Covenant

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The Wastelands came into existence on January 17th, 2007, and is the oldest, largest, and longest-lasting Post-Apocalyptic themed estate in Second Life. It sustains itself through the efforts of our continually growing and evolving community of individuals who have a passion for the damaged and ruined landscape you see before you. In fact, around 95% of everything you see in The Wastelands is created by the residents who live here. If you're reading this, it's likely that you've just joined our community, or you're interested in joining our community.

Our estate also hosts casual role play, and some supplemental games that are both 100% opt-in. You don't need to role-play, play our games, or even dress in theme to visit. But because we host these additional activities, there a few rules that affect your land ownership here.

Estate Theme

The Wastelands is a themed estate in Second Life. That means everything that is built at ground level must have a certain post-apocalyptic look and feel to it. Much of the community feels there's a certain romanticism about a world where everything is ruined or old, and we want our builds to elicit that sense of ruin, desolation, and desperation.

Structures that have collapsed due to age, heavily weathered and nature overrun buildings, bombed out bunkers, and scrapped together makeshift homes would fit right in here. If you want to build a pristine beach house, a modern day military base, or even a skyscraper on our horizon -- perhaps The Wastelands isn't what you're looking for.

All content below 512 meters elevation is considered to be at "ground level", and must be built in a post-apocalyptic theme. In addition to thematic requirements, there are a few concepts we disallow:

• There are no flying structures: they must be grounded, wrecked, or crashed. Thematically, no one has the know-how to make such fantastic devices.
• Most structures should not be more than a few stories tall. Time, weather, and the lack of proper maintenance tend to topple things over.
• No full-bright content or garish signs.

We know not everyone is a great builder, but as long as you're making an effort to build in theme, it's usually good enough.

Estate Wide Rules

The following rules apply to all locations in The Wastelands and all avatars on the estate. They are intended to ensure that the estate itself makes its best efforts to follow the guidelines and policies of Second Life. The management of the estate enforces these guidelines at its own discretion:

• All content and avatars are subject to the Linden Lab Terms of Service, Linden Lab Community Standards, and Linden Lab Content Guidelines.
• The Wastelands is a Moderate rated estate. Occasionally, there is still some confusion as to the distinctions between a Moderate and Adult rated estate. To help clarify, we have these additional rules:
  • Nudity below the belt is not allowed anywhere.
  • Erotic content is not allowed anywhere.

Land

When you buy land in The Wastelands, you become a tenant of the estate and a contributing member of our community. The Wastelands are made of several regions that create a microcontinent in Second Life. The land of these regions is split up in to parcels and rented to its tenants.

Because we're a community and themed estate, there are rules and parcel settings that are required to keep the estate running smoothly. To start, the estate controls and overrides the following parcel settings:

• Parcel Windlights are disabled.
• Joining and Dividing Land is disabled.
• Second Life Damage is disabled.
• Certain regions have different terraform limits. (See below)

Public Spaces Rules

These rules for public spaces are intended to keep the public-facing estate non-divisive, and agnostic with regard to complex real world topics. Our community strives to be a place to escape from such controversies. As such, content and symbology that covers real world politics, real world religion, real world nationalism (including flags), or other real world hot-button issues is strictly forbidden from being rezzed out in public spaces.

All parcels at the ground level are considered to be public spaces. All stores at any elevation are public spaces. If a publicly accessible teleporter in a public space goes from one public space to another destination on the estate, that destination is also considered to be a public space.

Private Spaces Exemptions

A private space is a location above 512 m in the sky. These are generally exempt from the thematic build requirements. A private space can also be a non-thematic commercial store. If a private space is not a store, AND is in a fully enclosed skybox (a place where someone can't see inside from any angle), it may also be exempt from the Public Space Rules. All private spaces must still adhere to the Estate Wide Rules.

Parcel Settings Requirements

The Wastelands is an "open" estate that encourages all visitors to explore. We also host estate-wide games, where some scripted objects occasionally need to pass over your land. As such, certain parcel settings in the "About Land" menu must be set at all times by all tenants of the estate:

• Parcel Options
  • "Object Entry" and "Run Scripts" must be enabled for Everyone.
  • "Avatars on other parcels can see and chat with avatars on this parcel" must be enabled.
• Parcel Sound
  • "Enable Voice" must be enabled.
  • "Restrict Voice to this parcel" must be disabled.
• Parcel Access
  • "Anyone can visit" must be enabled, and all other checkbox options must be disabled.
    • You may still ban individual avatars on a case by case basis; but please try to avoid banning other tenants.

While not required, it is recommended to have the Auto Return setting set to 15 minutes.

Stores

As a resident you're allowed to have your own shop on your land, as long as it follows the other rules of this covenant. Shops must strictly follow the rules of this covenant.

Estate management may ask you to make changes to your shop if it's using an unfair amount of region resources. Spam (unsolicited group invites, messages, etc.) of any form is not allowed.

Perks

The Wastelands has plenty of reasons to stay here, but we're always working to add more. Here are some of the lesser-known perks the estate has to offer.

Experience Teleports

Free seamless experience-powered teleporters that work with our game are available to residents in good standing who've been here for at least a year. Once your build is complete, management can set up the teleporter objects on your land(s). You must be prepared to invite estate management to the group the land is set to, or have a group in common with management. Once your build is ready to go with both endpoints built, all that's needed is time to configure and place the teleporters.

The Dark Layer

For all regions except The Sand Seas and Burn Oak, the elevations between 3000 meters and 3500 meters in the sky are the designated as the "Dark Layer". It has no day cycle and is always very dark. It's a space for residents to have basements, caves, sewer systems, and other locations that would benefit from complete darkness. Experience teleporters to the dark layer are available upon request and as time allows.

The Free Move Program

This program allows you to trade your parcel on the estate, for another estate owned parcel that is for sale. It takes no more than 10 minutes to complete, but does have a few requirements:

• The Free Move Program does not apply during an estate land sale, or to new regions of the estate.
• The parcel you are moving to must be for sale by NeoBokrug Elytis.
• The parcel you are moving from must be cleared and ready to be reclaimed by the estate.
• Parcels are moved at a one parcel to one other parcel. Remaining tier is not combined from multiple parcels into the parcel you move to.
• Once you are moved, you must ensure your time on the new parcel has at least two weeks remaining before the due date. If it doesn't, you must make a tier payment.

The Move Process:

1. You clean up your existing parcel (but don't abandon it), pick out a parcel for sale, and notify NeoBokrug Elytis.
2. The destination parcel is sold to you for L$0.
3. NeoBokrug converts your remaining time as an L$ value, and applies that value as new remaining days on the destination parcel.
4. Your old parcel is reclaimed by the estate.

Selling, Trading, & Gifting Your Land

Although competing with estate baseline prices is difficult, all tenants are allowed to sell, trade, or gift their land to anyone -- as long as the parcel tier is not overdue. If your land is both for sale and overdue, it will be reclaimed immediately.

Wastelands Public Works

For as long as The Wastelands has existed, residents have been making and contributing free content for the estate to give away to the community that lives here. It consists of mostly build-kits, prefabs, texture sets, and much more -- with copy and modify permissions! As long as you're a current resident you can obtain this content completely free. Currently, it is in two locations. The first is The Heap, and the second is in the tier payment area.

Costs

Tier Rates

Prims	L$ Weekly*	USD-Weekly
Homestead	L$9683	$37.10
Outland - 307	L$700	$2.68
Outland - 580	L$1397	$5.38
Desolate - 195	L$1087	$4.30
Plus - 234	L$326	$1.34
Plus - 468	L$665	$2.70
Plus - 702	L$1000	$4.05
Plus - 936	L$1331	$5.43
* L$ Prices	are	approximate

In order to keep your land, you must continue to make tier payments. All payments must be made in Linden Dollars to the Tier Payment board, or with the Tier Auto-Pay. If you are overdue with tier payments, your land will be reclaimed. We do have a grace period for late payments, which is covered in detail below. With proper notice and approval of estate management we allow tier to be overdue for longer periods of time.

All parcels that are sold by the estate owner (NeoBokrug Elytis) come with two weeks of tier. Parcels purchased from other tenants may have more or less time included. Always click the "Land For Sale Sign", or contact estate management to see what a parcels' due date is.

Tier Grace Period

Grace Period is the buffer time between when your land is overdue and when your land will be reclaimed. For every 4 weeks of consecutive occupancy after the initial land purchase date, you will be granted one day of grace period up to a maximum of 7 days. For example, if you've lived at one place for over a year you'd have 7 days of grace before it was reclaimed. But if you owned another parcel for only 2 months, it would only have 2 days. This policy is on a parcel per parcel basis.

There is NO tier grace period for land that is both for sale and overdue.

Refunds

If you are a NEW resident who has purchased land from the estate, AND you have regrets about your purchase, you MAY request a refund WITHIN 12 HOURS of your purchase. At its sole discretion, the estate MIGHT grant a refund. If you've violated the Estate Wide rules, or if you're rude to the community or estate management, you won't be approved for a refund.

Beyond that -- all transactions are final, and THERE ARE NO REFUNDS!

Region Types

Over the years, the estate has grown and adapted to residents' needs, and, as such, different "types" of lands have been made available for residents. Each land type usually has a different cost associated with it. The following few paragraphs describe each type of land in detail.

Full Region Plus

Infrastructure is typically anchored onto very small parcels, and in some places roads and paths overlap onto resident land. Terraform limits are +/- 100 meters. Regions that belong to this type: The Wastelands and The Junkyard.

Double Prim Full Region Plus

Because half the regions' area is dedicated to infrastructure, larger infrastructure builds are present, and most parcel borders have no neighbors. Parcel sizes are about half of Full Region Plus, but prim counts are still the same. Terraform limits are +/- 100 meters. Regions that belong to this type: The Great Fissure, Fort Stygian.

Homestead

Homesteads in The Wastelands are the same type of region that SL offers with 4948 prims and 20 avatar max capacity. The exception is that the estate has a small 32sqm plot (with 2 prims) in a corner of the region to facilitate estate and game needs. The entire region is rented out to one avatar, and they are solely responsible for the tier. Residents must APPLY and be APPROVED to bring one of these regions online, and must have a well-thought-out build plan in hand. Terraform limits are +/- 100 meters. Regions that belong to this type: Cormac, The Rot.

Outlands

Outlands are Homestead regions that allow several residents to live there. Infrastructure is sparse, but well-built. With the exception of homesteads, resident parcels are the largest in terms of area offered in the estate. There are only two sizes of parcels: one with 307 prims, and one with 580 prims. Tier is a little bit higher than normal, but your land is never directly in contact with your neighbors, and there are only 8-10 parcels per region. Terraform limits are +/- 30 meters. Regions that belong to this type: North Yard, Hambone Slough.

Desolate

Desolate regions are perhaps the most unique in the estate. They leverage experience teleports to make the region appear ten times bigger than it actually is! This is done by "stacking levels" in the sky combined with a unique teleportation system at each region edge. Estate infrastructure is typically mirrored 32 meters off the edge of the region, so it seems seamless. Almost the whole region is made of infrastructure build, with small parcels made available to 8 residents. Each level is the size of a full region, with a landmark unique to it. Landmarks are more detailed infrastructure builds where the tenant lives. Tier prices for these parcels are a premium, but considering you have the surrounding 256 meters of a level built for you, as well as the landmark, and no neighbors within 400 meters of you, it's quite appealing to some! Regions that belong to this type: Burnt Oak, The Sand Seas.

The Region Hookup

If you plan on owning or already own your own region, and agree to certain conditions, you may have your region be adjacent to The Wastelands. You must:

• Be in good standing with not only estate management, but the community of The Wastelands.
• In writing, propose a detailed sim build plan for your region -- and have it approved by estate management.
• In writing, develop an "escape plan" for in the event you have to leave, move, or abandon your region -- and have it approved by estate management.
• Add all of the current estate management as estate managers for your region.
• Adopt the covenant of The Wastelands as your own.
• Continue to own at least $10 a month worth of land in the main estate at all times, as a condition of the hookup.
• Be ready to sign a real world contract.

You may NOT sublet lands of your region to others.

Encroachment

Depending on where you live, certain content is estate infrastructure, and may be encroaching over your borders. This is a feature.

If you share a parcel border with a neighbor, or a estate owned parcel that is for sale, you must not build walls or fences right up to the property line, and you must leave at least half a meter of free space between your build and the parcel border.

Tenants are allowed to encroach upon estate land in a limited capacity, as long as it does not "block the path", or prevent people from moving through public spaces. The idea is to add a little decorative flourish that might escape your parcel boundaries -- not to add a few meters to your fenced off areas. All of this is achieved by anchoring objects on to your land.

Tenants of The Sand Seas are encouraged to anchor out as far as they can on their respective levels.

All parcels are required to avoid teraforming within the last 2 meters before their borders.

Subletting Land

Estate Management must approve all requests to sublet land. At a minimum it requires one of the following: Owning at least 3750 primitives worth of tier, or renting a whole homestead from the estate.

Miscellaneous Policies

The kitchen sink of weird Second Life specific and Estate rules.

Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property will be honored in this estate. Those who violate others' IP in SL shall be ejected from the estate. IP is a very serious issue with very real legal ramifications. If you copy-bot content that is not yours, you will be Abuse Reported, banned from the estate, and more than likely have a DMCA filed against you by the creator.

Content Blacklist & Endorsements

We've taken on the endeavor of creating our Content Blacklist & Endorsements. This list is updated occasionally as time permits. We encourage residents to buy content from the endorsements page of the spreadsheet, because we've determined with reasonable effort that they are legit creators. We discourage residents from buying content on the blacklist, and will notify residents if they have content rezzed from the blacklist in their builds. Previously, residents were required to removed blacklisted content. Keeping this list up to date and enforcing this policy was exceptionally hard. As such, we will instead notify residents and encourage them to make alternative purchases rather than force them to remove such content.

No Land Flipping

To discourage the act of land flipping: For one month from the "Claimed" date in "About Land", you may not sell your parcel for less than the purchase price.

Wastelands Game

Do not use your land powers (such as ejecting of freezing) to affect other players playing the game.

Breedables, Farming Games, Etc.

A breedable is a scripted object that produces offspring. A farming game is similar to Farmville, but in Second Life. Both are considered unthematic, no matter their appearances, and should be kept in private spaces. Responsible resource usage is enforced. If you're using too many region resources, you may be asked to remove such content.

Enforcement

Management has over a decades' worth of experience helping people adapt and fit in to our community. We work very hard to understand people and their situations, and always work towards solutions that work for both the tenant and management.

We're tasked with balancing what's best for our visitors and community with what's good for the estate. Ultimately we want the general spirit of The Wastelands to be, "Have a good time, and respect the people behind the avatars". At the same time, we need the flexibility to make judgement calls on topics and issues that might fall outside of what's covered here, or even in instances of "bending the rules". Enforcement of our covenant is always interpreted as our perspective of the spirit of the rule, rather than the letter of the law. Here are a few previous examples:

• Someone might be very late with their tier, but they contacted us to let us know that their power supply in their PC exploded. Rather than reclaim their land, in this instance we let them have overdue tier for a lot longer than the usual grace period.
• A resident had banned a visitor from their parcel. Instead of the visitor moving on, they chose to loiter just outside their land for many days. We saw this as a form of harassment and banned them from the estate.
• A visitor is having graphic sex in the mud of The Great Fissure. They were immediately ejected (not banned), and sent an IM explaining why they were ejected.

The estate itself is not a democracy: it is a privately owned place in Second Life -- but we work hard to meet the needs of the community. Occasionally we've had to make unpopular choices with regard to estate operations. We have a long history of being transparent and doing our best to explain why we took such actions, but we are not obligated to share such information.

If the need arises, we can and do eject, ban, and abuse report visitors and residents alike, especially for violating the estate wide rules. If you feel you were unjustly banned from the estate, or you've changed your ways, you may appeal your ban directly to NeoBokrug Elytis. If your ban is permanent, then it is permanent.

Finally, the estate reserves the right to reclaim any land and/or return any items, with or without a reason, and without a refund. We also reserve the right to eject or ban avatars, with or without a reason.

We'd like to thank...

• The growing and thriving community that is the Wastelands. Without you all, there wouldn't even be a Wastelands in Second Life. The tens of thousands of man-hours the community as a whole spends here clearly shows through our builds, events, and much more. We're so much more than an estate now; we're a huge community! I am forever grateful to each and every one of you who helped my initial idea flourish.
• The Developers and Road Crew who help maintain the estate, both current and past.
• Desmond Shang for your initial encouragement and words of wisdom that got the estate off the ground.
• Warren Ellis, despite his flaws - for his initial word of mouth that helped the estate bloom.
• And finally, Henry Bemis. For your unending devotion to reading, even after the bomb fell.