[D] Exosapient Protection Act

[Separatist Peoples]

Exosapient Protection Act
Civil Rights | Significant

Believing space to be the final frontier, worthy of exploration and use;

Concerned that zealous colonization may inadvertently lead to the theft of an undiscovered sapient species' future;

Enforcing strong protections to guard against that horrific error;

The World Assembly enacts the following:

1. Definitions
   
   
   1. An “extraterrestrial body” is any planet, satellite, or similar astronomical mass.
      
      
   2. A “native sapient species” is any species identified as sapient that originates on the extraterrestrial body in question, regardless of technological or social development.
2. Member Rights and Duties
   
   
   1. Member states have the right to exploit extraterrestrial bodies under their exclusive national control, either by being the first to claim and control or as bona fide titleholder as conferred by a prior holder of right, and without native sapient species.
      
      
   2. Member states have the right to issue charters, exclusive or otherwise, to non-state entities to exploit the body. Charterholders are bound by the same duties of member states imposed by this resolution.
      
      
   3. Member states have the duty to survey, with great diligence, bodies subject to exploitation for native sapient species throughout their possession.
      
      
   4. Member states have the duty to observe and enforce all applicable environmental resolutions and international regulations.
      
      
   5. Member states and holders of charters must register all new and transferred charters with the World Assembly Compliance Commission.
3. Exosapient Species Protection and Enforcement Division
   
   
   1. The World Assembly establishes the Exosapient Species Protection and Enforcement Division (ESPED) and empowers it with the necessary and proper authority to promulgate and enforce the requirements within this resolution, including:
      
      
      1. The authority to issue final determinations on the sapience of species subjected to a Suspected Sapience Report (SSR), per World Assembly law, and to promulgate regulations and guidance on such determinations, subject to review by the WACC solely on procedural grounds; and
         
         
      2. The authority to enforce any environmental regulations established by the World Assembly on extraterrestrial bodies.
4. Suspected Sapience Procedure
   
   
   1. Member states must file an SSR to ESPED following a court directive following an inquiry report or upon credible evidence that a native species is sapient.
      
      
   2. Member states must empower their courts to hold preliminary hearings on all available data to decide if the evidence available supports an SSR filing. Such hearings may have three outcomes:
      
      
      1. A recommendation to file, at which time the authority must file an SSR within two weeks and are enjoined from all resource exploitation during that time;
         
         
      2. A recommendation against filing;
         
         
      3. A recommendation for additional study, at which time member states may continue exploitation, holding 10% of all gross revenue from said exploitation in escrow, to be paid into a Sapience Trust or returned after six months, before which the court will hold an additional hearing to determine whether the additional evidence merits filing an SSR.
   3. Upon filing an SSR, member states must immediately cease all exploitation during ESPED investigations of sapience until a final determination is made. Member states may, prior to a final determination, petition ESPED for a variance for the sole purpose of remediating or removing infrastructure and personnel to comply with the cessation.
      
      
   4. Upon a filing an SSR, member states must immediately:
      
      
      1. Appoint and maintain an experienced, independent Special Master to manage the Sapience Trust and serve as fiduciary and guardian ad litem for the exclusive benefit of the native sapient species;
         
         
      2. Remove all nonnative, moveable property from the body under their jurisdiction;
         
         
      3. Transfer all title to the body and its resources, including all immovable property left behind, to a trust, to be managed for the benefit of the sapient natives until such time as ESPED and the Special Master determines the species is sufficiently advanced to assume direct control;
         
         
      4. Immediately liquidate any extracted resources not already sold to a bona fide purchaser for value without notice of enforcement proceedings and prior to the filing of an SSR or inquiry report, and transfer the proceeds to the Sapience Trust, to be managed by the Special Master.
      
      
   5. Following an ESPED final determination of sapience, member states must not allow any entity to initiate contact with the native sapient species for at least twenty years unless waived by the ESPED and the Special Master.
      
      
   6. Following an ESPED final determination of non-sapience, all property and rights will revert to its pre-SSR filing state.
5. Enforcement
   
   
   1. Member states must create a government entity tasked with oversight over all bodies controlled by the nation or its charter holders to ensure compliance, and with the standing to represent suspected native sapient species in any court if and until a Special Master is appointed.
      
      
   2. Any bad faith delay or obstruction to the requirements set out herein is an egregious violation of World Assembly law.

[Separatist Peoples]

[Reserved]

OOC: I am aware that I am about 120 characters over the limit. I am trimming as I go.

[Separatist Peoples]

"This is a pet project I've been kicking around for some time. The basic premise is that we have to draw a line between the utility of exploitation of extraterrestrial bodies: planets, moons, etc., with the risk of depriving the native sapient species of the resources they may use to develop. Indeed, everything extracted from a planet is stolen from the natives. Thus, I have proposed a balance that places the onus on developers to check for native sapient species and a great obligation to protect them, at the possible benefit of, if there are no such species, immense profit from their efforts."

[Bananaistan]

"This appears to be imperialism for the Space Age. Send out one vessel with a cargo of flags, plant them here, there and everywhere. Hey Presto! Nobody else can ever grow beyond their current borders."

[Separatist Peoples]

"This appears to be imperialism for the Space Age. Send out one vessel with a cargo of flags, plant them here, there and everywhere. Hey Presto! Nobody else can ever grow beyond their current borders."

"Which is rather already the case, I'd say. Rather than try to put the genie back into the bottle, we can seek to protect the vulnerable. Nations can transfer ownership of astronomical bodies of this kind freely, as with any other property. This deals exclusively with the right to extract resources from those bodies and what to do if a sapient species is present. No mention of transit in space is mentioned."

[Bananaistan]

"This appears to be imperialism for the Space Age. Send out one vessel with a cargo of flags, plant them here, there and everywhere. Hey Presto! Nobody else can ever grow beyond their current borders."

"Which is rather already the case, I'd say. Rather than try to put the genie back into the bottle, we can seek to protect the vulnerable. Nations can transfer ownership of astronomical bodies of this kind freely, as with any other property. This deals exclusively with the right to extract resources from those bodies and what to do if a sapient species is present. No mention of transit in space is mentioned."

"This is an outrage ..." Ted starts just as his phone rings. "Hang on, I better answer this."

Some mumbling can be heard before Ted says to his correspondent "I understand."

Turning to the chamber he says, "I am informed that the government of Bananaistan has just now claimed all uninhabited and heretofore unclaimed extraterrestrial bodies in the entire universe. All nations with whom we carry on normal diplomatic relations will be informed through the usual channels. Please carry on."

[Separatist Peoples]

"Which is rather already the case, I'd say. Rather than try to put the genie back into the bottle, we can seek to protect the vulnerable. Nations can transfer ownership of astronomical bodies of this kind freely, as with any other property. This deals exclusively with the right to extract resources from those bodies and what to do if a sapient species is present. No mention of transit in space is mentioned."

"This is an outrage ..." Ted starts just as his phone rings. "Hang on, I better answer this."

Some mumbling can be heard before Ted says to his correspondent "I understand."

Turning to the chamber he says, "I am informed that the government of Bananaistan has just now claimed all uninhabited and heretofore unclaimed extraterrestrial bodies in the entire universe. All nations with whom we carry on normal diplomatic relations will be informed through the usual channels. Please carry on."

"Then you are expected to survey each and every one of them with great dilligence. Good luck with that.

"Onto more reasonable claims."

[Kenmoria]

“What is the purpose clause IV-5? Assuming that both parties freely agree to the terms of a contract, I see no reason for it to require special authorisation to go ahead. Also, what happens if a special master dies or resigns? I see no mention of a duty to appoint a replacement.”

[Separatist Peoples]

“What is the purpose clause IV-5? Assuming that both parties freely agree to the terms of a contract, I see no reason for it to require special authorisation to go ahead. Also, what happens if a special master dies or resigns? I see no mention of a duty to appoint a replacement.”

"The reporting requirement is to ensure that there is always a record of who holds what duties, such that there is never a question as to who is responsible. There is no requirement of approval, merely registration.

"I will adjust the requirements for Special Masters."

[Imperium Anglorum]

Ideal masters? Soul cairn!

[Separatist Peoples]

Ideal masters? Soul cairn!

"Sure, your nation can appoint the Ideal Masters as Special Masters if they're capable and willing to do the job."

[Araraukar]

OOC: Why using "extraterrestrial bodies" if it includes all planets? Why not "celestial bodies"

My tired brain suggests that instead of "Member states have the right to exploit extraterrestrial bodies (body) under their exclusive national control, either by being the first to claim and control or as bona fide titleholder as conferred by a prior holder of right, and without native sapient species." you probably should have "Member states have the right to exploit extraterrestrial bodies (body) without resident native sapient species, which are under their exclusive national control, either by being the first to claim and control or as bona fide titleholder as conferred by a prior holder of right." or something to that effect.

Would "Member states have the duty to survey, with great diligence, bodies subject to exploitation for native sapient species throughout their possession." in the RL setting require sending space probe landers to every single piece of rock in the asteroid belt, just because there are plans to some day mine them for minerals? Think of how long we've surveyed Mars with rovers and whatnot, and still can't say for sure that there isn't any sapient life (underground settlements, obviously) there. If that's not the point, then perhaps something to the effect "prior to the start of the exploitation process", to basically mean you only need a thorough survey if you intend to mine it.

Does 5. in that set need to mention charter holders at all, given that you earlier specify they're bound to the same rules and regulations as member states?

How does the new committee "enforce any environmental regulations established by the World Assembly on extraterrestrial bodies", given that WA can't have police or military? Wouldn't the compliance committee already be doing the only kind of enforcing that the WA is capable of? Also, the 1.a. subclause of that set, why does one committee need to review the work of another?

What the hell is SSR? I mean, yeah, you write the name out, but what is it supposed to include? Also, "following a court directive following an inquiry report or upon credible evidence" doesn't look right, grammatically. And what is the credible evidence "or" to? The court directive? The inquiry report? Also, isn't 2.c. in that set the ultimate loopholer, if you can have a new hearing every six months minus one day, during which you'll still get to keep on exploiting and keep 90% of your profits?

And what does "variance" mean in clause 3 of that set? I looked it up in Wiktionary and still don't get it. If the only reason it can be had is to remove buildings and personnel from the site, then why is whatever it is necessary in the first place, given that cleaning up after yourself isn't exploitation of any kind?

Do any of the clauses to do with the trust thing still have to be done if exploitation hasn't started yet? That is, if a nation actually followed the procedure as laid out here and checked for natives before starting the exploitation? Also, you keep saying "the Sapience Trust" despite never actually requiring it to be created. Also, 4.d. and 5 together create a problem, if the committee is very quick to go "yep, it's got natives", as you can't liquidate (well, unless we're talking of a physical process instead of financial) resources you're not allowed to sell or trade them.

Extra questions: Do stars count for this? Binary stars where one is much more massive than the other, can have a star that's a satellite to the other. And does using solar panels count as exploitation? For that matter, does using any kind of energy-harvesting that doesn't also include matter-harvesting, count as "exploitation"? (And no I'm not talking of some kind of magical siphon but actual possible-for-RL-but-thought-to-be-too-expensive things.)

[Separatist Peoples]

OOC: Why using "extraterrestrial bodies" if it includes all planets? Why not "celestial bodies"

OOC: Well obviously because I totally didn't think of it. Good edit. It'll cut down on my characters.

My tired brain suggests that instead of "Member states have the right to exploit extraterrestrial bodies (body) under their exclusive national control, either by being the first to claim and control or as bona fide titleholder as conferred by a prior holder of right, and without native sapient species." you probably should have "Member states have the right to exploit extraterrestrial bodies (body) without resident native sapient species, which are under their exclusive national control, either by being the first to claim and control or as bona fide titleholder as conferred by a prior holder of right." or something to that effect.

Decent reorder. Will do.

Would "Member states have the duty to survey, with great diligence, bodies subject to exploitation for native sapient species throughout their possession." in the RL setting require sending space probe landers to every single piece of rock in the asteroid belt, just because there are plans to some day mine them for minerals? Think of how long we've surveyed Mars with rovers and whatnot, and still can't say for sure that there isn't any sapient life (underground settlements, obviously) there. If that's not the point, then perhaps something to the effect "prior to the start of the exploitation process", to basically mean you only need a thorough survey if you intend to mine it.

OOC: Probably not. There's no reason you have to survey it the second you claim it, so long as you survey it before you exploit it. The goal is to be flexible as to which, since FT nations might survey planets long in advance of exploitation (but not really that long evolutionarily).

Does 5. in that set need to mention charter holders at all, given that you earlier specify they're bound to the same rules and regulations as member states?

OOC: In the fear of charter holders transferring to another private entity, yes. I'd rather be duplicative of effort than leave a loophole. The system works best if the WA is on the ball.

How does the new committee "enforce any environmental regulations established by the World Assembly on extraterrestrial bodies", given that WA can't have police or military? Wouldn't the compliance committee already be doing the only kind of enforcing that the WA is capable of?

Since the environmental aspects of the committee are closely entwined with the underlying policy of preserving the body for native sapients, I thought it best if the committee was the main point of contact for extraterrestrial exploitation. Especially since, as I'm sure you've experienced, an environmental violation doesn't necessarily come about in a way that merits immediate big stick approach, which is what the ACA is designed to do. Sometimes there's an issue that doesn't stem out of wilful or malicious noncompliance and flexibility is warranted in the remediation process.

Also, the 1.a. subclause of that set, why does one committee need to review the work of another?

Its like an appeal. If the ESPED goofed on something procedural, an injustice has occurred, and the WACC (or WAJA, now that I think of it) should step in and correct it. But not substantively, since ESPED is supposed to be the final authority on sapience in these matters.

What the hell is SSR? I mean, yeah, you write the name out, but what is it supposed to include?

Good catch. In my winnowing, I think I got a necessary line. It was supposed to include "all available information on the species and exploitation activities in the vicinity". Its basically an infodump so the WA can make a decision.

Also, "following a court directive following an inquiry report or upon credible evidence" doesn't look right, grammatically.

I do double "following".

And what is the credible evidence "or" to? The court directive? The inquiry report? Also, isn't 2.c. in that set the ultimate loopholer, if you can have a new hearing every six months minus one day, during which you'll still get to keep on exploiting and keep 90% of your profits?

That isn't how it works, if you parse the sentence. The second hearing has but 2 options: Yes or No. No extensions.

And what does "variance" mean in clause 3 of that set? I looked it up in Wiktionary and still don't get it. If the only reason it can be had is to remove buildings and personnel from the site, then why is whatever it is necessary in the first place, given that cleaning up after yourself isn't exploitation of any kind?

Variance (law): an official dispensation from a rule or regulation, typically a building regulation.

Some structures have an ongoing ecological impact that need to be removed. Nuclear power plants come to mind. Additional work is necessary to remove such structures.

Do any of the clauses to do with the trust thing still have to be done if exploitation hasn't started yet? That is, if a nation actually followed the procedure as laid out here and checked for natives before starting the exploitation?

If there is no exploitation, there's nothing that need be done.

Also, you keep saying "the Sapience Trust" despite never actually requiring it to be created. Also, 4.d. and 5 together create a problem, if the committee is very quick to go "yep, it's got natives", as you can't liquidate (well, unless we're talking of a physical process instead of financial) resources you're not allowed to sell or trade them.

Upon a filing an SSR, member states must immediately. . . Transfer all title to the body and its resources, including all immovable property left behind, to a trust, to be managed for the benefit of the sapient natives until such time as ESPED and the Special Master determines the species is sufficiently advanced to assume direct control;

The Sapience Trust, while mentioned before described, is described in the text.
Extracted resources can be sold when they're being liquidated when such funds are going into the trust, as a reasonable construction of apparently conflicting clauses would suggest.

Extra questions: Do stars count for this? Binary stars where one is much more massive than the other, can have a star that's a satellite to the other. And does using solar panels count as exploitation? For that matter, does using any kind of energy-harvesting that doesn't also include matter-harvesting, count as "exploitation"? (And no I'm not talking of some kind of magical siphon but actual possible-for-RL-but-thought-to-be-too-expensive things.)

Stars do count, but, honestly, a survey done with "great diligence" of a star is probably minimally invasive. If this was a Star Trek episode, it would be a 3 minute scan, since we're not aware of any form of life that could survive on a star. Of course, if, in your canon, there are such creatures known to you, a survey of great diligence would be a lot more in-depth. "great diligence" is pretty subjective, and defined a great deal by a nation's understanding of xenobiology.

If your energy extraction takes place on the body, yes. If you're talking, like, a solar panel? That isn't affecting the body, so it seems outside the scope of what is necessary. Though, I suppose you could RP an interpretation that is that strict if you wanted a restrictive RP?

[Grays Harbor]

Araraukar wrote:
OOC: Why using "extraterrestrial bodies" if it includes all planets? Why not "celestial bodies"

Whaaaaat? This could cause confusion with our annual “Miss Celestial Bodies” competition!

[Separatist Peoples]

bump

Also, bonus points to anybody who works out from where I got this idea.

[Honeydewistania]

Anything that slows down imperialism gets a full support from me.

[Sierra Lyricalia]

OOC: Article IV, Clause 4(c) - "bone fide" -> "bona fide"

The twenty year minimum moratorium (IV(5)) on resource exploitation following a determination of sapience seems a bit short and perfunctory. It looks as though you're leaving room for further protections? I don't see anything here allowing the ESPED or the Special Master (or the WA as a whole, for that matter) explicit powers to extend such ban for a period of time that sapient natives would actually find at all useful (centuries at a minimum). What's your thinking here?


IC:

"Sapient natives? Heh. Sure, protect 'em. Not like we'll find any such anytime soon. Might as well have our names in a nice humane historical footnote, yes? I see absolutely no way this could ever come back to haunt us." Leo hunkers back down in his chair to resume his nap, this being one of the quieter debating chambers in use at the moment.

[Separatist Peoples]

OOC: Article IV, Clause 4(c) - "bone fide" -> "bona fide"

The twenty year minimum moratorium (IV(5)) on resource exploitation following a determination of sapience seems a bit short and perfunctory. It looks as though you're leaving room for further protections? I don't see anything here allowing the ESPED or the Special Master (or the WA as a whole, for that matter) explicit powers to extend such ban for a period of time that sapient natives would actually find at all useful (centuries at a minimum). What's your thinking here?


IC:

"Sapient natives? Heh. Sure, protect 'em. Not like we'll find any such anytime soon. Might as well have our names in a nice humane historical footnote, yes? I see absolutely no way this could ever come back to haunt us." Leo hunkers back down in his chair to resume his nap, this being one of the quieter debating chambers in use at the moment.

Ooc: the moratorium follows an admittedly paternalistic line of thought. Any species subject to this law is almost certainly unindustrialized and not immediately recognizable as sapient. Otherwise, one assumes that members would confer upon such obviously sapient creatures the same protections other sapients recieve.

Here, either the species is barely sapient, sapient and so underdeveloped that it was not apparent (think classic caveman), or sapient and organized so alienly that scientists do not recognize it for what it is. In any scenario, it is very likely that we as mostly humans are just as foreign to them as they are to us. Given that, a minimum of 20 years moratorium is meant to give both sides a long opportunity to get used to the idea and forestall incentives on behalf of the presumably more advanced visiting species to exploit the newly discovered species for some kind of gain. It gives the newly discovered sapient species the chance to learn enough about its prior colonizers and possible neighbors. And possibly to boot them out.

It is paternalistic. It treats the new species as wards needing guardians. But by my estimate, any species that is not immediately recognizable as sapient through what we understand as indicators of sapience and development may need that bulwark in the short term.

[Sierra Lyricalia]

OOC: Article IV, Clause 4(c) - "bone fide" -> "bona fide"

The twenty year minimum moratorium (IV(5)) on resource exploitation following a determination of sapience seems a bit short and perfunctory. It looks as though you're leaving room for further protections? I don't see anything here allowing the ESPED or the Special Master (or the WA as a whole, for that matter) explicit powers to extend such ban for a period of time that sapient natives would actually find at all useful (centuries at a minimum). What's your thinking here?

Ooc: the moratorium follows an admittedly paternalistic line of thought. Any species subject to this law is almost certainly unindustrialized and not immediately recognizable as sapient. Otherwise, one assumes that members would confer upon such obviously sapient creatures the same protections other sapients recieve.

Here, either the species is barely sapient, sapient and so underdeveloped that it was not apparent (think classic caveman), or sapient and organized so alienly that scientists do not recognize it for what it is. In any scenario, it is very likely that we as mostly humans are just as foreign to them as they are to us. Given that, a minimum of 20 years moratorium is meant to give both sides a long opportunity to get used to the idea and forestall incentives on behalf of the presumably more advanced visiting species to exploit the newly discovered species for some kind of gain. It gives the newly discovered sapient species the chance to learn enough about its prior colonizers and possible neighbors. And possibly to boot them out.

It is paternalistic. It treats the new species as wards needing guardians. But by my estimate, any species that is not immediately recognizable as sapient through what we understand as indicators of sapience and development may need that bulwark in the short term.

OOC: My desire to live in the Culture ("Special Circumstances") rather than the Federation ("Prime Directive") notwithstanding, I agree with all of this... and that was sort of my point. A 20 year moratorium, and the planet in question remains under the legal territorial control of the spacefaring nation, seems a bit inadequate. If I'm reading this correctly, only resource extraction is prohibited (though presumably nations will comply with the requirements GAR #355 puts on them w/r/t the other rights of the native species). Within those boundaries, nations may still e.g. coerce governmental changes on the native species as they would a territory populated by their own species; supply arms to one or both sides of a native civil war; sell drugs and technology to individual natives on a scale that will completely disrupt their culture much faster than they can adapt; and permit members of the native species to leave the planet, possibly leading to anything from generational warfare to near total depopulation (how're you gonna keep 'em down on the farm once they've seen Coruscant?).

Now dealing with all this fairly might be too much for one resolution, especially one that already deals with the basics plus mineral rights, as this does. I would either structure it to invite further law on the fair treatment of technologically less advanced cultures; or you could put in a much stronger "Prime Directive" type of rule here. Either way I think a bit more is needed than 20 years of "hands off this world's resources."

[Separatist Peoples]

Ooc: the moratorium follows an admittedly paternalistic line of thought. Any species subject to this law is almost certainly unindustrialized and not immediately recognizable as sapient. Otherwise, one assumes that members would confer upon such obviously sapient creatures the same protections other sapients recieve.

Here, either the species is barely sapient, sapient and so underdeveloped that it was not apparent (think classic caveman), or sapient and organized so alienly that scientists do not recognize it for what it is. In any scenario, it is very likely that we as mostly humans are just as foreign to them as they are to us. Given that, a minimum of 20 years moratorium is meant to give both sides a long opportunity to get used to the idea and forestall incentives on behalf of the presumably more advanced visiting species to exploit the newly discovered species for some kind of gain. It gives the newly discovered sapient species the chance to learn enough about its prior colonizers and possible neighbors. And possibly to boot them out.

It is paternalistic. It treats the new species as wards needing guardians. But by my estimate, any species that is not immediately recognizable as sapient through what we understand as indicators of sapience and development may need that bulwark in the short term.

OOC: My desire to live in the Culture ("Special Circumstances") rather than the Federation ("Prime Directive") notwithstanding, I agree with all of this... and that was sort of my point. A 20 year moratorium, and the planet in question remains under the legal territorial control of the spacefaring nation, seems a bit inadequate. If I'm reading this correctly, only resource extraction is prohibited (though presumably nations will comply with the requirements GAR #355 puts on them w/r/t the other rights of the native species). Within those boundaries, nations may still e.g. coerce governmental changes on the native species as they would a territory populated by their own species; supply arms to one or both sides of a native civil war; sell drugs and technology to individual natives on a scale that will completely disrupt their culture much faster than they can adapt; and permit members of the native species to leave the planet, possibly leading to anything from generational warfare to near total depopulation (how're you gonna keep 'em down on the farm once they've seen Coruscant?).

Now dealing with all this fairly might be too much for one resolution, especially one that already deals with the basics plus mineral rights, as this does. I would either structure it to invite further law on the fair treatment of technologically less advanced cultures; or you could put in a much stronger "Prime Directive" type of rule here. Either way I think a bit more is needed than 20 years of "hands off this world's resources."

Ooc: I would love a prime directive, but the premise of this law assumes the prime directive was accidentally violated from the beginning. I think that deserves its own legislation.

I do see your point regarding noneconomic exploitation. I'll tweak the language to give the Special Master discretion in all other matters involving "human" initiated interaction with the species in question. I wanted to avoid a grand scale version of buying Manhatten for beads and missed the other obvious issues.

I am loathe to give the SM the power to regulate the species in question, though. It is too paternalistic, I feel, to tell a species that we exist but they can't leave now. I mean to shield the species in question from "human" subjugation, not install it!

[Separatist Peoples]

OOC: Edits made. The Special Master now has broad powers as guardian ad litem to the species for the purpose of interaction with member states. I did not give the Special Master authority over the native species in the hope of preserving some autonomy.

Implicit in the GAL position is, of course, listening to one's ward.

[Sierra Lyricalia]

...guardian ad litem...

OOC: Paternalistic indeed!

I don't have a better solution than this, though. Good luck!



IC:

"What, still? Yes, yes, support, whatever. Let it not be said that we repeated the mistakes and crimes of our forebears who went a-wandrin' in search of gold to multiply their poverty and religious converts to multiply their sins."

[Disembodied Voice]

"Sapient natives? Heh. Sure, protect 'em. Not like we'll find any such anytime soon. Might as well have our names in a nice humane historical footnote, yes? I see absolutely no way this could ever come back to haunt us." Leo hunkers back down in his chair to resume his nap, this being one of the quieter debating chambers in use at the moment.

A voice whispering from thin air right behind his left ear said, "To some of us your people are such primitive natives that would be in need of protections like these."

[Separatist Peoples]

Bump.

[Separatist Peoples]

Bump