Constitution of Cynosure

This document is a written contract between the founder of Cynosure, Grand Master Wuufu, and its citizens. This document is enacted and consecrated with the aim of creating a peace seeking, safe, friendly, and most importantly, fun community of nations that is welcome to all and bound by the principles of liberty, equality, freedom, and compassion. Cynosure hereby recognises that NationStates is a game and that everything done within the region should enhance the enjoyment and entertainment of its citizens.

I. Cynosure

1. The full name of the region shall be known as Cynosure.

1.1. The prime directive of the region shall be to provide a fun, peaceful and safe environment for its citizens. All governmental institutions shall work to uphold this prime directive above and beyond all other objectives.

1.2. Cynosure shall have a cyberpunk regional theme which shall be overseen by the Grand Master and the Cynosure Order, including the creation and management of regional currency, the creation and management of ranks and other related items for purchase with currency, and the creation and management of public and private citizen led groups.

1.3. Cynosure shall be prohibited from forming a NationStates (NS) related regional military. This prohibition does not prevent the region from forming alliances with other NS regions, interregional organizations or extraregional organizations that have militaries, and does not prevent citizens of the region partaking in militaries of other NS regions, interregional organizations or extraregional organizations. This prohibition is voided during any period where the region is founderless, during which any military formed must only be used to defend both Cynosure and NS regions in need, and shall be lead by the Cynosure Order.

1.4. Cynosure shall be prohibited from joining any NS interregional organization without a simple unanimous vote from the Senate.

1.5. Admittance as citizens or ambassadors to the region may be granted by the Grand Master or an appointed member of the Cynosure Order, subject to security checks, in accordance with the process outlined by law. No one on the regional blacklist may be admitted entrance.

1.5.1. Citizens shall retain official membership until such time as they are removed, either from personal request by the citizen, through judicial or administrative action against the citizen, through removal due to being placed on the regional blacklist prior to gaining citizenship, or through a length of inactivity as defined in law. Activity only needs to include an active login onto the regional site during the legally defined period.

1.5.2. Ambassadors from other regions shall be permitted to request space in the region to display foreign dispatches related to their home regions, and shall remain ambassadors until such time as they are removed, either from personal request by the ambassador, through executive or administrative action against the ambassador, or through removal due to being placed on the regional blacklist prior to gaining ambassadorship.

1.6. Citizens that have NS Nations in the region shall be known as Residents, and may gain additional benefits as given by the Cynosure Order and/or as defined in law.

II. The Senate

2. The legislative and judicial powers and duties of Cynosure shall be vested in a unicameral legislature called the Senate of Cynosure.

2.1. Unless provided for by the Senate's procedural rules, the Grand Master or an appointed member of the Cynosure Order shall preside over the Senate and execute its procedural rules. This role shall not be construed to form any kind of directional oversight on the Senate.

2.2. Every citizen of Cynosure shall have the right to join the Senate as a senator following a three week probationary period that shall start after admittance is granted. This probationary period can be bypassed through a direct invitation to join the Senate issued by the Grand Master or the appointed member of the Cynosure Order presiding over the Senate.

2.3. The Senate shall require a minimum of three Senators present in the Senate for it to function. Should the Senate be unable to meet minimum requirements, the Grand Master shall be empowered with the powers provided to Senate, excepting those already granted by other means, until such point as the Senate is successfully filled. This does not constitute the Grand Master acting as the Senate for the purposes of other areas of legality. Active recess dates apply to this provision.

Legislative Powers and Duties of the Senate

2.4. The Senate shall be entrusted with the following powers and duties.

2.4.1. The Senate shall have the power to pass legislation, repeal previously passed legislation, make amendments to this Constitution and take any other action deemed necessary and proper to execute the powers and duties vested in the Senate by this Constitution.

2.4.2.The Senate shall have the power to make and revise its own procedural rules within the bounds of process laid out in this Constitution, including defining additional days of recess.

2.4.3. The Senate shall have the power to ratify or reject treaties with other regions, interregional organizations or extraregional organizations.

2.4.4. The Senate shall have the power to establish standards and rules regarding the process for attaining and maintaining citizenship status in Cynosure. These standards and rules must be equally applied to all citizenship applicants.

2.4.5. The Senate shall have the power to draft a code of criminal law, which shall outline in detail all crimes and punishments for conviction of said crimes.

2.4.6. The Senate shall have the power to amend and repeal directives issued by the Grand Master and the Cynosure Order.

2.4.7. The Senate shall have the power to issue non-binding resolutions expressing the sense of the Senate in relation to all matters.

2.4.8. The Senate shall have the power to issue a vote of no confidence against any Minister of the Cynosure Order, excluding the Grand Master. If this passes, that member shall immediately be removed from office and cannot be reappointed for a period no less than 30 days. The Senate may indicate a longer exclusion period within the issued vote of no confidence up to a maximum period of 90 days.

2.4.9. The Senate shall have the power to issue a vote of no confidence against any senator within their ranks. The senator in question may debate on this proposal but may not register or vote. If this proposal passes, the senator shall be removed from the Senate and may not become a senator again for a period no less than 30 days. The Senate may indicate a longer exclusion period within the issued vote of no confidence up to a maximum period of 90 days.

2.4.10. The Senate shall have the power to issue a censure against the Grand Master or any Guardian or Master of Cynosure. If this passes, the defined member shall be censured.

2.4.11. The Senate shall have the power to issue a persona non grata against anyone who is currently not a citizen of Cynosure through a binding resolution, which will place that person on the regional blacklist, and to amend and repeal any persona non grata issuances made by the Cynosure Order.

2.4.12. The Senate shall have the power to pass resolutions commending or condemning regions, interregional organisations and extraregional organizations.

2.5. All votes of no confidence passed by the Senate may only refer to one citizen. If that citizen resigns from the post they are being voted out of, this proposal is automatically tabled, but the citizen is automatically excluded for 30 days, in accordance with the guidelines laid out in this Constitution.

Judicial Powers and Duties of the Senate

2.6. The Senate shall be entrusted with the following judicial powers and duties.

2.6.1. The Senate shall have the power to make and revise the rules of judicial proceedings for judicial panels within the bounds laid out in this Constitution, including the determination of whom has standing to ask the Senate to act within its power. The Grand Master and any member of the Cynosure Order have automatic standing to ask the Senate to act within its power.

2.6.2. Upon successful filing of cases with the Senate, the Senate shall have the power to form judicial panels made up of three appointed citizens who shall be tasked with handling judicial matters according to established judicial proceedings. These Senators shall be known as Sages of the Senate for the duration of the case.

2.6.3. Sages of the Senate shall have the power to interpret the statutory law of Cynosure, to determine rulings and verdicts in regard to violations of statutory law brought before the panel, and to determine punishments for violations of statutory law brought before the panel within the parameters established by the code of criminal law.

2.6.4. Sages of the Senate shall have the power to issue advisory opinions on matters of constitutionality and legality in relation to all matters.

2.6.5. Sages of the Senate shall not have any additional powers over citizens and the Cynosure government above and beyond those provided to them by this Constitution and statutory law, and shall not interfere in any way in roleplay affairs.

Process of the Senate

2.7. Unless otherwise mandated by this Constitution, all legislation, amendments, rules, treaties, resolutions and votes of no confidence that go through the Senate must pass through this process, and shall be referred to as proposals henceforth. Unless otherwise mandated by this Constitution, all action before the Senate shall require a two thirds simple supermajority vote for passage.

2.8. All proposals shall go through three states. Each state shall be indicated as a prefix to the name of the proposal to indicate its current state, in accordance with procedural rules.

2.8.1. All proposals start in the Proposal State. The senator who proposes the proposal shall be known as the sponsor. Two other senators must publicly support the proposal for it to pass into the Debate State, and shall be known as co-sponsors. As soon as any proposal has two co-sponsors, that proposal shall be moved into the Debate State.

2.8.2. All proposals in the Debate State must remain in that state for a minimum of three days. During this time, Senators may register in the proposal thread and debate on the proposal in question. Registered senators for a proposal may indicate their readiness to take the proposal to a vote. Following the minimum time, and once all registered senators have indicated their readiness or after three days without activity in the thread, the proposal shall move to the Voting State.

2.8.3. At anytime during the Debate State, the sponsor or co-sponsors may withdraw their support from the proposal. If this happens, the proposal shall be tabled.

2.8.4. All proposals in the Voting State shall remain at vote for four days, or until all registered senators have voted. Only registered senators who have registered during the proposal's time in the Debate State are eligible to vote on that proposal and this number shall be used to calculate the passage of the proposal. The proposal shall pass or fail automatically when the required number of votes have been cast to determine that proposal's passage.

2.8.5. A sponsor or co-sponsor who is no longer a Senator of the Senate shall automatically withdraw support and registration from all proposals active in the Senate. Only if a proposal is in the Debate State shall it be tabled in reaction.

2.9. All binding legislation passed by the Senate -- excluding its own procedural rules, votes of no confidence, amendment or repeal of directives, or constitutional amendments -- must then either be affirmed by the Grand Master or vetoed. If the legislation is affirmed, it becomes law. If the legislation is vetoed, it returns to the Senate as a new proposal in the Debate State with the original sponsor and co-sponsors listed against it. If the Grand Master neither affirms nor vetoes legislation within one week, that legislation shall automatically become law. The Grand Master must provide reasoning for any vetos.

2.10. Anytime the Senate is in recess, proposals are not allowed to move between states, and are not allowed to be passed into law. Any time given in this Constitution that relates to the passage of proposals shall be extended over the time of the recess.

2.10.1. The Senate shall be in recess during the days of 21st December through to 1st January inclusive.

III. The Grand Master and the Cynosure Order

3. The executive and administrative powers and duties of Cynosure shall be vested in the Grand Master of Cynosure, who shall lead the Cynosure Order.

3.1. The Grand Master shall hold the Founder and Root Administrator accounts for the region of Cynosure and its offsite website(s) and forum(s). The Grand Master shall hold this position until they resign from it, and shall have the power to appoint their successor in the event of their resignation.

3.2. The Grand Master shall have the power to delegate any powers and duties given in this section to subordinate officials at their discretion. These officials, together with the Grand Master, shall be known as the Cynosure Order.

3.2.1. Citizens who have been delegated executive powers shall be known as Ministers. Ministers must be re-delegated on a four month basis, at the start of the months of February, June, and October. Ministers shall be given a NS Regional Officer role if they are a resident of the NS region.

3.2.2. Citizens who have been delegated administrative powers shall be known as Guardians, if the powers are limited, or Masters, if the powers are extended. The most appropriate title shall be inferred by the Grand Master on delegation of these powers, and shall not be used for simple moderation of forums or groups alone.

Powers and Duties of the Grand Master

3.3. The Grand Master shall be entrusted with the following powers and duties. Unless otherwise noted, these powers are executive powers.

3.3.1. The Grand Master shall have the administrative power to create a site Terms of Use that solely defines the code of conduct expected of registered members of the site, and shall have the administrative power and duty to protect the site and forums from content that violates this Terms of Use. This power and duty shall supersede the Declaration of Rights, except any rights that directly relate to the site Terms of Use.

3.3.2. The Grand Master shall have the power to serve as World Assembly (WA) Delegate of Cynosure and shall vote on World Assembly proposals according to the interests of Cynosure. If the Grand Master is unable or unwilling to serve as WA Delegate they may appoint a Resident of the region as an alternative WA Delegate. The WA Delegate shall have executive power over Regional Control unless removed by the Grand Master for security purposes.

3.3.3. The Grand Master shall have the power to issue legally binding directives in relation to all matters. These directives must be defined within the boundaries of current law where such law exists.

3.3.4. The Grand Master shall have the power to issue a persona non grata against anyone who is currently not a citizen of Cynosure, which will place them on the regional blacklist.

3.3.5. The Grand Master shall have the power to amend the formatting in legislation, such as highlighting and bolding sections, adding titles to sections, and adding appropriate punctuation, providing no words of the legislation are changed, moved or removed, and the intent of the text remains the same.

3.3.6. The Grand Master shall have access to all areas of the region and be given standing approval to speak in all such areas.

3.4. Should the Grand Master cease to be in charge of the region, except in the case of passage to a successor, the Cynosure Order shall decide upon one of their members to take full executive control of the region, until such time as the Senate puts in place an alternative system through a constitutional amendment. During this period, all legislation passed by the Senate is automatically passed into law.

IV. Declaration of Rights

4. The following rights shall be granted to citizens of Cynosure. The granting of rights by this Constitution shall not be construed to restrict or prohibit the granting of additional rights by statute. No rights granted to citizens by this Constitution shall be construed to be granted to non-citizen residents of the region.

4.1. Every citizen shall have the right to free speech, to protest, to petition, to free press, and to the free practice of religion. No government institution or official shall establish a regional religion.

4.2. Every citizen shall have the right to manage his or her nation as desired. This provision shall not be construed to prohibit the regional government from establishing a limit on WA endorsements to protect the WA Delegacy.

4.3. No citizen shall be discriminated upon in any way including, but not limited to; their NS gameplay style, an individual’s race, colour, religion, religious creed, ancestry, national origin, age (except minors), sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition and/or disability, and/or any other bases prohibited by law.

4.4. No citizen shall be subject to an ex post facto law or a bill of attainder, or be subject to double jeopardy.

4.5. No citizen shall be deprived of due process of law or equal protection under the law.

4.6. No citizen shall be compelled to be a member of the WA or any other interregional organization.

4.7. No citizen shall be ejected and banned from the region or banned from the site without a fair, speedy and public trial before the Senate, excluding ejections and bans of nations in violation of a legal endorsement cap, in violation of the Terms of Service of NationStates, or in violation of the Terms of Use as laid out by the Grand Master. Citizens banned for violating the legal endorsement cap will have the right to appeal any ejection or ban placed on them to the Senate.

V. Elections

5.1. Every citizen shall have the right to vote in elections and referenda both publicly by posting in the voting thread, or privately by a registered method as provided by the administrative team.

5.2. The Grand Master shall supervise over all elections and referenda provided for under this Constitution, and anywhere in law unless explicitly sanctioned otherwise. The Grand Master may confer their responsibilities to another citizen with their consent. A person must not be a candidate in an election they are supervising. In the case of an absence of the Grand Master, and no other person having been nominated by them to supervise the elections, a member of the Cynosure Order may assume supervision of the election.

5.3. The Senate shall provide, by law, for the supervision of referenda initiated by it pursuant to this Constitution and any applicable law, and may regulate the conduct of elections and referenda.

5.4. Unless provided for by law, elections shall follow the process of a four day nomination period followed by a four day voting period. Unless provided for by law, referenda shall follow the process of a four day voting period.

5.5. Unless provided for by law, if there is only one nominee after the four day nomination period of an election, they shall automatically be elected without the voting period. Unless provided for by law, if there are no nominees after the four day nomination period of an election, nominations shall remain open until a nominee is found, at which point the four day nomination period shall restart.

5.6. No elections or referenda shall start during a time of Senate recess. Any election or referenda that runs into a time of Senate recess shall be extended for the length of time of that recess.

VI. Regional States

6.1. The Grand Master may issue a statement indicating a State of Emergency. Alternatively, if the Founder has ceased to exist for any reason, the leading member of the Cynosure Order may issue a State of Emergency which shall come into force following a successful vote of the Senate.

6.1.1. A State of Emergency may be declared when there is a direct and imminent threat to Cynosure’s survival. Potential scenarios may include, but are not limited to: an invasion by an aggressor region or regions, NS-moderator actions that threaten Cynosure and her members, and website and forum destruction.

6.1.2. During a State of Emergency, the Grand Master may directly delegate powers to any member of the Cynosure Order that may override any element of this Constitution. If the Founder has ceased to exist for any reason, these powers may be listed by the Cynosure Order and must be approved by the Senate during the issuance of the State of Emergency, and any subsequent adjustments to accepted powers must be further approved by the Senate.

6.1.3. A State of Emergency is ended when either the Grand Master issues a statement, or the Senate issues a binding resolution, indicating its end.

6.1.4. At any time when the Senate is required to, but is not able to, vote on the powers given under a State of Emergency, this vote shall instead be taken as a citizen’s referendum.

6.2. Should the citizen membership at any moment fall below ten citizens, a State of Lapse shall be declared. During a State of Lapse, all elections and referenda shall be suspended, and the Senate shall be considered in a state of permanent recess.

VII. Amendments

7. The Senate shall have the power to propose amendments to this Constitution. Unless the founder has ceased to exist, any Constitutional amendments must have the approval of the Grand Master in order to succeed in the vote by the Senate, or if the Grand Master is not a member of the Senate, must gain immediate assent of the Grand Master following passage of the amendment by the Senate or shall be considered a failed proposal instead. The amendment shall then go before the citizens of Cynosure in a referendum. If approved by a two-thirds supermajority of the citizens of Cynosure the amendment shall be ratified.