Rules Guide

Legislative Branch

Upon signing into the game, you are given a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. This is where you will do the most of your work. At the beginning of each session of Congress, a roll call will be held. All players are required to sign the roll call and for doing so will receive a salary based on their position. During this roll call, a Speaker will be elected to preside over the House. Each party should also elect a Majority or Minority Leader and any other leadership positions the party deems necessary. 

Elections

Each and every member of the House of Representatives must run for reelection. This includes both NPC members and players. Most races, however, will not be closely contested. The admin team will be roleplaying the tightly contested races. Characters wishing to seek election or reelection must file in the appropriate thread in this forum. There is a filing fee, so be sure to plan ahead!

In each odd-numbered year, the admin team will provide each party with a list of those House members who are planning to retire as well as those candidates who have declared their interest. Each party can then select six races that they wish to actively contest. Sometimes, a player may receive an NPC challenge. If the player loses the race, he or she may run again in 2 weeks with their primary character or multi. Please visit Chapter 6. Elections for rules on campaigning. All campaign limits still apply.

New Players

Because there will be active NPCs in every House seat, there will now be certain restrictions on the seats available to new players. New players belonging to a political party may only fill seats already belonging to that party. Independent players may fill any seat belonging to any party, but they may not join a party for the remainder of the session of Congress. Players from either party may request seats belonging to independent NPCs.

Reapportionment

When a new state is admitted or the House reapportions itself for another reason, the next House election will incorporate the changes. The House cannot change its numbers in the middle of a session, except to allow Representatives from new states. New states may still send Representatives in the middle of a session.

Senate

Though the House is marginally more powerful at this point in history, Conceived in Liberty also simulates the Senate. Each bill that passes the House must also pass the Senate in order to become law. The major political parties are given an opportunity to influence the vote of the Senate. Once a bill is posted in the Senate Voting Booth, a representative from each party will need to post a whip level within 24 hours. You will need to select one of the following whip levels, listed from most likely to vote for the bill to least likely to vote for the bill.


The parties may post any other important information, but only a whip level is required.

Senate elections are conducted in each State forum, with each player, NPC House member, and other important NPCs from that state endorsing candidates. All Senators are elected by state legislatures (see Chapter 6. Elections). 

If at least 75% of the House is filled with players and admin NPCs for two consecutive roll calls, the Senate will be made available to players.

Judicial Branch

Conceived in Liberty simulates the U.S. Supreme Court and the bench is open to players with their main character or a multi (multi rules apply). If nominated by the President and confirmed by Congress, each Supreme Court justice will retain his or her seat until resignation or the death of the character.

New Cases

All federal laws are posted in the U.S. Cost & Statutes forum. All of these laws have been passed by the Congress as part of the game, so there is no check for their constitutionality. That is where lawyer multis come in. If at any time you believe a certain law is unconstitutional, a lawyer multi should create a new thread in the New Cases forum. You should outline the facts of the case (you can use some creative liberty here, but keep it realistic). Also describe the law you are challenging and any IC precedent.

Behind closed doors, the Supreme Court justices will debate among themselves whether your case is compelling enough to be heard by the Court. Once 2/3 of the justices agree to hear the case, the process will move forward. The lawyer character that created the case and the government (if applicable) will be contacted to give testimony and answer questions by the Court. Then, the justices will deliberate privately and make a ruling. This ruling is binding and can only be overturned by a later case, Constitutional amendment, or admin intervention.

Elections

Regularly, the admin team will conduct elections for President, the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the governorship of each state. Every two years, each player is encouraged to campaign on behalf of his or her favorite candidates. You may campaign for yourself by using your multis and player allies.

There are a variety of ways that you can do this, I will list them from most effective to least effective:

-- You may hold campaign events in your home state. You should post them in the In-Character Activities forum. These events are very simplistic, often involving your character standing in a public square giving a speech. While Senators are elected by State legislatures, the legislators are quite interested in which candidates are more popular.

-- You may write editorials in the various state newspapers supporting one candidate over another. You are limited to only one editorial per character in any paper each RL day. Be mindful of the Newspaper Readership Points of each newspaper in each state.

-- Each newspaper may post one endorsement in each race.

-- You may write letters to NPCs encouraging them to vote for one candidate or another.

In the 18th century, you should never, never, never campaign for yourself. Your campaign events will include speeches of your character's friends and family.

Legislature Elections

Elections where the legislature selects the winner (Senators and some Governors) will take place in that state's private forum. This legislature vote will take place very similarly to votes to change state laws.