Robespierre for Delegate - Tout pour le Nord!

Robespierre

The MacMilitant
Pronouns
He/him
TNP Nation
Francois Isidore
Discord
themacmilitant
Robespierre for Delegate
Tout pour le Nord!



An Introduction

Hello! My name is Robespierre (otherwise known as Francois Isidore in-game) and I am running to become the next Delegate of The North Pacific.

Many of you know me already, but I’m excited to get acquainted with those of you who don’t. For reference, I last served as Delegate three years ago in May of 2021. TNP has been my home for nearly five years now and, in that time, I've been honored to serve this community in a variety of different roles.

Currently, I am the Minister of Defense under Delegate Kaschovia. Last term, from September 2023 until this past January, I was the Minister of Communications. Before that, I was called upon by Acting Delegate Chipoli to serve as one of his two advisors following the resignation of then-Delegate Gorundu in August of 2023. In short, I've been a part of the government in one way or another for the better part of the last eight and a half months.

During that time, there have been busy stretches, quiet weeks, and everything in-between. One constant, however, has been my unyielding dedication to our region's cause and my resolute desire to see us succeed in every way possible. It is with that in mind that I am proud to officially announce my candidacy today and put myself before each of you as (hopefully) an option worth your strong consideration and support come voting time.

I'll admit, the timeline of events that I've provided is a very abridged version of what all I've been up to since I first joined our region back in 2019. If you're interested in seeing absolutely everything that I've done as a civil servant thus far, you can do so by clicking here. But, without further ado, let's get into the thick of things with my plans for each ministry going forward and what my general approach(es) to leading the government will be if I'm elected.



General Administration

Let's start with the basics, shall we? The elephant in the room is that we've been experiencing downtime at one point or another for the better part of the last two weeks. As a result of the site's recent catastrophic disk failure, there are a few things that will need to happen in order for us to get back on track with everything that we normally do gameside. Luckily, the vast majority of my plans for this next term aren't likely to be impacted by the data loss. Nonetheless, our community still exists and I will be responsible for it whether or not the NS forums are operational or if we're able to physically log into the game at all.

One thing that's worth noting is that the region has been relatively quiet during this time. Without a game to play, the future was very much in doubt for many of us and the majority of the government's ministers weren't able to go about their job duties as they normally would. Even so, I do think that there are a few things that we could've and should've been doing during this time. I'll elaborate on that point later on in the culture section of this platform, but suffice to say that none of those things ended up happening for one reason or another. However, I do think that it's important to address this. I’ve been keeping up with current events during the downtime and I remain mindful of how that will or won't impact what things look like for us going forward.

Some considerable losses will be absolutely unavoidable, but I will do my absolute best to review each of our programs. I’ll see what can still work, what might have to be sidelined, and how we can most effectively recover from the downtime. (Note: I expect that a few of our programs with the Cards Guild won’t be able to continue in the short-term due to cards being deactivated on the site)

Moving on, let's talk about...

In the past, my preferred leadership style could accurately be described as fostering a more collaborative environment for decision-making. Rather than asserting my authority outright within the ministries that I've overseen at one time or another, I've typically preferred to solicit the input of my deputies/staffers before committing to a specific course of action. I also believe that the key to a well-functioning government is to not micromanage the ministers, to afford them a fair degree of autonomy over how they run their ministries on a day-to-day basis, and to instead direct their endeavors towards specific policy objectives.

But while I do still think that it's important for me to listen to those around me, I also recognize that what the region needs in a time of war is strong, decisive leadership. The Delegate and their ministers are one team working for the betterment of our region. It's important that we consider the varying perspectives of the members of our team, but ultimately, the buck stops with me. I will hear them out and we will work together, but we will not delay. The plans I have, the goals I outline, and the policies we work on cannot be delayed until everyone has weighed in. Especially now, my government will respond swiftly and efficiently.

It's also my responsibility to put people in positions where they can reasonably be expected to succeed. If a minister isn't doing their job or is otherwise underperforming, my first move will be to have a conversation with them privately and hopefully find out why they aren't able to meet expectations. I'm always very cognizant of the fact that serving in regional government is on a volunteer basis and that people don't have to dedicate their time, energy, and effort toward helping us become the best version of our region. During the Summer months especially, I'm understanding in the sense that I know people will have other things on their plate and may not always have NS as their first priority. For that reason, I'm very willing to be as accommodating as I can be in that regard.

Having said that, it's not enough to simply depend on others and have faith that they'll come through for us. I will attempt to be as active and involved as possible and I will expect the same from everyone in the government. They will have a fair chance to do their part even with whatever their difficulties are, but if it cannot work, I will ask them to step aside. I hope that I and the rest of my government can be visible to the public, so they can see the good work we do, and so they have no doubt what is going on. In addition to improving communication in general, our work will speak for itself, and there will be no mistaking that we are working hard for TNP and what we are accomplishing. We are one team working toward a common set of goals. And as the captain of that team, whatever needs to happen will happen, even if I need to step in and do the work myself. Staffing shortages or activity issues will not be an excuse for failing to do what needs to be done.

That requires me to be frank, assertive, and clear with what my expectations are.

I very easily could've chosen to include this in the foreign affairs section of my platform, but I think that it's important, so I'll include it here instead. I know that there were some concerns back in February amongst those in the Regional Assembly about the government's approach to the war effort and the belief that some members weren’t willing to take criticism over the moves that were made. In the spirit of greater accountability and improved transparency, I will deliver biweekly war reports to those viewing the private halls subforum. These reports will detail what’s being done to advance the war effort and they will also elaborate on what challenges the government expects to encounter in meeting our various war goals.

I recognize that it's a lot easier for North Pacificans to feel comfortable supporting our government if they feel like we're willing to communicate and are giving it to them straight. Introducing these reports will also have the added benefit of there being context for future motions made in the Regional Assembly. If we run into situations where we need to expand the exemptions on what actions the NPA can perform in certain regions or change the text in one of our agreements with our partner region(s), citizens deserve the opportunity to know ahead of time why we might be looking to do those things prior to them just suddenly being introduced. Admittedly, it won't be the most riveting content to read. But what it will be is a step up from the status quo in terms of the chances for concerned citizens to interact with our government.

For the record, I will not be appointing a Press Secretary to give these reports on my behalf. I will be my own advocate and speak for our government’s policies.



The Ministries

A Direction for the Design Team

Since we established it back in September of this past year, we’ve yet to see much come out of the collaborative design team. For one reason or another, only a handful of the designs made by our members have actually been used. Despite this, I do still think that the idea of getting talented individuals together and having them design things for our community has merit. I’d hate to abandon the idea before we’re able to realize some of its potential, which is why I’m interested in having us pivot a bit and find a new direction for the team.

Of course, the infrastructure for its continued operation already exists. We have a roster of members that’s been maintained by ministry leadership as recently as in February, and we’ve got a dedicated channel for the team’s activities in the TNP executive server. What we need more than anything else right now in this area is for the design team to be given further instructions.

If our designers aren’t being asked to work on anything new then we can hardly expect to get the most out of our efforts there. As such, I am proposing that we task the collaborative design team with the creation of ministry-specific infographics to be used for recruitment and promotional purposes around the region. For examples of what these infographics would look like, please see this and this.

While it can’t be understated how important bringing in new talent to the executive staff is, the fact of the matter remains that not many people want to read walls of texts that can easily overwhelm them as they’re deciding what to get involved in. Infographics are more compact, easily digestible, and they contain only the highlights of each ministry’s work that might interest someone enough to consider joining. Art takes time, so we should be patient with our designers as they work to accomplish this.

Radio Revisited

Unfortunately, there’s only been one new episode of NBS Radio uploaded to our YouTube/Spotify channel since the new year began. I fear that I may be partially to blame for this lack of production, as my work as Minister of Defense has largely distracted me from thinking of new show ideas and putting together lineups for future broadcasts. Nonetheless, I’m confident that we’re still perfectly capable of creating quality content whenever we do sit down to record. Increasing the frequency of those recordings taking place, however, is another matter.

It’s been a long time since we’ve had a sitting Delegate who was also an active participant on the air. While it might not mean much to some, I think that there’s something special about having a leader whose voice you can hear in addition to reading their messages over Discord. If I’m elected as Delegate, then I will gladly continue to be involved with NBS Radio and I’ll offer myself as both a host and a panelist all the same. Mind you, when I was last Delegate, I also had the great honor of appearing on radio shows with some of our allies.

If the opportunity were to present itself again, then I’d certainly love to explore possible radio crossovers with our friends and be a part of shows in a way that promotes goodwill between our region and others. While I feel great about the work that Ruben, Kasch, and I have all done, I’m not content with the feeling that we’re the only ones who can do it. Internally, I will direct the ministry’s staffers to resume a more regular release schedule in the hopes that we become more active in this area.

Improving Article Engagement

Finally, I want to call attention to something that’s been on my mind lately as I’ve reviewed our most recent publications.

You see, we’ve made great strides in the past few months to release reoccuring editions of our flagship publication, The North Star (TNS). In addition to that, we’ve also stepped up in a big way by having The Northern Notes (TNN) offer our readers a more timely supplementation of news in-between the publishing of our bigger issues. I’m proud of these achievements, but, even so, I can’t help but agree that there’s more that we could be doing to engage the region with the works of our wonderful writers once their respective articles are released.

As for what that looks like exactly, I can’t say right now. But it is something that’s been on my mind and I would like for us to try and find a better solution. That might mean that we publish articles individually here on the forums to help inspire further discussion about their contents. It could mean that we advertise more heavily on NS forums and on Discord after each release.

When articles are all lumped together in one issue, it can sometimes mean that a few get glossed over in favor of more noteworthy events. I want everyone who writes for these publications to know that we appreciate them, and I think that it’s best if we give them their credit by discussing what they had to say.

Festivals With Friends

I'm a firm believer in the idea that our sanctions against BoM, TCB, and co. won't work as intended unless we actively offer something that would-be members of those regions are otherwise missing out on. It's important that we make membership in those regions as unattractive as possible, and those who might be interested in taking up arms against our region must be made to know the consequences of their chosen affiliations.

Although members of sanctioned regions are already prohibited from participating in any events hosted by the signatory regions, being members of factions led by signatory regions during NS events, and from being included in or platformed by media produced by signatory, the actual enforcement of these clauses all require that we actually have events hosted by us, factions led by us during NS events, and media endeavors produced by us to offer the wider NationStates world.

Lately, I feel like we've dropped the ball on this. From our absence during Rogue Rendezvous 2024 to us not having a faction lined up for N-Day, I think that we could do a better job of connecting with our friends and allies from abroad by taking the initiative with cultural exchanges, fun events, and other faction-based crossovers. As for which regions I have in mind for us to invite to these events, I'd say that starting with our partners in the MGC and PPO would be a fine gesture.

Building A Stronger Offsite Community

Not too long ago, I spoke to someone who was rather disappointed with how little activity there was within the region during the recent site downtime. As I said earlier, I tend to agree that we could’ve and should’ve done more during this time. Cultivating a sense of community separate from the game of NationStates is a huge part of what culture is about. I want people to feel like they’re TNPers, firstly and foremost, and to then think of themselves as NS players second.

One of the ways in which we could’ve stepped up our game would’ve been to seize the opportunity and to increase the number of events planned for the downtime. Perhaps we could’ve recorded a new episode of NBS Radio or even hosted a game night to help fill the void left in our hearts by being unable to access what brought us all here to begin with. We used to have a nightly VC culture in the TNPGen server not too long ago. I think it would be great if we managed to bring that back. The bottom line is that basically anything can be culture, but it does require some initiative.
I’ll be looking for energetic staffers who can help us prioritize doing what we want and/or what’s fun to us rather than just doing the same tried and true events on a continuous loop. That’s how we build a culture of fun and belonging. Once we do that, increased activity will soon follow.

Making a Regional Playlist

One of the more fun ideas that I have in mind for how we can break the cycle of our regularly-scheduled weekly events is for us to begin building a regional playlist. Ideally, we’d start by creating a form where people could submit songs to be included in the playlist. Then, once we’ve given folks enough time to get all of their songs in, we can begin curating the playlist and, eventually, schedule days where we can come together and listen to others’ contributions together. It’d be like a playlist with songs representative of what our community collectively enjoys. I could even see us linking it on the WFE once we’re finished!

Recruitment Takes Priority

There can be no debate. If we are to change the tides of war and rise to the occasion, we’ll need numbers and we’ll need them yesterday. It doesn’t come as a surprise to me that the mass influx of new members applying to join us when the militia was first formed have since fizzled out. It was to be expected, of course, as nothing good lasts forever. Regardless, we must do everything in our power to amass and ready our forces.

While I can’t promise that we’ll see our membership count grow by x amount, I can promise that we’ll do everything in our power to entice would-be soldiers to come on board. Recruitment comes in many forms: Targeted telegrams, private outreach, dispatch upvoting, increasing our overall visibility, highlighting the fun and camaraderie of participating in R/D, etc. All of these avenues will be explored and I will make it expressly clear to my Minister of Defense that recruitment is our number one priority at this time.

Allied Operations Training

Furthermore, I also want to take the time to remark on the manpower that we do have. In many ways, I’ve been pleased to see somewhat of a changing of the guard within the NPA over the course of these last few months. While both the Officer Corps and the High Command are still home to some experienced hands, we’ve been seeing new faces rising through the ranks and I’m proud to say that I really do think some of them can become major contributors for us in the times to come.

Even so, with new blood comes a need to adequately train them and get them used to working with others. We have allies in our war against The Brotherhood of Malice and The Communist Bloc. It’s important for us to train together with them if we intend to fight alongside them in pursuit of victory. More than just internal training runs, I would like joint operations to be scheduled with some of our allied militaries (e.g. the LDF, TWPAF, the Legio Pacifica) to better prepare our members for their involvement in some of the larger scale operations that we’ll be required to execute well.

It is my view that everyone, NPAer or otherwise, could stand to work more closely together as one with increasingly seamless collaboration. Emphasizing the need for allied operations training will help us achieve this.

Our Next Inductee to the Hall of Honour

Last, but certainly not least, I’d like for us to move forward with the induction of General Zazumo into the NPA’s Hall of Honour. Admittedly, this is a bit more of a wishlist item for me personally as a longtime soldier, officer, and general in our military. It’s not so much of a campaign item as it is an expression of my desire to make sure that our regions heroes are being given the credit and public acknowledgement that they deserve for their efforts.

Throughout my years of service to the NPA, Zaz has been there for it all and he’s undeniably worthy of recognition for his past and present contributions. In my opinion, he is the embodiment of what it means to dedicate yourself to our region’s cause. His future induction will hopefully be accompanied by a publicly viewable thread that contains each inductee’s name, rank, and summary of service. Internally, NPAers are already well aware of the greats that have come through our ranks. But I’d like to showcase that to others in a way that’s immortalized here on the forums.

Restart Retaliatory Recruitment

Something that’s fallen by the wayside in the wake of our technological challenges is our maintenance of the retaliatory recruitment system that we used to employ. Back then, one of the key differences between the old way of doing things and my preferred implementation of the revived system was that we’d usually only add regions to the list that were recruiting directly from our region. Sadly though, as was confirmed, we no longer hold that same type of information as it applies to today’s gameplay climate. The regions of Talonia, The Militia, The Amaranthine Isles, Kantrias, and 10000 Islands were all identified as having sent out recruitment messages to one of our puppets after further testing. But rather than targeting only those who target us, I’d like for us to begin targeting WA nations in regions that have shown themselves to be enemies of the North.

I won’t say which regions we’ll be targeting for obvious reasons, but I do believe that our technological capabilities are now such that we can feasibly resume active targeting of both hostile and non-hostile regions. We will attempt to poach the WA nations of hostile regions away from them and, to non-hostile regions, we will merely be returning the favor of recruitment. I find that a more firm stance in regard to our recruitment policies is appropriate given the circumstances.

More Manual Recruitment

Piggybacking off of that previously expressed sentiment, I must say that I’ve been very impressed with what Sil, Elu, and the rest of the tech team have been doing behind the scenes to help us recover from the loss of our technology infrastructure. As a result of their hard work, our staffers in HA have been able to resume manually recruiting nations to come and join our community with greater ease than ever before!

It’s clean, it’s simple, and it’s effective. I can personally attest to this, as I’ve sent messages out to over 5,100 nations since rejoining the ministry in mid-March. I strongly encourage anyone who might otherwise be looking for a way to get involved and contribute to join HA as a recruiter and begin helping bolster our efforts in this area. It doesn’t take much time at all and it’s as simple as clicking a couple of buttons. You can do it more or less whenever you’re not doing anything else. On a desktop, on a laptop, on a mobile phone, and probably even on a tablet - it’s easy and it helps us bring in people who could prove to be our region’s next rising stars.

Manual recruitment is an essential part of my strategy for this new term, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that we will be promoting this activity heavily if I am elected.

Recruitment As An Offensive Option

To coincide with my first point in this section, I think that there’s potential for us to begin considering recruitment as not only a retaliatory action but also as an offensive action against our enemies. More than taking away the WA nations that might find their way into regions that have attacked our home, we can also use recruitment messages as a way to disparage their creed and gain even greater public support for our cause.

This would be an experimental option, but it’s certainly not something that I’m willing to leave off of the table if I can otherwise help it. Frankly, I don’t care so much that our adversaries might be aware of our intentions because I don’t plan on acting upon them in a way that would lend itself to being able to be stopped by them. I also wouldn’t mind personally funding some of these efforts myself to see them through. It’s everything for the North, after all.

The Mighty Don’t Kneel

By now, you can likely tell where this is going. My aim is to be a no nonsense leader who will unapologetically take the fight to our enemies and command the respect of our allies in the process of doing so. Do I have the spine for it? Definitely. Am I willing to tolerate strongarm tactics that attempt to weaken our position or otherwise subvert our sovereignty? Absolutely not.

There’s a fine line between being assertive and being reckless. I will work with my advisors, both of whom are former Delegates themselves, as well as with my cabinet, to make certain that we are not being rash in our decisions. By the same token though, our government’s actions will come about decisively. I promise that if our people stand by us, we will always stand by them.

We are the mighty and we will not kneel in the face of our region’s enemies. That much I can assure you of.

Network Visualization Project Continued

A while back, the Delegate set out to begin a project that would have us create an interactive visualization of our diplomatic network for the purpose of learning about foreign affairs. Since information has since been collected from our ambassadors about their assigned regions, I think that now would be a good time for us to move onto the next phase of the project as we continue to work toward realizing Kasch’s vision. Having a tool that’s both visually appealing and informative could help initiate new diplomats and develop further talent in this area. I am in support of us continuing with this as one of our goals.

Commendations for Our Regionmates

We’ve wanted to do this for quite some time now but, unfortunately, the SC commendations of Prydania and Sil Dorsett haven’t moved forward as we expected them to. For a few years now, shining a spotlight on the works of roleplayers in the World Assembly has been a passion of mine. I’ve worked with those from notable roleplay regions such as Greater Dienstad, Gholgoth, and Atlantian Oceania to share the unique stories of roleplayers and to introduce all of the amazing things that they do on the daily to a wider audience in the WA. Typically, the community there consists mostly of gameplayers and your occasional New England law school graduate. But I believe that our regionmates deserve to be acknowledged for their contributions.

We can appreciate them not only within our community, but also in a way that preserves their history for future players – North Pacifican or otherwise – to admire. I will pick up where Kasch left off and personally begin working on the commendations of Kaschovia, Prydania, and Sil Dorsett in the Security Council. There’s also the matter of Siwale’s commendation too. My goal is to have us make an effort to support our own in this area. I will invite other authors who are knowledgeable to collaborate with me in the process of doing this.

The Next WA Symposium

Next, in addition to business as usual with IFVs being sent out and timely voting happening in the WA, I would also like for us to solidify our plans for a fourth WA Symposium. This is something that Simone already alluded to as being on the agenda in his midterm report, but it’s my understanding that scheduling for this has been put on the backburner as of late.

I believe that my plans for us to host the next symposium coincide well with my plans for culture to host more events in general with our allies and partner regions. When considering how I expect getting the next WA Symposium marked on the calander to be quite the undertaking, I’m still optimistic that it’ll be a fruitful endeavor. I don’t have a date in mind for the event just yet, but I’d like for it to happen at some point during this Summer for sure. I will direct my Minister of World Assembly Affairs to begin working on this in collaboration with my ministers of foreign affairs and culture. Details should be able to be provided within a month or so.

SC Repeals Targeting

Lastly, resolutions that give greater glory and/or notoriety to our adversaries cannot be allowed to remain on the books in a wartime environment. Under my administration, we will begin prioritizing the repeal of already existing Security Council resolutions that bolster their credibility on the world stage. To better accomplish this, we will leverage our alliances with the MGC and PPO member regions to ensure that we have the necessary votes to advance our interests to the greatest extent possible. Our current sanctions and voting policies with regard to this will remain in effect, and I will engage this matter within the context of our existing framework(s) and rules.

(Note: I am open to expanding the actions and operations we may take in this area if the need to arises.)



Questions and Answers (Q&A)

What does your campaign slogan mean in English?

"Tout pour le Nord" is a French phrase that translates to "Everything for the North" in English.

Alternatively, it can also be understood as me saying "All for the North" or even "Anything for the North". Since Robespierre was a prominent figure during the times of the French Revolution (and since my nation is more or less French themed), I thought that it was rather fitting. It's basically a slogan that's meant to affirm my devotion to everything that we do and hold dear here.

What does your personal availability look like over the next four months? Will you be around for timely WA votes and whatnot?

As I write this, I'm in the final two weeks of my Spring 2024 semester at college. Once the election concludes on the 11-12th, my semester will be over, and I'll be free from my responsibility as a student in real life until the upcoming Fall months. That being said, for the duration of this next term (May - September 2024), I don't forsee myself having any obligations to attend to that would take away from the time that I could spend being the leader that our region needs the Delegate to be.

As for whether or not I'll be around to provide timely votes in the World Assembly, I'll note that I had no issues doing so during my last tenure as Delegate in the Summer of 2021. My local time zone (UTC-5, for those who are curious) is a rather generous one when it comes to being able to be online when major and minor updates begin. I'm also somewhat of a night owl to boot. Those who know me best will know that I'm often active during hours that most Americans aren't.

TL;DR my availability going into this term looks great and yes, I will be around for timely WA votes.

Have you already assembled your prospective cabinet? If not, do you have anyone in mind who you'd like to see serve alongside you?

At this time, I have not assembled a cabinet in full. I do, however, have a shortlist of individuals in mind who I intend to approach shortly after this campaign launches.

I think that it would've been a bit improper of me if I'd already offered specific players jobs in this next administration without first posting a platform of ideas and approaches for them and the public to review. If my ideas interest them, then I'll be glad to work with them on making those ideas a reality. But what I don't want is for anyone who I might ask to join me to support me at the polls only because I'm offering them a spot in the cabinet.

If elected, will you be appointing a Chief of Staff to serve in your cabinet?

No, I will not be appointing a Chief of Staff to serve in my cabinet. Anyone who I think can be an asset to region as a member of the government will have a ministerial portfolio assigned to them at the beginning of the term.

What about advisors? Will you be appointing any?

Yes, I will be appointing advisors to the Delegate.

Right now, I have two names in mind who've both indicated to me that they'd like to continue their service to our region in this way.

What do you think about the recently revived Senior Diplomats/formation of the Committee on Foreign Relations? Will you make use of them?

I think that it was a good move to bring the idea back in some form or another.

If used correctly, I can see the CFR bearing fruit for us in our foreign policy approach going forward. As for what constitutes them being used correctly, I can't say for sure. But what I will say is that I think the minister's efforts to modernize the group and to include new players on the committee is a good first step in the right direction. I've seen the work that Attempted Socialism, Comfed, and Picairn do internally to make sure that we consider an array of possibilities and perspectives before moves are made. I think that combining their fresh insights with some of the more proven hands of Pallaith and Tlomz, among others, is a recipe for success.

What's one thing that you would change about TNP as Delegate?

Generally speaking, I think I'll be more conscious of the fact that things can move rather quickly in this game. Just as there are benefits to carefully crafting our statements and taking a measured approach to gameplay, there are also benefits to us acting quickly and decisively as new events happen. There are times where a response from us might take longer, but if that's the case then I want it to be because we chose that as our approach.

I will be available to respond to things decidedly and, as a result, I expect that our region's voice will take on a more assertive tone going forward.

Bonus: Will you be having a town hall and/or an AMA on the RMB to talk about your campaign? If so, when?

Yes! I'm looking to get that scheduled as soon as possible. Those who are following this thread will be the first to know once I have a day and time locked down with the NBS Radio staff. But, if you happen to miss it or are otherwise unavailable when I do hold my town hall, I'll also be active on the RMB for an AMA session gameside.



In Conclusion…

I hope that you've found my platform to be both comprehensive and thoughtful. I've done my best to preemptively include my answers to a handful of questions that I expected would be asked, but please do let me know if you have anything else in mind that you're curious about or would like me to address more specifically. Additionally, if you like what you see here and would like to support my campaign, I'd be honored to see you express your support in this thread.

Otherwise, you can reach out to me either via telegram in-game or on Discord (@themacmilitant) and ask me anything. I'm certainly not hard to find, and I'm more than happy to engage with you all as we prepare to take the next step(s) in our region's journey. Until then, thank you for reading![/SPOILER]
 
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Your last tilt at the delegacy - and I'm aware we likely disagree on certain events that ocurred during that time - was a summer term where TNP experienced the worst activity drain in its entire history fatally undermined the ability of your government to get things done. This tilt at the delegacy is for a summer term where technical changes to the game mean that TNP gets less people than ever and its entirely possible will experience an activity drain of similar seriousness.

Are you aware of the phrase "La folie, c'est faire la même chose encore et encore et s'attendre à des résultats différents."?
 
Strong platform, I like it.

1) I see you have placed a lot of emphasis on recruitment in Home Affairs, but what is your vision for its other departments i.e. the mentorship program and resource review?
2) Are you planning to expand TNP's diplomatic network by opening new embassies or forming new alliances if elected? Having more allies and partners can be beneficial for further cultural exchanges and potential military cooperation.
3) What is your plan for The Northern Lights? Will you try to revive it, scrap it entirely, or begin anew with a different design/outlook/vision?
Edit because I forgot: 4) What is your plan for a quick Delegate transition, considering that you are ~350 endorsements short for the seat?
 
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Interesting to see you running for delegate again, but as I'm sure you are aware, your transitions have historically been rather lengthy. Of course this isn't a negative per say, but in terms of regional security getting a successful transition done asap is in our best interest so how would you accomplish this when we no longer have as many WA's as we used to (bonus question to how you would increase our TNP WA presence)
 
Your last tilt at the delegacy - and I'm aware we likely disagree on certain events that ocurred during that time - was a summer term where TNP experienced the worst activity drain in its entire history fatally undermined the ability of your government to get things done. This tilt at the delegacy is for a summer term where technical changes to the game mean that TNP gets less people than ever and its entirely possible will experience an activity drain of similar seriousness.

Are you aware of the phrase "La folie, c'est faire la même chose encore et encore et s'attendre à des résultats différents."?
History has a funny way of repeating itself, doesn't it? I'm familiar with the phrase that you quoted, yes, but I prefer the quote "Un bleu est une leçon... et chaque leçon nous rend meilleurs."

Strong platform, I like it.
Thank you for that. I'm glad that you like it!

1) I see you have placed a lot of emphasis on recruitment in Home Affairs, but what is your vision for its other departments i.e. the mentorship program and resource review?
Continuing the ministry's review of resources is a great idea. When I was last Delegate, I made it a point to find several of our regional dispatches and detail the inaccuracies within each of them.

Dispatches are some of the first things that native nations see. They have to be presentable and maintained with the correct inforrmation, and they can't be allowed to decay. HA's staffers help prevent this and I thank them for that. We will continue with the resource review department as it exists in the status quo and I do see the benefit of keeping up the mentorship program as well.

As you said, a lot of emphasis is being placed on HA's role in recruiting. But that doesn't mean that any of its other departments aren't valuable or will be going away any time soon.

2) Are you planning to expand TNP's diplomatic network by opening new embassies or forming new alliances if elected? Having more allies and partners can be beneficial for further cultural exchanges and potential military cooperation.
I agree with you in the sense that I think having more allies and partners can be beneficial. Even so, I believe it to be of even greater importance that we only seek alliances/partnerships with regions that we can rely on and that are genuine friends to us.

By that, I mean, having embassies/partnerships/alliances for the sake of expanding our diplomatic network and for no other reason isn't something that I find useful. To be clear, I don't believe that you're actually suggesting we focus on the quantity of our friendships rather than the quality of them; but it's worth noting that not all partnerships are created equal, and some alliances will naturally work better than others.

We have to evaluate those types of things on a case-by-case basis, and I will confer regularly with my Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Relations to decide if it's appropriate if/when we need to. I don't mean to disappoint you, but, with that in mind, I can't tell you the names of regions that I'd like for us to work with in the future so easily. It's something that will take time and rightfully so.

3) What is your plan for The Northern Lights? Will you try to revive it, scrap it entirely, or begin anew with a different design/outlook/vision?
I definitely won't be scrapping it entirely. As I understand it, the current plan is to publish the next issue of TNL (issue XXXVI) in late-July. If I'm elected, that projected release date would fall in the middle of my term. I see no reason why we shouldn't continue to have this as one of our goals considering that writers have already signed up to author articles in this next edition and editors have already been assigned in the planning thread.

Likewise, a different design or a new look isn't required either. I've always been impressed with what we've been able to put out there and I think that you in particular, Picairn, have been doing an excellent job as the executive editor of TNS. If we do need anything design-related when it comes to TNL, I will call upon the design team to help give us the fresh outlook that we might need. Otherwise, I'd like to go ahead and aim for one release of TNL this term; and I'll work with ministry leadership to see that TNL remains a priority.

4) What is your plan for a quick Delegate transition, considering that you are ~350 endorsements short for the seat?
Interesting to see you running for delegate again, but as I'm sure you are aware, your transitions have historically been rather lengthy. Of course this isn't a negative per say, but in terms of regional security getting a successful transition done asap is in our best interest so how would you accomplish this when we no longer have as many WA's as we used to (bonus question to how you would increase our TNP WA presence)
The recent site downtime was unfortunate for a number of reasons. While any setbacks that I might've experienced pale in comparison to the losses that some could still face pending possible data loss, I must admit that I did lose valuable endotarting time over the 12 days that I was unable to login to my nation. Rest assured, however, that I am much better at endotarting now than I have been in the past.

I endotart on a daily basis -- sometimes multiple times per day -- and I use a combination of manual telegrams, stamps, and other incentives to encourage resident nations to return my endorsement(s). A very recent example of me taking the initiative to try and get my numbers up is the card raffle that I promoted via dispatch and on the RMB for all nations endorsing me. Each week, I would spin a wheel and give one nation who was endorsing me at the time of my drawing a free epic rarity card. The grand prize at the end was a valuable legendary card to be raffled off after most of the nations that I telegrammed and mentioned had an opportunity to see what I was doing and respond accordingly if they wanted to enter.

When the cards sections of the game are reactivated, I hope to resume this. In the meantime, though, I'm doing everything that I can to increase my endorsement count. Aside from the bread and butter of endotarting, you can expect me to try and come up with more creative solutions as I did with the card raffle. I'll also be working closely with the Vice Delegate and the Security Council to put together a strategy that keeps regional security interests in mind.

As for how I would increase TNP's WA presence, well, I certainly don't expect to be able to do it alone. While we can't directly affect the numbers that we have to work with, we can make sure that our presence is felt in regard to how we use those numbers. There will be the usual "Join the WA!", "Become a Keeper of the North!" messages on the RMB and in regional dispatches. But I would also like to continue doing the weekly World Assembly reports that Kasch has been pioneering for the last few months. It's like an endorsement alert from back when our old technology was still available, but better.

I will learn from him how he puts these together and I will use them to grow our numbers and bolster the efforts that I'm already making. Timely voting is a part of this too.
 
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Bump Hello again, everyone! I'm pleased to announce that there are two upcoming events this week for my campaign.

Firstly, I will be going live with NBS Radio on (time=1714865400) (your local time) for a town hall. During the broadcast, I'll speak on my plans for the future and answer any questions that our listeners might have. Then, on (time=1715031000), I'll be hosting an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on the RMB.

If you're able to show up for either of these events, then I'd surely be glad to see you all. Until then, thank you for your support!
 
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Apologies if I missed this, and if I did feel free to just call me stupid hehe.

What have you learned from your previous Delegacy? Any areas of strength that you hope to replicate/weaknesses you're confident you can fix?
 
I definitely appreciate all the work you've done towards endotarting thus far. One thing I discovered from running a cards WADP in TRR is that you should offer nations the option to claim one epic (or other rarity) card of their choice out a collection. That allows recipients to gain more value from their cards received and helps you to conserve cards which otherwise might go to idle endorsers who simply don't want them.

I wonder, do you have plans for tracking the success or failure of any particular recruitment program and making modifications on that basis?
 
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Apologies if I missed this, and if I did feel free to just call me stupid hehe.

What have you learned from your previous Delegacy? Any areas of strength that you hope to replicate/weaknesses you're confident you can fix?
Hi, Sanjurika! The question hasn't been asked yet, so thank you.

When I was last Delegate, I definitely underestimated how bad the summer lull can really be in this game. I didn't appreciate the warnings of others and I vastly overestimated how much I could do just by myself in trying to get my agenda crossed off. I didn't pace myself well and the summer months lent themselves to feelings of coasting at times. Each term is a marathon, in a way, not a sprint. I sometimes feel these surges of activity where I want to do everything at once and what that results in is me feeling overwhelmed and shutting down for a few days at a time.

I think that's a relatively normal feeling, but I definitely could've done a better job at managing it and rising to the occassion in spite of that. Then again, it's a lot easier to motivate yourself whenever you're going into things with the understanding that your home could be attacked at any update, any day and it's up to you and your team to stand strong. War has a way of simplifying things to some extent, and I think that element was missing from my 2019 tenure. I spent a lot of time and energy just getting into the seat after a hard-fought election battle. I found some strengths in myself during that time, certainly, but it wasn't always going to be that way.

Weaknesses in myself that I think I can fix include pacing and a greater sense of accountability. If I'm the next Delegate, then the region will need me around doing what I do best for a whole term. We can't afford to have two months or so worth of good leadership and then for us to coast by with the rest on the back of our previous work. There are some moments that I wish I wouldn't have let pass me by, but, at the same time, I'm a lot more focused on the here and now than I am interested in dwelling on past times.

I definitely appreciate all the work you've done towards endotarting thus far. One thing I discovered from running a cards WADP in TRR is that you should offer nations the option to claim one epic (or other rarity) card of their choice out a collection. That allows recipients to gain more value from their cards received and helps you to conserve cards which otherwise might go to idle endorsers who simply don't want them.

I wonder, do you have plans for tracking the success or failure of any particular recruitment program and making modifications on that basis?
Thank you, Borm! I appreciate the tip re:cards rewards.

But alas, my personal collection isn't exactly what anyone would call extensive. I myself am not a cards player, although I do have access to gifting higher rarity cards via the NPA Cards Limited nation. For the record though, the cards that I used for my raffle were from my own nation's collection. I don't think that it would be right of me to use cards from other people's nations, at least not without being the Delegate first and not without talking to 9003, among others, about using the cards that they've farmed for regional programs.

For that reason, I elected to use my own, much smaller collection since any endorsements gained from the raffle would've been for my benefit. If I were elected as Delegate, however, a case could be made for why increasing my nation's endorsement count is in the region's best interest. At that point, I'd be inclined to take your advice and give winners the option of picking from a larger collection. But, as things stand, I hope it makes sense why I didn't do that.

Now, as for your question, I'm happy to say that there are a few ways in which we can track the success of particular recruitment programs. With our latest manual recruitment bot, for example, Sil included a "report" button that produces a list of all manual recruiters and how many nations they've sent telegrams to between x and y date. That's how I got the figure for over 5,100 nations when claiming how many people I've sent messages out to since mid-March.

In March, I was TNP's number one recruiter. At the time of writing this, I'm still #1 in the region with 5,258 nations messaged since the recruitment bot went online in February. We can track the progress of both individual recruiters and of the cumulative number of nations reached with our messages that way, but we can also make modifications on the basis of those numbers like we had to do whenever Comfed and Sil discovered that the ""Previous Recruitment Too Recent" error message was conflicting with API recruitment and was thus hurting our effectiveness. So, the metrics our available to support us in our decisions regarding recruitment, and it's with that in mind that I'm confident that we can assess future successes and failures.
 
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Do you have any plans regarding FA outreach to Frontier Regions?
Not specifically, no, although I have thought about having us make further investments into our relationships with them.

As it stands, we're already on good terms and/or allied with a lot of the most populous frontier regions (e.g. Europeia, Concord, Carcassonne, and The Wellsping). Additionally, as a consequence of their treaty with Sparkalia, it's clear that we're not going to be looking to build friendly relations with Sophia anytime soon. There's also Vibonia, which is led by a handful of North Pacifican citizens and has a forum embassy with us. In the past, we've assisted in the defense/liberations of Far East Oriental Federation and UEPU, just to name a few.

So, while I don't doubt that it could happen, I think there would need to be a reason for it to happen beyond us just doing outreach for outreach's sake. As I mentioned, our ties to some of the biggest frontier regions in the game are well documented. Really, I'd say that anyone who aims to stand against the aggressions of regions like BoM, TCB, and co. is a friend to the North at this time. If a region has similar values to us and is interested in a relationship with our region then naturally, we can decide how to proceed with that on a case-by-case basis. I will work with my Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Relations to determine that if and when the time comes.

Thank you for the question!
 
How do you come to improve TNP and Decrease rule breaking nations when you become Delegate?


sorry @Robespierre for the annoyment
 
sorry @Robespierre for the annoyment
No need to apologize.

How do you come to improve TNP and Decrease rule breaking nations when you become Delegate?
My entire campaign talks about how I will come to improve TNP, but some of the highlights include pursuing the war effort forward, asserting ourselves on the world stage, and bringing in new nations to our community via recruitment. We also have events to look forward to like the fourth WA symposium and festivals with friends. I'll also be fairly transparent with my implementation of biweekly war reports. That should help keep citizens in the loop and ensure that the government is being accountable to the public.

As far as decreasing rule breaking goes, that's something I have no control over. If a nation breaks the rules, they'll be punished in accordance with our RMB guidelines and, potentially, the legal code. I can commit to being around to perform gameside banjections when needed, if that's what you're asking, but the Delegate isn't responsible for rule breakers and decreasing the number of offenses. I can only help to enforce our standards.
 
I'm pleased to see your plans as regards the North Pacific Army. I know that you understand the NPA and its needs very well, and you have indeed reflected that in your platform. What I would ask, that your platform doesn't necessarily address, is what do you consider to be the priority in terms of operations? Obviously the opportunities that pop up over a given term are unpredictable, but how would you place different types of operations (liberations, allied holds, offensive operations against our enemies) in terms of importance?
 
I'm pleased to see your plans as regards the North Pacific Army. I know that you understand the NPA and its needs very well, and you have indeed reflected that in your platform. What I would ask, that your platform doesn't necessarily address, is what do you consider to be the priority in terms of operations? Obviously the opportunities that pop up over a given term are unpredictable, but how would you place different types of operations (liberations, allied holds, offensive operations against our enemies) in terms of importance?
Hm... That's an interesting question.

I think that the types of operations that we do are all important for different reasons. Rather than one being so especially important that it supersedes the others, I'd say that a healthy mix is preferable for a few different reasons. For example, I think that allied holds are important because they help demonstrate our commitment to standing alongside our allies. Regions will likely feel a lot better about working with us if they know that we're ready and waiting to cooperate with them. If we're seen as a reliable partner who can readily offer support to others in their operations when we're called upon, then our value as an ally increases in the eyes of those who we work with.

This is, of course, not to mention that whatever operations they're doing are probably to our benefit anyhow. We're not a piling/supporter region by any stretch, but usually allied hold operations involve someone coming to us and requesting our support more specifically. In saying that we're not a piler/supporter region, I don't mean to say that we're incapable of being that. I'm merely saying that assisting in the operations of others isn't our primary purpose. We have our own operations that we'd like to carry out, and that includes ones of the offensive variety against our enemy.

We've been forced on the defensive for the most part since the war began, but even then, we've still suffered some losses. Gaining new momentum requires us to adopt an even more aggressive attitude and go on the offensive with the support of our friends and partners. For that reason, I suppose I'd rank the different operation types in terms of importance as being something like:

1. Offensive operations against our enemies
2. Allied holds
3. Liberations
4. (De)tag raids
5. Anything else you can think of

What is your favorite color?
Not that I can see it on account of my colorblindness, but I'll say crimson red. Or maybe black, perhaps. I wear a lot of black and dark gray clothing IRL, so it seems like a safe bet for being my "favorite".
 
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Hm... That's an interesting question.

I think that the types of operations that we do are all important for different reasons. Rather than one being so especially important that it supersedes the others, I'd say that a healthy mix is preferable for a few different reasons. For example, I think that allied holds are important because they help demonstrate our commitment to standing alongside our allies. Regions will likely feel a lot better about working with us if they know that we're ready and waiting to cooperate with them. If we're seen as a reliable partner who can readily offer support to others in their operations when we're called upon, then our value as an ally increases in the eyes of those who we work with.

This is, of course, not to mention that whatever operations they're doing are probably to our benefit anyhow. We're not a piling/supporter region by any stretch, but usually allied hold operations involve someone coming to us and requesting our support more specifically. In saying that we're not a piler/supporter region, I don't mean to say that we're incapable of being that. I'm merely saying that assisting in the operations of others isn't our primary purpose. We have our own operations that we'd like to carry out, and that includes ones of the offensive variety against our enemy.

We've been forced on the defensive for the most part since the war began, but even then, we've still suffered some losses. Gaining new momentum requires us to adopt an even more aggressive attitude and go on the offensive with the support of our friends and partners. For that reason, I suppose I'd rank the different operation types in terms of importance as being something like:

1. Offensive operations against our enemies
2. Allied holds
3. Liberations
4. (De)tag raids
5. Anything else you can think of


Not that I can see it on account of my colorblindness, but I'll say crimson red. Or maybe black, perhaps. I wear a lot of black and dark gray clothing IRL, so it seems like a safe bet for being my "favorite".
Thank you, Robespierre.
 
Are there any unmentioned benefits for the NPA and/or the general populace of the North Pacific?
The way I see it, joining the NPA and getting involved with the raiding and defending part of the game is a good way to expand your horizons when playing NS. Just like with cards, roleplay, issues authoring, WA resolutions writing, and RMB posting, there really is something for everyone and one of the benefits to being here in TNP is that we have so many talented people around who have expertise in all aspects of this game.

Personally, I think that we sometimes undersell the comraderie aspect of being in the NPA. In my experience, I've been able to make friends and get to know a lot of people from other regions as a direct result of my activity in gameplay. It's a way to get involved and put yourself out there, sure, but it's also a good way to serve the community if you're not sure what else to do or if you're not interested in any of the other aforementioned parts of the game.

We have North Pacificans who've written dozens of resolutions in the GA. We have North Pacificans who've been creating wonderful stories for years in TNP roleplay. We have a Delegate right now who's also a member of site staff as an issues editor. We have people in the NPA with storied histories in gameplay who've really been there and done it several hundred times over.

If I had to sell someone on joining TNP, these are the benefits that I would mention. I really do believe that this is the place to be no matter what you like to do and how you best enjoy playing the game. Thank you for your question!
 
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1. Offensive operations against our enemies
2. Allied holds
3. Liberations
4. (De)tag raids
5. Anything else you can think of
Are you counting "offensive operations against our enemies" as separate from liberations altogether?

Considering BoM and others are primarily raiders regions, liberating their holds would, in my opinion, be the primary way of combating those regions, and not opportunities, like say, Solidarity, that come up once in a blue moon, unless you plan on raiding WZT every update.

That is, if you're counting offensive operatations as separate to liberations against BoM holds.
 
Are you counting "offensive operations against our enemies" as separate from liberations altogether?
I would categorize liberations/siege attempts as being counter-offensive operations more so than outright offensive operations. It's semantics, really, and I can appreciate why you'd want to ask for clarification on this point.

Of course, you are correct in saying that liberating their holds is a way of combatting those regions. Whenever I think of liberations/sieges as being counter-offensives, it's mostly because I see raider regions invading as the initial offensive action and then us attempting to liberate regions from raider control as a response to that offensive (hence it being a counter-offensive). I agree that Solidarity was a special opportunity for us and I don't think that something like that is likely to come up again in the near future. I also don't plan on raiding WZT every update, as that would get old very quickly and be very impractical for our overall war strategy.

Thank you for the question and let me know if you'd like me to expand on anything else a bit more.
 
Apologies if you've already provided an answer to this question.

In your campaign, you are quite adamant about how Culture could do more. I myself am always quite interested because that's the primary feedback I receive all the time. How do you plan to achieve this though?
Do you plan to leave the revitalisation to your Minister, or will you lead it yourself?
Culture is critically understaffed, in fact it is the smallest Ministry still operational, so do you actually have a plan to try and bring it back to life?
 
In your campaign, you are quite adamant about how Culture could do more. I myself am always quite interested because that's the primary feedback I receive all the time. How do you plan to achieve this though? Do you plan to leave the revitalisation to your Minister, or will you lead it yourself? Culture is critically understaffed, in fact it is the smallest Ministry still operational, so do you actually have a plan to try and bring it back to life?
Hi there, Nutmeg. Thank you for your questions!

What I'm aiming for requires me to be present and involved with what my ministers are doing. While I won't micromanage them in an overbearing way, as I've said, I also won't leave them to fend for themselves and face the challenge of revitalizing entire areas of the government on their own. I'm aware that culture's staff is rather small at the moment, which is why I will be a part of many of the preparations made for the events that I would like us to put together. Objectives like building a stronger offsite community and hosting festivals with friends are likely to require my involvement much more than something like making a regional playlist will.

In my opinion, culture works best when those who are active there get together and use their creativity to come up with ideas. I'll only ever be able to offer my own ideas as to what we should do, and that might differ from the ideas of others. A diversity of thought and perspective is especially valuable in culture, I'd say, which is why I think that taking a hands-on approach even with culture's activities is the way to go.

We can recruit for the ministry just as we do with every other ministry, but those efforts won't be effective unless there's actually something being offered that attracts people and that's genuinely engaging/fun. I will have a hand in planning events and hosting activities, yes. Some of the smaller, more routine events (e.g. music Monday, theme Thursday, etc.), however, will be left to the ministry's leadership team to manage.

If I'm elected, my minister of culture will have my support as Delegate, as well as the support of their fellow cabinet ministers. I will make sure of that.
 
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Hi again!

I'm pleased to announce that a recording of the town hall episode that I did yesterday with NBS Radio has been uploaded to YouTube and Spotify. In case you missed the show or were otherwise unable to tune in, please consider checking it out if you're interested in hearing more about my campaign and want to hear my responses to some audience questions.

You can find the recording on NBS's YouTube channel here.

You can listen on Spotify
here.

Once again, I appreciate your continued support!
 
The way I see it, joining the NPA and getting involved with the raiding and defending part of the game is a good way to expand your horizons when playing NS. Just like with cards, roleplay, issues authoring, WA resolutions writing, and RMB posting, there really is something for everyone and one of the benefits to being here in TNP is that we have so many talented people around who have expertise in all aspects of this game.

Personally, I think that we sometimes undersell the comraderie aspect of being in the NPA. In my experience, I've been able to make friends and get to know a lot of people from other regions as a direct result of my activity in gameplay. It's a way to get involved and put yourself out there, sure, but it's also a good way to serve the community if you're not sure what else to do or if you're not interested in any of the other aforementioned parts of the game.

We have North Pacificans who've written dozens of resolutions in the GA. We have North Pacificans who've been creating wonderful stories for years in TNP roleplay. We have a Delegate right now who's also a member of site staff as an issues editor. We have people in the NPA with storied histories in gameplay who've really been there and done it several hundred times over.

If I had to sell someone on joining TNP, these are the benefits that I would mention. I really do believe that this is the place to be no matter what you like to do and how you best enjoy playing the game. Thank you for your question!
Thanks Robespierre
 
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