The Laws of the Void
Two separate bodies of law govern humanity: Sovereign law, the commandments of the digital intelligence Sovereign, and stellar law, the treaties agreed between human nations.
Sovereign law
Sovereign law is the list of rules and commandments that Sovereign gave humanity after the Solar War. There are thousands of rules and laws that people claim were given by Sovereign in that time, many of them contradictory, but some are denied or debated by nobody. They are listed below.
Just because something is accepted as Sovereign law doesn't mean the laws are always followed, but those who break them often come to sticky ends somehow. Most follow Sovereign law out of superstition and fear of misfortune.
The undisputed laws
- Do not damage the waystations.
- *Do not colonise Uranus. Uranus is off limits.(This includes its moons. See Places.)*
- Never destroy an alien species in its entirety.
Stellar law
Stellar law is human-made: the treaties and conventions agreed between nations. It is separate from Sovereign law, which is the AI's commandments. Every nation except the Plutocracy has formally signed up to it. See NOVA and the other nations.
- NOVA believes in protocol, stellar law and disciplined hierarchy. It often comes into conflict with other nations over an injustice or a breach of stellar law.
- The Plutocracy almost ignores stellar law.
The laws so far
- *Slavery of any kind is forbidden.(Stellar law protects humans only. The enslavement of an intelligent alien species is not forbidden by it, though NOVA would fight over such a thing. See the Tishpak.)*
- Waystations belong to everyone and may not be blocked. See Waystations and stellar law below.
Waystations and stellar law
Under stellar law, waystations belong to everyone, and no nation may block one. A nation may, however, claim a waystation as lying within its space, and use that claim to stop and search ships or simply make passage difficult. A nation also has the right to close a waystation for a short time if it believes the systems beyond could be a danger to humanity or to those passing through. Of course, these rights are exploited all the time. NOVA's waystation blockade is one such case.