[PASSED] Commend New Leganes

[Aivintis]

Making my return to the SC I suppose. This was drafted in the Heroes of Valhalla server, with great assistance from Zukchiva and Westinor. Research done primarily by me, although a lot of that research included me poking Sammy himself and saying "What was X" and such. New Leganes is one of the oldest and most respected nations in TEP. Although never becoming Delegate, they have done so much in so many different places of TEP. In government and in RP, they are a widely recognized figure. Anyway, here's Wonderwall.

Commend New Leganes

Commendation | Nominee: New Leganes

The Security Council,

Believing a commendation to be not just a badge of persistent devotion and service throughout a community, but a symbol of achievement far beyond any normal standards - ideals exemplified in the varied work of [nation=New Leganes] within [region=The East Pacific] (TEP)’s diverse communities,

Praising New Leganes’s structural reforms to the University of The East Pacific (UTEP), bringing infrastructure, channels for discussion, a publication system for essayist works, and formalized agora debates to the crumbling foundations of UTEP in order to fundamentally change UTEP from a limited learning institution to a marketplace of ideas focused on collaborative discussion and publication, in the pursuit of true academia, which would go on to inspire a similar institution in [region=The Free Nations Region], built with the advice and assistance of representatives from New Leganes,

Understanding that these structural reforms breathed new life into UTEP, successfully reviving UTEP as a prominent establishment within TEP, stimulating activity within the region through the paving of new avenues for critical thinking and community discussion, and creating jobs within UTEP that would make it one of the largest institutions in TEP over a period of only a few months, a title UTEP would continue to hold for over a year,

Admiring their dedication and consistently high standard of work in recruiting and mentoring new nations in TEP, before, during, and after the April 2020 phenomenon in which the rate of newly founded nations was the highest in recorded history, wherein New Leganes engaged and integrated every new addition to the region who would go on to become a major political figure within TEP, their background in regional politics and the documentation of events and history serving as a guiding light for many new foundlings, including, most prominently, Eastern Alksearia, Nociav, Pledonia, and Sokala,

Extolling the musical prowess of the people of New Leganes, the only nation on the East Pacifican world of Urth to have won the Urthvision Song Festival (UVSF) more than once, in fact earning three victories, after which they went on to host Urthvision VIII, Urthvision XIV, and Urthvision XVIII, which, respectively, hosted 18, 38, and 41 nations, each edition setting records for participation which would only ever be broken by New Leganes again, snowballing into becoming the highest participated event in Urth history,

Appreciating the ingenuity of New Leganes as a UVSF host, introducing new forms of presentation to the UVSF by providing hours of recorded video including introductions by the host, performance footage for each of the 41 nations, countryside drone film between performances, detailed graphics of flying kiwis in participants’ national colors, and expressive commentary on each artist and song,

Lionizing their extensive documentation of the expansive vocabulary and intricate grammar of the Cukish language of New Leganes, one of the most unique languages on Urth and in the wider world, primarily on the planet’s premier online encyclopedia, TEPwiki, without the assistance of foreign tools or linguists, even as the language is independent of all known language families,

Honoring the extensive documentation of the founding myths of “From Ashes to Eternity” and “Narilethal (The Song of the Forgotten One),” respectively, the first representing the legend of the mythical founder Impelanta and her subsequent empire in Peragen and the second representing an oral, musical tradition on the founding of New Leganes, both of which stand out with their multifaceted literary themes of love, war, and community and which stand among the most unique and detailed explorations of ancient historical documentation, a category of documentation that has otherwise been widely unexplored and uncharted in The East Pacific and much of the wider world,

Affirming this august body’s respect for the diverse and unique but powerful and significant impacts on their region of origin, even as those impacts have been felt by every corner of TEP’s subcommunities, and even as those impacts have influenced foreign regions,

Hereby commends New Leganes.

[Improper Classifications]

Full support. Def not an agendapost

[Quebecshire]

Admiring their dedication and consistently high standard of work in recruiting for regional roleplay and government before, during, and after the April 2020 phenomenon in which the rate of newly founded nations was the highest in recorded history, work in which New Leganes engaged, integrated, and mentored many newly founded nations in regional politics and the documentation of events and history of their nation, which went on to become major regional figures in their own right, including, but not limited to, the following noteworthy individuals:

1. [nation=Eastern Alksearia], who would go on to establish the Urthcast podcast, protect the continuance of the government from judicial overreach, and advance regional sovereignty in foreign affairs as Delegate;
2. [nation=Nociav], who would go on to pioneer the ground-breaking and expansive History Project, “The Story of The East Pacific,” and lend their unique form of originalist jurisprudence to numerous influential court decisions; and
3. [nation=Pledonia], who would go on to negotiate treaties with the Union of Democratic States and the Alstroemerian Commonwealths, as well as taking part in the establishment of the Inter-Regional Chat;

I may review this in more detail later, but as it stands, I advise heavily editing this. It's about 1200 of your 4800 characters and very little is about the nominee itself. It is one thing to list people the nominee mentored, but listing their accomplishments goes well into "filler" territory. So, my advice is to either greatly condense this into one normal clause, or axe it, and either way use the newfound space to talk more about New Leganes' accomplishments.

[The Ice States]

Admiring their dedication and consistently high standard of work in recruiting for regional roleplay and government before, during, and after the April 2020 phenomenon in which the rate of newly founded nations was the highest in recorded history, work in which New Leganes engaged, integrated, and mentored many newly founded nations in regional politics and the documentation of events and history of their nation, which went on to become major regional figures in their own right, including, but not limited to, the following noteworthy individuals:

1. [nation=Eastern Alksearia], who would go on to establish the Urthcast podcast, protect the continuance of the government from judicial overreach, and advance regional sovereignty in foreign affairs as Delegate;
2. [nation=Nociav], who would go on to pioneer the ground-breaking and expansive History Project, “The Story of The East Pacific,” and lend their unique form of originalist jurisprudence to numerous influential court decisions; and
3. [nation=Pledonia], who would go on to negotiate treaties with the Union of Democratic States and the Alstroemerian Commonwealths, as well as taking part in the establishment of the Inter-Regional Chat;

I may review this in more detail later, but as it stands, I advise heavily editing this. It's about 1200 of your 4800 characters and very little is about the nominee itself. It is one thing to list people the nominee mentored, but listing their accomplishments goes well into "filler" territory. So, my advice is to either greatly condense this into one normal clause, or axe it, and either way use the newfound space to talk more about New Leganes' accomplishments.

If this is addressed, I can support this draft as written.

[Varanius]

My honest advice is that while there are a few items with potential (namely certain RP aspects), the proposal dedicates far too much to filler and middle-of-the-road government work to be all too convincing in its current state.

Noting New Leganes’s tenure as the Commissioner of the Eastern Pacific Police Service, during which they introduced a new system for voter registration alongside Grand Vizier [nation=Dragons Blood], which remains in place at the time of this resolution, revolutionizing the way election security and integrity is maintained under the new citizenship system

With East Malaysia huh? Well, I did actually find a Voter Registration Act by EM, but I can’t really find any hint of Sammy in the proposal discussion thread. It actually seems like the proposal was done entirely by EM (written by and argued for), and Sammy’s central contribution was voting for. Now, this may indeed not have been the case, Sammy may have contributed extensively behind the scenes, but if that’s the case we would need some sort of…evidence, for it. And even then, the best you could say is that he assisted in introducing. Not a strong start.

Praising New Leganes’s structural reforms to the University of The East Pacific (UTEP) as a Dean and as Chancellor, in which they built upon the crumbling foundations of UTEP with a new system of government employment and ministerial infrastructure, causing the most successful revival in East Pacifican history, a revival which New Leganes spearheaded, leading to new staff and interaction opportunities, revitalizing interest and activity in educational affairs,

What exactly were these reforms, and why did they succeed where others failed? And correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think UTEP has ever been a consistently active force for a long stretch of time? Something which the proposal also kinda seems to say with “the most successful revival”. If this revival wasn’t particularly long-lasting, what good was it?

Applauding the role of New Leganes in the creation of the Free Nations University (FNU) in the [region=Free Nations Region] (FNR), a project inspired and directly influenced by the Chancellorship of New Leganes, additionally in which they served as a key advisor and founder, providing insight on the infrastructure and purpose of FNU; their actions served as an avenue for expanding TEP’s foreign relations with FNR beyond typical spheres of cooperation as well as enriching FNR’s regional engagement,

Again I find myself asking what good this University Project was? What did FNR gain from this? Was it actually consistently used? What did it cause?

Admiring their dedication and consistently high standard of work in recruiting for regional roleplay and government before, during, and after the April 2020 phenomenon in which the rate of newly founded nations was the highest in recorded history, work in which New Leganes engaged, integrated, and mentored many newly founded nations in regional politics and the documentation of events and history of their nation, which went on to become major regional figures in their own right, including, but not limited to, the following noteworthy individuals:

1. [nation=Eastern Alksearia], who would go on to establish the Urthcast podcast, protect the continuance of the government from judicial overreach, and advance regional sovereignty in foreign affairs as Delegate;
2. [nation=Nociav], who would go on to pioneer the ground-breaking and expansive History Project, “The Story of The East Pacific,” and lend their unique form of originalist jurisprudence to numerous influential court decisions; and
3. [nation=Pledonia], who would go on to negotiate treaties with the Union of Democratic States and the Alstroemerian Commonwealths, as well as taking part in the establishment of the Inter-Regional Chat;

See Quebec’s criticism above. These types of clauses are largely filled to begin with, let alone when they’re this much of a draft.

Extolling the musical prowess of the people of New Leganes, the only nation on the East Pacifican world of Urth to have won the Urthvision Song Festival (UVSF) more than once, in fact earning three victories, in Urthvision VII, Urthvision XIII, and Urthvision XVII, after which New Leganes would go on to host the subsequent editions of the UVSF, which, respectively, hosted 18, 38, and 41 nations, each the highest participated edition since the previous one hosted by the same,

Is this particularly exceptional? I’m sure it was cool, but was there anything that made this RP stand out from any RP in any region? NationStates has tons of roleplayers, not every single one is getting a commend. Most won’t, most shouldn’t. What makes Sammy’s so extraordinary?

Appreciating the ingenuity of New Leganes as a UVSF host, contributing to the events’ role as nuclei of activity and prized cultural experiences, and the most recent of which serving as a vehicle for new forms of presentation, with New Leganes providing a recorded video of all the performances strung together with commentary and introducing a new mechanism by which non-participating countries can pool their votes into the equivalent of an extra ballot, representing the rest of the world,

Is this particular ingenious? I’m sure it was certainly enjoyable, but I don’t think the creation of a video with everyone’s submissions in a row, or the idea of a spectators ballet, is particularly revolutionary. These both seem like actions, good actions, but not remarkable actions.

Lionizing their extensive documentation of the linguistics and history of the Cukish language of New Leganes, one of the most unique languages on Urth and in the wider world, primarily on the planet’s premier online encyclopedia, TEPwiki, without the assistance of any foreign tools or linguists,

No particular criticism here as I haven’t seen it, but I’m not entirely against the idea of this clause, though it should probably be a little more in-depth (you can probably expand it by just cutting a lot of the other fluff in here).

Honoring the extensive documentation of the founding myths of New Leganes, each standing out within the public record of Urth as among the most detailed and substantial documentation of events in Urth, which are indeed longer than the vast majority of such works in TEP and explore multifaceted literary themes and which represent a unique aspect of ancient historical documentation that has otherwise been widely unexplored and uncharted in TEP and much of the wider world,

This should be far more detailed. While C/Cs for off-site RP are indeed fairly common (see Condemn Creeperopolis, the clauses are extremely detailed and reflect the dedication of the nominee through their specificity. Name drop things, explore it a bit. Don’t just say that it happened.

All in all, like I said. There’s a few good bits in here that could be worthwhile if you actually explored them, but as it stands this proposal is mediocre on a good day.

[Aivintis]

I may review this in more detail later, but as it stands, I advise heavily editing this. It's about 1200 of your 4800 characters and very little is about the nominee itself. It is one thing to list people the nominee mentored, but listing their accomplishments goes well into "filler" territory. So, my advice is to either greatly condense this into one normal clause, or axe it, and either way use the newfound space to talk more about New Leganes' accomplishments.

Yeah I was very iffy on that already, so removed. In fact, convincing the SC why those three recruits were important was what limited it to three recruits. Now I've included another three, notable RPers, for the record, who each held a Ministership or a Provostship, but weren't big gov folks. I've still excluded myself, although Sammy did recruit me, as I was advised that having my name in there would be an issue. So yeah.

new voter reg system clause

With East Malaysia huh? Well, I did actually find a Voter Registration Act by EM, but I can’t really find any hint of Sammy in the proposal discussion thread. It actually seems like the proposal was done entirely by EM (written by and argued for), and Sammy’s central contribution was voting for. Now, this may indeed not have been the case, Sammy may have contributed extensively behind the scenes, but if that’s the case we would need some sort of…evidence, for it. And even then, the best you could say is that he assisted in introducing. Not a strong start.

No, not East Malaysia. Dragons Blood. That's McStooley, in case the flag didn't give it away and you didn't already know. I think you misread the name. But that's not important. You bring up the Voter Registration Act. That's different. The Voter Registration Act was what enabled Sammy and Stool to do their thang, but it was not the thang itself. The VRA created the Directorate, under the Praesidium, which Sammy and Stool led. As the leaders, they implemented the policy. So this is the difference between, in irl government terms, passing a law in the legislature and enforcing it with discretionary authority in the executive. However the "assisting" point you bring up, unlike the rest of this part, is a rather valid criticism. For that . . . I'm not sure. I'd like to hear what other people say about it, but I'm not so attached to it. I could remove it.

{UTEP clause}
What exactly were these reforms, and why did they succeed where others failed? And correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think UTEP has ever been a consistently active force for a long stretch of time? Something which the proposal also kinda seems to say with “the most successful revival”. If this revival wasn’t particularly long-lasting, what good was it?

UTEP has been a consistently active force for a long stretch of time exactly once in TEP history. It was from about the time Sammy became Chancellor, to about the time it moved to the main server in this current delegacy. Although it depends on your definition of a long stretch of time, but that's a couple years, which IMO is significant enough. But it's over now, yes, so to answer "What good was it", well, it skyrocketed activity in the Executive through the Uni, got tons and tons of staff (more than any ministry except FA, by my estimate, altho I think it was close, since FA lagged in some times where UTEP excelled), and created informative/news material. Bachtendekuppen created his Puffin Papers, which included a guide to being a Magister, and has recently become more journalistic. I created an essay on what made a good Culture Ministry, and shortly after Sammy ended his chancellorship and I took over, I ported over Zukchiva's Arbiter/Viceroy guides so that they were visible to the public. We have God-Emperor out here now writing papers on nuclear strategy using RL credentials. We had debates about F/S. We had debates about the use of the nuke in WWII. We had debates about philosophical ideas like whether mortality was necessary to being human. What good was all that? That may be a philosophical question in and of itself if you think too hard, but same applies for all NS. What's relevant to this proposal is that it boosted activity a ton. It's a marketplace of ideas. Hard to represent quantitatively in the proposal, but I tried my best qualitatively.

Now for what were these reforms, and why did they succeed. Before Sammy, UTEP was a literal university. Well, not literal, but fake literal. It was about teaching classes. No attempt to revive UTEP ever questioned that fundamental, underlying assumption. And they all failed, because who plays an online browser game so they can simulate school? What Sammy did was upend this assumption, and change UTEP from an institution focused on teacher-student learning to a platform focused on collaborative discussion and publication. Tangibly, this meant (a) UTEP came to discord instead of just being on the forums, and had channels for different conversation topics, (b) opinion pieces and basically-news-articles could be posted in the forums, under any topic, NS or no, and (c) formal debates were hosted on discord, overseen by the Chancellor. After Sammy left, a and c became the same thing, but under him they were separate and they were separately active.

However, saying all this in the proposal would make a textwall of a clause that focused more on exposition than justification for a commendation.

{FNU clause}
Again I find myself asking what good this University Project was? What did FNR gain from this? Was it actually consistently used? What did it cause?

FNR gained activity. Even now, although I must admit, I muted the channels, I can check the university within the FNR discord and see activity. They encouraged more topics of conversation and more places to have conversation, and remain in use today, despite being about 1-2 years old, with conversations about a bunch of different stuff. Yesterday, for example, the science channel had a conversation about the history of Uranus. I think that answers the next question. As for what did it cause . . . I'm not sure what you mean. If you mean "did it cause activity," yes. If you mean "did it lead to some unforeseen government explosion" or something, no.

{Urthvision clause}
Is this particularly exceptional? I’m sure it was cool, but was there anything that made this RP stand out from any RP in any region? NationStates has tons of roleplayers, not every single one is getting a commend. Most won’t, most shouldn’t. What makes Sammy’s so extraordinary?

What makes this so extraordinary is the latter part of the clause. Urthvision started small, a community event passing between a new person each edition. When Sammy one the first time, the next one he hosted broke a record for participation. When he won the second time, the first person to have done so, he broke a record for participation again. The record that he broke was his own. When he won the third time, another first, while no other nation had ever won even twice, he broke a record again. Again, it was his own record. He got 41 people to participate in the event. He got votes from even more people. As far as I can tell it's the RP with the most participants in Urth and TEP history. So it's a lot. Most roleplayers don't do that. In fact, no roleplayer in TEP ever has. I doubt many from other regions have, either.

{Urthvision tech clause}
Is this particular ingenious? I’m sure it was certainly enjoyable, but I don’t think the creation of a video with everyone’s submissions in a row, or the idea of a spectators ballet, is particularly revolutionary. These both seem like actions, good actions, but not remarkable actions.

The second one isn't "revolutionary", but it is new and it is good, as you point out, so I thought excluding it while I was already talking about the wider idea of Sam's changes was unfair. But the first one, I think you discredit too easily. He did not just string them together. He strung them together, recorded his own commentary in between each one, edited video of an IRL Eurovision intro to have flags from Urth, edited drone footage of the countryside to put graphics and commentary over, and did all that THREE times. Once for each semifinals, which was like 20 nations each, and then one for the finals, which was also about the same number of nations. Each one was a couple hours long, like feature-length. And you're right that it was enjoyable.

{Conlang clause}
No particular criticism here as I haven’t seen it, but I’m not entirely against the idea of this clause, though it should probably be a little more in-depth (you can probably expand it by just cutting a lot of the other fluff in here).

Rare moment of Vara-Aivintis agreement, let's revel in this. Okay, enough reveling. How do you suggest I expand this clause? Like how can I subtly ensure that (a) everyone knows it's a conlang and (b) everyone knows there's no real equivalent at all, even in the form of like an IRL language family. And should I say how many words there are or smth? And finally, should I like mention anything about inspiring other conlangs to be made or like something like that? + anything else you think of? I'm all for going into more detail on this, but I'm at a loss for how.

{RP clause}
This should be far more detailed. While C/Cs for off-site RP are indeed fairly common (see Condemn Creeperopolis, the clauses are extremely detailed and reflect the dedication of the nominee through their specificity. Name drop things, explore it a bit. Don’t just say that it happened.

Alright. I initially did have a more detailed clause listing like literary themes and stuff, I removed it for length. Cutting out some other stuff tho (for sure the thing Q and you mentioned but also maybe that first Voter Registration clause) could leave space to bring back that wording. I'll see about that (may edit my post when I do it).

Edit: Alright ignore the five edits to this post that were fixing my terrible reply formatting, here's the edit you're looking for. I removed the Voter Registration clause and expanded on the RP clause for FATE and Narilethal. I also added one small line to the Conlang clause that I thought pertinent, although I'm still willing to overhaul that clause fully with proper guidance on how to go about it.

[Varanius]

No, not East Malaysia. Dragons Blood. That's McStooley, in case the flag didn't give it away and you didn't already know. I think you misread the name. But that's not important. You bring up the Voter Registration Act. That's different. The Voter Registration Act was what enabled Sammy and Stool to do their thang, but it was not the thang itself. The VRA created the Directorate, under the Praesidium, which Sammy and Stool led. As the leaders, they implemented the policy. So this is the difference between, in irl government terms, passing a law in the legislature and enforcing it with discretionary authority in the executive. However the "assisting" point you bring up, unlike the rest of this part, is a rather valid criticism. For that . . . I'm not sure. I'd like to hear what other people say about it, but I'm not so attached to it. I could remove it.

My apologies for mixing the two up (I’m sure I’ll make it up to Stool). But that did pretty quickly go from “New Leganes introduced” to “New Leganes helped implement a policy someone else wrote”? Strongly advise removing

UTEP has been a consistently active force for a long stretch of time exactly once in TEP history. It was from about the time Sammy became Chancellor, to about the time it moved to the main server in this current delegacy. Although it depends on your definition of a long stretch of time, but that's a couple years, which IMO is significant enough. But it's over now, yes, so to answer "What good was it", well, it skyrocketed activity in the Executive through the Uni, got tons and tons of staff (more than any ministry except FA, by my estimate, altho I think it was close, since FA lagged in some times where UTEP excelled), and created informative/news material. Bachtendekuppen created his Puffin Papers, which included a guide to being a Magister, and has recently become more journalistic. I created an essay on what made a good Culture Ministry, and shortly after Sammy ended his chancellorship and I took over, I ported over Zukchiva's Arbiter/Viceroy guides so that they were visible to the public. We have God-Emperor out here now writing papers on nuclear strategy using RL credentials. We had debates about F/S. We had debates about the use of the nuke in WWII. We had debates about philosophical ideas like whether mortality was necessary to being human. What good was all that? That may be a philosophical question in and of itself if you think too hard, but same applies for all NS. What's relevant to this proposal is that it boosted activity a ton. It's a marketplace of ideas. Hard to represent quantitatively in the proposal, but I tried my best qualitatively.

Now for what were these reforms, and why did they succeed. Before Sammy, UTEP was a literal university. Well, not literal, but fake literal. It was about teaching classes. No attempt to revive UTEP ever questioned that fundamental, underlying assumption. And they all failed, because who plays an online browser game so they can simulate school? What Sammy did was upend this assumption, and change UTEP from an institution focused on teacher-student learning to a platform focused on collaborative discussion and publication. Tangibly, this meant (a) UTEP came to discord instead of just being on the forums, and had channels for different conversation topics, (b) opinion pieces and basically-news-articles could be posted in the forums, under any topic, NS or no, and (c) formal debates were hosted on discord, overseen by the Chancellor. After Sammy left, a and c became the same thing, but under him they were separate and they were separately active.

However, saying all this in the proposal would make a textwall of a clause that focused more on exposition than justification for a commendation.

Then I would suggest you remove it if you’re not willing or able to expand on it. These contributions seem generally pretty admirable, but a proposal should be able to stand on its own two feet. If you have to do a bunch of explaining outside the proposal to say why certain things are commendable, then that’s a bad clause. My advice, if you’re looking to incorporate exposition, is to include something that has narrative flavor. Maybe how Sammy became interested in the game. There’s tons of ways to introduce someone in a C/C without including clauses like this.

FNR gained activity. Even now, although I must admit, I muted the channels, I can check the university within the FNR discord and see activity. They encouraged more topics of conversation and more places to have conversation, and remain in use today, despite being about 1-2 years old, with conversations about a bunch of different stuff. Yesterday, for example, the science channel had a conversation about the history of Uranus. I think that answers the next question. As for what did it cause . . . I'm not sure what you mean. If you mean "did it cause activity," yes. If you mean "did it lead to some unforeseen government explosion" or something, no.

Because activity is not just good by itself. The region grow, or develop, of improve in some way? Simply ending active isn’t commendable. If these actions caused the region to develop though, that is something different. Also, stylistically speaking this clause sticks out a bit. Most of the proposal is dedicated to East Pacifican government work, then RP. This clause really stands out narrative wise, I’d say remove it or find some way to incorporate it into the University clause or include other work in other regions.

What makes this so extraordinary is the latter part of the clause. Urthvision started small, a community event passing between a new person each edition. When Sammy one the first time, the next one he hosted broke a record for participation. When he won the second time, the first person to have done so, he broke a record for participation again. The record that he broke was his own. When he won the third time, another first, while no other nation had ever won even twice, he broke a record again. Again, it was his own record. He got 41 people to participate in the event. He got votes from even more people. As far as I can tell it's the RP with the most participants in Urth and TEP history. So it's a lot. Most roleplayers don't do that. In fact, no roleplayer in TEP ever has. I doubt many from other regions have, either.

That’s great! Put it in the proposal. No seriously, that’s very good. The writing should reflect that.

The second one isn't "revolutionary", but it is new and it is good, as you point out, so I thought excluding it while I was already talking about the wider idea of Sam's changes was unfair. But the first one, I think you discredit too easily. He did not just string them together. He strung them together, recorded his own commentary in between each one, edited video of an IRL Eurovision intro to have flags from Urth, edited drone footage of the countryside to put graphics and commentary over, and did all that THREE times. Once for each semifinals, which was like 20 nations each, and then one for the finals, which was also about the same number of nations. Each one was a couple hours long, like feature-length. And you're right that it was enjoyable.

Again, this sounds like a very difficult and tenuous task. It sounds pretty impressive! The writing should stress that. Even if it just means tossing in a few descriptors. The text should represent the work put in.

Rare moment of Vara-Aivintis agreement, let's revel in this. Okay, enough reveling. How do you suggest I expand this clause? Like how can I subtly ensure that (a) everyone knows it's a conlang and (b) everyone knows there's no real equivalent at all, even in the form of like an IRL language family. And should I say how many words there are or smth? And finally, should I like mention anything about inspiring other conlangs to be made or like something like that? + anything else you think of? I'm all for going into more detail on this, but I'm at a loss for how.

I mean, how extensive is the conlang? How intricate is the language?

Alright. I initially did have a more detailed clause listing like literary themes and stuff, I removed it for length. Cutting out some other stuff tho (for sure the thing Q and you mentioned but also maybe that first Voter Registration clause) could leave space to bring back that wording. I'll see about that (may edit my post when I do it).

That would probably be best, yeah.

I will say, you actually changed my opinion. I no longer believe Sammy is inherently uncommendable. I think that there’s genuinely some potential here, Sammy seems hard-working and dedicated, but this proposal needs a lot of work. I gave most of my advice above in terms of what I think should be expanded, and what I think should be cut. I think a good draft can be made here, but some work is required

[Fort Concord]

Yeah I was very iffy on that already, so removed. In fact, convincing the SC why those three recruits were important was what limited it to three recruits. Now I've included another three, notable RPers, for the record, who each held a Ministership or a Provostship, but weren't big gov folks. I've still excluded myself, although Sammy did recruit me, as I was advised that having my name in there would be an issue. So yeah.

That's a good change. Now you're down to about 4,100 characters, which is a bit light for most modern commends/condemns. I suggest looking for further content to include.

You refer to a nation named "Acronis", but they were founded in 2013? I assume it refers to a name they go by, but you may want to clarify.

Other than that my advice is to pick mentee namings carefully. Quebec-and-Maritimes, Nociav, and Sokala have all ceased to exist and while they seemed nice enough (the two I interacted with ever, anyway), they did not seem excessively prominent in the East. It may be wise to consider naming people New Leganes mentored who have exceeded his own success or otherwise been more prominent, and therefore important from the SC's perspective.

[Aivintis]

I will say, you actually changed my opinion. I no longer believe Sammy is inherently uncommendable. I think that there’s genuinely some potential here, Sammy seems hard-working and dedicated, but this proposal needs a lot of work. I gave most of my advice above in terms of what I think should be expanded, and what I think should be cut. I think a good draft can be made here, but some work is required

Based as hell Vara moment. Alright I’ll see about incorporating all this tomorrow. Thank you very much for the good advice.

That's a good change. Now you're down to about 4,100 characters, which is a bit light for most modern commends/condemns. I suggest looking for further content to include.

You refer to a nation named "Acronis", but they were founded in 2013? I assume it refers to a name they go by, but you may want to clarify.

Other than that my advice is to pick mentee namings carefully. Quebec-and-Maritimes, Nociav, and Sokala have all ceased to exist and while they seemed nice enough (the two I interacted with ever, anyway), they did not seem excessively prominent in the East. It may be wise to consider naming people New Leganes mentored who have exceeded his own success or otherwise been more prominent, and therefore important from the SC's perspective.

Acronis was recruited either after a long time of doing nothing or after stopping and starting again I believe, but at some point Sammy brought him into Urth. Turtle and Sokala were not originally included precisely because they were not as prominent, but they were Ministers AND big names in RP. Also he recruited Technocratic Tagalog, another Minister and RPer. The big problem here, and as you may notice the running theme, is that his recruits were primarily to Urth, which means they’re not notable on a GP scale. Even Shadow and I, who were Viziers, Arbiters, and Delegates, were recruited to Urth, too. So they’re not often easily recognized. Ig that’s probs why I tried to justify it in the first draft, because I could sense that no one would know most of the people Sammy recruited. Hm. A conundrum. I could remove the mention of specific mentees, I suppose. That would solve the issue, but create another one (“oh if he recruited a bunch of people, who did he recruit”). I’ll also save addressing this until tomorrow. Maybe I’ll have an epiphany or smth.

[Eastern Alksearia]

I mean, how extensive is the conlang? How intricate is the language?

Hoping in to add an answer to this bit since I have been watching Sammy develop it. Extremely extensive. Like, it's could quite literally pass for another language. There is an entire TEPwiki article dedicated to the Cukish language which goes into depth about pronunciation and the alphabet used and some etymology for the language. There are now even a TEPwiki article (at the time of writing) written entirely in Cukish. This is an ongoing project he has going, but I have watched the passion and the development of the language. Sammy has even gone so far as to record themself speaking Cukish for a Duolingo-esque website for basic words like saying Hello or Goodbye.

Basically, extremely. Like impressively intricate.

[East Malaysia]

I mean, how extensive is the conlang? How intricate is the language?

Adding to Shadow…

It’s like a real language intricate. If you would like to look over Sammy’s tepwiki Cukish Language article. He also started doing a wiki page entirely in Cukish, here Coperátia Comunedát.

He’s been a true inspiration for a lot of us conlangers in TEP, myself included, I would say he encouraged me to start my own conlang, and probably a few other people as well.

[Aivintis]

Okay, so I completely rewrote like half of the clauses, and I think they're more accurate and detailed about what he did. Hopefully, that has improved the quality of the proposal overall. Please submit any comments you have. I'll ping Vara on discord to take a look.

[Aivintis]

Putting this on last call since it’s 18 days since anyone’s posted and I wanted to spur some action. However, I may very well stretch the “last call” over a little while if there’s some posts to be addressed.

[The Ice States]

Seems fine, I can support this.

[Bhang Bhang Duc]

Your mention of regional roleplay is an R2(a) illegality.

Edit: actually that whole clause is a bit of a mess in my opinion. Repetitive use of phrases, such as “newly founded”, “regional”. Could do with a rewrite, not just for the removal if the reference to roleplay.

Would have piped up earlier, but this is my first read through of your draft. Sorry.

[Aivintis]

Your mention of regional roleplay is an R2(a) illegality.

Edit: actually that whole clause is a bit of a mess in my opinion. Repetitive use of phrases, such as “newly founded”, “regional”. Could do with a rewrite, not just for the removal if the reference to roleplay.

Would have piped up earlier, but this is my first read through of your draft. Sorry.

Sorry for the late reply but thank you for noticing that oversight, and for the feedback about the clause itself. I definitely see what you mean; I struggled to word it in such a way as to meet WA standards/expectations and include the right information. I have rewritten the clause and I think it looks much better, but I may still be able to improve it so please do point out if/where I can.

[Aivintis]

Thinking bout a Sunday submission if there's no more comments by then.

[Bhang Bhang Duc]

Your mention of regional roleplay is an R2(a) illegality.

Edit: actually that whole clause is a bit of a mess in my opinion. Repetitive use of phrases, such as “newly founded”, “regional”. Could do with a rewrite, not just for the removal if the reference to roleplay.

Would have piped up earlier, but this is my first read through of your draft. Sorry.

Sorry for the late reply but thank you for noticing that oversight, and for the feedback about the clause itself. I definitely see what you mean; I struggled to word it in such a way as to meet WA standards/expectations and include the right information. I have rewritten the clause and I think it looks much better, but I may still be able to improve it so please do point out if/where I can.

The rewritten clause does look a lot better, makes more sense in its present form.

[Refuge Isle]

Support despite the existence of ten blank lines in paragraphs two and three.

[Tinhampton]

Support despite the existence of ten blank lines in paragraphs two and three.

. .

[Refuge Isle]

Support despite the existence of ten blank lines in paragraphs two and three.

. .

Yeah, weird. Absolutely no text whatsoever in that screenshot. Very strange, must be the light at this time of day.

[Aivintis]

This has been submitted. My thanks to everyone who lent a hand in refining this proposal, including the Heroes of Valhalla WA drafting server and West Pacificans Varanius and Bhang Bhang Duc. Every little bit of help is greatly appreciated.

[Aivintis]

Pretty please vote for.

[Tinhampton]

Office of the President of Sophia & WA Affairs Ministry of the Empire of Great Britain
WORLD ASSEMBLY VOTING RECOMMENDATION

---

Security Council: Commend New Leganes (nation), by Aivintis

Recommendation: FOR

Rationale: Football, like regional politics, has its journeymen and its one-club warriors. By that analogy, New Leganes - known to all and sundry (although not this proposal) as Sammy - has been the seemingly unmovable creative pulse around which The East Pacific United arguably revolves. Their contributions to the side, like that of any player who has passed themselves sufficiently into cult legend, are few but many.

First, and in no particular order other than the proposal itself, they established the University of the East Pacific, one of the largest and (if its proponents - football, unlike the American sports, does not have cheerleaders - are to be believed) most active hubs of knowledge in the world... then did the same with The Free Nations Region. Then they guided other nations, teammates you too are unlikely to have heard of but will undoubtedly appreciate once you get to hear more about them, to leading roles in the organisation right from their baby steps.

Then, operating on the planet Urth, they won the regional song contest three times - and the three times they hosted it, they set the record for the most participants up to that date. Not to be outdone, they maintain a guide to Cukish, and do so well enough that it is one of the best-documented languages we know about. (There is even a brief introduction to the nation in the language.) And as if that was not enough, their founding stories are two of the great epics of international literature... while, as the authors admit and we reluctantly agree with, more are yet to be unearthed by librarians everywhere.

To conclude, if you see somebody walking outside your regional delegate's office wearing a shirt with New Leganes' name and number on the back of it, don't be alarmed. They've just come to appreciate them to an extent all parties can respect. We, too, are convinced this proliferation of newfound fans is a net positive for the game.

~~~~~~~~~~

This recommendation was written by Tinhampton, the President of Sophia. The Empire of Great Britain concurs. If you liked this, please upvote our recommendation dispatch here!

This resolution will be at vote between the minor updates of June 29th 2023 and July 3rd 2023.

This recommendation was jointly issued between Sophia and Empire of Great Britain. This does not mean that the President's opinion of this resolution was influenced by what Empire of Great Britain believes. Under the Constitution, the President must always cast their vote in line with the interests of Sophia, not some other region; this recommendation reflects the sincere beliefs of all regions involved.

[Aivintis]

Very happy this passed, Sammy truly deserves this honor.