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Dispatch → Meta → Reference
by 
The United Mangrove Archipelago of Ransium.
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Constitution of Forest
Article 1 - The Powers of the Founder
1.1 By right of being the nation that has resided in Forest the longest and in having been selected by the members of Forest during the time of May 2007, when Forest was re-founded, the nation of Errinundera has been declared the Founder of Forest, and claims all powers which that entails.
1.2 All powers and responsibilities of the Forest Keeper, and the associated members of the Forest Keepers government, are the ultimate discretion of the founder.
1.3 The selection of all members of elected government, the Forest Keeper and the Forest Keeper’s Regional Officers are the ultimate discretion of the founder. However, provided all members of elected government follow this document, the Founder is trusted to uphold the will of the people as expressed in elections and as it flows through the Forest Keeper.
1.4 The Founder has ultimate power and is the last word in matters of the interpretation of this Constitution, if a member of Forest has violated the Constitution, and punishment for violating this Constitution.
1.5 Except during exceptional crises, such as annual NationStates mini-games, the power of border control and ejecting nations from Forest is solely the power of the Founder.
Article 2 - The Forest Way
2.1 Forest is understood to be a region that promotes inclusiveness and free expression from its member nations. All ideologies, government types, and perspectives are welcome in Forest so long as they are not purposefully hurtful or offensive to other nations in Forest in a serious way. Although disagreement and discussion are encouraged in Forest, being disrespectful to other nations is not.
2.2 Forest is not a raider region nor is it a defender region. Nations in Forest are expected to not undertake any sort of inter-regional ‘military’ action (raiding or defense). Forest will not act as a staging ground for military operation. There are only two narrow exceptions to this rule:
If a region that holds an embassy with Forest is raided by a clearly outside power, members of Forest may take part in a liberation effort. In this case members are expected to act in deliberate manner and are encouraged to coordinate their efforts as part of a greater inter-regional liberation effort.
If Forest itself is invaded defender nations are welcome to come to Forest in an effort to foil the invasion.
2.3 The elected government of Forest (ie the Forest Keeper and associated ministers) is expected to act in an open, verdant, and democratic manner. The government is trusted to act in the best interest of Forest and put the interest of the greater good of Forest above their own interests.
Article 3 - The Forest Keeper
3.1 The Forest Keeper is the chief executive of Forest. The Forest Keeper is an elected position (see Article 4).
3.2 Regional Officers are expected to be subordinate to, and execute the will of the Forest Keeper. The promotion, dismissal, and power given to Regional Officers are the choice of the Forest Keeper, subject to the approval of the Founder. The number of and types of Regional Officers are also the choice of the Forest Keeper, subject to Founder approval.
3.3 No Regional Officer may have a power that the Forest Keeper does not also have, except WA delegate powers.
3.4 The Forest Keeper shall also be or appoint a World Assembly (WA) Delegate of Forest (use of a WA puppet nation is acceptable for this responsibility, subject to Clause 3.2). Should the WA delegate appointed by the Forest Keeper not currently be the WA delegate, the Founder is permitted to take whatever reasonable action necessary to rectify the situation in a speedy but orderly transition.
3.5 All powers not expressly covered in the constitution may be used in whatever way the Forest Keeper and associated Regional Officers determine appropriate.
Article 4 - Forest Keeper Elections
4.1 The Forest Keeper shall be elected on an annual basis. Election season begins on September 16th at 12:01 am GMT (Greenwich Mean Time).
4.2 As soon as possible after election season begins the Founder shall take the following actions:
Remove all powers from the regional government (excepting WA powers, which the currently selected WA delegate may continue to execute until they are replaced).
All embassy requests will be ignored during election season.
Modify the world factbook entry to an entry they feel is neutral to all parties.
Stop all other normal workings of government.
Open a poll for the duration of one week with all nations in Forest eligible to vote. The poll will be entitled ‘Do you want to run to be the Forest Keeper?’ and have two options ‘Yes’ and ‘No’. Further explanation of all polls by the Founder is permissible, at the Founder’s discretion.
Make note of all WA members in Forest at the close of the poll, only these nations are eligible to vote in the election. The founder and associated puppets of the founder are not eligible to vote in the elections, and the founder is not to endorse a candidate, except as provided in Clause 4.6.
4.3 All Nations who vote ‘Yes’ are candidates to be Forest Keeper.
4.4 The week following the election is campaign week. Candidates and associates are permitted to campaign in this time. Campaigning may occur on the RMB or the forum. Telegraph campaigning is not permitted. Spamming the forum is discouraged. Smear campaigning is discouraged.
4.5 After the campaign week is over, the founder will place a poll with the following text ‘Who do you want to be the next Forest Keeper?’ or words to that effect. Each candidate will be made available as an option. The poll will be open to WA members only, and only those nations whom have been noted by the Founder may vote. The poll will be open for 3 days. Additional campaigning is not permissible during this time. If the first poll is decided by a plurality, not a simple majority (50% + 1 of the votes or higher), there will be a run-off election between the two candidates that received the highest number of votes in the first election. This poll will be open to only the same nations and again open for only 3 days.
4.6 In the event of a tie at any point in Clause 4.5 such that it is unclear who should advance to the run-off poll or become Forest Keeper, the Founder shall choose the incumbent candidate to either advance or become Forest Keeper (depending on the situation), if neither candidate is the incumbent the Founder may choose as they desire.
4.7 An electoral year is defined as the period between the ending of one election season and the beginning of the next.
Article 5 – Recall Elections
5.1 Recall elections should be avoided except in the most extreme circumstances such as gross neglect or pursuing policy that is intolerable to Forest’s residents. In addition to the process outlined in Clause 5.2, a recall election will occur if the present Forest Keeper:
Ceases to exist.
Leaves Forest for an extended period of time.
Is removed from office by the founder.
5.2 If a group of WA nations equal to 33% of the WA nation’s presently endorsing the delegate officially declare themselves in favor of a recall election on the RMB within a one week period then a recall election will occur. A recall election will take the form of an election as outlined in Article 4. If the recall election is unsuccessful, in other words, the current delegate is re-elected as delegate, then all those nations who initially called for a recall election are not eligible to do so again in the same electoral season.
5.3 If a new Forest Keeper is elected then the term is until the next fixed election date as per Clause 4.1. If the next fixed election date is less than 3 months after the recall election date then the term will be extended by 12 months.
Article 6 – Embassies
6.1 No embassy requests with regions containing less than 6 WA nations or younger than 6 months will be accepted by Forest. Regions which do meet these requirements must submit a telegram describing their region and reasons for making the request to the appropriate members of Forest's government (hereby defined as the Forest Keeper and/or Minister of Foreign Affairs if appointed). If only an in-game request is made and no further information is provided in 24 hours, the requesting nation will be contacted by an appropriate member of Forest's government asking for information. After 5 days, or 4 from the time the telegram was sent, if there is no response and the proposal yet stands, an appropriate member of Forest's government will post on the requesting region's regional message board (this post can be made via puppet nation if desired). If after 7 days no contact has been made, then the request is to be assumed invalid, (although new requests with the appropriate information from the same region will be considered.) If the request meets all of the above requirements, the request will be voted on as described in Clause 6.4.
6.2 The Forest Keeper (possibly through the request of a Regional Officer) may decide to request embassies with other regions. If the region meets the 6 WA nation and older than 6 months requirements it will be voted on as described in Clause 6.4. Otherwise it will be voted on as described in Clause 6.5.
6.3 Embassies may be voted on for closure at the discretion of the Forest Keeper. If the embassy has less than 6 WA nations it shall be voted on as described in Clause 6.4. Otherwise it will be voted on as described in Clause 6.5. Embassies closure may only be voted on once per election year per region, unless extreme circumstances change the nature of the region (e.g. invasion or other major regime change).
6.4 Embassy votes which fall under this clause will be voted on in the following fashion:
A description of the telegram received by the nation and/or assessment of the region by a member of Forest's government will be posted on the RMB.
A poll, with natives only eligible to vote will be posted. The poll will be posted as soon as convenient for the government, avoiding excessive delays. The poll is recommended to be open for 3 days, although it may be reduced to 2 if there is a backlog in polls. The poll will be entitled ‘Shall we (open/close) embassies with (the region in question)?’ and will provide a ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ option. The poll will be decided by a simple majority, with a tie being decided by the Forest Keeper. Puppeteering on a regional embassy poll is not permitted.
6.5 The voting process will be done in a manner similar to Clause 6.4 with one change; a 2/3’s vote will be needed to open/close the embassy.
6.6 Forest will not create embassies with feeder or sinker regions.
Article 7 - Founder Ceasing to Exist
7.1 Should the founder cease to exist, the WA delegate has emergency authority to take on the roles generally reserved for the founder. The WA delegate shall only have those powers identified in this constitution and should he step outside of these authorities, a new WA delegate shall be informally selected by the WA nations, preferably with the Forest Keeper's (if separate nations) recommendation. Change of the WA delegate during this emergency period shall be undertaken only if absolutely necessary.
7.2 The WA delegate shall password protect Forest without distributing the password as soon as possible. Forest will then take a 3 week (21 day) waiting period. During this time plans may be made for re-founding but no active re-founding actions will be undertaken. All elections and recall elections are suspended until the founder returns or Forest is successfully re-founded. Should the founder return at any time of the re-founding process, Forest shall return to normal. If the WA delegate also cease to exist the nation with the most endorsements is the new WA delegate.
7.3 The WA delegate shall work to re-found Forest. First an election will be held similar to elections in Article 4.
7.4 Once a founder is selected a dummy region will be created and all nations will be encouraged and eventually forced to move to the dummy region or face ejection from Forest. The new founder nation will be the last remaining nation in Forest. The new founder nation will not re-found Forest immediately after clearing all nations from forest but will wait an undisclosed period of time, perhaps as long as months until re-founding. If the name Forest is lost Forest will live on under a new name of the new founding nation’s choosing. Forest is more than a name.
7.5 Once Forest is re-founded this constitution is no longer valid. Most or all of this constitution may be used by the re-founding nations of Forest if they so choose, however.
Article 8 - Amendments to the Constitution
8.1 Amendments to the constitution add to, delete from, or otherwise modify the constitution. Amendments may be brought to Forest through three processes:
The Founder may call for an amendment.
The Forest Keeper may call for an amendment.
25% of the total number of WA nations publically call for an amendment within a two-week period on the RMB.
8.2 Amendments must first be approved by the Founder.
8.3 If and only if the amendment was brought to vote through process iii of Clause 8.1, the Forest Keeper has a one week period after the Founder approving the amendment to choose to veto the amendment; vetoed amendments will be voted on as outlined in Clause 8.4.
8.4 The amendment will be voted on through the polling system with the poll only being open to WA nations, the poll will be open for a length of three days. The poll may be created by whatever nation with polling authority chooses to do so, but must be created as soon as possible after Clause 8.2 or Clause 8.3 (depending on how the amendment is brought up as defined in Clause 8.1) is fulfilled. If the Forest Keeper has not vetoed the amendment, as outlined in Clause 8.3, 50%+1 of voting nations must approve the amendment for it to pass. If the amendment is vetoed by the Forest Keeper, 66%+1 of voting nations must approve the amendment for it to pass.
Drafted by: 
Ransium
Edited by: 
Mozworld
Signed by: Ransium, 
Esterild, Ashrah, Santa joanna, Communal ecotopia, 
New Chechovenia, Mountain ash forests, Dest oritio ,Edible plywood, Gil zardon, Caracasus, 
Frieden-und Freudenland, Dazed butterflies, Bearadise, Mag meall
