KBC News: CKNR Provides Support in TPTHNBB

[CK Administrative Office]

Welcome to the Gameplay Headquarters of KBC News: the Official Voice of the Region of Conch Kingdom!

Index

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Tuesday, May 17 2016
Friday, June 3 2016
Wednesday, June 8 2016
Wednesday, July 6 2016
Friday, July 22 2016

Useful Links
FORUM | GOVERNMENT | HISTORY | INFORMATION CENTER | MAP | NAVAL RESERVE | NEWS | REFERENCE | REGDEV CORP | REGISTRY | STATISTICS | TOURISM

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"Conch Kingdom is a fairly new but fast-growing region, well on its way to becoming the hottest vacation destination in NationStates. We are an excellent place for new players to make their start and for old players to start something new. Nations of all stripes are welcome here, with very few limitations on what is allowed. Once you move in, you will find it very easy to get involved, with lots to do, and a highly accessible and friendly administration. So what are you waiting for? Jump in!"

About Us: The region of Conch Kingdom is a beautiful, lush sprawl of land, surrounded by a vast expanse of sparkling, cerulean sea, and located in a permanent tropical zone. It was founded on February 23, 2016, by the aptly-named nation of Conch Kingdom. Neighboring the founder are over two hundred other nations, all of which were no doubt drawn to the warm, irresistible climate--a phrase which has been used to describe both the weather and the welcoming atmosphere.

The region features roleplay intrigue: the blank corners of the map have not been filled in, a civil war rages in one of the earliest nations, and the next move of the powerful Grand Alliance is never easy to predict. There are open government positions: The Secretary of the Interior is seeking an Archivist, a graphic designer, and an Editor in Chief for this very publication. Additionally, the President, who acts as the region's WA Delegate and is the highest elected official in the region, is elected through endorsements and may be replaced at any time. Speaking of the WA, the region has a strong voice in the universe's biggest international legislative body, with roughly a third of its nations holding membership, and had until recently one of the world's strongest Delegates.

Beyond this, it is not fully developed, but as the savvy adventure-seeker and enterprising political opportunist knows, that means merely that it is ripe for growth. We encourage nations both new and old to consider this rare opportunity: to leave your legacy on this incredible, rapidly-expanding young kingdom!

[CK Administrative Office]

Tuesday, May 17 2016

Solicitation For New President

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We have a brief, important announcement to make before our first edition is published. First, a complete layout of our rather minimal government structure can be found here. In particular, the sections regarding the President are relevant to this update. In Conch Kingdom, the President serves as the WA Delegate; the two positions are one and the same, and the President is elected through the endorsement system on a running basis. By this point in our short history, we have seen the Presidency change hands several times, each time falling to one of two nations. One of those nations resigned from the WA just over a week ago, ending his term and leaving the position to the other nation, who has thus far reigned almost unchallenged.

Unfortunately, at this time, our President has fallen mostly inactive. The nation displays some government activity, but this rarely extends out of its borders to the region it was elected to rule. Furthermore, the President has the support of a mere 40% of the WA members in the region, with 26 of a potential 64 endorsements. This is not the fault of the President, the government of which is clearly occupied with its internal priorities. The fact remains, however, that the absence of the region's highest elected authority is enormously detrimental to the development of a brand new region such as ours. On top of that, it has greatly increased the strain on the Monarch, who has been forced to absorb most of the region's tasks.

So far, attempts from the former President and others to find more candidates have fallen flat. It is apparent that, while some nations are capable of accepting other authority positions, the remaining residents are not prepared to take on this responsibility. Again, this is no fault of theirs, but the problem must be solved nonetheless. As a result, we are now soliciting outside nations for the office of President. The benefits of this include full executive power over a quickly-expanding region of over two hundred nations, and a large number of WA votes to be used at the President's discretion. The only requirement is the willingness to campaign, endorse, and take any other action necessary to secure the position. We look forward to seeing who steps forward to pursue this exceptional opportunity.

[Drasnia]

Hello and welcome to GP! Before any of the snark invades this thread - as it inevitably does - I'd like to give you some advice on your region. I've read your article and looked at your government, and I would say it's a good system . . . if you were an already-established region of 500 or so nations. There isn't any reason you can't reach that, yet, but for right now I'd counsel you to trim down your government. It's hard to fill a dozen or so spots with a young region like yours. If that's your goal, I think it would be best to trim down your government to about 5 or 6 nations so they can get experience. As the election cycles come and go, potentially more and more nations will run for office and learn what NS governance is like. With quite a few players now with experience, you'd be able to expand your government to something about the size of the current structure.

Also, I'd advise against outsourcing your post of President. Instead, you should rather try to convince players from outside regions to either move or create a new region to join CK.

I hope that helps and good luck with your endeavors.

[CK Administrative Office]

Friday, June 3 2016

New Dispatch Series

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A message from the founder: I have spent several hours putting together a number of dispatches that are primarily intended for residents of my region, but may be useful for outsiders as well. Not all of them are complete, and several more are planned. Here, I will link the completed ones with a brief description, and give a teaser about the next few to be published. All the content, formatting, graphics, etc are completely original.

All the dispatches may be found here. Those pertaining to my region are tagged [CK], those applicable to the entire NS-verse are tagged [REF], and my personal dispatches have no tags.

Region

Information Center: The first stop for our region. The included FAQ should be very helpful for new players.

Statistics Office: Where we record numbers and key dates. This only applies to our region, but for data-obsessed people like myself, or those looking to do something similar, it might be worth a look.

Government: A full layout of our government. This one is a little dry, as well as the longest so far, so I can understand skipping it. We do have a somewhat unique system, though--literally anything except outright spam and WA multiing is permitted; the President is elected by game mechanics, with no endorsement rules; and officials have almost free reign to do their jobs, including the power to appoint people to new positions below them, which splits up the workload. Finally, citizenship is not a requirement here, even to run for office.

Resident Registry: Fairly cut-and-dry, and another CK-only dispatch. The Registry lists all our WA nations, and all known puppets (with the permission of players). We pride ourselves on having very few puppets.

Forum: Details about our offsite forum (located here). Our elected officials are the moderators, and I am the only administrator, which prevents potentially messy situations where the forum staff disagrees with the government, or worse, a rogue admin shuts down the entire thing.

Reference

About Influence: Eleven points that provide all available information regarding influence. If you notice something missing, please let me know, and I will add it. An interesting feature of this one is the inclusion of Regional Power numbers. They took a bit of research to collect, and I would like to thank Democratic Socialist Assembly for falling from Extremely High to Very High, allowing me to pinpoint that threshold.

About Endorsements: See above--this is meant to be helpful to new players, and it should cover everything, so if I missed something, please let me know.

Illustrated Guide to Recruiting: Includes instructions on manual and API recruiting, but stops short of promoting any one recruiting script, or explaining how to use them. It also does not include stamp recruiting, simply because I have never done it.

Upcoming

There are a few region-related dispatches coming out, but I will stick to the reference ones for now--I know that is more interesting to the wider world anyway. The next two are big, in terms of length, effort, and uniqueness. Unlike the above three, they are not "_____ for dummies" manuals.

Complete NS Encyclopedia: Less than half finished, but has over a hundred entries waiting to be filled in. This should be very helpful to newbies wondering what a "WFE" or "TG" is. Please let me know if there is a term I should include, even if it is not a particularly common one.

Should I Found My Own Region?: I track every nation that passes through my region, and I especially keep an eye on those that leave to found their own regions. The vast majority of these regions, of course, fail within about a week. This is unfortunate, partially for selfish reasons (after all, I am trying to retain residents), but mostly because I hate to see communities collapse and people quit NS as a result. In a small effort to combat this, I will be using my experience as the founder of multiple successful regions to give some pros and cons of region-building. This should help to enable those who really want to create a community, and discourage those who are unwilling to put in the time.

Open Government Positions

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At this time, all government positions in Conch Kingdom, with the exception of Cartographer and Surveyor, have been opened. A full list of these positions, elected or otherwise, is located here. Descriptions of each position are located in the section below. All positions in that list, with the above exceptions, are open to any resident of Conch Kingdom, effective immediately. No citizenship is required, so non-residents may also run simply by moving in a nation. If you are interested in holding a position of power in one of NationStates' largest regions, start a campaign or post an application today! Campaigns for elected positions and applications for non-elected positions are to be posted in the Government subforum. Once a full slate of candidates is reached, elections will be held and appointments will be made.

The announcement thread is located here.

[Drop Your Pants]

Weird system having an elected President and a Monarch

You might get a sudden blast of embassy requests from other regions now.

[CK Administrative Office]

Hello and welcome to GP! Before any of the snark invades this thread - as it inevitably does - I'd like to give you some advice on your region. I've read your article and looked at your government, and I would say it's a good system . . . if you were an already-established region of 500 or so nations. There isn't any reason you can't reach that, yet, but for right now I'd counsel you to trim down your government. It's hard to fill a dozen or so spots with a young region like yours. If that's your goal, I think it would be best to trim down your government to about 5 or 6 nations so they can get experience. As the election cycles come and go, potentially more and more nations will run for office and learn what NS governance is like. With quite a few players now with experience, you'd be able to expand your government to something about the size of the current structure.

Also, I'd advise against outsourcing your post of President. Instead, you should rather try to convince players from outside regions to either move or create a new region to join CK.

I hope that helps and good luck with your endeavors.

This post received an immediate telegram response, but in the interest of public disclosure, the message was essentially this: Most "government" positions are not administrative. There are five core officials, four of which are elected. The rest are appointed, and have some specific task, like cartography or running polls. I understand not wanting a top-heavy government system, but that is not a problem we have. As for outsourcing the President, our own residents have shown an inexplicable lack of interest in taking the position. I had hoped (and still do) that some enterprising GPer would jump at the chance to be an executive delegate, in charge of a fairly large region, with a high number of endorsements.

Weird system having an elected President and a Monarch

You might get a sudden blast of embassy requests from other regions now.

Yes, we are not exactly a standard monarchy. This is probably a result of multiple international RL influences. We have players from around the world, with several different political systems, and that has resulted in a real melting pot of a regional government. The President (which is just our name for the delegate) is supposed to be the highest authority in the region, while the Monarch is supposed to do the behind-the-scenes administrative work.

We have gotten a decent number of requests--I would estimate around twenty. The rate has been mostly constant since the region was founded. The majority of those were rejected, due to the fact that only two of the requesting regions bothered to read our very simple embassy policy.

[Jules Argus]

In our first ever operation, the Conch Kingdom Naval Reserve supported Lone Wolves United and the Black Hawks in a raid on The United Federation of Planets. Sailors that participate in the operation where:

Commander: Jules Argus
Sailor: The Racoon Republik
Sailor: United states of freedom and death
Sailor: Lord Griffith

[We Are Not the NSA]

Oh... I hadn't even realized this region had a military. Cool.

[CK Administrative Office]

Wednesday, June 8 2016

Conch Kingdom Naval Reserve

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The Conch Kingdom Naval Reserve (CKNR) was formed on June 4 2016, by the efforts of newly-appointed Commanding Officer Jules Argus (Gradea) in conjunction with preliminary blueprints by Monarch Conch Kingdom. Despite its young age, it has already been deployed on two operations. Both were training missions: one in support of the Lone Wolves United occupation of The United Federation of Planets, executed less than a day after its formation; and the second more recently, in support of The Reaper Council's occupation of Christmas. The organization has eight members, a number which grows by the day. Although the CKNR is a non-update force for the time being, restricted to piling, with the support of its home region, it is expected to become a formidable military group in the months to come. More information about the Conch Kingdom Naval Reserve follows this announcement.

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The Non-Update Armed Forces of Conch Kingdom

Commanding Officer: Jules Argus
Executive Officer: [position vacant]

The Conch Kingdom Naval Reserve, or CKNR for short, is the only royally-sanctioned military organization in the region of Conch Kingdom. It is headed by the Commanding Officer (CO), followed by his appointed Executive Officer (XO). Unlike raiding and defending organizations, the CKNR is neutral. It serves to further the interests of Conch Kingdom in foreign waters through the use of force. It may raid or defend, depending on the needs of the region and the discretion of the CO. Because it is a young organization, the CKNR is a non-update force. This means that it does not deploy at update to capture the delegate positions of other regions. Rather, it deploys between updates to support other organizations' military operations. This is the reason it is named the "Naval Reserve," instead of simply "Navy."

One interesting point to note about the CKNR is its rank structure. Instead of being set up like an entire military, with Generals, Colonels, etc, it is organized like a single naval unit, with a Commanding Officer, Executive Officer, OODs standing watch, and sailors. For a group on the scale of NS, without hundreds of thousands of people, this is a practical approach. This does limit opportunities for permanent advancement slightly, but along with the two nations appointed as CO and XO, any sailor may be selected as an OOD by one of those two. This provides the chance for all involved nations to gain experience leading an operation.

Current Roster:
Commanding Officer Jules Argus
Executive Officer (none)
Sailor Conch Kingdom
Sailor Abemelech
Sailor United States of freedom and death
Sailor The Raccoon Republik
Sailor Lord Griffith
Sailor Lirone
Sailor Vandalic Carthage

Official Dispatch

[Jules Argus]

Supporting Irisania, Sacred Order of Fire, and The Reformed Union of Soviet Socialists, the forces of the Conch Kingdom Naval Reserve were deployed to Christmas, in support of the Raid that Stole Christmas.

Those sailors of the CKNR who bravely answered their call to arms were:

Commander Jules Argus
Sailor United states of freedom and death
Sailor Vandalic Carthage
Sailor Lirone
Sailor The Racoon Republik
Sailor Federalian

[Block II]

Christmas is always a fun target! Good work guys. Will you be hitting the wartzones next?

[CK Administrative Office]

Christmas is always a fun target! Good work guys. Will you be hitting the wartzones next?

Thank you! As for the warzones... well, we may have something planned, but I cannot confirm or deny anything.

-Conch

[North Campbell Nation]

Christmas is always a fun target! Good work guys. Will you be hitting the wartzones next?

Thank you! As for the warzones... well, we may have something planned, but I cannot confirm or deny anything.

-Conch

We'll leave a light on for you

[CK Administrative Office]

Wednesday, July 6 2016

Conclusion of Elections

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After a month of heated campaigning, and two weeks of suspense, we finally have our victors. Turnout was a bit lower than expected, with eighteen residents showing up to cast their ballots, but that was all it took to catapult three nations into their brand new, recently-renovated offices.

Several story-lines developed over the course of voting, with the most dramatic being the loss of VP and AG candidate Lord Griffith. Griffith left the region after the start of voting. He was soon followed by several nations who had claimed to be other individuals, but were later revealed to be Griffith's own puppets. Leaving the region did not disqualify him, but in a surprising twist, Griffith's main nation was deleted for rule violations a couple days later, along with all his puppets. This removed him from the race, although it had no effect on the results.

Meanwhile, the battle for Secretary of the Interior was raging, with The Superior Helghan Empire and Founder Thoth ra exchanging the lead several times. By the end, Helghan was able to claim victory, but only by a razor-slim margin of one vote. Had they tied, a run-off election would have been necessary. Unfortunately, Thoth departed the region shortly after the elections concluded, presumably over a minor RMB dispute, and left no known nations behind to maintain residency.

The Vice President election was a completely different picture, with newcomer The Raccoon Republik taking the position by a landslide. His campaign, which included dispatches and graphics, as well as a highly visible presence in the region, allowed him to carry 94% of the vote. He defeated candidates Brosakia, who was running for all three available positions to become the Supreme Leader of Conch Kingdom, and Lord Griffith, who received no votes.

The contest for Ambassador General was a bit quieter than the other two, with less campaign chatter surrounding the candidates. Brosakia, spread thin between all three positions, was forced to concede to another newcomer, Logjamma DBaggageclang. A lesson for the newbies: recently-founded nations really can defeat long-time residents. Interestingly, Brosakia managed a respectable 29% of the vote, showing that there is support for an iron-fisted fascist dictatorship in Conch Kingdom. Perhaps next cycle (or even sooner), we could see a similar platform rise to power.

Finally, after a dramatic fusillade of region-wide telegrams from incumbent Shansmen and regional map-maker MomoCarlile, as well as some shady endorsement deals involving newcomers, old-timers, and a regional military gone rogue, Shansmen resigned from the office of President. As the second-most endorsed nation in the region, MomoCarlile has become the latest President and WA delegate of Conch Kingdom. With this promotion, he joins a very small and exclusive group of nations that includes the most influential nation in the region, Shansmen, who is also the longest-serving President by far; and the economic powerhouse North-West America, who has been in the region almost since the beginning and tops many of the World Census rankings.

The following are the newly-elected officials.

President: The man, the myth, the legend, MomoCarlile!
Vice President: The GMO raccoon-human-hybrid-thing itself, The Raccoon Republik!
Ambassador General: The most interestingly-named man in the world, Logjamma DBaggageclang!
Secretary of the Interior: Back from the dead, the one and only, The Superior Helghan Empire!

Additionally, we have several recently-appointed non-elected officials joining the team. Nautalia has been selected to lead the Editorial Division as EiC, Union of Soth Africa now heads the Embassy Division under the direction of the AG as the Lead Diplomat, and Whitokazi has taken the reins on the previously-vacant position of Archivist.

Congratulations to all our new officials! Feel free to send them a telegram expressing your heartfelt support, brilliant ideas, or crushing disappointment.

[CK Administrative Office]

CKNR Supports HYDRA Command in TPTHNBB

Following the Security Council Liberation of The Place That Has No Big Banks by its former founder, we noticed that the region was dangerously vulnerable to liberation attempts, with only 15 endorsements on the point. In the weeks following Gradea's dismissal as the Commanding Officer of the Conch Kingdom Naval Reserve, the force had gone inactive, but with founder Conch Kingdom temporarily at the helm, it quickly sprung back to life. Under cover of night, eight Reservists were ordered to mobilize to TPTHNBB and prop up the HYDRA-led operation. Once all sailors were accounted for, they provided as much as 33% of the occupation's support.

Reservists deployed:
Sailor New Los Angelos
Sailor The Superior Helghan Empire
Sailor The Raccoon Republik
Sailor United States of freedom and death
Sailor Vandalic Carthage
Sailor Pandogland
Sailor Arrakisium
CO (Acting) Conch Kingdom

[Canton Empire]

Navy Reserve needs more ranks, like Captain, Admiral, Petty Officer,, and so on

[CK Administrative Office]

Navy Reserve needs more ranks, like Captain, Admiral, Petty Officer,, and so on

I have always thought GP military rank systems were a little silly. Real life militaries have hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of personnel. They are spread over hundreds, if not thousands, of miles, and usually have multiple branches. Using the same promotion structure for an organization of no more than a hundred people (usually far less) playing an Internet game is unnecessary at best and impractical at worst. It always makes me laugh when a R/D region has a single O10-equivalent, a single O9-equivalent, and so on down the line, followed by one or two E3-equivalent foot soldiers.

The Naval Reserve is set up similarly to an individual unit, rather than an entire military (despite the name). Thus, we have a CO, an XO, an OOD who varies by operation, and a bunch of nonrates. Eventually, after enough successful missions, some of those nonrates will become 3rd-, 2nd-, and 1st-class sailors.

Speaking of which, if any GPers are interested and otherwise unavailable, we are currently seeking a new CO. I am the Acting CO for now, but I am too busy to continue forever. We have a tendency to run long-term and stealth operations rather than quick hits, so if that is your preference, please consider sending me a telegram.

-Conch

[Antartican republic]

Tuesday, October 8 2016

Elections finished!

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After weeks of the Conch Kingdom suffering from lack of candidates and interest the elections finally came under way with 7 different candidates running for MoDA, MoFA and Chancellor. Now after two weeks of campaigning a close race has come to a close.

Running for Minister of Foreign Affairs was Dives Novum. Being a relative newcomer and not an active one at that he only received 1 vote, leaving the Conch Kingdom less than a week after the election end. His second and main opponent, Acarn won the election by a landslide with 24 votes. And the Final candidate was Ulysia who was inactive and only received one vote, experiencing an apocalypse only hours after the election.

The minister of Domestic Affairs election was a bit more lively with Helgan running for a re-election. Receiving 16 votes Helghan was re-elected by a large margin. His running mate, Antartican republic, received 8 votes but was appointed Editor in Chief two days later.

The Chancellor was the closest of them all even with the The Raccoon Republik being called inactive multiple times. As he was running for a re-election from a successful term he was able to receive 11 votes. Only narrowly beating him was ZerbraEz, as an active nation state member and discord user he was able to gain victory at 14 votes.

[Ever-Wandering Souls]

I'll note here, as has been reported in the TBH thread a few times, Conch Kingdom had also continued to maintain a large and active military

[Antartican republic]

I'll note here, as has been reported in the TBH thread a few times, Conch Kingdom had also continued to maintain a large and active military

I am going to be appointed the military second in command soon, Now I control the media and the army!

[Antartican republic]

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Augustin Alliance Hosts Game of Resistance!

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For those paying close attention, Conch Kingdom has seen a major resurgence in activity this month, brought about by the latest election cycle. With the help of a fresh batch of dedicated officials, several initiatives have begun, all with the aim of making Conch Kingdom a more fun place to visit.

One outward sign of this has been a game of Resistance, open to all three Augustin Alliance (AA) regions. AA's game region, AALounge, is hosting the event. For those unaware of the rules, Resistance is a game of posturing and deception, and is best enjoyed with at least six players. The setting is in a dystopian nation run by an evil dictator, who suppresses all threats to his power. A rebel force called the Resistance must fight against the the oppressive regime by completing a series of missions. However, two spies have been sent by the dictator to infiltrate the rebels' ranks. If a spy manages to enter a mission, they can cause the mission to fail. Three failed missions spells "game over" for the unlucky Resistance.
In the beginning, two players are chosen to be spies, and with all remaining players members of the Resistance. Each mission involves a team of three players, selected by a predetermined leader, and confirmed by a majority "Aye" vote from the remaining players. Since nobody knows who the two spies are except themselves, one or both of them could be inadvertently placed on the team, jeopardizing the mission. If people figure out who the spies are, though, they can vote against including the suspects on teams. For this reason, players go to great lengths to convince the others that they are not spies.

The first game is already in full swing, with eight combined players from Conch Kingdom and the Cape of Good Hope. The first leader was New Cashistan, and the intrigue has started early after the failure of his chosen team. The second team, which includes a player from the first, is being hotly debated. Over 400 posts were made in the Discord #resistance channel in a couple short hours, containing everything from Subliminal Propaganda Inserted Extra Sneakily to statistical calculations of the probability New Cashistan was a spy.

Future versions of the game will be opened to outside participants as well, but for now, readers are welcome to join the party on our Discord page. Good luck to all people participating, and may the smartest team win!

[Antartican republic]

Tuesday, November 22 2016

Augustin Alliance now on Discord.

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As many here may personally know the discord page has recently lit up in activity. For those of you who don’t know, the Conch Kingdom discord page was started by Helaw as a more casual means of communication and has soon became wildly popular. Although small at first with few members, it expanded greatly after it was implemented as a useful asset in discussing governmental affairs and even having fun, off and on nation states. Another big milestone was after it became the discord page for the Augustin Alliance and members from Land’s End and the Cape of Good Hope joined leading to a spectacular increase in activity. Now with over 51 members and many sub channels, it has become the go to place for topics ranging from political debates to karaoke. Although it’s seen great popularity, many people from the Conch Kingdom don’t participate in Discord, leading the Conch Kingdom to include it’s link on the front page and to send out telegrams encouraging people to join. Many have also wondered if Discord has drawn activity away from the RMB, after a worrying lack of activity. To counteract these problems, residents have been encouraged to use the RMB for all sorts of discussions. Fun events will also be held on Discord to draw in players while also reducing apathy and inactiveness after several large players left the Conch kingdom or ceased to exist.