Embassy of Equinox

Welcome to your embassy

Hello there, and welcome once again to the Equinox Monthly Telegraph, the monthly foreign dispatch for the region of Equinox!

It's election month in Equinox and, whilst you can find out the details below, suffice to say it's been one of the closest elections ever. Both the Senate and Cabinet positions were hotly contested. Rather than having this create discord through split opinions, I think it symbolises the strength and quality of the people in office now in the region. Everyone elected or appointed here has experience, dedication and skill, and I am confident that we will all have a stellar term.

It is with this in mind that I am pleased to use this opportunity to announce that Ferric Sun has accepted my invitation to continue as my Imperial Advisor. Hopefully her crystal ball will divulge many a secret this term!

Despite the winter break, we have seen continued activity in Equinox, giving positive indications for the new year. With the continued growth of the cultural department, including the resurrection of Equnoxian Role Play, with the popular "What If?" role play of Equinox Earth (which I urge everyone to join), the activity and general enjoyability of the region for its citizens should continue to increase, and I look forward to seeing where this leads.

I'll leave you now, and so finally I wish you a happy 2010 and enjoy the rest of the issue!



Every other issue of the EMT will (usually, unless something freaky-deeky happens) contain the results of the most recent election. Of course, this election was no different.

Minister of Culture
Our two candidates in the MoC election were two people who have never been in the seat; Island Union, and Griff. Two friends both in and out of NationStates, their relationship fuelled a rivalric election. The pleasant, funny yet occasionally "blonde" Island Union defeated the more serious but intelligent Griff in the election, 13-10.

[13] ISLAND UNION
[10] GRIFF
[3] ABSTAIN


Chief Justice
A slightly less interesting election, Scotchpinestan successfully won his third straight Chief Justice election, and uncontested this time. 24 votes were cast for him, 2 chose to abstain.

[24] SCOTCHPINESTAN
[2] ABSTAIN


Foreign Viceroy
Walking-Contradiction returned from her short-lived absence from NS to run in the Foreign Viceroy election. Originally, there was a highly anticipated dogfight between WC and the person that took her place when she left the FVR position mid-term; Sopo. However, Sopo withdrew to run for Chancellor, leaving WC to run against only Devestation. The election was a landslide.

[5] DEVESTATION
[19] WALKING-CONTRADICTION
[2] ABSTAIN


Chancellor
The Chancellor election immediately became interesting. Antracia was seen as the overwhelming favourite due to his successful and popular previous term; however, Joshua unretired, reformed the Axiom Guild and entered the election along with spam-lover Sopo and political dark horse Maria. Despite the lengthy campaign from the Sopo front, he was absolutely annihilated in the Primary.

[12] ANTRACIA
[7] JOSHUA
[2] MARIA
[3] SOPO
[2] ABSTAIN

In the Secondary, the votes tallied up for both Antracia and Joshua, going back and forth and exchanging leads until the last few votes arrived from pro-Antracia voters and Joshua lost.

[14] ANTRACIA
[10] JOSHUA
[0] ABSTAIN


Senate
This Senate election was alarmingly close. Ballot counters were unable to even remotely predict the outcome until a few hours before the end of the 24-hour election period. Newcomer Asianatic, never-been-in-Senates Hospitlar, Silmeria and Devestation, and returnee Atreidond provided an exciting election but it was Sopo, Aisli, Dyr Nasad and Aequitas-Veritas that came out victorious.

[12] AEQUITAS-VERITAS
[11] AISLI
[8] ASIANATIC
[8] ATREIDOND
[9] DEVESTATION
[12] DYR NASAD
[9] HOSPITLAR
[9] SILMERIA
[10] SOPO

23 people voted in this election, which ties an all-time high for the Senate election.


Our next victim of the Random Spotlight is none other than the random brilliance that is Hospitlar. Hosp is a fine and proud member of the Jethnea Guild and is known for his love of goats, spoons, and amazing silliness. Hosp recently got a bit of attention after being birthed by WC and Griff this month (much to my intense jealousy) and is now officially known as Hospitlar Clyde Cooper Capulet, aww! But those of you who are not in Jethnea might not know Hospy all that well and, therefore, do not yet fully appreciate how fun he is. Thankfully, he was willing to sit down for a nice little interview to provide you all with an opportunity of joining in on the Hosp love.

So, first things first, what is up with your love for spoons? Is there a specific reason for your almost aggressive obsession with spoons?

"I wouldn’t say obsessed, if you’re referring to me making sure the spoon thread stays on the first page. I couldn’t give you an answer, for I don’t have answer as for why. Maybe I just do it to sustain my sick kicks. Are you sure you mean spoons or for my thing with throwing goats?"

Well, I guess, really, the spoons and goats. How did the goats thing start?

"Now that's a story. It started way back in Canada, where a man name Pez said something about throwing goats, and I thought that's a rad thing to do when to celebrate some big event. Than afterward I created a political party in Canada called The People Who Throw Goats and Bagpipers Party. It just then carried on like that."

How long have you been playing NS? What got you into the game?

"Oh, that’s a good one. I’ve been play since February, 3rd 2008, so almost two years. What got me into the game was I was a poor college student. I used to play WOW but I got bored of it. I couldn’t afford it any more, so I needed something to do in my spare time, so I remembered NS when I played back in high school for a project. To sum it up, NS kept away the boredom and it was free, and free is always good."

What other regions, if any, are you involved in in NS? What do you do in those regions?

"I’m also in Canada, where I have served as their Minister of Foreign Affairs twice, deputy a bunch of times. I am also an ambassador for them, one of my appointments is here in Equinox. But pretty much what I do in Canada is what I do here, just be my regular every lovable blue-eyed self."

What's your favorite thing about Equinox?

"Hmmmm…I would have to say the wacky people here and the even more wacky Jethnea guild."

What made you decide to become Griff and WC's son and join the ever-growing Capulet family?

"This is an easy one because they were the first to ask, and WC is the cat’s ass."

Now that you're in an NS family, do you think you'll ever have an NS marriage as well?

"I don’t know. If it happens, it happens."

When was your first kiss? Tell me all about who, how, and what happened.

"Well ain’t you Miss Nosy Pants. It's both a sad and happy chapter of your old friend Hosp’s life. My first kiss was way back in my freshman year in college which would be about four and a half years ago. I won’t tell you who because it's of no concern, but I will tell you, she was my first girlfriend and love. It happened because she was heading back home from I think our third or second date and I asked her if I could kiss her goodbye and she said yes. So we did. Than we dated for little more than three years and she broke up with me like a day before my college graduation. We still hung out during the summer, but now she got this new boyfriend and now I’m just chopped liver to her. That’s the story of Hosp and his first kiss."

So, are you a dog or a cat person?

"I’m a dog person because cats are EVIL."

Where's the best place you've ever gone on vacation? When did you go?

"I don’t know so instead I’m gonna make up a place. I went to Goochland, the magic land of the Gooch. They eat honey and ride anteaters. I went yesterday."

And there you have it. Are you in love with Hosp yet?


So I decided to take one for the reporting team and accept the job of writing about the Senates activity and sorry for missing the last paper, I know you all missed my article.

Now with that spiel out of the way we can get down to that dirty business of the Senate. As always there was trouble setting the budget for the quarter, but eventually passed.

The first couple of resolutions were on the less serious side, as Speaker Aequitas-Veritas proposed Toga Tuesday, encouraging citizens to wear such garments, or ones like them, on Tuesdays. This was followed quickly by The Resolution of Feathered Hats, proposed by Nordlijnonia, which sought for the senate to buy and distribute these hats to the Equinoxian populace. Both of these passed.

Senator Morrenstien proposed an amendment to change how the Imperial Adviser is selected and its responsibilities. Whilst passing the Senate this, however, did not pass the guilds and so did not become law.

Money matters were also on the plate, as the Senators both established their salaries or the month, and allowed all agencies to continue working at 75% of the budget for two weeks each term, whilst the new budget was debated and voted on.

Finally Senators Nordlijnonia and Island Union sought to establish a resolution format resolution, which codified the proper way to write a resolution. This also passed.



Equinox, and you may hear us say this a lot, but bear with me, is undoubtedly one of the most active regions in NationStates. There's no function to measure active users or anything, but if you haven't visited the region then just believe me. If you have visited, then you'll know exactly what I'm on about. Equinox, especially for its size, is very active, and because of it, there are a lot of members.

All of these members undoubtedly contribute to Equinoxian society, but understandably some more than others. We (that is, the Cabinet), were searching for a way to recognise these members who make such an impact on our region yet, until now, were not recognised and thanked for their efforts.

After a short think, we came upon the idea of honorary titles. Not an original idea I know, but it is one that has scope for generally inflating the egos of those honoured. The age old "Lord", "Baron", "Knight" and such were not good enough for us though. Oh no. We had to put an Equinoxian slant on things, and so agreed upon the following criteria:

The King's Order of Equinox
Awarded to members of the region by the King, in consultation with the Cabinet.

Jedi Grand Master - Awarded for being generally awesome to an extent surpassing all other awards.
Hero of the Falconian Federation - Awarded for serving the region through either civil or military means to an extent surpassing all lower awards.
The Vicount/Viscountess of Poosh - Awarded for notable and/or generally excellent service to the region in an executive or judicial position.
The Right Honorable Medicea Sidera - Awarded for notable and/or generally excellent service to the region in a legislative position.
Assistant to the Flying Spaghetti Monster - Awarded for notable and/or generally excellent service to the region in a non-governmental position.
Representative of the Confederacy of Cheese - Awarded for making a notable and/or generally excellent contribution to Equinox through means of culture or another recreational endeavour not including spamming.
Novice of Brideshead - Awarded for making a notable and/or generally excellent service to the region through means of interpretive dance and/or spamming.
Clallachpeldassacrissalvac - Awarded for being Falc's bitch.

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Four people were awarded the first batch of titles, for the following reasons:

Scotchpinestan - Hero of the Falconian Federation for undying service to the Senate, as Chief Justice, WA Delegate, and abstaining from impregnating any women in the region despite possessing a disproportionately large... spoon.

Ferric Sun - Viscountess of Poosh for dedication to the Culture department and setting many precedents, for work as Imperial Advisor, and abstaining from being impregnated by any men in the region despite possessing a disproportionately large... libido.

Nordlijnonia - Right Honourable Medicea Sidera for service to the Senate, being Nord, and abstaining from ... wait nevermind, when you're that ugly, you don't have a choice in the matter.

Jahka - Clallachpeldassacrissalvac because he is straight up Falc's bitch. Just his luck, it was Falc's birthday when awarding this and, via Executive Order 008, he declared that all Clallachpeldassacrissalvacs must consume forty-two Falconias cockmeat sandwiches with extra mayo on Falc's birthday.

We congratulate the four inductees to the King's Order and thank them for their very special services to the region. The cabinet is now discussing the next inductees, so check back next month to see who was given the honour.


Arr! Merger off the port bow!

After months of unfortunately declining activity, Equinox's two strongest themed guilds; Sage and the Church of Equinox, finally decided to make an attempt at regeneration (not Doctor Who style, more city-centre style, but hopefully more successful).

The Sage guild was one of the first Equinoxian Guilds, being first established by Brynach in August 2008. It was themed around magic and the mystic arts, open to both wizards and witches to help them hone their arcane skills.

The Church of Equinox was the latest incarnation of the Trade Guild, another of the first guilds of Equinox. The CoE, as can be guessed, was the region's semi-official church, and boasted popelinesses, inquisitions and jihads.

Logic would dictate that a merger between these two guilds would be along the lines of magical religion or something. But no. The guildmembers threw logic out of the window, instead opting to go for something new.

And so, it is with great pleasure that I present to you the Jolly Roger School of Ninjitsu and Swashbuckling! They aim to make peace between the age old enemies of Pirates and Ninjas for a better, hopefully longer lasting, guild. We wish them the best of luck.



Since our last update, a lot has been going on in the Culture Department! Starting off with the Equinox Spirit Month, we had a week for each guild that was created at that time. Each guild fought to have the most spirit in this lively competition. Culture Ministress Aisli had quizzes, coloring books, mad libs, scavenger hunts, and more!

The month started out in Sage with information on whether YOU would survive a zombie attack and how to prepare yourself, as well as a crystal ball, redecorating of the Sage Guild Banner, and a Haiku Contest!


The winner of the Haiku Contest was no other then Devestation with this beauty:

I like the Sage Guild
But they sometimes say odd things
Refridgerator

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Next up was Jethnea with the redesigning of Jethnea’s flag, Earthly Heaven’s Moon Bounce, a Acrostic Poetry Contest, a scavenger hunt around the forum to find DYP’s pants and the Spam Cookbook! The Moon Bounce had a lot of different quizzes about the moon and Which Planet Are You, while the scavenger hunt made everyone run around the forum in search of DYP’s missing pantelones. The Spam Cookbook had a lot about the origin of spam, a story about throwing spam out of a car, and Monty Python’s Spam Song!


The winner of the Acrostic Poetry Contest was Antracia, with this poem:

Just you wait a minute!
Earthly Heaven wants a word with you!
This cohorting with DYP cannot go on.
Hospitlar is outraged, as is to be expected.
No-one will stand for this nonsense.
Elephants.
Aisli, of course, is eating spam. Maybe you should cohort with her instead?

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The next guild was Church of Equinox with the Confession Booth, ‘How Evil Are You’, ‘What’s Your Life Rated?’, CoE Madlibs, and a great poetry contest! Antracia also won this poetry contest with the following:

Church of Equinox.
A fucking brilliant Guild.
I have said enough.
So I am therefore wasting
These last three lines of the poem.

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A special quote from the MadLibs from King Falconias is:

Under no circumstances should you fuck the current members; Hadisthe did that once, so they mercilessly lubricated and fucked him for weeks.

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Moving onto Lords Guild, we had a Coloring Activity and a Poetry Contest as well as a lot of other quizzes including “What’s Your Medieval Profession?”. Falconias got the answer back “Rat Catcher” while Scotch and Sopo found out that they were “Jesters”.

Next was Axiom Guild with the quizzes “How Bitchy are You” and “Do You Fight Fair?”. Aisli also lost Joshua’s dentures, so everyone had to run around the forum again to find them for the poor geezer..Also included were the Axiom Word Puzzles with a Wood Find and a Crossword Puzzle!


Last but not least was Loony Sanctuary of Misfit Toys! There was a nice coloring book as well as the quizzes “Do You Have The Christmas Spirit?”, “What Crappy Christmas Gift Are You?”, and “Which of Santa’s Reindeer Are You?” Apparently we have a lot of fruitcakes, losing lottery tickets, and Christmas Sweaters!


Besides for the Spirit Month, we also had our Pointless Polls of the Week! ‘Which do you prefer: tea or coffee?” came back with the results that 5/9 voters preferred tea. “Which do you like better: Ninjas or Pirates?” came back with results favoring the ninjas, while “Which hand do you write with 99% of the time?” came back with the following results:

And what have we learned this week? Well, most of us in Equinox are right-handed, Island doesn't masturbate anymore (apparently), Falc likes it both ways when he's getting hands-on, and some of us are eager to start a discussion on masturbation techniques. Well done, Equinox!

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That’s it for the Culture Ministry right now, though to get the full experience of the magic here you should take a trip over yourself!


History was broken today as the annual dungeon crawl, facing against eyes of beholders and the most terrible of demons known as the voting public started earlier this week with 7 brave adventurers taking their swords, magic and other asscioated heroics to the next level to slay the vile jabberwockies within the dungeons that are the Equinox debating chambers.

Firstly we have the level 17 Paladin his most holy Joshua from the most holy and mighty temple of the God Axiom. However in his zeal to raise recruits to join him in his quest for the Chancellery his words were quoted by a nearby scribe namely this comment reached the ears of his temple's grandmaster

Right on! The Crusaders need the competition.

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Subsequently demoted down to a level 17 Fallen Paladin of Axiom the fallen knight despite his blasphemies in the eyes of his Lord and Saviour is managing to slowly but surely convert the masses to his holy crusade against the Drow that inhabit the lower levels. The only question is with regards to his age, will he be able to stay away from the chamberpot enough to make it past the first dragon located within. This honourable Blade thinks otherwise.

The next powerful adventurer to brave the depths of evil is the well known and refutable, not to mention charismatic Level 13 Swashbuckler Antracia himself, while not having the experience of the crusading fallen paladin the higher charisma and lack of a god to tie him to a singular purpose Antracia is looking to a be strong competitor in the running having already braved the dungoen last time having narrowly won by using the body of a Red Dragon he just felled to crush his remaining 'allies' in order to take the treasure and title of Bearer of the Chancellery flame for himself. Compared to the others this swashbuckler is looking for another few weeks of staring at his title and wooing the ladies. However with a few extra twists and turns namely a few more Shadow and Black Dragons inhabiting the upper levers, remember that the Level Drain and Acidic breathes are more powerful then a straight fire Blast are a good countering point to the lower Hp and higher magical resistance possessed by the beasts. Is Antracia going to be able to retain his title when compared with the lack of allies he can summon in this venue.

A new blood to the Dungeon crawl scene and somehow thinking that slaying your 'allies' and friends has anything to do with politics is the surprisingly innocent and naive Level 3 Priestess of Helm himself Maria. Having taken a stance away from the norm and showing interesting art work, presumably drawn by herself of Lizard men and Yaun-ti shooting what appears to be Ruby Rays of Reversals...oh wait thats a chain lightning casted by the bi pedial one...It makes this Blade wonder as to just how religious she really is. While her level makes it seem like an obvious disadvantage I remember crawling with the best of them at a paltry level 2 myself and getting a heap of combat experience, those levels in ranger really did he help me in my next adventure But I disgress.

However with her experience being questions Maria is looking for Helm for guideance and it's looking generally positive for a successful third floor slaughter fest against the globes of blades, OOPS Was I leaking a hint...

Sopo is a man after my own heart, while lacking my military proess his bardic skills are that of a fine charismatic man, Looking over the notes that Elimister of Shadowdale has passed me, he is a Chaotic Neutral level 12 Skald and level 10 Fighter giving him quite and interesting edge in combat while retaining the needed you know what to go far in this event. His name is feared and his neutrality stance is almost impossible to predict however he happily embraces the chaos of the dungeons below and is willing to use....Oh dear god...He actually has a Long sword plus 1 the lama avoidance blade?!?!?!?!?! Dear gods this will give him an almost crippling advantage in the beginning puzzle where you have a lama gazing shiftily at you. His support coming from his Bardic guilds is unnvering and I can already hear the chanting from the jesters coming now.

But enough from this now. The starting line up will be annouced soon and the

FIELDS

WILL

RUN

RED

WITH

BLOOD!!!

Whose blood we are not at liberty to say according to Elimister.


Jethnea is a guild most folks around here think that is on the down turn, like the Austro-Hungarian Empire pre-WWI. Which was pretty much a glimmer of its former self and known throughout Europe as the sick man of Europe. But unlike Austria Jethnea will not fall.

Yeah, Aisli has left Jethnea and JD has missing pictures on milk jugs so yes Jethnea has lost its two most influential members and the faces of Jethnea. Also who knows where AP has gone to. Still the Marble Palace has gained in these days of losses.

Just for starters WC has come back after a short hiatus. Jethnea has acquired Griff VIA free-agency. DN or Dry as some folks call him, has stepped up his game and even became financial director or whatever fancy title he holds. Even greenhorn Silm has become a major player and is now the current senator of Jethnea. The Guild still has the spam gods of DYP and EH. Now with a new edition to the guild of Rubber Ducky aka Nedi, Jethnea has become even stronger. For heaven sakes even Hosp who hasn’t done much in Equinox is getting involved more.

So no my fellow readers, Jethnea will not fall but rise even higher than it is presently now. It will show those nay sayers and doubters wrong because if we can learn anything from history is that we can’t. Meaning a guild that seems its been benched can come back to be the clean-up hitter in the line up. (That was a baseball metaphor to you non-United State folks)



Snap your fingers. That's how long it took for the most drastic shift in political power in Equinoxian history to happen. Not quite that fast, but the cliche "happened overnght" might even be understating it. Two struggling guilds, Sage and CoE, formed together to form a super guild much in the same way that CoE's grandparents (Vojna and Trade) merged into the Claf Guild so long ago. The difference being, this merger became the Jolly Roger School of Ninjitsu and Swashbuckling, and attracted a couple of members (namely, political powerhouse Aisli) and stirred activity in its older members. Three Senators and two Cabinet members combined with a slight fallout in Jethnea provide Jolly Roger with a surprise #1 victory for 2010... or is it a surprise?

I quote myself from last month's issue:

They lost a couple nations to inactivity and Sage could have overtaken Axiom but failed to get anything going in November. Look for the Sage Guild to revitalize after the holiday season, though.

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Can't say I was wrong.


Lords remains the largest guild in Equinox despite the Sage-CoE merger, but the last month was rather uneventful for the still-growing Lords Guild. Their Cabinet influence is up, with Island Union winning an inspirational Minister of Culture election tightly against his own friend and ally Griff, and Scotch going into his 3rd term as the dutiful Chief Justice; however, their Senate influence was chopped in half with only one Lords member winning a seat, former speaker and praised Senator Aequitas-Veritas. Asianatic, newly involved in Equinox and best known as the former President of huge region Europeia, was appointed as their appointed Senator. Lords will likely continue to grow, and Jolly Roger may only be riding #1 on new-guild morale alone.


Despite Jethnea having the same overall number of people and active people in the last week, Jethnea suffered major blows in December, losing Aisli to the new, enticing Jolly Roger; Griff to independence; and Walking-Contradiction also to independence but her return to Jethnea may occur in the new year. Until then though, Jethnea has to recuperate from their losses. They have no Cabinet members, just two Senators and only a handful of their members are active. That being said, they still pull their weight and retain their spot over Axiom.

* - includes inactive Pope Lexus X who has eternal citizenship due to his membership in the Hall of Fame.


I quote myself again from last month's issue:

New leader Hadisthe better find a way to revitalized the almost completely dead military or Axiom could find itself below #3 for the first time in 2010.

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Sadly, I was right, and Axiom finds itself at #4 for the first time ever. Despite its seemingly large core, the core is far from stable, and the majority are either terribly inactive, not contributing, or new to the region. With Diamete on leave of absence from NS, Joshua gone AWOL yet again, and Atreidond, Morrenstien, Wopruthien and Jahka playing the inconsistent activity game, Axiom is slowly heading towards a tragic end. Leadership needs to be set in stone immediately, and Axiom's once-famous military needs to be completely re-organized if Equinox's oldest guild wants to continue contesting for power in Equinox.

* - includes inactive Rocktml and partially inactive Joshua who both have eternal citizenship due to their membership in the Hall of Fame.


A christmas-themed guild isn't likely to survive much after Christmas and to be completely honest, the LSMFT is only alive by the skin of its teeth. With Nord inactive in the last week and Maria nearly invisible on the Equinox scene as of late, LSMFT should make a name for itself or it's most likely to face the hammer sometime this month. There are only 41 posts in the entire guild, and it's been open for a month and a half, and not a post in the last week of 2009 -- not a good sign for Santa, er, Whigdom, and company.

King Falconias:

Impersonations will be in jest. We aren't going to be hating on Grub/Gates or making fun of them, it will all be in good measure and so they must bring a sense of humour. It's more of a party thrown for Grub, and Gates' return, and getting two of NS's biggest and most similar personalities in the same place without killing each other.

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Dear TNP:

We've noticed that you don't have a return embassy in Equinox! To further the relations between us, we'd love to see you establish an embassy in Equinox as well. You can apply for one here!

Thanks in advance. Can't wait to hear everything that's been going on in TNP!

Have a nice new year!


~Walking-Contradiction
Foreign Viceroy of Equinox

---

Chancellor's Communique​

​

Hello! And welcome to February's edition of the Equinox Monthly Telegraph, the foreign dispatch newspaper for the region of Equinox.

It's been a cold and miserable January for most of the world, but not here in Equiniox, oh no. We're aglow with activity and general cheer. That's because Equinox is a community, not just your everyday region. We're friends as well and we all help each other out in times of need, cheer each other up and so on. I think that that is one of the greatest things about Equinox, and something we should all be proud of.

Normally in this section I would talk about random things that came to mind (such as the above). But frankly, why should I bother wasting your time getting you to read this when there's a perfectly good newspaper below? There has been, as always, a plethora of things going on in Equinox this month so read on and enjoy.

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Senate Speaker Elections​

​

Speaker Elections opened quickly with former Speaker Aequitas-Veritas and multiple time Senator Sopo both announcing their intentions to run. Both did quite well on this, quickly gaining support of the other senators. In the end, Sopo won with a slim plurality of 4-3, with one Senator not voting. Sopo quickly got to work taking care of the backlog of work but unfortunately, three days after winning the position, Sopo had to step down.

Sopo:

Sadly, my computer has been crashing quite often. At the moment, I'm not sure whether or not my access to the computer will be regular enough to continue as Speaker. I think it is best if A-V takes the position to make sure the Senate isn't stalled. Hopefully I'll be able to stay on as Senator, though.

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From then on out, AV has held the position and has done quite well, continuing his success from the last term.

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Karputsk Inducted into Hall of Fame​

​

After weeks of deliberation, and the longest known tiebreaker vote in the history of the world (which lasted longer than the rest of the entire Hall of Fame induction process), the Cabinet selected Karputsk to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

However, as author of this article I feel that the true tribute to this amazing person would not be an article about his contributions or lack thereof, but rather, a random image. I leave you with this:


Thank you.

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Senate Update​

​

So far this term, the first term of the New Year 2010, nine (9) pieces of legislation have been proposed 3 being Constitutional Amendments. All of the amendments were passed by the Senate and at press-time are currently being debated by the guilds.

Executive Order Repeal
One of the most controversial bills that was voted on by the Senate was the Repeal of Executive Order #007. The EO was handed down by King Falconias months ago. The EO established that multi-guilding, meaning belonging to more than one regional guild, was not allowed.

Proponents of the Executive Order argued that multi-guilding would undermine the entire guild system and there was no reason to allow multi-guilding.

Most opponents of EO 007 did not disagree with those who were in favor of the Executive Order but did not agree with how it was passed. The Constitution of the Kingdom of Equinox states that it is for individual guilds to determine rules for membership, and EO 007 took part of the right away. The opponents felt it should be for the guild to decide, not the King.

In any case, the repeal failed the Senate due to the fact that a majority was not reached.

Regional Treaty?
Another high-profile act that is currently being debated in the Senate Chamber is the Northern Lights Treaty. This is a treaty that is to be to benefit both The Kingdom of Equinox, and the region of Canada.

Most Senators agree, this is a great treaty, but the inclusion of a military clause has great potential to interfere with our constitution. The King has stated that no guild will be forced to partake in this treaty. He is leaving it up to the Senate to adopt, and then send it for guild ratification.

MORE Office Space?!
The Advancement of Executive Office Sophistication Act was an act that was proposed by former Senator Maria (now banned from the region). The Act would have developed office space and private rooms for Cabinet Ministers. The Act was Tabled due to no Senator (besides the sponsor) supporting it.

Who Needs a Holiday?
Another failed act was the Holiday Act of 2010. The Act would have brought the government into recess for days of specific holidays. The Act failed the Senate, because the sponsor (Former Senator Maria) was banned from the region and no other Senator took up the cause.

Farewell Senator Maria
Senator Maria has been mentioned now a few times in this article. The senator had been very active in Equinox as of late, and had fired up a few people along the way. The senator was accused of spying, anti-semitic remarks, and generally not being someone one would want to be around. This prompted King Falconais to use Executive Authority and ban Maria from the region. Thing King tirelessly defended his actions, while at the same time acknowledging the fact that her banishment could have come from a more political standpoint. As of press-time, no one has complained about her banishment, just the way it occurred.

This was the first time that any senator of our region has been forcefully removed from their office, let alone being ejected from the Kingdom entirely.

Senate At-A-Glance
The following is a chart by Senate Speaker Aequitas-Veritas:

Resolutions

Proposed
Treaty with Canada (In Debate)

Passed
Term Budget
Guild Creation Requirements Act

Failed
Advancement of Executive Office Sophistication (Tabled)
Holiday Act of 2010 (No Sponsor)
Repeal of Executive Order 007 (No Majority Vote)

Amendment

Proposed
Administrative and Moderator Powers Amendment (in Guild Voting)
Executive Order Reform Act (In Voting)

Passed Senate

Passed in to Law
Curative Senate Elections Amendment

Failed
Senatorial Amendment (Not enough guilds voted)

Click to expand...

---

Equinox Got a Makeover!​

​

Falconias woke up one morning, stood atop the Palace of Equinox, looked down at his followers, and bellowed: "Thou shalt have new look, my followers!" And with that, the mighty King Falconias raised his hands and struck them down with thunderous force, sending giant cartoon bolts of lightning straight into the heart of the evil beast of ugly forum themes.

Then Falconias raised up his hands and opened a portal to the world of beautiful skins, and with his superior magical force, he summoned three mighty themes that were more pleasing to the eye.

The people vividly cheered on their King, who then thanked them by filling the moat with Rickard's White Ale.

Then he turned to the rest of the world, and bellowed, "Thou shalt have preview of our glorious forums!"

---

Population vs Activity (opinion)​

​

It has long been assumed in NationStates that population equals activity, with regions of a large population having a generally active member base. This is not true.

Some regions manage to milk more activity from their smaller member base than others, and Equinox is undoubtedly one of those regions.

The activity in Equinox this month has been frankly astounding, and I blame Falconias. Noting that Equinox only had around 12,000 posts to go until it hit 100,000, he decided to start something called an “Extreme Spamathon”. To make matters worse, he gave all the resident spam-donkeys a carrot-lure; if Equinox reached a hundred thousand posts by the end of January, he would reveal an embarrassing video of himself in a high school drama performance. And so, the spam began.

Quickly, spam appeared all over Equinox for no apparent reason. Several members hit post milestones, and I suspect at least one member has now hit two. The small talk in Equinox has gradually degenerated in quality, in order to maximize the quantity. It’s like everyone is using twitter, but limiting themselves to 15 characters a tweet.

Some people have come up with other ways to create activity (namely myself). A few of the hardcore Equinoxians chose to spam our MSN contact lists with the Equinox site link in order to massively inflate our online users record. This was successful- within half an hour it had jumped from 24 to 43. Amazingly, the majority of people online were still members, and we gained some more active members of the community for our efforts.

The author must do something about this or all his evil plans will be royally screwed, and he shall be forced to create new ones.

Equinox's population history, compared with its activity history. As you can see, population counts for nought.

---

Culture, Island Style​

​

With a new term came a new Minister of Culture in Equinox, and the winning candidate this time round was Lords Guild Veteran Island Union. Seeking to keep up with the high par set by his predecessors Ferric Sun and Aisli, he set to work straight away at creating some fun new escapades for the region.

First off, he sought to ascertain which was the region's favourite; Hamburgers or Hot Dogs (the winner was a resounding Hamburger), before going on to start a thread where members could deposit their favourite 'My Life Is Average's.

Key part of Island's first couple of weeks was the Top Ten People of 2009 awards, aka the Golden Bongs. Regional members were asked to vote and the ten people who were deemed to have influenced and added to Equinox the most during 2009 are (in reverse order): Nordlijonia, Morrenstien, Ferric Sun, Sopo, Walking-Contradiction, Island Union, Scotchpinestan, Aisli, Falconias, Antracia.

After this, a few pointless polls, an emoticon contest, a Winnie the Pooh colouring contest and a celebration of National Clean Up Your Desk Day saw activity in the culture area continue,

A favourite contest initiated by IU has been Where's Waldo, where Waldo-hunters must search the forums high and low for Waldo in Island's posts. This contest got somewhat competitive when Sopo began stalking Island as he posted. (There's only one person in the region who would be OK with that, and her name begins with an A and ends with an I ~ Ed.)


Another favourite contest has been the Guild War, where Guild members have been encouraged to take their rivalries to the cultural battlefield, with a cash reward as an incentive. To start, people submitted their favourite YouTube videos, a competition which was won by Avakael of the Lord's Guild. Then, Aisli of Jolly Roger won a colouring competition with an *ahem* delightful rendition of a woman giving birth in water. Finally (so far, at least), Antracia won a joke competition for Jolly Roger with a Pirate Themed story.

In addition to all this, there's been a poetry competition, a regional game of Diplomacy, and another pointless poll, that has ensured that Island's term so far has been a solid and strong one, keeping up the high standard of Culture Equinox has grown accustomed to.

STOP PRESS - Unfortunately, Island's computer has suffered a virus attack and so will not be able to fulfil his cultural duties and has been forced to resign. The Senate is currently looking for a replacement.

---

If there was an award for most resilient guild, Lords would surely win it. After being dangerously close to not even being in the top 3, efforts from guild stalwarts such as Island Union, Scotchpinestan, and Wade Garrett (formerly known as KevinWasserman) have paid off huge dividends and the Lords Guild is firmly #1 in Equinox again. Now that their arch-rival Axiom is largely a non-factor, Lords can focus on building their guild even more and look to the future. Rumour has it Lords may begin a small military-type of force, despite their lifelong staunch no-military stance.



It seems Jolly Roger's euphoric super-merger in December was short-lived. The Jolly Roger guild suffered blows in January, losing a bunch of semi-active members to inactivity, including Stealth who massively failed in his role as appointed Senator and has disappeared entirely. They only have about a half-dozen members that are contributing actively, almost all of which are in the current Government so there isn't a lot of guild to be held once the government is looked past. Jolly Roger has potential but has been advertising terribly and failed to capitalize on the Europeian invasion.

* - Includes inactive Karputsk, who has eternal membership due to his membership in the Hall of Fame.



Jethnea remains the "meh" factor in Equinox this month; still spamming, but simply a non-factor in the current political scene. Predictions indicate the Jethnea Guild growing again, but for now they are caught in a lull, and they need to find a direction and take it. Jethnea is one of Equinox's finest, and there is no question that at some point in there future they will likely be #1 again.

* - includes inactive Pope Lexus X who has eternal citizenship due to his membership in the Hall of Fame.


Axiom remains suspended above the chasm of fiery guild doom, suspended by a multitude of fragile strings. Hadisthe has made some, but minimal, effort to revive the guild. Axiom is only alive because it is home to several devoted active members, almost none of which participate in Axiom affairs. It also hurts them that their only government member is their appointed Senator, Morrenstien; thus, they failed to win anything in the last election. The future of Axiom is cloudy at best.

* - includes inactive Rocktml and Joshua who both have eternal citizenship due to their membership in the Hall of Fame.

---

Thats's it for this week, folks.

Yours truly,

Editor-in-Chief: Falconias
Chief of Staff: Antracia
Contributors: Walking-Contradiction, Avakael, Morrenstien

Dyr Nasad:

Dear TNP:

We've noticed that you don't have a return embassy in Equinox! To further the relations between us, we'd love to see you establish an embassy in Equinox as well. You can apply for one here!

Thanks in advance. Can't wait to hear everything that's been going on in TNP!

Have a nice new year!

~Walking-Contradiction
Foreign Viceroy of Equinox

Click to expand...

zomg I never noticed this.

You should go do that.

---

Chancellor's Communique​

​

Dear NationStates,

I have writer's block. I honestly have no idea what to put here. I mean, I'm actually amazed that I've managed to waffle on for so long in my other Communiques. Let's have a look back at the other issues, it may give me some inspiration. Hmm...usually, it would seem, I just spout whatever Equinox-promoting sentences I can think of. Well, why should this issue be any different?

Lalala, Equinox is great, lalala. *Prances* We're the best. *Prances some more.* We're so...

Ah bugger it, that'll do. Enjoy this issue, see you next month!

---

April Fools!​

​

King Falconias kept the pranks in Equinox simple, unlike his elaborate Onder impersonation in Europeia and the Falconian Regional Alliance prank. In Equinox, His Highness simply changed all the images that normally linked to somewhere on the forum, to link to a Rick Roll video instead. 222 224 rick rolls were successfully executed since the Rick Roll joke was implemented on the forum, and since that time 44 forum accounts have been active. Thus, the Administration successfully rick rolled 44 people an average of 5 times.

However, in a counter joke, the people hired an evil mongoose to eat April 1st off of the Calendar, so this issue of the EMT was a day late. Apologies.

---

Senate Speaker and Happenings​

​

The first order of business after the election of any Equinoxian Senate is to elect their Speaker for the term; the person who will guide and lead the Senate's happenings and goings on throughout the term. After many influential and popular Senators declined their nominations, the nominees standing were whittled down to Griff and Xgon, both of the Jolly Roger School. After a period of voting, Griff emerged as a landslide winner, becoming the Speaker of the 8th Senate of Equinox.

The first piece of legislation was the Term Budget. In conjunction with the new Director of Finance, the Chancellor proposed a vastly changed budget to the Senate, which contained alterations to most individuals' and ministers' pay. There was little discussion beyond a change to the Department of Foreign Affairs' budget, and the budget passed unanimously.

Next, Senator Scotchpinestan proposed an Attorney General Act, to create an Attorney General, which would be appointed by the Chief Justice, and which would act as the region's prime prosecutor and bringer of charges. After ironing out as many kinks as possible, the measure went to vote and passed 5-2-1 (Aye-Nay-Not Voted).

Quickly after proposing the Attorney General Act, Scotchpinestan proposed another; Repeal "Resolution Format Resolution". The Resolution Format Resolution was created to standardise proposals and Resolution legislation. However, Scotch cited the opinions that the mandated format was unwieldy, unneeded and, in parts, useless. The proposal passed 7-1 (Aye-Nay).

Finally, Senator Morrenstien has proposed an Act to alter how the public discusses proposed legislation. Currently, they may only discuss it after it is ready to vote. The Senate Reformation Act Part 1 seeks to alter this, to that the public may discuss a proposal in tandem with the Senate. The measure is still in the discussion phase, although it looks like it will travel to voting soon.

---

The Fourth Quad-Annual Equinox Awards​

​

It was that time again--the Fourth Quad-Annual Awards were awarded this past month! All of Equinox nominated, voted, and cheered for those that they wanted to win a Silver Spork of Excellence, one of the region's most coveted prizes. After the votes were counted, the awards went as follows:

Member of the Quarter: Chancellor Antracia, for the second time!
Newcomer of the Quarter: Karthikking
Funniest Member: Hospitlar, known for his randomness and love of goats!
Most Helpfu: Chancellor Antracia, picking up his second win of the night!
Best Quote: This award went to both Chancellor Antracia and Ambassador Zybodia of Yggdrasil! This was the first time in Spork HIstory that an award went to a Foreign Dignitary besides Favorite Lurker. The quote was

Antracia: WTF. I leave you for one night and you guys stop talking about SEX and start talking about FREAKIN' CORN! You should be ashamed of yourselves!
Zybodia: I have much more experience with corn.

Click to expand...

Best Idea: Banning Maria won this award and this will hopefully be the last award that ever relates around Maria.
Favorite Cabinet Member: Culture Minister Island Union, for his great ideas and creativity in the Culture Center!
Favorite Senator: Current Chief Justice Aequitas-Vertias won this, for his great job as Speaker and general Senate awesomeness!
Favorite Axiom Member: Senator Morrenstein!
Favorite Jethnea Member: Foreign Viceroy Walking-Contradiction!
Favorite Lords Member: Culture Minister Island Union!
Favorite Jolly Roger Member: Chancellor Antracia!
Best Roleplayer: Culture Minister Island Union won this, for his creative ideas and activity in roleplaying.
Best Debater: Jahka won this award, for debating well and backing up his debate!
Favorite Lurker: Queen J Delight won this award for her general awesomeness and lurking ability.
Funniest Thread: Premission to Aisli, started by Premier of Jethnea, Drop Your Pants.
Biggest Blond Moment: Falcane! The artist formerly known as Falcane, King Falconias, won this award.
Best Recruiter: Chancellor Antracia won this award for his constant dedication to recruitment!
Sexiest Member: Director Aisli won this award, for the Medusa Cascade and her general all around sexiness.
Biggest Spammer: Director Aisli won this award for her spammityness!
Most Likely Married in the next 2 Months: This award went to the engaged couple, Imperial Advisor Ferric Sun and Head of Axiom Hadisthe! Congratulations to the happy couple.
Biggest Fail: Foreign Viceroy Walking-Contradiction leaving Jethnea for Two Days! Apparently the public agrees that Jethnea is the guild for her.
Most likely to be caught in a compromising situation with a llama: King Falconias! Quick, lock up your llamas!

That concludes the awards that were distributed at the Forth Quad-Annual Awards! Congratulations to the winners and great job to those that were nominated!

---

Mistress of Moolah​

​

For the last term, since Dyr Nasad's resignation in light of his Senate election, the position of Director of Finance had been vacant. To support the economy and keep it ticking over, Chancellor Antracia stood in, performing the DoF's duties. However, it was obvious that the Equinoxian economy needed a dedicated head.

After deciding not to run for Senate re-election, Aisli made it known that she was interested in the position. Antracia, upon re-election, was quick to appoint her, and she got straight to work in checking and overhauling the system.

Active and busy, Aisli has achieved a high vote in the midterm polls, probably the highest of any serving cabinet member. There is though, the worry that she hasn't brought much new to the system, although she has floated some ideas to the cabinet, some of which, such as the Auction House, have borne fruit.

It will remain to be seen how she will perform during the rest of the term and whether she will continue to live up to expectations.

---

Family Courts​

​

With the ever-expanding families of NationStates, disputes will undoubtedly occur, and this is true in Equinox. With many families resident here in addition to the royal family (the Hartwells), there comes a time when a mediator is needed.

This is where Minister of Culture Island Union decided to step into the breach, creating a family courtrooms, to solve such disputes as "he stole my underpants!" and "she smells of Falc!". The courtrooms quickly took off, with its first case being between Sopli and Ferric Sun over the custody of baby Antracia, who it later emerged was not a baby at all, but a grown man who could look after himself.

After this initial success, the courts expanded to all types of jovial disputes, a recent high profile one being the violent necrophilic rape of Jahka's dead body by Ambassador Zybodia, which is ongoing. Depending on the results, and how the activity of this newest addition to Equinoxian life goes, we may or may not keep you posted about it next month...

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Hall of Fame​

​

With a new cabinet, comes a new induction into the Equinox hall of fame; the list of the most influential and popular members from the region's history. Past recipients include Joshua, Morrenstien and Pope Lexus X, and are mostly made up of members who are no longer active in the region.

After brainstorming possible recipients, the Cabinet voted on the shortlist:

1st: The Graz - 1st x5, 2nd x1, 4th x1 --- Points: 31
2nd: J Delight - 1st x1, 2nd x2, 3rd x4 --- Points: 25
3rd: Antracia - 1st x1, 2nd x2, 3rd x2, 4th x1, 5th x1 --- Points: 22
4th: The Atreidond Islands - 2nd x2, 4th x2, 5th x3 --- Points: 15
5th: Hadisthe - 3rd x1, 4th x3, 5th x3 --- Points: 12

Click to expand...

This means that The Graz has been officially inducted into the Equinox Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, he has not yet visited to receive his award, so Graz, if you see this, come pay us a visit!

---

The Rumour Mill and Gossip Gazette​

​

Oh where to start, where to start! First and foremost, Sopo has left NS. Naturally, all of Equinox is saddened to lose such a fun and Sopolicious member, but Aisli is certainly taking it the hardest. After all, Sopo was her second NS husband, a mostly wonderful father to their children, and only a sometimes drunk. Alas, their marriage has ended in a sad but understandable divorce. At the moment, Aisli retains custody of all four children, although rumour has it that certain offspring may be getting the boot too if they don't get active real soon here in Equinox. *cough*Nordlijnonia and Inquirius*cough* Aisli is currently single, but it's most likely only a matter of time before she catches the commitment bug again and decides to settle down with someone new.

In happier romantic gossip, Island has FINALLY decided to get hitched to an actual person, not just a slutty celebrity (past "wives" include Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga). He and Wykked are to be married soon after Easter, and Silmeria is pleased as punch that her darling daughter has found someone so, um, blonde to marry. Walking-contradiction and Griff are just happy that their son has acquired better taste in women.

Hadisthe and Ferric Sun are also engaged. I know, we all thought Ferric was never going to get herself an NS husband, but it looks like she's finally changed her mind. We suspect that Hadi's Canadianness is what cemented her decision to marry. The wedding will take place on April 5th in Equinox's BJ's Wedding Chapel and Elvis Rental, and the reception will be held in The Last Kingdom, where Hadi enjoys some small influence and prestige.

In more scandalous news, Jahka was recently shot by Wade Garrett in cold blood in The Medusa Cascade, formerly a brothel and hookah bar, but now only a pub and hookah emporium. A trial ensued in which Jahka (as a ghost) pressed charges against Aisli and Wade Garrett for murder. Luckily, Ambassador Zybodia (whose gender is still a mystery...more on that next time) was able to produce Jahka's body, and through some unknown magical/scientific/miraculous process, was able to reunite the ghost of Jahka with the body of Jahka. A second trial, begun at the insistence of Mekhet, is currently underway in which Zybodia has been accused (falsely, we hope) of "raping" and otherwise defiling Jahka's body while it was in his/her possession. Heavens!

Rumour has it that two well-known Jethneans recently gave birth to a son. He happens to have the best and longest given name ever, but that's all we're going to tell you about this. :look:

And finally, the word on the street is that the next batch of inductees into the King's Order will be announced very shortly. Will Maria make the cut? Probably not.

Until next time!

---

Guild Power Rankings​

​

Jolly Roger has seized the reins of Equinox, and is very strongly in control. Just two members in Senate, but the majority of the Executive government is made up of Jolly Roger members, including Chancellor Antracia. Jolly Roger just seems to be wielding the influence lately. Jolly Roger is far from guaranteed to stay on the top though, so they should seize the day and get on recruiting more members into their guild.

* - Includes inactive Karputsk, who has eternal membership due to his membership in the Hall of Fame.


Here comes Jethnea! Jethnea has become really active, with members like Silmeria and Fioteria becoming very active in government, and people like Drop Your Pants and Dyr Nasad stepping up the spamming. Jethnea used to be #1 in Equinox, and for a reason: they have a strong foundation. All they have to do is build on their historic core, and they'll be #1 again.

* - includes inactive Pope Lexus X who has eternal citizenship due to his membership in the Hall of Fame.


As predicted, the Lords guild slipped a couple spots this month. They lost a few members and didn't gain any, and have been mainly quiet since the Northern Lights Treaty. They do have a considerable presence in both the Executive and Legislative branches of government, but it's not enough. I thought about it for a while, and I just couldn't find a reason to place Lords ahead of Jethnea. Things may get better for the Lords Guild as the region grows; the guild's culture is almost immortal and infamous within Equinox and they will be #1 again at some point.

* - Includes inactive The Graz, who has eternal membership due to his membership in the Hall of Fame.


Axiom fell another step back in the rebuilding process, and have lost members to disappearances and inactivity. The guild has become very inactive, and is only propped up by the members who actively participate in Equinox and not as much in their own guild. It's a shame to see the once formidable Axiom Guild in such a state.

* - includes inactive Rocktml and Joshua who both have eternal citizenship due to their membership in the Hall of Fame.

---

Let's dust this embassy off... Yikes!

------

Issue #11, Volume #3 - December 1st, 2010 - Population 96​

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Chancellor's Communique​

Hiya, everyone! Aisli is yelling at me to write something, so I guess this is a perfect opportunity to recap what is going on and will be going on. If you read my Plan for December, you will know most of what is to come, but here is what has happened.

Recently, we have revived the Immigration Bureau, which Vice Chancellor Asylum will now be pouring a great deal of effort into. The government will be paying E$1 for every letter sent, and if you send enough letters, you might find yourself getting a fancy medal! Stay tuned for more, and head over to the Immigration Bureau in the Government Offices to participate!

Kunin, Director of Finance, is being replaced. The Board of Governors of Equinomics will be choosing a new Director as soon as possible, but the current candidates are KevinWasserman and Tadin. Because the Director of Finance is a Cabinet position, whoever is chosen will have to resign from the Senate, which will open a spot.

We are still looking for lots of people to help out with the government, so check out the Call for Volunteers thread in the Communications and Information Desk. Scotchpinestan, who resigned from his position as Chief of Staff earlier this month, has been replaced by Nordlijnonia. He will be henceforth assisting me in finding volunteers.

A moment of sincerity though: you, the citizens, are the single most important part of Equinox. You have the power to change the course of the region, and that power is in your attitude. Attitude truly is contagious. Always remember that the only direction Equinox is going is up. Post, be active, participate in the government, share your thoughts in the Citizen Think Tank, send me PMs about concerns, volunteer to help, join a club--there are so many things you can do, but whatever you decide, just remember that the future is up to you.

---

New Chief of Staff: Nordlijnonia​

The position of Chief of Staff was established by current Chancellor Hadisthe after his election with the description of being an assistant to the Chancellor and helping find volunteers for special tasks. Scotchpinestan began in the position at the beginning of this term (October 20). Scotch resigned on November 19, stating that he did not wish to continue in the position because “the government is dead.” (Scotchpinestan later announced that he would be leaving Equinox permanently on December 10, unfortunately). Luckily, the beloved Nordlenanana (that’s my take on his name; its pronunciation is open to individual interpretation) had returned the previous day after his resignation from NS before the elections for last term. Nordlijnonia (that’s how he thinks his name is spelled) said he would be returning for exactly one month because Hadisthe made him, and that he hoped the announcement “gets lost so people won't notice [him] lurking around more often than usual.” Tommattox promptly showed that would not happen by saying “NORD IS RETURNING FOR A MONTH.” That wasn’t very effective though, was it, since people had just read Nord’s post upon reading that anyway. So I’ll do one better: all caps in a news publication. NORD IS RETURNING FOR A MONTH! There. So Nord applied for Chief of Staff upon Hadisthe announcing that the position was available, he was accepted, and we all lived happily ever after. So far, anyway; who knows when Nord could go on a wild rampage.

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The Drama of Axiom​

This month we saw the return of Falconias. With immediate vigor, he started yelping about the closing of Axiom Guild - claimed that this was illegal and all. Falconias, wanting to bring about swift retribution for what he perceived as this "illegal" action, partook in some good old fashioned illegal administration: removing Joshua, the final Guild Master of Axiom and the instigator of its closing, from the Equinox Hall of Fame and taking away Joshua's special group masking title, The Lord of Dance. Aisli, Minister of Culture and Administrator for Equinox, by chance swiftly returned all that should to be good. After a lengthy discussion was held in the public domain about this, the Senate was called upon by Chancellor Hadisthe to determine whether the following: "does Equinox believe Joshua is worthy of a place in the Hall of Fame. As representatives of the region and the guilds, you're the best to decide that. Please allow yourself to remain as unbiased as possible."

Though at the moment there are no hard or fast rules as to who can and cannot be in the Hall of Fame, it is certainly something which is being questioned by many members of the region. Does Falconias, after abdicating, have the right to return to the region, after a period of great inactivity, and throw his weight around? After all, he is now purely the Founder with no constitutional powers of authority. It would seem Falconias has also recognized this, and in a public statement admitted removing Joshua from the Hall of Fame "was a silly, selfish, impulsive move." Nevertheless, Falconias is still asking for the Senate to debate the issue. We wonder...why? As the Solstice guild-appointed senator Greater Genowa states in the debate, " I think this was a pointless exercise from the beginning, what happened in the past should stay in the past." As nothing has yet been clarified in the Senate, there is very little to tell. Will Joshua keep his Hall of Fame Status? We hope so.

On a positive side Falconias has attempted to relaunch the Axiom guild under a new name (Axiom Redux). We wish him the best of luck as many other citizens of Equinox have.

---

Senate Activity/Inactivity​

The Senate has been ill-fated with the resignation of Morrenstien, adding even more chaos to the already inactive Senate. Morrenstien resigned on November 17th, citing that he had real life issues he had to attend to.

The Senate is currently in session debating the disbandment of guilds, most notably Joshua disbanding Axiom, one of the original, founding Guilds of Equinox. A committee, which Hadisthe described as "more like a decision panel," has been set up to decide the validity of this.

Overall, it seems as though few laws have been discussed by the Senate or voted on. Or, the ones that have been discussed or voted on have been moved very slowly along the Senate floor. One of the pieces of legislation that has gone to vote and been passed is the Administrator Appreciation Day Act. The Senate is slowly voting on the Human Resources Office Act, which proposes to create a new department within the executive branch of the government for monitoring and organizing the "government jobs and positions that are available..for prospective employees." The Senate passed an Equinomics Stimulus Act and also held an Axiom Hearing to vote on whether or not to keep Falconias in the Hall of Fame (they decided to keep him in it). The region, as a whole has been going through a slump of inactivity for a while, and plans are underway to change that by individuals and by the Guilds.

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S1l3nt4rmyI WA Delegacy Takeover​

On November 9th, Equinox woke up to find itself suddenly living under the lunatic WA delegacy of S1l3nt4rmyI, a strange interloper who had been nestled amidst the natives for awhile, lurking in quiet insanity, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. That moment arrived, shockingly and without warning, soon after The Black Virus stepped down from the position of WA Delegate, which he had held for over 473 days. Lunging forward with enough endorsements to seize the delegacy before Jahkalahka, our legally elected WA Delegate could, S1l3nt4rmyI immediately changed the World Factbook Entry so that it would read that everyone should endorse the "WA DELEGATE: The Free Land of SilentArmy".

Of course, we Equinoxians (Equinoxers? Equinoxii?) noticed! The Black Virus fled to the forum, pleading for "Founder helpz?" from Falconias, who has been semi-retired, semi-inactive, semi-abducted by Canadian Snow Trolls for the past few months (see Issue #9 for further details). Mekhet, in a brilliantly helpful move, copied the WFE onto the forum board before S1l3nt4rmyI could do any more tampering to it.

It was done in the nick of time. S1l3nt4rmyI, because he is deranged and evil, password protected the region, and began maniacally ejecting nations right and left. He changed the regional flag. And, worst of all, he removed The Enigmatic Institute of Loki the Fiend from the regional ban list, which is a puppet nation of Maria, a banned member of Equinox. Eek and ick! Finally, S1l3nt4rmyI proved that he was nothing but a dictator intent upon crushing the souls and hearts of all those in Equinox when he changed the WFE to read: "OBEY!"

Thankfully, Falconias was soon alerted to the WA situation within Equinox, and as he is the Founder, he cannot be ejected from his own nationstates region by someone as silly as S1l3nt4rmyI. Once he logged in, he banned and ejected S1l3nt4rmyI, cleaned up the WFE and got it back to normal, yay! And sloooooowly, eventually, a few days later, Jahkalaka finally had enough endorsements to claim the delegacy like he was elected to, and has been leading the region in nationstates matters ever since as our WA Delegate. Huzzah!

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What's Going On with Equinomics?​

This month has seen Equinomics hit an all-time low. Sadly, a lack of interest has caused fewer transactions within the Equinox economic system for a long time. What is causing these problems? Some people have claimed that there is not a strong enough base for the economy. Others say it has been overcomplicated by things like the Equinox Stock Exchange. Though how can this be remedied? I think a more prudent question to be asked is, do the citizens of Equinox want it to be remedied? For the most part it is felt that the economy could be rescued, with Senator Tadin advocating another stimulus bill in the senate, but with senate activity also at a low, it is too early to tell if this bill will be successful or not. Maybe the annual tide of inactivity due to family commitments at this time of the year is causing the system to collapse, or maybe with the recent changes in Equinox of two guilds leaving last month, it is starting to herald the end of Equinox with Equinomics being the first to lay its head in the guillotine. We certainly hope it is not the latter.

One thing is for sure, for the economy to survive and be a meaningful part of Equinox, changes have to be made. Currently we have had a Director of Finance who seems barely active himself and it this reporter is pleased that Chancellor Hadisthe has finally decided to act and bring about a breath of fresh air into the Finance Director's office. Though who would be willing to take on the “mammoth task of economic reforms” is anybody’s guess. For the time being our economy is stable, stably slumping towards collapse, and if changes are made now, then we may be able to see Equinomics prosper once again.

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Ahoy Culture!​

Ahem. Well, it looks like I get the questionable delight of telling you about my own going-ons within the Culture Department this time around for the EMT, isn't that nice? Let's get started...

In case you've been living under a rock, or just don't ever come to Equinox, the Culture Central area has been fairly active the past month. First and foremost, the Equinox Book Club is back!! On December 12th, I will be beginning an online book discussion for The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, which is the book that was voted as the winner for this upcoming discussion. It should be fun, as long as enough people participate, hehe! Anyway, something to look forward to soon, for those of you who love to read!

The RMB Question was hard to do this month due to the whole SilentArmy delegacy issue problem, but once Jahka got in place, the RMB question got rolling again! Lots of people answered the question, "What's your favorite food and your least favorite food for Thanksgiving?" We have a new question up, which is, "What color is your underwear?" Feel free to answer it each time you change your underwear.

The Pointless Polls are still chugging along, as always. When asked, "If you were to duel with swords (to the death), who would you prefer as your second: Pollyanna or Little Orphan Annie?", Equinox was equally torn between both girls. Sick. The next poll asked, "Which would you rather play, Strip Poker or Strip Twister?" It was a VERY close vote, with poker barely coming out on top in the end. You'd think more people would want to get naked and touch each other, but oh well, haha! The last poll inquired, "Which would you rather have as a pet: a contortionist or a bearded lady?" Easy - everyone but two odd persons wanted the contortionist. Think of the party tricks! You'd be such a hit, you and your pet contortionist. The current poll has us voting on what we think Ambassador Zybodia's true gender is: male, female, or water spout. As of a minute ago, female was winning, but my money is on water spout. (No, not a faucet, you fool, the whirling, tornado over water thing, duh!)

HOWEVER! The funnest thing about Culture this past month has been the Quad-Annual EQ Awards! Nominations began on November 9th, and voting wrapped up just a few days ago, which means that I'll have the awards announced SOOOOOOON (once the graphics are done, yay!). There are a whopping 32 awards being awarded this time around, including traditional categories such as "Favorite Lurker" and "Best Guild of the Quarter", as well as some new categories such as "Most Likely to Have a Psychotic Breakdown" and "Expected the Spanish Inquisition". Should be fun, so just hold on tight for those to be announced in the next few days!

That's about it for Culture... Now go check out the Status page if you want to make an easy $20. :look:

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Guild Power Rankings​

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Thanks for the update.

Well done. Thank you for the update.

Not a problem! Can someone tell me who is in charge of Foreign Affairs here? I looked around and couldn't figure it out.

At present the Delegate (Flemingovia) has not appointed one. However, starting on the 1st we will be starting Delegate, Vice Delegate and Speaker elections, so after that is over we should have someone in the FA role.

Wicked! Thanks for the info.

Now, as lovely as it is talking to you all in here, I do wish someone would say hello to me in my welcome intro post as well.

Dammit, no one ever posted the January EMT when I was out of town. Let's post that one first.

Issue #1, Volume #4 - January 14th, 2011 - Population 107​

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Hiya, everyone! The last month has been pretty eventful, and although I tried really hard to pay Zybodia to do this for me, the EMT seems to be inescapable. Alas, here I am. So let's disperse some news.

Character analysis time. Let's get to know the cabinet. Nord is the whiner. He has lots of good ideas, and he lets us know. Constantly. Drakionus is the unsure one. He knows what he's got to do, but he likes to make sure everyone's happy with it. KevinWasserman is the busy but lazy one, working in the background, but asking for someone to find the topic we discussed the economy in. It's right there, Kevin--the one titled "Equinomics." Akrine is the sleepy one. She's Drak's assistant, but the only evidence we've found of her is a pillow and a snuggie behind the TV. Viisbyax has a slanted mouth. It's weird. :/ Asylum is very reassuring. He keeps insisting he's doing something. (:p) Jahka is a whore. I uh... I guess I run the tea parties, inviting people to tell me the takes of their departments every couple weeks, but I'm sure the rest of the cabinet has meaner things to say.

But seriously, a new Guild Olympics, Nord powered foreign affairs (he's like the Energizer bunny), Kevin studying, Viis's slanty mouth, and Asylum's recruitment revivification have been what the last month is about.

As always: Recruit! Post! Prosperity! Equinox!

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December Elections​

Elections for this term were rather unexciting, but I do like a good poll, all those delicious statistics. So here’s a summary.

Nominees for Chancellor seemed to have been drawn out of a hat and ranged from Aisli to Viisbyax, with a Mekhet and some Akrine thrown in for good measure. In the end, only Hadisthe was accepting enough to accept his nomination. Hadisthe, along with Asylum accompanying him as Vice Chancellor for a second time, triumphed over Abstain in a close race of thirteen to five.
However, to shake things up a bit, the Chancellor (and VC) office was the only one in which the incumbent was reelected. In fact, all of the other three positions are now held by newcomers to those positions.

For the position of Foreign Viceroy, the nominees were Nordlijnonia, who had held pretty much every other position in Equinox at some time or another (shh, we don’t discuss the fact that he’s old). The candidates in the poll were Nordlijnonia. Abstain seems to have one point fewer in Diplomacy than in Charisma, as he received only four votes to Nord’s fourteen. In case that wasn’t clear, the new Foreign Viceroy is Nordlijnonia. My, what big diplomacy you have.

Things get a little more interesting in the election for Chief Justice. And by interesting, I mean there was more than one candidate up until the voting started. Once again the nominees ranged from Aisli to Viisbyax, with incumbent CJ Aequitas-Veritas also being nominated (normally AV would go before Aisli in alphabetical order, but you know, i before e and all that good stuff). There were even so many as three candidates at one point, as Hospitlar for one day envisioned the position as the throne from which he could finally execute his plan of world domination – but sense soon came to him, and he withdrew. Then, like a member of the Squirtle Squad following Leader Hospitlar’s lead, Aequitas-Veritas too used Withdraw from the election due to “unforeseeable real world geopolitical issues,” whatever that means. We wish him luck and hope he washed his shell, since he’ll be in there for a while and there’s nothing worse than a smelly shell. After all this mudkippery, Abstain revealed that he had in fact neglected to spend points on his Law attribute; despite withdrawing, AV received four votes to Abstain’s three. Meanwhile, Viisbyax had used Fly and soared through the finish line with eleven votes. His altimeter went up to 11.

Lastly but certainly not leastly in the Cabinetly electionsly, we come to the election for Minister of Culture. Nominees would have ranged from Aisli to Viisbyax once again, but Aisli did not intend to run for Minister again, and since all of us in Equinox can read each others’ minds, no one nominated Aisli. So, we settled for ranging from Akrine to Viisbyax. Unfortunately, all of the nominees were unwilling or unavailable. Luckily, Drakionus changed his mind. He went on to soundly defeat Abstain fifteen to four. Poor Abstain must not have gotten a good roll on his attribute points.

As if attempting to do one better than the Cabinet, the Senate nominees ranged from…pretty much everyone…but in the end, only two of the four available at-large seats were filled. Hospitlar and Kalibarr were elected with twelve and seven votes, respectively. Abstain gained five votes. So, this term’s at-large Senators are Hospitlar, Kalibarr, Abstain, and Abstain. This result further highlighted the need for a reduction in at-large seats; see the Senate Debate article in this issue for more detail.

The moral of the story is Viisbyax is a hero and drugs are bad, mmkay.

**UPDATE!!** Drakonius has resigned as Minister of Culture! More about this in the next issue!

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Joshua v. Falconias​

In the last issue of the EMT, we reported on the Drama of Axiom: how former king Falconias appeared from the mists of inactivity, full of passionate fury over the demise of the Axiom guild. And in his quest for vengeance and justice, he sort of lashed out at Joshua, Axiom’s last Guildmaster, and decided “to strip Joshua of his title as "Lord of the Dance" and eject him from the Equinox Hall of Fame for his actions, which were tyrannic, egotistic, and deconstructive towards Equinox.” Chancellor Hadisthe immediately responded to this questionably illegal bit of admining by calling for Joshua’s masking and Hall of Fame status to be reinstated, stating that “This is Equinox, not the Soviet Union. We'll do this in a civilized manner.” And soon after, the Senate held a hearing to determine if Joshua’s actions were truly treason-worthy and if, therefore, he should be kicked out of the Hall of Fame. Ringing any bells? Caught up now? This is what we told you about last time, all of that hullabaloo.

Well, this December, the drama continued with Round Two: Joshua vs. Falconias. Not content with the Senate’s decision to allow him to keep his Hall of Fame status, Joshua decided to bring Falc before the Supreme Court. Obviously, Joshua was upset about having been unmasked and kicked out of the Hall of Fame by Falc in the first place in such a way, and so he wanted “to get a ruling on the legality of these actions” because he failed “to see how the removal of [his] masking was legal or legitimate.” It was a fair question to ask; after all, others in the region had also questioned the legality of Falc’s admining actions that fateful day (and Falc himself called his removal of Joshua from the Hall of Fame “a silly, selfish, impulsive move”). Tommattox probably expressed it best when he asked, simply, “Can you still do that Falc?”

A few members in the region expressed discontentment over Falc being brought to trial, especially when Joshua indicated he wanted a special Senate hearing to determine whether or not Falconias should remain a member of the Hall of Fame. Vice Chancellor Asylum, for example, said, “Are you REALLY suggesting that we remove the Former King, and Founder from his own Hall of Fame? I know that he was a dick, but your doing the exact same thing to him.” Another concern was that removing the creator of the Hall of Fame would be akin to destroying the entire Hall of Fame itself.

The trial of Joshua v. Falconias began on November 30th, 2010 and…sort of fizzled out quickly. Neither the plaintiff nor the defendant called any witnesses. In fact, the defendant, Falconias, refused to continue the drama between him and Joshua and present a real case of evidence. Instead, he told Joshua and the Supreme Court, “I'm not going to dignify you with a purposeless fight”, and that was that. Chief Justice Aequitas-Veritas ruled that Falconias was not guilty for removing Joshua’s special Lord of the Dance masking group as it was still his right as a board administrator “to create/modify/delete membership groups/masks.” Falconias was, however, found guilty of illegally removing Joshua’s Hall of Fame status and thread topic, and was issued a formal reprimand by the Court “for his misuse of his administrative powers” in this way.

Since the trial, neither Joshua nor Falconias have been particularly active in Equinox, and so it seems as though the Drama of Axiom has finally quieted and that there shall not be a Round Three in the future….Knock on wood.

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Dissolving the Senate Debate​

For awhile now in Equinox, there has been an intense discussion going around about the Senate. Some of us have been asking, “Hang on now, what’s really the point of it?” Others have been saying, “Now now, it’s important, we musn’t get rid of the legislative branch, it’s vital!”. And still others have been asking, “When are those senators going to do something and get me my corndog?” Or something along those lines. You get the point. Which is, there has been a sort of ongoing discussion about whether or not the Senate ought to be dissolved or reformatted into something more efficient.

It all sort of officially started in Aequitas-Veritas’s No Confidence Vote thread, where he started up a discussion about the idea of getting a way for the people of Equinox to call for elected member of government to be voted out of office (with a vote of “No Confidence”). It was brought up, however, that the Senate already has the power to remove elected government officials…which triggered a spin-off discussion about the functionality of the Senate itself and what it could be. In fact, the spin-off discussion became so intense, the entire thread had to be split in half into two separate topics: the original No Confidence Vote discussion and a new thread called Government Systems Debate.

The discussion inside the Government Systems Debate thread got pretty interesting. Do we dissolve the Senate? It has been argued by many in Equinox that the Senate is completely useless, for the most part, and should be scrapped in favor of something new. Nordlijnonia definitely was the one spearheading this argument, saying that “We point out Senate inactivity every term, and every term we try to fix it. We point fingers, people resign, we elect new people, and the cycle starts all over again.” He wasn’t the only voice complaining about the continual problems of the Senate; overall, most people seem to acknowledge that the Senate has been plagued by inactivity time and time again. As Aisli put it, “In my opinion, the Senate doesn't really do much. It approves budgets, it approves new admins, it sits around, and we all just tend to whine about it.”

But then again, the Senate, as an idea, is a good one and is kind of the legislative branch of the Equinox government. Are we supposed to just completely do away with it? Obviously, there were those who were not in favor of such an idea, or who only supported doing such a thing in moderation. Aequitas-Veritas was the most notable defender of the Senate and the legislative branch, worrying that dissolving it “would give the Executive Branch far too much power with no real check on it, kind of blowing the separation of powers portion of our cony out of the water.” Kalibarr also worried about losing the Senate and its tradition of At-Large Senators voted in by the populace, saying that “removing at large seats, completely eliminating non-guilders from having a say in the legislature would mean equinox is only about guilds, it's not.” He also pointed out that having no competition for the At-Large seats could hurt inter-guild politics. All very legitimate worries, naturally.

So, if we do dissolve the Senate, what do we do instead? Twiddle our thumbs and let the executive branch, the Cabinet, rule all? Of course not! The answer was succinctly proposed by Hospitlar: we would convert to a Guild Council. After describing how it was time to let the Senate go as a failed experiment, Hosp outlined his reasons for a Guild Council which were:

1. Make the government smaller, more streamline, and quicker to react and make necessary laws and amendments
2. Putting regal back into the region
3. Put more emphases back on the Guilds, for it is the Guilds which make our region so unique to others and fun
4. To create a friendly rivalry between the Guilds
5. Also since the region has grown smaller, we need a smaller size government

Click to expand...

The way he saw it, the Guild Council would be headed by an At-Large Speaker, voted by the people and unaligned with any guild. Nord supported the idea of a Guild Assembly, which would place more power in the hands of the Cabinet and the power of public referendum directly with the guilds. As he put it, “The guilds have full rights to make treaties amongst themselves and therefore can establish whatever sort of body they wish to discuss their interests and desires, and may serve as a medium for expressing the will of the majority to the Executive…This means that the guild assembly could allow non-guilders to hold membership in their courts -- IT'S UP TO THE GUILDS.” WA Delegate Jahkalahka jumped on board the Guild Council idea wagon, saying, “A legislative body IS NOT NEEDED in Equinox…[Nord’s] suggesting removing the entire legislative branch. Guilds would be able to make laws between themselves, There is no need for another body to do it for them.”

But what was the result of all this intense regional discussion over the fate of the Senate and its potential dissolution? Well, the Senate had a short little discussion of it’s own, where the Senators spoke about whether or not they ought to dissolve the Senate themselves. Not altogether surprisingly, they didn’t really get very far in their attempt to find a solution, but it’s okay. The Citizen Tank threads continued to explode with debate and talk, in the meantime. Another result of the overall sense of dissatisfaction with the Senate was the Jolly Roger School’s decision to not appoint a Guild Senator in the new term. After the announcement that “JRS has elected to not elect anyone for the position of Great Shinobi for this next term” and would be boycotting the Senate, there wasn’t much of a response until a few days later when it became apparent that the Senate seats were not going to be filled and would, therefore, be unable to reach any kind of majority without all the appointed guild senators in place. Chancellor Hadisthe called for all the guild heads to get guild senators appointed as soon as possible on December 31st, following the dismal Senate Elections, stating, “Quite honestly, I don't care if you think it's better to boycott the institution, because you're killing the region by stalling the advancement of relief efforts.” The Mafia had also not appointed a guild senator due to its most active members already being involved in the government and due to a general sense of unenthusiasm about the Senate.

Now that all the guilds have appointed senators and the Senate can function for the term, they have just recently voted to grant Chancellor Hadisthe State of Emergency powers. So the Senate is still up and functioning, especially right now with this whole State of Emergency business (more on that next month). But, at the same time, Equinox is working on drafting a new constitution where the Senate WILL be replaced by a Guild Confederacy in the Citizen Think Tank area (more on that next month as well). So…who knows?…Maybe it will end up being dissolved. It’s certainly a serious and fascinating issue for the region. Ooooeerrr!

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Equinox Enforces COPS Treaty​

When Pietro Vidaurri entered the region, he seemed like any other noob. He did the usual. Applied for citizenship, was approved, and even joined the Famiglia (The Mafia (the best guild, naturally)). Little did the Admins or the Chancellor know that he was a convicted COPS Treaty criminal.

Upon hearing from multiple foreign, and creditable sources. The Admin decided to act. Chancellor Hadisthe took the case to the courts, and the case began. Pietro denied nothing, and pleaded guilty. He was sentenced by Chief Justice Aequitas-Veritas and was banned for 6 months, the maxium for a first time offender.

Newly appointed Senior Admin Aisli, took the charge and banjected him. His statement, "Understandable ". His understanding was a shock, but none the less accepted by the Admin Team. It should be interesting to see what occurs when his 6 month ban is over June of 2011.

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SciFi Festival​

In Culture news, the big event this term was the Science Fiction festival. Much rejoicing was heard from basements all over the land. The festival had been in planning for a while, so everyone was excited that it was finally happening. The festival opened with an introduction and reward for using a science-fiction related avatar for the duration. Themes some people used included Star Trek, Doctor Who, and Firefly. The first event was the obligatory debate: Star Wars – Episodes I-III or IV-VI? Generally, old people agreed that the original trilogy was better, mainly for story reasons. Meanwhile, youngins liked the cool explosions and stuff in I-III. Next was an activity in which participants could write an entry that might appear in Darth Vader’s diary, if he had one. Submissions ranged from entertaining to strange. Meanwhile, one of the activities planned for the original idea several months ago was going on: Talk Like Yoda. Mostly, people just got confused or stuck to three or four word sentences. They seemed to be having fun talking strangely at each other, though. Elsewhere in the Equiverse, another debate was going on: best science fiction TV show series. Shows were thrown all over the place, and the only agreement seemed to be upon Doctor Who. Later, festivalers were invited to post science-fiction-related demotivational posters. Needless to say, many lulz were had. There was also a coloring activity that looked quite fun, but Great Hero Viisbyax was the only one to participate. However, more people were interested in moving pictures. A Holodeck adventure was had, guided by Chancellor Hadisthe. Participants visited many exotic locations, but the trip ended suddenly when, as usual, Fortana (not to be confused with Frotana, the jive version of Fortana) was discovered raping some dead people. Meanwhile, in a galaxy not so very far, far away, an epic battle between the Jedi Knights and the Dark Side was raging. Much blood was spilled and many insults thrown, but in the end the princess was in another castle. More havoc was being wreaked by members of the Cabinet in sci-fi disguises. Festival-goers were challenged to name (in private) the face (metaphorical, of course) behind each mask, but it was hard to concentrate with dinosaurs and James Kirks running around causing mayhem.

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Guild Power Rankings​

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Issue #2, Volume #4 - February 1st, 2011 - Population 124
Forum Posts 202,075 - Forum Members 680​

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Well well well. Looks like I am Chancellor of Equinox again. I was rather surprised that it was so early myself, but yet here we are.

When we ratified Constitution IV, we overlooked that all elected officials were then deemed powerless from the now null Constitution III. A minor set back. Elections were held, and results are below.

Anyways. I would thank to take this moment and publicly thank former Chancellor Hadisthe. His leading in his third term as a Chancellor was vital to the region, and I believe that Equinox has grown stronger for it. Again Hadisthe, thanks.

So with Consty 3 null and voided, it makes sense that all laws underneath it, passed by the now removed Senate were all null and voided. Yet another con we failed to see in time. But I think it's a good thing we skipped it. Now we can become organized. Yes, organized. To all the naysayers: Equinox is now organized. Thanks to Aequitas-Veritas's perfect new Legal Code Act, the Laws of the Land are organized within a forum so it takes seconds to find a bill, treaty, vetoed/repealed item, or Constitutional amendment.

But that wasn't the only organizational step taken. I took it upon myself to make the Archives, or the Royal Solstice College updated to Constitution 4. New archives for all the Departments. Man, does it look spiffy! It really does.

I also updated the Hall of Fame members. So any of the former Equinoxians in the Hall of Fame reading this, stop by and give me the information we need to update your HoF Topic: the graz, Antracia, and J Delight. Come give me some help!

In closing, I just want to say to those who left us during the hard times of October - December: You made the biggest mistake of your NationStates career. Equinox's future has never looked better. And you will all miss the chance to be one of the few that worked towards it to say "I was there when Equinox rebounded." As I said in my Vice Chancellor acceptance speech for Hadisthe's second consecutive term, when so many of you left, for "Equinox would be dead in 3 months", you were wrong, and I am damn glad to say, "I told you I'd prove you all wrong."

-Chancellor Asylum

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Equinox's State of Emergency​

On January 10th, former Chancellor Hadisthe declared Equinox to officially be in a state of emergency. Naturally the citizens were excited, pleased to see what new changes would soon be occurring within the region, and ready to enjoy the festivities.

Wait, what?

In a poll in the Citizen Think Tank, Equinox voted overwhelmingly in favor of declaring a State of Emergency by 16:5. Per the last Constitution, it was the Chancellor's right to declare a State of Emergency.

The Chancellor may declare a state of emergency and govern the region with the approval of the Senate. However, the Senate may vote to remove this power with a majority vote of its members.

Click to expand...

Sexy, right? But why declare a State of Emergency in the first place? Hadisthe's main reason for proposing such a drastic measure was, primarily, due to the fact that "the legislature of our region is broken", citing inactivity and lack of participation in the recent Senatorial election as examples. You could say that the citizens of Equinox had lost faith in the Senate, or, alternately, that the Senate was just no longer functioning the way it was meant to. And the foremost goal of instituting a State of Emergency would be to seek a way to fix this problem.

In the Senate Debate subforum, Hadisthe discussed his plan for the State of the Emergency, including his other goals. During the two-week long State of Emergency (which is how long Hadisthe stated it would last at the most), the Chancellor hoped to overhaul Equinomics and put in place more measures to get citizens to spend their money, especially in ways that would go to the government, which would help with the government spending budget. Another goal was to work on making the board more accessible to new members, in particular by possibly opening up more subforums for public viewing. Hadisthe also wanted to empower the executive branch, having the ministers for each department make regulations and directives about their jobs and duties in order to benefit successors, that way there would be official government guidelines in place upon resuming a new government position. As Hadisthe explained, "...ministers will be required to write brief explainers of what the position is all about and its responsibilities. Successors will have a decreased learning curve and a change to add to it, hopefully further decreasing the learning curve for their successors."

However, once the new Constitution was approved and passed (which completely tore apart the Senate and recreated a new body, the Guild Council, where everyone who is a member of a guild has the right to vote on legislation), the current government body was declared to be invalid. Which is worse than having a bunch of government government officials...we sort of didn't have any. Elections immediately began, and the State of Emergency ended when the new government was put into place under the new Constitution. And thus, the festivities concluded, but a bit earlier than anticipated, alas.

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A New Constitution​

Equinox has a new Constitution! Getting here was no easy task. There were countless brainstorming sessions, drafts, polls, etc. The process began on December 30, 2010, when Chancellor Hadisthe posted a poll asking the citizens for approval for a State of Emergency, in which the Chancellor would be able to enact changes much more quickly. Sixteen out of twenty-one voters approved, with most citing reasons of declining activity, participation, efficiency, and fun. The State of Emergency debate itself seemed to alleviate the situation somewhat, as even recently inactive citizens returned to post their opinions. On January 1, 2011, Hadisthe requested State of Emergency approval from the Senate; it was approved on January 8 and enacted on January 10. Meanwhile, on January 2, Nordlijnonia posted a first draft of a new Constitution. There was much revision, and a final draft approval poll was posted on January 12, with nine of thirteen voters approving. The final draft was sent to the Guilds for ratification, and was officially enacted on January 20, after which elections began and the Guild Council sprang into action.

There were numerous changes made to the Constitution during this process. Following is a summary. Equinox is renamed to a Guild Confederacy to reflect the way things are run. The Senate is replaced with the Guild Council (summarized later in this paragraph). The process for a State of Emergency is clarified. The duties and abilities of the Foreign Viceroy, Secretary of Culture, and Chief Justice/Supreme Court are updated and clarified, including adding the ability to issue directives for their departments. The Minister of Culture is now the Secretary of Culture, perhaps to encourage attractive women to take the job? The Senate is replaced by the Guild Council, which is composed of all citizens who are guild members and is headed by a Speaker, who performs in the same way as in the former Senate. There were also various minor changes.

You can view the new Constitution here.

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Election Results​

Thanks to the new constitution, elections were much more exciting this month. Firstly, all previous offices were invalidated, so new elections had to be held (which has the added benefit of making elections not occur during Christmas).

The nominees for Chancellor were Asylum and The HighPlains Drifter (formerly Al Bundy, or, more formerly KevinWasserman). Asylum’s Vice Chancellor running mate was Aisli, and both of them have previous experience with Chancellor and VC as well as other positions. Their platform was based on their experience, promises of activity, continuing current programs including recruiting, and increasing the minimum number of supporters for creating a new guild from three to four to ensure the success of new guilds. The HighPlains Drifter’s VC was TBA (whoever that is) and his platform was based on not posting a platform.

The position of Chief Justice had (a probably record-setting) five nominees: Viisbyax (who held the position for the half-term preceding the new Constitution), Mekhet, Griff, Morrenstien (one term of previous experience), and Hospitlar. Viisbyax’s platform was based on previous experience and activity, but he was criticized for being too casual in the courtroom. Mekhet’s platform was based on lies and slander (plus the argument that people new to the position should get a chance at it). Griff’s was based on experience and promises of revitalization. Morrenstien cited the need for strong leadership in Equinox’s new era and promised updates to rules and procedure. Finally, Hospitlar’s platform was based on wanting to believe.

Lastly, the nominees for Secretary of Culture (renamed from Minister of Culture) were Hadisthe and Knistii. Nothing much else to say here.

Elections were completed on January 26, 2011. Asylum was elected Chancellor (with Aisli as Vice Chancellor) with 11 of 16 votes. Morrenstien was elected Chief Justice with six of eighteen votes. Hadisthe was elected Secretary of Culture with 14 of 19 votes.

Elections for Secretary of Finance were forgotten due to the transition of the position being appointed to elected, so they immediately begun. The nominees were The HighPlains Drifter and Fortana, and The HighPlains Drifter was the winner with 13 of 17 votes.

Now that there is a Chancellor, elections for Speaker of the Guild Council resumed. The candidates were Aequitas-Veritas, The HighPlains Drifter, Hospitlar, Mekhet, and Viisbyax. Hospitlar won the position with five of twelve votes.

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Recruitment Effort Steps Up in Equinox​

One thousand, five hundred and eighty-eight. That's how many recruitment telegrams the members of the Recruitment Club sent out in NationStates during January. Holy mold spores, Batman! As a result of these 1,588 telegrams, the regional population has jumped to 124, which is a far cry from the dismal 96 of the beginning of December and the 107 of mid January. Huzzah, and 1,588 toasts all around!

This awesomeness is largely the result of, other than the dedication of the recruiters themselves, the thorough reorganization that the Immigration Bureau underwent at the end of November. For the first time, recruiters have access to FOUR different and official recruitment telegrams to choose from, and everyone knows that cinnamon and variety are the spices of life. Even better, recruiters have been given the powerful and orgasmicly amazing Pipe Tool, which really just allows for much easier recruitment. Now anyone can jump aboard the recruitment bandwagon and join the Recruitment Club because between the telegram options, the Pipe Tool, and the reorganization of the Immigration Bureau, you can practically recruit with your eyes closed. Well, maybe not. Probably best to keep them open.

Another super cool and totally dope thing about Equinox's amped up recruitment efforts as of late is the payment incentive. That's right, you can get paid to recruit. It's easy, it's simple, it's fast, and it sure beats whoring. For each telegram sent out, you earn $1. Bingo! There's even a fabulous poster advertising the incentive in the Immigration Bureau to help encourage recruitment:


And last of all, in case you haven't been by the Equinox forums, or in case you're just particularly unobservant, the government has placed advertisements for the Recruitment Club underneath the main header of the board. Mobsters and happy children have been doing their best to entice Equinoxians and all other visitors to the region into helping with the recruitment drive. It's pretty snazzy and fun.

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The New Guild Council's Activities​

The new Guild Council has been busy. While there wasn't immediately a Speaker due to legal issues, meaning that no bills could be passed until elections were over and a Speaker was chosen, that didn’t stop the Guild Council from creating a flood of new proposals to replace all the old ones, which are being thrown out for ease of organization and understanding. Currently, all citizens of Equinox are members of the Guild Council, and anyone except unguilded citizens and the Chief Justice may vote. Following is a summary of all proposed laws so far:

• Bill of Rights Act: enacting a revised version of the Bill of Rights.
• COPS Treaty: re-approving the COPS treaty (treaties nullified due to Constitution change).
• Election Polling Resolution: re-enacting a resolution requesting that citizens forfeit their votes if they view the results of a federal election before voting.
• Equinox Legal Code Act: specifies organization of archives of passed laws for ease of finding them.
• Forum Administrators Act: keeps the current forum administrators in that position through the Constitution transition.
• Guild Council Admission Act: specifies application and voting ability requirements.
• Guild Council Voting Act: specifies voting procedures, as they are not in the Constitution.
• Guild Requirement Act: requires that each Chancellor publicly post the requirements for creating and maintaining a guild.
• Regional Security Act: re-enacting the Regional Security Act, which specifies definitions of and punishments for offensive behavior.
• Speaker of the Guild Council Amendment: prohibits the Speaker from holding another federal position in the region.

Additionally, Nordlijnonia has written guides on the Guild Council and legislation to help with the transition. New laws are being proposed and debated every day in a flurry of activity.

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Guild Power Rankings​

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Thanks so much for your updates! They were quite interesting! BTW: Congrats on your new constitution and on your position of VC!

Whoa, I just saw this... I dunno how I missed it!

So, a much delayed THANKS! Hehe! It's been fun to be VC again. I think it's my third time in the position, more or less. We used to call it "Imperial Advisor" which was fun because I made my avatar one of Jafar from Aladdin and put my title underneath it as "Nord's most trusted advisor" (Nord was Chancellor at the time). It was fun, and essentially the same exact thing I'm doing now.

Issue #3.5, Volume #4 - Marchpril 12th, 2011 - Population 97
Forum Posts 209,724 - Forum Members 700​

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Greetings NationStates world! It seems the April Fool's joke this year around was a good one. What better way to scare us? I am sure they were flooded with messages from noobs that thought their nation was hacked. So the joke is on them! Ha!

Equinox pulled a joke/secret-desire-of-Aisli and Executive Order #001 was declared, placing Aisli as the Queen of Equinox. Royal Decrees rained upon the region such as limiting the board themes, renaming the Think Tank the Fish Tank, making Griff "Lum's Bitch" and renaming him Daniel Radcliffe, and also major sexing up from the royal Skank Aisli.

Regional Elections came and went, and since I am writing this article that only means that I won re-election? It's gonna be a lot of work, but this cabinet is full of new faces. Silmeria is new the Vice Chancellor, Knistii is the Speaker, Hospitlar is the Chief Justice, yumyum36 is the Secretary of Culture and kittypaws is the Secretary of Finance. I am very confident in this cabinet. The region needed fresh, active faces in the government, and I think it was nailed nicely by the voters.

I am going to cut this short this time around. I will see you next EMT, and I am sure that it will be good news only. Thanks for the time and enjoy April's EMT.

-Chancellor Asylum

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Guild Council Throwdown​

The Guild Council has been very busy in February (especially at the beginning because of all the laws that needed to be re-passed). To start off, February 1 was commemorated as the day of the first signing into law of bills under the new Constitution. There have been lots of laws debated and voted on this month, so I’ll try to write a brief summary. The GC forum is all nice and organized, so it’s easy to find everything and put it in order, by the date the Chancellor signed it, assuming the secretaries have been doing their jobs; you know how lazy they can be.

Constitutional Amendments

• Feb 5: Speaker of the Guild Council Amendment – rather wordily prevents the Speaker of the Council from holding any other federal position. Passed 7-0.

Passed Bills

• Feb 1: Election Polling Resolution – asks the administration team to ensure that, during federal elections, members cannot preview the results of a forum poll without forfeiting their vote on said poll. Passed 7-5. Re-passed from Consty 4.
• Feb 1: Bill of Rights Act – ensures rights for citizens of Equinox. Passed 11-0. Re-passed from Consty 4 with modifications.
• Feb 1: Equinox Legal Code Act – creates the legal code, an archive of all bills that go through the GC. Passed 9-0.
• Feb 5: Forum Administrators Act – ensures that forum administrators under Consty 4 continue to hold that position. Passed 6-1.
• Feb 5: Regional Security Act – creates laws and punishments for malicious spam, harassment, assault, etc. Passed 6-0. Re-passed from Consty 4 with modifications.
• Feb 5: Guild Requirement Act – requires the Chancellor to specify requirements for guild founding and existence each term. Passed 7-0.
• Feb 11: Ban Continuance Act – ensures that all previously banned forum accounts remain as such, and creates guidelines for appeal. Passed 6-1 (plus one invalid vote).
• Feb 11: Guild Council Admission Standards Act – repeals the Guild Council Admission Act (see below), designates all guild members not prohibited by the Constitution as voting members in the Guild Council. Passed 4-2.
• Feb 11: Virtual Vandalism Act – defines and creates punishments for vandalism. Passed 8-1.

Treaties

• Feb 1: COPS Treaty – it’s the COPS treaty, I think you know what it is. Passed 9-0.

Repealed Bills

• Feb 6 (repealed Feb 11): Guild Council Admission Act – created procedures for joining the Guild Council and for Speaker elections. Passed 4-3. Repealed by the Guild Council Admission Standards Act (Feb 11).

Failed Bills

• Feb 10 (polls closed): Guild Council Voting Act – defined voting procedures for the GC. Failed 3-4.

There also a few bills currently in discussion, but you’ll get a closer look at those next month. Lastly, the Guild Council forum now has a fancy banner made by Aisli. Hooray!

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Election Fever!​

It seems like we're always having elections in Equinox, doesn't it? Every two months, to be precise. Well, this time around, it was pretty...unexciting, comparatively speaking to elections of the past. Like the Octebruary Election of ’04 when we had 16 WA Delegate candidates. That was madness, wasn’t it, eh? Ahh, good times…

Where was I?

Oh, elections this time around. Right. So yeah, it was rather straightforward. First of all, there was the fierce battle for the position of Secretary of Culture between yumyum36 and Abstain. Abstain actually, for once in his political life, won the election with 15 of the 22 votes, but since he hasn't been active on the board since December 24th, 2010 and never was actually nominated by anyone, we let yumyum36 have the office. Seemed like the wiser option, really. Next was the race for Secretary of Finance, where Abstain beat out kittypaws with 12 of the 21 votes, but again, same rules apply, so kittypaws really got the fancy title. With Chief Justice there was a real choice in candidates; voters had to pick between Anti-Hospitlar, Knistii, and Viisbyax. Anti-Hospitlar won with 11 of the 20 votes, and he immediately did a victory lap around the Supreme Court to celebrate. Finally, there was the Chancellor & Vice Chancellor face-off, the ultimate government election showdown. There were three contender pairings on the ballot: Asylum & Silmeria, Morrenstien & Anti-Hospitlar, and Abstain Sr & Abstain Jr. Despite valiant efforts all around, including an eleventh hour interpretive dance rally by Abstain Jr before polls closed, Asylum & Silmeria snatched up the top Equinox government positions with 11 of the 21 votes.

But election fever is still sweeping the region! Like a disco inferno, this election haze is here to stay until all of the government slots are full. Equinox has its voter dancing shoes on, baby! UNH!

What happened first was that Jahkalahka resigned as WA Delegate. Even he seemed stunned by the announcement, emitting a rather Canadian "Le Gaspe!" before explaining that he resigned because he wanted "to pursue political office." Two days later, Chancellor Asylum put forth Jahkalahka as a candidate for Foreign Viceroy. The Guild Council hemmed and hawed over this bit of delightful change of events for a bit longer, put it to a vote, and then shazaam! More voting! But now Jahkalahka is our new Foreign Viceroy.

In the meantime, Equinox has picked a new WA Delegate. Nominations came and went, and I think we were all a little surprised Akrine didn't swoop forward to accept her nomination. We all know she's got secret plans to turn Equinox into a gigantic penguin cave, right? But the vote has already gone off with Aisli and kittypaws on the ballot (OH! kittypaws has resigned as Secretary of Finance to run for WA Delegate, by the way, did I mention?), and Aisli is our new WA Delegate.

Because of the vacancy left by kittypaws, nominations have begun for a new Secretary of Finance. Elections have just started. Oh yeah. It's a party up in here, can ya dig it?

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Gooey Culturey Goodness​

Lots has been going on with Equinox culture since the last issue of the EMT. So much that I don't really know where to begin. How about the Mardi Gras festival? That was back at the beginning of March. We had a separate subforum, several planned activities, sent out an invite to lots of regions, but overall it probably wasn't as festive as it could have been. Bummer. Maybe it was because of inactivity, maybe it was because not as many people came over to party, but really, I think the mood soured when Viisbyax took off his pants and started doing the "Macarena." Repeatedly.

Another culture explosion was the Great Guild War. It too has its own subforum, and is basically an epic Guild-themed roleplay of carnage, mayhem, and battle of the wits. Or something. I don't know. I've been staying out of it, but I'm pretty sure that I've been either taken as a hostage or used as a battering ram at least once. The War is still ongoing, and there are rumors of a Guild War Musical on the horizon, so it's all pretty spectacular. My guess is that though it's taken a lull in the past week, it could reignite at a moment's notice.

There's some regular culture stuff that has been going off - several Supremacy games that seem to be very fun for those involved. Also, yumyum36 put up some coloring pages the other day, whee! During my one day of Queenly Terror on April Fool's, I held a Pantless Extravaganza, and Anti-Hospitlar had a contest in order to find a new signature graphic the other week (but someone in Canada won, booo!). Ooo, and the Fake Courts are rolling again because Asylum has sued Mekhet for marrying Akrine (whom Asylum is already married to). Unfortunately, things are at a standstill until yumyum36 comes forward to take his place as the Judge of the Fake Courts and oversee the trial properly.

The last bit of culture news is that some new people have been inducted into the King's Order. I was named Jedi Grand Master (for adminship, Aisliness, and general sexiness), Anti-Hospitlar was named Viscount of Poosh (for his service to the region as former Vice Chancellor and such), Akrine was named Assistant to the Flying Spaghetti Monster (for friendliness and her contributions to discussions as a non-government person), and Viisbyax was named Clallachpeldassacrissalvac (for being the Chancellor's bitch). For an explanation of the King's Order and a list of past recipients, click on this fun link here. Go on. You know you want to.

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The Admin Debate​

There has been a debate raging on in Equinox recently about admins. Conflicting opinions arose about the power of administrators and where their power comes from. This all occurred after Aequitas-Veritas proposed the Forum Administrators Act. This bill said that we recognize Falconias as the only legal administrator. It also recommend we make all the now former administrators, admins once again. While there was a range of opinions, the debate was quickly divided into two camps. One camp, spearheaded by Aisli, believed that administrative power did not stem from the Government of Equinox, but from the Root Admin's account. According to them, the new constitution did not affect them. "Admins are not government officials. We are employees of the board. I don't see how that's valid," said Aisli. The other camp, led by AV, maintained that, "This constitution literally undid everything. So while you still have admin rights you are new in terms of this constitution since it did not keep anyone in any position save falc." They believed that this bill tied up legal loose ends.

The debate spilled over to other proposals in the Guild Council. In an effort to end the argument, AV took the debate to the Supreme Court and Chief Justice Morrenstien. After careful deliberation, Mr. Morrenstien decided that Falconias should shed some light on the situation; however, Falconias did not come to speak. He humorously and perhaps while intoxicated responded instead by saying, "Dr unlk or so ber v?" During this time, the Forum Administrators Act managed to pass. So while the issue was dead in the legislator. The court case was still in full swing when Morrenstien radically decided that the issue shall be decided by the new "Court Council for Government Oversight." The judges will consist of one member from each guild. As this is new territory, the process is slow, but we are close to opening the court. The court will then decide on this important issue.

UPDATE!

Newly elected Chief Justice Anti-Hospitlar reopened the case presented to the Supreme Court on March 28th. He decided to bypass the special group of Associate Justices previous Chief Justice Morrenstien was trying to organize - a process that had stalled due to the failure of the Lords Guild to actually appoint anyone as an Associate Justice for the longest time. Instead, Anti-Hospitlar simply ruled upon the case himself, as his right as Chief Justice.

He gave a three part response in his ruling on the debate concerning admin powers and oversight:

1. The Guild Council only has the power to approve admins, per Article XI section three in the Constitution. If they do not approve of someone, the candidate can be resubmitted the following term.
2. Admins are citizens and can be prosecuted under the law through the Court for crimes just like anyone else in Equinox.
3. Although admins are powerful, there are checks and balances in place through the approval of admins with the Guild Council and through punishment with the Court and the upholding of Equinox law. Furthermore, we should trust the admins to continue to be good at policing themselves as they have in the past.

A full reading of the ruling can be found here and the entire court case can be found here.

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The Quad Annual Equinox Awards​

The Quad Annual EQ Awards returned to Equinox, and they were bigger than ever before. With the 7th Annual Awards set to begin, Chancellor Asylum organized the 1st - 6th Ceremonies all into one subforum where the 7th would also take place.

New awards were added this time around, with old awards removed. Take a sample of some of the new awards: The Best Guild Leader, The Couple That Should Happen, The Most Likely to Return to Equinox Next Quarter, and The Best Family awards.

Now let's get down to the winners. The big time awards, such as The Member of the Quarter was awarded to Asylum, with Field Marshel Ney locking up the Best New Member of the Quarter, and Quinncunx securing the Best Returned Member.

But no one could have outdone what Aisli did. Shockingly, (sarcasm) she wrapped up an outstanding 9 total awards. Some of those include Cutest Couple: Aisli & Her Pole, Best Blonde Moment: Aisli (tied with Asylum), Favorite Jolly Roger Member, and Best Guild Leader.

Asylum was also the big winner of the Awards, taking home a total of 7 Awards, that range from Member of the Quarter, Best Recruiter, Best Blonde Moment (his traditional award), and the New Antracia & Falconias award, which was shared with Aisli.

While the wonder twins dominated the awards, some other winners include Viisbyax who got 4, and Quinncunx who got 3. Some of the random awards like Biggest Fail went to the Admin Court Case (which has finally been settled after 2 months), The Great Guild War won best Culture Event, and the entire Lords Guild won Favorite Lurker.

The Guild Member Awards were Favorite Guild of Doom: Anti-Hospitlar, Favorite Jolly Roger: Aisli, Favorite Lords: Knistii and Favorite Mafia: Akrine.

The funniest awards, such as Quote of the Quarter and Topic of the Quarter, were - Quote: ANYONE: "AISLI YOU ARE A JEW" - AISLI: *SHRIEKS* "WTF I AM NOT!" *POUTS*, while the "Do You Masturbate?" thread got the Topic of the Quarter award. It wouldn't be Equinox without that winning now would it?

To see the full list of the winners, stop by Equinox and see the Award Ceremony!

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Guild Power Rankings​

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Thank you for the update, Aisli, er, I mean, your Highness.

Thanks so much for your update!

This embassy is now closed after more than a year of inactivity, as well as following our Ambassadors discussions on the Equinox forum.

It may be reopened at a later date, if Equinox reapplies.