Embassy of The East Pacific: March Issue is Out Now!

[ArenaC]

Very interesting to read about TEP considering in-game / forum community relations and RMB community governance. That was an issue which was raised quite a lot in TSP and led ultimately to the Local Council initiative.

Has TEP considered in-game elections, perhaps? Like, online polls for residents? TNP tried it in two Cabinet elections under Elu and those were immensely popular and active elections.

I know you haven’t read the Concordat of TEP so I’ll tell you why we couldn’t make that move without a lot of debate:

Article A: Executive
...
Section 2) The Delegate shall be a Citizen elected for a term of four months by a vote of the Citizens of the East Pacific.

Citizens. Let me note now that Citizens are a separate thing from Residents:

Article E: Citizenship and Residency

Section 1) A Resident of the East Pacific is a resident Nation of the Region.

Section 2) A Citizen of the East Pacific is a resident Nation of the Region that has ratified this Concordat and undertaken Naturalization as defined by law.

There’s even more of a difference citing all of Article F:

Article F: Rights and Duties of Citizens - This Article sets out the rights and obligations of Citizens and Residents of the East Pacific.

Section 1) Each Citizen shall have the right to a swift and impartial trial by the Conclave if indictment is made against them, as limited by the duty to avoid incitement of indictment.

Section 2) Each Citizen shall have a legal right not to be tried twice for the same offence, a legal right against forced self-incrimination, and the right of representation by adequate counsel to enforce said legal rights. These rights are limited by the duty to not obstruct justice and to comply with evidentiary requests by Conclave.

Section 3) Each Resident may leave the Region freely, as limited by upon freely leaving the Region, a Citizen shall surrender their status as Citizen and any governmental roles.

Section 4) Each Citizen shall be free to serve in any office in the East Pacific, as limited by World Assembly Membership requirements and the prohibition of titles of nobility from the East Pacific.

Our Regional Officers are also elected by a few citizens called Magisters in a Magisterium:

Article B: Legislative

Section 1) This Concordat does hereby invest legislative authority in a Magisterium, which shall enact legislation and maintain Standing Orders.

Section 2) The induction or removal of a Citizen as Magister shall follow the methods prescribed in the Standing Orders. A Magister must be a Citizen.

Section 3) Magisters shall elect among themselves a Provost, as outlined in the Standing Orders. The Provost shall preside over the Magisterium, represent it to the Executive, the Viziers and the Judiciary, and keep a record of the laws of the East Pacific.

Section 4) Enactment or amendment of legislation, and ratification of a treaty or declaration of war submitted by the Delegate shall be decided by majority vote.

Section 5) The Delegate may elect to, within ten days of passage in the Magisterium, veto an enactment or amendment of legislation. The Magisterium may elect to override such a veto by a 3/4 vote.

Section 6) The Magisterium may confirm Arbiters nominated by the Delegate by majority vote.

Section 7) The Magisterium may confirm Viziers nominated by the Delegate by a 2/3 vote.

Section 8) The Magisterium may suspend the Delegate, a Vizier, or an Arbiter by a 2/3 vote for suspicion of indictable crimes. This suspension shall be considered an Indictment for the named offence or offences as prosecuted by the Provost. Suspension shall be lifted by any non-guilty decision of the Conclave or by majority vote of the Magisterium.

Section 9) If the Delegate is removed, resigns, or leaves office by other means, the Magisterium shall then select a Vizier as Acting Delegate until a new election for Delegate has been held.

So any “in-game elections” by poll for all Residents would not be feasible, at all, without major amendments to the Concordat of the region. The Magisterium, to note, also votes on the legislation.

[Unibot III]

You don’t need to cite the Concordat. I’m aware. I threw it out as a general comment not as a hostile remark. TEP has had especially tight rules surrounding legislative participation for a long time (I have always argued that counterintuitively the tighter the rules, the more vulnerable the region is to a takeover — it suited NPO, it suited Fedele, and it’ll suit whoever comes next.)

Gameside governance means Gameside representation in a democracy. That’s always the dilemma to overcome with the conventional forum-based democratic approach. In TNP, leaders experimented rather successfully with electing officers among the full regional electorate. In TSP, the compromise that was settled on was an entire new level of elected local government.

One thing I’ll add is there is some TEP precedent for what I’m hinting at — TEP was historically one of the only major regions to honour the region-side vote for the WA. That’s an approach that was taken for the WA (more game-inclusive than any other GCR at the time) despite other aspects of its political participation being much more exclusive to the forum’s WA residents.

[ArenaC]

You don’t need to cite the Concordat. I’m aware. I threw it out as a general comment not as a hostile remark. TEP has had especially tight rules surrounding legislative participation for a long time (I have always argued that counterintuitively the tighter the rules, the more vulnerable the region is to a takeover — it suited NPO, it suited Fedele, and it’ll suit whoever comes next.)

Gameside governance means Gameside representation in a democracy. That’s always the dilemma to overcome with the conventional forum-based democratic approach. In TNP, leaders experimented rather successfully with electing officers among the full regional electorate. In TSP, the compromise that was settled on was an entire new level of elected local government.

One thing I’ll add is there is some TEP precedent for what I’m hinting at — TEP was historically one of the only major regions to honour the region-side vote for the WA. That’s an approach that was taken for the WA (more game-inclusive than any other GCR at the time) despite other aspects of its political participation being much more exclusive to the forum’s WA residents.

You do bring up a good statement in the center paragraph.

[Your Imaginary Friend]

LazCorp was pleased to see the East Pacific Sovereign Army move into Warzone Africa recently. Leaving the squabbles of military alignments behind in favor of perfecting military techniques in regions that were made for that purpose aligns with our Neutral stance. We decided to join the operation in order to show our support for this type of venture at the exclusion of others.

Partner Imaginary, Lawyers Ar and Makdon, and Advocate Tolfaer at your service! :)

[The Atlae Isles]

LazCorp was pleased to see the East Pacific Sovereign Army move into Warzone Africa recently. Leaving the squabbles of military alignments behind in favor of perfecting military techniques in regions that were made for that purpose aligns with our Neutral stance. We decided to join the operation in order to show our support for this type of venture at the exclusion of others.

Partner Imaginary, Lawyers Ar and Makdon, and Advocate Tolfaer at your service!

As Overseeing Officer, I would like to say on behalf of the EPSA that we are delighted to have LazCorp join the party. EPSA has always been neutral, as required by TEP law. We respect Lazarus's new position on neutrality and look forward to military cooperation with LazCorp in the future.

We are also mildly surprised a corporation has an army but are willing to look past those differences.

[Unibot III]

LazCorp was pleased to see the East Pacific Sovereign Army move into Warzone Africa recently. Leaving the squabbles of military alignments behind in favor of perfecting military techniques in regions that were made for that purpose aligns with our Neutral stance. We decided to join the operation in order to show our support for this type of venture at the exclusion of others.

Partner Imaginary, Lawyers Ar and Makdon, and Advocate Tolfaer at your service!

As Overseeing Officer, I would like to say on behalf of the EPSA that we are delighted to have LazCorp join the party. EPSA has always been neutral, as required by TEP law. We respect Lazarus's new position on neutrality and look forward to military cooperation with LazCorp in the future.

We are also mildly surprised a corporation has an army but are willing to look past those differences.

TEP is unaligned by law, not neutral. Just a quibble, but the difference can be substantive.

(Also: TEP’s current “Independent” regional tag is illegal.)

[Marrabuk]

As Overseeing Officer, I would like to say on behalf of the EPSA that we are delighted to have LazCorp join the party. EPSA has always been neutral, as required by TEP law. We respect Lazarus's new position on neutrality and look forward to military cooperation with LazCorp in the future.

We are also mildly surprised a corporation has an army but are willing to look past those differences.

TEP is unaligned by law, not neutral. Just a quibble, but the difference can be substantive.

(Also: TEP’s current “Independent” regional tag is illegal.)

Thank you for calling TEP Customer Care service. Currently, all our officers are busy. Please press 1 to hold on the line. We value your feedback and we thank you for your patience.

[Unibot III]

TEP is unaligned by law, not neutral. Just a quibble, but the difference can be substantive.

(Also: TEP’s current “Independent” regional tag is illegal.)

Thank you for calling TEP Customer Care service. Currently, all our officers are busy. Please press 1 to hold on the line. We value your feedback and we thank you for your patience.

*shrug* Comply with the law or don’t. At the time, that was a landmark TEP court ruling.

[ArenaC]

LazCorp was pleased to see the East Pacific Sovereign Army move into Warzone Africa recently. Leaving the squabbles of military alignments behind in favor of perfecting military techniques in regions that were made for that purpose aligns with our Neutral stance. We decided to join the operation in order to show our support for this type of venture at the exclusion of others.

Partner Imaginary, Lawyers Ar and Makdon, and Advocate Tolfaer at your service!

we gon get couped sometime and be back to square 1 because yay warzones

[Eastern Pacific News Service]

|Home || Current Issue || Archives || Affiliates || Biographies || Daily News |
A Production of the Ministry of Information and Communication

Editor's Note: This article was edited especially for NS Gameplay forum readers. The original, unedited version may be found here. In addition, due to budget cuts, we were unable to correct any errors after it had been printed out. Instead, we have labelled them with [sic] for the reader's convenience.

The East Pacific News Service
March 31, 2020

Eastern Pacific News Service Comes to a Close, Citing Historical Shortage of News
By Tretrid

---

On March 31, Minister of Information and Communications Tretrid has announced that the Eastern Pacific News Service will no longer be in print.

This comes only hours after another news service, NSToday, was bought by the Rejected Times.

Minister Tretrid explained in a press release that a critical lack of shortage of manpower and funding were [sic] a factor, but he explained that the main reason why the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) was a critical shortage of anything eventful.

"I mean, sure, you can say something about this 'arembee arpee' thing, or whatever it is." Tretrid said when reached to by the EPNS for comment. "Or you could write something about this 'Pacific-Con' or Lazarus being neutral or Osiris's sudden change in ideology. But none of those things are quite worth putting into print, especially since we're running low on ink to print this with."

Minister Tretrid did not explain why the Eastern Pacific News Service would need ink to be printed when it exists on an electronic medium, and so shouldn't require ink.

Tretrid's full statement can be see [sic] here, courtesy of TEP's YouTube channel.

A Message from the Minister
By Tretrid

---

A long time ago (late 2017, of [sic] the top of my head), I decided to join the Eastern Pacific News Service. I came into the job thinking it was easy. And then I ended up having to write most of an issue. Of course, I couldn't write for EPNS for much after then, since I had other business to attend to.

Pretty soon after I returned to NS (and TEP) in the aftermath of Fedele's failed coup (if you would even call it that), I applied to join the Ministry of Information and Communications (in fact almost immediately after getting my citizenship). I missed writing for the EPNS, since it was a rather fun thing to do.

Really, I didn't expect to be appointed Minister about two weeks after joining. Though again, I didn't expect to be last-minuting this statement at 11:06 when you have to get this thing done by 12.

It turned out that Marrabuk had convinced the previous Minister, Mecovy (who I had worked with in my first job in the EPNS) to resign due to not being active enough. Marra informed me that being Minister of Information and Communications would involve things all the way from weekly news updates and info dispatches. It was really a lot of work. I took the job anyway.

Logically, It was pretty clear that I probably wasn't going to get to do all of those things. I was (and still am) having other, I daresay more important things, but I knew what I had planned for the MoIC. I would continue what Mecovy started.

First, I assembled a team of executive staffers to write articles, as the times were long by that I could be able to write the EPNS by myself. They introduced new and wonderful ideas, like producing the EPNS in the form of a magazine. I also revived the Eastern Pacific News Service puppet and, when the November Issue came out, we had it all out quickly on one day, all on the TEP Forums, as a magazine, as a dispatch, and on the NS Forums. And most importantly, it had a lot of articles that made good reading.

Optimally, all releases of the EPNS would be this clean. But of course it isn't [sic]. The secret to the success of the November issue was that MoIC had been working on that issue for longer than normal, since we had the end of October. Of course, the holidays at the end of November also provided a lot of time to finalize the product, making sure that a polished product was released at the end.

Of course, such a perfect scenario is impossible to achieve every time. Even the next month, we have suffered from staff shortages and article shortages, to the point that we were forced to delay the publication of our December issue, originally scheduled for December 31, all the way to January 13. Honestly, I'm not sure how we got back on track in time for the next publication date on January 31.

Lately, the problems we've had on [sic] December (the lack of everything) has [sic] reappeared this month, but much worse. MoIC's scope has also increased greatly of late, encompassing everything from those dispatches to endorse the Delegate and Viziers (formerly under the purview of the Eastern Pacific Police Service) to the new, revised version of the University of The East Pacific. Despite this expansion and the resulting increased need of resources, the budget of MoIC hasn't really changed. As such, we are unable to fund the EPNS. So as much as it saddens me, we have to cut the EPNS loose.

So, with a heavy heart, not only do I announce that this will be the last issue of the EPNS, I am also announcing that I am going to step down as Minister. As important as it is, it is simply too stressing [sic]. I plan on sending my resignation to Marrabuk on April 2.

[Tretrid]

Hey, it's April 1 where I live, but It's probably still March 31 in Hawaii, so the date stands.

[Zukchiva]

Thank you for your service.

[Marrabuk]

Tangs pour your sir veese.

[Libertanny]

Thank you for your service, Tetris. I hope that you will enjoy your new region. Will be missing ya

[Tinhampton]

Tar [sic] very much!

[A mean old man]

Tetris

:y

[Eastern Pacific News Service]

|Home || Current Issue || Archives || Affiliates || Biographies || Daily News |
A Production of the Ministry of Information and Communication

Editor's Note: This article was edited especially for NS Gameplay forum readers. The original, unedited version may be found here. The magazine edition may be found here.

The East Pacific News Service
April 2, 2020

---

An Interview with East Malaysia and His Thoughts on the Empire Coup of the East Pacific
By Zukchiva

---

(Editor's note: East Malaysia is a Vizier, Magister, and Deputy Minister of Information and Communications. East Malaysia has been part of TEP since 2004, and served as an "Elder" in the aftermath of the Empire's invasion of The East Pacific, as will be explained.)

Interviewer’s Note: Having played NationStates since 2004, East Malaysia is a current and active citizen of the East Pacific. He was instrumental as a regional leader when the Empire couped the East Pacific’s inactive government in 2008 for a four month period.

The following interview was held on March 24th to March 27th, 2020. The interview’s original topic was about East Malaysia’s service to the region as an Elder during the Empire coup, but it soon turned into seeing what was this esteemed player’s thoughts on the coup overall.

The interview took place in Direct Messages on Discord. Minor edits have been made to fix grammatical errors, but otherwise the content has remained unchanged.

Zukchiva: Hello East Malaysia!

I'll be interviewing you today about the time you spent as an Elder of the East Pacific, back during and a few months after the Empire Coup of 2008. Not many people know the work you and your fellow Elders did, and even fewer know how it really felt like to be a government leader of TEP during that crisis.

The first question I would like to ask is for you to explain, in your own thoughts, what the Elders were and what was their importance in East Pacifican history?

East Malaysia: The Elders were the guiding hand and rock that the region needed after months under siege by The Empire.

It was a temporary role just to oversee the rebuilding of The East Pacific’s government.

Thinking back to that time, I think the role was minor, in the scheme of everything that was happening at that time.

Now where I believe the role was very important was that the Elders, myself included, didn’t just stay in power but we relinquished our power to the people. We kicked off The East Pacific’s democracy that is still going strong more than a decade later.

It’s unfortunate we don’t have logs from the writing of the Concordat that would highlight the key contributions of everyone and not the few that approved the document.

Zukchiva: I agree, I find myself often wishing I could see the logs from the drafting of the Concordat myself. But at least we got the Concordat!

My second question I'd like to ask is, how did you first think of the idea of the Elders when Citizen Flemingovia proposed it? As I understand, it was a supremely different form of government from the East Pacific's past two democratic governments of the time.

East Malaysia: Without looking... I believe so. A lot was going on at that time. I was brought in I believe after the role was set up. At this time I was a simple citizen and was probably picked because I had been in the region for what was at the time considered a long time... ha. I was honored to be considered.

The previous government of The East Pacific was not democratic at all. So we went from dictatorship to democracy.

And to perhaps clarify that we did have democratic elements like a legislator and judicial branch but overall the Delegate had the last say.

Zukchiva: Oh! I guess I didn't research far enough. Guess I'm gonna have to dive back into my research. >_>

I understand that it has been a while since you were an Elder, like many-years while. However, looking back to what you remember and what happened afterwards, do you think you would've wanted to do anything different in that role, in hindsight? In other-words, what would you change, if anything, regarding your actions as an Elder?

East Malaysia: Honestly I think keeping logs of the building on the Concordat. That’s the biggest error of the whole process. Or at minimum kept footnotes to help future generations

To understand what something means, why we included it, and who thought of the idea.

Zukchiva: That would've been pretty cool! But either way, thank you for your work in forming the Concordat.

Next, based on whatever you remember, how did you feel during the Empire coup itself? Were you stressed, scared, or some other emotions when they were ruling TEP?

East Malaysia: Before we went full resistance, the general feel of the region was, to see if we could work together. Let the Empire take over but still use the forum since it had all the roleplay and historical importance but that didn’t work out in the end.

I don’t remember being stressed or scared. We realized early on that we were in for the long fight. Influence really wasn’t a thing at this time so you had to have the endorsements. It was going to be a war of attrition due to the number of residents and citizens that had been banjected. I vaguely remember it was not easy getting help from the numerous armies of the day and that’s largely due to The East Pacific’s natural isolationism that left us with less friends to work with.

Zukchiva: From the records of the time it was shown that TEP saw itself as an inactive community. Do you think TEP would be as vibrant as it is today without the Empire coup?

East Malaysia: Probably. Because if they didn’t coup the region then someone else would have.

Zukchiva: If you were able to name the most important person responsible for helping TEP survive the coup, who would it be and why?

East Malaysia: It’s honestly impossible to name one person. We, the community, collectively did our part to fight against them in our own ways.

Loop was willing to work with them but that obviously failed. Pack was Delegate-in-Exile. I remember approaching two regions seeking their help.

Zukchiva: What was the strongest moment/event you experienced during the coup?

East Malaysia: ASBS becoming Delegate. We could finally take a take a sigh of relief. Holding out for four months is years in the way NS moves.

Zukchiva: I've noticed that the Empire adopted nobility names in a form of role-play, and spoke disparaging comments against the community of TEP at the time (like one couper calling TEP her "property". How did you, specifically, feel about those remarks, if you remember anything?

East Malaysia: It made us work harder to remove them from power. That’s part of the reason titles of nobility not being allowed was included in the Concordat. It was the belief that even if someone is Delegate they are still equal to the citizen. They simply have more responsibility to the region. That’s still the belief today I think.

Zukchiva: Besides ASBS and Daanistan's legendary unendorsemsnt campaign, how did you guys and gals fight against the Empire? What methods did you use?

East Malaysia: I remember early on trying to get support from various defender groups of the day, I might have been in exile, that seems familiar. But honestly, I don’t remember all the methods.

Zukchiva: Well, thanks for sticking with me so far, Em.

One last cliche question. Is there anything you'd like to add? About being an Elder, or the Empire or what happened after they left. Any sort of message or thing you believe the younger readers of EPNS should know of that time?

East Malaysia: This is what makes being a citizen and being an active member of the community by participating in government or roleplay so important. An active community can easily combat outside threats. NationStates is a very complex game when you break it down. The East Pacific is The East Pacific’s because of the community and government. It’s our own virtual country and it should be the duty of everyone to keep The East Pacific strong the beautiful.

Zukchiva: Thank you for your time, East Malaysia!

It was extremely appreciated.

East Malaysia:

The Conclave Rolls Out Reforms
By Zukchiva

---

(Editor's Note: This article is written as a firsthand account by the Viceroy, Zukchiva, hence the use of first-person words like "I".)

If you read the East Pacific News Service’s Edition published for January 2020, you’ll know that the Conclave has already begun reforming itself as part of the massive post-coup East Pacific reforms. The aim for the reforms are to make the Conclave a more accessible place for everyone, and in this way ensuring more transparency and fairness in East Pacific justice.

As Viceroy, I instituted the following “steps to reform”, or in other words a small to-do list to assist us Arbiters in changing the branch for the better. These steps will be explained in detail in the order listed below in order to help increase understanding of the changes going on, despite many of them being unseen.

The Steps to Reform:
Come up with Election Law [COMPLETED]
Set guidelines for precedent usage [COMPLETED]
Reform the Standing Orders of the Conclave [COMPLETED]
Create new guides for the Conclave [IN PROGRESS]
Reorganize Conclave Forums [IN PROGRESS]
Create table consisting of precedent for easy access to legal rules [IN PROGRESS]
Implement an attorney system [IN PROGRESS]


Completed Steps

These are steps that have already been completed. (Yay us!)

Step: Come up with Election law

For many years, the Viceroy of the East Pacific has been the sole administrator of Delegate Elections, one of the most important events in East Pacific government. However, no law was ever enacted for elections, with only unwritten norms and traditions, along with the Concordat, guiding election procedure. This obviously often caused confusion and tension during election processes, along with many mishaps in election occurrences.

In order to rectify this, I proposed to the Magisterium on February 14th, 2020 the “Delegate Elections Act”. Due to complicated issues involving a llama and a lawn that took up my time, A Mean Old Man was brought in as a co-sponsor for the bill. Following debate with insightful comments by A Mean Old Man, the proposal was motioned to vote on March 15th and came into law on March 24th, 2020!

Step: Set guidelines for precedent usage

Precedent is a bit confusing of a confusing matter, and the Conclave went into disarray for a tiny fraction of time as we were trying to find out how precedent worked and how it would function in the court. (Note: Aelitia was the only Arbiter with more than a year’s worth of experience when he left, so we’re all pretty new at our jobs!)

However, after a quick Discord discussion on the matter, Arbiter Pakitsk drafted the Procedural Rules on Precedent, which were quickly reorganized and then passed through vote. You can read them at this link.

These guidelines clarify into procedural law what precedent is and how it will be used in the drafting of verdicts! These guidelines will also help citizens to understand precedent, so that judicial functions and the way Arbiters reach verdicts makes more sense.

Step: Reform the Standing Orders of the Conclave (SOC)

The Standing Orders of the Conclave had become slightly outdated and open to interpretation since they were redrafted in 2014. So we, the Arbiters, met in Closed Chambers to edit the SOC, then made a public convention (in which only one citizen showed up :<) to allow citizens to provide their input. After a month or two, we voted the final draft into action.

In the end, not much was changed besides clarification on trial procedures and the formalizing of the ability of the Conclave to raise an advisory question to a Judicial Review. While not the most life-changing of reforms, these small changes will help the Conclave run trials for years to come.

Steps In-Progress

These are steps to reform that are currently being done or haven’t started yet.

Step: Creating new Conclave guides

Viceroy Barb was one of the Conclave’s most notable Viceroys, leading the court into its first few landmark trials and drafting up the first rendition of the Standing Orders of the Conclave along with Todd McCloud, in 2010. As part of her work, Viceroy Barb created two guides: A Viceroy Tutorial plus a guide on Trial Decorum. The Viceroy Tutorial explained what Barb learned about doing the job of Viceroy and wanted to share with her successors, while the Trial Decorum explained the trial processes and expectations of that time.

Overtime, these tutorials became outdated as trial procedures, Arbiter duties, and Viceroy duties changed over time. Thus, as part of the Conclave reform, new guides are being created by me! (And can be checked over by the Arbiters if they feel something should be changed.)

The current goal is to create four new guides stemming from Barb’s idea of tutorials: A Guide to Being a Presiding Arbiter (it’s a confusing job), A Tutorial to Being the Viceroy, A Tutorial to Being An Arbiter, and A Guide to Trial Procedures (the only one out of the four guides that will be made public).

These guides should prove as helpful resources in the future, or at least that’s our hope!

Step: Reorganize the Conclave Forums

The forums for the Conclave have been a little bit complex for some time. While this had not been an issue for the past few years, some forums of the Conclave hadn’t been used since Yuno’s Delegacy, and the Closed Chambers subforum is overflowed with unarchived posts.

As part of reforms, a request has been submitted to forum administrators for simplifying The Library of the Court subforum (currently closed to the public but will be released in the future) into a single subforum containing all of East Pacifican judicial law, along with other more minor changes.

This important resource will aid all those seeking to delve into judicial matters when the request is completed. On a side note, I was almost offended when I realized it wasn’t public (being such

Step: Create table consisting of precedent for easy access to legal rules

At the Conclave, we understand that precedent is a confusing matter (as elaborated on earlier). And given that it can be used to charge a criminal crime and dictate court procedures, we decided that precedent needed to be listed out clearly in a simple forum thread, with a table.

The plan is to go over all Judicial Reviews and trial verdicts, and to record any precedent they set and place it into said nice table.

This will help further simplify how our court works and further turn the Conclave into a more accessible legal branch.


Step: Implement an Attorney System

During the case of TEP v. Fedele, an Arbiter was forced to become an attorney for one of the accused based upon a series of mishaps (and my suggestion to the accused to get an Arbiter as an attorney). Afterwards, I realized my mistake but it was a bit too late in that regard.

In order to ensure that defendants are properly represented in future trials, Arbiter Pakitsk drafted up a resolution for the establishment of a Public Attorney Office to the Magisterium. The Resolution came into effect on March 28th, 2020.

New Administrative rules, mostly following the opinion of the Magisterium as set in the resolution, are now being debated by the Conclave in Closed Chambers. They are expected to go to vote soon. With the establishment of this Office, trials are expected to run more smoothly in the future, and without delay.

In the end, the reforms simply aim to make the Conclave a better place. With a new dedication to justice and simplicity, the changes being made should ensure that everyone can understand judicial processes, their place within it, and judicial functions they can perform in their positions.

If anyone has ideas on reforms or wants to learn more, please feel free to contact me as derp#9479 on discord, or my NS nation, Zukchiva for telegrams. ^-^ Stay safe, and have a nice day!

FA is Not Dead (Yet)
By Libertanny

---

For the past few weeks, since Minister Libertanny came back from LOA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been experiencing a total revamp, reorganization, creation of new plans, ambitions, ideas and targets.

Many things changed and happened. In order to increase security of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but also to make role assignments easier, Discord server of Foreign Affairs went through a total revamp.reaction-roles, new masks and verification process have been added (using Pancake and Reaction Roles bots). For more intuitive and easier use, Foreign Affairs subforums (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Embassy Row) of The East Pacific Forum were reorganized by East Malaysia. New Google Documents and Sheets were created, to keep track of diplomatic missions, tasks assignments and staffers.

Foreign Affairs Policies, after vivid debate within Platinum Hall - Cabinet of Foreign Affairs (consisting of Zukchiva, Libertanny, Marrabuk, A Mean Old Man, Tretrid, East Malaysia, Sedequia and The Atlae Isles), have been liberalised. That action caused The East Pacific to reach out to new possible friends, resulting in establishment of relations between The East Pacific and The Free Nations Region, Social Liberal Union and League of Conservative Nations. In the meantime, Embassies with Thaecia and The Union of Democratic States have been established, whilst Embassies with Equilism, Greater Dienstad, Europe and Gay were closed.

Survey in a form of Google Forms was created, in order to analyze opinion of TEP’s friends in several areas. As of now, a total of 7 regions rated cooperation between The East Pacific and their respective regions 9/10 or higher, namely: (1) New Pacific Order [10/10], (2) 10000 Islands [10/10], (3) The Free Nations Region [10/10], (4) Eientei Gensokyo [10/10], (5)Thaecia [9,67/10], (6) The West Pacific [9,67/10], (7) Balder [9/10].

“The East Pacific seemed quite friendly and open-armed just from my first interactions with a few of its members. The Foreign Affairs Department has been especially cordial to foreigners, and I look forward to meeting more people from TEP” - comments Terranihil, Director of Foreign Affairs of League of Conservative Nations.

“We were very interested to say the least when we found out that TEP was considering relations with our region. It’s not everyday a GCR even talks to a UCR. The FA Ministry has been very friendly and reminds me of the ministry I’ve been building for years here in there SLU. I look forward to continue building relations with TEP and have our members get to know each other.” - says Goncar, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Social Liberal Union.

"Our Experience with The East Pacific has been great so far. They are very friendly and are actually pretty dedicated towards the regions having consulates with them compared to other GCRs. Their Foreign Minister Serge is doing a fantastic job with the consulates and Consul Aivintis (TEP's Consul to FNR) is very active, dedicated and friendly." - comments South Asians, Vice President of The Free Nations Region.

But that’s not the end. Ministry of Foreign Affairs has started recruitment, in order to begin a new era of this body - the new form of organization and hierarchy. In the same time, talks within Cabinet of Executive Government and Platinum Hall of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, regarding a new project, have been very vivid. Hopefully, we will be able to share more details in upcoming releases of EPNS.

The Conspiracy behind Pacific-Con
By Inquisitive Examinations

---

Note: The following is a work of satire and does not represent the views of The East Pacific.

On March 17th, the Delegate Marrabuk posted an image of a spiral thingy with the caption “April 2020,” introducing Pacific-Con, a gathering of the five Pacific regions, with speakers and events for gameplayers and roleplayers alike. It seems innocuous, but there’s more that’s hidden under the surface.

The five feeders are very large and very diverse, but that diversity presents a huge challenge for unity. Something about “ardee,” I guess. I don’t think it’s particularly important. I think they’re just finding excuses to yell at each other at this point in NSGeePee. But do you really expect these regions to come together when their varying perspectives on ardee? It would take an inordinate amount of friendship and interregional cooperation for that to happen, and events that would appeal to both sides of the ardee spectrum. Would Pacific-Con have that? I don’t know, I’m not much of an ardee man myself. In all honesty, The East Pacific should pull a Lazarus and just declare themselves neutral and opposed to all ardee in general. They all seem to be the subversive type.

Secondly, there’s “arpee.” What even is arpee? In The East Pacific, the people on the forum and the people on the ol’ arembee have two different arpee sectors, whatever that means. All I know is that means my messages on the arembee won’t be seen by anyone. If The East Pacific can’t even agree what arpee is, how will five different regions get together and do arpee? Are they going to merge their worlds together and make a huge amalgamation or something? Personally, I think they should just create a Minecraft server for the whole thing. And then people can play it after Pacific-Con ends and realize that they don’t need NationStates after all. Just kidding, of course, NationStates will suck us all back in.

Then there’s games. Games! The same 50 forum games return! If the Paradoxical event that The East Pacific is hosting along with The North Pacific and Europeia has taught us anything, it’s that NationStates players cannot count in order to save their lives. There’s just something about the game that affects people’s ability to count. But how, and why?

And here’s where I’m getting to the point. Let me ask again, given all these challenges, why would representatives from all five of the Pacific regions plot together and bring us all together? The cabal that runs Pacific-Con clearly doesn’t care about ardee, arpee, or games. It’s just a ploy for what they really want.

They’ve been bribed by Max Barry to advertise his new book. You’ve seen the ads all over NationStates (unless you have a Postmaster-General account, in which case you’ve been scammed into giving Max money). Max Barry shamelessly advertising his new book, like when he created NationStates to sell Jennifer Government? You see, due to the troubling times that the crooked editors have forced me not to name, Max is having trouble selling his book in physical stores due to them being closed. On his website, he says that “the best kind of promotion now, obviously, is online promotion.” His newest book is about humans coming together to face an alien threat. Does that mean that NationStates is about to be attacked by aliens? Who knows, that might be the April Fool’s event this year. But where else is a better place to advertise it than an event where five unlikely regions come together? Perhaps that’s what all the arpee and ardee is about. Pacific-Con will be the epitome of the consumer culture that Jennifer Government was criticizing all along.

But that’s not even the worst part. The new book, which is named Providence, is clearly named after the Eye of Providence, which you will know as the Illuminati symbol. The same eye that was on Jennifer Government! This proves, without a doubt, that the cabal that runs the feeders and all the major, large regions is not the Rahls, but the Illuminati. And they have sponsored the book for this very reason. I bet Max Barry is one of them, using his influence to lure us all into this allure of a game and trap us in this political simulator.

Through my investigative skills, I have determined that Pacific-Con is a scam run by the Illuminati, which controls a large chunk of NationStates to sell Max Barry’s newest book to make money. Whatever you do, do not join Pacific-Con and do not join the Discord server when it comes out. Stay inside and answer your issues and farm cards in peace.

I mean, hell, even Todd McCloud is there. Never trust the fox. He’ll try to sell you his books.

[Eastern Pacific News Service]

|Home || Current Issue || Archives || Affiliates || Biographies || Daily News |
A Production of the Ministry of Information and Communication

Editor's Note: This article was edited especially for NS Gameplay forum readers. The original, unedited version may be found here. The magazine edition may be found here.

The East Pacific News Service
April 2020 Edition

---

Honoring Our Heroes
By Zukchiva Yura

---

The East Pacific has always sought ways to revere and remember the nations that have served within its borders. Stemming from resolutions to honorary citizenship, the East Pacific has attempted a variety of ways to honor its heroes. Here’s a look at three of the previous ways in which the East Pacific has tried to honor its citizens, and a short blurb on its newest, fourth attempt!

Honorary Citizenship

Honorary Citizenship was basically a legal concept in which any person who received this type of citizenship would be able to remain a citizen of the East Pacific, even when they no longer meet the traditional requirements citizens need to maintain (remaining in the East Pacific, not ceasing to exist). As one of the East Pacific’s highest honors, the Magisterium awarded honorary citizenship to many monumental nations such as 1 Infinite Loop, A Mean Old Man, Drakkengard (One of the first Viceroys of the East Pacific), and Mexregiona (one of the East Pacific’s former roleplayers and Delegates) for their service to the region.

During the Delegacy of Fedele, Fedele himself brought up the idea of removing citizenship, based upon the “elitism” it gave to its awardees as setting them “above” the citizenship of the East Pacific. While a Concordat amendment striking out honorary citizenship would pass the Magisterium, it would fail the citizen’s referendum and would not go into effect.

However, honorary citizenship was one again brought up for removal during the November 2019 Concordat reforms. This time, it was passed through both Magisterium and citizen referendum, and was formally repealed within that year, with all honorary citizens now losing their honorary status.

Magisterium Resolutions to Commend an Individual

Albeit the least used method to honor, the Magisterium has used its ability to release extremely strong opinions of the body (resolutions) to commend individuals for their service to the East Pacific. The two individuals who have been commended in such a fashion insofar are Packivilania (also known in TEP as ‘Pax’) and Xoriet. Pax was honored for his work as Delegate-in-exile during the 2008 Empire coup along with his work as a forum administrator and government leader. Xoriet was rewarded for her legendary records she made as General of the Eastern Pacific Sovereign Army, in which she reached record numbers of operations that have not been met since her tenure.

The Hall of Heroes

Perhaps the most recognizable honorary institution to the East Pacifican, the Hall of Heroes was an institution meant to give individuals a detailed description of their exploits, in their own forum thread. The Magisterium was responsible for voting in nominees into the Hall, who, upon passing vote, would receive a thread and a description describing why they deserved to be in the Hall.

Ever since its institution in 2014, the Hall has suffered from neglect and disuse. In 2019, a new position called the Keeper of the Hall was created to run the Hall, with Bachtendekuppen serving as first in office. While he would end up completing his duty by writing out descriptions of everyone ever instituted into the Hall, he would end up resigning later on due to tensions with Delegate Fedele.

In 2020, the Hall of Heroes Act was repealed after once again falling into inactivity and disuse, and was replaced with the Order of the Golden Ocelot Act, which instituted in legislation a medal long held in esteem by the East Pacific.

The Order of the Golden Ocelot

The Order of the Golden Ocelot is now the primary way in which the East Pacific honors its citizens. While it is still relatively new in its latest form, it has been in effect starting from 2015.

In 2015, Delegate Ramaeus instituted via Executive Order the institution of the first rendition of the Order. The medal was created by British Grand Pacific (a prominent government official of the time), with its design meant to honor Xoriet for her actions and duties she performed in her service for the East Pacific (while this is not explicitly stated, this can be reasonably inferred to the device of an “ocelot”, which remains one of Xoriet’s primary appearances). Ramaeus would award the Order to Todd McCloud, 1 Infinite Loop, and Xoriet amongst a few other select nations.

Ramaeus, when awarding the medal, stated that “The members of this Order have profoundly changed and impacted The East Pacific in their given fields, whether it be military or civilian.”, in explaining the purpose and meaning of the medal. These values in which Ramaeus decided who would be deserving of the medal now exist in the medal’s current form.

In 2017, Delegate Aelitia would re-institute, via Executive Order, the awarding of the medal to three more nations: Hobbesistan, Free Pacific States, and the British Grand Pacific. For the award, Delegate Aelitia would also design the medal’s ribbon, which is in use today.

In 2020, the Magisterium debated and officially passed the Order of the Golden Ocelot Act in April. Ten days later, the Act would become law, instating the Order as the highest civilian award within the East Pacific. This Act would legitimize the versions of the Order initiated by Delegates Aelitia and Ramaeus, while ensuring that from now on the Magisterium may also award the Order by majority vote, alongside the Delegate’s ability to award the medal at their discretion.

Within the same month, the Magisterium debated and moved to vote fourteen nominees to receive the Order, consisting of those who used to hold honorary citizenship or were in the Hall of Heroes (but hadn’t received the Order), as well as three other nations awarded separately for their hard work and dedication. The Magisterium has, within the same month of April, passed all nominations for the Order with a high majority.

The Order of the Golden Ocelot is another attempt by the East Pacific to honor those who had served it for so faithfully and for so long. While time can only tell whether the medal will accomplish what the Hall of Heroes and honorary citizenship could not, hope is bright for this revitalized award. It’s the hope that this medal will finally bring to its awardees the honor and distinction they have, in the East Pacific’s eyes, rightfully earned.

The Drewpocalypse
By Turtle (Quebec-and-Maritimes/Nordenpunto)

---

On April 20th, the YouTuber Drew Durnil released a video showcasing NationStates, causing the event dubbed the "Drewpocalypse". Tons of people created nations, which caused the servers to lag a lot.

Who is Drew Durnil?

Many were unaware of Drew before this situation unfolded. A poll was held by Sedequia inquiring about if the respondents had created a nation following the release of the infamous video. Out of 492 participants, 306 (62%) said that they were. The others had no clue what was going on or voted no. These results don’t tell us much though, other than that there has been a lot of new foundings inspired by the video (no surprise on that end). Nonetheless, Drew has been releasing videos showcasing, playing or spectating games related to geography, history, military strategy and the likes for nearly seven years now, so there’s bound to be some overlap in the fanbases.

What exactly happened?

Around noon, "Creating 1 country to battle 184,028 other Countries in the World" came out, causing a large spike in the number of nations created (about 550 foundings per hour in TEP after release, with a slight slowdown later that day). NS servers didn't take this well and delays were observed worldwide. This was because the RAM usage was at capacity, so disk memory had to be used instead. Ultimately, most of the new people won’t stay, and the fans of Drew that do will be considered just another fellow player in due time.

A second wave?

This afternoon, another video of Drew playing NationStates was published, bringing up the possibility of even more players joining in large quantities. Though many new nations were created, the servers didn't seem to struggle too much. The data shows that 360 new nations were founded in TEP today between 16:00 and 17:00 UTC. According to VW53aland, the Minister of Immigration of the East Pacific, "[...] foundings are equally distributed over the 5 feeder regions; TP, TNP, TWP, TSP, and TEP. So the total influx will be five times larger than what we're seeing." Some quick math tells us at least 54,000 new nations have been founded (worldwide) since the start of these events.

Closing remarks

Though it will be remembered, The Drewpocalypse is not a watershed moment in NS history. Most of the people that enjoy and stick with the game would probably have stumbled upon it at some point. Though the amount of people that have joined during these events is unparalleled (for now), it seems unlikely that this will change much in the grand scheme of things. (Except for anyone who has to process applications. VW has shown how many more citizenship applications they’ve been getting and they deserve more appreciation.)

The Catgirl Candidate: Interviewing Sakana
By The Atlae Isles

---

Atlae: Hello Sakana! I know most of NS will know you as Trans Anarcho-Communist Lesbian Catgirls, the second-place runner-up for the 2020 April Fool’s World Assembly Secretary-General Election, but could you introduce yourself and give a brief overview of your NS and TEP career?

Sakana: Hey there, Atlae! I'm Sakana, also known as Feu de Glace. I'm currently spending most of my time in The Black Hawks, but I've also been in a few other regions. I started my NS life by spending about three years in the region that I decided I liked the welcome telegram of (New Warsaw Pact). After deciding that I needed to get out of that rather isolated region, I got unexpectedly invited to Lily. From there I somehow ended up in The Pacific's military, Legio--but that's a weird and confusing tangent. At some point I joined The East Pacific as a citizen and when there was no one with any experience in R/D to take over the position of Overseeing Officer, I was offered the position. This was right in the middle of Fedele's attempted coup of TEP so I was immediately thrown into the thick of things. Since then I've been moderating TEP's Discord, keeping things clean and the bots working.

Atlae: Why did you ultimately decide to run for WA Secretary-General?

Sakana: Well, the event started on the Trans Day of Visibility and it was an April Fools' event so what nation would be better than Trans Anarcho-Communist Lesbian Catgirls?! It was fun, silly, and timely. I also hope that there were some smiles from it. I also really enjoy the April Fools' events and like competing in them so no matter what it was going to be fun. Stressful, but fun.

Atlae: What did you think about the previous 4 years of Caelapes’ term as WA Secretary General?

Sakana: Wh-oh right. The Sec-Gen position is one that wields immense power and should be treated with utmost respect. With their power to veto anything and kick anyone out of the WA, it's scary. Imagine being kicked out of the WA while you're trying to tag a region? That'd be awful!

Okay, so I'm being told that they don't actually have that power. Huh, I wonder what they do...

Atlae: In your campaign bulletin, you start with “We’re here, we’re queer: the Trans Catgirls are here!” You mentioned earlier that you began your campaign on International Transgender Day of Visibility, so do you think your campaign resonated with many young catgirls at home?

Sakana: Oh, I know that it did! I got a lot of telegrams from people that were really happy to see the nation running for office. Those telegrams really made me happy since, between the gorespam and awful telegrams that I kept getting, there was a lot of negativity. Those good telegrams made it all feel worth it. I also had some people come out to me which was always an amazing experience.

Atlae: Speaking of telegrams, one of the main complaints of those voting in the election was the amount of campaign TGs sent to them. What's your opinion on this?

Sakana: Haha, there were a lot of telegrams. I myself tried to not send that many out (ie. one WA wide telegram) but I know that other people sent out more than that. All I know is that Alti made that lovely dispatch which was hilarious and made it clear that people weren't liking the amount of telegrams. I also don't think that I have a good perspective on it since I got ~500 telegrams from people. Oh, and I, uh, may have had WA Campaigns blocked on accident sooooooooo who knows!

Atlae: On your campaign thread in the Election Headquarters subforum, you and your campaign picked out catgirl pictures for the top SecGen candidates and anyone who requested one. Where did you get the catgirls from and can you confirm right here and now that they are doing okay one month later?

Sakana: The worldwide team of catgirls volunteered in support of the election! They were all given the highest accommodations and got homemade cookies as thanks. All are safe now and, from what I last heard, are still enjoying the after party. Maybe they'll be partying until the next election, who knows!

Atlae: Who were the people who helped you with your campaign and what work did they do?

Sakana: I'd like to wait to answer that one since I need perms to see an old Discord chat to make sure I get everyone.

Atlae: TEP was one of the first regions to support your candidacy, along with TBH [The Black Hawks]. What impact would you say that those early boosts/endorsements gave you in the election? How were you able to appeal to so many different regions?

Sakana: I think that those early boosts were very helpful in getting momentum. The support from both of them made a solid base for a coalition. I think that we were able to appeal to so many different regions because we had a fun and silly campaign. We weren't worried about being serious for April Fools', that'd be heresy!

That non-serious tone definitely helped us appeal to a lot of regions.

Atlae: Late into the election, [violet] introduced the running mate mechanic into the election. One of the major surprises in the final round of voting was when McMasterdonia became your running mate. Could you share some insight into how this came to be?

Sakana: Oh, that twist! We had that planned for a bit which is why the catgirls didn't have a running mate before. It was something fun and unexpected that we thought would shake things up a bit. It was also brought up briefly between the five candidates (I think I talked to everyone?) that got into the final round that we would all drop out at once leaving the election with no winner. The would've been the most ridiculous thing to happen and I'm sort of sad that it didn't.

Atlae: There have been many accusations that you and other members of the “WA Elite” - namely, the other four candidates that made it into the final round of voting: Kuriko, Caelapes, Valentine Z, and McMasterdonia - conspired to keep Jocospor out of the final round of voting. At risk of a substantial reaction from the Confederation of Corrupt Dictators, do you have any comment on this whole affair?

Sakana: Okay, I have to say the idea of me being a WA elite is hilarious to me since most of the time I don't even know where my WA is, lol. And, as for saying anything on the matter, I think that those that got into the final round of voting deserved to be there. Everyone worked very hard to get into the final voting round.

Atlae: Could you give your thoughts on each of the other 4 final round candidates? I know you’ve already given them a catigirl pic.

Sakana: Sure! I think that all four of them are fantastic people and it was extremely fun to run against them. The election allowed me to get to know a few of them better and I'm really glad for that. If you want specific thoughts on each on, the campaign telegram that I sent out gave an adjective for them:

Kuriko is QUALIFIED
McMasterdonia is ENERGETIC
Caelapes is EXPERIENCED
Valentine Z is FABULOUS

Atlae: What would you say to Kuriko right now about her very grueling job as WA Secretary-General?

Sakana: Hope you enjoy reading the thousands of pages of requirements that you have to follow~!

Atlae: How has post-election life in NS been for you?

Sakana: Post-election life on NS has been about the same as pre-election life. I'm still having fun doing silly things. The only difference is that the catgirls have had c/c proposal(s?) written about them. Oh, that and I keep getting replies from my WA all telegram from people that are just now opening their telegrams up. Other than that things have been pretty much the same. I have enjoyed sneaking puppets into XKI [10000 Islands] for Kuriko to find, though. So far she's only found one but who knows, there might be more~

Atlae: Last question. Will you be running again in 2024? NS is dying to know.

Sakana: If I'm still here, maybe. The world always needs more Trans Anarcho-Communist Lesbian Catgirls~

Atlae: Alright, thank you for your time. It was a blast interviewing you.

Sakana: Let me know if there is anything else that I can help with!

The Judgment
By Inquisitive Examinations

---

Editor’s Note: The following is a work of satire and does not represent the views of The East Pacific.

Where were you on 4/20/2020? A date that will live in infamy, and not just for its auspicious date. It is the day when the deity known as Drew Durnil came down from the heavens and destroyed NationStates’ servers with his divine wrath. Only the likes of [violet] could stop his rampage, but the damage was already done.

His army of followers, ranging from 30,000-50,000 nations strong, would have been enough to topple all of the GCRs and major UCRs (CCD’s pipe dream, I suppose) if they were commanded to. But nay, they have dispersed around the world, settling in the regions whose recruitment telegrams were the most interesting.

Despite everyone’s initial rage about the lag and general inconvenience caused by Drew’s divine judgment, NationStates as a whole benefited from the publicity. The East Pacific, for that matter, increased by at least 50%, with the citizenship application office ballooning with requests after his divine message was available to the public. Clearly the East Pacific was favored, since that was the birthplace of Drew’s digital manifestation. The day that he returns would signal the Second Coming.

It soon emerged that Marrabuk, the Delegate of The East Pacific, posted the following message: “Hippity hoppity Drew Durnil's channel is now TEP's property” ¹ (Marrabuk). This message may seem innocuous to the average reader, but here at Inquisitive Examinations we examine things inquisitively. Clearly Marrabuk has the Mandate of Heaven (why else would he be Delegate) and must have some message from the beings above us. Perhaps he is even descended from them, given his luscious coating; he really is the most handsome. But that would mean that fate has ordained that the destinies of The East Pacific and Drew are irreparably entwined, and that Drew would return one day.

Of course, one would be remiss if they were not to supply evidence. TEP’s Provost, A Mean Old Man, submitted a proposal to the Security Council queue and it quickly made it to quorum. However, he rustled quite a few feathers even in The East Pacific for not drafting it in the forums first, which a 10x-WA Resolution author like AMOM should undoubtedly know to do. Even though by April 30, the proposal had overwhelmingly failed, AMOM posted this message in his defeat: “I think he may have planned to post the video as this was ending. :wink:” (Mean Old Man) The video in question was a sequel to Drew’s first divine revelation, causing the influx of nations of the Drewpocalypse. The message that AMOM had left also contained an image, which inscribed on it were these words: “When your resolution fails...But your plan works” (Mean Old Man). Clearly, either Mean Old Man had either coordinated this with Drew, or the action of condemning Deruuu had captured his attention again. Drew’s divine revelation at one point mentioned the condemnation of his digital manifestation, expressing pleasure while voting for the doomed-to-fail resolution. Following the failure of the resolution and the deliverance of Drew’s divine revelation, Mean Old Man changed his classification to “MASTER PLAN.”

Perhaps Mean Old Man’s many years playing NationStates had allowed him to unlock the secrets of summoning the divine? Perhaps he simply had the wisdom to know what would successfully call upon Drew in our time of doubt? In any case, it is clear that high-ranking TEP officials have the gift of summoning the divine. Or, in the very least, prophets of a very interesting cargo cult. Who from the heavenly realm of YooToob will TEP call on next? Will they use this power for good or for evil? We will continue to examine inquisitively.

(Artist’s Rendition: Drew Leading the Masses, probably by some guy)

(Artist’s Rendition: The Conjurers’ Ritual, probably by another guy. Depicted from the top, clockwise: Marrabuk, A Mean Old Man, Libertanny, Bachtendekuppen, Todd McCloud. Center: a burning lotus flower.)

Work Cited

¹ Marrabuk, Most Handsome of. “The East Pacific Board.” NationStates, Max Barry, 20 Apr.
2020, 3:40:55 AM, http://www.nationstates.net/page=displa ... =the_east_
pacific?postid=38234351#p38234351.

² Mean Old Man, A. “[DEFEATED] Condemn Deruuu.” NationStates, Max Barry, 30 Apr. 2020,
9:31 AM, forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?p=37045834#p37045834.

---

Editor’s Note: These last three articles are short submissions from nations in The East Pacific, about categories ranging from roleplay and satire. They are intended to stoke community involvement in chronicling the stories of TEP.

Tensions rise in Sokala as 2020 Prime Minister election starts
By Dominic Brual

One week after the start of the Prime Minister candidacy declaration period, tensions between various political parties rose to alarming levels. Several political leaders have been brought in for questioning for being suspected of instigating incidents of vandalism and theft that were observed by the Sokalan National Police Association. Among them was Ronaldo "The Rock" Rose, Party Representative of the ROCK party.

(caption: LOOK: Former Senator and now ROCK party representative, Ronaldo Rose expresses dissatisfaction of the current administration)

"He's [Prime Minister Aruto Sokala] targeted me and my party for the past decade!" Ronaldo Rose exclaimed in an interview "He knows that if we win, we'll expose the corruption he's been hiding behind his socialist revolution."

Rose and his party have been openly trying their best to impede the current Sokalan administration's policies after a failed impeachment attempt that led to Rose and the ROCK party being turned to a national laughing stock.

Rose has been charged with 5 counts of incitiation and is currently being investigated for his connections to 5 incidents of vandalism of VICTORY offices in Santa Rosa and Subic.

Meth Addicts Add Additives to Meth
By Methany Gladd

Ever since methamphetamine production was standardized in the nation of Jakubonia, the official manufacturers have began to add additives to an addict's favourite drug. This is to lower the concentration of the drug, causing people to buy larger batches of it. Some illegal drug rings have already began distilling and purifying this product, to gain a taste high. Luckily, the practically nonexistent law enforcement has been gradually cracking down on these fiends! Legislations to make a minimum drug concentration quota are underway.

Thany Devito Can Beatbox
By George Joestar (local aristocrat and interpreter)

Y’all gon make (pwt) me act a fool (pwt) up in here (pwt) up in here (pwt). y’all gon make (pwt) me lose my cool (pwt) up in here(pwt) up in here (pwt). y’all gon make(pwt) me bust a SMACK (pwt) up in here (pwt) up in here (pwt). y’all gon make my fingers snap (pwt) up in here up (pwt) in here (pwt). Why should I battle a crusty old man when you can’t even defeat a little weak Peter Pan. You’re lucky this is only a beatbox battle (pwt), cause in a real battle I would make you feel rattled. Look at him, he’s only got one (pwt) planet, I’ve got the whole galaxy (pwt) under my dependence. You’re gonna pay when you bleed and die, yes you will die destiny arrives. Y’all gon make me aha prt aha sss aha prt ahaha prwrt prwrt aha sss Y’all gon make me aha prt aha sss aha prt ahaha prwrt prwrt aha sss Y’all gon make me aha prt aha sss aha prt ahaha prwrt prwrt aha sss Y’all gon make me aha prt aha sss aha prt ahaha prwrt prwrt aha sss Bwm saia semi bwmbwm ama don stopa bwm saye bwm don bwm stopa pwt bwmbwm saia semi bwmbwm ama don stopa bwm Let me show you how to scratch it ahuHU bwm sama uta p utaata uta eta uta bwm etauts bu pww hu pww eta pww uh seta eta pu etta pu bwm either way destiny still arives.

[Tinhampton]

Ruddy excellent, as ever. I suppose I might need to put my 2024 election campaign on hold before it even begins...

[Marrabuk]

Delegate Kuriko of 10000 Islands and Delegate Marrabuk of The East Pacific hashing out final details of the Treaty of the Waxing Moon

Announcing the Treaty of the Waxing Moon

Diplomats from 10000 Islands and The East Pacific, recognizing the two regions' history of friendship and appreciation for each other's traditions, governments, and communities, have negotiated the Treaty of the Waxing Moon and it has been ratified by the Council of Nine and Magisterium respectively. The Treaty of the Waxing Moon recognizes each region's respective regional government, contains provisions for mutual defense against enemies foreign or domestic, and has each party agree to respect the sovereignty of the other region's embassy partners. It is the belief of both parties that the Treaty of the Waxing Moon will codify and continue an era of cooperation between the two regions.

Now that this chapter of XKI-TEP history is written, ghostwriter Kuriko tried her very best to avoid Marrabuk hosting an all-too-Marra party in Council of Nine chambers with little success, fortunately HumanSanity and Avinitis intervened to convince Marrabuk that instead of a weekend binge the theme of the party should be joint agreement that Libertanny is smelly and procured a sufficient quantity of cake to curb each of the Delegates' worse tendencies.

Treaty of the Waxing Moon

Article I: Mutual Recognition

Signatories recognize the Government of The East Pacific, as established by the Concordat, and the Council of Nine as the respective official governments of The East Pacific and 10000 Islands.

Article II: Diplomatic Relations

To ensure continuing diplomatic relations the Signatories shall maintain in-game embassies on Nationstates.net, off-site embassies on their respective regional forums, and diplomatic representatives within each other's region, to the best of their abilities.

Article III. Non-Aggression, Mutual Defense and Intelligence

Section 1. Signatories shall not:

(a) engage in any military hostilities against the home region of the other Signatory;

(b) engage in any military hostilities against an embassy region of the other Signatory, including providing military assistance to another military doing so, unless said embassy region has declared a state of war or engaged in hostilities against either Signatory or an embassy region thereof;

(c) attempt directly or indirectly, or give any form of support to, a coup d’état or any other acts of subversion against the legitimate recognized government of the other Signatory;

(d) in any way commit acts of espionage, subterfuge or other subversive operations against the legitimate recognized government of the other Signatory, or any of the other Signatory's off-site properties.

Section 2. Signatories shall:

(a) provide military assistance in case of a military attack against the home region of the other Signatory;

(b) provide to each other intelligence, on a need-to-know basis, on any of the hostilities or actions, or potential hostilities or actions, including by third parties, as listed under Section I of this Article, unless doing so would violate applicable laws, or the terms of service for NationStates or said Signatory's forum provider, or unduly compromise said signatory's sources of information. If this intelligence relates to actions of the other Signatory's Delegate, then it will be provided to the Viziers of The East Pacific or the Chief Executive of 10000 Islands;

(c) keep any shared intelligence confidential on a need-to-know basis within the signatory's government and make public intelligence on terms mutually agreed upon by the other signatory.

Article IV: Ratification and Termination

Section 1. This treaty shall be ratified by completion of the respective legal process in each region, and each Signatory shall record the complete text of this treaty in its appropriate record-keeping place.

Section 2. Either Signatory can terminate this treaty in writing to the other Signatory, providing at least three days advance notice to the other Signatory, such termination not constituting an act of war or a hostility by the terminating region.

[Eastern Pacific News Service]

|Home || Current Issue || Archives || Affiliates || Biographies || Daily News |
A Production of the Ministry of Information and Communication

Editor's Note: This article was edited especially for NS Gameplay forum readers. The original, unedited version may be found here. The magazine edition may be found here.

The East Pacific News Service
May 31, 2020

---

The Magisterium is Grooving
By Zukchiva

---

During the past month, the Magisterium has seen an unexpected spike of activity. From anti-griefing policies to debates on governmental power, Magisters and citizens alike have been hard at work reforming the East Pacific’s body of law. The Magisterium has done a lot, so here’s an exhibition of some of its work!

ANTI-GRIEFING POLICIES

The East Pacific has always primarily identified itself as an unaligned region; it is a region that is neither raider nor defender. While the region maintains this political and military ideology, recent incidents have encouraged the Magisterium to pass anti-griefing policies.

The reasoning behind these policies is to prevent the Eastern Pacific Sovereign Army (EPSA) from irreplaceably damaging native communities, following the belief that while the EPSA can raid, it shouldn’t do so in a way that destroys regions. Of course, there are some exceptions to this rule, namely fascist regions and regions who have acted to damage the East Pacific.

These policies took the form of an amendment to an existing law. They prohibit the EPSA from various destructive behaviors such as banning natives, passwording regions, and refounding regions. However, the EPSA is still allowed to raid regions at its leisure, and also remove tags and embassies from regions, showing that the East Pacific doesn’t mind raiding to a large extent.

ENDORSEMENT CAP RAISE

With the Drewapocalypse hitting the region hard, discussions around raising the Endorsement Cap from 300 to 400 were abundant in all circles of government. After lots of discussion and debate, the Viziers proposed to the Magisterium the raising of the endorsement cap on May 7th, 2020. From there, the Magisterium supported the proposal and passed the cap unanimously, with Delegate Marrabuk signing on soon after.

With this higher endorsement cap, nations within the East Pacific shall be able to now endotart to levels similar to when Yuno was Delegate. The enactment of this higher endorsement cap and subsequent increases in endorsement levels indicate that the Drewapocalypse has really helped the East Pacific recover the vast number of World Assembly nations that were ejected during the Fedele coup.

LEGISLATING VOTING PROCEDURE

For many years, the East Pacific has relied on the voting system known as “instant-runoff voting”, or “IRV”, to conduct Delegate elections. Proposed by a Magister sometime in 2014, the voting system has since been used by all Viceroys of the East Pacific to ensure fair and democratic Delegate elections.

However, in order to prevent potential future abuse and to help clarify the processes around IRV, it was decided to legislate the voting system into law. This was done by amending the “Delegate Elections Act”, which is an already-in-effect law dealing with many Delegate election procedures. The bill passed Magisterium vote and was signed by Delegate Marrabuk, passing into law May 18th, 2020.

NEW VIZIER APPOINTMENTS

On May 6th, 2020, Marrabuk nominated two Citizens for the position of Vizier to the Magisterium. Said Citizens were Dylan and Tretrid, both long time roleplayers and Magisters of the East Pacific for a multitude of years.

For the next few days, citizens showed up to give their support for the Viziership (though there were some concerns brought up with Tretrid’s role in EPSA). Nonetheless, the nominations were moved to vote after a few days, and the Magisterium quickly confirmed the nominees into Viziership.

Dylan and Tretrid have already proven themselves capable in their new roles, despite having only been Viziers for around a week. It is a definite hope within the East Pacific that more nations may be set to become Viziers in time. For now with 13 Viziers however, the region is more than capable of handling any external threat against its government.

THE REGIONAL MESSAGE BOARD ACT, 2020

The Regional Message Board Act was a bill proposed by Magister Lerasi to allow the government to try citizens for offenses such as spamming or harassment. From the get-go, the bill was controversial, with the hard question being whether or not the government has the power to legislate such “out-of-character” or “OOC” offenses. Nonetheless, the bill would eventually go to vote and receive a very high majority from the Magisterium.

However, Delegate Marrabuk vetoed the bill, marking a historic move as the second veto a Delegate has ever performed under the Concordat. The stated reason which Marrabuk stated in vetoing the bill is as follows: “I’m vetoing this because I don’t believe OOC stuffs should be engraved in IC laws.” Marrabuk would later explain his reasoning in a separate thread.

Soon after the veto, Provost A Mean Old Man would initiate a new discussion for the Magisterium regarding the vetoed bill. Debate has proven active, showing a diverse split of opinions over two pages of discussion. However, it is important to note that the discussion remains respectful and open to all Citizens; a testament to how the East Pacific as a community has grown since the Fedele coup.

CONCLUSION

These are the only most prominent legislative items in which the East Pacific has dealt with in the past month. There is no mistake that the Magisterium is filled to the brim with determined and loyal East Pacificans willing to reform The East Pacific’s law into something strong and new. The Magisterium is grooving, and working hard for the East Pacific’s future!

An Interview with VW53a
By Tretrid

---

VW53a, who is often just called “VW,” is the East Pacific’s Minister of Immigration, and so is in charge of managing the influx of newcomers to The East Pacific. VW is also a member of the Citizenship Commission (CitiCom), which is the body that processes citizenship applications. VW also made a series of graphs showing the spike in new nations in the wake of Drew Durnil’s two YouTube videos regarding NationStates.

Tretrid: What do you do as Minister of Immigration?

VW: Well, to be honest, most of my work just comes down to processing the Citizenship Applications. That is probably about 90-99% of what I do. When my job started, back in October, that pretty much was my job. But since the Ministry of Manpower was integrated with Immigration at the start of Marrabuk's second term in February I should do a little more. I have also done a little research in November keeping tabs on the number of foundings in our region, movements into and out of our region, number of nations with WA or with Citizenship, and the number of nations Ceasing To Exist. Also recently I maintained a graph on the number of foundings per hour from a few days before the video of Drew came out up to early May. But still, far more than 90% of my time, as Minister of Immigration comes down to processing Citizenship Applications.

Tretrid: What was it like when Drew released his first NationStates video?

VW: Well, I think I heard it first from Sammy (New Leganés) who is my main member of Staff and who is mostly involved with sending Telegrams to nations whose Citizenship Application was accepted. So, a video about NationStates. Well, that has been done before I suppose. I thought nothing of it and I continued watching the TV program I was watching. During commercial breaks, I tried NS, Discord and our Forum on my phone, but everything seemed to be slow. I blamed my phone or my router. Later that evening, at the PC, I first noticed the high number of new WA-members, the increased number of masking requests on our Discord and then started checking how the influx of new nations was. That is when the magnitude of the influx really hit me and I started creating the graph to get a grip of how big the increase really was. Well, they have kept me busy for a few days. XD

Tretrid: What was it like to process all these new citizen applications from the Drewpocalypse?

VW: It was headache delivering. No, really. I did have help from you and some Viziers. I would especially like to thank Libertanny, who processed about 16 of them iirc. At one moment I saw almost 40 unprocessed Citizenship Applications. However, I had to turn down about a third of them. Normally, I process them one by one. I decided to not take that route with this high number of CitApps. But that meant a lot scrolling back and forth to collect which application was accepted and which wasn't. It was quite a job. However, I believe the incresed activity is a good thing and I hope a lot of the "Drew people" found NationStates an interesting and fun game, and/or have found The East Pacific to be a fun and friendly region. For all we know, our future Delegate, Provost, Viceroy, or Grand Vizier, may be among them, and then my work hasn't been in vain.

Tretrid: How do you think these events will impact the future of TEP?

VW: Phew, that is hard to say. Like I said, part of the Drew people may have found their game and/or their home here. But some of them will also disappear to other regions and a lot of them will CTE in one or two months I suspect. So the impact on the future of TEP is actually down to the characters that stay here. They get to leave their mark on TEP, on the RP (be it on our forum or our Regional Message Board), on our government, et cetera. It is up to how they evolve, how TEP will be impacted. However, I believe it will be in a good way.

Tretrid: What is it like to be a member of CitiCom?

VW: Hmm, I don't really know how to answer this. If you think it would make me feel proud or something, then you're wrong. I am not interested in status, or something like that. I do a job because it needs to be done, and that's it. So, being a member of CitiCom to me is no different than being only a Citizen, but with just a little more work to do.
I can say I found it difficult, certainly at first, to be the head of Ministry whose main task, or even sole task, according to a previous (Deputy) Minister was actually the task of the Citizenship Committee. When I started, the CitiCom was under the Conclave's control, and it contained about five members, not including me and the Immigration Staff. Recently, CitiCom has come under control of the Viziers (the Praesidium). I believe that CitiCom has grown too due to this. However, I guess I am still doing the first step in the process of 80% of the applications.

Tretrid: What is the most common mistake made on citizenship applications, and what would you like to tell new people so they can avoid this error?

VW: I haven't kept statistics on that. So, I'll take a quick look in a minute. I am pretty sure that when CitiCom was under the Conclave's control, the most common mistake was: omitting information. People mentioned for instance all their puppets, but didn't mention all the regions those puppets resided in. After CitiCom's control was transferred to the Viziers, earlier this year, the questionnaire in the application form was shortened.
Looking over the new application thread that was made after the transfer, I notice that there were some errors in the beginning that seem to be less common now. At first many people didn't copy the entire form, so they skipped the ratification of the Concordat at the beginning, or they left out their pledge at the end. Then Grand Vizier McStooley changed the layout, so that the form could be copied easier, and after that we have not seen that error anymore.
[returns after a few minutes of absence]
Well, one mistake that has happened more than once, is that someone enters their TEP nation in their forum profile, applies for citizenship, and then move to another region before their Citizenship Application was processed. Of course, this is a huge mistake. Who in their right mind would leave TEP for another region? So this error can be easily avoided. Just stay in The East Pacific!
But the most common mistake is made here: If I have one, the name of my World Assembly member nation is: ....
Often people fill in their nation's name, even though they are not a WA-member (anymore), or sometimes haven't even applied for WA- membership. But almost just as often people write here "None", even though the TEP nation they're applying with is a WA-member.
So people should check if they have a nation that is already admitted to the WA, and if so, mention that nation at this question. If they're not sure, they could just check all their nation's pages. (By NationStates, every user is allowed to have only one WA-member.)
If they're a member, there will be a green bar on top of that page stating "WA-member".
Also on the bottom of their page, they might see a list of nations that have endorsed them. (Non WA-member cannot give or receive World Assembly Endorsements.)

Tretrid: Lastly, is there anything you'd like to say to the readers of the EPNS?

VW: Yes, I would like to invite every resident of The East Pacific to apply for citizenship. It is your ticket to a very fun community. It is also your first step on a path where you get more acquainted with the laws that govern our region, and the people that create, maintain, uphold, and execute these laws. It is also your first step if you are interested in joining any such group.
One other major advantage of becoming a Citizen, is that you get to vote for a new Delegate every 4 months. This June will be one of those months, so you should apply very quickly! And of course, being a Citizen, you get more protection. But blah, blah, you were not going to break the law, now were you? However, what if someone else did? Against you? Anyway, hope to see your application soon. Just go to https://tep.li/citizenship and follow the instructions in the opening post there.
If you are having trouble, or questions, you can always contact any of the nations in the Ministry of Immigration. Those are: Virgolia, New Leganés, Tretrid, and VW53ALand.

Paradoxical: Electric Boogaloo
By Giovanniland

The first edition of Paradoxical - an event jointly hosted by The North Pacific, The East Pacific, and Europeia - was very successful. With over 200 participants, roleplay competition, two multiplayer games and several spam games, it became a memorable event.. So... What if we told there will be a second edition, and it will have futuristic themes? That's right! Paradoxical'2.0 is coming! And the organizers hope that you join for many interesting competitions and other activities!

Paradoxical'2.0 is an event hosted officially by The East Pacific and Thaecia, with volunteers from several other regions: The North Pacific, The West Pacific, The Pacific, Europeia, and Caer Sidi. Furthermore, the event has two partners - one is The East Pacific Evolved Roleplay, a regional roleplay organization, and the other is NationStates Today, a newspaper about important NS events.

With a large and competent team, you'll see that Paradoxical'2.0 is perfectly planned to be an awesome interregional event, where many people will meet and have fun! The event starts at the 1st of June, and will happen through an entire week until the 7th of June.

You may have noticed that I mentioned competitions - but what are those? First off, I'll talk about roleplaying. There will be not one, but three types of RP, and you can choose as many as you want! We'll also have Art and Writing contests, along with a lottery, as the previous edition - all of them with prizes, this time however - they shall be a secret. That's not all, though! Many other activities will be happening, such as Trivia, Skribbl.io, Cards Against Humanity, and even a Minecraft server!

Now, isn't that amazing? If you agree, don't hesitate to join! Competition entries will only be available at the first day - so don't wait, join the server now: https://discord.gg/8dWyTPB!

Interview with Blueacia
By Zukchiva

---

Interviewer’s Note: This interview was conducted on Discord, so much of the interview is rather choppy in grammar and sentence structure. The interview goes over how Blueacia joined NationStates, as well as some parts of their experience as a TEP roleplayer.

Zukchiva: Hey Blueacia, nice to meet you, and thanks for the interview! How are ya?

Blueacia: Good

Zukchiva: Awesome! So first question: could you tell me a bit about how you found NationStates?

Blueacia: Me and 2 friends started it some time back. We all wanted to have a simulator for our own nations. As we played Airline Empires a lot

I took the name Blueacia, one of my friends took the name Sicily and Naples, and the other friend choose Vaspor

Zukchiva: Y'know, your name is pretty unique as far as NS names go. Anyways, what did you and your friends do after joining? Did you found a region for yourselves, or did y'all do something else?

Blueacia: Thank you for the compliment about the name. Tbh I used a name generator like my friend who choose the name Vaspor

Zukchiva: Well, it was a good name generator >_>

A lot of name generators like NS have long and weird names

Blueacia: I don't know about regions, but we did a lot of issues, and laughed us sick sometimes about the results. And we tried to convince each other our government was the best

Zukchiva: That sounds pretty sweet and fun, actually. What happened to your friends? I haven't seen them around here. o.O

Blueacia: One of them (Sicily and Naples) was a hit and run on the map. He liked the idea of this, but didn't want to RP all the time. The other isn't good in English. So I wouldn't do him a favour asking him to join

Zukchiva: Oh, so they still play NS?

Blueacia: I don't think so

Zukchiva: That sucks :/. But it seems that y'all did have fun when you played together.

Now, to the meat and gravy of the matter; what attracted you to coming over to TEP Evolved? What made you stray from issue answering, in other words?

Blueacia: Simply said, I didn't like the stats they were using on NS. I was already in the East Pacific region, answered the mail. And joined TEP in 2017. Always have been that 1 pixel island until few weeks back.

Zukchiva: Lololol, yes you have! So I notice that you have a masking as "Cartographic Researcher" on the TEP Roleplay Discord. Why do you have that role, what do you do under it, and do you enjoy being a Researcher?

Blueacia: I just make sure every nation on the map is also on the cartographical list with the correct info

Zukchiva: Do you like doing it? And how did you get that role in the first place? xD

Blueacia: Dylan asked who would do it, and I volunteered

Zukchiva: Heh, sounds pretty neat. So what made you decide to become the one-pixel tax haven you've been known for roleplaying as all these years?

Blueacia: "Known for roleplaying" ROFL. Like I only do Urthvision constantly, I don't RP that much. But I always liked the smaller nations on Earth. Vatican City, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, Andorra, Singapore etc.

I chose to become the Monaco on Urth. Because I am a big racefan. And watch the Formula 1 since 2004. And the GP of Monaco is the most famous. And they are a tax haven.

Zukchiva: Interesting! lolol. But now I have to ask, what makes you want to stay and hang out with everyone? If you don't roleplay much, then what keeps you active in the forum rp community? Is it the community itself? Friendships? What's the thing keeping you addicted (everyone has one if they play NS)

Blueacia: It's just fun to be around you guys, I always want top start and RP more. But it hasn't happend yet

Zukchiva: That's so sweet! I know everyone in TEP Evolved appreciates having you here.

Well, it seems like it's getting time to wrap this up. Would you like to say anything extra that hasn't been said yet? A message, perhaps?

Blueacia: Everyone is welcome in the Blueacian casinos, see you there. *Thumbs up*

Zukchiva: Thank you for the interview, Blue!

Blueacia: You're welcome

TEP Evolved: Roleplay Like No Other
By Dylan (Staynes)

---

TEP Evolved is one of the East Pacific's most premier roleplay. From Urthvision (our equivalent of Eurovision) to war, to a royal wedding to gunboat diplomacy, a lot of action happens on Urth, the roleplay's home planet. Here's a quick recap of some events!

Very recently, we moved from a map where each pixel is about the size of half of Disney World, Florida, to a map where each pixel is the size of Gibraltar! (Woah, that’s 50km2 down to 6.3416km2). It’s our third iteration of the current map that was made in 2014, named Urth HR (hi-res), but actually our first maps were made all the way back in 2003!

Our most active roleplays going on at the moment is the Arkian Civil War. Created by Arkia, the roleplay is about a three-way civil war in a regional power between a capitalist democracy, imperialist monarchy, and union communists; it’s packed with fleshed out character role-play and in-depth battles that are funded and fought with countries from all across the world.

Our most exciting community roleplay that is upcoming is Urthvision XII, the twelfth edition of Urthvision, which is a song festival competition with representatives from any nation around Urth. Urthvision happens up to three or four times a year and it’s a great way to share our nation's favorite artists and music tastes.

TEPWiki: A Catalog of Everything
By Dylan (Staynes)

---

TEPWiki truly is one of our greatest successes. We moved over to TEPWiki after we faced many problems with our old wiki provider, and it acts as a great Wikipedia style base for all national factbooks, characters, places, and other awesome pages.

Here are three pages, one belongs to a roleplayer who joined in 2016, and the other two from the Drew-wave. Alongside these, we will showcase one of our characters that the RP community wanted to show off:

https://tep.wiki/wiki/Great_Morstaybishlia
https://tep.wiki/wiki/Alksearia
https://tep.wiki/wiki/The_Democratic_Republic_of_Sokala
https://tep.wiki/wiki/Ikrisia_Levinile

Now the last one is very interesting, as Ikrisia has a storied history in the realm of the east, from soldier to world leader of a nation of fox-like people. The wiki page touches on this history, but it deviates rather sharply from the written books published by Todd. Which one’s the real Ikrisia? Tune in to find out!

New Ventures: A Drew-wave Player’s Experiences
By Art (Sokala)

---

It has been exactly 30 days since I’ve joined the NationStates community. 30 days of roleplay, shitposting, and vibing in the Discord voice chat. The first time I joined NationStates was the most confusing and exciting thing that I experienced. I was assaulted by several telegrams with the great horse, Marrabuk, leading the charge. At first, I tried to reply to the telegrams in character as Prime Minister Aruto Sokala, a character I made in panic. By the end of the day, I managed to stumble into the Discord server and the forums, with me applying for citizenship in the end.

In the following days would be basically me getting to know the great people of The East Pacific and developing my nation’s wiki page. Even as a newbie, I became involved in almost every aspect of TEP. I became a frequent visitor of TEP Roleplay Center’s voice chat, became a magister, and begun helping TEP develop its laws and I became a junior diplomat for TEP’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

I’ve learned a lot of things in the 30 days that I’ve been in TEP. I’ve learned to love roleplay, a hobby that I used to be afraid of. I’ve also learned that I can apparently wake up at 5 am just to talk to some Americans and Europeans from across the world. In conclusion, TEP’s been a great region for me as TEP helped me grow as a new player. I was not rejected and was instead accepted with open arms.

So, You Want to Run for Delegate
By Inquisitive Examinations
(Editor's Note: This article is a work of satire. None of these views represent the view of the Eastern Pacific News Service as a whole.

On June 1st, The East Pacific will undergo a sacred tradition. It is a great one. It is something that is eagerly awaited every year. It is a time of celebration, to highlight certain members of TEP’s wondrous community. There will be great events to celebrate the occasion.

The East Pacific is preparing for Pride Month.

In other news, the Conclave is administering the election of a minor government official for a term of four months. But this seemingly innocuous thing is quite important! That’s because this is the election of the WA Delegate. There’s already some hubbub about the somewhat mundane job of being the puppet of the Rahls. A whole new channel in TEP’s Discord server was cordoned off for the sole purpose of discussing the Delegate Election.

Now, how does the election of this Christie Island bureaucrat work? The Viceroy of the Conclave, or the Designee of said Viceroy, will open a thread declaring that nominations are open for the Delegate. Citizenship applications will be suspended, and The East Pacific will go on holiday for a week! For 72 hours, any old citizen can nominate whichever person they like to be Delegate. In the next four days, the voting begins. Here in TEP, we use Instant-Runoff Voting if there are more than two candidates, meaning that there are ranked votes. And those are good because numbers are good.

Of course, there are rules about running. But talking about electioneering or vote stacking or election impropriety is boring, so let’s move on.

Now, some astute readers of the Eastern Pacific News Service may be quick to point out that Marrabuk’s summer vacation is conveniently scheduled for this month. You’re right, Marrabuk has promised not to run for a third term. Of course, we can’t take it straight from the horse’s mouth. Therefore, we must do something to make sure that Marrabuk cannot participate. We’ll be adding stairs to this election.

There have been questions raised about if this is the best way to select the most qualified candidate. Thus, a new selection process has been proposed in the dark depths of TEP’s Discord server. No longer will candidates simply “run” for the Delegacy. They will now be sprinting, jogging, and not galloping. They will be undergoing a triathlon, tightroping over a pit of lava, and surfing in shark-infested waters. Whoever wins (or is the last one still alive) becomes the next Delegate.

This is, without a shadow of a doubt, the best way to elect a Delegate. Using knowledge obtained from the UTEP libraries from this Dahl’s Charwinuggles guy clearly shows that natural selection via trial by ordeal leads to the strongest, fittest Delegate to pass their genes onto the next generation. In addition, no one would dare coup TEP if it meant a large risk of falling into the lava. Only true, patriotic TEPers willing to die for their region would volunteer as tribute. Their love for TEP exceeds the risk of falling face first into shark-infested lava (the sharks are lava-proof, you see).

Now, if you’re considering running for Delegate, I have some advice for you. This is the one big trick that is guaranteed to get you elected, 30 day money back guarantee!

Be an animal. The East Pacific has had a rich history of animals being Delegate. Todd McCloud is a fox, Bachtendekuppen is a puffin, Xoriet is an ocelot, and obviously, Marrabuk is a horse. In addition, many top government figures are animals. Libertanny is a parrot, and Zukchiva is a goose; could they be contenders for the next election?

100% of the Inquisitive Examinations’ focus group (sample size, 1) has stated that they would vote for an animal candidate of a non-animal candidate, because they have none of the slimy characteristics of humans. Fedele wasn’t an animal. I’ll leave you with that fact.

Of course, if you haven’t won the election, despite the 100%* guarantee, don’t let that get you! If you’re really good friends with the Delegate, just let them appoint you as RO with all the relevant powers. Remove the winner and those who supported him from the region, since clearly they aren’t deserving of the Delegacy. Once you realize that you and your cabal don’t have enough influence, appoint a random person with a lot of influence to banject more people. And you’re all set!

Happy running!

[Tinhampton]

In the time between this issue of the EPNS being published gameside and being published forumside, Giovanniland's article about Paradoxical'2.0 has gone from being a preview to an article about an upcoming event to what is essentially nothing more than a resource for future historians. Could you please be more timely with forumside publication in future, real-world circumstances permitting?

[Boda]

In the time between this issue of the EPNS being published gameside and being published forumside, Giovanniland's article about Paradoxical'2.0 has gone from being a preview to an article about an upcoming event to what is essentially nothing more than a resource for future historians. Could you please be more timely with forumside publication in future, real-world circumstances permitting?

This is all you have to say about EPNS? Really? No one even cares about the time...

[Unibot III]

This was a really good update! Lots of interesting policy discussions - raising the cap, IRV, anti-griefing legislation, RMB Act. Cool. I'm a bit surprised that people would want to try folks for summary offences like spamming - I think that was the intention of folks in TSP early on was the Minister of Justice was to serve as some kind of "Justice of the Peace," but it proved far far too cumbersome to set a trial for those kinds of offences - especially when the judiciary was expanded. The introduction of a third order of government in TSP, the Local Council, brought an end to that problem by devolving game-side moderation to a local council elected directly by residents.

That kind of reform would address the unity problem (RMB vs. Forum) mentioned in your previous update, but also the problem of representation and jurisdiction. I think it's a symptom of democratic growing pains when you have two distinct, cultural communities emerging between the forums and the RMB. It's not sustainable to try to pipe all in-game moderation issues through a forum-based process when so few residents actually participate on the forums - 'moderation cultures' will clash and accusations of elitism are common.

[La Xinga]

This was a really good update! Lots of interesting policy discussions - raising the cap, IRV, anti-griefing legislation, RMB Act. Cool. I'm a bit surprised that people would want to try folks for summary offences like spamming - I think that was the intention of folks in TSP early on was the Minister of Justice was to serve as some kind of "Justice of the Peace," but it proved far far too cumbersome to set a trial for those kinds of offences - especially when the judiciary was expanded. The introduction of a third order of government in TSP, the Local Council, brought an end to that problem by devolving game-side moderation to a local council elected directly by residents.

That kind of reform would address the unity problem (RMB vs. Forum) mentioned in your previous update, but also the problem of representation and jurisdiction. I think it's a symptom of democratic growing pains when you have two distinct, cultural communities emerging between the forums and the RMB. It's not sustainable to try to pipe all in-game moderation issues through a forum-based process when so few residents actually participate on the forums - 'moderation cultures' will clash and accusations of elitism are common.

Who is the minister of of justice?