The Rejected Times

by **The Rejected Times** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 4:15 pm

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The Rejected Times was founded in January 2013 by Kogvuron. It has since become the centerpiece of quality journalism in NationStates Gameplay. With every issue, you can expect provocative opinion columns, a broad selection of new stories and witty features.

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"Best thing I've seen in gameplay all year." - Goddess Relief Office
"A good, informative read" - Pierconium
"This was a really good read." - Anumia
"Very nicely done." - Lord Ravenclaw
"I have nothing to bitch about. No idea what to do with myself..." - Common-Sense Politics
"Once again, I bloody -love- this newspaper" - Zenya
"A good read." - McMasterdonia
"I've come to look forward to every TRR Times posting." - Skydip
"This publication is one of the best in NS news right now." - Southern Bellz
"Very nice. Always good for a news junkie like me to have more news outlets." - Cerian Quilor
"You are amazing!" - Leetmerica
"Not bad, absolutely not bad." - Drecq
"Great work, as always." - Koth
"Extensive and beautiful as always" - Stujenske
"Massive! Congrats! Pretty good read too!" - Campinia
"Great Read!" - Elegarth
"Holy crap that news paper bulletin is cool!" - World War 3 America
"Which rival service are we crushing next?" - Frattastan
"The best newspaper in NS" - Alexej III
"Very informative. Thanks!" - Fantome
"I actually found it an interesting read." - Cormac Somerset
"A thorough read." - Bachtendekuppen
"First time I've read one of this and you're awesome at writing these. Keep it up. " - Kinzvlle
"Gotta say, that was a pretty good read." - Brann Triune
"Awesome x)" - Zenny
"Always a pleasure to see this. It's like my newspaper." - Grimmjow Jeagerjaques
"Good story." - Christian Democrats
"A very entertaining read, thanks you for the work you put into this. Will be eagerly awaiting the next update." - The Duat
"The people who write these are true literary geniuses. They are on a level next to real-life journalists." - Jordsindia
"I like this!" - Aden Protectorate
"Great edition this time!" - The Blaatschapen
"The coverage by TRT continues to be some of the best on NS. It's my favourite paper." - Apple-Loosa

Voted best foreign newspaper in Lazarus! (2014)

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If you would like to join our staff and help contribute, we recommend you first:

Maintain a nation in The Rejected Realms.
Apply for citizenship in The Rejected Realms here.
Apply to join The Rejected Times here.

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NOTE: The Rejected Times does not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Rejected Realms.

Discuss The Rejected Times over on the NationStates forum here.

by **The Rejected Times** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 4:39 pm

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Issue I, January 27,2013

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South Pacific: the long-standing, raid-free home of established players such as The Lepearchauns.

The region whose WFE once boasted proudly that "RAIDERS WILL BE DESTROYED" is now in the hands of The Black Hawks, who took over the region along with forces from Unknown, The Black Riders, Kantrias, and Ainur. TBH General Jakker had placed the nation "Do What Thou Wilt", now pointman, into South Pacific as a "sleeper nation"; he slowly gained enough native endorsements to make the endo count of former delegate Dorig surpassable by a speedy raiding crew 14 days ago.

The nation is currently at 37 endorsements with additional support flooding into the region from ACA, The Land of Kings and Emperors, The New Inquisition, One Big Island and The Brotherhood of Malice. One defender, clearly confused about the identity of the leader of the raid, commented, "Damn that fenda Mall, he's piling again. All the fun is gone." Another defender who said, "It is sad to see that Raiders would prefer to hide behind large walls of endorsements instead of being willing to face Defenders at update. It's almost as if they're afraid."

In spite of this, defenders have not been forced to completely give up any attempt to liberate the region. One liberation attempt took place at last Sunday minor update when over 20 defenders from the United Defenders League, the Founderless Regions Alliance, the Forces of Mordor, and the British Armed Forces swept into the region. Although the coalition did have the numbers to take the region, the majority of defenders missed update due to variance. They later found out that the invader lead's computer had frozen during South Pacific's update time so if the defenders had jumped earlier they would had almost guaranteed success. Native resistance has so far proved futile and TBH has started to eject natives in what many defenders would describe as "griefing." If defenders hope to liberate this region before it is griefed, they need to hurry up.

However, the raid has not been completely negative as older players such as DEN soldier Of Crazed coming out of the woodwork to help the effort. Also, Osiran Pharaoh Mad Jack's puppet nation Cromarty has been ejected 10 times, leading to a count being kept on South Pacific's World Factbook Entry. The Rejected Times writers have started a pool on how many times this nation will in fact be ejected, with guesses ranging from 12 to 28. Mad Jack was unavailable for comment at the time of publication.

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Defender forces moved into United Kingdom 9 days ago in response a threat of invasion. United Kingdom, a region renowned all over NationStates for its political gameplay, is also one of the most high-profile independent defender regions along with Mordor and Spiritus. Members of the United Defenders League moved into the region to support delegate United Kingdom WA Delegate after a plot was uncovered to take over the delegacy. The region's "regional controls" are turned on at all times as the founder is not involved in the government. This unfortunately also leaves them vulnerable to attack, especially since their founder has been known to go inactive. Through the combined UDL and BAF effort, the delegate gained well over 20 endorsements. As such, no invasion has taken place.

Some citizens are concerned about the possible invasion, but one government official was confident that the mission was a success. "I feel good. Through actions of certain government staff, and excellent co-operation from the UDL, the UK was successfully defended from an attack by hostile elements, and their operations disrupted, as well as valuable Intel gained that will help secure the peaceful future of UK and it's citizens." We wish the best of luck to UK in their effort to remain invader-free!

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"Getting started again": An exclusive interview with Gates the God

Interview by Unibot

It's been almost a year since Gates the God, founder of Gatesville, unexpectedly ejected and banned the entirety of Gatesville. Gatesville had been the quintessential National Sovereigntist region and its sudden conclusion, as well as the unexpected departure of Gates the God has left a void for similar regions, Gate of Evil, Glass Gallows, Holy Moosean Empire and Equilibrium, to try to fill. But just recently, the self-titled "freedom fighter" has returned to NationStates to take refuge in The Pacific. I took this opportunity to sit down for an interview with the browbeating General. Enjoy!

Unibot: It's been a while since we've last met, Gates! Welcome back. So to start off: why have you returned to NationStates? Do old addictions die hard?

Gates the God: NationStates has become too placid and individual nations no longer desire to fight the WA and her lapdog the SC. Ive come back to fight the good fight against that sovereignty-stealing institution masquerading as the WA.

Uni: Bit of an icebreaker here. Your favorite NS Leader? Your Favorite Enemy (Region/Organization/Individual etc.)? And finally, since this is for The Rejected Realms' paper: if you could eject and ban someone to The Rejected Realms right now, any NS player (CTE'd or alive), who would it be? *crosses his fingers*

Gates: My favorite leader would have to be Francos Spain, all he tried to do was lead the nations in The Pacific to the promised land of wealth and honey. However he was under constant attack from the rift raft in The North Pacific and the misguided fools in the ADN. My favorite enemy? The WA, of course; any other in-game enemies were either destroyed or reduced to nothing. Who would I ban to the RR? *Points to you the number one WA whore, summons my security forces put him in chains whip him then send him to no mans land.*

Uni: Yikes! Well, what's one development in NationStates since you left that has really surprised you and why?

Gates: Honestly I thought the game was done but Max and the mods did a hell of a job to bring it back.

Uni: After the break-up of Gatesville there emerged a lot of different Sovereigntist regions, which you could of chosen as your new home. But you didn't. You chose The Pacific. So, why The Pacific?

Gates: Pacifica and Gatesville go back a long long time. I died there and came back there.

Uni: Do you still have an interest in the Sovereigntist movement? (Should I be watching out for you and your meat cleaver loitering outside of the Halls of the WA is what I'm really asking here.)

Gates: Why else would I return I have to ask? I'm the real freedom fighter of NS, fighting for the rights of nations, fighting for the rights of regions, against the dictatorship of the WA.

Uni: While you were absent, Concosia was griefed and is now held as a "proud dominion" of the Empire of The New Inquisition. The New Inquisition justified the griefing on the basis of meeting an ally's promise to destroy the region. That ally being, well, you. Your thoughts on this?

Gates: Although I have been gone for almost two years I still have friends in high places more then you could dream of.

Uni: I don't think it was ever in writing 'why' you ended Gatesville? We all remember the abrupt ending of course. So, might I ask, why you ended Gatesville?

Gates: Ending Gatesville is a personal matter and I wish not to discuss that in public.

Uni: Sure, absolutely Gates. It's become a bit of a mystery as to who is holding onto the founder account of Gatesville now; any guesses? Or do you know?

Gates: Some region collector, I guess. I've contacted him or her to return it to me but if that fails no big deal. Something new will be created, something that will lead the nations of NS to their well-earned freedom!!!

Uni: You ran one of the largest and most powerful User-Created Regions of all time and it had a really unique identity and appeal that has inspired a ton of spin-offs. Any tips for someone planning to found a "super region"?

Gates: Yes make me their founder.

Uni: Perhaps he is a well-known figure and I'm just as bad of a RL historian as I am a NS historian, but I've always been curious who the historical figure is depicted in your flag. Care to enlighten me?

Gates: Wow that goes back a long time he is my Ex-Wife's grand uncle. I got it off her family's photos. I don't remember the country but he was a General.

Uni: It's been rather well publicized that The Pacific is in the process of revitalizing. Your thoughts on the revitalizing? And are you planning to have a role in this revitalization?

Gates: I see that the Pacific is revitalizing and it looks like a pro-sovereignty stance. See, I've preached this for so many years in NS. Now folks are realizing my jihad, now folks are seeing the corruption of the WA and her bitch the SC. I will have an active part in advising, contributing, to any nation or region that needs my advice.

Uni: Will Gates the God be making our paper's headlines again sometime soon?

Gates: Well Gates is getting started again. Gates is doing what needs to be done.

Uni: Oh I almost forgot, here's Galiantus's card *hands Gates a business card*. You two will really hit it off. I promise. It was an honour and a pleasure as always, Gates. Anything else you'd like to tell our readers? You have the floor!

Gates: Hail Gatesville!!!
Death to the WA!!!

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A massive coalition recently took the delegacy in Warzone Europe. The coalition consisted of notably Lazarus along with allies of the Pacific, Balder, Europeia, The North Pacific, The New Inquisition, Ainur, Osiris, and The Rejected Realms. The coalition lead failed to seize the delegacy due to the pointman moving in while Warzone Europe was already updating. The coalition managed to take the Delegacy at the next update and reached dozens of endorsements on the point. It was also notably the first official training mission of the rebooted Pacific Army.

However, what seemed to be just a simple training issue turned into political tension. Tim Stark, Sobek of the Medjai Guard of Osiris, prioritized the liberation of RORMS over piling into Warzone Europe with the other GCRs and allies. This caused accusations of the Medjai Guard prioritizing UDL missions over that of GCR allies from both Balder and The Pacific. Also, RORMS had an in-game embassy with The Greater German Reich.

The Pacific's Administration was outraged and began to question the integrity of Osiris's military reliability and dedication to the fight against Nazism. The Pacific, at war the the Greater German Reich, promptly posted on Osiris's forum to express their disapproval of Tim stating that "...the Pacific must issue this press release, condemning the actions of Tim, Sobek of the Medjai Guard, for his actions on behalf of Osiris over the past day". The Administration of the Pacific argued that it was saddened that Tim would support his comrades in the liberation of a region who maintain ties with the Greater German Reich.

Lord Ravenclaw, Vizer of Foreign Affairs of Osiris, promptly responded stating that, "I would like to remind The Pacific, that the Sobek (Commander) of the Medjai Guard, is well within his legal right to decide which operation he will give his attention to." He also argued that RORMS maintains a staggering one hundred and three ingame embassies and that the political ties of RORMS and the Greater German Reich are frivolous. Also, he mentioned the refound of 'Fluffy Bunny Town', a Nazi region, by the Medjai guard. He also reassured the Pacific that Osiris is indeed anti-Nazi and works hard to stop Nazis in-game.

Delegate Madjack of Osiris also reminded the Pacific Administration that the Medjai Guard answered the call of Senator Gaspo when he asked for support earlier this month for Krulltopia, that in-game embassies do not reflect close allied ties, and the refound of 'Fluffy Bunny Town'. He later also issued a statement that there had not been any offense meant by not participating in the mission and that he hoped that Osiris and The Pacific would be able to forge a stronger friendship in the future with better communication. Senator Gaspo of The Pacific responded to such with, "The Pacific greatly appreciates your consideration in this matter, and upon reflection and on the basis of the final response we have received, does not believe significant damage to have been done, ultimately, to our strong friendship. The Pacific continues to support its non-treatied but ever-close friends in Osiris, and looks forward to continuing to strengthen those ties in the future."

Osiris troops moved into the region before the coalition finally departed. The region is now in the hands of soldiers from the United Defenders League.

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The region RORMS fell under raider attack this past week by The Black Riders in a tagging spree seemingly led by Koth. The region RORMS houses the community of the Region of reunited muslim states due to that region coming under attack and being virtually destroyed by TBR last summer. Raiders began to pile into the region in what appeared to be an attempt to hold and perhaps grief it. TBR was back in control of this community.

Unfortunately for TBR, defenders were ready and prepared to liberate the region at the next update. While raiders swarmed into the region, having switched point nations, defenders prepped and called in their friends to help liberate.

At the next update, the United Defenders League with the help of The South Pacific Army, Right to Life Army, Coalition of Catholic States, Medjai Guard of Osiris, The Founderless Regions Alliance, and The North Pacific Army successfully liberated RORMs from the hands of the raiders, pushing the original native Delegate back into his seat. The count was 30-22 when update hit.

An interesting thing seen in the liberation of this raid was the use of native switchers instead of the usual gathering in Kyzikos or other defender jump joints that are used due to the fact that they update very late. We also saw many nations already established in RORMS join the WA to endorse the former native delegate, leading raider Koth to state: bastards were comin out of everywhere...damn near piled me out of the region *from inside* with all those sleepers. This shrank the margin between the native Delegate and the raider Delegate, making the liberation easier to achieve.

Johor, the native Delegate, posted on the RMB after the liberation that RORMS was ever greatful to its powerful and loyal allies. Thank you, liberators. Other natives also spoke up about the liberation, one stating: This is a glorious day RORMS. Allies are friends for life. Another, however stated, yay RORMS is free...But for How long? xD.

Congratulations to the liberators and to RORMS and better luck next time to TBR!

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The war between Mordor and A Reach Too Far has finally ended! The war began when Joshua was caught recruiting members of Mordor and refused to apologize and ended with the collapse of A Reach Too Far. The region has now been colonized by an unknown player after first, the delegate Aclany ejected many nations out of the region, and then the founder, Human Metrinome, aka Jedi-Gangsters, aka Joshua, ejected the rest of the nations. Aclany claims that A Reach Too Far was "covered in Mordor spies" and that he was "unable to trust anyone".

The player behind the current founder is unknown. Mordorite officials are expected to comment on the incident soon, but it is safe to assume that the war is over. A Reach Too Far, which once stood at over 100 nations, is no more. Refugees from the region are reportedly relocating to Knights For Justice. The Rejected Times wishes them the best of luck as they look to rebuild.

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JAL Coups Hotel Quebec, Reportedly "Not As Fun"

Residents of Hotel Quebec awoke this morning to an unpleasant surprise: infamous feeder tyrant Durkadurkiranistan, aka John Ashcroft Land had endo-swapped into the delegacy by receiving the endorsement of Faragas, the only WA nation in the region. However, JAL was unsatisfied with this latest feat. "I thought that couping UCRs would be just as fun," JAL said, "but it really isn't. I miss that eject and ban button."

Natives in this foundered region were reportedly going about their daily business. One said, "Yeah, I'll just keep answering my daily issues." Another added, "I didn't even realize anything was out of the ordinary." JAL is allegedly planning another coup soon, except this time, he says, he will make sure he can eject at least a few nations. "They didn't call my reign in TNP a purge for nothing," said Durk, before resigning WA. "I've learned a big lesson today: Taking over UCRs is just no fun."

by **Milograd** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 4:57 pm

This was a great read. I particularly enjoyed reading the interview with Gates; it's nice to see that he is back.

Good work!

by **Cromarty** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 5:01 pm

Mad Jack was unavailable for comment at the time of publication.

By unavailable you mean 'wasn't asked'.

by **Belschaft** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 5:20 pm

Can we have an absolute promise that this incarnation of a TRR press agency will feature no self conducted interviews?

by **Unibot III** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 5:22 pm

Belschaft wrote:Can we have an absolute promise that this incarnation of a TRR press agency will feature no self conducted interviews?

If Gates and myself are the same person, that would be the biggest mindfuck in the History of NationStates.

- Uni

by **Mallorea and Riva** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 5:28 pm

Just a tiny editorial note, we are banjecting the natives in South Pacific, not just ejecting them.

by **Cerian Quilor** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 5:39 pm

very nice. Always good for a news junkie like me to have more news outlets.

by **Jakker** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 11:26 pm

The South Pacific raid also saw some other old timer raiders such as Noldor, New South Arctica, and Sorenity2. It was nice to see them all.

by **McMasterdonia** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 1:56 am

Unibot III wrote:
Belschaft wrote:Can we have an absolute promise that this incarnation of a TRR press agency will feature no self conducted interviews?

If Gates and myself are the same person, that would be the biggest mindfuck in the History of NationStates.

- Uni

Now that would be hilarious.

A very enjoyable read.

by **Communist Quinntopia** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 9:51 am

redacted

by **Southern Bellz** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 5:17 pm

Jakker wrote:The South Pacific raid also saw some other old timer raiders such as Noldor, New South Arctica, and Sorenity2. It was nice to see them all.

Sorry, only I am a headliner.

by **Southern Bellz** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 5:17 pm

Belschaft wrote:Can we have an absolute promise that this incarnation of a TRR press agency will feature no self conducted interviews?

it never gets old

by **New Rogernomics** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 9:39 pm

A little interesting, well done.

by **The Rejected Times** » Tue Feb 12, 2013 7:13 pm

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Issue II, February 12,2013

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January 5th is where this news story begins. Arabalynia, the Minister of Defense of The Middle East, changed all of the flags on his nations and started to flood the Greater German Reich in order to commit suicide-by-moderator after his main nation, Jekrehnot, was warned/deleted.

The FRA noticed this and began to watch over The Middle East, worried about retribution from the GGR. They noticed that most of the nations in TME had been recently created and had moved to the region in the first two weeks of November. Dhul-Qarnayn, the now famous raider lead puppet, had only existed for a few days before he had taken over the Delegate seat in TME.

This, and Arabalynia's behavior, were surprisingly coincidental with the GGR's dispatches announcing that they were carrying over operations in a mid-sized region since mid/late November. And thus, the FRA moved in to protect The Middle East on the minor update of the 5th. Soon, they received intelligence not only naming that TME had been a GGR mission, but that they were calling it a failed one. The FRA occupation of The Middle East lasted until February 2nd, when they were finally able to kick out the GGR lead nation, Dhul-Qarnayn.

Unfortunately for The Middle East, they were not free yet. That minor update as the FRA was moving out of the region, The Black Riders tagged the region..but decided to stay. They unbanned the GGR lead Dhul-Qarnayn which now began to fly TBR flags and The Black Riders and other raider organizations began to pile in to transfer the Delegacy. It was looking quite bleak for The Middle East and defenders began to make plans to attempt to liberate the region.

As update rolled around, defenders had already began to get people in on the inside through FRA nations that had been there for the FRA occupation and other nations owned by defenders. Defenders gathered in the UDL channel to prepare to liberate the region and for once, they had the numbers. Unfortunately, however, time was not on the defenders' side. The raiders held tight to The Middle East and soon kicked all of the FRA and UDL forces from the region. The region is still under occupation with the GRR-turned-TBR Delegate standing with over 40 endorsements.

When the FRA was asked for a quote, Frattastan responded back, "I can only think rude things, so no.

" He gave us permission instead to print that.

Many wonder how a GGR puppet fell into the hands of The Black Riders as well as whether this is a sign for more Nazi-Rider cooperation in the future. The fate of The Middle East is now in the raiders' hands. We'll have more for you as we get it, but this reporter sees grabbing the refound as the best possible outcome here for the natives.

Opinion: Another victory for the "Get-Active-Quick" Scheme!

At the time of writing, SovCon is in the process of overwhelmingly being rejected by, pardon the wordplay, The Rejected Realms. What is the significance of this? What are we as onlookers and journalists supposed to "read" into this? There were numerous different objections to SovCon in The Rejected Realms; for example, SovCon was criticized for being an organization promoting regional sovereignty (which could be accomplished better without another alliance), tying member-regions to a set of bylaws and regulations that would develop over time, the involvement of Gatesville, and also SovCon's harsh stance against the so-called "insidious creep of cosmopolitanism".

In regards to this vote's significance, I would pose that this represents a new age in The Rejected Realms and NationStates abroad. We're tired of the old "get-active-quick" schemes. We've finally wised up to the fact that there is no magic bullet to fostering activity - and if we want activity, we need constructive region-building. The Neutral Territory conference in 2008 saw dozens of players trying to devise ways in which the "the death of NS" could be averted. Westwind eloquently demanded at said conference that "conflict seems to be the heart of what is needed to generate interest and [...] activity" - and so began the slew of half-baked schemes to generate activity through conflict. Cue The Crimson Order, The Empire, The Obsidian Order and any else that began with "The" and ended with general dispiritedness.

Nothing outstanding for any involved party was accrued from these activities. For Equilism it meant a defeated Commendation in 2009. For the rest of NationStates? The North Pacific's old guard got incrementally more paranoid and testy (and rightfully so after their seventh-ish coup), The East Pacific became more withdrawn and recluse from Gameplay and Defenderism continued to degenerate. But before George W. Bush could say "Mission Accomplished", The _____ awoke in 2013 to propose a "fresh" idea: we'll drop the "the" and call ourselves "Sovereign Confederation", get Gatesville in on the action (okay this isn't actually a new idea - you caught me), and blame inactivity on the "younger generations". In documents first leaked by The North Pacific Wire, SovCon declared its "[dissatisfaction] with the interregional status quo", noting that the younger generations had "failed to safeguard the world from the ravages of boredom and mediocrity".

Thankfully, the very sensible members of The Rejected Realms have caught on to the clever tricks of this travelling magic act. We all know (or should know) by now that if we want to safeguard the growth of activity in NationStates, we should leave it to people (newer and experienced) who actually respect sovereignty, regional identity, region-building and investment - instead of leaving the issue of activity in the hands of a segment of an older generation who were deluded into thinking the only way to generate activity was through couping everything that moves and in fact, left the issue of activity for future generations to improve upon. Beyond all of the hype regarding this failed Sov"Con" and the subsequent "Feedergate" Scandal, we have, perhaps, overlooked the incremental moves that have occurred recently to foster stronger regional identities.

In "The Concord", we have an attempt to affirm a common superregional identity between Osiris, The North Pacific and The South Pacific on the basis of their shared values of liberal democracy and independence. This is an entirely different beast of an organization, which describes itself as a "multi-regional military, educational and cultural alliance". Meanwhile, The South Pacific and The Rejected Realms have ceased informal hostilities which may have its own interregional implications in the future. Overall, The North Pacific, The South Pacific, The East Pacific and (of course) The Rejected Realms have recently re-invested in media and educational areas of interest. Screw the "Get-Active-Quick" scheme; our "younger" generations are in it for the long haul and are committed to generating sustainable activity.

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The new telegram system has finally arrived! In a matter of moments, many nations across NationStates received their own updated telegram inbox. Modeled somewhat after the private message inbox you would find on many offsite forums, the new telegram system is designed to be more user-friendly and is intended to ease the drawbacks of the previous system. Some of the new features included in this update are: folders to keep track of telegrams, a brand new reply layout, telegram tracking for blocking recruitment or WA campaigns, and mass TGs. We here at The Rejected Times send a huge thank you to the game admins for taking the time to change and update the telegram system!

The admins also added paid features like the Postmaster-General and Telegram Stamps. These features cost from $6 to $10 USD and grant special features such as larger telegram boxes, a deleted telegram folder, and more. The most controversial of these paid features has been the Telegram Stamps, granting the ability for users to pay to send huge mass telegrams all at once, whether for recruitment, to campaign for WA resolutions, or just to spam. This has led to arguments about whether this provides an unfair gameplay advantage to those willing or able to spend money on telegrams or able to create scripts and concerns that these changes will seriously harm manual recruiters who will have a tough time competing against these "paid" recruiters.

There has also been controversy over allowing recruitment outside of the Feeders and Sinkers. Many feel that this is unfair to regions that have put in effort to recruit their members and gives GCRs an unfair advantage. Already, there are GCR and UCR Telegram Conferences underway to address these issues. Rumor has it that 10000 Islands, being the biggest UCR region of all, will be targeted for recruitment once the telegram stamps are released for purchase -- although The Rejected Times has learned from an anonymous source that delegates from 10000 Islands have expressed serious concerns about a treaty to prevent inter-UCR recruitment. Many also speculate that we could see a new era of warfare through telegram spam.

Overall, the new telegram system has been praised by many gameplayers as a positive improvement for the game, despite these huge controversies. We await with excitement to see how this new system and the paid advantages will affect gameplay. The Rejected Times is excited to see what's next for the future of NationStates.

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High ranking representatives from all Game Created Regions are meeting in The Pacific. The purpose of this closed door meeting is to discuss what is described as "The Nazi Menace plaguing NationStates". The Pacifc has been one of the leading regions in a greater war on Nazism. Nazis particularly affect the GCRs due to their annoying, uncreative RMB spam; Delegates are constantly needed to suppress and ban the Nazis from disturbing their regions.

The goal of this meeting is to have a unilateral declaration against Nazism by all Game Created Regions. This is an ambitous undertaking by The Pacific as very rarely in the past has such been accomplished; it is rare for them to agree on anything, perhaps, besides that they are GCR regions by definition. The Pacific and the South Pacific have previously declared war on the Greater German Reich and the greater Nazi ideology, fighting it actively through their armies. Cormac Stark, head of The Pacific's army, has been one of the loudest speakers against Nazism said this about the conference and his hopes on the anti-Nazi fight: "It's good to see Feeders and Sinkers coming together to address the problem of Nazis in NationStates. Nazis have been particularly aggressive toward GCRs, but many in this game regardless of region or ideology are opposed to a Nazi presence in NationStates and it's good to see GCRs bringing their considerable diplomatic and military power to bear against the Nazi menace."

We have learned from a source inside the meetings that a draft declaration has been agreed upon in principle. World Assembly Security Council Resolutions are also being considered to fight the Nazi menace.

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Another Defender Awards has come and gone, but not without a tide of controversy. Nominations were fast and furious with raiders and defenders from all organizations of NS coming out to nominate their choices for the 14 awards. Two awards in particular created buzz: the invasion of the year award and the defender of the year award. Buoyed by the UDL-TITO rivalry, an uproar erupted over invasion of the year, with the coup in Osiris being nominated early by FRA Chief of Defence Frattastan. UDL members then nominated a TITO mission in Christmas as well as the FRA mission in Fluffy Bunny Town.

Over on the other side of the party, the award formerly known as the EuroSoviets Award grew hostile after Mahaj nominated every single UDL member. This nomination was disallowed by the administration running the awards. On the late end of nominations, members of Westphalia came in, nominating their members for almost every award offered. This created some displeasure among other defenders, who viewed it as annoying and/or disrespectful. However, nominations closed without a hitch and the awards continued.

After a week of voting, the ballots had been counted, and the winners were announced. The awards broke a new record for voters, smashing the old record by over 20. The FRA had a number of winners, taking the Anarchotopia Award as best organization, as well as rangers Frattastan and Karputsk taking Defender of the Year, the Sir Lans Award, and the Ananke Award--Karputsk taking the final one by one vote. Europeia won the Blackbird Award as the best raider organization, beating out The Black Riders, who defeated the Greater German Reich for Worst Invader Group. The huge operation in Anarchy won Operation of the Year, while the coup in Osiris took invasion of the year. New region Mordor and UDL lieutenant Sovreignry shared Newcomer of the Year while 10000 Islands took the WASC Award, beating out UDLer Mahaj.

Finally, current NationStates Game Administrator and former ALL and UDL defender Free4All/Ballotonia won the Lifetime Achievement Award for Dedication to Defending, an honor that is very fitting for the man who engineered the most famous liberation in NationStates History, the "Puppetmaster" Liberation against Great Bight of The North Pacific. As a whole, the Awards were wonderful and a great time where everyone, raider or defender, could get together and have fun. We cannot wait for next year and thank the FRA for the amount of effort put into the awards!

"On Flagspam: An impromptu interview with Glavcosmos"

One of the talking points recently was the rise -and fall- of Flagspam. the use of [nation=noname] BBcode to manipulate flags to form descriptive words and images. Though feature was first made available last October, and demonstrated by Topid, the recent kerfuffle rose with Glavcosmos' advertising for Communist Beach, which led to it being widely imitated by others, including Venetia and TGGR, before a huge debate arose and consequently shutdown by [violet].

Coincidently, one of our citizens, Codger, found Glavcosmos sitting in #trr one day. Not hoping to lose a scoop, he quickly cornered him for this impromptu interview.

Codger: How do you feel about causing infamy?

Glavcosmos: Well, it's over now, but the lulz were good---and I'll always have the screencaps to remember it all...

Codger: Was it hard in splitting the image (of Lenin in the last recruitment message) into pieces and forming them together? Seeing that was crazy for us but I note the effort required.

Glavcosmos: Not at all, allow me to explain. I started with the letters, (In a previous ad) and while I was doing that, I noticed they stacked flush vertically. So, I went into preview and had the flags arranged 5x6, as the Lenin image was, with the flags in a plain color. I took a screencap, pasted it in paint, and removed the solid color. Then took the remaining grid, copied it, and pasted it over an image of Lenin.

The image that was 186x133 pixels, so I removed the parts of the image that were outside of the box. The remaining image was already cut into pieces. All I had to do then was found 14 more puppets (I already had 15) and save the grid as 29 separate .png files.

Codger: With all that effort, do you feel we should just have an [img] tag on the RMB?
Frattastan: And would it be better or worse than a [color] tag?

*Kogvuron suddenly interjects - NO!*

Glavcosmos: Honestly, I don't know. [violet] probably has legitimate concerns for keeping such things out of NS. Well, I sort of screwed us all as it is, since we're probably never getting the noname tag back due to my antics...Now those Nazi idiots are bothering me for ideas.

Codger: I wouldn't mind [colour]... we already abuse bold/italic/underline well enough. But probably not images.

Glavcosmos: The thing about combining the flags together is it was time-consuming enough that it would probably deter most people with malicious intent. (compared to [img] tags).

It's funny looking at all the puppets that were created in the last day to capitalize on this. 3 hours ago, the Illuminati region created 31 puppets with what looks like a split up picture as a flag. Earlier than that, I noticed TAO firing off a few puppets that had letters for flags. That's funny, because he was one of the first to join in with the complaining.

Thanks to Glavcosmos for being kind enough to have this impromptu interview! For a greater discussion of his views, see his his recent post in defence of flag spam: http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?p=12701453#p12701453

The Great Despoto Speaks

Editor's Note: The following was recovered from our forum archives, dated February 13, 2013. However, it appears to have been in our archives for much longer. The letter is from a post dated February 27 2004 we have not yet been able to get a hold of Kandarin to inquire about the letter's origins.

To members of the public on February 13, 2013,

I have never publically revealed the existence of myself - not like this at least. I am The Great Despoto, Supreme Aboolot of NationStates. Some may call me a wizard; others may call me a meddler. But make no mistake, I have been watching over this great world from its inception till its untimely death.

Whenever the world has needed me the most, I have moved the chess-pieces slightly in the right direction - never daring to interfere more than necessary. I am the first invader, the first defender ... I gave Free4All the instructions to the Puppetmaster Invasion, distracted Accelsior, refounded Gatesville and ended the war between The New Inquisition and the Founderless Regions Alliance inadvertently (it's complicated). I made tyrants from mortal men, toppled governments, reported Unibot to the moderators and stole the Flag Thief's flag (poor bastard). The Great Disk Space Disasters? Me. The United Nations? I reported the copyright violation. Regional Influence? My idea. NationStates 2? All mine - you didn't think someone could unintentionally make a game that bad did you?

Everything I have done, I have done for a purpose. I have done it for you.

I come to you now after having done everything I could to stall the Gameplay Summit so that I could plea to you to choose the path of greatness. This day marks a fork in time and space - you can choose to squander your potential or you can choose to buck the trend. Find your purpose and let it guide you. I have seen your future and there is certainly more to come. In the future, some of the grunts of today will claim fame and respect for having been MEMBERS of the 'great' United Defenders League or The Black Riders a long time ago. Things as simple as tag-raiding, piling or "raider unity" will be nostalgia, not deplored. You will laugh about the days when you could not remember what a telegram was responding to... or when recruitment was limited to only the feeders and sinkers. Times won't be better or worse, they'll just be different - but you will never fully understand them. You will be a member of the Old Guard, a mere obstacle facing the flow of social change, even if you may actually have a point. You will be respected more (even 'feared' in some cases), but you will want to be treated like you are now. Old friends will leave and never be replaced or forgotten - you will never know, with certainty, if you're next. Some of you may say that is cynicism, but you're wrong, that is life.

You're greater and more important than you know. You all play a role in something bigger. That's all I want to say at the moment, but I know that I will write again.
And no, Kogvuron, I am not. Please no more questions - answers belong solely to those who labour to discover them.

Image was here

The Great Despoto,
Supreme Aboolot.
The True Hospodar of Moldavia.
Head Puddist.

Image was here

Declaration of War on the Pacific News Network

It has been 3457 days since an invader regime led by former Spain resident Francos Spain toppled the legitimate government of Thedoc in a coup-- a coup that instituted the tyrannical regime now known as The Pacific. This "Pacifica" has taken many forms, but one constant face has always been its news network, a tabloid who publishes disgraceful stories equal to those in the National Enquirer. This propaganda has not only published lies making fun of players, but also has spread their blasphemy all through nationstates--even edited logs to represent support of the Francoist side.

However, the PNN's day has come. The Rejected Realms Media Corporation, led by Chief Executive Officer Kogvuron, Deputy Executive Officer Earth, and Deputy Executive Officer Hileville, hereby declare war on the Pacific News Network. This "news" network's stream of falsehoods will dry up like a river in the desert against the mighty front of Corporation. Long live Democracy! Long live Truth!

Chief Executive Officer Kogvuron

Deputy Executive Officer Earth

Deputy Executive Officer Hileville

Rejected Realms Seized!

"Yes I think that was the name of the region!" - Unidentified TNIAF soldier

Image was here

In a bold night raid at last major update, The New Inquisition Armed Forces scored yet another memorable victory against the Founderless Regions Alliance, this time striking at the heart of their weak and almost-defunct enemy. HIH OnderKelkia, Crown Prince of The New Inquisition as well as Prince of Ilum and Voivode and Hospodar of Moldavia, commented: "The invasion of the year. The New Inqusition has once again promulgated the superiority of its armed forces," leaving readers scrambling for their pocket dictionaries.

Some controversy has erupted over the aftermath of the operation, although TNIAF officials are trying to calm the storm. One of the soldiers involved in the operation said: "It just kinda happened. We moved in and took it. Then somebody said we were in the wrong region, and Onder got mad." "I don't understand why he was shouting like that. He wanted us to capture a region. We did," added the soldier. His Imperial Highness, however, is telling a different story. "The non-executive delegacy is symbolic of the supremacy and the dexterity of The New Inquisition. It was our complete intention to raid Rejected Realms, and our objective was successfully accomplished. No defender organization can claim otherwise. We do not raid to change World Factbook Entries. We raid to project our power and serve the interests of The New Inquisition, beyond the strict dogmatism of raiding and defending."

A new developing story has recently broken, regarding the mistreatment of TNIAF soldiers. Two soldiers who were in charge of the raid have been sent to clean North East Somerset's private toilet as punishment for problems associated with the invasion. In response to these claims, OnderKelkia said, "Why would we castigate soldiers for completing a successful raid. As stated above, we have achieved every goal that we held at the beginning of the raid." Long live The New Inquisition, the region that conquered Rejected Realms!

If TNI had done something recently we would write about what they *actually* did, but alas, they have not.

Political Cartoons

Image was here

by **Kogvuron** » Tue Feb 12, 2013 7:14 pm

Is that you Mammothistan?

Edit: Oh...

by **Klaus Devestatorie** » Tue Feb 12, 2013 7:21 pm

Obviously someone in TBR needs to be slapped in the face if they were working with a GGR puppet. Did they bother telling Koth and Venico, or was it actually their decision?

by **Ambroscus Koth** » Tue Feb 12, 2013 7:30 pm

Klaus Devestatorie wrote:Obviously someone in TBR needs to be slapped in the face if they were working with a GGR puppet. Did they bother telling Koth and Venico, or was it actually their decision?

I was made aware after the raid that the puppet originated from GGR.

I'm not in The Middle East either, funnily enough.

by **Klaus Devestatorie** » Tue Feb 12, 2013 7:31 pm

Ambroscus Koth wrote:
Klaus Devestatorie wrote:Obviously someone in TBR needs to be slapped in the face if they were working with a GGR puppet. Did they bother telling Koth and Venico, or was it actually their decision?

I was made aware after the raid that the puppet originated from GGR.

I'm not in The Middle East either, funnily enough.

Good to see that you're staying out of it, at least.

by **Feux** » Tue Feb 12, 2013 7:37 pm

Well this is a rather great news thread. I demand more political cartoons; there never seems to be enough.

by **Frattastan II** » Tue Feb 12, 2013 7:42 pm

NSWeek can choose to join forces with TRR, or be assimilated.

by **Solorni** » Tue Feb 12, 2013 7:43 pm

I did enjoy the political cartoon greatly

by **The Kumquat Fairy** » Tue Feb 12, 2013 7:45 pm

Very amusing article. Though it would be nice to see who wrote each piece.

by **Cromarty** » Wed Feb 13, 2013 2:15 am

Quite amusing article, although I was surprised they missed the recruiting conferences happening in Balder and Europeia.

by **Ballotonia** » Wed Feb 13, 2013 5:22 am

The Rejected Realms Media Corporation wrote:The most controversial of these paid features has been the Telegram Stamps, granting the ability for users to pay to send huge mass telegrams all at once, whether for recruitment, to campaign for WA resolutions, or just to spam.

Spamming, just to be clear, is a rule violation regardless of whether one does this manually, via script, or through purchased stamps. So if anyone somehow feels a need to fill other people's inboxes with large blocks of random characters: don't do it.

Ballotonia

The Rejected Times

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