October 2016 PR Update

On October 8th, Small Huts was confirmed as the 2nd WA Delegate of the Equilism Township by a vote of 6-0. While the region has once again seen an election featuring only one candidate, last week's WAD election also saw an increased voter turnout thanks to the efforts of The Monkye and Yakitzland, serving as Election Aides. For those unfamiliar with Equilite law, the Charter (the foundation of regional law) mandates that the Mayor must appoint two Election Aides to administer an election prior to its scheduled start date. As one might imagine, this is not always an easy task, so Monk and Yakitz have my deepest thanks for their willingness to serve our region.

Small Huts ascended to the Delegacy in-game at the major update on October 9th after I (Isaris), the exiting WAD, resigned from the World Assembly shortly beforehand. This ensured a quick transfer of the office without movement of endorsements from Equilism's WA members as he already held the second-highest number of endorsements in the region prior to the election. Small Huts received wide support due to his prior service to the region as the WAD under previous governments, including under the interim government that established the Township after the Second Commonwealth's collapse.

Small Huts' term is already off to a good start, with his implementation of the new WAD Watch program sparking renewed interest in the WA among the populace. WAD Watch will be a semi-regular presentation of WA drafts and resolutions under discussion on the NationStates forum distributed by Small Huts through regional telegrams. A large part of Equilism's population still remains solely active on-site and this kind of outreach is sure to play a significant role in making those residents feel welcome on our forum. The first issue detailed the draft of the Authority Security Pact, authored by The Emerald Union of Dragons Imperium, which may face opposition from Equilism nations hoping to keep their pacifist stats high.

Like many regions, Equilism recently saw a sharp rise in its population thanks to a wave of new players arriving from Imgur and Reddit. During the last week of September, Equilism's nation count rose from 106 to just over 200 and has remained around this number since, now sitting at 205. The Township's recruitment effort was aided heavily by the generous stamp donations of Cadmus of Albion and Pichtonia of Europeia, whom were awarded the Medal of Philanthropy and the Medal of Charity respectively, for their acts of goodwill on September 23rd and 24th. Read more about that here.

In light of this influx of new members, the Office of Tourism & Real Estate (currently being administered by myself) will focus on integration rather than further recruitment in an effort to retain newcomers' interest. The Office of Culture & Entertainment, headed by Officer Yakitzland, will be aiding this effort by encouraging residents to check out our forum and Discord server, as well as assisting with the planning of the upcoming Festival of Friendship with our allies in Europeia and the West Pacific. Newcomers will also be highly encouraged to join the E-Army as we continue working to rebuild our fighting force.

The Equilism Township is proud to be an attending region to the Coalition Against the Ideology of Nazism (CAIN) conference brought together by Europeian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Brunhilde. I'm personally deeply honored to be present there representing my region as the head of its government and to be able to continue Equilism's long history of opposing Nazism in NS under the Township. Nazism is a perverse and disgusting ideology that cannot be allowed to be tolerated, let alone glorified, in our game. Over the course of the past week, the discussion has produced its sixth draft of an inter-regional agreement, with contributions from a wide variety of regional representatives.

Equilism's friendship with TWP is a long-standing one and can be traced on-site as far back as 2011, when embassies were opened between the two regions in April of that year. On our own off-site forum, the treaty cementing the alliance between Equilism and TWP can be traced back to February 2014 and the days of the Second Commonwealth. This treaty, which was originally renewed once per year, was renewed in July with a minor edit that changed that condition to once every three years instead. The regions' close ties can be attributed to, among other things, shared members Westwind and Big Bad Badger.

Westwind, who is a Co-Founder of Equilism and Commander of the E-Army, once served as the WA Delegate of TWP and also currently serves as an admin for both regions' off-site forums and as a Field Commander in the the West Pacific Armed Forces, the feeder region's military. Big Bad Badger—also known as Pooch in Equilism—became famous in the region for tending the E-Bar and serving as the 1st Mayor of the Township. He's also served TWP as a Guardian and is now the WA Delegate following Elegarth's resignation at the end of September. There is little doubt that the alliance between Equilism and TWP will only grow stronger as the E-Army and TWPAF are set to collaborate under our shared commanding officer.

Equilism's friendship with Europeia is more recent by comparison, with a Treaty of Friendship being established in January 2014 and on-site regional embassies being opened in May of last year. Bonds between the two regions began to deepen after the establishment of the Township, when Ambassador Kuramia was assigned to Equilism by Europeia's then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kraketopia. Kuramia went above and beyond the responsibilities of an ambassador and truly became a friend to our community, becoming involved in Township activities like E-Bar chatter, the Equilism Great Race 2016 and Equilism D&D.

Her involvement in our region also inspired me to become more involved in Europeia, where I served in the Senate for two terms, with one including a short stint as Speaker. I remain active in the Republic even now, serving as Minister Brunhilde's Deputy, an office I've held since July. Brun offered me this opportunity after I convinced my colleagues in the Senate (which at the time included herself) that a Treaty of Friendship with TWP was the right choice for Europeia. Some doubted that the cultural differences between Euro and TWP could be overcome but as the ERN and the TWPAF engaged in more and more joints operations, those doubts were quickly cast aside.

To celebrate our three regions' mutual friendships, Equilism, Europeia and TWP have come together to engage in a robust cultural exchange. Histories will be shared, speeches will be given, games will be played and regional traditions will be taught to others amongst all involved. The Festival will begin on October 19th and last until the 26th. During this time, Equilism will be hosting the Fight for Armello competition (which will last until the 28th), an on-site activity which you can read more about here. While this is, of course, primarily intended for festival goers from the three regions, players from other regions are also welcome to join in the game.

You can already sign up to compete and I highly recommend you do so as soon as possible as the signup period is set to close on October 18th! However, the sign up sheet and rules will also be hosted on the Euro and TWP forums so you can sign up there as well once they've been posted if you don't want to have to register on the Equilism forum. You can find links to the sign up sheet and rules on our off-site forum in the dispatch shared in the link above. However, for a quick link to the Equilism Presents sub-forum (where you can find those), click here!

Thank you for reading this update! If you'd like to visit Equilism, you can do so by clicking one of our banners. The top banner will take you to our off-site forum and the bottom banner will take you to our on-site region page. I hope you'll join us next week to Fight for Armello!

Equilism Office of Public Relations; Mayor Isaris

Thanks for the update Isaris!

I'm glad to see the E-Army is off to such a great start.

Praetor:

I'm glad to see the E-Army is off to such a great start.

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Thank you! I truly appreciate that as the E-Army was a central priority of my Mayoral campaign.

Good update, glad to hear things are going well.

But why E-Army? Of all the names.

Altmoras:

Good update, glad to hear things are going well.

But why E-Army? Of all the names.

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Sorry for the delay in my reply here. E-Army is the shorthand for the Equilism Army and the name was chosen many years ago. It was the most famous incarnation of Equilism's military during our history and we've chosen to revive the force.