Post by Ness Snorlaxia on Jun 30, 2006 15:49:38 GMT -5
The Regional Constitution
Basic Laws
Article 1: Guidelines
1.1 The region is officially known as “The Region of Hyrule”.
1.2 While there shall be no official language for the region, the primary language of communication shall be English.
1.3 In both regional affairs and United Nations voting, each nation shall receive exactly one vote.
Article 2: Freedom of Speech
2.1 Each and every nation in Hyrule has the right to freedom of speech. This includes, but is not limited to, freedom of the press, freedom to criticise, freedom to debate.
2.2 The only exceptions to 2.1 would be content that is considered to be obscene, threatening, inflammatory, libellous, or racist. Comments of this sort may not be posted on the forum.
2.3 If cases limiting freedom of speech concerning “obscenity” are brought up before the house, a majority of 75% of all nations voting must be reached before said post would be declared “obscene”.
Article 3: Regional Citizenship
3.1 In order to qualify for citizenship in the region, a nation must meet the following three criteria:
3.1.1 The nation must reside in the Region of Hyrule.
3.1.2 The nation must be registered on the Regional forum.
3.1.3 The nation must have made a minimum of three posts.
3.2 If a nation registered on the forum leaves the Region without valid reason, and does not return, its citizenship may be revoked. Under certain conditions, the Chancellor of Justice may also revoke the citizenship of a nation.
Article 4: Neutrality
4.1 Hyrule is to be a neutral region. The Region shall not participate in multi-regional alliances or treaties, and all previous alliances will be repealed.
4.2 The Region shall not maintain standing military.
4.3 The only exclusions to 4.1 are any multi-regional role-playing alliances, and any other multi-regional IC role-plays.
Article 5: Terms of Ejection
5.1 The delegate may eject a nation, without the consultation of the cabinet and judges, in the following circumstances:
5.1.1 If the nation has requested, by PM or telegram, to be ejected from the region.
5.1.2 If the nation has posted recruiting messages for other regions.
5.1.3 If the nation has posted links to obscene materials or images.
5.1.4 If the nation posts messages that are of a rascist, homophobic, or sexist nature, or any other message that threatens a group or individual.
5.1.5 If the nation threatens or harasses another member.
5.1.6 If the nation poses a threat to the constitutional rule of Hyrule.
5.2 Other ejections must be approved by the cabinet and/or judges and CoJ, and must be for a valid reason, or be outlined in regional laws passed by the region.
5.3 Nations ejected by rules outlined in Sections 5.1 and 5.2 may appeal to the delegate to be let back in to the region. If the nation ejected was considered to be a citizen of Hyrule (see Article 3), then he or she may appeal the case in the Regional Court.
Regional Symbols
Article 1: Symbols
1.1 The regional drink is chocolate milk.
1.2 The regional animal is the dancing squirrel.
1.3 The regional flower is the white lily.
1.4 The regional snack is the Twinkie.
Article 2: Anthem and Flag
2.1 The regional anthem is the overworld theme from the game, “Legend of Zelda”, for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
2.2 The regional flag is here.
Article 3: Changing Regional Symbols
3.1 Regional symbols may be changed by a vote in the House of Members. 75% of all of the nations voting must be in favour of the change. A three-day period will then be allowed for nations to suggest alternate symbols. Upon voting, the original symbol shall also be included as one of the options.
3.2 In the final poll, the symbol that garnishes a simple majority of votes in the House of Members shall become the new symbol for the region.
Regional Government Structure
Article 1: Branches of the Government
The Regional Government shall be composed of three branches: the Executive Branch (consisting of the Delegate and Cabinet), the Legislative Branch (The House of Members consisting of all citizens of Hyrule) and the Judicial Branch.
Article 2: The Role and Responsibilities of the Delegate
2.1 The Regional UN Delegate is the Head of State.
2.2 The duties of the Delegate include, but are not limited to:
2.2.1 Providing a UN forum in which all citizens of Hyrule, regardless of UN affiliation, may vote on UN resolutions. The Delegate will then cast his/her vote according to the will of the citizens.
2.2.2 Acting as the main forum administrator. This shall include, but is not limited to, creating forums, and adding/fixing code.
2.2.3 Monitoring all voting on both polls and elections by ensuring that the tally of all those who voted is finalized and accurate.
2.2.4 The Delegate may not run for any position in the Regional Cabinet.
Article 3: House of Members
3.1 The House of Members, consisting of all citizens of Hyrule, is the main lawmaking body of the region.
3.2 Citizens are both allowed and encouraged to propose new ideas or laws, voice their opinions, suggest ways in which current regional laws could be improved or changed, and propose amendments to that effect.
3.3 All proposals automatically have a deadline of 30 days, unless most people request the deadline to be extended. The deadline may be exteneded in 15 day increments.
3.4 If a final draft of a law is written up and agreed upon or reaches the deadline, a poll shall be created in a forum specifically designed for voting on regional laws.
Regional Cabinet and its Duties
Article 1: Duties and Posistions of the Regional Cabinet
1.1 The Regional Cabinet is responsible for implementing certain regional programs and moderating certain forums.
1.2 The Regional Cabinet shall consist of the Chancellor, who shall be regarded as the head of the Government, and Ministers with the following portfolios: Immigration, Role-playing, Foreign Affairs, Internal Affairs and Civilisation.
Article 2: Electing Cabinet Members
2.1 Elections for the regional cabinet shall take place on the twentieth day of the months February, June, and October.
2.2 To be eligible to run for a posistion, one must have been registered on the Hyrule forums for one month or more, and have made a minimum of 10 posts.
2.3 To run, a candidate must announce his or her intent to run for a specified posistion in the main election thread of the election forum.
2.4 Elections for the specific posistions of the regional cabinet will begin three days after the first person announces his or her intent to run for that posistion. After beginning, elections will run for five days. When the five days are over, the person with the most votes will be the person appointed to the certain cabinet posistion.
2.5 If most votes are abstenations, the vote will be counted as no vote, and the nomination and election process will begin again as outlined earlier in this article.
Article 3: Powers of the Ministers
3.1 The ministers, when elected, have the power to do the following:
3.1.1 Moderate the forum(s) which the minister is assigned to moderate
3.1.2 Advertise the forum(s) which the minister moderates to new nations and encourage people to take part in events or programmes regarding their ministry.
3.1.3 Appoint a deputy minister, who would help the main minister moderate his or her forum.
3.1.4 Lock topics within the forum(s) they moderate.
3.2 Unless called upon by another minister, a minister is not to moderate or lock topics in any forum he or she does not moderate.
3.3 A minister is not to declare a vote null and void.
Article 4: Minister Inactivity
4.1 If a minister is inactive for 15 days without prior notification of reason to be inactive, the chancellor, or delegate if chancellor is unavaliable, shall post a message announcing to the general population that the minister has been relieved of his or her duties.
4.2 Elections for that cabinet posistion would be held; the process of nomination and voting being the same as for the major elections.
Article 5: Posistions in the Regional Cabinet
5.1 Chancellor
5.1.1 The regional chancellor is the head of the regional government.
5.1.2 The regional chancellor has the power to moderate all the forums moderated by a minister if asked by one of the ministers, along with all other forums not mentioned in this document.
5.1.3 The regional chancellor is to make a regional security report, which is to document the amount of endorsements each non-delegate nation recieves, at least twice a month.
5.2 Ministry of Immigration
5.2.1 The minister of immigration is to recruit new nations to the region, at least twice a week.
5.2.2 The MoI is to encourage other nations to help recruit.
5.2.3 The MoI is to send out a welcome telegram to all new nations who arrive to the region.
5.2.4 The MoI is to make a list of all nations who have not logged on to NationStates within 10 or 15 days, and post the list to inform everyone of which nations are about to die out.
5.3 Ministry of Roleplaying
5.3.1 The minister of roleplaying is to moderate the role-playing forum, to make sure everyone follows the roleplaying guidelines and so no one god-mods or gets out of hand.
5.3.2 The MoRP has the power to punish a role-player for certain offences, such as god-moding. The offence must be also be acceptable to the chancellor of justice.
5.4 Ministry of Foreign Affairs
5.4.1 The minister or foreign affairs is to open up an embassy voting topic in the forum where voting for other laws takes place when a region requests an embassy exchange.
5.4.2 The MoIA is to recruit and encourage people to join the regional ambassador team, which is a team that posts regional updates in other regions and keeps contact with other regions.
5.4.3 The MoIA is to make a list of all embassies and ambassadors with Hyrule.
5.4.4 The MoIA is to create a rough draft for the regional update, in which all nations are allowed to participate in shaping.
5.5 Ministry of Internal Affairs
5.5.1 The minister of internal affairs is to moderate internal conflict within the region, and to moderate the forums within the "Hyrule Community" section, excluding the roleplaying forum.
5.5.2 If a conflict between two nations is brought up to the MoIA, he or she is to work out a compromise that is agreeable to both nations, and allow them to meet together via off-site chat, private forum, or another method agreeable upon by all parties.
5.5.3 The MoIA can call upon someone of his or her choosing to mediate the session, if he or she desires.
5.6 Ministry of Civlisation
5.6.1 The minister of civilisation is to take care of the regional map, moderate the Palace of Arts and Culture forum, and operate a regional flag request/making service.
5.6.2 The MoC is allowed to appoint people to help him or her with the regional map and flag request/making service; these will not serve as deputy ministers, unless the minister specifically appoints one person to be the deputy minister.
Judicial Branch
Article 1: Duties and Positions
1.1 The High Court is to be the supreme authority on disciplinary matters within the Region of Hyrule.
1.2 If a nation breaks, or is suspected to have broken the laws of Hyrule, then any other nation may post in the "Judge's Office" topic in the Regional Court forum to request the nation is put on trial.
1.3 There shall be one Chancellor of Justice (head of the judicial department), and two judges. These posistions shall be elected at the same time as the other posistions in the cabinet.
Article 2: Court Procedure
2.1 Any evidence should be posted in the "Judge's Office" topic.
2.2 A Judge or the CoJ will create a topic for a case if the evidence points to law breaking.
2.3 Nations are not allowed to post in any on going case topic unless allowed to by a Judge or CoJ.
2.4 All rulings are approved by the CoJ before a Judge is allowed to post one.
Article 3: Judge Procedures
3.1 When evidence is submitted, a judge will post saying that he or she will be investigating, if he or she is the first to see it.
3.2 The judge is to create a separate topic labled "The People VS. Nation Name."
3.3 The judge presses charges if the evidence is correct and indicates law breaking only.
3.4 Judges may permit citizens to post if they are connected to the case and have input.
3.5 Judges do not get involved in the case. Judges are to hear arguments, moderate, and are neutral. Judges are not allowed to post evidence, argue with other people, or let personal feelings get mixed in.
3.6 The Chancellor of Justice must review all rulings in a private forum and then approve, disagree, or modify them.
Foreign Affairs
Article 1: Embassy Requests
1.1 Any region may request an embassy, provided they have an off-site forum stated in the world factbook entry, use that off-site forum for that one region, and are not invaders.
1.2 Any multi-regional alliance may request an embassy, provided that they are not an alliance of invaders or defenders, and do not advertise their alliance elsewhere on the forum but the embassy of that alliance.
1.3 Regions or alliances may be denied diplomatic relations with Hyrule, if such a topic appears in the House of Members, and a 66% majority is reached in the final voting.
Article 2: Embassy Voting
2.1 The voting for embassy openings shall take place in the regional voting forum.
2.2 All regional citizens may vote for, against, or abstain during the vote, like any other regional vote.
2.3 If most people vote FOR, an embassy shall be opened; if AGAINST, then an embassy will not be opened, but the region may request to open one again within a month. Abstenations do not effect the final outcome, unless if all of the votes are abstenations; in which case, a re-vote shall be held within three days of the last vote.
Article 3: Embassy Upkeep
3.1 Once an embassy is opened, the ambassador from that region may post whatever he or she wants to in that embassy, provided it does not break the rule outlined in Section 2.2 of Article 2 in "Basic Laws."
3.2 If an embassy is inactive for 30 days, then the embassy shall be locked. The ambassador from that region may come and request the embassy to be unlocked. If such a request is made, then the embassy shall be re-opened.
3.3 If an embassy is inactive for 60 days, or inactive for 30 days after the first time it was locked and re-opened, then the embassy shall be placed in the "Archived Embassies" forum. An ambassador from that region may re-request the embassy to be re-opened, which in that case will follow the voting procedure outlined in Article 2.
Ratification
1.1 For this constitution to become official, a simple majority of for votes must be attained.
1.2 This constitution, once ratified, will replace the original regional constitution.
Basic Laws
Article 1: Guidelines
1.1 The region is officially known as “The Region of Hyrule”.
1.2 While there shall be no official language for the region, the primary language of communication shall be English.
1.3 In both regional affairs and United Nations voting, each nation shall receive exactly one vote.
Article 2: Freedom of Speech
2.1 Each and every nation in Hyrule has the right to freedom of speech. This includes, but is not limited to, freedom of the press, freedom to criticise, freedom to debate.
2.2 The only exceptions to 2.1 would be content that is considered to be obscene, threatening, inflammatory, libellous, or racist. Comments of this sort may not be posted on the forum.
2.3 If cases limiting freedom of speech concerning “obscenity” are brought up before the house, a majority of 75% of all nations voting must be reached before said post would be declared “obscene”.
Article 3: Regional Citizenship
3.1 In order to qualify for citizenship in the region, a nation must meet the following three criteria:
3.1.1 The nation must reside in the Region of Hyrule.
3.1.2 The nation must be registered on the Regional forum.
3.1.3 The nation must have made a minimum of three posts.
3.2 If a nation registered on the forum leaves the Region without valid reason, and does not return, its citizenship may be revoked. Under certain conditions, the Chancellor of Justice may also revoke the citizenship of a nation.
Article 4: Neutrality
4.1 Hyrule is to be a neutral region. The Region shall not participate in multi-regional alliances or treaties, and all previous alliances will be repealed.
4.2 The Region shall not maintain standing military.
4.3 The only exclusions to 4.1 are any multi-regional role-playing alliances, and any other multi-regional IC role-plays.
Article 5: Terms of Ejection
5.1 The delegate may eject a nation, without the consultation of the cabinet and judges, in the following circumstances:
5.1.1 If the nation has requested, by PM or telegram, to be ejected from the region.
5.1.2 If the nation has posted recruiting messages for other regions.
5.1.3 If the nation has posted links to obscene materials or images.
5.1.4 If the nation posts messages that are of a rascist, homophobic, or sexist nature, or any other message that threatens a group or individual.
5.1.5 If the nation threatens or harasses another member.
5.1.6 If the nation poses a threat to the constitutional rule of Hyrule.
5.2 Other ejections must be approved by the cabinet and/or judges and CoJ, and must be for a valid reason, or be outlined in regional laws passed by the region.
5.3 Nations ejected by rules outlined in Sections 5.1 and 5.2 may appeal to the delegate to be let back in to the region. If the nation ejected was considered to be a citizen of Hyrule (see Article 3), then he or she may appeal the case in the Regional Court.
Regional Symbols
Article 1: Symbols
1.1 The regional drink is chocolate milk.
1.2 The regional animal is the dancing squirrel.
1.3 The regional flower is the white lily.
1.4 The regional snack is the Twinkie.
Article 2: Anthem and Flag
2.1 The regional anthem is the overworld theme from the game, “Legend of Zelda”, for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
2.2 The regional flag is here.
Article 3: Changing Regional Symbols
3.1 Regional symbols may be changed by a vote in the House of Members. 75% of all of the nations voting must be in favour of the change. A three-day period will then be allowed for nations to suggest alternate symbols. Upon voting, the original symbol shall also be included as one of the options.
3.2 In the final poll, the symbol that garnishes a simple majority of votes in the House of Members shall become the new symbol for the region.
Regional Government Structure
Article 1: Branches of the Government
The Regional Government shall be composed of three branches: the Executive Branch (consisting of the Delegate and Cabinet), the Legislative Branch (The House of Members consisting of all citizens of Hyrule) and the Judicial Branch.
Article 2: The Role and Responsibilities of the Delegate
2.1 The Regional UN Delegate is the Head of State.
2.2 The duties of the Delegate include, but are not limited to:
2.2.1 Providing a UN forum in which all citizens of Hyrule, regardless of UN affiliation, may vote on UN resolutions. The Delegate will then cast his/her vote according to the will of the citizens.
2.2.2 Acting as the main forum administrator. This shall include, but is not limited to, creating forums, and adding/fixing code.
2.2.3 Monitoring all voting on both polls and elections by ensuring that the tally of all those who voted is finalized and accurate.
2.2.4 The Delegate may not run for any position in the Regional Cabinet.
Article 3: House of Members
3.1 The House of Members, consisting of all citizens of Hyrule, is the main lawmaking body of the region.
3.2 Citizens are both allowed and encouraged to propose new ideas or laws, voice their opinions, suggest ways in which current regional laws could be improved or changed, and propose amendments to that effect.
3.3 All proposals automatically have a deadline of 30 days, unless most people request the deadline to be extended. The deadline may be exteneded in 15 day increments.
3.4 If a final draft of a law is written up and agreed upon or reaches the deadline, a poll shall be created in a forum specifically designed for voting on regional laws.
Regional Cabinet and its Duties
Article 1: Duties and Posistions of the Regional Cabinet
1.1 The Regional Cabinet is responsible for implementing certain regional programs and moderating certain forums.
1.2 The Regional Cabinet shall consist of the Chancellor, who shall be regarded as the head of the Government, and Ministers with the following portfolios: Immigration, Role-playing, Foreign Affairs, Internal Affairs and Civilisation.
Article 2: Electing Cabinet Members
2.1 Elections for the regional cabinet shall take place on the twentieth day of the months February, June, and October.
2.2 To be eligible to run for a posistion, one must have been registered on the Hyrule forums for one month or more, and have made a minimum of 10 posts.
2.3 To run, a candidate must announce his or her intent to run for a specified posistion in the main election thread of the election forum.
2.4 Elections for the specific posistions of the regional cabinet will begin three days after the first person announces his or her intent to run for that posistion. After beginning, elections will run for five days. When the five days are over, the person with the most votes will be the person appointed to the certain cabinet posistion.
2.5 If most votes are abstenations, the vote will be counted as no vote, and the nomination and election process will begin again as outlined earlier in this article.
Article 3: Powers of the Ministers
3.1 The ministers, when elected, have the power to do the following:
3.1.1 Moderate the forum(s) which the minister is assigned to moderate
3.1.2 Advertise the forum(s) which the minister moderates to new nations and encourage people to take part in events or programmes regarding their ministry.
3.1.3 Appoint a deputy minister, who would help the main minister moderate his or her forum.
3.1.4 Lock topics within the forum(s) they moderate.
3.2 Unless called upon by another minister, a minister is not to moderate or lock topics in any forum he or she does not moderate.
3.3 A minister is not to declare a vote null and void.
Article 4: Minister Inactivity
4.1 If a minister is inactive for 15 days without prior notification of reason to be inactive, the chancellor, or delegate if chancellor is unavaliable, shall post a message announcing to the general population that the minister has been relieved of his or her duties.
4.2 Elections for that cabinet posistion would be held; the process of nomination and voting being the same as for the major elections.
Article 5: Posistions in the Regional Cabinet
5.1 Chancellor
5.1.1 The regional chancellor is the head of the regional government.
5.1.2 The regional chancellor has the power to moderate all the forums moderated by a minister if asked by one of the ministers, along with all other forums not mentioned in this document.
5.1.3 The regional chancellor is to make a regional security report, which is to document the amount of endorsements each non-delegate nation recieves, at least twice a month.
5.2 Ministry of Immigration
5.2.1 The minister of immigration is to recruit new nations to the region, at least twice a week.
5.2.2 The MoI is to encourage other nations to help recruit.
5.2.3 The MoI is to send out a welcome telegram to all new nations who arrive to the region.
5.2.4 The MoI is to make a list of all nations who have not logged on to NationStates within 10 or 15 days, and post the list to inform everyone of which nations are about to die out.
5.3 Ministry of Roleplaying
5.3.1 The minister of roleplaying is to moderate the role-playing forum, to make sure everyone follows the roleplaying guidelines and so no one god-mods or gets out of hand.
5.3.2 The MoRP has the power to punish a role-player for certain offences, such as god-moding. The offence must be also be acceptable to the chancellor of justice.
5.4 Ministry of Foreign Affairs
5.4.1 The minister or foreign affairs is to open up an embassy voting topic in the forum where voting for other laws takes place when a region requests an embassy exchange.
5.4.2 The MoIA is to recruit and encourage people to join the regional ambassador team, which is a team that posts regional updates in other regions and keeps contact with other regions.
5.4.3 The MoIA is to make a list of all embassies and ambassadors with Hyrule.
5.4.4 The MoIA is to create a rough draft for the regional update, in which all nations are allowed to participate in shaping.
5.5 Ministry of Internal Affairs
5.5.1 The minister of internal affairs is to moderate internal conflict within the region, and to moderate the forums within the "Hyrule Community" section, excluding the roleplaying forum.
5.5.2 If a conflict between two nations is brought up to the MoIA, he or she is to work out a compromise that is agreeable to both nations, and allow them to meet together via off-site chat, private forum, or another method agreeable upon by all parties.
5.5.3 The MoIA can call upon someone of his or her choosing to mediate the session, if he or she desires.
5.6 Ministry of Civlisation
5.6.1 The minister of civilisation is to take care of the regional map, moderate the Palace of Arts and Culture forum, and operate a regional flag request/making service.
5.6.2 The MoC is allowed to appoint people to help him or her with the regional map and flag request/making service; these will not serve as deputy ministers, unless the minister specifically appoints one person to be the deputy minister.
Judicial Branch
Article 1: Duties and Positions
1.1 The High Court is to be the supreme authority on disciplinary matters within the Region of Hyrule.
1.2 If a nation breaks, or is suspected to have broken the laws of Hyrule, then any other nation may post in the "Judge's Office" topic in the Regional Court forum to request the nation is put on trial.
1.3 There shall be one Chancellor of Justice (head of the judicial department), and two judges. These posistions shall be elected at the same time as the other posistions in the cabinet.
Article 2: Court Procedure
2.1 Any evidence should be posted in the "Judge's Office" topic.
2.2 A Judge or the CoJ will create a topic for a case if the evidence points to law breaking.
2.3 Nations are not allowed to post in any on going case topic unless allowed to by a Judge or CoJ.
2.4 All rulings are approved by the CoJ before a Judge is allowed to post one.
Article 3: Judge Procedures
3.1 When evidence is submitted, a judge will post saying that he or she will be investigating, if he or she is the first to see it.
3.2 The judge is to create a separate topic labled "The People VS. Nation Name."
3.3 The judge presses charges if the evidence is correct and indicates law breaking only.
3.4 Judges may permit citizens to post if they are connected to the case and have input.
3.5 Judges do not get involved in the case. Judges are to hear arguments, moderate, and are neutral. Judges are not allowed to post evidence, argue with other people, or let personal feelings get mixed in.
3.6 The Chancellor of Justice must review all rulings in a private forum and then approve, disagree, or modify them.
Foreign Affairs
Article 1: Embassy Requests
1.1 Any region may request an embassy, provided they have an off-site forum stated in the world factbook entry, use that off-site forum for that one region, and are not invaders.
1.2 Any multi-regional alliance may request an embassy, provided that they are not an alliance of invaders or defenders, and do not advertise their alliance elsewhere on the forum but the embassy of that alliance.
1.3 Regions or alliances may be denied diplomatic relations with Hyrule, if such a topic appears in the House of Members, and a 66% majority is reached in the final voting.
Article 2: Embassy Voting
2.1 The voting for embassy openings shall take place in the regional voting forum.
2.2 All regional citizens may vote for, against, or abstain during the vote, like any other regional vote.
2.3 If most people vote FOR, an embassy shall be opened; if AGAINST, then an embassy will not be opened, but the region may request to open one again within a month. Abstenations do not effect the final outcome, unless if all of the votes are abstenations; in which case, a re-vote shall be held within three days of the last vote.
Article 3: Embassy Upkeep
3.1 Once an embassy is opened, the ambassador from that region may post whatever he or she wants to in that embassy, provided it does not break the rule outlined in Section 2.2 of Article 2 in "Basic Laws."
3.2 If an embassy is inactive for 30 days, then the embassy shall be locked. The ambassador from that region may come and request the embassy to be unlocked. If such a request is made, then the embassy shall be re-opened.
3.3 If an embassy is inactive for 60 days, or inactive for 30 days after the first time it was locked and re-opened, then the embassy shall be placed in the "Archived Embassies" forum. An ambassador from that region may re-request the embassy to be re-opened, which in that case will follow the voting procedure outlined in Article 2.
Ratification
1.1 For this constitution to become official, a simple majority of for votes must be attained.
1.2 This constitution, once ratified, will replace the original regional constitution.