Title 1 of the AIN Code

Title 1 of the AIN Code (abbreviated 1 A.I.N.C.) is the first official title of the Code of Laws of the Alliance of Independent Nations. It contains all current laws that cover membership in the AIN.

Section 1: Membership Levels
1. All members of the Alliance of Independent Nations shall be of an equal membership level, known as member statehood.
 * a. Applicants shall be eligible for member statehood on their application only if they pass every item in the application checklist, as well as an evaluation of their behavior and attitude during the application process by the Executive Council.
 * b. All applications shall require a simple majority in favor out of at least 12 votes by existing members in order to be accepted as member states of the AIN. If there are fewer than 12 active member states when an application goes to vote, that application shall require a simple majority out of the total votes cast.
 * c. The "Application Requirements" topic shall include all the changes to membership requirements described in this paragraph, as well as a summary of the rights of member states presented in the following paragraph.

2. Member states shall have the right to do any and all of the following:
 * a. To run for elected office (however, only member states who have been members of the AIN continuously for at least six (6) months prior to taking office may run or apply for executive office, i.e. President, Vice President, Administrator, Moderator, or Speaker of the Union).
 * b. To host and participate in union events;
 * c. To vote in union elections, on membership applications, and on measures in the Senate;
 * d. To participate in roleplay events, without first seeking advice from other member states; and
 * e. To maintain any number of City Journal topics in their national subforums, as well as any number of media topics in the media subforum appropriate to their country's geographical region.
 * f. All rights are dependent on members being active and not affected by Section 5 of this Title or other legislation that relates to membership conditions.

3. Every application shall meet all seven of the following criteria before existing members are allowed to vote on it. Together, these criteria are known as the application checklist (henceforth "checklist") and shall be posted publicly in the "Application Requirements" topic.
 * a. A unique and realistic national flag, coupled with an equally unique and realistic national emblem (seal, coat of arms, etc.);
 * b. A copy of the AIN world map edited to include the nation's location, such that the nation does not overlap with any existing member state(s), and said location realistically matches the style of the nation's images;
 * c. A realistic geographical size, national population, and government, all matching the style of the nation's images;
 * d. A gross domestic product per capita which satisfies the relevant limits contained in 6 A.I.N.C. §1;
 * e. A description of the nation's economy which is at least one (1) paragraph in length;
 * f. A summary of the nation's history proportional to its age, but not less than one (1) paragraph; and
 * g. A link to the applicant's most relevant City Journal; or, if the applicant has no relevant City Journals, at least five (5) images of representative scenes from the nation.

Section 2: Leave and Required Activity Levels
1. Members may request to go on leave if they expect to be inactive for longer than two (2) weeks by posting a request in the Leave Announcements topic. Members who are on leave are exempt from all of the following activity requirements.

2. Membership in the AIN shall be revoked by the Executive Council in a public statement if the member in question has entered a period of inactivity without requesting to go on leave.
 * a. For the purposes of this section, inactivity is defined as a period of at least 42 days in which the member has failed to either (i) post, or (ii) log into the AIN forums.
 * b. This definition shall not be construed as to excuse members who have logged into the union forums within the past 42 days, but who have not posted during that time.

3. The forum administrators shall conduct weekly reviews of each member who is not on leave to determine whether to revoke any member's membership.

4. If any member needs to go on leave to avoid losing his/her membership, but is unable to access the AIN forums for any reason, (s)he shall use whatever means necessary to inform a union administrator or moderator of his/her need for "on leave" status. Such members shall be exempted from the weekly activity reviews prescribed in the preceding paragraph.

5. Members shall not remain on leave for more than twelve (12) consecutive months.
 * a. For the purposes of this Act, the start of leave is defined as either (i) the date on which a member requests to go on leave, or (ii) the date on which (s)he last posted on the AIN forums, whichever comes last.
 * b. Members whose leave lasts more than twelve (12) months shall have their leave terminated and be given no more than 42 days to return to normal activity.
 * c. Any member whose leave is so terminated, and requests to go back on leave in the 42 days allotted, shall not remain on leave for more than six (6) consecutive months thereafter. If, after those six (6) new months of leave end, said member requests a third period of leave within 42 days of last going off leave, a majority of the Executive Coucil must approve before said member shall be allowed to begin his/her third period of leave.
 * d. The above restrictions shall not apply when a member is required to go on leave due to special circumstances, including (but not limited to) military or civil service. No upper limit shall be imposed on the duration of leave in such cases.

Section 3: Number of Nations Allowed for Each Member
1. Members of the Alliance of Independent Nations are each allowed one (1) member state within the Alliance.

2. Proxy member states are strictly prohibited.

3. Overseas territories and autonomous regions are considered part of their parent member states, and are therefore permitted.

4. Members are also allowed one (1) non-player country (NPC) as a secondary nation, provided that they do not conduct roleplay between their member state and their NPC, even if other member states are involved in said roleplay. NPCs are otherwise permitted to roleplay with member states, as well as participate in union events.
 * a. NPCs are subject to the same application requirements as member states, as described in section 1 of this Title, as well as the same application procedures, as described in section 7 of this Title.
 * b. Members may apply for an NPC after holding their current member state for no less than six (6) months, provided that said member has been active with his/her primary nation within the previous two (2) months.

5. Member states may completely replace a nation that exists in the real world if the following criteria are met:
 * a. The member state must be demonstrably based on the nation being replaced, in terms of culture, character, and economy.
 * b. The nation being replaced must not be one of the 20 most extensive nations, as listed in this Wikipedia article.
 * c. The member state must adopt the historical role which the nation being replaced played, e.g. former colonial empire, participant in a notable war, producer of an important commodity, etc.
 * d. Only one (1) nation, or a combination of no more than three (3) small, neighboring nations, may be replaced in this manner.

Section 4: Membership in Other Unions
1. The following definitions shall be adopted for the purposes of this section:
 * a. A “city-builder union” (also “union”) is defined as a community of persons who all play one or more city-building computer games (including, but not limited to: games in the SimCity franchise, Cities XL and sequels, games in the Tropico franchise, and Banished); who roleplay as nations or states in a shared global setting; and whose roleplay interactions with one another mainly consist of political, cultural, and economic issues and events. The Alliance of Independent Nations is one example of a city-builder union; the staff may recognize other organizations as unions if they meet the above definition.
 * b. “Loyalty” (also “remaining loyal”) is defined as not defaming the AIN, resigning from it while holding dual membership, violating any of its rules at either the AIN or one’s second union, or encouraging its members to resign from the AIN for any reason. By extension, “disloyalty” is defined as committing any of the acts listed in the preceding sentence.
 * c. A member’s membership in a second union “does not interfere” with his/her membership in the AIN if it does not prevent him/her from remaining active, in good standing, and productive in the Alliance.
 * d. “Primary allegiance” to the AIN is defined as maintaining higher activity at the AIN than at any other union, as measured by the number and length of posts a dual member has made over a seven (7)-day period.
 * e. “Dual membership” is defined as membership in both the AIN and one (1) other union. Membership in two (2) or more unions besides the AIN is strictly prohibited.

2. Any AIN member may apply for dual membership if he meets the following conditions:
 * a. (S)he has been a member state of the Alliance for a minimum of 3 months;
 * b. (S)he is not a member of the Executive Council;
 * c. (S)he is active in the Alliance community, and is not on leave when applying for dual membership;
 * d. (S)he does not already hold membership in a second union; and
 * e. (S)he is in good standing with the union, as defined in 3 A.I.N.C. §4.1.

3. Members who decide to become dual members must first post an application for dual membership, specifying the union in which the member wishes to apply for membership. If the union staff find that the applying member meets all of the conditions in paragraph 2, they shall require him/her to make the following promises:
 * a. (S)he shall remain loyal to the Alliance of Independent Nations;
 * b. (S)he shall not reveal sensitive AIN information to non-members;
 * c. His/her primary allegiance shall be to the Alliance;
 * d. (S)he shall not allow the second union to interfere with his/her membership in the Alliance; and
 * e. (S)he shall not commit any offense under 3 A.I.N.C. for the duration of his/her dual membership.

4. Dual members’ activity levels at both the AIN and their second union shall be monitored on a weekly basis by AIN staff to ensure that they are keeping all of the promises listed in paragraph 3. Staff members may use their discretion when deciding whether or not a dual member’s activity meets the definition of primary allegiance given in clause 1(d) above.
 * a. Any dual member whose activity at the AIN is measured to be less than his/her activity at his/her second union shall receive a warning after the first and second such violations within a span of five (5) weeks, and shall be required to resign from the second union after the third such violation.
 * b. Any dual member who needs to go on leave from the AIN must also go on leave from his/her second union (if it has leave or a similar membership status) at the same time; and the union staff shall continue to monitor his/her activity at both unions in such situations. Dual members who remain active at their second union while on leave from the AIN shall receive a warning and be told to go on leave from their second union within 72 hours of said warning being issued. Failure to do so within those 72 hours shall result in the member being forced to resign from his/her second union.
 * c. Any dual member who breaks any of the other promises in paragraph 3 (i.e. those requirements not dealing with activity) shall be required to resign from his/her second union after the first offense. The staff may impose other consequences for disloyalty or revealing sensitive information at their discretion.

5. Members from other unions will also be allowed to apply to become AIN member states, with the requirement of primary allegiance to the AIN waived.
 * a. Only those members of other unions who hold membership in a single union may apply for member statehood in the AIN. Members of more than one (1) other union shall be strictly prohibited from joining the AIN as long as they hold membership in more than one (1) union.
 * b. All members of other unions applying for AIN membership under the terms of this paragraph must disclose their existing union membership(s) in their application, identifying the union(s) in which they hold membership.
 * c. Any applicant who fails to disclose his/her membership in one (1) or more unions shall be prohibited from submitting another application for at least one (1) month after his/her undisclosed membership(s) have been discovered.

Section 5: Permanent Denial of Membership
1. The staff of the Alliance reserve the right to blacklist specific former members of the union for any of the reasons given in paragraph 2.
 * a. Any member who has been so blacklisted may never resume his/her membership in the Alliance under any circumstances, at any level of membership whatsoever, except under the circumstances given in paragraph 4.
 * b. If a blacklisted former member posts an application for membership, a staff member shall decline said application without posting a checklist, stating that said former member is blacklisted under the terms of this section, and shall lock said application immediately afterwards.

2. A former member may only be added to the blacklist for one or more of the following reasons:
 * a. Criminal damage to any of the union's property, as defined in the Forum Rules
 * b. Betrayal of the union's trust, e.g. by disclosing union secrets or defamation of the union or any of its members
 * c. Abuse of a position of trust or authority while in office
 * d. Exhibiting a pattern of poor behavior/judgment during membership, including (but not limited to): repeated acts of serious rudeness toward one or more members, repeatedly violating common sense notions regarding various aspects of roleplay, and ignorant violations of the union's rules and/or laws

3. The union staff reserve the right to decide whether a former member's behavior meets any of the conditions listed above.

4. A blacklisted former member may be removed from the blacklist with the Executive Council's permission under the following conditions:
 * a. Said former member has promised to abide by all the rules and laws of the union without failure, with any future violation considered grounds for immediate and permanent expulsion and/or banning from the union; and
 * b. Said former member has promised not to seek any elected office or other position of responsibility within the union during his/her new period of membership.

5. The Executive Council may, at its discretion, impose less severe restrictions on former members when deciding to remove them from the blacklist than those given in paragraph 4. Members may also request that the restrictions placed upon them be relaxed once they have abided by the original restrictions imposed on them for at least six (6) months continuously.
 * a. The Executive Council shall consider the (former) member's conduct and duration of previous membership in the union when deciding whether to impose less severe restrictions, as well as the exact restrictions to impose.
 * b. Examples of less severe restrictions which may be imposed include, but are not limited to: time limits on how long a member must wait before running for executive or staff positions (provided that said time limit is not less than 12 months after reinstatement of AIN membership); allowing a member to run for ministry or commissioner offices, either immediately or after a specified time period; and leniency in regards to negotiable and/or Class C offenses.
 * c. The Executive Council shall not change the restrictions imposed on all former blacklistees simultaneously, but may consider changing the restrictions imposed on a subset of former blacklistees who were blacklisted for substantially the same reasons at the same time.
 * d. Former blacklistees may not request changes to their restrictions more than once every 12 months.
 * e. The Executive Council shall only have the powers described in this paragraph through 31 January 2015. After that date, all changes to restrictions shall be frozen, and all blacklistees who are allowed to return thereafter shall be subject to the restrictions in paragraph 4. Paragraph passed its expiration date on 1 February 2015.

Section 6: Honorary Membership
1. Members who resign from the AIN may be granted honorary membership by the President of the Alliance on the advice of the Executive Council.
 * a. Members shall be eligible for honorary membership if they made at least one (1) significant contribution to the union, or if they acted above and beyond their normal responsibilities and roles at the time.
 * b. The Executive Council shall decide whether a member’s contributions to the union are significant enough to merit honorary membership.

2. Honorary members shall have the right to return to member statehood at any time they choose, without first submitting a new application.
 * a. Honorary members’ nations shall become non-player countries upon bestowal of honorary membership, and shall remain on the union map to facilitate their return. Neither their territory, nor any part thereof, shall be available for use by current or future member states.

Section 7: Procedures and Authorities for Applications
1. The supreme authority over all applications submitted to the union when they are not being voted on is the Application Committee (henceforth "Committee").
 * a. The Committee shall consist of the five (5) active member states in good standing whose terms of membership are the greatest in duration, whether such terms are continuous or not. If any Committee member becomes inactive or loses good standing, the President shall have the authority to appoint the active member state with the next-longest term of membership as a replacement Committee member, whose term on the Committee shall end when the Committee member whom (s)he replaced either returns to activity or regains good standing, whichever is relevant to the situation.
 * b. All business of the Committee must be conducted in as little time as is necessary to ensure proper consideration and judgment. The Committee shall adopt such deadlines as they deem suitable for achieving this end.
 * c. The Committee shall be responsible for (i) liaising with the regional overseers (defined below) to provide suitable feedback on applications, (ii) maintaining a world map which shows all the application regions (also defined below), (iii) judging when an application has satisfied all criteria within the checklist, and (iv) posting all complete applications in the Membership Office for member states to vote on them, with a properly-configured poll included in the topic.

2. Beneath the Committee shall be a number of regional overseers (henceforth "overseers"), each overseeing at least one (1) world region in which applicants may locate their nations.
 * a. Each region shall have at least one (1) overseer. If there are enough active members, each region is recommended to have two (2) or three (3) overseers, so as to avoid bias against an applicant from causing an application's failure.
 * b. Each region shall be an area of the world consisting of neighboring real-world countries with similar cultures and closely-related histories.
 * c. Overseers must be well-informed about the region(s) to which they are assigned, so as to provide applicants in said region with appropriate advice.
 * d. All members who are interested in serving as overseers shall express said interest in an application topic, and shall list the region(s) of which they are willing and able to serve as overseers. The President, on the advice and consent of the Executive Council, shall assign members to regions based on need and applicant expertise, as listed in overseer applications.
 * e. Overseers shall not engage in any acts of bias against any applicant, shall respond promptly to all private messages sent to them by applicants or Committee members, and shall ensure that all of their interactions with applicants are friendly and do not discourage applicants from continuing with the application process.
 * f. The Executive Council shall have the power to remove overseers if clear and compelling evidence of acts of bias is presented to them, and to prohibit member states convicted of the same from serving as overseers for at least six (6) months after such a conviction.

3. All applications shall undergo the following process, which shall be posted in the "Membership Requirements" topic:
 * a. An applicant shall fill out as much of the basic application template as possible, taking note of the region(s) in which his/her nation is located.
 * b. The applicant shall send the application to the overseer(s) in charge of the relevant region(s) by private message, including any requests for help or questions (s)he may have regarding the application.
 * c. The overseer(s) shall reply with recommendations for changes to the application, providing suitable explanations and/or citations for each proposed change, in order to satisfy the criteria in the checklist.
 * d. The overseer(s) shall submit the application to the Committee for its review once (s)he is satisfied with it. If the Committee finds the application lacking with regard to any criterion, it shall advise the overseer(s) on suitable corrections needed to satisfy the checklist in its entirety, and the overseer(s) shall forward said corrections to the applicant for consideration.
 * e. Once the Committee is satisfied with the corrected application, it shall post the same in the Membership Office with a poll, so that member states may vote on it.
 * f. Member states shall either vote for or against the application, or abstain from the vote. Those members who voted against shall post their reasons for doing so in the application topic.
 * g. An application which reaches the voting threshold for approval (defined in Section 1 of this Title) shall be approved, and the nation therein shall be added to the roster of member states.
 * h. An application which is not approved shall be returned to the relevant overseer(s), who shall aid the applicant in resolving the issues raised during voting, as described in clauses (c) and (d).
 * i. If the applicant does not reply to any message(s) sent by the overseer(s) for fourteen (14) consecutive days, his/her application shall be considered abandoned, and it shall be removed from consideration.

Source
Title 1 of the AIN Code (Ninth Membership Reform Act)

Special Membership Levels Act (§2.5, §6)

Dual Membership Reform Act (§4)

Blacklist Reform Act (§5.5)

2015 Summit on the Future of the AIN: The Future of Membership (§§1.3, 7)