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Charter.
Of the Syntrociety federation. Five principles.
The charter is the foundation of the federation. It is not a manifesto. It is not a statement of beliefs. It is the irreducible commitment that allows separate Living Labs to belong to a single field without losing themselves to it.
Every member signs this charter before joining. Every federation decision must be consistent with it. When the charter is in tension with operational efficiency, the charter wins. When the charter is in tension with growth, the charter wins. When the charter is in tension with what would be easier, the charter wins.
The Charter names principles. The Lens describes patterns the federation has observed in living systems. Some Charter principles are connected to those patterns; others go further than what observation alone provides. The Charter is what the federation commits to; the Lens is what the federation reads against.
What follows is brief. Five principles. Each is testable. Each carries an obligation. Each has a limit. Together they describe the minimum shape a project must hold to belong here.
We have tried to write what we mean and nothing more.
§ I, The first principle
Truth.
We work from what can be verified. Decisions are not made from belief, intuition, or majority preference unless explicitly named as such. When the federation makes a claim, about its practice, its results, its members, its conditions, that claim must be one any reader could test against the public record.
Truth is not the absence of disagreement. It is the willingness to say what is the case even when saying it is uncomfortable. It is the willingness to say we do not know when we do not know.
What this means in practice
- Federation publications are checkable against the public SYFERS repository.
- Decisions are recorded with their reasoning, not only their outcome.
- Disagreements are minuted, not resolved in private.
- When the federation does not know, it says so.
What this principle does not demand
- Agreement on metaphysical or spiritual questions.
- Public disclosure of members' personal lives.
- A single shared interpretation of the world.
§ II, The second principle
Freedom.
Membership is freely entered and freely left. The federation has no claim on a Lab's land, members, finances, or identity. Any Lab may leave with thirty days notice. Their data, their handbook, their decisions, their reputation, all stay theirs.
This is not a sentiment. It is a structural guarantee, written into the operating tools and the legal frame. The federation is what it is because anyone in it could leave. The fact that they stay is what gives the federation its meaning.
What this means in practice
- Thirty-day data portability for any Lab.
- No long-term lock-in clauses.
- No exit fees.
- Lab identity, branding, and reputation remain with the Lab on departure.
What this principle does not demand
- Casual departures without conversation.
- The dissolution of obligations made while still a member.
§ III, The third principle
Responsibility.
The federation does not absorb responsibility for what its Labs do. Each Lab carries its own legal, financial, ecological, and ethical weight. The federation provides infrastructure, methodology, and a charter. It does not provide indemnity.
Conversely, the federation carries the responsibility for what is done in its name, what it publishes, what it advocates, how it behaves toward members and outsiders. Council decisions are not deferred to anonymity. The federation owns its own work.
What this means in practice
- Each Lab is its own legal entity.
- Lab finances are not federation finances.
- Lab partnerships are Lab partnerships.
- Federation publications are federation publications, signed accordingly.
- Council decisions name their authors.
What this principle does not demand
- Mutual liability for Labs' independent actions.
- Federation oversight of Lab internal affairs.
§ IV, The fourth principle
Openness.
Member Labs register their practice openly. Decisions, members, methodology, ecological data, financial flows where appropriate, all flow into the public repository. The federation does not exist as a closed group with public-facing brochures. It exists as a working institution whose work is its own evidence.
This is the principle that makes everything else possible. Truth is checkable because the records are open. Responsibility is locatable because decisions are signed. is meaningful because reasoning is preserved. Without openness, the rest is only words.
What this means in practice
- Active use of the SYFERS tools by every member Lab.
- Real-time publication of governance records.
- Public access to methodology and findings.
- No private federation activity that contradicts public claims.
- The federation publishes its tools and infrastructure openly. See Technology.
What this principle does not demand
- Disclosure of personal data.
- Disclosure of sensitive financial or member information beyond what regulation requires.
- Real-time publication of internal Lab affairs.
Reciprocity
What the federation guarantees on its side.
Openness is reciprocal. What a Lab registers openly, the federation brings out in a form where personal identity is not visible. Names of members and participants are, at publication, automatically translated to their role (facilitator, member, with a number when there are several). The work becomes visible; who does the work remains protected. For the explanation of the mechanism see SYFERS.
§ V, The fifth principle
Consent.
At federation level, decisions are made by consent. A proposal moves forward when no Lab objects. A Lab may stand aside, with reasoning preserved, without blocking. A Lab may object, but objection requires substance, must point to harm to the federation, and obliges the federation to address what it points to before the proposal can pass.
This is not unanimous voting. It is not majority rule. It is the discipline of moving only as fast as the slowest principled disagreement allows. It is slow on purpose. The federation is built to hold disagreement, not to defeat it.
What this means in practice
- Federation-level proposals run through the SDI consent flow.
- Stand-aside reasoning is preserved on the record.
- Objections must be substantive and oblige a response.
- Council decisions are time-stamped with full reasoning.
- Consent applies at every level of federation life, from federation Council to internal Lab decisions.
What this principle does not demand
- A specific implementation of consent (Labs may use sociocracy, Quaker sense-of-the-meeting, dynamic governance, or another form, provided every paramount objection is structurally integrated).
- The dissolution of disagreement.
The Lens describes the syntropic ground from which this principle grows.
This charter is short on purpose. The five principles do not regulate everything; they regulate the irreducible minimum. Beyond them, member Labs are free.
This charter does not:
- 01Prescribe a business model for Labs.
- 02Require any specific ecological practice (regenerative agriculture, syntropic agroforestry, and so on).
- 03Demand a particular form of internal governance.
- 04Standardize architecture, technology, or social structure across Labs.
- 05Define success.
- 06Define beauty.
- 07Set targets.
The federation is a frame. What lives inside the frame is not the federation's business, provided the five principles hold.
§ VII, Signing
How a Lab becomes
a member.
A Lab signs this charter when it can stand by all five principles, in writing, in Council. Signing is an act, not a checkbox. The signature is recorded with date, signing members, and the version of the charter being signed.
If the charter is amended, all member Labs must re-sign. The amendment process itself runs through consent at Council under §V. No Lab may be added to the federation without signing. No member Lab is held to a charter they have not signed.
If a Lab can no longer stand by the charter, they may leave under §II. The thirty-day portability clause applies.
Adopted
This Charter took shape on the soil of Sulitânia,
and is carried forward into the federation.
v 1.0 stood in this form on the date noted below.
§ Frequently asked questions for this page
Frequently asked questions.
Lab members see all data within the Lab, with names. Researchers and the public see only the anonymised version in the public repo, with roles instead of names. Nobody outside the Lab sees your name linked to a specific decision or a specific contribution.
Between Labs: other member Labs see your Lab's anonymised data in the same form as researchers see it. Federation Council sees aggregates and patterns, not personal detail. Anonymisation is reciprocal and structural, not a promise of the federation but a mechanism of SYFERS.
→ See this answer on the central FAQ pageYou can object via Council. Charter principle V Consent applies at federation level: a Lab member can block publication of specific material with reasoned objection. The federation does not publish across Labs when a Lab objects.
Objection is not I do not like it. It is a grounded reason why publication harms the Lab or you personally. Council weighs the objection alongside federation interest. When both cannot coexist, objection wins. Federation trust is stronger than publication completeness.
→ See this answer on the central FAQ pageAs peers. Each Lab is sovereign over its own land, members, governance, and finances. What binds Labs is a shared Charter, a shared Practice, and shared infrastructure that no Lab would build alone.
The federation is not a centre above the Labs; it is the overlap between Labs. Council works by consent with representation from each Lab. What one Lab learns becomes visible to other Labs through SYFERS, not through directives from above.
→ See this answer on the central FAQ pageYes. The Charter contains a 30-day clause: a Lab can leave within 30 days, no penalty, no negotiation. Your land, members, governance, and all data remain yours.
The federation is structurally different from a franchise or a network that uses lock-in. We would rather see you stay because it works, not because leaving is too expensive. When the federation no longer fits, leaving is the honest choice, and federation discipline protects that.
→ See this answer on the central FAQ pageThe federation is in formation as a legal entity. At present it works through Cooperativa Integral Sulitânia, CRL (NIF 518771571) as the signing party. The federation legal form is being prepared in parallel.
What this means for you: contracts and formal relationships are signed via Sulitânia, with explicit mention that transfer or extension to the federation entity follows once that entity is registered. For specific questions about legal coverage, write to the federation.
Read more at /implementation-gap, or write to federation
→ See this answer on the central FAQ page