Isaris
TNPer
November 2016 Public Relations Update
Written by Isaris; co-authored by Cadmus
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Equilism Tops Charts in Z-Day 5!
Since its inception, Equilismers have taken Z-Day very seriously. After all, our region did Rank #1 for Most Survivors on that fateful April Fool's Day in 2013! Furthermore, the following October we were able to stay in the top of the charts, finishing that event at Rank #3 for Most Survivors. Unfortunately, though, in 2014 and 2015, our region was not prepared for the undead hordes, being hit by many zombie raiders and only placing Rank #20 and Rank #18 in those years, respectively.Equilism Tops Charts in Z-Day 5!
A staunchly cure-only region, Equilism's efforts to fight the annual infection are led by Naivetry, head of the Bureau of Zombie Apocalypse Management. Naivetry is a long-time citizen of Equilism, having first joined the region back in 2006 and was trusted with seeing our region through the would-be apocalypse every year after her retirement from wider gameplay and politics. Her leadership, alongside the watchful eyes of WA Delegate Small Huts and Mayor Isaris—as well as the diligence and determination of several Cure Squad members—allowed our region to be a true safe-haven during the event.
This year's effort was aided in no small part by the Township's still relatively new Discord server, which was created in September. With IRC's fall in popularity over the years, the Discord server allowed for a level of communication and cooperation among Equilism's curers that hasn't been possible for quite some time. Returning veterans and newcomers alike joined the server for the very first time just to participate in the Z-Day event and many have stuck around after their experience those 36 hours.
These arrivals saw our Cure Squad team number nearly 20 members, all working together to identify key targets and stabilize populations in Equilism's largest nations first while (nearly) all nations in the region researched the cure, collectively lowering the regional infectivity rate. As the hours rolled by, residents and citizens alike worked tirelessly to launch cure missiles at their region mates. By 10:00 PM (EST) on October 31, Equilism was zombie-free for the first time during the event (pictured below) and with our region clear of infection, we began welcoming refugees and looking for ways to help other regions too.
By the end of the event, our regional civilian population had swelled to 2.21 trillion survivors, allowing Equilism to secure Rank #5 in Most Survivors and Rank #3 in Most Survivors + No Infected! What's more, this was achieved without imposing any border controls! After the announcement of the official Tally, Mayor Isaris made the following statement on Equilism's RMB, displaying his pride in the region:
"The tally is out! Check it out, here!
Equilism ranked #3 for Most Survivors + No Infected and #5 for Most Survivors!
Thank you all for your tremendous effort this year! A huge thanks to Naivetry for leading our cure effort through the Bureau of Zombie Apocalypse Management.
Special thanks to Small Huts, Yakitzland, Astarial, Lahmere, Nornheim, Badasstasticalia, Felasia, Misandristan, Evanisia, New Cascadica, Whamabama, Westwind, Equilibria and everyone else who contributed to our cure effort and survivor count! I'm really sorry if I missed your name and you helped out!
We survived the apocalypse with flying colors! Long live Equilism!
"However, Equilismers everywhere were overloaded with emotions when the following message from Testlandia was posted on their RMB:
"Congratulations Equilism! Amazing work.
Next year we will have to introduce a special category for regions who don't close their borders."
Furthermore, Equilism has now even been graciously made host to an embassy with Testregionia, an honor not many regions in NationStates can lay claim to. Though we here at the Equilism Office of Public Relations aren't fond of bragging, we can't help but be proud to call ourselves Equilismers after this Z-Day. The overwhelming effort that all of our community showed during the event proved that when we put our minds to it, our region can accomplish great things and even possibly change the game itself.
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Cadmus Confirmed as Town Moderator
On November 8th, Cadmus was confirmed as the 3rd Town Moderator of the Equilism Township by a vote of 6-1. While Cadmus is still a newcomer to the region, he has already made a splash with his enormous contributions during Z-Day, his stamp donation to aid the Township in its recruitment effort and his presence on the regional Discord server. Equilismers were also impressed by Cadmus's experience in similar positions in other regions, such as Law Librarian of Albion and Voice of the Freeholders in Kingdom of Alexandria.
Cadmus Confirmed as Town Moderator
His predecessor, Astarial—who did not seek re-election—has stated her intent to assist Cadmus during the transitional period, a much-needed sign of support for the new Moderator. Having served two full 90-day terms as the Town Moderator, Astarial truly laid the foundations of the office, including introducing new (and sometimes simple) tools which have become vital to its functions—such as the citizenship spreadsheet. Astarial was also responsible for the implementation of the Deputy Town Moderator position, appointing Kubrikistan as her own Deputy after her victory against him in the May 2016 election.
While it remains to be seen if Town Moderator Cadmus will make use of this optional position, the precedence for it has been established. However, whether or not any Equilismers will expect him to name a citizen as Deputy Town Moderator also remains to be seen as none have come forward so far voicing any concerns. One issue that is clearly on Cadmus's agenda is the organization of Equilism's Law Library, which is in dire need of caretaking after the passage of numerous laws and treaties in recent months.
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Embassies Opened with TUA, Re-Opened with Canada
On October 19th, the Equilism Office of Public Relations received an embassy request from The Universal Allegiance (TUA) on the Township's off-site forum, posted by Lollerland, TUA's Chancellor and elected head of government. As a fellow attendee to the conference to establish the Coalition Against the Ideology of Nazism (and now a fellow signatory to the Coalition as well), the request was approved by Mayor Isaris in a relatively short amount of time on October 22nd.
Embassies Opened with TUA, Re-Opened with Canada
Embassies between the two regions opened in-game on October 25th and TUA's embassy on Equilism's off-site was opened on October 28th. Mayor Isaris and Chancellor Lollerland both expressed their hope that this opening of diplomatic relations will result in increased cooperation and ultimately friendship between the two regions. While TUA is much younger than Equilism (being established in 2014), the two regions' common cause in the fight against Nazism and shared love for democratic rule could forge strong bonds capable of withstanding the test of time.
However, that wasn't the only embassy opened during the month of October. Some time ago—on September 24th—Mayor Isaris had requested to re-open forum embassies with the fair region of Canada, with which Equilism had shared relations all the way back in 2005! Unfortunately, during The Schism of Equilism, Canada decided to break ties due to what Canadians saw at the time as a lack of shared values between our regions and closed their embassy in 2006.
Of course, the passage of time has certainly changed both regions and both were ready to put the past behind them. This was clearly shown when Equilism's embassy request was accepted on October 12th, with construction being completed on the 15th. Canada then requested the reopening of their embassy on Equilism's forum on October 18th, which naturally was accepted. After many years, Canadians were welcomed back to their dusty off-site embassy on October 26th! In-game embassies were opened on the 20th as well—a strong symbol of our renewed relations.
Interactions between Equilism and Canada have been fruitful since, with Almonaster of Canada designing the awards for the Fight for Armello competition (more on that below)!
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Fight for Armello Concluded, Winners Declared
The Fight for Armello competition, which was mentioned in last month's PR update (see here), concluded on October 30th. The competition was designed by Mayor Isaris, inspired by the video board game Armello—available on Steam for PC—and the Equilism Great Race 2016, which was designed by Westwind and ran this past April. The mechanics of the game, which took place on-site, were drawn from the Great Race event while the theme for the activity was of course heavily inspired by the titular video game.
Fight for Armello Concluded, Winners Declared
Four Clan teams (Bear, Rabbit, Rat and Wolf) squared off over the course of eleven days, competing to place in the top spots of target regions' daily census rankings. Each Clan initially consisted of four members but sadly Rabbit Clan saw a drop-out on Day 3, resulting in a large disadvantage that game moderators (Mayor Isaris and Officer Yakitzland) attempted to mediate with a +5 handicap bonus for the Clan each day until a replacement player could be found. Unfortunately, no such player could be found and this most likely cost Rabbit Clan any chance of winning the game.
The first target region, Southbank, a small village on Armello's southern coast in our story, tested our contestants' nations' levels of income equality. With a whopping 47 points (the highest team score in the course of the game), Rat Clan won the day and their Clan's shield was flown as the regional flag. The second target region, Arrowstorm Field, was also notable for testing contestants' influence levels and causing an issue as it's not a very mechanic-friendly ranking in this context! As this was not a scenario that had been previously taken into account, it was ruled that Wolf Clan won the day there with 38 points.
In light of this unfortunate situation, a new rule was adopted to account for the handful of census rankings found to be incompatible or unfair in relation to the mechanics of the competition. Thankfully NationStates decided it would cooperate with us for most of the remaining game, with only Days 6 and 7 seeing unusable rankings as well, meaning no Clan could win those days. However, Day 6's target region, Mount Greymane, was revisited on Day 10 as Z-Day was announced to be scheduled one day later than was anticipated.
While Rat Clan dominated the early game, things started to look more even midway into the competition as Bear Clan claimed two regions—namely Starfall Stones and Thumperfoot Fields. Ultimately, though, Rat Clan proved to be truly blessed and claimed all subsequent regions, running away with the game. Wolf Clan's previously mentioned claiming of Arrowstorm Field would be its only victory and Rabbit Clan unfortunately was not able to claim any regions whatsoever lacking a player. With six regions in total under their dominion, Rat Clan won the game and their highest-scoring player—The Animal World of the West Pacific—was declared the Sovereign of Armello!
Luckily that wasn't the only way to receive an award in Fight for Armello and the following players also claimed the titles of Chieftain of their respective Clans:
- Bear Clan Chieftain, Halo of the West Pacific
- Rabbit Clan Chieftain, Mediobogdum of the West Pacific
- Wolf Clan Chieftain, Cadmus of Albion
Cadmus of Albion was also declared the Steward of Armello for being the highest-scoring player in the game, yet not a member of the winning Clan. The awards for Fight for Armello were generously designed by Almonaster of Canada upon the request of Mayor Isaris and distributed on the Equilism forum on November 3rd. (Click here if you'd like to view the awards ceremony.)
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E-Army Saves Christmas
On October 16th, Commander Westwind gave the order for the E-Army to move into the region of Christmas and endorse Jolly Ole Saint Nick, the native WA Delegate, who had been ousted by raiding forces of The Invaders. With most of the invading nations having left after vandalizing the WFE, flipping the delegacy to its native inhabitant proved to be a simple task for the E-Army's four participating soldiers.
E-Army Saves Christmas
However, defending that restoration of power soon proved to be a more difficult task. On October 27th, Christmas was targeted by The Invaders once again but E-Army soldiers, with the assistance of forces from The guard, kept Jolly Ole Saint Nick's delegacy secure until he could give them the big black boot. While it's still currently unknown why The guard provided this assistance, the act itself is definitely worthy of note and a display of honor that the E-Army both respects and appreciates.
While Christmas is generally considered to be a user-created warzone region, it is also a region that many people cherish because of its name and the importance of the holiday of the same name to them and their culture. The E-Army is proud to have restored the region's WFE from vandalism, defended the region and declare that we saved Christmas! Hurray!
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Thank you for reading this month's PR update! To visit Equilism, click one of our banners! Click the top banner to find our off-site forum and the bottom banner to find our on-site region page.
