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1414navclass: urbit
1515---
1616
17−## Motivation
17+## Declaration of purpose
1818
19−Our governance roadmap is this simple interim constitution.
19+Urbit is a new network created by the Tlon Corporation. Tlon's
20+broad intention is to surrender governance of Urbit to its users,
21+as soon as the community is collectively ready to receive it.
2022
21−Urbit must eventually write its own constitution. But to write a
22−real, durable constitution, a legitimate convention is required.
23−Some proto-constitution is required to confirm that legitimacy.
23+This constitution (which is not a legal contract, just a public
24+declaration of our intent) describes our governance process
25+during this interim period. Its design borrows from validated
26+historical structures, mainly Roman and Anglo-American.
2427
25−Like most new constitutions, this structure is a mix of Roman and
26−Anglo-American traditions. It is as simple as possible and not
27−optimized for scale or durability.
28+The last and most important task of the interim government is to
29+write the next version of the constitution. This document may or
30+may not incorporate any or all of the interim structures.
2831
29−## Urbit and this document
32+## Beliefs and principles
3033
31−Urbit is a new network created and owned by the Tlon Corporation.
32−Tlon's goal is to surrender governance of Urbit to its users, as
33−soon as this community is collectively ready to receive it.
34+See our document of [beliefs and principles]().
3435
35−This constitution (which is not a legal contract, just a
36−description of our intent) describes our governance process
37−during this interim period.
36+## Governance structures
3837
39−## Structure
38+The interim republic has four branches: an executive consulate, a
39+galactic senate, a stellar congress and a planetary assembly.
4040
41−This governance structure is designed for maximum efficiency in a
42−young network. Its most important task is to replace itself when
43−it is ready to grow. It must also name itself.
41+For the interim, full authority is held by the (Roman style)
42+consulate. The legislature (senate, congress, assembly) is
43+advisory. The senate is never consulted and the congress is
44+almost never consulted.
4445
45−## Validity
46+In the future, the assembly of planets specializes in technical
47+governance. The congress of stars specializes in internal, but
48+nontechnical, governance. The senate of galaxies selects the
49+consuls and holds them accountable, and specializes in compliance
50+with external powers. All votes, elections and other public
51+actions are logged in the Urbit global namespace.
4652
47−This constitution takes effect as soon as the initial public
48−presale of Urbit address space is complete.
53+As in most parliamentary systems, each of these structures sets
54+and enforces its own internal rules of operation.
4955
50−## Assets
56+### Consulate
5157
52−The 50 galaxies marked "urbit.org" in the galaxy table belong to
53−the republic, and will be used only in the interests of the
54−republic and Urbit as a whole.
58+A consulate is a two-person executive. The consuls must work out
59+their own organization and division of labor. Disagreements
60+between consuls are resolved by the senate.
5561
56−Once this republic acquires a legal identity, Tlon will also
57−grant this entity control over: the `urbit.org` domain; the
58−Github `urbit` account; and the first galaxy `~zod`.
62+A consul must be a senator. The senate, voting per galaxy,
63+replaces the consulate whenever either a vacancy exists, or a
64+vote of no confidence gains a majority. When electing consuls,
65+first a plurality selects one consul; then the plurality of those
66+who voted for anyone but the winner selects the second.
5967
60−## Galaxy table
68+### Senate
6169
62−Of the 256 galaxies, 95 are assigned to Tlon Corporation; 50 are
63−assigned to urbit.org; 40 are assigned to Tlon employees and
64−their family members; 34 are assigned directly to unrelated
65−investors in Tlon; and 37 are assigned to random individuals for
66−random reasons. Some of these "randos" donated money or
67−services; others were just in the right place at the right time.
70+The *senate* is the set of all galaxy holders, voting per galaxy.
71+It does not convene except to replace the consuls. Its
72+proceedings are in private.
6873
69−## Governance structures
74+To avoid growing the network too quickly, galaxies are activated
75+gradually. Initially, only one galaxy is active, the root `~zod`
76+(galaxy 0).
7077
71−The interim republic has three branches: an executive consulate,
72−a passive senate, and an advisory assembly.
78+Further activation is at the discretion of the consuls, who
79+control `urbit.org` and will only bind activated galaxies to
80+`galaxy.urbit.org`. Routing at the galaxy layer is by DNS, so
81+unbound galaxies, and any stars or planets they launch, hear no
82+packets.
7383
74−The consulate has full authority, but must consult with the
75−assembly and keep it informed. The assembly is a legislative
76−branch which is learning its trade. The senate is a reserved
77−power with no role in governance.
84+When any galaxy, activated or not, creates its initial
85+certificate, the consuls add its fingerprint to the galaxy table.
86+Non-activated galaxies can still be rekeyed.
7887
79−### Consuls
88+### Congress
8089
81−A consulate is a two-person executive. If the consuls disagree
82−on a decision, and cannot agree on how to agree, they must flip a
83−coin.
90+The *congress* is the set of all active independent stars.
91+voting per star. An *independent star* is any star *not* owned
92+by anyone who is either a senator, or has some connection to one
93+that would pose a conflict of interest.
8494
85−Consuls serve in pairs for a year. The first consuls are Galen
86−Wolfe-Pauly (a Tlon employee) and Raymond Pasco (a Tlon
87−contractor). A consul must be a senator; see below.
95+The congress of stars is designed to exercise project and
96+community governance. Its proceedings are in private. The
97+consuls convene it at their pleasure, and keep it informed.
8898
89−### Senate
99+### Assembly
90100
91−The senate is the set of all galaxy holders, voting by galaxy.
92−The senate does not (at present) perform any real function,
93−except for one: it must ratify Urbit's next constitution.
101+The *assembly* is the set of all active primary planets, voting
102+per planet. A *primary planet* is the main planet of a unique
103+human (no sockpuppets).
94104
95−A role for the senate would be superfluous because, initially,
96−the will of the senate is the will of Tlon, and the consluls
105+The assembly is responsible for technical governance. Its
106+proceedings are in public.
97107
98−This is because, in practice, the will of the Senate is the will
99−of Tlon.
108+### The next constitution
100109
101−<<<discussion of galaxy table here; need galaxy table!>>>
110+The congress proposes, and the senate approves, the next version
111+of this constitution. Future constitutions should be defined in
112+a smart contract platform, such as Ethereum.
102113
103−To avoid growing the network too quickly, galaxies are activated
104−gradually. Initially, only one galaxy is active, the root `~zod`
105−(galaxy 0).
114+## Galaxy table
106115
107−Galactic certificates start with a hardcoded fingerprint in the
108−Ames source. If you have a keypair whose public key matches this
109−hash, you are a senator for all cryptographic purposes. If the
110−fingerprint is zero, a real-world identity is shown; if this is
111−your identity, we'll check in a fingerprint for you at any time.
116+The galaxy table is included [by reference]().
112117
113−But `~zod` has the routing power to choose whether its network,
114−which is the whole network, routes to other galaxies. So the
115−consuls, who control `~zod`, have the power to decide whether
116−and/or when other galaxies can launch usable stars. There are
117−many reasons to keep the live network from containing vast
118−deserts of usable, but unused, address space.
118+95 galaxies are held by the [Tlon Corporation](company). 50,
119+reserved for urbit.org, the future community foundation. 40, by
120+Tlon employees and their family members (24 by Curtis, who
121+started in 2002; 16 by everyone else, who started in 2014). 34,
122+by outside investors in Tlon. 37, by 33 other individuals, who
123+donated to the project, contributed code or services, won a
124+contest, or were just in the right place at the right time.
119125
120−Except for Tlon galaxies, galaxy activation is at random. Tlon
121−can activate its galaxies whenever (because it needs to be able
122−to keep its lights on).
126+Note that while Tlon and its employees still control a majority
127+of galaxies, the senate is a ceremonial body; the consulate is
128+effectively equivalent to Tlon.
123129
124−### Assembly
130+## Inception
125131
126−The *assembly* is the *set of all independent stars*. An
127−independent star is any star *not* owned by anyone who is also a
128−senator, or has a family or employment connection with a senator.
132+This constitution takes effect as soon as the initial public
133+presale of Urbit address space is complete.
129134
130−In the long run, the mission of the assembly is to govern Urbit
131−with the consent of the senate. The vague idea of the
132−proto-constitution is that the assembly's power should increase
133−over time; at first, the consulate polls it; later, it gets a
134−veto; still later, it can propose its own measures; finally, it
135−elects the consuls.
135+## Endowment
136136
137−Since the consuls must still be senators, there is always a
138−balance of authority between consulate, assembly and senate.
139−This whole design is ripped off from ancient Rome, which after
140−all did pretty well with it. But again, it's just an idea;
141−Urbit will write its own constitution.
137+The 50 galaxies marked "urbit.org" in the galaxy table are
138+intended as property of the republic, and will be used only in
139+the interests of the republic and Urbit as a whole.
142140
143−### The next constitution
141+Externally, these galaxies are held by Tlon; internally, they are
142+managed and voted by Tlon. Once the republic acquires a legal
143+identity and an independent human organization, Tlon pledges to
144+donate the `urbit.org` galaxies, the DNS domain, and the Github
145+`urbit` account to it.
144146
145−Urbit's next constitution will be written by the assembly, under
146−the moderation of the consuls, for the approval of the senate.
147−This will happen when the consuls think it's ready to happen.
147+## First consuls
148148
149−Ideally, Urbit's constitution will be written in two languages:
150−English, and a smart-contract language such as Ethereum. Of
151−course, Ethereum can't enforce decisions; but it can count the
152−votes. And there's no excuse for not using it this way.
149+The first consuls are Galen Wolfe-Pauly and Raymond Pasco.