Grand Central

[The Ghost of Festavo]

I am glad you are satisfied with the parties, but I am also sorry about your experience on the train ride. I will call the conductor into my office and get the situation fixed right away

[Fist of the Northern Banana]

Congrats! :^)

[Plagentine]

Grand Council elected!

The beginning of May signified the end of the end of the term of the previous Grand Council, and the start of the elections which would decide the names of the new five councilors. The amount of people who registered themselves for candidates was indeed a satisfying one, as many wanted the chance to contribute to the region in such a prestigious way, but in the end a total of nine candidates made it to the elections. The people could choose between 95 Block of the Vasentius who represented The Party Party, Cameron M. Romefeller who represented the Liberal-Democratic Party, Klaus Mikaelson who represented the Liberal-Democrat Party, Lios Luchsinth who represented The Equality Party, Northeast Scotland who represented the Conservative and Republic Party, Pickles who represented the Liberal-Democrat Party, Soames who represented the Liberal-Democrat Party, and Yuno who represented the Equality Party.

The election itself began on May 6th and lasted for two days, during which a total of thirty-two eligible electors cast their votes. During the initial period of the election, 95 Block of the Vasentius was in the lead with the votes, however there was a great deal of competition between candidates with lower vote-counts. Once the election concluded, those who won were able to crack open a bottle of champagne and have a little celebration, while the rest would still be able to pat themselves on the back for the solid amount of effort they put in and enjoy other activities until the next election. Though the Grand Council was previously consisted of purely members of the Liberal-Democrat Party, councilors are currently representing four different parties, with the exception of Klaus Mikaelson who appears to be going independent currently.

Results of the election, first five being the ones elected:
29- Cameron M. Romefeller (LDP)
29- 95 Block- (TPP)
24- Klaus Mikaelson (LDP)
21- Northeast Scotland (CRP)
18- Lios (EQP)
17- George Hanover (TPP)
13- Soames (LDP)
6- Yuno (EQP)
4- Pickles (LDP)

Grand Chairman elected!

On May 8th of this year, Northeast Scotland of the Conservative and Republican Party was elected to the position of Grand Council Chairman by the Grand Council. Though the election itself seemed a tad turbulent, it managed to conclude in good order. Northeast Scotland is a newcomer to Grand Central, but in the short time he has been here a lot of effort and devotion was shown on his part and he has managed to climb up the political ladder very quickly. By being elected as Grand Chairman, he has also managed to unseat Klaus Mikaelson of the Liberal-Democrat Party from the position, after serving two consecutive terms. There is no doubt that the new Chairman will manage to rise up to the responsibilities and challenges of his position, and prove the good judgement of the new council.

Foreign Affairs Adventures

One of the main focuses of the new regime under Festavo Vasentius was to bring life to the Foreign Affairs department, which was previously in a dreadful state. The Stationmaster and his new Regent of Foreign Affairs, Plagentine Kleopold Vasentius, have been putting in a good deal of effort in order to expand their network of embassies and friends, and to shape the interregional image of Grand Central. Around twelve people are currently in employment in the Foreign Affairs department and are acting as ambassadors to other region, noting that an ambassador can be sent to multiple regions at once. The number of embassies in the region itself has also significantly increased since the new regime's term began.

Some of the regions with which Grand Central has opened up embassies with are the Land of Kings and Emperors, Equinox, Lazarus, The Communist Bloc, etc. Another result of the revitalization of the Foreign Affairs department is the creation of the Treaty of Blackfyre with the Kingdom of Great Britain, which is a show of friendship and respect between the two regions. Though there are many checkpoints behind us, there are also a great many ahead of us, and the regime does not intend on resting until all of it's goals have been achieved.

Stationmaster Festavo's Midterm Address

In my opening address I set two goals. I set the goals of reaching 10,000 total forum posts and 500 nations by the end of my term. Currently we sit at approximately 9,500 forum posts and 430 nations. Since the day I gave that address we have gained 4,500 forum posts and nearly 100 nations. This region and community is growing fast. Is that because of me? No. That is because of all of you. Our community as a whole is what keeps this region growing. We have a very active forum and skype chat. It is because of every person who gets online every day and makes even just one post on the forum and one message in the skype chat. It is because of this atmosphere that new nations stay in this region after being enticed to join by 95 Block's recruitment campaigns that he generously finances. This is certainly something to be happy about. It is also certainly something that I cannot take sole credit or even majority credit for. This is something that we have all done.

Over the course of my first month in office we have seen gains on all fronts. The Grand Central Regiment contains a total of 14 soldiers now. That is a very nice number to have at this point. We have a total of 12 forum embassies now. We have also seen the release of the second Regional Update. That is up from something like 3 or 4 when I took office. We have seen the re-organization of the Internal Affairs department, creation of some snazzy userbars and the creation of a growing regional roleplay. As I mentioned above, we gained 4,500 forum posts and nearly 100 nations. We have over 10 candidates for this Grand Council election. Grand Central is an active and vibrant community right now that is growing fast on all fronts.

What does the future hold in store? I cannot say with 100% confidence as anything can happen at any time. However, I can say what my cabinet and I have been working on and planning. On the foreign affairs front me and Plagentine have been working on making some treaties with some of our allies, continuing to expand our embassies and publishing a new Regional Update after the Grand Council election. On the internal affairs front me and Cameron have a regional festival planned for mid-late May. Cameron has also started a new regional roleplay recently which we hope continues to grow and ends up being a fun time for everybody involved. On the military front I have created a list of Regiment members and have accepted applicants in the absence of Panzer, our Regent of Military Affairs. He disappeared very suddenly 2 weeks ago. After trying to contact him several times and giving him a respectful amount of time to return, I have decided to appoint a new Regent of Military Affairs. With a new leader at the helm of the Grand Central Regiment I hope to see increased activity through military operations on a regular basis and I am confident we will see that. In the meantime we have been assisting an ally in holding a region.

As a reward to everybody who stayed awake so far, I will be announcing the additions to the Government of Grand Central now:

I hereby appoint Kyorgia Vasentius to the position of Regent of Military Affairs. Kyorgia has been a raider for a while now and he has a good understanding of R/D as well as dignified service in many operations. He is up for the job and I believe he can do a great job at keeping the Regiment active and growing. I can't wait to see his leadership skills at work.

I hereby appoint Northeast Scotland to the position of Attorney General. After discussing this position with Arthur I have seen that he is very eager and dedicated to being our Attorney General. I had Augustus interview him to see how well versed in Grand Central law he is and he passed with flying colors. I am confident he will get the job done as Attorney General.

I hereby nominate Dustin Snider to the postion of Associate Justice on the Supreme Court. Dustin is currently trying for the bar in real life and he is very passionate and interested in law. I have had Augustus do his duty and evaluate Dustin and he passed with flying colors. I am confident that he is well versed in Grand Central law and that he knows how to interpret it properly.

That will be all for now, folks. I am now open for questions and comments as always.

Can't hold all this activity!

Grand Central has experienced a massive rise in activity since it's reopening in December of 2015, and has truly broken many milestones in that relatively short period of time. Due to the great efforts and astounding devotion from both older members and new additions to the region, Grand Central has become a beacon of activity and opportunity. Recruitment efforts from 95 Block of the Vasentius and Augustus Anumia have proven extremely fruitful, as the region stands on the verge of breaking five hundred nations, and the off-site forum has 183 total members, noting that 40+ users are active at almost all times on a daily average. The previous milestone of ten thousand forum posts was completely shattered, as we currently stand at 12,370 posts, and the count keeps rising every minute! But do not be fooled, this activity is certainly not just spam games, as we have an active and dedicated community of roleplayers, a thriving legislature, both casual and more formal discussions on various topics, and many other things that can spark someone's interest.

The skype chat is also no joke, as it has no trouble getting around two thousand messages per day from it's various members which engage in both silly chats and somewhat more serious debates. And even though the military is not exactly thriving, it has been deployed in assistance to it's raider comrades multiple times. All of this cannot be credited to just one person, as so many people have given their contribution to the reborn region, but it is not at all out of order to hold the (re)founding members responsible for sparking new life in Grand Central.

Summary of recently passed acts

On May 1st of this year, an amendment to the constitution was proposed to the Grand Council by Cameron M. Romefeller, though it was authored by Lios Luchsinth with the help of Augustus Anumia and the aforementioned councilor. The amendment was meant to clarify some things which were previously not specifically mentioned, and to determine the term of an Associate Justice to three months. It also clarified that a case would be accepted with 50% support of the Supreme Court, and that the opinion of the Chief Justice will effectively be the 'vote-breaker' in case of an equally divided Supreme Court when rendering a judgment.

On May 2nd of this year, the Grand Council had to vote on whether to approve the nomination of the new Associate Justice Dustin Snider, who was nominated by the Stationmaster Festavo Vasentius and certified by the Chief Justice Augustus Anumia. After discussing the matter, the council moved to vote and officially approved the nominee on May 4th of this year, effectively putting him in the Associate Justice seat. As Dustin Snider has all the necessary recommendations and approvals, there is no doubt that he will do a good job and fulfill his responsibilities.

On May 9th of this year, the newly elected Grand Council began it's third session by passing The Impeachment Act of 2016. The act was proposed the new Grand Chairman Northeast Scotland, and determined on which terms an officer of the region can be impeached, and how the impeachment process would work. Such an act will prove very useful in future cases, and make things much smoother.

[Revall]

Excellent Update! Grand Central keeps chugging along

[Waldeck-Pyrmont]

Yay!

Let us continue to prosper in the face of adversaries.

[Gibraltarica]

Great newsletter, and news as always. Keep up the good work, GC! I expect great things out of you!

[Plagentine]

Thank you all for the words of support

[Sygian]

Keep up the excellent work! I hope that GC and Auralia can become closer and closer as allies.

[RiderSyl]

Woo, go Yuno!

Setting aside any personal grievances, I'm happy to see Grand Central flourishing. Great job, everyone.

[Queen Yuno]

>////<
TY SYL<3

[Brihimia]

May 15th, 2016 - Minor Update

Forces from The People's Revolutionary Armed Forces (PRAF) and the Grand Central Regiment (GCR) deploy onto the battlefield.

Troops from the PRAF:
General
General Dol Guldur
General Zenny
Private Veloc
Private Aellas

With support from the Grand Central Regiment:

Corporal Brihimia

Regions Hit (3):

[Zenny]

Pleasure to participate o/ looking forward to many of these in the future

[Tim-Opolis]

I feel really content with the fact that the name we came up with for the military back in 2010 is still being used, regardless of personal differences we all may have, nice to see more diversity on the battlefield.

Correct me if it was used prior to 2010, it's been a while, so I'm more or less assuming we all came up with the name

[Benevolent Thomas]

I feel really content with the fact that the name we came up with for the military back in 2010 is still being used, regardless of personal differences we all may have, nice to see more diversity on the battlefield.

Correct me if it was used prior to 2010, it's been a while, so I'm more or less assuming we all came up with the name

DEN also was content with these players using their name from back in the day as well

[Zaolat]

I feel really content with the fact that the name we came up with for the military back in 2010 is still being used, regardless of personal differences we all may have, nice to see more diversity on the battlefield.

Correct me if it was used prior to 2010, it's been a while, so I'm more or less assuming we all came up with the name

DEN also was content with these players using their name from back in the day as well

Bad analogy, cause you're wrong.

[RiderSyl]

I feel really content with the fact that the name we came up with for the military back in 2010 is still being used, regardless of personal differences we all may have, nice to see more diversity on the battlefield.

Correct me if it was used prior to 2010, it's been a while, so I'm more or less assuming we all came up with the name

DEN also was content with these players using their name from back in the day as well

DEN also used that exact winking emoticon!

[The old wildlife pen pal]

DEN also was content with these players using their name from back in the day as well

Bad analogy, cause you're wrong.

Please, show me all this evidence that DEN didn't want DEN using the name DEN and being, well, DEN. Cause I still haven't seen anything that was posted while DEN existed showing how DEN didn't like DEN using DEN's brand and history.

[Zaolat]

Bad analogy, cause you're wrong.

Please, show me all this evidence that DEN didn't want DEN using the name DEN and being, well, DEN. Cause I still haven't seen anything that was posted while DEN existed showing how DEN didn't like DEN using DEN's brand and history.

I'm not talking about DEN, but GC.

[95 block]

How can anyone say that two original members of Grand Central reviving the region and it military, the GCR, is stealing a name without the previous generation's consent? Is it because you're not in it Tim? I did invite you back to GC in good faith.

[Cormactopia II]

How can anyone say that two original members of Grand Central reviving the region and it military, the GCR, is stealing a name without the previous generation's consent? Is it because you're not in it Tim? I did invite you back to GC in good faith.

How in the world did you derive that from his comment? He said he was glad to see the old name still in use.

[RiderSyl]

I feel really content with the fact that the name we came up with for the military back in 2010 is still being used, regardless of personal differences we all may have, nice to see more diversity on the battlefield.
Correct me if it was used prior to 2010, it's been a while, so I'm more or less assuming we all came up with the name

How can anyone say that two original members of Grand Central reviving the region and it military, the GCR, is stealing a name without the previous generation's consent? Is it because you're not in it Tim? I did invite you back to GC in good faith.

How in the actual fuck did you misread the comment you were responding to that badly?

[95 block]

I made a gaff! I shouldn't post so late at night. Apologies Tim.

[Zaolat]

I made a gaff! I shouldn't post so late at night. Apologies Tim.

I can vouch, after I got home we stayed up pretty late bullshitting.

[RiderSyl]

I made a gaff! I shouldn't post so late at night. Apologies Tim.

I can vouch, after I got home we stayed up pretty late bullshitting.

Ah, okay. One of my late-night posts to Kleo ruined an election, so I have no grounds to criticize here.

[Tim-Opolis]

I made a gaff! I shouldn't post so late at night. Apologies Tim.

No worries man, it happens. I got really confused by the hostility initially, I must say. But yeah, I genuinely like that y'all are still using the name we all made up 5-6 years ago. Afterall, you could have always become The Black Choo-Choo Trains