BlogNomic: The First Dynasty of Desertfrog

I believe we’re all Unenlightened and thus not able to Unblock Chakras at the moment.

You can Unlock Chakras, but not Declare Victory.

“If a Time Monk would be eligible to achieve Victory in the Dynasty that they currently occupy, _*were they Enlightened*_, and if that Dynasty has not yet been Unblocked, then they may Unblock that Dynasty by making a blog post with the Title “Unblocking a Chakra: Dynasty X”, where X is the Dynasty they occupy, and placing an asterisk beside that Dynasty in the Dynastic History list on the UTD. Upon doing so, the Monk who Unblocked the Dynasty gains 1 Chakra and 1 Chronotohm.”

I read this as “if you’re enlightened, then you can unblock chakras”.

That’s not what I would call a plain-English reading - “were” in this case referring to the ability to declare Victory, not the ability to unblock Chakras.

So do you read this as “If a Time Monk matches all conditions needed to achieve Victory in the Dynasty that they currently occupy, except the condition of being Enlightened, then they may Unblock that Dynasty and Unblock a Chakra”?

But being Enlightened is something that only exist for dynasty 100, so this interpretation doesn’t make sense!

(If the plain-English reading you’re referring to differs from that one, then I’m afraid my English is not good enough and I need help to read this rule.)

That is my interpretation, but dynasty 100 rules - or the Hard Rules, at least - apply regardless of which dynasty a player is occupying.

My point is, a Time Monk’s eligibility to Achieve Victory in their Dynasty does not depend on them being Enlightened or not.

That’s why interpreting this as “If a Time Monk matches all conditions needed to achieve Victory in the Dynasty they currently occupy, except the condition of being Enlightened, then they can Unblock a Chakra” seems very weird to me.
My first understanding is “If a Time Monk matches all conditions needed to achieve Victory in the Dynasty they currently occupy, if they are Enlightened, then they can Unblock a Chakra”
(“if they are Enlightened” and “were they enlightened” being equivalent with that interpretation)

My gut sense is that the use of “were” instead of “if” does change the meaning, so that the clause refers to the preceding sentence rather than the succeeding, but by all means CfJ it if you think it’s too unclear.

(I am relatively certain that my reading is the intended meaning - not that intention is sovereign, of course.)

Well I believe both interpretations are grammatically possible, though “If being Enlightened is the only condition a Time Monk misses to be eligible to achieve Victory in the Dynasty they’re occupying” definitely seems a little far-fetched when being Enlightened has nothing to do with achieving Victory.

However it is a problem for a rule to have two different interpretations possible - allowing every player to abide by the one they prefer would be nonsense, in my opinion.

CfJ is on the way.