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Citizens (Zars)
Culture and Society > Cultural Factors
Culture and Society > Cultures and Sub-Cultures
Culture and Society > Daily Life
Culture and Society > Cultural Factors > Socio-Ecological Categories
Culture and Society > Cultures and Sub-Cultures
Culture and Society > Daily Life
Culture and Society > Cultural Factors > Socio-Ecological Categories
 Image from Bernd Helfert |
The word "Zar" is Common Anglic for Citizen, and is a title or honorific used to formally address all citizens in the Sephirotic empires. It is believed to have developed from the ancient word 'Sir', or possibly from an ancient Earth surname, Caesar (via Tzar).
Definition: All formal citizens.
Includes: All free beings which are given sentient rights and a say (however token) in running things.
Civilizations that allow : The Sephirotics, Perseus Princes, The Objectivist Commonwealth, Deeper Covenant, and the Muuh. The Silent Ones have an analogous concept.
Civilizations and Polities that ban / do not apply : The Amalgamation has a concept of collectivity that apparently does not allow for individual citizenship; the Panvirtuality and the Diamond Network have polities that are generally based on sovereignty rather than citizenship. The Shadow Federation does not have a consistent concept of citizenship, but rather a local clade-based and clan-based association.
Sentient Rights / Legal Status: Citizens have full sentient rights in their polity and often throughout their civilization.
Toposophics: The term "citizen" is generally not applied to sentients above the third singularity, although details vary by civilization and polity. Sometimes only modosophonts, beings of ordinary sapient grade (0
Clades: Varies by civilization and polity - the Sephirotics and the Deeper Covenant allow all clades, while the Panvirtuality and Diamond Network only allow ais.
Estimated Percentage of Sophont Population: Varies by civilization and polity, from (officially - unofficial figures vary) 100% in the Deeper Covenant to a small fraction of a percent in The Objectivist Commonwealth
Further Comments: Most citizens live a truly utopian life, engaged in self-directed pursuits, swimming in an ocean of data and connectivity. Their higher toposophic overseers and sovereigns direct them in interesting directions and keep them from harming themselves (unless they really want to), and if they blunder into dangerous areas of knowledge subtle memetics will usher them away. The degrees of freedom will vary by empire, civilization, and polity; so in the NoCoZo responsibility can be assumed to a greater extent by the citizen than in the Negentropy Alliance or Solar Dominion. Gradually in many cases a nearbaseline citizen (or "Zar" to use the common title) will augment emself up the toposophic ladder.
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Development Notes
Text by M. Alan Kazlev with additional note by Steve Bowers
Initially published on 31 December 2001.
Initially published on 31 December 2001.
