Hello TEP! Welcome to the April Edition of the EPNS and another Delegate’s Update.

What an odd month April turned out to be, hey? We were without NationStates for 10 days, though what was merely a week and a half felt like an eternity for a lot of us. Me personally, I started having withdrawals by about the sixth day.

In reality, I enjoyed a nice vacation from Delegacy work, and have come back refreshed and excited to see the month out with a bang. While there are still several crucial elements of the site that are yet to be returned to normal, we’ve been able to continue with our current projects, and make good progress.

Firstly, let’s introduce the ‘East Pacific Sovereign Armada’, TEP’s new refurbished military. Last month, we held a regional vote to decide upon the military’s theme, from which navy was chosen. Behind closed doors, myself and some members of Cabinet worked to decide upon a name, time-period and rank hierarchy. We came down to two time-periods, being the Napoleonic Era or the Spanish Treasure Fleet’s of the late 1500s. Napoleonic Era won, and thus when one sees TEP’s navy they shall think of 19th century sailing boats and sharp dress uniforms. Over the next few weeks we’ll set the new rank hierarchy in stone, and begin the process of redesigning and creating dispatches and of course the EPSA Discord, which will get a full facelift. Once complete, the recruitment drive will begin.

In another area of government, I’ve worked to set up the new FA system we’ve been pursuing for some time. With the return of NS this week, I’ve rolled out the ambassador system to the FA Ministry, and we’re already close to finalising our FA sheet and sending out our new ambassadors. The new assignments will be a mixture of FA Councillors and FA Ministry staffers. TEP’s allies, crucially, shall retain experienced and long-serving FA Councillors to ensure our most trusted relationships are given the attention they deserve. I am very excited to see this plan come into action, and I look forward to seeing how it is received at home and abroad.

We had a single Cabinet change this month, with Minister of Outreach Romanoddle resigning this week to focus on real-life matters. I have been able to immediately fill this vacancy, with New Westmore coming on board. Westmore took over the ministry on Tuesday, and I’m very excited to see what we can get out of Outreach with an enthusiastic new face. A very big thank you to Romanoddle, who served diligently and capably as Minister of Outreach for the last term and a half. I will miss looking at the RMB and being asked what my favourite fruit or cardinal direction is. (I still cannot believe apple of all fruits won)

Lastly, I should touch on the progress made in the REWARD revamp. Last month I spent a couple of days slaving away at reinventing our REWARD dispatches, modernising and elaborating upon the existing infrastructure. This month I’ve taken a backseat, and Cabinet Advisor Vussul has worked day and night to set up the automated coding for our new endorsement initiative. I hope to see things up and running by the end of this new month, and we’ll ideally see some positive signs in our regional endorsement count and WA participation rates before the end of this term. You may also see our new friend Shahzada on the RMB and in TEP’s discords, don’t fret, they don’t bite. Shahzada will be gathering message numbers in TEP’s various discord servers, and they’ll be helping RMB’ers up their endorsements with automated endotarting on the RMB. Simply ping the Shahzada nation and write ‘tart’ and you’ll receive an instant list of those you haven’t yet endorsed. You’ll also see them welcoming newbies every couple hours, which is a nice feature. Big, big shoutout to Vussul for doing the hard coding work I am far too dumb to understand.

That about wraps it up for me this month, I’ll keep you posted as things progress. Enjoy this edition, and I’ll touch base again next month :)

Hello all! The Magisterium was rather quiet this month, with only one vote started during the month that is still ongoing. The Magisterium leaves April with 20 active magisters, 7 suspended magisters, and over 36 slices of caek devoured.

Ongoing Vote:
[C-2024-18] Confirmation of McStooley to the Praesidium

By: New Westmore

Although April was a quiet time for culture, we’ve now introduced a Culture Calendar! Each month we’ll be keeping track of events such as game nights, watch parties, and other spectacles, which you can view here!

Second of all, we’re introducing weekly game nights in the discord server! Every Friday night at 11pm GMT, we will be playing games like King Of The Castle (which seems to be a regional favourite), Cards Against Humanity, and other Discord games such as Putt Party and Gartic Phone! These will also be hosted on Tuesdays to keep the games active :)

Thirdly, the Hunger Games returns on Sunday 7th May! Make sure to sign up as either yourself or a character of your choosing and see if you can outlast 30+ other tributes!

Finally, over the next week we plan to host three Eurovision watch parties! Two for both of the semifinals, and one on Saturday 11th May for the grand final. For more information be sure to check out the events tab in the TEP Discord server!

That’s all from culture. Hope to see as many of you as possible at the game nights, Hunger Games, and the watch parties!

Love, Tommo <3

And now, a message from the Westmorian Ministry of Cultural Outreach...

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Song of the Month (Reborn)
By New Westmore

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Hymne à L'amour (Hymn to Love)
Edith Piaf

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Artist: Edith Piaf
Genre: Chanson
Released: 1950
Runtime: 3:25

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Make all the Fr*nch jokes you want, but nothing you say will never beat out this classic chanson song by France's endearing Little Sparrow, Edith Piaf. Written in 1950 as a love song to her lover an husband, Marcel Cedan, who died a year earlier on an Air France plane crash, Hymne a l'amour stands as a heartfelt song of everlasting love, and stands with Edith Piaf's most famous songs as a classic that no true Frenchman should ever forget or never bother listening to.

Like many of Edith's other songs, such as La vie en rose, Hymne a l'amour has been translated and re-adapted for English-speaking audiences, some of the most notable being Geoffrey Parsons's If You Love Me (Really Love Me), which was propelled into stardom in 1954 by other American artists of the time.

Over the course of April, the Citizenship Office granted citizenship to three residents of The East Pacific and processed two clerical changes. I recognize the hard work of Citizenship Officer Vulbania in addressing these forms, while I have been partially inactive to deal with OOC matters.

Due to the very same inactivity, I had been unable to update the Citizenship list since February, but it is now up to date, with 79 citizens. Unfortunately, time constraints have left me unable to update the forum group masking, but I fully intend to accomplish such in May. Furthermore, I intend to perform an audit in the week or weeks preceding the June Delegate elections.

In the Praesidium, Vizier and former Grand Vizier Dragons Blood recently CTE’d, shortly before NationStates experienced downtime. Dragons Blood had not received the proper email notification of impending CTE, but reacted quickly upon the CTE’s discovery, reviving his nation and endotarting again. Due to automatic removal procedures for ceasing to exist, Dragons Blood has been re-nominated to Viziership, which remains under discussion in the Magisterium.

No further events of note have occurred within the Praesidium, EPPS, or Citizenship Office.
By: Altys

STUDY: MGC Sanctions Widely Unpopular; Marginally Effective
By: Gem
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=550023

Hello and welcome to the Foreign Newsstand.

We in The East Pacific’s FA Watch are tasked with discussing and debating news of global significance within NationStates Gameplay (NSGP). With an eye on the forums and the news reports of our allies, we see discussion on a wide range of interregional political topics, and I have used this perspective to create the Newsstand, summarizing the goings-on of NSGP. It’s light reading this month, as a chunk of the time we could have had big events was bitten off by the sharks which chew on internet cables in the ocean.

This Newsstand is fact-checked by TEP’s Foreign Minister, but nevertheless, I am human, and make mistakes. As such, I encourage people to reach out if there are factual errors, and I invite any NSer to reply in this thread adding any events I may have missed. It can help me figure out what my blind spots are, and ensure accountable, factual reporting. In addition, this accounting is without bias, framing, or agenda. Straight facts, straight news. Readers are encouraged to direct opinions to threads relating to the individual events.

Without further ado, here are the major events of April 2024:

• The Washington Federation, Prime Minister of The Region That Has No Big Banks delivered the Spring State of the Region Address, celebrating their recent spike in diplomatic activity, among other regional work, such as in the Parliament, wherein the first ever veto in regional history was used on a piece of legislation which aimed to eliminate the veto power altogether. [1]

• Quebecshire, who had been contracted by Balder to serve as their War Minister and revive the Jomsvikings military, has resigned without a statement or announcement. The timing of this led to a lack of clarity on if it was an April Fool’s Joke, but appears to stand as of the end of the month. [2]

• After HumanSanity brought a recall motion against Prime Minister Drew Durrnil [3], the Prime Minister of The South Pacific resigned and issued an apology for inactivity as a result of IRL conflicts and a lack of willpower. [4]

• Conch Kingdom elected Patolia as Prime Minister, Charville as Domestic Affairs Minister, and Socialist Platypus as Foreign Affairs Minister. They are elected to a three month term each.

• Flemingisa, former CEO of Warzone Trinidad, has left WZT and NS, citing toxicity from NSGP and a lack of future projects they are passionate about. Flemingisa is missed by the entire WZT community. [5]

• The raid on The Realm of the Whispering Winds has been ceased following the Security Council Liberation and Injunction.

• The Brotherhood of Malice has led a raid on the region Eclipsis. As of writing, the region has been refounded in the midst of a Liberation resolution vote in the World Assembly Security Council.

• The Free Nations Federation held a Hanasaki party for the end of President Weatherwand’s last consecutive term in office. Between the regional crisis and a second term, she has served for about a year.

• In United Kingdom, newly elected Prime Minister Cody Cavendish-Beauclerk resigned. In his place, Deputy Prime Minister Samantha Cahill-Mountbatten has taken up the mantle of Acting Prime Minister, with Home Secretary George Stewart being named Acting Deputy PM.

• Archkeeper Rosartemis of Astoria announced that she would be stepping down at the end of her term, delivering her final address in the monthly foreign update. [6]

• The Enchanted Accords of the Sparkling Grove, a mutual defense treaty, has been signed between Sparkalia and The Black Hawks.
  

References:

[1]

The Social Reformer - Thirteenth Edition - April 1st, 2024

by The Commonwealth of Mjau

🌹 The Region That Has No Big Banks 🌹
Regional Constitution 〣 Regional Parties 〣 Regional Legislation 〣 Roleplay Map 〣 Regional History 〣 Regional Parliament 〣 Regional Forum 〣 Regional Seals 〣 News and Updates 〣 WFE Archives 〣 Endotarting Initiative

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New to NationStates? Check this guide out!〣Want to get involved in the community and chat with us? Join our Discord Server!〣Interested in Regional Politics? Register for our Parliament and Join the WA!

April 1st, 2024
Thirteenth Edition
Edited by Mjau

Welcome to your next edition of The Social Reformer,

TRTHNBB’s official newspaper, please upvote if you enjoy reading!

Want to submit? - FAQ

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1: Tearful Resignation
Authored by the Cabinet, Fact

Recently, we the Cabinet have been feeling tired. TRTHNBB has developed greatly recently, but this has sapped us of all energy, leaving us in a constant state of miserably defeat and lack of motivation, even for in-real-life ordeals. It’s been a great run, but all too weakening and laborious. The entire cabinet will resign today. What’s next for TRTHNBB? The residents can decide within themselves, as Yodle will be resigning as well.

We can all say that NationStates has helped us develop our leadership skills, work ethic, and charisma (believe it or not), and has even made us friends along the way. NationStates is a fun and sizeable hobby or game, but it’s just too hard to keep going, we’ve worn ourselves to a shadow. The responsibilities and deadlines are simply too much when paired without our already busy lives, there’s only so much human beings can accomplish simultaneously, without being filled too full and bursting.

We’re friends with all of you, feel free to contact us at your heart’s content via our Discord, we will still be active there. Some of us may continue to answer telegrams, but many of us are abandoning NationStates as a whole. Best wishes to TRTHNBB and all of NationStates. Quick note, make sure to check the date of this article, and we hope we fooled you! We promise the next article will be more serious.

-The Cabinet

Related: April Fools Day
Original: Above

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2: Big Banks Take Over
Authored by The Washington Federation, Fact

In a recent raid organized by regions associated with JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and various others, the regional government would be overthrown, with the joint conglomerate proclaiming The Region That Is A Big Bank (TRTIABB). Regional natives would be forced into exile as a hyper-capitalistic frontier would begin to form.

Fortunately, the defenders would undertake liberation efforts to restore the native government, called Operation April. After several days of vying for control, the liberators would be victorious in their efforts, being praised by the regional natives who would reinhabit the region. Never again will the big banks be able to take over our fair region.

Related: April Fools Day

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3: State of the Region Adress - Spring 2024
Authored by The Washington Federation, Opinion

Members of the esteemed regional parliament, you have been brought here today in what can be considered a peculiar circumstance up to this point. Rather than being gathered to commence another standard parliamentary session, this is instead the first State of the Region address, where I, as your Prime Minister, will recall all that has occurred throughout the winter season, along with what is to come. This address will be documented, as the regional public will be able to readily access this address through the Social Reformer initiative. Now then, with that being said…

(Government): Fellow citizens of this fair region with no big banks, I would like to start off this address by celebrating the new administration in their work so far. Mjau, my deputy as well as the first minister of communications, has been active in his work in the executive, helping bring new faces into the government. That’s where our newly-appointed minor officers, Western Arba Fir, The Kaverian, and Vordoslavia have come in, working within the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Culture respectively.

(Legislature): In regards to the legislature, the revival of the parliament has gone without a hitch, especially with America the Greater, our Speaker of Parliament, at the helm. In the time since he was elected speaker in late November, he has brought consistent activity to the halls of parliament, with six sessions worth of bills having been passed, consisting of nine new laws being enacted, with the rest relating to either amendments, repeals, or titles. Including the speaker, we currently have twenty-four voting members of parliament (MPs), fourteen of which currently represent political parties. Given that the parliament is open to willing citizens, this statistic can fluctuate.

Along with that, we’ve recently had our first veto, against an amendment that deceptively sought to remove the executive’s power to veto amendments by framing it as a textual discrepancy. Though it is quite a landmark moment for parliament in itself, it would turn out to be quite controversial given how it was initially carried out. Despite that, the result was seven votes in favor of overturning the veto, and nine votes opposed, thus the veto was upheld due to not reaching a three-quarters majority. As the one to carry out the veto, I would like to clarify that this is the first instance of a veto in The Region That Has No Big Banks’ modern history (post-2020), thus how the process was to be carried out was uncertain given that Article XII is somewhat vague in terms of said process. Should other vetoes be carried out in the future, expect a more streamlined affair.

(Foreign Affairs): Other than that, we have had sweeping reforms to our foreign affairs sector under New United Common-lands’ ministry, loosening embassy ties with regions that weren’t actively involved within the community of the region. We have also officially sent out ambassadors to other regions, all falling within the range of small to medium-sized in terms of population. In what we see as a diplomatic achievement, we’ve also established ties with some game-created regions (G.C.R.’s), establishing embassies with Lazarus and The South Pacific. A couple of these game-created regions also joined us in the face of nuclear warfare (N-Day), those being the Rejected Realms and the aforementioned South Pacific. We’ve also had unofficial partnerships with a few of the other Pacific regions through chess tournaments and gatherings involving the “Civilization” games.

In other news, in an incident from January, we cut ties with the region known as Gravy, under the “Third Gravy Republic” at this time, due to homophobic incidents that were allegedly encouraged by their regional administration at the time, most present in their regional Discord server. Krayo29 and Puttt, former citizens of Gravy, would immigrate into the region as whistleblowers, being the main catalyst that would lead to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs making this decision. A government investigation had confirmed the region to create a hostile environment for LGBTQ+ nations. The region would soon find itself diplomatically isolated due to its misdeeds toward the LGBTQ+ community on the site.

(Domestic Affairs): Carrying on, let’s get to the domestic side of things. In an incident in late January, a border crisis would be declared by Yodle, the esteemed head of state, on the 26th. The crisis involved an RMB spammer under the pseudonyms of "Blue penguin”, "New amphorinia”, and variations thereof. As a side note, the name “Blue Penguin”, verbatim, had been claimed by Unat, the Director of External Affairs of our allies in the Region of Golden-Black Nations, or RGBN for short, with the decision being taken to prevent the spammer from taking it. The crisis would die down as time marched on into February, with site moderators tying up the loose ends as the spammer and their puppets attempted to retreat into a couple of storage regions. However, the crisis would not come to an official end until March 3rd (de jure).

On a brighter note, our first census of the year provided fruitful results, with nearly 40 nations having responded, allowing for diversity in the statistics. Of all nations who partook in the census, a majority have been in the region for under a year, with half of the respondents also expressing interest in participating in the regional government. A vast majority, nearly 90% of all those who filled out the census, are currently in the World Assembly. The main aspect of the region that citizens wanted the government to address was regional roleplay at 34%, with aspects such as the Social Reformer, the Parliament, and community events also being popular focus points. As expected, many of the respondents would be satisfied with the games nights we’ve been holding, with 60% preferring them over other community-based events. Some respondents have even voiced their own opinions, which I have responses for, as is my duty as prime minister, leading this address to the people:

“Our Prime Minister is not making enough effort to lead our nation, and our region's activity will suffer without a greater push of leadership” - While this stance is somewhat understandable, this is the aftermath of New United Common-Lands’ premiership we are considering here, no-one could truly succeed him without it feeling bare in comparison. I am trying the best that I can to make such a transition somewhat seamless, though that would be a tall order considering what all NUCL had done for the region as prime minister.

“Our government is not active enough.” - As my deputy previously stated in this regard, we in the government spend quite a bit of our day on the regional Discord server (the only exception being Lemona, an RP admin, who is on-site full-time), though we can address something in the on-site message board or telegrams if needed. If you have anything to ask us or tell us about, don’t be shy, we’ll be sure to answer!

“Our government doesn't have enough foreign affairs.” - While the anonymous respondent certainly has some ambition in this regard, we’re already in a golden age as is in terms of foreign affairs. Since the start of the new year, we’ve constructed on-site embassies with two GCRs and made ourselves known to the multiverse that makes up NationStates, what more must we do?

(Cultural Affairs): Meanwhile, the cultural affairs of the region have been as lively as ever, having held the Twelve Days of No Big Banks event throughout December. We’ve also held four game nights since the start of the new year, with an extra game night being played in February prior to N-Day. Having noticed that our fellow comrades in the InterLeft alliance have considered hosting their own game nights, we encourage them in their endeavors.

In other areas in the broad field of cultural affairs, the world map roleplaying initiative would see reform in how in-game scientific advancement statistics would affect the technologies that nations have access to in character. The problem stemmed from Vordoslavia, currently working as a roleplay administrator within the Ministry of Culture, who objected to the advancement chart as initially conceived in late October 2023. At the time, Vordoslavia was estimated to score around fifty on the Kurzweil Singularity Index (KSI), which would only be enough for Napoleonic-era technologies. This would continue to be a hot topic within the region’s roleplaying community until Socialistic Britain, the incumbent Minister of Culture, addressed the issue in late February 2024. Now, a nation with an estimated 50 on the KSI would have access to technologies that nations would have access to in World War 2.

In a niche yet relatively broad part of what makes up the region’s roleplaying community, sports roleplaying has gathered some steam throughout the past couple of years, starting with the establishment of the Bankless Football League. The BFL has completed four seasons to date and is about to begin its fifth, with seasons being played twice a year. The idea of sports roleplaying would catch on since then, even expanding to an interregional scale with the conception of the Battle of the Banks.

(Conclusion): May it please the parliament to know that their full attendance at this address will be appreciated. Along with it, to those who have read this address in full on the Social Reformer, we appreciate you for taking the time to read this. Expect to see another address in the summer. Until then, we hope you have a good time here in this region!

Related: The TRTHNBB Constitution

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4: The Veto Crisis
Authored by New United Common-lands, Fact

On February 23rd, The Kaverian proposed an amendment to the constitution, in an effort to help clarify an inconsistency. The issue at hand revolved around the conflicting powers within the constitution: the constitution stated amendments would be ‘immediately ratified’, yet this clashed with the Prime Minister’s authority to veto legislation. If amendments were indeed immediately ratified, it left no room for the exercise of veto power, with no identified regional process for vetoing legislation.

The proposed solution put forward by The Kaverian was to eliminate the Executive Veto altogether. This caused predominantly government officials to show their opposition, who raised two main arguments against its removal. Firstly, they argued that eliminating the veto would disrupt the balance of powers among the three branches of government. Secondly, it was pointed out that the bill failed to justify the removal of the veto when a simpler amendment could have been suggested to clarify the process. Yet despite these concerns from government members, Members of Parliament overwhelmingly supported the amendment to the constitution, when called to a vote on March 1st. On the penultimate day of voting, the bill had received 12 votes in favor, and 5 votes against, meaning the bill was on track to become ratified.

On March 6th, in frantic fashion, The Washington Federation (TWF), Prime Minister declared their intention to veto the bill, in order to ensure the new amendment wasn’t ratified, due to the aforementioned concerns. This unprecedented use of the executive veto in the TRTHNBB stirred confusion regarding the proper veto process. In addition, after announcing the veto TWF began coordinating a vote on whether MPs wished to uphold or overturn the veto. Administration of a vote in Parliament is usually entrusted to the Speaker of Parliament, and TWF’s vote was deemed by The Kaverian and America the Greater, as an ‘overstep’ in the PM’s responsibilities. This led to America the Greater (ATG), Speaker of Parliament, requesting that Members of Parliament disregard TWF’s telegram/discord calling for a vote. ATG instead organized a vote through the official parliamentary channels. TWF later, explained they were themself unclear of the veto process and sorry for the confusion they’d caused.

Ultimately, on March 14th, ATG announced that TWF’s veto was upheld by a vote of 9 to 7, maintaining the status quo. However, the veto crisis prompted constructive discussions within Parliament. As a result, a revised bill, proposed by The Kaverian, is currently being voted upon in the TRTHNBB’s ongoing voting session, which proposes granting the Prime Minister a 48-hour window after a bill's successful passage to exercise their veto.

Related: The TRTHNBB Constitution

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5: Parliament Activity Report
Authored by America the Greater, Fact

Here’s a brief look at all of the bills that were voted on in our Voting Session that concluded on March 7th:

For all vote tallies, my format will be For - Against - Abstain. Also, keep in mind that Constitutional amendments can only pass with a ⅔ majority, while all other bills pass with a simple majority.

Let’s begin with the extensive list of legislation by The Kaverian!

- The Amendment to Article VI, which allowed the Speaker of Parliament to create committees, passed with a total vote of 15 - 2 - 1.

The Amendment to Article XII, which sought to remove the veto power from the PM, initially passed with a vote of 12 - 5 - 1. Ironically, this bill was vetoed by the PM. Parliament voted on whether to overturn the veto in an Emergency Voting Session, but this motion failed with a vote of 7 - 9. The veto has been upheld.

- The Census Act, which established regulations for the regional Census including a required timeframe, passed with a vote of 13 - 3 - 2.

Moving on, let’s look at a bill by Western Arba Fir, a brand-new author of legislation!

- The Amendment to Article IX, which attempted to establish term limits for the Deputy Prime Minister, failed with a vote of 8 - 8 - 2.

Finally, let’s look at the legislation authored by yours truly, America the Greater.

- The Amendment to the Minor Officer Act, a simple rewording, passed with a vote of 17 - 1 - 0.

- The Amendment to the Defendership Accords, another minor rewording, passed with a vote of 16 - 0 - 2.

- The Amendment to the Establishment of The Bankless Liberation Forces, which clarified the nomination procedure for the Commissar General, head of the BLF, passed with a vote of 16 - 0 - 2.

I’ll let the story of the veto be covered in another article, but regardless, this was an excellent turnout! During my term as Speaker, Parliament has been consistently active, with 18 or more MPs voting each time. So thank you, MPs, for casting your vote and making your voice heard.

America the Greater,
Speaker of Parliament

Related: The TRTHNBB Constitution, TRTHNBB - Parliament
Original: Parliament Activity Report - March 2024

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6: The Art of Legislation
Authored by The Kaverian, Opinion

I am honored to be one of the few in this region of hundreds of nations to have passed legislation. I am also saddened to be one of the few in this region of hundreds of nations to have passed legislation. Whether you’re either too overwhelmed or scared by the prospect of writing legislation for the reason or you just don’t have any idea how to start despite ATG’s detailed legislation guide, which you should also check out if you haven’t, I get it. However, over my 3 years on NationStates, I have learned that it isn’t actually that hard to create legislation. There are 3 steps: finding a topic, composition, and revision.

Finding a topic isn’t as hard as you think, all you have to do is either use a recent event as inspiration, such as me using the February census as the inspiration for the Census Act. The alternative is that you can look in the constitution and the regional law, and nitpick it to find problems or unaddressed issues and legislate based on that (which is my more favored way to get a topic actually).

Composition is the easiest part. You just have to write a policy to support your opinion on what the solution to your topic/issue is. If you have a difficult time articulating that, however, ask someone who has already written a bill to help you: there’s no shame in asking for help. Speaking of which, this is a good transition into the part that’s hardest for me: revision. Asking people what they think and compromising are not generally two things I want to do, but to make everyone happy and pass your legislation, you most likely will have to compromise. Stick to your opinions, but don’t be closed off to compromise.

If you follow these steps, I’d hope that you’ll be our next legislator.

Well, kind of…

Because there is always the chance that your bill fails, and that sucks. That’s happened to me several times, but if it fails, see why and fix it or compromise (even if you don’t want to). You can always improve, and you can do anything if you put your mind to it.

Related: The TRTHNBB Constitution
Original: The Art of Legislation

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7: Foreign Affairs Update
Authored by New United Common-lands, Fact

Upon my appointment to the role of Minister of Foreign Affairs, I recognized the importance of Foreign Affairs within the region, whilst Prime Minister we achieved many Foreign Affairs successes, as highlighted in my landmark “A new chapter for TRTHNBB’s Foreign Affairs” statement. Since this statement, we have appointed 11 ambassadors, made better use of our forum page, closed 12 embassies with either inactive or isolationist regions, and started planning joint events. In addition, we have recently appointed Western Arba Fir as Diplomacy Officer, and on March 22nd we hosted our first Foreign Affairs Committee meeting.

Our recent participation in the NS Gameplay alliance Jellyfish Elite Fighting Force (JEFF), has helped us establish two new embassies. Firstly with Alcris (UCR), a 100+ nation region with great community activity and active government council. Secondly with the South Pacific (GCR), a 5900+ nation, highly active, highly influential region with similar defender principles as TRTHNBB. These will bring about exciting opportunities for TRTHNBB, I look forward to working with both regions over the next few months.

In addition, we have recently agreed to host a joint Chess Arena with the Forest. The ‘Bankless Forest Chess Arena’ will bring together Chess players across our two regions and more widely across NS with 10 other regions agreeing to participate. Furthermore, back last year we signed a Treaty of Friendship with Sol Aeternalis, which also set out our desire to jointly host a TRTHNBB/SA Festival, planning for the event is now underway with a provisional date set for late July. These show our ambitions for hosting joint events with our embassy partners, which I am keen to continue as we move forward.

We also continue our participation in the inter-regional organizations the InterLeft and JEFF. In recent months Mjau was re-elected as the Chancellor of the InterLeft, after successfully managing to pass the Solidarity Charter, helping to boost their re-election campaign. On the InterLeft server, we now have regular Civilisation 6 game nights and TTRPG events taking place. We also appointed our four Comrade Reps with Ardeyn, The Washington Federation, Mjau, and Western Arba Fir being elected to represent TRTHNBB. In addition, InterLeft and TRTHNBB participated in the 4000-nation strong Nday faction JEFF, which successfully finished 3rd place with an astonishing 20 regions participating. We are now looking forward to joining JEFF in the upcoming Trades fair event taking place on May 11th.

Furthermore, TRTHNBB recently established our Bankless Liberation Forces, our defender-aligned R/D organization. Over the past months, we have seen 6 liberators from our region participating in a number of operations on Libcord including the liberations of UEPU, The Vincence Pact, HC Republic, United Democratic Nations, The Rhineland, and Mandala, with the following nations participating; Socialistic Britain, Mjau, Astravica, Western Arba Fir, Gine Caruttiva and New United Common-lands.

Related: TRTHNBB - Foreign Policy
Original: March 2024 Foreign Affairs Update

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8: Election Time Change Announcement
Authored by America the Greater, Opinion

Citizens,
It appears that my Amendment to Article IX of the Constitution is on track to pass and become law. Unless the bill receives a large number of votes against it, which is still possible and shouldn’t be ruled out, the timeframe of our elections could change soon. I want to quickly announce the exact change that will take place if my bill passes:

TRTHNBB Elections will be held in January, May, and September. With an election in May, this means that our next campaign season would begin shortly after the passing of the bill. Our three elected positions are Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, and Speaker of Parliament. If you have any interest in running for any of these positions, I recommend that you start preparing your campaign and deciding on a platform now, so you’re prepared for the next election. It seems that we may see a large government shakeup this time, so this election could be a great opportunity for all citizens.

Related: Amendment to Article IX of the Constitution

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9: InterLeft Update
Authored by Mjau, Fact

InterLeft is an interregional organization governed by a general assembly and a small executive branch, consisting of a Chancellor who appoints a Vice-Chancellor. Just recently, InterLeft has ratified their charter, the InterLeft Solidarity Charter! This new document will help guide InterLeft in its endeavors, which in turn helps and aids its member regions, which include The Region That Has No Big Banks!

Also, InterLeft has just had another election, with TRTHNBB candidate Mjau winning a majority of votes, and being re-elected as Chancellor of InterLeft. The cabinet has not changed minus the nomination of S.F. Eurasia of Aurora as Vice-Chancellor, the candidate with the second most votes, as is tradition. Rumours say that Mjau plans to appoint Tea Island Systems as Speaker of the General Assembly, once every member region has appointed their general assembly representatives.

For more information on how InterLeft operates, read the InterLeft Solidarity Charter, we’re an active member of JEFF as well. If your region is interested in joining, just telegram Mjau!

Related: InterLeft Solidarity Charter

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10: Meme Showcase!
Authored by Socialistic Britain, Meme

Mashed potato anybody?
Discord post from Washington, RMB post however made by Dantek:

Ami go home!
Screenshot taken by SB, Post made by Washington:

Oi Bruv
Screenshot taken and posted by SB:

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Artwork from Socialistic Britain!
29/2/24 | 2/29/24
Written by Yodle

🌲🌳 Lands of 𝕯𝖊𝖈𝖑𝖆𝖓𝖘𝖇𝖚𝖗𝖌 🌳🌲

I am proud to present to you today, the COMPLETED Season 3 Regional Collection of Declansburg (linked above), which contains 501 total cards and has been worked on in close cooperation with both myself (Yodle) and Declansburg’s founder New Bradfordsburg! After approaching New Bradfordsburg in mid-December 2023, we embarked on creating Declansburg’s definitive collection, which only consists of Season 3 since they were first established in 2021. TRTHNBB’s contribution to the collection consists of 387 cards (77.25%) and Declansburg’s contribution consists of 114 cards (22.75%)! As the first major cultural collaboration between NBB and Declansburg, it has been and still is a pleasure working with New Bradfordsburg in having completed the collection of this piece of history for our friends in Declansburg! 😄

Future collaborations are in the works, with the next one on the list being for RGBN, who don’t currently have any completed Regional Collections, as well as The Free Nations Region, but more in an advisory role to help them complete their existing collections which will ultimately make up the different components of The Free Nations Realm Definitive Collections. We’ve done a lot of great work so far, and I am very excited to continue my work in creating new additions to cultural history for our friends!

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Conclusion

I hope you had fun reading this edition, our team would love it if you submitted something for the next edition (May 1st!), and please telegram me (Mjau) with any feedback!

Have an excellent April Fools Day,
DPM and Minister of Communications,
Mjau

Read dispatch

[2] viewtopic.php?p=41477368#p41477368
[3] https://thesouthpacific.org/t/2415-mr-motion-to-recall-the-pm/5427
[4] https://thesouthpacific.org/t/resignation-as-pm/5451
[5] viewtopic.php?p=41488196#p41488196
[6] viewtopic.php?p=41543729#p41543729

I started this journey in the latter part of May 2004. The East Pacific has always been synonymous with roleplaying since the beginning. By the time I joined the community the roleplaying map was going strong. When I joined NationStates I had a thing for skyscrapers and loved the way the Petronas Towers of Malaysia looked. You should have seen my LEGO twin towers I made trying to copycat them. Actually, they looked terrible plus I'm from a generation where my first cell phone was a Nokia phone without a camera. Nonetheless, that's where my first chapter started with roleplay: East Malaysia. The Star Empire of East Malaysia.

East Malaysia, a tropical paradise, with aliens always on the watch for the evil West Malaysians across their stellar empire. The first leader of written East Malaysia was Emperor Ty Bishop, he was a poor leader, and don't worry I took care of him with some help. Assassination by foreign power. As I expect there will be only a few to none that might be familiar with my early cringe writings. I'll let you know what happened to the next Emperor, also assassinated, so for a while, everyone thought I liked to kill off my leaders after that one. Since 2005 I have had the same leader, Empress Glendale Jung, Enda "Glendale" Jung if you would like the Conlang modern name update.

From the 2004 map through Urth map years East Malaysia was the name I went by on the roleplay map. TEP Evolved, as TEP roleplay was once known, allowed future tech, but the technology levels scaled down to modern to post-modern. By the graciousness of the cartographers to grandfather some of old East Malaysia to the new. This marks the start of my second chapter of The Empire of East Malaysia. Later I rebranded it as Peregrinia to take a real-world reference off the map.

Peregrinia, a tropical paradise, with aliens that lost their technology. This is around the time I got more into worldbuilding over roleplaying. Might also have something to do with it seemed like every time I started a roleplay I had to cancel it because of a retcon. Yet the beauty of it was it gave me an opportunity to open my eyes to new possibilities by creating a familiar yet different nation. I moved to preserve areas on the map that I worried Hoopland and Free Pacific States could vanish from the map. I swapped aliens for elves, decreased human population, and added Nekomimi plus a couple of other minor species. I also started a conlang with the Kilumi you see today being the final product. Shoutout to Sammy for helping me with conlanging and all those pings over the years.

Next thing I know I'm de facto in control of Free Pacific States, Lyon and Peregrinia. Free Pacific States' name got updated to Free Pax States for some spice with Packilvania. Last year I shared with the original Free Pacific States a draft of my reimagination of Free Pax States, the UrthWiki page, and he liked what I was doing. So I decided to move forward with a reimagination. I was going to roleplay them together but one thing led to another and another retcon and I felt stuck. I didn't know what I wanted to do, I had all these great ideas, developing words for Kilumi yet no outlet it seemed. A nightmare scenario for a conlanger, roleplayer, writer, and worldbuilders.

So I did what every mediocre writer does. You push off the problem for several months until you address the problem. I had de facto too much land, it was tiring having the same shape for 19 years, and needed something fresh. I put in a request that the amazing cartographers helped me and it opened up more land for new players. Plus Oan allowed a border update with Packilvania. Out with Peregrinia and Lyon and in with Free Pax States and Tarseen. That brings me to my final chapter. The Imperial States of Free Pax States.

You might be wondering how I know it's my final chapter. No, I'm not retiring, but I'm not going to make any major changes to what I have now. Species population breakdown is the only major consideration. Outside of that the name, shape, language, religion, culture... it finally feels right and all that I need to do is complete the details in the middle.

Free Pax States, officially known as the Imperial Alliance of Free Pax States (FPS) (Kilumi: Ynseyes Px’il’vn’ia Kiramise (YPK)), is a country in Southeast Yasteria and Cereneria. Free Pax States is a federal monarchy comprising of five states, three special administrative regions, a territory, and controls the contested Tarseen territory. The nation is situated in Southeast Yasteria, just south of Packilvania, north of Jusdelva and west of Wealden in Cereneria. The nation shares a land boarder with Packilvania and Jusdelva though the Free Pax States is largely comprised of an archipelago. The nation has a mostly tropical climate with the exception of the Pontuarya Desert in the northwest and Kaoghoni Desert in the southwest. The Imperial Alliance has a diverse consolidated population of approximately 209 million.

While there is no way to know what the future will bring and it could be another 20 years before I am finished. What I do know is none of this would have been possible without our community being so roleplay centric. I am honored I had this opportunity to spend this journey with so many great roleplayers. Thank you for having me for so long!

con·lang
/ˈkänˌlaNG/
a language that has been artificially created; a constructed language.
Definition from Oxford Languages and Google

Hi, I’m the owner of the oil-loving, many-islanded, musically successful, sportly unsuccessful, weirdly-languaged country. Apparently now WA-loved as well. Námerek, we’re about to speak in Cukish.

8 years ago I was having breakfast and I decided to create a language. It just happened. My brain decided to be efficient. Actually it was part of my return to NS, a moment in which I decided to worldbuild every aspect I could of my country, the by then (and still in NS) called New Leganes and now named Cooperative Commonwealth of the Impelanzan Ocean. I had been wanting to create my own language for quite a while, and even made some little attempts as a child. But this time, I wanted a language I could write a whole text in, so I threw some words here and there and I wrote a paragraph which Tunsé knows where it may be now, but probably has little and yet a lot to see with the current shape of my conlang. That’s how the Cukish language first came into life.

So that’s the step I always advise new conlangers to begin their conlangs with. Try making some words. The goal of this is to evaluate what sonority they like the most, either in their personal taste or if they already have an idea in mind of what they want it to look like. You won’t end up using most of those words, but they’ll give you hints of your language’s phonetics. Everything right up to this point: then it went downhill for me. The next step should’ve been creating some vocabulary, at least the basics. I did create some very basic vocabulary, such as “hello”, “good morning/afternoon/night”, or “thanks”, but I jumped into what really makes me passionate about conlanging: grammar. I spent a couple of years designing a full grammatical system that could work on its own (with the proper exceptions) and you can see the result here.

Now I have created a language that works properly as a language. Small issue: where’s the vocabulary? I am the creator of this language, and I have not ceased to be. Languages still come up with new terms, whether it is by borrowing words from other languages or by creating its own, new ones by derivation, compounding, and so many word formation processes. RL languages are the product of different societies and of thousands, sometimes millions of people, interacting with each other everyday. Replicating that on my own is an utterly impossible task, so I soon had to overcome my desire of spending several afternoons sitting at my desk solely creating new Cukish words. Instead, I realised I hadn’t been as wrong as I thought, and I kept the method of casually creating the words I specifically needed in each RP post or wiki page.

That’s how we arrive at the point I want to bring to EPNS in this article. Some time ago I read that Tolkien constructed his own languages by devising hypothetical ancient roots first, making them evolve into current forms and branching the evolution in order to create language families. That’s the most realistic way of creating a language, making it undergo the same processes as RL languages. However, it is a difficult task, and one my circumstances (and probably everyone else’s) don’t allow me (us all), so for Cukish I follow a middle ground: I create roots, then develop them backwards and forwards. Backwards into the past, original roots; forwards towards modern words derived from those roots. Let’s take a look at the document I take my notes on for my RP content:

As you can see, my notes are bilingual, sometimes in Spanish and others in English, and it’s the way my mind works as well. Blame TEP for that. I want to take a look at *mu first. I devised that root after a word I created for the RP I’m invested in, Nárilethál: that word is “mórna”, and it designates the ruler of Matorélik, an ancient state in the modern-day Oblivion Islands. I envisioned this ruler to act as a supervisor over the different islands and towns of the archipelago, holding ultimate (and somewhat divine) authority over the rest of local rulers. Supervisor is a Latin equivalent for “overseer”, an individual who sees what the rest are doing, so I came up with mórna with the intention for it to literally mean “with eyes”. -ne is the suffix used for the Cukish accompanying case, while the remaining root, mor-, ought to be either the word for “eyes” or a very similar term to it. So I came up with the ancient root *mu for “eye”, while mo and mor would mean “eyes” nowadays. That way I also decided that “u” phonemes followed by liquid consonants (“l” and “r”) would eventually evolve into “o” as a general rule in Cukish. That shouldn’t happen with a grammatical marker as the plural -r, but humans usually have two eyes and the plural could really become soon part of the root itself.

Not long afterwards, I realised about a word I created in the very first days of Cukish, “etomúrni”, which meant “forgotten”, “oblivion”, and I had later substituted by etonári, with the opposite meaning of “unforgotten”. I had made this change after I first began writing Nárilethál and made the title mean “the song (hál) of (archaic genitive -let) the forgotten one (nári)”. That -múrni element in the original word had such a striking similarity with mor, and I wanted to rescue etomúrni and link it with mor. I thought about how you remember something because you’ve perceived it with your senses, most of the times you’ve seen it, and -múrni and mórna look alike. I decided that múrni could be the archaic spelling of mórna, evolving in a different branch into a meaning of “memory”, using one’s brain to see what has previously been seen with the eyes. In the same way, when you forget about someone or something, you even forget its appearance or its shape, becoming blank or void. That’s the meaning of etomúrni (literally “without eyes” but now meaning “without memory”, thus “forgotten” or “oblivion” as a noun). But I still had etonári without a proper etymology, so I delved into the matter of how nári had come to mean “forgotten” together with etomúrni. Once again, Dua Lipa possessed me and said “let’s get (meta)physical”: I drew into the “void memory” concept I had explored before and thought it could be cool to have the word mean “void”, with an original *narid root. Sammy from the past can explain it better in those Spanish notes, which read “*narid -> void. Someone or something that “is void” may be because it’s been forgotten. It exists and doesn’t at the same time. What defines that being (its look, its meaning) has been lost and remains void. Nepámir [that is, Nárilethál’s protagonist] (and all the Matoréliker) is nári because everything that had defined what he was (his house, his parents…) has been lost and he goes gathering the pieces of his life during his quest.”

What you see above is also derived from a RP. Not a deep, literary RP as Nárilethál, but one would probably never expect (except if they know me well enough). The biggest of TEP’s RPs: the Urthvision Songfestival. In the last edition I hosted, Urthvision XVIII, I wrote some Cukish lyrics for one of the interval songs while in public transport, which granted me the strange glance of a passenger, wondering what the hell was the language I was writing in. Honestly, it would’ve been funnier if it had been my linguistic notes: even less understandable. These are the lyrics I composed, with their literal translation:

The grammatical analysis absolutely wasn’t on my mind when I composed the lyrics. I guided myself by the mere phonaesthetic I got when listening to the song the lyrics are based in (IRL, Igranka by Who See), what fitted the most with the sonority and with my own sonority, together with a little poetic component in the repetition of -(k)a in the last four verses. -ka, by the way, is normally the equivalent to “and” in English, but in this case, it is better left untranslated since it simply marks the repetition of a structure (“védek [element]-ka”, “[element] [is]* there for you”).

* There is no verb “to be” in Cukish. It’s one of some inspirations Cukish has in Arabic and other Semitic languages; if you think about it, if you put something into words, it exists simply by itself, even when it just belongs to the world of words.

Some time after I had written the lyrics, the analysis began. Once again, backwards evolution into the roots and elements these words would have evolved from, their relation to other words, the different meanings these words can have, and their function within the text. Here’s a translation of my notes in the screenshot (and for “ifárye”, which appears in the previous screenshot), with my own italics and clarifications for the purpose of this article added between [ ]:

• Ifárye
   ◦ -ye -> suffix (not used any longer) for “absence of”.
   ◦ Ifá -> thing, matter [ifár in plural].
   ◦ Ifárye -> “with nothing”, unworried, relaxed

• Éto indicates opposition (sort of a disjunctive) [it usually is used negatively in Cukish, meaning simply “no”], -ye indicates absence [of something]. -rye is for non-excluding disjunctives [that is, like “or” in English. Ifárye uses -ye instead of -rye, since the -r- is just the plural suffix for ifá].

• [I mentioned this above already] “When a U is followed by an R, U becomes O” [I translated “becomes” because I’m not sure if “timbre” in English is a proper linguistic term, lol].

• *jen -> “near”, “next”, “after”. If you go from a specific point [abstractly], what is nearby is also what comes next. It evolves into zhén, “afterwards”, “next”, and zhénka, literally “also near”, “about [something]”.

• Li -> preposition of direction.

• *vat -> “rock”

• Váter -> “rocks”. Vatérna, vatéra -> place [-na is an archaic and lexicalised accompanying case, so vatérna literally means “with rocks”, “among rocks”. Consider how Cukish was (and is) spoken by people living on small volcanic islands in the middle of the ocean, so where there are rocks, that’s the only place you can stay at. Any place that is not the ocean is rocky].

• *uovi -> “life”, “to live” [it’s frequent in Cukish that the same term can be used as different grammatical categories]. Hwói, “life”, “to live”. Hwóifa, “house”, “home”.
   ◦ -fa -> suffix for function/role (as -tor in Latin) [Terminator is “the one who terminates”. Hwói-fa is “the place used for living”].

• Uhín -> demonstrative pronoun [like “this” or “that” in English, but meaning “that place” and therefore “there” in the lyrics’ context].

• Nemíspo
   ◦ Nemíspo -> “inner pain”, “sadness”. Literally “turn/twisting of the mind/stomach” [the mind was thought to be in the stomach by the ancient Cukish: when you’re worried or sad about something and you keep on thinking about it, your belly hurts. That’s where the association comes from].
   ◦ Nemí -> “mind”, “conscience”, “stomach”.
   ◦ Íspo -> “turn/spin”, “to turn / to spin around”.

• Olonízh -> “physical pain” [as opposed to the inner pain of nemíspo].
  

There’s some words I didn’t analyse there. You can find the pronoun vedéreo and all the different pronouns in the language’s wiki, while se just means “in” or “into” (in this case, “in”), with the same function as in English. Yónar means “two”, “the two of them” or “both”, and -e is an emphatic suffix (I translated yónar-e as “certainly both”) For the rest: that’s a surprise tool that will help us later!

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Now to conclude, there are many conlangs sprouting on Urth at the moment. Some pretty and equally ambitious projects. I hope this article inspires worldbuilders in TEP and out of it, and that it’s useful for them. Sharing ideas is a great part for our own ones to grow. My current approach to word formation, after several failed attempts, has been very successful, in ways such as my last delegate campaign, TEP’s first campaign ever in a conlang (and, if I’m correct, the first in a language other than English ever in our two-decade history!). These little words and texts (and lyrics) have slowly formed a coherent structure for the building Cukish is turning to be, recently allowing me to write a full more-or-less complex text entirely in Cukish. I have used the grammar and vocabulary I had already created, and I’ve come up with new words when needed. As slowly but firmly as I have been doing over these eight years, my target is to build a solid foundation for new vocabulary by creating a large amount of roots, so Cukish keeps its consistency and doesn’t run into many dangerous duplicates or incongruent words. This is definitely the next step: when this is done to a significant degree (it may never end), Cukish will not just be a language you can write some little texts with, but one I wish I (and some other people, given the case) can even speak! It may sound ambitious, but as I said, it’s just a wish, one that may never happen. However, creating a language used to be just a wish for me…

With 36 nations sending singers and bands from across Urth to take part in Urthvision XX in Korćetta. If you asked the locals about what they might see in Korćetta they might tell you the national motto "Evergreen drzewa tak daleko, jak oko może zobaczyć" which translates to "Evergreen trees as far as the eye can see." Korćetta or officially the Korćettan Republic is a nation in the Kaskada region of Southwest Gondwana with a population of 23 million. It borders Stražsko to the south, Aivintis and East Cerdani to the east, and Zemeprievadai to the north. The nation borders the Sea of Gondwana to the west. Urthvision XX is expected to take place End of May / Beginning of June.

Valsora Featured

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Zemedievai (WIP), ValsoraWiki
By Aivintis
The Directorate, officially The Directorate of Zemedievai, is a small country in Northeast Yastreovakia, located north of the Congregation of Brethren. A formerly isolationist nation, the Directorate has a population of 27 million, most of which identify with Slaviskas ethnicity, speak the Slaviskas language, and practice some form of Dievinism. Farmers and fishers make the majority of the rural population, while urban centers are more industrial and developed.

LegendAir
By New Westmore

Map of Antarctia
By Terreich und Preussen

ValsoraWiki
By Empire of Dabiristan

The idea of an external wiki resource for Valsora has been tossed around for well over a year. Although initially it did not seem that there would be one, a year later “ValsoraWiki” has become a reality. ValsoraWiki is a new initiative to help roleplayers on the map have a resource where they can write down all of their worldbuilding.

Traditionally, Valsora has been strictly set in NationStates with the only external resource being Discord. The issue with NationStates is that it is limited in its capabilities of hosting worldbuilding. Let’s face it, working with NS dispatches just isn’t that fun and often doesn’t look that aesthetic either. ValsoraWiki uses MediaWiki which is the same software Wikipedia uses. If you’re a Wikipedia user or have ever used Wikipedia before, you’ll know how much easier it is to work with. Providing an easier way for roleplayers to write down their worldbuilding aims to help them be more encouraged to write more.

Whilst the wiki is still in its early stages, expect a lot of features to be missing/not working/breaking. If you are a user of ValsoraWiki and ever notice one of those three things ever happening, let the cartographers of Valsora know what the issue is and we’ll make sure to get it resolved as soon as possible. It is a top priority to make the wiki as usable as possible and so expect the wiki to be looking and functioning much better in coming times.

Servers for Popular Online Game “CountryRepublics” Suffers Catastrophic Failure; Cause Traced to Spectacular Failure in One of the Drives

Players of the popular online game “CountryRepublics” by renowned Westmorian author Baxter Merrington may finally rest tonight after parts of it came back online after a catastrophic failure crippled the game’s servers for a number of days. The game, which allows you to build a nation in likeness of your own political stances, suddenly went offline without warning on the 15th of April and left many of its players stranded without an explanation as to what happened.

Around the time the failure occurred, multiple reports of an explosion in a building in New Marais, a district of the City of Dalesburg, were phoned into the district’s fire department. It was found that the explosion had come from one of the server drives that CountryRepublics had used - it had quite literally failed and exploded in a violent manner and had started a fire as a result. Miraculously, it was only that drive that was destroyed in the explosion and fire. It is believed that a hamster may have had something to do with the catastrophic failure, as hamster droppings were found near the burnt-out server drive by firefighters.

“We don’t know exactly how much data has been lost in regards to numbers and how far the damage goes, as we are still attempting to retrieve as much of the data as we can.” A spokesperson for CountryRepublics told the public in an official statement. “What we do know as of now is that we have lost every telegram API key we have issued, lost a significant amount of poll data and may have lost upwards to a year’s worth of card data. As we work to restore the lost data that we have reclaimed, the game will gradually return to full functionality in stages - most of the game’s functions, like the Regional Message Boards and Factbooks, will be open for everyone to use again, but Telegrams and Cards will remain locked away from our users until we are confident that they are in functioning order once more.”

“We encourage users who previously had an API key to contact the moderation team through a GHR to get a new one issued to them. We are also working with the game’s card-collecting community to help mitigate and repair some of the damage they have suffered, as it was their community that was hit hardest the most by the database failure.”

Many users, disheartened by the potential prospect of losing their cards, have asked the administration team of the game about potentially providing reimbursement for their troubles. No guarantee has been given, but it is unlikely that reimbursements outside of refunds for people who spent money that has now been lost will be pursued. Questions have also been asked about the redundancy of the disk, and as to why it did not have up-to-date redundancy copies - it is now publicly known that the last backup the disk had was back in May 2033. The CountryRepublics team has stated that the lack of redundancy on the disk was an oversight on their behalf, and have promised that this won’t happen again.

CountryRepublics’s admin team has not given an exact number as to when users can expect the game to return to full functionality. It may take a long time for the longstanding issues in the cards and telegram systems of the game to be ironed out.

Baxter Merrington has not commented on the event at all.

Within the online space of CountryRepublics, protests jokingly advocating for the worldwide genocide of hamsters have sprung up in many of the game’s “regions,” such as the East Demetric, where the region’s delegate published a statement condemning the culprit hamster for nearly destroying their whole game.