Foreign Dispatch #2

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We've just wrapped up another election season here in Spiritus and we're proud to announce that Wintermoot and Charax have been elected the new President and Vice President of Spiritus! We have also elected a new Regional Assembly, with Ceardia, a promising newcomer to NationStates and aspiring WA author, being elected alongside veteran players like Georgie (himself a newcomer to Spiritus), former President Tim, and Sovreignry -- the only representative from the previous Regional Assembly term to run for reelection.

This election was a changing of the guard, so to speak, with both presidential tickets comprised of candidates who have for the most part gotten their start in NationStates right here in Spiritus. Wintermoot and Charax emphasized community building, cultural events, and forum activity as the centerpieces of their platform. Their platform also noted the need to maintain an open and welcoming community in Spiritus and an independent approach to foreign affairs, even while maintaining the defender alignment of the Spiritus Defense Force. Their electoral opponents, The Salaxalans and Dr. World, emphasized many of these same themes and also put forward a plan to be more inclusive of the on-site community.

In his Inaugural Address (which may be seen here), President Wintermoot announced his new cabinet appointments. These cabinet appointments bring a mixture of veteran experience and new blood to the executive branch. Noting his commitment to building stronger regional culture in his platform, President Wintermoot has taken direct responsibility for the Ministries of Culture and Information for the beginning of the term to ensure that these ministries begin moving in the direction he envisions.

With our new administration in place and new Regional Assembly representatives elected, bright times are ahead for Spiritus and we look forward to sharing more from our new team soon!

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The Spiritus cultural scene has seen several new developments since our last update. Our Diplomacy League is still underway, with another game of Diplomacy kicking off recently under the direction of Dr. World and The Salaxalans. We have also started a new game of Mafia on our forum which is also being directed by The Salaxalans. Meanwhile, President Wintermoot has been working with Georgie, Dr. World, and others to get the Spiritus community involved in Minecraft.

The new Ministry of Information will also be making contributions to our cultural atmosphere, kicking off the Spiritus Weekly News and developing guides for both new NationStates players and those who have played the game but are new to Spiritus.

With an active IRC channel, a thriving RMB community, talk of Spiritus Skype nights, and other exciting ideas our culture has shifted into high gear and is sure to provide a lot of exciting events and activities for our citizens!

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The Spiritus Defense Force (SDF) has participated in several major liberations since our last update. The most significant of these was the liberation of The South Pacific on 30 April 2013 following the ten day coup perpetrated by Milograd. The SDF was proud to work with the Coalition of The South Pacific and the many other regions and organizations that participated in that liberation (a full list can be found here). Spiritus is strongly committed to protecting the right of regional natives to self-determination in the Feeders and Sinkers and in founderless regions throughout NationStates.

SDF forces have also been involved in the following liberations:

• Death Star on 22 March 2013 with the Founderless Regions Alliance and The United Defenders League;
• Furry Federation on 05 May 2013 with the Ten Thousand Islands Treaty Organization, the Medjai Guard of Osiris, the FRA, and The UDL;
• The Brotherhood of Muslim Nations, The Arab League, and Iraq on 07 May 2013 with the Jomsvikings of Balder, Sovereign Confederation, the FRA, and the UDL.

The Spiritus Defense Force has also been actively participating in defenses and restorations (detags) at update and is fast becoming a valuable partner in the defense of founderless regions throughout NationStates.

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The Regional Assembly had a busy first session as perhaps the most active branch of our government during the first term. It began by passing its own flexible but organized procedural rules and quickly shifted to more important matters. During its first session, the Regional Assembly passed constitutional amendments to streamline Regional Assembly elections, to define the region's military alignment as defender and to prohibit non-Warzone invasions absent a declaration of war, and to fix a loophole that would have allowed Regional Assembly representatives to be appointed to the Supreme Court. The Regional Assembly also passed legislation to create a WA endorsement cap, to regulate political parties, and to establish standards for the acceptance of citizenship applications.

The first session of the Regional Assembly also saw ratification of our first treaty, the Arnhelm Declaration of Recruitment Standards. The Arnhelm Declaration is an interregional agreement to prevent UCR recruitment between signatories. The Arnhelm Conference was organized by Europeia in February and so far the Arnhelm Declaration has been signed by at least thirteen UCRs, including Spiritus. The Declaration is still open to any UCR that wishes to sign and more information can be found here.

The second session of the Regional Assembly is also off to a strong start with the confirmation of Cormac Locksley as the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Spiritus. We're sure we will be seeing much more from the Regional Assembly this term!

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In March, Spiritus and The Land of Kings and Emperors participated in a recruitment competition and it was determined that the loser of the competition would note the results in their next foreign update. True to our word, we would like to acknowledge that The Land of Kings and Emperors won the competition and to congratulate them as the superior recruiters. The competition was good for both regions and we look forward to some of our recruits kicking the UIAF's butts all over update very soon.

Unfortunately, this will be the last such competition between our regions because His Supreme Majesty Onder Kelkia, Emperor of The LKE, by unquestionable right Hotspudarr of Moldavia, etc., etc., saw fit to unceremoniously ban our previous Vice President from The LKE's forum without so much as a word of consultation between our governments. We look forward to more fruitful relations with actual independent regions who aren't afraid of our defender cooties.

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[01:29] <+Reon> Also, can someone please tell me about the fish?
[01:30] <+Reon> Like who he is and such...
[01:30] <@Cormac> Hmm?
[01:30] <+Reon> The fish! Who are they?
[01:30] <@Tim> Karp
[01:31] <@Tim> He's an FRA Badass
[01:31] <+Reon> Ah, okay...
[01:31] <+Reon> A Badass Fish...
[01:31] <@Tim> Mmmhm
[01:32] <+Reon> Excellent.

Click to expand...

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Oh Onder.

A well written update! Thank you.