Closing Address
May 2024
May 2024
To all North Pacificans,
I will never take for granted, even less so forget, the trust that has been placed in me to lead such a wonderful community for the last eight months. I must say a massive thank you to every single member of the cabinet for backing me and my vision, even if there some things that we couldn't get across the finish line. To every citizen who voted for me in both elections - I am so much more than what I was last summer because of the belief you placed in me. To my advisor, @Pallaith, it's been an honour working with you at my side so diligently all this time; it cannot be understated just how much you've taught and helped me. To the North Pacific Army and all of the ministries for the work you have done - it is your collective efforts that have meant we've seen not just progress, but also great success. To @Sil Dorsett and @Eluvatar, you've put up with me badgering about technology very well and have contributed so much of your time to repairing our infrastructure. And finally, to the winners of the general election, congratulations on your victories and I wish you the best of luck going forward.
To begin, I believe we have a lot to be proud of. First and foremost, for carrying forward the war mandate and standing against all the adversaries who continue to do everything they can to harm our interests. We saw the creation of our militia, which has significantly extended our capacity to contribute piling numbers to critical operations and has helped modernize the military. We've seen victories in Solidarity and in Warzone Trinidad, levied sanctions and military exemptions against regions which actively aid our enemies, and fortified our diplomatic networks with those who have consistently come to our defense. The expansion of High Command has worked, with newly-promoted officers in good stead to take the military forward as we continue to adapt to the war. With the likes of @Nutmeg The Squirrel and @Picairn gaining experience as officers, and others climbing through the ranks with every operation, I have high hopes for the North Pacific Army next term and more broadly in our ability to continue pursuing our objectives. I believe we're a couple more steps away from the NPA fully realising its wartime potential: training operations need to be more regular and consistent, as do participation rewards and recognition for soldiers. Recruitment should also be improved with outreach, publicization, and graphical design, and we need to continue working militarily alongside our allies both in training and practice. With more of those things in place, there's so much less of a limit to what we can achieve. Do not be tempted to entertain those who directly equate the current 'success' of either raiderdom or defenderdom with our own success in the war, for that depends on factors mostly outside of our control. We are independent and must evaluate our successes, both diplomatically and militarily, based on what we have done to advance our own interests.
Our executive achievements have also been extremely impressive. Communications has solidified its comeback with consistent articles, a newer publication (TNN), radio shows, and a staff roster that consistently gets the job done. Our World Assembly dominance has persisted throughout both terms, with an almost unbelievable proportion of passed resolutions coming from members of our region, IFVs produced and put out like clockwork, and multiple individuals within our ranks with some of the best experience in the game. Despite activity and engagement challenges throughout both terms, Culture has persisted and organised multiple interregional festivals and consistent weekly events, aimed to improve organisation, leadership and planning, and has shown noticeable ambition for new activities like the prototyped chess league. Home Affairs has been an absolute workhorse alongside the Gameside Advocates, welcoming wave after wave of new citizens, mentoring new members, safeguarding and monitoring the Regional Message Board, improving dispatches, churning out lists, and most impressively putting our new recruitment infrastructure to good use with many thousands of recruitment telegrams sent both manually and through the API. And to top it all off, Foreign Affairs has helped our region navigate complex diplomatic challenges, re-introduced a senior advisory board to encourage more focused discussion, pursued the improvement of relations with our newest allies, and has generally succeeded in all of the operational metrics that it is typically held to. It will be up to the next administration to decide what needs changing or improving, but I'd like to think I have done only the best I can to leave the executive better off.
The reparation of key technological infrastructure is also heavily underway at this point, with many replacement resources being assembled. One example of this is regional data recovery, which I am delighted to say was actually (mostly) completed by the end of the term, with the 439 daily data dumps of unrecorded regional data re-downloaded by myself and ready for use in regards to restarting the old World Assembly Development Program dispatches and for general record keeping. This will become a sustainable solution from here on out in conjunction with the Tech Guild, but there is so much left to do. Whichever way you look at it, there's been great reward in doing the gritty, difficult work. As I mentioned above, we have @Sil Dorsett and @Eluvatar to thank for a lot of the technological upkeep since last September and I'm confident that things are only going to get more and more fixed, if you will, as time goes on. The end goal is to have a collaborative web of technologies and source code which can be secured and run on regionally-owned systems far into the future, and we've made some wonderful first steps toward that over the last two terms. Ultimately, it requires patience, but I'm delighted with our progress and will continue to work closely with whoever I can to make further advancements in that area.
I'd like to be your Delegate again one day. It's a funny thing to say at the end of eight months in the position, but it has been an absolute honour and an enormous privilege to represent you all and I'd love to keep doing this if I could. I kept thinking that at some point this would feel like a job, or that I'd simply stop enjoying it, but that never happened. In fact, if there's one thing I have learned from serving this community these last eight months, it's that the challenge is always worth it if there is something new to learn. I can't predict how the next four months are going to go, but I know that it's absolutely crucial we stay united behind our common goals and against our enemies. We must keep the bigger picture in mind and try to work together, no matter what. Get behind those who are doing their best to help the region at large, those who are determined to make things work, and watch us fly. Be wary of those who try to divide and provoke us, stand up for your fellow North Pacificans, and know that as long as we keep pushing through, we'll always find the light that shines toward greater horizons. Again, I am incredibly grateful to have been given the opportunity to serve two terms as Delegate, and I wish all the best of luck to the next administration.
For (hopefully not) the last time,
To begin, I believe we have a lot to be proud of. First and foremost, for carrying forward the war mandate and standing against all the adversaries who continue to do everything they can to harm our interests. We saw the creation of our militia, which has significantly extended our capacity to contribute piling numbers to critical operations and has helped modernize the military. We've seen victories in Solidarity and in Warzone Trinidad, levied sanctions and military exemptions against regions which actively aid our enemies, and fortified our diplomatic networks with those who have consistently come to our defense. The expansion of High Command has worked, with newly-promoted officers in good stead to take the military forward as we continue to adapt to the war. With the likes of @Nutmeg The Squirrel and @Picairn gaining experience as officers, and others climbing through the ranks with every operation, I have high hopes for the North Pacific Army next term and more broadly in our ability to continue pursuing our objectives. I believe we're a couple more steps away from the NPA fully realising its wartime potential: training operations need to be more regular and consistent, as do participation rewards and recognition for soldiers. Recruitment should also be improved with outreach, publicization, and graphical design, and we need to continue working militarily alongside our allies both in training and practice. With more of those things in place, there's so much less of a limit to what we can achieve. Do not be tempted to entertain those who directly equate the current 'success' of either raiderdom or defenderdom with our own success in the war, for that depends on factors mostly outside of our control. We are independent and must evaluate our successes, both diplomatically and militarily, based on what we have done to advance our own interests.
Our executive achievements have also been extremely impressive. Communications has solidified its comeback with consistent articles, a newer publication (TNN), radio shows, and a staff roster that consistently gets the job done. Our World Assembly dominance has persisted throughout both terms, with an almost unbelievable proportion of passed resolutions coming from members of our region, IFVs produced and put out like clockwork, and multiple individuals within our ranks with some of the best experience in the game. Despite activity and engagement challenges throughout both terms, Culture has persisted and organised multiple interregional festivals and consistent weekly events, aimed to improve organisation, leadership and planning, and has shown noticeable ambition for new activities like the prototyped chess league. Home Affairs has been an absolute workhorse alongside the Gameside Advocates, welcoming wave after wave of new citizens, mentoring new members, safeguarding and monitoring the Regional Message Board, improving dispatches, churning out lists, and most impressively putting our new recruitment infrastructure to good use with many thousands of recruitment telegrams sent both manually and through the API. And to top it all off, Foreign Affairs has helped our region navigate complex diplomatic challenges, re-introduced a senior advisory board to encourage more focused discussion, pursued the improvement of relations with our newest allies, and has generally succeeded in all of the operational metrics that it is typically held to. It will be up to the next administration to decide what needs changing or improving, but I'd like to think I have done only the best I can to leave the executive better off.
The reparation of key technological infrastructure is also heavily underway at this point, with many replacement resources being assembled. One example of this is regional data recovery, which I am delighted to say was actually (mostly) completed by the end of the term, with the 439 daily data dumps of unrecorded regional data re-downloaded by myself and ready for use in regards to restarting the old World Assembly Development Program dispatches and for general record keeping. This will become a sustainable solution from here on out in conjunction with the Tech Guild, but there is so much left to do. Whichever way you look at it, there's been great reward in doing the gritty, difficult work. As I mentioned above, we have @Sil Dorsett and @Eluvatar to thank for a lot of the technological upkeep since last September and I'm confident that things are only going to get more and more fixed, if you will, as time goes on. The end goal is to have a collaborative web of technologies and source code which can be secured and run on regionally-owned systems far into the future, and we've made some wonderful first steps toward that over the last two terms. Ultimately, it requires patience, but I'm delighted with our progress and will continue to work closely with whoever I can to make further advancements in that area.
I'd like to be your Delegate again one day. It's a funny thing to say at the end of eight months in the position, but it has been an absolute honour and an enormous privilege to represent you all and I'd love to keep doing this if I could. I kept thinking that at some point this would feel like a job, or that I'd simply stop enjoying it, but that never happened. In fact, if there's one thing I have learned from serving this community these last eight months, it's that the challenge is always worth it if there is something new to learn. I can't predict how the next four months are going to go, but I know that it's absolutely crucial we stay united behind our common goals and against our enemies. We must keep the bigger picture in mind and try to work together, no matter what. Get behind those who are doing their best to help the region at large, those who are determined to make things work, and watch us fly. Be wary of those who try to divide and provoke us, stand up for your fellow North Pacificans, and know that as long as we keep pushing through, we'll always find the light that shines toward greater horizons. Again, I am incredibly grateful to have been given the opportunity to serve two terms as Delegate, and I wish all the best of luck to the next administration.
For (hopefully not) the last time,
