Once again, here are the highlights, or my best effort to cover their time in office, for the delegates in the current elimination round.
Pre-Constitutional Era
Magicality: April 23-June 18, 2004 (56 days)
The 20th delegate, and the one who presided over the debate and vote approving the original constitution as authored by Blackshear. Sadly, she was not able to see it through, as she fell ill, ultimately having to retire from NationStates, before she was able to sign the finished product. The fact this constitution was not signed provided significant cover for the Great Bight coup that would soon follow.
Second Constitutional Era
Chodean Kal (Dalimbar): February 19-August 19, 2007 (181 days); January 19-March 17, 2011 (57 days)
The 6th and 17th delegate, but under very different circumstances. While Dalimbar would not go rogue until July 15, the intent for the rogue delegacy was long in the making. Emperor Matthuis’s accidental delegacy, while a possible opportunity for a straightforward coup, was more useful as an election manipulation tactic, given he had a slight edge over Dalimbar prior to that election’s runoff. The push into the delegacy allowed Dalimbar to cast suspicion on him, and render a much clearer result in his favor in the runoff. This suited the purposes of the various forces backing him for an eventual coup - the NPO, which had already been in talks with him and loosely talking through possible post-coup actions; and The Lexicon, in the form of their agents Limitless Events and Eluvatar, who were unaware of the other forces working with Dalimbar but hoped to turn over TNP’s poor system of governance by backing a Dalimbar coup. The poor state of TNP’s governance was very much on Dalimbar’s mind, as he chafed under the setup where the delegate was ceremonial and the real leading came from the prime minister. Nevertheless, Dalimbar did what he could to make better use of the office, starting early with the establishment of the Adjutant Corps, which was effectively a proto-WA ministry that organized the UN voting thread for the delegate, delivered information to help voters cast their own votes, and encourage and expand UN membership among the region. This initially caused conflict with the prime minister at the time, Grosseschnauzer, who felt this non-government body being established was beyond the scope of the delegate’s powers. They ultimately compromised by merging the group with the prime minister’s regional task force, so that the prime minister could appoint him as an individual leader of the task force without it being part of his duties as delegate.
Dalimbar also made a few reports of the relative endorsement levels of the top endorsed players in the game at the time, which is how we know as of April 15 that year that he had 331 endorsements and the most in the world, with TSP’s Fudgetopia coming in a close second at 321, TWP’s Shasoria at 264, TEP’s Gnidrah at 252, and NPO’s Moo-cows with guns at 203, once again the lowest of the feeders. There was a contest for WFE entries. But of course most of the action belonged to the prime minister’s office. Grosseschnauzer’s second term in office coincided with Dalimbar’s delegacy, and by this point he had already launched TNP’s university and ministry reorganization committees, which provided their reports and gave him a blueprint to work with in the new term. Diplomatically during this period, TNP refused to open relations with Imperial Equilism, following Flemingovia’s lead, and instituted additional changes in the region to combat The Lexicon including what some considered to be draconian new rules for oaths taken for RA membership. Talks to restart the United Democratic Pacifics failed due to TSP’s lack of interest and led to the feeder summit’s ultimate failure, though TWP drafted a treaty with TNP. The prime minister ended his term concerned with a scandal brought about by the NPIA, where it was discovered and then confirmed by the NPIA that an agent had infiltrated and interfered with the NPO, causing TNP’s government to be under fire and the next administration to have to handle the fallout. Within TNP, the government also contended with The Northern Wolves, an effort by Scardino and Blue Wolf of Lone Wolves United to operate a chapter of their organization from out of TNP. Dalimbar made a point of speaking out in cabinet, threatening to ban Blue Wolf for the scheme, before being talked down by the others.
While Dalimbar continued to be delegate after being re-elected unopposed and worked alongside the new prime minister Upper Kirby, the government’s initiatives were largely sidelined or failed to come to fruition. It was also taxed with the NPO scandal which dragged on through the summer, and then they had to express disappointment over rogue Taijitu players who worked with DEN to invade TRR. Through it all, Dalimbar was unable to do much constructively and had to watch as the government fumbled and struggled, ultimately leading to his decision to announce that he was no longer recognizing the government and a few days later would set up an alternative since the current regional powers refused to discuss options with him. The government was largely paralyzed, and slow to respond, eventually causing elections to be delayed. A cabinet statement was released by Haor Chall, but the prime minister was nowhere to be seen. It would later be discovered that Upper Kirby was in fact another account for Great Bight, perhaps indicating that the slow response was intentional, one rogue delegate giving an assist to the new rogue delegate. International opinion was largely of the mind that TNP should work with Dalimbar on his concerns, because TNP’s situation was not good and the split roles of head of state and government were causing TNP’s most prominent leader in the world to be unable to do much of anything and render the region largely irrelevant in the wider game world. TWP offered to mediate the talks while the NPO gloated.
As events ramped up, Dalimbar maintained an open door, even sending Gatesville’s forces away when they arrived to support him. He turned his attention to more aggressive RMB moderation and one strike policies for spamming or disruptive posting, which could be enforced with immediate ejection and even banning. This proved not to be a pretense for mass ejections, however, as Dalimbar very deliberately kept his powder dry until the very end of the coup, when about a dozen nations endorsing Emperor Matthuis were banjected. Dalimbar blamed this on a hacker, but when resigning UN membership days later he would eject Emperor Matthuis. Right at the end, recognizing the strife that occurred, Dalimbar maintained that the rogue delegacy was intended to be a wake up call and a chance for the region to get a better constitution, and he expressed faith Great Bights Mum would be the one to pull it off.
Given that history, then, it is impressive that he would go on to be elected delegate again years later, in an election where he not only defeated Flemingovia, but did so arguing for more structure and a working legal system, and not the anarchy Flemingovia had won his election promising. He looked into the possibility of doing some sort of radio show, years before that would become a regular feature in TNP output, and he laid the groundwork for the Equilism treaty. But once again Dalimbar found himself pushing for more drastic change, this time yet another constitutional convention. His delegacy this time was plagued with real life issues and inconsistent ministers who didn’t pick up the slack. The appetite for something new, but ordered, was apparent, and he began the steps that would ultimately lead to the overhaul a year later, but sadly had to resign before that work could go anywhere under his watch.
The Tresville Element (Tresville): October 21, 2008-February 22, 2009 (124 days)
The 11th delegate, and the first to lose re-election when sought. This loss came about due to a prolonged period of inactivity in his last term, something he evidently had a reputation for going back to his time as the first prime minister. Tresville had been around for a long time, back in the Pixiedance days, where he was part of the pro-independence faction in TNP, the one that did not want to continue to be tied up with the ADN. Nevertheless, he cooperated with the North Pacific Confederation and administered the temporary forum where the constitutional convention was held. Despite his doubts given Tresville’s activity in the past, Flemingovia served in his government and found much to love, until he had to challenge the failings at the end and ultimately run against and defeat him (though of course, Flemingovia soon found himself having his own activity issues against his will, as previously mentioned).
Tresville’s election came with controversy, as it was discovered post-certification that he had not technically been eligible to serve as delegate, forcing him to delegate the government responsibilities to the outgoing administration while he sorted out his legal situation. In the end the Court could not render a verdict due to two of the justices recusing themselves, sending the matter back to the RA, where he was ultimately confirmed to be delegate in a re-vote in the RA with a greater number of votes than the original election. This ultimately cost him the first few weeks of his term, a troublesome thing as he had inherited a war with The Empire that began at the tail end of his predecessor’s term. Though he hoped to find a peaceful resolution, The Empire’s terms were simply that TNP surrender and join it. He also hoped to avoid recognizing TEP’s Empire-controlled government, though it increasingly became a matter he would have to put to the RA. Tresville spent those early days focused on expanding the role of the NPA, including enlisting it in combatting spam on the RMB, and reorganizing the forums. The results were uneven, and more alarming, a general decline in NS activity made endotarting more crucial than ever. Toward the end of his term, his endorsements fell below 200, when known dangerous elements like Shoeless Joe and Byakhee picked up their endotarting at the same time. Emblematic of his activity and timing issues, Tresville was not able to post his platform for re-election until after the campaigning period ended. He lost in the biggest landslide any incumbent delegate has lost by.
Grosseschnauzer: September 28, 2011-January 31, 2012 (125 days)
The 19th delegate, and probably one of the most polarizing figures in TNP history. By the time he became delegate, he was a veteran of pretty much every era of the region’s life, and was the champion of the constitution that continued to be under fire and blamed for the pervasive issues TNP faced in recent years. His were the wordiest, most legalistic and bureaucratic documents and court decisions, and a great source of headache. His two terms as prime minister were previously relayed as they coincided with Dalimbar’s delegacy. His own term as delegate, strangely, seems to have left no record to speak of. It was noted that the transition from Blackshear to Grosseschnauzer was one of the quickest in history, but the meticulous planner and organizer and good government guy left no records for me to comb over other than periodic appointments to offices he referred to as delegates instead of ministers, and he evidently appointed the deputies as well. At one point he appears to have taken ill and taken offense at being called out for a relatively quiet term as a result, but ultimately his term was like the others in these years, evidenced by his narrow 1 vote election which he won 5-4 against his eventual vice delegate. I don't want to suggest Grosseschnauzer was ill-equipped for the job or not an important and positive figure in the region - after this delegacy he would go on to serve again as Speaker and provide the kind of input and talent he was best at - but the region would eventually outgrow the kind of habits and way of engaging that he seemed to thrive in. Regional activity included a lot of apologies and targeted recall efforts against officials for perceived slights or petty reasons. When TNPers from back then think of this time, it was probably these later days that they most remember as the legalistic fights became something of a passtime. The wheels had been coming off the bus for a long time, and it’s no surprise the constitution received its overhaul shortly after this period.
The Democratic Republic of Tomb (Tomb): March 31-May 13, 2015 (43 days)
The 27th delegate, coincidentally elected on his first anniversary playing the game. Tomb is known for being one of the most charismatic and likable delegates, but also one of the most controversial ones. Over the years several key players have called out his propensity for making big, bold promises but failing to deliver on them, and for being rather sneaky and duplicitous as a player. His knack for going big and bold started almost immediately after he took office, when the recent coup in Lazarus inspired a treaty to be written with its government-in-exile, prior to its successful liberation; and when he also pursued a broad treaty bringing together the GCR regions, which predictably failed due to the vast differences and multiple grudges that existed between them. His ratification of the treaty with Taijitu fared better. Tomb really ran into trouble when he touched a third rail in TNP politics: roleplay. The roleplay community was up in arms over what they perceived as an attempt to control it and fold it firmly under the government’s purview, mishandling it in the process. Tomb sought to promote subgroups of the roleplay community that had fallen out of favor, and reversed his culture minister’s initial attempts to broaden access to it even under culture by doing away with executive staff there; Tomb insisted on continuing to have executive staff membership, which was seen as a way to potentially exclude people from roleplay.
This issue did complicate his campaign for re-election somewhat, but the real trouble came later, when he was taken to court for violating Flemingovia’s rights as granted by the Bill of Rights. Tomb conditioned Eluvatar accepting Flemingovia’s application to join the NPA on his agreement to cease his critical posts and snark toward the military for its increasingly raider tendencies. Flemingovia refused. In the RA, Cormac initiated a recall vote against Tomb and Eluvatar, limiting it to Tomb once his new cabinet was announced and Eluvatar was removed. The trial would continue for about a month, a spectacle deserving its own summary somewhere else, but it mattered little as a scant few days after being re-elected, Tomb resigned. He would return again and serve in a few different capacities, even run for delegate again, but this past would follow him, and his usual tricks would get him in trouble again, causing him to lose a race he should have won. That was the last time he was active in TNP, though he would get himself into trouble elsewhere in the years ahead.
Kranostav (Tlomz): November 3, 2020-January 22, 2021 (79 days)
The 39th delegate, and the third incumbent to lose re-election. Tlomz was probably someone who fit the traditional "it was his turn" model of people to serve as delegate, as he emerged as the most reasonable option in a field defined at least as much by who could mount a challenge against perennial gadfly Praetor, but not by much, given his win was not clinched until the fourth round of voting, the only election to date that had to go that far, and at the time the closest election in years. Events outside of TNP began to heat up again, but nothing too dramatic. Tlomz scored an early win with expanding the cards guild to a ministry, but without the steady hand of its only guildmaster to date, Praetor, who opted out of doing the job again. As a long-time WA minister, Tlomz devoted a lot of energy to developing TNP authors and using TNP's resources to promote and boost the success of the resolutions that TNP preferred. What would eventually become the Heroes of Valhalla program had its roots in the author feedback and craftsmanship that his WA programs encouraged. Although the military would prove to be his Achilles' heel, Tlomz did manage to establish an agreement with The Black Hawks (TBH) to prevent their quorum raiding of TNP and allied authors, as part of a thawing of relations that would see TNP once again work with TBH in joint operations, until the next time they forced TNP to cease working with them. Less optimally, he could not prevent Ten Thousand Islands (XKI) from closing its embassy with TNP over a disagreement with the content of TNP publications highlighting raids. And he was bogged down with trying to release private executive communications under the FoIA requirements; while he did release those records, the only delegate to successfully do so, and in such great numbers, it was not worth the struggle that sapped his attention and energy. He also had to continue lingering university controversy, and suffered an R4R from his own minister regarding a raid of NationStates, which led to an infamous court decision that claimed the NPA could not conduct joint raiding operations. In general, the NPA was a step away from revolt, having been displeased with his choice for Minister of Defense but even more displeased with Tlomz's aggressive response to handling their borderline insubordination. When his cabinet members and soldiers began to talk among themselves and whisper their concerns and critiques, and communication between his own cabinet and himself broke down, the prospects of a successful return to the delegacy began to dim. Tlomz insisted on sticking it out, despite his campaigning being limited by real life time constraints, but he stood no chance going against one of the most popular and well-regarded delegates in history, McMasterdonia.
Francois Isidore (Robespierre): June 12-October 17, 2021 (127 days)
The 41st delegate, and one of the few to have been elected straight from the speaker’s office. Of course, Robespierre had already served a partial term as vice delegate, which also made him one of the few delegates to have experience in all three elected roles. If McMasterdonia's win against Tlomz was a response to Tlomz's failings, Robespierre's win over Nimarya, seen as McMasterdonia's hand-picked successor, was seen as a response to the excesses and blind spots of McMasterdonia's final term. It was an even closer race than Tlomz's first election, and in no small part to questionable decisions made by Nimarya's campaign, including a possible pre-filled ballot strategy that backfired. Robespierre was quite popular with the same NPA cohort that had been in revolt since Tlomz, and had largely turned against McMasterdonia by the end of that term. He scored early points when he and his FA minister MadJack secured a quick and acceptable resolution with The South Pacific (TSP) over the quorum raiding dispute that raged for most of McMasterdonia's previous term, and as an avid NPAer and a beneficiary of a certain faction's dominance there, the NPA continued to have solid activity during the term. In response to disputed decisions by forum administration, a bill empowering the vice delegate to reject fascists for citizenship was signed and successfully upheld by the court. Citizenship laws were also changed to allow for high-performing residents to serve in government, a change meant to benefit Boston Castle (later known as Hulldom) and allow him to serve as the WA minister. And with MadJack as his FA minister, Robespierre effectively set up two future delegates in his cabinet. Home Affairs had some promising new talent and set new records in outreach to the region, though it is unclear how many of those good statistics translated into a wider playerbase. Radio output increased as well, playing into a new kind of activity on the Discord that had accelerated in the months leading up to his delegacy and continuing through the summer, regular voice chats with a consistent crew of players. It all seemed to begin unraveling by the end, however. An early sign of this was when Robespierre failed to provide the traditional delegate message in the Democracy Day pocket constitution. That was his biggest issue in general: rather than rage or pick fights, if Robespierre was at odds with someone or an idea, he would withdraw and take no action. Given McMasterdonia's criticism in his last term was the lack of consistent engagement, Robespierre's decision to check out entirely, and shrug off the patchy activity as an inevitable aspect of the "summer lull," was a significant misstep and let down the people who hoped for something different. It showed a limit to how far he was willing to go or push himself, and the confidence in him began to wane. After losing one of his advisors in large part because of this, he was faced with the prospect of being challenged for delegate by MadJack. Rather than step up his game and take it on, he chose to bow out and let the inevitable happen.
Gorundu: April 10-August 12, 2023 (123 days)
The 45th delegate, the first vice delegate to serve as acting delegate in nearly 8 years, and the first to serve for the duration of the term without a special election. His ascension to the role was beyond unexpected, given the delegate who preceded him was known for his extensive gameplay network and connections and was expected to remain a significant player, and his own electoral prospects had never been great. But it was scandal and shame that brought him to office, forcing him to immediately deal with the fallout of Hulldom’s embarrassing playing of two opposing ideological sides, and the fact TNP had been successfully strong armed by the same defenders it needed to work with to oppose continued aggression from the Brotherhood of Malice.
The extortion employed against Hulldom was largely perpetrated by TSP’s FA minister, causing TNP’s treaty with them to be questioned. Gorundu rallied the region and successfully made the case for keeping the alliance despite deep skepticism. Due to his perceived strong response to what happened, as well as his successful salvaging of the treaty, he was enormously successful in the election that followed. In the run up to that election, NS finally dropped the Frontiers and Strongholds update, and TNP worked out how to best respond, advancing a very comprehensive change of all legal documents to reflect the new reality. While he did not stand in the way of this change, he did emphasize TNP would focus more on recruiting and less and obtaining additional territory. That preference was tested when an opportunity arose for any region to claim the first frontier of the game, established by a disgraced player. The NPA were the ones to go in and claim The Wellspring, and while that initial buzz boosted Gorundu’s popularity further, it also presented a challenge he was never interested in tackling, which would impact the development and culture of that region in the weeks and months to come.
The bright future ahead began to dim almost immediately when TSP’s prime minister made the unfortunate choice to put the former FA minister who had extorted TNP back into TSP’s government, albeit in a purely domestic role. Considering the bet Gorundu had made was that TSP would be watched closely and on its last chance as a way to appease those who wanted some kind of justice, this was now seen as the last straw and a sign that TSP has been insincere about making up for what happened. The treaty was terminated and relations between the regions soured to the worst extent they had in years, even worse than the events two years prior. The technical infrastructure that r3n had always maintained as needed from behind the scenes finally completely collapsed, with his mysterious hand no longer guiding things at all and the region left to salvage what it could and replace what it had to, at precisely the worst possible time for this to happen. Much more damaging, however, was how he handled a diplomatic incident concerning one of his advisors. MadJack was also a citizen of TRR and in a private citizens area on their forum expressed views that were unflattering toward TNP’s ally Europeia. The remarks got back to Europeia, whose president requested clarification from TNP as to its stance on Europeia’s recent decision to become defender-aligned. While the government deliberated on informing TRR of the leak, it also contended with having to repeat its assurances to Europeia and discipline MadJack in a way that Europeia would appreciate. Gorundu did what he always did, took little too long to make a decision, and consequently MadJack lost all faith in him, leaking the matter to the public and resigning from all his roles. The attempt to prosecute MadJack for espionage that followed led to yet another farcical trial where ultimately a plea would be negotiated to end the charade.
Gorundu also had a trip that summer and made the unfortunate choice to declare an absence and then declare he could resume his duties four days later, out of a need to prevent the vice delegate from taking action that Gorundu wanted to take upon his return, and to avoid being outshined too badly, as he already received criticism for the acting delegate announcing the dissolution of the cards ministry, and he did not want the acting delegate to also deliver his midterm address. Because he was not done with his trip, which would end up taking three weeks, his general absence and lack of activity was even more apparent than it might otherwise have been. Tired of the lack of direction and response, most of his cabinet resigned their positions, forcing him to appoint himself the FA minister and raising the prospect in the RA that he may need to be recalled from office. The recall proceeded with the narrowest margin in favor, until Gorundu cast his vote against and guaranteed its failure. Several outraged citizens immediately began a second recall motion, which Gorundu decided not to fight, resigning the delegacy before the second motion could succeed.
