Embassy of the South Pacific

[New Astri]

Look, I don't care what you tell your people internally. Doesn't bother me a smidge if you lie to your folks and tell them that your 12 brave soldiers made the raiders run in fear, do whatever it takes to keep morale up.

But don't come onto the Gameplay forum and say with a straight face that you had anything to do with raiders voluntarily leaving LCN. The Founder came back, orders were canceled long before any of you assembled. "The raiders began to pull out under its weight" is a line that should really be taken out of this report if you want to be taken seriously at all.

i love how they're just straight up lying now like anyone can't go onto the lcn rmb and see me telling praf pilots more or less "yeah we're leaving cuz the founder is here and there's no point in going hard on a raid where we could all be booted at any second." like they literally failed to lib After i had told people they could start pulling out, there is no scenario in which this can be spun into looking impressive for them, They Objectively Did Not Do Anything Beyond Cleaning Up After We Voluntarily Left

[Quebecshire]

We objectively did bring 80 endos on a Sunday evening and the first major PRAF-led raid ended with a lot of egg on your faces, regardless of why. The region is raider-free, such is the priority/main goal.

But I'm sure HS and Slab will run their reports by stoic fact-checkers Koth and Iota moving forward.

[HumanSanity]

But don't come onto the Gameplay forum and say with a straight face that you had anything to do with raiders voluntarily leaving LCN. The Founder came back, orders were canceled long before any of you assembled.

If the intent was to pull out of the operation after the Founder came out, the point could have moved out. Instead of a "cancellation of orders", we saw disorganization among raider forces, where some seemed to have issued withdrawal orders (but then not actually followed them?) while the PRAF continued to dance on a region after their allies moved out as if they missed the memo.

We did not liberate the region at the major update, but we did establish an incredibly solid beach head, of which the SPSF was a significant component. At that point, raiders withdrew in order to avoid the embarrassment of an increasingly realistic liberation at one of the subsequent two updates, regardless of the Founder's presence or lack thereof.

This raid was operational chaos for the occupying forces. Really, the Founder's temporary arrival did a favor for the occupiers, as it caused them to remember putting things in the WFE of a raid is actually important.

there is no scenario in which this can be spun into looking impressive for them, They Objectively Did Not Do Anything Beyond Cleaning Up After We Voluntarily Left

The SPSF regained its operational momentum after a few months stalled out, posting double digit updater numbers under fresh leadership by Minister Concrete Slab, and working as part of a coalition of regions which stayed united throughout the operation until their goals had been achieved.

By comparison, the PRAF's Air Marshall failed to ban a single updater.

[The United Vex Imperium]

Look, I don't care what you tell your people internally. Doesn't bother me a smidge if you lie to your folks and tell them that your 12 brave soldiers made the raiders run in fear, do whatever it takes to keep morale up.

But don't come onto the Gameplay forum and say with a straight face that you had anything to do with raiders voluntarily leaving LCN. The Founder came back, orders were canceled long before any of you assembled. "The raiders began to pull out under its weight" is a line that should really be taken out of this report if you want to be taken seriously at all.

i love how they're just straight up lying now like anyone can't go onto the lcn rmb and see me telling praf pilots more or less "yeah we're leaving cuz the founder is here and there's no point in going hard on a raid where we could all be booted at any second." like they literally failed to lib After i had told people they could start pulling out, there is no scenario in which this can be spun into looking impressive for them, They Objectively Did Not Do Anything Beyond Cleaning Up After We Voluntarily Left

you literally spell it out

you voluntarily left bc founder came back which killed ur raid. that is a raider loss.

raider loss = native win = defender win

its a simple calculus it aint that hard. instead of posting on the forums defending whatever meek reputation PRAF has u guys should try gettin better at the game first. this raid was embarrassing, in terms of the actual occupation and how the pr is being handled.

[Grea Kriopia]

I'd like to request a formal definition of the word "Caboozled"

[HumanSanity]

I'd like to request a formal definition of the word "Caboozled"

Caboozled Pie is apparently a Tetris player. The Caboozled profile picture was brought to you by the SPSF's proud TSPIN brigade.

In other news, if you're looking for someone to credit, credit not austria. And if you're looking for someone to blame, it's Roavin's fault.

[Ever-Wandering Souls]

i love how they're just straight up lying now like anyone can't go onto the lcn rmb and see me telling praf pilots more or less "yeah we're leaving cuz the founder is here and there's no point in going hard on a raid where we could all be booted at any second." like they literally failed to lib After i had told people they could start pulling out, there is no scenario in which this can be spun into looking impressive for them, They Objectively Did Not Do Anything Beyond Cleaning Up After We Voluntarily Left

you literally spell it out

you voluntarily left bc founder came back which killed ur raid. that is a raider loss.

raider loss = native win = defender win

its a simple calculus it aint that hard. instead of posting on the forums defending whatever meek reputation PRAF has u guys should try gettin better at the game first. this raid was embarrassing, in terms of the actual occupation and how the pr is being handled.

Could you repeat that? It's a little hard to hear you over the spin engines trying to turn "nearly 70 defender jumpers and a handful or thrre of sleepers failed to assist an actively returned founder at removing the rearguard of a raid for hours and an update" into some epic victory over incompetent raiders.

[A Bloodred Moon]

For a faction that spent the initial jump detagging, celebrating “a detag but with more people than usual” seems about par for the course. I do hope you telegrammed the founder your thanks - it’s the least you could do.

[Klaus Devestatorie]

The lesson I have taken away is that the LCN are so useless that their active, executive founder was unable to liberate the region without the assistance of 80 defenders.

[Free Algerstonia]

if it weren't for quebecshire's legend, i doubt the founder would have decided to return to this game

[Honeydewistania]

if it weren't for quebecshire's legend, i doubt the founder would have decided to return to this game

So true.

[Jar Wattinree]

if it weren't for quebecshire's legend, i doubt the founder would have decided to return to this game

The Legend of Quebecshire: Ocarina of Salt is a bestseller.

[Eshialand]

With their newfound ability to redecorate HumanSanity's flag and discord avatar, Not Austria, Eshialand, and Purple Hyacinth, together comprising the SPSF's powerful TSPIN brigade, chose to pay homage to some of their favorite tetris players, setting into motion an epidemic of a new and unexpected plague: Tetris Fever.

A day and a half later, with Tetris Fever now fully sweeping the SPSF, it was time for their next grand battle on the fields of NationStates. Without much warning, they started out with a bang, their opener perfect clearing--, er, liberating Celtic Nations from raider control within the first two minutes of update, stunning raiders who weren't quite expecting their arrival.

Celtic Nations, about to be liberated from all local raiders

From there, it was time to transition into midgame, and the Special Forces and their friends from Libcord spent the rest of the first half of minor downstacking their way through 14 rows-- er, regions, of raider garbage, keeping up the pace they'd set in their opener and showing more midgame stamina than most raider forces could hope for.

My my, that's a lot of cheese-- or rather, tags

Lastly, what better way to end an update the same way it began, with another liberation! Practicing the elusive tech known as the midgame Perfect Clear, the Special Forces and Libcord sent a 17-endorsement spike through Boston (yep, that Boston), topping out 5 days worth of raiders as they did so, a truly marvelous finish to an elegant and diverse update.

The Special Forces' coup de grâce: a liberation right at the end of update!

SPSFers T-spinning their way through update:
Minister of Defense Concrete Slab
General HumanSanity
Soldier Eshialand
Trainee Conexia

Libcord friends stacking along with us:
[LDF] Anjan Kloss
[LDF] Bootyswana
[LDF] Libertia
[LDF] Styphonia
[lily] Frenchy
[NPA/ERN] Icarus
[NPA] El Fiji Grande
[RRA] Ravania
[TGU] tokezetta
[TGW/EU] Vincent Drake
[TGW/LAB] Merni
[TGW/TMG] Wolflandil
[TGW] Arnelle
[TGW] Grea Kriopia
[TGW] Nakari
[TGW] Ostrovskiy
[TGW] Owen
[TGW] Takkaviita
[TGW] Thedaria
+TITO

Detags: 14
Principes Mundi
The Moscovian Bloc
The United States of TGK
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWMW
The Freedom States
League of Economics
Puppet of Minediamonds
New Phoenix
The Union Of Republics
The Farting Morons of East Crapland
The Breadlands
Atlas Aeterna
The Royal States of the Prospila Union
Old World Union

Liberations: 2
Celtic Nations
Boston

If you'd like to catch Tetris Fever and come stack-- er, update with us, check out this dispatch for details on how to join the SPSF!

[TSP Foreign Office]

Announcing the Award Accords

The Defender Awards began in 2006 as a vision by Northern Chittowa within the Founderless Regions Alliance to create an open and celebratory awards ceremony for the success of defenders in that year. The Awards returned time and time again, proving integral to unifying defending in times of tension and cultivating a collective identity of what it meant to be a defender. Now, the Awards are a core institution of our community that reflects on our shared past and present triumphs that we could not accomplish without one another.

It is with this in mind 10000 Islands, The League & Concord, The Order of the Grey Wardens, the Rejected Realms Army, the South Pacific, and The Union of Democratic States are pleased to announce the ratification of The Award Accords, a multi-lateral agreement on the organization of the Defender Awards.

The Award Accords come from an idea started by Benevolent Thomas to guarantee the continuity of the Awards for years to come. This cultural treaty is intended to outline expectations and obligations for the hosting of the Awards each year, forging a once informal event agreement into a bond of collective stewardship between defender regions.

1 Preliminaries

1.1 Nature

1.1.1. The Award Accords (the Accords) is a binding treaty between the Parties.

1.2 Purpose

1.2.1. The purpose of the Accords is to allow the Parties, being leading defender groups, to host the Defender Awards.

1.2.2. The Parties recognise the historical heritage of the Defender Awards and their status as a defending institution.

1.2.3. The Parties recognise the Defender Awards held under the Accords as a direct successor to the Defender Awards held prior to the Accords.

1.3 Interpretation

In the Accords:

• Host means the Party currently hosting the Defender Awards in accordance with Section 2.
• Law includes any established practice in the absence of applicable law.
• Party means a party to the Accords in accordance with Section 1.5.
• Special Majority means the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of Parties.

1.4 Parties’ obligations

1.4.1. The Parties must comply with their obligations in the Accords.

1.4.2. Matters not covered in the Accords are left to the determination of the Parties. The Parties must have regard to the purpose of the Accords and to the spirit of the Defender Awards.

1.4.3. The Parties agree to discuss and resolve any disputes that arise from the Accords amicably and through appropriate private diplomatic channels.

1.5 Parties

1.5.1. The Parties to the Accords are each of the following regions or groups that has ratified the Accords in accordance with its Law by the time the Accords come into force in accordance with clause 4.1:
a. 10000 Islands
b. The Grey Wardens
c. The League
d. The Rejected Realms Army
e. The South Pacific
f. The Union of Democratic States.

1.5.2. A region or group ceases to be a Party if it:
a. Ceases to exist;
b. Renounces its defender status;
c. Participates in the invasion of another Party; or
d. Announces its intention, in accordance with its Law, to cease to be a Party.

1.5.3. A region or group also ceases to be a Party with the agreement of a Special Majority.

1.5.4. A region or group may become a Party with the agreement of a Special Majority. The new Party will be added to Section 2.2 in the final position, unless otherwise agreed by a Special Majority.

2 Hosting of the Defender Awards

2.1. The Defender Awards are held once every calendar year.

2.2. The Parties are to host the Defender Award in the following order, beginning in 2023:
a. The League
b. 10000 Islands
c. The South Pacific
d. The Grey Wardens
e. The Union of Democratic States
f. The Rejected Realms Army

2.3. If a Party is unable to host the Defender Awards in its designated year, it must inform the other Parties as soon as possible. The next scheduled host that is able to host the Defender Awards must take over hosting, and the two Parties swap their places in the hosting order. The Parties may publish a hosting order list reflecting any changes made to the order in clause 2.2.

2.4. Any other change to the hosting order in Section 2.2 must be agreed to by a Special Majority.

3 Conduct of the Defender Awards

3.1. Announcement

3.1.1. The Host must publicly announce the proposed schedule for the awards, and the awards to be awarded under Section 3.2, at least 72 hours before the beginning of nominations.

3.2 The Awards

3.2.1. The staple awards must be awarded. The Host must decide which of the optional awards, if any, are to be awarded. The Host may propose additional awards, which must be agreed to by a Special Majority.

3.2.2. The staple awards are the following awards, as described in previous Defender Awards:
• Defender of the Year
• Ananke Award
• Anarchtopia Award
• Sir Lans
• Operation of the Year
• Newcomer
• Lifetime Achievement
• Best Defender Quote
• The Numero Capitan Award
• Karputsk Award

3.2.3. The optional awards are the following awards, as described in previous Defender Awards:
• The Worst Invasion / Worst Operation Award
• Meltdown of the Year
• The Belgium Award
• The Worst Invader Group
• The Eluvatar Award
• The Blackbird Award
• Mentor of the Year

3.3. Nominations

3.3.1. If a player proposes a nomination, and it is seconded by another player within the nomination period, the nominee must be placed on the ballot.

3.3.2. Despite clause 3.3.1, the Host may reject a nomination made in bad faith. A rejection must be made as soon as reasonably practicable after the nomination, and the rejection must be communicated to every other Party at least 24 hours prior to the end of the nomination period (which may be extended if necessary). A Party may object to the rejection prior to the end of the nomination period. If an objection is made, a majority vote of the Parties is required to uphold the rejection. Parties have 48 hours to vote on the rejection, and the nomination period must not end during the vote.

3.3.3. The Host must allow at least 7 days for the nomination period.

3.4. Voting

3.4.1. The Host must publicise a ballot containing all nominations made for all awards at the beginning of the voting period.

3.4.2. The Host must allow a period of at least 7 days for voting.

3.5. Means of nominations and voting

3.5.1. The Host must either:
a. host the Defender Awards in a platform that is publicly available, irrespective of gameplay alignment or regional affiliation, and viewable by unregistered users; or
b. publish all information required to participate in the Defender Awards, including in relation to nomination and voting, in a regularly updated dispatch on the NationStates site.

3.5.2. The Host must accept nominations and votes via Telegram from any NationStates player whose identity it can ascertain and who is of good out-of-character standing. The Host may also accept nominations and votes in any other way.

3.5.3. The nation that publishes the Dispatch and accepts nominations and votes via Telegram must have “Defender Awards” in its name.

4 Final Matters

4.1. The Accords come into force on 16 February 2023 if there are at least 4 Parties.

4.2. Except as otherwise provided, the Accords may be amended by an agreement of all Parties.

4.3. A Special Majority may agree to terminate the Accords.

[Eshialand]

While much of the R/D world was focused on N-Day, nuking each other to smithereens and having their good times hitting that pretty red button, evil lurked on the irradiated fields, as Lone Wolves United staged for an operation amid the chaos... but the South Pacific Special Forces and Libcord were there to meet the threat.

Major update on the night of N-Day started with a bang, as our lupine friends attempted a strike on Celtic Nations, which was skillfully deflected by the shields of the defender faction.

The Wolves would later get their hit against an outnumbered Libcord alliance, but the Special Forces and friends would not be returning home with their tails between their legs, as a stealth operation by The Eternal Order was neutralized before it could even get off the ground.

Although the faction was weakened by N-Day splitting their focus, the day of radiation and destruction was not over, and the region struck by the Wolves' raid missiles could be cleaned up before the fallout settled.

SPSFers deflecting nuclear strikes at major:
Soldier Eshialand
Trainee Evinea

Libcord friends stockpiling their shields with us:
[LDF/WZSB] Raziel
[NPA] Comfed
[TGW] Westinor

Defense: 1
Celtic Nations

Drive-by: 1
Tratado Bandeirante

---

As the sun rose on a new, more irradiated day, minor update would approach, and the Special Forces and Libcord prepared to clean up LWU's plutonium mess. They rallied as many forces as they could, and set their sights on the raider pile; they hit FIRE, and away the faction went, wiping out the raider stack with ease, earning their liberation... but that wasn't all.

As it turned out, a new raider group was emerging, one out of Pony planets. The Special Forces and Libcord, liberations on their mind and hype overflowing, wasted no time in teaching them what Libcord does to new raiders. They would smash into their 1e stack in Otoris with fire, fury, and uranium, marking a truly explosive end to a wonderful N-Day on the R/D battlefield.

SPSFers launching liberation missiles at minor:
Minister of Defense Concrete Slab
Soldier Celestial Starlight
Soldier Eshialand
Trainee Lile Ulie Islands

Libcord friends nuking raiders with us:
[ERN] Maowi
[LDF/WZSB] Raziel
[LDF] Slaggy B
[NPA/ERN] Icarus
[RRA] Ravania
[TGU] Craig
[TGU] Kants
[TGW] Izhtat
[TGW] Takkaviita
[THA/ERN/EPSA] Vor
+TITO

Liberations: 2
The Genesis Corporation
Otoris

If you too would like to participate in (hopefully non-nuclear from now on) wars against raiders, you should check out this dispatch to see how you can join the SPSF!

[Onionist Randosia]

Ummm… Auralia? I thought that region was too dead to launch a raid. Other than that, noice report!

[Improper Classifications]

Ummm… Auralia? I thought that region was too dead to launch a raid. Other than that, noice report!

Might be referring to us at TEO - this is Nephmir's new region and our Auralian Knights could be mistaken for Auralia if you squint hard enough.
Edit: Confirmed, one of our knights was banjected from Tratado Bandeirante.

[Zanderlock]

I fully support death to raiders!

[Eshialand]

Ummm… Auralia? I thought that region was too dead to launch a raid. Other than that, noice report!

Might be referring to us at TEO - this is Nephmir's new region and our Auralian Knights could be mistaken for Auralia if you squint hard enough.
Edit: Confirmed, one of our knights was banjected from Tratado Bandeirante.

Oh, I see, that is where the confusion lies. My apologies! I had thought Auralia and TEO were one in the same thanks to you guys using the Auralian Knights designation.

EDIT: Correction has officially been issued.

[Esfalsa]

At the major update of March 29, a couple of raiders prepared their puppets and readied themselves for a tagging run. Here's our update report.

SOUTH PACIFIC SPECIAL FORCES
Update Report: Major 2023-03-29

Summary
Advances in tagging techniques employed by opposing forces have become a growing cause for concern. It seems that opposing forces have learned to adopt the 'lucky number' tag raiding technique and have achieved demonstrated considerable promise with this method. At this update, opposing forces adopted a lucky number of two and were able to employ it successfully in their operations, as the update statistics demonstrate.

Raid Statistics

Minutes: 2
Updaters: 2
Jumps: 2

Comments: In a two-minute tag run, two updaters unsuccessfully attempted two jumps. This demonstration of coordination should not be taken lightly; it is highly concerning that multiple separate instances of the lucky number were achieved in what would be considered quite a short tag run under our current military doctrine.

Defense Statistics

Defenses: 2
Detags: 2 + 2 + 2
Personnel: 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2

Comments: It appears that opposing forces have learned to leverage the 'lucky number' technique to influence our operations well after their own operations appear to have ended, a capability that potentially presents a significant new threat. Not only did the number two appear repeatedly in our own detag and personnel counts, but our defense count was also increased from one to two due to intercepting an attempted delegate-tipping operation that initially appeared unrelated but can only be explained by the lucky number.

SPSF Personnel Present

• Soldier Eshialand
• Trainee Drew Durrnil
• Trainee Kotoha Tanaka
• Trainee PodracingFan
• General Pronoun

Allied Personnel Present

• [LDF/ADN] The Eltran
• [LDF/TGW/FORGE] Quebecshire
• [LDF] New Makasta
• [PAL] Haganham
• [TGW/EU] Vincent Drake
• [TGW] Dada Sasa
• [TGW] Westinor

[Sporaltryus]

And it was on a Tuesday. . .

[Utahn Theocratic Republic]

And it was on a Tuesday. . .

Minister Henn! It is currently Wednesday!

[Westinor]

Two Suspicious.

[Drew Durrnil]

pronoun have you been possessed by noah

[Sporaltryus]

Fellow South Pacificans and friends abroad,

Many of you are undoubtedly aware of recent events involving the South Pacific, alongside our allies in the League and Concord, the Order of the Grey Wardens, and 10000 Islands, and the North Pacific. In the time since, we have had invaluable conversations with South Pacificans at home and with other stakeholders, which have informed not only new perspectives on these events but also new ideas as we move forward.

We wish to express our deepest regrets for our role in this series of events, including both the original ultimatum and the April 8 response statement, and we retract our assent to both. Specifically, we wish to apologize to Hulldom, to the government of The North Pacific, and most of all, to the citizens of The North Pacific.

We regret the threats issued to Hulldom and The North Pacific on the behalf of and at the behest of the South Pacific and its allies involved in this matter. Our strongarm tactics were needlessly unproductive, disrespectful, and antagonistic, and were especially unbecoming given that our regions have been allies for over a decade. They did not conform to the high standards for diplomacy and cooperation with our allies that we have always tried to hold ourselves to, and that we will endeavor to hold ourselves to in the future. They also did not conform to our commitment to democratic principles, at home and abroad. The South Pacific would never have accepted such behavior against us, and we should not have engaged in it at the expense of a friend and ally.

We are ashamed that our actions impinged upon the democratic independence of The North Pacific. Both of our regions have long, treasured traditions of democratic governance. By its nature, this means that there will come times when our citizens make different decisions, our governments follow different paths, and our regions adopt different beliefs; that these differences emerge naturally from our differing democratic processes; and that our diplomatic communications should be mindful of these differences. Our recent actions overlooked these differences and leveraged our own interests, and the interests of our involved allies, against the voices of citizens of The North Pacific. It was unfair and unacceptable to force a choice between the democratic input of citizens and the policy concerns of foreign governments, and we will move forward with renewed respect for the voices of citizens of The North Pacific and commitment to respect those voices, even when such differences arise in the future.

We deeply regret that we went to such great lengths to achieve our goals. It is clear now, with the benefit of hindsight, that we relied excessively on the experiences and perspectives of individual foreign policy actors; that we deferred inordinately to the beliefs and expressed intentions of more established figures; and that our response to criticism was born of individual frustrations rather than collective level-headedness. But we remain well aware of the fact that these actions were carried out by not merely individual actors, but by a Minister of Foreign Affairs with the approval of the Prime Minister, on the behalf of multiple regions including the South Pacific. Moving forward as a region requires greater introspection at both individual and regional levels than demonstrated during these recent events. That process has already begun, of course, with changes to our foreign policy leadership and with important conversations domestically. It continues with this recognition of the error of our ways; the government of the South Pacific should not have authorized and issued the original ultimatum and should not have defended it in the response statement. This process will continue with ongoing discussions within the South Pacific about our foreign policy priorities, about the value of our alliances, and about our communications with and actions towards our allies going forward.

Finally, we wish to extend our sincere gratitude to the government of The North Pacific for their patience and willingness to discuss this matter with us at length.


Signed,

Sporaltryus / ProfessorHenn
Prime Minister of the South Pacific

Esfalsa / Pronoun
Minister of Foreign Affairs