This is a very rough draft of a companion plain-text charter. This draft is published early for feedback.

This page acts as an FAQ and full explanation of th USUV charter, it's goals, and how they're achieved.

The wording in the official charter always takes priority. This is only a guide to make it easier to understand the official charter.

1. The Organisation

Main Article: USUV

i. We are called The United Settlements of UltraVanilla, or USUV for short.
Very early documentation (late 2019 to early 2021) the USUV was referred to as the ASUV, or Allied Settlement of UltraVanilla. The name was changed shortly after the USUV was founded, and can be used interchangeably in older contexts.

ii. We talk about things like working together, having fun, solving problems, and anything else we want.

iii. We don’t vote on things that the staff should handle, like who owns land claims or who broke a server rule.
The single exception are murders and political actions that originate from the USUV itself, hence the existence of the Head of Security. These issues are usually handled internally by the USUV instead.

iv. We don’t tell each other what to do in their own settlements.
v. We don’t take sides in fights and we try to make peace.
As proof of these two clauses, check out the history and eventual peace deal between Terni and Southern Hollow.

vi. We have a flag.
ix. We have a logo. (location moved, not in the same spot as on the official charter.)
A yellow globe, with a white cross, and a blue background; as seen on the right of this page.

The official flag of the USUV

vii. We have an anthem.
TODO: Does "The Mandalorian" refer to The Mandalorian OST or something else?

viii. We have a mascot.
TODO: This isnt listed on the USUV page (istg if its grogu)

x. We have a motto.
"Eat Cheese, Drink Soup, Die Young." This was at one point a huge discussion

xi. We have money that we can give and use as we agree.
This line is vague and leaves out quite a lot of info.
The PFC (called The Treasurer in the charter) controls and keeps track of all of the USUV's funds.
During meetings, people can discuss if they want funding to certain projects, and how much that funding should be, usually by a debate. After that a vote is held, and if it passes the funds are given to the recipient by the PFC.

xii. We work with and help other groups that are like us.
The OPC, Comrades Union, and UVDOT are good examples of this.

xiii. We value working together, being free and democratic, and being friendly.

xiv. We can change this document when we need to. Any changes we make are still valid.

2. How To Join Or Leave USUV

This section has been moved to USUV Membership.

i. If you want to be a full member of USUV, your place must:

Be a town, city, or settlement, look like one and have a name.
Score high enough on the Development Scale.
Have at least three people helped build it, and two of them must have been online in the last week.
Have been active in the last week.
Have been started at least a month ago.
Have at least three USUV people come and see it.
Have been a provisional member for at least one meeting cycle.
Agree to join USUV and follow the Constitutional Charter.
Have USUV vote yes to your full membership at a meeting.

ii. You can also be a provisional member of USUV before becoming a full member. For that, you need to:

Meet at least half of the full requirements.
Show that you are working hard to meet all of the full requirements.

iii. Provisional members can’t vote fully, but they can suggest ideas and take part in Local Votes and Public Ballots.

iv. If we need more people at the meeting, provisional members can vote fully.

v. Sometimes USUV can let you be a full member right away, without being a provisional member first. For that, you need to:

Already meet all the full requirements.
Score 50 points on the Development Scale.
Started the settlement at least 3 months ago.
Have had more than 10 people who helped build it.
Have 66% of USUV voters say yes to your fast track membership.

vi. The Development Scale is something USUV uses to see how well your place is built. It gives you points for different things. You can read more about it in another document.

vii. Leaving USUV can happen by:

USUV voting to kick you out because you are not active.

OR

You ask USUV to leave.

viii. USUV can take away your seats from meeting places other than at USUV HQ if you are not active.

ix. Member States can share their seats and vote as one, as long as one of them is a full member.

x. Members can’t split their land to get more votes.

xi. Places that want to join USUV must follow the Ambiguous Naming Bill.

3. Meetings

This section has been moved to USUV Meetings and Votes.

i. If you come to a meeting as a member, you can use a desk to vote.

ii. You can send someone else to vote for your settlement at each meeting.

iii. You can vote yes or no at your desk.

iv. There will be a box to put your ballot votes in at each meeting place.

v. You need to ask your settlement leader if you can vote for them at USUV.

vi. You can’t vote for more than one place at the same meeting. If you represent for more than one settlement, you need to pick different people to vote for each one.

vii. If you are not a member, you can still come to meetings and sit in a chair for observers.

viii. The members will choose when, where, and how often the meetings will happen.

ix. The meetings will take turns at different places, and the members will decide the order.

x. If there is a new place to host a meeting, it will go first.

xi. If there is no new place, the meeting will be at the place that has been waiting the longest and is still active.

xii. USUV HQ will host one out of every three meetings, unless the members say otherwise.

xiii. Only the settlements that are full members of USUV can have meetings at their settlement, except for USUV HQ.

xiv. rewording of 3.(xi) on the wiki, will investigate

xv. We need 5 voters at each meeting or it will be cancelled.

xvi. USUV HQ will have more meetings than other places.

xvii. Members decide how USUV HQ looks.

xviii. If you do something bad to USUV or democracy, you will face the Sanctions Bill.

xix. If you are an observer, you can suggest things for the members to vote on, but you can’t vote yourself.

xx. If you are an observer, you can pick someone to sit at one of the Independent Voter desks at each meeting.

xxi. There will be a desk for Community Settlements to vote for places that are not part of any settlement, like Spawn, The Outpost, and shop districts.

xxii. Meetings can happen on Discord if the members agree.

xxiii. Meetings can be changed to a different time or date if there is a problem, like a server event, not enough people, or something else, and most people are okay with it.

xxiv. USUV will tell you what they will talk about at each meeting ingame, on Discord, and on the wiki.

4. Motions

This section has been moved to USUV Meetings and Votes.

i. Motions are things that people talk about and then decide if they need to vote on them or not.

ii. There are different kinds of motions:

MAJORITY VOTE: More than half of the people have to say yes to the motion. If the same number of people say yes and no, then they will wait until the next meeting to vote again.
LOCAL VOTE: Each person votes on the motion only for their own place and it will only happen in their place if they said yes to it.
SUPERMAJORITY VOTE: At least two out of three people have to say yes to the motion. This is for changing the big rules (except for the first time or small changes). It is also for some special votes like letting new people join quickly.
BALLOT: When there are more than two choices for a vote, a ballot will happen with people putting a paper with their choice in a chest.
DEBATE: This is a motion that does not need a vote.
STATEMENT: A talk by a person or a leader.
ELECTION: A vote that choose leaders.
PUBLIC BALLOT: A vote that anyone can join, even if they are not in USUV. Public ballots have to be agreed by the members before they happen.

iii. The list of things to talk about (the agenda) will be shown at least one day before meetings.

iv. Anyone can suggest things to put on the agenda.

v. Motions and what happened in each meeting have to be written down.

vi.People can vote before the meeting at the place where the meeting will be held.

vii. People can join meetings by Discord if they cannot be there in the game.

viii. “Approval voting” is when people can say yes to more than one choice for motions with more than two choices.

ix. Charter Change motions are motions that change the big rules and they can only be brought to USUV three times with the same words.

Elected Officials

A much more in-depth explanation, and tutorial on some of the jobs, are available in USUV Cabinet.

Addendum

Elected Officials are sometimes called "Leaders" and "Cabinet". In the charter specifically, they're referred to as "Leaders".

i. USUV [member states] can choose leaders to look after some parts of USUV.
ii. Each leader will be in charge of their own part.

iii. A Chair and Vice-Chair will be chosen to run meetings and write an agenda, welcome new people, and lead USUV’s ideas.

iv. USUV can choose a Treasurer, Head of Security, Reporter, Archivist, Judge and Postmaster.

v. The order of who will run meetings if the chair and vice-chair are not there is:

Treasurer
Head of Security
Archivist
Reporter
Judge
Postmaster

vii. The Treasurer will take care of the USUV money and ask people for more money.
viii. The Head of Security can pick security guards for meetings.
ix. The Reporter can write about meetings and use other ways to share information.
x. The Archivist will keep USUV documents.
xi. The Judge can only make choices if the people who can vote ask them to.
xii. The Postmaster will make it easier for people to send letters in towns and in the USUV HQ.
Full job descriptions are available on the USUV Cabinet page.

vi. The Chair or Vice-Chair can give some of their work or ask for help with getting ready for meetings if they need to.

xiii. How long the leaders will stay is decided by members.
Currently, 8 meetings, or; (assuming the 3 week schedule is consistent)

24 weeks
168 days
5.6 months

xiv. Members can also remove or add leader positions.
This is referring to 3 things:

Member states can hold a “Vote of No Confidence” if the criteria are met
Charter Changes allow for more roles to be added
and during

xv. The leaders cannot vote.
TODO: If i understand the USUV correctly, this is blatantly wrong.

xvi. The leaders can be kicked out with a “Vote of No Confidence”.
This is usually done only if one of these 3 events occurs:

The member officially leaves the server (in which case the member usually resolves any USUV related jobs before quitting)
The member is banned from the server (this has happened in recent history)
The member goes inactive for a period of more than 6 months (around the length of a full term)

xvii. If no one wants to be a leader for a position, it will stay empty until the next meeting.