Paradis, Outlined

Here's what I have together thus far. This is a mockup on notes i've scribbled. For those who haven't been following in General, Paradis is a new RP system designed to give an alternative to Gor for D/s play, but D/s is not a cornerstone of it, and you can enjoy the community just fine without participation in it. It's also designed to be *safer* than Gor.

If I seem tired, I am. Mechanics of a society are no easy task. These notes are pulled from my outline and a couple of extra thoughts, so please take your time and forgive me for the fact you'll have some trouble following here and there. Opinions welcome.

Paradis (Pare-uh-dys)(n) is the remains of a pod called a "Paradise Ark" that kept the community safe for the entire time period of a massive bioweapon fallout. The RP has it turned into a city.

Inhabitants: Paradisians.

Society name: Paradisian.


A.Races
a. Humans-Human beings created the Paradise Ark with the help of the Ataken, shielding the population of over 10,000 from a chemical war. Uninfected, “normal” humans are common within city walls, but rare Outside Paradis.
b.Ataken- Automatons that survive on consumption of raw materials. For the most part, they maintain themselves, but sometimes require additional maintenance. Created by the human race to function in infected areas, as well as provide basic luxury and menial service.
c. Mutants - People who exist in a mutated, deformed state. Desireable mutations are researched and reproduced for cosmetic or practical purposes by “genetic surgeons”. Unseemly mutations are surgically removed if the poor soul has the funds, otherwise they are relegated to the Lower Class.
d. The Diseased - Those infected by one of the many diseases that have developed from the evolution of bioweapon fallout.
e.Cybrids- People who are part machine, part human, and often, part mutant. These people appear in all classes, and many obsess with their enhancements.
f.“Furries” - Noone knows their origin. They just wandered into the city one day and moved into homes. Theory is that the Furries come from biologically or radiologically induced evolution from pre-disaster animals.

B.Society
a.Membership - Membership is symbolized by the Citizen Gem, unique to each citizen and labeled with their name. Usage will be described below. This object is no-copy, no-modify, transfer.
b.Government - The City State is run by a ruling Council of Sectors. Each Sector has a Patron or Matron elected by popular vote, and major city decisions of all kinds are made by this council. Elections are held once per RL Month.
1. Elections can be bypassed if no opponent attempts to run against the incumbent. There is no limit to the number of times someone can serve in office.
2.Patron/Matron: The Patron or Matron of a given sector is responsible for resolving judicial matters within the Sector, including leading any investigation. He/She is also responsible for approving societal class changes and the individual laws of the Sector, as well as ensuring that any ToS for the venue is not violated. The Patron/Matron has the right to enter any home, business, etc. in the course of an investigation. Percieved abuses of power should be reported to the city watch. If an abuse of power is confirmed by investigation from the Council of Sectors, immediate expulsion from office is the result.
If not, no penalties will be levied against the one who reported falsly. However, repeated reports that always lead to a false conclusion may require further action to put an end to wolf-crying.

C. City Watch
1.The City Watch is a selected group that polices Paradis. This group is handpicked by the Council of Sectors. They are tasked with patrolling the sectors of Paradis.
2.Abuses of power by the City Watch should be reported to the local Patron/Matron. Council of Sectors investigates all abuse claims against the Watch and decides on appropriate action.
3.The City Watch is given a prim badge, a uniform, and a uniform weapon.
4.The City Watch in a given Sector answers to that Sector’s Matron/Patron.


c.Classes
i.Upper Class
1.Nobles - These are those that hold some sort of community office, and those that possess the greatest luxuries. Duh. Obviously this means RPers will be able to buy their way into nobility, whereas those who cannot afford to will have to earn it, but this is an RP based on humanity, so that’s just how she works. Nobility in one Sector may have different opinions on what is allowable in their class. For instance, a predominantly mutant sector may have nonmutated nobility, or may be mutants that look down on the nonmutants. Cybernetic implants are usually considered conversation pieces and respected.

2.Officers- The City Watch occupies an upper-class building for its barracks, but may be from all walks of life. Those holding public office are expected to keep homes representing their station.

ii.Middle Class
1.Simply put, this is the backbone of Paradis. Anyone who is not a slave or servant, but not a Noble, fits this category.

iii.Lower Class
1.Servants-A step below middle class. These have a slave-like relationship to another person or group of people, but have certain levels of legal protection from abuse and are to be treated with a level of respect similar to that of a butler or maid, though often slightly less. Their indenturement has a specific length depending on the reason for service, and while they must still concede to the whims of their master or mistress, limits are established on the indenturement contract and no Collaring is involved. This form of indenturement is sometimes used as a punitive measure by Paradis’s legal system.
2.Slaves - Slavery is legal, but only with a license. Thus, someone must obtain a valid Mastery License from their Home Sector Patron/Matron. Slaves give up their Citizen Gem to the City Watch, who will then give take the slave to get a Collar. The slave will wear the Collar from that day forward, and be put up for auction if no Licensed Master or Mistress has taken immediate interest. Auctions are City-State events. Collars may be replaced with more functional collars.
The City Watch will log the name of the slave to ensure the law is fulfilled. Upon being sold, the Slave’s Citizen Gem is given to their owner. UP UNTIL THIS POINT, THE SLAVE MAY RENIG ON BEING A SLAVE. Once the slave is sold, he or she will only be considered free again if they procure their Citizen Gem from their owner and present it to the City Watch as proof of their release. The Council reserves the right to terminate a Slave’s obligation at any time in a case of abuse, neglect, or other extenuating circumstances.

Severity of Slavery: Licensed Masters and Mistresses may do whatever they wish with their slaves; bear children with them, beat them, chop them up and serve them in Tupperware at a dinner party, anything. (HOWEVER, it is all in RP only. If a slave feels he or she is being exploited in a manner that transcends into RL or constitutes griefing under the venue’s ToS, he or she should report to the City Watch IMMEDIATELY.)
The City Watch will remind any potential slave of the ramifications of his or her decision when the slave approaches the Watchman or Watchwoman with their Gem.

iv. Effect of Gender - There is no Natural Order, or anything like it, in Paradis. Men and women (and neuters) are truly equal to those of their own class. Homosexual and heterosexual interactions are 100% supported by Paradis.

The Law
a. The 12 Laws
The laws established as fundamental and absolute by the first Council of Sectors. They assert the 12 ways to be exiled or executed. Exile means kicked into the Wastes, and Death means simulated execution and banned from the community.
1. Theft is reprehensible, and punishable by Exile.
2. Murder is reprehensible, and punishable by Exile or Death.
3. Illegal Slavery is Reprehensible, and punishable by Exile.
4. True Harassment is Reprehensible, and punishable by Exile or Death.
5. Proselytization of RL faiths is Reprehensible, and punishable by Exile or Death.
6. Vandalism of the City is Reprehensible, and Punishable by Exile.
7. Abuse of the System (such as RL stalking, abuse, etc) is Reprehensible, and Punishable by Exile or Death.
8. Bringing down the Fourth Wall constantly is Reprehensible, and Punishable by Exile or Death.
9. To be a Slave and habitually fail your Master or Mistress is Reprehensible, and Punishable by Exile.
10. To be a Traitor is reprehensible, and punishable by Exile.
11. To be Infected is unfortunate, but reprehensible, and you must be Exiled.
12. Assault is reprehensible, and punishable by Exile.

ii. Other laws
1. Paradis starts with no other laws beyond The 12. Laws will be proposed by the starting Council as need is identified, which are then passed to the individual Patrons and Matrons to go to their Sectors and judge what is best for their Sector, and come back to vote.
2. Patrons and Matrons may make individual laws for their Sectors, though they may not contradict the laws set ahead by the entire Council or by the Paradis system itself.
3. Council Laws may overturn certain functions (i.e., if the entire council agreed that slavery should be banned altogether), but only on 100% agreement from the entire council. The Council should also keep in mind that such decisions require implementation and enforcement, and such should be RP’d in if applicable.
4. All laws sway to the venue ToS.

iii. Role of City Watch
1. The City Watch investigates, reports, and if necessary, punishes legal violations. They cannot use banning tools to force an exile, but they carry weapons and can remove someone from the property by force or imprison them. They also report to those running the Venue any abuses and report violations to the Council, who can implement bans as needed.
2. The City Watch explains any major social class change when that time comes. This includes submitting oneself into slavery, indenturement (willing or as a punitive measure), societal change due to change in station, etc. The City Watch is generally tasked with keeping things running smoothly.

D. Funding and Auctions
a. Proceeds from Auction events of any kind are moved as follows:
i. 40% to the seller (if this is a slave auction, this is given to the slave)
ii. 20% to the owner of the parcel where the auction is being conducted (to the city coffers if it is city land).
iii. 40% to the city coffers to help with tier and funding.
b. Proceeds from other sources of income are dispersed by the Council.
c. There are no taxes, being a member of Paradis is free.
E. Building Codes
a. Buildings in an area must match the area itself.
b. “ZONES” are formed by connected teleporters. The ZONES will be designed in a manner that only members of the community may travel through the majority (if not all of) the community itself. This is a measure until a full sim develops.
c. Mismatched technology means that the common store will be more wood and glass than it is plastic and electronics. Please keep this in mind during construction.
d. Primary construction components should involve wood and stone, mixed with technological marvels here and there.
e. The ZONES concept allows citizens to link their own land to the city. Please see a guard for details. The general idea is installation of a teleporter that leads to your land, which would be the interior leading to your home. ZONES must be “boxed” in like a skybox (most zones will be skyboxes, allowing the progression of night and day with the SL sun). Once SL is coded to render like an FPS does, culling anything not visible from the camera, this will make many parts of Paradis nearly lag free.
f. Keep Paradis beautiful. The occasional shantytown is expected, but most constructions will be lovely amalgamations of salvaged materials or materials mined and harvested by the Ataken. A medieval/Greco-Roman kind of beauty is what should be kept in mind, leaning toward medieval. Gorean constructions are acceptable, but Gorean D/s activity is not an aspect of the Paradis RP and will be treated as illegal slave ownership by the City Watch. The first law being RP'd into the books is one that abolishes descrimination of any kind based on gender, and the Gorean Natural Order would immediately be considered in violation of that law.

F. Slave Licensing (designed to prevent abuse).
a.Issued by the Patron or Matron, who may assign the task to a City Watchmember.
b.A single no-copy, no-modify, no Transfer item that has a customized texture. Cost for acquiring the license is L$25. The license is unique to the individual and has a number on it.
c.Watchmembers will request the owner rez his license from time to time to check its validity (at least, until the Watch is familiar with the licensee). This will be a process of matching the number, color, and owner to a log kept by the Watch. An owner may wish to wear the license when out in public as both a status symbol and to save time.
d.If for any reason licensing must be revoked (such as trying to force things into RL with a slave), the license must be given to a guard, or the former owner will be exiled (and perhaps executed).

G. Stores
a.Merchants will be required to be present at their stores in the city at least once per week (unless approved by the Patron/Matron for an extended time). SL is plagued with absentee store owners and this will not be the case in Paradis.

H. Diseases and Creatures
a. Vampirism and Lycanthropy, to clarify, are mutations, not diseases.
b. Those found to be diseased by the Guard will be either required to be cured or become enemies of the City-State and come under attack or exile. Fear of disease permeates the Paradis culture. Diseases are not the common cold, but out of a predetermined set of plagues. Diseases will be signified by affect on the Citizen Gem.
c. Players may choose to be beasts and creatures, it is requested that these models be kept as close to the Bestiary Compendium as possible. That will be published once Paradis is established.

Sounds good so far.
What about open display of weapons in public?

Unless a law is made against it, I think it's fine for blades and such. Guns I'd think the guards would wanna keep an eye on.

So no carrying rotunda grenade launchers in public unless the situation calls for it. Okies. I would write in a limit of the kinds of weapons that can be carried in the sim, and what types of round/attackes they can be capable of.

I actually like this..I only have one concern. If I and my sl wife were to explore the region (and possibly light rp in order to allow the experience to run as smoothly as possible for those participating in the RP as a solid deal), I would only ask the following:

1. Given the D/s nature of our relationship preexisted, waiving a 'masters fee' for the license, or the need for one as we would not be full term residents, but mostly shopping or admiring the builds and creativity.

2. Be treated as if the middle class, except in the case of whichever of us is portraying the 'pet' (I have no submissive tendencies rl, but my sl wife has a Dominant streak and as such I rp Jonas in world as switch for those times)

3. Held to respect your system in its ways, keeping any matters best held privately private. If we say soemthing that may not fit well with your theme, please mention it to us so that we may allow your rp world to continue with as little disruption as possible.

Edit: I hope this can get some things clarified..especially in regards to your policies on visitors. The three are intended to allow me and Casey to explore and shop without ruining the atmosphere or enjoyment of others.

Jonas, I totally understand. Perhaps a "Customs" office, just something automated. What WOULD be required is that you left your D/s Gorean relationship at the door unless you purchased the proper license and act egalitarian until you left. Yes, that might mean collar disengagement, because that would attract undue attention from the Watch i'm sure. I think that's reasonable, if the Goreans can ask furries to take their heads off on their sims. I know it'll limit some of the people who visit, but the RP would need to be maintained.

Certainly, some form of "customs" needs to be established.

Certianly . I assume that I can purchase a license, at least (as can she) for the normal fee (which will go to the sims bankroll or whereever you decide) that I can use during my visits?

My intent is to 'blend in' and disrupt as little as possible. Juts this morning I explored part of furnation as a furry

Personally spending 25 Linden dollars is a drop in the hat. Anyone who can't cough that up for a license at a sim owners request is laughable.

Who should I write the check to?

The money is really more a symbolic issue, really. It's emphasizing early that a Master is not entirely free from the law when dealing with his slave, by taking an action of law to be allowed to have a slave in the first place.

Visitors will still be expected to abide the law. You don't have to be a citizen of the city itself to get permissions as needed. Of course, if subject to that, you are also subject to all other laws involved, and "this girl" will probably violate the antimysogyny law that will be RP'd into place early.

Edit: once we get to that point, give your funds to one of the original Council members and we'll give you the license. You just have to agree to a notecard.

Shouldn't be a problem. The level of D/s we do is relatively minor, none of the lower case with no caps or third person is expected or required. More of the pet issue.

When you have things up and running I will go through those channels to get that notecard and agreement. I think it could actually be interesting, as it is to see how any society, rl or rp runs.

Best of luck with the project

edit: apologies if I distracted you too much with such a minor issue/detail

I'd like to take a sec to remind that at this time, this is designed to span multiple sims and allow people to contribute their own random land by "skyboxing" and use of teleporters to "zone". This will be a theme kept once a full Sim is established, because then you'll have something to the effect of a "supersim".


Let's resolve the weapon thing now. Worn weapons are fine. Drawn weapons are a crime and you get one warning from the guard before expulsion from that part of the city. Weapons that are part of things like power armor should be disarmed if possible. I have a full power armor kit that I know I'll be keeping the gun in my inventory when around town, even though it takes up one of my hands. That's because if I go into FP, clicking shoots.


Edit: Jonas, you're perfectly fine. Getting those details ironed out is what this is about, so please, if you have more questions, lets hammer them out!

While I'm doing work this weekend I'll reconfigure my sidearm to 'compress' into a smaller sphere in my hand so I don't have a big transparent block in my hand to freak people out .
It's just nice to have an 'instant arm' weapon.

i love the idea of this would like to see some more detail and alittle more about the feel *era* and the general technologies and architecture and such.

Had the first 'meeting' in which we discussed the current proposition in more detail basis about the foundation for government, and then moved on into more detailed work around the actual city and what would be needed for it. We also created a group if you would like to join just send me 'remamian Takashi' or 'Corvus Drake' a tell that you wish to help out. I will be posting more detailed about what we discussed later on. If Corvus doesnt beat me to it.

OK, so what I can remember, because I was quite tired.

We established that there's to be a building code, which is basically as outlined above. We expect the mix of tech versus castle-style will be quite lovely, and where needed, slummy. There will be limitations, however (no 100% pure diamond houses, for example). What the house is like inside is your business, but if you have a teleporter linked to your land and your land has an exterior to the house, it must meet code for your social class.

Anyone who has played "Morrowwind" or "Oblivion", or even "Sociolotron" is familiar with the concept of zoning when entering a building. While civic buildings won't be like this (instead, they'd be hosted on group land), we want to use a similar system involving teleporters so that people can all live in the city, but then teleport to their own front door, with the ability to lock the teleporter linking to their home. This will let people use their own land (including 512 newbland) to contribute to the sim. These locations will be "boxed", like described above. This will also be how sections of the city are linked together. This also means that even if the central parcels or Sims would have been full, the capacity for population remains infinite, and gives people the option of only designing a massive interior for their home on their land.

We're going to make sure that certain teleporters link to the right teleporters to give a feel like you're really moving around a city in appropriate sequence.

The City Watch may be changed to Paradis Guard, since they will be tasked with more than just watching civilians to make sure the law is followed.

Home teleportation will have keys, so if you want to change access from universal to just you, you can. This will be tied to the Citizen Gem.

The role of the Citizen Gem was discussed some. I'll be working on that today.

The government system was revamped. Instead of making the votes a popularity contest, the existing Council of Sectors (there will be 7 sectors and a market district) will select candidates from the community that have demonstrated maturity and concern for the community itself, and the populace will vote from them. Small political parties will still be encouraged, however, as finding new ways to benefit the community will become key to vying for candidacy.

District types were discussed, and we ancitipate that people will probably cluster into districts with people similar to themselves. As such, we may pre-declare certain districts, like "the Furry district", though they won't be called such. This isn't to say that a race is limited to a district, but that the district itself will concentrate more on the culture of that group. This also leads to better cultural representation in the Council.

Some discussion of Guilds was included. We will establish guildhalls where people can join and take part in activities established by the guild. Some of these may include combat, resource gathering, sales, etc. An example would be the Council stating a specific resource is now much more valuable, and two guilds competing (possibly warring) over a source of that resource. This would be handled carefully, obviously.

That's all I remember offhand. Did I miss anything?

Edit: Oh yeah, and the "box-zone" concept will lead to MASSIVE performance boosts once LL implements culling in their graphics engine, which makes SL render like an FPS (if you can't see it, it doesn't render).

That pretty much sums up what we discussed, If i may go into more detail about the combat capabilites we centered on for a while.

When the city gets established and guild and communities set up. We are planning on having 7 'Battlegrounds' in which 1 for each sector, members of that sector or other sectors may enter these 'Battlegrounds' at there own risk realizing that this is a PVP/Combat zone. There will a basic set of rules for these battlegrounds and regulations on 'declareing' it.

Whoever 'dominates' the battlegrounds recives dominion over the corrosponding sector for the next day. Second only to the law of the Council and the Patron/Matron.

Basic laws during this time are still enforced by the Paradis Gaurd.

This is still open for discussion. At the time this is the basic concept that we have created.

Well, earlier it's mentioned that the area outside the city walls is "lawless". Maybe a guard wandering out to check on things from time to time to make sure there's no ToS or RL issues, but otherwise, without major restriction. Perhaps it would be reasonable to enable health in all of these areas, and getting "killed" would just lead to RPing that you were found by Ataken and healed. This would take it away from "arena" style combat and make it more of a random thing that RPers can develop on by existing in it.

Combat does necessitate a limited range of weapons that are RP-compatible. No Meteor attacks or Sumoguns. I'd say better to limit to small-arms beam and projectile weapons, and blades and such. We'd need to take a look at a few particular vendors or manufacturers and say, "OK, these are the weapons in the RP, use of anything else is bannable whether in lawless land or not".

This sound just like what I am looking for. Is there a group set up yet to keep updated? I would be will to put in some money for this program.

We're now discussing city construction.

We've agreed that a combination of "natural resource" construction, as listed, with some hardcore industrial construction is best. We're fascinated to see how these constructions will work out. We're also discussing a general layout of the city and input is welcome.

Yes, contact myself or remamian Takashi to be added to the group. I think she's in SL as we speak.

I think by default people should turn names off and their character gems act as a titler, colors can represent classes or faction choices.

I also think that in addition to exile and death, there might be character death where as the player/character is allowed to play on as a new character, this is so that things like revenge, murder and blood fueds can take place.

I like your original writeup, and that slavery is more or less "allowed" but not encuraged (or discuraged)

I don't support slavery but because of the RP's stance, I can support the roleplay setting/city.

In morrowind, the city of vivec's history states that the merchant quarters were the only places that would allow outlanders, up until they were deemed safe/ready to see more of morrowind and the city.

Perhaps all orintations could go on in merchant areas/ public squares, the first zone of the city being one where no actual roleplay goes on, the adjustment area.

I'm considering the use of flexiprims and in-game existing torture devices (such as the saw table in the little box-shaped porn shop) to actually perform public executions for people banned from the community altogether, but that would certainly be rated M if you get my meaning.

what I am talking about though, is cases where the character has to die but there being no ban... for roleplay purposes people do get murdered, jealous people fight over lovers, political people poison one another.

I guess what I am getting at is there needs to be a way for someone to start a new character within the community, given how rigid the account system is and the lack of an ability to make alternate characters.

Of course no one could play two characters in the world at any one time as it'd allow social engineering, but if they wanted to die of old age, work on a poltical roleplay that involves murder, they could, and continue to be a part of the world as a new character, letting them see what their death brought about.

So I guess I am saying character gems should represent the character's soul in a way, without one you arn't part of the world, if you die, you'd have to assume a new identity..

Banning someone or kicking them out of the main city restricts a lot of possible detailed plot lines, as no one would invest the time in such a roleplay if it resulted in them loosing their link to the "story"

I mean they'd want to see things play out.... you also mentioned child rearing before, perhaps people could play as their heirs?

Just a thought. Also are you going to make a map of the city and outlying areas? I think it'd be a really good idea because people could look at it and say "Well, I have 512 and I could run those two city shops for you" or "I have 2324, I can do that whole sector for you"

That sort of thing

OH!

I'd highly suggest requiring anyone taking part is required to take any external areas they build and give a copy of it to the city.

If someone gets banned with a big portion of land, that whole area would go missing otherwise.

I would suggest archery, blade/thrown weapons and -perhaps- modern wepons (but no metoer sor such)


where would one stand on people using 'force' powers as some form of psybertenics or mutation?