Vice Delegate's Desk

Greetings All,

The holiday slump continues with the lost of 8 Wa Nations. The Security Council and the Delegate have maintained an endorsement rate above 90%.

The 6th Annual WADP awards have been released today. Please take a moment to review and upvote. For 6 years, this program has helped the region grow and maintain its lead in game.

https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1482527
https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1482529

We have also launched the 2020 WADP Survey. Each year, we request feedback from the region on how to improve the WADP. Your responses have helped us move the program forward and keep the region growing. You can take the survey here : https://forum.thenorthpacific.org/pages/wadpsurvey2020/




Signed
~Dreadton

Greetings All,

From my count, there will be 1 more update before the next Vice Delegate takes office.

This week's numbers show all members of the Security Council, along with the Vice Delegate and Delegate have received at least 62% of all possible endorsements, along with sending out at least 90% of all possible endorsements. The Keepers of the North numbers are continuing to rise and we will likely see that number reach its pre-Eras level.

We currently have the WADP Survey going on. If you have not done so, please take some time to fill it out. Filling it out gives us a chance to improve the program and keep our region growing. All responses are confidential, and at the end of the survey, a summary of the responses (minus any identifying information) will be released.

You can fill it out here :

WADP Survey 2020

forum.thenorthpacific.org

Signed
~Dreadton

Greetings All,

Its Final update time,

We have started to gain back World Assembly Nations and continue to add back our lost Keepers. I have been regularly sending out WA Alerts to nations not endorsing Members of the Security Council and that seems to have helped, judging but the 28 nation increase for Cretox.

We currently have the WADP Survey going on. If you have not done so, please take some time to fill it out. Filling it out gives us a chance to improve the program and keep our region growing. All responses are confidential, and at the end of the survey a summary of the responses (minus any identifying information) will be released.

You can fill it out here :

WADP Survey 2020

forum.thenorthpacific.org

Signed
~Dreadton

Just look at all that green! Note: actual endorsement levels for McM and myself right now are higher than those in this snapshot.

I'm honored to be your Vice Delegate for the next 4 months, and to work with Delegate @mcmasterdonia, his cabinet, and the Security Council to the benefit of our region. It's going to be an active term for all of us, so here's an outline where we're at now and what you can expect going forward:

1. Transition: McM and myself are currently at positions 14 and 13 endorsement-wise, respectively. Given where we're at only a few days in and the rate at which we're gaining endorsements, I can confidently say that this transition will outpace last term's. I've sent out a round of alerts for both of us and heavily promoted McM's alert dispatch. I'll continue to alternate alerts for us throughout the transition, with McM being the priority. Additionally, I set out advertisements to non-WAs and non-keepers. McM has contacted the 89 keepers not endorsing him at the start of the transition, and that number has fallen considerably since. Currently, we're down 53 keepers since McM took office. We'll continue to regain lost keepers as time goes on. Publishing an additional WADP awards volume or employing cards in some other way isn't out of the question, but is unlikely to have a marked impact at the rate we're going.
2. New Initiatives: The primary projects I have planned are VD/SC forum mentoring, a new TNS article covering the SC, a SC survey, a comprehensive SC handbook, monthly VCs, other events, and citizen endotarting support. These are either currently being planned, or I'm working on prototypes myself. We'll have a fireside chat and SC game night (probably Among Us) later this month. The next edition of TNS will also feature a SC Review article.
3. Disclosure: First off, huge thanks to @Dreadton and the admin team for establishing a solid process for this. I'm currently looking through old threads, and several potential redaction cases have been brought to my attention. I hope to have another batch of these released soon.
4. Core Responsibilities: VD citizenship checks aren't going to be an issue, I'm endotarting, I'm maintaining an active RMB presence, blah blah blah. I'll keep up weekly VD reports, and I have a few new pieces of information I'd like to include in them. My first such report will, predictably, be released this Sunday. I'll also be maintaining a prominent voice in the executive, and act on any matters potentially relevant to the region's security that I see there.
5. WADP Survey: We currently have 73 responses for this survey. I intend to do another round of advertising before publishing results.

My overall goal for this term is to be active, visible, and expand the footprint of both the Vice Delegacy and the Security Council through new projects and community events. I look forward to serving as your Vice Delegate, and can't wait to see what we'll accomplish! If you have any questions or concerns, whether about my performance or the SC in general, feel free to leave a comment or contact me directly.

Hey, everyone!

For this report, I opted to manually access current endorsements and influence for all nations on the report rather than rely on the daily updates. Numbers are relative to last week's report, not the one I made for my opening address. This should offer a more complete look at how the transition's going thus far. I decided to split up this report by category for easier readability. Without further ado:

The Transition
Things are proceeding as foreseen, with McM and I assuming endorsement positions 13 and 12, respectively. I've been sending out regular telegram and dispatch alerts for both of us, with McM being the priority. Additionally, the Ministry of Home Affairs has released a special telegram list for its staffers aimed at further boosting our endorsement levels. At this point, we're both within 70 endorsements of the ingame delegate. We've also regained the vast majority of our lost keepers, with only 23 to go. WA numbers are holding steady.

Now, onto the more interesting stuff: Tlomz is not actively endotarting at this point, and is losing endorsements. Dreadton is in a similar state, having fallen to position 4. This is nothing to be concerned about, seeing as both Pallaith and Sundred are capable of temporarily holding the ingame delegacy. This won't have any bearing on the final stage of the transition beyond the holder of the ingame seat being better versed in managing their endorsements for a transition.

Citizen Checks
9 checks on 8 people done over the past few days since taking office; all passed. I plan to start sending a "VD mentoring" forum DM the next time I pass someone for the Vice Delegate's check.

2020 WADP Survey
The survey's currently at 84 responses, and I sent out another TG advertising it earlier today. I intend to publish survey results in a few days. Overall, turnout has been quite promising, and people's responses have been a pleasure to read.

Declassification
On the backend, we're going to have a considerably easier time keeping track of what needs to be redacted going forward. Progress on disclosure is moving along, and the SC and admins have been a huge help thus far.

Miscellaneous
I've been striving to maintain an active presence on the RMB and in the executive, and things have been proceeding quite smoothly in that vein. Expect a SC VC and game night later this month, along with the release of the first TNS monthly SC review. My drafts for the SC survey and handbook are at the point where I'm comfortable sharing them with the wider SC. I've also updated the OP of the VD's Desk thread, and archived the SC Public Comment Forum due to redundancy and lack of activity. Overall, the term is starting off without a hitch, and my agenda for the next 4 months should progress as planned. As always, feel free to leave any comments or concerns in this thread.

~~Cretox

Short midweek update. I wouldn't normally do this, but this transition's moving fast enough that I felt it was warranted. With our controlled endorsement crunch, executive staff unendorsement of Sundred and Pallaith, NPA support when available, and another round of alerts, McM shot up 24 endorsements in 2 days while Tlomz retained the delegacy. McM's now at 992 endorsements and position 7, while I'm in position 10 with 982 endorsements as of this snapshot. McM is getting ever closer to the delegacy, and it should all be over soon.

In an effort to be more accountable and transparent towards the public, I posted a thread in this subforum tracking the progress of the transition over time. While I initially planned to release survey results today (with 98 responses), I was advised to wait another day for responses to hit 100. Hey, it's a nice number.

As always, I'm happy to address any questions or concerns people may have about the transition or anything else.

Good morning/afternoon/evening/night!

Apologies for the belated update this week. As of major update January 22nd, McMasterdonia has assumed the ingame delegate seat. I assumed the ingame #2 position in endorsements the next day. With it only being around 2 weeks since the start of the term, I'd like to give a huge thanks to McM, the SC, and everyone else who helped make this happen. Now it's just a matter of continuing to monitor our endorsement counts and ensure that the gap continues to widen. As a reminder, please do not re-endorse anyone you were told to unendorse until instructed otherwise (it's fine if you already did so). You can read a detailed timeline of the transition in this thread.

In other news, 2020 WADP survey results are out! Thanks to everyone who took the time out of their day to help us improve the program. I'll bring up particularly interesting suggestions to the SC privately. Overall, the results paint a good picture of the WADP, and the feedback given is definitely actionable.

Hey everyone!

First off, the Ministry of Radio kindly hosted my first Vice Delegate fireside chat earlier today. Big thanks to everyone who listened in and asked questions. If you'd like to listen to a recording, it may be found on the NBS YouTube channel here. The chat consisted of a brief address by me recapping the last ~3 weeks' events, followed by a longer Q&A session. Total length was a little under one hour.

Second, I'm sad to say that January's volume of the WADP awards will be delayed due to a technical issue with the spreadsheet. However, I have personally gifted an epic card to all executive staff members who lost Keeper of the North status due to unendorsing Sundred or Pallaith during the transition as per instructions and indicated interest in being compensated on the Discord. I'll release the awards volume as soon as the issue is resolved. Now, onto the meat of this update:

New SC Applications and Resignation
As many as 3 nations might join the SC in the near future! Rocketdog's appointment is currently being voted on here, with discussion occurring in this thread. I highly encourage voting if you haven't already done so. TlomzKrano was nominated by the Security Council, with discussion occurring here. Dreadton's application is currently being discussed privately by the SC. All 3 are interesting applicants in their own right, and the SC could grow to a total of 13 Councilors soon.

In more somber news, Oracle has recently resigned from the Security Council. It was a pleasure to work alongside him, and we all wish him the best.

VD Forum "Mentoring"
I started sending out the first iteration of the VD mentoring template to residents whose citizenship applications' VD checks I pass. The idea here is to cover opportunities in the region, especially the executive staff, more explicitly and frequently than the Ministry of Home Affairs' current mentoring program does. I'll continue communicating with the Minister of Home Affairs and the SC to ensure that overlap with HA mentoring is minimized and the project is further developed.

TNS SC Review Article
This is basically intended as a monthly article for The North Star summarizing the VD's and SC's undertakings each month. For example, the SC Review article for January will touch on the recent transition, the WADP survey, new SC applicants, etc. I'll be presenting my draft of this to the Minister of Communications shortly.

Endorsements
Oh right, the big pretty picture thing. Every SCer has gained endorsements since last week, despite the region's WA count remaining unchanged. The gap between McMasterdonia and myself has widened to 19 endorsements, and I'm currently 13 above Pallaith in position 3. Many SCers have resumed endotarting, with certain higher-position Councilors holding off on endotarting for now to allow the gap to build further. Maintaining the delegacy and second position should not be an issue for the remainder of the term.

Overall, this has been another successful week, and the WADP sheet issue should only be a minor hitch.

Friends (and others), it's that time of the week again!

It's been a week, but January 2021 WADP Awards are finally out! I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. This volume actually covers 1 day less than usual: it encompasses January 2nd to January 31st. You can find this awards volume in this dispatch (please upvote!). Congratulations to all who won an award! If there are any lingering issues with this volume, please don't hesitate to let me know. Thank you for your patience.

In other news, Tlomz's SC application is still being discussed in this thread, and Dreadton's SC nomination vote has now concluded. Dreadton's nomination was successful, with 10 ayes and 1 abstention, and will be brought before the Regional Assembly shortly. I'm excited to see where these applications go in the future. If you would like to participate in discussion surrounding either application, now's the time to do so.

The first edition of the monthly Security Council Review article should be published by the Ministry of Communications shortly as part of January's edition of The North Star. This will actually be the final edition of TNS; you can read more about recent changes to the publication in this announcement. It will obviously be refined in the future, but I feel that this format could bring additional visibility to the SC. I have also continued messaging new citizenship applicants who pass the Vice Delegate's check (unless they clearly don't need it).

Regarding endorsement counts, our WA population has decreased since last week. Despite this, McMasterdonia's endorsement count continues to rise. Most SCers have restarted endotarting, and I sent out several endorsement alerts in the past week: 2 for Xagill, 1 for Former English Colony (which was responsible for the jump you can see on the chart), and 1 for myself. The delegate gap continues to grow, the vice delegate gap remains stable, and Xagill should be among the rest of the SC in no time.

Yours,

~~Cretox

Happy Valentine's Day/other holiday/just another day, everyone!

Security Council endorsements are holding steady, and the gap between McMasterdonia and myself continues to grow. I've continued sending out endorsement alerts for Xagill, in addition to one for McM yesterday. The objective at this point is to get McM further ahead of me, and bring Xagill up to par with the rest of the SC. You may have noticed that this weekly update is a day late: this was intentional, so Kranostav would get caught on the chart above.

Speaking of Kranostav (better known as Tlomz), they have just been confirmed by the Regional Assembly to the Security Council! I sent out a telegram to all Keepers not endorsing them (50 in total). While we did lose 30 Keepers since last week, I'm confident that they will regain their Keeper status in short order once they re-endorse Tlomz. I'm certain that Tlomz will make a valuable addition to the SC, and I look forward to continuing to work with him in the future.

On the subject of new SC members, Dreadton was successfully nominated by the Security Council for a seat on it, and their confirmation vote is currently ongoing in the Regional Assembly. You can view the vote in this thread, and I urge all citizens who haven't voted yet to do so. The vote is due to close this Friday. With two new SCers and another poised to join in the near future, the Security Council has begun discussing an update to the Line of Succession. For obvious reasons, we won't move forward with any LoS update until Dreadton's application is resolved.

In the interest of transparency and public discourse, I've created a thread to track official endorsement-related activity by the Vice Delegate. I have also continued starting mentoring conversations with citizenship applicants who pass the Vice Delegate's check. This initiative looks to have good synergy with the Minister of Home Affairs' plan for a revamped HA mentorship program.

Last but certainly not least, there's the matter of SC declassification. At this rate, I hope to have the current nine pages of private threads awaiting declassification ready no later than the end of this week.

Yours,

~~Cretox

Hello, everyone!

Dreadton was successfully confirmed to the Security Council on Friday. He was a pleasure to work alongside last term, and I look forward to continuing to work with him on the SC for the foreseeable future.

The two main items of business over the next week will be updating the Line of Succession and releasing redacted War Room threads. Regarding the former, the Security Council has crafted a proposal for a new Line of Succession, with Regional Assembly discussion on the matter occurring in this thread. With the last change occurring well over a year ago and the SC's composition changing markedly since, an update is long overdue. On the subject of declassification, I have begun moving threads ready for release to this archive, visible to residents. This is the first of eight pages of threads, which I plan to crank out over the week.

Xagill's endorsements continue to rise, and the rest of the SC is holding steady. The gap between McMasterdonia and myself also continues to increase, and we are regaining our lost Keepers from the recent additions to the SC. Endorsement alerts for Xagill are having a very limited effect at this point; it's simply a matter of time and consistent endotarting.

Yours,

~~Cretox

Happy Sunday!

Despite some fluctuation in the regionwide WA count, both McMasterdonia and Xagill have continued to gain endorsements, and we've regained many of our lost Keepers. Overall, the delegate, VD, and SC are in a very strong position endorsement-wise. Speaking of endorsements, the 81st WADP awards volume is out (covering the month of February). You can find part 1 of the awards volume here, and part 2 here.

Discussion on updating the Line of Succession is still ongoing in this thread. Any feedback or questions about this proposal are welcome. There has been one FOIA request concerning the proposed new LoS, and while we have 2 weeks to act on it, the relevant records will be released considerably sooner in all likelihood.

Regarding declassification, another batch of threads has been released to this subforum, with roughly 40 more close to being ready. Some threads obviously necessitate more review than others, but we're getting through them at a good rate. If you're interested in learning more about the SC of years past, or just want to give yourself a bit of asthma, I encourage taking a look.

This is slightly thinner update than usual for this term, but my main focus right now is declassification. Expect consistent progress on that front.

Yours,

~~Cretox

Happy International Women's Day!

We've gained 17 Keepers since last week's update, and the top 14 endorsement positions in the game are now occupied by the Delegate and Security Council. You may notice that Pallaith has spiked in endorsements recently: this was a controlled increase that occurred as a result of Pallaith endorsing back up from the mid-70s percentage-wise (a holdover from the most recent transition). Xagill is close to the rest of the SC, and is comfortably in position 14 at 966 endorsements and rising.

The proposed Line of Succession amendment has gone to a vote here, with discussion occurring in this thread. If you're a citizen and haven't already voted, I highly encourage you to do so!

Speaking of citizens, the Ministry of Home Affairs has been hard at work on a new HA mentoring program, as also stated in the Ministry's February report. When writing up the template I'm currently using to start conversations with citizenship applicants who pass the Vice Delegate's check, I consulted with HA Minister Owenstacey to avoid overlap with the HA mentoring program in the works at the time. I've been starting forum convos with every citizenship applicant who passes the VD's check for the past ~1.5 months, and will continue to do so provided there are no overlap issues going forward.

The final item I would like to touch on here is declassification. We've released 60 private SC threads in the past week, which can be viewed by residents in this archive. While declassification is a legal requirement of the office, the process has been quite painless due in large part to the support and diligence of the SC. In addition to standard declassification, there is one pending disclosure request. The deadline for the release of relevant records is this Saturday the 12th, though they should be released before then.

Yours,

~~Cretox

Fasten your seatbelts; this'll be a long one.

Endorsement Levels
After sending out an advertisement TG for non-WAs to join the WA and for non-Keepers not endorsing the VD to become Keepers, we've gained 12 WAs and 14 Keepers. McM and I continue to grow in endorsements. Given that McM and I are quite high at this point and that it's been a few weeks since the transition concluded, it's time to bring the rest of the SC up to par. Xagill's been saturated with endorsement alerts over the past few weeks, so I'm sending out an alert for every SCer below 1010 endorsements, starting from the bottom and working up. El Fiji Grande has already shot up to 1011 endorsements as of writing. I also sent alerts for Dreadton and Frances Francis the First of France (Lord Lore), and will keep progressing up the SC over time- likely one alert every day or every few days. Getting every non-Xagill SCer to at least 1000 endorsements won't be particularly difficult, and Xagill's endorsements are just a matter of time and consistent endotarting.

WADP Cards and Card Rewards Thread
Legendary cards were recently sent out by Delegate McMasterdonia to all nations that won a top-10 spot in one or more of the three ranked categories in February's WADP awards. However, as also stated in the Ministry of Cards' monthly report for February, our regional card reward programs will be undergoing some changes. Namely, epic cards will no longer be gifted as part of the WADP. This is due to the fact that the old version of the program necessitated gifting well over a thousand epic cards every month, placing a considerable strain on both our gifting capabilities and the person doing the gifting. Going forward, the following card reward measures will still be in effect:

1. Winners of the three top-10 categories of the WADP awards in a given month will win a random legendary card per category won.
2. Keepers of the North will be eligible for three daily legendary card lotteries, the specifics of which are available in this dispatch.

The only difference will be the lack of epic card rewards (which are of questionable value to the vast majority of nations receiving them anyway). We are considering retooling the daily legendary lotteries to better incentivize active endotarting and ensure that nations receiving cards actually want them. Expect further updates on this front.

The plethora of card reward programs available to TNPers can be confusing, especially for newer members of the region. Additionally, card rewards unaccompanied by communication acknowledging such can easily lead to further confusion. For these reasons, we'll be working on a forum thread outlining every way in which TNPers can earn cards for contributing to the region. All official card rewards sent out will be posted in this thread, and all nations receiving these cards will also receive a telegram indicating why they have received cards.

Dispatch Update Project
On that note, I have noticed that quite a few of our WADP dispatches are either behind the times or could use additional clarity. I will be personally overseeing an effort to update all WADP dispatches under the purview of the Vice Delegate to better reflect the current state of the program. The current card rewards dispatch comes to mind, as it heavily emphasizes the lottery instead of more regular rewards, is outdated in numerous areas, and could better advertise other card-gifting programs in TNP. This project won't take a significant amount of effort, but it will undoubtedly have a positive impact on our ability to introduce the WADP and its associated programs to new residents.

If you have any suggestions regarding updating WADP dispatches, or if you have any comments regarding these dispatches, please don't hesitate to contact me via forum PM, NS TG, or Discord message.

Endotarting Event
The SC will be holding a big regional endotarting event in early April. This event will include both card-based and other prizes, and incorporate gifts for active members of the NPA along with a limited-time promotion of the executive card rewards program. This event will run for two-three weeks. The objective will be simple: increase the total number of endorsements in the region, secure TNP as the top region by average endorsements, and increase the unbroken number of top endorsement spots (currently 28) that TNP nations hold. Card rewards will be aimed at individual contributions, and will consist of both lottery and guaranteed elements. Other prizes will be tied to collective regional progress toward our goals. For an idea of what to expect, feel free to take a look at the last version of the event.

Endotarting Guide
TNP currently offers a very basic guide on the mechanics of endotarting for new players. However, this guide doesn't cover how to maximize endotarting efficiency, how to actually endotart beyond the very basics (e.g., writing effective endotarting TGs), or how to exert greater control over your own endorsement count. The SC is comprised of experienced endotarters who have picked up many tips and tricks over the years. We are working on a guide that will cover this ground and benefit the region as a whole. Included in this guide will be a concrete process for TNPers to request endotarting assistance from the SC if they have any lingering uncertainties or just want direct help achieving their desired endorsement count.

SC Handbook
The SC can be difficult to understand for nations unfamiliar with the inner workings of TNP. What the SC actually does, the history of those on it, and how to actually get on it are all things that people new to the region can struggle to understand, and which our current materials don't do a particularly good job of explaining. That's where the SC Handbook comes in. This will consist of three dispatches that cover the SC's role, its members, and how to actually get on it, respectively. Interestingly, a good portion of the necessary material already exists in some form or another. It's a matter of refining and building on what already exists.

RMB Trivia
Another event that's in the pipeline. This'll basically be what it sounds like: a trivia contest on the RMB where SCers ask questions and people try to correctly answer them in exchange for prizes. The questions will be divided based on difficulty, will all concern TNP, and will all necessitate some degree of forum research. Details forthcoming.

VD Forum Mentoring
With the Ministry of Home Affairs' forum mentoring program back up and running, there's a good opportunity to refine the template I've been using for mentoring with citizenship applicants who pass the Vice Delegate's check. The goal is to have a more flexible template that can be adapted based on information that comes up during the Vice Delegate's check, which can be used to direct new citizens to programs and areas that may interest them.

Declassification
Another batch of threads was moved to the declassified archive. There's still quite some ground to cover just because the backlog of threads to release extended back to 2013. However, I am confident that we can get it done this term.

Well that was a lot. I sincerely apologize for the belated nature of this week's report; there was a lot of stuff going on, and I wanted to get it all covered with one report that people can easily find and look through. The next report will be more standard.

Yours,

~~Cretox

Happy Easter, everyone!

Keeper numbers continue to increase even as WA numbers fluctuate from week to week. Security Council endorsement numbers are strong across the board, and I have sent out endorsement alert dispatches and telegrams for Frances Francis the First of France, Xagill, Sil Dorsett, Territorio di Nessuno, and Kranostav. The goal is to have every SCer at or above 1010 endorsements, and we will reach that goal soon. Xagill's endorsements are now on par with the rest of the SC, and will only increase from here.

World Assembly Development Program
Two pieces of news here. Firstly, the March 2021 WADP Awards Volume is out! Card rewards will follow shortly, and will be tracked in this new thread. We have numerous new top-10 winners this time around, so be sure to upvote the dispatch for maximum visibility! Part 2 of the awards can be found here. Secondly, lottery RMB posts are back in business! For those unaware, automated RMB posting of the winners of our 3 daily legendary lotteries ceased a few weeks ago despite the actual gifting of the cards continuing as usual. I have rectified the issue, caught up on all missed lottery posts, and will be posting all lottery winners in this thread every week to maximize visibility.

Endotarting Event - Spring into Action!
We're on the cusp of releasing our big April endotarting event. This event will last until the end of the month, and will feature multiple mainstream prizes in addition to supporting card prizes. For an early look at the event, see the spoiler below:


Non-card prizes will include an additional step: nominations by the community. I will announce these nominations followed by a kick-off of the event as soon as I get executive sign-off.

The event will also run in tandem with 3 resident-only regional polls, following the SC's quest for more funding after a run-in with the Gameside Advocates. The first of these polls is out, and you can can vote right here.

.The event TLDR:

1. Join the World Assembly if you haven't already.
2. Endorse the Delegate and Security Council to become a Keeper of the North.
3. Endorse at least 90% of the region with our handy endorsement tool.
4. Tell your friends!
5. Win prizes!

Declassification
A grand total of 189 threads have been released thus far in the term, with 30 more to be released likely tomorrow. We're making great progress on this, and it'll either be finished this term or leave minimal final cleanup for next term, depending on how much time our other projects eat up. You can follow along with the ongoing declassification effort in this new thread.

That thread also contains a new guide to the declassification process built into its opening post. This is intended to alleviate any questions people may have regarding why certain declassifications are used, and how they're justified. Once this declassification effort is complete, that thread will be locked and archived, and the guide will be rolled into this thread's opening post.

Endotarting Guide + SC Handbook
The SC has been very helpful with both of these efforts, and we've identified plenty of existing buried information to draw from, especially for the guide. The guide will include a process for requesting individualized support with reaching a given endorsement goal. At this point, I just need to sit down and finish up what I started writing. As I said previously, this dispatch covering the card lottery should be updated to better reflect the modern state of our card rewards programs. If I'm updating that dispatch, I could and likely will incorporate that guide to our regional card rewards programs into this recently made thread on WADP and lottery cards.

On the subject of cards, I have been closely working with interested ministers to bring the executive card rewards sheet back up to date. While the future of the program is ultimately up to the delegate, I personally believe that getting through the tasks backlog is critical to any version of that future.

Whew, that was a lot. On a final note, I would like to address the recent delay in this weekly update initiative. There's been a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes, and I've been providing regular updates on that, whether on the Discord or via new forum threads. I decided that a larger, comprehensive report that covers the full extent of what's been happening would be preferable to smaller reports that only show part of the picture, especially given the public updates being made outside of this thread.

I'd like to close off by giving a big thank you to everyone who's helped make the term go so smoothly thus far. This time wouldn't have been nearly as successful or fun without each and every one of you.

~~Cretox

hi

Jakit:

hi

Click to expand...

Hi. Do you need help with anything?

Hello, everyone!

I contemplated making this into a closing statement, but there is over a week remaining in the term, so next week's update will be my final one this term. There's a lot of ground to cover, so let's get into it.

Endorsements
You probably noticed a new graph beneath the usual Security Council endorsements one. That graph shows the region's collective endorsements for the past week. My logic behind adding that one is so that people can see the region's endorsement trends over time instead of aggregate changes of the sort shown in the SC endorsement table. Graphs can also help with visualizing where we are as a region. I'll probably add a term-wide graph to my closing statement next week. If you didn't already know, you can actually access SC endorsement statistics yourself via the Vice Delegate reports at the bottom of this directory.

Regarding what the charts actually mean, the SC is in a good place. Our WA numbers have somewhat declined due to NPA fluctuations, fall-off from a regional WA advertisement that I did a few weeks ago, and the beginning of the usual summer slump. However, our Keeper numbers continue to increase. Every Security Councilor is above or near 1000 endorsements. I've been using alerts to boost any SCers whose endorsement counts drop, and SCers have been staying on top of their endorsing in addition to sending personal endotarting TGs. Overall, we are in a good spot for the upcoming transition after the general election. Speaking of which, go look at the election! It's important!

WADP Awards, the Daily Lotteries, and Cards
The monthly WADP awards volume for April has been released! Congratulations to the winners! While I am pleased to report that daily lottery gifting has proceeded flawlessly by virtue of being automated, monthly WADP card gifting has not, as it currently requires a specific person to manually log into The Northern Light to gift every card. Fortunately, a long-term solution to enable easier card gifting is currently in the works, and handling the region's cards situation is incorporated into the platforms of both current Delegate candidates. In the meantime, the 3 daily lotteries are proceeding without a hitch, all winners are being advertised on the RMB and the forum, and all monthly WADP winners along with their respective card rewards are being recorded. All WADP award-related updates and announcements are posted in this thread.

Endotarting Event
Yes, that thing! The event is ready for launch, and you can see what it involves by reading this testing dispatch. All of the links are functional; please inform us if anything looks off. The SC is currently discussing whether to launch this event sometime this week, or wait until after the election. Waiting is obviously the safer option, but given that the SC isn't elected and the event focuses on individual and collective endorsements rather than endorsing the delegate/vice delegate, there's technically no harm in releasing sooner.

Declassification
We're up to 249 threads released in total, and will release more throughout the week. I'd like to thank the rest of the SC for making the declassification process so painless. We actually got through the entirety of the existing private SC archive, and needed to move more threads from the active private subforum to it. As always, you can follow the SC's declassification progress and learn more about how declassification is done with this thread and the declassification guide in the opening post.

Standing Nominations
In case you're unaware, Article 5 Clause 3 of the TNP Constitution renders all nominations made by the SC for applicants to join the SC indefinite until actively revoked by SC majority vote. What this means is that if a SCer leaves the council and re-applies, they will automatically bypass the SC and have their application go directly to the Regional Assembly for confirmation by majority vote. It's the SC's general consensus that indefinite standing nominations are outdated for the times we're in. The SC has revoked all standing nominations. Additionally, I have brought a bill before the Regional Assembly that would remove indefinite standing nominations completely. I highly encourage taking a look at it, as it would directly alter a longstanding portion of regional law. The thread contains reasoning for why indefinite standing nominations are unnecessary as a concept.

Handbook and Endotarting Guide
These have taken a bit of a backseat recently, but they're by no means forgotten. The SC handbook is obviously the priority out of the two, and I should have a workable draft in the SC chambers tomorrow. The advanced endotarting guide is partially completed. If we do end up delaying the endotarting event until after the election, I think that the guide would be best released a few days prior to launching the event, so that people (new WAs especially) have an easy way to boost their endotarting effectiveness.

WADP Sheet Improvements
Lower on the priority list is the WADP spreadsheet. If you didn't already know, the SC endorsement charts included with these updates are not done via the WADP google sheet, but using a localized Excel spreadsheet. I intend to:

1. Incorporate the Excel sheet's features into the WADP sheet.
2. Add freeform dispatch, TG, and (this is important) RMB functionality to the WADP sheet. All of this is doable with the current sheet, but requires additional user effort.
3. Add unendorsement campaign functionality to the WADP sheet. This feature would target nations currently endorsing a target nation who meet certain parameters (e.g., Keepers, have over a certain number of endorsements, etc.). This would make the SC's rarely seen endorsement campaigns easier to deploy when necessary.
4. Expand the existing WADP sheet documentation to make it more streamlined for new SCers and VDs to understand.

I won't get to this until the items preceding it are completed. I may not get to it this term. But I think that improving the WADP sheet is important to ensuring that the SC and VD can perform their duties as ably as possible.

Best,

~~Cretox

The first of what I hope will be consistent midweek endorsement updates. Despite predictable NPA-related fluctuations, the vast majority of SCers have more than 1000 endorsements. The few that don't are just shy of that number. All SCers have generally close endorsement counts, and we're in a strong place to begin the transition following the election. Speaking of which, voting in the May 2021 general election will begin shortly, and all citizens should consider doing their part to uphold our democratic traditions (shorter: remember to vote!).

~~Cretox

Happy Mother's Day!

As this term wraps up and this general election draws to a close, I'll go over where we are, how we got here, and where we go in the future. This report covers the term as a whole, in addition to ongoing matters. I'd like to thank the Security Council for being so helpful and pleasant to work with this past term, Delegate @mcmasterdonia and the Executive Council for their dedication and decisiveness in managing the affairs of The North Pacific, and everyone else who has offered their guidance both to myself and to prior Vice Delegates.

I'll start by covering immediately pertinent matters, then backtrack to discuss the work that the SC and I have done throughout the term.

Endorsements and the Transition
As promised, I provided a midweek update on the SC's endorsement counts, and will continue to do so should I remain Vice Delegate. This update includes a new graph covering our aggregate regional endorsement count over the course of the last 4 months. There is also a graph covering aggregate regional endorsements over the past week. While our endorsements have held steady throughout the term, they have nevertheless begun to dip as we head into the summer months. I find these endorsement graphs to be useful when talking about where the region's endorsements stand, and will either continue to employ them or encourage the next VD to use them.

The SC's endorsements have decreased due to NPA movement and general WA loss, but we are nevertheless in a strong place going into the transition period early next term. There will likely be a general WA advertisement sent out once the dust clears and the new Delegate nation is included in the government's registry and materials. This will ensure a boost in WA nations endorsing the incoming Delegate. I have sent out an alert for Territorio di Nessuno, and SCers have been sending out personal endotarting telegrams. I have also contacted the leading Delegate candidates (Robespierre and Nimarya) to discuss transition plans. Whoever the next Delegate and VD end up being, I am confident that the ingame transition will be smooth and painless.

Endotarting Event
The product of quite a bit of SC discussion, executive discussion, and work, the Spring Into Action endotarting event is ready for launch to bolster the Delegate transition. This event is currently focused on increasing individual and regional endorsements; you can read through the prototype dispatches here. With a small amount of rewording, this event can be retooled to focus on the transition. The Delegate and VD also have ample tools at their disposal to further hasten the transition.

Another event that we've discussed internally is RMB trivia. This event would involve a SC-hosted trivia session on the RMB with a cards and other rewards structure. Launching this event shouldn't be too difficult given the discussion we've already had over it, but it would be best kept in reserve until later next term.

Declassification
Roughly 250 private SC threads have been redacted and released to date. This project shouldn't take long to complete, and the rest of the SC has been immensely helpful here. The declassification guide in the opening post of that thread will be moved into the main FOI request thread once the ongoing declassification effort is completed, and it has proven quite useful for answering lingering questions pertaining to the declassification process. We have had one specific FOI request this term, which was handled cleanly and efficiently.

WADP and Lottery Awards
While we had a few technical issues early into this term, they were quickly rectified. The 3 daily lotteries have been chugging along without issue, and RMB posts are fully up to date. The WADP award volumes this term have included quite a few new faces. WADP monthly cards for March and April were not sent out due to the reality of having to rely on a single person with access to the regional nation. Fortunately, the Delegate's closing address contains some great news on this front: a remote cards gifting service should be ready for deployment soon, and I will do what I can to ensure that it is incorporated into the WADP spreadsheet as quickly as possible. I have kept lists of outstanding cards to gift WADP monthly award winners, and getting those cards out should take minimal time once the gifting service is ready.

VD Mentoring
I didn't initially think that this program would be nearly as valuable as it turned out to be. Forum mentoring seems to naturally play into the strengths of the VD, especially the fact that the VD by definition is aware of the history of every citizenship applicant due to running a Vice Delegate's check on them. The template that I've been using for this has gone through several iterations in consultation with both the SC and the Minister of Home Affairs. Currently, I'm using a moderately long template for new applicants that covers opportunities available within the executive government and directs applicants to the region's Discord server. I'm also using a far briefer message to returning applicants, primarily so they get quickly engaged by someone in the region's government upon returning to the region. The Ministry of Home Affairs' ongoing effort to reactivate its own mentoring program only increases the value of this VD mentoring initiative. In the future, I hope to expand this program to include SCers or potentially even deputy VDs (if that concept comes to fruition) next term.

SC Handbook and Endotarting Guide
While I haven't been able to make as much progress on these as I would've liked to in the past week, they are nonetheless coming along. I can confidently say that both will be released early next term, either by me or the next Vice Delegate. The Handbook would complement the VD's existing reporting infrastructure, declassification guide, and mentoring program in introducing new members of the region to what it is the VD and SC do. The advanced endotarting guide would naturally complement the Spring Into Action endotarting event, and would enhance the effectiveness of the WADP and our existing endorsement tools.

Core Responsibilities
Not much to say here. Citizenship checks have been getting done in a timely fashion, votes have been conducted in accordance with the region's laws and the SC procedure, blah blah blah.

Miscellaneous
In addition to reaching out preliminarily regarding the imminent transition, I have begun reaching out regarding the deputy VD/VD staff concept. I have already contacted several people who would potentially be interested in serving in these positions. Obviously, this project is merely in the conceptual stage right now. I will need to sit down and talk with the next Delegate (and possibly VD) regarding making it a reality.

The SC has undergone some shifts during this last term. Our makeup has substantively changed, with 3 new members joining and 1 member resigning in the span of a few months. We've spearheaded a long-overdue update to the Line of Succession to account for the Council's new composition. We've increased our transparency with our continuing declassification effort and a significant expansion in our reporting. We've made frequent use of the WADP's alerts and advertisements to maintain both the SC's and the region's famously high endorsement counts. We've also reset the Line of Succession, and an amendment to that portion of the Constitution is currently being discussed by the Regional Assembly.

Overall, I'd say it's been a successful few months. We've made significant headway in expanding and modernizing both the VD's office and the SC as a whole, the SC has handled our core functions competently, and there is a clear path going forward into the next term. While there were some technical and other issues at points, none of those proved compromising in the long run. It's been an honor to be your Vice Delegate for the last few months, and I hope to continue serving this region, whether in this capacity or another.

~~Cretox

Forgive me but I can't seem to find your weekly updates anymore. Are they no longer located in this thread? In your campaign thread for Vice Delegate, you said you would be providing weekly updates. If this is no longer the case, why? I found them to be quite useful and am disappointed to see that they seem to no longer be a thing.

Relatedly, it has been over a month and a half since you took office this term, when should we expect your end of month report which you talked about in your campaign?

A note that as of yesterday, @Nessuno is no longer a government official or a SCer due to not logging into the forum for 2 weeks. It has been a pleasure to work with them on the Council.

Praetor:

Forgive me but I can't seem to find your weekly updates anymore. Are they no longer located in this thread? In your campaign thread for Vice Delegate, you said you would be providing weekly updates. If this is no longer the case, why? I found them to be quite useful and am disappointed to see that they seem to no longer be a thing.

Relatedly, it has been over a month and a half since you took office this term, when should we expect your end of month report which you talked about in your campaign?

Click to expand...

I'm glad you found them useful! They're an excellent tradition and one I would certainly like to keep going. I share your disappointment; it seems I've been so focused on revitalizing the WA ministry and working on internal efforts that I've neglected using this thread for weekly updates. Fast transitions and projects are all well and good, but progress should definitely be accompanied by constant formal communication with the wider region in a manner people are accustomed to. Therefore, here's exactly what I'll be doing:

1. I'll release a full comprehensive report on the past few weeks since the beginning of the term covering SC-related and endorsement activities tomorrow (Sunday), to kick off formal Sunday reports. I will also resume something I introduced last term: brief midweek endorsement updates. I have all relevant endorsement charts, even if I've been posting them on the Discord instead of in this thread.
2. I will modify this report and present it to the Minister of Communications as a Polaris SC Review article, another project I previously introduced.
3. I will be posting public "test" or "draft" versions of SC-related projects going forward so members of the public may have a clear look behind the curtain and offer input before something goes live. To start, I've put up test dispatches for the nearly ready SC Handbook and a regional endorsement event. These will most likely go live next week; we're looking at a launch date of Monday for the event (after the American holiday).

I would also like to introduce some form of reporting/transparency effort for the VD Mentoring initiative, but I'm honestly at a loss as to how to do that. If I'm starting a mentoring convo with every new citizen anyway, what's the point, y'know?

Thanks for the answer. Certainly a cautionary tale on the unintended decrease in performance resulting from taking on numerous positions and projects.

Looking forward to having more reports soon (did I miss the Sunday report?).

Praetor:

Thanks for the answer. Certainly a cautionary tale on the unintended decrease in performance resulting from taking on numerous positions and projects.

Click to expand...

No problem! It's always good to see members of the public making sure their elected officials are at their best.

Praetor:

Looking forward to having more reports soon (did I miss the Sunday report?).

Click to expand...

Don't worry, you didn't. Between the American holiday, ongoing work (the handbook, declassification, etc.), and multiple internet and power outages on my end, my planned timeframe for releasing that report became infeasible. However, I will release it in... 2 seconds.

Happy weekend, everyone!

First off, I'd like to sincerely apologize for the lack of formal reports coming out of this office recently. While getting work done and providing less formal reporting is all well and good, consistent formal updates to the region are a staple of this office and something I promise to resume going forward. Consider this a progress report. It covers what's been going on over the term thus far as well as plans for the future, and will be adapted into a Security Council Review article for Polaris, the region's news coverage publication. Going forward, I will be resuming the traditional schedule of weekly reports every Sunday, with two additions I introduced last term: midweek endorsement updates in this thread on Wednesdays and larger reports with regional endorsement graphs at the end of each month. I will also share draft dispatches of works-in-progress for the region to look at; the SC handbook and ongoing endorsement event were shared early with this method.

There are a great many things to cover, so let's get started.

Endorsements and the Delegate Transition
Though plagued by recurring technical and administrative issues outside of our control from the beginning, including scripted telegrams to new nations not being updated for several weeks and TNL endorsement alerts being nonfunctional, along with a declining gamewide WA population, we managed a successful Delegate transition in under a month, without notable issue maintaining the ingame seat. That said, increasing Delegate endorsements past that point has been difficult, despite frequent alerts and advertising. This is a result of the gamewide WA shrink. Obviously, SC endorsement levels have taken a hit as well, and tight Delegate endorsements make promoting SCers somewhat problematic. However, I am comfortable boosting the levels of Sil Dorsett and Kranostav (now that the latter has rejoined the SC), and will do so over the weekend.

For transparency purposes, I will also compile every endorsement snapshot and action taken during the transition into this thread. The vast majority of these were posted on the region's discord during the transition itself.

Delegate Endorsement Event
Delegate endorsements being what they are made a large regional endorsement event unwise at this time. For this reason, we've launched the Delegate Dash event to contribute to raising Delegate endorsements and show our appreciation for those who made the transition possible. Once Delegate endorsements are at a higher level, a big regionwide event is definitely on the menu (and we already have the dispatch code for one). The Delegate Dash event is accompanied by non-card prizes: the entire region will be able to vote on custom fields (flags, banners, etc.) for the entire Security Council for a week. To nominate custom fields, use this thread.

SC Handbook
The Security Council Handbook is intended to help nations learn more about the body that protects the region's security, its membership, how to join, and regional advancement in general. The Handbook is virtually ready; the only missing piece is a few Councilor biographies. I will make some final edits tomorrow and officially launch the Handbook, with the exception of the Members dispatch, which will be added at a later date once it is complete. To take an early look at the Handbook, see this dispatch series.

Advanced Endotarting guide
Unlike the Handbook, this project is not ready for release quite yet. While this dispatch covers the basics and mechanics of exchanging endorsements, there is currently no guide for maximizing endotarting efficiency, writing effective telegrams asking for return endorsements, lowering your endorsement count when necessary, or tips and tricks for endotarting. All of these areas will be covered by this new dispatch, and I would like to start a new program for nations looking to increase or modify their endorsement counts to request direct advice from the Security Council. However, the Handbook and advanced guide come first.

Declassification
Over 300 threads later, we are finally nearly done with historical SC declassification. I would like to thank the SC as a whole for their assistance on this matter. There remain roughly 20 threads in need of release, after which the next thread will need to be released after August 1st. I will be going through already released threads to unredact posts made by Kaschovia, who returned to the game long enough to be informed of the declassification law.

VD Mentoring
The Vice Delegate forum mentoring initiative is still going, and I am starting a forum conversation with every citizenship applicant who passes the Vice Delegate's security check. Currently, I am making full use of the program's flexibility (due to the ability to customize those conversation opening messages based on information gleaned during the aforementioned check) by using the program as a vehicle to advertise specific Ministries and areas of regional involvement.

Changes to SC Membership
Territorio di Nessuno lost their status as a government official and therefore a Council member due to not logging into the regional forum for two weeks. Kranostav lost citizenship and therefore their SC position due to misunderstanding the forum activity requirement, but has since regained citizenship and rejoined the SC. Discussion of Kranostav/Tlomz's re-application may be read here.

Constitutional and Legal Changes
In no particular order:

• Standing nominations (a system that maintained a Councilor's nomination to the SC indefinitely until revoked by majority vote of the Council) have been eliminated via Constitutional amendment. This means that the SC will need to discuss and vote on every applicant, regardless of their prior Council membership. Discussion thread.
• A wording issue in the Constitution regarding the definition of constitutionally-mandated elected officials resultant from the AGORA Act of last year has been fixed via Constitutional amendment. Discussion thread.
• A Constitutional amendment to allow non-citizen residents to serve in certain government official positions provided they are authorized by Regional Assembly majority vote is currently at vote. Discussion thread.
• A bill to implement re-confirmation of Security Councilors is being discussed.

Given the volume of material either in the process of being implemented or actively being developed, the more traditional weekly report this Sunday should be fairly dense as well. With how much content is getting worked on, the next few weeks should prove quite exciting.

Thank you,

~~Cretox

Hello, all!

Despite the abbreviated period of time between the last report and this one, quite a bit got done.

Endorsements
The gamewide drop in endorsements has been quite troubling, but it appears to be stabilizing for the time being. It is unfortunate that increasing the Delegate's endorsement count is so difficult at this point, given that it virtually entirely depends on new WA nations endorsing the Delegate at a faster rate than inactive ones CTE, which is simply not the case at the moment. There is only so much that frequent endorsement alerts and events can do when getting those Delegate endorsements is so dependent on WA churn.

Fortunately, that is not the situation for the rest of the Security Council. I sent an alert for Kranostav and will do so for other members of the SC who are a safe distance away from the Delegate in the coming days. Keeping the SC above 900 endorsements is perfectly doable even in the event of declining numbers. Holding an event to increase regional endorsements as a whole rather than simply the Delegate's should prove successful for the above reasons, as was initially intended for such an event before the Delegate's count caused a short-term change in priorities.

SC Handbook
The Handbook is live! I have posted all Security Handbook dispatches other than the one covering the SC's members (still need some member biographies for that one), and updated the WADP spreadsheet. Once the dispatches automatically update later tonight and update the first dispatch of the set (currently the Endorse the Security Council one), I will make an announcement on the subject. There are bound to be some sheet/formatting errors, which I will correct after the dispatches update.

Declassification
Due to the more recent nature of the last batch of historical threads, there are likely going to be more redactions made to them. After those final threads are released, I will comb through already released threads to find comments made by Kaschovia that should be unredacted.

Citizenship Applications and Proposed Legal Changes
In addition to the Security Council-relevant bills and amendments mentioned in the previous update, there have been numerous bills brought forth to explicitly bar fascist nations from citizenship. These bills include:

• The Reject Fascism Bill;
• The Remove All Fascists Amendment; and
• The Formulating Acceptable Solutions in Creating Impediments to Stop Threats (FASCIST) Ammendment [sic]

I highly recommend reading through each of these.

As promised, I will be resuming midweek endorsement updates beginning this Wednesday.

Best,

~~Cretox

Brief endorsement update. Though endorsement levels continue to decline overall, several SCers' counts have increased due to endorsement alerts, with all SCers over 900 and no non-SC nation encroaching on the SC. I am currently out of the United States, and my internet access is unreliable at best. This should be rectified later in the weekend. However, I have been communicating with the SC and am still able to perform citizenship checks and monitor endorsement counts.

As we have a bit of a citizenship app backlog, and Cretox is indisposed while he is out of town, I will be stepping in as acting chair of the SC.

Greetings TNP,

We are providing this update to show our current endorsement levels and to tell you about the coming push to increase them. As you can see from the chart, all Security Councilors below the Vice Delegate is below 70% of the number of total WA endorsements. The amount changed is calculated as the number of endorsements loss since the last time this report was generated. That report was generated on 17 July 2021. We will be working on correcting that, but the TNL Telegram Service built into some of our tools is still in operative. The report we use to generate this chart, also has some issues that we are working to correct. We are currently using the API Telegram service to send mass Telegrams out. This seems less effective as it doesn't show from our regional nation, but from the member who made the Telegram. Only time will tell if this is less effective overall.



Signed
Dreadton
Security Councilor

With Cretox officially abandoning office, Pallaith has taken over as Acting Vice Delegate in accordance with Security Council Procedures and under the relevant laws. Since a special election would not resolve two weeks before the end of term, Pallaith will serve in this capacity until a new Vice Delegate is elected in September. Under the laws of the Region, this means Pallaith is considered absent from the Court.

TNP's Admin team have partially resolved the issue about alert telegrams. Apparently, alerts use stamps and they are not supposed to. Since we use roughly 300 stamps per alert, this depletes stamps rather quickly. With a Delegate and Vice Delegate transition happening several times a year, plus normal alert telegrams, we go through quiet a lot of stamps. (If you would like to gift stamps to the region, please gift them to the regional nation, The Northern Light ) Since the Security Council has assumed Vice Delegate duties we are starting to see a gain in the number of endorsements received per councilor. There has been an overall decrease in the number of World Assembly nations playing the game and TNP is experiencing the same drop as all other regions.

The Security Council

I don't know what Cretox was standing on, but it seems he fell off of it. Now I am the one standing on something, I'll call it the Vice Delegate box I guess. Thank you to Dreadton for stepping in earlier with updates and for continuing to prepare the endorsement reports. I'm really sad to see things get to this point, where we are now a day or two away from seeing Cretox CTE. TNP thrives on the talent of promising new players and unlike most other places in this game, this really is the perfect place for them to shine. To see such a promising new player join us on the SC and become such a natural at its work is a rare thing indeed. We have seen the office hum and evolve once more in how it communicates and processes information, to be here acting in this capacity again considering how far the office has come since I last had it is really remarkable, and Cretox is to thank for much of that progress. I honestly don't think anyone else would have been able to handle declassification the way he did, and it's amazing to think that it's essentially up to date simply because of him. We will sorely miss Cretox while this absence continues, and all I can do is hope with as much fervor as I have that everything with him is fine and that someday we will see him return and make his way back to these parts of the community where he shined brightest. Thankfully we have a system in place to respond to these sorts of things, and can keep the important work of the SC going until the next election in less than 2 weeks.

As everyone knows, we also just lost Fiji to real life needs and other personal reasons I will choose not to linger on, and we're sorry to see him go considering how much care and passion he put into his TNP exploits. The SC is not a place that lends itself to passion, but we did enjoy Fiji being one of the most attentive and responsive members in our body. It's something we constantly need to work on, and I hope we will continue to do as he did. I want to extend our warmest well wishes and thanks to Fiji for his extensive post-delegacy career on the Security Council, and he is very welcome for all the fish.

I apologize for the presentation of the update. I would have preferred it exclude Cretox and Fiji but, well...you know they're gone and this doesn't quite accurately reflect stats for them. The state of the WA right now is...not great, and it shows in these numbers. We're roughly about the same place percentage-wise that we've been for months though (perhaps a tad lower) so if nothing else, at least we're keeping up with ourselves for all of 2021 so far. Things have been better before, and even for how difficult this period is, we probably could be doing more as far as endotarting goes. If this becomes the norm in NS, the SC is going to need to rethink our strategy for bringing these numbers up. I hate to see a delegate with less than 1,000 endorsements, but that seems to be a luxury in a game state with less than 1,000 regional delegates. I don't like to write to the region and tell them "well the game sucks for everyone, so yeah it sucks here too" when I know that in better times we have confounded the game with how much better we were doing than other regions. We have always found a way to squeeze more juice out of...well I guess the lemon, seems to be the appropriate point of comparison for NS here...so we need to work on our squeezing technique. It's not fair to expect this of the Vice Delegate necessarily, but it's something I think the SC should be looking at. With the numbers being what they are, and with potential major game changes on the horizon., we have to once again rise to the challenge in front of us, and reconsider how we try to approach things like endotarting, encouraging endorsements in general, and communication (perhaps you noticed the recent script mishaps).

One day soon we will have a new Vice Delegate, and I want that person to know that I will be happy to help figure out whatever new approach we need to take as a Security Council to respond to this new gamestate. I hope and expect that candidates in the upcoming election will be aware of these problems and present to the region their best attempts for dealing with them, and that when the preferred course is chosen, the SC will rouse itself more than it has in months past, and find a way to forge ahead on that course. In times like these all of us will be asked to do more, to understand limits the times pose on us, and most of all, to be more patient and channel our frustration with those limitations in constructive ways. We can hardly ask that of you if the SC isn't also willing to step up and rise to the challenges we face. I will do my part to encourage that here, and hopefully we will continue to soar and improve despite the setbacks the game is presenting. Even more hopefully, I hope we'll thrive when those days are behind us. In the meantime, keep endorsing us, keep endorsing each other, and spread the word to boost WA membership (and voting!) while we get through this. I'll see you next week with the final pre-election update.

-Pallaith

Here's the numbers from the previous week. With the decline in NS in general, we're pretty much stable here. No dramatic shakeups or changes happened with the endorsements or with the SC. We're holding steady while we head into the new term, and I continue to maintain hope that we'll try some new approaches to getting endorsements and adapting to the new state of the WA. If certain technical changes in the game also come to pass next term, well, I'm sure we'll have some adjustments to make in response to those too.

As the acting vice delegate, and keeping in mind the election season is days away, I don't feel it is appropriate to try any last minute things or try to figure out all of this stuff right this minute. Refer to my previous update for my thoughts on the big picture. For now, we'll make sure things don't fall off a cliff, and you'll get another WADP later this week. Barring any unexpected timing issues, I'll have one more report for you before the new term.

-Pallaith

First of all, apologies for getting this out late. Long weekend, lots going on, and there's an election. Plus, look at those numbers. We're not talking about a particularly dramatic shift in endorsement levels. Lots of things will be changing soon though, as we will clearly have a Vice Delegate coming in at the end of the week who will have some catching up to do compared to the Security Council. and given what the numbers are, we'll likely have a delegate who needs a lot of boosting to get into the seat. It will be important for all of you to keep an eye on your telegrams, and listen attentively to the Security Council and the Delegate in the days ahead, as we once again shift gears to a transition. We're very good at those, so I do not anticipate any major hiccups. Be generous with your patience and your endorsement as we make sure everyone gets the numbers they need to. But most importantly: do not start making big changes with your endorsements until advised. The election is still going to play out for the rest of the week, so until then, it's business as usual.

I have appreciated that those Vice Delegate candidates who bothered to campaign and present a platform have been giving a lot of thought to the term ahead and what we need to do to adapt to the changing times. Their focus is on what matters, and it will guide the SC in a direction it needs to move in. I look forward to seeing how their plans play out, and whatever role they play in the work ahead, whether as the Vice Delegate or someone else helping us with the SC's mission, even as an outsider.

I will probably address you one last time before the term ends, but if I don't, it was nice to serve in this role again for a bit, even if it was as the substitute teacher. Keep clicking that endorse button, and I'll see you around.

-Pallaith

Salutations TNPers!

I am privileged to be The North Pacific’s Vice Delegate. It’s going to be quite a term ahead for us. With the influx of new players there are opportunities to seize and initiatives to take. With so many new players coming into the region it is important we seize this opportunity and not let it go to waste. I am planning on maintaining my activity on the RMB to promote what we can offer in the region.

The first Vice Delegate update of my term. The current state of the transition is that MadJack is rapidly rising in endorsements and he is currently in 32nd spot with 624 endorsements. He will need 325 endorsements to take over Robespierre in the first place. I am currently in 64th spot with 548 endorsements but I have been gaining endorsements throughout the day since I have been announced the new Vice Delegate. The current state of the Keepers of the North is that we have lost 242 keepers because of the new endorsement requirements.

I am looking forward to working with @St George, Executive Council and the Security Council to help grow and move this region forward. If you have any questions feel free to contact me!

Good day TNPers!

It has been a week since the last Vice Delegate update so I bring you a new freshly made update today!

The most important thing on the docket is the transition. Delegate Madjack is currently in the top 20 for endorsements in the region and only ~150 endorsements behind the closest Security Councilor. I also moved up a lot in endorsements from 68th spot to the 34th. I have sent out alerts for both myself and MJ last week to help with the transition.

The Vice Delegate checks have been running smoothly and quickly. I hope to keep it this way.

The next important thing is TNP Game Night. TNP Game Night is going to be open for all Keepers of the North. During the game night we will play games like Jackbox Party Pack, Codename, Secret Hitler, and other fun games. The planned day for the first TNP Game Night is 22/09/2021 8PM EST.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me!

Salutations TNPers!

A third week of the term plus a day so a brand-new Vice Delegate report to keep you updated.

The endorsements are going up for Madjack and I. Delegate Madjack is currently 16th in the region with 745 endorsements and only 116 endos behind the closest SCer. I am currently 21st in the region with 658 endorsements. We are a lot closer than the first week of the term. There is still a climb for both me and Madjack which I won’t deny but we are moving a lot faster than I expected. Also there seems to be an overall decline in WA endorsements for the Security Council as you can see in the table. It can be most likely attributed to the decline of the new players that joined during the wave.

Regular Vice Delegate duties have been running pretty smoothly with only a slight delay this week but everything should be back on track for the future. I have restarted VD mentoring of citizens that I have passed security check for. Future game nights are under work but hopefully I can update yall in soon.

If you have any questions about anything Vice Delegate and Security Council related please feel free to contact me.

Can you provide any update on the progress of declassification?

Has any discussions with the Security Council on improving community relations, which was mentioned in your platform?

Gorundu:

Can you provide any update on the progress of declassification?

Has any discussions with the Security Council on improving community relations, which was mentioned in your platform?

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Hello Gorundu!

There are about twenty threads that will soon be redacted and available for the general public. On the matters of public relations, TNP SC Game Night was the first endeavor into this subject. It was supposed to be a fun time for Keepers of the North to play with the Vice Delegate and even other government officials. Alas, due to scheduling and other circumstances we did not get to play as very few people joined. I have another plan for game nights that will involve Ministry of Culture but there are no current concrete details on that. There is another public relations project that I am planning but to involve the entire SC but it is currently in early stages of implementation but hopefully I can reveal to yall soon.

Howdy TNPers!

The fourth week of the term and a new update. Most important thing in the update is the transition. Delegate Madjack is currently 14th spot in the region and has 769 endorsements. He is about 83 endorsements behind the closest Security Councilor. Delegate Madjack and the current WA Delegate Francois Isidore are 158 endorsements between each other. The transition is getting closer by the day. I am currently 18th in the region with 705 endorsements. Since the last weekly update my endorsements have increased by 47 and I moved into top 20 of the region.

We are currently holding an endorsement contest with the help of Ministry of Culture. It is really easy to get involved! All you have to do is like one of the RMB posts and endorse Delegate Madjack to enter. Once the Delegate gets to 800 endorsements, we will hold a random draw to get the winner. The winner will decide the regions flag for 48 hours.

Also the 88th World Assembly Development Program Volume 88 has been released for the month of September. Hooray!

Thank you for reading my weekly reports!

Good day to all of you,

The fifth week of the term, fifth week of the transition, and a fifth update from me. Delegate Madjack passed the 800 endo milestone! He is currently at 815 endorsements in 13th place in the region. He is approximately 40 endorsements behind the closest Security Councilor which means the transition is almost at the end. Delegate Madjack and Francois Isidore are about ~100 endorsements between each other. I have moved to the 16th spot and am at 739 endorsements and about 100 endorsements behind the closest Security Councilor.

The endorsement contest has ended when Delegate Madjack surpassed 800 endorsements. The winner of the contest was @The Rhein States who will send me a picture that will be TNP flag for 48 hours.

Thank you for reading my weekly reports!