Post by Fewms on Oct 2, 2009 1:05:19 GMT
Written in ink in Morporkian:
The View From The Palace
Magistrate Ptenisnet Cetera
My intention with this column will be to write on council matters, from legislation and case histories to the privileges and responsibilities of citizenship, to the possible ways the nomic council system can interact with gameplay. Though I have some experience as an active magistrate, citizen, and member of KCC, I write here in no official capacity. Indeed, there will always be citizens and fellow magistrates who disagree with me! And that's as it should be. I believe that the council is a co-operative and collaborative mechanism and that there's no place in it for individual power-mongering.
Today I take for my text the historic first law of Klatch, enacted as far back as August of 2001 and enduring ever since.
The very first law enacted in Klatch is rule 300, which states that "No Klatchian citizen is allowed to hold any other citizenship." It is still one of our fundamental laws, loved for its exclusiveness and its potential for xenophobic roleplay, and hated for much the same reasons. Without it, there would probably have been no laws against foreign ownership of property (rule 317), and the shop law (rule 319) would quite likely never have been contemplated, since the council at large would not have been as insular as it is and there would have been little outcry over foreign friends' and family members' involvement in the shops.
Occasionally a citizen or two mutter about the law's exclusionary intent. Well, actually, the citizens are generally quite content with the law; it's those left out in the cold unsandy wastes of non-citizenship who mutter. As a magistrate I have always made it a point to discuss the no-dual-citizenship rule with potential citizenship applicants and with those who have unknowingly transgressed our first law. Far from preferring to apply in more flexible city-states, the interviewees have almost uniformly chosen to forego whatever foreign citizenship they have or might potentially acquire (be warned: there is currently no easy way to lose one's Agatean citizenship), and have chosen Klatch. Onyx Knott, as a matter of fact, having once accidentally found himself in violation of the rule and having lost his Klatchian citizenship as a result, was found on the doorstep of the application office mere hours later, cap in hand and the ashes of his Morporkian green card scattered ostentatiously behind him. His patriotism and promptness are an example to us all!
One citizen has wondered audibly whether we might in future allow dual citizenship to citizens who might own shops for us in foreign lands. Unless circumstances change drastically, I would loudly oppose such a move, and so I think would most citizens, as representing a move toward the dilution of our community feeling. I feel that even the ambassadorship (currently the only legal way to hold citizenship at once in Klatch and foreign parts) represents a small step toward a kind of two-tier citizenship. I am currently the ambassador, and I feel not, as one might expect, that I have gained something by the addition of Ankh-Morporkian privileges, but that I have adulterated, in some small way, my identity in the Klatch council. If it weren't for the necessity of amicable relations with our neighbour to the east, and of having someone representing Klatch's interests in the belly of the beast, I would almost be in favour of cutting diplomatic ties with Ankh-Morpork altogether, merely because the prestige of the ambassadorial position runs so counter to the egalitarian intention of our first law.
But that is an extreme position to take. I merely reiterate that rule 300 is an important part of the council's identity. It forces us to look inward; it encourages us to build community among citizens; it gives us a cohesiveness that the less focussed societies of the Disc lack. To all those non-citizens who complain about the exclusive nature of our laws, I reply: you are free to imitate us. And while you are unlikely to beat us, you are more than welcome to join us.
The View From The Palace
Magistrate Ptenisnet Cetera
My intention with this column will be to write on council matters, from legislation and case histories to the privileges and responsibilities of citizenship, to the possible ways the nomic council system can interact with gameplay. Though I have some experience as an active magistrate, citizen, and member of KCC, I write here in no official capacity. Indeed, there will always be citizens and fellow magistrates who disagree with me! And that's as it should be. I believe that the council is a co-operative and collaborative mechanism and that there's no place in it for individual power-mongering.
Today I take for my text the historic first law of Klatch, enacted as far back as August of 2001 and enduring ever since.
The very first law enacted in Klatch is rule 300, which states that "No Klatchian citizen is allowed to hold any other citizenship." It is still one of our fundamental laws, loved for its exclusiveness and its potential for xenophobic roleplay, and hated for much the same reasons. Without it, there would probably have been no laws against foreign ownership of property (rule 317), and the shop law (rule 319) would quite likely never have been contemplated, since the council at large would not have been as insular as it is and there would have been little outcry over foreign friends' and family members' involvement in the shops.
Occasionally a citizen or two mutter about the law's exclusionary intent. Well, actually, the citizens are generally quite content with the law; it's those left out in the cold unsandy wastes of non-citizenship who mutter. As a magistrate I have always made it a point to discuss the no-dual-citizenship rule with potential citizenship applicants and with those who have unknowingly transgressed our first law. Far from preferring to apply in more flexible city-states, the interviewees have almost uniformly chosen to forego whatever foreign citizenship they have or might potentially acquire (be warned: there is currently no easy way to lose one's Agatean citizenship), and have chosen Klatch. Onyx Knott, as a matter of fact, having once accidentally found himself in violation of the rule and having lost his Klatchian citizenship as a result, was found on the doorstep of the application office mere hours later, cap in hand and the ashes of his Morporkian green card scattered ostentatiously behind him. His patriotism and promptness are an example to us all!
One citizen has wondered audibly whether we might in future allow dual citizenship to citizens who might own shops for us in foreign lands. Unless circumstances change drastically, I would loudly oppose such a move, and so I think would most citizens, as representing a move toward the dilution of our community feeling. I feel that even the ambassadorship (currently the only legal way to hold citizenship at once in Klatch and foreign parts) represents a small step toward a kind of two-tier citizenship. I am currently the ambassador, and I feel not, as one might expect, that I have gained something by the addition of Ankh-Morporkian privileges, but that I have adulterated, in some small way, my identity in the Klatch council. If it weren't for the necessity of amicable relations with our neighbour to the east, and of having someone representing Klatch's interests in the belly of the beast, I would almost be in favour of cutting diplomatic ties with Ankh-Morpork altogether, merely because the prestige of the ambassadorial position runs so counter to the egalitarian intention of our first law.
But that is an extreme position to take. I merely reiterate that rule 300 is an important part of the council's identity. It forces us to look inward; it encourages us to build community among citizens; it gives us a cohesiveness that the less focussed societies of the Disc lack. To all those non-citizens who complain about the exclusive nature of our laws, I reply: you are free to imitate us. And while you are unlikely to beat us, you are more than welcome to join us.