On the Matter of the State of War in The North Pacific:
Equilism is saddened by the deteriorating relations between regions that have led to a Declaration of War by our allies in The North Pacific. The behaviors of some have unleashed an unfortunate coarsening of interaction and discourse in NationStates.
The Brotherhood of Malice and The Communist Bloc have been engaging in actions that we in Equilism, and obviously many others, find deeply troubling. We have not forgotten the prior lack of restraint by both the Brotherhood of Malice and The Communist Bloc that have made unprovoked direct attacks on Equilism over the past year. They have used a peaceful and casual Equilism as a proxy in their active conflicts with The West Pacific and The North Pacific respectively.
Equilism, founded in January 2004, had never been raided before until these griefing attacks.
At the time of BoM's griefing delegate tip attack against Equilism, we maintained an in-game embassy exchange with them out of courtesy for former BoM Minister Zeorus, who once served as the leader of Equilism. Their attack disregarded our peaceful relations entirely, showing a complete lack of provocation, purposely disrespecting those relations and destroying decade+ long friendships between players. Their actions appear to be driven by a self-centered desire for the discomfiture of others, devoid of any constructive contribution to the NationStates Community. They show a distinct absence of empathy, creativity, or positive engagement in The Brotherhood of Malice, as they rejoice in the successes of their disruption and destruction.
Seeing that The Communist Bloc has regrettably chosen to engage in the same tactic of griefing behaviors, and directing them unprovoked against Equilism in a failed delegate tip attack, and now against our allies in The North Pacific, has placed them in the same category of regions that simply bring harm rather than making a constructive contribution to the NationStates community. It is impossible to understand how any region of any ideology could condone, let alone support them.
As an Independent region, Equilism has maintained good relationships with Raider and Defender regions alike since 2006. However, we have always been steadfast in our opposition to griefing tactics against regional communities, regardless of the actor. Unfortunately, we've seen it among both Raider and Defender regions at times. Frankly, the R/D segment has become a part of NationStates we have sought to avoid due to its modern toxic nature. With direct attacks against us, we can no longer ignore it.
Griefing of communities was a blight on early NationStates, with factions such as the many Invader regions and Farkers. It caused nothing but headaches for players, moderators, and Admin alike. Fighting griefing was one of the primary founding purposes of Equilism. NationStates now relies on Influence to regulate griefing, which leaves it to the nations and regions themselves to put an end to this player harassment by The Brotherhood of Malice and The Communist Bloc. Other regions with long histories of raiding know better than to engage in this sort of behavior.
Equilism unequivocally supports our allies in The North Pacific, and will engage our resources to assist with the defeat of this toxic ideology of griefing that has taken root in NationStates.
Westwind, King of The Realm of Equilism
8 October, 2023
