Institutions — Questions & Answers

An Institution is The City of Gold's durable Character-based organization system: a guild-like organization with a public identity, constitution, membership, leadership, ranks, permissions and history. It is not an Account group, temporary party, House, government or Religion.

Institution V1 has three categories: Military, Religious and Civic. A category describes the organization's purpose; it does not automatically grant combat, political, legal or economic powers.

One active Institution at most, across all categories. A Character cannot simultaneously belong to a Military, Civic and Religious Institution.

Yes. One eligible Character may found a valid one-person Institution and becomes its first member and first Leader.

No. Founding requires no Copper fee, co-founder, signatures, minimum member count, Mayor approval or Count approval. Normal Character eligibility, uniqueness, Religion eligibility and validation rules still apply.

No. Organizational identity exists independently of physical property, so an Institution may be created and continue to exist without a Building.

The founder establishes the category, linked Religion where required, governance, name, slug, motto, public description, optional headquarters, banner, Charter, ordered ranks, rank names and descriptions, rank permissions, Regent-delegable permissions and one succession method.

Monarchy, Oligarchy and Republic. Their default Leader titles are Sovereign, First Councillor and President respectively. Governance gives constitutional identity; the separately selected succession method determines how a vacancy is resolved.

Not in Institution V1. After creation, the Institution cannot add, delete, rename or reorder ranks; edit rank descriptions or permission assignments; alter Regent-delegable permissions; change governance; or change its succession method. A future amendment system would require separate design.

Its stable identity, category, governance, founder, linked Religion where applicable, name and slug are permanent in V1. Separately authorized workflows may update mutable presentation such as its motto, description, headquarters, Charter or banner without rewriting history.

It must be permanently linked to one active organized non-Agnostic Religion, and its founder must be an eligible current follower. That Religion link cannot later be changed.

A Character may submit an application to an eligible Institution or accept a specific invitation sent by one. Applications are reviewed by members with application authority; invitations may be accepted or declined by their recipient.

No. A Character may have only one unresolved Institution join intent at a time: one pending application or invitation. Active membership also prevents another join intent.

An accepted applicant or invitee enters the Institution's lowest configured rank. Authorized managers may later promote that member through the existing hierarchy.

Yes. An ordinary member may leave voluntarily. Their active membership and rank tenures close, Communication access is removed and their history remains preserved. The current Leader must use the dedicated resignation and succession process instead.

Yes. A current member whose rank grants member-removal authority may remove an eligible ordinary member. The current Leader cannot be removed through this ordinary workflow, and membership and rank history remain preserved.

No. Institution membership and configured-rank tenures are durable historical facts. Ending active membership does not rewrite the past.

Between two and ten ordered ranks. Position one is the unique Leader rank, and at least one lower rank must exist.

Yes, during founding. Rank names and descriptions express the Institution's identity, but they become immutable after creation in V1.

No. Rank order establishes hierarchy and configured permissions establish authority. Calling a rank “Council”, “Officer” or “King” grants nothing by itself.

Institution V1 has 18 configurable permissions covering administration, information and heraldry, governance, invitations and applications, removal, promotion and demotion, moderation, warnings and suspension, announcements, events, public pages, diplomacy and Institution Building Access.

Yes. Moving an ordinary member upward requires the configured promotion permission; moving them downward requires the demotion permission. The ordering of configured ranks—not their names—determines the direction.

No. The Leader position cannot be selected through ordinary promotion, the serving Leader cannot be demoted that way, and rank management cannot bypass succession, resignation or Vote of No Confidence.

During founding, the constitution identifies which configured permissions may be exercised by a valid Regent. That set must be drawn from the applicable rank permissions, cannot be changed after creation and is not automatically granted to every Regent outside the Regent rules.

There is one constitutional Leader office. When occupied, its title is Sovereign for a Monarchy, First Councillor for an Oligarchy or President for a Republic. When no eligible transition can fill it, the office is explicitly Vacant.

No. Ordinary offline status is not leadership ineligibility and gives a Regent no additional authority.

Resignation uses a dedicated leadership workflow, ends the current tenure and immediately invokes the configured succession method. The former Leader remains a member in the highest configured non-Leader rank and may leave separately afterward.

The Leader office becomes Vacant and the Institution immediately applies its one configured succession method. Religious leadership also requires continuing eligibility in the linked Religion.

Yes. If its configured method cannot currently produce an eligible Leader, the Institution remains Active with a Vacant office. Membership, history, Buildings, Communication and permitted non-Leader work continue; Leader-only actions do not.

No. A Character may serve as Leader multiple times when valid constitutional processes return them to office. Each tenure is recorded separately.

Exactly one of six methods: Appointed Successor, Regent, Senior Rank, Council Vote, Full Membership Vote or Founder Control. If that method cannot produce a Leader, there is no automatic fallback to another method.

The serving Leader may designate, replace or remove any eligible current member without requiring acceptance. An ineligible designation clears immediately. The successor gains no special current authority, but automatically becomes Leader when a vacancy occurs if still eligible.

The Leader may appoint, replace or remove an eligible member other than themselves without requiring acceptance. The Regent exercises only constitutionally delegated permissions and gains nothing extra because the Leader is offline. A valid Regent automatically becomes Leader when a vacancy occurs; Regent tenure ends immediately if eligibility is lost.

The system finds the highest populated eligible rank below Leader and selects its longest-serving eligible member by applicable rank tenure. Membership tenure and then a stable opaque identifier resolve any remaining tie. Selection is deterministic and never random.

The electorate is the highest populated eligible configured rank below Leader, falling downward one rank at a time without combining ranks. Every eligible current member may be a candidate regardless of rank, and the election opens automatically when needed.

Every eligible active Institution member belongs to the electorate, and every eligible current member belongs to the candidate pool regardless of rank. The election opens automatically when a vacancy requires it.

While the Leader office is Vacant, the immutable founder may install any eligible current member, including themselves if eligible. It is vacancy-filling authority only—not a permanent veto, administrative power or authority over a serving Leader.

A normal leadership election lasts 48 real-world hours. Every runoff also lasts 48 real-world hours.

Yes. An eligible voter may replace their ballot any number of times before closing, and an eligible voter who is also a candidate may vote for themselves. Only the latest valid ballot counts.

There is no explicit Abstain ballot and no quorum. A member abstains by casting no ballot; any nonzero set of valid ballots can determine the result.

No. Every eligible current member is automatically in the candidate pool. There are no signatures, nominations or candidacy registrations.

Yes, at any time before closing. The candidate and ballots cast for them are removed, affected voters may choose again, and the existing deadline does not restart.

An ineligible candidate and ballots cast for them are removed immediately. An ineligible voter's ballot is also removed. The timer continues unless the candidate pool falls to one or zero.

That sole eligible candidate becomes Leader immediately. Holding a 48-hour ballot would serve no constitutional purpose.

The Institution remains Active with a Vacant Leader office and performs a fresh eligibility check every 48 hours. One candidate is installed immediately; two or more open a fresh election.

No Leader is elected. The office remains Vacant and a fresh 48-hour election opens with a new canonical electorate and candidate snapshot.

A 48-hour runoff opens automatically with only the candidates tied for the highest total. Further top ties produce further 48-hour runoffs. Political ties are never settled randomly, by timestamps, internal IDs or administrators.

Current members see live aggregate totals per candidate and aggregate participation, never individual ballots. Public visitors see that the Leader office is Vacant, the election or runoff status, candidate identities and closing time.

No. A multi-candidate election runs its full 48 hours because ballots may change and more voters may participate. The separate sole-candidate rule still applies.

Any one eligible current member of the Institution's constitutional electorate may start one. No petition or co-signature threshold is required, and only one may be active for the Institution at a time.

It lasts 48 real-world hours and offers Remove Leader or Retain Leader. There is no explicit Abstain option, no quorum and no early result merely because live totals appear decisive. Eligible voters may replace their ballot before closing.

No. The challenged Leader is excluded from that electorate, although they may see the same live aggregate information as other current Institution members and may campaign through ordinary Communication.

More than 50% of valid ballots actually cast must choose Remove Leader. Non-participation does not count as Retain, and an exact 50/50 result fails so the Leader remains.

The serving Leader remains in office. A two-real-world-week cooldown prevents another challenge against that same still-serving Leader. A newly installed Leader receives no automatic grace period.

The Leader loses office but is not expelled. They move to the highest configured non-Leader rank, the office becomes Vacant and the configured succession method begins immediately. Leadership and rank history remain preserved.

Not through the immediate unresolved succession process caused by their removal, including its runoffs and candidate rechecks. They may still vote if their new rank is in the electorate. Once another Leader takes office, there is no lifetime ban on a future valid return.

No. A valid existing designation remains constitutional state. Under the matching succession method, an eligible Appointed Successor or Regent takes office after successful removal.

The vote closes without a result or failed-vote cooldown. Resignation or authoritative death/ineligibility creates the vacancy and starts configured succession immediately. Ordinary offline status does not count.

While active, the public sees the challenged Leader and closing time; members additionally see aggregate Remove, Retain and participation totals. After closing, the outcome and final aggregates become public history. Individual ballots remain permanently private.

Institution V1 defines bilateral Alliance, Neutral or no special relationship, and directional Enemy declarations. Established relationships are authoritative public game data.

Any current member whose configured rank grants diplomacy authority. It is not inherently Leader-only, and the Backend must recheck that authority when an action is submitted.

An authorized diplomat may send one only when both Institutions are mutually Neutral. It may include an optional bounded private message. An authorized diplomat of the receiving Institution may accept or reject it.

Only current members with diplomacy authority in the involved Institutions. Pending negotiations and request messages are not public history.

No. It belongs to the sending Institution and remains valid if that diplomat leaves or loses authority. Another authorized diplomat may manage or cancel it.

No. Alliance Requests do not expire in V1; they remain pending until accepted, rejected, cancelled or ended by a canonical lifecycle or relationship change. Only one unresolved request may exist between the same Institution pair, regardless of direction.

Rejection creates a one-real-world-week pair-specific cooldown before either Institution may send another request. Cancellation by the sending Institution creates no cooldown.

Yes. Either Institution may end it unilaterally through diplomacy authority. Both sides return to Neutral unless separate Enemy declarations apply, and a one-week pair-specific cooldown blocks another Alliance Request. Enemy may still be declared immediately.

Enemy is unilateral and directional. Institution A may declare B Enemy while B remains directionally Neutral toward A. The declaring Institution may remove its own declaration at any time. There is no cooldown for adding or removing Enemy.

No. Declaring an Ally Enemy immediately ends the bilateral Alliance, applies the normal ended-Alliance cooldown and records Enemy only in the declaring direction unless the other side declares it independently.

Yes, but every directional Enemy declaration between the pair must first be removed so both sides are Neutral. Any separate rejection or ended-Alliance cooldown must also have elapsed before a new request.

The pending request is cancelled automatically and the directional Enemy declaration takes effect. Archival or this system cancellation does not create a rejection cooldown.

No. Enemy does not create War; it is a diplomatic relationship and presentation foundation. Warfare, declarations of war, sieges, surrender, peace and victory conditions belong to a separate future system.

Yes. Vacancy and elections do not suspend configured rank permissions. If nobody currently holds diplomacy authority, existing Alliances, Enemy declarations and requests remain unchanged, but no new diplomacy action can be performed.

No artificial numerical cap exists in Institution V1.

Yes. Public records show active Allies, Institutions this Institution declares Enemy, and Institutions declaring it Enemy. Alliance formation and ending, Enemy declarations and removals become public history; pending requests and their messages remain private.

It leaves active diplomacy immediately: Alliances end, pending requests cancel and Enemy declarations from or toward it stop being active. No request cooldown is created, and historical diplomacy remains preserved.

Yes. Founding never creates a Guild Hall or other structure automatically. Permanent Institution Buildings require their own crafted Blueprints and use the Universal Building System.

No. The Institution aggregate has no abstract central Treasury, Inventory or magical Guild Bank. Its money and resources exist through physical Institution-controlled Buildings and their Building Inventory and Treasury systems.

It allows a current member whose rank has Building Access to enter or use Institution-restricted Buildings under each Building's access rules. It does not grant inventory, treasury, manager, workforce, production, maintenance, repair, ownership or transfer authority.

It is permanently associated with one eligible organized Religion. Religion owns faith and follower status; the Institution owns its organization and membership.

Only eligible current followers of its linked Religion may found, join, hold rank or lead it. Eligibility is rechecked when membership, rank or leadership changes.

The Religious Institution is archived. Its identity and history remain, active membership ends according to lifecycle rules, and active Alliances, requests and Enemy declarations are reconciled through Institution archival.

Yes. Its category, governance, constitutional Leader title, current Leader or Vacancy, succession method, valid Appointed Successor or Regent, full rank hierarchy, rank names, descriptions, permissions and Regent-delegable permissions are public.

Yes. Active members are grouped from highest configured rank to lowest, and the authority assigned to every rank is public constitutional information. Legacy generic Officer labels do not replace that hierarchy.

For succession elections, public visitors see the Vacant office, election or runoff status, candidate identities and closing time. For No Confidence, they see the challenged Leader and closing time. Live aggregate totals and participation remain current-member-only.

No. Individual ballots, who has or has not voted and ballot changes remain permanently private. Only final aggregate election and No Confidence totals become public after closing.

Yes. Every separate tenure records the Character, constitutional title, Golden Calendar start and end, appropriate ending reason and the constitutional mechanism by which the next Leader took office.

Alliance formation and ending, Enemy declarations and Enemy removals are durable public events. Private request messages and pending negotiation details are not public by default.

Own Institution, Ally, Neutral or Unrelated, and Enemy. Exact colors are not yet finalized, but Own Institution remains distinct from Ally.

No. Relationship presentation applies to every current member of the related Institution regardless of rank.

If either Institution declares the other Enemy, both sides receive Enemy presentation for safety. The authoritative diplomatic records remain directional; presentation does not secretly create a reciprocal declaration.

No. Website, Unreal and other clients must consume authoritative Backend and Platform relationship state. Presentation never creates diplomatic truth.

No. Enemy does not create War. War declarations, costs, siege, surrender, peace, victory conditions, territorial consequences, military obligations, rewards and penalties remain future Warfare design.

No. Mergers, federations and advanced inter-Institution hierarchy are outside Institution V1.

Institution V1 provides no amendment system. Any future ability to alter ranks, permissions, Regent delegation or succession requires separately approved design.

No. Creation, the 18-permission rank constitution, membership workflows, authoritative member ranks, promotion, demotion, voluntary leaving and member removal are operational foundations. Leadership execution, Institution voting, diplomacy workflows and projections, and the Universal Building consumer for Building Access remain finalized rules awaiting runtime adoption.