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Design Principles Underlying NAP 9

Overview

These principles serve as the blueprint for future development. They explain why NAP 9 was designed the way it was, what amendments should aim for, and what the system intentionally avoids.

1. Preserve Clarity Even at the Cost of Breadth​

Rules should define boundaries and procedures unambiguously, even if this means not addressing every possible scenario.
Ambiguity invites selective enforcement; clarity preserves fairness and reduces interpretive drift.

Amendments should maintain or improve legibility, not introduce complexity.

2. Maintain Procedure as the Primary Safeguard​

The system’s integrity rests on:

  • evidence validation
  • case creation
  • vote mechanics
  • archival routines

Future changes must strengthen, not dilute, procedural protections.

Anything that increases discretion increases the risk of politicization.

3. Keep Governance Lean​

The Council must remain small enough to act predictably even during server downturns or leadership absences.

This principle argues against expanding the number of voting seats and against introducing multi-layered representative hierarchies.

Amendments should avoid structural bloat.

4. Protect Neutral Administrative Layers​

Clerks must remain insulated from political incentives.
This includes:

  • no voting powers
  • no conflict-of-interest activism
  • no authority to interpret penalties

Future design choices must avoid granting Clerks any adjudicatory power.

Their neutrality is foundational.

5. Escalation Must Stay Predictable​

NAP 9’s escalation rules exist to ensure fairness across cases and reduce bargaining.

Future systems should preserve:

  • automatic tier upgrades
  • objective triggers
  • behavior-based judgments

Avoid amendments that reintroduce intent analysis or create special exceptions.

6. Evidence Should Always Be Verifiable and Public​

Future changes should not weaken the requirements for:

  • public submission
  • timestamp alignment
  • uncropped media
  • transparent preservation

Private evidence formats undermine system trust.

7. Land Governance Must Not Become Speculative​

Protection follows possession to prevent instability.
Amendments proposing land rotations, future claims, or eligibility-based guarantees must provide strong justification and undergo careful review.

Land systems are the most likely to destabilize the server if overextended.

8. Tools Must Support Typical, Not Ideal, Behavior​

The system should remain accessible to:

  • busy players
  • inconsistent players
  • inexperienced diplomats

Amendments should minimize procedural friction and avoid increasing skill or time requirements.

9. Adapt, But Avoid Crisis-Legislating​

Amendments must arise from consistent need, not from a single crisis event.

Emergency amendments should remain temporary unless ratified under normal rules.

Avoid permanent rules created in response to one-off incidents.

10. Preserve Player-Legible Outputs​

Even if the covenant grows, its public-facing outputs must remain simple:

  • quick references
  • macros
  • summaries
  • clear vote instructions

System expansion must not make governance inaccessible to non-experts.

Summary

Design principles guide the NAP’s future.

They ensure amendments reinforce clarity, stability, neutrality, and resilience rather than drifting toward complexity, bias, or overreach.

They function as the covenant’s long-term compass, defining what the system should become and what it should never become.