2nd Red Leaf Letter

The month of June has been a big one this year for The House of Five Leaves. We have changed our recruitment approach, and improved our welcoming policies through the paper work our first ever Media Officer and his Deputy drafted together, and we have met a large amount of success thanks to them. Since we started recruitment on May 4th, starting with 10 nations; and with 80 nations at the time of the last update (the 24th of May), we have escalated past 140 nations!

We have also been productive. Citizens have now begun getting involved in our government; as one can see with Kknight's constitutional proposals. He has started on-going debates on how an amendment/bill proposal should be presented, on a proposed criminal code, and on an official construction of a judicial establishment within our House of Five Leaves, and the separations of governmental powers. This month we also filled the third seat in our High Council and elected our first two officers. And last, but not least, we officially founded our military this month. All of this has been some of the very first governmental activity since we ratified our Constitution.

Our Foreign Affairs Dept. is growing rapidly with Embassies with The Pacific, Lazarus, The North Pacific, The East Pacific, The South Pacific, The West Pacific, and with The Great Britain and Eire; along with our already established embassies with The Black Riders, Glass Gallows, and Normandy. We have also been approached to join an Inter-regional Defense Alliance Proposition.

Aside from that serious business, people are having a bit more fun. With the election of our very first officer, our Cultural Officer, Cameron, we've started a place and way for people to role play, which many would say is the very core of Nation States. In addition, there has been lively debate on real world issues, such as the Obama Administration, the philosophy of Vikingism, and a debate about government aid and those deserving of it. So far, the debates have been civil, but don't worry if your honor is offended, because you can settle that in our new Imperial Arena. We even have a new board dedicated to art, which hosts a thread where members post some of their favorite and best music, and which is host to a Photoshopping contest. As well, spam games, and participation in them, has increased greatly, being a very appealing part of culture, especially with our active six bars (or, really, four bars, a religious shrine, and a bordello).

The House of Five Leaves is a burgeoning region, and we have quite a future ahead of us.



This month a survey was sent out to the members of our House of Five Leaves and the results are in:

What is your main goal in Nation States?
By far the most common goal was to have fun. The consensus was that our region was doing a good job at it, too.

What gives you the most pleasure while playing Nation States?
According to the survey, the majority of people most enjoyed meeting other people in the game, but answering issues also had several votes.

What attracts you to certain regions?
Surprisingly, there was an almost unanimous reply: people.

What is your preferred region size?
The reply centered around medium sized regions. A size which was "active" was also mentioned.

Are you contented in the House of Five Leaves?
For almost all people the answer was yes; however, several people mentioned that they don't feel like they are doing anything in the region.

What do you think would improve the House of Five Leaves?
For most people the answer was a larger and more organized government. Some people also suggested starting a military - which has since been done.

Many thanks to all those who completed this survey, and a big thanks to our founder, 94 Block, for actually putting this idea into action. With this survey we hope to establish the building blocks for future enterprise in the House of Five Leaves.





First and foremost, it seems to me that this philosophy is one of nostalgia. (Obviously, there's more to it than that, but I'm starting here).

For a long period of American culture, the 1950s (and to some extent, the 1960s) were seen as a "better", simpler time (regardless of its many problems), and were portrayed in a nostalgic light by American media (TV, film, etc., not specifically the news media). This was due to the fact that the Baby Boomers were in their prime, and were the bulk of America's artists and creators. Of course they were nostalgic for their childhood, and thus that resulted in the popular image of the 1950s we had for quite a while.

However, that is changing as the Baby Boomers are starting to leave the cultural spotlight. More recently, the 50s are being portrayed through a more historical lens, and now the 1980s are becoming the focus of our culture's nostalgia, as the MTV generation, the people who grew up in the 80s, are taking over as our directors, producers, etc.

That's where Vikingism comes in. It is a philosophy that stems from the nostalgia of people who grew up watching Stallone and Schwarzenegger, big, muscular, violent, manly guys doing big, violent, manly things. And listening to lots of heavy metal, of course. That's why Vikingists are encouraged to "Listen to 80s music and watch 80s movies." And he isn't talking about David Bowie or The Labyrinth (starring David Bowie!).

One could say that at its base, Vikingism is a sort of glorification and emulation of 80s action stars and the imagery of Metal music.

Which leads to one of its major problems... to be revealed in Part II.

NOTE: After writing the above article, I realized that what I had just said and what Part II says may sound like an indictment of 80s culture, and that I may sound like one of the moral guardians going against metal and saying it's corrupting and satanic and all that, etc. I'm not saying that at all, so don't worry Metalheads. The main reason that I singled out Metal as his source was because of his thing with the Vikings. There were a great many other warrior cultures that he could have singled out to "emulate," but I'm thinking he chose Vikings because of all the generally Gothic and specifically Norse imagery in Metal culture.