[For Release]The North Star Issue XXV

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[b][color=#ffffff][size=300]THE NORTH STAR[/size][/color]

[color=#FEE04E][size=140]"Lighting The Way To The Truth"[/size][/color][/b][/center]
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[b][color=#1D2C7C][size=200]Issue XXV[/size][/color][/b]

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[box][b][size=175]Editor's Note[/size][/b]

Writing can be hard. Over the years, I have served as Minister of Communications multiple times, and tried various different methods of motivating writers to finish articles they are passionate about. Before the Ministry of Communications was absorbed into Culture, we were all fortunate enough to have seen how previous ministers such as El Fiji Grande put together some of the most wonderful editions of The Northern Light in history; it is clear to me now that this way of putting together publications is not something that can be passed down to the next Minister easily enough. I believe a balance between older styles of publications and more modern styles is the key to sustainability. My plan is to source articles from the best writers in TNP, and put together a design team to enjoy the creative process of making a magazine in tandem with text-versions like this. It is my vision that this balance between old and modern publication styles can see a well-needed return to regular publications in TNP.

Aside from that I sincerely hope you enjoy reading this issue and I can assure you there is more to come from The North Star in the future!

[b]Kaschovia[/b]
Editor and Writer[hr][/box]
[box][anchor=ELECTION][b][size=175]Elections Underway[/size][/b][size=120][tab=10]by Kaschovia[/tab][/size][/anchor]

[align=justify]In what is shaping up to be one of the most exciting years in NationStates history, the time has come for the TNP citizenry to elect their Delegate, Vice Delegate, and Speaker until September. NationStates, and the regions within, now look out into the world and see a very different view. With frontiers on the rise, it is going to be crucial for The North Pacific to handle its goals in that sphere efficiently, specifically in regard to The Wellspring.[/align]

[align=justify]Campaigns will share their plans for the executive as all before them have, but who will come out on top? Gorundu is likely to be the favourite for Delegate right out of the gate, but that doesn't mean we aren't going to have a competitive election. Many citizens have been calling for one after what has felt like relatively flat previous elections, and they're likely to get it.
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[b]WA Delegate[/b]

[align=justify]The World Assembly Delegate faces many challenges, tough decisions, and takes on leadership responsibilities throughout the four months of the term. The North Pacific is in a unique position alongside the other feeders as frontiers take their positions on the world stage. The strategies employed by the elected Delegate to address this new landscape are sure to define the term.[/align]

[b]Vice Delegate[/b]

[align=justify]The tools previously used by Vice Delegate's in the past, such as the WADP, the Keepers of the North, and automatic telegram systems haven't been up in months. The elected Vice Delegate will have to assume the role of ensuring the security of the WA Delegacy, which will inevitably require the unavailable tools. This looks to be the greatest challenge for the upcoming term.[/align]

[b]Speaker of the Regional Assembly[/b]

[align=justify]We have seen many talented Speakers in The North Pacific, but we have also seen Speakers struggle to take well to the office. This balance isn't going anywhere. With the Frontiers update now live, the Speaker may have to act quickly and be pragmatic in their contributions to discussions around establishing territories, and upholding the consistency of the legislative offices of the Regional Assembly.[/align]

[b]Get Ready To Vote[/b]

When the time comes to vote on the future of our region, make sure you remember - your vote matters now more than ever before.[hr][/box]

[box][anchor=WELLSPRING][b][size=175]On The Wellspring[/size][/b][size=120][tab=10]by Kaschovia[/tab][/size][/anchor]

[align=justify]It's not very often an opportunity has crossed my path in NationStates that has taken me completely by surprise. In fact, I often over-prepare for when the time arrives to take action and miss out on all the fun in the meantime. When I returned to NationStates and The North Pacific (TNP) last month, it was the first time I had taken the time to look into the Frontiers and Strongholds update being planned on the forums, and before I knew it, I was logging into a vastly different game.[/align]

[align=justify]For hundreds of regions, the Frontiers and Strongholds update provided the perfect chance for over-preparation, with the question of how each region would take to the new landscape on the minds of almost every leader. I barely had the chance to consider how TNP would react before I'd joined an operation in a region called, you guessed it - The Wellspring, alongside several other members of the North Pacific Army.[/align]

[align=justify]It was a simple operation: The Wellspring was one of the first founded frontier regions with one or two nations in the minor update immediately after the changes had been launched, which meant all we had to do was take the World Assembly Delegacy, and watch as the first nations to spawn in a frontier region were founded. Which is what happened, as expected.[/align]

However, what followed surpassed all expectations entirely.

[align=justify]We'd quickly realised that The Wellspring was literally the only frontier in the entirety of NationStates to have secured a World Assembly Delegate within the first update after the launch, which for twelve hours meant over half of all the newly-found nations would be spawning in the region we'd just taken. The Wellspring quickly grew to 515 nations in a single day. And as of the 25th of April, a week later...[/align]

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[align=justify]We took a frontier from nothing to a thousand nations in a week; that number still rises. And now, we have an even greater opportunity to build a community that will stand the test of time in this new world.[/align]

[b]So What Does The Future Hold?[/b]

[align=justify]My main priority since the 18th, along with the Delegate and other Regional Officers, has been to setup the regional infrastructure needed to encourage and nurture the growth of an active native community. It is my hope that in the long term, The Wellspring community will see The North Pacific as the region that approached the Frontiers and Strongholds update with hope in their hearts for a robust and friendly relationship amidst a chaotic and unfamiliar landscape. Once a constitution is ratified and a charter is presented to the Regional Assembly of The North Pacific, I hope The Wellspring can thrive as a territory of The North Pacific, offering a promising, mutually beneficial future for both regions.[/align][hr][/box]

[box][anchor=INTERVIEW][b][size=175]The Spotlight 33: An Exclusive Interview with Acting Delegate Gorundu[/size][/b][size=120][tab=10]by Kaschovia[/tab][/size][/anchor]

[align=justify][color=#4166f5][b]Kaschovia[/b][/color]: Welcome to the 33rd edition of The Spotlight! I am joined by Acting Delegate Gorundu for this interview, which in the context of recent events, promises to make for some insightful and riveting discussion. First off, welcome to The Spotlight Gorundu, it's great to have you on the show!

[b][color=#B22222]Gorundu[/color][/b]: Thank you for doing this! It's been a while since TNP has had an officially published interview, so I'm glad to be part of it. I'm sure there's lots to talk about as well.

[color=#4166f5][b]Kaschovia[/b][/color]: Definitely, thank you for making the time to join me today, it's always exciting when a new edition of the Spotlight is put out! I can imagine over the last two weeks or so things have been pretty busy taking on the role of Acting Delegate, especially with the general election starting in a few days time. But before we get onto that, for those who are new or returning to The North Pacific, they may be unfamiliar with the name Gorundu. What is your story in NationStates?

[b][color=#B22222]Gorundu[/color][/b]: At this point I can confidently say I've been in The North Pacific for longer than the vast majority of our citizens. I started on NS in 2018 and spent about a year around some smaller regions before taking an interest in the WA, where I passed a GA resolution under an older nation name. It's not that great but somehow it's withstood multiple attempts at repeal and is still in force today. Anyway, passing a WA resolution led me to discover the fact that WA Delegates have more voting power than regular WA members - I hadn't realised that somehow. That of course led me to finding out about the region with the most Delegate votes, so I decided to take the leap and it just so happens that said region has a very active WA program. I guess you can say I made quite a splash when I first joined - I won the Speaker election about 3 months after joining, then resigned to become Minister of WA Affairs (possibly my first controversy). I ran for Delegate too prematurely, and after that I spent a good deal of time in the political wilderness, partially because I had gotten busier IRL, partially because I was taking an interest in some other regions, and partially because I lost political momentum after losing two elections in a row. Becoming Vice Delegate at the start of this year was my first Government Official position (other than Election Commissioner) since September 2020. In this time I've seen a lot of promising players come and go, so it's definitely been a weird journey for me. Suffice to say there's a lot more that happened along the way, but I don't have the time to rehash all of that.

[color=#4166f5][b]Kaschovia[/b][/color]: I share with you the draw of The North Pacific being the largest region, which is one of the reasons I joined. Quite an interesting story! However, moving onto the most notable topic at hand currently... nobody that wasn't involved could have possibly foreseen the events that led to the resignation of the previous Delegate and Minister of Foreign Affairs, and your consequent rise to the position of Acting Delegate towards the end of the term. What was going through your mind when you realized you'd be Acting Delegate in such unique and precarious diplomatic circumstances? What were your initial priorities and thoughts?

[b][color=#B22222]Gorundu[/color][/b]: It was definitely a shock! I had no idea about the events that were going on which led to this, and it turns out that very few people in the region did. One of the first things I did was to reach out to Pallaith for advice - despite our differences in the past I respect him deeply, especially for his knowledge on a wide variety of topics within and outside of TNP. We had some in-depth discussions that helped me get a bearing of what was going on, and I decided that my first priority was to reassure the region, our allies and the world that TNP is not a puppet and can stand up for itself. Another important objective was to determine what had really transpired and separate the truths from the embellishments. I can say that neither of them seemed like easy tasks at first. 

[color=#4166f5][b]Kaschovia[/b][/color]: I can imagine it felt like you had many hills to climb on that first day, but I think you handled the situation brilliantly and ensured that The North Pacific stood its ground. Your recent statement on the events seemed to be exactly what everyone was hoping for, but what do you want to see in the long-term, not just with our allies, but also with those who were involved, to ensure this doesn't happen again? Is there a more general reevaluation of FA procedure in order, or are you confident that your response has been enough of a guarantee?

[b][color=#B22222]Gorundu[/color][/b]: I think that with both the public statement and our private discussions with the offending parties, we have made our position very clear that this type of behaviour is utterly unacceptable and if something similar were to happen again, terminations of treaties and/or embassies would be guaranteed. That's what we've done on the foreign affairs front. But there's also been an aspect of internal re-evaluation, because what led to this situation exploding was not just the transgressions by the defender regions, but also poor communication on the part of all parties involved. I won't get into communication issues on the defender side here, but within our own government, the only people fully in the know was the Delegate and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and pretty much all the communication on this issue was in various DMs. I think this reflects the fact that due to the amount of discretion the Delegate has, they are free to seek advice from as many or as few people as they want, and whether they are in the region and part of the government or not. This discretion failed us in this case because the Delegate didn't receive the advice that could have helped avoid the entire situation. Going forward we need to establish a permanent support system for the Delegate and the Minister on foreign affairs issues - that's going to include formal procedures, formal advisors, and formal record-keeping of our diplomatic discussions. All this will minimise the possibility that the Delegate doesn't have the right tools to make the right decision in the future.

[color=#4166f5][b]Kaschovia[/b][/color]: A very reassuring answer. It's good to know that plans are in place to establish a support system for the Delegate and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Talking more now about what is possibly the next biggest recent event to take place concerning TNP - the frontiers and strongholds update. Of course many of us know about the meteoric rise of The Wellspring, and the considerations we now need to take in that regard, but what are your initial impressions of the update so far? And does the operation in The Wellspring represent a great success for The North Pacific that we took timely action to establish the largest frontier in the game within the first update, or does it represent complications down the line in relation to laws surrounding territories? Or both? 

[b][color=#B22222]Gorundu[/color][/b]: I have to say I'm a bit surprised that our WA population hasn't really dipped so far and my endorsement count has been staying relatively constant. I'm not sure if we're just in a good period and our WA population would have actually grown if not for the update, or if the effect of the update just isn't as great as we predicted. In any case, I think our operation in The Wellspring is something we should all be proud of. Not only did we seize the opportunity within the narrow window to give ourselves an advantage over all the other Frontiers, we also mobilised our network of allies and friends to put to rest any raider ideas of trying to seize something from us, and in doing so demonstrated that the NPA can still be mustered for quick and clean missions, and our friends and allies can still find common cause even after a taxing time for all of us. There will of course be challenges for The Wellspring - it has been perhaps more difficult than expected to build up a native community in the region, and how we will eventually integrate it into TNP officially is still a matter for debate, but that's all part of the experiment and I'm confident it can all be worked out through the dedication and ingenuity of our people. 

[color=#4166f5][b]Kaschovia[/b][/color]: Now onto the topic of the upcoming general election. The next person to serve as Delegate will have a host of unprecedented responsibilities in the wake of game changing updates and wide scale diplomatic issues, but what do you think the next Delegate of TNP will have to do to ensure the support of the community in these times, and what do you believe will be the major issues for that Delegate to build their campaign and term around?

[b][color=#B22222]Gorundu[/color][/b]: I think the best way for a Delegate to get the community to support them is by being transparent. If you are open about the challenges we face and what you will be doing to address them, then the community is likely to rally around you and offer assistance. This coming term, a major issue will of course be the region's future after the F/S update and how we can maintain a stream of new players, but it actually ties in to challenges we've been facing for several terms already, which is our seeming decline in government activity and in staff. We need new, thought-out and detailed plans to tackle these issues, and it won't be easy. Whatever you come up with, you have to justify it and explain why it'll work over other ideas that have been tried. On the foreign affairs front, it's always very difficult to campaign. You have to be careful about the promises you make because foreign policy will always be affected by what other regions do. But you can put forward your principles and explain how they will guide your foreign policy. 

[color=#4166f5][b]Kaschovia[/b][/color]: In terms of the election, and for future elections, can you speak a little bit about the lack of competitive elections recently and what you think the importance of having a competitive election means for democracy in TNP?

[b][color=#B22222]Gorundu[/color][/b]: Competitive elections are incredibly important for the health of a democracy. They provide the biggest platform for an exchange of ideas and examination of the state of our region. But the lack of competitive elections is not uncommon among many democracies in NationStates. For TNP specifically, Speaker and Vice Delegate are jobs with lots of bureaucracy involved and little room for innovation, which might feel like a big commitment with little reward. They do, however, offer new players more visibility and an opportunity to demonstrate their commitment and work ethic. When they have been competitive, I think these elections have sometimes been battles of personalities rather than ideas. For Delegate, I think there's a few factors we can attribute to the recent lack of competitiveness. I remember some very promising players who have left in the last year or two, largely for RL reasons unrelated to TNP. There's also been a general slump in activity in large regions across the game, and we haven't been spared from that. The Delegacy is also quite a high barrier-to-entry position - there is a lot of commitment to it and there are countless ways of screwing up, all of which makes the position less appealing despite the power it holds. Right now I see that it is relatively easy to rise to a high-level position - say Minister for example - but difficult to make it all the way to the top. There isn't any role alone which could prepare you adequately for Delegate. That's why it is important for the more experienced players in the region to offer themselves up to help potential candidates in any capacity they can, but of course that comes with the risk of being boxed into a possibly outdated mindset. But I believe with the right combination of advice from older players and awareness of general sentiments in the region, many people can be good candidates for Delegate.

[color=#4166f5][b]Kaschovia[/b][/color]: One of the largest elephants in the proverbial room of The North Pacific, especially noticed by the technologically inclined, seems to be have been that many of the tools the region has benefited from throughout the years, such as the WADP, Keepers of the North, and the Endorse Page on the forums, have come to a sudden and unexpected halt due to their creator's inactivity.  To what extent do you believe it should be the responsibility of the Delegate and their government to get more involved with these kinds of technology in order to prevent such things from happening again? Or is it best left out of the executive?

[b][color=#B22222]Gorundu[/color][/b]: The Delegate and the government aren't expected to be experts on technology, but I believe they should have at least some understanding of the vulnerabilities of our scripts, so they can respond appropriately if a situation arises. The best way to prevent something like this happening again is to keep our scripts open source and accessible. That's not as much of a job for the government as it is for the creators of the scripts and the admins. But the government does have an important role in helping to get replacement scripts up and running, to help coordinate the efforts of our talented coders and admins, communicate the government's needs and prioritize the tools we need to most. This will no doubt also help the government get a better understanding of the new scripts when they are implemented.

[color=#4166f5][b]Kaschovia[/b][/color]: My final questions now as we wrap up this interview: what is one thing you'd say to everyone in The North Pacific right now? And what makes The North Pacific community unique that you value the most?

[b][color=#B22222]Gorundu[/color][/b]: I want to say that it's been an honour and privilege to serve as Acting Delegate so far, and I have been blessed with the support that has been offered to me, both material and moral. Our region has faced many challenges these past few months, but I think there is a lot we can do to help move our region forward in this new era of gameplay, and since by the time this is published we'll be in election season, I hope you will put your trust in me to lead the way in that. I can point to many things that I think makes The North Pacific unique - the longevity of our democratic system, the unrivalled endorsement culture, the high expectations placed on our government officials, our influence in the WA - but I think the most important thing is that we are a region of innovators. We have pioneered so many new ideas that were previously unheard of - the WADP, securing our region without endorsement caps, using cards for the benefit of the region, and many more. The spirit of innovation is what drives us forward and allows us to stay at the top of this game, and that's what I value most about our community.[/align][hr][/box]

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