Heya folks! As you may have noticed, recently, our regional aesthetics became infiltrated by none other than the dreaded weeping angels - however, thanks to the help of many members of our community here, we’ve managed to push them away!

In November, we held TEP’s first regional banner contest in the last few years, and I’m happy to say it was a success! I’d personally like to thank New Westmore, Lointland, and Almonaster for their contributions! We’ve got a good set of banners, all now up for vote in the regional discord. Voting ends on 8th December, so make sure you’re quick if you want to vote!

In the coming months, the culture ministry is planning to lineup new events for our community; these consisting of quiz nights, game nights, interregional activities over the christmas period, and many more! Please stay in the loop as we have many exciting things planned.

As ever, if you’d like to contact me if you have any queries, requests, or suggestions, feel free to shoot me a telegram OR message me on Discord @bottommo!

Another month is in the books here in TEP, and here comes a freshly baked summary, straight out of the oven.

Lausanne Reputation Tour

This month saw the army of swifties land on TEP’s shores, with the Lausanne regions hosting the Reputation Tour across The East Pacific, The Free Nations Federation, Thaecia and the Alstroemerian Commonwealths. Another attention-grabbing episode of TEP’s monthly Hunger Games was scheduled for TEP’s segment of the tour in Week 2. While yours truly happened to be boarding an international flight at the time of commencement, that doesn’t mean I didn’t immediately open my phone and check the results when the plane landed.

This month's multi-region Hunger Games saw several… interesting escapades, such as none other than Mother Theresa herself killing every member of BTS as well as President Joe Biden and Europeia Vice-Delegate Pichtonia registering a rare triple kill.

After the usual bloodbath, only three tributes remained out of more than 40. The final three came down to Asendavia from District 4, Myehn from District 12 and Danelaw from District 6. What looked to be a tense fight for victory on the fifth day turned sour as Asendavia (rather anti-climactically) fell into a pit and died, leaving only Myehn and Danelaw to duke it out for the title. Victory ultimately went the way of Danelaw, as Myehn could not convince him to spare his life.

The event's most dangerous member was undeniably Robb Stark, who notched up a total of 6 kills throughout the event. We now look ahead to next month's edition of Hunger Games, which will no doubt be just as exhilarating.

This month in the Executive

Another month is in the history books for TEP’s executive branch. This month saw a continuation of last month’s efforts surrounding the UTEP rework, which has advanced into the dispatch-creation stage, with several figures working on a fancy-looking framework. We’ve also seen progress made in the awards system rework, which thanks to the hard work of Vussul now has several prototype badges and awards.

November has seen MoWAA Minister Gem get to work on some amazing dispatches for our WA vote recommendations, which they simply must be commended for. While TEP has rarely been a hub of WA activity, its passion such as theirs that will gradually push us into a new direction, and I’m personally very excited to see such activity in this area.

In other news, Vice-Delegate Dremaur has been nominated to Viziership by yours truly, and while I can’t predict the future, it certainly looks like he’ll be the newest member of the Vizier team in the coming week.

This month has also (finally) brought me into the in-game delegate seat, after a lot of endotarting, telegramming and nagging, we’ve finally jumped the hurdle. Special thanks to all those who helped encourage endorsements and ensured this could happen as soon as possible. With that said, we obviously must stay vigilant to ensure no over-enthusiastic asylum seekers get confused and endorse the wrong people again.

I look forward to continuing the executive’s work in December, and am immensely excited for what is going to be a very busy, very active holiday season in The East Pacific. See you next month ya dorks.

Over the course of September, many East Pacificans, from Magisters to RMBers to FA Councillors and Ex-Delegates, weighed in on an important matter to The East Pacific’s military policy: Whether or not the Eastern Pacific Sovereign Army should partake in griefing, otherwise known as regional destruction.

Before we enter discussions on when and if TEP should engage in regional destruction, we must define it. In the poll, the following majorities indicated their belief that the following actions are considered griefing: 96.4% indicated mass ejecting/banning natives, 46.4% indicated closing all embassies, 60.7% indicated switching from frontier to stronghold or stronghold to frontier, and 71.4% indicated instituting a regional password.

Therefore, over the course of this report, any references to griefing will refer to the act of seizing the executive delegacy of a region as part of a raid and subsequently using executive authority to eject and/or ban native residents in large quantities OR instituted a regional password barring entry OR changed the frontier/stronghold status of the region OR any combination of two or more of these factors. In other words, closing embassies is not considered griefing by the majority of The East Pacific, and there is thus no significant opposition to such practices in military operations.

Graph of public opinion on whether or not to repeal the griefing prohibition. The “strongly” and standard options for agree and disagree are synthesized to prevent complications in the graph.

50% of The East Pacific believes that griefing is inherently, morally wrong in most cases. Only 35% disagrees however, with the remaining 15% being neutral or unsure. In this, The East Pacific can be certain that a moral basis exists for its current griefing prohibition. Indeed, 53% of East Pacificans oppose the complete removal of the griefing prohibition, and only 28.5% support it, an even lower number from the morality question. The complete removal of the griefing prohibition, therefore, is completely off the table for the majority of The East Pacific.

Shifting from moral terms to more practical terms, only 28.5% of East Pacificans believe that the removal of the griefing prohibitions would not harm the foreign affairs policies of The East Pacific by distancing defenders. Furthermore, only 35.7% believe griefing prohibitions should be loosened or removed for the practical FA benefit of TEP in securing relations with independent and raider regions. Therefore, The East Pacific should mind potential foreign affairs fallout from certain griefing policies and should not service their policies according to potential foreign affairs benefits, either.

That said, 64.2% of East Pacificans consider griefing to be a natural part of military gameplay, and only 17.8% disagree. In this way, The East Pacific acknowledges the importance of griefing policies in terms of defining the stance of our military and influencing what stance we should take. This, in combination with above data, means that The East Pacific has a higher commitment to its values than to practicality or political advantage. There is an understanding of the practical benefits and disadvantages of certain policies, and the judgments the people of The East Pacific make are neither naïve nor unenlightened. They – we – choose to put our beliefs before the potential to please others, and that in and of itself is very East Pacifican.

Moving on to specific limits or extensions of the griefing prohibition, only 14.3% of The East Pacific has an objection to the griefing of Warzones, game-created regions designed with temporary bans, no passwords, and no protected Executive authority. Furthermore, 53.5%, a majority, expressed explicit support for policies allowing The East Pacific to grief these Warzones. As the Eastern Pacific Sovereign Army Act already allows the griefing of Warzones which have no official relations with The East Pacific, no change in the current griefing policy is needed.

Graph of public opinion on whether or not to allow the griefing of Wasteland frontiers. The “strongly” and standard options for agree and disagree are synthesized to prevent complications in the graph.

On the matter of “Wastelands,” a term coined by the Frontierist ideology to refer to inactive frontiers, which do not engage or integrate their newly spawned nations, only 46.4% support the griefing of these regions. That said, only 28.5% oppose it, and 21.4% are neutral or unsure. Although no majority is achieved in support for the griefing of wastelands, there is significant support for it, and if more people are convinced, then there could be grounds to add this exception to the griefing prohibition. The opening of such a debate in the Magisterium could be of benefit to The East Pacific. Over the course of this debate, however, it is important to consider the other findings of this survey.

With all these factors in mind, the conclusion strongly supports the status quo of the griefing prohibition. The people support the griefing prohibition. They do not wish to strengthen it and they do not wish to loosen it, except with regards to wastelands, an emerging issue resulting from the recent Frontier/Stronghold update to NationStates. The people do not wish to compromise the values of The East Pacific in service of furthering certain diplomatic relations, nor do they much care for the practical benefits of such policies. The East Pacific, in true unaligned fashion, cares more about its own beliefs than the beliefs of others, and its beliefs are clear.

I call upon the Delegate, The Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Overseeing Officer, and the Magisterium to read through this data and take action only within the frame of the prevailing public opinion of The East Pacific. Furthermore, I completely object to any unilateral government action which would go against public opinion on this matter. We are a democracy, and the people have spoken. After 68% of voting citizens expressed support for the government recruiting newly founded nations, no action was taken within this frame. I hope, in this case, we see our public officials act according to the wishes of the people.

Hello and welcome to the Foreign Newsstand. We in The East Pacific’s Foreign Affairs server can see the news updates from our friends and allies abroad, but you, dear reader, may not have that privilege. We also discuss major interregional headlines from the Gameplay forum and foreign government statements. For the purposes of sharing interregional news, we’ve developed this quick Newsstand to summarize the goings-on of our diplomatic partners and other regions. Here’s the events of November:

• Ladratia was elected Minister-President of Carcassonne, naming Reside as their Minister of Foreign Affairs and former Minister-President Pauline Bonaparte as Minister of Culture. Karlsefni and Porfloxonne were elected together as Co-Speakers of the Ecclesia, Carcassonne’s regional legislature.

• Thaecia’s November 2023 Prime Ministry Elections have concluded. With outgoing Prime Minister Andusre not seeking re-election, Toerana V, the forerunner, was elected with one challenger.

• The Frontier Organization for Cooperation, Unity and Security (FOCUS) signed a treaty of cultural and World Assembly cooperation with the West Pacific. FOCUS includes Carcassonne, The Wellspring, Community, and Valley of Peace, four of the most active frontiers in NS.

• Sporaltryus has been re-elected for a third term as Prime Minister of the South Pacific, which will be their last. In their opening address, Sporaltryus emphasized the democracy and culture of the South Pacific, and touched on the agenda of each cabinet member.

• The League & Concord has signed a treaty with The North Pacific, The Rum and Eagles Solidarity Agreement, including provisions of information sharing and non-aggression, but not mutual defense.

• The Free Nations Federation passed a constitutional amendment, proposed by Castenor, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, which made Ministers appointed positions with the confirmation of the all-citizens legislature rather than elected positions, in order to simplify the bureaucracy and allow Ministers to serve concurrently as Justices, due to limited manpower. Following this amendment, Castenor and Doctors Orvos, the Federation Minister of Culture, were confirmed as Justices, marking the first period in months where the Supreme Court has had a full bench.

• Over the course of two special elections, Thaecia elected Sunipi to the Senate and Ashlawn to the House of Commons, in closely contested races, as a result of Toerana V resigning from the Senate to serve as Prime Minister and The Unionship being recalled from the House of Commons, respectively.

• Algerheaven has been refounded as a trophy by raider group Lone Wolves United after an uneventful occupation. Founder and former TEPer Supreme Algerstonia refused defender help in liberating his region.

Over the course of November, Grand Vizier Aivintis granted citizenship to 3 residents of The East Pacific and processed 1 clerical change to the citizenship roster. This lull in citizenship is unexpected and disappointing. The Grand Vizier encourages all residents, especially those of the RMB, to apply for citizenship for voting rights and greater ability for government participation.

In saddening news, longstanding Vizier VW53Aland has resigned from the Praesidium. We understand and support this decision, coming from a longstanding desire to step back from certain demands of the office. The Praesidium and indeed the entire region thanks VW53aland for his great service to The East Pacific and commitment to our regional security in times of calm and strife. Confirmed in February 2020 after nomination by Delegate Marrabuk, VW has spent the past three and a half years protecting our region, even going so far as to hold the delegate seat during transitional periods. We wish VW53aland great peace and prosperity in his retirement.

As this marks the second Vizier to leave us in the past two months, the Praesidium has been in close contact with Delegate Merlovich on the nomination of new Viziers, who might not only fill the void left with our lowered manpower, but also bring new vigor and activity to the Praesidium and make way for the branch’s progress. Though discussing multiple candidates, Grand Vizier Aivintis has fully endorsed the nomination of Dremaur to the office of Vizier. Dremaur’s experience in Foreign Affairs and the Eastern Pacific Sovereign Army shows skillful care of sensitive matters and a commitment to the prosperity of The East Pacific. With little discussion and no disagreement, the Magisterium is now voting on his nomination.

Finally, the Praesidium category of the forums has been updated with new tags to represent different possible threads. “Security-Issue,” a Citadel tag, indicates action to be taken to deal with a threat to regional security. “Internal-Action,” another Citadel tag, allows the Praesidium to discuss membership and memoranda. “Praesidium-Elections” distinguishes elections for Grand Vizier and EPPS Commissioner, whereas “SOP-Amendment” designates debate on changes to the Standing Orders of the Praesidium. Both are found solely in the Citadel. In the public Praesidium category, the tag “Praesidium-Records” receives the most use, grouping public records together. The “EPPS” tag was created for Commissioner Marrabuk to pursue his own records and projects. Grand Vizier Aivintis is optimistic that these changes will structure activity within the Praesidium to ease Vizier and EPPS operations.

November Endorsement Count Tracker:

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• Your best-developed character meets with a mysterious man in all black with sunglasses. He presents your character with a red and blue pill. The red pill will shatter their reality. The blue will keep their delusions alive. Which pill will they choose and why? By East Malaysia

• [Part of the 5 Senses Series] Many professional Geoguessr players look at small details like license plates, telephone poles, and the lines on roads to try and guess which country they’re in! What sorts of small details could a Geoguessr player look for to immediately recognize your country? By Gonggong/Star Flowers

• Want to have your worldbuilding prompt or scenario featured? Maybe make a CYOA series? Fill out this form today!
  

Let us know your answers! The best ones will get featured in the next edition! Post it on the RMB (mention East Malaysia). We also have a channel on Discord #worlds-to-build. By the next edition we will also have Worlds to Build as an exclusive spot where you can post your prompts, all things worldbuilding, conlangs, etc. for anyone not on Discord!

con·lang
/ˈkänˌlaNG/
a language that has been artificially created; a constructed language.
Definition from Oxford Languages and Google

The word is "cralapat", which means dry, and literally means, "cra-lapat" : "[opposite]-wet", moreover "cra-lap-at" : "[opposite]-water-[adjective]"

Click here if you would like to take a look at the full article that includes Gong's introductory about conglangs!

Before I start, I want to thank Neography for providing the images used in this article!

This article assumes that you already know what type of writing system you want for your script, as well as the writing direction and number of glyphs! If you don’t have that I suggest you do so before continuing!

Scripts in the real world have evolved into the ones we know and love today. The familiar Roman Alphabet traces its origins back to Egyptian Hieroglyphs. If you’re feeling inspired, you can do a similar process of drawing pictographs over and over again and simplifying them as you do so. This method works for all types of writing systems, be it Alphabet or Logography, although Logographies require at least some complexity in their characters to be able to make as many as they need so don’t simplify too much for them! As you do this, you’ll likely end up with your very first script!

This is a starter script that intentionally has a lot of mistakes woven into it. As we go on learning about the principles of design and applying them to scripts, we’ll refine these characters to be more consistent and have a guiding aesthetic.

One thing you could add to make your characters feel more coherent is a graphical motif. Some graphics that repeat throughout the characters can help your script feel cohesive. Additionally, you could add constraints to your script, such as how Buginese script only has diagonal lines, or how Futhark has no curves. These constraints often stem from the writing utensil or the writing medium used.

In this second iteration of the script, the sharp corners of the characters were rounded and the diagonals were made to be parallel to each other. Remember that this is a creative process, so feel free to pick and choose which of these principles apply to your script!

One problem that occurred in the script while adding cohesion is that the first and last characters are now unrealistically similar to one another. There are several ways to fix this, such as adding diacritics, changing the shape, or redoing that character altogether. Here, we will add a line beneath the first character to differentiate it.

Now, let’s start getting into proportions! For a cohesive cast of characters, having some regularity among the proportions of the characters is a must. Several languages in the real world do this in different ways. Some languages make their characters have constant height and width, which gives the characters a sort of blocky look. Others make height constant but allow characters to vary in width. Some languages have no restrictions on height or width for any of their characters. Regardless of which one you choose, remember that most languages with variable height or width usually follow a bell curve in which most characters share similar proportions with a few exceptions.

Most of the time, height differences between characters come from ascenders (such as the top line on the letter b) or descenders (such as the hanging hook on the letter g). These ascenders and descenders always follow a predictable pattern. In English, ascenders and descenders are always the same length above and below the base letter line that they come from. Other languages, such as Khmer, have much more complex ascender and descender rules:

Whatever you end up making, make sure to stick to it! These only really don’t apply if you’re planning on making a logography or a script of similar complexity, because there’s so much variation between characters it's nearly impossible to create guidelines for their ascenders or descenders.

Applying the above principles to the example script, we get this:

We’re onto the final stretch, there’s one last thing we can do to make our script look that much more appealing: Typography! There are many different types of ways to type letters, be it traditional print, sans serif, or any other kind of typeface. Line thickness is another factor that you should consider in your script. You could go with uniform line thickness, which is the easiest in terms of workload. Additionally, you could go with variable line thickness at a fixed angle, which is one of many factors that give the Arabic script its unique “swooshy” feel. And lastly, there’s just straight-up variable line thickness. Variable line thickness is used in the traditional Roman alphabet (think of the Time New Roman font). The final topic we’re going to touch on regarding script design is serifs. Serifs can either be very very small and barely noticeable, or the script could be completely dominated by its serifs. There are no steadfast rules for serifs, so feel free to go with whatever looks right to you!

Applying what we’ve just talked about to the example script, we end up with this:

I’m sure you’ll agree that this script looks much better than the script we started with, which if you’re curious used to look like this:

And there’s no right or wrong when applying these principles to a script! You could start from the same original script, but have ended up in a completely different spot! The key to good script design is to experiment with what you like. I hope that these tips have come in handy for you!

Before I begin this RMB feature, I would like to preemptively mention that this feature will contain many, many references to in-world locales and nations that those outside of The East Pacific's RMB roleplay map may not be familiar with. As such, I highly suggest that you check out the official account for Valsora and read their dispatches about the world and its geographical locations.

However, with the advent of widespread international trade and its prevalence in the modern world, it was bound to happen that a select few would abuse free trade to support themselves at the cost of those around them. That, abusing the trust of a ship's crew they would steal and pilfer and be an economic drag on those that have to suffer at their greed.

This is the problem that plagues the Demetric community today. Since October 2033, upwards of 689 vessels have been attacked and assaulted by pirates and various terrorist groups, with most attacks having been traced to a failed state known as the Pirate States, a highly organised group of pirates situated in the north of Aislada. Thanks to these attacks, more than 357 million USD has been lost to the illicit activity these groups carry out on these vessels.

The equipment that is stolen very likely ends up on the black market if it is not used by the thieves themselves.

As such, in response to these attacks, an intergovernmental organisation known as the Intermaritime Commercial Security Office has been proclaimed. Headed by the Republic of Atrocha, the ICSO is effectively the antithesis to the pirates and terrorists that willingly attack trade vessels in the interest of personal financial benefit. It is hoped that the efforts of this organisation can curtail if not outright bring a permanent end to these pirates and their heinous operations for good.

Time will tell what these efforts will culminate in. Very hopefully, it will bring to an end the constant assault on free trade. No one person should benefit from a system designed for everyone.