Rebuttal Regarding the Outback
The West Pacific • The Outback • the Plains of Perdition • The North Pacific • Europeia • Balder
Significant falsehoods about the state of affairs surrounding the Outback have spread in recent days. The following evidence-based account refutes these baseless claims:
Several months ago, a once-in-a-career opportunity presented itself to a new generation of NationStates players: the chance to be a cornerstone influence in a new GCR. The Plains of Perdition and The Outback stood ready for anyone capable of fulfilling their promise. A look at today’s endorsement count of either would confirm that delegates Rhaza and Walkabout were such capable players. The Outback was, in its nascence, adopted by a coalition consisting of The West Pacific, the North Pacific, and—crucial to previous claims made today—Lone Wolves United. An effort spearheaded by the West, but one in which all partners could ostensibly recognize the innate value of contribution. The Augustin Alliance was not present for the settling of the Outback, their then Diplomatic Officer Haymarket Riot volunteering in voice chat with Rhaza to instead support the Plains of Perdition. So came the establishment of the regional government. Bran Astor, Dilber, Dalimbar, Badger, and Sensor, all themselves members of the West Pacific, moved to establish a government. Lone Wolves United opted to send Lamb Stone, based on his experience in region building. This was to be the core group upon which the Outback’s government and development would be entrusted.
In the following weeks, piler numbers from militaries other than the West fluctuated. Lone Wolves United stated they’d likely be gone in the month, and true to word, their forces were all but gone by 2025, certainly by February. The North Pacific Army understandably departed for their delegacy transition. Both of these were understood and accepted by TO and TWP without complaint. The Augustin Alliance sent a handful of pilers from their newly revived military, though clarified they also would pull out fairly soon lest prolonged engagements in the Outback cause stagnation for their military development. This, too, was accepted and understood without complaint. The NPO has not been mentioned thus far because of their decision to eschew any involvement in the Outback from the beginning, aside from a stated openness to an eventual treaty. While certain actors within the Outback took issue with this, TWP as the then-primary settlers, clarified that they were disappointed though not resentful. The New Pacific Order’s refusal to help was, again, accepted without complaint.
Lone Wolves United and the Augustin Alliance raised concerns to the West Pacific about the endorsement situation in the Outback, and we completely agreed that it was a matter of concern. This was due to a confluence of factors. Walkabout, also known as Bran, had experienced a series of personal tragedies which, for the sake of the IC/OOC divide, will not be expounded upon, but which all involved parties were informed of. Lady Anastasia/Dalimbar had been representing the Outback in Foreign Affairs, but also had increased OOC demands after the Outback's founding1. Lamb and Dilber too were busy. Still, the government of the Outback carved out a time for an all-stakeholder (the term for people in government and invested foreign parties with access to ministerial channels) meeting to discuss the future of the region. This meeting was, materially, extremely productive. The roleplay map was set to be published before the end of the week, World Assembly integration measures were codified and assigned, and various cabinet officials committed to specific and tangible policy goals, all of which were met. This meeting’s productivity was in spite of the attendance of Tom and joWhatup, who were less interested in discussing ways the region could develop and more interested in chastising the delegate for not having done so sooner. An effort that both Western stakeholders and the native community noted was unproductive.
It was baffling, then, to be pulled into a group chat two days before the only remaining military there, the Augustin Alliance, was set to withdraw. In this group chat (consisting of Syberis, Chipoli, Tom, Fujai, Haymarket Riot, and myself), the NPO, AA, LWU, and TNP issued an ultimatum to the West Pacific with the sole demand of Bran’s deposition as delegate of the Outback—something they had no right to ask of TWP and that TWP as an ally had no right to ask of the Outback— or else the respective regions would be withdrawing from any treaties, halting any new ones, and ending all current or future military support to the region. For clarity’s sake, the exact text of the ultimatum is:
Underline added by us.
On top of the outrageous nature of making such a demand of an ally, let alone from a sovereign GCR, the multiple critical flaws of such an approach were repeatedly expounded upon when the New Pacific Order attempted to contact us privately. The three options proposed as Bran’s replacement were Dali (whose activity and intentions have been addressed above), Dilber (who aside from his personal life wanted Bran to remain delegate), and Lamb (contrary to LWU’s claims otherwise), despite the fact he had not manually recruited in weeks prior to the ultimatum and had not to anyone’s knowledge attempted to recruit more recruiters, his job as Governor of Recruitment). Beyond this, the inherent risk posed to the political and cultural development of the region by foreign attempts to depose an internally relatively popular delegate was clearly unacceptable (Dilber, Badger, and Sensor all proudly believed Bran should remain). Also raised was the concern that simply switching out the delegate would fail to address any actual material problems in the region or build an endorsement base, to which NPO Senator of Diplomatic Affairs Callisto told Varanius “…we ourselves are not interested in giving input in The Outback as far as any particulars go, we are simply concerned that this will become a problem for PPO as a whole on a long term basis that damages or delays our other plans if this doesn’t change.” Clearly they didn’t consider the matter of regional delegacy to be a “particular”. We disputed many of their and the Augustin Alliance’s claims of refusal by the government to act, and invited them to become Stakeholders themselves, a position with zero obligations or required involvement and which would allow them nearly unrestricted access to the Outback’s Discord channels. Both regions ignored these offers and, in doing so, declined, instead moving ahead with their previously stated intentions to withdraw.
Suffice it to say, the West Pacific denied this ultimatum. The assorted regions involved withdrew what minimal pilers they had left, and considered themselves done with it. This is when the Outback’s then-new ally, the Plains of Perdition, alongside soon-to-be ally Europeia, as well as Balder, the Land of Kings and Emperors, and the Region That Has No Big Banks, availed themselves to the region. All of them stepped in to provide support in one way or another, be that military, moral, political, or technological. With their assistance and the dedication of the remaining regional government, the Outback has flourished, and currently boasts more native endorsements than it had natives or pilers at the time of the ultimatum. It was then that officials of both the NPO and the AA recognized their misdeeds and stated intentions to TWP to either apologize or act to make amends, a selection of which can be viewed below:
Note: “Solringen” is Haymarket Riot/Jinkies of the AA.
The West Pacific made continued efforts to follow up with both the Augustin Alliance and the New Pacific Order on the nature of their intended apologies and reparations, what forms we would appreciate them in (we were content keeping apologies from them private, for the record), and what the timeline on that may look like. These attempts at communication were ignored, brushed past, or responded to with cryptic statements of “investigation” that never seemed to yield any findings. Lone Wolves United attempted to contact Fujai on two separate occasions to speak about their concerns regarding how TWP viewed the Outback, and were both times redirected to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and both times never followed up. Claims that the West Pacific did not attempt to communicate our desire for a peaceful and private solution with them could easily be dissuaded by talks by, say, this morning:
To call the behavior of the NPO, AA, and LWU here a mistake would not do justice to the repetition and intent requisite to do all of this for this long. To call it a strategic act of sabotage would be impossible to reconcile with the fools they have made of themselves.
At this time, the West Pacific will be withdrawing from the Treaty of the Pirate’s Den per Section 5 Subsection 3, and the Pax Polaris Occidens via Section 5 Subsection 3.
While this statement largely recounts the perspective of the most aggrieved parties, the undersigned regions affirm our agreement to this statement as written and our commitment to the Outback as a free and sovereign region.
1 Note: In error this sentence previously stated: Lady Anastasia/Dalimbar had been similarly inactive internally, and had stated an intention to Bran and Varanius to refocus his efforts on his North Pacifican judiciary role.
Signatures
The West Pacific
Fujai, World Assembly Delegate
Varanius, Successor, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Guardian of the West
The Outback
Walkabout, World Assembly Delegate
Wauka Mountain, Governor of Home Affairs
Sensoria, Governor of Foreign Affairs
The Plains of Perdition
Rhaza, Primarch
Nolrem, Chancellor
New Opolopia, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ostrovskiy, Foreign Affairs Advisor
The North Pacific
Chipoli, Delegate
Pallaith, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Europeia
Grea Kriopia, President
Ervald, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Balder
Dragonian Kazaman, King
Millenhaal, Statsminister
The West Pacific
Fujai, World Assembly Delegate
Varanius, Successor, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Guardian of the West
The Outback
Walkabout, World Assembly Delegate
Wauka Mountain, Governor of Home Affairs
Sensoria, Governor of Foreign Affairs
The Plains of Perdition
Rhaza, Primarch
Nolrem, Chancellor
New Opolopia, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ostrovskiy, Foreign Affairs Advisor
The North Pacific
Chipoli, Delegate
Pallaith, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Europeia
Grea Kriopia, President
Ervald, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Balder
Dragonian Kazaman, King
Millenhaal, Statsminister
