Embassy of The East Pacific: March Issue is Out Now!

[Nociav]

Personally, I've come around to accept and applaud how they're going about this. NS needs a region to fulfill the role that Osiris and Lazarus left vacant when they stabilized.
TEP has stepped up to the plate to fill their shoes as the easily-subverted region, weakening the ability of their legislative wing to provide checks and balances, weakening their internal security, and just generally begging to be couped.

Of course they're gonna give people grief that warn them about what they're doing. They know what they're doing, Cormac. They just don't want it out there in public spaces where the newer TEPers can see it. It kinda gives the game away, y'know?

Anyway, to the secret cabal in TEP (that totally doesn't exist) - I hope the "soft coup" (that's totally never going to happen) results in a cool TEP. otherwise this whole song and dance is gonna feel very, very pointless.

Your arguments in this post amount to conjecture. Being unclear and not even providing an argument doesn't help when people have legitimate concerns. It undermines that person's credibilty since it looks like they're trying to stir trouble for the sake of it.

Where's your supporting arguments? Where's your reasoning? Where's your, and this is a big one, proof to support these assertions? May I suggest presenting a bullet-point list of everything you'd like to see changed in TEP, why, and how this change would be brought about instead of sarcastic snark?

[Varanius]

Would you like the list to be sent in the mail or hand delivered?

[Nociav]

Would you like the list to be sent in the mail or hand delivered?

Float it down the river on a clay tablet. That or post it here.

[RiderSyl]

Where's your supporting arguments? Where's your reasoning? Where's your, and this is a big one, proof to support these assertions?

Like I said, I've accepted that this is the way TEP is going and I have the popcorn ready. I assume you'd want TEP to change course if you believed me, so, please continue not believing me.

May I suggest presenting a bullet-point list of everything you'd like to see changed in TEP, why, and how this change would be brought about instead of sarcastic snark?

I wasn't being sarcastic, and the list would just be one bullet point saying "Get on with it already".

[Nociav]

Like I said, I've accepted that this is the way TEP is going and I have the popcorn ready. I assume you'd want TEP to change course if you believed me, so, please continue not believing me.

I'm in TEP. I want the region to be stable and safe. Hence why I've asked you for sincere criticisms. You've basically said "TEP is moving towards instability, and towards a coup, believe me since it's true". Surely you'd present actual arguments since you so strongly believe in this.

[RiderSyl]

Like I said, I've accepted that this is the way TEP is going and I have the popcorn ready. I assume you'd want TEP to change course if you believed me, so, please continue not believing me.

I'm in TEP. I want the region to be stable and safe. Hence why I've asked you for sincere criticisms. You've basically said "TEP is moving towards instability, and towards a coup, believe me since it's true". Surely you'd present actual arguments since you so strongly believe in this.

I literally just said that if you want TEP to be stable then I don't want you to believe me. Is your sarcasm detector giving off false readings? I'm legitimately okay with this.

[Nociav]

I literally just said that if you want TEP to be stable then I don't want you to believe me. Is your sarcasm detector giving off false readings? I'm legitimately okay with this.

Perhaps it's my English skills, but I haven't got a clue what your trying to say anymore.

[RiderSyl]

I literally just said that if you want TEP to be stable then I don't want you to believe me. Is your sarcasm detector giving off false readings? I'm legitimately okay with this.

Perhaps it's my English skills, but I haven't got a clue what your trying to say anymore.

Okay, let's try putting it this way.

From where I'm sitting, it looks like the forest is going to be burned down. I can see the brush being moved around and the gas being poured. Now, I used to care about the forest several years ago, but I'm not too keen on it now, and I've accepted that it will burn. I'm ready to watch the fire, and I'm curious to see what grows in its place. If I'm right, like I think I am, I am not interested in convincing anyone that the forest is going to burn, especially anyone that might stop it from burning. If I'm wrong and it isn't burned down, then I'll just shrug and go back to my business.

[Libertanny]

Oy, Syl!

Let me know when you're up for repeating debate in the spirit from September 2020

I'll be waiting. Just throw some whatever made-up arguments you have, and I'll be glad to analyze them word, by word, letter by letter

[Spode Humbled Minions]

Would you like the list to be sent in the mail or hand delivered?

I would prefer if it was delivered line by line in Krunker, but you’d have to be level 5 for that :sunglasses:

Also the vagueposting in this thread is vague. It’s a good sign that if people can’t understand what a post is trying to communicate to others, that post has exited the realm of ‘diplomatic’ and has instead become entirely useless.

[RiderSyl]

Oy, Syl!

Let me know when you're up for repeating debate in the spirit from September 2020

I'll be waiting. Just throw some whatever made-up arguments you have, and I'll be glad to analyze them word, by word, letter by letter

Good to know!

Also the vagueposting in this thread is vague.

I hereby declare myself queen of vagueposting.

[A mean old man]

8 years is far too long a period of time to not be Delegate of The East Pacific.

[RiderSyl]

Clearly this is the AMOM coup I was forewarning about!

[Eastern Pacific News Service]

The East Pacific News Service

|Home || Current Issue || Archives || Our Staff || SwiftNews

Editor's Note: This article was edited especially for NS forum readers. The original, unedited version may be seen here.

The East Pacific News Service
October 27, 2021

---

N-Day 2021: Does too many Potatoes and Crabs ruin the Nuclear Apocalypse?

FEATURE | BY: Albrook | Edited by: Eunopiar | You can read more about our authors by clicking on the "Our Staff" tab at the top

N-Day: The annual NationStates tradition of coordinating with your regions, friends, and fellow nuclear enthusiasts to bomb the entire known world into a transient but devastating nuclear turmoil. N-Day launched in 2017 as that year’s April Fools Event and is now a recurring tradition.

With every strategic game, however, comes a metagame – a correct way to play. From a perspective of a TEPer that did not attend N-Day, I asked for opinions from the TEP Discord Server Community and several Friends of the East, our friends in diplomacy, what their opinion was about this year’s N-Day and the obvious presence of megafactions.

The primary respondents include Former Delegate Libertanny, UTEP Chancellor Aivintis, and Potato Commander Catiania. A single guest opinion was provided by President Brototh of Thaecia.

~ - - - - - ~

Albrook: Compared to the previous N-Days, how does this year’s N-Day fare?

Catiania: It was boring for the first ten hours, and then became very exciting. I ran my puppets a lot more effectively this year – I think I had 200 [last year as well], but this year I had better scripts and focused completely on shields. There was a lot of hype in our faction going towards the final battle, which was great fun!

Aivintis: I feel like N-Day 2020 was better. N-Day 2019 was similar to this, but I still think this was worse.

Libertanny: Compared to last year’s N-Day, this edition was far more boring to the point, where I didn’t even decide to join with TEP and I just observed Crabs (of the Apocalypse; Crabs hereafter) and Potato.

~ - - - - - ~

Albrook: What was your faction’s general strategy for N-Day?

Aivintis: Generally, Potato started with shields. Then we targeted some of the factions trying to get onto the leaderboard and ended up punching through Horsemen defenses.

Catiania: The plan was that the three major factions would clean out the minor ones. Potato had a mutual defense pact with Crabs that would run out after 12 hours, and a non-aggression pact that would end at the 14-hour mark.

We were hoping that Crab would take out the Catgirls around 6 hours in and that we could get in on that, then we’d fight it out when it was just Potato and Crab left.

The problem is the Catgirls didn’t turn out to be a major faction at all and died around two hours in. It was very sad. They were destroyed by literally one person from Crab – Sweeze soloed them. This was perhaps encouraged by their planned main shield puppeteer not joining.

So the final part of that strategy did indeed happen, but it didn’t quite turn out the way we would like.

~ - - - - - ~

Albrook: This said, how would you rate your faction’s performance?

Aivintis: Probably like 5/10. We lost, but we lasted pretty long.

Catiania: It was as good as we could hope! I’m very proud of how we did. Crab had an overwhelming nation advantage, and an extremely aggressive approach that paid off massively in a field without other major factions. We pushed hard and managed to get some radiation on them – so at least they didn’t win with a clean sheet.

Aivintis: Potato landed 4.6k nukes on the Horsemen, which is 4.6k more than we landed in 2019 as far as I can remember, maybe even in 2020.

Libertanny: If I were to take Potato was my faction, because it’s the faction that TEP joined, performance was really low in my eyes. Command scored many failures in my eyes.

Even if we throw those away, however, my overall perception was this N-Day was a war of people’s egoes and not a fun and entertaining activity. I simply oppose what happened this year – literally two big factions and a race between puppetmasters.

Brototh: My opinion is that ANAL is better than all the other factions. What? What survey? I just saw that TEP published something, so I had to respond. You should take that as my official response!

~ - - - - - ~

Albrook: Should TEP consider participating with the Potato regions or with Potato again next year?

Libertanny: Totally, no. I have far more enjoyed N-Day with ATOMIC, where we focused on gathering a group of cool people and regions simply having fun – not participating in a sick mouse race.

Aivintis: I loved Potato, but one of the problems with N-Day was there just weren’t enough major factions. We need to be part of the solution to that problem even if it means abandoning this awesome group.

Catiania: If Potato is much smaller next year, then I would consider it. Otherwise no, I don’t want another superfaction. The health of the game needs to be a priority, as much as I loved working with Tim, Salax, and HS.

~ - - - - - ~

Albrook: I personally could not attend N-Day this year. What happened?

Catiania: Potato opened with their normal strategy – SHIELDS. Potato watched in vague fear, building up our shields, as Crab slaughtered their way through the minor factions, including the Catgirls.

Potato started targeting smaller factions themselves at this point, but there was no way that we could keep up with the Crab aggression. Eventually I convinced the rest of Potato high command, after receiving a field promotion, that we should give a “murder everyone except the Crabs” order. Hopefully our members had some fun shooting nukes all over the place.

Around 6 hours into the event we mostly ran out of targets. Crab had killed most of them and were in a far stronger position than us. It was all a bit sad, and morale in Potato high command was low. We posited various strategies to go onwards for a couple of hours. Most of us wanted to agree with Crabs to break the agreements early so that we could go down in a blaze of glory and get some sleep. I suggested it go to a democratic vote – “no one will want to sit around bored for 6 hours. The Americans will all go to sleep”. We were wrong.

There was a very strong majority in favor of sticking it out until the end. This caused a significant amount of civil strife between the “blaze of glory” vs the “stick it out” folks. I did not anticipate this. I thought people would do a nice, civil, Discord reaction vote. I thought too highly of people. I thought too highly of me, since I waded in and started talking about how we had no chance and should just stop now. I regret that. In the end, leaving me feeling like David Cameron, we were forced to accept the people’s will.

Everyone was very depressed for about an hour. Then, then! Tim came back to us. He dragged high command – well, HS and myself – out of the gutter and the three of us set abut giving our faction the best chance possible. No one is better at hype than Tim – he’s the master. We resurrected the will of our people, and begun preparations for the final showdown.

We ordered our faction to produce nukes. We put four people on shields. That’s four out of several hundred – myself, HS, Tim, and Luca. The plan was that the four of us would hold off Crabs long enough for our members to have a bit of fun. Tim and I continued the public relations grind and faction morale started increasing as fast as our nuclear stockpile. We all started going insane from exhaustion – it was a good time.

Then, finally it was time. The NAP ended, the targeting started…

Aivintis: We fired everything we had at them. Luckily we managed to punch through their defenses and land some pretty good blows.

Catiania: This was pretty much our goal, so we were pretty excited – Crabs wouldn’t win with no radiation!

When it began, we were watching in vague sadness as Crabs set over 500,000 targets on us – more shields than we actually had. However, we responded with over 100,000 targets. The four shields prepared for the onslaught – but it never came. At 15 minutes we launched our nukes. Crabs made a valiant attempt at shielding, but it wasn’t enough. We got through!

Libertanny: Then Potato had the [crap] nuked out of them.

Catiania: They had more nukes than we had shields. But the four of us shielders, alone again an entire megafaction, shielded a significant amount of their attack. I’m not entirely sure how many intercepts we got – over 100,000 certainly. 200,000? It was hype. It was good.
Then I went to sleep. When I woke up, Crabs were in positions 1 through 11. Not unexpected, but still a little sad.

Aivintis: Crabs ended up making puppet factions to push the remaining factions off the leaderboard.

~ - - - - - ~

Albrook: There is clearly a controversy regarding the huge region-blob “megafactions”, Crabs and PAX FRUIT. What is your opinion on them?

Aivintis: I hate it. I mean I am glad to have had so many people on our side, and I loved being in PAX FRUIT, but we need more strong factions for it to be interesting, and we didn’t have that.

Libertanny: I will stick to my short brief of this year’s N-Day – what happened was a war between people’s egoes and a mouse race between puppeteers. There was, in my eyes, literally no fun for someone who just wanted to chill out and have fun activity with NS buds.

I feel like the way N-Day works should be changed. I already heard some nice proposals regarding that: only WA nations can participate or one nation per IP. I really hate how it’s all about showing “I’m better” and then bragging about it for the next year. People are forgetting that it’s supposed to be fun, after all, and not a life-or-death case.
I am an enemy to the big-blog-factions and war between puppetmasters. I want to have a fun and friendly competition, not whoever has more puppets and better scripts.

Catiania: Megafaction bad. Megafaction boring. Let’s not do that again.

Libertanny: It’s boring as hell and destroying the whole fun in N-Day. Hence why I also believe that Z-Days are better – more about fun and less about puppets, scripts, and competition.

Profile on Candidates for TEP Delegacy, October 2021

FEATURE | BY: Nociav | Unedited

(Editor in Chief's Note: This article was held from publication by Conclave until conclusion of the election. It was only released in the authorized campaigning Discord channel. Now, upon conclusion of the election, it is released for your enjoyment in its original, unedited state. Albrook won the election on Round 3 of IRV with 14 out of 28 votes.)

(Author Note: I am a candidate in the election but I am running as a joke candidate.)

Introduction

The 2021 October Delegate elections in TEP began on the 1st of October. The nominations period ran until the 8th of October. The voting will run from the 8th of October until the 15th of October. The candidates are Zukchiva, New Leganes (Sammy23), Great Algerstonia, Eastern Alksearia (SirShadow), vw53aland (vw53a), Aivintis (Mangegneithe), Nociav, Albrook (Aurora Yukihime), Libertanny, and YSG Hermitcraft (YSG the Fox). Of these, only YSG, Aurora, and Shadow ran as serious candidates, or 30%.

This is the first election where the new citizenship system of TEP is being used. Details of this system can be found in the previous EPNS issue. As part of this new system, the Delegate Elections Act was amended and a new act, the "Voter Registration Act", was passed. The Voter Registration Act established the "Voter Registration Commission" to oversee voter registration. The Grand Vizier is in charge of this commission.

The voter registration ran from the 1st of October until the 8th of October alongside the nominations. Presently, the voter registration procedure consists of stating your TEP Citizen nation and your WA nation. You are then required to telegram a Vizier from your WA nation as confirmation. After this, you will be registered to vote provided you are not OOC banned, IC banned, or on the prohibition list. EPSA nations presently have an exception where the Overseeing Officer can verify on your behalf should you be in EPSA.

Campaigns

The campaigns of Zuk, Sam, Alger, VW, Mangegneithe (Aivintis), Nociav, and Lib were joke campaigns and will be covered first.

The campaign of Zuk called for the abolition of all Ministries and the firing of all Deputy Ministers and Executive staffers as the Executive had become too large for Zuk's liking. In place, the Ministers would be required to all the work. These Ministers would no longer have set tasks but would instead do what they wanted to. Zuk would also institute an awards system where bells would be given to each awardee. These bells would be collected by instituting a tax on residents. Those who refuse would be invaded by the army. To protect TEP from hostile elements, Zuk advocated for a monopoly on all grape production and using it as a bargaining tool with any enemies the region may have.

Sam's campaign consisted of two posts. One reading ".", and another reading "?".

Alger's campaign warned of "The Great Trial". The Great Trial would be a war fought between TEP and TWP. Alger argued that The Great Trial is a continuation of TEP's struggle with TWP and is, therefore, inevitable. He argued that The Great Trial has the possibility of destroying TEP should the region not be prepared. The Great Trial, should the region be prepared, would end in a decisive victory whereby TEP would enact vengeance on TWP. Alger proceeded to state that only he could deliver TEP to victory as no other Citizen was talking about TWP and the inevitable war. Alger asserted that only he knew what is needed to pass The Great Trial and that, under his leadership, TEP would destroy TWP.

VW's campaign called for the return of the old Citizenship system, the complete destruction of the Executive branch, leaving foreign affairs to the military, introducing conscription, creating TEP clones in raided regions, creation of a navy and air force, a combing through of all articles in the University of The East Pacific to ensure they paint TEP in a good light, and an abolition of term lengths for the Delegacy.

Aiv's campaign stated that, should he be elected, he would be a mediocre Delegate, do a small amount of amazing work, and then delegate all his responsibilities before becoming the second best Delegate anyone could hope for. He ended by asking to be the third or second choice of candidate.

Nociav's campaign (full disclosure here, I am Nociav so I am able to write about my campaign in greater detail) consisted of contradictory statements. The title of the campaign, "A Choice as Safe as Inflammable Material", contradicted itself as inflammable means "can be caught on fire easily". The first paragraph was an adaptation of Zuk's first paragraph. Transparency was supposed to be kept by keeping a private log which will never be released and the removal of an Executive policy requiring disclosure of important information. Activity would be fostered by hosting events at the unreasonable time of 10am UTC. WA would be voted in accordance to the Ministry except when it wouldn't. UTEP would be made autonomous in a manner similar to the ancient Persian satrapy system, a system famous for corruption and volatility. Ministers would be mandated to take leaves of duties during which they are also mandated to work on their Ministries. And Magisterium-Delegate separation would be enforced with tenacity whilst also proposing laws to amend the Executive Act. All of this was done under the veneer of a serious campaign.

Lib's campaign currently consists of just a poster advertising a fake old western film titled "Birdolero II". The poster is that of a goose on one side and a parrot on another. Both are photoshopped to wear an old western hat.

The campaigns of YSG, Aurora, and Shadow were serious and will be covered below.

YSG's campaign called for an inter-regional RP, weekly interviews of the Delegate and legislative branch, and the re-creation of the Ministry of Virtual Enhancement and the inheritance of all its old duties (graphics works, translations, scripting work, etc.).

Aurora's campaign stated that, in order to combat resignations leaving branches of the government or ministries headless, she would encourage the Magisterium, Praesidium, Conclave, EPSA, and Ministers to create a Deputy or Designee system to ensure continued Ministry functioning in the event of a resignation. These deputies would be encouraged to create documentation of procedures, tasks, and interactions, and to promote training. Aurora would also revive the Chronicler to document past, present, and potential future actions of the Government as an attempt to inform Citizens and to encourage them to join the Government. She also wanted to bring back Zuk's constant telegramming of nations in the region about government happenings, cultural events, and WA resolutions to keep people who only reside on-site informed. In addition to this, she would repeal the old Executive policy banning anime, a joking reference to an RMB post by Fedele several years earlier.

Shadow's campaign promised the renaming of the Chief Ministry of Foreign Affairs to just the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Next, Shadow would reorganize the Ministry into a more collective run system with no Minister and instead the Senior Diplomats would collectively run the Ministry. The Senior Diplomats would have an application process attached to them so a reserve would always exist. These reorganizations would be done out of manpower concerns. FA advisors would be given less voting power in the new Ministry as well. Only being allowed to step in when there is a tied vote or a major FA issue. The Ministry of Education would next be renamed to just the University of The East Pacific for the sake of simplicity. UTEP would be tasked with hosting interregional debates and other events. The Ministries of Information, Broadcasting, and Publishing would be merged into a single ministry also titled the "Ministry of Information". This is done to collect the different informational jobs each of these ministries do and make it more centralized. This new ministry would have a single Minister and multiple deputies that would be in-charge of the different specialized fields. The Ministry of Culture would be encouraged to host interregional events. Culture would also be encouraged to host spontaneous game nights in a manner similar to the region Thaecia.

A Response to Nociav

OPINION | BY: Bachtendekuppen | Edited by: Albrook

Editor in Chief's Note - Please read!

I need to personally apologize to Authors Nociav and Bachtendekuppen, and to you the reader.

In the August & September 2021 edition of EPNS, the article “Against East Malaysia’s Citizenship System” was posted in original condition late September 2021. It had passed final edits on August 25. EPNS was posted late due to my own personal delay. By September 30, the Magisterium had already passed significant legislation that fixes many flaws Nociav points out.

The Voter Registration Act, Delegate Elections Act, and rewrite of the RMB Regulation Act (RMBRA) solves Nociav’s concerns, respectively, about voter registration before each election, the ability for the Election Commission to establish IP checks, and spamming and trolling on the RMB being actionable without trial.

Bachtendekuppen’s opinion was authored before this mistake was realized. In this article, every newly passed and reformed law is cited where relevant. Again, this is no mistake in Nociav’s argument – but rather in my delay. Bach's original disputes are retained to defuse any arguments you may have from my misinformation.

Earlier this month, in a rebuttal posted on the TEP Forums and Discord Server, Nociav’s remaining argument on this topic is solely for the presence of IP checks. He has since tabled a proposal to the Magisterium after sufficient evidence, as Bach claims in this article, that they will be enforced.

- Albrook

On October 1st 2021, EPNS published an article by Nociav which was aimed at EM’s citizenship reform. I felt that some issues in the article were not dealt with in an appropriately detailed manner and came to questionable conclusions on some points as a result. Therefore, I wrote this reply, expanding on some security-related provisions in TEP law.

Nociav writes, "EM's proposal is meant to enhance security and expand accessibility to TEP whilst granting residents more rights. The method of granting residents more rights is by getting rid of the distinction between residents and citizens. Under the new system, everyone in TEP is a citizen. Citizens, however, cannot vote in referendums and Delegate elections unless they register to vote beforehand. The registration system would involve telegramming a commissioner from your WA nation with the details of your TEP nation. This would then allow your vote to count. This process has to happen before every election. WA's can be located anywhere, from TRR to a puppet storage."

To be more nuanced, after this reform every Nation residing in TEP is a Citizen (§ E.1. of the Concordat). This means they have a right to a trial, the freedom to serve in office, participate in the Magisterium, to register to vote in elections, and to leave the region freely (§§ F.1 - F.7 of the Concordat).

A basic security measure remains that, in order to exercise any of these rights, one has to register on the forum and apply for Citizenship masking. Any necessary (IP) checks can (and should) be done at this point.

Further, one has indeed to register - each election - to vote (§ 3 of the Voter Registration Act). Currently this requires applying with their Citizenship nation and their World Assembly ("WA") nation. However, the Voter Registration Commission can, by law, require any additional step to register (§ 3.2 of said Act). This gives the Commission a nearly unlimited scope of possibilities to require any safety-requirement as deemed necessary, each election cycle. For example, it can incorporate IP-checks on applications. The Commission can, each election cycle, fine-tune its registration requirements as deemed necessary, based on a (inter)regional security assessment.

The Commission can also deny any application (for registration) on the basis of "regional security concerns" (§ 3.3 of said Act), even though the applicant is a Citizen.

The Praesidium can prohibit any number of people from accessing The East Pacific (§ 5 of the Voter Registration Act).

Moreover, the TEP Criminal Code (CC) was amended last July, together with the Concordat, adding additional security measures. The Concordat specifically recognizes the primacy of bans by the administration, without any recourse to the Conclave (Article G of the Concordat). The Viziers and the Delegate can deny entry or residence to anyone deemed "a significant risk to the region" (§ 3.1 of the TEP CC). Any contravention of any IC law is punishable by up to an indefinite ban (§ 6.1 of the TEP CC).

Therefore, the Delegate, Commission and Praesidium have all necessary tools and legal mandates to take all security measures deemed necessary to ensure the safety and secure elections of TEP.

Nociav writes, "I have to remind everyone that Fedele did not vote stack for himself with five different accounts he personally owned, he vote stacked with other people. This system does nothing to prevent against this form of vote stacking. The proposed system grants no practical advantage in this sector since the threat of one man pretending to be an army is low."

The previous system did not prevent this either. If a group of people joins TEP in a legitimate way, they can influence its politics. However, if there is a subversive agenda, the Delegate, Praesidium and the Commission have the necessary tools to act, even without a trial (see above).

Nociav writes, "EM's system mandates zero IP checks".

True, but it doesn't prohibit them either, and the Commission has the mandate to require any measures deemed necessary (see above).

Nociav writes, "The immediate concern is the RMBRA which in its current state would require every offender to be tried before being ejected and banned for RMB misconduct under the proposed citizenship system."

This is not true. Any offender can be considered to be committing a summary offense and may face message suppression, ejection, and/or indefinite banishment from the East Pacific, at discretion of the Delegate or Regional Officers (§ 5.1 of the RMBRA). Citizens can appeal after the fact (§ 5.3 of the RMBRA).

While Nociav's opinion article rightfully raises attention to the security of TEP, any debate and/or future reform should depart from a correct understanding of the tools available to TEP's institutions. I see a lot of improvement possible in the execution of security policy, based on the legal remedies already available.

[Great Algerstonia]

The Great Trial is inevitable. The East Pacific is unprepared. I am TEP's only salvation and the only one capable of this extreme task...


...also, why on earth is Great Trial not in red on the official news page?

[Zukchiva]

Fedele was right all along and should be the rightful Delegate of the East Pacific.

[The Atlae Isles]

Fedele was right all along and should be the rightful Delegate of the East Pacific.

Based

Glad someone was brave enough to say it

[Davelands]

Fedele was right all along and should be the rightful Delegate of the East Pacific.

I'm glad you have finally seen the light!

[Fedele]

Fedele was right all along and should be the rightful Delegate of the East Pacific.

Your apology is accepted.

[Great Algerstonia]

Fedele was right all along and should be the rightful Delegate of the East Pacific.

How much did those damn Rahls pay you to say this?

[The Atlae Isles]

Fedele was right all along and should be the rightful Delegate of the East Pacific.

How much did those damn Rahls pay you to say this?

$50, incidentally

[Comfed]

Each person who donated to this cause deserves a medal.

[Eastern Pacific News Service]

The East Pacific News Service

|Home || Current Issue || Archives || Our Staff || SwiftNews

Editor's Note: This article was edited especially for NS forum readers. The original, unedited version may be seen here.

The East Pacific News Service
January 31, 2022

---

The Story of The East Pacific Volume One - Our Pre-Loop History

FEATURE | Contributed and Edited by Nociav on behalf of the University of The East Pacific

Foreword

I thank Unibot for his permission to use his "Anatomy of the Coup III: TEP, the Early Days" which you can read here:

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=447629

Without his work, this volume would not have been possible.

I'd also like to thank Heinekenbier, who also goes by the name HC Eredivisie, for allowing me to interview him about AA and pre-AA TEP.

Contrary to the popular misspelling, "Lothlanderamore" is actually spelled "Lotlanthanderamore". No nation called "Lothlanderamore" has ever existed[18]. Lotlanthanderamore was last online in 2005 which means either "Loth" revived his nation or he never went away[16]. I use the incorrect spelling here so it isn't confusing to read. The misspelling is one of Loop's from way back in 2005[17] which explains why it's so entrenched.

Should new information come out or any errors need fixing, I will release an addendum to this and other volumes.

As a side note, I'd like to point out that TEP, being a UCR at one point, has the "T" capitalized whereas TWP, TSP, and TP all have lowercase "t"s. TNP is the only other Feeder with a capital T. Since the order of feeder foundings go TP, TSP, TNP, TWP, TEP, it is almost certain that someone founded TNP as a UCR before it became a feeder. Its order in the founding makes it incredibly likely that it wasn't a mere mistake from the admins. Hopefully, someone in the north will get on this case. I'll look forward to reading any history someone might create about the founding of TNP.

I'd like to stress that I have found absolutely nothing else about this pre-Loop TEP. Absolutely nothing else. You are getting absolutely everything I have found. This is extraordinarily frustrating because there are so many unanswered questions that may never get answered ever because all history of this era depends on memory, which is fallible, and random posts from here and there. I'm sure that many people will share my frustration but please enjoy whatever has been found out in this volume.

Pre-Atlantic Alliance

Despite the popular story of TEP being founded by Hitler the Great (HTG), as a trophy before being raided by the Farkers and becoming a GCR, TEP's history predates HTG and the Atlantic Alliance (AA). By how much? We might never know. Why did HTG get so associated with the founding of TEP? We also might never know.

TEP's Pre-Atlantic Alliance history is mostly unknown as the AA kept no public record of what TEP was like before their occupation. The only things that we do know is that Reubenlucy may have been the Delegate before the AA and that it did exist before the Atlantic Alliance took over[3]. Heineken, in a telegram exchange, tells me that he thinks it may have been someone else other than Reubenlucy as Reubenlucy was part of the AA. Further inference can be drawn to prove it existed pre-AA from a post Nusseburg made saying, on the 12th of May, 2003, that it was taken during "that huge flurry of activity a few weeks ago". He most likely references the introduction of regional controls[4] which happened on the 29th of April, 2003[14]. Heineken also implies that it existed before the AA when he said it must have been someone else. Since you can't raid a region that doesn't exist, logically speaking, TEP pre-dates the AA.

Other than this, nothing is known. The Founding date is unknown, who founded it is unknown, what the WFE was, and what the RMB was like, who was in the region, and everything else has all been lost to history. We can assume that the reason it was founded was because of its namesake GCR, the West Pacific. The only nations that may know this are Reubenlucy but they and their puppet, Reubenlucy Jr, CTE'd 13 and 15 years ago respectively. HTG, the often-cited founder, may also know but he also CTE'd a long time ago.

Loop says he had screenshots of TEP in April 2003 but they have presumably been lost over time[20]. A real shame.

I haven't found anything else about pre-AA TEP and neither has anyone else as far as I can tell. Nevertheless, I present a challenge to everyone reading this. The first person who finds out anything else about TEP before the Atlantic Alliance with sure proof will be gifted five legendary cards and ten epic cards.

The Atlantic Alliance Occupation

The Atlantic Alliance, a proto-imperialist raiding group, raided The East Pacific on or shortly after the 29th of April, 2003[14] as inferred by Nusseburg[4]. After being taken, it became the forward base for the Third Legion[7]. The member list for the Third Legion was Hitler the Great, Phenmark, Pimpmaro, and Reubenlucy[7]. Although it was for the Third Legion, other Atlantic Alliance soldiers did move in and out of the region from time to time[6][13]. The only documented Delegates during the Atlantic Alliance's occupation are Reubenlucy and Heinekenbier[19]. Heineken has told me that Reubenlucy was Delegate and then he was Delegate. He doesn't remember any of the other Delegates during this era. It is fair to assume that the Delegacy did bounce around to various trusted AA officials. Perhaps HTG was a Delegate at some point, it certainly isn't impossible. Loop testifies to this[15] but Loop also says that it was a trophy region[19] which is known to be false since it was the Third Legion's forward base.

During this occupation, The East Pacific was passworded with a numerical password and the only way to get in was to request the password from the Delegate. Only Atlantic Alliance soldiers with permission could enter[2].

The exact WFE during the Atlantic Alliance occupation is unknown but it was most likely a variant of the standard WFE for forward bases which was:

"Established on [MONTH] [DAY], [YEAR], Forward base of the Atlantic and home of The [LEGION NUMBER] Legion. http://homepages.nyu.edu/~ncl206/Atlantic/"[10]

The RMB was just random chatter between the various AA soldiers, nothing else according to Heineken.

The Farker Invasion

The Farkers, another raiding group, seized the Delegacy on the 13th of May, 2003, at around 9 am UTC with, what was presumably, a small contingent of raiders after they had learned the password. Unibot estimated a figure of 15 or so but the links he gave as a source are now dead. Loop says that when he assumed the Delegacy after Lothlanderamore, who was the point for the raid[8], he had 13 endorsements[15] all of which were presumably fellow Farkers. Either way, it was most likely no more than 20 but greater than 10.

After the successful raid, Loth ejected the Atlantic Alliance soldiers as was remembered by Heinekenbier who recalls logging in to find himself ejected from the region[19].

The Farkers gained the password by having it leaked to them from Myrth/Borisland who was sent the password shortly before the raid[19]. Although Myrth denies this, it seems to me that the evidence against him is too great to be plausibly denied. His initial defense, when put to trial, is laughable and very suspect[2]. His motive can't be precisely established but he said that it was interesting to see how long he could lead the AA on[2]. The opportunity came with the advent of the Farkers. Heineken also says that he sent the password to Myrth before the Farker raid[19].

A few days later, around the 15th of May, 2003, the region had its password struck down and its status changed from a UCR to a GCR[19]. This change was completely unexpected and blindsided the Farkers as no announcement was made beforehand or after about TEP becoming the fifth and final feeder. The Farker confusion about nations finding their way in was justified as they thought they had passworded it. Loth's initial reaction was to eject every non-Farker nation. This was quickly loosened to all UN nations and then to UN nations not endorsing the Delegate[1].

After the policy was loosened to UN nations not endorsing the Delegate, Loop succeeded as Delegate. The precise date isn't known but Loop has claimed that it was on the 24th[5], he has claimed it was on the 25th[11]. However, NSDossier has Loth listed as the Delegate on the 28th of May but Loop on the 2nd of June[19]. It has to be between the 28th and the 1st of June since Loop's earliest boot logs are dated on the forums to the 1st of June[21]. My guess is the 31st of May, the date the forums were created. Whatever the exact date, Loop took the Delegacy with just 13 endorsements[15], beginning a new chapter in the story of The East Pacific.

I'm aware that the handover isn't this simple and I'll elaborate on this in the next volume; The Story of The East Pacific Volume Two - The Age of Loop.

Sources

[1]https://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?p=8221905
[2]https://atlantic.proboards.com/thread/164/east-pacific-traitor
https://atlantic.proboards.com/thread/1 ... tor?page=2
[3]https://networkradio.proboards.com/thread/171/twinkles-siggis-secret-identity
[4]https://atlantic.proboards.com/post/1029
[5]https://nationstates.ermarian.net/jolt/1223/297680
[6]https://web.archive.org/web/20030506215334/http://www.nationstates.net:80/cgi-bin/index.cgi/pin=-1/page=list_region_members/region=the_east_pacific
[7]http://graptor.net/atlantic/members.html
[8]Given that Loop has always stated that Loth was the only Farker Delegate before him and no other source contradicts this, it is safe to assume that Loth was the point.
[9]It's on the last page of here.
http://nsdossier.texasregion.net//histo ... tart=&end=
[10]This was the standard WFE format for forward bases as evidenced by The West Pacific which was an Atlantic Alliance forward base at the time.
https://web.archive.org/web/20030502163 ... st_pacific
[11]https://forum.theeastpacific.com/viewtopic.php?p=49367
[13]You can read an Atlantic Alliance soldier saying he'll move back to The East Pacific here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20030505143 ... /start=300
[14]https://www.nationstates.net/page=news/2003/04/29/index.html
[15]https://forum.theeastpacific.com/the-fractured-history-of-the-east-pacific-updated-t2803.html#p126100
[16]https://www.nationstates.net/page=boneyard?nation=Lotlanthanderamore
[17]https://forum.theeastpacific.com/viewtopic.php?p=30354#p30354
[18]https://www.nationstates.net/page=boneyard?nation=lothlanderamore
[19]https://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=447629
Heineken also confirmed in a telegram exchange that Reubenlucy was a Delegate.
[20]https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/thepacific/dear-pacific-t1485-s15.html#p9504885
[21]https://forum.theeastpacific.com/boot-logs-t13437.html

Raiders hold A Liberal Haven, but Foul Play suspected?

FEATURE | BY: Albrook | Edited by: Le Sol,Ponthieu, and Catiania

On January 2, 2022, by the combined efforts from Lone Wolves United, The Black Hawks, Karma, Osiris, Kantrias, the Empire of Great Britain, Caer Sidi, and The Brotherhood of Malice, the raiders seized A Liberal Haven from native control and have successfully held it for almost a month now.

While a victory is to be celebrated, two aspects drag the raiders down. Firstly, The East Pacific does not condone griefing regions as part of any offensive military action. Secondly, and even more egregious, is the presence of technical anomalies that prevented Defenders from otherwise legitimately seizing the region weeks ago.

THE RAID

A Liberal Haven is an ancient region, dating back to the times of Antiquity, and has not done too well on the great test of time. Native Delegate Garchyland and a handful of active natives alone maintained the region and fought for its protection since their founder CTEd in 2011.

On that fateful day, January 2, 2022, now Raider Delegate Got the munchies real bad man – better known as Vandoosa – seized the Delegacy. Vandoosa’s puppet was a raider plant in the region masquerading as a native – a sleeper nation. Despite the region’s security, this fatal flaw had permitted raiders to access the region and proved fundamental in executing their raid. Upon seizing the Delegacy, the controlling raider forces passworded the region – thanks to the sufficient Influence Vandoosa had accumulated over the years – that the natives could not see.
As iterated in the overview, The East Pacific does not condone the practice of griefing, including such institution of a hidden password. Nonetheless, the author does not intend this to become too big of a soapbox, and instead wishes to quell any suspicions of support in this paragraph.

THE LIBERATION

A Liberal Haven’s occupation is not a normal raid. In any normal circumstance, the raiders would occupy and tag a region, then leave it to pursue other regions to tag or hold fast within the region to protect their occupation. Often this occurs when high-value targets are seized, such as previous raids on Asia and Japan in years past.
However, it is exceedingly rare that the raiders have enough influence to password protect the region on the very first night of occupation. At this point, Defenders must write and pass a Liberation resolution in the World Assembly Security Council.

On the same night after the raid, The South Pacific rapidly contacted its allies for support, and drafted and obtained the necessary approvals to get Liberate A Liberal Haven within five hours.The vote on the Liberation became open at minor update the next day. During the minor update on January 7, the resolution passed with over 85% support.
On the major update on January 7, the Defenders obtained the password to the region and attempted to liberate the region. They failed. In response to massive Defender participation, the raiders shored up their numbers by contacting friends and family to join the raider pile, prompting their success in the minor update on January 7. On January 8, a massive Defender force – including civilian conscripts from The East Pacific, joining the fight on behalf of the Eastern Pacific Sovereign Army – still failed to liberate the region despite advance and determined coordination. On this fateful night, however, an anomaly was discovered.

Starting with the major update on January 7, multiple reports summoned NS Admin’s attention claiming that the twice-daily update cycle was behaving incorrectly. Every region was updating within an acceptable time frame up until the last two regions, The Rejected Realms and Russian Sfsr, update. The data powering sub-second jumps by Defender forces was accurate until just before A Liberal Haven was slated to update. Two minute warnings for Defender jumps turned into seven minute warnings and actions intended to take a few seconds took over a minute.
Raiders celebrated as malcoordinated Defenders jumped too early into a pack of waiting Border Control Regional Officers, thus weakening the critical mass that was supposed to hit the region all at once. Following the major update on January 8, and because of these anomalies, Defenders’ plans to restore Delegate Garchyland to power by endorsements liberating A Liberal Heaven were paused indefinitely.

THE DISCUSSION TODAY

What caused such weird update behavior? Who is interfering with the game’s update cycle? How does this so consistently happen just before A Liberal Haven updates and so cleanly returns to normal shortly after? These questions riddle the minds of NS’s technical staff and the major R/D players.

It is said that NationStates experiences the most load during the major and minor updates, but technical insight shows that fluctuations in update timings never exceed 30 seconds. Even the Brazillian Youtube Boom, having taken place in the week following the liberation attempts, had negligible effects on update times - especially to the point of destroying liberation attempts.
NS technical staff are encouraging another massive liberation operation to gather more data, hoping to catch the source of whoever or whatever is seizing up update times, and is cracking down on popular scripts improperly enforcing the rate limit on the NS API.

The Free Nations Defense Association’s R/D script, Storm, was one of these scripts. Thanks to very swift action from the Free Nations Region’s technical staff, they have resolved the issue with their script. Prior to the fixes, an improperly configured stop condition was causing users to create thousands more requests than they had intended to make at a time. Storm will now urge all users to upgrade to the latest version.

The East Pacific wishes to thank our allies for support in the liberation and the 16 TEPers in the EPSA who participated with us.

https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1643478

Albrook's 3/4-term Delegate Address

FEATURE | BY: Albrook | Edited by: Le Sol

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was released on January 16.

Citizens of The East Pacific,

Welcome to the fourth month of my delegacy – the final month of this term. Very shortly, come February, once again we will begin voting for the next Delegate. In the meantime, I wanted to give you a holistic report as to the state of our region in a midterm, well, actually ¾-term address.

• TEP has excelled in the following areas over the last three months:
• Revisioning WA voting procedures as to give the most representative regional voice
• Empowering newcomer and rising talent into positions of significance in TEP’s government
• Engaging TEP in the Interregional Community
• Strengthening ties with TEP’s allies in Cultural and Gameplay Partnership

Early in my Delegacy, I entertained the opinions from my cabinet regarding the establishment of on-site polls restricted to sufficiently Influential WA citizens and expansion of Discord voting to Hussars of the East. Since implementing these opportunities for citizens to vote, on average the number of votes and opinions submitted towards proposals at vote has quadrupled. Before this change, voting was restricted to members of the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs. Now with more opinions, TEP is better equipped to demonstrate the best regional opinion possible to the WA. I especially wish to thank A Mean Old Man for suggesting hosting the WA voting on the main server.

Observe a few offices in the Executive and elsewhere in the region – you have Raiu East as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, American-Cascadia as the Minister of Culture, YSG Hermitcraft as Provost, and Professor Casillo y Real of UTEP. Across all of TEP, we are empowering rising talent into very prestigious positions of government. In each of these positions, those who chose them didn’t see a Residency statistic, national population, or even care if they have been around off-site for a long time or not – each applied for their positions with their best set of ideas and promise to excel. I am proud to be working alongside each of them in serving this region.

Immediately upon assuming the Delegacy, I was asked by many members of the interregional community and Senior Diplomat Libertanny – “when can TEP join this cool thing we’re doing”? Since October, TEP has assisted the NS Christmas Charity Fundraiser in raising $4,305 for Doctors Without Borders, organized events and contests for Harry Potter and the Festival of Friends, and hosts and co-manages a Minecraft server alongside The South Pacific, 10000 Islands, the Alstroemerian Commonwealths, Thaecia, and The Free Nations Region. Even today, TEP is still organizing events for the upcoming month – including celebrating the anniversary of the Free Nations Region’s creation on January 15. There are, of course, some others on deck that I can’t share at the moment.

When TEP isn’t partying with its regional allies, it’s working with them in R/D, the WA, and other aspects of gameplay. The greatest testament to our friendship came with the recent A Liberal Haven occupation. At the start of the month, Lone Wolves United and The Black Hawks seized A Liberal Haven in what TEP declares griefing – subverting the native government with a sleeper nation to grab the Delegacy, ban natives, and restrict entry to the region with a hidden password. TEP assisted TSP and our other Defender allies in pledging voting support to Liberate A Liberal Haven and finally manpower from the Eastern Pacific Sovereign Army in the last week. All while this is underway, we still hold a trusting cultural relationship with The Black Hawks, mutually respecting that each of us has our own rules for our regional militaries.

While the above successes are noted, there is still greatly some room to grow. Firstly, between school, work, other cool games, and other sources of distraction and fatigue, there are only so many people at any time in TEP’s government. It is clear we are no longer in a population boom situation like we were in April 2020 with the Drew Boom, where for every two government workers there was one task, so things just got done because there were so many hands. This causes things to slip through that otherwise wouldn’t, admittedly true with the Eastern Pacific News Service – now under direct management from the Chief Minister of Regional Affairs and myself now lacking a Minister with Eastern Alksearia’s recent resignation.

With respect to my campaign promises, I am proud to see that the average citizen is more empowered and aware of opportunities in TEP to have a say and participate. We are still hard at work and have a plan to make EPNS most consistent in 2022 and the Chief Ministries are still assisting with the development of training materials for newcomers, and assigning deputies wherever staffing is available within the ministries. I certainly did not anticipate being in the Delegate seat with the lowest staffing numbers since I joined TEP, but it is the situation we are in and an obstacle to overcome.

Please continue to give your feedback as to the state of our region, do consider participating in the Magisterium – where you can vote on regional law – or the Executive where you can assist in planning events and write for TEP, and do continue to endorse myself and the Viziers to secure the safety of our democracy and boost our regional say in the World Assembly. This is no single nation’s region – it is a community that each of us helps create and define every day. Greatly consider being the voice that makes the change happen – I do my best to listen out for each of them.

TEP Haiku Contest in Review

FEATURE | BY: Albrook | Edited by: The Atlae Isles

The Ministry of Regional Affairs organized the TEP Holiday Haiku Contest, which took place between December 14, 2021, and January 1, 2022. This year’s contest was Holiday-themed, so all qualifying haikus for the contest were related to the Holiday season.

Upon conclusion of the contest, Doggorland (Boro) penned the winning haiku. To explain, this poem exploits the “Padoru Padoru” lyric popularly shared around the Holiday season by anime and manga enthusiasts, as made popular by Fate/Extra. It has since obtained meme status, and was even present on the December 2021 animated TEP flag.

Pado~ Padoru~
Pado~ Pado~ Padoru~
Pado~ Padoru~

Wallenburg achieved the runner-up position with this wintery imagery:

Hills against orange skies
One by one, stars born above
Cold, trickling creek below

A special thanks to all participants for the very beautiful holiday haikus and the very excellent meme haikus!

Wait, Did Somebody Say Minecraft?

FEATURE | BY: Raiu East | Edited by Albrook

Fade in from Black

Let me set the scene for you. Imagine a dark, stormy night somewhere in the American Midwest. A computer lay waiting at a desk, with a parrot asleep just next to the keyboard. Suddenly, it awakes with a start, having suddenly gotten a bright idea. The parrot frantically reaches for its seasonal hat and logs onto Discord. Serge quickly flicks through the endless channels in TEP’s foreign affairs discord server, eventually finding the one he has been looking for, #fa-inner-circle. He gathers everybody around to hear him speak, and in the almighty parrot’s wisdom, he whispers but one word, “Minecraft”.

Thus, dearest reader, was the proceedings of the 11th of December 2021 (or 10th if you’re not in Oceania). Since then, a small army of technical supporters and visionaries have gathered, determined to bring the Minecraftian dream to fruition. With a colorful array of teams working literally around the clock. The server, aptly named [Cool Name] Minecraft Server, was somehow brought into existence within 72 hours of Serge’s original message. Coming fully fitted with a wild set of diverse and unique biomes, an armory of plugins and a very enthusiastic player base, ready to cause havoc in any way they could (in a good way obviously).

Since then, Senior Diplomat Serge’s Foreign Affairs project has blossomed into a community of its own, becoming bigger and better than any of us anticipated. With the server always being tweaked and updated (and a big update on the horizon), now is as good a time as any to register your region and join the fray.

Forest and Frost

Within this expansive custom Minecraft world, several regions and nations exist. Each has an entirely different system of laws, governance, and customs. While there are four different regions within the world, being Snow, Forest, Canyon, and Desert, they are not technically a nation in their own right. A region is ruled by the largest faction working in tandem with all the smaller factions on behalf of their region. It is quite a common occurrence to have national borders overlap regions, causing some minor conflict on specific occasions.

Nations that inhabit the world of [Cool Name]Minecraft Server are as follows:

The Granite Elves

A powerful Forest settlement of miners and tree builders, the Granite Elves are known far and wide for the sheer scale of resource production and infrastructure development. With the “Big Tree” being constantly worked on by dedicated residents (but mainly Emjay), motivated by little more than national pride. While the Granite Elves have no specific leader, the de facto chief of the nation is none other than the almighty parrot himself (and server creator), Serge.

Upon approaching Emjay (a crazed resident) and requesting an interview, I observed them only mumbling “must build the tree, must build the tree”. After making the mistake of asking “what the hell is the tree”, I was violently chased from the Granite Elves’ borders and told never to return.

The Treehouse Empire

A bustling federation of trading settlements that inhabit the Snow region of the world. With approximately 7 members, the Treehouse Empire co-runs the snow with the Frozen Sun. While this faction is not nearly as active as its Frozen Sun counterpart, it has created a strong reputation as a trade hub within members of the community, priding itself on its villager trades and resource production. Going on record with a Treehouse Empire resident, they had this to say.

“Yeah man you should totally join us, we have treehouses, who doesn’t want treehouses? No seriously, join us, it’s really lonely here.”

The Frozen Sun

The largest and frostiest region in the world, the Frozen Sun lays claim to everywhere with snow and mountains. Led by her majesty, the Yukihime Aurora, and flanked by several members of the royal court (myself being included), the Frozen Sun sets an impressive standard when it comes to raw influence. Although the conditions of the region are usually quite treacherous, several small settlements have popped up within the remotest sections of the tundra, somehow surviving on crops and trade with forest regions for agricultural products.

When meeting with a resident of the Frozen Sun who looked like a mix between a Viking and a Bear, I was promptly laughed at for wearing only 3 layers of coats.

“Aye Las, it’s a bit frosty today, mind, its frosty most days ‘round ‘ere. You bring any food with yers? Been a rough few moons of late”

While the Frozen Sun is ruled by a queen, the Yukihime, most of the settlements are self-governing to some degree, only relying on the Yukihime for heading the nation, policy and national coordination of projects.

The Obsidian Realm

Although The Obsidian Realm has only four members, it makes up for it with sheer military and tactical prowess. Its players are all hardened veterans of Minecraft, making each of them a force to be reckoned with. As if to further prove just how powerful this region and its members are, the main settlement is literally surrounded by volcanoes, you know, just because. On top of PVP, TOR is also known for its widespread export of netherite to its allies, cementing its name as the go-to producer of wartime supplies.

Blood Spilled On Sacred Sand

As is bound to happen in any good Minecraft server, geopolitical conflict inevitably arose.

The first seeds of war were laid on Discord, approximately two weeks into the server’s life. As various nations laid claim to more and more of the world around them, fighting to see who could establish colonies more convincingly. The Desert Nation decided to sail across the sea and establish colonies on the coast of the Canyon Nation, laying claim to the region.

Upon posting their border claim to the rest of the world, the Nation of Canyon became outraged. A Canyon-ese representative posted an angry message on Discord, professing that the Desert Nation’s claim was illegitimate, and demanded they leave sovereign Canyon borders immediately, threatening retaliation for non-compliance. Naturally, The Desert Nation, in their supreme wisdom, basically responded “lol no”, and engaged in bickering for the next two days or so about borders. Eventually, it became clear that the Desert Nation would not relinquish its claim, so the same Canyon-ese representative wrote an open letter to all nations, calling The Canyon Nation and its allies to arms against the “Desert dogs'' who were clearly encroaching on Canyons holy lands.

Shortly after this message went out, the Canyon Nation launched a full-scale offensive on the underprepared Desert Nation, quickly overwhelming their defenses. Within a few hours, it became clear that the Desert would not win the war, and were quickly pushed back deep into their own territory. Seeing this, Canyon decided to go all out, and effectively annexed the entirety of the Desert Nation. Seeing that the very existence of Desert may be on the line, the mods stepped in and told Canyon to chill out a bit. After a few days of occupation, Canyon agreed to retreat into their borders but left the Desert Nation crippled.

Many post-war mutual defense and peace treaties were made between nervous bystanders, seeing the decimation at the hands of Canyon, and hoping not to be next. Jump to the current day, many regions have agreed to be as cooperative as possible in the pursuit of peace, with the rough world borders looking something like this.

Sounds Cool! I Want In!

You may be asking, dearest reader, how does an individual such as yourself join our esteemed Minecraftian paradise? Well, currently only a few select regions are members. To check if you are one of those few, have a look around in your resident Discord for possible mention of the [Cool Name] Minecraft Server. If you are unable to find anything, it is likely that your region has not yet been considered. We take region approval on a case-by-case basis, so please feel free to send a request to either Serge, myself or your local TEP diplomat on behalf of your region.

[Aivintis]

---

FRAM BALDER!

---

On the fifth of July 2022, The Confederated East Pacific received the news of the Brotherhood of Malice’s failed mission to subjugate the Realm of Balder and overthrow its legitimate government, in the name of death and revival - they sought to be Loki, bringing forth the prophesied Ragnarök. With “Malice” as their prime and only value, the Brotherhood seeks to bring chaos, death, and disaster - but with their inability to forge words into reality, now they instead must face the bitter consequences of their actions.

The Brotherhood of Malice’s plans are foiled. Like Loki, their attempt on Balder’s life will not go unpunished. Their cave shall be the interregional community, and their snake venom shall be sanctions and hostilities. The Confederated East Pacific stands with the Realm of Balder, our close friend and a military ally. We shall do everything in our power to ensure we see it further prosper under the reign of North East Somerset.

The gods of Asgard have stood against the Brotherhood in their attempt to bring war to Vígríðr, and so shall The East Pacific. The soldiers of the Eastern Pacific Sovereign Army are ready to stand against any threat that shall come to the Realm of Balder and will commit all available military force to the defense of our close allies. Furthermore, we will not hesitate to call on our citizens to fight side by side with the people of Balder for their continued freedom.

We will not let the Brotherhood of Malice accomplish their goal. Let it be known to the world that The Confederated East Pacific rejects these openly malicious forces and calls for sanctions on an interregional stage. The Brotherhood forgets the true story of Ragnarök, where the gods destroy those that destroyed them, and Balder remains in the new world, free of harm.

Signed,

Aivintis, Delegate
Libertanny, Chief Minister of Foreign Affairs
Catiania, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
Eunopiar, Flying Chariot of the Eastern Pacific Sovereign Army

[Reventus Koth]

10/10 for narrative and flair, 1/10 for punctuality and relevance. The operation's dead and buried, my guys.