EPNS Edition 11, September 2020

sycon · Oct 14, 2020

The East Pacific News Service
October 3, 2020

Thermonuclear War Occurs, AA Victorious
By Tretrid

That time of year was coming up again. Specifically, the time when thousands of nations would obliterate each other in thermonuclear warfare.

A lot of regions were preparing for it beforehand. However, things were a bit different this time around. The old feeder alliance, UPPERCUT, was no more, and the feeders went their own separate ways.

The North Pacific and the South Pacific joined up with the Potato Alliance, which also included most of the regions of Canopy from the previous N-Day. In full, the Potato Alliance had the North Pacific, the South Pacific, the Rejected Realms, 10000 Islands, Forest, Spiritus, Europe, The Leftest Assembly, The Union of Democratic States, International Democratic Union, Yggdrasil, Autropolis, Sonindia, The Hold to Hide In, New West Indies, Warzone Asia, Warzone Sandbox, India, European Union, Union of Democrats, Democratic Socialist Assembly, 00000 A World Power, The Communist Bloc, Big Farma, and South Pacific.

So, summed up, Potato had a lot of regions, and was looking to be one of the largest factions in the game. And they didn’t bother hiding it, as Potato was being promoted about a month before the actual event.

Meanwhile, the Pacific, the West Pacific, Balder, and United Kingdom joined together to form CRAB, or Crustaceans Repelling Atomic Bombardment. And as for the sinkers? Osiris, Lazarus, The Black Hawks, Refugia, Lone Wolves United, Caer Sidi, Thalassia, Europeia, and Social Technocratic Union formed the faction Ba Sing Se.

Where does that leave the East Pacific? They approached the other regions of the Consortium (a bloc of sorts with a few UCRs) to form a faction, and they agreed. Several other UCRs joined this faction, and then we have ATOMIC, or Alliance To Obliterate Many Inferior Contenders. They consisted of 21st Century Rome, Force, the Iwakusphere (The Glorious Nations of Iwaku and Eientei Gensokyo), The Labyrinth, Loranium, Lorania, Southfield, Phoenix Partners, Thaecia, The Democatic Republic, The East Pacific, The Free Nations Region, The Kingdom of Great Britain, Wintercrest, and Wintreath.

Meanwhile, the Augustin Alliance, consisting of Cape of Good Hope, Conch Kingdom, Lands End, and Ridgefield, as well as Anteria, Karma, Hartfelden, The United Ascendancy, The Great Experiment, Krasnaya, Scotia, Hive, The Global Democratic Union, URA, and Southern Africa, was back. Having traditionally done well in N-Day (with the exception of N-Day 3), they were once again looking to do very well in the coming nuclear armageddon.

The reigning champions, Horsemen of the Apocalypse, had returned. Like last time, they included Hell, Underworld, Glass Gallows, Middle Earth, Hippy Haven, Citadel of Ricks, The Order of the Grey Wardens, and Lily. The involvement of TGW and Lily is notable here, as it was the sheer amount of puppets wielded by the two R/D orgs that propelled the Horsemen to victory in the previous N-Day.

And so N-Day started, on 6 AM UTC, September 26. Well, it started on 6 AM, instead of the more usual 9 PM, because of an error made by [violet]. This lead to concerns that N-Day would coincide with Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism.

The large factions initially focused on taking out smaller factions to get some easy points. For example, ATOMIC completely obliterated the Layem Defense Coalition.

After some rather easy victories for each of the large factions, they then proceeded to attack each other. By around 8 AM UTC, the Horsemen started attacking the Potato Alliance with several ten thousands of nukes. The attack, though in part dampened by the amount of shields Potato had stockpiled, was devastating, and sent the Potatoes into a rather deep negative score.

Around the same time, all of the large non-horsemen factions sent all their nukes flying at the Horsemen. This wasn’t very effective, though it did consume some of the Horsemen’s shields.

With Potato out of the way, ATOMIC was next. The Horsemen once again attacked with thousands of nukes. ATOMIC was able to weather the initial wave of nukes, but eventually ran out of shields, and was irradiated with around 50k Radiation.

ATOMIC briefly attempted to do guerrilla warfare, much like what Potato was doing now. However, they gave up, and eventually decided to merge with a faction. After considering merging with Ba Sing Se and Augustin Alliance, they decided to merge with Augustin Alliance.

Potato never really gave up, even if their region was very devastated. And their determination paid off for them in the end. Meanwhile, the Horsemen were set on all sides by several very large factions. They were outnumbered, and their main hope was taking out the other factions early. But eventually they ran out of shields, and the onslaught of the other factions caused them to plummet to the bottom of the leaderboard. Potato had also managed to get a positive score again, and was quickly rising up. Their comeback was massive, going from several tens of thousand points below to about 285K points by the end of the event.

While all this chaos was happening, Noahs Second Country founded the faction Second Best Test, which mainly included Noah himself and his card farming puppets. Another card farmer, Evrigenis, who had fought in ATOMIC and became disillusioned with the Augustin Alliance, decided to join forces with him. They did pretty well, mainly because they had other puppets create factions so they could nuke them, while trying their best to prevent the other factions from finding out and messing with what they were doing. And so, in playing N-Day in such an unconventional way, they managed to end up 6th place on the leaderboard.

The Augustin Alliance, like most of the other factions, were focusing on Horsemen. After the Horsemen were defeated, they eventually got into a fight with CRAB, despite both factions supposedly having Non-Aggression Pacts with each other. This irritated several people from ATOMIC, causing them to leave AA and rejoin the old faction. Some remnants of ATOMIC went through the effort of trying to make a comeback, and by the end, they once again had a positive score, with 1627 points and 18th place.

And so the Augustin Alliance ended in 1st place, Potato ended in 2nd place (only barely behind the AA), and Ba Sing Se ended 3rd while managing to avoid getting any sort of radiation.

Discussing Nuclear Strategy with a Parrot
By Tretrid

Libertanny is the current Delegate of The East Pacific, and was also heavily involved in the creation of ATOMIC and was part of its High Command through N-Day. He is also a parrot.

Tretrid: If I told myself from one year ago that I would be discussing thermonuclear war with a parrot, he would probably think I was on mind-altering substances. What circumstances have lead me to discuss nuclear war with a parrot?

Libertanny: You see. My reply won't bring any rationale to the conversation. You are talking to a Parrot about nuclear war. The Parrot, that competed against the Goose in democratic elections. The Parrot that is now successor to the Horse. The Parrot, that stands in the hall of Delegates - next to Puffin, Fox... or Ocelot that is currently a Senator of an autocratic region in a game, that lives its own life and was supposed to be an advertisement for a book written by a human in real life. The Parrot, that leads a region, where Arbiters (judges) represent different types of nature (f.e. desert) and the same region, that was almost couped by a memer. I don't know what circumstances led you to that - I'll just say "The East Pacific" swallows sunflower seeds.

Tretrid: Anyway, what led to the creation of ATOMIC as a faction?

Libertanny: Now that's a question I am capable of replying to! Well. Since Marrabuk was the Delegate, we were working on a project called The Consortium. We managed to gather quite a nice band there - The East Pacific, Free Nations Region, Force, Thaecia, Kingdom Great Britain and Iwakusphere. One day we were simply talking about cooperation and what we could do. We went through 4 of 6 member regions participating in Liberation of South Pacific and unanimous vote against Commend Altino. Our next idea was "something bigger" - and we did it. We decided to create our own faction for NDay to strengthen bond between government officials (who led ATOMIC), warm relations between our residents and simply have fun together. However, hearing about Potato, we decided to go further - we decided to reach out to our friends to create ATOMIC with us. It worked - we managed to get some regions to join and we strengthened relations with them. From top of my head - Wintercrest and The Labyrinth. But there was more. So again, ATOMIC was simply supposed to be first bigger cooperation of Consortium, and it worked much more better than we expected. We got new friends and the world heard about us.

Tretrid: Oh, since you just mentioned the Consortium, can you briefly describe what it is?

Libertanny: Indeed, I can. Consortium is a bloc for cooperation between The East Pacific and our friends. Whilst in history, some were bringing ideas to make it "momma TEP & its UCR children" that's totally not the idea I went for. Whilst it doesn't seem popular between us, GCRs, I treat UCRs equally with GCRs. And that is what we went for - a bloc made out of equal partners. Our main goal was bringing communities together, strengthening diplomatic relations and doing cultural cooperation - or simply, making friends. But with the time, it went further - like mentioned WA or R/D cooperation. Upon this, we had second meeting of High Council and Grand Founders, which was open to all Consortium Residents. We agreed to convert Consortium into something "bigger". We included technological cooperation (we have quite a nice IT team, that f.e. developed us a tool for NDay), we included voluntary R/D cooperation and we included WA cooperation, which does not require all Delegates to vote in certain way, but the decision of WA Council is shared as WA recommendation to all Consortium Residents. As of current, we are in the middle of formation of Military Council and WA Council. Our next step is legislating the founding treaty (Convention of Lausanne).

Tretrid: So what were your general plans for ATOMIC this N-Day?

Libertanny: Well. Our general plans were survival and destruction of Horsemen of Apocalypse. We were doing rather fine until second offensive of HoTA (we survived first offensive with no loses - around 15k nukes incoming). When second offensive started, we rapidly noticed, that HoTA's goal is not desruction of ATOMIC immediately, but destruction of our shields. HoTA were sending up to 1,5k nukes at one nation. So it was rather easy to notice their strategy. Upon this, we decided to do Guerilla Warfare (idea stolen from Potato), but at the end of the day, we decided to merge with Augustin Alliance. However, when AA made decision our command did not like, many ATOMIC members moved back to our faction. They managed to bring us from last place (-50k points) to 18th place. So we achieved both of our goals, at the end of the day - destruction of HoTA and rather nice "survival".

Tretrid: How did ATOMIC make decisions and choose who to attack?

Libertanny: We had our command split into two levels. Low Command - which was basically leaders of member regions and High Command - which was the most experienced individuals from different timezones. Most of our decisions were made based on fast votes - we were pinging command, voting with reactions, if either option was having much support rapidly, we were executing that - you know, there's not too much time to decide during nuclear apocalypse. If it was needed be - High Command had authority to make any decision they wish to at any time. Our attacks were focused on HoTA - so it was really just "attack HoTA". We were, however, coordinating our attacks with other factions. I was in constant contact with Sakana (Ba Sing Se), August (Augusting Alliance) and Xoriet (Crab) and I was forwarding all agreements to the command. I cannot tell you on how command made decisions whom to attack after they moved out of Augustin Alliance - I was asleep. But it was probably like before merge - common decision of the Command.

Tretrid: What led ATOMIC to do its all-out attack on Horsemen?

Libertanny: Rationalism, I would say. It was known from the very beginning, that if all factions don't cooperate against HoTA, we would be all eaten by them. Although it took Ba Sing Se and Augustin Alliance long to notice that, they joined the fight too. And frankly, imho at least, BSS and AA were best coordinated factions. But yeah, it was really about rationalism.

Tretrid: What lead to ATOMIC deciding to merge with AA, instead of trying to make a comeback like Potato did?

Libertanny: I think there was no decisive event, that made us choose merge over guerilla warfare. We talked both, we tried to go with guerilla warfare, but we then decided that it's either destruction of ATOMIC or merging with someone else. We considered both Ba Sing Se and Augustin Aliance, but we decided to go for AA by simple vote.

Tretrid: What were the reasons that ATOMIC merged with AA specifically?

Libertanny: Well. Obviously, our first thought would have been Potato - but they rejected merge proposal before the Nday. So we did not even consider it. Speaking of Crab, I think they were somewhat neutral party, that our command had no feelings about. Ba Sing Se and Augustin Alliance, however, impressed us with perfect coordination and attacks they launched on Horsemen. So when it came to proposal to merge, we either considered AA or BSS. It then happened through simple vote. Although at first it was head to head vote, the time was rushing, so commanders changed their votes to AA to reach majority rapidly (which actually ended up in unanimous vote).

Tretrid: In hindsight, what would you have changed about what ATOMIC did?

Libertanny: Frankly, I don't think I would have changed anything. To me NDay was perfect. We had a chance to do something bigger with our friends - Consortium. We achieved the goal of destroying Horsemen. We all had fun. Consortium made its first IT project. To me, it was really perfect and I would not have changed anything.

Tretrid: What do you look forward to in the next N-Day?

Libertanny: Firstly, I for sure look forward to do it alongside Consortium and other regions, that created ATOMIC with us. I'm also hoping, that Crab, AA and BSS (or any other substitutes of them) will join fight against Horsemen earlier, than they did this year. But most importantly - I look forward to having as much fun as we had this year

TEP's Finest: The Order of the Golden Ocelot
By Pledonia

"The Order of the Golden Ocelot shall be dictated as the highest civilian award to be given within the East Pacific.

The Order must be given only to those who hold the following traits:
The recipient must have had a long-lasting impact upon the East Pacific.
The recipient’s impacts must be consistent with the values of the East Pacific.
The recipient must have served the East Pacific with distinction and honor."

On September 23, 2020, for the first time since January 2017, the highest civilian award within the East Pacific was awarded to eight of TEP's finest individuals. The Order of the Golden Ocelot. "These eight individuals are the very shining stars of our region, they are the very beating heart of The East Pacific, and they have brought change and impact to our Region, " says Libertany, our delegate. Listed below are the eight who were awarded the Order of the Golden Ocelot.

Asendavia - for playing one of the most important roles in fighting the coup - spreading awareness about Rahls and Fedele before the coup, and bringing interest of Forum Roleplayers to Gameplay, and spreading patriotism within Forum Roleplay, and being, per se, anti-coup leader of Forum Roleplay; for active membership in Petit Comité (Small Magisterium Cafeterium) - the (partially legislative) resistance body before the coup; for service as Vizier, Magister, Arbiter and Cabinet Advisor; for promotion of Forum Roleplay and actively helping newcomers with getting started; for helping Roleplayers with improving their roleplay and advising them on matters

The Atlae Isles - for revival of Eastern Pacific Sovereign Army post-coup; for developing EPSA to the stage it has not seen for years; for incredible job done within news service both before and after the coup; for service as Magister; for service as Senior Diplomat (and member of Inner Circle of FA) and help with revival of Foreign Affairs of The East Pacific post-coup; for general contribution to all of the Executive as Staffer

Dragons Blood (McStooley) - for help in rebuilding The East Pacific post-coup as the Vice-Delegate during Libertanny’s Administration; for tirelessly working on improving The East Pacific, especially in the “hard” eras; for service as Magister, Vizier, Grand Vizier and Delegate

Marrabuk - for doing an awesome job as the first post-coup Delegate; for uniting all of The East Pacific’s communities and bringing regional integrity to a new level; for playing one of the most important roles before and during the coup; for service as Vizier, Magister, Cabinet Advisor and Minister of Foreign Affairs; for creation of several meaningful diplomatic relations and alliances

Nova-Columbia / Krionik - for tirelessly working on introducing first release of Valsora as member of RMB Mapmakers Team; for reviving the project of Valsora and developing it to the point, Valsora became mainstream RMB Roleplay; for tirelessly working as creator of second release of Valsora since 2018; for working on currently used RMB RP Rules, that brought Roleplay on RMB into a new level; for working on increasing standard of Roleplay on RMB; for creation of one of the best dispatches within The East Pacific, that inspired several other RPers

Tretrid - for bringing EPNS from the grave post-coup; for long and active contribution to news service before coup; for working on conversion of EPNS into Ministry of Information, alongside Libertanny and The Atlae Isles; for help with revival of Eastern Pacific Sovereign Army; for active membership in Inner Circle of FA as an Advisor; for service as Minister, Vizier and Magister; for tirelessly working on improving the Executive; for contribution to Forum Roleplay, and help with recruitment of new Roleplayers, and help with getting started with TEP Wiki, and for bringing new and unique ideas to the realm of Urth

Tuvaltastan (Tuva) - for active contribution to Forum Roleplay as “one of the most brilliant souls of the whole 16 years of history of EP Forum RP”; for activity and tireless work on managing and improving the realm of Urth as Cartographer and Cartography Moderator; for helping newcomers with getting started in Forum Roleplay; for service as Magister and Staffer of the Executive

Zukchiva - for active membership in Petit Comité (Small Magisterium Cafeterium) - the (partially legislative) resistance body before the coup; for working on rewriting and improving both laws and the Concordat; for contribution to RMB Roleplay as member of first RMB Mapmakers Team (first release of Valsora); for contribution to RMB Roleplay as creator of Dibergia RMB Roleplay; for setting up the Bureau of Public Affairs and service as first Director of Public Affairs; for service as Magister, Deputy Provost, Arbiter, Viceroy, Minister, Acting Chief Minister, Director and Vizier

Congratulations to all who received this illustrious award. Hail pacificum Orientale!

Shattering Diplomacy; Roleplay's Spiciest
By Dylan

(Editor’s note: This was written to promote the roleplay “Shattering Diplomacy,” which takes place on the Forum Roleplay setting of Urth. It may be read here.)

Shattering Diplomacy plunges the reader straight into the second volume of Clauzia Sarohart. Readers may remember her humble beginnings in the roleplay Ethalria Will Never Rise Again, from the wounded remains of a hospitalised soldier during the Auroran-Pacific War to her rise in politics over 2018 and 2019 to become Prime Minister of Vothetria, a nation forcibly broken apart as part of Ethalria’s terms of surrender to Morstaybishlia. Whilst at first Shattering Diplomacy focuses on the deep web of political identity in the outcast Morstaybishlian Province of Nocturne, the reader will soon come to realise there’s a shadow of deception surrounding the thousand year rivalry of Great Morstaybishlia and Ethalria, with two Ethalrian rivals secretly manipulating the outcome of an independent Nocturne; the now-President of the right-wing North Ethalrian Confederacy Clauzia Sarohart and the recently new Premier Lenski Sarinn of communist Thalria. With political attacks just around the corner and cunning twists and turns in the shadow of politics, it’s a Roleplay filled with such uncertainty and spiciness that in every post the reader will be wanting to read the next. But the civil unrest, mass demonstrations and revived independence identity that surrounds Nocturne isn’t the only problem that looms over Morstaybishlia, something big stirs in its colonies, and on the other half of the fatherland...

The shadow of Morstaybishlian greed is something that has long loomed over the Auroran continent and by extension the world; what will happen as the roleplay progresses? There are subtle hints laid across the chapters, it’s up to the reader to figure it out before it becomes a reality. Which politician, Sarohart or Sarinn, will be the one to thrive in the crumbling of Morstaybishlia? Or will Prime Minister Franklin Barvata pull the reigns and prevent disaster from toppling over the thousand year wall of rivalry? After all, no Morstaybishlian Prime Minister wants to be known as the prime minister who saw decline...

Stay tuned for the unraveling of Chapter 3, and hopefully I will see you through the rest of the roleplay through as much as 8 or 9 planned chapters. After Roleplaying in The East Pacific for four years now, this is by far my favourite, most spicy and planned out roleplay. After it has finished I plan on novelising it, and if you read it, let me know what you think of the characters, of the plot, of the narrative! Thank you, and happy reading.

Constitutional Reforms: What's Going On???
By Zukchiva

Regional constitutions are the foundation for the vast majority of regional governments. A constitution serves as the baseline of regional law and day-to-day governance. It is no joke to say that if you want to get to know a region, you should look at their constitution. For besides dictating lawful procedures, constitutions often establish the basic themes and beliefs of a region.

It is a common practice to amend constitutions as time plunges forward and the game itself changes. New game features are added, regional social dynamics are changed, new beliefs and viewpoints are shared. A constitution is not just the baseline of a region, but a living document. No region can have a perfect constitution, so if a constitution is not kept up-to-date, then a region is sure to fail.

So it was no surprise to anyone when the East Pacific undertook a rigorous rewrite of the Concordat (The East Pacific’s constitution) following the infamous 2019 October coup. The rewrite, headed by Aelitia and later taken over by Bachtendekuppen, fixed many prevalent issues within the Concordat. One of the most noteworthy changes of the rewrite was the formation of the Viziers as a new branch of security, helping to consolidate the East Pacific’s security to the responsibilities of one body.

On February 3rd, the Magisterium passed the rewrite with a 100% majority, and was further confirmed by 100% of citizens voting in favor during the subsequent referendum. Thus, the Concordat was rewritten into a much clearer document.

THE PEOPLE START TALKING

However...

In the following months after the rewrite, more issues began to be raised regarding the Concordat. Some issues included how the Concordat still did not prevent the infamous marsupial purges and how unregulated the Magisterium’s (The East Pacific’s legislature) internal procedures were. The Magisterium held too much power over how it legislated its own internal processes.

In the span of a short few months following the rewrite, three Concordat amendments were passed. The three amendments provided clarification on the legislative process, allowed the Conclave (The East Pacific’s court) to process non-citizen resident appeals, and raised the majority vote requirement for Arbiter (Conclave Justice) nominations from ½ of the Magisterium to ⅔ voting in favor. While these amendments were important fixes to the Concordat, they did not do much to fix the most glaring issues prevalent from the Fedele coup. Therefore, it was in August and September that the Magisterium decided to finally start reforming the Concordat. Again.

REFORMS TRULY BEGIN

The first large-scale amendment proposed was a rewrite of Article F in late August. Article F guarantees the rights of citizens and residents within the East Pacific. The amendment simplifies the current Article as well as establishes new rights and procedures regarding Resident bans, in hopes of stopping future mass-scale purges of residents.

The second amendment proposed was a rewrite of Article B, the Article dealing with the East Pacific’s legislative branch. The Article focuses on enshrining many of the Magisterium’s procedures within the Concordat to cut down the potential abuse of the Magisterium maliciously changing its internal procedures. Among these newly added procedures includes how Citizens can join the Magisterium, Provost (the Magisterium’s Speaker) elections and terms lengths, and Provost removal procedures.

The third large-scale amendment proposed was a new Article A, which will go before the first Article currently present in the Concordat. This new Article seeks to legislate The East Pacific’s core identity: the compass is declared as the East Pacific’s official symbol, green and yellow as the East Pacific’s official colors, and any form of In-Character Fascism/Nazism is banned from the region.

All the aforementioned amendments are still being debated in the Magisterium and have not yet gone to citizen vote. However, should they pass the Magisterium’s vote as well as the citizen vote, then the East Pacific can rest assured that many, if not all of the issues with the Concordat, will be finally fixed for a while.

Interview with Altys: A Newcomer's Perspective
By Zukchiva

Altys is the East Pacific’s current Minister of Culture. Having joined the East Pacific earlier this year, he quickly made a name for himself and revitalized the Ministry of Culture. Additionally, he serves in various positions in Thaecia such as Senator. As such, this interview was held to see what his perspectives of TEP were, as an experienced player just getting involved in the region.

This interview took place on Discord from September 12th, 2020 to September 29th, 2020.

Minor edits were made to correct typos and ensure flow of the interview.

Zukchiva: Hello, Altys! Thank you for doing this interview, how are you doing?

Altys: I'm doing good & you? :p

Zukchiva: Doing alright although I wanna eat some chips soon :x

Altys: nuuu, dont

Zukchiva: :9

Zukchiva: Alright, while I grab some chips because I'm still hungry (eep), would you mind giving a brief history on your time in NationStates? Regions that impacted you, major positions you've held, that kinda thing.

Altys: Alright so

I've arrived on NS on August 2018 and didn't do anything GP-side until March/April 2019 when I joined Thaecia. I quickly became a RP Admin(due to being good at mapping) and an OOC admin on the main server(I became admin during an incident where someone who had just joined tried to spam). In Late May/Early June I became Associate Justice, in early July I became Roleplay Minister, and was at the time staff in all Thaecian ministries.

Then Rayekka's administration came and I got kicked out of most ministries, except FA where I became one of the first members of the FA Council (FA Inner Council equivalent in TEP). Nothing much happened during this term, I got re-confirmed as Roleplay Minister and stayed Associate Justice.

Fast forward to February 2020, I ran for President and lost by 15 points (15%), I however became Deputy Prime Minister (mainly an advisory role and something comparable to the Chief Minister of RA in TEP, except DPM does not legally exist) and assisted Korsinia during his first term. I stayed Roleplay Secretary (changed name in the meantime) and Associate Justice.
In May Paradoxical '2.0 happened and Serge & I were known as the AFK admins on the Minecraft server; always online, but always AFK. After the festival ended Serge spammed me to join TEP; so I did. I became a citizen, joined the executive (MoC & MoFA at the time).

Back to Thaecia, right before the end of the term, the general election happened and I decided to run for the Senate and won a seat. Korsinia won a second term as PM and it was already known I wasn't going to be his top advisor anymore. I however stayed staffer in all of the ministries and was made head of recruitment. The Bigtopia (our MoFA) then proposed to the diplomats & the culture staff to organise an event led by Thaecia; and that's how LNF was born. :p

I organised most of the stuff for the festival, but got really precious help from Lemonadia for the planning, and the people who volunteered to host activities. During the festival planning, Aivintis had offered me the position of DMoC in TEP, which I accepted as you all know it. On the last day of the festival, August 16th, Serge proposed to me to become TEP's new MoC as Aivintis was resigning, I wasn't sure at first, but I do not regret accepting the position at all! I really love my time in TEP.

On the same day as I was offered the Ministry of Culture, I got fired from Thaecia's FA Council (arguably the job I loved the most in the region, not directly because of the position itself, but because I really like FA). This wasn't the best of times for me, and my activity in the region simply dropped to almost nothing like before. I recently resigned as Head of Recruitment, and keep thinking of resigning as a Senator since Late August. To you this might not be important, but I also moved my WA from Thaecia to TEP on September 18th. The next day I would be reinstated as a member of the FA Council.

It's safe to say I've forgotten lots of things, and emphasized too much on the most recent ones, but these obviously are the first ones that come to mind, and 2020 really was the year where I started doing a lot of things (thanks to the lockdown as well ehe).

Zukchiva: Well, that's interesting to hear. Annnd you answered two of my next questions. XP

It seems you've done a lot in Thaecia, before becoming involved in TEP. I also did notice you moving your WA and thought it was important, but didn't think to ask. It's nice to hear about your NS story, you've done... alot!

So I think the question we have now is:

Why are you starting to do more in TEP rather than Thaecia? What brought along said change?

Altys: For now I am, but thanks to this interview I decided to relaunch my projects for Thaecia. As for what brought along the said changes, one was already explained above (August 16th) and the second simply is school.

Zukchiva: Glad to know this interview has had some impact! And glad to see that you're focusing more on real life.

Now, to turn our questions to more the abstract:

How would you describe TEP in one word? And why?

Altys: Friendly

Simply because peeps are always nice to each other and toxicity is almost (never say it completely is) nonexistent here.

Oh and of course - when Thaecia got in controversy with the NS community and got yelled at from all parts, TEP came in and supported us - actually trying to help Thaecia understand NS Geopolitics more, instead of simply bashing it like the others did.

Zukchiva: It's nice to hear you say that, I've always considered TEP to be a friendly region (although IG I have a bias. :p)

Now, TEP and Thaecia are different regions with different qualities. As someone who's been a part of both regions, what would be the single greatest difference between each region, and how do they differ in that respect?

Altys: Unity

In TEP it's flagrant when you join: the region's different communities are really split up. Forum RP stays on their server, RMB Peeps keep themselves to the RMB, and only the GP community seems to be a bit everywhere.
Of course if you ask them to do something on another place than their core one, they might come depending on what it is (ie game nights), but they won't do it naturally.

In Thaecia absolutely everyone is in the main server and is part of the same big community. Sometimes the Roleplay may or may not become a bit more separate, but the majority of its roleplayers are part of the bigger Thaecian community anyway.

This 'unity' thing really shocked me when I learned Thaecia had 2x 3x more voters in general elections that TEP had in Delegate elections.

Zukchiva: Yeah, I can see the truth in what you're saying. I hope that TEP can be united as Thaecia is! I feel like Marrabuk and Lib have done some work in that regard, but we definitely have some work to do in TEP. XP

So on a similar thread, what is one thing you like about TEP as a region?

Altys: It's old.

Being in Thaecia which is a fairly young region, long-term experience is limited to her lifespan. But with TEP being a GCR, there's a lot of old NS players who have been here for a very long time and have lots of experience in GP, which is always nice to have when you have questions.

^ Due to that, TEP is also pretty big, meaning you are less likely to be in a situation where you lack man/brainpower for a project or attendees during an event, and especially as minister of culture, it really is a comforting feeling.

Zukchiva: LOL, that's one way to put it! Yeah, TEP is old and quite large, which makes sense for a GCR.

So what is the #1 top thing do you believe TEP needs to improve on?

Altys: Unity :p

Zukchiva: Should've expected that. XP

Alright, now we're pretty much done. However, I do want to ask: would it be possible for you to share some of your future plans as Minister of Culture, assuming Libertanny wins the upcoming elections?

Altys: Oh well, first I will have to lose the Thaecian General Elections as I'm running for PM over here

But if I indeed stay MoC, you can expect more game nights, more permanent activities (like radio culture), and hopefully a higher culture score on The Rejected Times' GCR rankings

Zukchiva: LOL, got that reference XD

Anyways, good luck to ya in Thaecia! And yayayay game nights and radio culture are both awesome things!!! You've done a great job as MoC and I'm very sure you'll be capable as Thaecia's PM.

It was nice interviewing you, Altys! Have a great day. :p

Altys: It's not certain I am to be PM yet. 5(or more) candidates are running, and some of them (me included) are pretty strong.

And thanks! You too.

Zukchiva: :p

Septeamber’s Biggest Partea: Tea House of Cards
By y0

Since its introduction to NationStates as an April Fools event in 2018, trading cards has grown to prominence as a subgame with its own community. Several regions including The East Pacific (TEP), 10000 Islands (XKI), and Lazarus (Laz) have each created programmes devoted to cards as regional organizations. Like similar pursuits in Ministries of Culture, however, the cards game is even more fun when it is played interregionally.

TEAPOT, XKI’s Cards Co-op, and Laz’s Cards Guild came together to put on the Tea House of Cards festival with three main goals:

We aimed to bring everyone from our respective regions together - whether it was to increase involvement from members already in our associations or to introduce non-cards players to the subgame - we wanted to ensure everyone could parteacipate. The main competeations and events, although cards-oriented, did not require any prior experience of NS Cards.
We focused on three themes: excitement, experience, and community. Without these essential elements, the card game would not be the fun it is.
And of course, we wanted tea bring the tea puns tea the table. No tea partea would be complete without them!

These objectives culminated in Tea House of Cards (THoC), a dozen day tea party that took place from the 9-12 September on Discord and on the NS region sharing the same name. It consisted of three major competitions, cards related games and events, and lectures which you can still read today.

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All times in that image are EST.

The final day’s pull event introduced eleven players to pull events and helped bring more copies of S1 Hesperonis, S1 Mexregionia, S2 Ramaeus, S1 Improving Wordiness, S1 Testlandia, and S2 Testlandia to the world. Congratulations to Virgolia, Fuentana, The Cosmic Mainframe, Noahs Second Country, The Atlae Isles, Pluvie, Constantinolia, Oofery, Catiania, Free Las Pinas for pulling cards during the event.
A big thanks goes to Feu de Glace and the Atlae Isles for lending some of their cards and Noahs Second Country, Grea Kriopia, and Debussy for co-hosting!

We loved seeing everyone’s excitement and creating this shared experiences with the community. If you missed out, THoC is only the first of many. so we hope to see you again in S3!

Chasing our own tails
By Cat and Atlae

You know the feeling. You’re curled up by the fire, and suddenly, you see something small and furry twitch at the edge of your vision. Immediately, your predator instincts rise, and you are on full alert. You remain perfectly motionless, so as not to disturb the prey. Again, the flicker. You leap up and hare after it. It’s a devious quarry, constantly escaping to your side, always just out of reach, leading you in an endless circle. Not one to be discouraged, you pour yourself into the chase, forcing yourself to move ever faster. The thrill of the chase fills you, exhilarated, adrenaline rushing, instincts screaming. But your soon-to-be victim remains just beyond your grasp, never quite letting you seize it. Finally, exhausted, you collapse on your side, panting. Now, you admit to yourself - all along, you were chasing your own tail. But this does not diminish your enjoyment, oh no. Testing yourself is a worthy pursuit, and you are fully satisfied with the efforts of both you and yourself.

Hearing this report from their second, Atlae, Overseeing Officer of EPSA, decided that perhaps it would be a good exercise to collectively chase our own tail. How does EPSA, an organisation, chase its tail you ask? Do organisations even have tails, you say? What stupid questions. I decline to answer.

Separating into two groups, one called ‘Cat’ and the other ‘Mouse’, because one cat related R/D metaphor wasn’t enough, we prepared for battle on the night of the 7th..

Acronis, Loreintor, Philville2

Catiania, Virgolia

Despite much of the Cat team having little to no chasing experience, they performed admirably, never giving up despite a lack of success. The Mouse team, thoroughly enjoying the uneven playing field, happily collected several hits.

NationStates | The United Micronations

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EPNS Edition 11, September 2020

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