Picairn for Delegate!
Mobilis in mobili.
Translated as “Moving within a moving element”, “Moving within motion” or—my favourite version—“Changing with change”, it was the motto of Captain Nemo’s Nautilus submarine, in Jules Verne’s classic novel Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas. To me, the motto perfectly encapsulates the need for change, for adaptation, in a volatile and unpredictable environment. Two new Sinker regions have spawned for the first time in years, the National Sovereignty movement has swept through the World Assembly, an offsite community has threatened the North, and rising powers like Talonia have joined our ranks in the Modern Gameplay Compact. These recent events are a reminder of how fast everything can change, and what we decide to do in the next four months will impact our region and the broader world for months, perhaps even years to come.
The rapidly changing circumstances can be uncertain and frightening for all of us, as a region and a community, to navigate and overcome. It is in these times that steady and energetic leadership is called for, to move us through danger and chaos, to overcome new challenges, exploit new opportunities, and bring our region to new heights. As a new year begins, I believe I can rise to this enormous task once more as your Delegate, and so I am officially running for the position a second time.
Those of you who have known me intimately or have worked closely with me before, you can skip the introduction and move to the policy section of this platform. But to those who joined us recently as new citizens, who are unfamiliar with who I am or what I stand for, I look forward to an opportunity to get to know you further, to answer your questions, address your concerns and fight for your interests, at home and abroad.
I originally spawned in The West Pacific in February 2020 but migrated to TNP in April, because I loved (and still love) our vibrant community and democracy. For three years I kept mostly to myself, spending time crafting RP dispatches and news articles. I missed the deltip against TNP in August 2023, but when our region declared war and invaded Solidarity two months later in October, I enlisted in the North Pacific Army without hesitation and joined the Executive Staff to serve our region.
Within a year since that moment, I rapidly climbed up the ranks in the army and government, establishing myself as an energetic officer and hard-working staffer. My signature has all the details you need on my positions and accomplishments, but to give you a brief summary, I served in various Ministries (and the Regional Assembly) as Deputy Minister of Defense, Deputy Speaker (twice), Deputy Minister of Communications (twice), Deputy Minister of Home Affairs (twice), Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Home Affairs for six days, and Minister of Defense for a full term, all of which prior to being elected Delegate in September 2024. Every position I have served in brought valuable lessons and prepared me for the eventual Delegacy. My proudest accomplishment to date was the capture of the Confederation of Corrupt Dictators, an old enemy of The North Pacific, with the assistance of our allies in July 2024.
Not only am I active and energetic but I am also an outspoken proponent for reform whenever it is necessary. I am not afraid to speak and act in favour of change when the region needs it, and just as my campaign motto suggests, I have brought it to the Delegacy in my first term and I will do it again if I am re-elected as your Delegate, because I believe that reforms are our best solution for adaptation to changing circumstances when our old methods are no longer working. With pride and excitement in my heart, I present to all of you my policies and visions for the upcoming months.
Collaborative and uplifting leadership
My leadership style, ever since I was appointed as Minister of Defense, can be described as collaborative, with guidance and support for those below me to understand and complete our objectives, and to prosper into new leaders. During my tenure as MoD, I spent a great deal of time personally accompanying NPA officers and soldiers alike on operations and gave them advice and encouragement when needed, because aside from knowing that I can’t do everything alone, I recognised that only through patient guidance and mentorship can a new generation of talented people be born and shaped to fit for roles that required experienced leadership and keep the NPA active when I was unable to. Upon being elected to the Delegacy, I have stayed with this approach by broadly setting my expectations to Ministers and giving them room to fulfill, giving support and guidance to Ministers and staffers when they come to me for advice and direction, while mostly taking a step back from direct involvement unless I have ample time to spare or it’s absolutely necessary.
This leadership style, I have found, suits my needs and restrictions best. Direct involvement, or a hands-on approach, can be great for activity from an outside glance, but people who adopt this approach tend to end up burned out or focusing on one or two Ministries at a time only, while the rest are neglected and left to wither. Myself, I have discovered to my dismay that spending time to complete tasks in one Ministry usually distracted me from other affairs or left responses delayed. That’s hardly surprising: the workload of the Delegate is massive. Not only are you managing all six Ministries under your command, each with their own burden of tasks, but you also have to vote on WA resolutions and endotart daily, work on regional security with the Security Council and the NPA’s High Command, solve difficult Foreign Affairs questions with allies and enemies, maintain communication with the Regional Assembly, and generally attend to regional affairs at a strategic level. It is practically impossible (and unsustainable) for one person to tackle all the mundane Ministerial tasks and high-level matters at the same time, and harder still to maintain consistent activity like that for a full term. Therefore, the best approach, in my view, is to regularly collaborate and coordinate with your Ministers to fulfill specific goals and address urgent problems, to maintain a consistent level of activity and achieve the best results possible in line with your agenda and existing limited resources across all Ministries. Spreading yourself out trying to save every failing Ministry and nurse it back to vibrant activity is impractical, and the end results will generally make you feel disappointed, demoralised and unable to get anything done while the government continues to fail.
As we enter a new term with persistent activity problems across all Ministries and the NPA, a consequence of declining interest and activity in the broader region and NationStates at large, I will continue with this approach as your Delegate if re-elected. The problems of burnout and low activity, I believe, can only be solved in the long run by uplifting new talent to replace retiring players, by mentoring and preparing the former for key leadership positions, advising them on how to accomplish your objectives, and encouraging them with awards and recognition.
“No man rules alone,” it is often echoed.
Defense
While the NPA has achieved some great things this term, such as a joint fash bash in The Kerberos Collective and helping to secure the Outback, it is evident that our army continues to struggle with inactivity. This problem can be directly attributed to the moribund Officer’s Corps, which lacks interest and energy to lead operations and energise the soldiers with regular training. Management and leadership continue to fall disproportionately on the shoulders of the NPA High Command, who often have additional duties and obligations in other areas (like Colonels Caius and Kaschovia who are both Ministers), and the Minister of Defense. This is by no means sustainable, and the war against the Brotherhood of Malice can not be won with a declining NPA. It is therefore my opinion that we must return to the basics of focusing inwards and rebuilding our military before taking on large offensive operations against our enemies.
More raids, fewer sieges
Going forward, the NPA needs to be reoriented towards conducting more tag raids and participating in joint raids with our allies. The status quo approach of encouraging our soldiers to join Libcord operations has not worked, as lengthy sieges have virtually destroyed their morale and energy. The fash bash operation in The Kerberos Collective, alongside tag raids, attracted more turnout from our soldiers than liberations and sieges. It is evident that our soldiers are excited by raids far more than liberations, and therefore we should energise them by doing more raids. Our victories from raids can then be used to advertise, recruit and attract newcomers who are eager for adventure and excitement, thereby bolstering our numbers and activity.
Boosting the Auxiliary (and the Militia)
The NPA’s Special Forces division, our main force of updaters, are more glamorous and exciting by the nature of their operations, which is raiding and defending at updates, compared to the Auxiliary who mainly pile during large raids. However, the prospects of being present at update and following complex instructions in real time can be inconvenient for inexperienced newcomers who don’t happen to live in good timezones and deter them from joining the NPA. Thus, if we want to boost our numbers next term, the Auxiliary should be advertised to the region via gameside recruitment and engagement, in various forms like telegrams, dispatches, and RMB interactions, as a low-effort, low-barrier-to-entry alternative to the Special Forces, and likewise for the Militia for gameside residents without a forum or Discord account. If we can successfully encourage and foster a culture where residents sign up for the NPA or the Militia as part of their service to the region, much like obtaining citizenship or joining a Ministry, then our numbers problem can be greatly alleviated. Doubly so for our activity troubles if, during their Auxiliary service, our soldiers discover a taste for the exciting and glamorous operations of the Special Forces, and eagerly commit themselves as new updaters.
Regular (and consistent) training operations
During downtime in between large operations, the NPA should conduct regular operations to keep our soldiers sharp and energised. However, as I have stated earlier, it is difficult to maintain a high and consistent tempo in our training ops as a result of the activity and morale issues plaguing the Officer’s Corps. Therefore, the NPA should commit to at least one training op per week, so as not to burn the High Command and the MoD out while ensuring consistent activity for our soldiers. All officers in the NPA should be asked to lead ops whenever possible with regular reminders and pings. If organising tag raids are too effort-intensive for our officers, lower-effort detags can be hosted as an alternative.
Joint ops with our allies
I need not elaborate much on the benefits of joint ops: they make military operations far more exciting and lively for all those who participate, and tend to attract more turnout as a result. The NPA should commit itself to joint ops with our allies wherever and whenever possible, whether as the lead or the support, whether it be large raids or support piling, to rejuvenate our activity and increase inter-military cooperation with our allies. When it is able, the NPA should also conduct joint ops and invite our allies to participate.
Mentorship and training
At the same time as we induce new blood to join the military, we should patiently assist and educate them on basic soldierly skills of participating and following orders in operations. I wrote the Soldier’s Manual during my tenure as Minister of Defense to address this exact problem, not only to educate newcomers on R/D manoeuvres but also to pass down knowledge for new generations to come. When our new soldiers have demonstrated competency and a commitment to long-term service through regular operations, we should identify promising candidates and convert them into officers with the essentials of leading operations, using R/D tools, and inspiring the lower ranks with their leadership.
I believe that replacing inactive officers with new, active and enterprising ones remain our only sustainable option in the long term to alleviate our inactivity and invigorate the NPA as a whole. The rot in our military has spread from the top to the bottom, with officers’ inactivity affecting general readiness and morale of the lower ranks, and so it must be addressed by ending the rot with fresh replacements of officers.
Recognising our soldiers’ service
It has been regular practice for the NPA to issue ribbons and make forum reports praising soldiers who participated. We also have an NPA card nation to reward our soldiers with cards after large operations. However, we can do more to recognise merit and encourage our soldiers next term, by regularly issuing gameside reports and publicly commending our most skilled and active soldiers during mid-term or end-of-term award contests. We can also design special awards and Discord roles for soldiers who excel in a particular category, such as “Fastest jumper at update”, “Most active soldier”, “Officer with the most opertations led” of the term, etc.
Foreign Affairs
As the NPA struggles with inactivity, Foreign Affairs has become our main arena for geopolitical competition against our enemies. Fortunately, this is a field where we are possessing an advantage. This term, in line with my strategy of expanding our relations and building the “wall” that will surround our enemies, we have made new friends: from the Augustin Alliance with whom we have signed a treaty, to Talonia who recently joined us in the Modern Gameplay Compact and enacted sanctions against BoM, TCB and their allies. In addition, cooperation in the Outback enabled us to re-establish relations with LWU, a prominent raider region who is often at odds with BoM, and reopen our embassy with them.
Closer cooperation with PPO
Our Foreign Affairs direction has witnessed a shift under my administration, with us cooperating more closely with our PPO allies (TWP and the NPO) on matters of mutual interest, such as supporting NatSov in the WA and the enforcement of sanctions. Militarily, aside from the joint TNP/TWP/NPO fash bash in The Kerberos Collective, we have collaborated with TWP (and LWU) to capture the Outback and are presently helping to defend it from external invasions. The NPO played a large role in persuading Sophia to terminate its treaty with Sparkalia, in a victory for MGC sanctions. It is therefore not surprising that I favour the continuance of our close cooperation as Delegate.
Rapproachement with LWU
Military cooperation in the Outback gave us an opportunity to re-establish friendly relations with LWU, and it is my hope that we develop our relationship further in the coming months if I’m re-elected. LWU has long disagreed with BoM on many issues within the raider world, and by investing in friendly relations with the former, we can weaken BoM’s standing and generally draw away their influence in raider unity. I’m open to the possibility of deeper cooperation, such as joint ops, with LWU.
Developing a strong relationship with two new Sinkers
The Outback was recently captured by a coalition of TWP, TNP, LWU, and other participants. TNP has diplomatically recognised and opened embassies with the Outback, as well as the Plains of Perdition. As Delegate, I have expressed how maintaining support for the Outback, one of NationStates’ new GCRs, is highly beneficial for our foreign interests. Likewise for Perdition, I firmly believe that developing our relations further with NS’s two new Sinker regions will be great for us in the long run, perhaps even blossoming into formal alliances.
On Sarovia
I rejected all of their demands for a public apology and refused to meet them, and I intend to continue that stance. I will not bow down to blackmail, but I also do not want to further inflame tensions and instigate another war, so the government will maintain our no-contact policy as is and refrain from aggressive acts. However, if they attack our region onsite, we will be fully prepared to respond with the diplomatic and military strength at our disposal.
A pragmatic, inclusive Foreign Affairs strategy
If we wish to isolate BoM and TCB and weaken their influence, we must expand our network of allies, friends, and partners with pragmatism and inclusitivity – that is, pursuing relations with regions on the basis of mutually beneficial cooperation in areas of interest. If re-elected as Delegate, I would continue this pragmatic approach to our Foreign Affairs as I am doing now, because I believe it would work best when dealing with diverse regions, with diverse ideologies and forms of government.
I currently do not support negotiations or de-escalation with BoM, since our recent attempt ended in failure with fundamental disagreements between both sides. Therefore, if we are to end this war with a favourable peace, we must first gain the upper hand in our diplomatic and military position, by pursuing the policies that I have outlined above.
Reforming the Ambassadors
The Ambassadors were supposed to be our eyes and ears in other regions, advocating for our interests abroad and delivering our publications when asked to. However, they have slowly become glorified couriers who only sporadically deliver publications and do nothing else. I believe the cause for this problem comes from the fact that it is an entry-level position for anyone to apply and join, regardless of their record of competence or activity. Next term, I will enact reforms to the Ambassadorship by purging all existing Ambassadors and start over with a tightened application process. Candidates will need to answer a series of questions on their application to ensure that they are active and competent, and can consistently fulfill tasks as required, such as submitting regular reports and deliver dispatches. This will result in a smaller but more qualified crop of Ambassadors.
From there, regular Ambassadorial reports can be compiled into a separate Foreign Affairs Digest or incorporated into The North Star, modelling after the system currently in use by The Region That Has No Big Banks for the FA section in their regional newspaper. I was fascinated by their Ambassador reports, and see no reason not to adopt this great system. It is certainly superior to dumping all the work on the Minister of Foreign Affairs to research the news and produce it.
Culture
Solving the manpower issue
The Ministry of Culture has suffered greatly from a shortage of active and available manpower to organise and host events this term. My first priority next term, therefore, is to contact players who are active and have experience in this area and ask them to host events regularly.
Discord movie and game nights
Movie nights, hosted by our wonderful Deputy Minister Pry, was a hit during this term, and game nights have also attracted much interest. Thus, I intend to continue organising those events.
Wider, newer regional events
Interactive games and competitions, like trivia nights and flag/avatar contests, are currently under-utilised, which is a shame. There is also a lack of region-wide events while Discord ones are focused on. I would like to see an expansion in the former next term with new, exciting gameside events that can attract participation from our gameside residents, not just Discord ones.
Joint cultural festivals with friends and allies
Unfortunately, the planned inter-regional festival that we were planning with some of our friends and allies, indicated in my first-month report, has been delayed. The complexity and efforts required to plan that event to a successful conclusion has caused me to re-think our approach. I am open to organising less complex and resource-intensive bilateral festivals with one of our allies or friends as a step to organising something much grander, taking into account our existing resources and capabilities at the moment.
Resumption of regular regional polls
We have stopped publishing polls regularly as a result of the aforementioned lack of active manpower. With my priorities next term more inward-focusing, I will commit to publishing regional polls regularly once more with engaging and fun topics. These polls should not be difficult to post consistently.
In my September run, I was opposed to the merger proposal where Comms and Culture would be merged together, and I continue to remain so. In my view, merging both Ministries at a time when both are experiencing manpower shortages would kill one of the two Ministries, as the sitting Minister would likely prioritise existing staffers to focus on one department over another, rendering the other department unable to complete its projects. A departmental system would not help if staffers were directed to do one field of work anyway, leaving the lone Deputy in charge to do everything else.
Communications
Similar to Culture, Communications is suffering from a lack of qualified writers, active editors, podcast hosts, and good designers. While recruitment should be increased to attract more of them, I have decided to adopt a “quality-over-quantity” approach in the mean time, by focusing on quality content and less on regular publications as a result of this shortage. In my mind, it is better to produce high-quality content seldomly than to churn out low-effort, poorly-executed slop on the regular.
TNS: More analyses and unconventional articles, fewer vanilla news reports
Our recent switch to longer, quality analysis articles, like TNP’s WA decline report, and interesting OOC content, such as music reviews, for The North Star has become popular among our citizens and residents. Thus, I am committed to move forward with our switch, with more of these and fewer cookie-cutter news reports, which I believe can be shifted to The Northern Notes. We can also invite guest writers from other regions to contribute with op-eds or analysis articles.
TNN: News reports and poll analyses
The short-form content of TNN is perfectly suited for breaking news and quick poll analyses, and it has been used in that way this term. Going forward, that will be my approach to TNN, to give regular breaking news updates and poll analyses quickly and professionally.
TNL: Commitment to a revival
We failed to revive The Northern Lights during this term as a result of the manpower shortage. Even so, I am committed to publish at least one TNL issue next term, even if I have to take out more of my personal time and attention to do it. I have always had a deep passion for writing news articles and designing beautiful magazines, and it would be a shame if our flagship publication TNL is to remain in limbo forever or abandoned.
NBS Radio: Interviews and roundtable discussions, Call to Serve program
We can host NBS interviews more frequently as an alternative to current text-based ones for TNS, and roundtable discussions around topics like midterm and end-of-term reports. The old Call to Serve program, interviews with NPA Generals to promote enlistment, can also be revived as a method of recruitment. My first priority, however, is to find hosts who can help do these.
Home Affairs
Recruitment
With regards to recruitment, this term we have focused primarily on manual recruitment and posting weekly recruitment lists. These lists have been regularly finished, and I commend Deputy Minister @Petronellania for their commitment and hard work. At my suggestion, Minister Caius has set up an automatic RMB welcome system for new spawns, directing them to the Gameside Advocates and the Handbook for instructions and establishing a pipeline of recruitment via the GAs. Instead of a boilerplate welcome message, newcomers can approach a GA to receive guidance and personalised recruitment. I plan to make more use of the GAs in the months ahead, as recruitment telegrams have produced low returns.
Mentorship
Mentor lists, which include both forum and Discord accounts, are published weekly and mentors are pinged to complete them, but it has been usually inconsistent. I am committed to see mentor lists being published regularly again and asking more mentors to do their work. The GAs are acting as our gameside mentors and recruiters, but their relative autonomy has hampered effective coordination in this area. Therefore, I would integrate the GAs into MoHA as staffers next term by asking them to join the Executive Staff server.
Resource Review
Dispatch design, one of my passions! Over this term we have successfully modernised the government dispatches linked in the regional WFE and updated them with the latest information. The WADP dispatch and some of its related dispatches have also been modernised and updated. We have maintained a uniform design for the dispatches, like the footer and header, which would help us quickly update the rest.
We have also set up a reward system this term, by awarding staffers with points for performing certain tasks and achieving certain milestones, and allowing them to redeem those points for cards with varying rarity. To encourage staffers, I have asked Caius to publicly award and commend staffers who have contributed the most to the Ministry at the end of the term, and I want to continue that practice for next term.
World Assembly Affairs
Maintaining our National Sovereignty alignment
In one of the more notable shifts this term, my administration adopted a strong NatSov alignment and voted against overreaching proposals more regularly, while endeavouring to pass more repeals. I suspect that our switch has jumpstarted the NatSov movement within the GA, with recent passed proposals being mostly repeals. I am committed to maintaining our alignment next term to fight against the current state of the GA, captured by an elite group who writes poorly-thought-out proposals that badly micromanage member nations.
Commends, Commends, and more Commends
Our Commendations for deserving region-mates are still in the works, with progress moving rather slowly. I am committed to see one or more Commends being put to vote and passed by the WA Security Council next term.
Enforcing MGC sanctions
Our enforcement of sanctions in the WA this term has been quite effective, with the last remaining GA resolution on the books, written by a TCB author, being repealed. I have and will enforce the sanctions to the fullest extent with vigour and energy next term.
Encouraging more authorships
This is another goal that I am committed to achieve next term. The Ministry of WA Affairs has seen new faces writing IFVs this term, but we can do more by eventually encouraging our staffers to take on writing resolutions. Repeals are usually easier to write than new resolutions, so writing one of them can be a staffer’s point of entry into writing full resolutions.
Cards
Season 4 is now upon us, and we need the Cards Guild to come up with solutions on how to sustainably replenish our card stocks, which are being depleted for Keeper of the North awards. I will appoint a new and active Cards Guildmaster and work with them to fulfill our goals.
Technology
The WADP was successfully revived thanks to @Kaschovia's efforts, giving us a major tool to promote and encourage endorsements on the Delegate. However, with Sarovia having threatened us, it is critical that the Civil Defense Siren and Retaliatory Recruitment are revived to stop them from attempting to recruit from us, if they try. It would also be excellent to have them as tools to respond to poaching attempts or recruitment bombing, as we have suffered lately from Christian regions. I discussed with some of our Tech Guild members on the possibility of reviving them, and I was pleased to be informed that setting them up again is entirely possible.
Maintaining WA endorsement levels
Since I am the sitting Delegate, no transition will be needed if I am re-elected. I have noticed the recent drop in my endorsements as F/S continues to bleed us, and I am prepared to conduct regular RMB pings and telegram campaigns to halt the bleeding. I will work closely with the Vice Delegate on this matter to coordinate our efforts and maximise efficiency.
Vice Delegate Sil Dorsett has mentioned how the number of our WAs are dropping overall, not just our endorsements. It is therefore essential to conduct campaigns and induce new nations to join the WA, whether by telegrams, dispatches, or additional awards. I will discuss our options and work together with the next Vice Delegate if re-elected.
That was quite long, but the bottom line is, I am doing my best to improve TNP step by step, to bring us out of this stupor and revive our community, and I ask that you place your faith in me once more. Despite the manpower shortage and inactivity problems plaguing us, all Ministries are still operating and producing output as opposed to one or some dying completely, which is a testament to my administration’s commitment and dedication despite the hardship we are going through. My leadership style may not make me very visible to the public, but it has served the government as well as it can be in these times. The challenges we face may seem daunting to overcome, but I believe that by working together, we can get through this, and prosper.
P.S. I will rework my campaign thread with some graphics as soon as possible. I won't let you miss out on my campaign graphics! I may also include additional ideas and policies here if I believe they would be good to implement.
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