"Yes, it's a game of politics, and yes in politics there's logrolling, backstabbing, backdoor deals, and more. But, we also sometimes forget that in the end it's just a browser game. Every time I look at my nation and that damn dirty [condemnation] badge on my page I can't tell you how much I regret going that far."
- Luxembourg. [1]
- Luxembourg. [1]
Something Stirs: The History of Early Balder & Osiris
Few historical events in NationStates offer such rich insight and regret as a study of Balder and Osiris' early history: those few perilous weeks in October when the twinned fate of two regions were written by ambition... and accident. In the span of just three days in November, both fledgling democracies overcame extraordinary security threats.
For previous historical lectures from this series, see:
- The Anatomy of the Coup: How Francos Spain Won
- Anatomy of the Coup II: Attack of the Puppets
(The Invasion of the North Pacific) - Anatomy of the Coup III: TEP, the Early Days
In Chapter 1 of this lecture, we'll examine the origins of two sinkers, Balder and Osiris. Chapter 2 and 3 cover the initial twelve hours in these two sinkers during which time forces from TITO, UDL, Europeia, LKE, TNI et. al. sought to seize their delegacies. Chapter 4 discusses the fragile democracies that were instituted as both Balder and Osiris elected new interim delegates to replace their first delegates. Chapter 5 concludes this lecture with a study of the ill-fated coups of Osiris and Balder that followed in November. Primarily we'll concern ourselves with what went wrong for the coupers: namely, why were these takeovers not successful?
Table of Contents |
Many Thanks, Science Surge
At ~12:29 EDT on Oct 18 2011, a nation named "Science surge" approached the NationStates Tech subforum in need of assistance. Their nation, Science surge, hadn't received issues for over a week since it had been revived in Lazarus. The Site Administrator [violet] noted that the sheer size of Lazarus was responsible for the strange phenomenon. "A large region is more vulnerable to race conditions, where multiple parts of the game try to update it at once, and one doesn't finish before the next one starts," explained [Violet]. "This is one of our architectural problems stemming from the lack of a database."
Unbeknownst to 'Science surge' or the rest of NationStates at the time, this unassuming nation had unwittingly spurred the creation of Osiris and Balder.
Familiar to military gameplayers, 'race conditions' cause peculiar instances of "ghost" nations unrecognized by update, daily censuses, or new issues. By this time in 2011 however, Lazarus was positively ballooning: with over 6,821 nations and counting, Lazarus was not only the largest region in the world but also more than two thousand nations larger than the next Game-Created Region. Its extraordinary size had become a technical issue, disrupting the game's update.
[Violet] first responded to Science surge's request for technical assistance at about 21:12 EDT on the same day. She noted that she had manually resolved Science surge's issue and (more damningly) that "this has been happening a bit lately. I think Lazarus is getting too full. We need a few new rebirthing regions." In just over an hour after remarking that the game needed "a few new rebirthing regions," [violet] quietly set in motion the creation of two new sinker regions to complement Lazarus. The creation of these new sinker regions would go largely unnoticed by other NationStates players.
[Violet] moved Testlandia from Warzone Airspace to found Osiris, then Balder. Eye witness accounts from the day note that Osiris and Balder were passworded and sat empty until they "became a sinker" at some point over the next two hours after their initial creation.
22:16:05 EDT - 10/18/2011: Testlandia logs in.
22:20:33 EDT - 10/18/2011: Osiris is founded by Testlandia and passworded.
22:21:03 EDT - 10/18/2011: Balder is founded by Testlandia and passworded.
22:20:33 EDT - 10/18/2011: Osiris is founded by Testlandia and passworded.
22:21:03 EDT - 10/18/2011: Balder is founded by Testlandia and passworded.
Goobergunchia joked to [violet] that she hadn't taken "very long to implement this" (00:52:00 10/19); Sedgistan suggested to [violet] that a game-wide news post was in order, but [violet] resisted, saying the next day that "I was interested to watch how it might evolve on its own, without a News post pointing everyone to it. Took about two hours for the major organizations to notice, then things got very busy very quickly." [2] For the site administration, the slow trickling in of new residents was all a part of the political experiment.
Later that night, [violet] also raised the question of "Why is it that the "eject" button is turned off in Lazarus? I can't remember." Evidently unsatisfied with the response, [violet] decided that Osiris and Balder would possess ejection/ban tools - a departure from the "ejectless" Lazarus. (A few days later on Oct 23, Lazarus was duly granted a ejection/ban button.)
22:58 EDT - 10/18: Earliest activity in Osiris. (Kanoshii refounded)
00:23 EDT - 10/19: Earliest activity in Balder. (Indraha refounded)
01:08 EDT - 10/19: Osiris updates for the first time ever.
01:58 EDT - 10/19: Balder updates, also for the first time ever.
00:23 EDT - 10/19: Earliest activity in Balder. (Indraha refounded)
01:08 EDT - 10/19: Osiris updates for the first time ever.
01:58 EDT - 10/19: Balder updates, also for the first time ever.
Over the course of 3-4 hours, the evening daily dump notes at least eight nations dribbled into Osiris and thirteen to Balder. [3] This exclusive list of early movers includes Kanoshii (Osiris' first refounded nation), Indraha (Balder's first refounded nation), Revert (Osiris' first arrival and WA nation), TAO (Balder's first arrival, then- puppet of Revert), Ballotonia as "Bal" and Evil Wolf as "Wolf" in Balder. In theory since Balder and Osiris were created before Major update, a WA Delegate could have been elected at Major update - but since no nation had an endorsement, no WA Delegate was selected for Balder or Osiris at Major update. This left the door open for the military operations that transpired.
"I was in the Galactic Republic replacement region [(The New Galactic Republic)] at the time and just stumbled on [Osiris] completely by happenstance," says Revert (Luna Amore) of the initial discovery, recalling especially the "the slowness of people to respond" to the creation of the new sinkers. "I imagine someone refounded in [Osiris] and that tipped me off. [..] I made the first RMB post in Osiris and the second post in Balder ([..] Tao was my puppet, I gave it to TAO years and years ago)." [4]
Long Live the Aretist Revolution
Shortly before 2:00 EDT, a team of defender updaters from Thousand Island Treaty Organization (TITO) - Improving Wordiness (Sichuan Pepper), Echolilia, Surdra, and Boltor - launched into Osiris from TITO's (then-) HQ region, "Knock Knock." TITO was responding to the arrival of Kain the dragoon (Leo Romefeller) and East Triludia (Gerzam) to Osiris whom TITO identified as "known invaders." Improving Wordiness noticed Kain first and ordered her troops to move in. [5]
"[Kain and I] happened to notice that [Osiris] and Balder had just been created and realized the significance of what we were witnessing," explains Gerzam. "We decided to move in immediately to try and form the first government of the region. While we had some thought to try and establish a lasting order there, we expected that we were going to get dislodged by more powerful interregional interests. [...] Really, our heart wasn't really in it like some of the more dedicated coupers and Leo's involvement after the initial attempt to seize the region was basically in the mould of helping whoever actually ended up taking over the region rather than trying to take it himself." [6]
In the likely result of ejection, Gerzam said Kain and him were considering forming a new region (New Osiris) or using New Brittania, their home region, as a "government-in-exile as a gimmick to promote [their] community."
TITO represented 10000 Islands (10KI), the largest defender region of its day.
For readers of the Rejected Times, Guy provided a brief biography of TITO's Improving Wordiness - who also known as "Wordy":
"Wordy first joined 10000 Islands in December 2009, and quickly rose up the ranks of TITO [...] Wordy proved her natural knack for defending and command, making her ascent to the command position of Tactical Officer within only four months, alongside defending greats Anime Daisuki and Ananke. [...] After many months of being the de facto TITO leader, Wordy was appointed in November 2011 to the position of Field Commander, in effect second only in command to Grub. She retained this position until her temporary withdrawal from NS."
Over the next hour, TITO Command (Grub, Anime Daisuki, Improving Wordiness, Boltor and Eist) privately discussed whether or not to move more troops into Osiris and whether the situation called for further action. Decisions like these, Markanite (presently the TITO Commander-in-Chief) explains, were "a collaborative effort with Grub authorising final actions."
"As you can imagine this was all fast paced however officers went into great detail about all aspects of the region and candidates before making final decisions," writes Markanite. Former TITO Field Commander Anime Daisuki especially recalls "[dreading] defending [GCRs] because of the politics that come with them," - a commonly-held view in 10KI. [7]
An hour later - 3:00 EDT - "[Osiris] was declared a 'Red lit' mission and protocols were put in place to reinforce Wordy. [...] Precautions were taken to ensure Kain did not have founder controls over a sinker region [, especially] due to the amount of invader activity in that period." [8] A second, more sustained wave of TITO defenders followed from this point on - more than ten endorsements followed in the next three hours, then ten more after two more hours. TITO reinforcements were seen hopping through multiple regions to clear '10000 Islands' from their Regional Happenings before they arrived in Osiris. [9]
By minor update, TITO held a commanding lead in terms of endorsements over Revert, Kain, and others in Osiris.
Of the TITO operation, Gerzam admits: "[Kain and I] did not expect to be so immediately assailed by TITO, though it is of little surprise as Kain the Dragoon was a nation that had been heavily used in raiding activity over the years. [Kain and I] would have used clean nations, but back then it still took 24 hours to get into the WA, so the nations we used were our current WA nations and we were stuck with them if we wanted a shot at being the first to take the delegacy. Still, it was rather interesting watching [TITO...] justify what they were doing within the context of a native-less, founderless new region. I don't mean that as a jab at them, either: it really was something unprecedented and for which the usual paradigms of R/D were and really still are not attuned to."
Here are some observations that may have factored into TITO's decision to intervene:
1) Kain the dragoon (Leo Romefeller) and East Triludia (Gerzam) were formerly invaders; Kain and Gerzam were then leading members of the New Britannian Empire, Gerzam is a former Archemperor of Unknown.
2) 10000 Islands was at war with New Britannian Empire.
3) East Triludia (Gerzam) and Kain the Dragoon declared themselves "Co-Emperors" of Osiris and called for an "Aretist Revolution." They also recognized themselves as a part of an "Arete Empire of Osiris."
4) Between 1:47-3:00 EDT, more than ten nations (some WA Nations, some non-WA) entered into Osiris that were associated with Unknown, Bigtopia, New Britannia, The Intergalactic Dominion (IGD), The Black Hawks, Folsom, and the Brotherhood of Blood. Many of these regions were connected. It is worth noting though that only a few of these nations actually endorsed Kain however.
2) 10000 Islands was at war with New Britannian Empire.
3) East Triludia (Gerzam) and Kain the Dragoon declared themselves "Co-Emperors" of Osiris and called for an "Aretist Revolution." They also recognized themselves as a part of an "Arete Empire of Osiris."
4) Between 1:47-3:00 EDT, more than ten nations (some WA Nations, some non-WA) entered into Osiris that were associated with Unknown, Bigtopia, New Britannia, The Intergalactic Dominion (IGD), The Black Hawks, Folsom, and the Brotherhood of Blood. Many of these regions were connected. It is worth noting though that only a few of these nations actually endorsed Kain however.
Because the number of endorsements that TITO had accumulated was out of step (16) with the comparatively small number of endorsements (6) that Revert and Kain had accumulated by dawn, and the motives of Kain were disputed, this led some to argue that TITO's presence was excessive and unwelcome. Revert, echoing others, questioned why TITO was seeking the delegacy itself directly rather than endorsing a neutral like himself.
Population trends in Osiris over its first 12 hours.
** *
Kain's 'Aretist Revolution' was a reference to Aretism, an ideological movement that he and Gerzam had brought to New Britannia. In simple terms, Aretism exalted elite contributors, the "virtuosi," who worked to elevate a region culturally. Aretists envisioned a cultural meritocracy "of an Autocratic nature" which privileged community-building. [10] In invoking the Aretist cause, Kain the dragoon was calling for an independent effort to build a community. In turn, Kain had established a community forum and regional flag for Osiris (neither of which were officially adopted, however.)
"Had we lastingly taken control of [Osiris] it is likely that we would have tried to structure the place around [Aretism] (whether successfully or not)," writes Gerzam. However in terms of their initial activity in Osiris, "[Aretism] played little direct role other than as a means to try to rally support (since the ideology at its most basic was all about trying to create a systematic meritocracy as a counter to entrenched, closed, and nepotistic power structures dominating many of the major spaces of NS at the time) and build an aesthetic."
A member of NBE and IGD (at that time), New Rogernomics - one of the earliest endorsers of Kain - recalls being messaged by Kain to invite him to Osiris, but New Rogernomics believes that Kain's intentions were positive and the build-up of support and activity was organic.
"If you want it from Kain's side, then he thought it would be fun to have a go at building a community in Osiris," explains New Rogernomics. "We had not been there too long before TITO pre-emptively intervened, and I say pre-emptive because Revert was [leading in endorsements], not Kain, and whatever constitutes a native had no issues with us being there, but plenty of issues with TITO and the other technically raiders." [11]
"I say that as they were fine with Kain just building a forum, but not with a mass influx of raiders and defenders after us wanting to stake their claim to the region. Mostly in hindsight, TITO's motivation was to prevent raider influence or control of a GCR, whereas Kain was there just to set up the community in whatever form the natives wanted."
Gerzam said there was some "organized activity [to pull supporters into Osiris] in the sense that there was an effort being made to rally people, it's just that it was not official and, given the short notice, was very ad hoc in nature."
"We very much tried to pull some support in to give us momentum and push us over the edge, and this support did tend to be largely concentrated from those places that we had existing ties with or were in control of, so even if we didn't order it in an official capacity, we were certainly leveraging what we had. [..] I recall us getting some support from people we did not reach out to purely on the basis of them resenting TITO's involvement, and then there were a few others who seemed to fall in line with us since we set up forum infrastructure and such."
New Rogernomics et. al. note there were strong affiliations between the Intergalactic Dominion, New Britannia, and Unknown, but New Rogernomics believes the movement into Osiris from these regions was natural.
"New Britannia was strongly affiliated with the IGD and [... eventually merged] as a region into what would become The Ascendancy," notes New Rogernomics. "IGD and Unknown were effectively allied, even sharing some regional culture as far as religion. [...] It was kinda expected that folks from Unknown and New Britannia would turn up because of that. Though Kain certainly didn't invite anyone else."
Kain's original Osiris flag (above) was later used to represent Aretism.
** *
12:56:50 PM EDT - 10/19/2011: TITO Commander Improving Wordiness (Sichuan pepper) becomes the first delegate of Osiris with approximately 32 endorsements. Provoking even more controversy still, her first act as delegate was to eject Kain and some of his supporters.
13:14 EDT - 10/19: Sichuan pepper banjected Kain the dragoon.
13:22 EDT - 10/19: Sichuan pepper banjected Nicholas von Sinterklaas (Vortiaganica).
13:22 EDT - 10/19: Sichuan pepper banjected Badr al-Jamali (Ramesses I).
13:23 EDT - 10/19: Sichuan pepper banjected Derp.
13:23 EDT - 10/19: Sichuan pepper banjected Your mum and yo mamma (Face Dancers, TBH).
13:14 EDT - 10/19: Sichuan pepper banjected Kain the dragoon.
13:22 EDT - 10/19: Sichuan pepper banjected Nicholas von Sinterklaas (Vortiaganica).
13:22 EDT - 10/19: Sichuan pepper banjected Badr al-Jamali (Ramesses I).
13:23 EDT - 10/19: Sichuan pepper banjected Derp.
13:23 EDT - 10/19: Sichuan pepper banjected Your mum and yo mamma (Face Dancers, TBH).
East Triludia was likely banjected alongside Kain and others, but there is no surviving record of their banjection (minor gaps in Warzone Codger's Regional Happenings logs are probably responsible). The Psychic Horns and New Rogernomics, who were also supporters of Kain the dragoon, temporarily left Osiris during the initial wave of banjections to join Kain the dragoon and the other exiles in "New Osiris."
However, since Kain (Leo) eventually decided to support the interim government in Osiris, the "New Osiris" effort fizzled out:
"We were basically about to found our government-in-exile [in "New Osiris"] but ultimately decided to backtrack," says Gerzam. "With Leo ultimately falling in with the crowd who ended up forming the first "real" government for the region [..] We quietly dropped the issue and never asserted it."
At the same time the first ejections and bans were already underway in Osiris, Balder's delegate was being chosen under comparatively peaceful and amicable circumstances. Many pointed to the early contrast between Balder and Osiris, criticizing the use of force in Osiris and its relative political instability. [12]
By the end of the day, the Osiris World Factbook Entry remained unchanged from its original WFE message ("Something Stirs..."), but Grub, 10000 Islands' founder, joined Osiris on its RMB briefly to communicate TITO's intentions going forward. He indicated there would be an open election held for the delegacy run by a yet-to-be-determined "neutral, well known, third party."
Explaining TITO's decision to intervene, Grub wrote in his official statement: "Last night, a known invader, Kain_the_Dragoon, moved into Osiris. We know this guy and he is not someone you want having your information and running this region by force. Since we can see a bright future for Osiris, we didn't want you to be under the thumb of a known bad guy who has a history of putting his interests above those of other regions. So, we moved in and booted the lot."
Showdown in Balder: "Let it all go to s**t from there"
While Balder and Osiris were in the process of being founded, defenders in the United Defenders League (UDL) were distracted by a complicated political situation that had emerged in The Anarchist International.
At 19:15 EDT (10/18/2011), Zwangzug of the United Defenders League spotted leftist arrivals over the course of the past hour to a small founderless region, The Anarchist International. The five new endorsements were consolidating around Vox Populii, a nation that had joined The Anarchist International a week prior. Evidently, the leftist militants appeared to be same group, The Internationale, that the United Defenders League had recently encountered in "Pact of Steel". In response, I (as Chief of the UDL) moved a puppet account, Robin Hood, to The Anarchist International and invited other UDL troops to endorse 'Robin Hood' and support our counter-invasion operation. From 19:33 to 22:00 EDT, at least thirteen other UDL soldiers would respond to this call for action.
Marxiangrad, a key member of this group, exchanged a series of telegrams with me, explaining that the Internationale's intentions were not to invade the region but rather to establish a regional password to protect it from "raiders/fascists". Excerpts of this conversation still survive and they reveal the clear philosophical divide at that time between leftists and defenders. I maintained that a regional password should have the prior approval of the remaining two natives in the Anarchist International, whereas Marxiangrad argued that prior approval was not necessary - that the natives were inactive, "the "will" of the region [was] intangible as they [...] expressed none," and that the Anarchist International was associated with the Internationale through "solidarity" in a political class conflict distinct from traditional Gameplay.
A compromise was found before Major Update and I as "Robin Hood" departed the Anarchist International. Other UDL soldiers were told to stay in the Anarchist International as a part of a preposition mission, but only in the interim with the agreement of the Internationale while they sought to establish consent for a regional password from the region's extant natives.
** *
The United Defenders League was a defender organization founded earlier that year in June 2011 by me. Rather than past defender armies that had been regional armies or super-regional armies, the UDL was intended to be an open organization -- a paramilitary in essence -- rather than an extension of a specific region or alliance. This system was novel at the time, its main advantage (as I saw it) was that the organization could freely recruit and grow its membership without having to convince whole regions to join (and stay) in the alliance, and without the political interests of member-regions contradicting the organization's goal of supporting regions against international aggression.
The UDL had a "Robin Hood" theme, its members were called "merrymen" - inspired by 'Sherwood St.' in my hometown. The UDL's logo, designed by Milograd, was the symbol for Kodaira, Tokyo superimposed over four arrows. The organization's earliest 'merrymen' were a diverse bunch which included FRA alumni (Spartzerium, Lemmingtopias etc.), veteran defenders (Ballotonia, Goobergunchia, Harmoneia etc.), NS-Sporters (Delaclava, Zwangzug, Commerce Heights etc.), Roleplayers (Solm, Carta/Milograd, St. George etc.), and WA Authors (Glen-Rhodes, Mallorea and Riva, Belschaft, Quadrimmina, Jeux/Feux, Sanctaria, Johz etc.) Eluvatar, later UDL Chief of Intelligence, joined the UDL early on as favour to me, having helped him refound Taijitu. Mahaj switched from invading to join the UDL. Ballotonia also introduced Belgian and Dutch defenders to the UDL, including Ravania and Riemstagrad.
** *
Distracted by the incident in The Anarchist International and the regular followings of update, it wasn't until 01:47 EDT - just ten minutes before Balder updated (01:58) - when updaters from the United Defenders League became aware of the creation of Balder and Osiris. TITO's movement from 'Knock Knock' into Osiris was spotted by Ballotonia, who shared the link to Osiris on the #UDL IRC Channel in response. There was a lot of initial confusion among the defenders. Balder was a small founderless region at this point with a non-descript World Factbook Entry ("Something Stirs...") and a "Sinker" tag; it wasn't immediately clear what was happening or what the significance of the region was, or whether Balder would update or not or when, or whether delegates would even be able to eject other nations in Balder/Osiris.
Below is an excerpt from surviving IRC logs (courtesy of Eluvatar) which capture the fateful moment when UDL updaters first discovered Osiris and Balder:
[19 Oct 01:47] <Ballotonia> http://www.nationstates.net/region=osiris
[01:47] <Ballotonia> Lots of folks moving in.
[01:47] <Ballotonia> Weird: Region has no Founder listed, but has no WA Census either... I don't know how that is possible.
[01:48] <Goobergunchia> Knock Knock is TITO's region
[01:48] <Ballotonia> Yes, I know. But can you explain it being Founderless yet WA Census-less ?
[01:48] <Goobergunchia> 3 hours ago: Region founded by The Jingoistic States of Testlandia.
[01:48] <Ballotonia> Ah, ok
[01:48] <Goobergunchia> new GCR
[01:49] <Goobergunchia> see also Balder
[01:49] <Unibot> Hhhm.
[01:49] <Ballotonia> Yep
[01:49] <Unibot> Weird.
[01:49] <Unibot> Osiris.
[01:49] <Unibot> Oddd.
[01:49] <Unibot> Egyptian Mythology?
[01:50] <Unibot> Wasn't he a god..
[01:50] <Goobergunchia> Somebody linked a comment earlier about [violet] wanting to add more Lazaruses
[01:47] <Ballotonia> Lots of folks moving in.
[01:47] <Ballotonia> Weird: Region has no Founder listed, but has no WA Census either... I don't know how that is possible.
[01:48] <Goobergunchia> Knock Knock is TITO's region
[01:48] <Ballotonia> Yes, I know. But can you explain it being Founderless yet WA Census-less ?
[01:48] <Goobergunchia> 3 hours ago: Region founded by The Jingoistic States of Testlandia.
[01:48] <Ballotonia> Ah, ok
[01:48] <Goobergunchia> new GCR
[01:49] <Goobergunchia> see also Balder
[01:49] <Unibot> Hhhm.
[01:49] <Ballotonia> Yep
[01:49] <Unibot> Weird.
[01:49] <Unibot> Osiris.
[01:49] <Unibot> Oddd.
[01:49] <Unibot> Egyptian Mythology?
[01:50] <Unibot> Wasn't he a god..
[01:50] <Goobergunchia> Somebody linked a comment earlier about [violet] wanting to add more Lazaruses
There was some initial joking and levity (common to #UDL) about "taking" the region but defenders in the IRC channel soon recognized the seriousness of the situation and the need to make a quick decision, as well as the constraints that committing to the delegacy would have on the lead nation. [13] The defending world was already preoccupied with an ongoing occupation in Utopia. I envisioned a quick, democratic transition of power in Balder that would ensure Regional Controls was passed to a civilian government rather than foreign invaders.
[02:10] * Ballotonia notes that whomever commits to the delegacy will be out of defender and liberation duties. Perhaps for a long, long time.
[02:10] * Unibot sighs.
[02:10] <Unibot> Well.
[02:10] <Unibot> If it gets the region off the ground in good footing, I'll do it.
[02:11] <Unibot> But I'd rather just take it for a few days and pass it off to someone once the dust is cleared.
[02:11] <Unibot> This is going to be a hotspot for raider and imperalist groups.
[02:11] <Unibot> Wanting to form the next Pacific.
[02:10] * Unibot sighs.
[02:10] <Unibot> Well.
[02:10] <Unibot> If it gets the region off the ground in good footing, I'll do it.
[02:11] <Unibot> But I'd rather just take it for a few days and pass it off to someone once the dust is cleared.
[02:11] <Unibot> This is going to be a hotspot for raider and imperalist groups.
[02:11] <Unibot> Wanting to form the next Pacific.
Ultimately, by 2:06 EST, I made a gut call to commit the UDL to securing the region; six merrymen that were online followed and endorsed my nation, "Robin Hood" (some had already pre-endorsed "Robin Hood"). From 3:00 EDT to Minor update, at least thirteen other defenders joined Balder to endorse Robin Hood.
The initial reaction from some defenders was critical in the operational section of the UDL forum. One FRA defender privately called the decision to intervene in Balder, "shameful" and that it constituted "just more ego-inflating by an organisation which was supposed to be exactly the opposite." I defended the decision to intervene based on the theory of a "power vacuum," believing that without a military power invested in facilitating free and fair elections and a democratic constitutional convention, the fledgling new region would be seized by another military power that intended to occupy the region long-term. "We're going to send some troops since I'd hate to see it become a raider/imperialist fest, I'd like to see the new sinker have a good beginning," I initially wrote on the UDL forum -- jokingly adding "let it all go to s**t from there."
The UDL publicly promised an open Constitutional Convention and an immediate delegate election in four days (Oct 23). A careful reconstruction (below) shows the UDL support trickling into Balder over its first twelve hours, grey represents the growth in WA Nations, yellow represents all nations, blue represents UDL defenders, and green represents Europeia/LKE forces:
By 12:10 EDT, a late challenge to the UDL's mission in Balder came from Europeia, Empire of Earth, the New Inquisition (TNI), and Land of Kings and Emperors (LKE). Rachel Anumia, then President of Europeia, began soliciting endorsements and support; she, like the UDL, also promised a constitutional convention (hosted by Europeia) under the premise that as "the most successful democratic regions of all time... [Europeia knows] how to build a successful, active democratic region." Invaders from Europeia, EoE, TNI, and LKE amassed forces quickly to close the endorsement gap between Robin Hood (UDL) and "Swift sure" (Rachel's puppet nation.) Over the next hour, I and Rachel debated on the Balder Regional Message Board over who could be better trusted to manage a constitutional convention. Meanwhile, both sides were continuing to direct support to endorse their leads in Balder.
"As far as I can recall I think the late intervention was because we hadn't noticed the creation [of Balder]," explains Charles Cerebella on the deployment. "If we had known though I'm sure we would have mobilized quicker though as there wasn't a chance that we'd have completely left it to others." [14]
Charles was a former King of TNI and former PM of the LKE. Of Balder, he recalls "frantic[ally] chasing anyone and everyone to deploy if they hadn't already." He further notes, "TNI had built up a fairly effective reinforcement base [...] of people who were mainly there for the politics or community but who could be relied upon to move a nation even if they would never turn up to an update." He describes TNI as the "real power base," militarily and politically, in its collaborative efforts with the LKE.
Frantically, Rachel reaches out to Europeians on their RMB at 12:37:20 EDT:
"URGENT MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
We are currently in the process of trying to establish a democracy in Balder. If you're a WA member, it would be greatly obliged if you'd move your nation there and endorse Swift sure."
One hour later, however...
13:38:14 EDT - 10/19: UDL's 'Robin Hood' (Me) becomes the first delegate of Balder. When the proverbial dust settled, the endorsement margin between Robin Hood and Europeia's 'Swift sure' (Rachel) was 23-13. [15] Invaders had tightened the gap considerably. Some readers -- familiar with the larger armies of past and future battles -- might regard these numbers as small; however, I would argue this level of support reflects the smaller scale and mobilization of this era of Military Gameplay and the impact of surprise and lack of prior planning and organization.
Shortly thereafter, Rachel Anumia as President of Europeia released a statement recognizing Europeia's support for the proposed constitutional convention:
"In both regions, it became a frantic race to see who would become the first delegate. Europeia entered the race in Balder late against Unibot and we both sought to establish a democratic region via a constitutional convention and set it on the path to flourishing. We did not win but that does not change the end result which is the birth of a new democratic region open to all. We both have the same aims and we will be sending a delegation to region in order to help it grow by providing our expertise. We will suffer no region or organization to infringe on Balder's newly elected government and urge all sides to support it and help it flourish as a democratic region."
It is worth noting, the site crashed temporarily after the selection of Balder's delegate -- this server crash prompted some light joking from UDL's ranks. [12] The World Facebook Entry was updated to welcome residents to participate in an open Constitutional Convention and upcoming Delegate elections. Residents were invited to join a interim regional forum (which later became permanent) created by Sovereign Liberties, an FRA Ranger from Global Right Alliance. I also designed what was intended to be a temporary regional flag. [16]
The following is an example of a 'tarting' message which was used to solicit endorsements from Balder residents:
Greetings ______________,
This is a delicate time for Balder and to keep our delegacy safe I’d like to ask you for your endorsement. As a sign of good faith I will endorse you.
The Constitutional Convention is well on its way to formulating a constitution and campaigning has begun for the elections of a WA Delegate on Oct. 23. To protect this process of regional development our region needs a well endorsed delegate. See our WFE for details on the Convention and our elections.
Charles Cerebella could not speak to Europeia's intentions, but found that the projection of power was at the "heart" of the early imperialist involvement in Osiris: "I think once the decision to intervene was taken, whenever it was, it then became at least for me, at least in the immediate crisis, about a show of strength," explains Charles, "An opportunity to display our military might and diplomatic alliance network. [...] Once [Balder] was founded I think our broad intentions were to ensure it became a good and active region, while at the same time ensuring that it didn't become a power base for [Unibot], the UDL or others."
