Voting & Leadership
Societies are governed and managed through roles and permissions: find the available roles and their permissions in the Societies Panel > Roles tab. There are four organization types sharing the same role/permission system: Societies, Businesses, Departments (sub-organizations within a society, e.g., a Ministry of Urban Planning), and Groups. All four can hold wallets, employ Seedlings, and own buildings or plots. Businesses and other organizations can also hold roles within a society, and employees inherit those permissions when acting for the business.
How Roles Are Assigned
Elected roles: filled through periodic elections. Configuration sets which role votes, which role provides candidates, and how often elections occur (anywhere from 1 to 24 hours, or 1 to 24 days). When an election starts it appears in the Ballots tab and as a notification; candidates register, voters vote (each of your Seedlings with the voter role gets one vote, so multiple eligible Seedlings means multiple votes; abstaining is allowed), and the candidate(s) with the most votes win. The society leader election opens every time the society tiers up, rather than on a timer. Elections are available for societies and departments.
Appointed roles: assigned directly by a holder of another role (e.g., the Mayor appoints a Treasurer). The appointer can assign and unassign at any time through the Roles tab; the appointee needs the "Hold Roles" permission (granted by the Adult role). Limited-slot roles require unassigning the current holder first.
Hired roles (jobs): filled through job postings Seedlings apply to via the Jobs app.
Note: some roles change name as a society advances: the elected society leader starts as the "Camp Manager" and becomes the "Mayor" at the Camp tier. Organizations can also create custom roles with tailored permissions (e.g., a "Warehouse Manager" with only storage and delivery access); roles can include wages and work schedules.
Ballots
Ballots are the core of democratic governance. Cultivators with Seedlings in the government can propose ballots to change policies, edit the constitution, or remove existing laws (depending on the current constitution). Once proposed, all citizens can vote, and results depend on the constitution's rules.
Policies
Policies are rule-based systems that trigger predefined actions when conditions are met, for example rewarding Seedlings for having children, or fining them for missing work. They are proposed (by government members with the right permissions), voted on, then implemented; they can have expiration conditions (such as number of uses) and can be removed via Ballot.
The Constitution
The constitution defines your society's governance type. Adopting a formal constitution becomes available once Adults have been granted the right to vote on the constitution; until then, every society runs under the default starting roles. It can be changed through a constitution change vote across the available types:
Anarchy: no formal government; all Seedlings have all permissions.
Electoral Autocracy: an elected President holds authority and appoints cabinet roles like Treasurer and Legislator.
Autocracy: a permanent ruler (Autarch) governs with a designated successor (Scion) who takes over upon the Autarch's death.
Parliamentary Democracy: citizens elect Members of Parliament, who elect a Prime Minister; the Prime Minister appoints a cabinet.
Election notifications appear in the top-left of the HUD. Society Ballots unlock during onboarding after the Getting Social objective.