Farewell Address
11 January 2025
I am retiring from TNP.
Four months ago, our region was in a bad shape. The Ministries suffered from activity problems, our foreign policy was a mess, and the Delegate had a penchant for scandals. Fortunately, he did not seek a second term and more competent candidates stood to replace him in the September elections.
At first, I was content to support Comfed for Delegate, having known his ability and worked with him for nearly a year. But his sudden withdrawal from the race came as a shock - to myself, and to many others. As the election featured only a single candidate whom I did not know well, and speculation mounted of who would step up and offer an alternative, a thought occured to me. I believed that I could present myself as a Delegate candidate owing to my activity and reformist views, despite my relative inexperience in politics.
And so I ran, and won. It was an exceptionally tough campaign against three candidates, one of which was a five-time former Delegate whose accomplishment and pedigree I could not match. Despite the enormous challenge, I fought to my best anyway, and - much to my own astonishment - triumphed. I was elected Delegate of The North Pacific, the highest honour one can achieve in this region, in just one year of involvement, against three candidates of great ability and lengthy achievements. On the night of the election victory, euphoria engulfed me, and I thought this heralded a new age for our region, and for myself as well.
Everything was good during the first month. We restarted activity in the Ministries and the army, and laid down important shifts in our FA and WA policy. But as with all good things, our momentum did not last. As time went on and staff activity declined, I faced a difficult choice. Taking into account the falling activity and morale in the government, as well as my own availability, I had to choose between prioritising public appearances and ignoring the Ministries and our foreign affairs, or working behind the scenes to ensure the lights were on and our foreign policy was safely guided through a firm hand. I chose the latter because I believed it was better for our region to be competently governed than publicly entertained at the expense of good governance.
And we did quite well on foreign policy, all things considered. We signed a new treaty with the AA, normalised relations with LWU, and cooperated more closely with our PPO allies. We opened relations with the new Sinkers, and welcomed Talonia into the MGC. The region witnessed a large expansion of our FA network under my administration.
It is a choice that I do not regret, but evidently you do not agree. You asked for a Delegate who could be both active in public and hard-working behind the scenes, who could take up Ministerial tasks, inspire our government and army, and still make time to handle complex FA matters and regional security issues. You have voted for a candidate who promised to be hands-on as much as possible, and from the looks of it, he will soon be elected. If he can be more active than I am, then it is only good for our region, and I wish him the best of luck on this endeavour.
I can not do that, not with the current shortage in manpower, not without compromising my health and sanity. Realising that I could not live up to your high expectations, and consumed by fatigue from the work, I lost my energy and willingness to campaign. I decided to let the election run its course without any additional DM campaigns, and retire if I lost.
And that possibility looks very much a reality at this point, so I am retiring from TNP. During the campaign trail, I received comments that suggest I bear some responsibility for the inactive state of the government and the NPA both as Delegate and Minister of Defense, which are not only deeply unfair, but also invoke unpleasant memories of days when I worked mostly alone and frustrated at the lack of active manpower to pursue ambitious projects. To toil endlessly and still be criticised for inactivity, that feels incredibly demoralising. Thus, I am going to another region, a new place with more excitement and less misery, to start over and regain that old inspiration that used to drive my activity so much.
I will remain here as a citizen, an NPA officer, and a member of the FA Committee, assisting if asked, but my activity will significantly decline over the next months. Once the Delegate transition is complete, I will let the wind take me to new horizons.
To the citizens who have supported my campaign and voted for me, thank you for your support. To my Ministers, thank you for working your hardest despite the difficult challenges of an ongoing decline in staff activity and morale. I feel sorry to desert all of you like this, but I have lost my motivation, and I need to rediscover it before I feel like I can actively participate again.
As my final act as Delegate, I hereby restore @Lord Dominator's rank to Lieutenant. His demotion for the unfortunate Kodiak raid was a decision that I agonised over, knowing his many contributions to the NPA, but now I can finally take corrective action by ending his punishment.
Farewell, my dear North Pacificans. Until we meet again. If you want to have a little chat, you know where to find me on Discord.
For one last time,
Delegate of The North Pacific
