Citizenship

The Ijzerian concept of "citizenship" is different from what we understand it in the realworld.

Because the planet Ijzeria is united by a single world government, "citizenship" indicates an individual's personal cultural affiliation, as opposed to a legal status used to determine a person's voting rights, employment opportunities, and ability to travel.

Generally speaking, citizenship on Ijzeria is understood to be a person's home address. For example, a person may be born in Saha'i, and then move to Wabanong. If that person's home address changes to Wabanong, then they are considered a *citizen of* *Wabanong,* and not of Saha'i.

There is no immigration process on Ijzeria. Every private citizen is allowed to go wheresoever they choose, with no restrictions. It is forbidden for countries to deny access to their lands without due cause (such as natural disaster or delicate ecosystem), and the concept of a "passport" extends only to certain industries and entities, not to private citizens. All beings born on the planet Ijzeria have the right to live on, work in, and explore any part of it - within reason.

## Citizenship and Borders

It is not necessary for a person to obtain citizenship or permission to travel when moving between free nations of the world. Some nations may construct obstacles such as walls, or spiky pits with snakes at the bottom, but it is not a crime to avoid such obstacles altogether, and it is in fact a crime to suggest that a person is legally forbidden or unable to proceed. Regardless, it is tradition to check in with any border guards or watch towers before getting too far into a person's homeland.

There are some nations which are able to restrict permanent residency based on extenuating circumstances. Aanakwad, for example, is a city built in the sky and made up of modular aircraft which conjoin. Therefore, each individual piece of the city is actually private property, and only when those aircraft connect to each other does the city "appear". This gives Aanakwad the de facto ability to heavily restrict citizenship, residency, and employment opportunity, even though these things are all otherwise *extremely* illegal. The unusual construction of their society however, is protected and so as long as it is clear that the people of Aanakwad are not choosing this lifestyle in order to discriminate, then there's very little The System needs to do.

In some rare instances, some nations may receive special dispensation which allows them to culturally self-isolate, and/or restrict permanent residency to a greater extreme, such as the island nation of Nawa. Nawa is very densely populated, and so denies or accepts permanent residents based on housing availability. The Ikoszi people allow only Systemic governmental personnel who are accompanied by trained medical professionals onto their soil, due to an ongoing multi-generational health crisis. Similarly, the island nation of Gnorga allow only people who are on official business to pass through their mountainous nation, since they are an extremely self-conscious society and don't want outsiders to know how ugly they are. According to official reports, the Gnorgans are "Not that bad, but still... Eh."

## Citizenship and Legal Rights and Responsibilities

In most cases, it is illegal to attach special rights and permissions based on residency; The only major exception is for elections. It is not legal for example, to restrict employment based on home address. It is similarly not legal to restrict access to education or cultural centres based on a person's home address. Citizenship to a particular city or state is not allowed to confer special rights.

Similarly, citizenship does not confer or imply a special set of responsibilities. For example, the king of Whitewood cannot demand that any of Whitewood's citizens submit to a special law or statute; he cannot order citizens of Whitewood to obey arbitrary commands or edicts, he cannot summon the citizens of Whitewood from abroad to aid in a natural disaster relief effort. In most cases, nations actually WILL have some kind of nation-specific responsibilities, but they are not legally enforced, but rather they are just cultural commitments and familial bonds. There will be no legal penalties for violating such oaths or expectations, but your fellow citizens may lose respect or admiration for you.

Just as their are no laws in the realworld which force you to maintain friendships and relationships, there are no laws on Ijzeria which force you to adhere to cultural ideals or creeds.