Welcome to The Order of the Grey Wardens!

As a newcomer to our region, it can be a little confusing figuring everything out at first. It is our hope that this guide can answer some basic questions, as you prepare yourself for further involvement in our region and offsite community. Since you've made it this far, you're likely already aware that The Order of The Grey Wardens is a defender military focused on preventing the actions of those who seek to destroy user-created communities. It is our hope that you can help bolster our ranks even further in this fight, and rise to greatness as a defender legend.

The Order of the Grey Wardens (also called TGW) operates a little differently than most NationStates regions in that it is primarily a military-based organization. The Order is led by the First Warden with day-to-day assistance from Commanders of the Grey, who are also called Warden-Commanders. There is the High Constable who acts as second-in-command to the First Warden, and the Chamberlain of the Grey who serves as the primary archivist and recordkeeper for the organization. Below the Commanders are the Constables of the Grey and then Lieutenants of the Grey who take charge when their superiors are away and help with various tasks to keep things running smoothly. Further information on leadership and ranks can be found here.

Below you'll find a summary of the path ahead of you, as well as the various branching pathways of being a Grey Warden. If you haven't already, we strongly recommend you join our Discord to get more involved in our community, and begin your process towards enlisting in The Grey Wardens and helping us save NationStates!

As you begin your fight against The Blight, the first step is joining The Order.

Before anything else, you'll want to join The World Assembly (WA). World Assembly nations, and their various gameside functions, are the primary tool that you will utilize in any Military Gameplay. You'll be prompted for your WA nation when you fill out your application, so getting that step out of the way is a great trick to skip ahead a few steps in line! Once you've done this, and have taken a good look around, it's time to head to our HQ and begin your adventure.

Upon joining our Discord Server, you'll receive an automated message asking for you to share your nation name, and one of our seasoned Welcome Squad members will swing by to say hello. As they help you get your bearings, you'll be set up with access to our vibrant public areas, as well as pointed in the direction of our Enlistment Office. It is there where you'll fill out your application - conveniently located on Discord itself - and have a Warden-Commander get you processed and ready for training and battle! You'll start out as a Warden-Recruit, quickly moving up the ranks as you complete your first operation.

Continue reading below to see further details on the branches in which this path will take you, and all the ways you can help The Order continue to thrive, grow, and fight back this game's villains.

The Path of the Warden is what you've heard about in our recruitment, on the gameplay forum, and in the angry wails of defeated Darkspawn.

Wardens take the fight directly to invaders during the two game updates that take place at 12 AM and 12 PM US Eastern Time respectively. As a Warden, you will usually conduct multiple operations per update and act as the first and greatest line of defense against invader attacks on vulnerable regions. Liberations of invader-held regions and counter-invasions of invader home regions are also conducted by Wardens at update as our primary strike force. Wardens are the most high-trained and effective force in the game, and each day will present a new challenge or threat to be faced.

Don't worry if you're new to the game or don't think you have enough experience, as we'll provide you with comprehensive guides and training to help you find your way. As long as you can be online at 12 AM and/or 12 PM EST at least one day per week, then the life of a Warden is for you. It is, without question, some of the most fun you can have playing NationStates once you get the hang of it.

As previously mentioned, Discord is a requirement for Wardens, as is World Assembly membership. Our Enlistment Office is located within our Discord, and is the first place you'll want to head to.

The Guardians are the Reserve Force of The Order, performing primarily Non-Update Operations!

As with most players, it is more than likely that you cannot be present at every update throughout the week. No problem, you can still conduct military operations and make a difference with Guardian missions! Guardians protect and cleanse the regions of NationStates from the Darkspawn in-between update times with a more flexible schedule. Our stalwart reservists move into target regions during the 12-hour windows between game updates and provide vital World Assembly endorsement support to their leading officers, as well as conducting restorative operations to regions and off update defenses. Guardian Missions also often-times deploy to vulnerable regions as foreign aid, to assist at-risk native populations in securing their regions against the raiders seeking to damage them. Wardens are strongly encouraged to take part in Guardian missions whenever they're not actively updating!

Additionally, Guardian Missions are published gameside on our (Regional Message Board) and World Factbook Entry. These are updated every twelve hours, with exception of longer foreign aid deployments.

More information on mission requirements and how to participate can be found here: page=dispatch/id=1628390

When not deployed on missions, one of the best ways to strengthen The Order is by maintaining your endorsement on our World Assembly Delegate.

If you are not deployed on military operations, it is paramount that you provide domestic strength by being in the World Assembly and endorsing our WA Delegate (How-To Guide) Potatoville. Winning the Delegacy through a battle to the top, Potatoville stands as our beacon of influence upon World Assembly affairs. A high endorsement level increases our regional sway in important World Assembly matters such as in Security Council Liberations to help vulnerable regions, as well as giving you a personal vote for whatever comes through the General Assembly and Security Council.

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If you want to take a more casual approach to NationStates, and just hang out answering issues and chatting, The Order is still more than happy to have you! The day-to-day RMB chatters, issue answerers, card farmers, and endorsement chasers are the backbone of our gameside strength. It is paramount to the success of our organization that we not only maintain a mighty military, but a robust domestic base as well. You will not have as much access to our amenities as a full-fledged Warden, but the opportunities are nonetheless plentiful. Once you're more settled and ready to get further involved, enlisting in the Wardens will just be a quick Discord post away!

If you have any questions about NationStates, then you should check out this helpful guide to get you started and swing by our discord if you need more help.

What is Military Gameplay?

Military Gameplay is a part of Nationstates gameplay split between two activities known as raiding and defending.

In order to participate in raiding or defending, you need to be a member of the World Assembly, which will allow you to endorse other nations and have a say in who becomes Delegate of a region, which is key to raiding and defending.

Raiding occurs when a group of nations move into a region while endorsing one another in order to appoint one of them as delegate of the region, with the intention of giving that nation the power to capture or destroy a region.

Defending occurs when a group of nations attempt to counteract this by moving into a region and endorsing a native nation/delegate, or electing one of their own nations delegate to prevent the delegacy from falling into raider hands. Defenders may also do this to undo the damage raiders have caused to regions.

The bulk of raiding and defending occurs during update, during which time Nationstates goes through and processes a variety of necessary functions — including those necessary for raiding and defending, like electing Delegates.

Are the Grey Wardens defenders or raiders?

The Grey Wardens primarily operate as a defender organization. We believe that invading regions is wrong, and work to prevent invaders from being successful. However, we take this a step further than most defenders, and will invade invader regions to give them a taste of their own medicine.

When does Update occur?

Update occurs twice every day at 12 AM and 12 PM EST/EDT, for about an hour and a half and an hour respectively. These are known as “Minor Update” (12PM EST/EDT) and “Major Update” (12AM EST/EDT). As previously mentioned, during this time a variety of game changes occur, including:

• World Assembly Delegacy appointments

• National population increases (only Major Update)

• Regional and national World Census updates (only Major Update)

• The end of a World Assembly session of voting on a particular proposal, and the beginning of voting on new proposals

• Influence changes

• The ceasing to exist of inactive nations and empty regions

During this time, regions will update one by one, in the same order every update. Nations in their respective regions will also be updated, by order of age (older creation dates, then newer creation dates).

Importantly, whichever nation has the most endorsements in a region during update will become the World Assembly Delegate of that region.

Each nation can only be updated once per update. This means that once a nation updates, it can not be used to, say, elect a World Assembly Delegate in another region. As such, raiders and defenders usually use many nations so that they can effect many regions in one update.

What is the World Assembly?

The World Assembly is Nationstates’ international legislative body, which works to create legislation that aims to solve problems facing the nations of the world, recognize nations of particular notability, and ascertain an international stance on certain issues.

The World Assembly has two chambers, the General Assembly and Security Council, which perform these functions. They are, however, not mandatory for World Assembly membership or military gameplay.

Any player can join the World Assembly with any nation that is registered with an email, but they are restricted to one World Assembly nation. Breaking this policy is against site rules.

You can join the World Assembly by navigating to the World Assembly tab on the left hand side, and clicking the “Apply to join” button. You will be sent a confirmation email, which should show up in your registered email with that nation — remember to check your spam folder, as sometimes emails find their way there. The email will provide you with a link to join the World Assembly, which should bring you to a page where you can do just that!

While a player can only have one nation admitted into the World Assembly at a time, they can have as many nations applied to the World Assembly as they want, and they can switch membership between whichever nations they’d like. This means you can create alternate nations for military gameplay, or otherwise! It is helpful to use the same email address for this purpose, so that all the emails are sent to a single address.

As a note, because you can create many nations as one player, and are able to transfer World Assembly membership between them, if you’d like to keep a nation but also participate in military gameplay, you can create alternate or “puppet” nations to participate in military gameplay, as it requires that you move your World Assembly nation around. This way, you can still keep residency in your home region with one nation, and participate in military gameplay. However, do remember once more — you can not have more than one nation in the World Assembly at a time!

What are Delegates, and what can they do?

Delegates are elected members of a region, who often possess great powers over the region. Depending on the status of the region, the delegate may have great powers. The founder of a region can determine whether a Delegate has Executive power of a region, which gives them control over regional powers like Border Control, Appearance, or Embassies — powers that raiders often take advantage of to take over, deface, or detroy regions. If a region has no founder at all, however, the Delegate will automatically be given Executive powers.

Delegates with access to regional controls can:

• Appoint and dismiss Regional Officers with powers over the region

• Ban and eject nations, as well as remove nations from the ban list

• Create a regional password

• Change the appearance of the region’s World Factbook Entry (WFE)

• Alter the region’s flag and banner

• Withdraw and create Embassies, and manage Embassy settings

• Suppress Regional Message Board (RMB) posts

• Pin and unpin Dispatches

• Add and remove regional tags

• Manage and send welcome and region-wide telegrams

• Hold regional polls

Do I have to be online during Update to participate in operations?

Being online during update, or through the entirety of update, is not necessary to participate in operations. Invasions can take place before or between updates, and operations can last many days, meaning that nations have time to contribute and join the effort outside of update. During these operations, you will be asked to reinforce our ongoing effort.

However, being available during update is key to participating in many crucial operations. Many invasions tend to take place during update, and being at update gives you the opportunity to actively engage on the frontlines and provides better chances for you to lead your own missions.

How can I participate?

We participate in military gameplay through our defender military, the Grey Wardens, which you can apply to join on our forum by following the instructions here: https://www.greywardens.xyz/forum/thread-3.html. Please note Discord is mandatory to become a Warden.

Once accepted, we'll walk you through more about military gameplay in our Training Hall and help you on your way to becoming a highly skilled defender.

If you don't have Discord but still want to participate, then you should join our Guardians and participate in their missions that take place outside of update times.

You can follow instructions here on how to sign up as a Guardian and begin missions at any time when they're posted on our regional message board.