Pope Lexus X
TNPer
Update III - 21/4/13
Forum: Gatesville
Region: Gatesville Inc
Population: 343 nations
WA Endorsements: 61
High Council:
Nevadar - High Queen
Gates - Grand Poobah
Noctaurus - WA Delegate
Kraut Killers - Forum Administrator
Sudros - General of the Army
Mr. Eviscerator - Internal Affairs Advocate
Pope Lexus X - Theological Advocate
Ukaraine - Court Jester
Regarding the Events in The South Pacific
An almost consistent feature of feeder conflicts is the confusion and speculation regarding the involvement of Gatesville in those affairs. The following message was sent by Gates the God to members of the Gatesville Guard yesterday and should clarify the region's stance on the matter.
My fellow Gatesvillians,
Last night at major update Milograd, the duly elected delegate of The South Pacific, took an unprecedented move in an effort to advance the cause of sovereignty in NationStates. At great personal sacrifice, and knowing with current game mechanics his efforts were doomed to eventual failure, Milograd took a stand.
Our older players may not be familiar with the concept of Influence. Gatesville was founded well before its inception and flourished. In essence, nations that remain longer in a region acquire more Influence, thus making them more difficult to eject and/or ban from a region. in order to eject a nation the regional delegate must have acquired more influence than the other nation in question and then 'use up' the required amount.
In its conception, it was a brilliant advance for sovereignty. In its implementation, it utterly failed and actually reduced the ability of regions to be truly sovereign in and of themselves. Older players became immune to any true punishment for not complying with their region's wishes as newer, younger players with fresh ideas attempted to make changes and bring their regions forward. This is not a valid concern in a region like Gatesville which has an active founder who maintains ultimate control, but for regions with no founder the results could be devastating.
Like in The South Pacific. Inactivity reigned. An established oligarchy was in complete control with no real hope of newer, more active members to be able to establish themselves and make real changes if the oligarchy did not agree. For the feeder and sinker regions of NS, this is the norm.
There has been much debate over several forms of media (the NS forums, regional forums, IRC, personal chat, etc) about possible solutions but without any real impetus to act. Which makes sense. Why should game mechanics be changed when there are other arguably more important aspects of NationStates to worry about? The new telegram system is amazing, but it does nothing to advance sovereignty in the game. We, as Gatesvillians, care about sovereignty. We care that nations and regions have the ability to govern themselves as they see fit. Whether that be standing by older, more experienced players or allowing newer ones to take a stand and roll with it, we think each region should have a choice about how to run itself, just as nations do. We were all new players once.
So Milograd took a stand. He kicked out a few of the current governmental members and explained to the region that he was tired of the current Influence system, thus sparking debate that may actually lead to real change (finally)! Most people ignore that aspect, and view him merely as a dictator who is impinging on the sovereignty of The South Pacific. It is an obvious conclusion to be drawn if one is unaware of the greater aspects at play. Milograd is not stupid. His regional Influence is such that he could never hope to hold the region for an extended period of time. If that was what he wanted, he could have remained as the legal delegate through the current system and built up Influence over time. We are not asking you to support or condemn Milograd, but we felt that our members should be aware of the situation so as to draw their own conclusions. You may feel free to move to The South Pacific and partake in the squabble on whichever side you wish, but you are also free to remain here. Gateville's official position on this matter is neutrality.
Our beloved Queen Nevadar, however, is not the sort of gal to let such a chance slip through her fingers as you well know. She moved personally to support Milograd in his quest, as did Regional BAMF Schleimels. One of our allies in The Sovereign Confederation disagreed with that decision and jumped to the conclusion that Gatesville was supporting Milograd. Amidst personal insults against our queen, the government of Osiris issued threats stating that if Gatesville did not remove its troops immediately they would take military action. They attempted to tell us what we could and could not do. THEY ATTEMPTED TO IMPINGE ON THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GATESVILLE ITSELF. This we will not stand for. Nevadar gave them until major update tonight to issue a formal apology or be declared an Enemy Of Gatesville.
This afternoon, an official apology from the Madjack, Pharoah of Osiris, was issued to Gatesville and accepted by the High Council. While relations are still strained, Osiris is no longer declared to an Enemy and we will not be taking direct military action against them at this time. If you have any further questions, you are welcome to discuss this matter on our regional forum.
In summary, Gatesville is remaining neutral on this issue and recognises the arguments to be made on both sides of this conflict. Following the distribution of the message, there are (at present) only 4 WA nations with Gatesville connections in The South Pacific.
Councils of Gatesville v. The Conservative Front
The court of the Inquisition has convened to assess the allegations that have arisen concerning Conservative Front (aka _CF_). The accusation is that Conservative Front, a former High Council and current Hall of Fame member, is a supporter of the World Assembly, Gatesville's sworn enemy and the enemy to national sovereignty across NationStates. The Councils of Gatesville demand to know if one of its own has turned upon it and as such has called the Inquisition to decide if Conservative Front has crossed into treasonous waters.
The outcome of the trial will be sent in the next update, but do feel free to pop by and watch the proceedings from the public gallery where refreshments and thow-able objects will be available.
300+ Nations
Once again we are happy to report that Gatesville Inc has hit another milestone on the road to restoration! Owing to the speed of our recovery, it is not hard to imagine Gatesville once boasted 1200+ nations (not counting the 300+ nations in our franchises) at its height. Once again, we offer thanks to those have aided the recruitment efforts and especially to the former members who continue to return in droves!
Z-Day!
Following the events of Z-Day, 1.6% of the population of Gatesville Inc remains uninfected. Gatesville Inc put up a strong resistance to the zombie threat, mostly by force of arms and as a consequence roughly 83% of the region are now dead. We hope the remaining 1.6% of uninfected and 14.9% infected citizens will be able to live together under the ever watchful eyes of Gates the Late and High Mummy Nevadar.
World Assembly Report
The office of the World Assembly Advocate, Gatchina, has produced the following report:
Comrades,
This round of WA voting they got the better of us. Against Corruption passed
Statistics are as follows:
Against Corruption was passed 9,319 to 4,755.
This vote’s turnout was better than last time, about 45 of our 73 WA Nations voted on the resolution. 2 of our nations voted contrary to regional voting guidelines while the rest of you voted in accordance with regional suggestions.
This brings us to the state of regional endorsements. As mentioned, the region has 73 WA members out of 330. Thus, we are operating at about 22% WA members, which is consistent with regional trends. I am pleased that several new nations have joined the WA in order to help us fight it. If your main nation resides in Gatesville Inc., please consider joining the WA to help increase regional power.
We have seen an increase in delegate endorsement which pleases me greatly. We are operating at around 84% for delegate endorsement, which better and better. I really would like to see 100% of WA nations endorsing the delegate.
I will close by repeating my traditional message: If you are not a member of the WA, I strongly urge you to join and endorse the delegate. We must all be able to share in triumph! You all have the ability to help us with our crucial mission!
Comedy Zone
