The Visionary Empire [VISN]
VISN is a PirateCraft crew dedicated to server-wide peace, and hopes to someday keep the server peaceful till the end of its days.
History
Founding
The founding of VISN was not direct; instead, the Visionary ideals have been cultivated over time, over many different crews, all of which are in such a jumble, none of which lasting very long, that there is no way to separate what happened. However, Visionary and inspirational movement leader, PIPPIP5789, appeared inside of the server on May 1st, 2016. After a 2 year leave of nothing, the crew VISN emerged on September 21, 2019, with PIPPIP5789 coming back after supposed retirement from the server. This marks the beginning of the Snashensgazle Era.
Snashensgazle Era
The Snashensgazle Era marks the beginning of a dedicated movement towards a dedicated government. This beginning of this era is marked with the arrival of VISN’s first official member, Snashensgazle. Briefly after joining the crew, both he and PIPPIP5789 constructed the original Visitopia, and recruited new members daily. However, this era did not last long, as soon Snashensgazle left the server, leaving PIPPIP5789 as the sole leader of the group. Soon after, VISN was reborn inside of the Wanderers Era
Wanderers Era
The Wanderers Era started when ChickenNoodYT joining, marking the beginning of both a new era, as well as the start of a feasible government. Briefly after joining, two other notable players joined: Koehe and Beastmode9000. These now four players dedicated themselves to bettering the server, and soon changes were made apparent. All, however, were not pleased. After a small boon in VISN population, the 4 leaders decided to build a port, to create houses as well as establish a shipyard for future trading voyages. Construction stopped when a player known as Cappur attacked the port, demanding not only that work stop, but that VISN move their crew and base. After initial refusal, more players were attacked, including a player named MeadowYT, who alongside the VISN leaders tried to stand up for the crew. The attempts to stop the attacks were thwarted, and the players moved soon after to a new zone. MeadowYT was also promoted to leader after his valiant attempts to stop Cappur's onslaught.
Less than a week after moving, the crew ROME began attacking The Visionary's new home, Port Meadow. This led to counterattacks, and a few skirmishes during the BE vs ROME war, including a direct assault against ROME's capital. After the war was disbanded, VISN began wandering around the server, never staying in one place too long, slowly collecting resources and players after the taxing war against ROME, and the destruction of Port Meadow. Eventually, The Visionaries moved back to their original capital, Visitopia, and soon began construction on a new, more defensible capital. The new Visitopia would be the first capital to be recognized for VISN, and this marks the beginning of the Visionary Era
Visionary Era
The Visionary Crew Era marks one of the greatest periods of growth for The Visionary crew. After the construction of Visitopia, PIPPIP5789 began creating peace treaties between multiple crews, most notably TRI and GUCS. GUCS came to VISN's aid when Cappur began to siege the new Visitopia, and eventually helped VISN repel the attack, while TRI continually fought Cappur when he became too aggressive. After Cappur lost interest in The Visionaries, VISN began collecting new members, and wouldn't stop growing on into the Visionary Empire, eventually stopping on 11/4/19 when the maximum of 100 players was reached in the crew. During this period of growth, VISN allied many other crews, and eventually helped to form the Eastern Alliance, otherwise known as the EA. Soon, peace was established, and Port Amax opened, thanks to the valiant efforts of VISN's newest leader and owner of the port, AielManX.
However, not all was good news. The crew, although large, began to suffer from players going inactive, including Beastmode9000, Koehe, and MeadowYT. The loss of so many leaders began to shift power through the crew, and many other loyal players began falling away. Eventually, only PIPPIP5789, AielManX, and ChickenNoodYT remained active, with nearly the entire crew going dark. Soon, a desperate power move was needed in an attempt to reinstate the crew to its former glory, and PIPPIP5789 decided to take matters into his own hands.
Visionary Empire
The Visionary Empire Era was born from the dying ashes of the Visionary Crew Era, thanks to the efforts of PIPPIP5789. After seeing so many of his fellow crewmates going inactive, including the leaders he had depended on for so long, PIPPIP5789 decided to write a law, and began to reform the crew into an empire, Visitopia being the capital. The new law of the land set up a hierarchical government, of which PIPPIP5789 was the leader, of Captain, of, and placed his active members into positions of power. This also was the start of PIPPIP5789 claiming monumental amounts of land for VISN territory. Furthermore, the Empire also managed to bring a balance of peace around the server, though soon left the EA by the Captain's decision due to the internal turmoil and instability.
Currently, the Visionary Empire is struggling from a lack of active members, and will soon see its collapse if nothing is done to revive the crew. Ongoing discussion has been commencing between various crew leaders, but it seems all efforts have been in vain thus far.
Visionary Rules
A detailed guide to the VISN expectations and its internal hierarchy.
The Visionaries are a group dedicated to establishing server wide peace, and its empire, The Visionary Empire, will be its means to that end. The Empire is a subordinate of the crew, and though all members are required as such, all allies and rivals of the Visionaries do not reflect upon the Empire. The Guide shall establish all things Visionary, and shall set the ground rules needed to bring about peace, structure, order, and all things needed. “If we don’t stand up for what’s right, this server will fall into chaos. If we let this server fall into chaos, we lose not only our homes, our time, and our friends, but we lose us. We lose everything that we have worked so hard for, and we lose that which is most important: we lose each other.” –PIPPIP5789
Government
The first thing to be established is the government. This is a non-negotiable aspect of any respectful empire, and should be treated as such. Therefore, the Visionary Empire’s government shall consist of 3 parts: Executive, Judicial, and Assemblage. The Executive branch shall consist of Conquistadors, Centurions, and Constricts. The Judicial branch shall consist of Judges, the Parliament, and the Assembly. The Assemblage branch shall consist of the Head Construct, the Head Supplement, and the Reviser. There is also the Captain and the First Mate, neither of which fall under any branch within the government, as well as the Diplomats, of which there shall be one of from each branch, chosen by the Captain.
The Conquistadors appoints all other offices within the Executive branch within his/her province. They also shall ensure that all branches of the government work in synchronization with all other branches, and are held directly responsible for all failures within the province as relating to the Empire. The Conquistadors also have power to remove all other branches Chief Officers (the Judge and Speakers in both the Parliament and the Assembly) There shall only be one Conquistador per province.
The Centurions keep order within the province. They have the power to Note people. A Note is a Written Book detailing the time, place, and details of an offense, and there are to be three copies made: One for the official record of the Visionaries, one for the Judicial branch, for review, and one for the offender. The Judicial branch shall handle all cases of misbehavior beyond this point. The Centurions are also required to keep an army for both the province’s defense, as well as for the Visionary Empire’s use in times of war. Army rules and guidelines shall be discussed in the Militia Guide.
The Constricts have two roles: They shall spread news within the province, and they shall ensure that the government within the province is working properly. The spreading of news can be done by the means deemed necessary by the Constricts, without violation of any rules put in place by other parts of the government. The Constricts shall have the power to ask for an eviction of the Conquistador at any given time if they deem that he/she is not fulfilling their duties to the Visionary Empire to the extent required, whether by breaking of law or simply not completing all of the duties required. They do not, however, have the power to evict the Conquistador. Rather, they shall take all offences to the Captain directly. The Constricts are to be voted upon every month.
The Judicial branch shall handle most of the order pertaining to the law of the Visionary Empire. First and foremost, the Judge of the province shall be required to attend all disciplinary courts. If unable to attend, they are to publicly (three or more players, not including themselves) announce a suitable replacement. Information detailing the court and its doings shall be discussed within the Court Guide. There shall only be one Judge per province.
The Parliament shall be an elected position, elected every 2 months, to those who wish to serve within court cases. In all court cases, a minimum of two members of the Parliament shall be required to attend. If two or more members cannot attend, the case shall be postponed to a further date, all restrictions to the accused given by the Centurion shall stay in effect in this time as well (if any). The Parliament shall reign as the Prosecution in court cases. The Parliament also shall decide on laws to create as they see fit, and must have a 67% or higher vote of confidence (an Aye vote) before the law shall move on to the Assembly. There shall not be any more than 10 members of Parliament for any given province at any given time.
The Assembly shall consist of 5 randomly chosen Crewmates within the province, to decide upon a law’s passing or not. If three or more of the five members of the Assembly vote to pass the law, it shall be put into effect immediately. If this is not achieved within a 48 hour period, the law is considered rejected, and cannot be proposed again for another 72 hours by the Parliament. If a Judge is unable to either fulfill his/her role or find a suitable replacement, an Assembly shall be made, and the members shall vote for whom they believe is best within the Assembly (other than themselves) to fulfill the role of Judge. The winner of the vote shall take place as Judge. If a tie ensues, the first member picked to be within the Assembly shall take the place of Judge. All members of the Assembly (save Judge, if selected from the Assembly) shall interpret the law and make distinctions within a court case. Speakers of both the Parliament and the Assembly have the sole responsibility of keeping the Parliament/Assembly in order, as well as giving the final decision of those players. They otherwise have no additional rights within the Parliament or Assembly besides that. The Assembly’s Speaker shall be chosen as the first person that is selected (though the Conquistador can reject the player if he/she so chooses). The Parliament shall hold an election for the position of Speaker every 2 months.
The Assemblage branch shall consist of a single Head of each area, as well as up to 3 Revisers. They are not directly tied to any province. The Head Builder shall ensure that all building projects within the Empire are completed on time and within supply limits. They also have rights to establish Builders within provinces if they so choose, as a delegation of their power. They, however, are ultimately held responsible for any and all building projects.
The Head Supplement shall ensure that each province of the Visionary Empire is producing a surplus of goods for the Empire, shall ensure that commercial trade is flowing throughout the Empire, and shall ensure that the Empire has all of the resources needed to complete all projects, as required by the Head Builder. The Supplement shall also ensure that weapons, armor, and food are ready as needed for war. The Supplement has all delegation rights and constrictions as the Builder, delegating to Suppliers.
The Reviser(s)’ sole job is to go throughout the provinces and correct any mistakes therein. A reviser cannot directly interfere with the hierarchy, but can personally attempt to correct a situation, or can instruct others on how to fulfill their roles as needed. If both of these are attempted and fail, the Reviser can bring reports back. Revisers ensure that trials are going smoothly, supplies is being traded and produced, all buildings and roads are up to standards, and so forth. Revisers are also required to be able to have a general census of the materials a province has at any given time, up to date within the 2 weeks.
The Captain is over all of the Visionary Empire, and is exempt from the rules regarding hierarchy and such. If the Captain is thought of to be abusing his/her power, a Civil war may be ensued in an attempt to dethrone him/her. The militia is also directly headed by the Captain. The First Mate shall take over responsibility of Captain when the Captain is unavailable.
The Diplomats shall go throughout the server, trying to make peace between the Visionary Empire and the other crews of the server. The Captain shall select diplomats, and each diplomat shall simply carry out his/her other duties, as well as being needed as other crews need them. They are to keep crew alliances active, and attempt to end wars.
Court
The Court setting shall be a Judge’s seat set 2 blocks above ground level, an Assembly section placed 1 block above ground level to the judge’s right, a Parliament section placed 1 block above ground level to the judge’s left, and an accused area set at ground level. The Judge’s seat must consist of a single seat of any sort and must not exceed a total area of 3x3. The Assembly section must consist of 5 seats in an X pattern, with the Assembly Speaker’s seat directly in the middle. The seats must be exactly 1 diagonal block away from the middle, and must not have any signs of any sort upon the seats. The total space for this section must be 7x7. The Parliament’s section must contain 10 seats, with the speaker’s chair in the front, a row of 4 behind, and a row of 5 behind. Each row must be exactly 1 block away from the others, and each seat must be exactly 2 blocks away from each other. Each seat must have 2 signs upon it, as arms, and the total area of the Parliament section must not exceed 17x5. Each of the Speaker’s chairs must be centered with the other, and each section must have a total of 7 blocks of space between each section. There is to be a top-slab wall in front of each section, dividing it from the rest of the area. Neither section should go beyond the beginning of the Judge’s Seat. The accused’s seat shall be a single chair directly centered in the room, without signs. It must be exactly 7 blocks away from the judge’s seat. A wooden fence shall divide the crowd from the court, with a gate of the same type of fence on either side of the middling fence.
The actual proceedings shall go as followed: All members of the court shall take their seats, and proceedings shall begin. The Judge shall proclaim the case in question, and shall call to begin. The accused shall state his case in 10 messages or less. The prosecution (otherwise known as the Parliament) shall then make their case in 10 messages or less. This is Round 1. The Judge shall initiate additional rounds as he/she sees fit. After a decision has been made, the Judge will call for a final round, where each side (accused starting) says one final message to summarize their case. The Judge may then ask a single question of either side, and may consult the Assembly as needed. The Judge shall then give a final decision.
Rounds go on through the above format, and at any point during a Round, the person messaging may call forwards the Speaker of the Assembly to clarify a law as needed. The messages by the Speaker do not count towards the message count. Furthermore, the accused may call upon a single witness if he/she is within the crowd area. If not, they may not call on them. All called upon witnesses must come to the front, state their statement within 3 messages or less, and return to the crowd. The front is 2 blocks in front of the accused seat, and all speakers must come to the front before speaking.
Weapon and dress code is strict. All crowd members must not wear any armor, and are not allowed to hold weapons of any sort. The Parliament and the Assembly are allowed armor of chain or worse, but only as a helmet or a chest plate. The Judge may be allowed to have any armor that is unenhanced, and is allowed a bow and/or iron sword. The Judge also may call forth a bailiff, whom is allowed 2 pieces of iron armor, as a helmet and/or a chest plate. The bailiff is also allowed a bow and a shield, but no sword. The bailiff, if allowed within the trial, shall stand to the direct right of the judge, 1 block away. No arrows are allowed to be drawn for those that are allowed a bow, except in the case of fight that has broken out. Only the Judge and the Bailiff are allowed to attack, except in the case of an attack by someone not within the trial (such as an attack by a player.) Pumpkins are banned. Heads of any kind are banned.
If a court case goes on for over 20 minutes, the Judge or the Assembly speaker may call for a vote at the end of the current messaging player’s turn. If a vote is called, the Assembly shall simply vote on whether the accused is guilty or not, and the majority shall rule. If a tie of any sorts is reached, the accused is neither guilty nor innocent until proven otherwise, and the Assembly shall vote upon a resolution. If the Assembly fails to make a decision, the Judge shall have the final casting vote.
Militia
The Visionary Militia is what both expands our empire, as well as keeps us safe from attacks by outside forces. The militia is headed directly by the Captain. There are no direct ranks for the militia, but rather a simple hierarchy of players: The Crewmates, the Generals, the Captain. The Generals for the army shall instate within their group of Crewmates ranks as seen fit, but shall not change their official crew rank (/crew setrank). The Centurions shall be the Generals. Each Centurion shall be the general over the Crewmates within their province only, and in the case of multiple Centurions, they shall share an equal power between the two of them among their soldiers. The Captain shall be the head over all militia operations, and is the only person within the Empire that may declare war on another crew (while Diplomats may end a war at any time).
Each province shall be required to have the following at the ready at any given time in case of war: 2 double chests of irons swords or better (enchanted lower quality does not count), 4 double chests of iron armor or better (enchanted lower quality does not count), 2 double chests of bows, 4 double chests of normal arrows, 3 double chests stackable food that restores 2 or more hunger points, 2 double chests of stacking blocks excluding blocks affected by gravity (dirt, glass, ect), 2 double chests of siege-proof blocks excluding stone (stone bricks, nether bricks, ect.). Each province also must have at least 1 ship with 6 or more cannons, 1 Centurion, and a ready Crewmate army size of 5 or more people. The Captain may call on these resources for war at anytime, but only for the necessity of war.
In times of war, all provinces are required to dedicate any resources requested immediately to the effort, but otherwise continue on normally. Extra resource production may be required of each province in order to fulfill demands. All provinces are also required to have at least 1 siege-proof vault, a wall of sorts, and defense mechanisms (gates, bridges, cannons, pitfalls, ect). Provinces are exempt from dedicating resources of any kind during a siege of the province.
VISN Rules
A list of VISN rules.
1) There shall be no curse words, vulgar language, or swearing of any kind. 2) There shall be no drinking (non-alcoholic drinks are permitted). 3) The Visionary Code must be followed, so long as it doesn’t interfere with the first 2 rules. 4) Traitors to VISN are not permitted. All traitors are to be reported to the proper authority, and shall be dealt with as seen fit. The Captain and his word shall rule beyond this point.
PIPPIP5789's log
This log is directly related to VISN, during the Empire era.
The Visionary Empire history
Week 1
Well, today is the day! I am officially declaring, on 10/11/19, at 5:15 PM Central Time, the Visionary Empire to be created! My crewmates don’t even know it yet (though I have talked about it a good bit). I have just finished writing the first drafts of the Visionary Guide (Over 2,500 words!!!), and I am going to be publishing the books soon enough. I also will be putting this into a book in Minecraft soon enough (doing this in Microsoft Word, so I can actually go back and modify stuff, since the Minecraft Written Book editor is so terrible). I can only hope that our history goes on for ages to come… So, the Pippian Dynasty has begun, and I already feel exhilarated! Right now, my “big” leaders are ChickenNoodYT, AielManX, and BeanyMachine. I haven’t quite sorted them out yet into their respective ranks, but that will come soon enough. Like, after I’m finished typing this, I’m going to do it… Anyway, plenty to do, not a ton to say other than our creation, and… well, yeah. –Captain of the Visionary Empire, the Server’s best tactician; PIPPIP5789; 10/11/19; 5:23 PM CST
Update: OK, we just had a meeting with the EA, and we were assaulted by 2 players – MysticTitan and Cappur – who not only killed the lot of us (me personally twice, trying to rescue my comrades, and only slightly failing - my comrades escaped, but at the cost of my life and items), but also ruined our meeting… This isn’t the first time that Cappur has ruined something for us, and I doubt it will be the last. Something has to be done, and something will be done… One of our first acts might just be declaring war on Cappur and his crew, no kidding. In the History of the Visionaries (which is still being written at the time of this publication), we were drove out of house and home thanks to Cappur once, and when we return to a similar area, we were nearly drove out again. It was only due to our then-new allies, GUCS, and our newest leaders, MeadowYT and AielManX, that we survived the onslaught. I will never be able to show my gratitude to them enough… Maybe immortalizing them in these pages will be enough. That’s the end of this day, will update again soon. – Captain of the Visionary Empire, the Server’s best tactician; PIPPIP5789; 10/11/19; 8:53 PM CST
Week 2
This week was certainly… different. We have been trying to make some allies, but overall, the plan has been failing due to lack of active players… This will need to be changed, and soon. Nothing of particular interest, though. – Captain of the Visionary Empire, the Server’s best tactician; PIPPIP5789; 10/17/19; 7:25 PM CST
Week 3
Nothing to note.
Week 4
Nothing to note.
Week 5
This week is the first week in a while anything of importance has happened, and honestly, quite a lot has happened. First off, the EA (which has been is slow decline) now basically ceases to exist… VER is doing whatever, LE I haven’t heard from in forever, EIE has become non-existent, and SPQR just isn’t helping with anything EA related… GUCS and what people are on for VISN (us) are the only 2 that seem to care anymore… This is only the first of a long string of occurrences.
Next, we have had an interesting development in our crew: taxes have been instated. We have already had 18 people kicked out (inactive people, obviously) due to lack of funds, and the others are having their funds slowly depleted as well. All of this funding is going into a new land for us Visionaries, the start of a new land for the Empire… I have been secretly claiming it, and only a few people know about it, but I’ll mark that in a bit. For now, one thing I have found that the tax is lackluster in is that leaders are not taxed, for whatever the reason… Without leaders being taxed, this means all of the inactive leaders of the crew are now permanently stuck in the leadership position, and we now have way too many leaders to establish any sort of central government of any kind… Hopefully this can be resolved in some form or fashion, eventually.
Moving back to the new land, I have searched for at least a few weeks now for a suitable land that we Visionaries could truly call home, without the fear of being assaulted every day or the chocking land claims that constantly surround our capital, Visitopia. This new land will require over 9,000 more claimblocks in addition to what I have (before it is anywhere close to suitable), and I’m afraid that all of those claimblocks simply cannot come fast enough… Currently, the taxes are gathering about an average of 70$ a day (or 70 claimblocks a day), and all of the claimblocks I have earned through my own time spent on the server, in addition to voting, is slowly but surely gathering the necessary numbers that we need. I have done the math earlier, and I will need about 9000/150, or 60 days worth of playing, before I come anywhere near the number I need. However, the time I spend on the server in the meantime is spent developing what land I do have, and helping my crew to become stronger.
The final thing is quite simple: We need more members, and we need them to be active members. I do not know how to get them, but I know that we need them… AielManX has been very helpful in this way, but I am afraid that we need more. Nevertheless, I remain hopeful, and with any amount of luck, soon the Empire shall rise once again. – Captain of the Visionary Empire, the Server’s best tactician; PIPPIP5789; 11/7/19; 2:08 PM CST
Week 6
Well, this week has been a rather slow week so far, but there is one major thing to report: We have truly begun construction on the new town. I am personally overseeing (and doing) all of it, so that it will be done right. I intend on continuing to gather claimblocks in order to further the town’s progress, but all in all, it is beginning to come around. Work on the farms is the primary goal for the week, and I plan on establishing about 1,500 blocks of farmland for the moment. As I gather more land, that number will increase as well. After the farmland has been set in place, a shipyard, warehouse, and marketplace will be constructed. Once all of these tasks have been completed, residency will be opened to the crew, and with any luck, will help bring about a brighter future, for the Visionaries! – Captain of the Visionary Empire, the Server’s best tactician; PIPPIP5789; 11/13/19; 8:31 AM CST
Week 7
Nothing to note
Week 8
Well, things are looking more and more bleak as the days go on… Currently, I am the sole remaining active member of VISN, with everyone else having abandoned me. Furthermore, our allies have also began to fade away, with allies such as VER breaking ties with us. Things don’t look good… – Captain of the Visionary Empire, the Server’s best tactician; PIPPIP5789; 11/13/19; 8:31 AM CST
Week 9
Although things certainly are looking bleaker still, we have been beginning to gather new members (albeit very slowly). Soon, I hope to be able to have enough to actually call ourselves an empire again. – Captain of the Visionary Empire, the Server’s best tactician; PIPPIP5789; 11/22/19; 7:28 PM CST
Week 10
Week 10: Only one thing to note, and that is the fact we are beginning to gather new members again! Hopefully it won’t fizzle out, because if it doesn’t, we are finally back on the right track once again! – Captain of the Visionary Empire, the Server’s best tactician; PIPPIP5789; 11/27/19; 6:45 PM CST