Rushmore Press Association Newswire

[Eura]

OOC: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=187692 Old thread link.

Citizens and governments of Rushmore,

Since the Euran government delegation to the World Assembly took over responsibility as the administrative representation of Rushmore, it has come to the attention of the media world and various governments, including our own, that the Rushmore Press Association was all but defunct. It's previous administrators, based in Virabia, have unfortunately ceased to operate and have allowed this to occur. For that reason the Euran Ministry of Media, headed by the Rt. Hon. Tom Randon MP, with the approval of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have seized ownership of the RPA through undisclosed methods.

The RPA will be reinstated in its old form, with a new board of fifteen directors, with only two allowed from any nation and one from any organisation. It will be a neutral non profit as before, but now based in the south of Bastion, Eura, likely on a temporary basis unless this meets the satisfaction of the board once its members are appointed. Any funding shortfalls will be met with Euran government reserve funds, but the organisation will remain a "newswire" of sorts for Rushmori press and the Euran government will have no editorial or broadcasting control whatsoever.

Any queries may be directed to the address at the bottom of this notice.

Tom Randon MP
Euran Government Minister for Media
Office of the Minister
Ministry of Media and Communications
COB-195
20 Whiterow
Parliamentary District
City of Bastion

Latest headlines

EASTERN RUSHMORE - Terranean countries announces visa-free zone

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About RPA

The Rushmore Press Association is a coalition of Rushmori news hubs and journalists. By providing a forum for news from across the continent to be aggregated, the RPA hopes to foster an even greater flow of information and news, especially that of the non sporting variety, throughout the region, on any topic, from current affairs to cinema. To participate, all a journalist or media organisation needs to do is submit their stories to the RPA website ((OOC: Right here)) and the news will be sure to get to everyone across the continent. Aside from the news aggregation service, the Press Association is also establishing it self as a voice for both a free press and greater access by citizens to the press in parts of the continent and the world where such things are not guaranteed. It is recommended that to maintain the quality reputation of the RPA, all submitted stories must be adequately formatted, cite the name of their publication and the author of the piece.

The organisation, a non profit headquartered in the Euran capital city of Bastion, is controlled by a a board of directors whose main job is to oversee the long-term growth of the organisation, both it's news-aggregation and the advocacy side to the organisation. The board consists of fifteen journalists from around the continent and no more than two can be from a single nation, and each news organisation can't have more than a single person on the board.

While anyone can submit a story to the RPA Aggregate, it does maintain a list of it's top, most frequent, and most trusted contributors. When an organisation is on this list, it's stories will make the front page and be featured much more often than other contributions. To make the list, all one has to do is make quality contributions to the service.

Contact Us

The RPA headquarters is based at;

Rushmore Press Association
Browning Tower
120 Barracks Avenue
Bastion
Eura

See http://www.rpa.eur/contact for more information.

Board of Directors

John Herbert-Baker (Bastion Emplor) - Eura

Archives

Aels

Aelish Election Live Blog - Aels Radio Television 28/06/12
Aels to Introduce New Upper Chamber - Stiwdio Newyddion Tirelyrch 30/06/12
Transport Minister announces overhaul of road system - 14/07/12
Fifteen trapped in Llanpwll mine shaft collapse - Aels Radio Television 21/07/12
Developing story: Multiple trains involved in 'massive accident' outside Longhoughster - Aels Radio Television 05/11/12
Looking for answers as death count tops 125 - Stiwdio Newyddion Tirelyrch 09/11/12
Elections in July as Senate passes plans for longer terms and constituency changes - 12/02/13

Ancharmunn

Seanad set to vote in new president - The Voice 05/09/12
Pritchard-O'Higgins voted in as next Tynealan president - The Voice 09/09/12
Expedition hailed as new protectorate voted in - The Ballyfeeaknock Chronicle 19/05/2014

Arcadian Islands

Sweet Times Ahead for Cane Farmers - The Arcadian 15/07/12

Ceni

Ceniana and Air Electrum merge to create Air Terranea - The Cenial Tribune 04/03/16
Changes in electoral landscape loom over upcoming legislative elections - The Cenial Tribune 04/03/16
Hightower and the Cenian far right - The Cenial Tribune 04/03/16
Greens surprise winner of Cenian elections - The Cenial Tribune 04/03/16
Ceni imposes sanctions on Gregoryisgodistan - The Cenial Tribune 04/03/16
Eureka: Black Gold found off Cenian coast - The Cenial Tribune 11/03/16
Terranean countries announces visa-free zone - The Cenial Tribune 19/03/16

Colombian Britannia

Elections Called after Vote of No Confidence - Mail and Planet 20/07/13

Cotdelapoms

A New Cotdelapoms? - Le Montrealis 05/07/12
Five Arrested in Cider Heist - Le Montrealis 25/01/13

Darmen

Prime Minister Peari endorses Euran Civil Federalist Party ahead of elections in both Eura and Darmen - 13/03/13

Eura

How to solve a problem like Victorwick? - Bastion Emplor 18/06/12
Energy Minister resignation final straw as general election is called in Eura - Bastion Emplor 24/07/12
Shock on the home front as West Angola joins Overseas Territories - Bastion Emplor 11/01/13
Election Eura: The system and the parties - Bastion Emplor 09/03/13
Capital/Social coalition wins Euran election; Crow takes power of the "Blue and Gold Democracy" - Bastion Emplor 08/07/13

Electrum

Mollary

MSDP prepares attempt to hold Birol Parliament - Da Nasiona 23/05/14
Last Minute Swing to MSDP as results are announced - Da Nasiona 28/05/14

New Gelderland

Terranea in the spotlight - Nassau Bay Herald 04/03/16
Casino proposal in Arrowhead Point sparks uproar - Nassau Bay Herald 04/03/16
Ballast, new fast food concept, takes Terranea by storm - Nassau Bay Herald 04/03/16
Terranean companies hope to capitalize on Euran market - Nassau Bay Herald 04/03/16
Gelderlish luxury goods see spike in sales - Nassau Bay Herald 12/03/16
New Gelderland among leaders in reducing food waste - Nassau Bay Herald 19/03/16

Sargossa

President Announces Succession Plans - Sargossan State Media 05/10/12
Bomb Blasts Rock City - Sargossan State Media 12/07/14
The House of Cards - Unreported Rushmore 20/03/16

Urszag-Csatoria

General News Bulletin - Administration News Service 16/07/12

Valladares

Virabia

Brantaland Unity Falls Through - Vonghurst Star 29/06/12

[Ancharmunn]

The Ballyfeeaknock Chronicle

Expedition hailed as new protectorate voted in
Aidan Wilson, Ballyfeeaknock

An effusive Teague Healy has today labelled 'The Great Charmunnry Branta Expedition' as the greatest achievement in modern Ancharmunn after the Dáil Tearmann resoundingly voted to accept the newly discovered region of Mahanauta into the the People's Republic of Ancharmunn as a protectorate.

The Great Charmunnry Branta Expedition has been a year long exploration if the still largely uncharted areas stretching from Lussolavizzovia south-eastwards to Saugeais of Rushmore's Branta continent. Whilst reports have claimed that the Expedition has uncovered numerous lost cities and hints to previous civilisations within the area, the great amount of attention had been attended upon the coast area apparently known as Mahanauta – the 'Sunshine Shore' in native tongue – a coastal strip stretching eastwards from the edge of Lussolavizzovia along a coastal strip to approximately north of the Somewhereistonian city of Talla.

Among this area, a previously undiscovered, largely tribal population has been found to have been living for what appears to have been many hundreds, if not thousands of years. With accurate numbers unavailable until a thorough census has been carried out with the help of the Ballyfeeaknock government, the expedition leaders have estimated the population of the area to number around 50,000 to 200,000. Under the terms of the agreement of Mahanauta becoming a Charmunnry protectorate all Mahanautan residents are eligible to claim Charmunnry citizenship.

Taoiseach Teague Healy was keen to put paid to suggestions of imperialist desires, telling the Dáil, “I understand that over the years the native and aboriginal peoples of Rushmore have been rather concerned at what they perceive to have been cases of colonisation and landgrabbing on the part of certain nations. This is not one of those cases. It is instead a partnership, we are not looking to destroy or corrupt the way of the Mahanautan people, but rather enhance their place within Rushmore. As a nation we should hold this voyage of discovery as one of Ancharmunn's finest achievements.”

Expedtion leader Ryan Considine meanwhile said that he hoped the expedition would be the start of a serious of such state-sponsored treks.

“It's fascinating, Rushmore is such a huge region that has very dense population contributions, and yet there remains such vast areas that remain unexplored and uncharted. Even in what we consider to be the Old Rushmore. I can only hope that Ancharmunn remains at the forefront of uncovering the mesmerising secrets of our great region.”

The move to incorporate Mahanauta comes as part of a Healy premiership that has seen a significant focus on the rights of native peoples and following quickly on from the controversial Native Rights Act that saw those considered as being of 'Native Rushmori' heritage as being the original settlers and indiginous ethnicity of Ancharmunn.

The goverment is now expected to press it's claims of sovereignty over Mahanauta onto a Rushmori level, with an official expressing that “the government hopes to have it's claims ratified regionally in the appropriate timeframe, hopefully the Rushmori map will shortly reflect the situation for example”.

[Mollary]

Da Nasiona
MSDP prepares attempt to hold Birol Parliament
April 19 1988

CAL NAVVO, BIROL PROVINCE - Now there is but a week to go until the parliament of Birol province is put up for election, one of the three provincial parliaments within the Mollarian system. At the last election the newly formed Mollarian Socially Democratic Party, a splinter party from The Community Party, who were dissatisfied with the parties famed 'drift to the centre'. The strongest challengers from the opposition bench currently appear to be the Community Action Party, the current incumbents in the national parliament, formed by merged of the centrist National Action Party, and the Centre-Left to Centre Community Party. However, with a few unpopular measures passed by the government in the run up to the election, it could see the CAP lose momentum.

However, this is discounting the fact that there are two other parties with representation on the benches of the parliament. Firstly, comes the Classical Party, a Centre-Right to Right-Wing party who had previously ruled in coalition, but have never gained more than 5 of the parliaments seats. Then, more interestingly, there is the local Birol Republican Party, who are a Centre-Right party that call for independence for the Birol island as an associated territory of Birolika. They previously formed government, along with the Classical Party, in 1980 when they then called for a referendum for independence, in which they were massively defeated. In the last election they saw a sizeable defeat and slipped to become the third largest party.

Party	November	December	January	February	March	April
MSDP	31.4	30.9	31.2	32.5	35.1	34.7
CAP	34.7	35.2	34.5	32.8	30.9	31.6
BRP	29.5	29.7	30.3	30.5	31.3	30.2
CP	4.4	4.2	4	4.2	2.7	3.5

Opinion Polls, as seen in the table above, have proved interesting going into this election, with the CAP riding on national popularity within the campaign until the final two months. However, in the last two months before the election the CAP managed to go on a spate of legislation that proved incredibly unpopular; this included a failure to back up a green energy policy, further denationalisations and a series of minor cuts to the education and welfare budgets; all of which follow the CAP announcing a 'third way' approach in their new terms, these new policies go directly against the 'Mollarian Model' of Capitalism with a high amount of state intervention. This was seized upon by the MSDP, and it proved popular amongst Birol voters in the past few months. What is most interesting are the outcomes predicted by the latest set of polls, which puts the MSDP on 29 seats, the CAP on 25, the BRP on 18 and the CP on 3. With 38 seats needed for a working majority, a coalition looks like a likely result, and with the CAP and BRP on poor terms, and the MSDP and CAP being hostile, it could prove an interest set of negotiations to say the least.

[Mollary]

Da Nasiona
Last Minute Swing to MSDP as results are announced
April 26 1988

As the results are counted, a last minute swing has been observed from the opinion polls to the elections, with the MSDP gaining a several point swing in their favour against the CAP. The cause of this swing has been put down to the lower turnout than usual (at roughly 57%, compared to 72% last time), which has seen disenchanted CAP voters stay at home. This, in turn, has been caused by the CAP swinging from their usually Keynesian and moderate left-wing to centrist views, with a Liberal edge, to a more third way stance, with deregulation of industry, and denationalisation of the wine industry, which was incredibly unpopular with Birol voters.

Party	%	Seats
MSDP	42.16	33
CAP	26.46	19
BRP	19.3	14
CP	11.5	9
NI	0.58	0

With these results, despite losing a chunk of the vote from last time, the MSDP will be happy. However, almost every other party faces disappointment, with the BRP failing to make it into opposition status and the CAP failing to make significant gains despite the fact that the economy is growing under their stewardship nationally. However, The Classical Party had a good night, with their vote seeing an increase to record highs and them winning their largest ever share of the seats. This is being put down to the success of the new Progressive leadership of the party winning over voters.

However, now comes the difficult business of forming a coalition, the MSDP are still 5 seats short of a majority. Since the CAP and themselves have been at each other's throats all the way through the campaign, it leaves all parties in a very awkward position as no two other parties can form a coalition. As a result the king makers seem to be the BRP, as the two liable coalitions seem to be the MSDP and BRP, or the CAP, BRP and CP.

***

Analysis - Will The Old Parties Survive And What Does This Mean For The General Election?

With the present election, rifts seem to have opened up within the two (formerly three) old parties after poor performances against the MSDP. Many were thinking, with the success of the economy under the stewardship of the CAP that they would cruise to electoral victory in the Birol Nation. Instead, a tough campaign saw them gain seats, but fail to become the largest party in the parliament, marking a 12 year dry spell in the region on the provincial parliament level.

This lacklustre campaign may have seen them appear united in their campaign onslaughts as they attempted to paint the MSDP as 'anti-business', whilst attempting to maintain reasonable relations with the other parties in case of the need for a coalition. However, unity seems to be falling apart within the party after the election, with several members calling out against their Birol leadership for their hostility towards the MSDP. This opposition was, of course, expected from the 'Green-wing' of the party, mostly members of the Centre to Left of the old Community Party; however, former members of the NAP have also expressed their dissatisfaction with people at the top.

What does this mean? Well, we would expect the party to fracture along the old lines, however, it seems that the dislike of the top mostly comes along the provincial level presently, with Birol and Daulka members becoming increasingly frustrated as the party moves away from its older values and more towards neo-liberalism and third way economics. This has seen them lose support amongst these quarters, whilst gaining a stranglehold on Molar parliament from the Classical Party. Therefore, we could possibly see defections, or a backbench revolt.

Meanwhile, the Classical Party has also faced division after their electoral failure in the state, seeing them fall to pieces and fall below 10 seats. This is far more likely to see a split happen along ideological lines. The traditionalist faction within the party has taken control of the leadership in Birol and has alienated both the Libertarian and Progressive factions of the party. This could quite easily see a division into three separate parties, or the Progressives might possibly combine with the CAP, seeing the entire centrist section of the political spectrum of Mollary unite for the first time.

However, another important deduction from this, will be the impact on the Federal elections in two years time. This result will shake the CAP's confidence going into the next election, as, despite their success with the economy, they have still managed to gain considerable opposition, and have failed to win over majorities in both the Daulka and Birol parliaments, showing their ability to alienate voters in these regions, especially amongst the native residents (Daulkans and Biroliks). This could point to a failure to hold onto a majority at the next federal election. Many people are pointing to their failure to win over voters in these regions due to opposition to devolving a higher number of powers to the Three Parliaments from the Federal Government; this has caused old Community Party voters over (as they supported devolution) in their droves to the MSDP. It has also seen the rise of the Birol Republican Party (BRP) and United Daulka Front (UDF), which has again undermined their vote.

The Classical Party will be re-assured by this result, as they stole a large number of votes from the BRP. This will see their new leadership strengthened ahead of the next general election, as they look set to disrupt the CAP from the right, while the MSDP do the same from the left. This has, however, further frustrated the Traditionalist bloc within the party, who feel under-represent and undermined. There are currently rumours that some of the Traditionalists are considering splitting from the Classical Party, and are considering joining with the economically Right-Wing section of the National Interest party. This could hamper the otherwise good electoral chances for the Classical Party in their re-building since being swept away from power and crushed around the Federation in the late 70s.

Finally, this election looks promising for the MSDP. It shows that, despite their lack of incumbency in a time of high electoral success, they still have managed to hold on to a lot of support due to the perceived erosion of traditional Mollarian Liberalism and Social Democracy under the Scaffold administration. This could lead to the MSDP forcing a coalition, and possibly forcing other parties to re-think their policies in future. Moreover, they could quite possibly reap the rewards of their strong support base, come the next economic downturn.

[Sargossa]

SSM | Sargossan State Media
International Edition - News


Bomb Blasts Rock City


Reya Esparanto reports from Maturín;

A nation watched on in horror today as twin bombs blasts ripped through Maturín’s old town in what has been dubbed a ‘callous and criminal assault on the Sargossan populace’. The incident occurred just after midday in the Plaza Del Bartholomeu, a popular spot for both locals and visitors to the city alike. The Plaza had been particularly busy due to the influx of sports fans, in the city to enjoy the Sargossan Olympic Trials which are taking place at the nearby Ciudad Deportiva complex. The facts are still hard to come by but early reports suggest that seventeen people have been confirmed dead and more than sixty others reported as injured. Although these numbers are expected to rise as the situation becomes clearer.

Sketchy too are details of the incident itself. Whereas the initial alert warned of a single explosion it has since become apparent that there was a second blast, much greater in power and intensity than the first. “There was a loud bang, it came from the café on the corner.” Shop owner Maria Costada told me. “I thought it was a car back firing but then I saw someone lying in the street. I went inside to call an ambulance but I could see other people gathering. It was only a moment later that the second one went off. The windows caved in and there was glass everywhere. Outside all I could see was smoke and all I could hear were screams.” The Plaza has now been completely cordoned off by the city police, with access only available to emergency vehicles. Ambulances have been coming and going with a depressing regularity, ferrying victims to the city's hospitals.

Police have sealed off all routes into the Plaza

A plume of smoke can still be seen rising into the evening sky as the emergency services strive to clear the bomb site. The sound of sirens can be heard in the distance as security teams scour the area. Away from ground zero the wider city itself is now eerily quiet with both the sea and airports shut down and a partial curfew in effect. A curfew being enforced by army units that have been deployed to the city streets. With the silence comes an air of uncertainty following this unprecedented attack. Certainly incidents of this nature occur with an unfortunate regularity in the badlands of disparate Santazuela, but never has the Heartland itself been so targeted. We’ve long been told that the Sargossan mainland is a safe haven, an impenetrable fortress. An incident of this nature on our own shores defies belief. Some very pointed questions will have to be asked.

But as yet there has been no official statement from the leadership in Soluca aside from the standard condemnations of the perpetrators and sympathies for the victims and their families. President Emparán is currently out of the country although it has been confirmed that he is en route back to Soluca, having cut short his state visit to Olastor. An emergency gathering of senior security personnel is currently meeting in the capital, being chaired in the president’s absence by Interior Minister Alejandro Ereros. Here in Maturín island Governor Aldo Herrera has been overseeing the emergency response and has also found time to visit some of the wounded at the city’s Santa Clare hospital. He was joined there by Vice President Juan Manuel Trucco, currently the most senior official to arrive in the city. The Vice President had a brief word for the press, stopping only to promise that ‘those responsible for this heinous act would face the full force of Sargossan justice’. Trucco is expected to face the national media at a press conference scheduled for tomorrow morning while the President will address the nation from the capital later in the day.

Army units have been deployed across Maturín

Security forces moved to secure strategic points around the city

Meanwhile speculation has inevitably started as to the identity of the perpetrators of so audacious an attack. While no group has claimed responsibility suspicion has quickly fallen upon the Santazuelan separatist movements, groups that have been guilty of similar crimes in the colonies. “Unquestionably there are certain similarities.” Gustavo Ranieri, Defence Analyst for Televista News explained to me. “Small explosive devices targeting government or police buildings in provincial towns are not uncommon. But here the modus operandi has changed. This was a public place at a busy time of day with two devices, utilising a staggered effect to inflict maximum civilian casualties. That escalation coupled with the apparent ease with which they struck the nation’s third largest city is deeply unsettling.”

Attention has also turned to a cryptic threat that appeared across multiple social media sources three days prior to the Plaza Del Bartholomeu bombings.

‘The path to liberty will run crimson with the blood of martyrs.’

Unsurprisingly the so-called ‘Crimson Path’ missive has now taken on a whole new significance and could suggest that a warning of today's events had been hidden in plain sight all along. The wording is certainly consistent with the rhetoric put out by the Jarque group and similar separatist movements in Santazuela but the Sargossan security apparatus and the State Intelligence Directorate will be investigating every conceivable lead, both domestic and foreign, to ensure that those that have deigned to commit such acts of terror on our people are swiftly found and brought to account.

[Vermark]

University of Videnhagen
Turbulent Takeoff

The University of Videnhagen has had its fair share of issues with launching internationally.
23 February 2015 | Print Edition

NO entity was as excited for the Emergence Act as the University of Videnhagen. Finally, it could recruit students and faculty from around the world and become the education powerhouse that it is capable of being. It's been months since that law has been passed and ratified, yet the University is still not open for international exchange. The University cites technical problems as the cause of the delay. However, it is crucial that the University of Videnhagen sorts out its issues, or the Emergence Act may become redundant.

More from The Academic:
Economics: Modraine Sea Oil coming to Vermark?
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Raskstad: Next PEC Meeting to invite Foreigners

Popular Topics:
Rushmori Economics
Domestic Policy
Social Progress

The crux of the issue with the University of Videnhagen as been the institution's inability to synthesize all its policies and information onto its website in a proper manner. Because of this, the exchange programs that were scheduled to commence at the end of the month have been pushed back at least four weeks.Many departments are using this transition period as a good time to update their degree plans. This has drawn out the process even longer as the Registrar scrambles to get all the courses in order for the next academic year. On top of all this, the Information Technology firm responsible for maintaining the university's online presence, Netsmart, has issued complaints regarding untimely compensation from the the University. Netsmart released a statement this week saying, "Our consultants will not being providing any services next week if payment is not received Monday morning at the start of business hours. The past three weeks Netsmart has only received compensation on Tuesday or Wednesday. We have given the University of Videnhagen their allotted three warnings, but the next delay will result in a denial of service." This has incited a legal bout of sorts between the two entities which will likely result in a hearing some time in March.

All these issue may appear to be minor and isolated to only the University of Videnhagen, but other groups must take this as a warning. If Varish businesses are not able to connect internationally with ease, than likely, foreign countries will opt to leave Vermark behind. Sure Vermark has a lot to offer in its information and technology sector, but the relative lack of resources and power that Vermark has is an equivalent disadvantage. If we are going to get ahead as a nation, we will need to get into the international order. And to do this, we are going to have to appease other countries for a little while. Slow transitions are not very appealing. It is best that other institutions and corporations learn from the University of Videnhagen. If they don't, they might not see much of a change between now and pre-Emergence.

As for the University getting its act together, President Anders Sorensson spoke to the press earlier this week. "We are doing everything we can to expedite this process," he explains. "It is taking longer than we anticipated, but our number one priority is quality, not quickness. We only want to do this transition once, so we are being meticulous and making sure that everything is done correctly. Expect full international functionality of the University of Videnhagen International Exchange System by mid-March."

[Ceni]

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CENIAL, Ceni - Travelers at Ceni's main international airport, Cenial International (CEX), are long used to seeing the name and logo of their country's flag carrier, Ceniana, on check-in desks, gateside markers, and on the large volume of planes that go in and out of the large airport. However, they may have to get used to a new sight, as Air Electrum and Ceniana, two of the biggest sporting world carriers, have merged into Air Terranea in a move that creates a strong competitor to two major Quebecois airlines, Aeroquebec and Spiritair, in an increasingly competitive airline industry. The combined company hopes, however, that its Astyrian operations, superior service, and long-range connections can give it the edge against its competitors. Air Terranea's recent expansion throughout Rushmore, Atlantian Oceania, and Esportiva also bides well for the combined company as they start operations this March.

Although many of the details have not been released, aviation experts widely assume that the larger carrier Ceniana, maybe five or six times the size of the carrier it is merging with, will likely own a majority stake in the airline, although with significant input from former Air Electrum managers. Ceniana CEO Xina Iesan, who has led the company through a renaissance in which it has grown in revenue and profitability, will likely remain on as CEO of the combined company, while Air Electrum CEO Karl Page will likely continue on as a board member in the new company. The combined company will have more than 300 destinations throughout the world, a good portion of them focused in Astyria and the three sporting regions. The Ceniana brand Javelin will become part of the new company, while Global Wings Airways, the company's Astyrian arm, will remain as such under the new arrangement. As part of the consolidation, the companies have announced they will not add services from their other new hub to less profitable or further destinations with not as much traffic, to save costs. As for fleets, a good portion of both carriers' fleets will remain constructed by Monteluci, although the carriers have hinted that they are interested in buying more planes from a "qualified bidder", whoever that may be. As for focus, the company will center its operations on the three sporting regions, and most specifically their area of expertise, Terranea, despite sometimes stiff competition from Euran carriers. However, both CEOs believe that they have the opportunity to take a significant market share in the region because of their long-range services, their business and first class services, and their large amount of connections.

"I believe this is a great opportunity for our businesses to expand and grow together in this region as well as in other regions," Ceniana CEO Xina Iesan said in the press release announcing the merger. "Rushmore has lots of great opportunities for our business to expand, and I'm proud that this merger has taken place. Not only will it help our combined company represent Terranea to the world with great service, low prices, and excellent connections, but it will also help us to compete with Areoquebec and Spiritair as well as augment each other's routes and connections. Overall, this is an excellent opportunity for us, and neither of our boards wanted to pass this opportunity up." Air Electrum CEO Karl Page echoed those statements in his own press release confirming the change. "As of today, my company, Air Electrum, and Ceniana will be one company, Air Terranea. I am proud to announce this merger because our companies complement each other and offer our customers a great way to travel throughout the multiverse without baggage hassles, long layovers, or poor service in flights. We still reaffirm our commitment to the most excellent service possible and the valuable human touch, as does Ceniana, and this merger will help us to expand our great service to more regions in the world."

The company's flagship services will likely remain Cenial-Kingsford (a major city in the trading world), Cenial-Vitalita, and Cenial-Bastion, as well as the addition of Centralis-Kingsford, Centralis-Vitalita, and Centralis-Bastion. Hubs for the new carrier will be located at Centralis and Cenial in Rushmore, Mardi in Esportiva, and Jansberg in Atlantian Oceania as well as New London and Holy City in Astyria (with Global Wings Airways, though). The Cenial-Centralis route, as well as the Cenial-Bastion and Centralis-Bastion routes, will form a new triangle of popular and profitable routes, with the new combined carrier running up to two dozen services on each every day.

In addition to the merger, the press release also announced several major airport rights coups. One of them was Zenic, where the company secured an Emperor's Seal of Trade, which enabled them to operate within the country and operate routes both to, from, and within the country, including its 10 largest cities New Citium, Coohen, Laar City, Binar, City of Indigo, Quia, Hutiberg, Old Maiz, Deline, and San Valerie. As an extra bonus, Zenic does not have a large domestic or international airline industry, so the company will have an excellent operation to run routes all over Rushmore to Zenic as well as routes within Zenic itself. Also closer to home in Rushmore, the carrier announced expanded services to Polaaskan, fairly close to Ceni and Electrum, as well as a proposed expansion to Nuevo Caracas, where the carrier can have a strategic spot in a promising economic hub close to all three sporting regions with airports in Tachira, Carabobo, Maturin, and Altamira.

The new combined carrier also announced an expansion into Esportiva, such as the declaration of Mardi as a new Air Terranea hub and expansion into Red Blackiland's rich aviation market after a foothold in Cestara proved successful. Air Terreanea also announced it would expand into Nephara and Brenecia, two of the region's most esteemed sporting nations, as it gained slots to operate in Sabrefell, Treason, Crisisbless, and Vermillion in Nephara and North Hall and Rozelle in Brenecia. Those slots allow the company to expand its Esportivan reach as well as capitalize on the sporting pride of the Nepharim team as they almost certainly will qualify for the World Cup again this cycle, allowing Air Terranea to capitalize on that fandom, as well as the fandom of the infamous ultras from Red Blackiland. Finally, Air Terranea announced its new hub in Atlantian Oceania to be Jansberg, Semarland, where the company had enthusiastic support from local authorities hoping to increase revenue from travelers coming through the new hub, as well as announcing an expansion into Cathair, a large segment in the Audioslavian and Atlantian Oceanian market.

Aviation analyst Eseph Lorian believes that the deal can actually be beneficial for consumers in the growing sports segment. "Realistically, neither of the two carriers had significant overlap presence on any routes, minus perhaps Electrum. This means that Ceniana can augment its route structures with previously unavailable routes and that there will be more competition with the likes of Aeroquebec and Spiritair, two of the carriers that fancy themselves as the only choices for many travelers, and price themselves accordingly." Lorian continued that the merger could bring lower prices as the airlines would now be forced to compete for market share, and that can only be beneficial for consumers. "There are only a couple of major airlines that connect most of the sporting regions together, and with this new merger, Air Terranea can expand its market share, reduce costs, and help to take down the big Aeroquebec/Spiritair duopoly in some markets." Lorian also believes that the expansion into Zenic and the hub in Jansberg is a smart move. "Jansberg is almost near Quebec and can easily serve as a hub for all three sporting regions. This gives Air Terranea more competition and more of a market coming into Atlantian Oceania."

[Vers-Gelderland]

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LEXINGTON, New Gelderland - A series of events - one following another - has focused on a particular region: the Baptism of Fire hosted by Valladares and Eura, which New Gelderland won; the 73th World Cup, which Eura won; the 10th Summer Olympics, one of the most massive sporting events, hosted by Electrum and New Gelderland, and won by the two in that order; the Copa Rushmori, which was hosted in New Gelderland and won by Eura; the upcoming World Cup 74, which will be partially held in Valladares; the upcoming 11th Winter Olympics, which will be held in Electrum, and likely will be won by that nation; the Electrumite elections and increasing rumors of Euran annexation of the northern region of Electrum; the Cenian elections and the controversy of Xanthas Hightower; the Globe Cup final, held in Ceni; and the Champion's Cup, which Directus, of Eura won. All of these events have focused on the region of Rushmore, and in particular, the Terranean region of Rushmore, notable members of which are Szavoda, Eura, Valladares, Ceni, Electrum, and New Gelderland, in a general north to south line.

Two events - the Baptism of Fire and the Olympics - really put New Gelderland into the spotlight on the world stage, apart from the general Terranean moment in sporting news and world news. While only a few dozen nations can call themselves Baptism of Fire winners, making it a great source of pride for the Gelderlish population in their favorite sport, it really was the Olympics that put the spotlight on New Gelderland. There were quite a few firsts made at those Olympics - first to be held in two nations and first to be held without either nation having a World Cup under their belts. As debutants, New Gelderland did extremely well - with 109 medals, 40 of them gold, and the co-hosts set four world records - one in shooting, one in track and field, and two in swimming. Thus, New Gelderland's medal haul represented the nation well on that standard. But also the quality of the hosting stood out to many - the Olympics are one of the world's hardest sporting events to host, with numerous events to schedule, venues to build, and transportation to arrange. It came as no surprise that there were some paperwork errors - with so many events and so many athletes to keep track of - but overall, the Olympics went very smoothly (although the Electrumite OC did a good deal of the work in making the Olympics possible). No major delays disrupted the Games, and no terrorist attacks or security disruptions plagued them, as they did in the Kytler Peninsula (nuclear war was averted, though, as skillful diplomacy kept Gregoryisgodistan from wreaking havoc over the Greater Vakolicci Haven). Many people left the Olympics as happy campers - and some were ready to come back to New Gelderland for more.

As the old aphorism goes, "Build it, and they shall come." NationStates Olympic Council president Jonathan Mercer rewrote that statement in his interview with the Nassau Bay Herald: "win it, and they shall come." He explains: "Winning is a lot in international sporting events - with bids and with sporting events alike. New Gelderland won a couple of bids - the Copa Rushmori being one of the more promising ones - and people came to New Gelderland, for that sporting tournament. And New Gelderland's own Celtic Noviodunum reached the Champion's Cup group stage - meaning that hopefully, more world-class players will come to New Gelderland to ply their trade. This is promising news." Julia Bloodworth of Tourism in New Gelderland (TiNG) believes that New Gelderland's success with sporting events in the world spotlight has put New Gelderland in a better position economically. "People come to New Gelderland from all over for, say, the Olympics, and they go out to see the sights. Nassau Bay is an excellent place to visit, and people enjoy the sights, the weather, and the parks. When they see something about Vaduz, they might be more inclined to go there. So far we have seen that it's the case in New Gelderland - we've had a ten percent uptick in tourists ever since the Olympics, and New Gelderland is proving more important as a tourist destination. So the sporting spotlight on Terranea has given New Gelderland a better situation, at least on the tourism front."

In addition to the New Gelderlish success in the world stage, Eura has a large and looming shadow over New Gelderland, as well as the upcoming World Cup in Valladares. Eura will definitely hope to defend their World Cup title - hopefully in Valladares, on home soil. The World Cup win for Eura has definitely put a bigger spotlight, and with that bigger spotlight comes Eura's neighbors - Electrum, Ceni, and then further away, New Gelderland. Directus and their win of the Champion's Cup will also certainly bolster Euran national pride in their sport - and increase their already high profile abroad. Julia Bloodworth likes to put her own spin on this success, though. "We have lots of advertising in Eura - come to New Gelderland, and we're thinking of expanding our advertising more abroad as well. So we hope that people will come to Eura for a first time to enjoy the sports and then see our advertising, and when they will come back to Terranea, we hope that they will avoid the large and crowded Eura and come instead to New Gelderland - which has an environmental conscience and beautiful scenery for people all over to enjoy." With a smile, Bloodworth says, "Eura's moment on the world stage can have big benefits for New Gelderland, too."

Jonathan Mercer says the spotlight can motivate New Gelderland to do better things. "There was a lot of pressure on us on the Olympics," he admits. "We had the whole world watching, and they were waiting for us to make any mistake. But I think all the pressure actually helped us to succeed. The spotlight pushed us to do things to our utmost best." David Ross, manager of the New Gelderland national team, agreed in an interview with the Herald. "If nobody cares about us, then we won't do as well. But with a spotlight pointed at us, we do well, like in the Olympics. And with the spotlight pointed at Eura for this World Cup (will they do it again?), New Gelderland will have a lot of neighborly competition to live up to. With some media attention on Ceni and Electrum as well, New Gelderland will only have more incentive to be the fifth Terranean nation to qualify for the World Cup. I know it's a hard journey for our players, but the spotlight can make it shorter. I know they can do it."

[Vers-Gelderland]

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ARROWHEAD POINT, New Gelderland - A consortium of businesses wants to reinvigorate the economy of Arrowhead Point - and New Gelderland in general - by building two large casinos in an undeveloped area near the town's airport, where only trees and scrub stand today. However, their efforts have recently hit a roadblock across New Gelderland as voters must approve the project under New Gelderlish law, and opposition is fierce. In response, the company, Arrowhead Point Casino LLC, has mounted a massive TV ad campaign across the country, while opponents have vowed to fight until they die against the casinos coming to New Gelderland.

The idea for a casino started in the office of Bucky J. Reynolds, an Arrowhead Point businessman and entrepreneur. He sat down recently with the Nassau Bay Herald to discuss the history of the casino. "I spotted an excellent opportunity near Arrowhead Point for a casino," he explains in his Centralis-laced accent, bearing a mark of where he went to school. "Our city has many advantages going for it: we have a reasonably sized airport, we are connected to Electrum and Eura via train, and we have an excellent sunrise and sunset as well as a nice climate. What more could we do to attract tourists?" Reynolds, after arriving back in the city from a business trip in Ceni, noticed a big parcel of land with a beautiful view that was undeveloped. "At first, I thought it would be a good spot for a cafe: overlooking the ocean on a cliff, nice view, and fairly near the airport so luminaries on their way home could stop and have a bite to eat. And then it hit me: why not go bigger? They always told me to go big or go home, and decided to go big: why not build a casino? Or even two?" He then started to shop around some businesses, including some Euran, Cenian, Gelderlish, and Electrumite companies, to outsource the con

struction and design. The consortium of businesses, led by Reynolds, contracted Sky High Architecture to design the two casinos, to be named Gravity and Revolution. "Sky High produced two fabulous designs, I mean fabulous designs, that incorporated the design of the ocean and the waves on the casinos. And they included the cafes that originally started the idea, overlooking the sea." The consortium is currently in talks with Orion International to build a luxury hotel on the site, and if the two casinos here are successful, Reynolds hopes to build more. "I see a big future for our cozy little area of Arrowhead Point." Reynolds predicts big business for the consortium in Arrowhead Point. "We can draw loads of Euran tourists, coming from a country where there is little availability of legal gambling, and we can out-compete the casinos from Electrum, thus attracting more Cenian and Electrumite tourists. I think that these casinos have a good potential to draw tourists from all over the rest of Terranea, and even Rushmore, as well, if not to see the casinos, but to see the rest of the sights as well. But I think the casinos will be awesome too."

Proponents of the measure believe that the proposed new casinos will bring badly needed jobs and money into a sluggish local, and Gelderlish, economy as a whole and will bring tourists to the region. Many point to the success that casino cities have had in other countries in bringing in money for state and industry coffers that can only help the region as a whole. Economist Devon Bradley supports the measure. "When you bring in a casino to a city, it starts to generate revenue. That revenue brings tourists, and they will want to do more than gamble with their time. That brings in a host of all kinds of businesses, from hotels to shops to shows and theatres, creating even more jobs than the casinos do. I believe that the casinos can be a good thing for the city of Arrowhead Point for precisely this reason: money, money." Opponents, however, have several lines of argument to counter the money argument. "Money is not the only consideration for our country," argued Sarah Cooper, an activist who opposes the introduction of casino gambling. "First we have people who are addicted to gambling and gamble their entire lives away. Casinos here will only increase that behavior. Also, some of those 'other businesses' that Mr. Bradley mentions include sex slaves and prostitutes, something we don't want to have in this country. Finally, a lot of the jobs created really aren't jobs at all; they are low-paying, and many must take second or even third jobs to make ends meet. So casino gambling simply cannot work in New Gelderland."

The law currently stands in favor of the protesters: current Gelderlish law outlaws casino gambling throughout the entire country. Unfazed with that, Reynolds and his group successfully gathered the 250,000 signatures necessary to put the measure on a nationwide ballot when the elections come later this month. The question, which reads "Should New Gelderland allow casino gambling, with limitations, in Arrowhead Point?" is proving to be very divisive in New Gelderland in what should prove to be a close race on election day. The Labour Party, which is currently in the lead in the polls and led by Prime Minister Savanna Brent, has come out against the measure, for some of the reasons cited by Ms. Cooper, while the New Gelderland Dawn party and the Conservatives have echoed their support for the measure. Ultimately, though, supporters of both sides have made this debate come front and center in the upcoming elections, and it looks like both sides are nearly tied - 49% against, 47% in favor, although that is well within the latest polls' margin of error. The pro forces hope to change the status quo in their favor, however, as they have mounted a large television advertisement campaign to persuade voters to vote for their proposal, invoking the economy and the promise of more jobs for the country. New Gelderland will only have to wait and see until Election Day whether the campaign is having any effect, though, and whether it has succeeded in persuading voters to change their minds.

Bucky Reynolds is confident of victory. "I'm sure that we will win come March. Our proposal makes a lot of economic sense, both for us as the developers and owners, and for the people of New Gelderland. The state will earn more tax revenue, and the people will have jobs and livelihoods to support their families, especially in New Gelderland's position today." Sarah Cooper and her team of activists are equally confident of victory. "These fat cat developers want to exploit the people of New Gelderland so they can line their own fat pockets. Casinos in New Gelderland are a bad idea, both socially and economically. Casinos are a moral disaster and an economic disaster."

[Vers-Gelderland]

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Nassau Bay, New Gelderland - A line forms in front of the shiny new location of a popular fast-food chain. Inside the kitchen, Executive Chef Jason Webster hurriedly directs the last few shipments of fresh fish, straight from the city's busy docks. "Put it there," he barks authoritatively as he directs his employees to get ready for the rush on the restaurant. Webster's concept, Ballast, is opening yet another one of its popular locations in Nassau Bay, this time close to the city center, fairly close to the original restaurant, close to the fishing docks in Nassau Bay. "Alright, let's open the doors!" he shouts, and customers come pouring in, flooding the cashiers for orders. But they're ready: Webster has ran the successful opening of Ballast restaurants in more than 20 cities. The Nassau Bay expansion is only one step in an expansion strategy that aims to take the company across Rushmore, and hopefully, across the world.

Ballast has several principles that define its core business strategy. One, it always aims to procure local fish wherever possible, preferably straight from the fishermen themselves. This not only reduces transportation time and distance, and thus money, but also ensures freshness and helps the environment. "A win-win-win, if you ask me," Webster explains his policy. "A win for the company, a win for the customer, and a win for the planet." Second, it almost always uses fish that aren't that popular in a given area, mostly because they aren't well known. "We're talking about sea robin, crevalle jack, porgy, queen snapper, some of the snails and shrimp that aren't exactly the most popular at the moment. Have you ever heard of those?" And here's a key part of the concept: only supplying customers what he gets in the dock every day. "We're still proving popular, in spite of, or maybe because of, the mystery of what's in our dishes. It keeps our customers guessing, and each fish has its own distinctive taste. Believe me, though it all tastes good." Ballast also serves traditional dishes such as fish and chips (although his supply changes day-to-day), crab cakes, and lobster sandwiches in addition to the chain's trademark fish tacos (both fried and grilled, for a healthier option). "We try to keep the menu simple. We only have about a dozen options on it every day," Webster explains. "This is for our benefit, to keep our costs limited, and for the customers: it's a bit more of a certainty considering the type of fish we sell."

Ballast's fare more than tastes good - most of the items on the small menu taste awesome. And you can leave any of Ballasts's restaurants without feeling squeamish about the environment. Not only does its local-fish-only policy mean less transportation emissions, the way his business model operates means that the fish itself is sourced more sustainably. Here's how: "A lot of the popular species out on restaurant plates today are overfished. We're talking about salmon, tuna, shrimp. So they're becoming extinct, and certainly less numerous. And people are catching them way too much. What our company's policy does is it allows fishermen to catch less desirable, but more populous, fish, thus creating less of a negative impact on the environment." A side effect of the policy, incidentally, is cheaper fish prices, so cheaper prices passed on to the consumer. In addition to sustainably sourced fish, Ballast also prints napkins on recycled paper, does not use Styrofoam for to-go boxes, and designs its buildings to be modern, attractive, and above all, eco-friendly. "The ultimate goal of Ballast is to be an eco-friendly, sustainable restaurant," Webster states bluntly. "We want to avoid contributing to the degradation of our environment and still give our customers a good time."

His policies appear to be winning over customers. Not only do Ballast's offerings taste good, they're also good for the planet. Currently, Ballast has almost 200 locations across New Gelderland, Electrum, Eura, and Ceni. All of the locations are company-owned right now, but Webster says he is open to the idea of franchising as his business concept gets bigger. As of this moment, in fact, Ballast is in talks with the governments of Polaaskan and Eastfield Lodge in order to secure the requisite permits for expansion. Eastfield Lodge presents an unique challenge: his products must be both halal and healthy in order to gain the permits. "Fish is halal, according to my experts, and I think we have very many healthy options. Of course our menu is going to change with the location, and our offerings are definitely going to try and cater to the market that they're served in," says Webster. Professor of Restaurant Management at Nassau Bay University Fred Wells says that Ballast's expansion is indicative of a wider trend. "Ballast is what's known as a fast casual restaurant [OOC: Think Chipotle, Panera Bread]: it's a mix between fast food and a casual restaurant, and the prices are appropriate for that range," says Professor Wells. "And fast casual restaurants are succeeding all over the world, not just with this particular concept." Although the tasty, and sustainable, offerings at Ballast certainly do help the company.

Back at the new Nassau Bay restaurant, I interviewed some of the diners and employees. "It's very delicious food," exclaims Biff Samson, a chemical engineer at one of the inner-city firms. "Just the right combination of flavor and texture." Jill Peters, a sales executive, says that the company's sustainability attracted her to the company. "I'm very concerned about the fate of our planet, and I think Ballast is doing a good job of delivering good, fresh food to my plate while respecting the environment." Cashier Gerald Jepsen, 18, says he's on his summer break earning some cash. "I want to buy a new car, and Ballast had a good reputation as a good place to work. They always pay me on time, and I get plenty of bonuses for good performance. I'm glad I work here." General manager Kylie Bonner agrees with Jepsen. "I have a good crew of workers here. I'm proud of the work they can do, and I'm also proud that we get to serve the best quality, freshest food around. Ballast, in my mind, really is revolutionary, and I'm certainly proud to work here."

Ballast logo

[Vers-Gelderland]

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Bastion, Eura - With many companies and industries operating in this 3 billion-strong country, it's no surprise that Eura has a strong economy. But Eura's Terranean neighbors are attempting to get into that economy and disrupt Euran companies' strongholds on many industries, from agriculture to air travel and energy. And these companies see huge opportunities for profits in the Euran market - and they see now as a ripe time for expansion into the region's largest economy. Among the companies vying for spots in the Euran market are New Gelderlish, Cenian, and Electrumite companies, in addition to the already entrenched Euran companies.

New Gelderlish agricultural companies, for one, seized their opportunity to market high-quality agricultural products to the vast Euran market in addition to regular fare such as barley, wheat, grapes, as well as seafood such as crabs, lobster, shrimp, and fish. "New Gelderland has lot of resources in its fisheries, with a large aquaculture sector and large natural fisheries of halibut, bass, and other fish, probably more than it can eat itself, so it must export. Therefore the Euran market is a very tempting target for New Gelderlish fish," says Rachel Abrahamson, with the New Gelderland Fisheries Association (NGFA). "While the Euran market is very competitive, with fish from all over Rushmore competing, 3 billion people is a lot, and I think our fisheries have created a niche in the Euran market that is very profitable." Smaller, independent fisheries often sell their products to market, where export companies often re-export them and send them by plane to Eura. Bigger companies, such as GelderShores, catch fish industrially as well as farm fish for the Euran market. "What makes a difference is the quality of our fish: we make sure we fish sustainably and fish for only the highest quality," says Abrahamson of the NGFA.

New Gelderland companies have also sought to increase their exports of higher-quality agricultural products, such as chocolates, wines and spirits, and cheese. Several companies specialize in making high-quality, often handmade, products for sale both at home and abroad, and these companies are increasingly targeting the large Euran market as well, with Golden Hills wine company expanding production of its signature wines in hills near Vaduz and Sentinel Peak Brewing Company expanding its range of whiskey, beer, brandy, gin, and other spirits distilled from Gelderlish barley, millet, and other staple crops. "We've seen a lot of demand for our products in the Euran market both because of the way we make them and increasing exposure and marketing of our products," notes Bill Gilbert, the Chief Brewer, or CEO, of the Sentinel Peak Brewing Company. "This has been a windfall for us but we've always been a craft brewing company, serving mostly only the local area. That may change as we now have plans for expansion from our one location outside of Nassau Bay."

Several family-owned cheese companies have also been selling their wares in the Euran market, including Pierce Bannerman's Bannerman Farms. "My family has produced our own brand of Red Rogue cheese along the Rogue River for at least five generations, and we've never had this much demand. Now we're struggling to keep up with the volume and we might have to sacrifice quality for ease of production, something we definitely don't want to do." The chocolate company Laurent & Schultz, too, has seen expansion, as Euran consumers snap up its products in Euran supermarkets. "We try to buy our chocolate sustainably and produce our chocolate by hand with limited machine involvement, but this Euran demand is threatening our model. We will hang on," says Stella Mitchell, the great-granddaughter of company founder Bernard Schultz. Even as high-quality, niche products expand, companies have also found a ready market in Eura for the literal bread and butter of New Gelderlish agriculture - wheat, barley, millet, and other grains that have served as a mainstay of the New Gelderlish economy ever since it was founded.

With many of the food brands interviewed stressing quality and freshness for the Euran market, the transportation market has expanded to fit that demand, and still expanding in the Euran domestic and international markets as well. Among those airlines is Air Terranea, the recent product of a merger between Air Electrum and Ceniana, two of the region's biggest carriers outside of Eura, as well as Aria, a recently-founded low-cost airline. Several airlines already exist in Eura, including FalconAir, Federation Airlines, Swest, and Euran Airlines, but Air Terranea, and their CEO Xina Iesan, believes that it can overcome some of the advantages of existing Euran airlines. "Our company offers an unparalleled range of destinations throughout the multiverse, including a large number of destinations in Rushmore and Terranea. Not only can our company serve the large Euran domestic market itself, it can also serve the Terranean countries, and other Rushmori nations, by allowing their businessmen and traders to come to Eura more easily," Iesan wrote in a press statement.

"We have numerous advantages, and of course competition is good for the business. We are confident that our company can provide better air service to the Euran population." The Euran market, on the other hand, is also proving to be interested in Air Terranea, with a rumour going around that an Euran airline is looking to buy shares of Air Terrenaea, but Iesan would neither confirm nor deny that rumor in her press conference. Aria, a low-cost airline with distinctive purple livery, also hopes to expand into Eura with its unique business model, providing low-cost, yet reasonable, services throughout Terranea (OOC: See JetBlue). Based out of New Oxford, in Ceni, they also have a 'hub' in Centralis, and hope to have an Euran center of operations in Bastion; their point-to-point services "allow people to traverse Terranea both quickly and cheaply, and we hope to expand our business model to the huge Euran market," said the company's founder and CEO, Rush Barnett. "I think our company is well positioned to carve a niche out for itself in Eura." Not only are these companies targeting the passenger market, they are also targeting the cargo market, with airlines taking time-sensitive products, such as fresh foods and mail, to and from Eura quickly.

As the manufacturers of high-quality, high-price food know, Eura has a burgeoning class of millionaires and billionaires, and other purveyors of luxury products have stepped in to cater to this wealthy segment of the population. Among the companies seeking Euran riches is Orion International, based in Centralis, Electrum, and with tentacles all over the region. The company is investing heavily in Eura, building new luxury hotels for the numerous business travelers headed to Eura as well as the Euran rich all over Eura, with its flagship Bastion hotel already open for business. The company is also rumored to be in talks with the government to build a luxury seaside resort on the coast that would cater to the Euran rich. Spokesperson Lisa Moncton, with the office of Orion CEO Grant Wallis, said that she could not comment on the seaside development specifically, as the company was still in talks with the Euran government. However, she did remark on the general Euran development pattern in general. "Our company is trying to expand within Eura to tap this huge economy with a good potential for expansion. Our company seeks to provide a high standard of care for business travelers, and Eura certainly attracts the market we cater to, so we think it's a good investment." Moncton also noted that her company was catering to Euran nationals as well by advertising holiday destinations in Electrum, Ceni, and New Gelderland, in line with many other tourism-related companies.

Julia Bloodworth of Tourism in New Gelderland (TiNG) said her organization was targeting the Euran market as well. "We have a lot of good destinations and culture - architecture in Nassau Bay and the wine country around Vaduz are always good places to visit, and the opportunity of attracting Euran tourists who may wish to expand their reach a bit was too much to pass up. So we have been actively advertising New Gelderland in the Euran market, which is, believe me, pretty big, and results are starting to pick up. We're very optimistic about the possibility of attracting Euran tourists to New Gelderland." The expansion of foreign airlines into Eura, such as Aria and Air Terranea, as mentioned before, opens up a potential for tourism almost never seen before, and TiNG hopes to capitalize on increasing capacity and frequency of services. "As I mentioned, we are running ad campaigns in Eura, and I think that they will only become more successful with the Air Terranea and Aria services that are connecting our country to Eura, allowing our tourism industry to expand."

Other Terranean companies are setting their sights on the Euran market as well, although, perhaps, with less success, considering the novelty of some of their efforts. Cenian companies Telluric Pharmaceuticals, Endais Chemicals, and Hightower Industries have started to sell their products to the Euran mass market as well as the proliferation of Euran companies and industries. Meanwhile, Sky High Architecture, also of Ceni, hopes to move in and build more skyscrapers and large projects in Eura as well, while also expanding in the house-construction industry. And energy companies - hoping to get in on Eura's massive civil and military demands for energy - are setting up shops and power lines, with a new cross-strait power line planned from Ceni and a line across Electrum planned as well. Since both countries produce more power than they can use and Eura is so close by, they have the perfect opportunity to export their power. New Gelderland supplies an excess of hydroelectric and wind power, while Ceni supplies tidal and wind power, according to Aric Norman of the Council of Energy Relations (CER) based in Centralis. "Eura needs power, and Ceni and New Gelderland have power. It's the law of supply and demand, and it's very logical that these countries interact on the energy stage because of their geographical proximity and meshing needs and supplies."

That proximity is a huge reason for the expansion of Terranean companies into Eura, says economic analyst Kim Matthews of TMK Group, an economic think tank. "Eura has a big economy. Terranea is close to Eura. Therefore the simple laws of economics, which say that among a country's biggest trading partners are its neighbors, dictate this expansion into Eura," Matthews observed. She also noted that many of Eura's neighbors have trade surpluses with the giant, for a couple of reasons. "One is that Eura produces a lot of things for its own huge economy - it's not producing things for export, while Ceni, New Gelderland, and Electrum likely are. Also, some Euran companies are content with their own markets - which dwarf those of the aforementioned countries, so they really don't have any reason to expand." This creates a gap for foreign companies to exploit, Matthews explained: they can further consolidate their home markets and use those resources to expand into the profitable and lucrative Euran market. However, Matthews did warn about the high costs of economic connectivity: "Let me be blunt here. If the Euran economy falls or stagnates, many of these other economies fall or stagnate. But it may be inevitable anyway." Lots of people are willing to take the risk for the potential rewards, though, which can be great. "Economics involves risk management," says Lisa Moncton of the Orion Group. "There are risks and rewards everywhere, but the rewards are much greater than the risks in Eura."

[Ceni]

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CENIAL, Ceni - President Masnol Binnill has, throughout his first two years in office, continued to crusade for a variety of socialist causes - plaintiff advocacy, restraining large corporations, limiting large CEO pay bonuses and pay based on stock prices, copyright reform, increasing taxes, and increasing social benefits as well as free healthcare for all Cenians, all under the rationale that the big businesses and corporations have the power to change the rules of capitalism in their favor - and that the government has the duty to stop those bad actors. However, those policies have riled up a substantial sector of the electorate - and a group of disgruntled industry leaders led the charge to drive Binnill and his governing party, the Congress of Democratic Socialism, from power. But they must face a groundswell of liberal popularity under the ever-articulate Binnill and his policies, which do not actually advocate for a return to communism. This ideological battle will set the stage for the upcoming legislative elections.

The upcoming battle has prompted most of the major parties to reposition themselves in the electoral landscape to make themselves more appealing to more voters than perhaps before. The Cenian Social Liberal Party will rename itself the Social Liberals (SL) and make its party organization more streamlined in order to compete with the former DSP get-out-the-vote apparatus. The ruling Democratic Socialist Party is actually changing its name as well, to the Congress of Democratic Socialism (CDS) , to reform its image among swing voters and emphasize that a large portion of the Cenian electorate actually favors Democratic Socialism. The Conservative Union perhaps will undergo the most radical change of any of the parties - it will now call itself the Moderates (M) and reword its platform so the party is no longer associated with far right-wing movements such as fascism and anti-immigrant populism; the newly rebranded party will attempt to focus its message on reform of Ceni's liberal systems to make Ceni more competitive in the business world, perhaps Conservative by Ceni's standards but Moderate by most other standards, and the party hopes to reform its image in that direction to gain more votes, especially in Cenial. This means that no party existed in the Cenian system to cater to the far-right of the political spectrum, even as the Moderates hoped they would retain that segment of the vote.

However, that did not last, as a group of industry leaders, including Xanthas Hightower, the founder and president of Hightower Industries, as well as several other tycoons, came together to found the New Cenians Party (NC). The New Cenians are perhaps anathema to everything that the CDS and the Social Liberals stand for - every one of their proposed policies is almost the exact opposite of the coalition partners' policies, that is what few policies they have put out so far. Mostly, however, they have caught people's attention through bluster and bombast - as well as a lack of politically correct behavior. Their leader Hightower rails on and on about the dangers of immigrants and how the New Cenians would "make Ceni great again." What few policies the group's policy wonks have put together include tort reform, a simple flat tax of 10%, changes in immigration law to make immigration harder, and an extension of copyright and patent laws (not surprising, as many of his party's supporters' inventions and pharmaceuticals are about to run out of government protection). Hightower and his party also want to make the debate about the government's role in industry and the economy - not the rules of the 'free market' as Binnill has succeeded in painting the debate so far.

There are some literal changes in the landscape for parties to worry about now, however, for some parties changing the electoral calculus. The DSP ruling coalition pushed through a slight redistricting of the Cenian districts - which on the face did not appear to be an instance of gerrymandering, especially because the Moderates assented to the change in districts. The electoral calculus in the northern part of Ceni likely will not change - the cities especially will likely remain areas of strong Social Liberal and CDS support, as will the district of New Oxford. However, many of the changes that will likely change the way elections happen, if only slightly, revolve around the boundaries of New Oxford. Most specifically, New Oxford gained liberal population from Dover especially and some conservative population, to a lesser extent, from Newcastle, and lost some liberal population to Westgreen. Meanwhile, Whitehaven lost conservative population to Dover. The changes mean that Whitehaven district will become more liberal - and thus a target for the Moderates, CDS, and the Social Liberals, and Westgreen will also have significant efforts from the Social Liberals and the Moderates, considering that a good 25% of its population came from the liberal suburbs of New Oxford. On the other hand, Dover will now be a lot less competitive in elections - not like the conservative forces would lose their grip on it anyhow.

With the advent of the new electoral districts as well as the new parties, the original parties, as well as New Cenians, will likely change their strategies for victory somewhat, the Moderates especially. Since they now campaign for reform to make Ceni more competitive and urge for more socially conservative measures coupled with less bombastic immigration rhetoric, the Moderates will likely enjoy more support than they do now in the northern regions of Ceni, which are a bit more socially conservative than the rest of Ceni. They also hope to keep their hold on Whitehaven and Westgreen, especially in the face of New Cenians opposition. Finally, the Moderates hope to make inroads into the cities, such as City Centre and Cenial, hoping to get some seats in Ceni's lower house, the 225-seat National Assembly, from those areas. The New Cenians will likely be nipping at their heels, though. Well-financed and led by the slick Hightower, the New Cenians have been making inroads into the conservative south, especially in Dover, Newcastle, Southpoint, and Dover, where the population can be pretty jingoistic and anti-immigrant. The party also hopes to launch an aggressive advertising campaign within Cenial and City Centre to try and raise support for their policies among native Cenians living there. That strategy poses risks, however, as Ceni's range voting system means that the party can lose rating points in those cities if their campaign backfires. And the New Cenians' campaign might succeed in convincing voters that Binnill's reforms are too progressive - only to drive them into the arms of the Social Liberals.

Ads in this political season have reflected the increasingly caustic nature of politics and the new debate over the government and its role in the economy, for better or for worse. A few of the best ads have perfectly captured the sense of this election. One, a CDS ad, lampoons Hightower and his party: "Hightower and his fellow fat cats sit all day in lounges and bars drinking away with each other... while on the streets of Ceni, people still remain homeless," the visuals dramatically underscoring the ad's intended message: opulence and luxury on several screens and crying mothers and homeless children on the other. The CDS continued on that same tack in their ad "Healthcare", which told the story of a woman who was driven into bankruptcy by a cancer - and the rich hospital companies who literally extorted "drop by drop, every drop of blood in her body... so they could finance their increasingly luxurious lifestyles." The CDS ads may have hit their point home, but the New Cenians hit back by showing ads of ordinary Cenians draped with taxes and taxes and taxes - one of their ads showed a living room with a stack of tax papers so high it almost touched the ceiling. The Social Liberals and Moderates attempted to put in positive ads with their negative ones, attacking the status quo while showing how their policies would solve for the conditions in Ceni without all the negative effects the other sides were claiming. Ultimately, though, as befits quite a few Cenian elections, the debate was vastly centered around policy; candidates all around Ceni barely resorted to ad hominem attacks or vicious mudslinging. That, however, does not mean that this election has not been one of the most vicious in Cenian history.

Political analyst Gil Korova of Cenian Public Radio states that the changes to the electoral landscape will make these legislative elections one of the most competitive elections in Cenian history. "We face a lot of questions before next month's elections - how far can the Social Liberals capitalize on the negative ads towards the ruling CDS? How far can the New Cenians make inroads into the South and even into the cities? And will the Moderates' new more inclusive policy work on securing them new seats in Cenial, City Centre, and the northern Hispanic districts?" All of these questions mean the outcome of the election is no longer a certainty." Korova thinks that these new parties are actually good for Cenian politics. "Despite what the CDS may tell you that the New Cenians do not represent all Cenians, etc., these new political phenomenons must actually represent what the people of Ceni actually want, and they definitely change the equation of politics as usual here in Ceni. That can always be a good thing for politics: change and the advent of new opinions injected into the public debate."

[Ceni]

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CENIAL, Ceni - Xanthas Hightower defies almost all political predictions in Ceni: he is staunchly conservative in a country that almost overwhelmingly votes liberal, he is an entrepreneur, businessman, and leader of a successful corporation when corporations throughout Ceni are reviled, he is blustery and bombastic in a country that favors tolerance and political correctness. Overall, Xanthas Hightower is an enigma - albeit one that voters snap up like fresh cheese at the supermarket. He isn't old or moldy, definitely not cut from the same mold that characterizes other popular up-and-coming politicians such as Kel Viridian of Cenial and Luke Talonspyre in New Oxford, perhaps contributing to his political appeal in a country where politicians all crow about the evilness of corporations. Xanthas Hightower is, in short, a living embodiment of what many voters in Ceni believe against, and yet voters, especially in the conservative south, are flocking to him and his program of economic growth and anti-immigrant populism, worried that the country is no longer competitive in an increasingly competitive day and age. And some of Ceni's preeminent politicians - governors of three souther districts, Melissa Vlandril, Alex Vendar, and Johnny Menuk, have already switched their alliance to Hightower's nascent political party, the New Cenians, and those governors' popularity ratings are as high as ever. The party's challenge, however, is to expand their reach nationally in the upcoming legislative elections when 225 seats in the Council of Representatives and 51 seats in the Senate are up for grabs, and they are optimistic about the challenge; some even rumor that Hightower will run for President in two year.

Xanthas Hightower is not the kind of corporate owner that many people revile, especially as his supporters say. Born to a vacuum-cleaner salesman and a stay-at-home mom in Dover, in the South of Ceni, fifty-five years ago, Hightower grew up believing in the virtues of independence, perseverance, and hard work. When his father died at the age of 14, Hightower had to take a paper route in order to make ends meet for his growing family; his mother became a nurse. With the money earned from his paper route, Hightower started a small computer business, which was soon turning a tidy profit. In school, Hightower juggled his burgeoning business and advanced science and math classes and graduated first in his class at the Dover South High School. When he left school, he eschewed the traditional college route and continued to run the business. With the help of his friend Stephen Sunfell, the company grew with Hightower's brilliant invention of a new computer chip for his computers, making computing faster and the company richer. After that development, Hightower Technology grew in size to develop a range of new products, from more advanced semiconductor chips to full-blown supercomputers, with almost everything in between. Today, Hightower is one of the biggest companies in Ceni, with operations in Eura, Electrum, and New Gelderland as well.

Hightower told the Cenial Tribune in an interview that his interest in politics had always been there but his business took up most of his time. "I was a business owner, OK? And for a while I had to develop the business. But what irked me was the red tape we have to go through to develop a new product. Paperwork here, paperwork there. And to top it all, we had a huge tax rate. And for what? Just for being in Ceni. We were doing a lot for the government, but the government has not been doing a lot for us." So his platform has a lot of ideas to help innovation and corporations - patent and copyright extensions ("to protect the hard work of our inventors from foreign and domestic copycats"), relaxed rules on trading on stock exchanges and a reform of complex rules in other financial markets, a flat income tax of 15% for all brackets, a reduction in the minimum wage and social security ("employees should be paid what they're worth, not what the government says they're worth"), allowing arbitration in contracts, and expanded use of eminent domain. "Our country is lagging behind everyone else in almost everything - and my party's policies, based on my experiences as a businessman, will help our country come to the top again." Although his economic policies have their fair share of criticism, his most controversial policies relate to immigration and terrorism. "Our country is SOFT on terrorism! Let's get back to HARD on terrorism. Strict searches, screening of all immigrants, and a massive search operation around our island. It's pretty small, yet we've done a HORRIBLE job of protecting our borders. Let's start to protect our borders again."

It seems like the electorate these days is tired of the status quo - and Hightower's New Cenians have their charismatic, bombastic leader, who is running for Senate in Dover, where he was born, to back them up. His utterances have gone from the mildly offensive to the hugely insane - from remarks lambasting the Euran annexationist movement in some strong language to a proposal to build an electrified undersea fence all around Ceni to "keep out all the boats from these immigrant countries - who come to steal our jobs and our wives." While not politically correct, that is beside the point - many Cenians will eat up what he is saying, regardless of its political correctness. Xanthas Hightower and his party have given voice to the feelings of many Cenians - except in the past, nobody has voiced those sentiments. Now Hightower is, and he is reaping the rewards of his brutally honest (and bombastic?) leadership style; the New Cenians' poll numbers have gone up as Mr. Hightower's bombast has gone up, and his political correctness has gone down. Hightower is, in short, the perfect candidate to represent a new wave of Cenian political philosophy - that of the populist right wing. And in a country where the right-wing has long tacked towards the liberal side to win votes, the New Cenians are a truly right-wing organization, especially when compared with other organizations in a very liberal country. Conservatives in Ceni have long felt marginalized - and Hightower gives them a voice and will enable many to stop holding their noses to vote for the lesser of three or four evils, many even not bothering to vote at all. Hightower's utterances have only added to the New Cenian's aura of competitiveness, and the new-found invigoration of the debate around Hightower can drastically change Cenian politics.

Not only does his wide appeal with voters mean that the New Cenians will pick up at least some seats when the elections come, his cozy relationship with corporations also helps him to fundraise and mount an increasingly capable ground campaign, as well as inundating the actual election process itself with political ads blasting the political status quo. First of all, because of his stake in Hightower Technology, Hightower has the financial resources to actually fund his own campaign, which for the moment has leaned to wards the frugal, but the influx of corporate donors has changed that, meaning that Hightower can emerge from the campaign with his own funds unscathed. Major corporations such as Selaphoros, an oil services company, Endais Chemicals, and Telluric Pharmaceuticals have all jumped on the Hightower bandwagon, according to recently released campaign documents, the corporations and their richly-paid CEOs hoping that their infusion of cash into Hightower's campaign will increase their sales and buy them a measure of political stability in Cenial, a city where many of them are based but at the same time a city that they loathe because of the anti-corporate policies enacted by the government sitting there. Overall, these corporations have seized upon the New Cenians as a chance to rebuild their Ceni to one that they have been dreaming about for years - one with less taxes and less governmental interference in their business model.

Despite his popular appeal, there are plenty of people who stand exactly opposed to what he argues for. Sela Felan, a Social Liberal Senator from Cenial North and a former governor there, is running for re-election on what is decisively an anti-Hightower platform, and her arguments sum up the crux of the debate over Hightower's campaign and his bombastic utterances. "Mr. Hightower and his statements are not what this country needs at the moment," Felan expostulated in a recent campaign speech. "We cannot afford to kick out all of our immigrants, like Mr. Hightower suggests. Our country came to exist through immigration. Our country was built on immigration, and we cannot take that away simply because one immigrant committed a crime!" Felan also criticized Hightower's economic policies. "Instead of more innovation, Mr. Hightower will drive more income inequality. Instead of more revenue for the state, his tax plan will drive less revenue. His plan is trickle-down economics at its very worst - and it's been shown that trickle-down economics does not work. What Mr. Hightower is interested in is making his corporation more profitable and his wallet lined with more cash, and his policies will only benefit his billionaire cronies." Polls suggest that Ms. Felan has quite a bit of support in Ceni - despite New Cenians' rising poll numbers, they are still not high enough to compete with the mainstream political parties, especially coupled with the rise of the Moderates which makes the New Cenians' policies look quite extreme.

Right-wing parties are nothing new to Ceni - the Alliance for Cenial Future, for one, launched the campaign of Allan Debord for President, yet it failed to mount any success, mostly due to the fall of Saintland's extremre religious government that was funding it. Now the New Cenians are taking the cause to a higher level, says a political analyst. "Xanthas Hightower has two roots of power - the corporations and the people. It seems a little bit antithetical, but it works for him," said Gil Korova, the politics editor for Cenian Public Radio. "The people will provide votes and volunteers come Election Day, and the corporations finance it all. It's a very good deal for him." Furthermore, Korova opined that Hightower's policies had something in them for both parties. "The people gravitate towards the anti-immigrant spiel and the anti-terrorism rhetoric; the corporations like Hightower's policies, which will most definitely benefit them if he wins. So really his supporters are happy with his policies." Korova did concede that it would take a massive effort to get Hightower's operation into the Legislature outside of the Cenian south. "To many people, Hightower is a love him or hate him candidate. And a lot of people hate him, especially in the cities, so they will likely give him less points on their range ballots. I predict that the New Cenians will get a few seats in the Senate and Council of Representatives, but it will take a massive, unforeseen event to propel him and his party to power. And even there's a roadblock to that - Masnol Binnill will veto any measure that his party manages to pass, at least for the next two year until the Presidential election. So I think that at the moment, the New Cenians have a slim chance of doing anything other than riling up their conservative base."

[Ceni]

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CENIAL, Ceni - The Greens surprisingly took a plurality of the seats in the Cenian legislative elections in the Council of Representatives, 71 seats, and were one seat shy of a plurality in the Senate with 14 seats. Meanwhile, the ruling Congress for Democratic Socialism took a heavy blow to its efforts to maintain legislative support in the remaining two years of Masnol Binnill's presidency, with the results indicating that the party's more radical direction is displeasing many voters. The Social Liberals did more or less well, maintaining their percentages in the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Moderates leveraged success in the North of Ceni to achieve a good electoral result after their rebranding, while the most conservative and nationalistic party, the New Cenians, won six seats in the Senate and fifteen in the Council of Representatives, dealing Xanthas Hightower's party's aspirations to radically change the character of the Cenian economic system a blow. The results indicate overall that voters like the moderate social policies but the promise of the CSD has not been enough to satisfy many.

The New Cenians proved especially dominant in some of the Senate races in the South, where the conservative nature allowed the party to rack up seats with great ease (despite good Moderate performances in Westgreen, Dover, and Newcastle), winning all six of their Senate seats down south. However their candidatures had some trouble in the Council of Representatives, with the New Cenians only taking 15 seats, all of them in the South and eight from Southpoint, likely their only stronghold. Two of Dover's three seats, in fact, went to the Moderates, and they were able to pull out two in Westgreen as well as 3 in Newcastle, damaging the New Cenians' hold of the region. In the North of Ceni, the Moderates apparently proved effective in their campaign push, winning at least three seats and 45% of the seats in all four of the northern, Hispanic provinces, caused the Social Liberals to lose ground. They actually won twenty-two in the North, just over half of their total of 41. The Greens also emerged from the North, which had been traditionally their stronghold, with a few seats, but that paled to the seats they gained in the cities. In the Senate, however, they were more successful in the North, winning 5 out of a total of 10 seats (2 others going to the moderates and one each to the Social Liberals and CSD).

Apparently the environment was a heavy priority for voters in Cenial and City Centre, even in City Centre South, where they tied with the Social Liberals. A heavy Euran turnout in City Centre North, home to high-tech manufacturing which attracts Euran immigrants, allowed for a massive turnout for the Social Liberals and the Moderates, outnumbering the traditional union strengths of the Congress of Democratic Socialism, which only won 17 seats in total in both of the City Centres and only 3 out of 13 seats on offer in the Senate. The SLs had great turnout in Cenial and City Centre as well, where they won 46 out of their 52 seats and 11 Senate seats. In New Oxford, the CSD enjoyed support among the super-liberal college students and professors, winning 9 out of the 23 seats. However, quite a few candidates in New Oxford played on the environmental sentiment in New Oxford - and the Greens won 11 seats there. The CSD's Senate candidates, though, ran good campaigns, taking 3 out of 5 Senate seats (the other two going to the Social Liberals). The Greens also pushed their message of social justice and environmentalism well in the cities - winning 19 seats in Cenial North, 11 in Cenial South, and 10 in Cenial South as well as plenty of seats in the North.

In Cenial North, Sara Solmai, the former host of the Rotunda program for Cenian Public Radio, was one of the only two Social Liberal candidates to win a seat in the district, down from five last season; the other was the popular former governor and incumbent Senator Sela Felan. Both candidates ran a fairly liberal platform but avoided some of the incendiary rhetoric of the CSD in other regions, and both leveraged high personal popularity as well in order to hang onto the seats for their party. However, they faced a tough challenge in the Greens and the CSD, which actually won three seats (as compared to two last cycle). Both incumbent Senators from the Greens, Daeron Soresed and Toros Navarian, hung onto their seats by wide margins, while two other Green candidates managed to get elected. Meanwhile, in Cenial South, the former Green candidate for President, Sevisa Aralen, easily won her Senate seat, with a score of 7.44. In City Centre North, the former comedian and incumbent Senator Marius Sauvageot was the only CSD candidate to win his or her seat, other incumbent Senators falling to the Social Liberals and the Greens. In City Centre South, Elia Inera, who ran for governor two years ago, also won her Senate seat easily, coming in first on the ballot, incidentally. In New Oxford, last year's governor candidate from the Social Liberals, Audrey Goleidas, found a way to win her Senate seat and get into the State House, the government professor resolving to come back once her term was finished. In Nova Ascea, Adrian Belmonte Castillo, who ran two years ago for governor, failed to get a seat in government yet again, losing to the Greens yet again, who continue to demonstrate that their results in the North last year were not a fluke. Many eyes were focused on the conservative Dover and Xanthas Hightower's race for the Senate seat there; despite a strong Moderate challenge, he prevailed in the contest, winning by almost half of a point over the Moderate candidate.

Throughout the election, the Congress for Democratic Socialism tried to focus a lot of media attention on Xanthas Hightower and his policies, which they believed would be negative for the country. The CSD also harped on the corporate motif, decrying the influence of corporations on Cenian politics and how corporations were more interested in profits and stock performance than the environment and the people of Ceni. To solve for that, they argued for higher taxes, redistributive measures, and a continuation of Masnol Binnill's reforms in office. The Hightower camp and the New Cenians, for their part, played the race card, attacking immigrants for stealing Cenian jobs, committing crimes, and introducing foreign culture. This, and his policy of a "border net", while energizing his conservative base, struck a nerve with Ceni's large immigrant population. In particular, Hightower's overly nationalistic statements and desire to increase the military angered Ceni's large Euran population, which turned out in large number to oppose Hightower and the New Cenians. The Social Liberals, perhaps sensing some unhappiness with the Binnill administration, delivered a message about empowering people while toning down the rhetoric about punishing the corporations, as well as running quite a few quality candidates. The Moderates played their cards well in the North especially, where their socially conservative policies on abortion and gay rights and their liberal policies on economics and social justice matched those of many voters. The Greens, however, probably played the election the best; they played the environment card for all it was worth, talking about protecting biodiversity in other nations, reducing emissions, becoming more eco-friendly, and rooftop gardens. They also sensed the discord with the CSD and talked quite a bit about social justice, especially within the context of environmentalism. Their practical measures won votes from many segments of the Cenian population and perhaps won them the election.

The Greens were jubilant. Sevisa Aralen, the just-elected Senator and two years ago's presidential candidate who is likely to serve as the party's Senatorial chair, spoke at an event in Cenial with a message of hope for the country: "Our country is heading in a new direction now. Our country is headed toward less emissions, our country is heading to more efficient power systems, our country is heading towards prosperity, our country is heading towards social justice! As Senator, I will push for these things, and our party will push for these things as well. We will grow stronger together." Sela Felan, the Senatorial leader of the Social Liberals, hoped to work with the Greens in the Council of Representatives to pass "common-sense measures" for the country. "We are excited today that we have the largest amount of seats in the Senate and the second largest number of seats in the Council of Representatives. But we know we can't do the hard work of governing this country alone - the Greens and our party have a lot of common ground, and I think we can work together to achieve a future we deserve." President Masnol Binnill acknowledged at least some defeat. "Supporters, volunteers, friends, thank you for this ride. The voters of Ceni delivered us a message, one that we did not like, but they still delivered us a message. Nonetheless, we will still fight against the corporations who are taking the soul of the Cenian worker. We will still fight against the millionaires and billionaires!"

Sebastian Greyhelm, the Senatorial leader for the Moderates from Whitehaven, and Karen Arkanus, the Council leader from Newcastle, gave a speech together celebrating their good performance. "While we did not in the elections today, we at least sent a message: that conservative values shall not go unchampioned and that the policies best for our businesses and economy will not go ignored!" Xanthas Hightower refused to accept defeat. "Our country is heading in the WRONG direction," he shouted. "And the liberal establishment knows that the people are fed up, but they rigged the election so they still won anyway. Our country deserves BETTER!" Reaction from outside the country was muted; many countries believe Ceni is but a minor player on the international scene. Most of the comments that foreign leaders did make related to the divisive candidacy of Xanthas Hightower and the New Cenians. Guayabalense Prime Minister Samuel Gómez worried about "extremist ideas" from Hightower in regards to migration, as his country has a large expatriate population in Ceni, while congratulating the people of Ceni on the New Cenians' defeat. Euran Prime Minister Michael Judge of the Liberal Party also warned against "simplistic" Hightower narratives in the run-up to the election; one must wonder if he is happy as well about the result.

Senate results

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Council of Representatives results


Yellow: SL, Red: CSD, Green: Greens, Blue: Moderates, Orange: NC

[Ceni]

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CENIAL, Ceni - Gregoryisgodistan has long been known as a pariah state to much of the international community - with the cult of personality around their leader, the latest in a line of Lord Almight Gregorys; slavery is prevalent; and the country routinely makes propaganda claims about nuclear bombs and solar-powered weapons in the thousands and millions - claiming that their arsenal is quite unstoppable and all nations must bow to the leadership of the latest Lord Almighty Gregory. Tensions with Gregoryisgodistan have always been high but it Euran support for the SETO, led by San Jose Guayabal, has earned it the ire of this reclusive nation and re-stoked tensions in the volatile Covello Bay region. Now Ceni has had its say in the process: knowing that Eura will likely have its support, the government of Ceni has passed almost unanimously in both houses of the Cenian Assembly sanctions against Gregoryisgodistan, and President Masnol Binnill has affixed his signature to the bill, making it law.

Masnol Binnill, when signing the new sanctions, said that the country will finally be holding one of the world's most repressive regimes to task. "Today, I will sign a bill that will finally bring justice to a people who have suffered for too long under the rule of a tinpot dictator. Today, I will sign a bill that will finally send a message to Lord Almighty Gregory or whatever he calls himself: the world will not tolerate you and your brand of demonism, your brand of rule which ruthlessly enslaves your own people and mind controls them. Today, I will sign a bill that says no more to this!" Social Liberal parliamentary leader Sela Felan was also passionate in her remarks on the floor. "Our country has, for too long, sat idly by while the people of the so-called Gregoryisgodistan lay dying and the unchecked ego of the leader who calls himself "Gregory" keeps growing and growing. Our country has, for too long, tolerated the human rights abuses of Gregoryisgodistan. But they have gone too far - they have gone too far in massacring their own people, they have gone too far in their threats and their bombastic language, they have gone too far in making the quality of life in their country so low that it is not even worth living there." Marius Sauvageot, a prominent CDS Senator, also went far in his condemnation of the regime: "The Enemy List? Who cares about some damn Enemy List? It's pure propaganda, that's what. We cannot let the Enemy List of a tinpot dictator and his propaganda dispatches and his raving speeches scare us! To hell with the Enemy List! We must act and we must not listen to the threats of every dictator who comes along and demands something. Our country must stand by no longer!"

In particular, the sanctions ban the export of many products to Gregoryisgodistan, including metal, scrap iron, and steel; crude oil; any petrochemicals or petroleum products; gasoline; molybdenum disulfide and refinery parts; aircraft parts and car parts; and a wide range of other parts and machinery necessary for the running of an industrial economy. They also restrict travel of certain Gregoryisgodistani leaders, including the current and any future Lord Almighty Gregory, Cleffie Martinez, and several of his top aides. Finally, the sanctions also freeze any Gregoryisgodistani bank accounts, prohibit Cenian banks from doing business with Gregoryisgodistan, and add further to cutting the country off from the international financial market. Ceni also announced its intention to comply with World Assembly Resolution #312; R312 requires member nations, which Ceni is, to "safely and fairly prosecute individuals suspected of committing an act listed in section 2" - crimes against humanity or war crimes, of which Gregoryisgodistani citizens have indubitably carried out - if it is given the chance; Ceni will arrest any person accused of such crimes and try them under the Cenian justice system, which requires a fair trial and the advice of legal counsel. Thus the sanctions implicitly ban Gregoryisgodistanis involved in war crimes from travelling to Ceni for fear of prosecution. In addition, the bill welcomes any applications of asylum in Ceni for individuals wishing to escape the regime.

Karith Akkan, a Professor of Economics at the University of Ceni, thinks that the sanctions will only have a limited effect on Gregoryisgodistan's economy. "To be realistic, Gregoryisgodistan does not have much trade with Ceni, if at all. Therefore, it's unlikely that the sanctions will do much to impel change on Gregoryisgodistan's part." What trade the two countries do have is very limited and in the areas of petrochemicals and financial services, two areas blocked by the sanctions, but the volume of both is very small. However, he does believe that Ceni has the right idea in targetting specific areas: "Assuming, for the moment, that sanctions will have the effect that the politicians want, the Cenian government's choices are actually fairly sound. They target areas that will stop the economy from functioning, more specifically industrial activity. If other countries with more economic clout, such as Eura and San Jose Guayabal, actually adopt these sanctions, though, they can have a lot more effect than the comparatively modest Cenian sanctions." Political analyst Gil Korova of Cenian Public Radio is blunt with his assessment of the sanctions: "They are a political message, nothing more." He explains: "The Cenian Senate and Council of Representatives probably knew full well that the sanctions would have absolutely no effect. But really the government wanted to send a message to their constituents that they really did care about human rights without having to actually do much. It seems like a cop out to me."

[Ceni]

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CITY CENTRE, Ceni - City Centre is known for its chemical factories and its refineries, its fiercely unionized and liberal population, and the modern apartments which host the many workers in the city. Here, at the headquarters of Selaphoros in the city, leaders of several of the major oil and chemical companies in the country have converged to make a major announcement: the discovery of the Hammerhead field of oil in the Cenian exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which likely extends into Electrum and further north into Eura. The field is estimated to hold at least one billion barrels of oil in the Cenian portion (which is admittedly fairly small) and likely ten to twenty billion more barrels of oil in Electrum and Eura, if the field extends that far (contingent on efforts by either country to develop the field). Business leaders have seized on the opportunity to expand drilling in the Endemian Ocean, saying that it will increase jobs and economic output, while environmentalists are using the news for another purpose: to oppose further drilling and exploratory permits to make an argument against fossil fuels and focus more attention on renewable sources of energy.

Petroleum engineer Avlis Athan, who works with Selaphoros, a major oil refiner within Ceni, was on the team that made the crucial discovery of oil. "We had the help of very sophisticated technology and very accurate instruments that could measure changes in the Earth's gravitational field and magnetic field to find the oil once we had set out to find the oil. But before we left, we also had the aid of many maps, charts, diagrams, and a complex computer modeling system to determine where oil might be located underneath the Endemian Ocean. Those models turned out to be successful, and we struck a large oil field almost exactly where our models had predicted it." He explained that because of the sea shelf's location and its similarity to rocks that house the Breakers Reef field farther out in the Endemian Ocean, there was potential for a lot of oil in the Hammerhead field. The team, which included engineers from Selaphoros, Endais (a major chemical company), Endemoil, and Black Gold (the latter two of which are Euran companies hoping to expand their production of oil for the oil-hungry Euran economy), had to go through a strict regulatory process in order to get the go-ahead for drilling in the Cenian exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the first place. "The Cenian government examined our application with an eagle eye for possible environmental harms, feasibility, and much more before issuing us an exploration permit, which the Greens of course opposed in the first place on principle. In order to get our company able to drill in this field, we will now have to apply for a drilling permit, which has an even more rigorous application process than the exploratory permit," Athan explains of the laws.

Owen Keteris, the CEO of Endais, one of the companies involved in the find, was ecstatic in the press conference announcing the find, as was CEO of Selaphoros Leo Wessiri. "Both our companies rely heavily on oil in order to stay in business, in this oil and petrochemical sector," noted Wessiri. "Therefore this find is extremely important to us - not only economically, as the find will certainly benefit our businesses and our economy as a whole, but it makes us feel proud to find a field that can help provide energy to millions of people in the region cheaply as well as foster a higher standard of living." Keteris added that his company would "make sure to set the standard of reliability and profitability in the field for allowing our company to grow as a result of the find." Furthermore, the Chair of the Cenian Chamber of Commerce, Io Ovarug, said she was quite excited about the prospect of the oil field's revenues coming to Ceni. "Oil can give Ceni a big lifeline in the economic world, and it can help the struggling economy and give jobs to skilled Cenian workers who need these jobs and this pay at the present time. This is an extremely exciting opportunity for Cenian businesses, and I hope that we can capitalize on this opportunity to support our country." Sebastian Greyhelm, the Senatorial leader of the Moderates from Whitehaven, predicted an increase in jobs for his district with the find. "I'm proud to support a measure to ease restrictions on drilling permits to fully develop the potential of the Hammerhead field for the economic benefits that it will bring to my district and the country as a whole."

However, several prominent Greens Senators and councilmembers immediately proposed to restrict the drilling permits given for any oil exploration within the Cenian EEZ at all. Green Leader Sevisa Aralen, who represents Ceni, conceded the "potential economic benefits" of legislation allowing expansion of drilling in Cenian waters, but heavily criticized measures for their potential environmental impact. "For years and years, our country has tried to avoid using a lot of oil and natural gas in our domestic consumption. Instead, we've developed solar, wind, tidal with Electrum to help reduce our carbon emissions and our energy costs. Those have worked for us in the past, supplying most of our energy needs. Why do we need to suddenly start increasing our carbon emissions, when they lead to climate change? Why should we convert oil in the ground to carbon dioxide in the air, only worsening our pollution and our environment. We must say no to the expansion of drilling in Cenian waters!" Alan Farlance of Citizens Against Drilling in Whitehaven spoke about the potential impact of an oil spill on the local wildlife. "We host colonies of many migrating seabirds on the islets off our coast - petrels, grebes, puffins, albatrosses, cormorants, many othe types of seabirds - and they are vulnerable to an oil spill. They will become trapped in the slick and die. And the fish as well will suffer from an oil spill, dying in much the same manner and devastating the fishing industry. Finally, Whitehaven has a thriving tourist industry with its beaches - oil would certainly ruin those too. So an oil spill would be devastating for a lot of Whitehaven's population - both human and animal - and I don't think the companies have in mind the best interests of the people or have an adequate plan in case things go wrong."

Economist Joshua Celtru with the University of Ceni notes that the discovery of oil and natural gas within the Cenian EEZ have several ramifications for the Cenian economy. "Oil has produced a boom in several countries in the past, and I can see oil producing a further boom within the Cenian economy" as businesses spring up or expand not only to drill for the oil itself, but also to refine it and cater to the increased business for the people working in the oil and gas industry. "And, with the Euran economy's demand for crude and refined oil growing with every single day to sate its economy, Cenian producers almost know for a fact they will have markets in Eura to sell their oil to." However, Celtru noted that there was a caveat to all the economists who predicted "rainbows and sunshine": "Booms don't last forever. It is the natural cycle of the economy that what must go up must go down. Although this deepwater oil will have a moderate break-even price, especially compared to other sources, the price of oil per barrel will need to be $60 or more, on average, to stimulate a lot of production. When the price falls, production falls, people lose their jobs, and the economy falls. So Ceni must be careful to maintain its economy in several other sectors instead of sending all new investment towards the oil sector."

Gil Korova, a political analyst with the Cenian Public Radio, says that there could possibly be a stalemate in the Senate and the Council of Representatives over the matter - but many legislators are still unconvinced on where they stand on the matter. "The Greens will almost certainly impose a part whip on this issue, forcing all their members to vote for any measures restricting drilling, and thus against those expanding drilling. But probably the other parties will allow a free vote - meaning that they will allow their members to vote freely, based on their personal views and on the needs of their constituents. Most likely, legislators from the south will vote for drilling, while Cenial legislators will likely vote against, and City Center legislators will be the most torn - they have the most involvement in the oil industry, with all the chemical factories and refineries in City Centre, but they also have pressures from the environmentalist movement. Whichever way this vote goes, though, it will likely be a close vote - in both chambers - with quite a lot of debate on both sides of the issue. This certainly won't be resolved any time soon, and probably these companies will have to wait for a while to start drilling, just due to the political climate and the lethargy of the legislature."

[Vers-Gelderland]

---

NASSAU BAY, New Gelderland - Nassau Bay's stock exchange is bustling with the increased economy. One group of stocks are on the rise more so than other stocks: those of luxury goods purveyors. In fact, those companies have grown more than average than other companies in the Gelderlish economy, perhaps because of the increased demand due to the growing economy. Quite a number of companies, in the agricultural and other sectors of the econom, have been beginning to feel the effect of this boom on the economy with an increase in sales and demand for their luxury products, more so than normal business would suggest.

Kim Matthews, an economist with KMT Associates, has an explanation for the recent increase in sales of luxury goods: "Basically, the economy has been going back up again, so there's going to be a pent-up demand that has been released in New Gelderland for domestically produced goods that people haven't normally been able to afford. Secondly, New Gelderlish companies have been successful in marketing their products towards the wider Terranean market, as well as Rushmore in general. Despite the fact that Eura's economy has been stagnating so far, Gelderlish products have had a lot bigger share of the luxury goods sector, so they're able to have a lot more sales in that area that they haven't had in the past." Matthews also notes that demand for food products has grown in Ceni and Eura to feed growing populations, Ceni especially, because it doesn't have a lot of farmland, and quality, farm-raised products have proven to be popular in the island country. As for the ramifications for the Gelderlish economy in general, Matthews hopes that it will stimulate the economy as well but warns of potential downfalls from the luxury goods sector: "Luxury goods are among the first things to be cut in the event of a recession or downturn. So this market is one of the more volatile markets, and the boom in luxury goods can't last forever. It may be only temporary."

However, most purveyors of these kinds of luxury goods will take whatever benefits they can get, investing in their businesses and saving some money over for hard times. One of those small business owners is Pierce Bannerman of Bannerman Farms, who runs a small-scale operation making cheeses, both from cow's milk and goat's milk. He says his cheeses, the most famous of which is the Red Rogue variety, have been selling very well throughout Terranea. "We've been having a lot of market exposure from good reviews in publications - the Nassau Bay Herald, the Cenial Tribune, some publications in Eura - so people have been trying to buy our products in droves now. We sometimes aren't able to keep up with the demand with our small facilities, so we're investing in our business to try to be able to meet that demand. We're investing in more livestock, more grazing land, and more efficient milking machines so we can get the best out of what we have." Bannerman's response was typical of the responses given by small farmers and business owners, who are struggling to keep up with the surging demand. Many small farmers in the Rogue River area, for example, are trying to expand their operations as well to take advantage of fertile soil.

Craft brewery owner Bill Gilbert, of the Sentinel Peak Brewing Company, echoes Mr. Bannerman's sentiments. "Only a couple of years ago, we were a small, craft-brewing organization devoted to serving good beer and good food to the local community. But we've been approached by quite a bit of people asking to import large quantities of our product into their country, and we've also had offers for distribution and expansion, including a new facility in Cenial, perhaps in either Bastion or Centralis as well. We know there is a lot of demand, but we don't want to sacrifice our original ideas and values in order to meet that demand. It's a tight tightrope to walk, but we're trying to expand as much as we can without detracting from our original founding purpose." Medium-sized business owner Stella Mitchell of the chocolate company Laurent & Schultz said her company had always thrived around the retail side of the operation, and that's where she foresaw her company expanding. "We have a small face of our operation in Vaduz - a small storefront where shoppers can come by, taste our wares, and then buy them. Now we're trying to get our goods into more supermarkets and angling to set up more stores in some upscale markets. I think it can really improve our business."

Luxury wineries perhaps have seen the largest benefit with the growing demand for luxury agricultural items. The Golden Hills winery, a mom-and-pop operation in the valley of the Great Rushmori River, and Liberal Estates, a fairly large Electrumite-Gelderlish venture with vineyards as far north as Prescott in Electrum, as well as operations in the Rogue and Talos River Valleys, both have seen increases in sales on the order of 20% or 25%. Ben Wortham, the owner of Golden Hills, has seen his advertising campaign in Eura paying off. "We've seen a lot more visits from Eurans, hoping to taste our wine and then buy it. It's really been a boon to our business, and I'm glad that we undertook that campaign in Eura. It's really paying off, and this good economy isn't hurting us either. We're riding this boom as much as we can, and we intend to save some more money for retirement. We're really happy." Byron Henryson, a spokesperson for Liberal Estates, says his company has ridden the boom very well. "We have an excellent opportunity to expand, considering we already have the resources and the market reach to expand. We also have a wide geographical distribution - and we're seeing good trends for our business throughout Terranea, in Eura, Ceni, the Isles of Avon, and Electrum, not just New Gelderland. So far, we've had a lot of success selling to hotels and restaurants, indicating that people have more disposable income."

Agricultural producers haven't been the only ones to see benefits, though. Perfume company Aura has also seen a growth in its sales, especially after rising customer demand has prompted it to start selling its product to upscale department stores and start its own shops, where it can sell its wares as well. CEO Victor Traylor explains that his company has seen a lot of folks emboldened by the general uptick in the economy: "I've seen the data, and a lot of people are coming in to buy higher-end and brand name perfume that they couldn't have afforded before. It's a boon to us and our business - a rising tide lifts all boats, as they say, and certainly, this rising tide is lifting our boat a lot right now."

[Ceni]

---

CITY CENTRE, Ceni - City Centre is known for its chemical factories and its refineries, its fiercely unionized and liberal population, and the modern apartments which host the many workers in the city. Here, at the headquarters of Selaphoros in the city, leaders of several of the major oil and chemical companies in the country have converged to make a major announcement: the discovery of the Hammerhead field of oil in the Cenian exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which likely extends into Electrum and further north into Eura. The field is estimated to hold at least one billion barrels of oil in the Cenian portion (which is admittedly fairly small) and likely ten to twenty billion more barrels of oil in Electrum and Eura, if the field extends that far (contingent on efforts by either country to develop the field). Business leaders have seized on the opportunity to expand drilling in the Endemian Ocean, saying that it will increase jobs and economic output, while environmentalists are using the news for another purpose: to oppose further drilling and exploratory permits to make an argument against fossil fuels and focus more attention on renewable sources of energy.

Petroleum engineer Avlis Athan, who works with Selaphoros, a major oil refiner within Ceni, was on the team that made the crucial discovery of oil. "We had the help of very sophisticated technology and very accurate instruments that could measure changes in the Earth's gravitational field and magnetic field to find the oil once we had set out to find the oil. But before we left, we also had the aid of many maps, charts, diagrams, and a complex computer modeling system to determine where oil might be located underneath the Endemian Ocean. Those models turned out to be successful, and we struck a large oil field almost exactly where our models had predicted it." He explained that because of the sea shelf's location and its similarity to rocks that house the Breakers Reef field farther out in the Endemian Ocean, there was potential for a lot of oil in the Hammerhead field. The team, which included engineers from Selaphoros, Endais (a major chemical company), Endemoil, and Black Gold (the latter two of which are Euran companies hoping to expand their production of oil for the oil-hungry Euran economy), had to go through a strict regulatory process in order to get the go-ahead for drilling in the Cenian exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the first place. "The Cenian government examined our application with an eagle eye for possible environmental harms, feasibility, and much more before issuing us an exploration permit, which the Greens of course opposed in the first place on principle. In order to get our company able to drill in this field, we will now have to apply for a drilling permit, which has an even more rigorous application process than the exploratory permit," Athan explains of the laws.

Owen Keteris, the CEO of Endais, one of the companies involved in the find, was ecstatic in the press conference announcing the find, as was CEO of Selaphoros Leo Wessiri. "Both our companies rely heavily on oil in order to stay in business, in this oil and petrochemical sector," noted Wessiri. "Therefore this find is extremely important to us - not only economically, as the find will certainly benefit our businesses and our economy as a whole, but it makes us feel proud to find a field that can help provide energy to millions of people in the region cheaply as well as foster a higher standard of living." Keteris added that his company would "make sure to set the standard of reliability and profitability in the field for allowing our company to grow as a result of the find." Furthermore, the Chair of the Cenian Chamber of Commerce, Io Ovarug, said she was quite excited about the prospect of the oil field's revenues coming to Ceni. "Oil can give Ceni a big lifeline in the economic world, and it can help the struggling economy and give jobs to skilled Cenian workers who need these jobs and this pay at the present time. This is an extremely exciting opportunity for Cenian businesses, and I hope that we can capitalize on this opportunity to support our country." Sebastian Greyhelm, the Senatorial leader of the Moderates from Whitehaven, predicted an increase in jobs for his district with the find. "I'm proud to support a measure to ease restrictions on drilling permits to fully develop the potential of the Hammerhead field for the economic benefits that it will bring to my district and the country as a whole."

However, several prominent Greens Senators and councilmembers immediately proposed to restrict the drilling permits given for any oil exploration within the Cenian EEZ at all. Green Leader Sevisa Aralen, who represents Ceni, conceded the "potential economic benefits" of legislation allowing expansion of drilling in Cenian waters, but heavily criticized measures for their potential environmental impact. "For years and years, our country has tried to avoid using a lot of oil and natural gas in our domestic consumption. Instead, we've developed solar, wind, tidal with Electrum to help reduce our carbon emissions and our energy costs. Those have worked for us in the past, supplying most of our energy needs. Why do we need to suddenly start increasing our carbon emissions, when they lead to climate change? Why should we convert oil in the ground to carbon dioxide in the air, only worsening our pollution and our environment. We must say no to the expansion of drilling in Cenian waters!" Alan Farlance of Citizens Against Drilling in Whitehaven spoke about the potential impact of an oil spill on the local wildlife. "We host colonies of many migrating seabirds on the islets off our coast - petrels, grebes, puffins, albatrosses, cormorants, many othe types of seabirds - and they are vulnerable to an oil spill. They will become trapped in the slick and die. And the fish as well will suffer from an oil spill, dying in much the same manner and devastating the fishing industry. Finally, Whitehaven has a thriving tourist industry with its beaches - oil would certainly ruin those too. So an oil spill would be devastating for a lot of Whitehaven's population - both human and animal - and I don't think the companies have in mind the best interests of the people or have an adequate plan in case things go wrong."

Economist Joshua Celtru with the University of Ceni notes that the discovery of oil and natural gas within the Cenian EEZ have several ramifications for the Cenian economy. "Oil has produced a boom in several countries in the past, and I can see oil producing a further boom within the Cenian economy" as businesses spring up or expand not only to drill for the oil itself, but also to refine it and cater to the increased business for the people working in the oil and gas industry. "And, with the Euran economy's demand for crude and refined oil growing with every single day to sate its economy, Cenian producers almost know for a fact they will have markets in Eura to sell their oil to." However, Celtru noted that there was a caveat to all the economists who predicted "rainbows and sunshine": "Booms don't last forever. It is the natural cycle of the economy that what must go up must go down. Although this deepwater oil will have a moderate break-even price, especially compared to other sources, the price of oil per barrel will need to be $60 or more, on average, to stimulate a lot of production. When the price falls, production falls, people lose their jobs, and the economy falls. So Ceni must be careful to maintain its economy in several other sectors instead of sending all new investment towards the oil sector."

Gil Korova, a political analyst with the Cenian Public Radio, says that there could possibly be a stalemate in the Senate and the Council of Representatives over the matter - but many legislators are still unconvinced on where they stand on the matter. "The Greens will almost certainly impose a part whip on this issue, forcing all their members to vote for any measures restricting drilling, and thus against those expanding drilling. But probably the other parties will allow a free vote - meaning that they will allow their members to vote freely, based on their personal views and on the needs of their constituents. Most likely, legislators from the south will vote for drilling, while Cenial legislators will likely vote against, and City Center legislators will be the most torn - they have the most involvement in the oil industry, with all the chemical factories and refineries in City Centre, but they also have pressures from the environmentalist movement. Whichever way this vote goes, though, it will likely be a close vote - in both chambers - with quite a lot of debate on both sides of the issue. This certainly won't be resolved any time soon, and probably these companies will have to wait for a while to start drilling, just due to the political climate and the lethargy of the legislature."

[Ceni]

---

CENTRALIS, Electrum - While TV screens are tuned to a big sporting event in Electrum - the Winter Olympics - something perhaps more momentous than sporting glory has taken place in Electrum, with the potential for lasting repercussions that will impact the entire Terranean region. Leaders from four countries and - Ceni, Electrum, New Gelderland, and the Isles of Avon - have signed an agreement to establish a visa-free zone within their respective countries. The pact will likely increase trade and tourism within the four countries as well as strengthen the relationships between the four Terranean countries.

Presidents Masnol Binnill of Ceni, David Monday of New Gelderland, and Charlotte Gibson of Electrum, as well as Prime Minister Lexie Stewart of The Isles of Avon met in the ballroom of the Orion Hotel in Centralis to finalize details of the agreement, which had been negotiated for a period of several months to get the kinks out of the agreement before it would be signed. When that process was over, the four leaders got together to affix their official signatures to the document. Now the next step in the process will be for each country's legislature to ratify the proposed agreement, the Centralis Accords, in order for it to come into full effect. The Accords will harmonize creation of a visa-free zone within the four countries, gradual elimination of border checks between New Gelderland and Electrum, and removal of most forms of checks on air flights and ferries between all four countries. To combat an expected increase in cross-border crime, the Accords also establish a police taskforce to combat this an a system to track entries, crime, and criminals, as well as streamlining extradition procedures and chase procedures. However, the Accords will still require checks of visas from foreign nationals (even though only one visa will now be needed for the four countries combined) coming in and border checks with Eura on the Electrum side, for example, and authorities can still conduct checks on papers of necessary. Nonetheless, all four leaders hailed the agreement as a boon to the areas' economies and a signal of the increasing relationships between the four countries, especially after New Gelderland and Electrum hosted the Olympics together.

At the press conference announcing the signatures, Masnol Binnill urged the Cenian Senate to ratify the measure. "These three countries are among our best allies in. the region - and among our biggest trading partners and economic allies. It would be foolish to reject a pact that will not only further help our relations with our allies but also improve our economies and help bring our country forward in an increasingly competitive day and age." Binnill also said, in order to placate his party in the Senate, that the agreement would not overly benefit corporations, that instead it would benefit the common man. "We don't want there to be a big hassle when you and your family go to New Gelderland or the Isles of Avon for a vacation, we don't want there to be a big wait to be approved for a visa. Now it's a lot easier to go places in the region, and I think this will be a big help to our everday families who want to take a week off to relax." David Monday of New Gelderland talked of the benefits it would provide his country. "I urge our Parliament to ratify this measure, which will increase trade with Electrum and further bolster our economy. It will help us to harmonize relationships with our neighbors. And it will help us to remain competitive on the international stage by allowing us to share information and expertise with the other countries in this agreement very easily."

Business leaders throughout the three countries praised the agreements, including some leaders of the largest companies in Ceni and New Gelderland, including those with lots of trade connections. Among those was Air Terranea, which has many routes interconnecting the countries which have signed the agreement. CEO Xina Iesan wrote in a press release that she fully supported the Centralis Accords. "This agreement will give our customers streamlined access to business and tourist destinations. We already operate a large flight frequency from our hubs in the region to other regional destinations and these accords will allow us to operate a little bit faster and allow us to transport more people to their destinations quicker." Sky High Architecture, which has large operations in Centralis, anticipates that its businesses in Electrum will become more streamlined as the new accords will allow architects and executives to travel back and forth quicker; Endais Chemicals CEO Owen Keteris hopes that the new accords will create more links within the region, allowing his company to share experienced workers and equipment between his company's facilities in Electrum and Ceni. Julia Bloodworth of Tourism in New Gelderland (TiNG) hopes that the accords will boost tourism in her country. "We have a lot of wonderful sites in our country, and Electrum is very close by train or by plane - by taking away most border checks and visa requirements, it's now easier than ever to take a trip to New Gelderland, and we hope that our tourism industry can reap the rewards of these accords. It certainly gives millions more an incentive to come to New Gelderland rather than other countries in the region or other regions."

Economist Joshua Celtru with the University of Ceni belives that the measure will decrease costs for businesses in all four countries and increase trade and tourism among them. "Businesses in all four countries lose at least several million dollars every year due to costs of visas and time lost for border checks and waiting periods. Now with a streamlined visa system and reduced border checks, those businesses now can save those costs. That means a couple of things: they can increase exports and imports to the other three countries because they have less costs to do so. They can also invest that money somewhere else where it can be more useful. So it's good for the economy in that respect. Celtru also believes that the Accords can increase tourism and travel among the four countries: "It's now easier to travel aming these four countries, and there's quite a bit of tourist attractions in all four. Not only businesses will take advantage of this new agreement, I think tourists will take greater advantage of it as well, possibly seeing a spike of new tourist numbers." Celtru does see a glaring issue with the Accords, though: Eura. "Eura is the largest economy in the region and the most populous nation in the region. Without Eura's participation in the Accords, there will be much less benefit than there could otherwise be. Getting Eura into the Accords should be the first priority for lobbyists and diplomats of these countries."

Political analyst Gil Korova, with the Cenian Public Radio, thinks that the agreement will be ratified quickly by the Cenian Senate at least. "Although the New Cenians will likely protest at the idea that it will allow easier migration and dilute Cenian sovereignty, they hardly control enough seats to damage the 2/3 majority which is required to pass this treaty, under the Cenian constitution. Most of the other parties, though, will see this as an excellent opportunity, and this will likely pass easily. It's a multipartisan plan that's been proposed by legislators from multiple parties, so I'd be really surprised if this doesn't pass." Korova doesn't foresee much opposition in New Gelderland or The Isles of Avon either, especially considering it will have quite a few benefits for both countries. "In both of those countries, just as in Ceni, there will be some token opposition, but it's not really too controversial." But Electrum was the hardest of the four countries to predict - partially because of the large amount of parties which "quibble among themselves about almost everything - even something seemingly uncontroversial." Korova also thinks that the annexationists in Northern Electrum, near Hamilton, might be a wild card in the fight for ratification. "They want to become part of Eura - and it's unclear whether the Centralis Accords will anger them, seeing as Electrum will gravitate to Ceni and New Gelderland, or they will support it as an indication that Electrum is prepared to give up some sovereignty. Right now, though, it's a big unknown."

[Vers-Gelderland]

---

NASSAU BAY, New Gelderland -Jamison Bristol is scrambling around at a local farmer's market, looking for scraps of food to donate to a local food charity. When he's collected bruised potatoes, slightly too-short asparagus, waste bits of meat, and slightly yellowed apples, Bristol takes what he's collected and brings it to Food for Thought, a local food pantry. There he directs the cooking of a new batch of soup for the charity. "Food for Thought is a really nice organization, combining two of my passions," Bristol says. "I get to help make a difference in our community, and I get to tackle some of the problems that are affecting the environment and our community at the same time." One of the problems that Bristol talks about is the problem of food waste - which not only hurts the environment (by requiring more agricultural land, which has a large ecological impact) but the standard of living of many people in the Gelderlish community.

"There are quite a few problems with food waste, but that big problem can be harnessed to find a potential solution to a lot of the world's problems," Bristol says. "Some parts of the community have lots of food, and some people are going hungry. I think that solving for food waste can help solve some of the problems with food in our community and help the environment as well." According to the World Assembly Science Program (WASP), one-third of all food produced for human consumption is wasted, including 30% for cereals, 20% of dairy products, 35% of fish and seafood, 45% of fruits and vegetables, and 45% of tubers and roots, such as potatoes and carrots. In all, humans waste 1.3 billion tons of food each year, and that number is growing every year. Meanwhile, one-seventh of people go hungry each year, and with rising populations, governments are worrying about how to feed their new citizens. New Gelderland has a large stake in this problem - some call it the "Breadbasket of Rushmore" for good reason, as it has a large agricultural sector and produces a large proportion of food consumed in Terranea, especially due to its flat landscape, good soil, and rolling rivers which bring silt all over the region. New Gelderland also has problems with food waste - both on the production and consumption sides, problems that can be solved, and help to solve hunger, at the same time. "It's killing two birds with one stone," Bristol says.

On the production side, people like Jamison Bristol are working to convince supermarkets and charities to work together to reduce food waste and put it to good use. For example, Bristol recently persuaded New Gelderland's largest supermarket chain, Viride, to send its unsold produce to local food banks, where it can be distributed to the needy. Bristol also convinced growers in the river valleys and other places to send their second or third grades of food, those with blemishes or which are slightly past, or close to, their peaks to these same charities, to maximize their value. "It's a shame that our consumer culture focuses on fruits and vegetables that have to be just perfect in appearance for us to buy them," Bristol laments. "We can go a long way to tackling hunger and reducing our impact on the environment by simply selling more of these former 'rejects' and putting them to go to use. We are wasting quite a lot of food in our desire for perfection." Phillip Waterman is also doing his part to reduce food waste. His new supermarket in Nassau Bay, Vixit ("unnoticed" in Latin), sells discounted food that has been rejected by other supermarkets because it is cosmetically imperfect or has reached its peak freshness too fast. He also makes healthy, premade food with those discarded ingredients. "Unfortunately, there are a lot of food deserts out there - where people cannot get enough quality produce or healthy foods, and we also have all of this wasted food. I found a solution, not only to help people get produce that will improve their lives, but also to reduce the serious problem of food waste."

Bristol also led an effort to improve packaging for food products, working with a Nassau Bay company, Recycle, to work on several new innovations to sell to supermarkets. "We had three prongs on our packaging approach," Bristol explains. "One, we worked with the company to create biodegradable plasticware to help on that aspect. Second, we started making the packages smaller, to reduce the potential for waste on that front. Third, we created an intelligent packaging to help reduce the spoilage of fruit and prolong the shelf life." Bristol also talked with legislators in Lexington, as well as Viride, to create standards for the misleading and confusing sell-by, best-by, etc. dates, which will often only indicate when a product is freshest by, not when it is actually bad. "Eggs, for example, are still edible two or three weeks after their 'best-by date'. So it's a misleading indicator, and it impels consumers to throw out food that might otherwise still be edible." While the supermarkets are currently studying the possibility, the legislation in Lexington is bogged down in committee hearings, as usual, but Bristol is confident about its future success in the legislature. "New Gelderland works hard to have an eco-friendly image, so I think they'll pass this bill, eventually." Viride, hounded by Bristol and his allies, also agreed to implement a couple of other reforms on its own: it agreed to track its food waste in stores and implement cold-chain management and inventory management, both allowing the chain to reduce food spoilage and increase shelf life, allowing more food to be sold and less to be thrown out.

Efforts are being made on the consumption side, too, to reduce food waste. Katarina Coy, with the New Gelderland Ministry of the Environment, is leading a consumer education campaign about food waste. "If consumers don't know about all of their bad practices and things that they are doing to increase waste, then they cannot do anything to solve for their food waste." Her office is encouraging consumers to devote a day of every week to eating leftovers and bringing leftovers home from restaurants as well as an education program about best-by and sell-by dates, which Bristol is also trying to address. Coy is also encouraging consumers to compost their food waste "like banana peels, fruit pits, etc." so that the nutrients can be returned to the soil as humus, and lobbying for municipalities to adopt centralized composting and community composting, both of which she hopes will increase the rate of composting in communities. Coy is also talking to restaurant owners about what they can do to reduce food waste, such as reducing portion sizes, encouraging to-go boxes, managing their waste in the kitchen, reducing trays in all-you-can-eat establishments, and smaller plates, all to reduce food consumption, and thus, food waste. Restaurants have so far been receptive: "Some just haven't done this because they haven't known how to. Some restaurants are doing this because of the environmental and social benefits of doing so, and we are telling others about financial benefits of reducing food waste, so that is winning some people over." Pig farmers Susie and Byron Blackwood, in the valley of the Great Rushmori River, are taking steps to reduce food waste to the next level: they are visiting local restaurants, collecting scraps of food that are left behind on tables, sterilizing them, and then feeding them to their pigs, so that the calories can go back into the food supply chain. "We're doing our part to help the environment and help local people," said Byron. "Now we just hope that everyone else does their part to reduce food waste, too."

[Sargossa]

http://www.unreportedrushmore.com/oygruppen/sargossa

Unreported Rushmore


Oygruppen | Branta | The Goose Coast | Terramidia | The Southern Oceans | Tempalia | Pavola | The Vatmark | Terranea

Candelaria And Marquez | Nethertopia | Pasarga | Sargossa | West Zirconia | VU | Charruterra | Alianza Albos | Logria | Svengarda | Achtklan

The House of Cards

The corridors of power in Soluca are tinted with just a hint of smugness, a sense that statehood is a complex question to which only the Sargossan elite have deduced the correct answer. And that answer is Autocracy. The mechanisms of Sargossa's government may be identical to most of the other regional powers but not for them the inconvenience of elections or any actual representation. Sargossan officials gleefully point to the fact that their ministries are run by experts in their respective fields, appointed to the posts without the need to top some glorified popularity contest. For example, Education Minister Reina Trigueros is a noted academic and former university chancellor while ex-National Bank of Sargossa Vice President Carlos Valdez heads the Finance Ministry. Adsent too is the necessity for a perspective national leader to dish out any number of impossible promises to win over the electorate. As is the shift away from actual governance to a focus on re-election when a term draws towards its end or the concept of a ‘lame duck’ presidency if terms limits are in effect. It may be a simplistic approach but, for better or worse, it has proven to be highly functional.

The success of the autocratic system is largely due to the general political apathy of the wider populace and the abilities of those occupying the position of President. Joaquín Delgado’s military coup may have toppled the nation’s last democratically elected leadership but his sweeping reforms, particularly in the economic sphere, saw Sargossa flooded with wealth and earned him the goodwill of the people, content to hand over their political freedoms provided their pockets were full of cash. But in the context of wider regional politics the concept of pure dictatorship is unpalatable, hence Gregorio Emparán, Delgado’s handpicked successor, has made great efforts to improve civil rights across the Archipelago and its wider territories. The World Assembly Index currently scores Sargossa at 63 in Civil Rights, a classification of ‘Very Good’, something that would have been unthinkable two decades ago. Conversely the Political Freedom score sits at 6. Something those in power are certainly not oblivious of. As one government official was reported to have said when describing the Sargossan political system, ‘it’s one man, one vote. Emparán’s the man, he gets the vote.’

Emparán is also the man who has led a concerted effort to move the nation away from the image of a tinpot military dictatorship and into a major regional player. Civilians form the majority of Emparán’s cabinet, a contrast to Delgado’s Junta, while the man himself has eschewed his predecessor’s passion for full dress uniform in favour of tailored suits. He has successfully straddled the divide between his military powerbase and the civilian population and holds that absolute power with aplomb. In short he is integral to the system. And therein lays the problem, the unthinkable scenario that the Sargossan political elite refuse to discuss. What happens if, for whatever reason, President Emparán is unable to fulfill his role in the long term?

Here is the inherent flaw in the system. In a Democracy there a mechanisms that kick into gear during scheduled election times and there are clear lines of succession in the event of something dramatic happening to an elected leader. In Sargossa there are no clear lines and no mechanisms. The aging Delgado handpicked Emparán to succeed him but Emparán himself, still only in his forties, has clearly never yet felt the need to highlight his own heir apparent. So what happens if the unthinkable does occur? The truth is no one really knows. Logically Vice President Trucco is the next in line but the former journalist, a vocal critic of the regime before he was brought into the fold, lacks any kind of support within the political and military leadership and is largely regarded as a ceremonial appointment. De-facto number two to the President is Interior Minister Alejandro Ereros, a hugely divisive figure. Ereros had been one of the President’s closest advisors for years prior to his ministerial appointment but is roundly loathed by the military’s High Command, who baulked at State Security apparatus being put in the hands of a civilian. Their mood was hardly improved by a series of high profile corruption cases conducted by the Interior Ministry run State Intelligence Directorate (SID) that saw militia commanders in the colonies removed from their posts, seen as an attempt by Ereros to have his own allies placed in positions of power. The military certainly aren’t keen and even Ereros’ civilian colleagues are weary, with Foreign Minister José Carizzo caught candidly on microphone describing Ereros as ‘a snake’.

And that brings us to the unthinkable scenario. That something happens to Emparán, leaving Ereros as the de-facto president. The military, such a powerful influence in modern Sargossan politics, simply will not follow him. But Ereros has the full backing of the SID, a huge and well-armed police force and potentially militia forces in the colonies. Creating an almost inevitable conflict between two powerful blocs, conflict that would be messy in the extreme and potentially devastating to the entire nation. It’s the one question that the political elite in Soluca refuse to face, the one situation they cannot countenance. That if Emparán were to suddenly fall, the entire house is likely to come crashing down with him.

[Ceni]

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May 7, 2016 - David Farwell, sports correspondent

The Pinnacle Project building on the campus of the
University of New Oxford.

T

he building of the Pinnacle Project doesn't stand out in the numerous buildings on the campus of the University of New Oxford. It is fairly close to the sports complex, where the team plays its home games in the Cenileague system, and has several practice football pitches nearby, but it is only one of several modern buildings around that area on the campus. Yet this building has perhaps more significance to the growing popularity of football in Ceni, perhaps even more significance to the entire sport within Ceni than the headquarters of the Cenian Football Federation, hiding away in this corner of the university. Pinnacle Project is responsible for training and refining the next generation of Cenian footballers at its campus here, as well as managers and sports doctors - and many would agree that it is the reason for the growing popularity of football in Ceni and for its success at the Di Bradini Cup, where it reached the final of the 35th Di Bradini Cup.

Pinnacle Project was the brainchild of Robert Arkes, originally a youth football coach. "I started coaching football about ten years ago, when my son joined a youth team. We really weren't all that competitive back then, really only playing friendly matches." But then a spark hit him after he took his son, Lucas, to a match of the Cenian national team five years later (when Lucas was 10), at the then home of the game, the Shadow B'betsy Stadium. "He loved the atmosphere of the game and decided that he wanted to pursue it later, but at the time, there was no academy to really train young footballers." Conversely, Arkes noted, the Cenian national team wasn't doing all that well; at the end of qualification for World Cup 72, despite defeating Atrua 3-2 (the game Arkes took his son to see), they finished in fifth, an absolutely horrible performance, resulting in the sack of then-manager Osman Ibarra of San Jose Guayabal. "Then it hit me: I can solve both our problems at the same time. I can create a football academy to solve my son's problem and our national team's problem."

So he set up Pinnacle Project. With a maximum age of 21, the academy would train prospective new footballers, with specialized training for each of the positions: goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, attacking midfielder, and striker. Trainees (especially if they were from abroad) could stay in the campus's dormitories on sight, or they could come for day training and classes if they were from Ceni. In addition to the normal functions of a football academy, Pinnacle Project was also accepted as a club in the nascent Cenian Premier League (now Cenileague) system, meaning that the players would start to get competitive experience, and the academy would start to train other positions that were necessary, such as managers; in addition, the academy would offer classes like a normal high school, in subjects such as physics, Rushmori history, psychology, and international relations. "The goal was to not only train the next generation of Cenian footballers, but also to give them skills useful in their lives after football. By agreement, we would also provide a feeder club into the other Cenian clubs and train managers as well," says founder Arkes.

Originally, it was tough to get the club started and on its feet. "I had no idea what I was doing at the beginning. I guess you could say that I just muddled my way through doing this all," admitted Arkes. "We had a lot of tasks: hire scouts, teachers, groundskeepers, get a place to train, and actually get people to come to our club." The University of New Oxford was generous enough to give the club a place to play and a dormitory near the stadium. So the club started to get on its feet, and with the benefit of hindsight, the first season had some of the best players now coming out of the league system today: Ryan Navir, Justin Morroghany, Evan Turich-Albertson, Petro Valles, Tomás Fierro, Nico Asturias, Eric Garcia, and Javier del Olmo, to name a few. "I guess we really did get lucky. The popularity of football was on the upswing, and we were just at the right place and the right time to start training some of these great players." Within the next season, the reputation of Pinnacle Project had grown, and it attracted new players, such as Allison Swan and Kira Koromin. Pinnacle Project players formed the core of the DBC 35 team that reached the finals, losing to Cosumar in extra time.

T

o investigate why Pinnacle Project has been such a success in developing new players and feeding them into the league system (and Cenian football in general), I visited the campus of the Pinnacle Project and shadowed Adrián del Toro, one of the club's promising midfielders, who, at age 15, made his Cenileague debut. While he has been overshadowed by some of the other players on the roster - who have more experience or family connections - Pinnacle Project is slowly training him to be a ruthless attacking midfielder, with a promising penalty kick, free kick, and passing ability. The day is divided into school and practice: six periods of instructional time, lunch, and then a start to two hours of intensive training. At del Toro's psychology class, teacher Dr. Anya Katherion, who is reportedly being tapped for the psychology spot on the Cenian national team, is using hands-on, interactive measures to explain a lesson on Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The class is discussing what examples of the needs are and applying their knowledge to various real-world situations. Dr. Katherion says that psychology has applications throughout the sport of football: "It's important to have team-building, make sure all of these needs are met before we can get you onto the football pitch in a good mental state. I think that mental health is as important as physical health."

After del Toro's instructional periods are over, he turns to the football pitch, which is his favorite part of the day. "We have really good weather here in New Oxford, and I like to run around outside on the pitch with my friends, not only chatting but learning how to refine my game." Coach Tyria Walasari praises del Toro's pace and aggression but notes that he needs work on his finishing skills. That's why she's out here, giving del Toro some personalized attention while other teammates, some from Ceni and some from around the world, are getting workouts and practice games. Walasari shows del Toro how to work better on getting the goal back into the box, and gently shows him how it's done. "Good lesson today, Adrian," says Walasari when the lesson's done. "We had some great improvement today." In addition to the personalized training, Pinnacle Project also emphasizes physicality, passing, and dribbling, with customized drills for each skill and for each team. In addition to the main U-21 team that plays in the Cenileague, there are also U-17 and U-15 teams, which get different training regimens than the Cenileague team. I asked Walasari about why she thinks Pinnacle Project has been so successful at training the next generation of footballers. She says it's because of the support structure: "Everyone supports our players here, and we put a lot of effort into training. We try to make each and every player the best that they can be."

After watching del Toro's long day, I was tired myself; I couldn't imagine how tired he must be after he retired to his dorm room back in the main campus. The grueling schedule perhaps adds to the strength of the Pinnacle Project players, who must juggle school and football, keeping their minds and their bodies sharp. I interviewed several former Pinnacle Project trainees, and they agreed. Nico Asturias, who recently won the Cenileague Golden Boot award at the age of 20 and is featured on the Cenian DBC 37 roster, thinks that the Pinnacle Project increased his skills. "We had a lot of hard training, and that had a great effect on me and my game. I received a lot of personalized training, which helped me to get more comfortable with the game, and the practice of actually playing games in the Cenileague gave me experience and less of a problem handling the pressure. And our social relationships - being part of a serious team - granted its own benefits. I'm very grateful to Pinnacle Project for how they jumpstarted my game, despite the fact that I was always tired and aching after we were done with the day."

Robert Arkes is still a bit surprised about how far Pinnacle Project has come. "It used to be just a little project of mine to help my son get into football and contribute to the Cenian national team, but it's been more successful than my wildest dreams. We've made a lot of money on the transfer scene, which as all gone back to player development, and I'm very happy for that, especially because the publicity and the money are helping us to grow even further and train even more Cenian footballers, and foreign ones too." Arkes says that he's glad about where the Pinnacle Project players have ended up. "Sure, I'm a bit sad that all of the players have gone all their separate ways to all the different countries, but I'm happy for them. We're one big family now - Lucas is friends with a whole lot of them, and I feel like their father, in a way, because of what I have started. This has been my contribution to Ceni - something bigger than myself - and I would never have imagined that Pinnacle Project would be the source of a new renaissance in Cenian football. It's a very good feeling."

[Ceni]

---

MAR SARA, Valanora - Sitting in a café in Mar Sara, Andrew Arrowsword looked like just any other high school sophomore - huddled over his books, furiously studying for his final exams while juggling extracurriculars and sports while massaging his tired eyes from the lack of sleep, wearing the jersey of his favorite football players. As we get in closer, though, he's no ordinary high school student - in with all the cram packets and school books, I could see that the jersey he was wearing was not just any jersey; it was his jersey. This precocious wunderkind did not juggle just your ordinary high school sports; he represented Club 24, playing full-time professional club football, for most of his sophomore year, starting at the age of 15, and now he has moved on to bigger places: the Cenian international Di Bradini Cup team and Real Azuris, last season's Cosumarite league champions.

When he saw me coming, he stood up - as if stretching - before reaching over to offer me his hand. "Nice to meet you, finally," said the medium-height, handsome striker with a medium build, short, black hair, and insightful hazel eyes. I sat down, and ordered one of the famous Vanorian wine brownies - recommended to me by friends who have visited. He passed on ordering anything save a soda, and quickly put away his books. He isn't one for small talk, and insisted I call him Andrew during our conversation with each other. At first glance, Arrowsword is a gregarious, likable individual with a lot of intelligence and maturity for his age - and also a desire to improve. He tells me that he was a bit nervous about agreeing for the interview but his teammates urged him to face his fears and come here to meet with me. "Before the Terranean League success, nobody really cared about what I did, and I actually liked it that way. But now there are so many reporters coming to me, asking to be interviewed, and I guess I haven't been too used to throngs of journalists and paparazzi peppering me with questions." But perhaps he deserves all the attention.

His achievements so far are not only a bit anomalous and surprising in the world of football, but also quite amazing. The two-footed striker scored a total of thirty-two goals during the last season of the Terranean League, winning the league's Golden Boot award in the process and showing a remarkable amount of maturity for a football player his age. He was the youngest person to score in the Terranean League ever (in the league which also featured Giancarlo Conte, a prodigy from Osarius who performed well for Vaduz Portcullis in the first season of the Terranean League), and definitely the youngest person ever to score the Golden Boot in that league, beating out some of the more experienced players that had begun to populate the ranks of the Terranean League. Born in Cenial, Ceni, the son of a visiting Drawkian named Seth Arrowsword, who was, at the time, studying at the University of Ceni, and Syrena Cors, another student there, Arrowsword's mother and father ended their relationship amicably after Seth decided to move back to Drawkland. Although Syrena was a single mother, Arrowsword says she was very loving and kind to him: "My mother, despite having a bit of a rough time after my father left her, always tried to help me achieve whatever I wanted to do." She put him in training for football, not because she wanted to become one of those "soccer moms," but because she wanted to get rid of him at the house. "I think she wasn't really thinking about that decision too well, because before she knew it, I was out of the house too much for her liking."

He discovered then that he had a passion for football. "I didn't know why at the time, but I felt at the time that I was born to play football." Having no memories of his father, he had no reason to doubt that Seth was anything but a normal human. "Boy was I wrong... The Drawkian physiology is a bit different than the human one. I actually have 48 chromosomes, instead of the normal human 46, because Drawkians actually have 50, two more than the human counterpart." The doctors predicted that, at birth, he would have quite a number of genetic defects - but the Drawkian physiology, and the mating of the two vastly different species, proved the doctors wrong, and Arrowsword had won the genetic lottery, in a sense. "It's a bit crazy, I don't understand it myself, and I don't think the doctors do either, but besides the fact that I inherited my father's skills for endurance play on the pitch, I'm almost physically the same as a normal human. So I don't really think about it that much... It's not something that worries me to death." He continued moving up and up the Cenian football ladder, eventually going to Pinnacle Project for two years and training with their U-17 team before being spotted by Club 24. "They had a need and I supplied it... Their scouts were very impressed with my shooting and with my stamina, but it seemed I had always been like that, so I was surprised when they plucked me from Pinnacle Project a year ago to play with their first team." The rest, they say, was history, with his impressive goalscoring achievements and all.

He does admit, though, that it is a bit hard being sixteen and a top prospect for many clubs, despite all the attention that he's been given. "Maybe it is the attention and the pressure that's been getting to me, putting a lot of stress on me... I can't go anywhere without being mobbed by scouts and reporters, and all the practices and such for Club 24 were a bit schedule-draining. It was hard to keep up with my studies [he studies most of his classes electronically, through Ceni's excellent online education system] with all these pressures on me, and sometimes I think I was losing my grip on my education." Arrowsword knows he won't be a football player forever, though, and did take a bit of a sabbatical to finish up his classes and take final exams, and he plans to do so at the end of the season, and continue to do so while he's still studying. "I look up to Tyro [Solaris], who was still able to complete his university training in architecture while playing first-team football at the same time. I know it can be done, yet it will take a lot of focus and drive to do so."

Nobody doubts that he can, though, as he has been touted far and wide by all who have known him, not in the least Peter Petrossian, the Cenian Di Bradini Cup coach. "He's probably one of the most intelligent players I've seen in a while... Probably the only people who can compare are the Koromin siblings and Jaime del Olmo." Petrossian also is impressed with his shooting ability, with both foots, and his intelligence - both on the pitch and off it. "In addition to being a great athlete, he's also a scholar - not something I can say for some of our DBC players, who are more gifted athletically, but Andrew was given a blessing to be able to play football at a high level while still continuing to make great grades in hard, advanced classes." For all of those reasons, he gave Arrowsword a starting position in Ceni's roster for this Di Bradini Cup - and the risk paid off, as Arrowsword scored a goal and notched an assist in the game against Farfadillis. "The goal was even a contender for goal of the tournament - a beautiful left-footed shot right into the corner off a pass received on the right foot. Andrew has the ability to pull out these amazing shots and goals and help his teammates do it as well. He's a great player and teammate, and I'm glad Club 24 was able to pick him up."

In addition to being aware of his strengths, though, he's also quite aware of his weaknesses, and actively hopes to correct them. "I know I'm not the most social of people, and I'm actively working to make more friends, interact with the world outside of football." He also is pretty self-deprecating: "Sometimes I think I'm a bit too arrogant talking about myself and my accomplishments, and sometimes I think I should talk about something else besides football, knowing someone will bring that up with me in the room." On the pitch, Arrowsword says he wants to improve his left-footed shooting and his dribbling ability while continuing to improve on the right foot and with passes and teamwork. I asked him what his goals were in relation to football and the rest of the world. In response, he gave me a short but pithy quote about his goals for the year, and one I thought I'd end the article on: "Become the best person that I can be, both on and off the pitch." While perhaps it isn't a goal that perhaps the teacher will laud, it's still a worthy goal to pursue, especially in the highly competitive world of international football.

Moira Sunrider is a sports correspondent for the Cenial Tribune who covers international football all over the world. She enjoys traveling and eating new cuisines. When she's not doing that, she's enjoying her Cenial apartment and watching football with her cat, Sunny.

[Ceni]

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May 13, 2016 - David Farwell, sports correspondent

W

hitehaven Triumph's players celebrated their one to nil win over Beckton Supermarine of Krytenia which secured their spot in the Series B Champion's Cup with a glass of sparkling cider - as much as they would have liked to celebrate with champagne, though, they couldn't have, as most of them are under the legal age for alcohol consumption in most countries. It's a bit of surprise how the team has been performing during the past few months. They're at new heights after winning the Cenileague 2 trophy, and they're soaring high in the real deal - the first tier of Cenileague football. All of this would have been a surprise just around eight months ago, when the club was an almost bankrupt club struggling in the bottom levels of Cenian football. What has caused this change?

To answer this question, I talked to Tel Paesante, the club's savior. A local businessman and the owner of a local resort, which had been in his family's hands for decades, Paesante had grown up playing football on the seaside near his family's resort, and he wanted to maintain that tradition for Ceni. However, he didn't originally think of purchasing a football club. "Originally I had thought, oh, I'll just finance a small football program to benefit underserved youth of our city here along the sea," he told me with a rueful chuckle. "I never thought I'd be getting into the deep end here with a new club and all." But then a perfect opportunity came up, one that he could not pass up. I'll let Paesante tell this story: "His name was Robert. He was a good friend of mine in high school and he had gone into property law or some other field, and he came up to me one day and said: 'Hey, I heard that Sentinels is about to go bankrupt, and their license is going up for auction if someone doesn't buy it first.' So, I asked him the price, and we could definitely afford it, and I told him yes on the spot."

Now that the license for Sentinels was his, he had to actually come up with a team. "It was a bit hard at first," he admits. "I never thought I would be getting into football, so there were a lot of things that I didn't know." Luckily for Paesante, a friend, Arthur Arathilion, did know a lot of things about football, formerly being a coach for the Whitehaven Naval Academy's soccer program. "I have a lot of friends, it seems," Paesante relates with a chuckle. "If I didn't have all these friends, I wouldn't be where I am right now, with this club and all." Anyhow, Arathilion managed to put together a team, using almost all young local talent from Ceni (with the exceptions being Robert Ashdown of Osarius and James Montressor of New Gelderland, who is young nonetheless). He scoured the top high schools and local club teams throughout Ceni for top talent, and he was soon presented with a group of teenagers who were, for the most part, young, inexperienced, and loath to get along with each other.

A

rathilion is an effusive man with a hearty chuckle. I asked him why he decided to choose young talent from Ceni - why not just get some international players from the free transfer list to fill out his roster? "Well," he says, giving the question a bit of thought, "I actually had a couple of reasons. One, I felt like Ceni, despite the presence of Pinnacle Project, needs to have another group of talented and capable youngsters; two, I felt like too many Cenian teams didn't have enough Cenian players on them; and three, I guess I just wanted to turn back to what I knew - and that was managing and teaching youngsters how to love this game and play it well." The decision also proved to be sound financially, as the club did not have to pay transfer fees, high wages, or other types of fees and expensive contracts that are replete in the world of football, and the team would also be starting from scratch. That also meant having a new name, and Tel Paesante suggested one: Whitehaven Triumph. The team quickly agreed to his suggestion.

With all the preliminary things out of the way, Arathilion could now begin to mold his fractious teenagers into a team, one solid body that would work together in attaining their goal, instead of relying on one or two star players. He had deliberately picked players from the different positions so that his team would have a balanced 3-2-2-3 formation, which meant that they could be flexible and go any way they wanted. They did, however, choose to go for a more pressing strategy that was very aggressive in its nature. With that in mind, Arathilion started to emphasize the offense with the team - free kicks, set pieces, penalty kicks, and different ways of scoring a goal. His methods were pretty creative: once, he put different dummies representing some of the more reviled figures in the goal, asking his players to shoot at them, and he would change his routine up, too, so every day was different. He emphasized creativity and intelligence, too: his players did the human knot so many times, and by the end, they could undo it so quickly without his help. The team then started to be more comfortable with each other, and with the game.

Then came the Cenileague Two - the team was second after the first half of competition, with just three losses, but they didn't lose at all in the second half and only drew once. Their pressing style came in handy both in the offense and the defense, with the team scoring ninety-six goals in total (ten more than the winner of the Cenileague did at the time) and only conceding forty-four, lower than eleven other teams in their division. Overall, it was an excellent season for the club, and they reached the Round of 16 of the Series B Champion's Cup in international competition, after some huge wins in the qualifying round and group stage. Their miracle run came to an end when they faced Dartmoor, losing by just a single goal. Despite that disappointment, though, they have done exceedingly well in the Cenileague as well, sitting currently at fourth place in the table, with twenty weeks of competition still to go.

I asked Arathilion what had been responsible for his players' success in all areas of competition. "It's because they're good players," says Arathilion. "They have excellent eyes for the ball; they dribble and pass well; they take every advantage that they are given; they have great teamwork and intuition." And with their success, the manager of the Cenian national U-21 team, Peter Petrossian, decided to call up a good majority of the team to the Di Bradini Cup, including the team's stars in Charles Allegro, Jack Szarvas, Miri Windtide, and Lucas d'Jek. Arathilion picked those players up first, and he almost considers them his sons and daughter (in the case of Windtide). "We really have grown into a family here at Triumph," Arathilion admits. Maybe that familial bond is another reason that the team has done so well in competition, too, both internationally and domestically, and maybe the in-house competition has done well to strengthen the team's skills.

Szarvas says that Arathilion gives himself less credit than he deserves. The attacking midfielder of Hungarian descent says that Arathilion was a binding force for the team: he did, after all, bring them all together and sharpened their skills with his unique managerial techniques. "To be honest, I think Arthur deserves the manager of the year award for all the hard work he's done for us so far. Without him, I doubt we'd be where we are today," says Szarvas. "He's been our moral rock for support when we're having a bad day, and he's given us so much of his heart and soul. Arthur is a part of our big family, just as we are a part of his family now." Most of the rest of the team nodded when I asked them about this sentiment.

Arathilion has his eye on a Cenileague title someday - and Peter Petrossian sees the Whitehaven Triumph kids as the core of his Di Bradini Cup squad within a few years. "They have a lot of energy and stamina," says the U-21 team manager. "They already work well together, so that's less that I have to do, and it gives me more opportunities to work with them on other skills. In fact, not only will they be the core of our under-twenty-one national team within a few years, I think that they will be the core of our national team in around ten years, they're that good, both with the ball and around each other." Arathilion, for his part, agrees with Petrossian, and thinks that the kids that he's trained for this particular team will go on to have extremely successful careers in international football. "These kids are talented," Arathilion says bluntly. "I know that they have lots of good things inside of them that they will bring to their country and their club. I'm sure of it."

[Ceni]

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Dr. Allie Annek, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Ceni, is worried about superbugs. And she thinks that you should too. "Ceni has the perfect recipe for a superbug epidemic, and all it needs is a cook, so to speak, to stir the broth and create something," she says. "We have a large population densely packed together - good conditions for any epidemic, because there is a lot of close bodily contact between different people. We have a large air transportation hub - which means that lots of people come through Ceni to reach other points, and they bring exotic bacteria and viruses from all parts of the globe, some that may not be normally found in Ceni and which people may not have much immunity to. And finally - we use a lot of antibiotics, meaning there is quite a high risk of at least one bacteria developing resistance to multiple types of drugs." Under the worst possible conditions, millions of people in Ceni alone can die, and the infection has a high probability of spreading to Eura, where billions of people are at risk. "While this may be a nightmare scenario, it is a scenario we will have to prepare for," warns Annek.

So what is a superbug, anyway? Microbiologist Ora Kelarin explains that some bacteria have evolved to become resistant to antibiotics. While this may be overcome with use of other antibiotics, superbugs can be impossible to treat because they have evolved resistance to multiple drugs or the drugs of last resort. How do they become so resistant to antibiotics, then? Bacteria can gain antibiotic resistance in two ways. Many bacteria mutate to gain genes that provide them with resistance to these drugs. But that phenomenon's ability to spread is limited, as the mutation can be only transferred within that certain group onf bacteria. But there's another way, which is more dangerous: "Bacteria can gain a circular piece of DNA called a plasmid from another bacterium, and this can spread antibiotic resistance across multiple families of bacteria," says Kelarin. The results of Darwin's process of natural selection can be deadly. "If we have a large population of superbugs in Ceni, we have a lot of problems. Minor infections could turn into major problems; routine operations could have deadly effects; common bacterial infections would become much harder to treat, and their fatality rates would most certainly go up." Kelarin puts the danger of superbugs very succinctly: "They could take the state of our medicine back to the Middle Ages."

A big cause of this potential superbug problem is the widespread availability of antibiotics, and their overuse. Epidemiologist Annek says that this usually comes in two main categories: antibiotic overdose in agriculture, and in people. "Ceni doesn't really have much of a problem with the former, because it doesn't have a big agriculture industry, but in countries where there is a large agriculture sector, use of antibiotics as a prophylactic not in response to any specific infection, and to allow for the animal to grow a bit quicker without as many problems." Annek also notes that doctors often prescribe the wrong medication to many patient for the wrong effect, and they prescribe too much as well. The effect of this? "Bacteria are exposed to antibiotics way too often, so they have more opportunities to build up resistance to this trove of antibiotics being used, often unnecessarily." In addition, Annek notes, compounding the problem, bacteria are building up resistance to new antibiotics much faster than they would normally do so. That would call for new antibiotics to come into play faster than usual, but low rewards and low prices for developing new antibiotics mean that pharmaceutical companies, such as Ceni's Telluric Pharmaceuticals, are not too interested in developing them in favor of more expensive, and profitable, drugs.

Cenian health officials have recognized the threat posed by superbugs, and have started to take action to combat this threat. The Cenian Assembly has recently voted to budget $250 million to develop new medicines and therapies for combating antibiotic resistance, as well as increasing the budget for efforts to reduce bacterial infections in general. The new appropriation will go to the Universities of Ceni and Cenial for research into new antibiotics and alternative, non-antibiotic therapies for treatment. Microbiologist Kelarin gives the lowdown on some of these potential other treatments: "One of them is known as phage therapy, in which a specific type of virus known as a bacteriophage will kill the bacteria invading the body. We're also working on a therapy known as antibody therapy, in which we work on developing antibodies specific to the bacteria, so we could work to bring back in the body's own immune system to fight disease. I think both of these treatments are very feasible for use in the future, and this grant money from the Cenian government can help us to refine these techniques and make them ready for medical use."

In the bill which established the grant money, the Fight Infections of the Future Act (FIFA), the Cenian Assembly also enacted rules speeding up the period for review of new antibiotics, granting longer patent exclusivity, and providing some funds to help with development of new drugs to combat the growing threat of superbugs; all of these will help to provide incentives to develop new antibiotics. FIFA also mandated hospitals appointing a specialized pharmacist to track antibiotic use and hold doctors accountable for what they use, in an effort to help reduce the amount of antibiotic usage; an electronic system to track prescriptions in an effort to make sure they meet guidelines and impose accountability on hospitals; create "innovation contests" to provide prizes for new antibiotics; and new research to find out how drugs actually work, which can help further researchers to find new and more effective antibiotics. Finally, the act also called for similar measures in other countries and established protocols for cooperating with other countries to stop the spread of superbugs across international borders. "We're hopeful that these new measures will help to improve Ceni's response to superbugs and ensure that Ceni is prepared when and if a superbug epidemic strikes Ceni. Obviously, it's not something we want to happen to us, but it may be inevitable," says Dr. Annek. "At least we may be prepared with new antibiotics and new responses that will make it much easier to stop its spread and improve our response. That's our goal."