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Test of the Bureaucrat

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Main Shard Bastet T5 Beta
Test of the Bureaucrat
Discipline  
Requirements
Principles
  • Gather 21 Bureacracy Petition Signatures (Hard!)
  • Sign 21 Bureaucracy Petitions
  • Be recruited into a Bureaucracy
  • Recruit one person into a Bureaucracy
  • Check your status, and show 7+ Points
Demonstrated by Trillian in Shabbat Ab on 2010-05-16.

Opening Message

You register for the Test of the Bureaucrat, and are instructed on the proper form of a bureaucracy. A bureaucracy should have one person at the top, up to three people reporting to him, each with up to three people reporting to them, and so on for seven levels. A bureaucracy lasts 2 weeks. Points are accumulated based on the number of people below you. Anyone in a bureaucracy below you may seize power for themself and for those under them, dismantling the bureaucracy and wiping out the points of everyone else.

This page contains information directly lifted from Tale 3, and has not yet been confirmed as accurate for Tale 4.
Please verify the accuracy of the data before removing this stub


Overview

In this test, you will be part of a Bureaucracy, a structured organization of bosses who oversee other bosses. The person forming the Bureaucracy is the Executive, and head boss. Each player, except for workers, hires three people to work for them. The positions are:

  • Executive
  • Director
  • Administrator
  • Manager
  • Supervisor
  • Foreman
  • Worker

Maximum people in a Bureaucracy: 1093

At any time, any member of the Bureaucracy can seize it, which will destroy the entire Bureaucracy except for that member and everybody beneath them, effectively promoting them to the top spot. As such, trust is a major factor in forming Bureaucracies.

Bureaucracy Opportunities

When you begin the test, you obtain a bureaucrat petition that anybody (including yourself) can sign. About every four days, the leader who have obtained the most signatures will earn a Bureaucracy opportunity and their signature count will reset to 0. It appears that all paid initiates of leadership can sign your bureau petition.

If you've earned an opportunity, you will be able to build a Bureaucracy Headquarters in a Small Construction Site:

After building the headquarters, you will be given the option to name your Bureaucracy. Naming it will effectively begin the Bureaucracy. The Bureaucracy lasts for two weeks (TeppyTime).

Note that due to the scoring and passing structure, earning a Bureaucracy is not required to pass.

Scoring and Passing

Every day, each member of a Bureaucracy earns 1 point for themselves and 1 point for each person beneath them. These points are temporary and may be lost if the member is kicked out of the Bureaucracy due to a seizure.

Once a Bureaucracy ends, all temporary points that everybody in it earned are made permanent, and added to their total.

After every third Bureaucracy has finished, the seven people with the most points pass the test.

Seizures

At any time, any member of a Bureaucracy may seize control of it by selecting the option from their Tests menu (you will be asked to confirm this option). Seizures will eliminate all parts of the Bureaucracy above the person doing the seizing and make that person the new Executive.

If you wish to have a successful Bureaucracy, you must make sure that the only people recruited are those whom you can trust not to seize power, but also not to hire anyone who might. Some seizures have been due to a player not understanding just what seizing power does to the rest of the bureaucracy. Others have been due to people hiring anyone who asks, or those that use social engineering to get in ("Your executive told me to talk to you about getting hired."). Those can be protected against by simply having a good, well-defined hiring policy, and making sure that everyone hired will follow it to the letter.

There has, however, been at least one instance of a high-profile person who had already passed the test seizing a Bureaucracy by asking someone who trusted them to hire them into it.

Demoting Yourself

At any time, you have the option to demote yourself; this will allow you to switch places in the Bureaucracy with one of your subordinates. If you have no subordinates, then you will leave the Bureaucracy altogether (you lose all temporary points gained in that bureau).

Tracking Your Bureaucracy

Worth doing if you want to maintain a full tree of your bureau, be sure who has hired who and make sure no unknown hires are in the bureau. A template for tracking is at Bureau Tracker Template. The maintainer should require updates on all hires and check points total correctly daily.