Organization of the free project Khaganat
General operation
Khaganat is based on freedom and on sympathetic pseudo-anarchy, based on action.
If you want to act, act. If you have an idea and it seems complete to you, add it. Do not ask for permission. Do not wait for a stick or a carrot, becasue it will not come. If your idea or action pleases and you have come to ask for recognition, we will be delighted to say “good work”(of course) … or to launch a pitiless debate!
Things are largely “validated posting”. If no one is against it, then everyone agrees!
Sometimes some ideas are too vague, maybe we're not sure what direction to take, or maybe we wish to dream and build with others. Whatever the case, discussing it with us on IRC(or on the forums) is a very good idea.
There is indeed a framework around the project, which is there to support, more than to constrain.
Structure of the community
Everyone registered at Khaganat is a member of the community. It is enough to be interested in Khaganat or one of it's projects to be able to be considered as a member, and it is absolutely informal and without constraint (and without much rights at the base even). There is no problem with anonymity.
To work best, the community is structured into various units:
* The Khaganat association officially and legally represents the project. The members of it's college are called “spokespersons” and the members of the association “associates”(to differentiate themselves from the members of the global project who are not members of the association). This is the only part of Khaganat where anonymity is not possible, and where one speaks of real and official identity. The association is directly related to the Khaganat meta-structure.
- The Khaganat is a meta-structure! it's aim is not to manage Khanat, but to make connections and to ensure that the Dream can continue. The Etymologically of khaganat, it's a thing like “khanat together, a federation …” The Khaganat is a resource center for training in various tools, to understand the nature of the project in its broadest perspective and where the various groups can exchange.
- Although directly represented by the association, its members are not necessarily associates(there are all kinds of companions) and it's internal organization is structured with administrators, contributors and moderators.
- Worlds are autonomous structures. For the moment there is only one, the Unity MEMORIAL 1 (UM1), also called Khanat(it is a little abusive, because any world is potentially a khanat). Each world has its own way of organizing it's own independence of the structures, associations and Khaganat.
- The president has nothing to say about how a world turns out(or should be run), an administrator on Khaganat is not necessarily on the UM1.
Who is the leader?
No one. No one can impose as being the leader here. Khaganat is a free world, without whip and chain.
Everybody!! It is the community as a whole that pushes things forward, each adding its stone wherever it pleases. Chaos can tho emerge from great things(but also something wonderful).
To help structure “chaos” a little, there are some official roles, but these roles are above all anchors, to know who to address as needed, or the “technical” roles of those who knows how to “Turn the machines”. Each of these roles is accessible to all. If something does not suit you or seems badly managed, change it. Never wait for an “order” to come from above. Do not try to impose your way of doing things onto others.. at all cost. Act with respect for everyone, respect yourself and enjoy what is being built. Keep and develop what you like, forget or change what you do not like.
Association
Khaganat is an association law 1901 that was officially founded on 11 Janurary 2014. It is a collegiate association, therefore without president : every member of the college has as much power and responsabilities as another, and every member of the association can enter the college (follow statuts for more). Our decisions are by consensus and not by majority.
Its goal is to support and assure the continuity of free fictionnal universes (“free” with the meaning of the FSF; Khanat is one of these universes, but there can be many more.
“Association” are organisations specific to French law. There is no equivalent in the Anglo-Saxon world; like non-profit but better.
Any registrant to the association that has payed his “contribution” is a member. To sign up, it is mandatory to prove your identity1), be more than 162), and pay the contribution renewable each year on the date of the creation of the association3). It is not mandatory to associate your real identity with your pseudo. Everyone is free to do this, or not. Yet, the representation in an association is always with a real identity. This identity is not highlighted on the web as long as it is not needed.
The association is constituted of a College (members having more responsibilities) and associates (the other members). The members of the College assure the roles of president, secretary and treasurer.
To become a member of the College, simply make a request and be elected by all the members of the association (College and associates). Any member, whatever is his implication and the roles he could have had (ancient or actual), has the right to vote, to ask for a new election and apply to the College. The contribution is and must always stay cheap, to pay a stamp if needed and be sure any member is an active one. 5€ a year is a maximum to allow a representative democracy.
The decisions of the association and the bookkeeping must be public and searchable at any time by both members and non-members.
The association represents the project officially and legally. It can pay for servers, arrange crowdfunding, pay salaries to people if needed, and any other activity enabling it to fulfill its purpose. It does not aim to impose constraints on all or part of the project and can not take action on a universe (neither moderation nor marketing, etc.), but it can implement the decisions that this universe has taken. In so far of its resources, it ensures that each universe gets what it needs to function on a practical level (eg set up a server, perform at a show of play, communicate …).
You can consult the complete status of the association here.
You can find all the links related to the association here.
To register: this page.
Metastructure: the Khaganat
The Khaganat is a meta-structure! It's aim is not to manage the Khanat, but to make connections, to ensure that the “Dream” can continue. The Etymologically of khaganat, is a “khanat together”, a federation …
If a new world(a fork) emerges, the Khaganat will be there to make the link, so that the advances of one world benefit the other, to see that a network of confidence emerges between different worlds, allowing transfer of avatars from one to the other within the framework of the mmorpg(distant dream and utopian). Independent of the stories of different forks, the Khaganat are also the scene where spectacle is preparing, the foundations on which the worlds are based. It is a resource center for training with the various tools, to understand the nature of the project in its broadest perspective, ie a free project bringing together communities of all types, all gathering around the concept of the “world”, like: Musicians, graphic designers and designers, modelers, writers, craftsmen, merchants, developers, players, filmmakers, curious and passionate touches, etc.
Each cluster can regroup and form a structured group with it's own sections in the wikhan and also in it's sub-forum and coordinators. For example, for developers who work on the mmorpg servers, then there are several sections intended to document and development and even maintenance of a game server. It is perfectly possible to open sub-forums devoted to Development too. Lirria who knows best about the whole project in its “computer sense”, is therefore the coordinator Dev.
The Khaganat relies(in particular) on the wikhan(wiki related to this metastructure) and has it's own section on the forum. It also manages the general site.
How are decisions made for Khaganat?
Regarding the choices to be made concerning the orientation of the project, they are made of “agreement by default”.
What is a default agreement?
When someone judges that something needs to be done, they should discuss it with a few people(if possible) to have another light on the matter that maybe will make the taken action more thoughtful, then act. What counts above all is to get into action. Do, then judge whether it is good or not. And do not wait to have five people expose your idea, or have a return before you start. It is better to begin by “acting” than to postpone eternally to the morrow.
If there is no opposition, it is because the action was well founded. So there is an agreement: either people agree, or it does not interest them and therefore does not create any concern . When things go wrong, people never hesitate to let others know about it! So if they do not say anything, it's all okay. Making things visible, but not in a hurry. It's important to help the people who tries to follow, and it also avoids criticism for “eight months” after the work has been done.))*sarcasm*!
Certain actions may, however, give rise to a discussion and oppose different opinions. As far as it is possible, it's necessary to reach a genuine agreement between the parties concerned and to ensure that the debate is public(accessible for all) so that everyone's views can be expressed and taken into account as the solution. There is more than one way to reach a agreement, each case being unique. The best thing(and easiest) is of course that everyone finds how to agree by being satisfied with the course taken. Sometimes it is also necessary to know how to make some agreements, or accept that you may be deceived. One can also decide to follow the two paths on their own(giving birth to a fork). Finally we can ask for a vote and decide to agree with the majority.
But no one has the right to impose his point of view peremptorily and absolutely on the rest of the group. Never hinder your actions. Never hinder yourself from expressing what you think. Always be aware that what is done can be undone. No one is superior to another!! Everyone can go wrong and still progress… You, like all others.
For reasons of rather basic group psychology( Cat% C3% A9gorie: Psychologie_sociale, Social_Science, Groupe_social, etc … the doc does not miss out on anything, The practice tho is more complex.)). It is very likely that it is often the same people who act and therefore make decisions that will decide the sequence of events. However, the voice of these people does not have more weight than those who argument just or who usually remain silent. Each one(when he wishes and on what subject he wants) can express himself and his voice as much as the others. Khanathons, Is a weekly meeting to discuss any controversy or delay the progress of the project.
Technical Key Positions
The key positions concern technical possibilities above all. As stated above, this does not give more weight in the final decisions. An administrator who refuses to apply the group's choice would no longer fulfill his role.
The administrative posts are attributed in a tyrannical way: the admin are the only ones to decide who they see fit to join the prjocet. I don't like tyranny and its lack of justification, even if in practice it is based on the good Meaning. The qualities and skills of someone should distinguish him to join a group and if you do not like it, you are given what it takes to build a realm next door!
General
- General Administrators: Given access to the ftp server(hosting the entire project) thus potentially having access to everything. This is the most sensitive post considering the damage it can do with a false manipulation.
Wiki
- Wiki Administrators: They can add and remove plugins, give and remove read/write privileges and change the style.
- Creators: Has the status of any person listed on a wiki and identified as a human being. Can add pages, edit them, delete them and upload pictures.
- Readers: This refers to all non-subscribers and subscribers who appear to be spam robots. The whole wiki is readable but it is impossible to modify anything.
Forum
- Forum Administrators: They can give various rights to registrants, create groups, add and remove sections, modify part of the theme. OBS: To add parts of a theme or add functions, you need to have general administrator access.
- Moderators: They can edit, move, merge, split, lock, delete any message, as well as put them in note or announcement. Some moderators can only act on certain sections, others on all(section “moderators or general”). See the forum for details?
- Members: The memebers can write, access certain sections of the forum that are not in public and edit their own messages.
IRC
- OP: The OP has ability to kick, ban, change subject, change access to channel according to various rules. On #Khanat, Chanserv(robot) automatically knows who to give op status.
The humans then give the status to the others according to the moments.
Game Server
- Dev: This is currently a widely distributed status(It is linked to the stage of the project, not to believe that 97% of the registrants will have access to the following power :-p)), it is also the one that is allows to everything on the game server, like modify the data, use all the commands in play.
For other statuses, this depends on each game server and its internal rules.
Deposits of the game (Gitlab, github, bitbucket)
Section asking to be completed!
Poles and Coordinators
Khaganat is a complex and pharaonic project, with various applications and fields. When the need arises, people working on one of these “domains” can regroup in a “pole” and one or more coordinators can be appointed. These coordinators are people who follows everything happening(at least in their skill set) and can connect people or groups working on the same issues or who maybe would benefit from exchanging.
Again, it is not a project manager. If(by their overall vision) they can influence and give a path to follow, they are not there to compel or give schedules to respect. What counts is there more encyclopedic knowledge of an area, their investment and their ability to communicate rather than their precise skills on a particular point in the coordinated domain. The “dev” coordinator is not obliged to know the css. Professionals of css may instead decide/worry about the project and apply “stupidly” where it is needed, therefor not being a coordinator.
The poles can have several sub-domains and associated coordinators. To continue with the example of “computer center”, it can “group” those who hack the game server as also those who administer the global server, those who take care of personal sites and those who creates portable applications for access without computer. So.. there can be a general computer coordinator(or any other funny title, as long as he/she knows what he/she is doing), who has as all the initial contacts on an “mobile app” coordinator, or an “web” coordinator, an “ Server Khanat-Um1 ”, etc. If you think that a pole is necessary to structure a part of the project, do not hesitate to ask for its creation. This is(in turn) likely to propel you to the rank of coordinator of this section!
For details of the current clusters, see the article Coordinators list.
First World: Memorial Unit 1
On Khanat, the groupings that structure the world are both “RP and HRP”, because one of the founding principles of Khanat is that “everything that is at stake must be able to be explained by play”. To make it clearer, immersion must always be possible. This article will briefly be developing the HRP element, for details and RP, and referring to the corresponding articles in UM1.
Each of its groups has an internal hierarchy, with members at the lowest rank having far less power than those at their head.
* Crypt: Named the “dev”, the technical speakers, called “mages”. From the administrator(Red Queen) who can modify the server as a whole and simply have access to commands to unlock or test bugs. Mages have their place in the hierarchy with access to “more or less power”. The Crypt has access to all commands. The Magi are usually anonymous in relation to their game character, in order to protect them and allow them to play quietly.
The Police of Dreams: The Police is an organization of moderation RP, the “scarecrow” of things, which can make decisions on what is acceptable or not(all in the background of history) in short of any PR element. It obeys very strict rules in view of the power of coercion that it holds. It's action must be of an extremely rare nature. It's most prominent members are tasked to also monitor all orders and modifications of the server that pass, in order to avoid abuses of power related to access to these commands. They(in there turn) are themselves watched over by the Red Queen and her guard, so as not to abuse their power. The police do not intervene on the moderation HRP, which is clearly identified as HRP and managed by anonymous moderators(in relation to their characters in game) in order to protect them and allow them to play quietly. The police can however mutate a player in-game, and even “moderate the topics” on the Khanat forum.
* en:libraries: In order to archive the stories, but sometimes also give birth to them, the Library judges whom to give access to the rights of animation before transmitting it's decisions to the Crypt. On the Khanat, animation is everyone's business and there are many tools available without a pass to tell his stories. However other tools allow abuse, so their access is a little more regulated and monitored. The Library can give access to these tools, either temporarily or definitively… to players who have a project or who has distinguished themselves by their animations. She is also there to help create stories with her advice, experience and because her members have an encyclopedic knowledge of the UM1, which in ti's turn guarantees a certain coherence to the creations. Librarians can be anonymous in the relation to their game play, this in order to protect them and allow them to play quietly… but this is not compulsory.
- The Court: The judges represent the leaders of Khanat.
At the HRP level, it's their decisions that can cause the Crypt to change the server one way or another. They can also intervene in moderation or animation stories. Their role is primarily RP, although its consequences may affect the HRP dimension. The other groups should never go against there decision, as anonymity in relation to their characters is not very meaningful.
- The Company: It is the first organization that a player comes into play with.
The Company is in the best position to guide the new ones, to make them discover the Khanat and to answer the common questions and even redirect the other needed services.. in short provide a basic support. Their strength is their knowledge and anyone can ask to be a part of the company, it's purpose is to help and guide. It is advisable to have a companion character unrelated to another character, because sometimes you may want to play without answering/tell new ones.
Draft Association