A Dawn for a DAO — Star Atlas Kickstarts Its Path Toward Political Decentralization | by Star Atlas | Star Atlas | Jul, 2024

The Star Atlas Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) is taking an important step on the path to progressive decentralization and embarking on a new era of political activity with the introduction of the first POLIS Improvement Proposals (PIPs). These PIPs lay the foundation for the future governance of Star Atlas, enabling Star Atlas community members to propose, consider, and vote on decisions that will shape the future of the ecosystem. Dive into the details of the DAO and the political layer of Star Atlas now!

At its core, Star Atlas is a political project. This fundamental aspect influences both the in-game experience, with various political gameplay mechanics enabling players to govern the Galia Expanse, and the broader development and governance framework outside the game, empowering the community to shape the future of Star Atlas.

Star Atlas is much more than a game; it’s a decentralized metaverse. It’s a world that belongs not to any single centralized power but to any and all individuals willing to help build and govern the ecosystem together.

Today marks an important step towards realizing this vision — a decentralized consensus system that will shape the metaverse’s future, led by those who have devoted their passion, time, and resources into this cause.

Today, our motto, “Power to the People,” becomes more than an expression of our values. It is manifested into reality as millions of dollars in assets in the Star Atlas DAO’s treasury are now available to be deployed to grow the ecosystem.

Today is a new dawn for the Star Atlas DAO.

Before we get into the specifics of how everything works, it is crucial to clarify what the Star Atlas DAO is and its role in the overall Star Atlas ecosystem.

The Star Atlas DAO is a decentralized, rules-based governance system that enables POLIS voters to achieve consensus on proposals that affect the Star Atlas ecosystem. Specifically, the DAO consists of the blockchain programs that enable holders of POLIS tokens to lock their POLIS tokens for POLIS Voting Power (PVP), and propose and vote on POLIS Improvement Proposals (PIPs) that guide the future of Star Atlas — everything from how the DAO’s treasury assets are deployed, to which community-built projects should receive direct DAO support, to how Star Atlas metaverse experiences are designed and built in the future.

To become a PVP holder, all one must do is lock POLIS tokens in the POLIS Locker protocol. The amount of PVP depends on the amount of POLIS tokens locked and the remaining duration of the lock — giving greater voting weight to those who have a longer-term commitment in the ecosystem. There is no minimum requirement to participate and vote with PVP.

In this sense, essentially anyone who enjoys and cares about the future of Star Atlas can participate in the DAO.

Although decentralized, the DAO is not orderless in terms of procedures. There is a framework, both on-chain and in the real world, that allows the community of PVP holders to propose ideas, debate propositions, and reach consensus. We will explain these actions step by step as we walk through all the different mechanisms that allow the DAO to function.

Some of those mechanisms are the first proposals for which we are voting.

Now, let’s explore how the Star Atlas DAO is structured to bring the will of its members to life from a financial perspective.

The Star Atlas DAO is in many ways akin to a decentralized galactic government, and, in that vein, one of its primary functions is to control tax policy to fund the DAO’s dedicated treasury and deploy treasury assets for DAO operations. The DAO’s treasury is tracked on the DAO’s treasury website, which, at the time this article was written, contained the equivalent of $1.977.552,82, consisting primarily of ATLAS and USDC, as shown in the picture below.

The DAO currently generates revenue from taxes on various activities in the Star Atlas ecosystem, including:

• 33% of royalty fees in the Star Atlas Galactic Marketplace.
• 100% of crafting fees from Star Atlas Golden Era game mode.
• 5% of the revenue from the Star Atlas ship rental program (to be implemented).
• 5% or more of royalties from community-powered projects that reach the threshold conditions.
• Historically, the DAO also produced revenue from the sale of R4 before transitioning to the player economy

It is important to note that the DAO can control future tax policy within the Star Atlas ecosystem, such as by adding or changing taxes on existing or new transaction activities. The DAO could, therefore generate additional revenue for the treasury which can in turn be used to support community builders to develop new features for Star Atlas.

Now that we understand the nature of the Star Atlas DAO and the means it possesses to exert its decisions, let’s examine the DAO attributions and how political activity works both in-game and in the Star Atlas Governance system.

Star Atlas has two major branches of political activity: a) in-game politics and b) project governance.

Both instances of political participation come from the same source (players’ locked PVP) and influence one another (in-game political successes can translate into increased activity and resources for the Star Atlas DAO, while the Star Atlas DAO initiatives reinforce the development of Star Atlas and foster further in-game activity).

Nevertheless, these political systems differ in key respects.

A series of gameplay loops and progression rules (to be developed and released in the future) will control the in-game political activities. This structure aims to create entertaining political careers in which players can express their political convictions, level up their crew members’ skills as politicians, form alliances between Decentralized Autonomous Corporations (DACs), protect their factions, declare wars, and create rules for in-game features, such as star system taxation rules.

This system, which is also under development, belongs to the realm of game design and in-game economic systems. Players will follow the in-game rules to progress and influence the outcome of political decisions in Galia Expanse.

For more details on the future of these systems, please refer to our economic and white papers.

The Star Atlas DAO, on the other hand, is only bound by the rules it sets for itself. Its focus is the grand ambition of decentralizing and empowering the overall Star Atlas ecosystem by letting participants choose their own destiny, as expressed through consensus achieved using rules-based blockchain programs. In a sense, the DAO is the guardian of the ethos and values that drive the project forward and is the ultimate authority, the overseer of the developers, and the guardian of the citizens of our metaverse.

Nevertheless, Rome was not built in a day, and in the same manner, the DAO will be prepared, both on the technical and institutional fronts, to rise to the noble mission that it is set to execute, which happens to be our next topic.

Today marks V1 of the Star Atlas DAO — one important step along the way to progressive decentralization.

In V1, the DAO’s voting and proposal mechanisms use decentralized consensus programs deployed on the Solana blockchain, but the DAO continues to rely on a number of off-chain resources to facilitate the overall governance of the ecosystem. For example, public debate and PIP drafting processes take place in off-chain forums, and off-chain actors are required to carry out the decisions rendered by the DAO.

Over time, as the DAO matures, more aspects of the Star Atlas DAO’s processes and actions will take place via fully on-chain programs and more autonomous systems, increasing visibility and accountability. Moreover, the DAO will be able to exert greater independent and direct control over increasing aspects of the Star Atlas ecosystem, with less reliance on off-chain actors.

This process will unfold organically over time, as many aspects of the ecosystem — from gameplay design to blockchain programs — are still in a nascent stage of development.

For now, the DAO’s goal is to grow the Star Atlas community by supporting, through the voting and proposal process, as many community projects and initiatives as possible, from the small to the large.

This will be a shared journey as the Star Atlas PVP community, developers, and partners achieve progressive decentralization and greater self actualization over the future of Star Atlas, all with an eye on the long-term future.

Everything starts somewhere, and the Star Atlas DAO is no exception to this cosmic rule. For this V1 release, the Star Atlas Foundation, an entity dedicated to carrying out the DAO’s mandates, has prepared three suggestions for essential founding documents and a fourth exemplary proposal to showcase the DAO’s potential.

Each of those PIPs and their details are covered in this section, as well as the general approach to participating in the DAO in this V1 release.

Keep in mind that the DAO will be able to modify its own governance structure through the establishment of new proposals, should the community decide that the DAO needs new or different governance requirements.

1. A DAO member submits an idea for a PIP to #pip-ideas in the Star Atlas Discord and discusses it.
2. The PIP idea gets feedback and support from the community.
3. A DAO member fills out the form linked from the governance channels on Discord.
4. PIP goes up on the #pip-drafts channel.
5. Bot assigns the draft to a Star Atlas Council Member.
6. PIP is discussed and approved/rejected by the Council.
7. An approved draft is sent to the Star Atlas Foundation.
8. The Star Atlas Foundation approves or rejects the PIP.
9. If approved by the Star Atlas Foundation, the PIP goes up for voting on govern.staratlas.com.
10. PIP is posted in #pip-discussion to allow for public debate while voting is open.
11. PIP is either approved or rejected by the Star Atlas DAO members.
12. If approved, the PIP is sent back to the Star Atlas Foundation for implementation.

The Star Atlas DAO legislative process is guided by the journey of the community POLIS Improvement Proposals.

In essence, the legislative process allows community members to propose, debate, and vote on PIPs. Initially, PIPs are screened by both the community and the Star Atlas Foundation (or its delegates, including Star Atlas Council members) for basic feasibility requisites both in the blockchain and legal realms. If deemed feasible, it is put to an on-chain vote by PVP holders and, if consensus is achieved, is enforced into reality.

Beginning with the infrastructure, the legislative process will take place in two complementary realms: the voting system in our Governance Application and the specific Star Atlas DAO Discord Channels for deliberation.

First of all, the DAO channels have gated access.

Even though players without PVP can see the channel, only those with PVP will be able to post and participate in the discussions of the PIPs proposed to the DAO. This ensures that everyone participating in the discussions is capable of voting on proposals put forth to the DAO.

Once you get to those channels, you will notice that our typical PIP journey starts in the #pip-ideas sub-channel. In that place, any member of the DAO can create a thread to discuss any topic that they feel is relevant to the DAO, gathering their fellow community member’s thoughts on a given subject, proposing models about how a PIP on the topic could look, and debating the topic.

If you feel that the topic is mature enough to be elevated, you can start the first actual step of the legislative process by filling out the PIP draft submission form.

PIP-1 establishes the form a PIP should take — as discussed in greater detail below. Also, keep in mind that although you don’t necessarily have to discuss your PIP idea on the ideas sub-channel before submitting a PIP draft, it is always a good idea to gather feedback and make the best draft possible before submitting it for the DAO elevation, as it will surely improve the odds of the PIP passing.

After the form is filled out and submitted, the PIP will receive a PIP draft number, which will be announced to the community on the #pip-drafts channel. Alongside its number, the PIP draft will be assigned to a Star Atlas DAO Council Member, a very important figure in the Star Atlas legislative process, who will be responsible for your PIP draft analysis.

Before we move on, let us take a moment to explain the importance of Council Members and their powers and responsibilities while representing the Star Atlas DAO.

Council Members are elected representatives of the Star Atlas DAO. Their job is to care for and foster the ecosystem’s development by screening PIPs, protecting the legislative process, proposing resolutions, moderating community debates, and protecting the values of the DAO.

Council Members are also in charge of managing the DAO’s public debate channels, and as you will see, they are a vital part of the Star Atlas DAO’s functioning. The initial term for the Council Members will be six months, and in the current proposal of the council, there will be five open seats for this function.

Since one of the founding PIPs is the establishment of the Star Atlas DAO Council and the election of its members, ATMTA team members, acting on behalf of the Star Atlas Foundation, will be acting in the Council’s stead until the election process is over and the elected Council Members are sworn in.

Going back to the legislative process, once someone submits a PIP draft form, it will be announced to the community on the #pip-drafts channel alongside a number and the Council Member responsible for the analysis of the PIP draft.

This measure ensures that everyone knows the PIPs that the Council is currently analyzing and how long each Council Member is taking to analyze them, ensuring both accountability and celerity in the elevation of community PIPs.

This process will be automated through a bot created specifically for this procedure to ensure that all Council Members receive an even share of work and that the drafts are randomly distributed.

The Council Member assigned to your PIP draft will then bring your draft for elevation during one of the council meetings. They will state the reasons why the PIP must move forward to the Star Atlas Foundation, whether it should be outright rejected, or whether it needs to be redone in a specific part.

The criteria for the Council screening are both technical, since PIP-1 establishes base criteria for the approval or dismissal of PIPs, and political, since there is always room for interpretation of the different criteria established by rules dispositions.

In that sense, it is clear the importance of being conscious about who is being elected to the Council, as they will be representing the people’s will in very important decisions.

The next step of the legislative process is the Star Atlas Foundation’s evaluation of the PIP.

The Star Atlas Foundation is the legal entity that provides the necessary support for the operations of the Star Atlas DAO, and is responsible for implementing measures voted by the Star Atlas DAO in the real world, including taking steps that require off-chain actions such as signing real-world contracts necessary to execute the DAO’s will.

The Foundation further is tasked with analyzing PIPs recommended to it by the Council, with a focus on identifying potential sources of liability or risk for the ecosystem. PIPs that pass Foundation approval are then submitted for on-chain voting.

At this stage, the PIP goes up for voting on the DAO website, and the Star Atlas DAO community will be able to debate its propositions on its specific #pip-discussion thread channel on Discord.

A voting window based on the complexity of the topic will be announced for the specific PIP, and the DAO members will be able to discuss the proposal’s content until this period is over and the votes are cast.

PIPs that require an up-or-down vote, unless explicitly determined otherwise, will be decided by the simple majority of the votes. If the majority votes for approval, the PIP will be sent back to the Star Atlas Foundation, where it will be enforced (unless the Foundation identifies a further issue with the PIP’s implementation, in which case the PIP will receive further review).

PIPs may also implement a ranked-choice voting system, in which case the PIP will succeed as long as sufficient votes are cast in favor of the choices presented by the PIP.

Now that the PIP legislative process has been explained, let us investigate the content of the founding PIPs that are currently being proposed.

The first POLIS Improvement Proposal establishes key definitions about the nature of the Star Atlas DAO, the legislative process for PIPs, including the criteria for submitting PIP drafts, and the scope of the DAO activities.

Since this inaugural PIP is necessary to enable all other DAO activities, we have moved forward with sending it immediately to vote by the members of the Star Atlas DAO here.

The voting period will last from July 10 to July 23, and the members of the Star Atlas DAO are able to access the full document here.

You will also notice that the specific #pip-discussion thread for PIP-1 is already live on the Star Atlas DAO Discord space, so make sure to share your opinions about the dispositions of this PIP since amendments are possible, should there be major support by the DAO members on that front.

The second founding document proposal of the Star Atlas DAO establishes all definitions and attributions of the Star Atlas Foundation, the legal and real-world branch of the Star Atlas DAO.

PIP-2 defines the legal structure of the Star Atlas Foundation, how it is going to work, the costs associated with the foundation structure, the governance and use of the Star Atlas DAO funds, and the implementation details.

Since the Star Atlas Foundation is another necessary step for the activities of the DAO, it is also already open for voting for the same period of July 10 to July 23. You can read the full content of the PIP-2 here.

Similar to PIP-1, the PIP-2 discussion thread is also already live on the Star Atlas DAO Discord channels, so make sure to participate and share your thoughts about the content of this document as well.

The third founding document proposal for the Star Atlas DAO establishes the process for the election and role of Council Members.

In this document, you will find all the requirements to participate in the Council Members’ election, the duration of their mandates, the number of seats that exist within the council, alongside the responsibilities and rights inherent to this prestigious and important role.

Since we want to provide ample opportunities for members of the Star Atlas DAO to participate and learn about the candidates for the Council, this PIP also establishes a fair duration of the election process, starting with the nominations from August 7 to August 20, campaigning for two more weeks, and all the way to the voting election period (dates subject to change).

Should there be more than 21 candidates, there will be extra voting rounds. The first one will take place from September 4 to September 10 to narrow down the list to 12 candidates, and a second round to narrow it down to 5 candidates from September 11 to September 17.

If only twenty or fewer candidates apply, then the council voting period will be from September 4 to September 17.

This PIP is also ready for voting and debate on its own #pip-discussion thread from July 24 to August 6. You can check its full content and vote here.

Make your voice heard and participate in the Star Atlas DAO elections!

The final PIP details the creation of the Star Atlas ecosystem fund, a segregated budget at the Star Atlas DAO’s disposal to fund projects and initiatives that will help the Star Atlas ecosystem grow and develop.

The PIP establishes a series of rules, such as how the DAO treasury will provide resources for the fund, the requisites for any project to apply for the Star Atlas Ecosystem Fund grants, implementation details, and the maximum amount of funds that any project can receive through a single grant PIP.

Should this PIP pass, the Star Atlas DAO will have a basis on how to fund the different Star Atlas ecosystem projects.

This PIP will also be open for voting and debates on both the Star Atlas DAO website and the specific #pip-discussion thread on Discord. The members of the DAO are more than welcome to debate and propose modifications to the content of the article, which will be open for voting from July 24 to August 6 (dates subject to change).

You can read the full content of PIP-4 here.

All participants of the Star Atlas ecosystem have eagerly awaited the beginning of the Star Atlas DAO activities, and it is with pride and enthusiasm that we release the framework necessary for its activities to start.

Now, more than ever, the Star Atlas community will be called to rise to the calling to assist in the co-creation of the Star Atlas metaverse, using the resources, knowledge, and skills we have amongst our developing digital society.

Articulating the will of so many passionate members is undoubtedly not easy, and creating the DAO is just the first step on the political journey of the Star Atlas ecosystem. Nevertheless, the potential that we unlock today is truly limitless. In time, we believe that it will manifest itself in the most extraordinary ways to benefit Star Atlas.

Power to the People and let the game of POLIS begin.