Call for Judgment: A legal fight (to delay things further)
Times out and fails 3-3. -RaichuKFM
Adminned at 26 Dec 2013 16:03:32 UTC
What should Clucky’s Power be?
There are three options, really; 1520, 1000, or zero.
The argument that it should be 1520 is based on that being what his Power was before it was blanked as part of his becoming Interim Despot. 1000 derives from the Ruleset’s apparent default figure for Despots, and zero is the option should neither of the other two be applicable.
This CfJ contends that neither of the non-zero situations are applicable and that Clucky’s Power should be zero. The sequence of events was that Clucky had 1520 Power, but then moved into a player category that did not have a Power stat, before moving into another player category that did have a Power stat. He would thus only retain the 1520 Power if the stat is considered to persist even when not applicable to Clucky’s current role. To draw an analogy, at the same time as he has 1520 Power, Clucky had several other stats - a Credibility score, a Location, a Flunk etc. If he ceases to be Despot, do those also re-appear? I would argue not; these are not continuations of Clucky’s old values, but new iterations of those statistics. They should therefore start at a default level.
The default value question is tougher. The ruleset says that the Despot “starts the game†with 1000 Power; however, it also says elsewhere that an Oligarch “becomes the Despotâ€, suggesting that the Despot is a continuous role and as such that it has a continuity that supersedes the identity of whoever is occupying it. An argument could be made that Clucky should then inherit the Despot’s continuing Power. But in any case, the Despot has already “started the game†with 1000 Power; it’s not a default in that sense of the word. Clucky suggests that we adopt this as a “compromise”. This isn’t about compromising, though. It’s about getting it right.
That only leaves zero, which is applicable because of Glossary entry 3.3.1, which states that “If a game variable has no defined starting value for new Oligarchs, or for existing Oligarchs upon the variable’s creation, then that starting value is zero (for numerical variables) or blank (for a text string or list).” Remember that the Despot is considered an Oligarch for Core and Glossary rules.
Therefore, if this CfJ passes, subtract 1000 from Clucky’s Power (to a minimum of zero) and reverse the effect of any actions that he has taken while Despot that relied on Power that he had not earned as Despot prior to carrying them out,
since I can’t see any explanation from Clucky other than “I think it gets retained” and him adopting 1000 as a compromise and to “avoid a legal fight that will delay things even further” (does that just mean “avoid RaichuKFM/Purplebeard/whoever instantly deposing him”?).
RaichuKFM: she/her