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Your Light in the Jungle - October 5, 440 AD
gOd calls for a prOphEt
Who is worthy of speaking directly to gOd?
Soon after the completion of our first Cathedral, gOd spoke directly to Apolytonians again. Mark, one of the two faceZ of gOd spoke, demanding that a prOphEt be chosen from among the populace, even going so far as to say that gOd was "willing to trust the choice of the people, assuming it's a choice that I like". It appears that this prOphEt will be granted to power to govern over things that were previously beyond the power of mere mortals. Being granted access to at least pertions of the book of ZpellZ. A few were even brave enough to step forward and offer their services. Some even dared to question gOd, "is he looking for one perminant prOphEt, one prOphEt for a while, or prOphEts switching every once and a while? Does he need a prOphEt with no other role in the game, or does he just want someone that the people can trust? How much power is he willing to let this person have as prOphEt (as I've said many times before, ZpellZ such as editing titles, closing threads, deleting threads, etc?)?" adaMada questioned.
- UnOrthOdOx
America revisited?
Public crying for war
Encouraged from the recent successes of our military and the knowledge that the Aztecs now march upon America, the people began crying out for War on America once again. "I imagine that with the proper planning and execution, we could have similar success against them as we did in The Great Leap Forward." Aggie claimed. "They are obviously weakened and are currently at war with the Aztec's. It is time to go and finish them off. No peace this time." Despite widespread support, some are questioning the growing trend of agressive actions by our military. "We want to get those American cities IF WE CAN, but the top priority at the moment is getting these wars OVER WITH so we can concentrate, at least for a little time, on doing precisely the infrastructure development you suggest." Arnelos stated.
- UnOrthOdOx
Special Economic Report
Monarchy vs Republic
"Corruption costs are, thankfully, no worse under Monarchy than under Republic. However as we will be making more money, we will also be losing more. If you calculate the percentage of income minus percentage of expenses, we currently make 30.2% surplus. Under Republic we can expect this to fall to 13.8%
Taking for granted a 20% luxury rate and the unit costs, we will at first make less money under Republic. But remember that these are very conservative estimates: worst case scenario. There is a good chance that we will actually make *somewhat* more money from the start; but with the addition of some courthouses and temples/cathedrals to drop the luxury rate, we'll be making much more." Reddawg claims
Read the full report here
- UnOrthOdOx
Amendments up for voting
Mixed results forthcoming
After much discussion, two amendments have been put to a vote. The First adressed the issues that have arisen reguarding the rushing and upgrading of units and buildings. Soon after polling began, however, it came under fire by those claiming it gave too much power to the Minister of Economy. The poll has since been declared invalid, and will be used as a discussion piece to fix the amendment in the future. The second amendment addresses the issues surrounding the uses of Great Leaders. It seems fitting that the second, gaining all of the attention at the time of discussions, seems liekly to be the one accepted while the 'rushing' amendment was widely ignored in the discussion phase, and has been removed from the ballot.
- UnOrthOdOx
Term IV nearing completion
Nominations open for Term V
With term IV winding to an end, it is once again time for the public to step forward and sign up for government positions during term V. The Nominations will be open up until the 12th when the polls will begin. The new government will be sworn in on the 17th.
- UnOrthOdOx
Interview with Togas, member of the Constitutional Convention
First, let me thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to meet with me.
"Not a problem. Glad to do it."
For some of the newer members of our community, can you tell us what the constitutional convention is, and who it consists of?
"Myself, NotYouEither, adaMada, and Apocalypse were chosen to confer amongst ourselves and create a new Constitution for Apolytonia. This came about after a major upheaval this summer about problem we had with the current code of laws. Our job is to draft a document that takes into consideration everything that has
been suggested -- and there's quite a few threads -- and then Propose it for ratification.
The appointments for all of us were finalized at the end of August. We've been working on this thing in the background ever since."
What are some of the issues that you (the Convention) have identified and worked on?
"There's been countless issues, but the main one was that we had to decide how much really needed changing and how much just needed a little refinement. I think this has been the most difficult one for us, because the more we change, the more problems we are presented with. Every new idea created new issues.
Some of the most interesting issues include how we're going to deal with the economy/budget/money control and how we're going to effectively impliment a third branch of government without adding a whole level of complication to the game. We also are still working out the new ministers duties and deputy issues (but I feel we're close on that one). Some new issues include the idea for an executive veto and an executive cabinet structure."
How have you prioritised those issues?
"We started with the big issue first -- what structure should we have? Then went to work on figuring out exactly what needed fixing. After that NYE created an agenda and we created a whole slew of threads for each topic being discussed. We then just posted on each thread as often as needed. We're working on this
by using a freeboard that Apoc found and also using email for large document exchange."
With the exception of a few tidbits in some threads, the public has not heard from the Convention since nearly its conception. What have been the biggest challenges to cause such delays?
"The first week after we were ratified I was on vacation. The week after we caught up on the previous threads, Apoc found us the freeboard, and the first draft was written (mostly just for us to rip up and work on) right about at the middle of September. Frankly, getting set up and figuring out how to start doing this mammoth job seemed to take the most time. None of us had done this before, but once we got the board and got our agenda in place,
things started happening very quickly."
Why the need to keep everything so secret? Would it not be better to submit portions and guage public opinion on some of the issues?
"This is an excellent question. I'm not sure there's an easy answer, but I feel that it was decided before hand that "too many chefs spoil the broth." The drafters of the Constitutional Convention wanted to make it a small group so that the work wouldn't take too long, and too much outside involvement would unnecessarily complicate things.
All that aside, we do have plans to release drafts, in pieces, to the public once we've agreed on a final. We'll take their comments and refine, then submit the final copy to be ratified."
How close are we to seeing a rough draft?
"Very close. I think we just need to iron out the Economy stuff. We're in agreement on most of the main body and new concepts. There's a few minor points we're refining, but the past two weeks have been really productive. In fact, I just emailed out a second draft, outline form, of the full Constitution today to everyone. After they let me know what things need to be fixed up, we might be able to present a rough outline to the public in a week's time."
I have first hand exprience on the complexity of the Economic situation.
Can you share any of the proposed solutions the convention has come up with to this point?"We really sat down and tried to solve the problems previous governments have had -- by adding a few things and mostly by becoming more flexible. Flexibility. I cannot stress this enough. We give full delgation powers, appointment powers, deputies, chain of command, and some flexible conflict resolution. Everything has been done to make the jobs of Ministers easier and more flexible, so that a person with a great idea who gets elected doesn't have to amend the Constitution to put his plan into action. Plus we have removed all of the official/unoffical poll problems with our "Senate" idea that gives a lot of power back to the people, including issues that were not addressed in the first CoL. Issues like Great Leaders, Rush building, and Declarations of War, and others. Lastly, and most importantly, we have given all powers not specificed in the Constitution to the Senate, so that if something comes up in the future that we didn't think about, they are the ones who legally handle it."
I have heard that this Senate will be passing laws through what we now call official polls. How are those going to be tracked and kept track of? Will there be a separate document, or a section of this new Constitution, or a simple Archive?
"That'll be up to the Senate.
We made it so that The Senate is required to keep a record of all laws and motions passed, but we didn't specify (yet?) how they must do it. One thing that is important to mention now, these laws will not be Constitutional ammendments. They're laws we must all follow, but they mustalso follow the Constitution."
Rumor has it that there will be less Ministers in this new Constitution. So tell me. If it gets approved, which Mininsters are losing their jobs?
"If everything goes to plan, no one loses their job. The jobs are just being rearranged. We will have either 4 or 5 elected positions, and the other jobs will fall under those elected Ministers. We expect that the present jobs will continue to exist, however, each elected Mininster may make additional jobs or remove unnecessary jobs in his department if he so chooses."
Any other big changes you can tell us about?
"We plan to get The Court a little more involved, and want to see them oversee elections. But I think the biggest change will be the concept of having everyone in Apolytonia be a part of a Senate that has real power, can make laws -- not just ammendments -- and can make official decisions. It gives every citizen the ability to be active and involved. The Senate alone will have important decisions to make, which means all of Apolytonia will now have more to do, and
more to get involved in with the game."
I woud like to publicly thank both Togas and the Constitutional Convention for choosing this format to get this information to the public.
- UnOrthOdOx
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