My campaign will likely come as a surprise to some of you, since four months ago I indicated a desire for retirement from TNP politics. You’re right. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have announced my return, at least not this early.
But these are not normal circumstances we are living in: The North is in a bad shape. Over the past four months, we have become weaker internally amidst a turbulent foreign environment. The PPO has been dissolved as a result of irreconcilable differences and a loss of trust with our allies over the Outback. The NPA has been left to wither with a shrinking High Command and continued inactivity among the ranks. Promises on transparency, major projects and revived government activity were not met. The hands-on approach promised by the Delegate never materialised. Worst of all is the severe manpower attrition within the executive staff: staffers are leaving at a faster pace than we can replace, a problem that has only exacerbated, not improved, during this term. Even the remaining staffers I have talked to are either bored as a result of inactivity or burned out. I believe the failure of this administration to address our urgent manpower problems will have terrible consequences for our government and region, particularly when the summer lull is approaching. What our region needs right now is a strong, proactive Delegate to revive our activity and rebuild our staff to weather the challenges of summer, and I once again offer myself as a candidate for your consideration.
For the sake of brevity and convenience, I have put my introduction in a spoiler so that those who know me well already can skip to the relevant parts. If you are new to TNP, you can open the spoiler to read more about who I am.
For those of you who don’t know me, I am Picairn, former Delegate and Minister of Defense, sitting Justice of the Court, member of the Committee on Foreign Relations and Colonel of the NPA. I have called The North Pacific my home since April 2020, but it was not until October 2023 that I began involving myself deeply in the region and government. Stirred by our invasion of Solidarity in response to TCB and BoM’s attack, motivated to serve and protect my home region, I quickly enlisted in the NPA and later the executive staff. Through months of hard work and dedicated service, I ascended to Deputy Speaker (three times), Deputy Minister of Defense, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs (three times), Deputy Minister of Communications (two times), Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Home Affairs, and Minister of Defense. As Deputy Minister of Communications, I wrote many articles for The North Star and helped modernise its design. As Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, I worked tirelessly to update and redesign our regional dispatches, a project that I’m proud to have finally completed this term. As Minister of Defense, I consistently organised update operations to keep up activity in the summer of 2024, and led the successful capture of the Confederation of Corrupt Dictators with our allies in July. Following my term as MoD, I was elected Delegate in September 2024, less than a year after my first participation in the executive—a record which I’m still proud of. My term as Delegate was quite an eventful one: some great achievements were made (such as the treaty with the Augustin Alliance and the revival of Home Affairs) and some hard lessons were learned, particularly the challenges of consistently managing a sluggish government at a time of vast changes in foreign affairs. Disillusioned and dissatisfied with how my term turned out, I lost the energy to campaign and accepted my election loss to the incumbent Delegate, who promised to be more active and hands-on than I was, a promise that—to our region’s detriment—he has not kept.
These past four months in semi-retirement have been an illuminating experience for me. Deciding that I needed to take a step back from TNP politics and find my old inspiration again, I travelled to Carcassonne and Vibonia and eventually came to serve in a wide variety of roles there, including Carcassonne’s Minister of Culture and Vibonia’s Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs & Foreign Affairs. Yet my eyes were never far from home. While working in TNP’s government as a staffer, I noticed that our manpower attrition problem has only gotten worse over time, and soon became convinced that change was necessary, not only in leadership but also in how we do things in the executive. My tenure as Carcassonne’s Minister of Culture has given me an idea of how to revive an inactive government, and I believe the lessons I have learned there will be useful for our region as well.
For those of you who are interested in knowing more about my success in Carcassonne, I have left a separate section below. After that is a brief overview of my new vision to rebuild our executive staff and restore our government activity, and a more detailed outline for those who wish to dig deeper. My top priorities next term would be to recruit more citizens into our Ministries through a region-wide campaign and ensure consistent government activity through methodical, attentive management.
Following my election loss in January 2025, I decided to semi-retire from TNP’s politics and sought to find my old inspiration elsewhere, in a more friendly and dynamic environment. Eventually, I settled in Carcassonne and Vibonia—the former because it is themed after my favourite historical period, the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and the latter because it is the place where many former TNPers have gone to. I had quite an eventful adventure in Vibonia as well, but that’s a story for another day.
In Carcassonne, I applied to become a citizen and began involving myself deeply in the affairs of the region, just as the magnetism update was implemented. I was one of the voices strongly clamouring for the establishment of a formal Ministry responsible for recruitment and integration of new spawns, which was soon taken up by the government. When the February elections for Carcassonne’s Minister-President (essentially its head of government) and Citizen-Speaker opened, I made a gamble to run for MP and, despite losing, finished second in the race which is quite remarkable for a month-old citizen. The newly-elected Minister-President Funkadelia then entrusted me with the Ministry of Culture, which had been inactive for several months and only had three staffers left by that time.
Upon being appointed, I immediately got to work. I appointed two Deputies to assist me in my work, formed a list of priorities to tackle, and created an all-encompassing spreadsheet to account for the Ministry’s personnel and event schedule. From there, I started recruiting citizens into the Ministry by advertising projects that we were doing (such as Voice of the People - Carcassonne’s regional newspaper), which was fairly successful since more applications began to arrive. With the help of the spreadsheet to keep track of personnel and critical projects, I assigned staffers to work based on their stated preferences in their applications. Writers were pinged for article brainstorming and writing, event organisers were called for hosting game nights, polls and Questions of the Day staffers were summoned for ideas, and so on. If there were no ideas to be had, I would pre-fill the sheet with QoTD and poll ideas taken from Internet suggestions in advance so that I or other staffers could post them when the time came. I also made a point of checking in regularly with writers to ensure that they were making good progress in time for the publication schedule.
The results were swift and transformative. Productivity greatly improved compared to before. From a dormant Ministry, Culture transformed into a well-oiled machine that has so far organised a movie night and multiple game nights, ran weekly polls and daily Questions of the Day without interruption, hosted a flag contest and a season of the Hunger Games, and published the first revived edition of Voice of the People, with another one close to completion. We also successfully collaborated with Europeia during their FrontierFest event by hosting a game night for residents and visitors. All of this within just two months.
In Carcassonne, I applied to become a citizen and began involving myself deeply in the affairs of the region, just as the magnetism update was implemented. I was one of the voices strongly clamouring for the establishment of a formal Ministry responsible for recruitment and integration of new spawns, which was soon taken up by the government. When the February elections for Carcassonne’s Minister-President (essentially its head of government) and Citizen-Speaker opened, I made a gamble to run for MP and, despite losing, finished second in the race which is quite remarkable for a month-old citizen. The newly-elected Minister-President Funkadelia then entrusted me with the Ministry of Culture, which had been inactive for several months and only had three staffers left by that time.
Upon being appointed, I immediately got to work. I appointed two Deputies to assist me in my work, formed a list of priorities to tackle, and created an all-encompassing spreadsheet to account for the Ministry’s personnel and event schedule. From there, I started recruiting citizens into the Ministry by advertising projects that we were doing (such as Voice of the People - Carcassonne’s regional newspaper), which was fairly successful since more applications began to arrive. With the help of the spreadsheet to keep track of personnel and critical projects, I assigned staffers to work based on their stated preferences in their applications. Writers were pinged for article brainstorming and writing, event organisers were called for hosting game nights, polls and Questions of the Day staffers were summoned for ideas, and so on. If there were no ideas to be had, I would pre-fill the sheet with QoTD and poll ideas taken from Internet suggestions in advance so that I or other staffers could post them when the time came. I also made a point of checking in regularly with writers to ensure that they were making good progress in time for the publication schedule.
The results were swift and transformative. Productivity greatly improved compared to before. From a dormant Ministry, Culture transformed into a well-oiled machine that has so far organised a movie night and multiple game nights, ran weekly polls and daily Questions of the Day without interruption, hosted a flag contest and a season of the Hunger Games, and published the first revived edition of Voice of the People, with another one close to completion. We also successfully collaborated with Europeia during their FrontierFest event by hosting a game night for residents and visitors. All of this within just two months.
A Quick Overview of My Policies
- A master spreadsheet to keep track of major projects
- A region-wide campaign to recruit for the executive staff
- Honouring our staffers with awards, titles, and the Lennarts
- Biweekly executive reports
- Culture: game/movie nights, regional contests, cultural collaboration with allies, events on special TNP holidays, publishing The North Star on a monthly schedule, using TNN for government reports, keeping Radio alive with more broadcasts, and eventual re-establishment of the Ministry of Communications
- Home Affairs: recognising our recruiters, an emphasis on personalised, one-on-one recruitment for the executive staff recruitment campaign, return of the welcoming bot, updating our dispatches
- Foreign Affairs: pragmatism & steadiness in our conduct, search for new allies and friends, return of the Ambassador Corps, ensuring the smooth publication of the FA Digest by cutting down on its length
- Defense: joint raids with our allies, revival of the Call to Serve program
- WA Affairs: ensuring consistent IFVs and voting threads, continuing the work of commending our TNPers, collaboration with WALL, a WA symposium
- Cards: Collaboration with The Wellspring to revive the Cards Guild
- The transition and WADP: Regular reminder telegrams, dispatch pings, WADP dispatches, non-WA pings
The Longer Textwall Version
General AdministrationA methodical, attentive approach to management
My experience as Carcassonne’s Culture Minister has taught me two things: 1) maintaining a spreadsheet is incredibly useful to keep your projects on track, and 2) keeping a close contact with your staffers is key to ensuring their interest and engagement. Whenever I wanted to check how things were going in the Ministry, I opened my spreadsheet and inspected who was doing what and how much has been achieved. After that, I regularly pinged or messaged staffers to contribute their ideas, host an event, or give updates on their article writing progress. This methodical, attentive approach has resulted in more efficient management and higher productivity for the Ministry, and I want to replicate that success for our struggling government.
If elected, I would immediately work to establish a master spreadsheet of all major projects promised in my platform. The spreadsheet would serve my needs the most, but my Ministers can also use the sheet to keep track of the administration’s goals and priorities.
Armed with an all-encompassing spreadsheet to help me keep track of my goals, I would check in with the Cabinet regularly to ensure that projects are being planned and followed up. That doesn’t mean that I will micromanage my Ministers, however, and they will have my resolute support if they need my help on something. I will also keep a close touch with our staffers to assist them if needed and prevent them from feeling bored or burned out.
A region-wide campaign to recruit for the Executive Staff
The biggest challenge we have suffered this term is the ongoing manpower attrition within the Executive Staff, which has hampered our capabilities to execute regular government operations and complete major projects. To give you a glimpse into how bad our situation is, with regards to leadership alone the Ministries have lost the following to resignations, loss of citizenship, or exits from the executive server:
- Culture: Lost 3 Ministers and 2 Deputies
- Home Affairs: Lost 3 Deputies
- WA Affairs: Lost 2 Deputies
Let me be clear: this is not sustainable. The Ministries’ activity is now mostly carried by the Ministers and the Chief of Staff, with one or two occasionally active staffers covering when called. The situation is critical, and solving this will be my top priority.
I intend to address our severe manpower problems by launching an active, region-wide campaign to recruit for the executive staff. A regional dispatch will be created to promote the campaign, and recruitment telegrams will be sent regularly to entice residents into applying for citizenship and joining the executive. My main focus, however, will be personalised recruitment: messaging our residents/citizens on Discord and attracting their interest in joining the Ministries to complete projects that they want to do. The Gameside Advocates will also be mobilised to promote the campaign and recruit on the RMB. The government can also put advertisements in our written publications like TNS and TNN to invite other TNPers into writing for the Culture Ministry.
Honouring our staffers: The Lennarts, awards, and public recognition
It is no secret that morale is low within the executive staff. One of our major challenges is keeping staffers from feeling burned out and leaving. I believe awards and recognition will go a long way towards solving that problem.
For instance, the Delegate’s Service Award, awarded for accomplishments in the executive staff, is presently under-utilised and can be awarded to our most hard-working staffers next term. Each Ministry can also organise and design its own “Best Employee” titles and honours, such as “Best Recruiter” and “Best Mentor” for HA, and award them to the most deserving nominees every month or at the end of the term. Additionally, we can organise the Lennarts Awards to honour those who deserve recognition. The Lennarts have a special place in my heart: my signature still proudly displays the titles I won from last year’s contests, and I want others who have made valuable contributions to our region to be recognised as well.
Biweekly Executive Reports
I understand and appreciate the value of transparency, and I agree that every citizen has the right to know what our government is doing. To my dismay, the incumbent Delegate has left our region in the dark with regard to government affairs despite explicitly promising to publish biweekly reports on the state of the executive in his January campaign platform. That will no longer be the case if I’m elected. I will publish reports every two weeks on the state of the government and progress on our major projects, as well as publicly honouring (or awarding) staffers who have dedicated the most to our government. In addition to increased transparency, our most deserving staffers will also get the recognition they deserve.
Internal Ministries
Our internal Ministries have suffered greatly over the past four months, with huge leadership and staff turnover. Since my top priority next term is to rebuild our staff and revive our activity, these Ministries will have my fullest attention.
Of all Ministries, Culture has suffered the most. Over this term, the Ministry has lost three Ministers and two Deputies, leaving it understaffed and struggling with activity. Music Monday and movie nights were never organised, while Theme Thursday only started to be hosted towards the end of the term. A positive achievement is that Culture has started to host more game nights regularly, which I will strive to continue.
In another field, the merge with Communications did not result in higher productivity or a concentration of manpower, but instead ended with the collapse of activity in Communications’ portfolio: One TNS issue was hastily published at the end of the term, and similarly only one NBS episode was produced. Those of you who have been around long enough will notice similarities with a previous merge in the past, which also killed Communications before it was brought back during Gorundu’s term. It is evident by this point that merging Communications into Culture does not work, particularly when Culture is going through a difficult time of high staff turnover and leadership turbulence.
Games and Festivals
In my view, cultural events are a big part of what makes a region fun to stay. They help create engagement and foster a sense of community with your fellow region-mates, which is incredibly valuable in fighting inactivity. Aside from hosting movie nights and game nights, the Culture Ministry under my direction will also create regional contests, such as flag/music/dispatch competitions or even the Hunger Games, with a goal to boost wider gameside engagement. When I first introduced it to Carcassonne, the Hunger Games was a huge hit and registrations had to be closed early because applications filled up faster than expected, and I’m convinced that it will generate a similarly high turnout in TNP once introduced.
I will also work with my Culture Minister to collaborate with other regions on cultural events. The recent FrontierFest with Europeia was a success and I want to continue our cultural cooperation with our allies. For example, the month of June is Pride Month, and we can collaborate with Europeia and The Wellspring for a big Pride festival. This will accomplish not only deeper relations with our allies but also increased activity for our region, since big festivals tend to drive a lot of engagement.
Summer also brings with it three special holidays in our region: Democracy Day (July 7th - our Constitution’s ratification), Manumission Day (May 26th - end of Pixiedance’s tyranny), and Liberation Day (July 28th - end of Great Bight’s coup). I will work with the Culture Ministry to organise events, if possible, to commemorate those special days in our region’s history.
Reviving The North Star
As an avid writer and consistent contributor to our publications, it hurts me deeply to see how publications of TNS have been dramatically curtailed since Communications’ merge into Culture as a result of neglect. I strongly opposed the merge for this exact reason, and was saddened to see how it turned out for the worse. As Delegate, my main priority would be to recruit more writers into Culture and bring TNS back to a monthly schedule once more.
TNN has been dormant as well, but I find it useful to keep on for short, breaking news. Another way to keep TNN alive would be to publish the government’s biweekly executive reports on it as a form of press releases.
Given the severe shortage in writers currently, I will focus on reviving TNS and TNN first. TNL, as much as I would love to see it alive again, will have to wait. My current plan is still to publish an edition by the end of next term, if possible, though it’s not a high priority.
Keeping Radio Alive
Culture has published only one NBS episode this term, which is deeply unfortunate. My intention is to keep the Radio department going with fresh ideas and regular production of shows, by working to establish concrete schedules and recruit more podcasters into the department. Radio topics can include anything from government reports, midterm discussions, roleplay highlights to broader gameplay discussions. We can also collaborate with our allies to produce a joint radio show together.
Bringing back the Ministry of Communications
Over the long term, once Culture’s activity and manpower has been restored to a stable level, and TNS successfully revived, I plan to re-establish the Ministry of Communications. It is patently clear that the merge has failed to induce more activity on our publications—if anything, it achieved the opposite effect—and that needs to be reversed. A centralised Ministry would work better to produce our publications than a neglected department.
In another field, the merge with Communications did not result in higher productivity or a concentration of manpower, but instead ended with the collapse of activity in Communications’ portfolio: One TNS issue was hastily published at the end of the term, and similarly only one NBS episode was produced. Those of you who have been around long enough will notice similarities with a previous merge in the past, which also killed Communications before it was brought back during Gorundu’s term. It is evident by this point that merging Communications into Culture does not work, particularly when Culture is going through a difficult time of high staff turnover and leadership turbulence.
Games and Festivals
In my view, cultural events are a big part of what makes a region fun to stay. They help create engagement and foster a sense of community with your fellow region-mates, which is incredibly valuable in fighting inactivity. Aside from hosting movie nights and game nights, the Culture Ministry under my direction will also create regional contests, such as flag/music/dispatch competitions or even the Hunger Games, with a goal to boost wider gameside engagement. When I first introduced it to Carcassonne, the Hunger Games was a huge hit and registrations had to be closed early because applications filled up faster than expected, and I’m convinced that it will generate a similarly high turnout in TNP once introduced.
I will also work with my Culture Minister to collaborate with other regions on cultural events. The recent FrontierFest with Europeia was a success and I want to continue our cultural cooperation with our allies. For example, the month of June is Pride Month, and we can collaborate with Europeia and The Wellspring for a big Pride festival. This will accomplish not only deeper relations with our allies but also increased activity for our region, since big festivals tend to drive a lot of engagement.
Summer also brings with it three special holidays in our region: Democracy Day (July 7th - our Constitution’s ratification), Manumission Day (May 26th - end of Pixiedance’s tyranny), and Liberation Day (July 28th - end of Great Bight’s coup). I will work with the Culture Ministry to organise events, if possible, to commemorate those special days in our region’s history.
Reviving The North Star
As an avid writer and consistent contributor to our publications, it hurts me deeply to see how publications of TNS have been dramatically curtailed since Communications’ merge into Culture as a result of neglect. I strongly opposed the merge for this exact reason, and was saddened to see how it turned out for the worse. As Delegate, my main priority would be to recruit more writers into Culture and bring TNS back to a monthly schedule once more.
TNN has been dormant as well, but I find it useful to keep on for short, breaking news. Another way to keep TNN alive would be to publish the government’s biweekly executive reports on it as a form of press releases.
Given the severe shortage in writers currently, I will focus on reviving TNS and TNN first. TNL, as much as I would love to see it alive again, will have to wait. My current plan is still to publish an edition by the end of next term, if possible, though it’s not a high priority.
Keeping Radio Alive
Culture has published only one NBS episode this term, which is deeply unfortunate. My intention is to keep the Radio department going with fresh ideas and regular production of shows, by working to establish concrete schedules and recruit more podcasters into the department. Radio topics can include anything from government reports, midterm discussions, roleplay highlights to broader gameplay discussions. We can also collaborate with our allies to produce a joint radio show together.
Bringing back the Ministry of Communications
Over the long term, once Culture’s activity and manpower has been restored to a stable level, and TNS successfully revived, I plan to re-establish the Ministry of Communications. It is patently clear that the merge has failed to induce more activity on our publications—if anything, it achieved the opposite effect—and that needs to be reversed. A centralised Ministry would work better to produce our publications than a neglected department.
I have written extensively about my region-wide recruitment campaign into the executive staff, and HA will serve as the spearhead of that campaign. We will work harder on the recruitment front by giving our recruiters and mentors more motivation to work through awards, titles, and public recognition.
However, on the subject of recruitment lists, I have observed that these recruitment runs produce little engagement, if any at all. Many telegrams were sent but very few replied. This suggests to me that recruitment lists are not very effective, and so HA’s main focus next term will be personalised recruitment through messaging newcomers and unengaged citizens on Discord, since that’s where I have found us to have the most success. To that end, the Welcome Wagon will be placed under HA’s management, while admins can still perform necessary checks. The Welcome Wagon and the Gameside Advocates will work in tandem to bring more TNPers into our government through direct, one-on-one messaging and advertising.
New spawns will also need to be welcomed from the RMB and integrated into our region. A welcoming bot was introduced under my Delegacy but it has become dormant this term, and I intend to bring it back.
Needless to say, I’m very pleased to have completed the Resource Review project (with Epico’s assistance) this term, and the only thing left to do in this area is to ensure all regional dispatches are up-to-date with the latest information if I’m elected.
However, on the subject of recruitment lists, I have observed that these recruitment runs produce little engagement, if any at all. Many telegrams were sent but very few replied. This suggests to me that recruitment lists are not very effective, and so HA’s main focus next term will be personalised recruitment through messaging newcomers and unengaged citizens on Discord, since that’s where I have found us to have the most success. To that end, the Welcome Wagon will be placed under HA’s management, while admins can still perform necessary checks. The Welcome Wagon and the Gameside Advocates will work in tandem to bring more TNPers into our government through direct, one-on-one messaging and advertising.
New spawns will also need to be welcomed from the RMB and integrated into our region. A welcoming bot was introduced under my Delegacy but it has become dormant this term, and I intend to bring it back.
Needless to say, I’m very pleased to have completed the Resource Review project (with Epico’s assistance) this term, and the only thing left to do in this area is to ensure all regional dispatches are up-to-date with the latest information if I’m elected.
External Ministries
Steadiness through troubled waters
We have witnessed monumental shifts in our alliances this term. The Pax Polaris Occidens was dissolved following irreconcilable differences and a loss of trust between us and our allies over the events of the Outback. While the dissolution of PPO was in my opinion inevitable following TWP’s departure, careless remarks by this administration’s officials contributed to that loss of trust among our allies. Having learned a great deal of diplomacy during my time serving on the Committee of Foreign Relations and advising Vibonia’s leadership on foreign affairs, I’m confident that I have learned from my past mistakes and will be able to largely avoid the recklessness of my past term and this administration if elected.
My focus now will be to deepen our existing relations and search for new friends and allies that will help us encircle and diminish the influence of our enemies. A pragmatic and steady hand is required for that purpose. Additionally, I will seek to enhance cultural collaboration with our allies as part of my vision to restore our regional activity.
Return of the Ambassadors
The abolition of the Ambassador Corps was another mistake of this administration that I believe needs to be rectified. It deprived our staffers of a chance to learn more about foreign affairs through service in other regions, which is contrary to the stated mission of educating our staffers and raising the next generation of diplomats. As a result, I plan to reintroduce the Ambassador Corps upon being elected. To prevent previous issues with the program from repeating, the Ambassador Corps will require staffers to make applications that will test their activity and ability. This helps ensure that they will be active and responsive in order to deliver news or make regular reports on their posted region’s happenings.
Educating our diplomats
The Analyst channel has largely failed to engage staffers into learning our FA, in part because there was little discussion to be had. Most of the main FA discussions, I have observed, are mainly concentrated in the Committee these days. If we want to engage and educate our staffers on FA, more discussions (that are not sensitive) need to be moved into the main Analyst channel and not the Committee one.
A volume of the FA Digest was recently published, extensively covering major events and treaties of last year to today. However, I have observed that one of the biggest challenges in completing the Digest was that it was initially far too ambitious in scope compared to existing Ministerial manpower and resources. The planned length of the full Digest was the equivalent of four TNS editions, while there were only four writers for the Digest. In the end, four complete articles were published alongside a list of treaties at the end of the term, a drawdown from initial plans. To ensure that the project is continued smoothly without major difficulties, I would cut down on the length of articles into shorter blurbs so that more topics can be covered.
We have witnessed monumental shifts in our alliances this term. The Pax Polaris Occidens was dissolved following irreconcilable differences and a loss of trust between us and our allies over the events of the Outback. While the dissolution of PPO was in my opinion inevitable following TWP’s departure, careless remarks by this administration’s officials contributed to that loss of trust among our allies. Having learned a great deal of diplomacy during my time serving on the Committee of Foreign Relations and advising Vibonia’s leadership on foreign affairs, I’m confident that I have learned from my past mistakes and will be able to largely avoid the recklessness of my past term and this administration if elected.
My focus now will be to deepen our existing relations and search for new friends and allies that will help us encircle and diminish the influence of our enemies. A pragmatic and steady hand is required for that purpose. Additionally, I will seek to enhance cultural collaboration with our allies as part of my vision to restore our regional activity.
Return of the Ambassadors
The abolition of the Ambassador Corps was another mistake of this administration that I believe needs to be rectified. It deprived our staffers of a chance to learn more about foreign affairs through service in other regions, which is contrary to the stated mission of educating our staffers and raising the next generation of diplomats. As a result, I plan to reintroduce the Ambassador Corps upon being elected. To prevent previous issues with the program from repeating, the Ambassador Corps will require staffers to make applications that will test their activity and ability. This helps ensure that they will be active and responsive in order to deliver news or make regular reports on their posted region’s happenings.
Educating our diplomats
The Analyst channel has largely failed to engage staffers into learning our FA, in part because there was little discussion to be had. Most of the main FA discussions, I have observed, are mainly concentrated in the Committee these days. If we want to engage and educate our staffers on FA, more discussions (that are not sensitive) need to be moved into the main Analyst channel and not the Committee one.
A volume of the FA Digest was recently published, extensively covering major events and treaties of last year to today. However, I have observed that one of the biggest challenges in completing the Digest was that it was initially far too ambitious in scope compared to existing Ministerial manpower and resources. The planned length of the full Digest was the equivalent of four TNS editions, while there were only four writers for the Digest. In the end, four complete articles were published alongside a list of treaties at the end of the term, a drawdown from initial plans. To ensure that the project is continued smoothly without major difficulties, I would cut down on the length of articles into shorter blurbs so that more topics can be covered.
This term, the NPA’s capabilities have further degraded as a result of High Command resignations and lack of activity. Cultural events for NPA soldiers was a novel concept that didn’t pan out due to a lack of interest and manpower, while our operations were largely stuck with lengthy piles, most notably in The Wellspring, with no update operations organised in-between. Even the proposed offensives against BoM targets didn’t happen at all. The loss of some of our capable Generals, lack of initiative among officers, and inactivity in the rank and file have all contributed to the slow and painful deterioration of our capabilities. To date, I’m unsure if there were any reliable updater left in our army outside of High Command. The only thing still going for the NPA is our respectable piler base in the Auxiliary.
I once remarked that the NPA is currently in a Catch-22 situation: We don’t have any grand victories or exciting operations to attract recruits, but we also don’t have the manpower and energy to make them happen. The most effective form of recruitment, from what I have seen, is big victories or huge wars driving enlistment up. Indeed, our enlistment numbers shot up significantly in the aftermath of our declaration of war and invasion of Solidarity. I myself was one of the Solidarity enlistees. But as the war dragged on and the liberations became more exhausting, the NPA’s activity gradually declined and its talent pool started to dry up. There were bright moments, like the CCD operation which generated a huge turnout from our soldiers, but other than that the NPA has been struggling heavily to come out for update operations. I can talk all day long about what methods the government can use to recruit harder, but without any victories or excitement only few will show up to the enlistment office.
It is painfully evident by now that 1) the NPA’s greatest strength remains in the Auxiliary, not the Special Forces, and 2) it is large raids (like Solidarity and fash bashes) that attract the biggest turnout from our army, not liberations. To that end, my goal for the NPA next term would be to participate in joint raids and other update operations organised by our allies, and slowly rebuild our updater capability through frequent victories in the field, which would serve as our primary form of recruitment. Broadcasting our victories is easy—it’s the “making them happen” part that’s difficult, but it can be done.
Another thing that I would like to see happen is a revival of the Call to Serve program, which comprises text or radio interviews of High Command members. I can readily do text interviews myself if required.
I once remarked that the NPA is currently in a Catch-22 situation: We don’t have any grand victories or exciting operations to attract recruits, but we also don’t have the manpower and energy to make them happen. The most effective form of recruitment, from what I have seen, is big victories or huge wars driving enlistment up. Indeed, our enlistment numbers shot up significantly in the aftermath of our declaration of war and invasion of Solidarity. I myself was one of the Solidarity enlistees. But as the war dragged on and the liberations became more exhausting, the NPA’s activity gradually declined and its talent pool started to dry up. There were bright moments, like the CCD operation which generated a huge turnout from our soldiers, but other than that the NPA has been struggling heavily to come out for update operations. I can talk all day long about what methods the government can use to recruit harder, but without any victories or excitement only few will show up to the enlistment office.
It is painfully evident by now that 1) the NPA’s greatest strength remains in the Auxiliary, not the Special Forces, and 2) it is large raids (like Solidarity and fash bashes) that attract the biggest turnout from our army, not liberations. To that end, my goal for the NPA next term would be to participate in joint raids and other update operations organised by our allies, and slowly rebuild our updater capability through frequent victories in the field, which would serve as our primary form of recruitment. Broadcasting our victories is easy—it’s the “making them happen” part that’s difficult, but it can be done.
Another thing that I would like to see happen is a revival of the Call to Serve program, which comprises text or radio interviews of High Command members. I can readily do text interviews myself if required.
Ensuring consistent operations
Over this term, the WA Affairs has had its highs and lows, and one of the lows was the lateness in making voting threads and publishing IFVs due to a lack of available staffers. Thankfully this situation has improved towards the end of the term as more staffers joined in response to WAA’s call for help, but as the summer lull is upon us, I want to ensure that the Ministry will keep producing IFVs and voting threads on time. The broader recruitment campaign will go some way towards that goal by recruiting more staffers into the Ministry, and I’m prepared to do the tasks myself if it’s necessary. I have had experience writing IFVs for WA Affairs this term (and even authored an Injunction!), so I’m fully able to cover when needed.
Heroes of Valhalla and commending our TNPers
First of all, I want to commend Pallaith for his enormous efforts towards making three commendations this term for our deserving TNPers. It is an energy that I hope to see continuing via our cooperation in the Heroes of Valhalla program. As Delegate, I would work with allied leaders in the MGC to continue the momentum at commending our region-mates and allied members.
Collaboration with WALL
To date, I have not seen any moves by this administration to pursue deeper collaboration with WALL. Neither joint IFVs nor a WA symposium have happened. As Delegate, I will explore the possibility of organising joint IFVs and, if possible, a new WA symposium with our WALL allies.
As a final note, voting on WA resolutions early and often will not pose an issue for me, who lives in a good timezone. When the call comes, I’ll be there, ready and waiting.
Over this term, the WA Affairs has had its highs and lows, and one of the lows was the lateness in making voting threads and publishing IFVs due to a lack of available staffers. Thankfully this situation has improved towards the end of the term as more staffers joined in response to WAA’s call for help, but as the summer lull is upon us, I want to ensure that the Ministry will keep producing IFVs and voting threads on time. The broader recruitment campaign will go some way towards that goal by recruiting more staffers into the Ministry, and I’m prepared to do the tasks myself if it’s necessary. I have had experience writing IFVs for WA Affairs this term (and even authored an Injunction!), so I’m fully able to cover when needed.
Heroes of Valhalla and commending our TNPers
First of all, I want to commend Pallaith for his enormous efforts towards making three commendations this term for our deserving TNPers. It is an energy that I hope to see continuing via our cooperation in the Heroes of Valhalla program. As Delegate, I would work with allied leaders in the MGC to continue the momentum at commending our region-mates and allied members.
Collaboration with WALL
To date, I have not seen any moves by this administration to pursue deeper collaboration with WALL. Neither joint IFVs nor a WA symposium have happened. As Delegate, I will explore the possibility of organising joint IFVs and, if possible, a new WA symposium with our WALL allies.
As a final note, voting on WA resolutions early and often will not pose an issue for me, who lives in a good timezone. When the call comes, I’ll be there, ready and waiting.
Miscellaneous
The Cards Guild has been effectively defunct since Dreadton’s resignation of citizenship, leaving the Guild without any leadership. Not only that, all of its activities are also dead. At present, I plan to revive the Cards Guild by working with our ally, The Wellspring, to pool our resources together and restore the Guild’s activity once more. It won’t be a return to the glory days, but it’s a concrete step towards re-establishing a proper card organisation in TNP and rebuilding a stable card supply to replenish our stocks.
Thanks to a month of endotarting in advance, I have reached 520 endorsements, a huge improvement compared to my September run. With regular telegram reminders, dispatch pings, and the WADP, I believe I can finish the transition, if elected, within a month.
The summer lull will likely lead to a large drop in our endorsement and WA numbers, so we must be prepared to promote WADP efforts by any means necessary. Aside from telegrams to non-WAs advertising the benefits of joining the WA, I will also ping some of them in a dispatch daily and encourage them to join the WA and endorse.
The summer lull will likely lead to a large drop in our endorsement and WA numbers, so we must be prepared to promote WADP efforts by any means necessary. Aside from telegrams to non-WAs advertising the benefits of joining the WA, I will also ping some of them in a dispatch daily and encourage them to join the WA and endorse.
Conclusion
This was an extraordinarily long textwall of a platform, but the purpose of my return to the Delegate race is simple: I want to save TNP from our severe manpower and activity issues, and guide us through the withering summer lull. If we want to find a way out before falling down a deep, dark chasm, we must come together as a region and solve this crisis before it’s too late. The task will be long and hard, but I have confidence that I can tackle it with your help, armed with newfound experience in reviving an inactive Ministry.
Thank you for reading, I remain available for further questions.
