Aerarium servit. Civis non servit aerario. The treasury serves. The citizen does not serve the treasury.
Why this Article exists
“How does money work inside this org?” is one of the first practical questions a serious prospect asks, and one of the most common sources of friction in poorly designed organisations. The Republic answers in writing.
The answer is simple, and the simplicity is the point: the member is sovereign over their own play; the Republic earns from rare cooperative outcomes and from voluntary giving; nothing else.
Fiction Disclaimer
All economic doctrine here applies to in-game currency only — credits and equivalent in-game assets accumulated through cooperative gameplay. This Article does not concern, regulate, or apply to real-world money. No member, of any rank, may request or accept real-world money from another member as a condition of org participation.
§1 — The Member-Sovereign Principle
Every credit a member earns through ordinary play is theirs. Without exception. Without report. Without taxation.
A member who mines, trades, hauls, salvages, escorts, runs missions, scans, or otherwise plays the game — alone, in a small group, or in any non-org-declared activity — keeps one hundred percent of what they earn. The Republic does not levy any tax, tithe, dues, percentage, or claim on this income. The member is not required to report it. The Republic does not track it.
Why this is canonical
The Republic exists to enable the member, not to extract from them. An organisation that taxes its members’ ordinary play creates constant background friction — the member feels watched, suspects the leadership of skimming, and resents every hour of solo grinding because part of it “belongs to the org”. The Republic refuses this trade. Ordinary individual play is sacred. The treasury grows from elsewhere.
What this rule prohibits
- No flat percentage levy on individual mining, trading, or mission rewards.
- No mandatory dues, monthly or otherwise.
- No “tithe” or “doctrinal contribution” presented as voluntary but tracked or pressured.
- No leadership oversight of member finances (account balances, ship purchases, asset declarations).
- No conditioning of rank, recognition, or operational access on credit contribution.
The line is bright: ordinary individual play is sacred; cooperative exceptional outcomes are open to discussion. Nothing in between.
§2 — The Three Pillars of the Treasury
The Republic’s treasury (Aerarium Vigiliae) exists to fund three categories of need, and three only. Any proposed use that does not fall within these pillars is, by doctrine, out of scope.
Pillar I — Fundus Securitatis (Insurance Fund)
Reimburses members who lose ships, cargo, or significant assets while participating in formally declared org-operations. Its purpose is to reduce the fear of participation: a member who knows that a death in op-org will not financially cripple them is a member willing to fly the dangerous lane, take the rear escort position, or volunteer for the high-risk op.
Pillar II — Aerarium Caerimoniale (Ceremonial Budget)
Funds rituals, ceremonies, and recognition events: credit prizes for outstanding service, memorial endowments for fallen members, op-of-the-quarter awards, ceremonial gifts at promotion. Symbolic in nature — amounts may be modest — but it materialises the doctrinal weight of recognition.
Pillar III — Aerarium Propagandae (Recruitment & Propaganda)
Funds growth and outward voice: bounties for excellent recruitment work, sponsorship of public events, payment for high-quality propaganda assets (banners, videos, written content) commissioned in-game, and op-credit sponsorship of public ops where the Republic wishes to be seen.
What the treasury is not for
- Not for an org-owned capital fleet. The Republic is not a megacorp that owns ships its members crew. Members own their ships; the org coordinates them.
- Not for Officer salaries. No member is paid in credits to hold a rank. Service is not waged labour.
- Not for a war chest in the abstract. The Republic does not stockpile credits for some undefined future need.
- Not for political weapons. The treasury is not used to bribe, sanction, or financially punish members.
§3 — The Three Sources of Income
Source I — Praeda (Rare-Drop Distribution)
Operations sometimes produce exceptional outcomes: a high-value salvaged component, a captured ship, a unique mission-tier reward, a rare bounty. These are not the regular yield (which goes 100% to participants — see §5). They are exceptions whose value warrants a deliberate decision rather than reflexive division.
Each rare drop is registered in the Catalogus Praedae by the Quaestor Aerarii and reviewed by a three-person panel: Consul Primus, Quaestor, and the Officer who led the operation. The panel decides one of four dispositions: sell to treasury, award to a specific member, reserve for a ceremonial prize, or distribute among participants.
Source II — Donativa (Voluntary Donations)
Members may, at their discretion, donate credits to the treasury. Donations are always voluntary, never solicited under pressure, and never tied to rank, promotion, or recognition outcomes.
A donation does not buy doctrinal benefit. It does not alter the donor’s standing. It does not exempt them from any rule. It is, doctrinally, a gift to the Republic — and a gift, by definition, returns nothing.
Source III — (There Is No Third Source)
There is no third source. The Republic does not levy taxes on individual play. It does not collect dues. It does not require credits for entry, oath, or rank. The treasury fills only with praeda (cooperative exceptions) and donativa (voluntary giving) — and that is by design.
§4 — The No-Tax Rule (Canonical, Inviolable)
No member of the Republic, of any rank, may impose any flat tax, tithe, percentage, mandatory dues, recurring fee, or compulsory contribution on any other member’s individual play income, attendance, rank, or status.
This rule applies without exception to the Consul Primus, any Officer, the Quaestor Aerarii, any Cohors lead, any Directorate head, any Operation Commander, and any future office not yet created.
It may be overridden only by formal amendment to this Article (Doctrina Aerarii V<n+1>), passed through the same authority that adopts other doctrinal amendments. It cannot be suspended by Officer decision, by op declaration, by ceremonial decree, or by the Consul Primus alone outside that procedure.
A member, of any rank, who imposes or attempts to impose a prohibited contribution may be reported to the Comissariado as a doctrinal-organisational breach.
§5 — Op-Split Doctrine: 100 / 0 / 0
The default and canonical split for any formally declared org-operation is:
- 100% to participants
- 0% to treasury
- 0% to insurance fund
If a Republic mining op runs for three hours and yields 4 000 000 credits of regular ore, all of that is distributed among participants according to whatever internal split they agreed at the start. The treasury sees none of it.
Why 100% to participants
Two reasons.
First, the member-sovereign principle. Even op income is, in essence, member play income — just played in coordination. Taxing it would erode the same trust that §1 is built to preserve.
Second, incentive alignment. A member who knows that op-org pays them the same as solo play removes one of the most common reasons orgs lose members: the perception that “playing for the org” is worse-paid than “playing for myself”.
The exception: rare-drop carve-out
If a rare drop appears within the op — not the regular yield, but an exceptional component, a captured ship, a unique cargo of catalogue value — that single drop is not part of the regular split. It is logged in the Catalogus Praedae and goes to the panel decision of §3.
Op-Officers may propose alternative splits
For a specific op, an op-Officer may propose a non-default split (e.g. 90/5/5) before the op begins, with all participants informed. Participants may accept the alternative split or decline to join. The default — 100/0/0 — applies if no alternative is proposed and explicitly accepted.
The doctrine here is opt-in transparency: a member who joins an op is owed clear information about what split applies, before they commit. Surprises after the op are forbidden.
§6 — All Engagement Tiers, Equal Treatment
Whether a member is Peregrinus (Tier 0), Civis Tacitus (Tier I), or Civis Auctor (Tier IV), their share of op-distribution is identical when they participate in an op. The 100% to participants is split per role and contribution within the op, not per RP engagement tier. A Peregrinus who loses a ship in a formally declared op is eligible for the Fundus Securitatis on the same terms as a sworn Citizen.
Aerarium servit. Civis non servit aerario. The treasury serves. The citizen does not serve the treasury.