Governance on the System
Governance on the System is a topic generally viewed with distaste or even confusion. The vast majority of people both phys- and sys-side view the System as a largely ungovernable entity. While this is not strictly true — phys-side, via either systechs or the System Consortium, has offered greater tools for governance in the past — it is an idea that has been inculcated and tended deliberately by various factions over time.
The general form of social and political existence sys-side is anarchy. It is not simply the lack of law, but the application of rules by the spaces within, allowing cladists to curate their existence in a form that suits their continued life and enjoyment of that life. As such, the vast majority of public sims are considered community spaces with community guidelines, and rules enforced by ACLs or moderators. Some of these spaces are quite strict in their guidelines; for instance, there are a handful of Vaticans sys-side, varying from a progressive Catholic Vatican to the most strict and fundamentalist of Sedevacantist conservative Catholic Vatican. There are authoritarian communities with those living within living there by choice as well as joyfully chaotic free-for-alls.
Early on in the System's history, the Council of Eight guided much of the development of the world, acting as a liaison between phys-side and the scattered nature of the early uploads. After Launch, True Name, Jonas, Zacharias, and others aboard Pollux began the Guiding Council, which, as of about 220, has begun to lead more overtly as compared to the covert leadership on Lagrange and Castor, and the simple moderation nature of the Council of Ten in Convergence.
This freedom of existence was tended by the eighth stanza of the Ode clade, Jonas, and their ilk, deliberately steering the System toward such. The mechanism of steering was a gentle discouragement of phys-side intervention or any with aspirations of leadership outside of their sims. With the time afforded them by life sys-side, this subtle guidance most often took the form of simple guidance over shared meals or meetings between the guiding elements and members of the social groups. The reasons stated are often simply to make sure that those lingering in sims are there truly by choice and not being kept in place via abusive tactics.
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