbit of the system. Furthest planetary objects from Jua at 39 AU, with a revolution period of 90,056 days. Axial tilt of both planets is significantly skewed, at 92.558° for Kaas and 78.334° for Lugen, suggesting a cataclysmic event in the planet system’s history.

Question 2: Where does Christianity originate on Eras?

In keeping with the ruling that one player can not claim to be the originator of a real world religion, the origin of said religion will merely come from unspecified unclaimed "gray" territory from. This directly helps with solving "off map" issues and continuities and opens up for more RP opportunity.

In the past there have been many claims of sentient AI amongst their nations and apart of their societies. The implications of such a wonder would undoubtedly upset the norms of Eras to an unhealthy degree. As such the conclave has voted that 'Sentient' Artificial Intelligence cannot be canon. As a sentient machine would undoubtedly change the history of humanity forever. However this does leave room for most if not all other tracks of Artificial Intelligence that are already used in the real world today. Such as risk assessment in stock markets, Protein folding algorithms in biological research, and the inevitable replacement of 'dumb' work through automation. There are many applications for artificial intelligence in such a manner.

A conscious or sentient Artificial intelligence would raise many ethical dilemmas. Their assessment of humanity would be determinant to future progress of the human species. Would it be benign or malignant? It raises too many questions that unfortunately most cannot answer.

Because we have an equator now, seasons will now be opposites on either side of said equator due to planet tilt, which Eras has. Climate for nations as usual would be unaffected as it is determined by individual preference. This is just following real world planetary physics.

The general potato as many know it will now originate from Meterra. This does not prevent you as the RPer from coming up with your own special type of potato that is local. What is my life.

Players are limited to a maximum of ten colonies. This applies to all players, with no grandfathering.

The ten colony limit applies to the player, not the nations a player RPs as (i.e. 10 colonies across all of your nations, not 10 colonies per nation).

This includes overseas lands in your claim at a suitable distance to call colonies.

Players who are currently colonies of someone with more than ten colonies will be informed of such and encouraged to rework their history. This is to encourage collaborative worldbuilding and roleplaying with players who are colonies, rather than just one colonial power handing over its historic colony to another.

RP Conclave Ruling #9:


On Population and GDP





All Eras claims, whether primary, secondary, or moderator-approved nations¹, current and future², shall adhere to all of the following caps:





GDP total: GDP total at purchasing power parity (PPP) of 8,000,000,000,000 IBU, a hardcap


GDP/c: GDP per capita (PPP) of 60,000 IBU, a softcap


Population of 200 million, a softcap





The formula for computing the stats is as follows:


GDP total = GDP/c * Population





Hardcap


The GDP total is a hardcap, meaning no claim in any circumstance can exceed the hardcap.





Take into account that the 8 trillion (short scale)³ IBU hardcap will not allow you to maximise both softcaps at the same time⁴.





Softcaps


Because of increased clamour for flexibility, both the GDP/c and Population caps have been converted into softcaps.





They are called softcaps because a claim may exceed these caps without the need for a Conclave proposal, HOWEVER, their other stats will have to take a hit. Specifically, the GDP total hardcap for that particular claim will have to decrease, and thus, the other stat (GDP/c or population) will be affected.





GDP/c softcap







Transforming the GDP/c into a softcap will allow players to have a country like Switzerland, Ireland, Norway, Monaco, or Singapore - high GDP/c countries with small populations. These were previously only informally allowed. Take note that these countries have special niches (banking, tax haven, oil, gambling, trade hub, etc) and the community shall expect the appropriate worldbuilding and roleplaying to explain the situation.





Population softcap







Transforming the population into a softcap will allow players to have a country like Bangladesh, Indonesia, or Nigeria - countries with high population but lower GDP/c, with problems related to their big populations. These claims were previously not allowed. Take note that because of the existence of the claim size limit, massive populations also mean high population densities with their attendant issues. Thus, such countries are not expected to lead in a wide variety of economic and resource indicators, particularly the primary sector (agriculture, mining, forestry, extractive industries) ⁵. The community shall expect the appropriate worldbuilding and roleplaying.





Explanatory notes:

1. The caps shall apply to all claims, current and future.
   
   
2. Current claims above the cap shall be retconned to adhere to the cap.
   
   
3. For the purposes of clarity, this ruling shall use the short scale.
   
   
4. It is deliberately designed this way to make players choose between the tradeoff between a higher population or a higher GDP, but not both. Having claims that takes the top of the list in all three major stats is numberwanking and is highly discouraged.
   
   
   
   It should be noted that Eras is a different setting than the real world. A United States (geographically big technologically advanced country with a globalised economy), a China or an India (super populated country of billions) or a Russia (a geographically large country with lots of resources) are implausible in this setting because this setting is less globalised and the existence of claim/pixel/area limits.​
   
   
5. Because of the claim size limits, a highly-populated country is not expected to have enough land that can generate enough resources for its large population. For example, one cannot roleplay a 300 million nation and say that the nation is a net agricultural exporter.
   
   

Tips and Advice

1. Figuring out these stats can be daunting at first. Even though we have said that Eras =/= RL, having an idea of what your nation looks like and referring to these lists may be useful:
   
   

• List of countries by population
  
  
• List of countries by GDP/c (PPP)
  
  

1. It can be tempting to maximise your stats at the beginning, but DON’T. Maximising them at the start will give you less room for roleplaying. Having your stats at or near the cap means that you cannot roleplay population growth or economic growth because they are already at the maximum.
   
   
2. The caps are unlikely to be revisited in the foreseeable future and are unlikely to be adjusted for inflation or some RL reason. Hence, tip #2.
   
   
3. Eras is a cooperative, collaborative roleplaying setting with no set “win” scenario. We value quality over quantity. It is not a competitive setting wherein who has the biggest X, Y, or Z wins. There are no prizes for having the biggest population or highest GDP/c.
   
   
4. We do desire to foster creativity and thus this ruling is meant to give more flexibility to players who want to roleplay countries with certain characteristics.
   
   
5. Most of all, enjoy RPing!