The Rejected Times

[Pollaetorian]

All day raiding? Way ahead to you. Polls can close any our of the day

Back on topic, this TSP kerfuffle is almost making my 'boycott' (mostly out of laziness) of not registering on TSP's forum since the original move from Zetaboard almost look sane. I hope one day I'll be assured enough that I would register again!

[The Rejected Times]

UPDATE:



Recent attempts to limit the number of plug-ins (except Tapatalk) on The South Pacific's regional forum have failed to prevent the down-times from occurring. Glen-Rhodes, site admin, noted today that this recent attempt to reduce the forum's resource usage had not been successful and that the South Pacific's forum was still suspended recently this morning.

[Yao]

UPDATE:

(Image)

Recent attempts to limit the number of plug-ins (except Tapatalk) on The South Pacific's regional forum have failed to prevent the down-times from occurring. Glen-Rhodes, site admin, noted today that this recent attempt to reduce the forum's resource usage had not been successful and that the South Pacific's forum was still suspended recently this morning.

How is this the story you're covering?

[Great Brigantia]

How is this the story you're covering?

RIP any remaining credibility The Rejected Times The Rejected Realms had left.

[The Rejected Times]

How is this the story you're covering?

It's just an update on an ongoing story we were covering. An article about Lazarus (i.e., what I imagine you're referring to) is in the works.

[Valrifell]

How is this the story you're covering?

It's just an update on an ongoing story we were covering. An article about Lazarus (i.e., what I imagine you're referring to) is in the works.

It's just something so little and so few people care about that it seems that it doesn't warrant a follow up.

[Consular]

Surely there can't be /that/ much traffic on TSP's board, not the level that would warrant the hoster shutting it down anyway. :/

[North East Somerset]

How is this the story you're covering?

It's just an update on an ongoing story we were covering. An article about Lazarus (i.e., what I imagine you're referring to) is in the works.

Hark! What is that noise? It must be the unmistakable droning of the Unibot propaganda machine starting up.

[Ambrella]

It's just an update on an ongoing story we were covering. An article about Lazarus (i.e., what I imagine you're referring to) is in the works.

Hark! What is that noise? It must be the unmistakable droning of the Unibot propaganda machine starting up.

Noise? It's the smell that bothers me.

[Valrifell]

It's just an update on an ongoing story we were covering. An article about Lazarus (i.e., what I imagine you're referring to) is in the works.

Hark! What is that noise? It must be the unmistakable droning of the Unibot propaganda machine starting up.

Ah, but does it ever really stop?

[RiderSyl]

I'm expecting the upcoming article on Lazarus to not represent the TRR community at all.

[Pollaetorian]

I'm expecting the upcoming article on Lazarus to not represent the TRR community at all.

Never did. Never claimed to be. At least when I asked about it a year ago.

I hair how after I give my 2c on a topic the focus suddenly changes and isn't relevant anymore. If only I commented on TSP a day earlier.

[Aurum Rider]

I'm expecting the upcoming article on Lazarus to not represent the TRR community at all.

I'm not expecting a TRT article on Lazarus.

[Ever-Wandering Souls]

No but seriously I'm so pumped for regional officers. A non update dictated position of power in a region? Gameplay is no longer restricted to 2 hours of a day.

It's like I was super excited about regional officers like the polls feature and now I'm slightly afraid.

Poor defenseless lambs and bunnies all over the NS world skipping along in their rainbow bubbles thinking that regional officers will allow them to, for example, appoint an official WFE designer and not knowing that in the darkness waits....

Pfft, I already "made a new WFE" for The White Hope. I actually did. I made two. Then I made a third one when I was founder No regional officers needed.

[The Rejected Times]

Issue XXXVI | April 11 2015

Index

"An Update: Crisis in Lazarus," by Unibot.
"How Should the World Approach Lazarus?" by Bodobol.
"MoFA Special Elections Called in TSP," by Unibot.
"'Mod March’ Delivers!" by Unibot.
"TRR Elects New Officers," by Kogvuron.
"A Global Imperialisation of Communication," by Unibot.
""Commend RIA" Passes," by Church of Satan.
"Speaking With The Exiles," by Unibot. [INTERVIEW]

An Update: Crisis in Lazarus
The Sweet Leaf Takes Delegacy in Lazarus, and more…
COMMENTARY | UNIBOT, EDITOR IN CHIEF



Yet another ‘twist’ to an already unpredictable turn of events in Lazarus. The Sweet Leaf, one of Stujenske, has risen to the delegacy in Lazarus but presumably only to serve for the next eleven hours. Lazarus, of course, has been occupied by a new authoritarian regime for the past few days since (Ex-) Chairman Stujenske dissolved the region’s constitution unilaterally and banned local dissidents. Stujenske left Lazarus to Europe, ‘update surfing’ as it is called, to facilitate The Sweet Leaf’s rise to the delegacy. As delegate, The Sweet Leaf immediately ejected and banned Darkium, Aegis-5, Zexen, Emperor PJ, Ecchi Unlimited and Evil Wolf – likely, the whole purpose of this escapade. By ejecting and banning these nations, The Sweet Leaf has reduced the potential strain on Stujenske’s ‘regional influence’ – allowing Stujenske to continue to eject and ban other influential opposition members without worry when he returns to the delegacy later today.

Endr, another surprising addition to the mix, has announced a public, mass ‘liberation’ of Lazarus. The effort called ‘#liberation’ after the operation’s IRC channel, will see, potentially quite a large number of active players, move into Lazarus and endorse Milograd. Endr has messaged every nation in NationStates – a message which would have cost around $150 – to drum up support and attention for the liberation. “I am sending this telegram to every nation in the game, in the hopes that we may amass a titanic army to challenge Stujenske,” writes Endr. Nations attracted to participate in the liberation are linked to an informative website which explains the basic process of a liberation and allows them to train for the liberation through a practice simulation. Some have called the idea ‘revolutionary’, while others have questioned whether untrained militia forces will be able to make an impact. The date of the operation is set for tonight. Rumours have suggested Nephmir and Frak may be behind the initiative, but no claims yet have been substantiated.

Nephmir’s participation in #liberation would contradict his supposed support for Stujenske’s regime; he was personally providing support for the regime, while supposedly roping other regions to join him. Reportedly, The New Pacific Order, Project Soul, Ainur and The Association of Imperialism may all be providing unidentified foreign military forces to back Stujenske. As Stujenske’s reign continues, it is becoming more and more apparent that the government is receiving support from unidentified military forces…



Over the first twenty four hours after removing Funkadelia and dissolving the constitution, Stujenske gained thirty five endorsements (mostly from 'new' nations), but he also bled over thirty nine native endorsements over the course of the next two days. While it is difficult to determine which nations are 'native' and which ones or not, we would estimate from looking at the activity of each endorsee that Stujenske has received over fifty five endorsements in total over the past three days from unidentified (or disputed) foreign militaries. An absolutely mammoth operation by any measure.

“Condemn Stujenske” will come to vote in the WA Security Council tomorrow, following “Commend Mahaj”. The proposal reached quorum earlier yesterday, albeit narrowly. “Condemn Stujenske” acknowledges the history of the insurrection and cites the enormous pressure that his government has received from the internal community. The proposal controversially ‘urges all members of the World Assembly to recognize the Lazarene Underground State as the rightful government of Lazarus’ and ‘wishes to bring an end to the tyrannical regime of Chairman Stujenske in Lazarus’ – showing the depth of the World Assembly as a vehicle for interregional politics, where others had assumed proposals need be descriptive, not prescriptive.

The crisis has demonstrated the power of the international community to shape the collective response to an emergency; major regions have been signalling their condemnation for Stujenske and his rogue administration – The North Pacific, The East Pacific, 10000 Islands, The Rejected Realms, The South Pacific, Osiris, Taijitu, Wintreath, Spiritus and Peoples Federation of Qandaristan, are in the process of removing in-game embassies with Lazarus in protest, while The Internationale, The Coalition of Democratic Nations, The United Defenders League and Wyvern have declared their support too for the government-in-exile.

---

How Should the World Approach Lazarus?
OPINION | BODOBOL, SENIOR JOURNALIST


Angry Lazarenes gather outside the Forbidden City to protest the actions of Stujenske.

As Stujenske's rogue reign continues, solutions are not presenting themselves easily, says Bodobol...

Lazarus has become the focus of the world's attention following recent questionable actions by reigning Chairman Stujenske. Within the time span of twenty-four hours, he made several controversial decisions - banning former Chairman Funkadelia and revoking the Constitution of the People's Republic, to name a couple of examples. These moves have garnered little support internally or externally, with support mostly limited to Vice Chairman Pergamon. Solutions to this problem are needed - and quickly - but the international community is divided as to how to go about this.

In Lazarus itself, the natives are enraged. There was little explanation for Funkadelia's ban from the region, but it did come less than an hour after the ex-Chairman posted a topic inquiring into the unexplained bans of other nations - which Stujenske attempted to justify with a new policy regarding World Assembly endorsements. The initial outcry was sparked by this, though the situation has since rapidly worsened. "I am eagerly awaiting legal justification from the Chairman," wrote Funkadelia after the incident but received no answer. Indeed, Stujenske has been mostly silent to criticisms, only moving forward with his plans while Pergamon defends his actions.

This is, in my eyes, one of many mistakes the reigning Chairman has made in this short time span. His actions are mostly legal - besides his abolishment of the Constitution - but this represents an abuse of power trusted to him. He has essentially destroyed the region's government excepting himself and those few government members still loyal to him. The People's Republic was founded as a 'democratic dictatorship' of sorts, but any semblance of democracy is gone now. After having replaced the traditional flag of the PRL with a green-and-white flag, and rebranding the region's World Factbook Entry to follow the same color scheme, it is clear that Stujenske means to end the People's Republic and revert the region to the government that came before it, which featured the same theme. This is, in effect, a coup.

Should we intervene? The answer is certainly yes. It is not a simple situation, however. A major issue regarding intervention has been the Pan-Sinker Security Pact: an agreement that has existed between Lazarus and The Rejected Realms for over three years. The debate in the latter region, perhaps fiercer than in any other region, revolves around whether the treaty's policy of self-determination is valid in Lazarus' current situation. Under normal circumstances, member regions are forbidden from interfering in the internal affairs of each other. It goes on to describe, however, one exception - such meddling is allowed if the region is declared to be in a state of emergency. If Lazarus is not in such a state right now, then how long must we wait until we consider them to be in one? As time passes, Stujenske only grows more powerful, and he is not likely to simply apologize unconditionally for his actions and reverse what he's done.

Recently, however, Unibot published a statement condemning the events in Lazarus; in this statement, he raised several questions regarding the actions of the Chairman and his future plans. With no response from Stujenske, Unibot noted " the Rejected Realms will begin negotiations with the Lazarus Underground government, especially with regards to the status of our in-game embassies and our present treaties with Lazarus," and added that this "entire fiasco - the profound disregard for the rule of law, the substantial reliance on unidentified foreign troops, unanswered questions, stalling tactics, suppression of dissent, and the curtailment of forum viewing privileges - smacks of a rogue administration."

Time is of the essence in this situation, and something needs to be done urgently. Stujenske's continuing silence regarding his actions suggests that he does not plan to give into international demands. This diplomatic route either needs to change to be more inclusive of everyone involved, or military intervention may be the best course. The Lazarene Underground State, established by Funkadelia and supported by the vast majority of Lazarus's citizens, has called a vote on whether Stujenske should be allowed to remain in office, and the votes have been overwhelmingly against him. This situation is bordering on the point of no return (and arguably, it has already crossed that line). If this predicament is not ended peacefully - and soon - then any hopes of a diplomatic solution are futile.

It is the duty of Lazarus's allies to protect the will of its people. Stujenske and Pergamon are not representative of the wishes of the natives, and they are the obvious aggressors. Adhering to our duties is not always easy - Stu and Perg both contributed greatly to Lazarus before going rogue - but military action appears increasingly inevitable. Those allied to Lazarus cannot abandon them in this, their time of need.

If we must fight to protect their will, then so be it, we will fight.

---

MoFA Special Elections Called in TSP
Nominations also open for Local Council Elections
COMMENTARTY | UNIBOT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF


"Back to the polls we go..."

The recent General Election for the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the South Pacific proved to be an explosive affair – when the vote had seemingly tied between Glen-Rhodes and Evil Wolf, the Election Commissioner, Hileville, had declared Evil Wolf the winner because one of Glen-Rhodes’ votes had come from a player whose citizenship ought to have lapsed. This administrative action was widely criticised as having been beyond the remit of the Election Commissioner’s legal jurisdiction and several legal challenges were made with regards to Evil Wolf’s legitimacy as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The High Court has responded to these legal challenges with a surprising majority opinion from Justice Awe and Justice Hopolis on the legal petitions, HCLQ1509 and HCLQ1510 which found that it had been improper of the Election Commissioner to discount the vote of one member whose citizenship ought to have lapsed because his citizenship had not yet been removed.

“It is the view of the Court that the phrase 'will be removed' does not make provision for the automatic removal of citizenship,” reads the Court’s majority ruling. “On this basis in the absence of any provisions for the automatic removal of citizenship in the Charter a nation remains a citizen until the manual act of the removal of citizenship takes place […] the votes of any nations that were/are still present in TSP but had/have not undergone the process of citizenship removal due to inactivity at the time of voting should be counted as valid votes [emphasis added].”

With the general election now being officially regarded as a tie between Glen-Rhodes and Evil Wolf, a special election will be required to decide the South Pacific’s new Minister of Foreign Affairs. While some notable talent has been nominated, only Evil Wolf and Glen-Rhodes have yet to accept their nominations, but this could change with the recent flood of nominations.

Kringalia, one of the forum’s admins, will serve as the special election’s Election Commissioner. When The Rejected Times spoke to him earlier today, he expressed his hopes for a more civil election.

“We had a very politicised and stressful general election,” admits Kringalia. “I hope that this new round will bring a more cooperative spirit, and that whoever wins can enjoy full legitimacy and support from our region. We have very capable candidates, and I am sure they all can do a fantastic work as our chief diplomat.”

While most eyes will likely be on the special elections, you might be surprised to learn that they aren’t the only ongoing elections in the South Pacific, however. The first Local Council Elections ever. Nominations will run until April 12 and voting will run from April 15 through to April 18. The Local Council is a new institution in the South Pacific: a committee of three elected players who will work to “improve communication to residents and promote more local awareness of the region's ongoing activities,” and the regulation of the in-game sphere. The Local Council is expected to be an intergovernmental organisation that works in cooperation with the forum-bound Ministry of Regional Affairs, the High Court and the Committee for State Security.

“It is very exciting and inspiring to see our region electing its first ever Local Council,” says Kringalia. “One of the best features of the South Pacific is its constant strive towards greater democracy, and empowering our gameside community is definitely a step in the right direction. I have full confidence that whoever we elect will set great precedents, as we embark in yet another adventure as a region.”

The nominees for the Local Council are not yet known, but rumours suggest at least five candidates have nominated themselves. The members of the Local Council will be decided through a regional poll open to all ‘native’ residents of the South Pacific. While the Local Council elections run, however, this special election will likely take ‘center-stage’ for the attention of many gameplayers in the South Pacific. After all, the Minister of Foreign Affairs special election comes at a pressing time for the South Pacific’s foreign policy because of the ongoing crisis in Lazarus, one of the South Pacific’s treatied allies; The South Pacific has recently condemned the Stujenske administration in Lazarus and offered its support for the government-in-exile.

Until a new minister takes the position, the duties of the Minister of Foreign Affairs will continue to be carried out collectively by Feirmont, Kringalia and Penguin.

---

‘Mod March’ Delivers!
COMMENTARY | UNIBOT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The Issue Editors have announced the creation of the first large scale ‘issue chain’ – a nineteen issue narrative – where the options you choose on one issue leads directly to a different issue based on your options with the last issue. Each issue as the story progressed includes a special notice at the top of the issue called ‘The Story So Far’ to remind users how the issue has progressed so far. ‘Diamonds Are An Expat's Best Friend’ is the first issue in this chain and players have been strictly warned to take notice of the issue because you can only receive the issue once on a nation. So don’t dismiss it! “There are 19 issues total in the chain, but you won't get all of them. What ones you do get, and how many you get, depend on what routes you take through the chain,” adds Sanctaria, Issue Editor. Sanctaria has also confirmed that nations are eligible to receive the first of the issue chains, so long as they (a) allow Emigration and (b) allow a Military. This means to say that nations which do not allow for emigration or have dissolved their military may not be able to participate in the issue chain.

This is first time that the Issue Editors have attempted to build an issue chain of this size. Several much smaller issue chains, including one involving #361 "@@CAPITAL@@, We Have A Problem", have been in circulation since November 2014. This issue chain, however, due to its massive scale took nearly three years to build and implement.

Reploid Productions shared her original, hand drawn algorithm from November 2011 which fleshed out the chain issue…



“Needless to say, that borderline-illegible handwritten chart was re-done on the computer so as to make it actually legible to everyone else!” admits Reploid Productions. “[The flowchart helped] make it very clear how many branches [we were] looking at, as well as look for other ways different branches can wind up at the same place. Again, using The Chain, there's multiple different routes through it that will all lead you to the same ending, and there's a few points where you can shift gears and change your approach to the conflict to end up on a different path.”

Will we see other issue chains in the future? Perhaps! Sedgistan has invited other players to construct their own issue chains, but warns players of the difficulties that a chain can face in implementation. “They're a lot of work,” Sedgistan notes. “If a player wants to author a full chain they can, but whether it gets accepted depends on whether you can find an Editor willing to take the lead on the editing process for it.” Fortunately, some new Issue Editors, including Raurosia and Golgothastan, have been announced. The latter of which is also known as the Dark Star Republic, aka The Rejected Times’s own Gruenberg! “He's wowed us with a slew of excellent issues of late, so we've added him to the team to stop him putting us to shame,” writes Sedgistan of Golgothastan’s work. Congratulations Gruenberg! And remember, everyone: don’t break the chain!

---

TRR Elects New Officers
COMMENTARY | KOGVURON, SENIOR REPORTER

The Rejected Realms has elected its newest slate of Officers! The winners of the election were... Christian Democrats, who will return to his position as WA Affairs Officer, Libetarian Republics, who has been announced to be taking the coveted position as Foreign Affairs Officer, Kyorgia, another returning incumbent who will take the reigns of the region's cultural portofolio as Internal Affairs Officer, and Sad-States, the enthusastic new arrival to cabinet, who will take Kyorgia's place as Human Resources Officer.

Per the Rejected Realms' constitution, Officer positions were vacated on April Fools Day (the nominees being the fools...), allowing a fresh batch of candidates to stand up and challenge for a position. Three of last term's officers ran again, with former Internal Affairs Officer, The Church of Satan, former WA Affairs officer, Christian Democrats, and former Human Resources Officer, Kyorgia all accepting nominations. Notably missing was Ainin, last term's Foreign Affairs Officer, who played a prominent role in several great successes last term by negotiating three Agreements on Friendship and Cooperation, as well as treaties with The Independent Order and Capitalist Paradise, and a non-aggression pact with fellow sinker Osiris.

The rest of the slate was a mix of newcomers and veterans. Dogeisland, Vice Officer of Human Resource and newcomer Sad-States were both nominated, expressing preferences for Human Resources and Foreign Affairs respectively. Former Speaker of the Assembly, Oppressed Ones accepted his nomination, asking to be chosen as Internal Affairs or WA Affairs Officer if elected. And, this election, of course, also saw a return to regional politics for former officer, Libetarian Republics, who touted his expertise in Foreign and Internal Affairs.

The election lasted four days ending on Wednesday, proving to be a phenomenally close race, especially between the winning candidates. While there was some distance between the winning candidates and the less fortunate - Libetarian Republics, Kyorgia and Sad-States were all quite close to one another (although Christian Democrats supporters favoured Libetarian Republics - perhaps showing some fanfare for returning faces). For the final and most competitive seat, Sad-States edged out against Oppressed Ones in the end with a tight victory.


"Note: Borda Count was only used as a tiebreaker for the Instant-Runoff Vote, but it's easiest and clearest to represent the election's result above as a Borda Count."

Delegate Unibot was very pleased with the plethora of nominees, and cited the depth of quality in the field. "It's been absolutely incredible," says Unibot. "I love it when you get a great crop of candidates like this. What a selection! Any one of them would have made a fine Officer and it's a shame that we could only choose four of the seven." He would later congratulate all of the winning candidates and award Christian Democrats, a special honour, the Order of the Greymarshes as 'a commendation of his admirable service to The Rejected Realms'.

---

A Global Imperialisation of Communication
IRC in Contemporary Gameplay
EDITORIAL | UNIBOT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Unibot discusses the dangers of Internet Relay Chats (IRC) for contemporary gameplay…

Blackbird often begins these sorts of lectures by reminding players that at one time, NationStates was a much larger, disconnected place in many respects – the official forums was near inoperable (think TSP’s forums), there was no ‘search’ function for regions, and hardly any kind of social media like Internet Relay Chats (IRC) existed to bring our world together. So, there you go: at one time, NationStates was a much larger, disconnected place in many respects. Things have changed though; NationStates is far more interconnected now with the development of a mass communication network through IRC, in addition to an official forum as a central hub for contemporary gameplay. IRC was popularised in NationStates around the same time as it became popular elsewhere: 2004-2005 is considered IRC’s ‘peak’ in terms of users; Max Barry first used IRC for ‘MaxChats’, for example, in 2004. Ananke notes that the ADN began using IRC around the midsummer of 2004, citing TNP’s IRC as having been created at a similar time. “In 2003 and most of 2004 defenses was organized through forums, telegrams and IM,” writes Ananke. “Even after we got the ADN IRC channels, I don't remember using them much for defending during update. Which is a bit surprising thinking back, but the old-fashioned way worked well enough, so that was probably why we mostly used IRC for general chat and strategizing.”

IRC hasn’t always been popular with everyone, however. 10000 Islands, for example, is one region that has prominently avoided the use of IRC for years. There’s a number of reasons why this might be the case. Some there have argued that IRC is a nascent influence – users are exposed to a cosmopolitan mix of other users abroad, making it easier (perhaps too easy, that is) for regions to ‘mingle’ and regional loyalties to blur, if not wane altogether. “Almost all the feeder coups that I know of originated from discussions on IRC. People on IRC have a tendency to join factions which in my opinion is bad for region-building,” writes Goddess Relief Office, founder of Yggdrasil and former delegate of 10000 Islands. The Pacific too, for quite a long time now, kept their regional IRC channel separate from other regional IRC channels – hosting it on a different server alongside CyberNations’ New Pacific Order. Thus it could be said that the resistance against IRC and the threat of ‘globalised communication’ may not simply be an islander notion, but a regionalist notion – especially when you note that both The Pacific and The East Pacific have a history of avoiding IRC and relying on more exclusive and communal forms of communication such as Skype, where the users must be invited to be accepted in regional dialogues.

I’ve personally suspected that the relationship between communities and forms of communication is dynamic: the community shapes their choice of communication forms and their form of communication shapes the community. For example, IRC was often associated with defenders, whereas MSN Messenger was often associated with invaders – the differences of their activity made either form of communication more strategic for each other – MSN Messenger is more ‘secure’ and ‘exclusive’ (invite only), while IRC is more open, easily accessible and reliable; the former is a good tool for a pack of experienced invaders to use to organise an invasion (which requires more privacy), while the latter serves as a good tool for organising mass liberations and spotting for defences. This had the effect of stratifying communities and social networks, because defenders had a larger presence on IRC and invaders had a larger presence on MSN Messenger.

The real complicating factor with ‘mixing’ IRC and regional communities, especially Game-Created Regions, however, is that an IRC channel is in some senses, ‘private property’ being used as a public space for the purposes of a public sphere. This is the crux of a number of heated discussions regarding the use of regional IRC channels. You see, a founder to an IRC channel cannot be removed – similar in some respects to a User-Created Region – but members of the IRC channel can, which in and of itself establishes a power imbalance between the channel’s users and its founder, the former of which has no court of appeal to remove an intolerable founder and the latter of which is under little strain to meet the overbearing demands of others, provided the channel users have few alternatives because the usership has organically centralised behind what is perceived as the ‘legitimate’ channel for their community, despite the fact that this public legitimacy is being attributed to a private space with private ownership!

Lazarus is an unusual case with regards to IRC. As a regionalist region, naturally, it always proceeded with caution by adopting an IRC channel – the People’s Republic of Lazarus established #lazarus initially as a channel for natives strictly, with only a few exceptions for strong friends and supporters of the revolution…. over time, this policy waned and a cosmopolitan approach took hold; the channel’s population was less reflective of Lazarus’s population so much as the regular residents of most IRC channels related to NationStates – presumably, socialites, of some kind. What makes the People’s Republic particularly unique, however, is because of its communist roots, it recognised the issue with the privatisation of an IRC Channel and sought to codify and regulate the IRC Channel as a public space under the constitution. Its Judicial Code, for example, in Clause 1.3, set aside protocols for the banning and probation of users on Lazarus’s IRC channel. Since the Stujenske administration has gone rogue, however, the hosting of #lazarus has proven problematic – the public space has proved to be not so public – with the founders of the channel being members of the rogue administration, forcing members of the exiled government to move their discussions to ‘#laz’ – a regional channel owned by Funkadelia, leading figure of the government-in-exile. There was even a more recent, albeit failed attempt to ‘ban’ Feux’s account from #lazarus, despite him being the channel owner.

While #lazarus attempted to establish its IRC Channel as a public space, #the_south_pacific, however, has never made many pretense to the contrary – often, its previous channel owners maintained controversial bans as a matter of ‘my rules or the highway’ – this stern of policy of upholding controversial bans as the act of its private owners has seemingly carried through to the current era, with the channel’s inheritor, Astarial and the most active Channel Operator, Lord Ravenclaw (neither of whom are citizens of the South Pacific) overseeing the gradual sociopolitical transformation of #the_south_pacific. First came the ‘de-opping’ of one of the channel’s few actual native Channel Operators, Kringalia, largely because of a political fallout between Lord Ravenclaw and Kringalia (an aside: does it count as a fallout if they were never we really ‘in’?) but justified on the terms of Kringalia being an “unnecessary” addition to the channel’s staff. Next has come the monopolisation of the channel’s conversation from foreigners and socialites, such that locals themselves were inundated with communication and ‘friendly’ association with people who have a vested interest in securing political power and control in the South Pacific. These socialites are a class of their own; they are not necessarily political, they are not necessarily ideological – they have gone by many amorphous names (e.g., we often generalised them as ‘miniluvers’ after the infamous #miniluv scandal) but they’ve always resisted an ultimate conferral of identification and abstraction – after all, once you are ‘named’, this discourse can undermine your relative position of power. Socialites are not a unified bloc, but they share common interests in ‘social politics’ and ‘disputes of personality’ (for lack of better terms) which can bleed over into regional discussions of actual politics, law and philosophy. But their relentless domination of channel conversations has consequences, nevertheless.

As one local told me wisely, ‘you can’t think properly if [they’re] talking; you can’t exchange in a local conversation… so you lose the power to think independently and to speak independently from [them]’ – regionalists like to talk of cosmopolitans in term of institutional threats to their ability to govern independently, but I would argue that there is another dimension altogether that is overlooked here: the global monopolisation of public discourse and thought. One can think of a regional’s political sphere as a bubble – a bubble of social activity and interaction – sitting a grab-bag of foreigners in the centre of this bubble, chatting, even dominating every conversation is akin, not simply to that bubble bursting, but an occupation of said bubble. The bubble continues as a mere shell, a pretense, where locals innocently assume that their channels of information belong to them, but in fact they persist only in a globalised, porous site of informational imperialism. This can be indirect, or extend to more direct forms of control: such as removing outspoken members whose views challenge the dominant discourse. Generally, alternative views can be ridiculed through inundating the speaker with a plethora of loud, dismissive, if not intellectually dishonest counter-remarks from a number of challengers – the ‘social gadfly’ in this case, is framed and presented, as an inconvenience to the channel’s social harmony. Things will be better, socialites would argue, if such loudmouths were removed – moderation is applied haphazardly to remove them, but not anyone who may have flame baited or trolled them – the crime you have committed then is not your conduct, per se, but your opinion.

More recently, Escade had been banned from #the_south_pacific and she argued (before being let back into the channel – which silenced her complaints, apparently) that the regional channel should not be considered ‘official’ with the main Channel Operator, Lord Ravenclaw, vocally ‘despising’ the South Pacific. Old supporters of the channel gave the traditional rundown: ‘the channel is privately owned’ and ‘if you don’t like it: leave’ – but this is where an obvious contradiction arises, of course. The channel is run as a private entity, but treated with the legitimacy of a public institution. It continues to be recognised and linked on the South Pacific’s World Factbook Entry and on the region’s forum, and any suggestions of maintaining a public IRC Channel have been dismissed by, lo and behold, private owners and operators of the current, official (yet seemingly ‘unofficial’) IRC Channel. IRC in contemporary gameplay is the site of enormous power – it is a legal grey area that is private yet public – it is where gameplayers spend most of their time, where our ideas our formed and disseminated and most importantly, where our information is communicated, manufactured and, potentially, monopolised. No wonder users want their ‘slice of the cake’. Owning and controlling property in the virtual space of IRC is effectively owning information, social capital and power in contemporary gameplay – it is the globalised channel for the advancement of the gravest and most subtlest form of informational imperialism and home to an entire stratum of users whose sole interest is to chatter, build their popularity, reputation, status and play the ‘socialite’ without any concern for the actual themes of philosophy, politics, and law that NationStates and our regional governments are built on – what then, I must ask, do we become, when the socialite becomes our philosopher-king? When the ‘Kim Kardashian’ of NationStates, becomes more trusted to lead a region than the thinker, theorist, or the visionary is the day that their monopolisation of our own heads has led to their monopolisation of our political institutions. It is then, and only then, that our own regional politics are ultimately diluted through the conflation of political philosophy and the advancement of regional policy with the mere trifling squabbles of personalities.

---

"Commend RIA" Passes
Renegade Islands Alliance Commended
COMMENTARY | THE CHURCH OF SATAN, CORRESPONDENT


"Hereby Commends Renegade Islands Alliance..."

When Nephmir, the proposal's unlikely author, posted his first draft of "Commend RIA" in the Security Council forum, the initial draft was meant with considerable support and enthusiasm.

Now, of course, the first draft wasn't final. More information as always was needed. I myself, having been serving my second term as Foreign Affairs Officer for Renegade Islands at the time wanted to provide Nephmir with as much information as possible. Unfortunately though, very little of anything prior to late 2013 had been archived. I'm sure the Renegade Islands Alliance Special Forces (RIASF) forum had valuable information that could have made a great contribution, but that's neither here nor there given the unfortunate destruction of said forums by Lone Wolves United in 2005. Very few people in NationStates survive with an intimate knowledge of Renegade Islands' early history. Falconias, Shizensky and Tierra de Madre were probably the only players. I know I myself searched everywhere for information, even one of the ADN's forum. But suffice to say, having been part of Renegade Islands for more than a year even I could not find information about its early history.

With the challenges faced in researching Renegade Islands' history, "Commend RIA" focused mostly on the Renegade Islands Alliance's work with 'defender unity' -- cooperation with other defender regions and organisations -- providing a significant number of experienced members, that is, to some of the most famed liberations in recent memory. The resolution emphasized the quiet, humble nature of its nominee, noting "Renegade Islands Alliance [...] leads by example, asking nothing in return for services and willingly working and cooperating with fellow Defender organizations to promote peace and liberty across the world, even if it means staying out of the spotlight." Certainly, in many ways, Nephmir was able to capture an accurate picture of the Renegade Islands Alliance as a 'global teamplayer'.

What does member of RIA besides myself think about the commendation? When we spoke with the delegate of Renegade Islands Alliance, St Kitten was ecstatic.

"Wow. Such commendation. Much honoured. Very flattered. Wow," the delegate jested. "83% of all WA members who were active at the time and who voted, decided that we were worthy of a commendation. Statistically speaking, it's likely that about 75-80% of that 17% were from raider regions, leaving only a very small portion of WA members found that we were not worthy, even after our various missions. I trust that if some older missions were listed we could've boosted that 83% to possibly an 85%, however I am still glad to see our 83% approval rating - four times bigger than the US Congress's current approval rating!"

"Plus, I like the new shiny badge thingie..."

HumanSanity, interim founder, was a bit more relaxed on the matter. "I have no comment on the subject except to thank the international community for this highest honor."

Being commended is no small feat but for Renegade Islands it is long overdue. Too often have I found people asking "What's RIA?" whenever I made reference to the region. The overwhelming support for the commendation was very flattering! For all but the last day of voting, it maintained an average of 88% in support. The sudden drop by 5% on the final day was unfortunate in my opinion. I'd have liked to see it climb higher than it's peak of 90%, but the fact that it passed is the important part. Frankly, Renegade Islands had not expected Nephmir of all people to draft a commendation in their favor and some felt the fact that he was the author might even hurt the chances of its passing. I myself was a bit concerned, but that didn't change the fact that every member of the region was confident about the proposal. Congratulations to Renegade Islands and their founder, Shizensky. I'm sure he's glad to see the region finally recognized by the international community for its efforts.

Commend Renegade Islands Alliance was passed 11,114 votes to 2,215.

---

Speaking With The Exiles
The Future of Democracy and 'Benevolent Dictatorships' in Lazarus
INTERVIEW | UNIBOT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF


"Deep inside the central bunker of the Lazarus Underground..."

Unibot discusses the crisis in Lazarus with prominent members of the government-in-exile, including Funkadelia, Horse and Church of Satan...

For those of our readers who don't know you guys, could you introduce yourself to them? What was your relationship with Lazarus?

Church of Satan: Greetings NS!
Funkadelia: I first joined Lazarus in May 2013, but was mostly inactive because the rest of the region was inactive. I picked up activity with the founding of the People's Republic of Lazarus and eventually served as Vice-Chairman and Chairman of the region.
Horse: I joined Lazarus in late 2013 I believe (or early 2014), and did a lot of stuff when I first arrived, but then really didn't do stuff. I really started to do a lot of stuff when Milograd came around, and I eventually led the LLA as its General, and have been elected to the People's congress three times. Ran for chairman once too, but got beat by a lot!
Church of Satan: I first joined in about...erm...mid to late 2014, I believe. My memory remains fuzzy as always. When I first started I joined the Judicial District. Initially I was a common citizen. Soon after I was chosen to serve as Chief of State Police. I served for a few months and when Ikania was convicted Funk here offered me the position of Judicial District Governor. I was honored and served for several months, until about last month. I transferred to the Culture District to serve as Governor. Rarely do we have use for the courts and we really needed a Culture Officer. Over the past few weeks that has been my job. It's much more engaging as well.

Let’s retrace your memory of events – where were you… what were you doing when Stujenske went rogue? What did you think? What went through your head?

Funkadelia: I was actually scanning the forums *as* it happened. Stujenske and I were embroiled in a (seemingly) minor debate over the legality of his chosen flag and I questioned some bannings that had happened in the recent past, and about the banjecting of Loftegen, a very high influence nation that has never given us any trouble whatsoever. Suddenly, I was stripped of my admin masking after switching to another topic, and I was banned. I started to really panic. I was mostly in a state of shock, I didn't even know what to think. I couldn't believe it was actually happening. Obviously the developments later about the constitution and stuff were just flooring. I was very angry and upset.
Horse: I actually didn't find out until like 2 days after, when I was playing Moonbase alpha. Funk told me.
Church of Satan: I was on IRC when he "dissolved" the constitution. I had just finished an awful meal of chips, lol. I happened to be watching the flag debate. I was very concerned and to be honest upset when I read it.

Yeah, in some ways, the Rejected Realms was seeing signs of Stujenske's rogueness early on, but we just didn't follow up on the problem as a 'pattern' per se - I had talked to Loftegen (who was very upset) when they were ejected and Texarabia had applied for the RRA and said 'kicked out and banned from Lazarus, not sure why, happened shortly have I refounded' and the RRA rejected his application because it didn't sound plausible. How wrong were we, I guess...

Church of Satan: I never expected this from Stu quite honestly.
Horse: I kind of saw it coming, but was thinking... "Horse you're crazy, stop your s___t!"

What might have tipped you off, Horse?

Horse: The sudden surge in activity I guess, and [Stujenske's], along with Perg's attitude the week before was really weird. Hearing about "working some stuff out in the background" from Perg was a bit odd too.

Whose decision was it to create a government-in-exile? What were your initial thoughts about it when the idea was proposed?

Horse: Funk's, of course. I thought "Why the hell not, I'm free to do stuff for awhile, and Stuj is acting like a dink".
Church of Satan: Definitely Funk.
Funkadelia: It was mine. I decided that if we were going to have an official resistance movement, we should try to continue the last constitutional government.
Church of Satan: I had gathered a few people to discuss Stu prior though in my own private channel. Funk has always had my support though. Besides, Stu went bonkers. I can't follow crazy.
Horse: Yeah I'm pretty sure Funk will always have my support, except if he goes insane.

Some have suggested that 'systemic factors' - the way the institution was set up in Lazarus - has led to this crisis and Lazarus's instability. Do you agree with that? Is there a common source of this political instability?

Funkadelia: I think that's ludicrous. The issue was the consolidation of influence. I think people didn't really expect Stu to be an NPO puppet for this. He's been a dedicated Lazarene for years, and when endorsees were being appointed, we weren't expecting there to be a coup with every single one of them being pro coup. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 but complaining about "I told you so" is not productive.
Church of Satan: I think the fault was entirely on Stu and Perg. He agreed to uphold our constitution when he was elected. It was his choice to disregard it. I admit the constitution was not perfect.
Horse: Oh definitely it's all on Stuj and Perg.

To play devil's advocate here - Lazarus has rejected a thread along the lines of 'Do we need democracy?' every year since the PRL's creation. While PRL did have an elected leader, its constitution and its government always seem to praise authoritarianism and collective dictatorships. Democratisation has brought stability to TNP, TSP, TRR, and OFO has certainly been a remarkable improvement over The Empire's Osiris.

Could the system in Lazarus have played more a role in this instability?

Funkadelia: I will concede that it probably did a little bit. Perhaps endorsee selection would have been a bit more balanced.
Church of Satan: The theme has always been in good fun. It was never intended to be taken seriously. We were definitely democratic but I suppose the position could have gone to Stu's head. Perg seems to just be following him blindly.
Horse: Yeah the whole thing was good fun, but I definitely think the system had a bit to do with it.
Funkadelia: Perg is just a stooge. The NPO will throw him in the dumpster when he's no longer needed.

You all have different areas of expertise - Funk (adminstration), Horse (military), Satan (culture) - what do you think are some of the main challenges that the PRL will face to overcome Stujenske's grip on the region?

Funkadelia: The name of the game is endorsements. And influence, of course. Stujenske could ban literally any other nation.
Horse: Getting 180+ endos is going to be a b___ch. And then some...
Church of Satan: Definitely the endorsements. The band wagon of raiders and the likes of 94 block will make it somewhat more difficult.

Certainly, but you've got to convince natives... maintain support from the international community... what are you most concerned about?

Funkadelia: I've been having to juggle both. I am getting a lot of help from personal friends though. So it's making it all a bit easier!
Church of Satan: I'm worried most about the natives that generally don't take an interest in the regional politics.
Horse: Getting the region stabilized after all of this. We really don't want a repeat! Also getting some bloody activity going. [Church of Satan] is also right, most people in the region don't care about the politics of the region, and I don't really blame them.

That follows nicely into my next question, Horse. How does Lazarus prevent this situation from happening again?

Church of Satan: The fact of the matter is it can't be prevented. It's like Godwin's law for GCR's. As time passes, the probability that a coup will occur rises. The best we can do is try to prevent it.
Horse: I think one way we could prevent this pretty well, like I said above, is get some activity going. If we had had more active people prior to this, we probably would have noticed all of those kicks sooner then when we did. A higher [endorsement cap] would probably help out in the event of a coup as well, but help one out as well. I think what TSP has going on with the whole [endorsement tracker] (if they still have that) would be pretty helpful as well.
Church of Satan: Even then failure is the likely conclusion on the part of the legitimate government. Primarily because the one doing the coup will be trusted by the community. You can't see it coming.
Funkadelia: I agree with everyone else, plus more vigilance on the delegate. Question everything. Look out for random ejections. Demand explanations. These are things we didn't do.

What are your current feelings about the revolution’s progress? Feeling confident? Hopeful?

Church of Satan: I'm very confident. The overwhelming support abroad is both touching and relieving. It makes me think that this will only be successful.
Horse: Hopeful. A lot of the community is supportive of us, and I can only hope it continues moving in a positive direction. It's gonna take awhile to do, but we'll eventually get it done!
Funkadelia: It's only been a few days, and we are getting lots of support. I think things are going to go well for us.

Some from Stujenske’s government have criticised members of the government-in-exile for being inactive – for only caring about Lazarus ‘now’ that this uprising has happened. How would you respond to these attacks?

Funkadelia: I will admit that I was inactive until recently. But Lazarus is my home. Yes, I was drawn away for a while, but I was just extremely busy in general. The issue is that Stujenske just expected me to sit there and be quiet.
Church of Satan: Well, it is a blatant lie. I have been a very active Governor. Stu and Perg themselves have praised me for my work on the forum. I went so far as to set up an entire week of cultural events that change each week. It was more successful than I figured it would be.
Horse: I was working with Stuj and Perg, two weeks - even a week before the coup happened! Hell, me and Perg did a full night's work on a law, and we were planning on more. Not only that, but I'm pretty sure we all tried, on multiple occasions, to get activity going again. Heck, I posted a festival idea, and got 'zero' help setting it up (save CoS). Perg just said "looks cool" basically, and Stuj never got to me about it.
Funkadelia: Yes. The environment was just not conducive to [activity], it seemed. Until days before the coup, I had been writing revolutionary essays to inspire something, and it seemed to be generally getting a good response.
Church of Satan: Funk did a fantastic job with those essays too.
Horse: Yeah those essay's we're pretty cool.

What's one thing you would change about Lazarus if PRL was back in government and you got the chance?

Horse: More festivals, more outreach to the community, and more Lazarus Gazette stuff.
Funkadelia: Do you mean after Stu's coup or if it never happened? It sounds strange but it matters!

After Stu's coup, yes...

Funkadelia: Make it more democratic.
Church of Satan: Drastically reduce the power of the Chairman. Severe checks and balances.
Funkadelia: I think especially now, even more than before, Stujenske has ruined the idea of a benevolent dictator. I don't think the people can trust that sort of thing anymore. I plan on trying to change many things about Lazarus post-coup. They will have to wait though, because I don't want to change too many things and take the focus away from the issue at hand.
Church of Satan: Yeah, the concept has now run it's course.

What's your fondest memory of the People’s Republic of Lazarus?

Church of Satan: Hobbes forum. God I loved it. There was so much activity too.
Horse: Hobbes forum best forum!
Funkadelia: My time as Chairman, of course. While it was incredibly stressful and seemed to be doomed at times, I really enjoyed being able to lead Lazarus, and am proud to say I am a former delegate.

Thank you so much, gentlemen (and gentlehorses) for the interview. If I may say so: good luck and best of luck to you.

If you have any final comments for our readers, feel free to voice them!

Church of Satan: Thank YOU. It was fun talking with you.
Horse: Eat yer vegetables and thanks for the interview, it was fun.
Funkadelia: I'm sorry. I feel partly responsible, as a former Chairman, for this happening. I am doing literally everything I can to try to stop it. I have barely slept 16 hours this entire week because of it. I hope that you all won't give up on Lazarus. We will toss out this jerk.

---

[Marelius]

That last picture got me. 10/10

[Sad-States]

Amazing article, such a great coverage on Lazarus. Keep up the good work guys!

[Tabaqui]

It's a brilliant edition of TRT for sure, I just have to say two things.

(A) The agent who destroyed the RIA forums was working for DEN while a member of LWU, not acting under orders from us, so unless you consider Lone Wolves United as holding influence over DEN as well, the claim that LWU are responsible for the 2005 forum destruction is questionable.

(B) The people banned from #the_south_pacific are not merely "People who Lord Ravenclaw doesn't like", for the most part they are real troublemakers and pariahs such as Anur-Sanur. The private owners fulfill their stewardship role by eliminating problematic influences, whether banned members were working for light or darkness, or indeed, for themselves only.

To be sure, some inspiring articles, well written as always.

[Venico]

Oh look, another rant from Unibot about how IRC is bad and should feel bad. This time with a twist! It's bad for your community!

It couldn't at all be that Unibot is bad at the social side of Political NS so he has to decry the platform all together? Of course not, that'd be ridiculous.

[Ikania]

I was mentioned

Funkadelia: Make it more democratic.
Church of Satan: Drastically reduce the power of the Chairman. Severe checks and balances.

From August 26th, 2014:

I can respond to this post in which you claim that Lazarus is more democratic than actually democratic regions in one sentence:

Your Chairman just amended your constitution without a single vote being cast by anyone else.

I support this movement and I really do want to help, but you kind of had it coming to you if you refuse to take any power from the Chairman.

[The Church of Satan]

Saying "I told you so." isn't helping anybody.

[Ikania]

Saying "I told you so." isn't helping anybody.

Yeah yeah, but I want find at least some validity in my idiotic shitspouting.

[Waldeck-Pyrmont]

Saying "I told you so." isn't helping anybody.

Yeah yeah, but I want find at least some validity in my idiotic shitspouting.

We can still have a powerful central figure, it's just time to raise the WA cap.

[Valrifell]

Yeah yeah, but I want find at least some validity in my idiotic shitspouting.

We can still have a powerful central figure, it's just time to raise the WA cap.

But wasn't Stu appointed Chairman?

[Ikania]

We can still have a powerful central figure, it's just time to raise the WA cap.

But wasn't Stu appointed Chairman?

After Milo got a concussion and wasn't able to serve, I believe. But I doubt there was any protest to the decision, as traditionally Stujenske has been interim Delegate when switching to a new one, so I believe he was Delegate in between Milo and Kazmr, and Kazmr and Funk. Stujenske was a very reliable person, and it's hard to believe he's doing this.