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Hey there, I'm from the Democratika! Last night I posted a dispatch and on the gameplay forum a comprehensive writing on NS political theory. It looks at regional structure, management, and economics. If you wanna add anything feel free to telegram me. I'd also appreciate it if you'd post this to your dispatches to help other regions learn methods related to regional management and growth, thanks for hearing me out!

NationStates:
Regional Theory and NS Basics

By: The U.D.S.R. and Letskia

“A Specter is haunting NationStates - the specter of Democratikism”
-UDSR

Introduction:

Nationstates has many ideologies: from Communism to Capitalism, Anarchism to Fascism; Monarchists, Socialists, Inoffensive Centrist Democracies, Father Knows Best States, Psychotic Dictatorships, and everything in between. However, these ideologies are but the political beliefs of single nations. Regions, on the other hand, by their very nature work differently. You can find regions housing both leftists and the far right with minimal tensions in some instances because even though worldly political theory is fun to discuss those views have no real meaning on a regional level. Yes, regions have some typical characteristics of real world societies, however, ultimately dictatorships are the most secure regional systems within NS, but not objectively the best. The Regional Founder has the authority to do anything they want, total unchecked power and any checks and balances put on them by the regional community are essentially pointless if the founder does not follow them. At the same time, members can at will decide to move to another region or start their very own so such actions by the founder (this is known as Founder’s Syndrome) are not too effective. On the other end of the spectrum you have founderless regions, where executive power is given to the World Assembly Delegate: an elected position. These regions specifically are susceptible to other regions sending over their members en masse to execute a coup d’etate. These coup attempts are referred to as raiding. With all this being said, there are a few regional administrative systems that have been developed over the years. This paper will try to identify the unofficial NS political ideologies and try to diagnose what makes an NS region successful.

Basic Terms and Their Meanings:

Founder’s Syndrome: many have experienced young regions full of promise begin to grow, only to have the region to deviate just enough from the founder’s intended purpose to warrant a radical reaction from them. It is in such moments does the founder try to take matters into their own hands to force the region back onto its intended course, causing a mass exodus of members to search for more promising places to call home. Founder’s Syndrome is categorized by the founder justifying unpopular changes with the excuse “because I’m the founder” more often than naught.

Raids: when a group of nations en masse move to a targeted region followed by all members in the group endorsing a designated nation to get them elected as WA delegate. This blitz tactic is most effective when the WA delegate in the targeted region has executive powers, causing the newly endorsed raider nation to have unchecked power over the region allowing them to do as they please.

Raider Region: a region dedicated solely to grow and train new members in the art of raiding, allowing for large experienced groups to form, dedicated to taking over other regions.

WA Delegate: the world assembly delegate has power to vote on WA resolutions, having every endorsement from another nation count as an extra vote which they can use. WA delegates are the only regional officers that can be handed executive power by a regional founder to allow them to help build the foundation for a healthy region.

Regional Ideologies:

Note: as of this paper’s publishing these are the only regional ideologies, many more may have arisen but have not been listed

Foundership: just like dictatorships in the real world, an NS dictatorship sees all executive power in the hands of the regional founder. However, an NS dictatorship has many benefits such as making sure a region is 100% raider proof, having stripped the only mandatory elected position of all powers apart from WA status.

Constitutional Foundership: The Constitutional dictatorship sees executive power held by both the regional founder and WA delegate, having regional power held by both the founder a democratically elected member of the region. This allows for member nations to have a voice by allowing them to elect one of their own into office to enact legislative changes.

Founderless Democracy: some regions may wish to - or have no choice but to - get rid of their founder and hand over executive power solely to their WA delegate. This can be a show of integrity as the law of the land is the people’s will. If members dislike their currently elected executive they can just as easily unendorse them and endorse another for the position.

Officer Autocracy: when a group of officers mutually agree to make a puppet account and use it to create a region. The founder then acts as a puppet for the officers, having every officer hold onto the puppet account password. This way several individuals hold the power in a region instead of one.

Democratikism: the philosophy that a region must balance politics and fun by holding non political discussions alongside civil, Socratic discourses to provide the largest amount of member enjoyment. This is to be done by trying to cause regional membership booms alongside massive, sweeping reforms to put the region on par with other regions of equal size. Constant reform and maintenance is seen as the optimal way to increase activity. A Democratikist region must establish a regional think tank to help promote out of the box thinking.

Regionomics: Use, Practice, Theory, Development

Regionomics refers to the study of regional activity. It tries to solve the issue of having a theoretically unlimited number of regions while having a limited number of NS players. There have been many attempts at creating the optimal system of advertising and holding onto regional members, however no comprehensive theories are known to have been created, or lasted long enough to gain traction.

Popular Regionomics: the majority of regions on NS use telegram stamps to attract newly founded nations. Recruitment telegrams usually have a small paragraph or two outlining the characteristics and events found within the region. Once a nation joins, RP (roleplay) and regular polls are used to keep members interested and, therefore, incentivize them to stay. This is the most basic template for regionomics found across NS with many different additions and amendments made later on in a region’s life.

Advanced Regionomics: the use of a telegram api (a recruitment bot) to send out a constant stream of recruitment telegrams, having one send every three minutes as by NS rules. Alongside the api, the telegram itself is written in point form to catch and hold the attention of either a newly founded or refounded nation. Alongside the popular regionomic practise of having a regional RP, the use of an offsite meme page helps balance serious political discussion with a lighter tone to reach out to a broader audience. This theory’s largest complaint about Political centric regions is that seriousness can get out of hand and sew discontent amongst members by pitting players against others too often to sustain healthy attitudes of others.

Trickle Down Regionomics: The idea of establishing regional embassies with larger regions to promote one’s own region. In theory, members of the larger region would look at the list of embassies and stumble upon an effective enough World Factbook Entry that it would siphon out the larger region’s member count.

Regional Supply And Demand: regional supply and demand refers to content within a region. Unlike economic supply and demand, regional supply and demand works in the complete opposite way. The larger supply of content there is in a region the larger demand there is for said region. The issue is that supply is difficult in increase after a certain point, as content slowly dries up. A region’s first step to increasing content usually begins with either regional polls or roleplay. From there it depends on the officers what they consider to be key within their growing community.

Regional Currency: some regions may wish to focus on telegram stamps as their largest source of advertising, but will find funding an issue in the majority of instances. This is where regional currency comes in, as having in-region rewards tied to a currency which you can both earn and buy through official donations can be an effective way of procuring funding. This is in theory, but in practise it has the same success rate as recruitment telegrams themselves- you may in the end only get 1% of projected funds through this method.

Region Hopping: another NS favourite is region hopping - the practice of sending one or more members of a home region to other regions to promote the prior. It is in most cases looked down upon and it is unknown how effective this tactic is. More research is needed.

Offsite Chat Extension: it is no secret that the NS RMB is not as dynamic as other communication services. This is why many regions opt in to also getting a discord or website of their own. Offsite chats allow for smoother discussions and allow for larger prospects of content supply.

Supply Through Anarchism: even though it has been only considered in theory, if a larger region were to establish their own forum outside of NationStates and allow for content to be solely produced by members instead of relying on officer support to execute such demands, content would be pitted against other regional content through member creation, management, and sponsorship. This way, through competition, the best activities in the region would prosper while the less popular ones abandoned.

Confederation: regions will often pair up with like minded regions to establish confederations, usually characterised by sharing an offsite forum or chat. This, theoretically, is supposed to form closer bonds between regions as well as promote growth for all.

NS Political Theory Volume 2:
The Art of Raiding, Regional Governments,
and Advanced NS Political Theory

By: The UDSR, URHR, Saint Ryvern, and Confedracy

“Centrism of action: an important distinction from centrism of officers.”
- Akarea

Introduction:

To know your enemy is to have a full dossier. To know your ally is to have them first in it. The politics of NationStates ranges from regions solely dedicated to memes all the way to intriguing Realpolitik filled with backstabbing and hidden alliances. Some regions go as far as to create essentially their own version of the FBI or secret services to monitor potential threats or raiding targets. No matter what region you are a part of, raiding will come up in your NS endeavours one way or another. This is why within this volume there will be a deeper look into types of raids and raider tactics that have been taken from first hand raider veteran accounts as well as additions to the previous volume’s political theory.

Regional Categories:

Feeder Region: One of the regions that created regions flow into. They are large by design, as many nations never leave their beginning grounds. They have incredible power on the inter-regional stage.

The Rejected Realms: the land that many spurned nations go to, a region for castaways and rejects that has flourished on the international stage thanks to good management and a steady flow of ejected nations

Lazarus, Balder and Osiris: similar to feeder regions but these are places where refounded nations go. they have a unique regional culture and government and offer many services and opportunities for activities

User-created: this category is the largest category on nationstates, provides many opportunities, but they rise and fall regularly thanks to the inter-dynamic play of regional politics, the lack of a continual source for growth, and inactivity from the few nations that may join

Roleplay-centered: regions like Geopolity and the Commonwealth of Liberty that are founded on the premise for high-quality roleplay, their members often maintain a high quality of writing and frequently post on the forums, RMB, etc

Government-centered: regions that draw their primary source of activity from the regional government structures that original members and founder put in place. The Western Isles is a good example of this type of region

Mixed approach regions: regions that blend roleplay and government. Usually there are factions of members that prefer each type of activity, but there may be regional positions dedicated to roleplay that create an intersection between the two activities

Casual regions: regions created to provide chill atmospheres for people who just want to hang out on NationStates. They do not roleplay or have a government. They're just chill places to relax and maybe have some discussions

Types of Raids in NationStates:

A raid most commonly consists of a group of nations (referred to as raiders) moving to a targeted region en masse and endorsing one of the group’s members to gain WA Delegate status. Since some WA Delegates have executive powers or some other privileges, this allows for the new WA delegate to do as they please. These are the three major type of raids.

Tag Raid: the tag raid consists of executing a coup d’etat within the target region to take control of it long enough to put up a new tag or World Factbook Entry before closing all embassies. This is the most common raid and arguably the most frustrating for smaller targeted regions.

Occupation: it is like the tag raid except the group of raiders stay and take control of the targeted region for as long as they can. These types of raids take a lot of resources as the occupying force needs to hold against other groups, defenders, and locals. This is unless the occupying force decides to ban or eject anyone not with them. Many smaller raider regions refuse to do these kinds of raids.

Stealth Raid: a stealth raid is a long term commitment which takes a raider to infiltrate a region and gain the trust of the locals. The idea is that - if done properly - the raider is placed in a position of power, such as becoming an officer or WA Delegate. These can take mere hours to years depending on the size of the targeted region.

Regional Governments and Government Structures:

Along with regional officers and a WA delegate, regions over the years have come up with interesting new ways to get regional members involved, or flesh out the democratic process. This section looks at the different additions to government structure which regions over the years have established alongside the vanilla positions.

Parliament: most parliaments work by having regional members apply for a position, and depending on the prerequisites, only a select few to almost anyone would be admitted in and allowed to propose new regional laws. If a law gets through parliament it would go through the officers to be approved before becoming law.

Supreme Court: larger regions or inter-regional federations may have supreme courts, where members can become lawyers or attorneys to look over cases such as banning or ejecting other members, or keep an eye on officers to make sure they are doing their jobs.

Regional Military: regional militaries usually consist of establishing a separate region for puppet storage and have members of the military create a puppet nation to store inside of it. This gives regions closure that they have something in place to protect either their region on an ally’s. Federations usually have one unified inter-regional military but some may opt in to having both a federal army and a separate, smaller regional army.

Additions to Volume 1 Political Theory:

Refresher- Democratikism: the philosophy that a region must balance politics and fun by holding non political discussions alongside civil, socratic discourses to provide the largest amount of member enjoyment. This is to be done by trying to cause regional membership booms alongside massive, sweeping reforms to put the region on par with other regions of equal size. Constant reform and maintenance is seen as the optimal way to increase activity. A Democratikist region must establish a regional think tank to help promote out of the box thinking.

Akareanism: nation retention in a region sees it a necessity that officers participate with other members in the region to keep regional cohesion. It points to Democratikism having such good nation retention specifically because it does not segregate the admin from the public.

Regional Unity Theory: as stated by the nation Confedracy, regions filled with like minded people (politically like minded or otherwise) show greater loyalty to the region than ideologically diverse regions. In theory, factions within diverse regions spring up and hold greater loyalty to themselves than the region itself, and therefore, cause instability.

Socratism: the theory that ideologically diverse regions are healthier than regions of one specific ideology, as diverse regions hinder the creation of ideological echo chambers. In theory, diverse regions are ultimately better because each individual will be able to bring something new to the region to help it grow as well as decrease the chance of radicalizing members.

Kachowism: the theory that ultimately the most socially cohesive regions have either a strong presence of, or only, memes to make sure no one leaves over political differences with others. In theory nation retention is maximized by keeping serious discussion to a minimum.

Regional Monarchism: the theory that a strong leader must be in control of the region at all times and that having one sovereign of an inter-regional federation is non-negotiable.

NS Political Theory Volume 3:
Classifications, Letskian Dynamics, and The Region Statement

By: The NS Political Theory Community

“Having a voice for a region is crucial for effective communication.”
- Letskia

Introduction:

Regionomics plays a vital role in a region’s future as it spans the studies of player retention, inter-regional and inner-regional relationships, as well as much more. As regionomics is still young, there is only a handful of theorists who continue to develop its ideas. It all started with the officers from the Democratika discussing different ways that the region could attract new members. The Federation of Letskia, the father of regionomics, had suggested establishing embassies with the sinker and feeder regions, as well as the 10,000 Islands and the Communist Bloc as they had members in the quadruple digits. This was the start of Trickle Down Regionomics. The term trickle down regionomics (and subsequently enough regionomics itself) was coined by myself, the UDSR, jokingly as a response to what I personally found to be a disagreeable idea. However, in the past four days this one off joke had become a fully fledged new study of regions which attracted two other officers to pitch in their own ideas. The purpose of this volume is to, firstly, outline classifications and regional structures; and secondly, to inspire other nations across NationStates to propose and write down their own regionomic theories to ultimately help grow newer, less informed regions.

Final Terms and Classifications:

Catcher Region: a coin termed by Reploid Productions to separate The Rejected Realms from other sinker regions as it has mechanical differences from other sinker regions but is still tagged as one.

Further Additions to Regionomics:

Lardistic Regionomics: a theory proposed by Captain Lard from the region Lardyland which states that regions that heavily encourage aggressive self-promotion tend to gain members quicker, and that regions with more embassies tend to be more popular.

Letskian Dynamics: even though Letskia had first created regionomics, Letskian dynamics is more of a school of thought. Letskian dynamics refers to the study of inter-regional movement and the flow of nations between regions rather than what occurs in any one region. Such as the strategies and techniques that regions use in recruitment telegrams and marketing tactics. This includes push and pull factors, such as RMB activity, albeit a little expanded on how the balance of activity between outsourced methods of communication and the RMB could be achieved, as well as other factors such as regional forum advertising. Letskian dynamics also analyses the perspectives of new nations and how they make their decisions on which regions to join despite their limited understanding of NationStates and what makes regions unique from each other. This further digs deeper into the mindsets of older nations, particularly, refounded nations and how their perspective is radically changed from that of a new nation and how they make their decisions on which region to join; albeit from a more experienced standpoint.

Forum Interactionism: forum interactionism is the study of how the forum coincides with, and influences; the main NationStates website, and vice versa. It is not limited to just looking at the flow of nations, but also how it affects things from regional administrations to roleplay. Forum interactionism also studies independent forums created for specific regions and how that influences the administration and functioning of a region.

The Region Statement Introduction: By the UDSR

As up to this moment, I would like to say that I am done classifying and categorizing terms, ideologies, and theories. Most likely, if need be, I will add finishing touches to any term or philosophies I had accidentally glossed over, but now I am to write about my own theory, as how I believe a region must be run. In the first volume I had essentially declared there no need for terms such as communism, fascism, and so on when speaking of regions. However, after careful deliberation, some noticeable ideologies and practices popped up such as dictatorship, monarchism, democracy, and Anarchism. As any reader can tell by my name; I will, indeed, be trying to create a theory which strives for regional Utopia. For this I will gain much opposition as well as many sympathizers, and I ask for both those that agree and disagree with me to write and publish their own papers on NS political theory as this has been the ultimate goal of these three volumes as well as the final volume to come out: to spur NS political debate and create an atmosphere for Socratic discourse. I will still continue to write NS political theory after this project is completed but in different works, and I will try to establish NationStates’s first ever Think Tank, where anyone interested in philosophy and science merely has to create a puppet and move it to a secure puppet storage region open to all ideologies, so long as individuals behave. However, I am getting ahead of myself and must outline my outlook on a perfect NS region.

Regional Structure:

-The founder should be the sole nation to hold executive status to make sure the threat of raiders if minimized

-The region should get rid of the founder in exchange for an executive WA delegate if the region hits around half the size of the smallest sinker region

-There must be a regional military

-Power should be equal amongst regional officers including the founder. The only exception would be holding executive status for security

-There should at least be an effort made to create a regional, if not an inter-regional, think tank inside or outside the region to discuss philosophy, political science, and regionomics

-There should at least be a meme section or a section of the region or offsite forum to balance out serious discussion with silly discussion

Regionomic Practices:

Never settle on one theory but rely on the best current information out of the think tank or any other credible NS think tank to establish the most active region possible.

Philosophy:

Allegiance to a political ideology region wide may seem like a good unifying factor, but Socratic discourse, empirical evidence, and unity through familiarity I consider to be far better. Division is not inevitable unless due to humans listening to their gut reaction to not change when given new information.

NS Political Theory Volume 4:
Final Additions, Regional Utopia, and Progression Methods

By: The UDSR, and Gullonede

“The development of NS theory is now in the hands of the NS community,
you have nothing to lose but your chains and boundless knowledge to gain”
- The UDSR

Introduction:

This is the final volume of the NS Political theory paper, and soon an abridged dispatch will be made to unify the other volumes. The fate of future NS theory solely now lies in the hands of the NationStates community. I will publish smaller writings in the future, but I presume none will be as noticed; since by the time I begin my in depth analysis of regionomics or regional sociology and anthropology, I hope that bigger regions or greater thinkers will overshadow me and lead NS to the greatest culminating of developed thought it has ever seen. This volume will cover one last definition as proposed by the nation Gullonede as well as explain what a regional Utopia is and why such a goal must be set for all regions to come. Since if a region does not strive to be the best it can be, it will surely fizzle out unspectacularly, and no founder ever wishes to admit to themselves that their goal to create a thriving community will never be met. Such sad truths must be destroyed at the root, through dedication and excitement. If what is left cannot be salvaged by the original leadership, the torch must be passed on to a new generation ready to take on the daunting task. If NS is to grow, it will only do so with the help of the inspired and dedicated.

Classification:

Family Region: a region that won’t accept new members if they are not directly friends or acquainted with the founder.

Regional Utopia:

When people consider Utopia they consider the objectively best society imaginable. This can only be a false definition as everyone has their own views on what utopia looks like. That is why there must first be a settled upon way to quantify “the best” society. Though this may be difficult if not impossible in the real world there is a way to do so in NationStates. With the exception of sinker and feeder regions, the most popular regions on NS can be considered as the best relative to other regions found on the site. Even though their systems may not be perfect, that is not the point of a regional utopia.

When trying to create a regional utopia you are not striving for perfection, but for popularity of your system. If a founder owned region were able to gain more members than the smallest sinker, that region would have groups to call itself a utopia by the NationStates definition as it was able to surpass both all non sinker and feeder regions, but at least one sinker region which was designed specifically to automatically get members without the need for recruitment. In theory, any region could reach such goals as it solely depends on the majority of NS players to deem what is the best region for them.

I do not declare by any means that such an event is likely or will happen anytime soon, what I am stating that it is merely possible and that if regions already strive to get the most amount of members it does not seem silly in the slightest to dream one step further. What will be interesting to see is if any region will fervently pursue such a goal and if the incentive to become the first Utopia class region will push individuals to hypothesize anything that would be put into practise and succeed above all other regional structures.

We right now stand on the edge of what may become considered the end of NS feudalism, and great thinkers will soon be struck by the awe of sophisticated, unique theories the magnitude of which will push to recreate the site into something two years ago, or a year ago would seem unrecognizable. There are a few places to start, for instance, the importance of memes, a strong leader/federation laying down the infrastructure for the next expansive region, or the unrelenting power of ideological unity. From these, the search for regional Utopia must start, and if nations are willing to put the time and effort to usurp the throne of a sinker, perhaps it will be in our nation's’ lifespan that we may see what the website can accomplish. Then again, that was all talk and no substance, and so I will end this off with the different methods a region may reach or come close to reaching the goal of becoming a regional utopia.

Regional Progression Methods:

Confederation: some regions may have a difficult time gaining new members, as stagnation in growth may occur due to inefficient nation retention or inefficient region advertisement. Another issue for regions may include vulnerability to raiders. This sometimes culminates to regions forming a federal body which meets on a server or puppet region mutually owned by all federation members. The ultimate goal of these federations is, if not openly, to unite all member regions into one body, creating a diverse community owned by a body that keeps checks and balances on its individual parts.This can easily become the way the first regional utopia forms if enough massive regions unite under on government comprised of previous smaller governments’ members.

Growth Through Time: this is the slowest, and least likely way a regional utopia would form since as the site gains more members, the more solidified a sinker region’s position at the top becomes. As of writing this document the largest sinker region is close to hitting 10,000 members.

Growth Through Conquest: vague tales and whispers across the site emerge once every blue moon that if a raider region were to unite all others under the strong leadership of its one government, theoretically a raid on a sinker could be managed through large logistics projects and shear force of will, solidifying the new region’s status as the greatest power in NS. How credible these ideas are to be taken with a massive grain of salt at this point.

Growth Through Innovation: if a region were to dedicate itself mainly to the development of new ideas some overlooked idea, practise, or quirk of the website may reveal itself to be the holy grail to regional Utopia.

Final Statement:

I thank everyone who helped pitch in to make this Anthology a reality. I am glad there are so many people on the site wishing to help further the understanding of others here which tbh is radical, bodacious, tubular even! There's a new puppet storage region called NS Think Tank that has the main goal of publishing and spreading the works of NS political theorists for the sake of spreading ideas. If you wanna help out I'd be happy to meet you via a puppet in the region and establish a website-wide symposium on NationStates politics, regionomics, and any other new fields of study.

Read dispatch

India-kebabistan

NS Political Theory Volume 2, thanks to people telegramming to help out!

page=dispatch/id=1108372

Well...I got rid of the Empire with the Greater Nazi Empire. I guess nobody will be able to confuse my region as being fascist now!

Volume 3, I'll write one more then I'll stop I promise lol

page=dispatch/id=1109404

This is the complete NS Theory Anthology including the final volume: volume 4

NationStates:
Regional Theory and NS Basics

By: The U.D.S.R. and Letskia

“A Specter is haunting NationStates - the specter of Democratikism”
-UDSR

Introduction:

Nationstates has many ideologies: from Communism to Capitalism, Anarchism to Fascism; Monarchists, Socialists, Inoffensive Centrist Democracies, Father Knows Best States, Psychotic Dictatorships, and everything in between. However, these ideologies are but the political beliefs of single nations. Regions, on the other hand, by their very nature work differently. You can find regions housing both leftists and the far right with minimal tensions in some instances because even though worldly political theory is fun to discuss those views have no real meaning on a regional level. Yes, regions have some typical characteristics of real world societies, however, ultimately dictatorships are the most secure regional systems within NS, but not objectively the best. The Regional Founder has the authority to do anything they want, total unchecked power and any checks and balances put on them by the regional community are essentially pointless if the founder does not follow them. At the same time, members can at will decide to move to another region or start their very own so such actions by the founder (this is known as Founder’s Syndrome) are not too effective. On the other end of the spectrum you have founderless regions, where executive power is given to the World Assembly Delegate: an elected position. These regions specifically are susceptible to other regions sending over their members en masse to execute a coup d’etate. These coup attempts are referred to as raiding. With all this being said, there are a few regional administrative systems that have been developed over the years. This paper will try to identify the unofficial NS political ideologies and try to diagnose what makes an NS region successful.

Basic Terms and Their Meanings:

Founder’s Syndrome: many have experienced young regions full of promise begin to grow, only to have the region to deviate just enough from the founder’s intended purpose to warrant a radical reaction from them. It is in such moments does the founder try to take matters into their own hands to force the region back onto its intended course, causing a mass exodus of members to search for more promising places to call home. Founder’s Syndrome is categorized by the founder justifying unpopular changes with the excuse “because I’m the founder” more often than naught.

Raids: when a group of nations en masse move to a targeted region followed by all members in the group endorsing a designated nation to get them elected as WA delegate. This blitz tactic is most effective when the WA delegate in the targeted region has executive powers, causing the newly endorsed raider nation to have unchecked power over the region allowing them to do as they please.

Raider Region: a region dedicated solely to grow and train new members in the art of raiding, allowing for large experienced groups to form, dedicated to taking over other regions.

WA Delegate: the world assembly delegate has power to vote on WA resolutions, having every endorsement from another nation count as an extra vote which they can use. WA delegates are the only regional officers that can be handed executive power by a regional founder to allow them to help build the foundation for a healthy region.

Regional Ideologies:

Note: as of this paper’s publishing these are the only regional ideologies, many more may have arisen but have not been listed

Foundership: just like dictatorships in the real world, an NS dictatorship sees all executive power in the hands of the regional founder. However, an NS dictatorship has many benefits such as making sure a region is 100% raider proof, having stripped the only mandatory elected position of all powers apart from WA status.

Constitutional Foundership: The Constitutional dictatorship sees executive power held by both the regional founder and WA delegate, having regional power held by both the founder a democratically elected member of the region. This allows for member nations to have a voice by allowing them to elect one of their own into office to enact legislative changes.

Founderless Democracy: some regions may wish to - or have no choice but to - get rid of their founder and hand over executive power solely to their WA delegate. This can be a show of integrity as the law of the land is the people’s will. If members dislike their currently elected executive they can just as easily unendorse them and endorse another for the position.

Officer Autocracy: when a group of officers mutually agree to make a puppet account and use it to create a region. The founder then acts as a puppet for the officers, having every officer hold onto the puppet account password. This way several individuals hold the power in a region instead of one.

Democratikism: the philosophy that a region must balance politics and fun by holding non political discussions alongside civil, Socratic discourses to provide the largest amount of member enjoyment. This is to be done by trying to cause regional membership booms alongside massive, sweeping reforms to put the region on par with other regions of equal size. Constant reform and maintenance is seen as the optimal way to increase activity. A Democratikist region must establish a regional think tank to help promote out of the box thinking.

Regionomics: Use, Practice, Theory, Development

Regionomics refers to the study of regional activity. It tries to solve the issue of having a theoretically unlimited number of regions while having a limited number of NS players. There have been many attempts at creating the optimal system of advertising and holding onto regional members, however no comprehensive theories are known to have been created, or lasted long enough to gain traction.

Popular Regionomics: the majority of regions on NS use telegram stamps to attract newly founded nations. Recruitment telegrams usually have a small paragraph or two outlining the characteristics and events found within the region. Once a nation joins, RP (roleplay) and regular polls are used to keep members interested and, therefore, incentivize them to stay. This is the most basic template for regionomics found across NS with many different additions and amendments made later on in a region’s life.

Advanced Regionomics: the use of a telegram api (a recruitment bot) to send out a constant stream of recruitment telegrams, having one send every three minutes as by NS rules. Alongside the api, the telegram itself is written in point form to catch and hold the attention of either a newly founded or refounded nation. Alongside the popular regionomic practise of having a regional RP, the use of an offsite meme page helps balance serious political discussion with a lighter tone to reach out to a broader audience. This theory’s largest complaint about Political centric regions is that seriousness can get out of hand and sew discontent amongst members by pitting players against others too often to sustain healthy attitudes of others.

Trickle Down Regionomics: The idea of establishing regional embassies with larger regions to promote one’s own region. In theory, members of the larger region would look at the list of embassies and stumble upon an effective enough World Factbook Entry that it would siphon out the larger region’s member count.

Regional Supply And Demand: regional supply and demand refers to content within a region. Unlike economic supply and demand, regional supply and demand works in the complete opposite way. The larger supply of content there is in a region the larger demand there is for said region. The issue is that supply is difficult in increase after a certain point, as content slowly dries up. A region’s first step to increasing content usually begins with either regional polls or roleplay. From there it depends on the officers what they consider to be key within their growing community.

Regional Currency: some regions may wish to focus on telegram stamps as their largest source of advertising, but will find funding an issue in the majority of instances. This is where regional currency comes in, as having in-region rewards tied to a currency which you can both earn and buy through official donations can be an effective way of procuring funding. This is in theory, but in practise it has the same success rate as recruitment telegrams themselves- you may in the end only get 1% of projected funds through this method.

Region Hopping: another NS favourite is region hopping - the practice of sending one or more members of a home region to other regions to promote the prior. It is in most cases looked down upon and it is unknown how effective this tactic is. More research is needed.

Offsite Chat Extension: it is no secret that the NS RMB is not as dynamic as other communication services. This is why many regions opt in to also getting a discord or website of their own. Offsite chats allow for smoother discussions and allow for larger prospects of content supply.

Supply Through Anarchism: even though it has been only considered in theory, if a larger region were to establish their own forum outside of NationStates and allow for content to be solely produced by members instead of relying on officer support to execute such demands, content would be pitted against other regional content through member creation, management, and sponsorship. This way, through competition, the best activities in the region would prosper while the less popular ones abandoned.

Confederation: regions will often pair up with like minded regions to establish confederations, usually characterised by sharing an offsite forum or chat. This, theoretically, is supposed to form closer bonds between regions as well as promote growth for all.

NS Political Theory Volume 2:
The Art of Raiding, Regional Governments,
and Advanced NS Political Theory

By: The UDSR, URHR, Saint Ryvern, and Confedracy

“Centrism of action: an important distinction from centrism of officers.”
- Akarea

Introduction:

To know your enemy is to have a full dossier. To know your ally is to have them first in it. The politics of NationStates ranges from regions solely dedicated to memes all the way to intriguing Realpolitik filled with backstabbing and hidden alliances. Some regions go as far as to create essentially their own version of the FBI or secret services to monitor potential threats or raiding targets. No matter what region you are a part of, raiding will come up in your NS endeavours one way or another. This is why within this volume there will be a deeper look into types of raids and raider tactics that have been taken from first hand raider veteran accounts as well as additions to the previous volume’s political theory.

Regional Categories:

Feeder Region: One of the regions that created regions flow into. They are large by design, as many nations never leave their beginning grounds. They have incredible power on the inter-regional stage.

The Rejected Realms: the land that many spurned nations go to, a region for castaways and rejects that has flourished on the international stage thanks to good management and a steady flow of ejected nations

Lazarus, Balder and Osiris: similar to feeder regions but these are places where refounded nations go. they have a unique regional culture and government and offer many services and opportunities for activities

User-created: this category is the largest category on nationstates, provides many opportunities, but they rise and fall regularly thanks to the inter-dynamic play of regional politics, the lack of a continual source for growth, and inactivity from the few nations that may join

Roleplay-centered: regions like Geopolity and the Commonwealth of Liberty that are founded on the premise for high-quality roleplay, their members often maintain a high quality of writing and frequently post on the forums, RMB, etc

Government-centered: regions that draw their primary source of activity from the regional government structures that original members and founder put in place. The Western Isles is a good example of this type of region

Mixed approach regions: regions that blend roleplay and government. Usually there are factions of members that prefer each type of activity, but there may be regional positions dedicated to roleplay that create an intersection between the two activities

Casual regions: regions created to provide chill atmospheres for people who just want to hang out on NationStates. They do not roleplay or have a government. They're just chill places to relax and maybe have some discussions

Types of Raids in NationStates:

A raid most commonly consists of a group of nations (referred to as raiders) moving to a targeted region en masse and endorsing one of the group’s members to gain WA Delegate status. Since some WA Delegates have executive powers or some other privileges, this allows for the new WA delegate to do as they please. These are the three major type of raids.

Tag Raid: the tag raid consists of executing a coup d’etat within the target region to take control of it long enough to put up a new tag or World Factbook Entry before closing all embassies. This is the most common raid and arguably the most frustrating for smaller targeted regions.

Occupation: it is like the tag raid except the group of raiders stay and take control of the targeted region for as long as they can. These types of raids take a lot of resources as the occupying force needs to hold against other groups, defenders, and locals. This is unless the occupying force decides to ban or eject anyone not with them. Many smaller raider regions refuse to do these kinds of raids.

Stealth Raid: a stealth raid is a long term commitment which takes a raider to infiltrate a region and gain the trust of the locals. The idea is that - if done properly - the raider is placed in a position of power, such as becoming an officer or WA Delegate. These can take mere hours to years depending on the size of the targeted region.

Regional Governments and Government Structures:

Along with regional officers and a WA delegate, regions over the years have come up with interesting new ways to get regional members involved, or flesh out the democratic process. This section looks at the different additions to government structure which regions over the years have established alongside the vanilla positions.

Parliament: most parliaments work by having regional members apply for a position, and depending on the prerequisites, only a select few to almost anyone would be admitted in and allowed to propose new regional laws. If a law gets through parliament it would go through the officers to be approved before becoming law.

Supreme Court: larger regions or inter-regional federations may have supreme courts, where members can become lawyers or attorneys to look over cases such as banning or ejecting other members, or keep an eye on officers to make sure they are doing their jobs.

Regional Military: regional militaries usually consist of establishing a separate region for puppet storage and have members of the military create a puppet nation to store inside of it. This gives regions closure that they have something in place to protect either their region on an ally’s. Federations usually have one unified inter-regional military but some may opt in to having both a federal army and a separate, smaller regional army.

Additions to Volume 1 Political Theory:

Refresher- Democratikism: the philosophy that a region must balance politics and fun by holding non political discussions alongside civil, socratic discourses to provide the largest amount of member enjoyment. This is to be done by trying to cause regional membership booms alongside massive, sweeping reforms to put the region on par with other regions of equal size. Constant reform and maintenance is seen as the optimal way to increase activity. A Democratikist region must establish a regional think tank to help promote out of the box thinking.

Akareanism: nation retention in a region sees it a necessity that officers participate with other members in the region to keep regional cohesion. It points to Democratikism having such good nation retention specifically because it does not segregate the admin from the public.

Regional Unity Theory: as stated by the nation Confedracy, regions filled with like minded people (politically like minded or otherwise) show greater loyalty to the region than ideologically diverse regions. In theory, factions within diverse regions spring up and hold greater loyalty to themselves than the region itself, and therefore, cause instability.

Socratism: the theory that ideologically diverse regions are healthier than regions of one specific ideology, as diverse regions hinder the creation of ideological echo chambers. In theory, diverse regions are ultimately better because each individual will be able to bring something new to the region to help it grow as well as decrease the chance of radicalizing members.

Kachowism: the theory that ultimately the most socially cohesive regions have either a strong presence of, or only, memes to make sure no one leaves over political differences with others. In theory nation retention is maximized by keeping serious discussion to a minimum.

Regional Monarchism: the theory that a strong leader must be in control of the region at all times and that having one sovereign of an inter-regional federation is non-negotiable.

NS Political Theory Volume 3:
Classifications, Letskian Dynamics, and The Region Statement

By: The NS Political Theory Community

“Having a voice for a region is crucial for effective communication.”
- Letskia

Introduction:

Regionomics plays a vital role in a region’s future as it spans the studies of player retention, inter-regional and inner-regional relationships, as well as much more. As regionomics is still young, there is only a handful of theorists who continue to develop its ideas. It all started with the officers from the Democratika discussing different ways that the region could attract new members. The Federation of Letskia, the father of regionomics, had suggested establishing embassies with the sinker and feeder regions, as well as the 10,000 Islands and the Communist Bloc as they had members in the quadruple digits. This was the start of Trickle Down Regionomics. The term trickle down regionomics (and subsequently enough regionomics itself) was coined by myself, the UDSR, jokingly as a response to what I personally found to be a disagreeable idea. However, in the past four days this one off joke had become a fully fledged new study of regions which attracted two other officers to pitch in their own ideas. The purpose of this volume is to, firstly, outline classifications and regional structures; and secondly, to inspire other nations across NationStates to propose and write down their own regionomic theories to ultimately help grow newer, less informed regions.

Final Terms and Classifications:

Catcher Region: a coin termed by Reploid Productions to separate The Rejected Realms from other sinker regions as it has mechanical differences from other sinker regions but is still tagged as one.

Further Additions to Regionomics:

Lardistic Regionomics: a theory proposed by Captain Lard from the region Lardyland which states that regions that heavily encourage aggressive self-promotion tend to gain members quicker, and that regions with more embassies tend to be more popular.

Letskian Dynamics: even though Letskia had first created regionomics, Letskian dynamics is more of a school of thought. Letskian dynamics refers to the study of inter-regional movement and the flow of nations between regions rather than what occurs in any one region. Such as the strategies and techniques that regions use in recruitment telegrams and marketing tactics. This includes push and pull factors, such as RMB activity, albeit a little expanded on how the balance of activity between outsourced methods of communication and the RMB could be achieved, as well as other factors such as regional forum advertising. Letskian dynamics also analyses the perspectives of new nations and how they make their decisions on which regions to join despite their limited understanding of NationStates and what makes regions unique from each other. This further digs deeper into the mindsets of older nations, particularly, refounded nations and how their perspective is radically changed from that of a new nation and how they make their decisions on which region to join; albeit from a more experienced standpoint.

Forum Interactionism: forum interactionism is the study of how the forum coincides with, and influences; the main NationStates website, and vice versa. It is not limited to just looking at the flow of nations, but also how it affects things from regional administrations to roleplay. Forum interactionism also studies independent forums created for specific regions and how that influences the administration and functioning of a region.

The Region Statement Introduction: By the UDSR

As up to this moment, I would like to say that I am done classifying and categorizing terms, ideologies, and theories. Most likely, if need be, I will add finishing touches to any term or philosophies I had accidentally glossed over, but now I am to write about my own theory, as how I believe a region must be run. In the first volume I had essentially declared there no need for terms such as communism, fascism, and so on when speaking of regions. However, after careful deliberation, some noticeable ideologies and practices popped up such as dictatorship, monarchism, democracy, and Anarchism. As any reader can tell by my name; I will, indeed, be trying to create a theory which strives for regional Utopia. For this I will gain much opposition as well as many sympathizers, and I ask for both those that agree and disagree with me to write and publish their own papers on NS political theory as this has been the ultimate goal of these three volumes as well as the final volume to come out: to spur NS political debate and create an atmosphere for Socratic discourse. I will still continue to write NS political theory after this project is completed but in different works, and I will try to establish NationStates’s first ever Think Tank, where anyone interested in philosophy and science merely has to create a puppet and move it to a secure puppet storage region open to all ideologies, so long as individuals behave. However, I am getting ahead of myself and must outline my outlook on a perfect NS region.

Regional Structure:

-The founder should be the sole nation to hold executive status to make sure the threat of raiders if minimized

-The region should get rid of the founder in exchange for an executive WA delegate if the region hits around half the size of the smallest sinker region

-There must be a regional military

-Power should be equal amongst regional officers including the founder. The only exception would be holding executive status for security

-There should at least be an effort made to create a regional, if not an inter-regional, think tank inside or outside the region to discuss philosophy, political science, and regionomics

-There should at least be a meme section or a section of the region or offsite forum to balance out serious discussion with silly discussion

Regionomic Practices:

Never settle on one theory but rely on the best current information out of the think tank or any other credible NS think tank to establish the most active region possible.

Philosophy:

Allegiance to a political ideology region wide may seem like a good unifying factor, but Socratic discourse, empirical evidence, and unity through familiarity I consider to be far better. Division is not inevitable unless due to humans listening to their gut reaction to not change when given new information.

NS Political Theory Volume 4:
Final Additions, Regional Utopia, and Progression Methods

By: The UDSR, and Gullonede

“The development of NS theory is now in the hands of the NS community,
you have nothing to lose but your chains and boundless knowledge to gain”
- The UDSR

Introduction:

This is the final volume of the NS Political theory paper, and soon an abridged dispatch will be made to unify the other volumes. The fate of future NS theory solely now lies in the hands of the NationStates community. I will publish smaller writings in the future, but I presume none will be as noticed; since by the time I begin my in depth analysis of regionomics or regional sociology and anthropology, I hope that bigger regions or greater thinkers will overshadow me and lead NS to the greatest culminating of developed thought it has ever seen. This volume will cover one last definition as proposed by the nation Gullonede as well as explain what a regional Utopia is and why such a goal must be set for all regions to come. Since if a region does not strive to be the best it can be, it will surely fizzle out unspectacularly, and no founder ever wishes to admit to themselves that their goal to create a thriving community will never be met. Such sad truths must be destroyed at the root, through dedication and excitement. If what is left cannot be salvaged by the original leadership, the torch must be passed on to a new generation ready to take on the daunting task. If NS is to grow, it will only do so with the help of the inspired and dedicated.

Classification:

Family Region: a region that won’t accept new members if they are not directly friends or acquainted with the founder.

Regional Utopia:

When people consider Utopia they consider the objectively best society imaginable. This can only be a false definition as everyone has their own views on what utopia looks like. That is why there must first be a settled upon way to quantify “the best” society. Though this may be difficult if not impossible in the real world there is a way to do so in NationStates. With the exception of sinker and feeder regions, the most popular regions on NS can be considered as the best relative to other regions found on the site. Even though their systems may not be perfect, that is not the point of a regional utopia.

When trying to create a regional utopia you are not striving for perfection, but for popularity of your system. If a founder owned region were able to gain more members than the smallest sinker, that region would have groups to call itself a utopia by the NationStates definition as it was able to surpass both all non sinker and feeder regions, but at least one sinker region which was designed specifically to automatically get members without the need for recruitment. In theory, any region could reach such goals as it solely depends on the majority of NS players to deem what is the best region for them.

I do not declare by any means that such an event is likely or will happen anytime soon, what I am stating that it is merely possible and that if regions already strive to get the most amount of members it does not seem silly in the slightest to dream one step further. What will be interesting to see is if any region will fervently pursue such a goal and if the incentive to become the first Utopia class region will push individuals to hypothesize anything that would be put into practise and succeed above all other regional structures.

We right now stand on the edge of what may become considered the end of NS feudalism, and great thinkers will soon be struck by the awe of sophisticated, unique theories the magnitude of which will push to recreate the site into something two years ago, or a year ago would seem unrecognizable. There are a few places to start, for instance, the importance of memes, a strong leader/federation laying down the infrastructure for the next expansive region, or the unrelenting power of ideological unity. From these, the search for regional Utopia must start, and if nations are willing to put the time and effort to usurp the throne of a sinker, perhaps it will be in our nation's’ lifespan that we may see what the website can accomplish. Then again, that was all talk and no substance, and so I will end this off with the different methods a region may reach or come close to reaching the goal of becoming a regional utopia.

Regional Progression Methods:

Confederation: some regions may have a difficult time gaining new members, as stagnation in growth may occur due to inefficient nation retention or inefficient region advertisement. Another issue for regions may include vulnerability to raiders. This sometimes culminates to regions forming a federal body which meets on a server or puppet region mutually owned by all federation members. The ultimate goal of these federations is, if not openly, to unite all member regions into one body, creating a diverse community owned by a body that keeps checks and balances on its individual parts.This can easily become the way the first regional utopia forms if enough massive regions unite under on government comprised of previous smaller governments’ members.

Growth Through Time: this is the slowest, and least likely way a regional utopia would form since as the site gains more members, the more solidified a sinker region’s position at the top becomes. As of writing this document the largest sinker region is close to hitting 10,000 members.

Growth Through Conquest: vague tales and whispers across the site emerge once every blue moon that if a raider region were to unite all others under the strong leadership of its one government, theoretically a raid on a sinker could be managed through large logistics projects and shear force of will, solidifying the new region’s status as the greatest power in NS. How credible these ideas are to be taken with a massive grain of salt at this point.

Growth Through Innovation: if a region were to dedicate itself mainly to the development of new ideas some overlooked idea, practise, or quirk of the website may reveal itself to be the holy grail to regional Utopia.

Final Statement:

I thank everyone who helped pitch in to make this Anthology a reality. I am glad there are so many people on the site wishing to help further the understanding of others here which tbh is radical, bodacious, tubular even! There's a new puppet storage region called NS Think Tank that has the main goal of publishing and spreading the works of NS political theorists for the sake of spreading ideas. If you wanna help out I'd be happy to meet you via a puppet in the region and establish a website-wide symposium on NationStates politics, regionomics, and any other new fields of study.

Read dispatch

The confederate territory

Northern Redlands

Good evening,

As a valued embassy of the Northern Redlands, I would like to bestow upon you all a complimentary copy of the October 2018 edition of the Redlands Reader. Enjoy!

THE REDLANDS READER OCT 2018

by The confederate territory

VOLUME I
ISSUE I
OCTOBER 2018

𝔗𝔥𝔢 ℜ𝔢𝔡𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔰 ℜ𝔢𝔞𝔡𝔢𝔯
The Official Publication of the Northern Redlands

"Glory be to the Northern Redlands!"



REGIONAL NEWS
✯✯✯

COMMUNIST ERBOK TAKES ON THE CONFEDERATE CHALLENGE


The mountain all teams in all heats had to ruck to the top of during the Confederate Challenge.

In order to prepare teams for the upcoming 2nd Annual Fall War Games in Whitetopia2015, The confederate territory hosted the 1st Annual Confederate Challenge. The Confederate Challenge consisted of a 20 mile ruck from a starting point on The Plain to the peak of Mt. Corpyton, a musket shooting lane for accuracy, and then a para-glide back to the starting point. Teams consisted of twelve members. A team was given a NO GO for any injuries, negligent discharges, or para-glider malfunctions encountered. The competition was divided into three different heats based on skill level.

A total of 28 different teams competed in Heat A of the competition, but the Communist erbok team Cyclops took first place with a perfect score of 300, a feat no other team was able to achieve. For this achievement, Communist erbok was awarded REGIONAL COMMENDATION D. Coming in second was The confederate territory's team Beauregard's Few with a score of 290. Followed by Lgbt londontown's team United People's Army with a score of 284, upsetting Yun oouk's SYS Platoon 3 by less than half a point.

"Nothing surprised me quite like this," admitted President Polonius Bedford of The confederate territory. "Why Communist erbok deserved the win. I have work to do on my own team. At least I am not Yun oouk, I would be very embarrassed to be upset by one of the most pacifist nations in this region, Lgbt londontown!"

Supreme Kommander Promethazine, on the other hand, was very pleased with his team's victory. "It feels good to win," the reclusive leader explained. "I wanted to win so much that we would get tired of winning! Now look what happened!" This is the first regional event Communist erbok has ever won, and it surely does act as a testament to the power of Supreme Kommander Promethazine.

As for the B Heat, The confederate territory Men of the Line won it with a score of 296, and the Yun oouk 3rd Ouyak Militia won Heat C with a score of 271. All teams performed to their best abilities and represented their nations well. They can expect this training to pay off, as they know some strengths and weakness to prepare them for the upcoming Fall War Games.
Written by: Communist erbok

REPARATIONS


An old picture of Alabami soldiers training in the jungle.

It has been almost a century since the Great Alabami Cleansing which has defined Jokenation ever since. While Jokenation has worked hard since to make up for the incident by past leader Supreme Kommander Charles Rickston, but Supreme Kommander James Rickston and the Empirical Entente decided it was finally time to act. Supreme Kommander James Rickston allowed Empirean territories in land formerly owned by Alabami to separate from Jokenation and form the new nation of Obichma (pronounced "Oh-bick-mah").

Not all Empireans received this well. "Our leader has got to be out of his mind!" exclaimed Jameel Higgins, a radical fascist now living in Obichma. "I've lived here my whole life and now I am subject to a brand new government that does not represent me, an Empirean."

On the contrary, Alabami-Empireans are ecstatic. Tyreke Quantavius VIII told reporters all about his joy. "Finally, we get the reparations we deserve! My family was torn apart by evil Charles Rickston! I am thankful for his son giving us reparations and our land back!"

King Jim Porcelatraveous, a distant relative of the famous General-Kang Porcelatraveous of Alabami, is Kang of Obichma. Boogah-Ooh, the former capital of Alabami, has also been reestablished as the capital of Obichma. Not only will Obichma be receiving money from the Empirical Entente, but they are also a full member of the alliance and entitled to its protection.

Obichma is already significantly different compared to how Alabami was. Obichma embraces Neo-Empirean values and is reflected in its culture reminiscing of The confederate territory, Jokenation, and Ulrech. Furthermore, Obichma understands that, although democratic socialism sounds good, it will never, ever, work. Obichma stands against the socialist globalists of the Northern Redlands.
Written by: Obichma

EMPIRICAL REFORMATION


Ulrech wrote:From the progress I’ve seen by all EE members I think we’re moving into somewhat of a golden age for the alliance

The new logo and structure of the EE signals heavy change in the controversial alliance.

The Empirical Entente has often been regarded as the alliance of fascism and genocide in the Northern Redlands. However, much reform has come to the Empirical Entente since its founding after Supreme Kommander Charles Rickston of Jokenation kneeled down to the mighty High King Varus of Ulrech. More reform to the alliance has come this month, decades after the original creation of the alliance.

High King Varus of Ulrech was elected to formally lead the alliance, which had previously been a triumvirate between leaders of Ulrech, The confederate territory, and Jokenation. This change reflects upon the inner democracy of the alliance, giving the member nations a say in how their alliance is ran. Furthermore, President Polonius Bedford of The confederate territory was appointed Executive Officer, taking charge of the newly-appointed staff of the Empirical Entente.

The reformed Empirical Entente has already been hard at work. Putzmannschaft Commander Supreme Kommander Promethazine of Communist erbok established the Fair Contribution Policy outlining expectations of defense support by member nations. Wirtschaftsbüro Commander King HH Gregg established a new set of Economic Standards placing regulations on tariffs and free trade in order to better fund the alliance. The Empirical Entente also welcomes the membership of Romano neo, Trescruces, and Moultrie.

This reform to the Empirical Entente supplements the establishment of Fort Silvo, named after the honorable leader of Dunstrum. Fort Silvo encompasses a total area of 227,383 sq miles, making it larger than some nations in the Northern Redlands. Its space and location allows for the Putzmannschaft to conduct large scale training close to adverse nations, making it a very useful tool for the alliance to use in order to display military strength.
Written by: The confederate territory

ECONOMIC ADVANCEMENT: FFYD

In response to the Empirical Entente's new tariffs as well as an excess of economic stagnation in the Northern Redlands, leaders from the nations Fereria, The republic of ferrum, Yun oouk, and The dealerian empire have all discussed the possibility of an economic union between them. Unofficially coined "FFYD" (pronounced "fid") by Fererian economists, the union would focus entirely on open trade and benefiting the nations involved through improvement of trade routes between them and less restrictions in trade. Although planned out long ago, FFYD is finally coming to fruition, all starting at a summit in Yunei, Yun oouk soon, which will discuss the final terms for the treaty that will put FFYD into action. Other nations that are formally invited to the summit in Yunei despite having no involvement in the original planning of the summit are Ulrech, Vlastince, and Joponio. If FFYD is enacted, it should not interfere with any military alliances, as it is purely meant to be an economic union.
Written by: Yun oouk

TOP TEN NATIONS: ARMS MANUFACTURING

This month, we will be taking a gaze upon a critical category in the Northern Redlands. Often it is argued who has the best weapons, who sells the best weapons, and who sells the most weapons. Sales of weapons determines the success of the Arms Manufacturing Industry, which is effectively measured by the Charon Conveyancy Index. Do note that the Charon Conveyancy Index is measured in the local currency of a specific nation. Therefore, these results are to be taken with a grain of salt as the actual inflated value of the currencies are not accounted for.


A factory of IrwinCorp, Ltd. in Fort Parv, Jokenation.

Top 10 Arms Manufacturing Sectors:
  1. Jokenation - 32,226.33

  2. The second empire of gilmor - 31,295.98

  3. Eskibon - 28,574.85

  4. Dunstrum - 27,150.81

  5. Fereria - 27,067.51

  6. Romano neo - 26,316.95

  7. Communist erbok - 25,915.14

  8. Authoritekkia - 24,454.60

  9. Hell enterprises - 23,248.15

  10. Gryaznaya - 21,738.25

Written by: Hh greggland

NATIONAL NEWS
✯✯✯

A NEW BEGINNING


Petr Nowak during his press conference in Yunei, promising justice for Warwick's victims without losing sight of Shadistani's nationalist values.

Shadistani is a small Yunnish nation in Northern Redlands with a harrowing past. Despite decades crying for sovereignty and independence, the Shadistanis were often perceived as the villains, whether they desired a villainous reputation or not. The vast majority of the region could care less for the Shadistani people then, but the rise of the Warwicks had them in a sunken place with the international community.

Red historians revealed that Razor Warwick held major contempt for The reddington states and its allies. He was a totalitarian fascist who was jeered by members of Reddington's parliament, many of whom were independent-thinking libertarians. Warwick remained silent on his attack of Rubrum and the genocide of the Nodes. When he rose to power, he initiated another genocide through a nuclear electromagnetic pulse. Over half of the Red population was wiped out, and the survivors were forced to rebuild the north. It required the intervention of Stratarian killbots to cease the genocide. Warwick finally met his maker when he sent one of his soldiers to the Yunnish World Fair, where the soldier raped a political prisoner in front of the world leaders. Schnoidland and the Federal Axis invaded New shadiland in retaliation, but it was the Chuphstani rebels of the Spartan-occupied west that ended Warwick.

Rodney Warwick, the young son of Razor Warwick, manipulated the Shadistanis to serve him unjustly. He scapegoated Eastlandian director Dodge Whitlock and accused him of killing New shadiland's then-president Pavlo Agnew. He purposefully physically and verbally abused his citizens, especially the unemployed and the hungry, most of whom were slum dwellers from the City of God, a massive slum Warwick set out to destroy. His idea of a capitalist utopia killed over a hundred thousand civilians and numerous major political figures, including the runaway empress of Joponio. These acts, along with his revealed brutality against people who were close to him, contributed to Shadistani's unfortunate record.

On Friday afternoon, the Shadistanis were given the opportunity to vote on a regional minister, with, of course, the supervision of Yunnish parliament. Five candidates with different backgrounds entered the spotlight in the past few weeks. Many believed that Abbey Thomas, a 31-year-old Ulrechian women who was initially destined to run as Libre Abitre's regional minister, would win the Spartan election. The other candidates included Petr Nowak, Yahr Antonik, Albert Montgomery, and Gerta Janikowski. When the votes were manually counted, members of Yunnish parliament declared Nowak victorious over Thomas by three votes. There were several major reasons to his victory over the other candidates.

Last week, Petr Nowak held a press conference hoping to ease the controversy revolving around his stance on torture and the death penalty. Nowak stated that the Spartan government should be given the sufficient tools to crack down and prosecute pro-Warwick Spartan officers. He additionally promised to collaborate with the Alliance of Nations to cease all human rights violations; the Alliance of Nations was well-known for being the most outspoken about the Warwicks. Overall, he was the candidate best known for speaking against the Warwicks' human rights abuses. On the other hand, Thomas promised a technological revolution comparable to that of Yun oouk's industrialization, and Nowak admittedly agreed with her on a modernization phase. This may have ruined Thomas's chances of becoming regional minister, seeing as the citizens of Shadistani viewed her as a Federal Axian clone. Several telegrams by High King Varus and the Ulrechian government helped to increase support for Nowak around the world.

With Petr Nowak as the imminent regional minister, he invited Thomas and Montgomery to a dinner on him. Reporters, who secretly recorded the political discussions they held at the dinner table, reported that Nowak was open to any policies that would help move Shadistani forward, as long as he was able to bolster the Spartan Armada without parliament intervention. Thomas confessed her fear of Yahr Antonik's seize of Spartan power; Antonik recently made a controversial statement criticizing Thomas as a potential leader. In response, Nowak discussed how the Spartans would undergo major re-training and mental stability tests. Spartans unwilling to adapt to Nowak's anti-Warwick tactics would be prosecuted by the extent of the law, as well as stripped of their military duties. Petr Nowak wants Shadistani to improve in every aspect. It only happens that he wants the rapid expansion of the Spartan army first and foremost.
Written by: Shadistani

SACRIFICING FREEDOMS FOR STRENGTH

Dodge Whitlock, director of Fort eastland's military operations, has made several steps to improving his soldiers' health, intelligence, and overall development. He enacted a ban on biological reproduction, smoking, and alcohol. Soldiers will have no say in the medical use of their bodies after death. Criminals may be at risk of facing the death penalty, and all soldiers must follow national curfew. Eastlandian soldiers are administered an under-the-skin identification chip so that leaders are fully knowledgeable of their whereabouts. Whitlock is also seeking an end to euthanasia, believing that soldiers must be given an opportunity to live, rather than an opportunity to contemplate suicide. At a time when the strength of the region's alliances are becoming more essential than ever, Whitlock has continually made the right decisions.
Written by: Novum vallis

SEEKING JUSTICE IN NEW MOONISTAN


Citizens in New moonistan protest against Dunstrum occupation.

The infamous leader of New moonistan, President Mason Moonman, continues to hide in a cave deep within the mountains of New moonistan. Despite this, Dunstrum's valiant soldiers continue to look for him and other government officers in hiding throughout the nation, hoping to bring them to justice for the praising of the slaughter of innocent civilians.

Dozens of Dunstrum's citizens were brutally murdered by the 1488th Elite Infantry Regiment following the crash of Flight 1337. After the soldiers killed the civilians, they began to consume their body parts and drink their blood. Whereas the world was disgusted by it, President Mason Moonman had decided to grant Medals of Honor to those who engaged in the attack.

However, it is reported that President Mason Moonman has been collaborating with officers in Jokenation to rile up civilians against the Dunstrum forces currently deployed to New moonistan.

"Yeah, we gotta remove the Dunstrum invaders because we gotta secure our government, our way of life, and our race. I would rather die trying!" shouts citizen Hans Grimmlich of Orwenburg, New moonistan. While it is unconfirmed if Jokenation operatives are working in the region, it remains true that there is a general anti-Dunstrum influence working on the populations of New moonistan's towns and cities.

Dunstrum remains alert, ready to do something.

"This is cannibalism! This isn't some new counterculture or something... This is cannibalism, and it is repulsive! I am thankful my nation is standing up against this!" cries citizen Dan Pollubsk of Dunstrum. "I implore you to do something. Bring it up to your nation's leadership. We must do something to prevent these types of tragedies!" Despite his efforts, only the nation of Dunstrum has stood up against the wrongdoing of the official government of New moonistan.
Written by: New moonistan

ELECTION IN DUNSTRUM

An election is soon to commence in Dunstrum. This election, which had been continually postponed due to the Catastrophe, has finally had a definite deadline set.

Czanek Silvo, the current president of Dunstrum, has expressed enthusiasm for the coming election, stating “Elections are key for any free nation, as they ensure the leaders of the nation are still representing the will of the people, and any poor representatives are replaced with new ones.

Previous elections since Czanek's first term have been notably one-sided, as President Silvo has routinely won the elections based on his promises to keep Dunstrum safe from the Empirical Entente, among other threats. Other potential candidates didn't really have the reputation, the resources, or the support of the people to realistically beat him. However, ever since the Catastrophe, several cities in Dunstrum have effectively become their own miniature nations, and now several of those cities' leaders are preparing to run against President Silvo in the next election. Among them are Grand Ascendent Angelina, the cyborg director of City 101, High Priest Jordan, who's taken control of the small county of Usil, and Mr. Footwel, the "mayor" of the city of Footwel. It is not entirely known what the strategies of the new candidates will be, but considering the recent accusations against Silvo's rhetoric, and Dunstrum's recent partnership with the FA, it is safe to say that this election will be a interesting one. Also, one of the malfunctioning J1M News bots is also running.
Written by: Dunstrum

THE FORREST PELLET

In Obichma, James Pulaski of The confederate territory led a team to develop the Forrest pellet, a new psychological weapon that invokes a sense of impending doom on its subjects. James Pulaski, a few days later, flew back to Corpyton, BD, The confederate territory where he arranged for his company, the Corpyton Chemical Corporation, to manufacture the chemical concoction in masses.

"We must create a crap ton of this stuff!" exclaimed James Pulaski. "It is humane, temporary in its effects, cheap, and effective. Our military will be strengthened by it!"

Although many Confederates question the humanity of the Forrest pellet, it does make a better alternative to the physical pain of warfare by conventional reasons. Although President Polonius Bedford himself is worried, he fears not as he trusts James Pulaski.

President Polonius Bedford told reporters, "Yeah I trust him. He is a great guy and certainly he has the right idea. Let's just hope the recipe does not get leaked anywhere... Last thing we need is for New moonistan or like nations to get a hold of it."

Indeed, it would be bad for another nation to get a hold of the chemical. It should be noted that the chemical works in very low doses as low as 100 micrograms, but is unstable. When exposed air for long periods of time or after immediate exposure to water, the chemical breaks down. There is no known antidote, but researchers have used tranquilizers to put subjects to sleep so they could not kill themselves. The effects last anywhere from 5 to 12 hours depending on the dose received. More information is available here.
Written by: The confederate territory

[size=220]PERSPECTIVES
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A VISIT TO NOVUM VALLIS


The wondrous haven of Lux Aeterna, Novum vallis.

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to embark out to Novum vallis, one of the head nations of the Federal Axis, in order to engage in business. Say I must, it was marvelously beautiful. Simply stating the nation has the 4th best environment in the region does not do Novum vallis a speck of justice. I had to frolic throughout the parks, hike long trails, and walk along the northern beaches to truly take it in. Aside from enjoying nature, I traveled to the capital city at Lux Aeterna. There I was able to take in the culture of the city. It is apparent that this was a well kept city; the streets were clean, the people were happy and cheerful, and the culture was unique. Interested in this high quality of life, once I returned to Hh greggland, I immediately conducted some research on the nation as to what makes it so great.

To my astonishment, Novum vallis boasts the second largest government in the Northern Redlands. Additionally, the citizens of Novum vallis pay an insanely large average income tax of 92.9%. However, this grants the government room to be able to provide services such as universal healthcare and paid maternity leave to its citizens as well as funding other areas to improve the quality of life such as by funding welfare, education, healthcare, and defense forces. Such improvements towards the quality of life are reflected in Novum vallis's average lifespan of 91.04 years and human development index value of 94.46.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Novum vallis and look forward to visiting again in the future, I am glad I do not live there. Sure, the benefits definitely do exist, but to my dismay I also discovered that Novum vallis places ID chips into their citizens at birth. This is quite alarming because that is an infringement upon civil liberties and privacy. There also are instances of surges in emotion causing such ID chips to explode in nations like Jokenation, leading to the policy being revoked. Furthermore, the high taxation would go towards many services that simply would not benefit me, yet I would still be paying for, which really turns me off. Still, Novum vallis is a beautiful and remarkable nation that I dearly recommend visiting.
Written by: Hh greggland

PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT

The environment is not only important, but it is all that we have. Jokenation boasts the largest land area of all nations, meaning it is the most responsible for protecting the environment, yet throughout history, Jokenation has been awful at it.

I firmly believe that the biggest reason as to why Jokenation has had such a shoddy environment historically is the lack of awareness of it or how supporting it can improve a nation. Throughout its history, Jokenation began at having almost no pounds of wildlife per square mile. Under the leadership of Supreme Kommander James Rickston, Jokenation now boasts well over 1,000 pounds of wildlife per square mile, a number that continues to grow.

Contrary to public belief, funding the environment can improve the economy. It also increases tourism, average income, human development, health, and lifespan. Many criticized Supreme Kommander James Rickston's Ecofascist policies, but they have paid off in the Empire and are motivating the rest of the Empirical Entente to follow suit, joining the ranks of quality Federal Axis nations that have already prioritized their environments. In fact, it would not be unreasonable to claim that Jokenation's rising in the Redlands Ranker can be attributed towards the refocus on prioritizing the environment, as its benefits are weighed highly on the ranker.

"We must secure the existence of our environment and a future for Empirean nature," Supreme Kommander James Rickston told reporters. "Now if you mind me not, I have a date to attend to!" Not only is he good-hearted with the ladies, he is also good-hearted with supporting the environment of the region's largest nation.
Written by: Jokenation

REMEMBERING THE HERO OF THE CONFEDERACY


Where is great Beauregard, our general?

It appears the Northern Redlands has forgotten about the greatest leader in its history: General Beauregard of The confederate territory. Regarded in The confederate territory as the Father of the Confederacy, it appears as if his legacy has slipped the mind of the rest of the region.

The confederate territory was originally a part of the Reddington Empire. When the territory decided to secede from the Empire, many officers in the Reddington Empire's military were split. They either had to defend their homeland, or defend their nation. Private Beauregard, a member of the Reddington Empire military was one such leader that flipped to the Confederate side. After all, he had grown up just outside of Corpyton. Fighting with the Confederates, he rose quickly in the ranks, becoming a general in the Confederate Army by the end of the war.

General Beauregard was instrumental in the Battle of Corpyton where he and his platoon killed an entire battalion of invading Reds. After the Reddington Empire surrendered to the Confederates, General Beauregard was voted leader by the people of the new nation. He gave birth to The confederate territory.

Throughout his rule, he continued to serve in the military, often fighting on the ground with his men. He defended Southwest bushfort in Operation: Liberation where his and allied nations came in aid to overthrow the Gaddafi regime in the nation, replacing him with Jefferson Davis to improve the nation. He defended Southwest bushfort again during War In The North II when it was attacked by The reddington states who meant to nuke Northeast hedgefort. After the war, General Beauregard aided the Bushfortians as they migrated from their irradiated homeland to unclaimed territory west of The confederate territory. Later into his rule over The confederate territory, he rode bears through the wilderness of Eskibon while the region thought he was dead, and defeated the fascist Affiliated Forces of Jokenation, Tartom, and Communist erbok in the Legion War. He eventually died of medical complications and old age. His death was mourned across the Northern Redlands.

Aside from his colossal role in regional peacekeeping, humanitarian operations, and leadership, he also lead The confederate territory when it ranked #1 in the region, boasting the largest defense forces, development, lifespan, scientific advancement, public transport, and many others before the unity and rise of Federal Axis powers. General Beauregard's policies were progressive for the time he was alive in and motivated nations all over the region to improve their nations in order to beat him in the rankings.

Under his rule, he established a Northern Redlands Cartography Committee in charge of mapping out the region. He also developed a system of regional awards to award member nations. These awards are still used today and are still being created. He also created the first alliance, 1CAFT, which paved the way for the future of alliances in the Northern Redlands. His alliances operated under doctrine and all nations respected the terms of the alliance. Similar doctrine is present in the structure of modern alliances and even the region itself. Whether nations of the Northern Redlands recognize it or not, General Beauregard had a huge influence on the history of the region and its structure. Without a doubt, he was the most benevolent leader the Northern Redlands has ever had.
Written by: The confederate territory

WORKING TOGETHER TO STRIVE FOR BETTER

The Empirical Entente officially declared that its purpose was to protect member nations from "evil globalists uniting and conspiring to strip nations of their sovereignties". I didn't see how making such an outrageous statement was necessary, because in reality, its rival alliance, the Federal Axis, and the Alliance of Nations to a smaller extent, could care less about what their member nations do to their citizens. What the rest of the world outside the Empirical Entente fears is their potential attempts to stomp on the sovereignty of non-member nations. In a nutshell, the same alliance complaining about other nations conspiring to strip them of their so-called "sovereignties" is threatening to strip nations of their ability to protect themselves from foreign attacks. This is quite evident with the recent declaration that The second empire of gilmor would defend its citizens abroad, even if they have committed crimes in foreign nations.

Nero Ennodius, a young leader from Novum vallis but a close friend of mine, wrote the first provision of his own doctrine, which led to our organization's reputation of being "globalist" and "elitist". I'll have the critic, the Empirical Entente, know that they do pose a threat to the region, whether or not they're destructive to specific races, ethnicities, or genders. Any alliance whose power is unchecked is prone to creating preventable global disasters. While I understand that information needs to be disclosed with the international community, and that most nations want to express freedom of association, it's understandable why such a doctrine is necessary. The point of the doctrine is to collectively counterattack future threats from a powerful yet controversial alliance such as the Empirical Entente. A strong fire must be fought with a stronger fire. However, that is not why I've decided to write this hit-piece.

Although the Empirical Entente has a tendency to assume things that don't turn out true, as a leader in the Federal Axis, I have to unfortunately admit that the Federal Axis shares this issue. I was initially angry when James Rickston rose to power in Kellnoogers and eventually Jokenation, given the history of his relatives. However, it turns out he was the best thing to happen to the Empireans since the invention of tea. Jokenation is finally a top twenty-five nation with a highly developed populace. He's a Rickston who, unlike his relatives, believes in the rights and liberties of all, not just the white natives. The Federal Axis also quickly assumed that Ulrech formed the Empirical Entente with The confederate territory to form an alliance with militant fascists, but zero genocides or tragedies of a significant death toll have occurred since its formation.

Regarding the Alliance of Nations' issue with quickly assuming the negative, is it really necessary to bring up the obvious?

The major problem facing this region is that every alliance only sees the differences and not the similarities. We only perceive what we believe our "enemies" would do to us instead of perceiving what we have in common with others. Does anyone in the world want to be world policing the entire region? Nobody does, including Dunstrum. Interventionism should only come in a time like genocide, or if an ally is threatened by a darker force; most of us, if not all of us, agree with this. Does anyone in the world want others to think the same way they do? Of course, but if they don't like progressive or conservative ideals, then it's their inalienable right. To call one or the other "fascist" or "globalist" is both intellectually dishonest and damaging to one's reputation. To make it short for those who still don't understand, most of us believe nations should let go and let God. A man like Charles Rickston, Razor Warwick, or Abram Albotti may never rise to power ever again. It's proven in the recent election in Shadistani, where even though we disagreed between Abbey Thomas and Petr Nowak, we unanimously believed to vote against Yahr Antonik, the clear fascist among the candidates for regional minister.

Now, we face a terrorist threat in the Libertas and the Levante. I haven't heard from the Levante, but the Libertas have forced Rahowa into a state of emergency, bombing their capital and gunning down their beloved leader. Stratarian reportedly sent killbots on the way to taking the terrorists down one by one. Now do you agree with me when I say that these terrorists need to be cracked down? I'd hope so. Let's work together to create a better future: a future free of terrorism and nuclear apocalypse.
Written by: Lgbt londontown

UNPROFESSIONALISM IN THE EE


Seriously, who would date this guy? I'd cry too if I were that ugly.

It's ironic, the Empirical Entente is trying to rebrand itself with a new sense of professionalism, yet at their press conference, they overstep their boundaries in their responses. For starters, President Polonius Bedford and High King Varus disagreed with each other on a multitude of answers, making each other look bad. But it gets worse, such as when the two leaders were forced to discuss the founding of the Empirical Entente and why they admit controversial nations.

"I’ll be honest," proclaimed the High King, "The EE was founded based on my selfish intentions of being the most powerful leader in the world." This truly exposes the Empirical Entente for what it is, a means of power to exert fascist ideology on the rest of the Northern Redlands. Normally I would be okay with this, but they cucked on their beliefs and are now promoting this nonsensical ideology of democracy. Before you stop reading, consider the fact that President Polonius Bedford even admits that democracy will not work.

In regards to Supreme Kommander James Rickston, President Polonius Bedford states, "I know him personally. He'd make Jokenation a democracy, but he feels that if Jokenation becomes a democracy, people will vote for it to become an autocracy, like what happens in Dunstrum." The reason he states this is because it is true; democracy will always fail and lead to autocracy. Therefore, why fight it in the first place? It's time we all say yes to autocracy. Supreme Kommander James Rickston is doing the right thing, holding onto his authoritarian power in order to provide his citizens with civil liberties. It only gets better once the next dictator takes them away.

To add to the unprofessionalism, President Polonius Bedford mentioned the love life of Supreme Kommander James Rickston and how much he cried after his failed Grindr date. President Bedford even went as far to suggest that Supreme Kommander James Rickston is not gay. I don't know about that, buddy, especially with his recent policies abolishing discrimination by sexuality, thus granting gays more rights than ever in Jokenation. And then after stating that, President Bedford pissed himself and scurried away. How unprofessional. The Empirical Entente still has reform to do it, and it starts with how its leadership acts, especially in front of large crowds like this press conference.
Written by: Shekelstein land

GUN CONTROL? IS IT GOOD?


Gun control is a very controversial topic in Kurconterio

Around the nation, people proclaim about the wonders of gun control. In the city of San Anzaldo, we interviewed citizens to hear their opinions on the controversial issue plaguing the country. Below are questions asked and their corresponding answers from different, anonymous citizens.

First, we asked citizens, "do you support gun control?" Here are the responses:

"Yeah, uhm, I like it!"

"Gun control... Hmmm... Yeah, our nation needs more of that."

"Oh definitely! It will help make sure criminals don't get no guns!"

After seeing a majority of yes responses, our team asked them to explain why.

"Because uh you know, it will stop crime!"

"My children cannot even go to school without fears of being shot! We must ban all guns!"

"Lots of crazy people out there that just don't need guns."

We then brought up a counterpoint. "Well the Empirean fascists ruling in Alabami took guns away from the citizens in the nation. Do you think allowing them to have guns could've prevented this tragedy?" Many people changed their minds.

"Oh well of course, but you can trust the government nowadays, so people don't need them."

"I don't think it could have stopped em. Jokenation was and is too strong."

"Yes it would've stopped them. I change my mind. We need guns!"

I must conclude that people in Kurconterio recognize that there may be some value in having guns, but they mostly support gun control measures. Many of them, however, fall under the trap of vague, meaningless explanations that sound good but never work in practice. Criminals will always get guns or use a different type of weapon in place. Never let your guard down. Never let the government trample on your rights.
Written by: Kurconterio

SOCIALIST LIBERTARIANISM IN ACAPULCA

I've been proud to call myself a social and economic libertarian. I've believed my entire life, especially as a young adult, that the government's only real power should be to protect the lives, liberties, and pursuits of happiness of its citizens. Social and economic liberalization is necessary for an insouciant populace. I made these political stances very clear to my strongly socialist father, Keithrow Griffiths. Our political contrasts kept us from being close to each other. We don't see each other eye to eye as father and daughter. Many of his ideals were very left-leaning and, in the nicest way possible, pipe dreams. His speeches about how "socialism was the solution to the world's problems" was embarassing. It made it difficult for me to admit that I was his daughter.

I went on a trip to Charleotopia where I encountered a Spartan; his name was Zebediah Ruback. He and I discussed the apparent decline of nationalism in favor of inclusiveness and diversity. I didn't agree with that; I think it's best to leave people alone--as long as they aren't hurting anyone. Zebediah agreed with me on the idea that there should always be a possibility of privatization in every proposed policy, so there's that. He told me we could be friends since we intellectually disagreed on a few things but shared similarities on numerous other issues. Zebediah offered me a car ride to Gread rike, where, according to him, the military he served for would finally punish war criminals. What I failed to realize was that they weren't war criminals, they were prisoners of war. Chuphshahstan lost its western territory to present-day Shadistani, and many of the surviving soldiers were prosecuted. Many of them were crying for their lives during my stay in Gread Rike, and in the end the Spartans led by Zebediah ended their misery. Nothing about this changed my mind; rather it proved the idea that nations should be against the death penalty--that they should be against torture. It was excruciating to watch.

Libertarians held a controversial stance on consent, but it made perfect sense. As long as she said "yes", the partner could legally perform sexual intercourse with her. I dress very conservatively and refused to dress in skimpy outfits exposing my physical characteristics. Five days after we left Gread Rike, Zebediah complimented my face. He told me, "You have a beautiful name and a beautiful face." I thanked him, and then he proceeded to ask me, "Were you always interested in sexual liberation?" It took me a few minutes to answer that; I initially told him "I don't know" but ultimately said, "Sure, I guess."

We were at the World Fair in Yun oouk, but before the event, we stayed at a hotel in Downtown Yunei. He was no longer in his armor, and he was with his other friends, all of whom were men. They complimented my appearance; one of them even admitted, "She is perfect for the job." I was unaware of what job Zebediah's friends were referring to. The next day, Zebediah left me with another soldier, who stood by him the other night. He ordered me to dress in a white tank top and beige shorts, and then he asked, "Are you ready for this?" I answered yes because I was a gullible fool. Everytime he acted sexually towards me, he asked if I felt sexually liberated yet. Each time I admitted that we were "getting closer to 'it'". He handcuffed me and undressed me in a corner so that all the world leaders wouldn't see me. Several minutes later, he did 'it'. I felt a painful sensation all over me and was rushed to a nearby hospital. When I was in the emergency room, I suddenly realized that they were morally corrupted soldiers with a lust for younger, more vulnerable women; and they saw me as a victim. Leaving the emergency room several weeks later, I wanted to see if there were anymore people like them in the world.

Unfortunately, my suspicions were correct. There are leaders and militaries in the region who take advantage of the capitalist system to pursue their psychotic gains. The Spartans didn't believe they were raping me because I was blindly nodding my head to every question they were asking. Consider this a poor comparison, but it was much like the rich claiming to not steal from the poor because the government barely taxed them. In the Warwick-era of Shadistani, citizens were taxed under twenty percent and yet, they were often discriminated, abused, and quite frequently even outright murdered. In Excersize balls, the rich stripped the poor of any welfare and aid, keeping the poor poorer as the wealthy profited millions out of their suffering. When the International Inquirer, who owns the Redlands Reader, reported that the Ballsian president released a convicted rapist over the lack of evidence, many leaders--particularly left-libertarian ones--were furious. I asked the Federal Axis, who were known for their highly developed societies, if I could join them in their meeting to discuss Harley Epstein, the so-called rapist, and they said, "Sure, why not?" They accepted me because they probably knew about my political differences with my father, who they've disliked.

During the meeting, Nikolas Palowski appeared on-screen. The Londontown prime minister, Richard Stuart, exchanged some heated words towards him. Many of the world leaders joined him in implementing economic sanctions on Excersize Balls, but all of them agreed to outright ban Harley. Harley was revealed to be a corrupt corporate businessman who violated civil liberties to make a profit. He profited out of human exploitation and rape and may have profited out of the trial alone. Excersize Balls was a disturbing country with immoral ideas, but I was too blind to see it. When I thought of capitalist paradises I thought of The reddington states, The confederate territory, and Schnoidland, but Excersize Balls followed the very principles I once stood for. I decided to leave the meeting on a sour note, admitting to my father that despite all of his rabble-rousing, he wasn't entirely wrong.

As you grow older, your perceptions of reality drastically change. All of the sudden I've went from being a libertarian to someone who believes that even a hint of socialism is necessary. Many democratic socialist nations, like Lgbt londontown and Novo marco, were generally very happy. They also scored high marks for safety, public services, human development--the list goes on. More importantly, however, they never had a "wage gap" issue. And in my first days of leadership, I got rid of the artificially intelligent central economy that my father established. Many people struggled to find jobs because they were hired by the public sector, so David Frederick, a close friend of my father's and a hired interim for Dunstrum, told me to restore the centrally-planned economy where it initially stood. I disliked that I had to do act against my principles, but the parliament gave me no choice. I continued to take the economically-free route every chance that I got, and unsurprisingly, it increased the employment rates in the nation undergoing reconstruction, which are now at eighty-seven. I connected the dots and realized that my father was right all along.

There can only be peace in this region by working for the people and not ourselves. We must think of the greater good when legislating policy. Crime, death, and injustice can be solved solely through tackling wealth inequality. These ideas are what make Acapulca the safest, least corrupt, and most employed nation in Northern Redlands. At the same time, the government should protect civil rights and civil liberties for all. The non-aggression libertarian principle, liberal protection of civil rights, and an economy built for all hierarchies go hand in hand in creating the ideal society in Northern Redlands.
Written by: Acapulca

COMIC RELIEF
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CONTACT THE EDITOR:

The confederate territory
Delegate, Founder
The Northern Redlands

Read dispatch

Glory be to the Northern Redlands,

The confederate territory
Executive Officer
Empirical Entente
Founder, Delegate
Northern Redlands

India-kebabistan

Our almighty Imperial conquistadors have crushed the undead plague and restored order to the Imperial Union of Allied States.
Honor and glory awaits them.

Earthbound immortal squad

Christmas

*Puts the pumpkin on the compost heap. Picks up the candy wrappers that the kids left behind. Puts the face-paint stained bathroom towel in the washing machine. Mops up the brains that the zombies spilled.*

*Sighs. Then smiles.*

Halloween over. Time to get ready for CHRISTMAS!

Christmas preparations 2018

by Earthbound immortal squad

Ho, ho, ho! With Hallowe'en over, you'll be turning your thoughts to Christmas! Of course, the little elves have been thinking about it all year, busy making preparations. But we still need a little assistance. Could you be Santa's little helper?

Do you know any good girls or boys that deserve special recognition? If you believe a nation or region you know has made a real difference to NationStates this year, please contact Little St Nick with the name and a few words of why they deserve to be on Santa's Nice List.

Be part of our countdown to Christmas! Send Little St Nick a link to a suitable picture, and we'll put it in our advent calendar. Like last year, each picture will also be flown as a flag above our region for a day.

Saving the most delicious ideas until last - New this year is our Christmas Cookbook. Whether you choose a traditional Christmas pudding, or new sprout dishes, we are interested in hearing your best recipes, and GoodKingWenceslas would like to hear them. So bring us some figgy pudding, and bring it right here.

We'll be bringing you more festive events as the big day gets closer. Merry Christmas!

Also co-authored by Little St Nick and GoodKingWenceslas

Read factbook

India-kebabistan

Read All About It! This Week:

- There's Discord in The Rejected Times

Casino Games at The Sands
Who Would Win? Find out in these weekly polls

And get ready for Christmas!
Do you know any good girls or boys that deserve to be on Santa's Nice List?
Christmas countdown - contribute to the Advent Calendar.
Cook up some magic for the Cookbook!

New poll in Gypsy Lands.

Strawberry pancakes for all who vote.

Hello, I am Prime Minister Austin E. of the Queendom of Nyx.
This is not a recruitment or "stealing members" message, even though I dont know exactly how you "steal" people from another region, I hope you will be able to read this message. But anyways thats besides the point. I am here today to let you know of our presence not just on the game but in real life, see, The Queendom of Nyx is a real life nation declaring indpendence from the United States of America, we plan to anyway. Our nation at the moment has the neccesary requirements to become a nation except one, land. Our nation's very low tax system and the two businesses we have are making our economy grow, trying to save up for our future island known as McLean island, a 1200 acre island located between the states of Missouri and Tennessee. At the moment our nation is only 0.98 acres big mostly scattered properties. Instead of boring you with our nation's history by me, you can see for yourself in our factbooks on this game. We use this game for document filing and editing and we use this for aquiring potential citizens to become part of our country. We do not care about race, sex, creed, faith and other things that could be discriminated. Since most of the players are "Americans" including myself, we literally do not care about what political party you are affiliated with since we have our own two main political parties. Want to become a citizen? We do have applications in the real world, but we also have the virtual version that you can "sign" onto until we are able to contact each other and figure out how to get you the application through mail. For this game, I'll make this clear, we do not play this game normally. Therefore, you can become a citizen of our country without leaving the region your currently in, you just have to let me know if your actually realistically becoming a citizen of our country. we do take this very seriously and we hope to hear from you soon. Thanks.

- Prime Minister Austin E.

Dead raided region

Chesist and Exodus in Space

Pizzaaaaa wrote:Dead raided region

Ahh, I remember when I wasted my time with this place.

Chesist wrote:Ahh, I remember when I wasted my time with this place.

Yep.
It’s gone now.

East allishive, Iran borovan iv, and Chesist

Read All About It! This Week:

- Not just any truth, it's the Union Truth
- Heart surgery in the Force Flyer
- Tune in - it's Radio New Vegas

- Book your place in the sun for Roulette
- And Christmas is coming! Get those suggestions in for the Cookbook, the Nice List, and the Advent Calendar

Greetings from Hegiroth!
Unfortunately, the upkeep of all our embassies was too great for our modest regional budget and we had to pull some of them - that meant starting with the dead and not very active regions. If you believe an embassy is still needed then please contact me or the WA Delegate of Hegiroth - please also do the same when you want to reapply.
Best of luck to you!

Rughzhenhaide wrote:Greetings from Hegiroth!
Unfortunately, the upkeep of all our embassies was too great for our modest regional budget and we had to pull some of them - that meant starting with the dead and not very active regions. If you believe an embassy is still needed then please contact me or the WA Delegate of Hegiroth - please also do the same when you want to reapply.
Best of luck to you!

Dead regions tell no tales.

Chesist and Empire of Dogetopia

Union of the Kind Ones Fun Poll Event!

Month of December!

So.....sorry about that...we skipped October and November! Feel free to throw a pie at me if you wish (that’s your holiday season gift 😂)! Hopefully, everything can go back onto schedule as planned!

What is the Fun Poll this month?

What is your favorite Christmas/Winter treat?

Vote now!

page=poll/p=133426

Founders/Officers, what is the “UKO Fun Poll Event?” When you agree to construct embassies with Union of the Kind Ones, you automatically get put onto the list to be a part of the UKO Fun Poll Event which takes place every month. To opt out, or to find out more....telegram Compound light microscope.

Happy Holidays! ⛄️
-His Majesty 👑, King Alphonse Yusuf Spiritus I of the House Of Spiritus-Regalia, Majesty of the Realms-Monarch Of Union of the Kind Ones, Compound light microscope.

The International Debating Area is undergoing its Grand Restoration as a last effort to reinstall activity and frequent debates. We would appreciate it if members from across all our embassies participated in our debates and perhaps even move a puppet to our region. Right now, we are hosting a poll about Cryptocurrencies. How should they be regulated? Should they be allowed at all?

Poll: Cryptocurrencies

Please vote and debate in the International Debating Area RMB.

If you feel like our region offers a lot to you or your region, don't be afraid to subscribe to the Debaters' News Outlet (or DNO). To do so, telegram Dftba-land.

The IDA has a rich history with many great debates. Don't let that history end. Join our debates. Question your views. Become a part of our community!

Gavrilia wrote:Dead regions tell no tales.

Indeed.
This region is dead.

Chesist

ALL HAIL THE NPO!

East allishive and Chesist

Empire of Dogetopia wrote:ALL HAIL THE NPO!

I think you mean The New North West

– Totally not another puppet state of Khartomistan

Chesist and Empire of Dogetopia

East allishive wrote:I think you mean The New North West

– Totally not another puppet state of Khartomistan

Lol, someone was actually paying attention to this region.

All hail The New NorthWest!

Chesist

Hello! I am Myrkvifiord and I am hosting the International Chess Olympiad II! If you would like to join, follow the link: viewtopic.php?ns=1&f=7&t=455806&p=35066802#p35066802

It seems that this region was raided?

Chesist

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