Embassy of The North Pacific

astroville(TNP)

Response to Recent Defender Transgressions
April 22, 2023

The North Pacific is a proud Independent region. While we share common interests and goals with regions we consider our friends and allies, and our interests may even be perfectly aligned at times, the decisions we make and the actions we carry out are ultimately rooted in how to best serve our own region and its interests, not theirs. In recent weeks, many people in this game, unfortunately including some old friends, have seemingly forgotten this fact, or refused to respect this reality. Unfortunately, our old ally The South Pacific decided to deliver an ultimatum to our region and, in apparent solidarity with several other major defender regions, threatened to oppose any resolutions in the Security Council that we wished to see pass, if we did not join them in opposing condemnations of prominent raiders. There is no excuse for this, and it is entirely unacceptable for any region, especially one of our allies, to extort our vote in the World Assembly. TNP’s WA vote, like anything else, is only to be utilized in our region’s best interest, and consistent with the will of our citizens. While we are willing to discuss votes and come to agreement whenever possible, we almost never do so apart from our internal vote, and we almost never vote in contradiction of that internal vote. To make a binding pledge that extends beyond a delegate’s term in office before an internal vote has even taken place, and before a proposal is even at vote, is unheard of.

We have spoken to representatives from all the regions involved in this matter, as well as our other allies in the MGC, to get as clear a picture of these events as we could, and to determine how best to proceed. The tactic employed by The South Pacific, The Order of the Grey Wardens, 10000 Islands, and The League will never be accepted by our region, and will never be successful. Such an effort, should it ever be repeated in the future, will be rejected out of hand by this government, and we are confident in saying, every government in charge of TNP in the future, given the response of our citizenry, which has been loud and clear in its denunciation of what has happened. Similar efforts in the future will constitute the termination of our cooperation with the region or organization that attempts them, and this will include the termination of any treaties or formal diplomatic agreements we have in place, including any embassies.

We appreciate the apologies we have received, especially those made to our previous delegate, who despite his approach to handling this issue did not deserve to be treated the way he was. We recognize that all parties involved are aware of the gravity of their actions, regret them, and will change their own procedures and practices as a result. We take them at their word. Clear breakdowns in communication took place not just between our delegate and their regions, but among the defender regions as well. This is a shame, and we hope that all of us can work together in the future to communicate better and move past the recent bad habits of assuming the worst of each other, and holding back for the sake of pride or posture. Based on the conversations we have had with these regions, and the much appreciated assistance they have already provided in protecting The Wellspring, we believe that we can move forward accordingly, and continue to work together on areas of mutual interest, and do so in good faith.

But this does not change the severity of the offense. TNP has been disrespected and humiliated. We accept our role in these events, and are doing everything we can to move forward without repeating them, and guarding against similar failings in the future. Our community deserves better than how these matters have been handled as of late, and this government will deliver. They also deserve accountability for what was done, and we will deliver that as well. For the foreseeable future, the following measures will be taken (with others under active consideration) in response to this outrageous behavior:

The North Pacific Army will not partake in any bilateral military cooperation/training operations with the South Pacific Special Forces, The Order of the Grey Wardens, the League Defence Forces, or the Ten-thousand Islands Treaty Organization;

The talks in pursuit of a non-aggression pact with The League will be suspended;

No additional diplomatic agreements will be considered with the regions of The South Pacific, The Order of the Grey Wardens, The League, and 10000 Islands, nor additional embassies constructed where they do not currently exist;

All planned cultural events with the regions of The South Pacific, The Order of the Grey Wardens, The League, and 10000 Islands will be canceled, and no future cultural events or collaborations will be considered.

The North Pacific does not wish to close the door to future collaboration and cooperation with the regions named above, but if it is to resume, all regions that would seek to engage must do so with the understanding that we will not be intimidated, strong-armed, or treated as a subservient source for votes and boots on the ground. The talents of our players, and the votes we provide in resolutions, are ours first and foremost, to be used for us and our community, and while we are happy to help a friend or a worthy cause, that help should never be expected or demanded. When that assistance cannot or will not be provided, we expect that our decision not to provide it will be respected and speak to the issue in question, without being dragged into unrelated matters, and certainly not in a disproportionate way, as was done in this case.

Furthermore, while we accept that regions will often make deals or ask for assistance on matters that are important to them, all regions would do well to remember that The North Pacific is an Independent region, not an anti-raider one. We may or may not provide assistance in matters related to R/D concerns, but that assistance will never be on the basis of anti-raider sentiment. We have repeatedly explained our stance on this area, and have taken measures against prominent raider organizations, not based on their ideology, but in response to aggression and interference in our affairs. Any organization that conducts itself as these raider organizations have will meet with similar response, including defender organizations. And just as we have spoken out and taken action in defense of our allies and fellow Independent regions when certain raider organizations have wronged them, we will respond just the same should defender organizations or regions attempt something like the extortion we experienced against our allies. As we outlined in our prior statement On Alignment, The North Pacific is a pragmatic player in the R/D sphere. We believe there are times when raiding is acceptable, and we will conduct raids in such circumstances. Our leanings have not changed, nor have our priorities in the diplomatic space. We will continue to advocate for that pragmatic view, and resist the extremes of anti-raider sentiment, which played such a strong role in this drama. We hope that there will be no doubt about this in the future, and that if there is, we can talk it out rather than resort to threats and escalation.

Signed,

Gorundu
Acting Delegate

St George
Minister of Foreign Affairs

Pallaith
Advisor to the Delegate

Jutomi

Dang. Here I thought TNP was the one calling the shots with the fender folks. Respect for keeping your independence.

Many thanks for the update. Always interesting to see what goes on in the big ocean from our little cove. 🙂

astroville(TNP)

Huh. the thing seems broken

Thats fine. Anyways,

NationStates | Dispatch | The North Star Issue XXV

astroville(TNP)

Waddup!!!

TNS XXVI May 2023.pdf - Google Drive

Hope y’all enjoy it!

Arafuttio

Greetings, I am the new ambassador from the North Pacific. I look forward to working with you.

Jutomi

Awesome! Sad to see Astroville go away; was funny having an Astroville from TNP and an AstroVulpes from TSP while it lasted. Glad to see folks from TNP wanting to hang out with (or at least send reports to) our region, though! Looking forward to having you as our ambassador 😄

Arafuttio

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Issue XXVII

Magazine Version

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[box]Editor’s Note

[align=justify]We’re back for another edition of The North Star! I hope you enjoyed the last one. We’re really pleased with the progress of the publication this term and our aim is to continue putting out high quality issues each month covering the big issues.

In this edition of The North Star, we discuss the repeal of the Aurora Alliance, which saw The North Pacific’s Regional Assembly vote in favour of passing a motion to dissolve our alliance with The South Pacific. We also cover the recent chess arena event held alongside The West Pacific, which saw competitors face off against each other for victory on Lichess. After that, we’ll be discussing the ways of the executive in our region, and highlighting some of the progression pathways made available to newer players upon joining. Penultimately, we cover some of the first delegates of The North Pacific in the pilot edition of Echoes: The Past Delegate Series, with a focus on Nastic, Treenudity, and The Twoslit Experiment. And finally, I’ll be interviewing Skaraborg about his election as Speaker going into this term.

As our second official release of TNS since the start of the term, we’re making great headway toward a successful term. I hope you enjoy this edition!

[nation]Kaschovia[/nation]
Minister of Communications[/align][/box][box][anchor=AAR]Aurora Alliance Repealed[tab=10]by [nation]United States of Dictators[/nation][/tab][/anchor]

[align=justify]The repeal of the Aurora Alliance treaty has been one of the most significant events The North Pacific has experienced in recent memory and has reshaped the region’s Foreign Affairs for the foreseeable future.

The Extortion

This incident dates back to early April, right as Hulldom crossed the half-way mark on his first term as Delegate of The North Pacific. A diplomatic statement from Lone Wolves United (LWU), a raider organisation, was posted on the NationStates Forums, titled “Statement on the Closure of Embassies with the North”.

In the statement, LWU wrote, among other things, that Delegate Hulldom had been threatened and coerced into voting against multiple WA proposals that seeked to recognise historic and outstanding members of LWU. These threats came from HumanSanity, who, at the time, served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in The South Pacific (TSP), one of NationStates’ most well-known defender regions. HumanSanity implied that TSP and a number of other defender regions, namely The League, 10000 Islands and The Order of Grey Wardens, would vote against any WA proposal that seeked to recognise TNPers, unless Hulldom voted according to their will, which was to vote against any proposal that was deemed beneficial towards raiders.

The responses that followed were of shock and disgrace towards TNP and specifically Hulldom’s administration. Shortly after the statement was posted, Minister of Foreign Affairs Wymondham resigned from his position, stating that his warnings were constantly ignored by the Delegate. Internally, many TNPers had already called for the resignation, or recall of Hulldom as Delegate, and non-TNPers had expressed disappointment towards TNP and moreso, towards the defenders.

Resignation of Hulldom

TNPers and non-TNPers alike fretfully waited to hear Delegate Hulldom’s response to these damning allegations, which he delivered shortly in the form of a resignation as Delegate of The North Pacific, as well all other government official positions he had held in TNP. In his statement, he believed that TNP cannot, without support from defenders, operate anymore. He also called for less cooperation with raider organizations.
People weren’t particularly appalled by the resignation, it was an expected move, and in their eyes, it was the right move from Hulldom. Regardless, it was a momentous event in TNP history. As the last time a delegate resignation occurred was in 2015, nearly a decade ago.

Gorundu becomes Acting Delegate

Immediately after his resignation, the Security Council wasted no time in re-establishing order. Gorundu, serving as Vice-Delegate at the time, was instated as Acting Delegate and Siwale, the second in line for VD succession, was instated as Acting Vice-Delegate. The following day, Gorundu released a statement in which he stressed TNP’s independent stances, away from R/D battles. He also announced the appointment of a new Minister of Foreign Affairs, and a new Advisor to the Delegate. St George/MadJack and Pallaith, two very well-known and well-experienced former delegates of TNP.

Statement from the Defenders

As Gorundu went on to assume the powers and responsibilities of the delegacy. In the Nationstates Forums, the regions, TSP, TGW, XKI and TL all collectively signed a statement titled “Response to the Allegations by Lone Wolves United”. In it, they did not deny the allegations, further confirming it. Not only that, but the statement also notes that the NPA had withdrawn from a liberation operation and the defenders’ attempts to communicate with TNP officials were ignored, however, the statement also later says the NPA had later re-joined the operation. It goes on to say that Delegate Hulldom’s administration had not communicated well with TSP or the defenders.

The statement was not received well by not only TNP but rather the entirety of non-defender NS Gameplay. Most of the hatred stemmed from the fact that the regions involved showed no signs of remorse in the statement, and in fact doubled down on the threats. As expected, the original signatories to the statement retracted shortly after receiving the backlash. 10000 Islands, The League and The Order of Grey Wardens all posted formal apologies and retraction from the statement, TSP, although took the longest, did also post an apology. TSP’s role in the whole affair received particularly more attention than the rest of the defender regions due to HumanSanity being the original extorter and orchestrator. Resulting in their resignation as Minister of Foreign Affairs in TSP.

The Statement on Transgressions

With the executive leadership back in order, Gorundu and his cabinet focused on the main problem – addressing the threats from defenders. In a statement, titled “Response to Recent Defender Transgressions”, Delegate Gorundu, joined by Minister St George and Adviser Pallaith, briefly addressed the situation and announced measures that TNP would take, including:

Suspension of North Pacific Army (NPA) operations with the military forces of The South Pacific, The League, The Order of Grey Wardens and 10000 Islands.
Suspension of talks of a non-aggression pact with The League.
No additional diplomatic agreements with TSP, TGW, XKI and TL.
Cancellation of all cultural events with TSP, TGW, XKI and TL, with suspension on future events.

Gorundu made it clear in the statement that he nor the government had sought to cease diplomatic cooperation with said regions. However, he also made it clear that TNP’s WA votes are to be used in accordance with the region’s interests and their internal vote. While TNP may be interested in helping out an ally or a worthy cause, the region’s internal votes are to be considered first and foremost. Additionally, Gorundu noted that TNP would continue to evaluate the regions’ behaviors to ensure that they had lived up to the promises made in their apologies.

HumanSanity back in Cabinet, TNP initiates Repeal of Aurora Alliance

And with that concluded, many people thought that that was the end of the saga and that moving forward the regions could have an amicable relationship. All the regions involved returned to normal for the most part. However, one month later, when all was thought to be normal, TSP threw a curveball at TNP in the form of a re-appointment. Prime Minister of TSP, ProfessorHenn, had re-appointed HumanSanity to the cabinet, but in a slightly different position, as the Minister of Regional Affairs (MoRA).

This decision, as expected, was not received well in TNP, or by anyone in Gameplay for that matter, in TSP’s embassy thread, people saw this re-appointment as a sign that TSP did not feel any compunction for their actions. Furthermore, it invited rumors of whether a deal was made between the government of TSP and HumanSanity when they originally resigned. The thread went back and forth as TNPers argued and prominent TSPers counter argued.

Meanwhile, in TNP, people saw this appointment as a contradiction of TSP’s promise to improve. They were fed up with the TSP government, including now elected Delegate Gorundu, who released a statement officially announcing that he would present the Aurora Alliance treaty to the Regional Assembly for reconsideration and repeal. This was not an easy decision by Gorundu; he had engaged in talks with TSP for weeks prior to presenting this motion and it became clear to him that nothing further could have been done. He had hoped that if the repeal were to pass, it would only serve as a temporary ending of the alliance, and that both regional leaders’ would regroup and repair the relationship, with the goal of re-establishing the treaty down the road. Gorundu wanted the repeal to serve as a pavement for a fresh start and an even stronger relationship than before. It seemed to be the best way to heal, given how saddened people were about what had happened.

The Regional Assembly discussion, for the most part, was in support of repeal, although there were some vocal opponents of the repeal, they were far and few in numbers, which would later be reflected as the treaty went to vote a few days later.

The voter turnout was 66, the highest in recent years, with a sizable 43 voters in favor compared to the handful 11 in disapproval, a notable 13 voters also abstained from the vote.

And with that, the Aurora Alliance treaty was officially repealed, ending a decade long pact between NationStates’ two largest democracies and changing both regions’ foreign relations for the time-being, it will sure be interesting to see the future of the relations between these two regions, especially in this new NS age of Frontiers/Strongholds.[/align][hr][/box]

[box][anchor=IRCA]TNP-TWP Interregional Chess Arena[tab=10]by [nation]Kaschovia[/nation][/tab][/anchor]

[align=justify]On the 25th of June, The North Pacific and The West Pacific hosted an interregional chess arena for members of both regions to battle it out with one another over the chess board. 17 players took part in total, making 7,831 moves across 122 games in three hours. The games were 5+3 Blitz, which meant each player had five minutes to make their moves, with three seconds added on for every move they made.

Berserk time controls were also allowed, meaning players could lower their own time limit by half for double points. This ultimately meant the best players in the arena could afford to sacrifice two and a half minutes against weaker opponents, quickly racing to the top of the rankings board before many of the other players had won two or three games.

The top player, by a large distance, was FrontierJustice, who amassed a staggering 87 points over 27 games. Not only did they secure the highest win rate with 87%, but also the longest unbeaten streak in the event with 17 games won or drawn consecutively, 24 won in total, and only three losses. FrontierJustice, who declined to share his nation when asked, finished with a final rating of 1892, which ended up being 444 points higher than the average rating across all players.

In second, behind our mysterious top player, was Unshleepd, who managed 44 points in 21 games with 13 wins, 1 draw, and 6 losses. He commented after that the “atmosphere was truly exceptional” within the event, and that “the chat was brimming with positivity.” Unshleepd elaborated that they’d enjoyed some “really engaging games,” believing the next tournament “is only a matter of time.” However, he did mention that the only aspect of the event that could be improved in future iterations was the separation of the higher and lower-ranked players so the competition could be as balanced as possible for all players.

In third place, tied for points with Unshleepd, was Lemsrow, with 13 wins and 6 losses. The tie was achieved because Lemsrow had simply played more berserk games, with a four-game winning streak to end the event earning him 25 points alone out of the 44 total. Unsurprisingly, many of the higher-rated players performed better as the event went on as they became more comfortable with their styles of play, opening habits, and endgame proficiency. Lemsrow took notable victories against Unshleepd, Giovanniland, and ItzOrangeSteve.

The average win rate across all players was 47%, which is largely to be expected as the much higher-rated players acquired top-percentile win rates, balancing out the players with lower percentile win rates, resulting in a middle-ground figure.

Interestingly, the only player to beat Frontier Justice more than once was ItzOrangeSteve, who did so fairly comfortably. Although they finished fourth with 36 points, a podium finish could have been theirs if they’d played more games in the berserk time mode to pick up extra points against lower-rated opponents more consistently. Overall, the top six positions were fiercely contested.

The fifth and sixth places were closely contested by the Delegate of Lands End, Deims Kir, and Giovanniland, the event organizer and former Delegate of The West Pacific, earning 32 and 28 points, respectively. Deims Kir pulled off impressive victories over FrontierJustice and Unshleepd, while Giovanniland held his own against a majority of the top five. From seventh to seventeenth place, points dropped from 20 quickly down to 2 at the minimum, with the win rate mostly below 50% except for seventh-place El Fiji Grande at 64%, who would’ve almost certainly placed higher if they’d managed to play more games.

So who did better between The North and The West? Well, because the Lichess usernames didn’t help all that much in identifying specific nations, a comparison between the regions is only speculative at best. From the nations we do know, The West Pacific had three players in the arena: The Perfection Isles (ItzOrangeSteve), Giovanniland, and Inner Ryxtylopia. The North Pacific, on the other hand, had six: Kaschovia, Francois Isidore, El Fiji Grande, Lemsrow, Bobberino, and Unshleepd. So, of course, looking at it like that, The North Pacific did better, but only due to a numerical advantage. If you judge the performances by the final rankings, however, Giovanniland and ItzOrangeSteve ranked higher than four of TNP’s players, accumulating more points between the two of them than those four TNPers combined. Of course, the performances of Unshleepd and Lemsrow tip the scales significantly further in the direction of the North, with the overall points tally at 145 for TNP and 71 for TWP.

Chess is a game that never goes out of fashion. For hundreds of years, players have been exhausting complicated lines of moves and delivering sweet checkmates, all in the name of fun. The North Pacific seems to share that sentiment. With the creation of the TNP Chess Club recently behind us and participation in an interregional chess event, it begs the question: what might the future hold? I think there’s a lot of potential for chess tournaments and events in the future, and I hope TNP can share in it as much as TWP has over recent months. It’s a great way of meeting and talking to players from other communities, and it keeps the neurons in your brain firing, which is always good.[/align][hr][/box]

[box][anchor=TWOE]Ways of the Executive[tab=10]by [nation]Comfed[/nation][/tab][/anchor]

[align=justify]The executive branch of The North Pacific is the most active part of the government. It handles everything from foreign affairs and World Assembly resolutions to culture, integration, and a lot more in between. Taking charge of the executive is the dream of many a TNPer, which is why joining often acts as the perfect stepping stone for many to make their mark on the region in all kinds of ways.

The Delegate

Since I’m a totalitarian centralist autocrat at heart, we’re starting from the top and the centre. The delegate is the head of state and government. Unlike most members of the government, they actually have to do their job because if they don’t, things will be bad. They have ultimate hiring and firing power, pick the members of the Executive Council and some other bodies that we’ll get to, and command of the North Pacific Army.

The delegate is also the in-game World Assembly delegate, though since this requires transitioning from anywhere between zero to 800 endorsements all the way to around 1000 after the election, some delegates take longer to get there than others. During the transition, the former delegate is still around but has to take orders from the legal delegate who was just elected. The new delegate gets to tell the in-game delegate how to vote on WA resolutions or how to lick the tar off the new delegate’s Porsche.

The delegate gets to veto all laws coming from the Regional Assembly, but the Regional Assembly is allowed to override that veto by a two-thirds majority. The delegate also has some fun powers, like the ability to propose treaties and declarations of war against other regions. If the delegate suddenly vacates office because they resigned, were recalled, were removed by the Court for some crime, or for some other reason, the vice delegate becomes acting delegate.

Executive Council or Cabinet

The Executive Council, which I will refer to henceforth as the Cabinet, is the group of people who run the government. Every government ministry, effectively a department, is run by a minister who is appointed by the delegate for the delegate’s term.

Usually the ministries are pretty constant because changing them requires restructuring an entire section of the executive branch. The most recent changes are the merger of the communications and radio portfolios into a media portfolio, the merger of the media portfolio into the culture portfolio, and then its separation from it again into what is now the Ministry of Communications.

But it’s not a crowd exclusive to ministers. Delegates like to mix things up with other positions like “Chief of Staff.” Also common are “Advisors to the Delegate,” who are people appointed by the delegate to serve as official advisors and are sort of part of the cabinet but who are legally excluded from most of the rules that apply to ministers, like the rule that they can’t also be judges or the Speaker.

Deputy Ministers and Ministries

Now we’re getting to the content that I know you’re here for: staffing. Most ministers, with the exception of the Ministry of Defence/North Pacific Army, which I will get to, have a basic setup: deputy ministers and staff.

Deputy ministers are handpicked by the ministers, usually with the approval of the delegate, to help them run their ministries. This could involve managing a specific portfolio, using essential scripts and tools, advising the minister, or nothing specific.

Staff are not appointed; rather, they apply for their jobs. Staff do the actual work. Their duties are what they sign up for, but you can’t actually make them do actual work because this is a volunteer game, so a lot of the ministers’ job is to get their staff motivated to do the work.

So What Ministries Are There?

There are seven ministries in total.

Home Affairs is responsible for recruiting nations to The North Pacific and getting them to do stuff like join the forums, the discord server, get citizenship, and join the executive staff. Think of Home Affairs as recruitment plus integration.

Culture keeps the community ticking with events like games, movie nights, and bigger events like festivals. It also promotes regional roleplay and oversees the regional message board, a task fraught with peril.

Communications does media. For example, the magazine-style text publication The North Star, a publication on government and regional happenings, The Northern Light, a more in-depth publication, and a radio/podcast-type show called the Northern Broadcast Service.

World Assembly Affairs handles everything related to the World Assembly except for getting people to join it, which is the vice delegate’s job. It discusses WA resolutions, issuing “Information for Voters” (IfV) documents for every resolution that comes up for vote.

Cards handles the region’s trading cards programs and oversees the Cards Guild, from games involving cards to distributing cards as rewards for various activities.

Foreign Affairs handles relations with other regions. This reporter questions why the title of Minister of Foreign Affairs couldn’t be better rendered as the “Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force Against the Barbarians,” but was kicked out of the diplomatic building and did not receive an answer.

What About the North Pacific Army?

I’ve been deliberately excluding the NPA up to this point because of how significantly it differs from the structure of the rest of the government. The NPA conducts military gameplay operations, which basically involve seizing or defending the position of World Assembly delegate of other regions.

At the top things are the same. There’s a Minister of Defence and their deputy ministers. However, the Minister of Defence also has the High Command, which is a group of experienced, high-ranking officers in the NPA who advise the delegate and minister of defence, and are actually appointed by the delegate to serve indefinite terms. Deputy Ministers of Defence are members of the NPA High Command ex officio.

There’s also the officer corps, which are the people responsible for running operations. Operations require a person to, in essence, lead and time them and others to cross-endorse to defend or seize the position of World Assembly delegate, which is why more complex leadership structures are in place for the NPA than any other part of the government.

Finally there are good old NPA soldiers, the entry-level people. They participate in operations. Having a large number of NPA soldiers is absolutely essential for the NPA to be effective, and the NPA’s effectiveness underpins in large part the effectiveness of the policy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Being an NPA soldier is also a position of higher trust than the rest of the government, so checks for membership are more rigorous. It’s easy to join, though.

Like making sausages or laws, that’s everything you never wanted to know about the executive branch. From police actioning to delegate directiveing to World Assembly voting, the executive branch has the greatest influence on the day-to-day experience of every TNPer than any other part of the government.
[/align][hr][/box]

[box][anchor=ECHOES]Echoes: The Past Delegate Series (2003)[tab=10]by [nation]Kaschovia[/nation][/tab][/anchor]

[align=justify]NationStates was a vastly different place in early 2003 than it is today, and so was The North Pacific. In the earliest days of the World Assembly, which was then referred to as the United Nations, a handful of nations within The North Pacific held the position of delegate in quick succession, mostly for a day or two, and then vanished into obscurity without further mention. Back then, the position of delegate was assumed much less democratically than we are all familiar with today. In essence, whoever had the most endorsements would become the delegate, and the burden of proof would fall upon them to show that they could lead the region forward. Of course, it’s easy to understand now why these times were rife with instability, political schemes, and drama with the delegacy up in the air. The limited gameplay mechanics of antiquity are a fraction of what we see today, and yet the struggle for power has remains the same. Unfortunately, any delegates before the oldest known records have been lost to time, and so we can only begin where we have available information. Even then, record-keeping has been and always will be imperfect, but I’ve tried to tell the story as accurately as possible.

We will likely never know when our first recorded delegate, Mikestonia, came to power, although as the likes of Kandarin and Nastic could attest, Mikestonia was the first delegate they could remember. Estimates of this period indicate Mikestonia took the position on any date between the 11th of January and the 11th of February 2003. It is mentioned on the first forum that he left the position on the 12th of February 2003, after “around a month,” gathering 485 endorsements in total before being replaced the day after. Nastic, soon to be delegate, described him as “completely useless”, and “only interested in being delegate”, elaborating that he “would not log on for days and then wouldn’t do anything when they did.” This sort of delegate was not uncommon in the earliest months of The North Pacific, with the position unelected and free to take for anyone who could gather enough support.

Following this trend, our next recorded delegate, Cote de Tombolo, rose to power for just a single day with 536 endorsements. Nastic described Cote de Tombolo in much more favourable terms as a “great bloke”, who was “delegate for one day and quit.” The trend of short-lived delegates came to an end with the rise of Nastic himself.

Nastic was most likely founded on the 3rd of January 2003 in either the Pacific or TSP, moved to The North Pacific sometime after the 10th, and rose to the delegacy just over a month later on the 13th of February. According to the dates, Nastic held the position for a total of 157 days over four periods between February and December 2003, which at over 4 months makes him the first to complete what is in modernity considered a full term as Delegate. This longevity for the time is a testament to his popularity within the region, as he would spend most of 2003 in the position.

This period of The North Pacific’s history was not free from controversies, nor did the delegate effectively try to mitigate them. Nastic, the delegate at the time, would intentionally resign his UN membership simply to give other players a chance at the position. This happened with ZeroPositive and two other nations, which went just as well as you would expect. ZeroPositive, in particular, was given the position on the 28th of April 2003, having acquired approximately 400 endorsements before Nastic left the region, making him the Delegate. Nastic did eventually return and came within ten to fifteen endorsements of ZeroPositive, which is when the unthinkable happened: he ejected and banned Nastic over what he believed were conspiracies that Nastic, alongside the Rejected Realms Army, were planning to subvert the region.

A beloved former delegate and core member of the community was now exiled, and people were furious. The Twoslit Experiment posted a thread on the archived Jolt forum titled “Bring The Principality of Nastic back to The North Pacific,” which saw dozens of players rally behind Nastic, pressure ZP to unban him, and campaign for the removal of ZeroPositive’s endorsements. The backlash ZeroPositive faced was insurmountable and unrelenting. Despite the controversy, ZP apologised and admitted poor judgements, eventually unbanning Nastic, who retained the delegacy a day later. Whether or not the apology was genuine in the face of such criticism, we cannot know, but this was the first of many times The North Pacific would have to band together to protect the region. The Twoslit Experiment would describe the events in January 2004 as “our much less extreme version of the current Francos Spain affair.”

The North Pacific had weathered its first real storm and could at last enjoy the proceeding calm. Nastic held the delegacy effectively up until August after the ZP controversy, with two notable deviations along the way. They weren’t anywhere near as controversial, but they were worth noting all the same. Firstly, Nastic handed over the delegacy again on the 20th of May 2003, this time to a nation named Uugyana, but quickly realised they’d quit the game. Uugyana added their name to a growing list of one-day delegates, and the region moved on almost instantly. Secondly, a nation named United Individuals took the position for around a week going into June of that year but must not have done much because the only account of their time in the region comes from ancient recordkeeping. We can reasonably say Nastic was the player everyone accepted as the delegate during this time, even if it changed hands multiple times throughout the first year.

Nastic handed over the delegacy to Treenudity on the 7th of August, but like those who came before, there is not enough information available from this specific time period to properly understand how the position would have been filled outside of the fragments we do have. We do know that Treenudity was the first known female Delegate of The North Pacific. The old guard of 2003 delegates, Nastic, Treenudity, and The Twoslit Experiment, all made the effort to reach out to new nations when they first joined the community, paving the way for the next generation of players to lead the region. She’d go on to help write some of the earliest forum rules in 2005 alongside the likes of Wilshire, Magicality, and Sydia. Treenudity is recorded to have held 645 endorsements from 4,826 nations around the same time that Francos Spain had taken control of the Pacific. Also mentioned by Westwind in an interview response about his favourite GCR delegates, and as one of Flemingovia’s most missed TNPers on the forums, her legacy will be remembered most favourably for how she helped the community grow towards the end of an unstable year.

The Two Slit Experiment (TSE) rose to the delegacy on the 28th of September 2003, replacing Treenudity. Although you might think he’d have waited until he was actually delegate to start getting things done, on the 27th of September, TSE created the very first TNP forums, marking the beginnings of a brand new era. No time was wasted in moving the gameside population across to the forums, and before long it became the birthplace of a vibrant Out-Of-Character scene, the foundation for the regional forums used so ubiquitously today, and the stage upon which future governments would shine. If that wasn’t enough, TSE also founded the North Pacific Army, an institution that still exists and serves the region to this day. As Eluvatar wrote in their dispatch “The North Pacific Army”, the NPA was “composed of those TNP nations who had rallied to the cause of freeing the Pacific from Francos Spain and his New Pacific Order…”

The coup of the Pacific only further highlighted the importance of security and endorsement counts for each delegate, and as TSE himself put it on the 31st of December, 2003: “One of the obligations of the delegate is the responsibility to keep his endorsement levels up by campaigning.” He elaborated that “when the delegate has enough endorsements, the members feel more at ease that we are not likely to find ourselves at the mercy of a Francos Spain.”

The impact TSE had in his first two months as delegate, from September to November 2003, is almost unbelievable. Alongside Nastic and Treenudity, the old guard persisted through the chaos of the early days of NationStates and carried the region out into the light with a forum, a military, and a stable delegacy to show for it. The likes of Magicality, Wilkshire, and Sydia all aimed to follow in their footsteps, knowing it would eventually be up to them to carry the torch. The year rounded out with Nastic (as NASTIC 2) taking the delegacy for a month while TSE struggled with internet issues. Despite the uncertainty around the position at the time, it is truly astonishing how a culture of trust had been cultivated and how it did not matter who ended up as delegate, but only that they kept the best interests of the region in mind. It was through this that the region we know as The North Pacific today came to be, because a group of people who enjoyed simulating their own countries blindly trusted each other when they had every reason not to. Little did they know how soon this culture of trust would come back to bite them. That, however, is for the next installment of the Past Delegates Series.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this deep dive into the first year of TNP’s history, and I look forward to researching and writing more of these down the line!
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[box][anchor=INTERVIEW]The Spotlight 35: Interview with Speaker Skaraborg[tab=10]by [nation]Kaschovia[/nation][/tab][/anchor]

[align=justify]Kaschovia: Hello! My name is Kaschovia, and we’re back again with another edition of the Spotlight Interview Series, where we talk to some of The North Pacific’s best and brightest! This time, I am honoured to welcome our recently re-elected Speaker of the Regional Assembly Skaraborg to the show!

Skaraborg: Ooh, I don’t know if I fall into the category “best and brightest “, but thank you very much for having me on the show! It’s really fun to be here!

Kaschovia: I’m sure many would describe you as such, myself included. So, let’s start with the most obvious topic - the elections! How do you feel having been reelected as Speaker, and how did you feel about the election in general?

Skaraborg: I feel honoured to have been elected Speaker again. It is a receipt for me that I met the standard expected of a Speaker last term and I am grateful that I have the continued trust of the citizens to serve in this role. Serving as speaker is incredibly fun so I am happy for this opportunity!

It might not have been the most dramatic or competitive election, but I thought the election in general was a fun one since both Gorundu and Chipoli were elected to their positions for the first time and they are exceptional people who deserve to be where they are and I definitely think they are doing and will continue to do well in their roles.

Kaschovia: I’m sure Gorundu and Chipoli will appreciate your kind comments! You say being Speaker is fun, what do you enjoy most about the position?

Skaraborg: I enjoy everything to be fair, but if there is something particular I like the most, I would say I enjoy the role as Speaker because it has given me a broader knowledge of the laws of The North Pacific and I have enjoyed solving legal problems (for example like the one we had recently where Legal Code 6.1.10 came in conflict with Legal Code 9.3.16). But we rarely get any issues like that so what I like the most with the day to day work as Speaker is probably handling and counting votes. I get a lot of satisfaction from that, which may seem weird because it is quite a bit of administrative work. But I find it fun and it is always great fun to help out in the region! Also having a great team of deputies, makes the experience as Speaker even more fun.

Kaschovia: I can attest to the fact that learning about the laws of The North Pacific can be an extremely interesting and rewarding process, and I am glad that you’re enjoying the position so far! But let’s now take a step back. What’s your story in NationStates, Skaraborg? How did you get to where you are now?

Skaraborg: I could go on for too long about my history and probably will so you better get your reading glasses on!

I was founded in April 2020 out of curiosity. It was a spontaneous google of “create your own nation” I had during a boring Tuesday evening at home. I was immediately hooked by answering issues and got involved on the regional message board where I got to know lots of friendly people. I joined The North Pacific because it was the largest region at that time and I therefore thought it would be a quite active region. I became heavily involved and still today am today heavily involved in the music competition TNPV (The North Pacific Vision) which basically is a monthly TNP music competition that resembles Eurovision.I am a big fan of Eurovision so helping out and doing something that was close to my heart really got me more involved in Nationstates. Apart from joining a few ministries my first government role was being a Gameside Advocate and after two terms of that I think one of the more defining moments of my NS career happened. It was when I ran for Speaker the first time. Basically I wanted to help TNP out in my way and the Speaker’s office looked very fun to handle and I wanted to implement my own ideas for the office. It was also a way to introduce myself to everyone who hadn’t previously encountered me in the region. Although I lost, I would say it was the most successful and brave moment in my career because I didn’t know what the reactions to a totally inexperienced person running would be and how my choice to run would turn out. In the long run it was great! I became a deputy and then ran again and lost in probably one of if not the tightest election TNP has ever had. I’ve continued staying involved in the region as chairman of TNPV, Minister of Home Affairs and now finally Speaker. By pursuing things that interests me and that I am passionate about has lead to where I am today!

Kaschovia: It’s really cool to hear that you began your journey in TNP mostly on the RMB! I went straight to the forums for the most part. As for your term as Speaker so far, how do you think it’s gone in terms of the performance of the office? What are you particularly proud of, and what do you think could have been done better so far? The Regional Assembly has been fairly busy over the last few weeks, so there’s been a lot to keep on top of!

Skaraborg: This term, I am very happy with the activity of the staff. Citizen Applications are handled quickly, votes are delivered on time and everyone in the office is playing their part to make sure the above is reality. Although last term was good, I think that we have improved even more in those areas (delivering votes on time , processing citizenship applications etc.) . So I am really happy with this term so far. The negative part is probably that we missed to reject two applications in May, something we didn’t do last term. But it’s a learning experience and it’s something we will make sure doesn’t happen again. But overall I am very pleased.

Kaschovia: It’s good to know you’re feeling positive about this term so far, Skaraborg. What is your reasoning behind having such a large group of Deputy Speakers? I understand the office requires a lot of administrative oversight and there are many tasks that can be delegated, but do you think having such a large group has yielded any benefits so far? And in that line of reasoning, have any of the deputies particularly impressed you this term, and why?

Skaraborg: I wanted to have a bigger team to be able to improve the efficiency of the office. It was not however the intention at the start of the term to have this many deputies! But there was a lot of interest to become deputies and I don’t see any disadvantages in having many deputies so I decided that a large group could work and I think this term shows it has. We have stepped up when it comes to delivering votes on time, processing applicants etc. I think we definitely would not have been better off without any of the deputies we have. There are definitely some that take a larger amount of work like Cloud with the applications and now that the sheet isn’t working properly, Sil Dorsett, but everyone has provided assistance and help to the office at multiple times and I am really grateful for that. Everyone plays a part in the office

Kaschovia: I think it’s totally fair to provide the opportunity to learn about the Speaker’s Office to as many interested deputies as possible, it keeps the leadership cycle fresh and allows for new ideas. It’s interesting you mention the sheet not working anymore. To what extent has the breaking of certain key tools affected the function of the office overall? It seems I have spoken to all previous guests this term about this issue, and yet it persists throughout many different areas of the region.

Skaraborg: We can’t check if the citizens have met the posting requirements on the forum or rmb and we can’t see if government officials have met the activity level. Luckily Sil Dorsett has been able with their own code to solve these issues, which I am grateful for. But relying on one person to do the status checks forever won’t work and therefore we need a way to fix the sheet so everyone can do the citizenship status checks. If only I was any good at technology that would definitely be something I would try to fix, but I am absolutely terrible at it so for now I’ll have to trust Sil.

Kaschovia: Having seen activity from within the discussions on putting together solutions for these issues, it seems Sil is really working hard to figure it all out, which I massively respect. But looking forward, what would you like to see change within the Speaker’s Office? Beyond the issues of the day, is there anything specific you can envision being introduced which could take the office to the next level? We’ve spoken about this term, but in terms of the future of the position, what could that possibly look like perhaps a year from now? Or will things remain mostly the same?

Skaraborg: Obviously our sheet needs redoing since it isn’t working properly. My main goal of the term is to continue producing and updating the Speaker’s guides in a couple of weeks. This office is quite straightforward and most of the time there is a right and a wrong. So to have guides put out will make it easier to learn how to complete all the administrative tasks as well as to remind yourself to make sure you’ve completed all steps. It was something I thought lacked when I first became deputy and with law changes the current guides are a bit out of date and need updating. I think that will prevent any mistakes in the office and take it to another level. If I had any more ideas on how to improve the office I would definitely try to implement them but at the moment I am very happy with how the office is functioning (except for the dysfunctionality of the sheets) So I think in a year a lot of the tech we have today will either have been revamped or replaced so the office can operate as efficiently as possible. Depending on future law changes, the office will also change, but I have it hard to see operate any other way otherwise.

Kaschovia: It sounds like you know what needs to be done, and for that I have confidence in your office to do the job! We’ve spoken quite a bit about the Speaker’s Office specifically, but now I’d like to focus on something else. Granted you eventually do give way for someone else to take the position of Speaker in future terms, where do you see yourself going after that in The North Pacific? Do any positions specifically appeal to you, and why?

Skaraborg: There are so many opportunities it’s hard to choose! I think a first step will be to increase my activity in the executive staff and provide more help to the different ministries. Not being Speaker will allow me to also focus more on other things such as TNPV and maybe just chatting and hanging around on various platforms such as discord, rmb and forums. I definitely haven’t made a decision, but I can’t see myself leaving TNP any time soon. If there was one elective position that I find very cool, it is being justice. I find myself reading a lot of things to do with law in my free time at the moment and I have familiarised myself quite a bit with TNP law as Speaker. But I am very new to the world of law and I would probably suck at it so I won’t be pursuing that in a while lol.

Kaschovia: It’s interesting the overlap between the Speaker’s Office and the judiciary branch of the region, and it makes sense that would be a natural area of interest for you given the responsibilities of the position you’re in. Now speaking of the TNPV and the RMB, and as someone who seems to be quite involved in the gameside areas of the region, I have noticed quite the uptick in RMB-focused events and culture, which is really cool to see! How important are those gameside areas for getting people involved in the government and the executive, and should we perhaps work more with those areas to organize cultural events in the future?

Skaraborg: TNP has one of the most active rmbs on NS so there is definitely potential to engage the Gameside even further. TNPV always gets over 20 participants and usually quite a lot more. Last autumn we have had as many has 63 or something similar if I recall correctly. I would personally like to see more Gameside events. Why not rmb trivia or other games on the rmb! I think what you need is simple events to engage the public. The basics of TNPV is pretty simple since you just send in a song link and then listen to other songs. I definitely think the government could host similar events and advertise them well because just like TNPV, it will increase engagement. Engagement is positive for the region and all of the ministries.

Kaschovia: The activity of the RMB never ceases to impress me, and if only some of them would come join the executive… regardless, there’s a lot of potential there I think needs realising. Okay, so in terms of your journey in NationStates, has there been one player in particular who has been a great mentor to you? Someone who you have learned a lot from, and who you look up to?

Skaraborg: I don’t know if I have ever had a “mentor” but I’ve had people who have definitely helped me along the way. I became great friends with a like six months older nation than me called Republica Guilleana and we basically hang around and they founded TNPV, we got involved as GAs together and we basically helped each other out and chatted and roleplayed together. We basically parted when I ran for Speaker and they half retired from nationstates though. In my campaigns for Speaker I would say Pallaith has definitely been very supportive and I wasn’t planning on running in the January elections until they asked me about it. I don’t think I’ve ever had an idol in real life or in Nationstates. I admire a lot of people in TNP for different reasons. Picking one is difficult when you learn a lot from many different people. I realise I try to learn and do things in my own way and not follow someone else’s footsteps. If I had to give you a more clearer answer then I’d say Republica Guilleana. Although they were also young to Nationstates, they showed me around when I was a newcomer and I really appreciate it

Kaschovia: It’s really awesome that you had someone who followed a similar path in those first few months in TNP and helped you along the way. I remember back in 2016 (wow) I had a lot of players who really encouraged me and entertained all of my ideas. That is such an important part of what makes our region successful. Now, in terms of NationStates itself, rather than the government of The North Pacific, what is it you enjoy most about the game? It could be issues, cards, resolutions, anything, but what about NationStates is it that you really enjoy more than anything else?

Skaraborg: I was not expecting to talk so much about TNPV as I have done and it really shows what an important part that competition has played in my NS career. It’s definitely the thing I enjoy the most on NationStates. But since you were asking for I presume one of NS’s mechanics I would say I mainly enjoy answering issues to get cards! I don’t know about you, but I find it quite satisfying to see my NS stats improving, getting rewarded for it with a pack of cards and there are some very interesting dilemmas you can encounter. I do enjoy N-day and Z-day as well! They are very fun!

Kaschovia: I’ve been getting into the cards scene a little bit more recently and I do still enjoy answering issues and ranking up my national statistics almost 8 years after I created my nation, granted there have been a few periods of inactivity in between! If you could speak to someone wanting to join The North Pacific to try and get them to join the region, what would you say? What, in your view, makes The North Pacific different to all other regions?

Skaraborg: Oh! This question takes me back to my time as Minister of Home Affairs when I basically had to answer the question you just posted on a regular basis. I’d say one of the best things about TNP is the diversity. It’s one of the most active regions and has something for everyone. We’ve got the cards guild for cards interested, an amazing set of Roleplay maps for the rp interested. We have the executive staff with a great variation of things to do from serving as ambassador in another region to hosting a Music Monday event! There is always something for everyone, no matter how laid back or how much work you want to do! That makes TNP stand out from any other region.

Kaschovia: Well, thank you so much for joining me on this edition of the Spotlight, Skaraborg! You have been a wonderful guest, and I wish you all the best of luck for the remainder of the term!

Skaraborg: Thank you very much! It’s been wonderful speaking to you! I wish you the best of luck as well!

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Thank you for reading!

The North Star: Lighting The Way To The Truth
Publisher: [nation]Gorundu[/nation] | Executive Editor: [nation]Kaschovia[/nation]

The North Star is produced by the Ministry of Communications on behalf of the Government of The North Pacific and is distributed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs externally and the Ministry of Communications internally.
Except where otherwise indicated, all content represents the views of the Government of The North Pacific.

Index of Issues

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!

Arafuttio

Apologies for it being completely gigantic. I can put it in a spoiler if you want. The magazine version is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gYipbzwlnkYvgJbab3kHp6Fao2DSFaHi/view?usp=sharing

Jutomi

Arafuttio Hey Arafuttio; I know I’m like 2 months late to take you up on this, but any chance you could try spoilering that really, really huge update? I just realized it takes up well over 90% of this thread xD

Arafuttio

Gorundu has resigned as Delegate of The North Pacific. Chipoli has assumed the position of Acting Delegate. More information will be provided in the upcoming issue of The North Star.

Arafuttio

Check out the latest issue of The North Star, the North Pacific’s monthly magazine, lighting the way to truth!

https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1918363

Jutomi

Man. TNP is really having some moments rn aren’t they?
Well I thank you and the communication team for keeping us posted. The drama is admittedly fascinating to watch from afar. But in Forest just having a small rustle in the trees is already newsworthy… I don’t think most of us would like to see the kind of events you all are having. Good luck to you folks!

Arafuttio

Jutomi It was very exciting! I do enjoy the drama but I see the appeal of being in a peaceful region like Forest!

kaschovia

The North Star - Issue XXIX

Magazine Version

Editor’s Note

Dear readers,

Welcome to this latest issue of The North Star. Wow. This feels good to say. I wrote a really long editor’s note detailing a bunch of things but I’ve come to the realisation that all those words aren’t necessary. This has been such an experience. I’m so proud of what everyone has accomplished. Let’s dive in.

The North Star is our flagship in terms of our publications. It’s something that requires a lot of work, a lot of micro-management, but most importantly a lot of passion and dedication. These are things the incredible staff members have repeatedly shown while producing this issue. I wish extend my sincerest gratitude to everyone involved. We couldn’t have done it without you. A special thanks to Minister of Communications, Robespierre, and Delegate Kaschovia whose leadership and support continue to drive us forward.

This issue is, as always, packed with exciting content. Dive into the details of our General Elections, an article about the 10 year anniversary of our treaty with Europeia, and a captivating retelling of the unwarranted attack of the Brotherhood of Malice and the Communist Bloc on the North. Furthermore, this issue includes a surprisingly interesting article about our special judicial elections and finally an exclusive interview with the Speaker of the Regional Assembly, Cloud.

Lastly, the staff of the Ministry of Communications extend our heartfelt gratitude to you, the reader, for taking the time to read this issue of TNS. As I’ve said in a previous editor’s note, The North Star remains a source of immense pride for us and we hope you enjoy every moment reading through this issue.

Cheers,

Halsoni Executive Deputy Minister of Communications

General Elections Over by Arawi

Last month saw the latest round of general elections conclude. These elections determined the Delegate, Vice Delegate, and the Speaker of the Regional Assembly, each entailing their own responsibilities. After a hectic few months, can the winners lead the North Pacific forward into a bright and hopeful future?

Delegate

The Delegate is the head of government and head of state of TNP, responsible for leading the Ministries of the Executive Council and overseeing the general regional business. After a recent recall vote of the sitting Delegate, the trustworthiness and activity of the Delegate was a major factor in how citizens voted. The candidates both knew how difficult this term would be.

Many citizens were nominated for Delegate, however eventually the pool whittled down to two - Chipoli, the then serving Acting Delegate, and Kaschovia, former Vice Delegate and Minister of Communications. Both of these candidates promised a set of ambitious steps and reforms for TNP.

Let’s start with Chipoli.

Having served as Acting Delegate since Gorundu’s resignation, Chipoli already had some experience in the job. Chipoli’s slogan was ‘Reigniting TNP’, something that would need to happen amid the stagnation in Executive Staff numbers, and the general activity of the Executive. Speaking of the Executive, Chipoli promised a more hands-on approach to the Executive Staff and constantly checking in on the activities of the Ministries, bringing back cabinet voice chatting, processing Executive Staff applications quicker, and generally improving communication within the Executive.

Chipoli also wished to improve the activity of the Gameside Advocates, particularly encouraging them to engage gameside dwellers in the activities of the Executive, improving excitement in the region which would lead to more Executive Staff applications.

Chipoli also outlined their goals for each individual ministry. Let’s start with World Assembly Affairs, responsible for deciding on how TNP votes on each WA proposal and encouraging new writers, amongst other duties. Chipoli’s main priority for WA Affairs was to reinvigorate the Gameside Engagement Program, which allows gameside players to vote on our Delegate vote without having to join the forums. Another priority of Chipoli was to hold another WA symposium in the World Assembly Legislative League to increase excitement about WA Affairs in the wider NS world.

In Communications, the Ministry producing the region’s informative publications and broadcasts, Chipoli prioritised ramping up the number of ‘The Northern Notes’ (an short internal news publication) published, as well as introducing new Foreign Affairs publications for the region to know about foreign happenings.

That takes us nicely into Foreign Affairs. Chipoli addressed the attack from TCB and BoM on TNP in their campaign, promising to keep sanctions up and not back down. They also promised a positive but cautious reconciliation of relations between TSP and TNP. Finally, they promised to further relations with more regions, in terms of more bilateral treaties and alliances.

In Culture, Chipoli promised more short, but often external events to be organised by TNP, as well as events to ‘bring the people of TNP closer together’, such as Chess and keeping Theme Thursdays and Music Mondays going, and showcases of the activities of TNP nations. For Home Affairs, Chipoli wished to introduce incentives for producing telegram lists, as well as bringing back the Welcome Wagon, a program designed to keep TNP spawns in the region by warmly welcoming them. And at last but not least, Defense. Chipoli promised more training missions to train new soldiers, (and particularly with a war with BoM and TCB looming), as well as a recruitment campaign on both the NS site and the forums.

Let’s move to Kaschovia.

Whilst Chipoli and Kaschovia did share some campaign points, Kasch also had some unique promises. Firstly, Kasch used their time rejuvenating the Ministry of Communications as a platform for the Delegacy. But let’s start with their promises for Defense. Kasch already had a lot of experience in Defense, serving as Deputy Minister there as well as serving in NPA High Command. Their main priorities were integrating High Command members into training and recruitment, something which Kasch also promised to improve to be consistent and successful. They also promised a better rewards system, and a hall of fame for decorated officers with wonderful stories of military ops.

Next, Foreign Affairs. Kasch focused on training new diplomats in the ways of the seemingly-daunting world of Foreign Affairs. This included, instructional case studies, a visualisation of TNP’s allies, and using diplomats for more duties rather than the current announcement and publication sharing duties. Kasch also promised strengthening new alliances with The Wellspring and Carcassone, and also touched upon the tensions with TCB and BoM, promising to do what is best for TNP’s community and never back down.

Let’s move to Culture. Kasch had some similar undertakings to Chipoli in Culture, too promising to expand on weekly events like Theme Thursday and Music Monday, as well as holding small, but often interregional activities, and more festivals.

And now, WA Affairs. Kasch mainly prioritised revamping the World Assembly Acceleration Program, designed to help new WA proposal authors use the experience of our wonderful WA veterans to help them become successful in that. They also promised to dedicate more time to the interregional Heroes of Valhalla program, which allows regions to collaborate on writing SC commendations, as well as expanding on the Staff Mentorship program.

Penultimately, Home Affairs. Kasch promised to use the API recruitment technology as soon as possible after it is fixed, as well as donated stamps, in order to combat declining nation numbers caused by the Frontier/Strongholds update. Another promise in HA was to improve incentives for doing the sometimes arduous but essential work of HA, as well as supporting Gameside Engagement, a very underrated duty of HA.

Finally, Communications. Kasch pledged to have a better behind-the-scenes process for tracking the progress of the ministry. As well as this, other promises included facilitating collaboration on publication design, officialising the NBS system and making it more efficient, and continuing the rewards system.

Phew! That must have been a long read. Now to the results. Despite both candidates having strong campaigns, Kaschovia celebrated a strong win, taking 59% of the vote over 41% for Chipoli.

Vice Delegate

Don’t worry. This bit’s shorter. After many nominations, the pool for Vice Delegate, responsible for leading the Security Council and overseeing the region’s endorsement levels, whittled down to three, the only election out of the three to have three candidates. NutmegTheSquirrel, Fregerson and Blue Wolf II all put their name in the hat for the position.

Nutmeg promised a daily endorsement update as well as the usual weekly report given by the VD on endorsement levels. As well as this, they promised a revitalisation of the WADP, fuelled by the new Keeper of the North technology, giving incentives such as a Weekly WADP Poll, where each day a Keeper of the North would be asked to give an option for a poll. These two priorities would be part of the Gameside Engagement with the SC, where gameside players can engage with the SC.

Fregerson had different ideas. They pledged a focus on endotarting and working to keep high endorsement levels, something which would need to be prioritised after the recent Delegate tip. They also promised linking the Security Council to the Executive, allowing the SC’s experience to assist in making Executive decisions. Blue Wolf II unfortunately didn’t launch a campaign.

The end result was a win for Fregerson, taking 53% of the vote.

Speaker

The election for the overseer of the Regional Assembly was less tight, but no less important than the others. After a very large amount of nominations, the pool eventually whittled down to two: Cloud, a then-serving Deputy Speaker, and Chao Phraya, a newcomer to regional politics.

Cloud promised to finish off the guides for new Deputy Speakers and continue the ‘Mini Citizens Stats Report’ and turn it into a weekly publication. Chao Phraya tried to ease concerns about their lack of experience by promising they had quickly educated themselves with the regional law of the region. Their main priority was to appoint more Deputy Speakers and to also continue the Mini Citizen Stat Report. Unfortunately, their campaign took a hit after disrespectful comments that they made on the RMB were revealed. Cloud won with a landslide, taking 98% of the vote.

Well, that’s it. It’s been an interesting election season, with lots of ideas for the region going forward. Congratulations to the winners and commiserations to those who weren’t so lucky. Let’s hope that the winning candidates can lead TNP to a new light.

Attack On The North by Lord Dominator

On August 26/7th, for the first time in many years, the in-game delegacy of The North Pacific was held by a nation unintended by the regional government to be holding it. Certainly, Pallaith, as one of the region’s most notable delegates of recent years and at the top of the succession list, isn’t a security threat.

Nevertheless, Pallaith was not the intended holder of the office at the time, either for a brief period during a regular delegacy transition or for any other planned reason. Nor was the brief interlude an accident of endorsements that caused him to be “elected” as the game puts it. No, for the first time in many years, The North Pacific had suffered a direct attack from a bloc of foreign actors with malice of forethought.

The delegacy bump, for that is what it ultimately was, was committed by The Communist Bloc (TCB), with support from their allies in The Brotherhood of Malice (BoM). BoM (or Malice, as this author prefers) is not new to the creation of incidents designed to provoke TNP, having periodically (and somewhat pointlessly) raided their ally Stargate more than a half dozen times and another ally in International Democratic Union on September 23rd, just a week or so before this very article. The attacks and provocations of Malice are not new, nor are their justifications for them new – if updated occasionally to reflect the negative responses of their targets. Their attacks hadn’t previously assaulted TNP directly, but that is just as likely to have been a lack of opportunity than any particular interest in not doing so.

TCB, however, is a new player in orchestrating direct or indirect attacks on TNP, having not previously crossed the North militarily outside of unrelated R/D conflicts when they or an ally of them raided a region. For a long time, TCB has antagonized the North Pacific through rhetorical and provocatory statements about world events and in their open, diplomatic alignment with Malice, therefore n support of the destructive actions they have repeatedly perpetrated against allies of the North. Not only have guests from TNP been disrespected in their spaces, but our regional laws and expectations have been cast aside and ignored too. TCB has shown repeatedly where they stand in relation to the North Pacific, but the attack carried out on August 27th was their first direct swipe at our community.

Whatever else was happening in inter-regional affairs, their stated reason for leading a direct attack on The North Pacific is in direct response to the following from then-delegate Gorundu when a proposal was before the NS Security Council to injunct (thus preventing a switch to Frontier status or the acquisition of a Governor): “I would further note that members of TCB have expressed that they are only transitioning to Frontier as part of a larger process to secure a non-CTE Governor for the region, which poses a different threat to us than if they become a Frontier. This would have the effect of rendering TCB unraidable, which would be detrimental to our interests given their current status as one of the regions most actively engaged in destructive raiding and antagonization of Independent regions such as ourselves.”

Certainly, neither the proposal itself nor the recommendation from the Ministry of WA Affairs made any mention of attacking or attempting regime change in TCB. Nevertheless, as Gorundu was still the delegate at the time, TCB interpreted the remarks as something akin to regional policy. Thus the stage was set for TCB’s eventual retaliation for that and for TNP’s vote in favor of Injuncting The Communist Bloc. It was, somewhat ironically in the wake of Gorundu’s own resignation as Delegate to narrowly avoid being recalled from office that they found their opportunity.

Along with Malice and their aforementioned attacks on Stargate, they proceeded to jump in near the regional update and endorse Pallaith, thus adding sufficient endorsements to them to overcome the endorsement count of the actual delegate in Chipoli. Abetting this attack was the fact that due to a sudden change in delegates and the attempts to switch over the seat, the gap between Chipoli and Pallaith was far narrower than it normally would have been in regular circumstances. The delegate bump itself did no damage, outside of embarrassment of course, as Pallaith was about the best person there was to briefly hold the delegacy in such circumstances.

Reactions from other regions were rapid, if fairly predictable. Defenders and allies of TNP were quick to denounce such violations of regional sovereignty and the non-Malice raiders were publicly silent on the matter. Perhaps the only unexpected announcement was that of Lazarus announcing sanctions on TCB and Malice, due to their usual non-involvement in Gameplay conflicts (and perhaps the lack of knowledge that Lazarus possessed such options in their FA toolkit). The reaction within the North was of course similarly expected, with then-Delegate Chipoli indicating the possible declaration of war being on the table (or the similar, but subtly different recognition of a state of war) should the Regional Assembly agree. As of the writing of this article, no such determination has been made.

While to this writer’s recollection the act escaped the unfortunate tendency of R/Ders to name their every action with a fancy operation name, it is perhaps one of the few actions that might actually warrant such a title, no matter how inconsequential the action itself was. Certainly not nothing, but the intent behind it was far bigger than bumping one member of the region’s Security Council into the regional delegacy.

A Decade Of Friendship by Francois Isidore and Kaschovia

As time marches on, milestones come and go. Some are more noticeable than others, and, consequently, some receive considerably more fanfare than others too. What’s undeniable, however, is that over a decade of continued friendship and warm relations is truly an achievement worth celebrating. Such is the case between The North Pacific (TNP) and the Republic of Europeia (Euro), who commemorated this event in NationStates history with the aptly named 10 More Years! Festival.

Indeed, the treaty of friendship sprung up from humble beginnings in August of 2013. Originally signed by Delegate Jamie Anumia and President Cerian Basileus Rex Quilor Anacreoni-Anumia, the treaty enjoyed widespread support from the Regional Assembly of the day. It was only fitting that an event should be held to celebrate such a momentous milestone in the relationship between the two regions, and so planted were the seeds of planning and of festivity.

The festival began on September the 22nd with an opening joint statement from the Europeian President JayDee and Kaschovia, the Delegate of the North Pacific, which read: “Welcome one and all to the 10 More Years! TNP/Euro Celebration! A celebration of 10 years of Friendship and 10 years more! Thank you all for joining us in celebration of this monumental achievement, in a constantly changing game, it’s great to have such a strong ally at our side. Please take advantage of the Chit Chat to talk to citizens from other regions and get to know each other, and be sure to represent your region proudly in our competitive games!”

And so both communities embarked on a journey of tightly fought spam games, adorable pictures of pets, an adaptation of the hunger games, and so much more.

The first official games to open were the Hunger Games, run by President JayDee. The event saw over fifteen tributes, making up four districts, and lasted for nine days within the fictional confines of the story. On the first day, Delegate Kaschovia had his nose broken by Europeian Minister of Communications Phoenix, but managed to survive on fruit collected from a tree before dying from an infection on the second day, while JayDee was swiftly disposed of by Thresh at the cornucopia. Who knew the celebration of a decade could turn so violent? After an additional week of morbid tragedies and definitely “accidental” deaths, Icarus was crowned the winner of the games, beating out the likes of Bobberino and Pland Adanna on the last two days.

A more peaceful affair ensued following the bloodbath that was the 10 More Years! Hunger Games: Card Cing! Run by Spagtop, we saw many decks containing the most TNP/Euro cards on display, with notable cards collector UPC boasting their completed Season 3 Europeia deck while Maowi proudly displayed their collection of sloth themed cards from both regions including Siwale and Sopo.

Impressively, El Fiji Grande, former Delegate of the North Pacific, compiled a collection totalling in at 264 TNP and Europeian cards, with some impressive Season 1 and 2 legendaries, while Martyn Kiryu mentioned their mind boggling collection of 6596 Ultra Rare Cards, just four away from a complete deck combining all Ultra Rare cards from Europeia and the North Pacific, coming in at over 250 pages!

In most of the spammier games, both regions were either united or completely divided. For example, a tug of war event was one of the first to get going. The count started at 500, and each region needed to get that number to zero (TNP) or 1000 (Europeia). An early showing by some of TNP’s finest spammers secured victory relatively sooner than expected after just over four hours, a nod to the strong tradition of OOC subforums and spam game culture in the region.

On a more collaborative note, both regions wanted to count to infinity but sadly only reached 206. King of the Chill was a great addition to the games roster, as members from both communities tried to be the last to post in the channel, which eventually (five days after the festival was scheduled to end) saw Maowi take victory. Some of the other ongoings hosted were an arts and crafts stall, which saw many wonderful works submitted, from creative drawings in biro pen to sketches of frogs in boats!

The festival was a genuine coming together of two vibrant communities filled with unique and talented characters, both seeking positive vibes in these uncertain times. It made one thing clear: the importance of simple, light-hearted fun. All too often we can get caught up in serious topics and debate in NationStates, but it is more important than ever to take a step back and have a good laugh with friends from time to time. That’s ultimately what this was, and though the last ten years may still have been scattered with times of uncertainty and challenge, may the next ten years be spent with the same never ending energy pursuing the mutual interests that have formed the basis of such a crucial partnership for so long.

Special Judicial Elections by Kaschovia

As per Section 4.7 of the Legal Code, special elections are held when there is ‘a vacancy in any elected office or position…’ which is coincidentally the situation we found ourselves in when I appointed former Court Justice Pallaith (a.k.a Ghost) as Minister of Foreign Affairs after my election as World Assembly Delegate for the September term. As grateful as I was for his agreeing to take up the role, it left behind a vacancy on the Court, which of course would need filling by way of a special election until the main judicial elections take place in November. A great opportunity now presented itself to many aspiring justices, who had to put out their platforms on much shorter notice than usual, and convincingly answer the voters’ questions if they wanted a seat on the Court.

Though twelve nominations were declined and eight ignored, three candidates eventually stepped forward and accepted their nominations. The first to do so was Gorundu, former Delegate and member of the Bar Commission, who outright declared candidacy instead of accepting a nomination. The second was Lord Dominator, currently a Temporary Hearing Officer and member of the Bar Commission, who accepted Sil Dorsett’s nomination. And finally, Wymondham, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Lazarene Court Justice, accepted Arawi’s nomination. What an experienced and competitive selection of candidates! Gorundu was quick to post his platform first, followed by Lord Dominator a day later, and then Wymondham last, all putting their first steps forward in vying for the confidence of the region.

Gorundu began his platform touting his experience as a Bar Commissioner, a prosecutor, and the author of a ‘rather controversial R4R.’ He also mentioned his authorship of multiple passed Regional Assembly bills and his experience as Speaker, Election Commissioner, Vice Delegate, and Delegate in interpreting regional law. Gorundu then expressed support for various ideas before the Court today, such as voluntary recusals for absence and “no contest” pleas, which he believed would be small steps “towards a more intuitive and more efficient legal system.” His platform continued around other specific areas of reform such as prosecutor discretion, processes and criteria for accepting criminal cases, motions during trial, and selection of Hearing Officers. The platform closed by emphasizing the importance of progress in broader judicial discussions alongside the Regional Assembly and Bar Commission, ending with the sentiment that it’s important “we continue to explore solutions.” Gorundu answered the two questions that were posed to him on his activity levels and his strengths over the other candidates well, arguing that the Court should be willing to accept more requests for review instead of handing them over to the RA to deal with.

In comparison, Lord Dominator’s platform went for the minimal approach, with just one sentence mentioning their relevant experience as a multiple-time former Justice and current THO. To summarize the answers Lord Dominator gave to the three questions asked before the voting period opened - they did not have any particular plans for judicial reform beyond continuing existing work, they would make sure their activity levels were sufficient enough for the office, and although their experience as a former Justice is an obvious strength, they thought the other candidates would do just fine in the role.

And finally, Wymondham’s platform was posted on Friday the 15th of September, just two days before the voting period began. He opened his platform by saying that although he is a newcomer to “TNPs formidable legal tradition”, his experience as a Justice in Lazarus, where he authored multiple legal opinions and “presided over numerous criminal trials”, would be useful in addressing current issues around legal reform.

Wymondham championed a much more restrained philosophy for the Court in his campaign, elaborating that the Court of The North Pacific “is not a legislative body and must therefore refrain from acting as one.” The utility of the Regional Assembly in preventing over-litigation is a clear pillar of Wymondham’s judicial philosophy, which resonated with multiple voters in the campaign thread. As for the various ideas for legal reform, he mentioned his support for recusal due to absence, yet caution over codifying no contest pleas and prosecutor discretion.

On the 22nd of September, the results posted by the Election Commission announced Wymondham had been elected as Court Justice, receiving thirty-one votes; fourteen more than Lord Dominator and twenty-three more than Gorundu. Commenters lauded his strong platform and willingness to rely more on the Regional Assembly to deal with certain matters. It seems Wymondham was the dark horse in the race compared to Gorundu and Lord Dominator, two candidates who already had significant judicial experience, yet brought something refreshing and unique to the election which ultimately won the confidence of the voters.

It will be very interesting to see how the next few weeks play out with plenty of judicial reforms on the cards. The North Star also reached out to Wymondham for a comment following his win:

“I am truly honoured to have been chosen by my fellow citizens to serve as a Justice for the remainder of the term. I want to pay tribute to my opponents LD and Gorundu for a well fought campaign. I cannot wait to get started and am super excited about what the next few months might hold. My immediate priority, as of now, is to keep things moving with the discussions around the court reform proposals which were brought forwards during August.”

Congratulations to Wymondham on winning the election! And of course, commiserations to both Gorundu and Lord Dominator.

The Spotlight 35: Interview with Speaker Cloud by Halsoni

Halsoni: Hello! My name’s Halsoni and as demonstrated by the title of this article I’m joined by the Speaker of the Regional Assembly, Cloud ( Marlducro ). This interview is part of the Spotlight Interview Series where we ask some of the most active and greatest members of TNP some very intriguing questions! So how are you feeling, Cloud?

Cloud: I feel great! Thank you for having me.

Halsoni: So, let’s start off with the elephant in the room - the elections. What was going through your head going into the General Elections?

Cloud: I was still pretty hesitant even after 8 months of preparation for the role, but I decided to just go with it, and now here I am!

Halsoni: You say you were feeling hesitant. Why is that? You were already nominated in the previous election so where did that come from?

Cloud: With everything that has transpired, such as the TSP controversy and the Gorundu recalls, I thought I’d be overwhelmed with everything. Those events made me question whether I was truly ready to become the Speaker or not. However, we ended up dealing with them quite well, and I finally felt ready to run for the position, but I definitely wasn’t ready in May.

Halsoni: So, let’s take a step back. When and how did you get started on NationStates? What got you initially started in TNP?

Cloud: I found a video by Drew Durnil on the game and found it interesting, so I decided to create a nation and ended up getting founded in TNP. I wasn’t really involved in the region that much for a while up until November, when I applied for home affairs, primarily because Kasto was the minister then. Then, in January, I approached Skaraborg because I was curious as to how the Speaker’s office operated.

Halsoni: Oh, wow! You were part of the Drew Durnil boom. That’s really interesting. So what was it that made you interested in the Speaker’s Office?

Cloud: I wanted to see how they managed everything, since that kind of baffled me. With the number of citizens we have, I thought it was impossible to maintain the documents they record everything in. Then I found out they have tools at their disposal, two of which are now unfortunately non-functional.

Halsoni: So as you were primarily involved in the citizenship processing part of the Speaker’s Office, what are some of the challenges you had to face with this? Talk us through the process of doing the Speaker’s Test.

Cloud: The first time I handled an application, I was very scared because I could just destroy the entire sheet. So I carefully went through every step with the help of the guide, and if the guide didn’t provide the help I needed, I went directly to Skaraborg for help. Over time, I got the hang of it and eventually handled citizenship applications very quickly. It typically only takes me around two minutes to input everything in the sheet and a few more minutes to double-check everything to make sure it’s correct.

Halsoni: So you’ve now served as Speaker for a little bit of time. What have you accomplished so far? What are some of the hard parts of being Speaker you weren’t aware of, if there were any?

Cloud: I haven’t really accomplished anything yet, but I have handled votes and some citizenship applications. Chipoli handles most applications nowadays in times when I’m not around, but when I get the opportunity, I do handle applications and citizenship checks. As for the second question, I wasn’t aware of how hard handling votes was. >.> The first time I did it was a nightmare for me. They aren’t as hard now, but I still have to look at the guides every now and then to not make a mistake.

Halsoni: Haha! Great to know that even the people in charge need some help sometimes! It’s not just me who sits here being confused all day! We’ve now talked about some of the more negative sides of being Speaker. What are some of the most fun parts for you?

Cloud: Well, firstly, I have this very cool colour now! I think it suits me well. Second, serving the region in such a capacity is a very rewarding feeling, and having the trust of the citizenry is great too. Some people might find the idea of maintaining a spreadsheet boring, but I’m one of those people who thinks it’s a fun task. Being the Speaker is easy and fun at the same time!

Halsoni: That’s great to hear! So you’ve appointed quite the amount of Deputies, 10 to be exact. What’s the thought process behind this? You also stated in your campaign you’d appoint anyone who’s interested in being a deputy. Why is this?

Cloud: My thought process was “let me find out if they want to stay or not” because I don’t want to randomly leave people in the dark. Almost everyone did, and I even have three new deputies! I’d appoint anyone interested because I believe in letting people serve and not restricting them, as well as finding out what’s for them, because everyone deserves an opportunity to grow and flourish.

Halsoni: So looking forward, what are some of the things you’d want to change in the Speaker’s Office?

Cloud: Not much, really; everything’s fine the way it is for now. I would like to see the guides completed with the help of my deputies and more people showing interest in the office, so that’s a goal for the long run.

Halsoni: It’s great to hear that the Speaker’s Office is very stable at the moment! So, you’ll eventually have to give this seat to someone else, even if it’s going to take a few months. What are some of your other interests in the region and where would you like to progress next?

Cloud: I think I’d take a step back for a bit, then review the Security Council and potentially the court as well. Being the Vice Delegate or a Justice is pretty cool, and some day I’d like to become either one of them. After that, I don’t really have any more goals since the Delegate’s job is too stressful for me.

Halsoni: Oh, very interesting! Why would you be interested in those positions?

Cloud: The Vice Delegate’s job is pretty interesting because of its high endorsement count (of course) as well as chairing one of, if not the most important branch of the government, which is responsible for, of course, regional security. Being a Justice is equally interesting, and presiding over court cases and r4rs sounds pretty cool.

Halsoni: You mention the Delegate’s job being too stressful, why is that? What are some of the parts of the job that you would find the hardest?

Cloud: As the Delegate of one of the largest regions, it naturally comes with challenges, some of which can even take down entire administrations. I find the foreign affairs aspect of the job the most stressful, since they’re constantly facing hostiles, and maintaining the region’s image can also be quite a challenge. Maintaining a cabinet can also be difficult, but this can be easily resolved with collaboration and good communication among everyone.

Halsoni: So, you’re a cosmopolitan, right? I personally don’t really care about it, as I am one myself. You are/were involved in quite a lot of regions. Are there things from other regions you’d like to take inspiration from and introduce in TNP, one way or another?

Cloud: Well, not really. I think TNP is fine with its current system, but I do think the dispatches need a lot of work. Newcomers may find them very confusing to navigate, and I think having clear, concise, and easily accessible resources will really help everyone in the long run. TWP and TSP have very well-designed dispatches, and I believe we can take inspiration from them and develop our own style in the process.

Halsoni: What are some parts of NationStates, apart from being involved in government, that you enjoy partaking in? I’ve kind of been into stats lately, trying to get those up a little bit. Also cards seem very cool but also a little bit daunting for me haha. What about you?

Cloud: Chatting with nations in the RMB and endotarting are both things I enjoy doing, even though I’m currently prohibited from doing one of them. I don’t know about you, but endorsing nations is pretty fun, imo. Issues aren’t as fun as they used to be, but I still do them from time to time. Cards is something I considered getting into, but the scripts were too confusing for me.

Halsoni: I just pray to every god out there that I get a legendary haha. I’ve never really looked into scripts, though. Anyhow, what is a message you’d like to send to the citizens in TNP who’d like to get involved in government?

Cloud: Go for it! Whatever it is you want to do, just go for it and do it! Don’t be afraid, especially when it comes to the elections. Losing is a part of the process, and it can help you learn how to be better. We’ve been needing new blood for a while now, and I’d like to see all of you become one of the greatest players in the region and maybe even the entire game! Don’t be afraid, and go for it!

Halsoni: That’s a great thing to say! On that note I’d like to thank you for this interview! You’ve been a wonderful interviewee and good luck on the rest of your term as Speaker and all your future endeavours!

Cloud: Thank you so much! This was fun.

Thank you for reading!

The North Star: Lighting The Way To The Truth

Publisher: Kaschovia | Executive Editors: Francois Isidore , Halsoni

The North Star is produced by the Ministry of Communications on behalf of the Government of The North Pacific and is distributed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs externally and the Ministry of Communications internally.Except where otherwise indicated, all content represents the views of the Government of The North Pacific.

Index of Issues

kaschovia

To War

To all North Pacificans,

We are officially at war.

Our Regional Assembly has passed two motions recognizing that a state of war exists between The North Pacific and both the Communist Bloc (TCB) and the Brotherhood of Malice (BoM), and has also passed a separate motion exempting them, their territories or possessions, and regions which are operated by their members and contribute to their military or support their cause, from legal prohibitions on members of the North Pacific Army performing Class B restricted actions.

In the days following TCB and BoM’s invasion of our region on August 27th with their delegate tip and the subsequent release of former Acting Delegate Chipoli’s statement “Taking A Stand” on August 29th, the Brotherhood of Malice has continued to engage in further hostilities against our community and friends, most recently in their raids against multiple treaty allies, where they openly begged for a war despite their “Vampire King” vehemently claiming it was us that wanted one. If their insatiable desire for conflict has not been made clear enough through all of the baseless, self-serving narratives they spin and push wherever they can, insulting our region and its members, their actions over the last two months definitely have. While we deliberated over the best course of action in response to these provocations, it is now the mandate of the region to recognize and act on the fact that a state of war exists between ourselves and those regions, which I intend to carry through until the end.

In the wake of our participation in the ongoing operation in Solidarity, we have seen these same conflict-seeking enemies attempt to recast us as aggressors interested in waging a war based on political ideology, and one that The North Pacific does not subscribe to. We trust that the nations of the world recognize these desperate lies for what they are, but I want to state clearly that this is not at all a war of political ideology. We engage in this conflict not only for ourselves, but for our friends and allies who have had their sovereignty violated at the hands of the Communist Bloc and the Brotherhood of Malice. The operation in Solidarity also demonstrates as clearly as possible that we not only have significant backing from our allies, the defender sphere at large, and numerous independent militaries in our counteroffensive efforts, we also have the support of many regions who have similarly suffered as a result of the aggression of TCB and BoM. Those communities too, and their allies, are just as tired of the insults, threats, and rhetoric, and have decided that we have to take a stand much greater and more impactful than ever before. We will show the world, and in particular the two regions with which we now meet on the field of battle, that we will never be discouraged by the tactics they employ, we will never back down as a community because of their threats, and we will never let our allies suffer at their discretion without consequence.

Our region has faced countless challenges throughout our history and prevailed every single time - this will be no different. This is a direct call to arms for all North Pacificans, no matter what position you hold, to show that we are united in our efforts, prepared for any eventuality, and will fight until the end. Various dispatches will be released today to highlight avenues of participation for all residents of the North Pacific. But we also call on the citizens of the world to join us in standing up to these enemies of freedom and peace. To anyone who respects the efforts of our collective residents to build a vibrant and ever-improving interregional community, and believes that the work we’ve all put into it amounts to something and is worth preserving and protecting - join us in this fight.

To the Communist Bloc and the Brotherhood of Malice: you’ve been dreaming of this moment, caught up in your web of rhetoric, itching with anticipation for a war with the North, but it’s time to wake up and face the real consequences of your aggression. You cannot expect us to do nothing while you directly attack our region and our allies, and blatantly violate our sovereignty. You cannot expect to do these things and remain unscathed and unchallenged, nor can you hold the world ransom and expect it to let you have your way with it. We carry with us the undying flame of democracy, one that has fueled our independent spirit for two decades and united thousands of North Pacificans against adversity and against anyone who dares challenge our way of life. It is the bedrock of our community, inseparable from who we are. And that flame is not ours alone, but one that we have always sought to share with the world. Not only will we carry it with us in this war, but we will bring it to every nation who believes in the same values and principles that we hold dear, and is willing to fight for them. You are only now beginning to realize that this fight isn’t just with us, and it is not the same thing as slinging mud and taunting us in gameplay. You will face the judgment of the world and the hundreds of nations you have antagonized and victimized for over a year. It is not just The North Pacific who is taking a stand and fighting back today, and it will not solely be our victory when you are but a mere footnote in this game’s history.

Signed,

Kaschovia

Delegate of the North Pacific

Pallaith

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the North Pacific

Find the dispatch here: https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1940208

kaschovia

The North Star - Issue XXX

Magazine Version

Editor’s Note

Dear readers,

Once again I welcome you to this brand new issue of The North Star. It’s been an honour to present the last two issues to you and it’s my pleasure to introduce you to this one as well. This publication means a lot to me and the consistent effort put in by the writers and editors honestly make my day. Let’s take a look, shall we?

The North Star serves as one of the most notable newspapers in NationStates. The flagship of the North Pacific’s Ministry of Communications. We’re so proud of this issue but I, of course, could not have done it without the amazing staffers of the Ministry. You all are absolutely invaluable to the quality of this publication and I honestly cannot thank you all enough. A special thank you goes out to Delegate Kaschovia and Minister Robespierre for their leadership and to Picairn for being such an amazing writer and awesome to work with. Thank you all!

This issue is, of course, packed to the brim with exciting content. Such as a thrilling article on the war with the Brotherhood of Malice and The Communist Bloc, an explosive story about N-Day, an article about the Chess Arena II the West Pacific, a spooky article about our Spirit Halloween Festival with the Wellspring and Carcassone, and finally an exciting and exclusive interview with Vice Delegate Fregerson. Incredibly interesting to read, for sure! Have fun!

Finally, we, the Ministry of Communications, extend our heartfelt appreciation to you, the reader, for taking the time to read this issue of The North Star. I’ve said this probably a dozen times now but TNS remains a source of immense pride for us and we cannot wait for you to experience the same.

Cheers,

Halsoni
Executive Deputy Minister of Communications

War In The North by Picairn

The North Pacific Declares War

On October 5th, 2023, The North Pacific (TNP) officially declared war on The Communist Bloc (TCB) and the Brotherhood of Malice (BoM). After a month of deliberation and 7 days of voting, the Regional Assembly – TNP’s citizen legislature – overwhelmingly passed both declarations of war against the former and the latter by a two-thirds majority. For the first time in 15 years since its last declaration of war in 2008, The North Pacific has found itself in a formal conflict with two notorious raider organisations as a result of their relentless provocations and attacks, culminating in the most significant assault on TNP’s sovereignty in recent history: a Delegate-tip of then-Acting Vice Delegate Pallaith to the WA Delegacy on August 27th, inadvertently toppling then-Acting Delegate Chipoli from the seat and disrupting a decade of TNP’s peaceful transition of power.

In direct response to this brazen act of aggression, Delegate Kaschovia announced an Exemption for Military Activity against TCB and BoM, as well as their allies and territories on September 26th, which lifted all limitations on members of the North Pacific Army (NPA) from performing Class A restricted actions against those regions. Six days later, the Regional Assembly also ratified a broader Exemption, which would remove all legal prohibitions on the NPA from performing Class B restricted actions on our designated adversaries. In simple terms, soldiers and officers of the NPA are now explicitly authorised to change World Factbook Entries, close Embassies, suppress RMB posts, apply passwords, ban and eject any nations native to TCB, BoM and their allies without their consent as military retaliation against their previous attacks.

TNP’s declaration of war soon followed after on October 5th, as noted at the start. After it had been approved by the Regional Assembly, Delegate Kaschovia published the statement To War in which he announced that a state of war now exists between The North Pacific vis-à-vis The Communist Bloc and the Brotherhood of Malice. Recounting the events of the August 27th invasion and subsequent continued provocations from BoM and TCB, our Delegate called upon all North Pacificans to arms, as well as allies and friends of TNP who had been similarly antagonised, to stand up against raider aggression. He also spoke of the “undying flame of democracy”, that great democratic spirit and bedrock of community that defines who we are, and sternly warned our malevolent enemies of the folly in challenging us: “It is not just The North Pacific who is taking a stand and fighting back today, and it will not solely be our victory when you are but a mere footnote in this game’s history.”

The publicised speech was received with widespread applause, not only from citizens and residents of The North Pacific but also from our allies, friends and the collective world, indicated by an impressive 268 upvotes after a mere 19 days at the time of this writing. In another strong show of support, Europeia and Balder – two of our valuable treaty allies – declared war on TCB and BoM in solidarity with our region.

Invasion of Solidarity

Although TNP’s formal declaration of war was only issued on October 5th, it was on October 1st, 4 days earlier that the first shot of the war was fired in Solidarity, a possession of The Communist Bloc. A great coalition, formed from the militaries of The League & Concord, The Grey Wardens, 10000 Islands, Europeia, The North Pacific and Balder, led by Consul of the Republic Quebecshire under disguise as Rhaza, invaded Solidarity at major update (12:00 AM EST) and seized the WA Delegacy from former Delegate Kavamkao. The invasion was codenamed “Operation Red October”, a reference to Tom Clancy’s famous 1984 novel.

For the next 17 days, Quebecshire would hold onto the Delegacy with the help of the coalition’s officers and soldiers against attempted recapture by the People’s Revolutionary Air Force (PRAF), TCB’s military arm. The offensive was greatly bolstered when an unprecedented array of 14 regions and several mercenary groups joined as pilers in the war effort. At the end of the operation, the final tally of 208 endorsements on Rhaza/Quebecshire broke the record for the largest anti-raider offensive in NationStates’ history, showcasing the true scale of the coalition’s unity and strength against raider aggression.

After successfully repelling numerous PRAF’s liberation attempts, on October 18th Quebecshire ordered all personnel to evacuate from the region and passworded it for a final 14-day conversion to a Stronghold, where he will serve indefinitely as its Governor. When the transition is complete around November 2nd, TCB will lose its colony permanently. The operation concluded as a decisive victory for the coalition, a welcome sign for our future struggles.

On another note, the support of NPA soldiers and militiamen for this operation was exceptional. As documented by Minister of Defence Comfed, nearly 70 soldiers and officers in total from the NPA and the militia participated in Solidarity, an incredible show of force and a testament to the North’s “undying flame of democracy”.

Brotherhood of Malice’s Infiltration

While TCB was trying (and failing) to retake Solidarity, the Brotherhood of Malice chose to watch on the sidelines. When pressed for a response, BoM’s leadership claimed that their friendship treaty with TCB only contained a “Do not raid” clause for Solidarity and they were not obliged to do anything more. This indifference sends the strongest signal to all other regions out there about BoM’s reliability as an ally: They will not help, nor offer even a token show of support for a distressed allied region, if the aid is not specified on paper.

Nevertheless, BoM has recently begun a malicious unendorsement campaign against Delegate Kaschovia with the goal of jeopardising regional security. On October 9th, two nations Palvatone and The Northern Boys – the former later discovered to be a puppet of Volstrostia, BoM’s Taskmaster – infiltrated our region and sent multiple telegrams to nations, asking them to unendorse Minister of Foreign Affairs Pallaith and Delegate Kaschovia and to endorse Chipoli instead, claiming the latter to be “the true Delegate” of TNP. The Northern Boys claimed they were from the “North Pacific Regional Security War Council”, while Palvatone claimed to be the “Minister of Domestic Affairs of the North Pacific”, both of which do not exist. Two of our Militia members were also tricked into supporting BoM’s raid on the region Empire of Australia on the same day.

To avoid falling for BoM’s deception, the Ministry of Communications strongly advises our readers not to obey any orders or instructions from suspicious unendorsement telegrams and to report them to the actual authorities immediately, like Delegate Kaschovia, Vice-Delegate Fregerson (PotatoFarmers) or members of the Security Council. The Ministry also encourages everyone to keep themselves up-to-date on the latest government roster of currently serving Ministers and other high-ranking officials in our government, to help identify BoM infiltrators and spies under the disguise of fraudulent “government officials”. By properly informing yourself and reporting all suspicious unendorsement campaign telegrams, you are helping to frustrate BoM’s plans of sabotage and protect The North Pacific’s regional security and stability.

Note: This article does not necessarily represent the views of the Government of The North Pacific. The author is accountable for any extrapolation and analysis that extends beyond the fundamental facts presented.

TNP-TWP Chess Arena II by Kaschovia

It’s that time again! On October 29th, The North Pacific and The West Pacific, very in theme with the upcoming Z-Day, were infected with the chess bug and hosted the second iteration of the highly-anticipated interregional chess arena on Lichess! The last arena was a great success with seventeen players taking part in 122 games over three hours. This arena saw the thematic introduction of the horde variant, which meant players faced off against swarms of pawns instead of normal pieces. An incredible 22 players joined the normal arena, while 7 joined the horde variant, completing 105 games in 3 hours, marking yet another successful iteration of the event.

The player to dominate the points leaderboard this time was New United Common-lands with 40 points, a 69% win rate in 16 games, and a performance score of 1693. They were closely followed by Giovanniland, one of the hosts of the event, who scored 34 points, had a higher win rate of 82% over 11 games, and a performance score of 1871. From there, third placed player DrLeckDenStein scored 22 points, quite the drop from the top two with a 50% win rate over 16 games. In fourth place, New Estoniaball scored 17 points with a 50% win rate over 10 games, and in joint fifth place were The Perfection Isles and myself Kaschovia), though the former had a 100% win rate over just five games, while I somehow finished in that position with just a 31% win-rate over 16 games. In all honesty, it’s been a while since I last saw a chess board.

The points were closer from eighth to fifteenth position, ranging from 15 down to 3, where players won fewer games and did not utilize the additional points made available through the berserk mode. Former arena participants Martledola, Francois Isidore, and Inner Ryxtylopia secured 15, 12, and 3 points while new players Skaraborg, Recuecn, Eruistan, The Washington Federation, gvidaver, and scored 12, 10, 8, 8, and 6 points respectively. The players from 16th to 22nd did not play a game, and therefore scored no points. Once more, it was the players who were confident enough in their abilities to sacrifice half of their five minutes per game for extra points who built commanding leads and win streaks.

While the event fielded some respectable competition, the absence of FrontierJustice, the winner from the last interregional chess event, was noticeable. In fact, they only played seven games before leaving the event on 15 points. Whether or not FrontierJustice would have secured back to back arena victories if they had continued playing is a matter of speculation, but Giovanniland ran the gauntlet and topped the leaderboard for most of the arena before New United Common-lands saw a late surge in extra points through the time-sacrificing ‘berserk’ game mode. What began as a shaky start to the arena quickly turned into an eight game win streak worth 33 points, putting them at 40 overall.

A different picture emerges when we consider that FrontierJustice won both their games against the first place player, but lost both games against Giovanniland, the second placed player. Giovanniland only opted for the berserk mode 9% of the time, while New United Common-lands did so 31% of the time, potentially missing out on the points that would have put them in first had they won those games.

Judging the performances of both players in respect to their overall win rates and Lichess performance score, the gap between them seems fairly indistinguishable. While New United Common-lands beat Giovanniland in the only game they played, the latter boasts the higher performance rating.

There is certainly an obvious difference between the varying skill levels in each of these arenas, where the most skilled players seek higher pressure, higher reward games in match-ups that benefit them most, while the bottom half of the leaderboard sticks with safer, more drawn out games so as not to lose too quickly in succession. Ultimately, it was a battle of the titans at the top for first place, and a skirmish between those at the bottom to secure a top ten finish.

The horde variant, played for an hour and a half after the normal mode, offered a respite from the highly-competitive and fast-paced nature of the arena up until then. In what felt utterly comical, players with the usual pieces would face a swarm of pawns, five rows in strength, trying not to capitulate to the marching pressures of the least powerful piece in the game, in most cases totally unsuccessful. In cases where the swarm were beaten, just 36% of the time in 22 games, the victors quickly realized that reaching the back ranks was the key, where the pawns would have no defenses left to stop the queen or rooks from picking them off one by one.The structure of the swarm would quickly deteriorate, making victory certain for the other player unless they could get their own pawns to the end of the board and promote them to queens.

Overall, this second interregional chess arena provided the perfect timing for experimentation with a different gamemode, and allowed fans of the last event to come together once more for another round of games. With the number of players who joined the normal gamemode tournament reaching 22, compared to 17 in the last one, interest in these chess tournaments is definitely on the rise. Should both the West and the North cultivate more regularly engaged groups of players, perhaps in league style events, there’s definitely reason to believe that interest will continue to expand to other communities, and into coordinating more varied gamemode events such as atomic chess, or simply using different time controls such as rapid. Either way, chess is on the rise in both regions, with more of these arenas to come and more players willing to make their mark.

Nuclear Armageddon: N-Day 9 by Picairn

The events which had transpired on N-Day 9, which ran over a period of 24 hours from 5:00 AM October 1st to 5:00 AM October 2nd, 2023 (GMT+7), packed with action, excitement, and memorable developments in between, were nothing short of extraordinary. For the second time in NationStates history, Horsemen of the Apocalypse (HotA), the biggest faction by quantity and four-time champion of N-Day, was thoroughly obliterated by a grand coalition of the Potato Alliance (TPA or Potato), Kingly Heathens Asserting Neighborliness (KHAN), Anime Nations Against Liberals (ANAL), Starlight Brigade, and Jellyfish Elite Fighting Force (JEFF). The crushing defeat of the infamous Horsemen, who had menaced so many other factions before with their unstoppable hordes of puppets, marked the Potato Alliance’s greatest triumph since N-Day 5 and fully avenged our humiliating loss of N-Day 8 seven months ago. This remarkable achievement, a product of incredible coordination and strategic planning between three megafactions and two smaller ones, decisively ended HotA’s victorious streak and nuclear hegemony which they had enjoyed since N-Day 6.

After the Horsemen blight had been removed, the great anti-HotA coalition subsequently dissolved, now that its primary target had been destroyed, its chief purpose fulfilled. Soon, the Potato Alliance fired the first shots of the megafactions’ war by turning against Starlight Brigade, who was swiftly rescued by ANAL’s sudden attack on us. ANAL’s inopportune intervention, while we were targeting Starlight, sparked a significant controversy within our faction at the time on why its High Command decided to target the latter first. Fortunately, KHAN honoured their alliance with us by quickly joining the war on our side, while JEFF rushed to the aid of the Starlight – ANAL coalition. After fierce fighting with hundreds of thousands of nukes being exchanged, and a similarly enormous number of shields deployed, the KHAN – Potato alliance emerged victorious, occupying first and second place respectively, while ANAL was knocked down to third place despite a record 782,622 intercepts, JEFF finished fourth, and Starlight – incredibly enough – managed to stay in fifth place despite an average of 91.2 radiation per nation or, in other words, a nearly complete destruction.

How did it come to this? How did the megafactions successfully overthrow the Horsemen’s dominance? How did we weather the combined attacks of ANAL, Starlight and JEFF? What was the controversy behind the Potato Command’s decision to target Starlight?

Background

At a glance, the faction composition of N-Day 9 differed from the previous N-Day to some extent. Familiar faces like HotA and ANAL returned, but the former was smaller by 4,000 nations and the latter short by 2,000 compared to N-Day 8. Our faction also saw a decrease on the same scale as ANAL but we were, as our confrontation with them would later prove, still a force to be reckoned with.

JEFF, assembled from a disjointed group of dissatisfied UCRs with a united desire to see a non-puppeteering faction make it to the top 10 leaderboard, also made its return from N-Day 8. But unlike the previous defeat, through perseverance, diplomacy and good strategy, they would finish N-Day 9 at fourth place, an exceptionally good showing for a UCR-concentrated faction.

Two new factions entered the stage that day and would go on to make a name for themselves: KHAN, consisting of The West Pacific, The Pacific, Lone Wolves United, URA (United Regions Alliance), and the Augustin Alliance; and Starlight Brigade, founded by the nations of Refugia. Of these two, the former would win the nuclear war – an astonishing feat for a newly formed faction – and the latter would not only survive the megafactions’ onslaught but would also get in fifth place, an admirable performance for disadvantaged UCRs which possessed fewer resources and puppets.

A revolutionary change of this N-Day was the production boost for WA members. Announced by Chingis on Sept. 27, this feature would see nations with WA seats “accumulate Production 10x faster than non-WA members, and have their Production limits increased by 3x” per Testlandia’s dispatch. The motive for this addition was to reduce the oversized impact of puppets, which has long been criticised by players for sucking all the fun out of N-Day with their sheer numbers.

The Nuclear Massacre of Horsemen of the Apocalypse

The first hour of N-Day 9 at 5:00 AM Oct. 1 began with relative quiet between the megafactions. As to be expected, everyone spent their time at the start stockpiling nukes and shields first, and we were no different. The reason is simple: the damage inflicted by nukes would be far greater if fired in a mass volley, so as to overwhelm the other side’s shield wall, than if launched individually.

Then came the moment everyone had been waiting for, an opportunity to destroy the menacing Horsemen. 1 hour and 6 minutes into the event, Potato General King Platytato ordered the entire Alliance to begin targeting HotA, in conjunction with KHAN, ANAL, Starlight Brigade and JEFF. After a steady 24-minute buildup, at 6:30 AM the order was given to launch our first volley. In an amazing display of coordination, 120,000 combined nukes of five factions were launched at the Horsemen, who only had 72,000 shields at the time, and they suffered significant damage as a result.

But HotA was not going to accept defeat so easily. They responded to this attack with a counteroffensive of more than 40,000 nukes each for TPA and ANAL. KHAN was also targeted to a similar degree. After a furious exchange of nukes, our Potatoes suffered 9,300 Radiation points and KHAN 9,000. In contrast, ANAL escaped wholly unscathed thanks to their characteristically effective shield deployments – one still wonders how they managed to do that.

Despite their efforts, it became abundantly clear that HotA could not withstand the combined might of five large factions. The struggle of the Horsemen continued for the next five hours, but they were unable to overcome the relentless bombing. Wave after wave of nuclear missiles, HotA was essentially dead, 14 hours into the event, as the faction sat at 717,000 Radiation and a staggering negative score of -637,000. The joint Allied offensive was received with shock and dismay by the Horsemen, and their morale dropped to a low point. Thereafter small factions feasted on whatever was left of the irradiated carcass.

The mood inside the Potato Alliance’s Discord channel was jubilant. We cheered for the destruction of HotA, and celebrated our greatest victory since the epic comeback of N-Day 5. It was the courage of our members, the leadership of our generals, and the coordination of five allied factions that took down the feared Horsemen and their puppet horde once and for all. This success alone will always remain one of our most notable coups in N-Day history.

War of the Megafactions

Its principal enemy now extinguished, its goals accomplished, its mission concluded, the great coalition had no cause to exist anymore, and thus collapsed. We returned to our stations and began re-stockpiling, as did the factions of KHAN, ANAL, Starlight, and JEFF, warily eyeing each other for the first move that would break the fragile peace. At the time, KHAN occupied first place, the Potato Alliance second, and ANAL third. The final confrontation was approaching.

It was the Potato Alliance that made a move first. At 6:40 PM Oct. 1, Potato General Potatcarus SPH instructed everyone to switch our attention to Starlight Brigade. At first, all of us were confident that we could easily wipe the floor with them. But then came disastrous news: ANAL started targeting us with tens of thousands of nukes, and the number was rising rapidly. The optimism and euphoria of victory, which had so permeated the atmosphere inside the war room before, turned sour as many blamed the Potato Generals for this apparent blunder and expressed their fears that ANAL was waiting for this moment to spring their trap when TPA turned on one of its allies. As this was happening, KHAN was sitting in first place unharmed and largely watching on the sidelines, while JEFF joined in the fight on ANAL’s side, targeting TPA with their own nukes.

The situation appeared hopeless. We were standing alone against three factions, and KHAN seemed like they were not going to help much. More bad news arrived: the number of nukes aimed at us had reached 200,000, and following ANAL’s strikes we were down to third, then fourth place. Many were dissatisfied with the Generals and argued that targeting Starlight was a mistake, that we betrayed our ally and walked into a trap that cost us our second place, and that we should have targeted ANAL with a coalition of KHAN + TPA + Starlight. Some defended the Generals’ decision, speculating that they made the order based on possible intelligence that Starlight was planning to attack us with the cooperation of ANAL and JEFF anyway.

Whatever the reason, fortunately we would not have to stand alone against this onslaught. KHAN soon proved that they still honoured the alliance and attacked Starlight in conjunction with us, while also helping to shield us from ANAL’s nukes. Thanks to a combined strike of 120,000 nukes at Starlight, which ANAL failed to stop, we managed to claw our way back to third place. After successfully annihilating Starlight, we turned our missiles against ANAL at 0:22 AM Oct. 2, and steadily degraded their shield wall with successive waves of nukes until they finally buckled under the pressure and dropped to third place with 92,000 Radiation. We regained our second place in a hard-won triumph, while JEFF escaped with a measly 39 radiation points by mass migrating to ANAL and helping to defend it in the middle of TPA’s and KHAN’s attacks. Starlight Brigade was severely devastated and almost wiped out, as the faction received a massive Radiation score of 102,872 total or a rate of approximately 91% of nations blown to radioactive dust.

Closing Thoughts

Taking in N-Day 9 as a whole, this was probably my most enjoyable N-Day since TPA’s legendary comeback in N-Day 5. Through extensive diplomacy and coordination, we bombarded the Horsemen to dust with our temporary allies, preventing their puppet hordes from overwhelming everyone else and ruining the fun of the nuclear apocalypse. The intense nuclear exchanges and shield deployments between megafactions, the celebrations of victory, the infectious enthusiasm of the Generals and soldiers, all of which were far more exciting, far more vibrant than the depressing atmosphere of N-Day 8, when we were promptly finished and ended in an early defeat at the hands of the evil Horsemen.

HotA has always rejected alliances, NAPs, and backroom deals as “the tools of the weaklings”. Instead, they relied on the numerical strength of their puppets to smash their way to the top in one-on-one battles against each faction. This is a viable strategy – even if it is diabolical – as long as other megafactions remain divided. But when they unite, as N-Day 5 and N-Day 9 have shown, not even the largest faction can win against the combined firepower of all other megafactions. The Horsemen thought they were secure inside their fortress of puppets, but all fortresses must fall when enough cannons arrive to blast them to pieces.

The controversy over the Potato Command’s order to attack Starlight has cooled down, but its facts remain a secret. No details that can inform us about the proceedings behind the Generals’ decision were published after the event, and all we have on our hands are unsubstantiated rumours and speculation. A frontline account from a JEFF war correspondent, New United Common-lands, revealed that a secret mutual defence agreement was made between ANAL, Starlight Brigade and JEFF in case of a joint KHAN – Potato attack on any member of the pact. That, however, is not conclusive evidence to confirm the rumour that the three factions were planning an imminent attack on TPA which some had floated on Discord, and we will likely never know the truth.

The WA boost was an excellent addition to N-Day 9, and it greatly assisted us in the fight against the Horsemen’s puppet horde. It was also nice to be able to participate more actively in the event thanks to the accelerated production rates, for which I am grateful. More reforms are being discussed at the time of this article’s writing, and while it is still too early to speculate on which feature will make it to the next event, one thing is certain: the future improvements are bound to only make N-Days more exciting from here.

Spirit Halloween Festival by Arawi

“A harrowing energy begins to build, felt by all across The North Pacific, The Wellspring, and Carcassonne. Somewhere in the distance, a rumbling, low chanting touts the mystery and intrigue of some despicable gathering. It calls to you.”

Those were the words of Delegate Kaschovia as the three regions commenced a spooky event that would strike fear into the hearts of many… the Spirit Halloween Festival. We hope you had a good Halloween, but if you didn’t, it’s probably because you didn’t participate in this amazing event. The festival has seen spooky stories, ghostly competitions, and spine-chilling games that were hoped to give everyone who participated a spoopy good time, and they certainly did! On another note, this collaboration of regions has, politically, been sparked by the signing of two treaties: The Aude Alliance between Carcassonne and TNP, and The Treaty of the Northern Wells, between The Wellspring and TNP. Carcassonne and The Wellspring also happen to be good allies through FOCUS (Frontier Organisation for Cooperation, Unity and Security). Halloween has provided the perfect opportunity not only to celebrate the ghoulish holiday but also to celebrate our new relationship between the two regions.

The event began on October 21st, with the opening statements by Kaschovia, and then games of Among Us hosted by Icarus, which unraveled into a Discord gaming session with SketchHeads and land.io being played. Several terrifying spam games were also started including Tug of War, where players attempted to bring the number up or down depending on what team they were on, which ended on 17, much lower than the starting number of 50. As well as this, another event was guessing a fictional horror character, where the player was the Akinator that had to ask questions to figure out which scary character the guesser had picked. In addition to this, yet more events were spooky word association, where players picked an eerie word that was similar to the one before, which led to interesting words such as ‘Mormon’, ‘creepypasta’ and ‘stein’ being thrown in the ring, one-word stories, where each player took a turn to suggest a word to follow the previous word to make a scary story, which became scary not because of its plot, but more because of the surrealist way it was written, and finally, jack-o-lantern counting where players simply had to count to as high as possible as a team.

The event was initially scheduled to end on October 23rd but was continued until the night of Halloween to heighten the spooky, spiritual energy present in the air. While the spam games continued into the moonlight, several devilish contests were beginning, namely short horror story submissions, scary profile picture entrees, and frightening flag sharing! By October 31st, the festival had decided that Icarus’s profile picture of a ghostly witch penguin was the spookiest of all, which looked innocent, but would surely curse everyone that looked at it! At the time of going to press, the horror story competition and flag contest had not had a winner declared, with the flag contest unfortunately having a lack of entries, however the Horror Story competition was met with 3 entries which probably haven’t been decided on due to all three of them, including a Duolingo-themed tale, being very spooky!

On October 29th, the festival was also cordially invited to the 2nd Interregional Chess Arena, featuring The North Pacific and The West Pacific for three ghoulish hours of standard and horde variant chess. The blood-curdling board games ended with New-United Common Lands being the overall winner. This spine-chilling festival has been a massive success, and a fantastic celebration of the new relationships between the three regions. Let’s hope a similar event can occur to celebrate the terrifying eve of All Soul’s.

Interview with Vice Delegate Fregerson by Chipoli

Chipoli: Hello, everyone! My name is Chipoli, and I’m delighted to host the latest edition of the Spotlight. We have with us today, the newly elected Vice Delegate of The North Pacific, Fregerson. Now that the general elections have finished up, we are eager to speak with Fregerson about their vision and plans for this term as they take on this monumental task. It is an absolute privilege to have you on the show today, Freg. Congratulations again on your election victory!

Fregerson: Thank you! I am glad to be invited for this interview.

Chipoli: I’m glad that you’re here as well, Freg. As I just mentioned, you recently won the General Election and became Vice Delegate of The North Pacific. What I would like to know is, what made you run? Why did you want to be Vice Delegate?

Fregerson: I have been TNP for around 3 years now. During this long period, I had my fair share of experiences, working with various people, whether as an Executive Staffer, a Deputy, as a Minister, or during my time in the Speaker’s Office. These various experiences have helped me shape my perspective of how things worked in TNP, and also gave me a clearer view of things in TNP. I didn’t exactly come into the election thinking I would run for Office once again, but I have received some nominations and support calling on me to run for this office. Taking into account all the experiences I had, I decided this was a great opportunity for me to step up, to explore a position that I have not done previously, and hopefully use my experience to help TNP tide through these trying times.

Chipoli: Very interesting! The people wanted you, and they indeed did get you. You mentioned that your time in TNP has shaped your perspective and gave you a good idea of how things work around here. You’ve been in the Executive, Legislative, and Security branches - you’ve done it all! Can you give us some insight on how you got to this point?

Fregerson: As I said - it has been a long time. I started off with a vested interest in Roleplaying and the World Assembly, and I was picked up by then-MoWAA TlomzKrano. And with my contributions in writing IFVs for the GA proposals, I quickly became a Deputy for some time. The second turning point was when Delegate McMasterdonia wanted me to helm the then Minister of Communications. It was a difficult position due to the difficulties surrounding Communications back then, but that Executive Council exposure helped to change my perspective of how things continued to work. I started to read up on the gameplay side of things, and then took a short trip in the Speaker’s Office which wasn’t as successful as it should be. But I quickly found back my roots in the MoWAA, and this time with knowledge of both the GA and the SC, the rest is history.

Chipoli: TNP is well-known for having many opportunities for success, and you’re clearly one of those success stories. However, it wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows for you. What I love even better than success stories, is comeback stories. You of course, ended up being recalled as Speaker last year in a very close vote. That must have been very frustrating for you. However, you bounced back, and have since served as MoWAA, MoFA, and of course, Vice Delegate now. What made you want to keep going after such a setback? How did you persevere?

Fregerson: For me, I realised how important it was to go back to my original motivation to serve. I saw the different positions as platforms for me to showcase my experience and lead different groups of people to complete different tasks. And I treated each position as a different learning experience. Yes, I got recalled from the Speaker’s Office and that will forever be a stain on my record, but the vote was not one-sided, and there was a portion of the region who believed that I deserve a second chance, and trusted in me to learn from my mistakes and bounce back. And when I think about those people and their faith in me, I used it as my motivation to prove them right. I got an opportunity early on when I was offered to rejoin the MoWAA leadership team, which was where my journey started, and everything just fell into place after that.

Chipoli: That’s quite inspiring! I too, have faced difficulties in my time in TNP during the climb to the top, so I know how that feeling to serve is like. It is common for those who rose through the ranks to have someone guide them along the way. Who was that individual for you? If anyone, who would attribute your success in TNP to?

Fregerson: I don’t have one particular name, but I had a few people who gave me different opportunities across my entire time. First it was Tlomz, who back in 2019 found me off the WA forums and gave me an opportunity to become a Deputy MoWAA. Then it was McM, where I got my first opportunity to look at what it means to be a Minister and how things worked in the Executive Council. In recent months, Hulldom and Pallaith were there to give me some advice and encouraged me to take on the new challenges, whether it was being the MoFA under such difficult times, or becoming Vice Delegate currently.

Chipoli: Hulldom and Pallaith have been very crucial to my own journey, and it must be very helpful to have two former delegated by your side! They will hopefully continue to assisting you in these challenging times. Speaking of these times, as Vice Delegate, you are tasked with being the chair of the Security Council and to keep an eye out for security threats, both internal and external. Let’s talk about how you intend to do that. What are your plans for the rest of the term? Will you completely lock in to help defend us from our adversaries or are they any other objectives you will be pursuing?

Fregerson: While we continue to deal with an ongoing external war, we need to accept the fact that our internal regional security continues to be a pressing issue. We are entering into the 2nd month, and yet we are far from completing the transition. A key priority would be looking at how we can restart the infrastructure of the WA Development Program and try to keep the endorsement counts up as much as possible, while making sure we have border control on the lookout to ensure that we do not repeat the mistakes that led to our delegate tip the last time out.

Chipoli: Those objectives are going to be crucial to achieve over the next, especially now that we are at war with the Brotherhood of Malice and The Communist Bloc. We need to prevent a delegate tip from happening once again, which is partly why I joined the Security Council. How does the Security Council plan to increase the gap between 1st and 2nd in endorsements? Additionally, how can we speed up the transition of Kaschovia to the in-game seat?

Fregerson: I think we have lots of ideas in mind. As of press time Kaschovia would have published the World Assembly Report, which is the first step in trying to rebuild our entire WA Development Program system. Regaining the Keepers system and the incentive to be a Keeper would definitely be something that needs time looking into, and unfortunately that is not the easiest to achieve. With some time, I am pretty sure we can look at closing the gap by the middle of November, and then hopefully we would have some level of WADP infrastructure up going into the second half of the term.

Chipoli: Absolutely. You have a lot on your hands this term, such as continuing to rebuild our tech infrastructure, completing what is quite possibly the longest transition in history, and keeping an eye out on our regional security with the external threat being at an all-time high. It will definitely be interesting to see what comes of your plans, Fregerson. It has been a pleasure to interview you.

Thank you for reading!

The North Star: Lighting The Way To The Truth

Publisher: Kaschovia | Executive Editors: Francois Isidore, Halsoni

Index of Issues

kaschovia

The North Star - Issue XXXI

Magazine Version

Editor’s Note

Dear readers,

As always, here I am to introduce you to this brand-new issue of The North Star. It’s always so wonderful to work on these with the Ministry, and despite my inactivity due to real-life circumstances, the team finished everything regardless of said inactivity. Amazing! Let’s get into the November edition of The North Star.

I honestly don’t have a lot to say about this issue. Due to my, as previously mentioned, lack of activity I wasn’t very closely involved in the process of this issue. Huge props to Delegate Kaschovia for stepping in and managing it in my place. He is such an amazing and involved leader and I honestly could never have wished for a better Delegate in terms of Comms. I would also like to thank Minister Robespierre for his consistent support during the making of this issue and to the amazing writers, editors and other staff who helped create this issue. You all make this possible.

As always there’s a lot of content in this issue of The North Star. Starting with an article about our recent judicial elections, very interesting! A progress report on how we’re demolishing TCB and BoM. We also have articles about both Blue Day and NationStates Day and finally a very interesting interview with our very own Delegate Kaschovia. If you wish to see something specific in the next issue of TNS be sure to contact me via telegram or DM me on Discord (@ruuuuuuuuben).

Finally, the Executive Staff of the Ministry of Communications would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to you, the reader. We pour a lot of time and effort into these issues, and it’s lovely that you take time out of your day to admire our hard work. Again, thank you, and we hope you enjoy reading another TNS issue.

Cheers,

Halsoni
Executive Deputy Minister of Communications

The War Rages On by Picairn

On October 5th, 2023, The North Pacific (TNP) formally declared war against The Communist Bloc (TCB) and the Brotherhood of Malice (BoM) for their August 27th Delegate-tip, the most significant attack on TNP in a decade. The infamy of that invasion will go down in NationStates’s history - our democracy was attacked, our sovereignty violated, and our dignity insulted with relentless raider provocations. Faced with this brazen aggression, our citizens stood together and overwhelmingly ratified the declaration of war against these two raider organisations, as well as their allies and territories. Many even took up arms and enlisted in the North Pacific Army (NPA) or the Militia despite having no previous raiding/defending experience, their enthusiasm and willingness to defend the region unrivalled by anything else.

Since then, TNP has gone through its first month of war with frantic military activity, as our gallant NPA soldiers - in close cooperation with our defender allies - fought vigorously to drive back the raider menace and liberate innocent regions from their clutches. The operation in Solidarity concluded with complete success on November 2nd as the region transitioned to a permanent coalition governorship, depriving TCB of a major colony and recruiting ground. Fresh from victory, the NPA conducted joint expeditions with the defender coalition into Asia, liberating the Far East Oriental Federation from the insidious Black Hawks and carrying out multiple sieges in the Philippines against the occupying force from Sparkalia and its allies.

From the Far Eastern Plains…

On October 22nd, 2023, just as the Solidarity operation was winding down, The Black Hawks (TBH) launched an invasion of the Far East Oriental Federation (FEOF) with assistance from several allies: BoM, LWU, Osiris, Sparkalia and Ijaka. Led by Joiklandia, the raiders jumped into the region late into minor update - around 11:46 PM GMT+7 - and seized the WA Delegacy from native Delegate Awesomeness. Refusing to surrender, Awesomeness and another native Namvosk took up arms to resist raider occupation and contacted the defenders for help. In the end, a staggering alliance of 15 regions and many mercenaries stepped up to liberate the region and restore the Delegacy to its rightful native Delegate, an incredible display of the defender coalition’s strength and coordination.

At major update on October 23rd (11:00 AM GMT+7), the first landing force was assembled in Artificial Solar System with 105 updaters participating in the operation, and further bolstered by 22 sleeper endorsements on Awesomeness in FEOF. Around 48 minutes in, the order was given for the major vanguard to jump into the region. But having an insufficient number of endorsements and getting hit with ejections left and right, they failed to dislodge Joiklandia from the region’s Delegacy. Nevertheless, a substantial beachhead was established, paving the way for a successful liberation later on.

Undaunted by failure, the defenders tried again at minor update (11:00 PM GMT+7) on the same day. This time, 90 updaters formed the second liberating force, on top of the major vanguard holding the beachhead. With just under 140 endorsements, Awesomeness successfully retook the WA Delegacy from Joiklandia at 11:48 PM, and the raiders were sent fleeing back to their nests. Upon returning to the Delegacy, Awesomeness publicly expressed their thanks to the liberators and began to restore the democratic native government. The operation ended in total victory for the defenders and the NPA, the latter of which contributed 22 soldiers and officers to the coalition.

…To the Philippine Jungle

Five days after the successful liberation of the Far East Oriental Federation, early into major update on October 28th, the raiders once again struck at an Asian region, the Philippines. Commanded by Batac (or known as Timiskrane/Nova Vinelandia), the invasion was primarily spearheaded by Sparkalia’s army with allied reinforcements from TCB, TBH, BoM, Osiris, Ijaka, Lily, Kantrias and Astoria. The raiders jumped into the Philippines at 11:03 PM GMT+7 and seized control of the regional Delegacy from native Delegate Berlande, who was ejected and banned 2 weeks later.

For some time before, the region had fallen into a period of inactivity, its community silent and its government absent from foreign affairs, which led to its removal from the United Regions Alliance. Nonetheless, the Philippines was a close-knit community with a rich history - it survived numerous invasions from the days of antiquity and was eventually refounded nearly 13 years ago by its now absent founder, Puan puri naduk. Vulnerable as it was to external attacks, the Philippines nevertheless supported full regional sovereignty, with its Philippine Defense Force having worked to protect other regions. The raiders claimed they would not burn this historic region to the ground and would instead reinvigorate it with a new government, but as it was their habit to raid and destroy so many other regions in the past, this was extremely difficult to believe. Not to mention the fact that the invasion was illegitimate by itself: a foreign army of invaders coming in and overthrowing the native government by force.

With that in mind, the defender coalition rapidly organised to liberate the region from raider control, with the active participation of the NPA. At major update (11:00 AM GMT+7) on October 29th, the first liberation force was assembled from 85 updaters and led by Hand of Heaven. Five minutes later, the major vanguard landed in the region but just like at FEOF, they failed to remove Batac from the Delegacy. There was a large disparity in the number of endorsements: at the time Batac had 161 while Hand of Heaven only had 85, or a difference of 76 endorsements.

What followed in the next 36 hours was a grueling series of sieges, as the defenders tried to close the gap. Although Hand of Heaven eventually reached over 100 endorsements after 4 sieges (including the first one), there was still a long way to go. Not only that, TCB brought in additional pilers to reinforce Batac’s position, making it particularly challenging for the defenders. With Z-Day approaching, the liberation attempt was eventually called off after October 30th’s minor update - the raiders could password the region during the event without costing influence.

But the defender coalition did not give up so easily. Two proposals to injunct and liberate the Philippines were written by Westinor and quickly brought to the Security Council on November 1st, to prevent the occupation force from fully taking control of the region. These proposals passed with a four-fifths majority, which is not surprising since the SC has long had a strong commitment to regional security and sovereignty. But the final goal to liberate the region was still far off, and the next three weeks passed without significant military activity.

In the interim, the raiders formed a new regional government, but it could only be described as a farce, a façade of democracy with no native support. Two were elected co-Presidents of the Philippines via open polls - a raider sleeper and another raider - and the government’s Cabinet was predictably filled with top officers of the occupying force.

The raiders finally departed the region shortly before major update on November 21st, claiming to have fulfilled their objectives. Defenders swiftly moved in and removed the illegitimate government, banning its officials from the region. The Philippines was returned to the natives after nearly a month under occupation, and a native Delegate was elected. Meanwhile, the illegitimate government was sent into exile and created a new region for itself, still attempting to claim it was legitimate and had native support the entire time.

In the aftermath, Minister of Defence Comfed awarded two ribbons to the NPA and Militia soldiers and officers that took part in the FEOF’s and Philippines’ liberation operations, and made several promotions to soldiers who had actively participated, including the author of this article himself. The turnout for the Philippine sieges was particularly notable with 33 soldiers and officers in total who joined. These numbers show how strong and united the North can be, and as long as we can maintain this kind of enthusiasm and spirit, we will stand tall against anyone who wants to attack us.

Judicial Elections by Arawi

The Court of the North Pacific is a hard-working and relentless institution that sometimes goes unrecognised by the TNP community, however is very important, as it provides clarity on some of the more complex elements of the law. Despite this, it is an institution that has had many issues recently, with high profile cases such as The North Pacific v. St George, and The North Pacific v. KEKISTON, GrandEngland both being prime examples of the region’s justice system, but also shedding light on some of the Court’s biggest problems. Voters in the recent judicial elections were looking for solutions to some of these problems, but also ideas, strategies and forecasts for the future of this complex institution.

The nomination and declaration period for the elections opened on the first of November. TNPers started to be concerned with the low level of candidacy confirmations and the general lack of enthusiasm for the election that shadowed over the first few days of the nomination period. However, the nomination period ramped up near its end, with five individuals declaring candidacy: Lord Dominator, Bobberino, Wymondham, Just a Lore and Eluvatar.

Let’s start with Lord Dominator. Now, LD is no unfamiliar face to the Court. They launched a short but sweet campaign, promising to ‘operate as a responsible Justice, in operation of their duties and in trying to ensure that others can fulfill their duties (and legal need) in the future’. Later, they stated their views that prosecutorial discretion is more of an RA matter, that voluntary recusal is useful, and that the primary reforms that are needed are those that will simplify trial procedures, particularly evidence submission procedure.

Next, Bobberino. Bob is less familiar to the Court, but reassured voters that his legal knowledge will be reliable as he has a legal dictionary in real life! Bob’s slogan was ‘Bridging the Gap’. He pledged to ‘make it a game again’, as he sees the position of Justice and the criminal justice system in TNP to be overly verbose and litigious; Bob pledged to make the rules clearer and for residents to be notified when rules are changed.

Let’s go to Wym. Wym was elected in the Special Judicial Election a couple months ago and was vying for a full term in office. Wym was very conservative in their campaign; all of their promises were already articulated in their campaign for the Special Election, and they were less emphatic about reform as some of the other candidates. However, they did also explain that they had warmed towards the reform plans formulated by Attempted Socialism.

And finally Eluvatar, who like other candidates, is not a stranger to the Court. They referenced their previous campaign in July in their campaign this time, which overall reiterated the legal theory of the North Pacific, and emphasized the Court‘s solemn duty to provide fair trials, seek truth, offer space for debate, and receive evidence for careful deliberation, which he believes upholds TNP’s commitment to democracy. When asked about Attempted Socialism’s reform proposals, Elu said that they believed in their direction, but acknowledged that some of them would need consideration in the RA.

Voting then came, and lasted for five days. 70 citizens voted out of around 155. In the end, Eluvatar, Wymondham, and Lord Dominator were elected as Justices. The ballot paper uses the ranked-choice voting system. Elu was the most popular candidate put in the top spot, being put on the top of 58% of voter’s ballots. Wymondham was actually the third-placed candidate in terms of being included on the ballot, being included on 51% of ballots, however they were more commonly placed higher on voters ballots. Lord Dominator was included on 68% of ballots. The Court then decided that Wymondham would serve as Chief Justice. Now, the elected Justices have a lot on their plate to reform the Court, to improve one of the institutions we are most proud of as a region, and to keep the region’s famous democracy flowing through our Court.

NationStates Day 2023 by Kaschovia

The North Pacific is one of the largest and most historical communities in all of NationStates, its origins stretching as far back as 2002, when the site was first launched. With so many decisive moments by which to credit its current democratic existence, there’s a certain gratitude felt for the NationStates multiverse by default which calls for celebration and heartfelt reminiscence. For many players, this multiverse has provided years of memories, connection, and enjoyment which is genuinely hard to come by in a lot of other online communities, especially in the political simulation category. As we all find our place in this game over the years, the picture grows larger, the shoulders of those past nations upon which we stand today continue to soar higher, and the overarching timeline gets longer. There’s something enriching about being a part of that, which deserves recognition and ultimately is why we celebrate NationStates Day in the first place.

This year, our celebrations kicked off with a regional poll appropriately titled ‘NationStates Day 2023’, and asked nations what their favorite part of the game was. The results were as follows:

Answering issues and improving national rankings got 109 votes, roleplaying with fellow nations and belonging to the overall community both got 29 votes, trading and collecting cards got 14 votes, taking part in military gameplay and or the NPA got 12 votes, something else got 7 votes, voting on or writing World Assembly resolutions got 6 votes, being part of the executive staff and helping ministries and going to regional events both got 2 votes, and anything related to regional law and justice got just 1 single vote.

It is unsurprising that the answer chosen most by respondents was about answering issues and improving national rankings. For most nations, this is the bread and butter of what makes NationStates great. Slowly working on your national rankings, encountering new issues, and climbing the leaderboards is an intrinsic element of political simulation and nation building, and so it’s understandable that this is what most nations consider their favorite part.

In second and third place on the same points, roleplaying and belonging to the community both got twenty-nine votes. The roleplaying scene in NationStates almost always takes on a life of its own separate from governmental aspects and is home to many thousands of active roleplayers. It makes a lot of sense that this is second, since roleplaying worlds provide a total escape for a lot of players where anything is possible. Alliances can form, built over the years, wars can be fought, characters can take on detailed personalities of their own, all at the hands of those who roleplay and write, collaboratively or individually.

And of course, belonging to the community is also a no-brainer. The North Pacific has a real community spirit, no matter what aspect of the game nations choose, they’re still united under the banner of TNP its history and identity. That sense of community and the belonging which it brings is also personally my favorite aspect of the game. I’ve had some fantastic experiences over the years, only made possible by this community and by those who call it home.

In third and fourth respectively, trading cards got 14 votes and military gameplay 12 votes. Since its introduction to the game a couple of years ago, trading cards have been a mainstay for many nations. The competitive nature of trading, tracking prices, making profits, and completing collections has been a consistent draw, and in many ways military gameplay is the same. Advancing your R/D abilities, climbing the ranks, and leading others into battle is something many nations take part in every single day. Shared experiences with fellow soldiers, such as historical sieges, or winning over a rival military force, can be incredibly rewarding.

Voting on or writing World Assembly resolutions got six votes, which I think accurately reflects the degree to which players generally prefer the World Assembly to any other part of the game. It’s a complex area, requiring determination and grit in order to succeed, but I can imagine those who do succeed find it immensely rewarding drafting, debating, amending, and rallying for a resolution to pass after all the time and effort put into it. This only scratches the surface, with many layers of discussion, rulings, precedent, and questions about which direction the World Assembly could, or should, go.

The last three in terms of votes were being part of the executive staff and helping ministries, going to regional events, and anything related to regional law and justice. I can definitely understand why executive work and regional law may not be ranked as highly as the others, first and foremost because they are umbrella descriptions for a whole range of tasks and responsibilities, the enjoyment of which can vary dramatically depending on which area and which task we’re talking about. Those who voted for either as their favorite part of the game are likely to be specialists in that area. Going to regional events is also quite a vague description for what the choice could potentially entail, and I do understand this might be lower because events do not happen as frequently as the other options. Nevertheless, two respondents feel that they are their favorite part of NationStates!

Continuing celebrations for NationStates Day into the following week, the Ministry of Culture organized for the theme of the week, typically starting on Thursday, to be NationStates-related memes or images. The winning submission was an entry by Great Bights Mum, which was a picture of a bouquet of TNP flags on a desk, receiving the most reactions. The second placed submission was a throwback to N-Day by Dantek. There were additional plans to do another survey asking for favorite memories and quotes, but did not materialize in the end. For just a one day celebration, we got an insightful poll, a Theme Thursday with some great submissions, and this article!

Part of the beauty of a game like NationStates is that it really is whatever you make it. The sub-communities and regions which make up the NS player base provide spaces for many types of players, whether they’re casual issue answerers, hardcore military strategists, or anything in between, the true lasting strength of this browser-based online political simulator is in the variety it offers to those who play for long enough to find out, and I believe that is definitely worth celebrating.

Blue Day by Kaschovia

If you read the previous article on ‘NationStates Day’, then you’ll notice this article has a similar feel, but dedicated to a different, yet just as important, facet of life in The North Pacific: the regional forums. Blue Day is celebrated on the 23rd of November, which is the same date that The Twoslit Experiment, a former Delegate of the region, joined the first ever regional forum as a member. He’d created the forum via an administrative account around a month or so prior, yet this would mark the beginning of a whole new era for the North. It is an acknowledgement of this momentous period in our history, through which the lawlessness of unelected delegates and insecurity quickly disappeared and gave way to the stable democracy we now enjoy.

To have a regional forum in the early days of NationStates signified the start of more organized regional governance, at least when Discord was thirteen years away from its release. It meant that specific topics could be explored, roles could be designated, and laws could be officially ratified. It also brought members of the community closer together in out-of-character forums, events, and games. As I wrote in a previous TNS article Echoes: The Past Delegate Series (2003): “No time was wasted in moving the gameside population across to the forums, and before long it became the birthplace of a vibrant Out-Of-Character scene, the foundation for the regional forums used so ubiquitously today, and the stage upon which future governments would shine.” This is essentially why Blue Day exists, because without the forums, our region would be vastly different.

The first regional forums would see the creation of a Diplomatic Corps just a day after its creation, then a subforum for Delegate Campaigns, discussions, and so much more which served to enrich the experience of the average North Pacifican.

To have an agora of sorts, where ideas could be exchanged and priorities could be laid down, meant the community could collectively decide on matters of importance outside of the Regional Message Board, where conversations would inevitably overlap. This clarity of discussion would eventually lead to the pursuit of those top priorities: formal elections, a first constitution, and a legislative body. The foundations were in place for democracy to thrive.

Blue Day this year was celebrated in a variety of ways. Firstly, a poll was released asking members of the community what their favorite movie from 2003 was from a list of the highest grossing films that year. The options were LoR: The Return of the King, Finding Nemo, The Matrix Reloaded, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Curse of the Black Pearl, Bruce Almighty, The Last Samurai, and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. By the end of the poll, the results were in. These were the North Pacific’s favorite films from 2003: In first place, Finding Nemo won with 60 votes, then it was The Return of the King on 32, followed by Pirates of the Caribbean on 17. In fourth was Terminator 3 on 7 votes, then Bruce Almighty on 5, The Last Samurai on 3, and in last place was The Matrix Reloaded on just 2 votes.

Next, an announcement was put out commemorating the occasion in the regional Discord, also acknowledging the celebration of Thanksgiving for those who celebrate it. The Theme Thursday for that week was going to be anything related to the year 2003, so a handful of ministers and members of the community changed their profile pictures and Discord avatars to images from 2003. We saw Jim Carrey as Bruce Almighty, the Australian team victory in the 2003 ICC World Cup, a gobble teddy bear, and a picture of the film Finding Nemo. It’s always great to see members of the government getting involved with Theme Thursdays and sharing moments or images from that time period which are important to them.

In the spirit of the out-of-character shenanigans which define the earlier years of the first forum, spam threads were encouraged to boost the post count of the current forum. The OOC culture on the forums has been thriving for years, where regulars have started their own games, helped the activity of others, and generally provided a place for members of the community to relax and express either their creativity or their silliness. The total post count of the forums currently stands at a staggering 1,018,876 posts, so with 12,013 members, that makes the average post count per member approximately 85. While the week following Blue Day did not see a flurry of spam as encouraged, the OOC subforums remain a welcoming and enjoyable place for everyone.

There have been plenty of groundbreaking moments for The North Pacific throughout its history, whether we’re talking about the ratification of the first constitution or the liberation of the region from rogue forces, the establishment of the first forums are up there with some of the most important events ever to happen in our region. We have to be conscious and grateful for the behemoth efforts from TNPers past to make our community what it is today, and so from me, the current Delegate, and from everyone who shares the same interest in our beginnings, we say a sincere and heartfelt thank you.

Interview with Delegate Kaschovia by Chipoli

Chipoli: Hello, everyone! I am Chipoli, and we are here with a new edition of the Spotlight, a series in which I have the opportunity to sit down and speak with some of The North Pacific’s finest minds. This individual is certainly one of them. I am incredibly excited and honored to welcome the Delegate of The North Pacific, Kaschovia! Welcome!

Kaschovia: Thank you for having me! It’s great to be back on the Spotlight and I look forward to answering your questions.

Chipoli: That is wonderful to hear. I believe it would be best if we started from the very beginning. You have obviously built a very storied and respectable career, but we all had to start somewhere. Kasch, can you give us a bit of insight into your origins in NationStates?

Kaschovia: My origins in NationStates are fairly standard, I would say. Back in 2016, which astonishingly is seven years ago now, I found NS the same way many new players do: simply by wanting to play some kind of game where you rule a country, make your own laws, and watch your population grow. I had absolutely no idea what more was in store for me, in hindsight, but that’s the really great thing about NS. I distinctly remember being curious at the time about what the biggest region in the game was, which inevitably led me to The North Pacific. From there, I joined the forums and met such wonderful members of our community as FrozenTopHat and Bootsie, joined the North Pacific Army, and started to get to know the active TNPers of the time. I find it quite endearing reading all of my old posts back because you can almost sense in my writing that there was this glint in my eye, an unfiltered fascination with the region and the game. That fascination remains to this day, all this time later.

Chipoli: I can understand what it is like as a newcomer to be excited and curious about so many aspects of the game, and I do see that same fascination in myself during my very beginnings in NationStates. That curiosity ultimately naturally led to you receiving more and more opportunities to grow as a player, all the way up to being in charge, which we will discuss later on. When did you first get involved with our government?

Kaschovia: I first got involved in the government of The North Pacific shortly after I joined. The Delegate at the time, Lord Ravenclaw, offered me an opportunity as Minister of Gameside Affairs, which I suppose was a sort of precursor to the Gameside Advocates, albeit there were definitely some differences. At the time it was very exciting to have that minister title and to take on more responsibility, so I really took it in my stride and did whatever I could to help out, despite having much less experience than I do now. From there, I just wanted to keep improving my skills and learning more every day.

Chipoli: That is quite fascinating! Your first real opportunity in high-level government here in TNP, was managing a ministry that does not exist any longer, albeit later revamped to what we know today as the Gameside Advocates. If I recall, you rose up the ranks quite quickly in your early days and managed to attain the position of Vice Delegate around 5 to 6 years ago. The security state of NS was vastly different from what it is today, as the Security Council was. How would you describe your experience in that role? How have things changed since you left office?

Kaschovia: Honestly, I don’t remember a massive deal from my time as Vice Delegate. As you said, the term was five to six years ago so what I can recall is quite minimal. However, I do know that I got a good grasp of what it takes to fulfill the basic responsibilities of the position, whether that was security checks, correspondence with the Security Council, or putting together the WADP dispatches. It allowed me to more formally make a case for myself in terms of leadership positions and definitely provided a launch pad of sorts for the years to come. Simultaneously, I can say that I struggled when it came to the more complex elements of the role, such as information disclosure processes, the finer laws surrounding the office, and answering questions on those aspects in the election cycle where Siwale was elected to the position. I feel that my ambition and willingness to encourage new ideas, or ways of operating within the role, showed that I was capable, while the weaknesses inherent in my lack of experience probably made it clear that I still had a lot of room to grow and learn. In terms of what I think has changed, I wouldn’t say all that much. The basic expectations of the Vice Delegate remain similar, although activity levels and engagement with other areas of the executive are highlighted more today than they were back then. In a more modern context, the Vice Delegacy and the regional security landscape have definitely changed with the introduction of frontiers, falling endorsement levels, and broken technological infrastructure, so it’s more important than ever for the SC and VD to be alert, engaged, and willing to try new things, but also to expect more activity from its members so that the region is informed of our current security challenges.

Chipoli: I’m sure that was a very useful learning experience, and I can say the same for myself, having been a former Vice Delegate. I’d say you ended up adapting to that role pretty well and even briefly served on the Security Council. From there, you stepped down from our government for about a year and served for a term as Minister of Communications 3 years ago, at a time when the Ministry was struggling for activity and it was hard to get results out of it. Fast-forward to this spring, when you were re-appointed to the same position. This tenure was a vast improvement over your previous one, and Communications was regarded as one of the highest performing ministries in TNP. How did you get back into the rhythm you were looking for? What inspired you to make a comeback to TNP’s government?

Kaschovia: So, I knew I wanted to come back to NationStates and The North Pacific earlier this year, and I noticed Communications was no longer a ministry, which definitely piqued my interest. At the time, a lot of dramatic events were happening, but the two that I remember most distinctly were the repeal of the Aurora Alliance and the introduction of frontiers. It just seemed like a waste of creative potential not to have people writing about everything that was going on, so I put together an issue of TNS which, graphically speaking, broke new ground in terms of what we could do sustainably and repeatedly each month. The start of NBS came after, and I just pushed some ideas for Communications which resonated and built a new staff base. Finding my rhythm came more from being consistent with things myself. It can be easy to put things off sometimes, but real progress is made in those everyday commitments to work on the things you enjoy, and so I did, which has led me to where I am now. The inspiration to come back to the government was simple - I like overcoming challenges even if I have to put a lot of time into them. I think, as a region, we’re facing many different challenges at the moment, and so for me, I guess I wanted to help address and overcome as many of those as I could.

Chipoli: I know that anyone who has gotten the chance to work with you knows how passionate you are about the ministry, and your passion certainly paid off. Comms did have a lot of creative potential given the drama occurring in NationStates at that particular time, and that potential was tapped into. I can totally understand your enjoyment in taking on challenges and the process of overcoming them. Later on, your work led to a successful bid for the Delegacy in September, even after you resigned from your position as part of a mass cabinet resignation. At what moment, did you realize you finally had a real opportunity to lead this region and become its Delegate?

Kaschovia: I think I realized I had an opportunity to lead the region once I’d finished drafting up my platform. I knew where I wanted things to change, and how I was going to implement that change, so it was just a matter of putting the platform forward effectively and answering questions well. The moment it really hit was when I actually won the election, though. I massively respected your platform and the votes felt close between the two of us for a large part of the voting period. There was a mixture of relief, anticipation, and pride, but I knew the real work was still ahead.

Chipoli: Winning an election has to be one of the greatest feelings a player can experience, and I congratulate you on your victory once more. You published a platform with extensive plans on how you will lead TNP into a time of change. It has now passed the halfway point of the term. Can you lay out for those who don’t know what you set out to accomplish? How do you feel about the progress towards those goals that have been made so far?

Kaschovia: I think this term has seen a lot of rapid change. In Defense, we’ve engaged High Command much further in the training process, created the militia, and seen so many promising new recruits begin to rise through the ranks. A lot of the incentives I spoke about in my platform are now a part of what the NPA uses to retain recruits, but most importantly I think we’re seeing our military more often and in more places. On the Foreign Affairs front, some of the smaller objectives I detailed in my platform have fallen by the wayside for the more important considerations such as the war, new treaties and diplomatic discussions. I’m definitely looking to get those staff level objectives done still, but I am very pleased with how our FA approach has worked this term. In Culture, we set out to do more events consistently, and I think we’ve done that. We’ve held multiple interregional events already and we invest time into our weekly events too. There are still some things that I think we should be exploring, and I need to communicate with those who are passionate about making game nights, for example, to make them happen. In World Assembly Affairs, Magecastle has done an excellent job bringing new technologies and ministerial infrastructure to the forefront and the new MoWAA Simone has been as consistent as ever, which has been great to see. We’re trying to push for several commends of TNPers through the Heroes of Valhalla program, which I think is what we need to start seeing more of. In terms of things like the Gameside Engagement Program and the World Assembly Acceleration Program, I think more discussion is needed in order for us to move forward, but we’re still trying to see what works. Home Affairs has been operating at really great levels under Lionsroar, but a lot is still happening behind the scenes. We have solutions which would complete our trident recruitment strategy, but it’s just a matter of time before they are implemented. And finally, I have been super happy with how Communications has been doing post-revival and I think we have some really solid foundations in place to keep the ministry going. Radio has been extremely active, new writers are impressing, we’re trying new methods of news releases, and the leadership team has been excellent. Overall, I am really happy with our progress so far but I know there is still a lot more to do before the end of the term.

Chipoli: I think we can all agree that this has been a successful first half of the term, and your ambitious plans for The North are being realized with remarkable progress and tangible results. Building on this momentum, your administration will now be focused on sustaining the positive trajectory the region has taken. Looking ahead, what are the key priorities and goals for the remaining term, and how do you plan to navigate any potential challenges that may arise?

Kaschovia: I’ll be going off the top of my head here, but one of my key priorities for the remainder of the term is to complete the delegacy transition. We’ve landed on difficult times in terms of WA numbers, and there are multiple factors responsible, from the frontiers update to broken WA infrastructure, but we’re very close now and it is something I want to complete before January. Then, I would say continuing to expand our military, advancing our war goals, creating the next generation of talented leaders, restoring our regional infrastructure (API and manual recruitment are both a part of that), maintaining our robust Foreign Affairs approach, innovating more in Culture, realizing our goals in World Assembly Affairs, and ensuring the continued success of Communications. Navigating challenges is a daily element of this position, and I know that every challenge can be overcome with the right team by your side and enough work ethic to see problems through until the end. I know we have that.

Chipoli: Those look like some very promising plans, Kasch. I’ll start with your goal of completing the delegate transition by January. You currently are in 2nd place for endorsements, and sit 32 endorsements behind current WA Delegate Pallaith, which can certainly be gained by your target date. I would like to ask you this - How will you combat the declining WA Numbers and the issue of the broken infrastructure? What steps are being taken to ensure a quicker transition?

Kaschovia: Okay, so combatting declining WA numbers is going to be essential over the next few months, and there are a couple of ways we can do so: firstly, I’d like to see the return of more regular cards giveaways with legendaries and epics on offer every week or so, especially to keepers. In that vein, I’d like to experiment with new monthly leaderboards and rankings for endorsements alongside the weekly reports, if I can get something coded to put such a dispatch together. I also want to increase the number of non-WAs who join the WA, so specific messaging can help achieve that. Overall, there are various ways of combating declining WA numbers, but it’s going to take a little bit of time to feel the effects of those solutions. To answer your second question, ensuring a quicker transition is happening through these weekly reports I’ve been putting out, which I do think has helped. I also endorse daily, telegramming everyone who hasn’t endorsed me yet. The GAs have been advertising the transition and the importance of endorsing both myself and Fregerson, but like I said, this was always going to take some time given our current circumstances.

Chipoli: I think anyone can tell that you’ve gone to great lengths to complete what is likely one of the longest transitions in TNP history. I wish you luck in that regard, and I do very much hope that you will be in the seat come January. I believe your weekly reports have certainly helped with the transition, and they will surely continue to do so. Moving on to the next portion of your plans, you mention that to look to continue to expand our military and advance our war goals. Now, you’re Commander-in-Chief of The North Pacific Army and have oversaw TNP’s first inter-regional conflict in over a decade. Would you call the beginning phase of the war a success? As for expanding the military, how do you plan to approach recruitment efforts? How much time will you spend looking to engage our gamesiders, such as pointing them to the TNP Militia?

Kaschovia: To answer your question about the beginning phase of the war being a success, I would say absolutely it has been. Not only in terms of securing our war goals but also in terms of advancing our domestic goals too. We have secured multiple crucial victories where BoM and TCB have been involved, we proved that we can outnumber them alongside our allies when we took Solidarity, and the creation of the militia has significantly boosted our piling capabilities. We’ve had to adapt to a larger, more active military over the last few months, which means we’ve had to iron some things out, but overall I’d see the beginnings of this war as a massive success. In terms of recruitment efforts, we had a lot of momentum at the peak of the Solidarity operation recruiting for the NPA and putting out promotional materials, so that energy needs to continue. Defense must keep brainstorming and thinking about how soldiers can be rewarded for their service if we are to scale our military up further, for sure. Engagement is always very important with recruits, R/D can have a steep learning curve so it’s vital that we communicate with new members and show them the ropes to the best of our capabilities. When it comes to engaging gamesiders and potentially pointing them to the militia, I think our outreach so far has been consistent enough through such channels as the GAs, and I know High Command has been doing a really great job managing integration and training factors, too. We’ve seen a lot of new recruits over the last two months, which is awesome.

Chipoli: Absolutely. The NPA has taken a huge step up when it comes to training, recruitment, and integration. Since the war began, the number of new recruits has skyrocketed to levels many of us have never seen before, which certainly proved a handful of people wrong who were skeptical about the war effort. Let’s move on to Foreign Affairs now. Recently, we’ve taken a much stronger foreign affairs approach, as shown by our response to the delegate tip and our declaration of war on the Brotherhood of Malice and The Communist Bloc. Do you think this approach has worked in our favor? What are your future plans for TNP in the diplomatic landscape looking like?

Kaschovia: I do think a stronger approach to Foreign Affairs has worked in our favour, yes. It’s important that we’re making our diplomatic boundaries clear on the international stage so we can balance our external and domestic affairs. I believe we’ve been firm and practical, allowing ourselves to prioritize our goals at home and abroad without sacrificing too much of our energy in the process. In terms of future plans, I’d like for us to continue reaching out to more frontiers for diplomatic relations, and emboldening some of our more recent relationships, for example with The League, The Wellspring, and Carcassonne. I’d also like to see us reaching out to existing allies for potential collaboration on more events and festivals. Addressing our diplomatic plans in terms of war, we’ve already been limiting the potential for TCB and BoM to bait members of our community into the sorts of arenas they prefer, such as the gameplay forums, because I think our community has realized that it’s not worth our time when we could be improving our state of affairs where it matters. It’s vital that we continue to channel the words put down in ‘To War’, because that’s our stance, and let our enemies know that we will stand by that until the end.

Chipoli: The North Pacific has strongly communicated its feelings on foreign policy and has stood firm and held its ground, which is an approach I strongly agree with and have advocated for. It has been a very busy last couple of terms for us FA-wise, and it will continue to be. I can only wish you luck in tackling these challenges at this extraordinary time in history. Let’s shift our focus to the more internal ministries - Home Affairs, Culture, and Communications. How are things going there? Are our goals being met? In what ways can we improve?

Kaschovia: Let’s start with Home Affairs. I have to give huge credit to Lionsroar for stepping up and managing the ministry brilliantly this term, especially with mentoring, welcoming, telegramming, and the GAs. Without his hard work, there’s a sizable hole in our executive output. Home Affairs has pursued the restoration of key recruitment infrastructure, for example, the API recruitment script which Sil Dorsett has been perfecting and should be complete soon. We also have a pending solution for manual recruitment which will be explored this month. We’re looking at improving rewards incentives for staffers, and there’s much more on the horizon to come for HA. Culture has been chugging along, doing regular weekly events such as Music Mondays and Theme Thursdays, and we’ve also had some really great events this term, so overall I think things are going great and I’d say our goals have been met. However, we do still need to explore diversifying games on Discord and pursuing alternative cultural events. As for Communications, I am immensely proud of how the revival has been continued and upheld. We’ve been consistently releasing editions of TNS, albeit a few days later than scheduled, and we’ve been coordinating high-quality radio shows. TNN has seen a slight adjustment in its process, which I think has worked thus far. I think if we invest our energy in the right areas, those which staff enjoy the most, then more progress will be made.

Chipoli: We’ve already established that this has been a productive term so far and that our ministries have been operating at high levels as usual, but we obviously still have plenty of work to do. Let’s look at the big picture now. You’ve just given us all some extra insight into what our government has been up to, but now I would like to ask for your thoughts on it as a whole. Which ministry has been the most successful? What about the least?

Kaschovia: On the whole, I am pleased with our progress but constantly aware of the work that still needs to be done. There are areas where we can improve, from staff numbers and engagement, to making sure dispatches are up to date with the latest information. As for which ministry I think has been the most or least successful, I think they’ve all done very well in their own area of the executive and have proven that while great progress can be made, there is always room for further improvement down the line.

Chipoli: Well, that really is what I think we all can take away from this discussion. The North Pacific has thrived under your leadership thus far in your very first term, and I very much hope we can continue to do so under your onward light. I would like to thank you once more for taking the time to sit through my questions - it was quite intriguing to hear from the perspective of the individual who is leading us through one of the most turbulent times in our region’s history. It was a pleasure, Kasch.

Kaschovia: Thank you, Chipoli. It’s been a pleasure too!

Thank you for reading!

The North Star: Lighting The Way To The Truth

Publisher: Kaschovia | Executive Editors: Francois Isidore, Halsoni

Index of Issues

kaschovia

TNN | Delegate Kaschovia Re-Elected in The North Pacific

Kaschovia has been re-elected as Delegate of The North Pacific as of 11 January 2024. He received 69 votes coming in at 93.24% of the popular vote, while his opponents Osk!ebot and Vapia received one (1.35%) and four (5.41%) votes respectively. Seven people abstained, and seven voted to re-open nominations, representing 8.64% of voters. He will be the first delegate to serve two consecutive terms since Pallaith, who served from May to January 2022.

In his opening address to the region, Kaschovia stressed that he “[believes] in all of us to pull together and show the world what it means to be a part of The North Pacific,” and emphasized continuity with the growth and advancement of the past term. His cabinet is as follows:

Minister of Defence - Robespierre (Francois Isidore)

Minister of Foreign Affairs - Comfed

Minister of World Assembly Affairs - Simone (Simone Republic)

Minister of Culture - Nutmeg The Squirrel (The Anddoran Commune)

Minister of Home Affairs & Lead Gameside Advocate - Lionsmeow (Lionsroar)

Minister of Communications - Halsoni

He is also joined in government by Speaker Arafuttio and Vice Delegate Chipoli. Arafuttio received 58 votes, with 23 abstained and 25 voted to re-open nominations, representing 30.86% of the voters, likely because they ran unopposed. The Vice Delegate race was certainly the most exciting of the three, with three candidates - Hulldom, Chipoli, and Nutmeg The Squirrel - entering the fray. However, Hulldom dropped out of the race during the voting period, leaving just the last two candidates. Ultimately Chipoli prevailed with 50 votes, 70.42% of the ballots, while Nutmeg The Squirrel received 21 votes, 29.58% of the final count. 10 voters abstained and 13 (16.05%) voted to re-open nominations.

Election Commissioners Gorundu and Simone supervised the election.

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Issue XXXII
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Please find linked above the dispatch and magazine versions for Issue XXXII of The North Star.

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Issue XXXIII
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