Arcaea/Charter of the Noca
(OOC This document is 1. a work in progress and 2. not available unless you have a letter from Jenred with a wiki-link to it. Not that I expect people not to read it, but if I hear something IC about it then the witchcraft trials will start (grins).)
While the language will be made far more formal and specific before the Charter is actually put into effect (and if it is ever put into effect), this document should provide the basics of the Lands of the Noca.
The Lands will be composed of several sovereign states all owing ultimate fealty to the High King or Queen.
Each realm will be ranked, and pay a percentage equal to this rank of the taxes of their entire realm to the High King. This will be delivered no less than once a year (OOC Lands of the Noca, if we ever succeed in making the blasted thing, will have their own calendar based on the turn of the seasons). These taxes will be used for diplomatic purposes, infrastructure improvement, tournaments, patronization of the arts, or other affairs to improve the Lands of the Noca at the discretion of the High King.
Each realm will have full control over it's internal and external affairs, save where this Charter mandates differently.
Initial ranks will be determined by entry into the Lands, and subsequently can be changed via a Challenge. A Challenge is a mechanism whereby a lower ranked realm wars a higher ranked realm from the first day of spring to the last day of autumn. The winner takes the higher of the two ranks, and the loser the lower. Who has won, if not readily apparent, will be determined by the High King. Each realm will additionally pay all Noca taxes due from when the Challenge is announced at their post-Challenge rank (thus encouraging lower ranked realms to Challenge to decrease their tax burden). The High King will also be determined by the highest-ranked realm via a realm-wide referendum. No other realms may interfere in the Challenge or assist or detract from either side in any way, and all the rest of the Lands must work to prevent interference by any means up to and including full-scale war. Any ambiguities will be decided by the High King save for challenges including the High King's realm, in which case all Rulers not involved in the Challenge will vote on a resolution.
All Lands must sell their surplus food to other Lands at a price of no greater than forty gold per hundred bushels. Any disagreement on what food is considered "surplus" will be sent to the High King for adjudication; this ruling is final.
If two or more Rulers of Lands submit a matter to the High King for adjudication, they must abide by the ruling. For this to be binding all parties must agree to submit the matter first.
All of the Lands must join the Order of the Hawk and agree to abide by it's strictures.
Destruction of military infrastructure or walls of other Lands at any time is forbidden, as this weakens the Lands as a whole. The inevitable damage associated with battles themselves is exempted.
Torture is not permitted in the Lands.
The High King, in addition to being the liege lord of each Ruler of the Lands, reserves the following powers: 1. While each Ruler of the Lands conducts their own diplomacy and internal affairs, the High King must be kept informed on all matters of any import, and may require further information or clarification on any matter at any time. 2. The High King has the power each year to declare the campaign season (the first day of spring to the last day of Autumn) Open or Restricted. Open is open, and Restricted means that all conflicts must receive the approval of the High King before they may be conducted, and the High King can require the Lands to act, up to and including full-scale war and the overriding of normal diplomacy. However, declaring a Restricted campaign season causes the High King to forfeit all taxes until an Open campaign season starts, and a Challenge to the High King's realm is always allowed even in Restricted Campaign seasons.
