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[EMBASSY] The North Pacific

Fregerson

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NPA Bulletin
by Westinor, Deputy Minister of World Assembly Affairs
[PFC] Arichia -> Corporal
[PVT] Westinor -> Private First Class

The NPA has been very busy prepping for the holiday season, starting off the month of November with a visit to everyone’s favorite admin friends over at Testregionia ! They looked around for Testlandia , but couldn’t seem to find them anywhere… hoping to leave a little surprise and feeling a bit naughty, a tag was left behind for them to enjoy!

However, the rest of Nationstates was not to be forgotten. NPA Officer COL BMWSurfer, as well as Minister and Deputy Minister of Defense COL Gorundu and GEN 9003 led several tag and detag runs throughout the month, whipping new recruits into shape and singing awfully premature yuletide carols along the way. Featured Region of the Day Mikov Call was also hit on minor update of November 15th, led by GEN Gladio on the trigger.

During one of these tag runs the North Pacific Army also unseated several delegates in approval of the proposal “Repeal: ‘Liberate Confederation Of Corrupt Dictators’”, contributing to the eventual failure and dropping of a proposal that sought to remove an offensive liberation from fascist region Confederation of Corrupt Dictators.

The NPA also departed on two separate joint operations with members of ERN, looking to spread some Christmas cheer before Thanksgiving, ending at Christmas , where Defense Minister 9003 declared Die Hard a Christmas movie and challenged others to prove otherwise. The second, held on Major of November 25th featured an ultimately unsuccessful attempt at invading the region of Japan as variance resulted in the target region updating earlier than expected. However, participating members had a fun time bonding with members of different organizations.

High Command also had something in store for the beginning of the holiday season. On Thanksgiving weekend, a total of nine soldiers from the North Pacific Army gathered with members of several other organizations, including Lily and The Grey Wardens in an effort to unseat delegate Mikeswill of the region Nationstates . Soldiers were seen prepping for the op an hour before the jump, chatting with comrades and enjoying stories from times long past. The raid itself was successful, bringing King Zhaoxiang Of Qin up to the position of WA Delegate for a single update and ending Mikeswill’s 16-year long reign - the longest in Nationstates at the time.

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World Assembly Digest
by Cretox State, Minister of WA Affairs
WA Digest

Fifteen WA proposals in total went to vote during the month of November, nearly double that of October. Of these fifteen, eight were GA proposals, with the remaining seven being in the SC. Only two proposals failed at vote, both of which were in the SC. These defeated proposals included “Commend Ariusgrad” and “Commend Twobagger”. Impressively, ten out of the fifteen voted-on proposals were submitted by members of the TNP WA Ministry; this is 67% of voted-on proposals and 77% of passed proposals during the month. A total of ten unique authors submitted the fifteen voted-on proposals this month. Three passed resolutions this month were sponsored Accelerator proposals. Former TNP WA Minister Morover was commended this month.

Most Supported
The most widely supported proposal during November was , which passed with 89.6% support and sought to commend a prominent antifascist military gameplayer, WA and issues contributor, and member of the WA General Secretariat. Overall, this was an incredibly uncontroversial commendation that faced no major opposition. This proposal was authored by Cretox State and co-authored by Honeydewistania .

Most Opposed
The most widely opposed proposal to come to vote during November was another SC proposal, “Commend Ariusgrad”. Proposed by Joan Darc , this proposal sought to recognize its nominee’s region-building efforts in the founderless region of Philippines and received 31.7% support. A large portion of the opposition to this proposal stemmed from concerns over the actual significance of the nominee’s accomplishments, along with strange construction; specifically, the proposal cited the region maintaining “warm relations” and creating government positions as commendable.

Most Controversial
The most controversial proposal to come to vote in November 2020 was undoubtedly “Commend Twobagger”, proposed by Jakker City . Narrowly failing with 46.9% support, this proposal aimed to recognize the contributions of its nominee to defending, a subset of military gameplay, and regional development. The proposal was the subject of intense opposition from the beginning, with 10000 Islands being a primary voice of criticism. The proposal’s voting numbers shifted between slight support and opposition throughout the duration of the vote, and a single substantially powerful regional delegate had the power to flip the vote for most of it. The turning point arguably came after a highly publicized incident in which three members of The Black Hawks moved WA nations into The South Pacific and voted in favor of the proposal in an alleged violation of TSP sovereignty. Given the incredibly narrow final margin of the vote, there could very well be another attempt at this commendation in the future.
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November Justice Election
by Owen, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
The months of November brought us another Judicial election and this time all three justice positions were up for election. With it being a normal judicial election, there was a larger field than the special elections that have been held recently with 8 citizens declaring their candidacy. The citizens that ran in this election were: Comfed, Honeydewistan, Laeg, Lord Lore, Monkemafiatopia, saintpeter, Vivanco, and Yalkan.

Comfed
Comfed ran in this election on the back of their successful defence in a recent Court case as one of the newest citizens in the field. Comfed also ran on their belief that they had sufficient experience to allow them to take on the role of Justice with an open mind and the ability to be a neutral and unbiased judge of issues. Whilst Comfed received some support, they were not elected.

Honeydewistan
Moving onto looking at Honeydewistan’s campaign, they had a much more informal campaign than some of their other competitors. They had a campaign thread, but did not post any campaign promises or reasons to vote for them until they were asked to. After being asked why they should be a good pick for Justice they said that their neutrality in TNP politics put them in a strong position to ensure their neutrality if they were elected as Justice. However, when it came to voting, Honeydewistan did not receive the support needed and therefore was not elected.

Laeg
Laeg was the most inexperienced candidate in the election, having only joined TNP’s forum in October. Their campaign was a short one in which they promised to work to ensure that laws in the region remained fair and just, as well as ensuring cases were balanced and equal for both sides. In their campaign, they also endorsed Vivanco and Lord Lore as the other two justices that they liked to see elected alongside them. However, Laeg’s campaign was not successful and they were not elected.

Lord Lore
Lord Lore is a Security Councillor within TNP. They declared their candidacy in the election and then chose not to post a campaign thread. Despite not having a campaign thread, Lore was elected as Justice in the third tally of votes.

Monkemafiatopia
Monkemafiatopia is a new member of the TNP community and chose not to post a campaign thread. Likely due to the lack of a campaign thread, they received very little support and were not elected.

Saintpeter
Saintpeter ran off of the back of an unsuccessful attempt to get elected as Justice in the August Special Election. In this campaign, they had more experience in this branch of government in TNP having argued in a request for review before the Court as well as being Temporary Hearing Officer for another case. In their campaign thread Saintpeter argued that it was important to protect the independence of the judiciary, and ensure this by not voting in any RA business during their tenure as Justice. As well as this, they stood on a promise to make the Judicial branch more accessible to new members of TNP by looking at implementing law clerks within the judiciary to allow new members to get experience within TNP’s Court. Saintpeter’s campaign proved to be popular and was the second elected Justice.

Vivanco
Vivanco was the only incumbent standing for re-election. Vivanco ran their campaign as a continuation of their time as Justice after their election in the August Special Election. They also ran on their experience of TNP law as a former Attorney General as well as their time as Justice last term. As well as this, one of Vivanco’s most important aspects was the need for stability and independence within the judiciary. Vivanco proved to be the most popular candidate in the election and was the first Justice to be elected.

Yalkan
Yalkan is a long-standing member of TNP and stood for election for the first time in a while. Yalkan did not post a campaign thread, which proved to be an issue when it came to voting. Due to the lack of a campaign, Yalkan was not very popular amongst voters and therefore was not elected as Justice.

Therefore, after an election that had a good turnout and had a large field, Vivanco, Saintpeter, and Lord Lore were elected as Justices.

[small]The North Star: Lighting The Way To The Truth
Publisher: TlomzKrano :: Executive Editor: BMWSurfer :: Managing Editor: Arichia(Forum) and Gorundu (Dispatch)

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 Home Affairs internally. Except where otherwise indicated, all content represents the views of the Government of The North Pacific.[/small]

 

Fregerson

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Editor's Note
by BMWSurfer

Welcome to The Northern Lights.
I have been continually impressed by the cards community, and their dedication to their craft. I have seen newcomers and experienced players alike become excited by this relatively new game mechanic, and cards have left their mark on the NS world forever. I am grateful for the new Ministry of Cards for their help in creating this issue, and for all of the authors who contributed. Happy reading!
BMWSurfer
Minister of Communications
Note From the Minister of Cards
by DGES

Minister of Cards, you say? You know, many were quite surprised that such a position came into being, and developments such as this help prove just how far the Cards community has come forward in terms of progress. Cards as a feature has lasted for only an estimated two years - a fledgling duration of existence compared to other areas of the site, yet I believe that this issue of The Northern Lights will go into enough depth to justify why Cards has become its own, fully-functioning part of NationStates. Without further ado, let's show you what we mean by that!
DGES
Minister of Cards
Interesting NSers you might've not known were actually cards traders
by DGES

Please note that everything I will say from here on out will come from me as a regular cards player, not me as the current region’s Minister of Cards.
From time and again, I’m sure many people have come, continued to stay, or have gone from NationStates. However, not all those people manage to catch the eyes of others: some are perfectly fine with staying as regular players, while others choose to ascend within the site in terms of notoriety. Whether they become well-known Gameplay figures, joining the site staff such as the Moderation team, et cetera are all examples, and I’ve noted plenty of such well-known users who - despite their names being recognized for things unrelated to trading - have actually delved (and sometimes even continue to delve) into the cards game themselves.
As for which users I’m talking about, just naming a fraction of the total will take a while to accomplish. There’s so many we have to go over!
I guess the first group of NSers we can go over is the site staff/game volunteers. These people are likely the most important due to them essentially running the site, and one would assume that, due to how time-consuming performing such a task is, none of the users would ever dabble in cards. However, those who are familiar with the cards community know that such an assumption happens to not be the case; so many members of the site staff actually trade cards that naming them all would prove difficult! The most notable ones (in my opinion) would be Frisbeeteria and Ballotonia. Frisbeeteria is a current senior game moderator within NationStates and potentially the most active user in the field; plus they’ve been a user for at least 2 decades. I find it interesting to see how they’ve also dabbled in cards in addition to moderation, holding a near-monopoly on the epic cards market and continuing to possess one of the highest deck values in the trading leaderboard. As for Ballotonia, they’re a current game administrator who helps introduce new features and manages the code for existing features within NationStates; this could be considered even more potentially time-consuming of a job than being a moderator (though that is just speculation), yet Ballotonia has shown time and again to collect cards of numerous types out of self-interest, whether it be cards of commended/condemned nations, cards of World Assembly author nations, or even wacky/fun cards pertaining to rubber ducky images! And to add on to their collections, Ballotonia even regularly offers input, manages, or helps introduce new cards-based content for the benefit of all traders across the site, so we couldn’t be more grateful to them for everything they’ve done for cards so far!
For other site staff members, then I’ve also noted of Luna Amore and Noahs Second Country. I used to trade extensively with Luna (specifically for ex-nation cards), and they’re both a current issues editor as well as game moderator. For Noah, they’re one of the most recent issues editors to be added, and, despite their new responsibilities, they continue to “terrorize” the card market, so to speak (if you wish to gain a bigger idea of what I mean then try reading their condemnation). Both users I have communicated frequently with in the card game, and my experience with them I’ve considered to be a defining point in my journey through trading.
All in all, many site staffers/game volunteers have impacted the cards minigame one way or another.
As for Gameplay regulars, they too have dabbled within the cards market to a certain extent. Whether it be regional officers, delegates, or raiders/defenders, I’ve seen plenty of these types of users trade at least one time and/or start their own collections.
For the most notable ones, there are users like Xoriet, Ever-Wandering Souls, r3n, and HumanSanity. For Xoriet, they’re a current officer within the NPO and a former delegate of The East Pacific; they became especially known within the trading community for hosting pull events for the extremely valuable Season 1 Pergamon card, and they are currently involved as (both) a staffer within the trading cards server as well as helping manage (though I don’t know to what extent) the NPO’s card program. They’ve been an extremely generous and affable user to me, and everyone’s interactions with them have produced similar responses. For Ever-Wandering Souls (condemned raider and influential figure within The Black Hawks), they primarily card farm using their alt accounts, but the most significant thing they achieved in cards was their involvement in the so-called “cards raid” instigated by Refuge Isle and Feu de Glace. I currently don’t know the full extent to how much they impacted trading as a lone user, but their facilitation of the event might have contributed somewhat towards the admins’ changes to card pull mechanics, due to the amount of cards that generated in said event. I never interacted much with Souls so I can’t comment on how my experience was with them, but they seemed to be quite dedicated to trading (in their own way) at the height of their activity. As for r3n, they were actually a former delegate of The North Pacific and largely responsible for the World Assembly Development Programs largely used by TNP as well as Europeia, and (through their management of the ‘The Northern Light’ account) they currently hold the #4 spot for highest deck value - which would have been much higher had they not been regularly/generously donating much of their cards to TNP’s card programs. Super dedicated to what they do, and I’m sure many would agree that r3n could be considered the G.O.A.T. of trading cards (though many are still part of the Koem Kab fanbase of course). Finally, we have HumanSanity. Current delegate of 10000 Islands and on the opposite of Ever-Wandering Souls on the raiding-defending spectrum; like everyone else on this list, I know absolutely nothing when it comes to talking with them from a Gameplay perspective, but what I can say is that my interactions with them (when discussing cards) were nothing but laid-back, enjoyable, and sometimes even wholesome. They currently manage their region’s Card Co-op program, and we tend to joke around with each other in Discord card channels during the time we’ve been able to communicate.
At one point, there were even users Cormactopia Prime and Queen Yuno who originally traded cards. The former was a previous delegate of Osiris (though not on the account I’m naming) and simultaneous nominee for a commendation and condemnation; they were rocking a few legendary cards along with an entire series of Gameplay-focused cards before later choosing to sell their entire deck (even more funny was that I bought some of their cards when it happened!). For the latter, Yuno was a former delegate of The East Pacific, and they were one of the traders who originally tried extremely hard to purchase one of my Season 1 Menta Lee-IL legendaries years ago; as of this moment, they still possess their deck but they no longer seem interested in trading at the moment. Everyone has their own reasons for choosing not to continue card trading and that is something I can completely understand, but when you even have users as widely cited as Cormac and Yuno getting involved - despite their heavy focus on Gameplay - at this point you’ve likely come to the conclusion that the trading cards community can no longer be seen as a mere group of people supporting a slightly obscure minigame within NationStates; it has simply grown far too much and to the point where figures from all over the site have taken at least one look and even participated in it on certain occasions!
Players belonging to communities other than the above two have (also) naturally gotten involved in cards. Whether it be the issues authoring, World Assembly legislative, or roleplaying communities, I’ve seen many come and go over the time I’ve been a cards player. Examples include WA authors Cretox State, Morover, and Honeydewistania. I’ve interacted frequently with Cretox during my membership as a TNP Cards Guild member, and Morover and Honeydew have both posted many times on the Cards Discord server. Fauxia and Ransium (prominent issues authors) fall into the same case as the latter two I just mentioned, with Ransium even regularly selling me ex-nation cards when they were still active in trading. With regards to roleplay, then I’d have to say that Forum 7 regular + Factbooks & National Information poster Valentine Z easily takes the cake: not only do they regularly maintain an extremely large collection of cats (I sometimes gift them such cards as well), but they were also the main architect behind the now widely used ‘Gold Retriever’ tool (a script that outputs the amount of bank one possesses across all their puppet accounts); in addition, multiple players even used their card within a collaborative effort that would go down to be the longest card auction to ever occur in trading history (at least 12.5 days, hehe), something which many of the cards community is still proud of. All of these players - much like the other players I already noted - have occupied themselves in cards to some degree, and there is not much I can really say regarding this other than the fact that I’ve been extremely glad that this has been the case.
Cards have lasted as a feature for an estimated 2 years. Numerically speaking, this is starting to become rather aging. However, as a fully-fledged community it has lasted a bit shorter (due cards - for the first few months of its existence - actually being a mere April Fools Event), and it’s far shorter in its numerical age in comparison to most of the other communities NationStates already has (such as Gameplay). Despite this fact though, it seems that cards have been receiving a welcoming reception due to just how diverse the amount of players have been involving themselves within this fledgling area of the game. Whether it be a dedicated person who volunteers to keep the site running, an aspiring writer who wishes to further their own literary skills in an organization-like setting, or a humble user who loves to help others in communities they are apart of, all of these types of players have come together and have engaged - one way or another - in one thing within the NationStates universe: trading cards.
Yeah, it wouldn’t be inaccurate to say that the cards community possesses its share of interesting users.
Smaller regions that are using cards
by DGES

What exactly defines the phrase “smaller region”? Well, I’d definitely state that it’s not any of the feeder or sinker regions; regions possessing a minimum of 1000 nations are definitely not small by any means. That specific number leads one to conclude that, in addition to all the feeders and sinkers out there, large User-Created Regions such as Europe and 10000 Islands (the latter actually possessing its own card program) are also to be excluded from the “small” classification.
In other words, regions possessing a few hundred or below are to be focused within this article, and the reason as to why we will specifically be going over smaller - though not at all meager - regions (and their involvement within cards) is for one reason: dedication. In huge regions such as any of the feeders, there exists hundreds to thousands of active players that work toward contributing to the region they are apart of, and the chance for a region’s card program to grow becomes exponentially higher (than that of smaller regions) due to the sheer number of players within the former likely to get themselves involved, whether through self-discovery or through the large region’s highly developed methods of advertising. Should a smaller region - despite the setback of not possessing enough players to sustain the region’s programs - actually possess its own card program, then that speaks miles of how dedicated said region’s players are when it comes to cards, and I believe that this can go a long way in proving just how amazing cards can overall be for some people.
Without further ado, let’s get to the actual regions!
I remember over a year ago, that in the really old days of cards this one user, Democratic Republic Of Unified States (DRUS for short), really went out of their way in getting together much of the cards community. As for what exactly I mean by this, it’s that they chose to host an entire cards festival within a well-known UCR at the time: Pacifica (a region that peaked at nearly 700 members at one point). As DRUS was considered the region’s cultural officer at the time, their hosting of the cards festival could be considered an official method regarding a smaller (though by no means tiny) region using cards, and DRUS invited most of the well-known cards players at the time (including Mikeswill, Ballotonia, Samudera, and more) to temporarily join the region and offer cards advice, while also simultaneously hosting card giveaways within the festival. This was one of the first (and actually likely the first) time I ever got myself involved within another region’s dwellings in cards, and it’s safe to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the way in which Pacifica pulled it off for themselves.
The next really out-of-the-water region I came to admire was Card Gardens. Though they are not known at all within the Gameplay community, they are actually one of most documented regions I’ve ever come across within cards. Not only were they a region utilizing cards in an official capacity, but the region itself is a literal cards organization. Possessing its own application, giveaways, and its own Discord server, Card Gardens possesses dozens of regional residents along with plenty of official members within its organization. The region hands out cards on a daily-to-weekly basis, and you’re not even required to be a member of any region (not even Card Gardens itself!) to become a member. Highly inclusive as a result, and I myself have donated to the region’s programs due to how active they currently are within the cards community.
As for the next one, there was Psychotic Dictatorships. As a few probably know already, my main account serves a current officer of that region (so this choice could come across as more nostalgic than anything), but I included it here due to the promotion of one of the region’s most dedicated members. Their name is Japhetia, and they were appointed as a regional officer partly for their RMB activity, but also partly due to their card donations. Said donations primarily consisted of Season 2 Menta Lee-IL (the region’s founder) epics, and they also mentioned donating more of the aforementioned epics within one of their most recent gameside polls. Overall, this example is not nearly as huge as the two regions I already mentioned above, but the fact that someone still managed to single-handedly play a role in introducing cards for their region speaks volumes on how far players can go with regards to promoting/enjoying the trading game. Nice working, Japhetia.
Lastly, there is the Tea House of Cards. Like Card Gardens, it would be a mistake to just consider this name to be that of a normal region. Unlike Card Gardens however, THC was not a cards organization, but rather the embodiment of an entire, multi-regional cards event! Organized by players (from regions Lazarus, The East Pacific, and 10000 Islands) well-versed in the cards game, over 100 users ended up participating one way or another during the height of the festival’s existence. Whether by guessing what card rarity they will be when the next season releases, roleplaying within the region’s RMB in the context of a cards-based setting, or giving out full-blown lectures solely discussing the trading feature, a multitude of things were completed during THC’s event duration - and I’d definitely be interested in seeing additional regions being made that would serve as embodiments for card events.
As a bonus, I also once noted of One Small Island (the nation). They’ve long been the delegate of the GCR Warzone Sandbox, and at the height of their influence they achieved over 100 endorsements (as far as I know) during the massive Drew Durnil wave. While their region never officially adopted cards in any official capacity, the user in question had regularly offered card-based advice and encouraged participation in trading to Warzone Sandbox while they were still active.
Similar cases were repeated in NationStates and Spiritus; long-time delegate Mikeswill ended up pinning the Cards Guide to their region, while The Salaxalans (user who even was partially commended for their potato card collection) frequently mentioned cards in Spiritus’s RMB - the latter even starting a regional card collection comprised of most of their region’s members. Delegates are oftentimes seen as a microcosm of what a region stands for, so the fact that these many delegates of regions - despite the regions not actually officially delving in cards - regularly involving themselves in trading as well as encouraging said trading is quite a notable thing on its own.
Overall, in spite of the numerical disadvantage many of these regions possessed in terms of players, the actual members of each region decided to take it upon their own hands and go out of their way to introduce cards in some fashion for their regionmates (and in some cases, for any player who hasn’t even delved into trading yet). People like this not only are considered admirable from my personal standpoint, but also serve as a truly genuine example of how cards - despite its rather fledgling duration of existence - has already influenced a multitude of players to try their hardest to bring about the full potential of this feature of the game. Whether it be through simple promotion on the RMB, regular giveaways to members of the region, or through the hosting/embodiment of entire card-based organizations/events for every player to enjoy, smaller regions could be considered to have performed just as admirably (or at least close to have performed so) as that of the more well-known/larger regions with regards to utilizing cards in their everyday functions.
What makes a good theme?
by Valentine Z

With the advent and inception of the Trading Cards since the April Fools of 2018, originally planned to be a one-off feature, it has seen a comeback as a permanent mechanics of NationStates, spanning 3 seasons so far, so to speak – Season 0 (when it was first incepted), Season 1, and Season 2. Without going too far into describing the history of Trading Cards, I would like to now talk on what exactly makes a good theme. A theme, by definition, is a set of cards that follows a particular set of rules or styles. When we think of theme, we usually would like to think about the Collections of both the big and small players, along with perhaps a few more. There are several factors that come into play, though none particularly superseding one another; after all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Given the rarity of the cards, the first theme that most of the nations that went through and collected were the Legendary cards – the ones of the highest rarity. Even in the first days of Trading Cards, one can see a slew of collections that are all about collecting these Legendary cards consisting mainly of Admins, Moderators, Issue Editors, WA Secretaries (the staff in general), along with a few other older nations who have issued authors, amassed a large number of gold badges, and just about anything else that have set them apart from the crowd. With this, also branches out other smaller themes and collections that were based on the staff of NationStates. Other nations have collections that were based on themes of seasons and rarities. Often enough, these were the aforementioned Legendaries, but there were also Epics, Ultra Rares, Rares, Uncommons, and Commons. On a deeper note, these would also involve being separated into Seasons – for instance, there were collections on complete S1 Legendaries, as well as S2 Legendaries.
Of course, all of these involved a particular time-frame, or were confined to being separated into rarities, as well as to the time-frames (i.e. seasons). In contrast, there are many other themes that are boundless on these two traits, and instead are only concerned with the aesthetics of the cards. While some of the collections look at the value, these themes are all about the appearances of the cards, and in other times, about the names of these nations. There spans several of these – Entertainment, Flags, Geography, Nature, Objects, and many more. The Entertainment ranges from movies to TV shows to comics; Flags range from ones that are a collection of rainbows, to animated flags; Geography would involve players collecting cards involved with RL flags; Nature involves wild animals, trees, skies, and many more that are the wonders of Mother Nature; Objects involves the more wild card collections that were distinct and different from one another – food, guns, ships, cars, etc.
Last, but of course not at the very least, we also have themes that are hybrids of time constraints, rarities, among many other things. One of the first collections that attracted the eyes of the many would be Destructive Government Economic System (DGES)’s collection – The Ex-Nation Extraordinaire! As of the time of this writing, this behemoth collection has 18,960 cards, all of them being of ex-Nations, that is, nations that has ceased-to-exist (CTE) when the cards were snapshotted. Collecting these cards since the first few days of the Trading Cards’ inception, it would have been an understatement to say that DGES has defined the theme of ex-nation cards, and eventually boosting the demand for these otherwise forgotten set of cards for their perceived lack of value to them. Also from the same user and a noteworthy mention is a collection of cards that have extremely low ownership (usually only 1-3 users have these cards), regardless of rarity. These low-ownership cards can be called a subset of ex-nation cards, since they are still the ones that either does not have a large demand or are rarely pulled.
Of particular mention and my personal favourite are the slew of collections that are relevant to the field of Mathematics because of the competition.1 There is no limitation in creativity and what qualifies as a collection – it’s simply a matter of the story behind it, and the commitment these card players have put into them. There is simply no boundary to the themes that one can create and collect – apart from the aforementioned themes and large collections, there are also these smaller ones, such as memes or Internet Culture-based collections, that uses card ID numbers, their names, their pictures, and just about everything else in-between to make their own unique status quo.
With the themes being talked about, we will now go over to what makes them so good, or a cut above the rest. It is obvious to see their high values and large collection sizes, but none of these would have been possible without one thing – determination. Determination to get the bank that one needs in order to buy the cards, as well as the determination to add these to the collections. The former perhaps need no introduction, given how most of the players have at least tens to thousands of puppets at their disposal to answer issues with to get these card packs. The answering process itself is a tedious one, going through each nations manually and having no legitimate automated system to make it fair for everyone involved. It was simply a matter of how much the player is willing to sink their time into the game. With that, we have the second form of determination of making these collections. It is of note that the “Add to Collection” for each of the cards were only done so recently, that is, the feature was not around for a good majority of the lifetime of the Trading Cards game. In other words, those collections that were large and vast have been done painstakingly, once with going through the list of their main deck to add to, followed by going through the list several times in order to add more cards. As a result of all of this, it takes an equal amount of determination to get these cards, as well as to organise them into neat collections and themes.
In conclusion, going back to the first paragraph of this news piece, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as many of the themes and collections were made differently. While there has been repeating themes and collections from different people, on what makes them good and memorable would be the sheer amount of hardwork and dedication that these nations and players have put into making such wonderful pieces of themes and collections for everyone to behold and to follow in their own footsteps.
What changes should be made to the cards game?
by Valentine Z

This has been most very likely one of the more controversial topics of the game, because as with most of the situations and problems in real life, there is not a single solution that resolve everything. When something was supposed to solve a subset of problems had by a group of players, it would inevitably cause frustration for a few other players. We have seen this first and foremost with the addition of TCALS – Trading Card Anti-Laundering Service, as it would be called. This was made with the intent and purpose of increasing the chances of drawing and finding a card that was currently being used for a bank transfer. This prevents players from transferring banks without the threat in the form of new owners heisting them, while still offering a substantial chance of making sure that it is fair for everyone involved. While the system was not met with great reception at that time, it was eventually refined and evolved in order to better suit the needs of a majority of players, and it is also used as a means for players to get valuable cards (i.e. by making a large bank transfer called a pull event whereby the card farmers and other players alike can get that particular card).
One of the more common feedback and idea that I have heard from some of the players around are to limit the purchasing power of the players with large puppets, or to put it simply, to prevent them from simply owing a large number of nations. Just like how one can only have a single nation inside the World Assembly, this would ensure that there will be a fixed limit on how many puppets can a player has, i.e. 100 nations. However, this was usually thought less of as an actual suggestion, and more of an idea that players throw around now and then. This is due to the inherent difficulty of making sure that a nation belongs to the player, and it is unnecessary work involved. While the site staff can check for nations of that player, presumably with the same mechanics they use for WA Multing or for Delete-on-Sight (DOS) players, it is something that is deemed as needlessly restrictive, first and foremost problem being that limiting the number of puppets has absolutely little to no impact on the actual card game. Additionally, the needless hampering would have been frowned upon by the other subforums if the limit is lower.
Personally for me, I would like to see a change and improvement in the deck expansion system. The current system is such that in order to get space for another 50 cards (100 if you are a Site Supporter or a staff member), the cost to expand the deck increases with the square value. In other words: 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81, 100, 121, 144, 169, 196, 225, and it goes on. This cost model is good enough for the first few expansions as I personally feel that it does help to curb the relatively new players from gaining deck space quickly without effort. However, the cost quickly ramps up to unreasonable levels as it went on, even for some of the players with a generous amount of banks at their disposal. It is of my personal opinion that while the bank cost modelling could be lower, perhaps down from x^2 to a slightly more reasonable x^1.8. This way, the bank could be used for something else, and while also helping to keep the collections more unified. It does not make much sense as to players being able to get new deck space for free on their puppets, while their main card-collecting nations have such a ramping cost that was nothing more than deterrence for having a lot of cards in their deck. A lower limit, personally, could ensure that the newer players would not have such a difficult time, while also still ensuring that the deck spaces do not explode with such an absurd growth rate.
Another controversial and frowned upon practice is the idea of penny-bidding, whereby the buyer would snatch away a purchase from the original buyer by bidding just 0.01 more, and thus the name penny-bidding. While it was done through an honor system at this point, i.e. players usually try their best not to touch a purchase, or they would bid much higher prices as an actual competition, it is still prevalent in some areas and is the woe for players. One of the suggestions I could see is for the system to only allow bids of more than 10% of the current auction price to go through. For instance, if the deal is going on at 10.00 bank match, another bid would have to be 110% of it, that is, 11.00 bank. The next one would need to be 12.10 bank to outbid, then 13.31, then 14.64, and it would go on ad infinitum until one of the buyers no longer has the bank to sustain or make a purchase. The idea of 10% increase requirement from the previous bid was just an example suggestion here, as there could be other mechanics and numbers in play. For instance, instead of 10%, we could have 20%. Alternatively, a piecewise increment is also possible, whereby if the bidding match is less than 10.00 bank, one would need 50% more bank from the current match in order to outbid it. If the match is more than 10.00 bank, then this percentage would drop to 25. I personally believe that this would help stop the slew of penny-bidding and sniping that most of the trading cards are not fond of.
One limitation, however, I can see is in the grounds of bank transfers (using a particular card to make bank transfers from one puppet to another) – the principles and rules might get muddled here, and at the same time, another mechanics – underasking, might become a new problem. Underasking, for context, is the practice of reducing the selling price a penny (or more) lower so that it is closely matched to the bidding amount (selling usually gravitates towards lesser values). For instance, a 5.00-5.00 auction can be disrupted by someone finding a card and bidding asking for 4.99. The card game, given how large it is right now – from small-time players to intermediate farmers, to large thousand-nation-strong players, will have extreme resistant to change, some for the better, some for the worse. While suggestions are welcome and I feel that there are some things that can be changed, I will also humbly admit that the changes are easier said than done, such is with other multiplayer games that we might be familiar with (e.g. Overwatch, Rainbow Six: Siege, League of Legends, DoTA, and many more). Even a smallest change can change a meta to unrecognisable levels and with it, usually a worse outcome or a game-breaking feature that must be remedied.

Addendum: If we use ceiling(x^1.8) instead of x^2, the prices could be more controlled. For a useful plot of this, please visit
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A look into the Diverse Community of Cards
by Westinor

As you are probably aware, cards are a relatively new feature to Nationstates, having only been permanently introduced in December of 2018. Ever since then, the cards community has grown from a few enthusiastic traders to a burgeoning and considerably large network of card farmers. This Cards community has grown around the practice of amassing bank and cards in order to fulfill a goal unique to each card farmer. These farmers are often distinguishable and can be classified by what cards they collect and why they collect them, and make up the basic pillars of the cards community so many have come to know and love.
First and foremost are those who run regional programs and activities. These farmers tend to focus more on the interpersonal and community side of things, often running regional or interregional cards programs and hosting pull events and other cards activities. Regional organizers have spearheaded the development of the Cards community by helping new and isolated players integrate into the Cards community as well as by holding events and activities for those interested in Cards. Events like the Tea House of Cards and organizations like TNP’s Card Guild help bring together players and provide incentives and aid in helping newer farmers grow. More often than not, these farmers utilize their card farms and expertise to help out newer players and manage programs and activities. These players have also been key in the recent development of Cards into regional programs, a huge step for the Cards community. Cards by itself is not much more than a simple trading game, but these players are essential in bringing it to life.
Some of the most active card farmers are collectors, particularly regional or rarity collectors. Though the term may sound ambiguous enough to apply to all card farmers, these particular traders focus on collecting cards of a certain style or classification, and often involve grouping cards with similar qualities together. Collections can vary from being small or even nonexistent in quantity to massive - just check out 9003’s huge deck! Collectors take advantage of the Card tabs’ “Collections” feature in order to create groupings of cards that they can title themselves. These collections can center around cards from a specific region (like Giovanniland’s TWP collection or r3n’s TNP collection), rarity (see Riemstagrad’s epic cards collection or Noah’s rares card collection), flag, name, puppet series, or more - the possibilities are practically limitless, especially with how creative NSers are with their nation customizations. Collectors are often integral to regional cards communities as well as the Cards community as a whole, with collections often being the focus of many regional cards activities like TNP’s Collection Spotlight and collectors driving much of the everyday market activity through their purchase of otherwise left alone cards.
Now, as noted before, there are many kinds of collectors. However, classifying them all by what kinds of cards they collect would be far too 2D, so I’d split them up into three groups - first off are the collectors who focus on larger, often regional, collections, who tend to partake in cards-related events with others or cards programs. These collectors put spectacular amounts of time into Cards, between placing bids for their humongous collections and often running regional cards programs. In a way, they are the cosmopolitans of the Cards community - their quest to complete their collection leads to encounters with all sorts of card farmers along the way, and thus these members of the community are often the organizers who drive Cards-related programs and activities. There are those who focus on amassing their collections of particular cards, though this group is fairly small in comparison to others. These collections are usually puppets or certain sets of nations, which are also often inflated due to the buyer’s demand. And finally, there are those who focus more on several different smaller collections, usually larger than your two-or-three-card collection but certainly smaller than the massive regional sets accumulated by the first group. These range from certain flag themes to nations with funny names, as well as the collections accumulated for collection-based activities. Most collectors are not restricted to one of these groups, and dabble in varying collections, though most can be identified by their focus on one type of collection.
Next up to bat are the deck expanders. Deck expanders tend to focus more on expanding their Deck Value instead of collecting a specific card, though there’s often a method to their amassing. Oftentimes traders will prioritize nice-looking cards or familiar faces over other cards, while some even go so far as to collect every legendary, which in turn greatly increases their Deck Value. In this way, most people are “deck expanders”, but the ones I’m talking about are those who prioritize higher Deck Value over collecting certain cards. A large portion of deck expanders focus on the valuable commodity of legendaries, but the most distinct class of deck expanders are the MV sharks. Most traders have encountered these players before - they target high-value and often inflated cards that are on the market in pursuit of a higher deck value. More often than not, they will fight and pennybid with their teeth during auctions in an attempt to purchase cards who are often about to drop in value. This species of trader is commonplace in the daily market, so take care next time your complete your bank transfer - you may find yourself missing a card, though likely with some extra bank on hand. More notable and generally more successful than the MV sharks are those who trade nearly exclusively in the legendaries market. This comprises a large portion of top traders, who invest in the stable and high-value rarity in order to move up the leaderboard. Here, flipping cards for profit and card farms numbering in the triple digits are common. This class is distinct from most collectors, who also hold expansive deck value and control huge card farms, in that the focus is on high-value or certain legendaries as opposed to specific cards to fill out a collection. Together, collectors and legendary traders make up nearly every trader you’ll come across in the Cards community.
Of course, the everyday hustle of buying and selling legendaries gets boring for some. There are a few key card farmers who tire of the mindless farming and seek to utilize their newfound wealth to break barriers and push limits. These players, who are often already incredibly successful, employ their vast bank and puppet army to test the very mechanics of the game. In this way, such mechanics like TCALS were discovered, leading to the later development of pull events. These players are just as important to the development of Cards as those who expand participation and hold activities, and contribute more to the technical side of things as opposed to the interpersonal. There is no doubt that without these players, breakthroughs that have transformed the playing field would not have been discovered.
Each class of farmer has carved out their own goals in Cards, whether that be in collecting every card in their region or seeking to dethrone Koem Kab (word of advice: it can’t be done). Card farmers are in the process of shaping and defining the landscape of this community for potentially years to come - and there’s a place for everyone, from the smallest trader to the largest armer, to thrive and pursue their own goals.

The Northern Lights: Beauty in Truth
Publisher: TlomzKrano :: Executive Editor: BMWSurfer

The Northern Lights 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 by the Ministry of Home Affairs internally. Except where otherwise indicated, all content represents the views of the Government of The North Pacific.


 

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Hello embassy friends! Recently, TNP released two tools to help nations everywhere endorse all the people they need to. Instead of manually checking every WA nation in your region, you can receive an auto-generated list of nations you haven’t yet endorsed. And that’s not all! Say you want a more specific list of WA nations. The Endotarting Query tool can easily narrow your list down to just the nations you need! We’re hoping that this tool can promote endorsements for all nations who want it.

You might be asking. Where can I find this tool? Check out this dispatch linked here:

It has all the information you need to go on an endorsing spree! Happy endorsing!

Sincerely,
Your friends in The North Pacific
 

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The North Star Issue XXIV

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The Spotlight 32 – Interview with Owen
by Comfed
Comfed: When did you join The North Pacific?

Owen: I joined The North Pacific around 4 and a half years ago, in August 2016 I think. It was the region my first nation was founded in, so I just stuck around.

Comfed: And once you joined, what did you do?

Owen: For the first couple of days, I just got to grips with the region and became a citizen straight away. From there I started looking into the TNP government and joined the Foreign Affairs ministry, which was being led by Praetor I think, who really helped me get settled in the ministry and the region as a whole and was probably what got me really interested in FA, and that interest still remains today.

Comfed: What was the first thing you noticed about the TNP community?

Owen: I think the first thing I noticed about the TNP community was how involved and how active it was. I obviously joined right before a general election, so I saw what elections were like an it just surprised me how much is going on and how active it was all the time, and I think that is what has been something that I have always loved TNP for.

Comfed: Have any people in particular been important to you as mentors?

Owen: So this is a question that people have asked me a few times, and I think that his has changed the longer I have been around but I would definitely say that there are a couple of people that I would see as mentors. The first of these would be Pallaith. Pallaith was Speaker that saw something in me and gave me the chance to join the Speakers office and become more involved in the region. Since then, we have worked really closely on numerous occasions and I have never bee afraid to message and ask any questions that I have. The second of these is McMasterdonia. Since I first interacted with him when he became MoFA before going on to be Delegate, and we have developed a good relationship and have worked really closely on some really big projects and he is someone that I speak to a lot and bounce a lot of ideas off, so he is a really important mentor for me.

Comfed: So, what's your favorite ministry and why?

Owen: See this is something that is conflicting for me a little bit. Being the Home Affairs Minister, I should really be saying that it is the HA ministry, but then everyone would know that I am lying. For me, there isn't really much doubt, it has to be the FA ministry. It is the ministry that I have been a part of since the start and have done so much work for, so it cannot be anything else.

Comfed: Interesting! What was your first position in the government and who gave it to you?

Owen: So, the first position I had in government was actually a ministry that I am not really involved with now and that is the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs. Back when I was a deputy speaker, I was doing a bit in the ministry and Sil Dorsett approached me about becoming a deputy and I said yes.

Comfed: And finally, the most important question: cake or pie?

Owen: Now that depends, are we talking a sweet pie, like an apple pie, or a savoury pie?

Comfed: Whichever you prefer.

Owen: I would probably have to say a savoury pie, like a steak and gravy pie. I don't really have a sweet tooth and I usually prefer savoury to sweet, so I would have to go for that. [h][/h]
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News - January Elections
by lol2639
In January, TNP held a General Election. During this election, citizens voted on who should become the next Delegate, Vice Delegate, and Speaker of the Regional Assembly. In the Delegate election, McMasterdonia ran on a platform of government accountability and communication with the citizenry, while incumbent Tlomz ran on continuing his successes from the previous term. McMasterdonia won the delegacy, winning 78% of the total vote.

The race for Vice Delegate was uncontested, with only Cretox State running. He secured 79% of the total vote, with a notable 37% voting to re-open nominations. Robespierre and Bobberino, both former Deputy Speakers with similar backgrounds in TNP, were the primary challengers to the Speakership. Robespierre ultimately secured 43.9% of the vote, while Bobberino got 37% of the vote.

The transition into the new government was quick, with McMasterdonia taking the in-game delegacy within a couple weeks of the election. This was due to McMasterdonia having a high number of endorsements coming into the transition, and a rapid response from Home Affairs and the Gameside Advocates in publicizing the transition.
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NPA Bulletin
by Westinor
Lieutenant Gorundu -> Captain
Lieutenant 9003 -> Captain
Corporal Westinor -> Sergeant
Private Great New Canada -> Private First Class
Private East Isles -> Private First Class

Welcome back from the holidays, folks! Well, what can I say? The term started off quick as former Minister of Defense 9003 took the NPA flying with the Black Hawks in a joint op that hit several hundred regions! We bid 9003 a fond farewell and hope to see them joining us for ops again soon.

Cue the music: our next Minister of Defense, appointed by Delegate McMasterdonia, comes from the wondrous land of rows and recruitment telegrams - that’s right, Nimarya is taking the helm for this term! In her opening statement, Nimarya laid out a clear plan for the rest of the term. The first and foremost priority was leading and hosting more operations, with a greater focus on increased training ops and teaching chasing. Additionally, NIm also noted that much more time will be spent updating training manuals and guides. With the increased focus on versatility and training new soldiers, the NPA is looking at a term of great growth and renewed energy.

Nim took to the Minister role right away, giving regional jump points Lunarpunk and Birb a brand new coat of paint - pink paint, to be exact. She also managed to appease 9003’s newfound hunger for power with a promotion to Captain. The NPA focused on the delegacy transition for the first half of the month, helping to complete an incredibly fast transition for incoming Delegate McMasterdonia and Vice Delegate Cretox State.

But of course, who wants to wait for a stinky delegacy transition before going off on an op? Not the NPA! Some NPA soldiers snuck out to party with a whole bunch of regions in Operation Boom Beach, hitting Alnobia as part of the largest updater force ever! The NPA returned back to the delegacy transition before doing a one-eighty and turning back to delegate tip the Confederation of Corrupt Dictators - but in a surprising twist, the region refused to update! It appeared that the combined power of the NPA and its allies was too much for even the game to handle.

True to the goals outlined in her opening statement, Nim alongside officers ROM and BMWSurfer led the NPA on several training operations, whipping the new privates into shape and tagging regions along the way! Switching is going to become super easy, barely an inconvenience in no time for the new recruits. Additionally, Nim led the NPA in a special operation on the 22nd, splitting the participating members into two groups - one tagging group and one chasing. While the chasers had a bit of trouble catching the taggers, with a bit of experience and some determination there is no doubt the NPA will get the hang of things quickly.

To cap off the month, the NPA once again joined TGW, Europeia, Lily, the AA, and our fellow Pacifics in paying the CCD another visit. Energy was high as the force hit several openly fascist regions, toppling their delegates in an outstanding operation. Fun was had, but in the end the force accomplished a great feat. If there’s one thing we’ve learned in the last month, it’s that fascists have no place on NationStates, and the North Pacific Army is glad to have participated in an operation that cast shame on those who so openly supported a vile ideology.

That’s all for now! We hope to see you next time for some more action and some more ops. And hey, if you ever want to join in on the fun, the NPA’s doors are always open.
 

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World Assembly Digest
by Honeydewistania
Repeal: “Commend The Western Isles”
This incredibly savage resolution, penned by our former Deputy Minister of WA Affairs Bormiar, was the latest in a series of badge hunting ripping commendation badges without replacing them due to poor writing and inaccuracies. Commend The Western Isles was authored by former resident Greater Cesnica, which commended them for their roleplaying. Bormiar argued that the lack of international impact and gross exaggerations meant that the resolution should be InstaRepealed!, but also controversially stated that Greater Cesnica’s inability to listen to feedback or to not rush a resolution to vote was a reason the resolution should be repealed. The resolution was supported by The North Pacific, but was opposed by regions such as 10000 Islands who did not want to remove a commendation of an allied region. The proposal passed on January 6th.

Commend Northrop-Grumman
A sneaky sneaky resolution! This proposal included the many roleplaying accomplishments and contributions of the “most dark nation” of Northrop-Grumman, including maintaining indexes and creating databases. However, due to a certain unmentionable, the resolution also included numerous references to the unmentionable, in a slightly clever but somewhat-poorly executed attempt at sidestepping the well established decorum of the Security Council! The proposal was defeated by a tight margin, despite support from The North Pacific, owing to the lack of commendable content in the proposal. A discussion on the application on the legality of directly mentioning the unmentionable was generated, but in the end the established rules prevailed.

Commend Singapore no2
A very well written resolution, Commend Singapore no2 commended its nominee for their prolific issues authorship (28!), or as described in the resolution text, for their ability to resolve the conflicts that plague the nations of the world, as well as protecting their home region of Singapore in an issues-based commendation that broke the mold of past resolutions. Revised, rewritten and redrafted to excellent quality, the resolution passed comfortably and with the support of the North Pacific.

Regulating Remote Election Administration
Think you were out of the election woods when we exited 2020? Think again! The first General Assembly proposal to hit the floor in the New Year was in style, touching on mail voting (a RL hot button topic) and expatriate voters. The proposal was soundly (and perhaps surprisingly) defeated, garnering just over 10% of votes, due to multiple issues such as the narrow scope and the unpopularity of elections-related resolutions.

Repeal: “International Criminal Protocol”
Hot on the heels of the election proposal was yet another controversial proposal - Repeal International Criminal Protocol. Very similar to another passed resolution, Repeal: “Crime and Punishment”, this proposal denounced the target’s mandate that the World Assembly shall reserve the legality of the death penalty as a whole to member nations themselves. This proposal reignited the perennial debate on the death penalty but ended up passing overwhelmingly, despite concerns over the underdeveloped replacement to the other mandates in the target.

Fair Treatment of Prisoners
The WA should pass a ‘Fair Treatment of WA Ambassadors’ after subjecting us to the ensuing death penalty debate! This resolution aimed to protect the rights of prisoners regarding solitary confinement and prison labour. The proposal was fairly simple, passing easily and with the support of the North Pacific. It would hardly be the most exciting of proposals to come.

Death Penalty Ban
Now we have the resolution everyone was waiting for! Authored by longtime death penalty abolition advocate Imperium Anglorum, this resolution was cut and dry: abolish death penalty except for war criminals and the like, and commute all death sentences. Despite massive outcry from smaller nations, this resolution passed with minimal resistance, almost 100 resolutions after the original Repeal “Crime and Punishment” passed.

Protecting Sapient Life
Death Penalty Ban II: Electric Boogaloo, basically. This proposal enforced a full ban on the death penalty, in addition to preventing the extradition or deportation of people to countries where they could be executed. The resolution was surprisingly defeated on the voting floor likely due to its extremely vague text, leaving room for several loopholes. Following this defeat, another proposal has been drafted to enforce this ban (yes, this saga isn’t over yet), so stay tuned.
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Security Council Review
by Cretox State

With a new Delegate, new Vice Delegate, new applicants, and new and ongoing projects, January was sure to be a hectic month for the Vice Delegate and the Security Council as a whole.

The Transition to a New Government
As of January 11, 2021, McMasterdonia and Cretox State took the positions of Delegate and Vice Delegate, respectively. Despite beginning the transition period with fairly high enforcement counts, both nations had some distance to climb before assuming the first and second regional positions in endorsements.

In total, the Delegate transition took slightly under two weeks. The Vice Delegate transition was completed shortly thereafter. This transition was significantly faster than the previous two largely due to the Delegate’s and Vice Delegate’s starting positions, active endotarting, frequent endorsement alerts, personal telegrams, a responsive Security Council and executive staff, and involvement from the Ministry of Home Affairs and Gameside Advocates. No special card rewards were employed for this transition. A complete timeline of the transition is available .

2020 WADP Survey
Started during the previous term, the 2020 World Assembly Development Program survey invited interested nations to offer feedback on TNP’s , with some questions also tackling the region’s Security Council. The survey is released yearly, with 2020’s results made public in January 2021. Responses were positive and constructive, with a full breakdown available .

New SC Applicants and Resignation
Two nations applied to the Security Council in January: Kranostav and Dreadton. Additionally, Regional Assembly discussion and voting on Xagill’s Security Council application largely occurred in January, with Xagill joining the SC in early February. Despite being narrowly denied nomination by the SC, Xagill acquired the 2/3rds Regional Assembly majority necessary to be appointed to the SC. A former Delegate and career public servant, Kranostav was nominated to the SC by majority vote. RA discussion on their application is currently ongoing. Dreadton, a former Vice Delegate and Minister, applied shortly after Kranostav, with the Security Council currently voting on their application.

In late January, Sundred resigned from the Security Council, bringing total membership down to ten nations. However, the SC is poised to expand to as many as thirteen members in the near future.

Other Projects
In addition to the ongoing declassification effort and weekly reports, there have been a few new developments over the past month:
  1. The first monthly Vice Delegate fireside chat was held on January 31st, with a recording available on the Northern Broadcasting Service’s YouTube channel .
  2. An early version of a VD mentoring template is being sent to forum members who pass the Vice Delegate’s citizenship check.
  3. This is the first edition of a new Security Council Review article for the Ministry of Communications, covering SC matters over the past month.


The North Star: Lighting The Way To The Truth
Publisher: @mcmasterdonia :: Executive Editor: @BMWSurfer

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.
 

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Produced by




Cards Symposium? What's that?

Greetings, everyone! To celebrate the fact that has lasted so long as a prominent feature, The North Pacific hereby invites YOU, fellow NationStates user, to attend our first-ever Cards Symposium!
Starting first-thing on February 21 2021, players finding themselves participating in this event will get to experience a wide range of activities, whether it be: 1) competing in games to win awards, 2) listening to experienced card users giving lectures, and more!
To participate, please click on the in order to join!


What exactly will take place at the Symposium?

With all honesty, there's so many things that it'll prove difficult to name! There will be events such as card collecting competitions, card lotteries, long-time users speaking about their experiences in cards, and even gaming rooms such as an Among Us match, so be assured that there will be more than enough events in order to make your participation worthwhile~

To view our full schedule, please see the following:


What's in it for me if I attend?

Not only will you get the chance to gain first-hand knowledge regarding the , but you'll also receive multiple chances to win extremely valuable cards each day, including the highly coveted !
Each day, there will be 1 lottery that will take place, and a random user attending the event will be the recipient of a randomized legendary card. In addition, multiple events + competitions will be hosted that will reward the winner with cards of the same rarity as mentioned, so not only will participation in those events be fun, but they'll also be highly rewarding!

We hope to see you there, so thanks a ton for reading!
 

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World Assembly Digest - February 2021
A busy and contentious month in the Assembly

By Boston Castle

This month was extremely active in the World Assembly with several resolutions, some quite contentious, passing in both chambers.

Repeal: “Freedom of Assembly”

This proposal was proposed by Wymondham to repeal a long-time resolution on the books (GA #27-passed in December 2008!). The North Pacific stood against this repeal effort, largely due to concerns about specific wording in the repeal. Wymondham’s resolution was, however, supported by the community-at-large and passed 58%-42% on February 5. This would not be the first thing that Wymondham worked on this month-an active month from an impressive first-time author.

Commend King HEM

On the same day that Repeal: “Freedom of Assembly” passed the General Assembly floor, a proposal passed the Security Council: “Commend King HEM”. The irony here lies in Wymondham’s co-author Maowi getting her month started with passing this proposal. Similar to Repeal: “Freedom of Assembly”, this proposal was quite contentious, with the newly formed Partnership for Sovereignty issuing a statement against it. Despite this, the proposal still passed 77%-23% on February 5.

Commend Northern Borland

Initially intended to be something of a joke proposal and a tongue-in-cheek commendation of the nominee by Honeydewistania, this proposal raised trying questions about pure stats commendations and condemnations that are still being discussed in the Security Council. The vote on this proposal went back-and-forth several times between passing and failing during the several days it was on the voting floor, something reflected in the even-split in TNP’s vote. The proposal’s back-and-forth status was largely due to the influence of 10000 Islands Delegate HumanSanity, whose vote changed several times. This vote passed extremely narrowly 51.2%-48.8% on February 10 giving Honeydew his 6th Security Council Resolution authorship.

Right to Assemble

The second time that the fundamental right to assembly was discussed in the Security Council and the intended partner to the repeal earlier this month, this was the second time that a proposal by the team of Maowi and Wymondham was discussed in February. This proposal capped off a busy month for both authors. As suggested by the title, this resolution codified a right to assembly.

However, this proposal was not without controversy as an effort by Greater Cesnica was introduced at the same time and both proposals made the formal queue. While the original proposal was not as controversial as the repeal effort earlier this month, this proposal passed easily 79%-21% on February 13 giving Maowi her 6th General Assembly Resolution authored.

Commend 1 very fast endotarter

This resolution dealt with the commendation of a figure well-known to many in The North and abroad, 1 very fast endotarter, also known as r3n. While the exploits of his long and illustrious second stint on the game are well-established elsewhere, it is worth noting that this proposal raised the ire of several in the defender community. Some figures in the defending community were reluctant to support the measure, or even outright opposed it, due to r3n’s association with independent militaries for whom the vast majority of activities are raiding in the NPA and the Europeian Republican Navy. Ultimately though, TNP author Noahs Second Country saw his proposal prevail, with TNP’s backing of course, and earned his 4th Security Council Resolution authored, and first of this month, 78%-22% on Valentine’s Day (February 14).

Right to Secure Digital Communication

A new face to many in The North, Greater Cesnica has long been accused of badge-hunting in his exploits in the General Assembly largely due to the large volume of proposals he creates and readily submits. Though some may intentionally vote against his proposals, even ones which deal with such a vital issue as ensuring digital communications are secure, his proposals often pass-such was the case with this one. While mired in questions of what constitutes a badge hunt and even if the term should apply to eager authors who pump out quality proposals, Cesnica saw this proposal passed with an emphatic 85%-15% margin on February 17-giving him his 3rd General Assembly resolution authored.


Liberate The Embassy

Perhaps the biggest topic in gameplay, the one which has led the most people to sound off recently has not been the R/D Presidential election-themed tag raids going on in Lily, Grey Wardens Warden Matthew’s trips to fast-food restaurants after the movies, but rather the invasion of The Embassy and the subsequent closure of over 3,600 embassies. Arousing debate among nearly every force that participated in the invasion, defenders seized on the moment and sprang into action with 10000 Islands Delegate HumanSanity submitting and passing a liberation, stopping raiding forces from holding the region for a potential refound. This proposal passed on February 18 by a 70%-30% margin marking an auspicious Security Council debut from the 10000 Islands Delegate.

Whistleblower Protection Act

Yet another proposal that quietly aroused conflicting feelings among many, this proposal dealt with questions of how to protect those exposing illegal activities. Though the proposal itself remained relatively uncontroversial to many, Europe delegate Imperium Anglorum issued a statement announcing that he could not back the legislation due to deficiencies he saw in the legislation. However, the opposition of that region and The East Pacific during the waning days in which Libertanny held the delegacy did not imperil final passage, it made passage by 78%-22% rather than a larger margin. Passage ensured that The North Pacific’s own Boston Castle earned passage of his 2nd General Assembly Resolution.

Repeal: “Commend Northern Borland”

As mentioned earlier in our roundup of this month’s action in The World Assembly, stats-based commendations and condemnations are still a hot topic of discussion in the wider world of the Security Council. Commend Northern Borland was always a contentious resolution, having passed by an extremely narrow margin when it first came to the floor, and opponents seized on this. While pointing out flaws in the resolution, including its use of tongue-in-cheek sarcastic or ironic language, this Repeal made the case to repeal the Commend and it was, indeed, repealed. This proposal passed on February 22 by a 59%-41% margin without the North’s support. It gave The North Pacific’s Noahs Second Country a 2nd Security Council resolution passed this month, coming 8 days after the passage of Commend 1 very fast endotarter, and his 5th overall.
Supporting People With Disabilities

Occasionally, a proposal will genuinely come to be considered quite “feel good”, this one qualifies under that category. Codifying the rights of the disabled into World Assembly law and “reaffirming the right to not be discriminated against on the grounds of disability”, this proposal passed easily-83%-17%. This proposal, authored by Free Las Pinas marked a promising debut for the author in the General Assembly and his resolution, passing on February 25, received the overwhelming support of the North.

Condemn Lily

One of the most infamous independent militaries of the last few years-Lily has no shortage of detractors and admirers. With their rainbow-colored tags on regional WFEs and the sheer number of operations they undertake, it is clear that at some point, regardless of their affiliation, they would be on the receiving end of a condemnation. One such attempt to condemn Lily came to the floor on February 22 and while it showed condemn worthy things, it did not tell the whole story or prove convincing enough for the North, or the wider World Assembly community, to approve it. This proposal failed by a 78%-22% margin on February 26.



Polaris: Lighting the way to truth
Publisher: McMasterdonia :: Executive Editor: Veniyerris

Polaris articles are produced by the Ministry of Communications on behalf of the Government of The North Pacific and are distributed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs externally and the Ministry of Communications internally.


 

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We are aware that not everyone is equally appreciative of image-based NS newspapers. As such, we've included the standard format mostly plain-text version of the newspaper below. We hope you enjoy reading this month's issue! If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions, feel free to contact the current TNP Minister of Communications PotatoFarmers (me!).


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Editor’s Note

by BMWSurfer, Minister of Communications

Welcome to The Northern Lights.
Recently, The North Pacific hosted a Cards Symposium, a gathering for all members of the cards community. Featured in this edition of The Northern Lights iare five lectures and Q&A sessions with prominent members of the community. We hope you enjoy reading this issue!

Note from the Minister of Cards

by DGES, Minister of Cards

The 2021 Cards Symposium was a large-scale cards festival hosted by The North Pacific during the end of February. Activities relating to this festival were held throughout the span of 1 week, with minigames, guest speakers, and fully-fledged competitions comprising the majority of what took place during the Symposium.
The Symposium marked one of the very first festivals celebrating the cards minigame, with over 110 users attending the event and enjoying it in one way or another. An entire month was spent planning its release, so we hope that this issue of The Northern Lights provides you some perspective on what took place if you weren't there!
Happy reading~​

Q&A with Mikeswill

Mikeswill: Welcome to the 2021 Card Symposium.
I would first like to give my thanks to The Infinite Hell-Sage Empire of Destructive Government Economic System for inviting me to share my experiences and opinions on this platform. I am truly humbled by the honor. It represents a degree of success in this endeavor based on much effort.
I do not have an agenda to promote. Instead I am willing to share my experiences in the Card realm over these two plus seasons. A brief history:
The initiation of the Card game during the April 1, 2018 limited period found me in an advantageous position given my long history of creating satellite Nations representing different points and interests in my Nation States life. As such I was able to move cards from these satellite Nations to my main resulting in a top 10 finish at the end of the first run.
When the game resumed in earnest I began as a Heister (a nation that undercuts a sell bid to gain profit); a Penny Bidder (a nation that raises buys in penny increments), and an inflator of Legendary cards (I pushed the price of Legendary cards to $10). The first two tactics brought ill-will and retaliation by a group of card players.
After a few combative conversations with Frisbeeteria I was invited to join a card Discord to the chagrin of many. It was via this Discord that I was able to evolve out my initial game-play and into a more community considerate style of play. Nevertheless, I was guilty of numerous antagonistic conversations for a period of time as I slowly evolved as a trader.
I learned about trade dropping – buying low and selling high on a trade. I learned how to protect a bank transfer after numerous times losing profits to heisters. (I used to transfer bank via 0.50 Rare sales). I learned how to create puppets to facilitate greater card/ bank and gain an advantageous position during pull events. And so it goes.
My intention, therefore, is not to present a position but rather to address any questions a Nation may have. Thus the format will be Q & A.
A few ideas for questions: How setting a reasonable goal can make card trading fun....Why Koem Kab is the only trader I completely trust? ... Dropping on Legendary trades: How to drop and why it is OK... How do I maintain my top 5 position without using scripts?
Event Participant [1]: That last one is interesting. How do you maintain your top 5 position without using scripts?
Mikeswill:This was a trick question. The answer is unwavering perseverance. I am a bit older than many of the players in NationStates and have had a difficulty understanding the creation and use of scripts or programming or coding or whatever it is called that automates or facilitates a more efficient manner of answering issues and junking cards for bank. So I work harder and longer ... one issue and one junked card at a time.
Event Participant [2]:What do you mean by Koem Kab being the only trader you trust and why?
Mikeswill:In the course of relationships it is easy to create expectations only to be let down at some point. In the card game as in most speculative endeavors one seeks consistency and over the 2+ years of play Koem has been the most consistent trader that I have experienced. Moreover, from my experience, he has yet to act upon emotion over logic.
Other players, me included, have exhibited emotion reactions that go against expectation. Usually these are one time occurrences but they are enough to create doubt in future transactions.
Examples: getting heisted by a Nation who for months gave and received the courtesy of non-interference. Purposefully have one’s pull event blocked so as to deny the opportunity to obtain a card by a player who abused the same system many times over.
Players have changed tactics from time to time for whatever reason. I am not going to necessarily judge why an ally all of a sudden decides to interfere with a bank transfer but I will alter my trades in the future to minimize the interference. (I used to get mad and that will be discussed via a different Q & A.
On the other, Koem trades in Legendary cards as I do so we have a common goal: to maintain and grow the value of these cards. I know that in a bidding war he will have 4x my bank so if he decides he wants the card I am not going too far above MV without encouraging him to drop me. He seems to know that if I am bidding on a high priced Legendary I’m going to buy the card and will back off once MV has made. Even though we seldom if ever converse via telegram we seemingly give and take when a series of Legendary cards hit the market at below MV bids.
So I trust him. I trust him because it is always good to trust at least one other player.
Event Participant [2]:How do you look at your trading style in the past and reflect on it today? What was your process for growth in that way?
Mikeswill:I am far more confident today than I was in the beginning. I began as a penny bidder and heister trying to win every trade for the sake of winning the trade. When I focused on a goal I was able to pin point the trades I wanted to be involved in. This took a degree of trial and error. Moreover, no one likes a penny bidder especially in the Legendary market. It can bring up antagonistic emotions and communications. So I quit being a penny bidder. I also realized that the market is incredibly large. It isn't necessary for me to try to get every card.
One more thing: If you see me buying a non-Legendary card I am probably moving the card from a pup to my main... that means I can inflate the card as high as I want because the bank is secure.
Event Participant [3]:What would you say is a good goal to have when beginning as a trader? For this answer, please draw from your own learning experiences and/or mistakes when you were first starting out and explain how it translates to setting a reasonable goal, if you would.
Mikeswill:When Season 1 began in earnest Legendary cards were the most desired. Although I was in the top 10 in Deck Value, the number of Legendary cards I owned was nowhere near a complete set of 184 cards. Additionally, seven Legendary Nations had ceased to exist since the April 1st rollout making acquisition of those cards far more challenging. And so I set the goal of collecting every Legendary card.
What I found was that I was initially tentative in my trading. I was easily intimidated by players such as Koem Kab and Fris and The Northern Lights who had far more bank and better trade tactics. I can specifically recall needing to get the CTE Legendary Mindless Contempt and knowing that my 200.00 bid – the extent of my bank – would be surpassed before the trade was completed. It can become disheartening when you feel like other traders have the upper hand. And so I changed my goal.
Actually I changed my attitude. I decided that I was not going to allow another Nation intimidate my card play. I got realistic on the amount of bank necessary to successfully consummate whatever trade I wanted to participate in. I decided that I was willing to purchase at 10% above Market Value (sometimes even more) to get the card I desired. I didn’t concern myself with penny bidding in an effort to get the lowest purchase rather I attacked the trade at Market Value. In other words, I got serious about obtaining my goal. And to me that is the ultimate goal, to decide what you want and then go out and get it.
I see so many traders trading to get the best deal and then missing out on the card because they weren’t willing to go the extra 0.25 – the value of a pack. Just yesterday a player bought one of my S1 obscure Epics to beat me out of .01 while another player battled me when all the while they could have spent an extra .02 to get the card.
So to get to the question in more tangible terms: depending on which Region you reside in you might want to start with the goal of collecting every Regional member. I am thinking of collecting both S1 and S2 cards of every WA member in my region. Setting goals which are attainable can bring much satisfaction and in the process develops one’s ability to consummate trades and communicate with card holders in order to persuade them to sell.
Event Participant [4]:1. Texan here, how long was your power out, lol
2. As someone looking to farm puppets for cards, how many puppets would you say is a good amount while not giving my life to the trade?
Mikeswill:1. My condo is near a Fire station so I only lost power for about 2 hours
2. I don't know the answer to the optimum number of puppets to have while still maintaining a real life outside NS. I have 345 active puppets. If I knew how to use scripts or whatever that is called I would probably be far more efficient than I am. I am certain that manually going through 345 pups a day takes up a lot of time.
Event Participant [5]:Hi! As a mere enthusiast to this game I find the collecting satisfying, but the sociology fascinating. Though communicating through telegraphs is the clearest way to convey information, I find most interesting the concept of attempting to communicate through bidding alone. Watching players get scared off by a large jump in bids, frantically scouring their trades to see if a puppet of theirs has another copy, attempting to discourage people from penny bidding by immediately jumping to MV, watching people bid .01 below MV as though that number matters at all.
What have you found to be effective methods of conveying intent to other players while bidding (or asking)? How do you discourage those who seek a "good deal" from taking a card you genuinely want?
Mikeswill:The Sociology of assessing another player by the way they bid is an awesome study. If I see a player penny bidding I presume that their expectations and confidence levels are low... they probably lack sufficient bank to adequately buy cards they want and are playing a game of hope. A large counter bid will usually dissuade them. If a player tries to heist a bank transfer I find that I can wear them down by penny bidding the clock knowing that I have at least one other bank transfer card copy. (I did this to Momo on a Legendary trade an extended the trade for four hours). One of my projects has me buying up some cards and initially I fought off the other bidders by raising my Buy price to deny them the copy of the card. But in retrospect I am just over paying on a card that by the time I want to take advantage of my ownership position, the other player may cease to exist making their ownership moot. And then I use the old fashioned style of communication: I send a telegram. Be careful with telegrams... there are a lot of angry Nations out there.
Event Participant [5]:Also, piggybacking off of [Event Participant #2], I assume you trust Koem Kab because their bids are consistent and clear, but do you think their complete monopolistic domination of the legendary market - essentially price fixing the entirety through plurality ownership - is detrimental to the competitive nature of auctions?
My questions are perhaps not technical enough for this Q and A.
Mikeswill:No. Keep in mind that though Koem owns 11,000 Legendary cards, r3n and I each own over 3,000 apiece. Thus Koem does not have a complete monopolistic domination of the market. Any player has access to the market and is no way curtailed from being successful in the market bank permitted. Whereas I am probably a Democratic Socialists at heart, I have no issue with someone like Koem utilizing his means and talents to arrive at his level of success especially where no one else is denied the same opportunity. I am a perfect example. I have successfully collected every S1 and S2 Legendary without any barriers.
As to the second point - the competitive nature of auctions – Koem has shown far more constraint in maintaining the status quo. The competitive nature of auctions is a myth. Either you have sufficient bank to obtain the card you want or you don’t. The fact that you can pull the desired card removes any barrier to competition. Koem doesn’t arbitrarily inflate Legendary cards (That was Noah in 2020). He simply attempts to maintain the current MV but will aid the inflation of a Legendary on a trade by trade basis as will I.
Now the purposeful inflation of common cards to artificially raise one’s DV as detrimental... :)
Event Participant [5]:Ahh, my question was worded poorly. I mean that Koem does not have to abide by the same issues of competition that I do when bidding on a legendary. They are able to undercut/drop any player on nearly any legendary; the result being that even obscene deals (such as when 9003 accidentally dropped [Zamri1138] for 2 instead of 20) go to Koem by default, and are frequently uncontested. I can do that with my own card and a few others, but they have domination in this respect to (nearly) the entire legendary market. I find the frenzy of bidding on a good deal to be exciting and fun, but don't bother on legendaries because the end result is known.
Mikeswill:You might want to ask yourself why are you so consumed with Koem Kab at the detriment of your own personal goal... I am not picking on you alone. I think man has an innate nature to criticize the highly successful and thus legitimize their own self-inflicted victimization. For instance: your complaint about Koem in the Legendary market could easily be applied to me. I have sufficient power and bank in that market to dominate any trade. But because I am #3 in the game I don't get the same negative attention that KK does. I am also amused by the frenzy of greed when someone purposefully or not places a low Ask on a Legendary... it means bank for me because if I get to the card before Koem I will drop you and then the ensuing outrage by the player who got dropped is delightful. Because it is outrage based on emotional greed. Keep that in mind in the future. I have been busy with a project so my involvement in the day to day Legendary market has waned but I will be back soon!
Event Participant [5]:I think my comments on Koem came off as antagonistic instead of esoteric. I don't mind them as a player at all, I was trying to get your thoughts on how monopolies and oligarchies skew the market and was using my experience as a comparison, not a complaint. I'm not much of a legendary hound, just trying to compare how market forces are asymmetrically applied to different players. Thanks for your answers!
Mikeswill:[Reacts with sunglasses emoji]
Event Participant [6]:As someone who has been active since the beginning, what is the most enjoyable facet of the card game for you?
I sometimes forget the connection between cards and the nations behind them. Do you place value on cards of players you have a good relationship with? Or are there cards you value due to memorable events (like first Legendary find)?
Mikeswill:The most enjoyable facet was and is the increased interaction with other game players. Prior to the card game I was basically just keeping my region going as the longest serving WA Delegate in the history of the game (15+ years). Because of the streak I was still active but isolated to my region. I don't participate in the Security Council because I find it either a popularity contest or a travesty to the game mechanics. The General Assembly has gotten incredibly stale as Nations write Resolutions for personal recognition and then Repeal the a week later. (I truly believe that there should be a 6 month wait time before Repeals can be considered). So when the card game arose it gave me the opportunity to branch out far beyond the confines of my nest. I have built relationships with Nations from many Regions reminding me of the joy I had in my first year in the game where players from across the globe engaged. In December I decided to blow past the constraints of Deck Capacity. This has allowed me to increase my collection from < 2,000 to over 15,000 cards giving me the opportunity to collect cards of Nations I have appreciated as players but whose card value might have not fit the prior limitation of deck space.
Event Participant [7]:What tactics should you be aware of when you try to card flip in Nationstates?
Mikeswill:I'm not sure what card flipping is. If that is the Buying low and Selling high trade style I am not a participant as it has no long term return for me. I am mostly a collector of Legendary cards. I will drop on any Legendary trade where I can garner a 5.00 profit or more. Now I do see players buying low on my CTE S1 Common transfer cards thinking they are going to get the 4.00 MV price at some point in the future not realizing that every historical trade has been made between me and my pups. It is the same with Buying inflated Commons thinking that because the card is at 200.00 someone is going to Buy at 50.00. This is Fool's Gold... a waste of bank because eventually the card, if traded, will only decrease in value.
Event Participant [1]: With people obviously hoping a Season 3 comes out this year, what can you do to increase the rarity of your potential future card?
Mikeswill:I have no idea. I am certain I will never be a Legendary because my activities in this game over 17 years tends to go against the grain of the the elite. I think that writing proposals might help. Maybe write a bunch of inane Security Council resolutions and the Repeal them a week later might get you a higher Rarity. Some folks try to manipulate the acquisition of badges. If that is your choice check out this link: - I just play the game. I was Commended once and then that was repealed out of spite. Other players have tried to both Commend and Condemn me I guess to help increase my card rarity which I have appreciated.
Oh, and S3 will never happen.
Event Participant [8]:I've noticed that you have valid concerns regarding whether Season 3 will ever occur, but if we were to be hypothetical and say that Season 3 decided to appear, what do you believe are some of the most important things players should do in order to prepare for the upcoming season?
Mikeswill:I'm not planning on doing a thing different specifically to plan for Season 3. I know some players have stocked puppets with packs waiting to open them at the time. I don't understand that logic. If S3 is inevitable them S2 cards will become rarer thus why hold onto packs for the future when you can open those packs and replenish them. I am doing something completely separate regarding S2 cards which will mean nothing if S3 doesn't occur. When S3 does begin I will try to get a list of the Legendaries and begin collecting them.
Event Participant [9]:Oh, one thing I've been meaning to ask you. It's a very little thing but I'm curious. Why did you decide to bid one cent above junk value on all your puppets' cards? I rarely see others do that - whenever I see a 0.06 bid on an uncommon I almost immediately know it's yours :p
Mikeswill:I want to incentivize the Seller by bidding above junk. I know that in S1 I never sold at junk, instead taking the bank immediately instead of waiting an hour. I have since changed that policy giving someone else the opportunity to raise the Buy price.
Event Participant [9]:Yeah - I can understand not bidding at JV. As small of an increase over JV as it is, the logic seems to follow from my experience. A lot of people do not honor JV bids.
Event Participant [10]:Any advice for starter traders who are struggling to earn bank? Further, do you have insight on how to maintain the collection bank balance?
Mikeswill:One aspect of trading power is a decent Bank and building bank while building a collection is obviously counter-productive. What helped my in S1 was pulling a Farakhan and then selling it at peak which at the time was 800.00. Back then my goal was to never fall to 200.00. This season I have adjusted that figure to 2,000.00 (inflation). In order to do that it takes discipline to stop buying until such time your comfort threshold is met. On that note I am always rather amused when a Nation pulls a Legendary and immediately sells for less than MV. With players like KK and me, said player might get half the bank between his ask and MV. This is a short term satisfaction over long term gratification. Either wait for a MV trade or create interest by having a puppet but at MV.
Event Participant [6]:With collecting legendaries, do you focus on building your ownership of any particular cards? Like CTEs or high value, or do you have any other landmarks you're working towards?
Mikeswill:Good question. As I already own every Legendary card I get to pick and choose which cards I will continue to buy. It is almost a guarantee that I will buy any Legendary whose MV is above 50.00. I do like S1 CTE Commons but as I have 5,000 already I'm not buying though I do have a project in the works which will see me move all of those cards to my main. In doing so I could buy extras. I am thinking of collecting every WA Nation in my Region. Since they have each endorsed me I ought to appreciate them more. I seem to be acquiring copies of my pups for future prosperity and am currently moving my S1 Epics to my main. Any card Gio has a 2.00 bid on goes to Utmost Brownies until such time as it is inflated and then gets sent to MikesHope - currently with 20K DV.
Event Participant [6]:You mentioned how blowing past your deck capacity opened up your deck to larger and more personal collections. Can you talk about your thought process behind making that decision, and perhaps how others should face that decision?
Mikeswill:It simply made financial sense. I kept to my deck space limit of 2,000 cards into December 2020. Keep in mind I had to pay extensive bank to reach this amount although my starting point from the initial April 1 was extensive. Most serious traders I know had long passed their deck capacities giving them an advantage for growing their DV. What I had to over come was my previous comfort in being able to Gift high bank Legendary cards to my main and how to move future bank to my main. So I observed what other players were doing and gave it a go.
Event Participant [9]:I realized semi recently that I’m sort of in the same position. My deck capacity is currently 900 and I’ve just started a collection that will assuredly cause me to think twice about expanding it any more. What are some things you’d recommend for those of us who are in the process of making that switch? I suppose, what are the things you observed people doing that made you feel comfortable with making the switch?
Mikeswill:My greatest challenge was transferring bank as I used 30 CTE cards in rotation. I had to get comfortable transferring large bank (500.00) in small increments (4.00). I watched Gio's inflationary tactics to get comfortable with large bank transfers. Additionally, I had a lot of S1 Commons that I knew would benefit me in the future but I didn't want to put them on the mark. Instead I moved 100 Legs to puppets, Gifted the 100 Commons, and then rebought the Legs - inflated of course. As such, I do my small transfers to MikesHope and Mikes Faith and then my large transfer at a later time. It also meant that I needed to be comfortable with my Bank spread amongst these Nations. All in all it is working out quite nicely.
Event Participant [9]:That's good to hear. Definitely the piggybacking and transferring large amounts of bank and cards from my storage nations to my main is the part that I'm most hesitant about. I have over 100 copies between the three different cards I use for mass copy transfers, so I'm not really worried about that bit, but the large amounts of bank and stuff about transferring legs is very helpful. Thanks a lot!

Q&A with W&S

W&S: Hi everyone and welcome!
Firstly, I’d like to give a huge THANK YOU to DGES for inviting me to speak at this event, and to 9003, McMasterdonia, Noah, and everyone else who was involved in making this possible. It is an incredible honor for me, as such a new trader, to be featured as a guest speaker at an event like this, and I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity.
In many ways, this talk is going to be a contrasting viewpoint to Mikeswill’s, who spoke before me. We have very different backgrounds and the goal of this talk is both to provide a contrasting point of view and approach, as well as give new traders a chance to ask whatever questions they might have about how to either start out or transition into large-scale farming. While Mike and I have both been around NS since well before cards (though even there he has about a decade’s headstart on me), Mike has been involved in cards since day one, whereas I only picked up the trading card game in November. Mike does not really use scripts; I have been almost completely dependent on them to rise quickly. It is a good contrast, because while we have similar approaches to some aspects of the game, we have achieved our goals in very different ways. Though we oppose each other in other parts of NS, I have tremendous respect for his persistence and dedication and his commitment to honorable and respectful trading.
So what follows is my card origin story:
On November 26, 2020 I had about 5 bank worth of cards. I occasionally opened packs on my main, but I wasn’t really into it. I was playing on the TRR Minecraft server and putting most of my energy into that. The next day, November 27, some who were on the server (Dakota, Sakana, and Jamie among others) mentioned a pull event was going on.
What is a pull event? They didn’t tell me much except to answer issues on as many puppets as fast as I could and open packs.
So, like a total idiot, I joined in. I started furiously answering issues, manually, on all my puppets. And then, like magic (ha), a S1 Aleisyr appeared.
That was all it took. I was addicted to card farming. The feeling of opening legendary cards and getting so much bank for them was just… especially in government-mandated lockdown, it was that rush of serotonin I had so desperately been missing. It was truly an addiction. And even more so, just like in defending, I wanted to go as fast as humanly possible. Within a few days I discovered scripts, and within a couple of weeks I had tripled the size of my puppet army.
I documented my climb up the ladder. I achieved top 50 global in one month and top 20 global in 2 months. Currently I sit at number 18 on the global leaderboard, with a peak rank of #17. It was a torrid ascent up the rankings - 9003 commented recently that he had not seen anyone climb to page one of the rankings so quickly since the early days of cards.
Along the way, I also gained a reputation for two other things: collecting every single Season 2 legendary card within just a few weeks, and refusing to use MV inflation to maintain or gain deck value. Some others have ascended faster than me, only to see their deck value plummet as the cards that were propping them up deflated. Others have managed, through diversification and creativity, to maintain that ranking, but the community should know by now that I’m not a fan of inflated commons either way. But I digress. That is my story and my claim to fame.
But that is quite enough about me.
I just gave that introduction so y’all can know a little about my background and my position as a trader. But one of my biggest goals in this game is to help new traders access the market and cards they might not have the time or means to grind for. So now I want to hear from you! What do you want to know? I want this to be a no-judgment, no-question-is-dumb, new-trader-friendly space where you can ask me anything about how I gained deck value so quickly, what strategies I used in auctions, or what you can do to either start out in card trading, or make the transition from new player to elite trader.
So with that, enough of my ranting and raving. Let the Q&A begin! I will be happy to answer any questions today, tomorrow, up to the end of the event, or even after.
Event Participant [1]: Would you farm if you were away from your computer and on your phone or another device without your scripts?
W&S: It would certainly be hard for me to keep my interest or have as many nations as I do now. When I started one of the main reasons I switched to scripts was because I went on a huge dry spell without finding any pull event cards or any legendaries at all in around 400 nations. I was really demotivated by that and I wanted to find a point at which my luck would sort of average out.
Still, I think my perspective has changed somewhat now. When I started I farmed to try and get cards; now I farm to get bank. That I think is something a lot of new players could learn from - and something that might keep me motivated in a world where I didn't have scripts. Farming is best for getting bank, not cards.
Event Participant [2]: How were you motivated to do cards for that long?
W&S: I had goals. They were lofty goals, but I was making measurable progress. As long as I was making progress that I could see, I continued to be motivated. Every time I added a S2 legendary to the collection or passed another person in DV, it only fueled my desire to reach higher.
Event Participant [3]: When you talk about respectful trading, what are some tips you'd give to newer traders so that they don't accidentally (and unintentionally) step on anyone's toes?
W&S: The main thing is paying attention to who is taking part in the auction and what you know about them. Is it a main and a known puppet of theirs? Do they have a standing, unmatched bid? Is it a collector trying to buy a card that you don't also need for a collection?
In general it is okay to make mistakes and accidentally step on people's toes, and a lot of the big players will understand if a new player doesn't know. Usually you'll know if that's happened when you get a telegram or a discord ping from someone like "hey that's my transfer". :p
As long as you acknowledge the mistake, the no-harm-no-foul rule applies if you correct it and don't make a habit of getting in the same person's way repeatedly.
Event Participant [4]: How do you find time for cards during the day? Do you go and sit and do all daily card stuff at once? Or split it into few parts? Do you have any tips (other than gold retriever and issue script) to save time during doing cards?
W&S: It really depends on the day. Some days, especially when I'm not working at my IRL job, I will spend hours at a time just spamming enter for as long as I feel like. But more recently I have found that for the sake of my personal health and well-being, especially as the days get warmer here in Austria, I've been splitting it up, so I'll do however many I want, then go outside or walk or go to the store, then come back and finish whatever card work I was doing that day.
I'll also often combine tasks; like when I'm doing a mass-copy transfer, I'll usually also do some farming to both condense the tasks into the same timeframe while also having a chance to TCALS another copy of the card.
Hotkeys are really helpful. If you don't have 9003's hotkey tool, get it. Pressing F to flip, J to junk etc is way faster than clicking. :p
I also like to place "reminder asks" on low-owner commons or uncommons I think would make good piggyback-transfer cards, so if I find a second copy of it I will see that I own another copy of that card, and then be able to hold onto both copies in the inevitable eventuality that I need to start doing a lot more piggybacking (when I run out of deck space).
Event Participant [4]: And a bonus question:
Do you open your packs asap or do you collect them and open when you have X amount? What is more satisfying to you? :D
W&S: I always open packs right away. Saving packs is pointless for me. I get that some people wanna save them for S3, I just don't feel the need to.
Event Participant [5]: (Who knows if we’re even gonna get a S3 tbh.)
Event Participant [4]: Oh and didn't mean S3. Rather like - do you prefer to eat one cookie a day or a cake at the weekend? :D
W&S: Farming is eating the whole cake for me. I need that serotonin immediately. :p
I have so many nations that farming by itself is the cake, lol.
Event Participant [1]: How's the S1 Legendary Collection going?
W&S: 55/184. Been on a bit of a hiatus lately. Trying to kick it back into gear soonish. S1 legendaries are HARD o_O
Event Participant [1]: Meanwhile me at 18..
W&S: LOL :p yeah I did add another to the collection just now! TUMS sniped one of them because I wasn't looking but I'm ok with not fighting TUMS all the time, lol.
Event Participant [1]: What's your preferred method of transfer?
W&S: Mass copy. 100% mass copy is my favorite.
Event Participant [4]: What is flipping?
W&S: Flipping has two meanings. Flipping over the cards when you open the pack is what I was talking about.
But flipping also means buying a card for a low price and immediately turning around and listing it for higher.
Event Participant [4]: Oh, then I'm weird. I open packs, don't flip and keep opening packs until I open all without looking at cards so I have a nice surprise if I get a TEP Card / high MV / Leg ;D
W&S: Ah, you're like HS then. HS does the same thing.
Event Participant [1]: How does your timezone affect your pull event availability?
W&S: For US based pull events it is usually quite good. Most take place in the afternoon in the US, which is evening for me. Perfect. But evening in the US is like 3 A.M. for me usually :p
Event Participant [1]: If you're in a pull event who has time to look at what you pull? Lol.
W&S: Me because I need that rush.
Event Participant [4]: If you could speak to yourself from time when you started doing cards, what advice would you give yourself?
W&S: Ooooo, that is a good question. The biggest piece of advice would be to not beat myself up over losing out in an auction or going on a long streak without a particular card. On that note, maybe the best answer is that farming is for getting bank, not cards. One of the most demotivating things as I was starting out as a trader was going on long dry streaks without finding a legendary or a card of the type I wanted. On the one hand it made me hungry to make more puppets, but in that quest I may have overextended myself from time to time.
When you farm cards, really you are farming bank to buy the cards you want. Bank is the most important piece of leverage in auctions and the most important thing when it comes to doing what you want to with cards. It does feel good to get that card you want in a pack, but just like IRL TCGs (i was a semi competitive magic the gathering player for a while), it is usually far easier and cheaper to just buy the card. Unless there is a pull event. Pull events are the exception. :p
Event Participant [1]: How's TSP's card program going?
W&S: It's good! Got a little slowed down because Vietnam and I were both running for Cabinet, but we are expecting it to kick back into high gear here in the extremely near future. I've put several thousand bank's worth of cards and bank into it, and I'm really excited for what we will be able to offer in terms of programming and rewards for those who join. We've spent a ton of time and energy planning this and I think it will go really well.
(That is also the main reason for the hiatus I mentioned in the answer to your previous question.)
Event Participant [4]: How do you suggest one should prepare for a pull event? I've never participated in one so any advice is probably cool :D
W&S: Make sure all your nations have 5 issues and then just answer them! The most important thing is having a full slate of issues, not card packs, because TCALS only works for a very short time after you receive the pack. You need to open it right away in order to have a chance to pull the card at auction.
Event Participant [4]: Oh interesting. I didn’t know that.
Event Participant [6]: Do you get your DV from magic?
W&S: Yes.
Event Participant [6]: Knew it.
Abra cadabra, summonus Testlandus!
Event Participant [1]: Testlandia's DV just plummeted 100 bank >>>
Event Participant [4]: I’ma try that.
Abra cadabra, sommonus Xorietus!
W&S: Sad she isn’t here :’(
Event Participant [1]: What do you believe is key to driving regional engagement in cards?
W&S: Accessibility, approachability, and good incentives for participation. I think that is one of the things that has gotten people to be interested in TSP's org - we've kept our cards planning channel pretty open to people who want to help out, and we've run giveaways and especially pull events already on rare and unique cards that aren't often featured. So it gives people a chance to get something they wouldn't have been able to get otherwise. And that is a really big part of driving interest, I think.
Event Participant [7]: Who got you into cards?
W&S: That is a little complicated. Certainly the event that sent me off the deep end was TNP's Aleisyr pull event, which I believe you, Dakota, and Sakana told me I should try. But there is a laundry list of people that were prodding me to try it for a while - you three and HumanSanity were probably the ones that did the most damage though. :p
Event Participant [4]: HS does cards? o_O
W&S: "Does cards" is a strong way of phrasing his tendency to lie dormant for weeks at a time until he decides to wake up and pull 6 copies of a card without realizing it in a pull event.
Event Participant [8]: Other than Legendaries, are there other cards that you're interested in collecting?
W&S: I will be doing a collection for Founderless in season 3. Otherwise - usually I just collect friends and prominent defenders and gameplayers. And my own Season 1 puppets. A ton of my nations have S1 ex-nation flags. :p
Event Participant [9]: Considering that the market is only increasing, do you think the barriers of entry (into the market) are also only increasing?
W&S: Certainly the barriers to gaining ranks quickly are increasing as more traders get interested and the inflation meta is taking over. And Season 1 cards are much harder to come by than they were even a few months ago. But Season 2 cards, especially legendaries, are continuing to balloon in supply, so it is actually getting (IMO) far easier to collect sought-after cards, since supply is only going up for Season 2.
Event Participant [10]: How to get Testlandia?
W&S: IDK, just farm more :p - I pulled one today.
Event Participant [10]: Oh this isn't Card Google, sorry.
W&S: It’s ok; I’m used to being treated like a search engine :’o
Event Participant [10]: What do you recommend for players like me who are currently not really farming but want to up their card game?
W&S: So the main thing before you really get going is ask yourself what you want to do. What are your goals? What sort of cards do you want to collect? Do you just want to focus purely on deck value? Or is there a rarity of card you like? Or a region? Or a flag? These are all questions that can guide you. The thing that really got me going was having concrete and achievable DV, rank, and collection goals. I said OK I want top 500 by X date - got that, now I want top 10 TSP by x date, and I wrote these things down. I still have a note in my phone with all my rank milestone dates.
Event Participant [9]: How many farms are considered "bare minimum" for someone who is attempting to start farming a decent collection (of say...all nations in a 100+ member UCR)? Or, in your opinion, this minimum doesn't exist?
W&S: I don’t think there really is a minimum - you can achieve something like that with very few nations. The number of farms you have only affects the speed with which you get the necessary bank and cards, not your ability to collect them.
Event Participant [9]: So if I can't collect cards like everyday, maybe I could consider having more puppets? (To make up for it?)
W&S: I mean, that depends on the time you want to dedicate to it. If you want to put a lot of hours into farming every day and collecting cards quickly, absolutely. If you only have a little bit of time, then having 1000 nations to farm every single day probably isn’t feasible.
One of the reasons I was able to go so ham in December and January is because I had an absolutely insane amount of time and not much else to do with it. I couldn’t leave my apartment except to walk along the river and go to the grocery store.
Event Participant [8]: Having completed the S2 Legendary set, and not being a mass hoarder of the entire rarity, what is your approach to selling duplicate copies received from farming? I understand the "Farrakhan" approach to dump for whatever bids are present contributes to deflation and newbies getting dropped by KK/Mikeswill. Though I've also seen asks below MV sitting for weeks (either unwanted or unknown about). Does a middle-path exist, or what thoughts do you have on selling Legendaries?
W&S: My approach to selling is that I basically keep all the cards unless I see that someone is looking for one, or I see a reasonable bid. There are only a few legendary cards that I hoard - notably Glen-Rhodes and Pencil Sharpeners 2. otherwise I just keep what i find unless someone is specifically looking for them.
Eventually I will look to increase my market share on a lot more legendary cards, but that is a long way off. I've moved on to collecting Season 1 legendary cards for now.
Event Participant [8]: Mikeswill has mentioned how blowing past their deck limit has allowed them to gather more cards of their friends. You said you want to collect your friends' cards, do you intend to blow past your deck limit?
W&S: Basically the only reason I increased my deck limit for a while is because it made it easier to send myself legendary cards and others I liked that I got from farming. I don't anticipate doing that for much longer - I plan to use one of my existing nations as a storage nation for bank, transfer cards, etc, and then start transferring things to my main. I think the magic number will be 1000 cards - once I hit that I will stop increasing my deck limit and just blow past it.
Event Participant [11]: What would be your advice to any new players that want to collect all legendaries?
W&S: Great question! First thing is that you need bank and a lot of it. Yes, it's possible to get most of the legendaries by farming, but that takes a lot of time and you can't collect them all that way.
Unfortunately, buying legendaries means dealing with a lot of traders who have a lot more resources than you. Mostly Koem Kab and Mikeswill, but also flippers, MV sharks, and others looking to make money. The most important thing for legendary auctions is to know that you will almost always be at a disadvantage in terms of leverage, and will thus need to know how and when to cut your losses.
My favorite strategy, because I have a strong distaste for long auctions, was to match a below-MV ask, and then whenever KK or someone else with a leverage advantage showed up and overbid me, just bid straight to MV and allow them to drop me there. Thus I would get the card at or near its market value, and they would make a profit from the drop. Everyone gets what they want.
The golden rule is to never, ever, ever bid more than you are willing to buy a card for, and likewise never, ever, ever ask less than you are willing to sell a card for. That is how you lose money.
Still, for some high value CTE cards like Ramaeus, Caelapes, NERVUN, Altmer Dominion, Drasnia, etc., pull events are your best friend. Those cards are extremely expensive because they are well-known players who CTEd, and thus quantities are limited. Finding sellers is hard, and when someone is willing to sell it is often for very high prices.
Event Participant [11]: You said that the best way is to match a below-MV ask first, then allow people to drop you. What if there isn't an ask below MV? What should people do then?
W&S: If there isn't an ask below MV, you are often safe from getting dropped. Koem Kab usually does not get involved in auctions going on at or slightly above MV.
If the auction is significantly above MV (say, a Season 1 legendary with an MV of 25 that is being sold for 50), he will often placea bid and ask of his own to inflate the card, but he will not fight or drop you. He is only inflating his own deck value more by creating a second match, so for your sake it's benign.
Event Participant [12]: [In response to Event Participant #11’s question] Get a friend (or several) with farms that are willing to donate spares to you. ;P
W&S: Having friends helps a LOT. :p
I got Ramaeus, Altmer Dominion, Nova Hollandia, and several other hard-to-find ones from gifts. And YOU gifted me my Soops. <_<
Event Participant [13]: For Season 3, do you think we can expect an increase or decrease in legendary cards?
W&S: That’s a really good question. I think in the short term Season 2 legendaries will go up, but there are so many copies of most of them that I don’t know how far. The thing about the S2 leg market is that there is just so much supply especially compared to S1. I notice this the more and more I try to hunt for season 1 legs - supply simply far outpaces demand in the S2 market.
Still, if the continuous influx of new copies slows, we can at least expect the general deflation to slow as well.
Event Participant [12]: [In response to Event Participant #13’s question] Do you mean the value of legendaries or the number of them in circulation? Going by previous seasons, they're fixed at 0.1% of all nations at the time of the snapshot, so we'll be seeing ~240 of them for S3 based on the current number of nations.
Event Participant [13]: Number in circulation; sorry if that was unclear.
Event Participant [12]: No, your question was clear; I wouldn't have assumed you were talking about value. :p
W&S: Oh, sorry. I did assume it was the value. I was also extremely tired and had drank about half a bottle of wine that evening. :p
But [Event Participant #12] is right. Both previous seasons had 0.1% of all cards as legendary. So I would expect a significant increase for S3.

Q&A with The Salaxalans

The Salaxalans:
**Potatoes and Branding**
*"When you are the potatoes guy everyone is like, 'Yeah, it's the potatoes guy!'" - Max Barry*
Welcome one and all to the Potato portion of the Cards Symposium! Thank you to the North Pacific Card Guild for hosting this Symposium, and thank you to DGES for inviting me to speak on a most important topic. There can never be enough potatoes, after all!
For those of you who don’t know me, I’ve been playing NS since late 2012, with most of my time spent in Spiritus. I was always friendly with people from outside the region, and Spiritus had some minor prominence in assorted NS events. Then, five years ago, the first Secretary-General election occurred. I saw that the event had begun, and had the following sequence of thoughts: “Oh an election! I should run! Hmm… What should my campaign be… Uh… Potatoes!!!” And thus a brand was born. I spent the entire election screaming nonstop about potatoes, narrowly losing in the final round. From this point on, potatoes were a frequent theme for me and by extension Spiritus. Our government now has assorted potato-themed titles, in NS events we usually have a potato-themed name, in the second Secretary-General election I was Kuriko’s running mate and potatoes became featured prominently in the platform, and recently in Spiritus we even held a potato pardon where I drew faces on two potatoes and everyone in Spiritus could vote on which to pardon. The other, unfortunately, was smashed with a hammer.
Of course, potatoes are a silly thing to base an identity on. But that’s exactly why it works: potatoes are simple, kind of funny, easy to grasp. Taking an idea and running with it to the furthest extent possible until you are entirely associated with it, that gives you an identity so that people know who you are even if you’ve never met. Spiritus and I have embraced the potato as a symbol of whimsy and friendliness, infusing our region and interactions with others with those characteristics. It has become a great tool for diplomacy, recently uniting many regions under the banner of the Potato Alliance for N-Day, helping us to forge relationships with regions we previously didn’t know as well, bonding over potatoes and our shared hopes of victory. The yelling and cheering about potatoes rarely let up for the entire 24 hours; such a spudly display had never been seen before! The ultimate culmination of the potato brand was Max Barry talking about it a little bit in an author Q&A livestream several months ago, and soon after sending me a “Special Potato Edition” signed copy of Providence, his newest book. All it takes is screaming about the same food item for several years nonstop!
Now, this is a cards symposium, so I suppose I have to bring this around to cards somehow! As many of you may be aware I have been collecting all potato-related cards. Anything with potato flags, nation names, or quotes, I want them all! Aside from collecting cards from my region and somewhat passively trying to collect staff cards, potatoes are the main goal. Deck value is of no interest to me, I’m just trying to be silly and collect my potatoes! This has resulted in my looking at cards from an entirely different perspective; I only recently started making some more nations so I could farm more effectively, and I have yet to use any scripts. Potato farming is the only goal, something silly and fun that isn’t too stressful. I can hang out with everyone collecting cards, see all the wackiness going on, but not get caught up in any stress from complicated trades or high level deals. It’s quite peaceful, and fascinating to see what goes on not having to worry about anything affecting me! Of course, being an admin in the cards server means I do have to actually know what’s going on, but I’ve tried to carry the whimsical and friendly potato attitude from Spiritus to the NS Cards server as well, keeping it a light-hearted place where everyone can hang out and have fun.
In short, the humble potato went from a meme campaign pledge, to a personal and regional brand, to a mindset and attitude brought to interregional interactions, card collecting, and NS in general. It’s difficult, in NS, to separate Spiritus or myself from potatoes, providing a way for all to know us. Branding is important; taking a simple brand and running with it can lead to great renown or at least, in the case of the potato, bemused bewilderment.
Thank you all for reading, and do not forget: A potato for all!
Event Participant [1]: What species of potato is your favourite and can you crest a brand name you can utilise to your advantage?
The Salaxalans: I love all potatoes equally!
And Potato Alliance has been a pretty good brand name so far. :p
Event Participant [2]: How do you find all potato cards? (What methods do you use to effectively find cards that would probably only been found in packs otherwise?)
Event Participant [3]: (All potatoes are equal, but some are more equal than others.)
The Salaxalans: TNP's Card Queries tool has been vital. I did searches for everything I could think of, with obvious things like "potato" or "tater" but also "fries" or "tato", anything that might be referring to potatoes. Recently I realized that a lot of cards relating to fast food restaurants might contain potatoes because there will be fries if the flag shows a meal, so I searched for those as well. In addition I rely on people noticing cards that have a potato only in their flag; there's no way to search for those but periodically people who know I want potatoes will notice one.
Event Participant [4]: Since we all know your favourite vegetable, what's your least favourite?
The Salaxalans: Brussels sprouts. >_<
Event Participant [5]: They're not that bad; eggplants are worse.
The Salaxalans: Oooh.
Hmmm.
You might be right.
Event Participant [5]: Fellow eggplant hater! ^_^
Event Participant [6]: I've always been curious about this one thing. :O
What's your opinion/thoughts/feelings on the mention of your potato card collection in your commendation Morover authored?
(Specifically the following clause: "The collection of a massive amount of artwork commemorating the starchy food, the full assemblage of which is valued at an astronomical price")
The Salaxalans: I thought it was wonderful. xD
Official recognition of potatoes is a great thing!

Q&A with Atlae

Atlae: Hey all. I’m Atlae.
I joined NationStates in February 2016, so it’s been almost five years on this stupid game. Last night, at the behest of friends, I found myself addicted to another card-based minigame, Magic the Gathering. :p - But until I leave cards forever with a huge giveaway I’ll still be in NationStates, The East Pacific, and cards for now. I joined the cards server on March 18 of 2020, probably at the behest of y0, but didn’t start collecting until April. My deck value really took off in May due to the Loop pull event. You may know me as the guy who’s collecting all TEP Cards (S1 is 85% complete, S2 is 93% complete as I’m writing this), or a member of Big Farma, or, for the purpose of this lecture, Deputy Steward of TEAPOT, The Eastern Association of Pacifican Ornamental Traders. I understand that my lecture, how to grow a regional organization, may be a bit strange considering that this Cards Symposium is hosted by the TNP Card Guild, who are doing a great job in many respects and probably know more about building an organization than I do. Nevertheless, I hope this lecture can be of use to you all.
The story about how I got into cards and how TEP got into cards is pretty interesting. It was April 2018, under Queen Yuno’s Delegacy, when cards were introduced. For the months leading up to April, we in the TEP government had been plotting. Finally, on March 18th, “Liberate The East Pacific” was proposed. On March 23rd, the Eastern Loligarchical Order (ELO) was formed, bringing in a whole new era of Francoism. But it was all a silly prank and fooled quite a few people, some of whom are now in power today. It was kind of stressful behind the scenes but it was enjoyable being on the other side of it. We really thought we’d done a better prank than what Max Barry could pull. And frankly, trading cards? That didn’t seem all that interesting, to be honest.
Of course, there were still traders in The East Pacific. Many had holdovers from April 1, but some like VW53aland were actively trading. For a while, Queen Yuno was probably at the top of DV charts in The East Pacific. But cards was never a thing that could unite a community like regional government or R/D could. It’s hard collecting data about this since the DMZ (server under Yuno and Fedele) was archived and I didn’t think to ask to reopen it until this lecture. Maybe I’ll ask and receive more information about the history of cards in The East Pacific, but for the purposes of this lecture let’s assume that cards weren’t really prevalent in The East Pacific until Season 2.
In December of 2019, some nerd named Evrigenis or y0 joined The East Pacific. Like the nerd he is, he got addicted to cards and got his friends to collect them as well. By late February 2020, he had started a “farming operation.” The group chat that would eventually become TEAPOT was formed on March 9th and added people one at a time over the course of a few months. Of course, that time was the pandemic, which probably freed up a lot of time for some people, like me.
y0 probably was the one who created the channel #ns-trading-cards in TEP’s server. That’s where I probably first got into cards. At this point, I had a bunch of leftover R/D puppets that I would farm, and I would choose each option manually (based on the number on the puppet mod number of options). Then I got into scripting, which made my life a lot easier and probably changed my life the most but we can talk about that another day. I shared these with my fellow East Pacifican farmers, albeit with some questionable advice (I mentioned that I put a walkie-talkie on the enter button to hold it down).
In late May, y0 also ran a pull event on the legendary very epic figure of 1 Infinite Loop, widely considered the founder of The East Pacific. Unfortunately, due to blocks (a time before TCALS nerfs when we didn’t know much) we got 2 pulls, one of which was me. That probably jumpstarted me into cards.
A few weeks later in June, we discussed the future of our little card farmers’ group. For the 10th slot in our group chat, we invited Sakana, who was this large figure in cards in TEP that I guess (I was probably intimidated by her and her place in the community lol) Sidenote, but Sakana was one of the reasons I got into cards in the first place. I almost heisted her once during a transfer but she still was nice to me and encouraged me. Thanks Sak!
Anyway, we decided to be our own separate, independent, non-governmental organization. This probably sets TEAPOT apart from many other card organizations because theirs is a ministry or a fully integrated part of the government. It was sort of modeled after TNP’s card guild, but then they made their Ministry of Cards so uh honestly I don’t know if it made a difference or not.
Reading through the old chats, I smile with nostalgia when we decided to choose names. Cards Bureau, Cards Mafia, Cards Agricultural Department… It looks like I suggested the acronym TEAPOT and Sakana filled in the blanks. I’m also proud to say I designed the TEAPOT logo (I also redesigned it this year) but my proposal for the TEAPOT flag was bad and I’m glad it wasn’t approved.
Growing TEAPOT was maybe a little hard first. After gaining legitimacy through a Magisterium resolution, our opus memorandi was to contact some of the traders in TEP to get them to join. Well, mostly people from outside TEP came into join at first, because card organizations!
The first major thing that TEAPOT did was in September, organizing the Tea House of Cards festival with Lazarus and XKI. It was a cards festival not unlike this here Cards Symposium, actually, with pull events, games, and all that. Great minds think alike? :p
After the Tea House of Cards festival, TEAPOT has been holding monthly pull events and will soon start giveaways soon. In almost 9 months, TEAPOT has grown to about 30 people. I don’t know how much people other cards organizations have gotten, but I’d assume we’re doing pretty well. The North Pacific’s Cards Guild has 90 people, but they have had a nice head start and everything. Well deserved too.
It seems that regional card organizations are now really in vogue. While I don’t know everything about each region’s motivations in cards, I would guess that this is due to an increased focus on cards being a community endeavor rather than something a few farmers somewhere can rack up without serving any real purpose to the game. I know that regions like The Pacific, The South Pacific, and The Rejected Realms have created their own cards organizations and hosted pull events as well.
To all the new cards organizations out there (and DavanteAdams, hi!) I encourage you to band together like XKI, Laz, and TEP did earlier. Everyone will start out small, so working together will get you where you need to go in terms of human capital. In addition, you’ll meet all sorts of new people and perspectives and might even boost foreign relations. This may have the downside of cards politicking but unfortunately there’s not much I can do about that.
In addition, I’d suggest reaching out to small farmers starting out in your region. You’re not going to find people just by going down the DV leaderboard. What you need is a community who can eventually grow and find their own niche in trading. A regional telegram works if you want to go the lazy way about this. :stuck_out_tongue:
One thing I would honestly say TEAPOT has struggled with (this is the same with many other cards organizations) is that sometimes, it seems like a group of people that hosts pull events now and again. Pull events are great, of course, but they aren’t everything. Also, anybody with a lot of bank these days can hold a pull event, no regional organization required. Thus, once an organization has its footing, try and diversify. Card giveaways are really trendy now, games like scavenger hunts, etc. Always look for new ideas.
Overall, I think that the space for regional cards organizations is growing. Our good friends in The North Pacific have reigned as the most powerful region in terms of cards for a while, but in a year or a few years this may change. I’m eager to see what new cards organizations will thrive and how this will effect the meta of the trading cards minigame.
Thank you for reading, and I will try and answer any and all questions you may have. It can be about TEAPOT, about me, anything really I guess.
Further reading:
y0 and Gr
Event Participant [1]: What would you recommend for a fledgling regional card organisation to focus on? (Special consideration to pitfalls that TEAPOT may have fallen in/narrowly avoided.)
Atlae: The most important thing in my view for a regional organization - of any regional organization really is outreach. One reason why is because it's for the very survival of an organization. At the core an organization is a group of people. Over time this group of people will shrink unless you find a way to increase the amount of people. Thus you have to think long term about what things will get people into the organization. That's where you think of things like pull events and games.
Another reason is because it benefits the cards minigame as a whole. For the most part, adding more people into the game makes it better. You might be annoyed at the MV sharks, but they indisputably made the game more interesting. And if you really hate them, convince them not to when they join your organization.
I realize that I forgot to mention something that TEAPOT struggled with. It's important to have some form of conflict resolution or mediation procedure. Although we did have anti-heist clauses in our charter, we didn't count for people deflating other people's cards to deflate their DV. Now whether that is a thing that needs to be adjudicated is honestly up to the community to decide.
I also regret not doing other events with TEAPOT, since I mostly just held pull events once a month.
Event Participant [2]: It was mentioned that many of the initial members of TEAPOT were from other regions which helped the organisation grow in the initial period, what other advantages have you seen from the more relaxed membership requirements?
Atlae: Buffed membership stats. :p
In particular, 9003 and Racoda came into TEAPOT pretty early on. They helped with scripts and other materials like farming guides.
Overall you will probably get like card cosmos in your organization. That's good as long as they actually contribute. Otherwise it gives you a false sense of success when you don't have people from your own region in your org.
Atlae: ...I'm bored and like to hear myself talk, do you have any questions about me specifically? :p
Event Participant [2]: What was the motivation behind starting a regional collection?
Atlae: For a few months I didn't think I'd be able to do it. I probably started because hey, I know some of these people.
I think Vylixan had something to do with it; seemed like a cool thing to do and I had a lot of new time on my hands with COVID.
Event Participant [3]: How did you choose the nation name ‘The Atlae Isles’?
Atlae: It was a long time ago. It's hard to think of names.
I wanted to go "Atlantis", but of course that didn't exist.
Event Participant [3]: Cards question now - Other than TEP S3 - do you have any particular one goal in mind for when S3 hits?
Atlae: Well I plan on collecting mottoes too.
Probably stockpiling specific cards to use as mass transfers and hoard legendaries.
Event Participant [4]: Atlae, for S3 I should give you my card and you should treasure it like gold!
Atlae: How much will it cost?
Event Participant [4]: F r e e.
Atlae: The card will be worth 0.00?
Event Participant [4]: Ohhh. I thought you meant how much will it cost you lol.
Event Participant [3]: So, since you like questions about yourself, have you always been a legend of Zelda fan?
Atlae: Well I really got into it in 9th grade.
So like 4 years ago.
Event Participant [3]: Do you have any Zelda themed puppet sets?
Atlae: Check Atlae-1 to Atlae-200.
Mipha, Champion Daruk, Champion Revali, Lady Urbosa are all Zelda themed.
Event Participant [3]: :D
Thanks for answering. ^_^
Atlae: Np!
Event Participant [5]: Is it possible to create a bank in Nationstates?
Event Participant [6]: Only by junking or selling cards.
Event Participant [5]: Ah.
Event Participant [6]: No way will there be an option to buy any.
Event Participant [5]: Would it be worth it?
Event Participant [6]: No, it'd just become a pay to win on the card market.
Event Participant [7]: Agreed.
Event Participant [5]: I meant a bank set up by private players.
Event Participant [6]: How would that even work?
Atlae: [In response to Event Participant #5’s question] Probably. I don't know enough about banks but theoretically people could.
Event Participant [3]: What is next for you in NS, generally?
Atlae: Couping TRR
Idk really.
Event Participant [3]: “Time to junk those TEP cards you have bids on.”
Atlae: Nuuu.

Farrakhan's Lecture

"But one man's rubbish may be another's treasure, and what is the standard of value in such a pursuit as this?"
-Hector Urquhart 'Popular Tales of the West Highlands''
As-Salaam Alaikum
One of the great things about the NS Card Trading Mini-Game is its open-ended nature. Players can engage as often or as little as they like, choose their own goals, and find their levels of satisfaction. My chosen style focuses on making a market for my card and managing the challenges that come with it. Back in 2019, I played for the short-term, intending to land the Top Deck Value before the end of the year. In four months, I managed the Farrakhan Season 1 card to around 500 MV, with purchases at a peak ranging between 400-800 Bank, eventually reaching my goal. For those interested, you can read more about the details of my earlier system in-The Monthly Snapshot - Issue 2 (Trader of the Month/Interview).
When I decided to return to active play last Summer with a new campaign, my goal was to rejuvenate the Farrakhan Season 1 card, reach 100 total copies, outperform the Legendary cards whose MV I had previously failed to displace, and score the top MV among all actively traded cards in the game (not including expired transfer cards). It took several months but on the day of this review (1/30/2021), I finally reached my magic number of 100 copies, and have peaked at an MV of 1,126, completing my goal!
In this write-up, I will offer my thoughts on the ways a player can operate as a Market Maker for their card, discuss some of the challenges that are inherent within the structure of the game, share my experiences using certain strategies, and discuss different metrics players can use to evaluate a Market Maker managed Card as a potential store of value.

The Impossible Trinity

The challenges inherent in making a market for a Card, are similar to that of managing a currency in the FOREX market. Commitment to certain actions will limit the potentiality of others. Every moment of the game, NS players face three conflicting options:
Maintain Bank with full liquidity
Provide Undivided Support for a Position
Retain Flexibility to Support Multiple Positions simultaneously
By definition, focus on any one element will nullify the ability to carry out the other two options. For example, Leg 1 of the triangle (retaining a fully liquid Bank) will prevent a player from placing Standing Bids and/or stepping into a live auction. Leg 2 (Making a Market) inhibits taking on additional outside positions and makes bank capital less liquid. Leg 3 (flexibility to pursue multiple positions) weakens the potential to act as a Market Maker and commits liquid Bank into the market. No player can escape the Impossible Trinity, we can only set goals and manage with-in the framework. Failure to effectively balance and navigate the limitations imposed by this trilemma will often lead to severe consequences: Bank Insolvency, Crashes in Market Value, Boom/Bust Cycles in Total Deck Value, inability to fulfill collection needs, etc. Player beware.
From the standpoint of my experiences playing as a Market Maker, the main trade-off has come from Leg 3 (flexibility/diversity in building a collection). With a focus on using Capital Formation to fund Bank, I willingly sacrificed appreciation of the artistic aspects of the game, using Card Farming to liquidate positions for future investment. At times, I have focused nearly exclusively on Leg 1, which delayed the fulfillment of goals that could only be brought about through Leg 2 (ie. realizing maximum Deck Value, actualizing near-term Farrakhan S1/S2 MV potential). I have used a Reserve Bank( Gold Crescent Alistan)to build a second Market Maker position in Farrakhan S2, and a Treasury( FMM1)to help manage Farrakhan S1, but elements of Leg 3 don't stretch far beyond that in my system. Keep these types of trade-offs in mind when measuring if my methods would align with what makes the game enjoyable for you.
Advice For Beginners Acting As A Market Maker
Whether you are a long-time player, an experienced player who recently had their card generated for the first time, or are completely new to the game, developing the value of your card can be a great experience. Below are some tips which may prove helpful:
*Determine the percentage of Total Bank you are willing to commit toward acquiring copies, repeating Standing Bids, and/or enacting Direct Market purchases (buying from your own account) toward your position. The larger the percentage invested, the more aggressive your approach, the greater your potential return. The trade-off is that your degree of investment will come at the expense of other aspects of the game (ie. Impossible Trinity).
*Set a target for how much cash flow you will need weekly to reach your goals. For example, if you can generate 10 Bank a week, and you are willing to budget half toward acting as a Market Maker, that's 20 Bank a month, 240 Bank a year. Measure that against your card's potential appreciation over its Junk Value. With consistency, the compounded effect can be great over time.
*Capital formationis the lifeblood of effective Market Making. To be successful as a Market Maker, a player must be prepared to provide a strong and consistent stream of cash flow into their Bank. Time is always of the essence. Active purchases need to be made, positions need to be supported with Standing Bids, and a reserve needs to be plentiful and liquid to prevent retrenchment. Below is a break-down of the Top 250 cards with-in each rarity tier, which shows where the most lucrative bids can be found:

As the chart above shows, the cards that carry the most double and triple-digit Standing Bids are in the Legendary market. Having owned and sold every Legendary card that has been produced at some point, my experience has been that even those Legendary cards with single-digit Standing Bids, listed at deep discounts to their MV (and in rare cases at discounts to their JV) have consistently outperformed the return on almost all other rarities when placed into Auction. If your goal is to build Bank, this is where the money is.
*Reserve Banks & Treasury Accounts: In line with the challenges imposed by the Impossible Trinity, a Market Maker will need to find a way to mitigate saving and investing needs. I have found it helpful to dedicate separate accounts to this purpose. My Reserve Bank (Gold Crescent Alistan) exists to buy new positions of Farrakhan Season 2 with recurring Standing Bids (set at a Hard Peg) as well as handle general tasks (ie. fund undercapitalized puppets during card farming process). My Treasury account (FMM1) is structured as a pure Put against Farrakhan Season 1 and places recurring Standing Bids at a deep discount to MV (set at a Crawling Band). While the Reserve is purposely active, the Treasury is purposely passive. In both cases, I find it helpful to deposit sums into each account that are large enough (either through direct transfers or sustained farming campaigns) that the capital committed will last for a long time. The set it and forget it approach allows for both fiscal discipline and psychological freedom (knowing there is a backstop in place).
*Heisting: Going through the process of Card Farming, countless opportunities will abound to interfere with other players transferring Bank through the auction process. Placing a low Ask on a newly obtained card pulled via TCALS can reap large amounts of Bank in minimal time. While often easy money, I choose to abstain. People of all ages and experience levels engage in this hobby purely for enjoyment, and I take no pleasure in exploiting their moments of vulnerability. These heisting opportunities happen so frequently that I established a dedicated account to store these cards when pulled: FGWF(Farrakhan Good Will Foundation). If in time these cards develop attractive MV, I will add them to my wealth account. If a player contacts me and requests the card for strategic use, I usually just gift it to them. I find this approach to be more rewarding than taking Bank. Feel free to choose your own adventure.
*Developmental Stage: As your return on expense is most advantageous at the beginning of the Market-Making process (ie. when velocity is high, card supply is robust, and before your MV has shown much appreciation above JV), it is to your benefit to obtain copies for as low a price as possible, for as long as possible. With time, your ability to purchase at a slight premium to junk value will end, as other players will come to see your card as being a store of value. Players will then begin to either charge you at a premium above MV, or begin to hold your card for longer periods for appreciation or future intended sales. Over time, this can generate an expensive feedback loop. Try to resist the urge to realize true price potential too quickly while the supply of copies is plentiful, as doing so will come at the expense of raising your costs long before necessary.
*Law of Diminishing Returns: At a constant rate of investment, the percentage gains from building your card will decrease over time. The only way to change the math is to increase the amount of capital you are committing to your position. For example: if you build the MV of an Epic card from 5 to 10, you will reap a 100% return. Taking that same card from 10 to 15 will only reap a 50% gain from the same amount of time and capital being invested. This downward trend will only continue to accelerate without a change in the financing structure. Options include: i. increasing the base amount of savings into your Bank while still investing at the same percentage, ii. investing at a more aggressive percentage of Bank without a change in your base savings, or iii. increasing your base savings while also increasing the percentage rate of Bank investment.
*An Average Calculatorcan be used to plan out the effects of future transactions on your card's MV. It takes five sales to generate an effect, and beyond that, the average of your last 10 sales will be scored.
*Sequence of Order Execution: When the system calculates a card's MV, the initial sale will be scored as most recent, but when there are multiple transactions with various prices with-in a sale, the ordering of the other positions will prove haphazard (often with the lowest as scoring most recent). For this reason, it is to your advantage to initiate higher-priced transactions after a multi-sale auction concludes, as opposed to placing them in real-time during this type of auction. Example: You are buying your card from two players for 10, a new seller drops their ask for one of the Bids to 9. Wait until AFTER the auction ends to buy out the remaining higher Ask so it will be guaranteed to place as the most recent sale sequentially. This will benefit your card's MV calculation for a longer time.
*Counteracting Short Sales: Dealing with market hazards is the responsibility of any Market Maker. At times, players will choose to sell below your Standing Bid, which can reset your MV downward in the near-term. While this can appear disadvantageous at the outset, if you invest into your position at a constant rate, steep discounts can prove highly beneficial, lowering your overall cost basis, increasing your rate of return, and allowing for greater profit over time than there otherwise would be. This is one of the reasons why publicly traded companies will willingly enact stock splits. If this happens to your position, simply place a Direct Purchase (or series of purchases) above the intended original Bid price to even out the difference. For example, a Standing Bid of 5 is matched to an Ask of .01. The trade will settle at 2.5. In a subsequent transaction after that Auction ends, proactively sell the card to yourself from another account at 10 (target price of 5 (2)) and the algorithm will even out the MV back to your target price. If you are capital constrained, you can accomplish the same goal with a series of staggered purchases that trend upward at an affordable rate as savings recover over time.
*Saturation Points: In line with the challenges imposed by the Law of Diminishing Returns, a mature position can reach a point where it is Priced to Perfection, as very few owners outside of the Market Maker wish to transact. This can occur as new supplies of the card dry up, while existing copies offer owners a store of value that is decidedly more attractive than alternative cards on the market. A victim ts own success, very few 'better cards' exist within the marketplace for which owners want to sell to raise Bank, even with the incentive of extraordinarily high Standing Bids. At that point, it may be to the advantage of a Market Maker to encourage actions that will temporarily bring MV down (ie. Free Floating the position, coordinating Pull Events). While this may seem counter-intuitive, when a Market Maker is at a Saturation Point, a short-term retrenchment can reset conditions for a new campaign, with even greater future returns than can be found under the status-quo.
*Over-Extension: real-time market conditions may cause a Market Maker to spend more of their Bank capital than their liquidity levels can comfortably support. When this happens, the number of repeat Standing Bids that can be placed at MV decreases, a red flag for Owners who view the card as a store of value. Options for the Market Maker include i. Increasing base savings, ii. Decreasing the number of repeat Standing Bids, iii. Lowering the Bank amount placed behind the position to some percentage below current MV. Over-extension marks a period where retrenchment becomes more likely until savings are replenished
*Bank Insolvency: a far more severe and bearish condition than over-extension, a Market Maker's savings can become thoroughly exhausted to a point where Standing Bids can no longer be placed anywhere near MV, possibly not at all. Operations may or may not cease, as clear gaps become visible in both the time between new Standing Bids and the Bank amounts being placed in support behind them. A sale matched at a discount to MV may take a significant period to recover (possibly never) and it becomes likely that the card will trend toward a lower base, creating a negative feedback loop. Unless and until Bank savings are recapitalized, options for the Market Maker include i. Free-floating (allowing the card to trade for some time with either a token Standing Bid or without any Standing Bid at all) or ii. Total Capitulation (walking away from the position entirely). With time, a Market Maker can recover from Bank insolvency, but it is not guaranteed
*Managed Decline: if a Market Maker is planning to make a change to their system that is likely to decelerate operations (ie. less card farming, committing bank to alternate positions, playing the game less entirely) there are protective steps that can be taken to minimize damage to the card's MV. Options include i. placing a stream of deeply discounted Standing Bids to publicly set a known floor, ii. performing Open Market operations (buying from your account) at the discounted MV to re-establish some form of price support, and iii. making occasional Direct Market purchases when Standing Asks are listed at affordable prices. A Managed Decline marks a bearish period for the position, and while it can seem depressing, the power to one day reverse this condition always remains within the hands of the Market Maker.
*Taking Time-Off: Eventually, your level of motivation will decrease. Maybe you will achieve your overall MV and DV goals, and the game will become a less enjoyable pursuit. Or perhaps something in 'real-life' will take priority over your free time. Don't be afraid or feel guilty about your card losing value in the interim of your direct support. In the real world, even the best of publicly traded companies have experienced bad quarters with intervals when their MV trended downward. Periods of decline build a sense of character into the history of your performance as a whole. Personally, I prefer to play in stints, with a goal in mind that's tied to some form of end trigger. My first goal was a time limit to achieve Top Deck Value. I then took a break, only later to return with the new 100 copies challenge. I find that creating hard deadlines and knowing there is a finish line ahead, makes things more fun. At the end of the day, all a Market Maker ever needs to input a price that trends upward are copies of the card, capital to invest, and the talent/willingness to spend time playing. If the latter isn't there, you can always return and recover using the tools of the former when the stars align again.
Metrics To Access The Value of Market Maker Run Cards
*Amount of realized profit the Market Maker has produced for other players through direct purchases of the card
Total Return on Investment the Market Maker generates for other players who hold the card as a store of value
Total sales volume the Market Maker generates relative to other cards
Amount of Liquid Bank the Market Maker has committed to supporting the card
#, recency and amount of alternate Bids the Market Maker has placed into other positions
# of copies the Market Maker owns
# of trades behind the position
Recency of time between transactions
Four measures of Intrinsic Value (i. Junk Value, ii. Highest Standing Bid, iii. Projected MV after the sale at Highest Standing Bid, and iv. Projected MV after purchase at lowest Standing Ask)
Velocity (frequency of Find History)
Likelihood of Pull Event target/capacity to withstand
Likelihood of Short Target/capacity to withstand
Number/Diversity/Recency of Standing Bids
Standing Bids relative to Market Value
Standing Bids relative to Peers

Ways To Protect A Position
Hard Peg
Two factors to take into account when evaluating the strength of any given price peg are i. Standing Bid to Current Market Value and ii. Standing Bid to Junk Value. A Hard Peg involves placing a Put (Standing Bid) either at, very near, or above the current Market Value. This encourages sales to transact very close to MV. A Hard Peg is the most aggressive form of price support, creating a high incentive for players to sell directly to the Bidder, and requires the highest commitment of real-time Bank support to maintain continuously. When acting as a Market Maker, you can use the Impossible Trinity paradigm to structure the degree to which such an approach is feasible toward your overall goals, balancing Bank solvency, with liquidity to engage other positions.

Example: Season 2 Farrakhan (entirety)

When Season 2 began, I prioritized building a position using a Hard Peg at a Premium to Junk Value with the purchase price as low as the market would allow. In review, Farrakhan S2 has never traded below .58 (a slight premium to JV) and began trading six times JV (independent of my purchases) within its first three sales. For several weeks, I was able to build a position from other owners with a Hard Peg of 5 Bank (10 times JV of an Epic .5). With time, the Market Value would rise in line with the Hard Peg, which would lead owners to Ask at prices at a premium to MV (the premium over JV eventually ceased to be an attractive enough metric to entice sales).
Another factor that bids up a Hard Peg as Market Value rises is a Card's growing appeal as a future store of value. Meaning the development of a belief that future value will become greater than the present value of a sale at the current Standing Bid. A growing number of owners will begin to either ask for much higher prices (ie. 1,000, 10,000) and/or hold the position outright with no interest in selling, while other players begin to place standing competitive Bids for the card of their own.
To maintain a dominant position, a Market Maker must be prepared to deploy more capital (ie. multiple Bids at higher prices than other players are willing to pay) to Crowd Out other buyers. In my case, multiple Standing Bids of 6 slowly grew to 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 38. Standalone purchases would run as high as 50. Eventually, an equilibrium price would be found where many players would sell, while very few players would attempt to bid. Keep in mind, while you may have the funds to win every auction, there are times when doing so will be a Pyrrhic victory, as the process of winning a bidding war will raise your MV and your future purchasing costs. An additional background factor is that of time. With the conversion into a new season, the market of the future will no longer organically generate the card at the same rate it currently does, raising potential Market Value through scarcity.
In retrospect, a Hard Peg (at a premium to JV, and later at/near MV) was very successful in allowing me to build a large position in my card (at the time of this write-up, 110 copies). The trade-off was that I had to deploy a great deal of capital consistently, budget liquidity for an extended period, and artificially keep down the potential market value (which also sacrificed Deck Value appreciation). As I now play for the long-term, the exchange was worth it, your mileage may vary.
Crawling Band
This is a strategy used by a Market Maker to mix the price protection of a Peg with the discretionary spending flexibility of a Float. Multiple Standing Bids are placed at a percentage below the card's Market Value but are structured in such a way to preserve most of the position. This tactic can also be used in combination with a subsequent purchase at a price targeted well above the band to reset the MV to the intended target price. When done correctly, this will allow incoming purchases to be made at a discount, while staggering the MV upward with discretion, increasing the overall return on investment of the Market Maker.
Example: Season 1 Farrakhan (late 2020/early 2021)

In late December, I decided to revalue Farrakhan Season 1 upward to 822 MV (total investment was 8,224.50 Bank, nine 775 Buys, and one 1,249.50 Buy). In the process, I gained six additional copies and deposited four of the 775 buys into a Treasury account labeled FMM1(Farrakhan Market Maker 1) with the intent to pivot into a Crawling Band. I then immediately placed three Standing Bids from FMM1 at 500 Bank (a 48.7% discount to MV, but still among the highest Standing Bids in the entire market).
For several weeks, there were no transactions until a Pull Event, where all three of the 500 SBs were executed, and I followed up mid-auction with three additional purchases from my Farrakhan account at 1,250, 1,253, 1,200, along with a drop sale at 1,257.34 that was deposited back into FMM1. Total investment was 6,961.01 with six additional copies of the card gained, three at a substantial discount, and a substantial increase in Deck Value. My greatest efficiency using the technique was to absorb a 500 Standing Bid and then follow-up in a subsequent auction with two large purchases, 2,499.66 and 2,499.97. This resulted in a gain of three copies (one at a discount), increased my Deck Value over 30k, and allowed me to realize my return goal of taking Farrakhan S1 to double its old all-time high with the targeted 100th copy.
The numbers involved in these transactions are historically high, but the strategies can work for any player, working with any amount of capital. In an auction involving multiple purchases with a trend below your target, place and match the higher bids in a subsequent auction AFTER that auction concludes. This will allow you to input a better-recorded price (or ideally a series of higher prices) as the most recent sequentially and will cause the lower prices to drop from future MV recalculations first.
General advice for players considering the Crawling Band strategy:
i. Determine what percentage of your Total Bank you want to target toward building MV (ie. an account with 1,000 Bank, an investment commitment of 5% would create a price target of 50). Use the Impossible Trinity paradigm to weigh how conservative or aggressive you want to be in the context of your goals as a whole.
ii. Dedicate a Treasury account with Bank that is solely used to hedge the position with Standing Bids set at a discount to current MV. This will impose a sense of fiscal discipline into your campaign, and allow you the flexibility to explore other aspects of the game separately.
iii. After any purchase of a new copy of the card at a discount, use the Bank in your main account to purchase more cards at a premium that will net toward your intended MV target. Cash is king, budget maintaining levels of liquidity.

Free Float
A Free Float is when the Market Value of a Card is allowed to fluctuate without the participation of the Market Maker. This often creates a negative feedback loop of bearish sentiment, because the source of the position's buying support (Standing Bids from the MM) has been withdrawn. Uncertainty builds to the position's legitimacy as a store of future value. Standing Asks will often begin to appear that are priced below MV, and investors will begin cashing out to those Bidding at a discount. The Free Float can lead to a near-term price crash, but with time a new equilibrium will settle things down.

Example: Season 1 Farrakhan (late 2019)

My direct experience with a Free Float stems back from September 2019 to late December 2019. For four months, I took a hiatus from the game, and Season 1 Farrakhan was traded in the market without my placing a Standing Bid. My last purchase price was 47.50. From then on, there were eight independent transactions, ranging from 7.51, 15.01, 17.26, 16, 15.01, 15, 15.75, and 10.32. That is an average sale of 13.98, a 70.57% decline from the last sale with the Standing Bid I had provided. Yet despite the uncertainty, relatively few Owners vacated the position.
Does it make sense to retain or invest in a Card that was once supported by a Market Maker that has been placed into a Free Float? It's a gamble. In the immediate term, there could be strong downward pressure on MV as the fundamentals that drove that price upward has changed. However, if in the future the Market Maker returns with a new campaign, and talent, support, and capital investment rebound into the position, the return for those who purchased at a discount during the Free Float could be extraordinary. There is one player who purchased S1 Farrakhan during the above Free Float period, and later sold during a return campaign for a positive return of 5,063%! A calculated risk that paid off.

Closing Thoughts
This is a great hobby, and playing as a Market Maker has been a rewarding experience. The strategies discussed were fun to plan out and have helped me to achieve various goals that made the game worth playing. The journey (conceptualizing abstract thoughts into a game-plan, developing an infrastructure within a Random Number Generator framework) was much more rewarding than ultimately reaching a destination. While no balloons and confetti drop from the ceiling, I can always look back and smile when logging into NS.
On the flip side, I'm also happy I was able to share the wealth during this last campaign, making other players 'rich' with triple and quadruple-digit purchases:

I also appreciate the loyalty of those owners of my card who chose to buy/farm and hold with greatly enhanced Deck Values, especially those who held the position during the Free Float. I even have a love for my haters, who dream of deflating Farrakhan with an endless stream of .01 Asks. This is a game, it is healthy that people are inspired to compete and I never take it personally.
I hope this read was useful in some way. However long from now that you are reading this, the techniques discussed should remain evergreen in their application. Thank you to those at TNP and the Cards Symposium for the invite. From scripts to community structure, it never ceases to amaze me how many talented and generous people are a part of this great community. Stay safe, have fun, all the best!
Farrakhan

[small]The Northern Lights: Beauty in Truth
Publisher: McMasterdonia :: Executive Editor: BMWSurfer

The Northern Lights 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 by the Ministry of Home Affairs internally. Except where otherwise indicated, all content represents the views of the Government of The North Pacific.


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Fregerson

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Statement on the Invasion of Genua

Greetings,

This past Sunday, the North Pacific Army (NPA) participated in a large-scale joint operation alongside forces from The Black Hawks (TBH), the South Pacific Special Forces (SPSF), the East Pacific Sovereign Army (EPSA), the West Pacific Armed Forces (TWPAF), the Legio Pacificus, the Europeian Republican Navy (ERN), The Order of the Grey Wardens (TGW), the Land of Kings and Emperors (LKE), Balder, the League's Defense Forces (LDF), the Ten Thousand Islands Treaty Organization (TITO), the MT Army, Lone Wolves United (LWU), Thaempirial Army (THA), the Red Fleet (TRF), the Kingdom of Great Britain (KoGB), the United Kingdom Air Force (UKAF), the Free Nations Defender Army (FNDA), the Joint Systems Alliance (JSA), Korea, the Autumnal Court, Aurrelius, and Wintercrest to rid the world of an up-and-coming Nazi stronghold.

Following the deletion of its founder nation, [region]Genua[/region] was seized by a record-setting one-hundred and fifteen (115) updaters from all across the NationStates world. It is currently being held by over one hundred nations in an ongoing piling effort, where eight of the North?s finest were also in attendance on the jump. Their names are as follows:

Participating Soldiers:

General Westinor
General Rom
General BluieGamer
Colonel Gorundu
Major Koopa
Captain Knightblood
Corporal Cascadian Bioregion
Private First Class Kastonvia

It is clear to us that, whilst a few fascists may cling on in their hovels and hideaways, those who espouse such bigoted and prejudiced views will always be defeated by the combined forces of anti-fascism. The site administration has now made it clear that .

The North Pacific stands firmly in affirmation of the anti-fascist cause. We will not tolerate hatred and we are proud to be a part of the unifying show of force that was displayed from every end of the raiding/defending spectrum. The fifteenth (15th) of May's major update is a perfect exemplification of the sickly remnants of the ideologies that plague our game and how they ought to be dealt with.

We would like to thank all other participating regions, organizations, and individuals who came together to make this happen.

Sincerely,

Robespierre ( )
Delegate of The North Pacific

St George ( )
Minister of Foreign Affairs

Westinor ( )
Minister of Defense
 

Fregerson

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World Assembly Digest - May 2021
A busy and contentious month in the Assembly

By Boston Castle and planes

April was quite busy for the general assembly, passing 6 resolutions and one failing to pass. Let’s take a look!

Freedom of Association
A new right was born in the World Assembly by the passing of Freedom of Association, guaranteeing the right to be with any association unless the organization is involved in criminal activity. This resolution was written by our Deputy WA minister , who has written the Security Council section of the WA Digest. The resolution was passed 72.1% to 27.9%

Repeal: Voting Equality for Freed Inmates
wrote this repeal on the grounds of paving the way for more comprehensive voting laws, as the resolution would strike down all voting restrictions just because they had been in prison once. This repeal crawled through the world assembly 61.3% to 38.7%.

Reducing Microplastics
This resolution was written to deal with plastic pollution, addressing the health risks posed by microplastics. The proposal set out ways to eliminate plastic pollution through eliminating sources upstream. The resolution breezed through the GA 88.2% to 11.8%.

Repeal: Digital Network Defense
This repeal from sets out a privacy based defense of the rights of a nation’s citizens in a short and concise repeal, relying on other resolutions to support its case. While The North Pacfic was against the repeal, it moved through the GA 81.3% to 18.7%.

Long Term Storage of Produced Waste
This resolution provided regulation for safe storage for dangerous waste, providing safety regulations for the health and safety of WA citizens. This proposal attempted to make a blanket mandate for all businesses, and encouraged member states to subsidise the efforts. With such a plan largely seen as unfeasible, the resolution was heavily opposed, being defeated 84.6% to 15.4%.

Repeal: On Abortion
An interesting repeal in the GA in April was GA #128, on abortion, on the grounds of too little protection and too much restrictions on access to reproductive care, passing 87.1% to 12.9%

Citizenship and Birth Act
The last GA resolution in April was a bid to make sure no child is stateless, and provides an avenue for minors in member states to obtain citizenship . This resolution passed 84.8% to 15.2%.



Unfortunately, April was not as active as March was in the Security Council with only four proposals of note being voted on in the month. Let’s take a look at the month that was in the less frantically active chamber of the World Assembly.

Commend Marrabuk
This proposal commended the long time Delegate of the East Pacific for their efforts to restore the East to its former glory and modernize the Department of Foreign Affairs of the East as well as his successful efforts to restore the democratically elected government of the region following the Fedele coup. Relatively uncontroversial, though with some grumblings about whether or not the author was actually worthy, it passed 75.6% to 24.4% on April 8. This was the first resolution authored by Thaecian Tagus and represented another successful co-authorship for Europeian WA stalwart .

Commend Honeydewistania
This proposal commended World Assembly author, fascist fighter, and regional community leader (as well as prominent TNPer) , perhaps better known to our readership as Whatermelons. Previous efforts to commend this nominee had failed, but this was wildly successful on its second/third attempt. While some in TNP, who either via personal distaste for the nominee or simple rejection of all SC measures, voted against, this passed by a resounding 82.2% to 17.8% on April 13. This was the first resolution authored by Mariner of Roleplay , an auspicious start by a promising new author.

Commend Kelssek
This proposal commended sports roleplayer, UN and WA author, and TEP community leader, . A vestige of the ancient past, the crowning achievements of Kelssek are their involvement with the early World Assembly as well as their efforts expounded in sports roleplay, such as their various triumphs and hosting of various world championships. Some forumside expressed their discontent with such an RP heavy commendation, arguing it would be better served focusing on the nominee more holistically, instead of focusing on their roleplay, but this proposal passed with an emphatic 88%-12% margin on April 20. This was the first resolution authored by World Assembly Delegate and marked another successful co-authorship for the North Pacific’s very own elected Delegate .

Liberate The New Inquisition
Another very notable Security Council resolution this month was the controversial return of SC favorite , perhaps better known as . The long-time former Delegate had “retired” from the game earlier in the year, taking a hiatus especially after the end of their term as Delegate last year. However, this proposal was immensely controversial from the start, with many accusing Lenlyvit of abusing their standing in order to target a region which has long since ceased to be an international menace. This proposal did not make the voting floor.



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May 2021 Election Summary
Robespierre elected Delegate in closely-contested election; Other officers elected with large majority

By Gorundu

On May 12, The North Pacific’s May General Elections wrapped up, with the region having witnessed one of the closest Delegate contests in history. Robespierre ( ) was elected Delegate in a nail-biter race against , while was overwhelmingly re-elected Vice Delegate and was elected Speaker by large margins.

Robespierre was the first person to announce their candidacy for Delegate, soon after candidacy declarations opened on May 1. This was followed by the incumbent Delegate announcing their intentions not to run for re-election, and Nimarya accepting a nomination made by McMasterdonia.

Robespierre was serving as Speaker at the time of the election, having been elected to that role in January. He previously had served as Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Defense, and was elected Vice Delegate in January 2020, though he resigned just over halfway into the term, without having reached the required second-most WA endorsements in the region.

Robespierre’s campaign, titled “Robespierre for Rejuvenation: A Delegacy,” was posted early, citing a desire to have a government that “gets people inspired again” and the many promises made in the January election that did not come to fruition as their reasons to run for Delegate.

Key planks of the campaign included weekly press briefings, boosting applications for the Executive Staff through targeted recruitment efforts by the Ministry of Home Affairs, a focus on developing authors for the new Polaris news program in the Ministry of Communications, and a full audit into the Ministry of Cards, which has fallen into inactivity. On the Foreign Affairs front, the campaign included promises to update the existing World Factbook project, expand the content variety of the Ministry of Radio, and foster talent in the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs by providing more support for prospective authors.

Nimarya last served as Minister of Defense under outgoing Delegate McMasterdonia, having made the move after two terms as Minister of Home Affairs. Her campaign focused on the need to revitalize struggling ministries by providing better training and resources for staff and thus cultivate new talent.

Nimarya’s specific campaign goals included a revitalization of the mentorship program within the Ministry of Home Affairs; a return to basics for the Ministry of Cards by restarting its original programs and increasing card farming; increasing resources for writers and encouraging creative writing to add variety in the Ministry of Communications; promoting and increasing visibility for broadcasts by the Ministry of Radio; publishing comprehensive manuals for the North Pacific Army; providing guides and training, including history lessons, for Ministry of World Assembly Affairs staff; and creating more opportunities for Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff to observe and participate in foreign affairs discussions.

Both campaigns shared several similar elements, such as a focus on casual games for the Ministry of Culture and plans for more engagement with WALL, albeit in different ways. Robespierre proposed an initiative for WALL staffers to discuss one passed resolution per week, while Nimarya proposed an IFV (Information For Voters) writing process that could take into account input from WALL.

As voting began, it soon became clear that the election would be close, as the two candidates traded leads throughout the voting period, never leading by more than a few votes at any given time. Outgoing Delegate McMasterdonia, for his part, endorsed Nimarya. However, in the final few days of voting, Robespierre began gradually pulling ahead, ultimately winning with 59 votes to Nimarya’s 53, while joke candidate 2 and 2 is Fish received 3 votes.

The contest for the other two positions at stake in this election were not nearly as close, with Cretox State easily winning re-election as Vice Delegate, 86-28, against , a General in the North Pacific Army and former Minister of Defensce. Cretox promised to continue the projects started in their first term such as Vice Delegate Mentoring and the Security Council Handbook, as well as to explore new ideas such as the Vice Delegate’s Staff and improvements to World Assembly Development Program (WADP) infrastructure and community engagement.

East Isles, who was a Deputy Speaker in the previous term, won election as Speaker, promising to continue the Speaker’s Office’s efficient Speaker checks and monthly audits. They won with 67 votes against 29 votes for , a prominent player on the RMB, who ran a joke campaign.

After the conclusion of the election, Robespierre announced their Executive Council as follows:

Minister of Cards:
Minister of Communications: Fregerson ( )
Minister of Culture:
Minister of Defense:
Minister of Foreign Affairs: St George ( )
Minister of Home Affairs:
Minister of Radio:
Minister of World Assembly Affairs:

Advisors to the Delegate: ,



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Interview with Robespierre

By New Celoveniortan

New Celoveniortan: Hello, Robespierre. How are you today?
Robespierre: Hey there! I'm doing decently. Bit of a rainy day, but otherwise okay. I like the rain! How about you?
New Celoveniortan: I am doing very well, thank you very much.
Robespierre: Of course
New Celoveniortan: I have some questions for you today, would you mind giving me some of your time?
Robespierre: Not at all. Ask away!
New Celoveniortan: Thank you. First things first. I perceive you as a very enthusiastic person and friendly, but I'm curious: how would you describe yourself?
Robespierre: Hmmm, that's a very good question. I'm glad that you lead off with it. I think that some would find me to be a bit more serious than most. In-character, that's true, but what I don't think many people realize is that I also have a more relaxed, casual side to me as well. If you hang out in VCs often in the Agora or if you speak with me in DMs, you're likely to find that I'm not near as stiff as some believe. I like my sports, I like my computer hardware nerd talk, and I like politics too. I do try to be friendly though, so I'm glad that you perceive me as such. That must mean that I'm doing a good job with how I present myself, I suppose. I'd describe myself as someone who's extremely active in-character, very particular about things out-of-character, and as someone who's all-around ambitious. That probably sums me up to those who are unfamiliar. But I'm always up for a chat so, if you're reading this, come talk to me and find out what I'm like for yourself :stuck_out_tongue:
New Celoveniortan: I'm sure people will see you as very friendly! You said you are all-around ambitious, is it one of the reasons why you decided to run for Delegate? If so, are there any others?
Robespierre: Well, whenever you're considering running for such a high public office as this, there's bound to be a multitude of things that factor into your decision to do so
I think that my ambition did play a part in that, naturally, but I wouldn't have ran if I didn't think that I'd be able to make things better for everyone regardless of where they choose to spend their time in our community. That's really what my Delegacy campaign was all about: trying new things with the added bonus of a fresh perspective, bringing new energy to our executive government, and doing so with a calculated approach that combines well thought out plans and viewpoints with a strong desire to succeed. I also think that we've been too reliant on past Delegates during previous administrations. Namely McM, but also others.
I want to show people that it's okay for the new generation of North Pacificans - the new blood, as I call it - to take the reins so that some of the more experienced regional stalwarts can take a break and pursue other interests. That was definitely a motivating factor for me when it came to my decision to seek the Delegacy, but it surely helped to see the engagement that my campaign was getting and to get a feel for just how many people believe in me and my vision. But yes. To answer your question, I'd say that this is not a job for the unambitious. You almost have to be a self-critic, be a self-motivator, and have clearly set goals to effectively run an administration because, at the end of the day, the buck stops with you when you're the Delegate.
New Celoveniortan: I see that is a very interesting point of viewing the Office. Talking about your campaign, how confident were you while running for the position?
Robespierre: I was very confident, actually. I knew going into it that I'd have to work for it if I wanted to have a chance at winning and I'm very familiar with the election cycle grind, if you will. I'd planned on running regardless of who my opponents were and I'd spent a considerable amount of time formulating my ideas and things of that nature before I'd even launched my campaign thread and put my thoughts out there. If you're running a serious campaign then that's what you have to do. You have to come prepared, bring your A-game, and be willing to put yourself and your ideas out there in front of others who will likely critique you on them. I will say, however, that I didn't plan on the election being as hard fought as it was and I don't think that many others did either. It's a very gratifying win for me, having the margin of victory that I did. I'm a fan of close elections in general, especially the more exciting and high profile ones. Suffice to say, this one was a fun one for me.
New Celoveniortan: I see. Indeed it was a very close one. According to the Greitbart May 2021 General Election Coverage, there was a time that your rival had a majority of 53% over you. During this time, was your strong confidence ever eroded? Also, the Election Commission posted the results where we can see that only 6 votes were the difference between victory and defeat. You said it was a very gratifying win for you, but how else did you feel?
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Robespierre: I felt a sense of pride, mostly. It's nice because you never declare your candidacy with the intention of losing (and if you do, well... then you shouldn't be running in my opinion in my opinion). My confidence was never really eroded per se, but there were times where I felt either super upbeat and optimistic about things or really pessimistic and kind of beat down on myself a bit. I think it's mostly just being bipolar. That's the best thing that I can compare it to, really. When you're ahead in the vote count, you feel as if everything is going your way and you're ready to take that next step in your campaign en route to victory. When you're down in the count, it can sometimes be discouraging. But that's the nature of the beast, so to speak, and I realized that early on when I ran against Artemis/Oracle for the Vice Delegacy in early-2020. Vote counts change on a dime. They fluctuate. Stay confident, stay within yourself, and you'll be fine. My rule of thumb has always been this: If your ideas are good and your approach is worthwhile, then people will see that irrespective of who you're running up against. If you're confident in what you're putting out there then that's a solid ground for you to stand on all throughout the voting period.
New Celoveniortan: Those are very nice words, I think anyone would appreciate them. And yes, a coin has two sides. Which gets me to ask you: If you had lost to Nimarya, how would you have felt and what would you have done?
Robespierre: Another good question. For one reason or another, I don't think that I'd have gone back to the Speaker's Office had I lost. It wouldn't have made sense given the timing - for me to go from being the Speaker to being a Deputy Speaker again - so no matter how pleased I was to see East Isles elected, I doubt that I'd have returned to the legislative branch following my hypothetical loss. On the other hand, I don't honestly think that I'd have been offered a cabinet-level position and I had no illusions of being approached for one either. It's more likely that I would have continued on with my work in the Executive Staff, possibly been a Deputy Minister in a few Ministries again, and would have continued to endotart in the meantime. As for how I would have felt... disappointed would've been the best way to put it, I'd say. As I'm sure most anyone would be.
New Celoveniortan: Interesting. Snap back to reality, how does it feel to be in the Delegacy?
Robespierre: You'd be surprised to find out that this isn't a question I've been asked all that much, save for a couple people here and there who've been curious. The learning curve hasn't been too steep, which has been good. I didn't expect it to be but there's always that settling in process whenever one administration changes to another. It's definitely a bit of an adjustment just in terms of the dynamic that the Delegacy brings. People will message you and ask for your sign-off on things, people will ask for permissions, get your thoughts, seek you out, and so on. And again, that all comes with the territory. I think the moment will hit me more once I've taken the in-game seat of WA Delegate, but it's definitely been an exciting time for me and I've been enjoying it so far. Seeing your nation atop the region's page is an honor that not many have been able to receive, in the grand scheme of things. I'm very proud to be recognized as the leader of this community for the time being.
New Celoveniortan: Wonderful! You said you are still learning. About how much time do you need to invest in the position?
Robespierre: That's actually something that I'm still determining at this stage. A few players in our TNP RP community who participate in the Eras map are saying that I should join since I'm often interested by their roleplays. My response was that once I determined what the time commitment of being Delegate looks like, I'd then decide if I could reasonably commit time to RPing too. I haven't yet reached that number or range, but I'd say that the position requires as much or as little time as is needed to be the kind of Delegate that you want to be.
Since I want to be more hands-on, that'll likely require a more substantial time commitment and there's nothing wrong with that. I'd imagine it's different for everyone though
New Celoveniortan: Enlightening, thank you. Moving to your Cabinet, why did you choose your current Ministers, and what do you see in them?
Robespierre: Ah yes! Now this is a better version of the "Who would you want in your cabinet?" question that gets asked to every Delegate candidate under the sun :) It's worth noting that when forming my cabinet I did have to make some compromises here and there due to scheduling difficulties given that some of my first choices weren't available. Even so, I'm very satisfied with the team that I ended up with and it may end up working out better than my original plans, so I'm thankful for that.
In no particular order: In Radio, I saw Casc as someone who was a great facilitator of activity. His presence in the Ministry was very on-brand with the new blood presentation of my administration, so he was a natural fit since I'd already witnessed him being a manager of sorts and making sure that NBS content was being uploaded on the regular. In Culture, I'd originally had MadJack/St George penciled in for the position. That was soon changed for the aforementioned scheduling reasons, but I maintain the opinion that he was undoubtedly one of the more productive Ministers from last term and is indisputably a great mind for Culture. I ended up moving MJ over to Foreign Affairs, where I place my full faith in him and know he'll serve us well there. So I ended up seeking out Prydania - a former Delegate and someone who had lead the Ministry of Culture for over a year previously. In my mind, Pry and MJ are some of the best that our region has to offer. So it was a no-brainer for me to have both of them on board when I had the chance to, which is why I gave them the Culture and FA portfolios respectively. For Home Affairs, you [New Celo] were someone who I'd seen working diligently as a Deputy Minister last term and I saw the potential for you to grow into the role of the Minister of Home Affairs. The idea of going from a regular staffer, to a Deputy Minister, to the Minister is a perfect exemplification of how hard work does go a long way and gets noticed in this region. I wanted to show people that I was willing to develop new talent in the executive in the same way that I've done in other areas. For the next generation of TNPers to step up, we need that to be happening as often as possible so it was a great fit. In Communications, I felt that Freg deserved a full term to expand on their ideas and explore what was possible for their Ministry. They were sort of thrown into things last term and I think that May have affected them in the short-term. I wanted to see what Comms had there by re-appointing him and give him a chance to run the Ministry like he wants to run it with my guidance and direction in mind. For Defense, Westinor was my first choice. It was simple. They were doing great work coming up through the ranks and had already shown themselves to be an excellent tactful mind. Who wouldn't want that? So I made the offer and it's paid off so far. And finally, we round out the cabinet with Cards and WA Affairs: Due to legal restrictions, I couldn't appoint Boston Castle as my Minister of World Assembly Affairs. Indeed, he was whom I had penciled in for the position and I don't mind making that known. But what I did do is make the move to appoint Cretox as a Minister, which may seem unconventional given how he's also our Vice Delegate. Cretox did well as WAA's Minister prior to becoming Vice Delegate and he was a standout during the term he served too. I'm quite satisfied with the choice I made, and Cretox has been very willing to take on the added responsibilities without any noticeable drawbacks, so that's been nice. And for Cards, I wanted someone who could help develop and nurture our infrastructure. 9003 is already recognized as a leader in the wider Cards community of NationStates and our region is already one of the leading regions in that aspect of things as well. He helps create the necessary infrastructure with his scripting ability.. As a result, I was happy to give him another shot as a Minister because I believe he is much better suited to the Ministry of Cards than he is to Defense.
Sorry for the long answers, but I hope that helps paint the picture a bit better
New Celoveniortan: No worries, but I'd like to ask about your choice for Lead Gameside Advocate as well.
Robespierre: Sure!
Rocketdog was a pleasant surprise in the role last term and I personally think that he did well in moderating the RMB and providing service during a crucial part of the day in which not many in the West are online. I liked what he brought to the table and wanted to see it continue, so I offered a re-appointment and he took me up on that.
New Celoveniortan: Do you think there might be any complications with your government in the future?
Robespierre: None that I can foresee, no. If there are then they of course will be dealt with.
New Celoveniortan: I see some of that confidence there. Government aside, are you planning something major for TNP, like an event or something?
Robespierre: You know, it's easy to make grand promises and commit to doing events or hosting fun festivals with friends from all around the NationStates world, but it's another thing entirely to have those events be something worthwhile and amount to a successful happening. I'm of the opinion that we should be hosting events because we want to host them, not because we need to check off a box or fulfill a campaign promise. When we do festivals for the sake of checking off that box, they're less meaningful - the way I see it. Events can be good but it's better when they're of importance or are unique. We have to make them something special or interactive if we're going to do them. You can't always run something for the sake of running something, so any events I have planned will either be for regional celebration days or will incorporate some level of interactivity in them.
New Celoveniortan: I look forward to Democracy Day on July 7th in that case.
Is there anything else you would like to add before the conclusion of the interview?
Robespierre: Hmm… Well, if there was one message that I'd give to everyone reading, it'd be this: I may be the Delegate now but I'm still a North Pacifican just the same as everyone else. Much like the way I served the region while in the Speakership, public accountability and service are important to me. So don't be afraid to reach out and talk to me, even just casually. I'm here for you guys and I'm here for this community. So never get caught up in thinking that I'm too important to worry about the "little people" or that I don't have the time for certain things, because this is your guy's region much in the same way that it's mine and that's the truth of the matter.
New Celoveniortan: Okay, okay. Last, but not least: What is your favorite thing, what do you enjoy the most in the world?
Robespierre: This is a tough one. You really aren't taking it easy on me for the final question, are you? :p I'd say... I enjoy laughing. I've always liked humour, comedy, and anything that gets people to laugh, joke around, and have fun. If you're living life and things aren't going your way, then at the very least, you can always find something to laugh about, even if it's at your own expense. Hopefully, that doesn't sound too corny, but yeah. Laughter is very enjoyable to me as I always like getting a good joke in or two and being entertained.
New Celoveniortan: Thank you for your time, Robespierre. I'm sure everyone will enjoy this read. Until next time!
Robespierre: Yes! Glad to do this!


Polaris: Lighting the way to truth
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Polaris articles are produced by the Ministry of Communications on behalf of the Government of The North Pacific and are distributed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs externally and the Ministry of Communications internally.


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September General Elections Round-Up
by Polaris Staff

The people have spoken, the votes have been counted, the counts started, stopped, and restarted again and the kraken has been released… and TNP’s September 2021 general elections have been concluded. Here’s a rundown:

Delegate Election
The Delegate election saw Minister of Foreign Affairs MadJack defeat former Vice Delegate Dreadton, along with MTDemocracy and Comfed. With Comfed running a humorous campaign and MTDemocracy a newcomer to the region, it was a straight fight between MadJack and Dreadton.

Both major candidates ran on campaigns focussed around engaging the region and ensuring that admin-induced changes to the region could and would be countered with better and more effective outreach, along with renewed and reformed Ministries. MadJack also focused on reviewing the state of tech tools in the region, pursuing a more proactive foreign policy, and tackling over-reliance on a few staffers in the ministries. Dreadton campaigned on doing more to promote the region in-game to a wider audience.

Somehow avoiding the self-sabotage that has been a feature of his previous delegate campaigns, MadJack won the election on the first count, with 57% of the vote.

Vice Delegate Election
In the Vice Delegate race, three candidates ran, Sir Kasto, Lord Dominator and Blue Wolf II. Since Blue Wolf II did not post a campaign, the campaigns by the remaining two were quite similar, maintaining the WADP, the security checks on citizens and the maintaining endorsements, core responsibilities of a Vice Delegate. Both were also committed to welcoming and mentoring new citizens.

Sir Kasto had an additional focus on community relations, leading in trying to engage the Security Council with the larger gameside community, where it had been lacking in previous terms. In the platform, Sir Kasto advocated for a constant engagement that “will allow better communication and endotarting as they will recognize us.” With Sir Kasto additional focus on community relations and his experience as Deputy Minister in multiple ministries in the previous term, was elected convincingly with 62.07% of the vote.

Speaker Election
The remarkable happened in the Speaker's election, perennial candidate RON (re-open nominations) was elected with a landslide 77% of the vote. This occurred after the sole candidate Venicea pulled out of the election after a controversy erupted over their claims of tech issues.

In the re-run election (RON graciously stepped aside), 5 candidates stood - Deputy Speaker Bobberino, former Minister of Communications Fregerson, leader of the TNP Socialist Party Nubt II, former Speaker and Vice Delegate Oracle, and Gameside Advocate and Deputy Speaker Skaraborg.

Fregerson, who had run a campaign for RON prior to Venicea withdrawing from the race, was an early favourite, though when Oracle entered the race the smart money moved to backing the TNP veteran, who did indeed win the contest, defeating Skaraborg in the 4th round of voting.
 

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Statement on Invasion of Stargate

Earlier this morning, the Brotherhood of Malice, seemingly not learning from the mistakes of other raiding organisations, invaded the region of , a long standing treaty ally of The North Pacific. As should be evident already, will always carry consequences. This senseless action by The Brotherhood of Malice has been motivated by the denial of a forum embassy, blinding them to the consequences of attacking The North Pacific or its allies

Not content with a half-hearted attempt to intimidate our region and our allies into establishing relations with them, the Brotherhood of Malice has sought to provoke The North Pacific by the nature of this operation. Their operation included childish activities, designed to heighten tension and draw further attention to their operation. Casl has since been restored to the Delegacy, and I thank the members of the North Pacific who took part in this operation. I also thank the regions - both allied and not - who have reached out to offer support The North Pacific and Stargate in the face of this unwarranted aggression.

In response, I have invoked our newly passed foreign policy law to prohibit diplomatic relations with The Brotherhood of Malice. This, pending a vote of the Regional Assembly, prevents any establishment of embassies or official collaboration of any kind between The North Pacific and the target region. Importantly, this action will bind all future governments of The North Pacific to hold to this, unless they seek the revocation of this status from the Regional Assembly. The Brotherhood of Malice has also been added to our retaliatory recruitment list as per our standard operating procedures.

I am also exempting The Brotherhood of Malice from the prohibitions put upon the North Pacific Army from damaging and destroying regions under Section 7.6 of the Legal Code. This exemption will be extended to all Brotherhood of Malice trophies, refoundings by Brotherhood of Malice leadership under other banners and a number of Brotherhood of Malice embassy regions. The region of Osiris, with whom The North Pacific has a non-aggression pact and who have not participated nor supported this hostile act, will not be part of this list.

Casl has been restored to the Delegacy, and I thank the members of the North Pacific who took part in this operation. I also thank the regions - both allied and not - who have reached out to offer support The North Pacific and Stargate in the face of this unwarranted aggression.

The Brotherhood of Malice have, with their actions, clearly indicated that they are not only an enemy of The North Pacific, but also of any region that values the freedom and sovereignty to decide who to maintain relations with without intimidation or attack. We will oppose them, and we will outlast them, and when their leading players slink off back to retirement, we will finish them.

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Delegate of The North Pacific
 

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On the Pax Polaris Occidens

The North Pacific is delighted to announce the ratification of a new, multilateral treaty with The West Pacific and New Pacific Order.

Pax Polaris Occidens builds upon the Joint Statement On Continued Interregional Peace, released 12 June. The treaty reaffirms the signatories commitments to mutual defence and highlights our refusal to succumb to intimidation by foreign groups.

The North Pacific is proud to stand alongside its allies in The West Pacific and New Pacific Order against any attempt to threaten, intimidate or harm us, or our allies. This treaty throws a protective shield over any region or organisation that has concluded a mutual defence treaty with a signatory region, a total of 40 regions, providing a firm deterrent to any who would wish those regions harm.

Foreign Minister Hulldom had the following to say about this exciting new agreement:

“We are pleased to have concluded this agreement with the West Pacific and the New Pacific Order as we continue to combat malign actors in the wider game. I am certainly hopeful that the Pax Polaris Occidens will make others think twice before antagonizing us or any of our allies in the future.”

If you have any questions, please direct them to either our Delegate, Pallaith (@Ghost#8853) or our Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hulldom (@QuatuorPlusOne#9419).
 

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Treaty of the Northern Wells Ratified​


The North Pacific is delighted to announce the signing of the Treaty of the Northern Wells, which establishes an alliance between our region and The Wellspring. The relationship between our regions is unique and the treaty we have established reflects that reality. Almost immediately after the region was created, The Wellspring was successfully occupied by The North Pacific Army, and for a single update it was the only functional frontier in the game with half of the game’s new nation spawns. The decision to take control of The Wellspring was a spontaneous one, but it soon led to serious questions about how the region would develop and what precisely its relationship to us was. Most observers believed the reality was simply that The Wellspring was TNP’s frontier, a territorial extension of it, fully under its control and administration. Developing a region, and a new community to reside within it, is a difficult process, and relies on the dedication and creativity of the individuals who set out to do that work. Much like TNP’s decision to occupy The Wellspring, the creation of a new community is an organic, unpredictable process.

The Wellspring didn't just become another territory; it transformed into a vibrant and self-sustaining community in its own right. It developed its own unique government and organization, driven by its dedicated native inhabitants who were passionate about shaping its future. The transformation of The Wellspring from a promising newcomer to one of the most significant frontiers in NationStates was entirely a result of the resilience and creativity of its citizens. They breathed life into the region with their distinctive themes, ideas, and goals, all motivated by a shared vision to create a sense of belonging and purpose within The Wellspring. In the dynamic world of NationStates, innovation and community spirit can turn any opportunity into something truly extraordinary. The Wellspring is a testament to this idea, showing how far a community can come with enough individuality, ambition, and dedication.

This treaty is more than just a formality; it's a strong bond that reflects our commitment to the security and prosperity of both The North Pacific and The Wellspring. In a world filled with challenges and shifting landscapes, this treaty stands as a symbol of our unity and strength. It reaffirms our promise to stand together against threats, determined to protect our regions' safety, stability, and future success. Our commitment isn't just words; it's deeply rooted in the shared values and ideals that bring us together. Many in The Wellspring, after all, share an identity as TNPers. But the home they made for themselves is distinctly their own.

While emphasizing our shared history and membership, the treaty also reflects the unique relationship our two regions have, by providing The Wellspring an option to formally make itself a territory of our region without giving up a shred of its independence or sovereignty in how it governs itself, whenever it sees fit. To the eyes of the world, our regions are both distinct and forever intertwined, both distinct and united at the same time. Our alliance is built on this premise, as we can never forget where and how this relationship started, but we also cannot deny that The Wellspring is not an extension of TNP, and that even when it hews closer to our community, it will always have its own identity and will never be contained.

The Wellspring turned a significant challenge into an opportunity. We are proud of all they have accomplished these last few months, and proud to consider them not just friends and allies, and a home shared by many of our own citizens, but an extension of our community that goes beyond borders or formal claims of ownership. What we have is sometimes hard to define or explain, and always in defiance of expectations and historical norms for how allies or regions with a past shared history are expected to behave. Whatever it is, we like and cherish it, we fully commit to it, and we want to celebrate it with the world. You can view the treaty here.

Kaschovia
Delegate of the North Pacific

Pallaith
Minister of Foreign Affairs

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Aude Alliance Ratified​

Today the North Pacific marks the start of a new alliance with Carcassonne and the evolution of our relationship with one of our oldest allies, Taijitu. Our partnership with Taijitu, which has been a cornerstone of our diplomatic history as one of our longest standing allies, has evolved significantly in the wake of Carcassonne's emergence as a vibrant frontier. Over the past several months, Carcassonne has grown from Taijitu’s successor state into a distinct and vital region in the world of frontiers, and has become a major catalyst for shifts in gameplay. As we begin to consider more carefully how our own region responds to these changing times, we feel that Carcassonne’s approach and experience in this area is valuable and we can work together to pursue similar interests. The bonds that united us through our shared history with Taijitu, our common values, and the resonance of our ideas make this treaty a natural and logical progression in our diplomatic relations. It not only signifies the deepening of our friendship but also recognizes Carcassonne as an exceptionally esteemed partner within our regional network.

As Carcassonne is the successor state to Taijitu, we have adopted this new treaty to recognize the community as it exists today. We continue to recognize the significance of Taijitu, extending the treaty’s recognition and protections to it even as we recognize this treaty replaces the one we had with Taijitu. We are thrilled that this community we have known for so long, and which has been dormant and casual in recent years, can take on a new and exciting role, and that they can be a more active partner of ours as we navigate this new, ever-changing landscape together. We hope we can expand our partnership in new areas, including the World Assembly, as reflected by the new language we have adopted in this treaty to encourage greater cooperation there. Going forward we hope we can make strides here and also in frontier space, where Carcassonne can provide assistance and knowledge just as we can do the same in the World Assembly. Based on such significant friendship throughout our shared histories, we look forward to the years ahead in hope and excitement for the Aude Alliance. You can view the treaty here.

Kaschovia
Delegate of the North Pacific

Pallaith
Minister of Foreign Affairs
 

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Issue XXIX


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.


 
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The North-Western Soviet

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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
 

The North-Western Soviet

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Issue XXX




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 [/SIZE]

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 9By [/anchor]


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 Festivalby

“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 Fregersonby

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.
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Thank you for reading!

Publisher: Kaschovia | Executive Editors: and

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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.

 

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Issue XXXI



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,


Executive Deputy Minister of Communications


The War Rages OnBy


[align=justify]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 Electionsby


[align=justify]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 2023By


[align=justify]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: An Ode to the Forumsby


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 Kaschoviaby


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!

Publisher: | Executive Editors: and


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.



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