Wikiverse


 * Characters in the Wikiverse
 * Timeline of the Wikiverse

The Nature of Wikiland
Before we proceed further, it is important to understand the nature and history of Wikiland.

Several decades after the original creation of Wikipedia, a split emerged about what it would mean to "Live in a society that anyone could edit." Out of this split emerged two rival factions: those who wanted to build a Government, a society, and an economy in the real world which was collectively and democratically governed through a Wiki (the Wikilanders), and those who wanted to live and die in a virtual reality world in which they were physically hooked up to a Wiki.

After having carefully studied the collected works of Robert Owen and closely examined the reasons why his New Harmony commune failed, the Wikilanders purchased some farmland and formed a commune outside mainstream society. It would be the boldest experiment in participatory democracy that the world had ever known.

It was agreed that residents of the commune were free to come and go as they wished, but if they stayed, they would have to obey the laws of the community. The "official" Wikis of the community - that is to say, those determining the governance of the community - were broken into three forks: the 'open' fork, the 'proposition' fork, and the 'enacted' fork. Anything in the 'enacted' fork was deemed to be the enacted law of the colony, and was legally binding on the members of the community.

All members of the community were free to edit the 'open' fork. With the support of 5% of the members of the community, anything in the open fork would be trensferred to 'proposition' fork, where - for a period of no more than 6 months, they would be cleaned up, before being voted on. It was decided that, each year, the residents of Wikiland would vote on an Executive, Judicial, and Legislative Council. They were, in turn, each primarily responcible for voting on whether pending policies, court ruilings, or pieces of legislation in the proposition fork were consistant with the Founding Charter, the Charter of Rights, and the Constitution. If so, they would vote on whether these would be carried into law (by moving the proposal into the 'enacted' fork).

The Founding Charter, the Charter of Rights, and the Constitution of the colony were also uploaded into a Wiki. Upon any proposals being moved to the proposition fork, those proposals required the approval of two out of three branches of Government. In the case of a proposals involving the Constition or the Founding Charter, they would also be responcible for ensuring that it was consistant with the Charter of Rights. Any changes to these would have to be agreed upon by a vote of all citizens over 18 before being moved into the enacted fork.

So how did it work? Well imagine, firstly, that there were a number of residents who were kept up all night by dogs barking outdoors at night. Any of them would be free to create an entry in the 'open' fork of the legislative wiki proposing a law outlawing dogs being outdoors at night. Were 5% of the populace to support this measure, the proposal would be moved to the proposition fork. The Legislative Council would then examine and clean up the legislation and, were it consistant with the Founding Charter, the Charter of Rights, and the Constitution, they would vote on whether the proposal would be enacted.

Imagine, secondly, that that there were a number of residents who wanted the Government to create a park in which dog owners were free to walk their dog off the leish. Any of them would be free to create an entry in the 'open' fork of the executive wiki proposing a policy of creating a public park in which dogs were allowed off the leish. Were 5% of the populace to support this measure, the proposal would be moved to the proposition fork. The Executive Council would then examine and clean up the legislation and, were it consistant with the Founding Charter, the Charter of Rights, the Constitution, feasible within the current budget, and within the powers granted to the executive within legislation, they would vote on whether the proposal would be enacted.

In a similar manner, it was the people themselves who determined and designed the construction of the roads, schools, parks, hospitals, and museums of Wikiland.

Imagine, thirdly, that that - following the enactment of the keeping dogs indoors at night Act - A resident had been caught with their dog outdoors at night. Any of them would be free to create an entry in the 'open' fork of the judicial wiki - including the accused - outlining a case for or against the innocence of the accused, a vote would be taken on whether affected members of the community believed there to be a reasonable doubt about the guilt or innocence of said individual, and which of the sanctions within said legislation were appropriate for this matter. Upon a reasonable legth of time, the case would be moved to the proposition fork. The Judicial Council would then examine the case and, were it beyond reasonable doubt that said individaul breached said law, and said law was consistant with the Founding Charter, the Charter of Rights, the Constitution, and within the powers granted to the legislature within legislation, and further consistant with prior judgements, the verdict of the community would be passed on the matter, and this verdict would be enacted.

Beyond the official Wikis, many other aspects of life in the Wikiland centered around 'unofficial' wikis. There were Wikis for art, music, original research, textbooks, novels, stories, historical texts, political, social, or cultural discussion, movies, technical diagrams, and countless other things. Oh, it goes without saying, the Wikiland Wikipedia was a crowning jewel of the colony. In fact, most aspects of life in Wikiland were, in some way, centred around a Wiki. And outside the jurisdiction of the Wikiland government, there was an Open Source Association committed to most any project you could imagine.

The Wikiland - Attack on unWikilandian behavior
Over the coming years and decades, the colony not just prosepered, but thrived. It not only grew into an environmentally sustainable open-source nation in its own right; complete with cities, advanced industry, and the most prosperous and just economy the world had ever seen. It forced the hand of various nations of the world to immitate the Wikiland model in order to share in its success. In the wake of Wikiland sprung up a range of states across the globe - ranging from social-democratic to libertarian and minimalist - modelled on Wikiland.

But these Wikilands began facing a growing problem: the millions of people hooked up to the network of computers which made up the virtual reality WikiGalaxy. Said individuals were contributing nothing to the great Wikis, open source projects, and participating in the governance of the Wikilands in the 'real world'. When such individuals came to make up an increasing percentage of the population of the Wikilands, actions had to be taken. Participation in the WikiGalaxy was first outlawed, and eventually the angry Wikilanders came to revoke the citizenship of those in the WikiGalaxy. The Wikis and Mesage-boards of the Wikiland were flooded with heated debate on what came to be termed 'un-Wikilandian' behaviour.

A peace treaty was reached by some full time residents of the WikiGalaxy who agreed to move to 'safe zones' in Siberia, or the deserts of Africa and Australia, the caves of the Himalayas, and elsewhere - and hand in their Wikilandian citizenship - so that they would be jacked into the WikiGalaxy in peace. But not all - on both sides - were so willing. Soon, the Governing Federal Democratic League - governing the WikiGalaxy - and The Federation of the Wikilands - governing the Wikilands in the real world - were at a standoff. A war of the WikiWorlds was imminent.

Rogue States
Making matters even more complicated, while many of the world's nations had become Wikilands and subsequently joined The Federation of the Wikilands, there were a number of rogue states beyond its reach. These included old-fashioned 'nations' with antiquated economic and political models such as capitalism, theocracy, or dictatorship. There were also rogue Wikilands - Wikilands in which the will of the people had driven the State to such radical differences with most of the other Wikilands that they were outcast from The Federation of the Wikilands.

Such states were believed to be active in supporting those jacked into the WikiGalaxy. Given this, the WikiGalaxy was poised to be a battleground between the rogue states and the Wikilands. Again, it was only the will of the people preventing an outright war from errupting.