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The Publication of Eastern Pacific News Service.
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EPNS Edition 37, July 2024
⤆ ⤇ ↺ ☖ | 🔒 Secure | https://epns.mon.gov.caek/issue/2024/7.html
Delegate's Update
By: Merlovich
Hello everyone, welcome to another edition of the EPNS. Although July was a relatively quiet month, I still grace the newspaper with my presence, lest Rosa shoot me.
NationStates tends to experience a little bit of a slowdown come this time of year, so it’s nothing immensely unexpected that we’ve seen the executive have a quiet patch. I’ve just started at a new job which involves a very early rise, so I haven’t had an enormous amount of energy when it comes to buckling down on projects, however I expect this to change as I get used to a new schedule in the coming weeks, and battle away at the burnout I’ve been feeling. Our plans in the executive remain the same, my main focuses continue to be the revitalisation of the EPSA, the success of our new ministries and ministers, and the overall growth of the region’s endorsement culture.
Over July, I took part in some discussions with Minister of Endorsement Affairs, Jo, and we’re in the process of organising some events to encourage that endorsement-happy regional foundation we’re hoping to establish. I look forward to seeing this come to life in the coming weeks. Speaking of events, how good was Hunger Games this month? I’m not remotely bias, I don’t know what you’re implying. I think this month’s winner was probably super deserving and likely also rougishly handsome, which is a thing I say about every winner, this is nothing new. Congratulations to them. Big shoutout and thanks to our friends in the NPO for hanging out with us, despite their recently busy schedule!
I have got in touch with Empress Xoriet, congratulating her on her assecion, and re-affirming my commitment to our regions shared relationship. I look forward to deepening TEP’s relationships, not only with the NPO but across the interregional landscape over the coming months.
Given my lack of time, and my respect for yours, I won’t ramble on unnecessarily in areas that haven’t seen too much movement these last few weeks. I hope I’ll have more to update you on next month, and rest assured this month’s edition of the EPNS is as entertaining, and as jam-packed with content as ever.
Enjoy, and I’ll see you next month!
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Magisterium Update
By: Pauline Bonaparte/
HlenderiaThe 62nd Magisterium was seated and began its term on July 1, 2024. Ambis, Marrabuk, and Pauline Bonaparte (myself) ran for Provost after Dremaur chose to step away from the seat. I was elected on July 4, 2024. This is my first elected seat in The East Pacific. Thanks to all of our Magisters for your confidence!
We ended July with 23 total Magisters. 18 are active, 3 are suspended, and 2 are on a leave-of-absence. July was a busy month for the Magisterium, with one Magister admitted, one bill passed, all four Arbiters reconfirmed, and three amendments passed:
• American-Cascadia was admitted into the Magisterium on July 4.
• [A-2024-26] 
The Conclave Orders Act was passed with 9 ayes, 0 nays, and 3 abstains.
• [C-2024-5] Reconfirmation of Zukchiva to the Conclave passed with 11 ayes, 0 nays, and 2 abstains.
• [C-2024-6] Reconfirmation of Bachtendekuppen to the Conclave passed with 11 ayes, 0 nays, and 1 abstain.
• [C-2024-7] Reconfirmation of Libertanny to the Conclave passed with 11 ayes, 0 nays, and 2 abstains.
• [C-2024-8] Reconfirmation of SirShadow to the Conclave passed with 12 ayes, 0 nays, and 1 abstain.
• [A-2024-27] An Amendment to the Eastern Pacific Sovereign Army Act was passed with 10 ayes, 0 nays, and 2 abstains.
• [A-2024-28] An Amendment to the Citizenship Act was passed with 8 ayes, 0 nays, and 3 abstains.
• [A-2024-29] An Amendment to the Standing Orders of the Magisterium was passed with 10 ayes, 1 nay, and 0 abstains.
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Culture Update
By: Tommo
UTEP has published a new work, entitled Rhetoric, Ideology and Propaganda: the Good, the Fun, and the Ugly written by
A Bloodred Moon/
Soramra, this work considers the R/D landscape in terms of ideas and communication, with examples from as far back as 2003 and as soon as this year.Yo yo yo, here’s the update out of the culture ministry!
Another quiet month for the ministry! We have, however, seen an uptick in activity and will be introducing various more polls for the general public to participate in over the next few weeks!
In July, we hosted our monthly Hunger Games, this month with NPO! It was jam-packed and full of excitement, and I’d like to extend my own personal thanks to everybody who participated!
Next, we introduced our Summer Flag Contest, which will be wrapped up at the end of this week (due to irl constraints, we kinda went over schedule, but that’s fine!)
We’re also still hiring! Should you wish to help out in the ministry at all, feel free to shoot me a DM on Discord (bottommo) or telegram me here, and remember to apply via the #join-the-executive channel in the regional Discord!
That’s all for this month! Cya in September!
Tommo <3
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Praesidium Elections Conclude, Incumbents Hold
By: Aivintis
UTEP has followed up with a second work, entitled
An Argument Against Wanton Founder Supremacy written by 
Zukchiva, this piece work the ethical implications of "Founder Supremacy" in, focusing on the tension between a Founder’s mechanical control over a region and the collective investment of its community.The Praesidium, or the Viziers, is the most lethargic branch of government in TEP. In times of peace and stability, there is little to do, and its roster of retirees and pluralist officials tend to spend each month endotarting. All is well, of course, given the Praesidium has no use as a proactive body. It is inherently and necessarily reactive – awakening from its dormancy when regional security calls for it, such as the attempted delegate bump last November, or the ConCrisis of 2022.
It may come as little surprise, then, to note that leadership changes are exceedingly rare. Dragons Blood was Grand Vizier for over three years, with only a single six-month term wherein Marrabuk took over while Dragons Blood served as EPPS Commissioner. His reign only ended a year ago, when I was elected as Grand Vizier. Though the Commissioner position itself has changed hands more, it is still far more sedentary than the Provost or Delegate offices.
Equally, the two positions see little contention when election season comes around. Seeing long terms of greater responsibilities, the Viziers who are used to the typical dormancy of the Praesidium may not be so keen on the shift into leading the branch. With few folks up for the task, long terms become longer with frequent re-election and little to no opposition from other candidates.
Low turnout is also common. Another symptom of the reactive nature of the security branch is the low participation in comparatively low priority business – elections, speculation about potential red flags, and day-to-day endotarting cannot hold a candle to true security emergencies. Though such low participation does not demonstrate vulnerability, it is not ideal for the every day running of the branch.
The mid-year Praesidium elections met all of these expectations. The incumbent Grand Vizier ran again, as did the incumbent EPPS Commissioner, and no challengers stood for election. Despite low turnout, both were re-elected nearly unanimously as, for the sake of integrity, neither voted for themselves. This is another common practice in all East Pacifican elections, and equally comes as no surprise.
In the last term, Praesidium leadership oversaw the expansion of the Citizenship Office, the prohibition of foreign perpetrators of regional destruction, the addition of forum infrastructure for notifications and petitions, and, in this last month, the passage of an amendment to the Citizenship Act in the Magisterium which overhauled and streamlined the process of proscription. With no campaigning materials, re-elected leadership cannot be held to any promises, but it is fair to assume that there will be little change in the operations of the Praesidium.
By: 
Altys
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The Foreign Newsstand: Arkana Coalition, RaiderCon, and CCD Raided
By: Aivintis
Hello and welcome to The Foreign Newsstand (TFN).
We in The East Pacific’s FA Watch are tasked with discussing and debating news of global significance within NationStates Gameplay. With an eye on the forums and the news reports of our allies, we see discussion on a wide range of interregional political topics, and I have used this perspective to create the Newsstand, summarizing the goings-on of NSGP.
TFN is fact-checked by TEP’s Foreign Minister, but nevertheless, I am human, and make mistakes. As such, I encourage people to reach out if there are factual errors, and I invite any NSer to reply in this thread adding any events I may have missed. It can help me figure out what my blind spots are, and ensure accountable, factual reporting. Furthermore, readers are encouraged to direct opinion statements to the threads relating to individual events.
Without further ado, here are the major events of July 2024:
The Black Hawks has celebrated its 19 year founding anniversary with a 29-hit tag run. (July 2nd)
Grachevia has been elected Prime Minister of Conch Kingdom, alongside Liberto-Ancapistan as Minister of Domestic Affairs and Socialist Platypus for another term as Minister of Foreign Affairs. (July 4th)
LWU and the invaders of Arkana Coalition have announced victory in their raid, clearing out all native and defender sleepers before vacating in response to the success of the Liberation and Injunction. (July 5th)
Chaotic Sparkles has resigned as High Queen of Sparkalia, appointing Crown Princess Momi Cherenkov-Choslow in her stead. (July 15th)
Europeia has announced the signing of the Treaty of the Shining Seas with the Coalition of the South Pacific. The provisions of the treaty include mutual defense and World Assembly collaboration. (July 16th)
The provisional government of Warzone Sandbox has been overthrown by an Ijakan raid de-seating the World Assembly Delegate. (July 18th)
The Region That Has No Big Banks has announced the return of the SummerFest event, a six week festival open to its interregional partners including games, movies, card giveaways, and polls. (July 18th)
RaiderCon 2024 has been hosted, lasting until July 28th. RaiderCon first commenced in 2015 as a ten year anniversary event for The Black Hawks, and continued as an annual event hosted with all of Raiderdom. (July 19th)
Emperor East Durthang of The New Pacific Order has appointed Syberis as Regent. As Regent, they shall manage NS affairs for The Pacific and serve as the primary government point of contact. In the same announcement, the Emperor announced the retirement of Jar Wattinree, Waterfall State, and Greyghost into the position of Senate Advisor and the appointment of Marinas Island as Senator of Internal Affairs. (July 22nd)
The Dreamscape of Atlanticana has put all its diplomatic relations on review following disagreements and conflicts with The Communist Bloc, reaffirming its neutrality in the process. (July 28th)
The North Pacific Army, with the help of the New Pacific Order, the West Pacific, The League & Concord, and Europeia, has raided Confederation of Corrupt Dictators, which has long been a pariah of NSGP for its fascist history and coordinated attack on The North Pacific. This comes after Governor Jocospor ceased to exist in June. (July 28th)
Forest has opened embassies with Lands End and Ridgefield, two Augustin Alliance regions, as well as Valaryia, a region not well known in the NSGP sphere. (July 31st)
The region of Commonwealth has been founded, quickly opening an NSGP forum embassy, wherein founder Advaghts has laid out an agenda for the region. (July 31st)
Donations for the R/D for Pride 2024 event have been made, with $413.74 from organizer Notanam and $166.87 from Augustin Alliance administrator Emiline. Due to a four times matching event on the 31st, this means NS has effectively raised $2322.44 for the Trevor Project, contributing to suicide prevention for LGBTQIA+ teens. (July 31st)
References:
Message from Socialist Platypus, Diplomat to The East Pacific
- Read dispatchVictory in Arkana Coalition
Lone Wolves United, the West Pacific Armed Forces and the New Pacific Order have successfully concluded our operation in Arkana Coalition. With our friends in Blue Ridge, Carcassonne, Ijaka and Talonia, we have cleared any and all natives and remaining LibJuncters from the region. With two badges to commemorate our victory now placed on the region, we have really achieved everything we set out to do. Peaking at 220 verified endorsements, this raid is now the second-largest raid in history that we are aware of, a feat accomplished in under a week between our seven regions.With the region reduced to ash, our enemies thoroughly humiliated, and our achievement broadcast for all the World Assembly to see, Lone Wolves United, the West Pacific Armed forces and the New Pacific Order, in coordination with our allies, consider all our goals met and will be moving on to greener pastures.
For the historical record, the Department of Organized Media has put together a relatively brief timeline of the operation.
The RaidOn the minor update of Sunday the 23rd of June, 20 nations moved into the region to endorse Australia-hungary empire, a newly-placed sleeper nation belonging to none other than LWU's Cherbi Bervinland, better known as Jackie. This strike force hailed from Lone Wolves United, the West Pacific Armed Forces and the New Pacific Order, in an operation planned over the course of the past month. Despite Defenders being online and active, they did nothing to intervene, having either missed all 20 updaters entirely or deciding they would rather chase tag raiders, as actually doing something meaningful might simply be too difficult for them.
The raid afterwards went smoothly, Regional Officers were appointed, pilers were called in, all that good stuff. We reached out to Carcassonne for piler support a bit after the raid, which they granted, and Blue Ridge offered to support the operation as well as part of their first steps into wider raiding and defending. This merry coalition of pirates set out to properly organize our anti-piracy pirate convention with exactly 100 endorsements by the next update.
The Response
Now, against 100 endorsements Defending would need to give it their all to even make a dent. We were quite certain they would do so - after all, Arkana Coalition had no OOC baggage, it was a decently sized new Frontier with some 14 endorsements on the Delegate, and lastly there's the trivial but nevertheless relevant matter of all prominent Defender organizations having declared war upon Lone Wolves United, one of the co-leads of the occupation. Cherbi Bervinland prepared for a tough challenge.
When major came, the full might of Defending was unveiled. Against the 100 endorsements that our five regions had gathered between them, the armies of Defending stood arrayed. With a Feeder, a Sinker, two of the largest Frontiers in the game, and at least five strongholds over 200 nations, alongside a host of smaller regions and unaffiliated Defender individuals, all dedicated to saving innocent regions like Arkana from their hated enemies, one might hope for an epic clash involving dozens of players.
Sadly for all of us, this is modern Defending we're talking about, so the best they could gather with all of that was around 35... and that 35 is the number of people who even reported in, not even the number of people who actually jumped. We were promptly thereafter informed that 8 people was the "top of the [Defender] turnout charts", which admittedly would go a long way to explaining the turnout but feels a tad... unambitious.
They tried two more times after that, the first time with another 35 or so, and the second with 15, which according to our counts means that last jump was attended by as many updaters as there were organizations involved in the effort. The top of the turnout charts was apparently reduced to 1 per org, now. They gave up after that by submitting two Security Council proposals, and honestly, we'd probably have quit at that point too.
The Records
While Defending was off crying in a corner about their turnouts in between trying to brag about stopping tag raids against vibrant regions consisting of their own switcher puppets, the good guys were joined in our endeavor by our friends in Talonia and Ijaka, and together we brought the raid up to 200 endorsements in about 2 days of beginning the operation. Eventually, the raid would peak at 220 endorsements, making it the second largest raid against a non-fascist target in history to our knowledge, only behind the Mystical Council, a number gathered between the New Pacific Order, Lone Wolves United, the West Pacific Armed Forces, Talonia, Carcassonne, the newly revived Ijaka and Blue Ridge. To the DOM's knowledge, this was the first occupation that Talonia and Blue Ridge had ever participated in, and we're both thankful for their assistance and impressed with the scale of their mobilization, with Talonia in particular contributing 17 pilers. Carcassonne, Ijaka and Blue Ridge each contributed smaller contingents, but were still key to bringing the raid up to the scale it was at. The three co-leads, LWU, TWPAF and the NPO, brought a combined total of about 190-200 endorsements, with Lone Wolves United fielding exactly 50 pilers, not counting pointman Bervinland.
At a nice and relaxed pace, the coalition removed the last remnants of the Defender beachhead, banjected the native Delegate, and all around had a great time. Defenders, perhaps shamed into action by the native Delegate complaining on the forums, perhaps simply stirred to unreasonable anger at the prospect of someone having fun, decided that, after their entire beachhead had been wiped out, their native delegate removed from the region and with five or six Border Control Officers with between 100 and 200 endorsements each awaiting them, now was the time to start trying again (instead of, you know, before all that). We can really think of no example where a military faction of dedicated rank-and-file members was failed worse by the tactical incompetence of their leadership.
Deciding not to even bother having our ROs endosurf in the case of a delbump, we watched with amusement as Defenders gathered more than 50 people for their latest attrition run, finally an acceptable turnout for 15 organizations. Their officers promptly squandered that turnout (and for that matter, their members' time) by simply throwing it at the region without even bothering to attempt a delbump. For the uninvolved bystanders, and apparently Defender commanders, attrition runs are meant to attrition influence, and are pretty useless when the Border Control officers already entrenched in the region gain more than it'd cost to ban you, especially when you don't even contest the appointment of the next BCRO with completely fresh influence. We immediately banned every single one of them, then booted the sleeper they'd used as point to bring their progress down to negative 1.
To most people, utterly failing when leading a military operation of 50+ people could be seen as a harsh lesson, but if Defenders learned from their defeats the last two years would have made them invincible by now. Instead, Defenders learned nothing and proceeded to punch the same wall at major as they'd broken their hand against at minor. We banned their entire force, and yet another sleeper. Having apparently discovered that doing the same thing against the same opponent in the same situation leads to the same outcome, Defenders went back to LARPing as janitors. So much for Defender stamina.
In Conclusion
Which brings us to the minor update of today, twelve hours after the Injunction passed and Defenders waved their token “We tried” flag around. In a testament to the effectiveness of the Defender faction, every single native and defender sleeper was cleared from the region. A once active and promising young frontier thoroughly crushed by the invading forces and Defenders were not able to do a single thing about it. All they could manage was their token song and dance in the SC to prevent the region from being converted into a stronghold or refounded, but as many are aware that often hasn’t been enough to save the many “precious” communities destroyed by griefers. Defenders watched on helplessly and complained about how hard defending is, then bragged about how their turnouts that fail to accomplish anything are actually super impressive and went off preventing graffiti. Some heroism.
We’d like to thank all of our friends in the West Pacific Armed Forces and the New Pacific Order for co-organizing and hosting this raid with us, as well as to Blue Ridge, Carcassonne, Ijaka and Talonia for the provided support. Lastly, we’d like to give a great thanks to every Wolf, Cub and Horde member that came to join this raid. Lone Wolves United depends on the strength and dedication of our members, and it truly was on full display this time.
Lone Wolves United - For Your Protection World Factbook Entry of Warzone Sandbox
- Read dispatch****
Regional SnapshotsBringing The News To You****
***Confederation of Corrupt Dictators Seized by NPA by Simone Republic1 August 2024
Magicality City, The North Pacific - The North Pacific seized on 28 July 2024 the region of the Confederation of Corrupt Dictators, a region that at one time maintained close ties with fascist and neo-Nazi regions, and which once attempted to seize control of the Delegacy of The North Pacific.As Minister of Defense Picairn noted, "the Confederation of Corrupt Dictators was once infamous for its status as a safe haven for fascism and its direct attempt to infiltrate our region."
"The NPA has not forgotten CCD’s fascist history nor its attempt to coup our region. Jocospor’s CTE in late June 2024 provided a historic opportunity for us to return the favour, and we did not let it pass", Picairn added.
The CCD region has now been raided and NPA has taken full control, with both the governor and successor held by The North Pacific.
Forum - Citizenship - Executive Staff - North Pacific Army - World Assembly Ministry - Role Play - Trading Cards
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Roadmap for the Ministry of Recruitment: An Opinion
By: Crestor
Greetings to all EPNS readers, I am Crestor, the Minister for Recruitment and it’s a pleasure to be able to talk about the Ministry. We started off fresh under Merlovich’s administration, so we are as new as it gets, which means that our roadmap is flexible and our position has a lot of wiggle room to establish itself within the current State Structure.
Now, what exactly is it that we are doing? We are responsible for outreach, finding people that are interested in joining the State as an employee but I want it to be more than that. The main objective is to liaise between the different government agencies, by both being aware of available job placements that are not yet covered by anyone and ensuring that, in due time, the needs of the State are fulfilled. To do that, it is necessary to consult with the various Ministers and maintain an active presence within the regional community, for which plans have been drafted.
My only hope is that the Ministry can live up to this purpose, and I ask you readers to keep an eye out, and to not be afraid to ask questions on how you can participate in-government. Our regional structure offers ample opportunity for growth, be it within the government or as an administrative body of it. I look forward to whatever awaits us.
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History of EPNS
By: Aivintis
Introduction
On June 24, 2024, I set out on a monumental task. Combing through forum threads, dispatches, and files for the Eastern Pacific News Service, I set down a list of every single article ever written for the EPNS. With the title, the author, the edition date, and a link, I recorded all the news authorship TEP has seen in the past decade. When I was finished, I had recorded 335 articles. Now, after the release of the June 2024 Edition, there are 346 articles.
I will begin my analysis by considering the top ten contributors to EPNS. This leaderboard is, to me, a badge of honor for those who have dedicated hours of work to TEP. We will consider the circumstances under which each have accumulated so much and the implications thereof. Next, I will define the different periods and levels of activity within EPNS, and touch upon the causes of those trends. Finally, I will dive into article content and structure, which I will attempt to draw normative conclusions from.
Top Contributors
As of the June 2024 edition of EPNS, the top ten contributors of all time are as follows: Aivintis (40), Bachtendekuppen (37), Zukchiva (26), Tretrid (24), The Atlae Isles (16), Merlovich (15), Albrook (14), Vussul (14), Libertanny (12), and East Malaysia (11). There are 72 contributors in total, but only the top eleven have 10 or more, while only the top 36 have more than one. This suggests an exponential trend, with a top-heavy lean on the highest contributors.
Bachtendekuppen, Tretrid, Albrook, Vussul, Libertanny, and East Malaysia were all EPNS editors at some point. Three of them were also Delegates. For all six of these people, the vast majority of their contributions – if not all of their contributions – were made during a time when they were Editor or Delegate, where it might be expected of them to contribute regularly.
Out of the other four – Aivintis, Zukchiva, The Atlae Isles, and Merlovich – all were Delegates. While Merlovich has written 15 articles himself, only four of them were written before he was elected Delegate. Out of the eleven he wrote while Delegate, ten were Delegate Updates. The vast majority of contributions were made from an office where it might be expected of him to contribute regularly.
The Atlae Isles is precisely the polar opposite of this trend. Every single one of his own articles were written before he was elected Delegate. That said, he was indeed a member of cabinet for the whole period. Zukchiva, similarly, wrote only two as Delegate, with the other 24 being written outside of the office as a private citizen. One may still, again, consider him a part of the old guard nevertheless.
Most of my contributions were made during the last year. Eleven of the forty were expected of me as Grand Vizier. A twelfth was made from the Office of the UTEP Chancellor. A further ten were part of a different monthly series, the Foreign Newsstand – one might say it’s expected of me as a Foreign Councillor, but there are many foreign councilors and I note that the Newsstand has never been part of the Foreign Council, sanctioned by it, or discussed by it. The remaining 18 were written as a private citizen.
However, one cannot ignore the fact that former Editors and Delegates are the bulk of EPNS. Editors, while they hold the office, have much expected of them, and can sometimes keep EPNS alive single-handedly. Delegates might be expected to chip in at times, but considering most former Delegates on the list wrote mainly from the perspective of a private citizen, I think we can say that there is a very different trend here – high officials.
I do not think there is a political elite within The East Pacific, but I think it’s undeniable that current and former high officials are incredibly involved with the government. In EPNS and beyond, a small number of people are expected to do a lot of work, simply because there’s no one else to do it. When the various RPers and lower level staffers contribute only between one and four articles in their entire time in TEP, those who are higher level need to do more for EPNS for EPNS to work. Mostly, that falls on those officials most associated with EPNS.
Of course, in the case of many, that could be an endogeneity problem – Atlas was elected Delegate after contributing so much that he secured a place on the leaderboard, after all. It makes sense that those who make their mark on the region and work hard eventually count themselves among the high officials of the region – especially Delegates. However, in the case of editors, their contributions definitely follow their ascension to the position, and the success of EPNS is therefore entirely dependent on a single Minister doing a lot of work.
Overreliance on Editors is the single biggest danger of the EPNS. In the June 2024 Delegate Elections, I made a joke to incumbent Delegate Merlovich, who was running for a third term. I asked what he would do if the EPNS Editor “exploded.” The fact is, however, that when we lose an Editor, we tend to lose most of EPNS, if not the whole thing. When Vussul resigned, Merlovich picked up the slack and quickly found a replacement, but we’re not always so lucky. We need to be cognizant of this reliance, and combat it while the Editor remains. So far, we’re doing well, but we need to keep it up.
Eras of Activity
I consider December 2013 to April 2015 to be Active Antiquity. The first EPNS article was posted on December 2nd, 2013, by Prussia, a former Delegate of The East Pacific. In the coming months, editions were vaguely defined – at the very beginning, individual articles were posted separately in the EPNS forum thread. In this era, articles about TEP roleplay and gameplay were equally common, but most articles were provided by the person in charge of EPNS – Prussia, then Bachtendekuppen. Even when cohesive editions were introduced, multiple might be made in a month, and EPNS would not shy away from “breaking news” stories outside of these editions.
From May 2015 to October 2017 is the First Dark Age. In this period, there were no EPNS publications. Of the 57 articles preceding this Dark Age, 35 were written by Bachtendekuppen. Other contributors, like Xoriet and Severisen, only had a few to their name. The weight was on the Editor, or equivalent, and when that editor stopped contributing, EPNS fell apart. This Dark Age spans nine delegates, concluding finally with the appointment of Pendragonania as Editor by the Delegate.
In the period from November 2017 to October 2018, the Revival Period occurred. Although there was a much more eclectic mix of authors, there was a heavy emphasis on the editors of EPNS. When Pendragonania was Editor, most articles were written by him. When Libertanny was Editor, he wrote many as well. Tretrid was the only exception to this, as he was a major contributor without yet being put in charge of EPNS. Articles lengthened and increased in quality. Some experimentation, such as with the Interpacifican Media Office and the dispatch “News Delivery,” both of which ended quickly. However, this era immediately ended with the election of Fedele.
All three of Fedele’s terms, from October 2018 to October 2019, constitute the duration of the Second Dark Age, in which zero EPNS articles were published. As the literature suggests, government and community inactivity is the best environment in which to stage a coup d’etat. [1] [2] The inactivity of EPNS may be an attempt to bring about or exacerbate this state, or it may be a symptom thereof. The Second Dark Age ended upon the failure of the coup and the surge of activity colloquially referred to as the Second Reconstruction.
Starting during the Second Reconstruction and continuing into the as-of-yet undefined period which followed, I posit that the EPNS experienced a Renaissance, which would begin in November 2019 and last until January 2022. In this renaissance, we saw the return of high quality articles from a variety of authors. However, this remained, yet again, quite insular, with contributors like Tretrid, Zukchiva, and The Atlae Isles forming the bulk of EPNS. Other authors contributed, but rarely became regulars. In the Renaissance, media experimentation began again, with the Midnight Star Magazine pioneered by East Malaysia. Editors included Tretrid, East Malaysia, and Albrook.
The period following this Renaissance is a dappled patchwork of activity which I am tempted to call a Third Dark Age. However, unlike the previous eras fitting that title, there were EPNS articles, only few and far between. I will thus refer to it as the Gray Era. With the lack of willing contributors, once Tretrid, Zukchiva, and The Atlae Isles had stepped back, after EPNS had been too reliant upon them for too long, TEP turned to EPNS Lite. With shorter articles, framed as updates from different branches and ministries, EPNS Lite did not stick. Nor did a proprietary system in which articles were posted as they were completed, and then compiled into a monthly collection. Only two full editions were published.
The current period of EPNS, which started with the June 2023 issue, posted on July 6th, 2023, is what I shall dub the Golden Age. Now persisting for an entire year with consistent monthly editions filled with between six and eleven articles of great length and quality, averaging at about eight. Brought about by Vussul, and sustained by the efforts of Merlovich and Rosartemis, the Golden Age has been defined by branch- and ministry-centric reports and updates and experimentation such as with “sidebar content” featuring RPs, UTEP works, and more, as well as with the new Worlds to Build section of EPNS, run by East Malaysia. Thus far, this experimentation seems to be lasting.
Content and Structure
Speaking now from a normative, opinionated perspective, I greatly admired the style of EPNS in previous active eras. The further back one goes in EPNS history, the more flare and identity one can see in the articles. There’s something special about “Greyghost appointed as Vizier” (Tretrid, 2017) that “Praesidium November Update” (Aivintis, 2023) can’t match. There’s something special about “Milestones Mark Mighty Military” (Severisen, 2014) and “EPSA And NPA Take Warzone Asia” (Xoriet, 2014) that are so fundamentally alive, which “The Delegate’s Update” can’t compete with.
EPNS is a news service. It should have the soul of one. What it has become is a platform of government voices. This has been a necessity of the service. To sustain itself, it needs to rely on offices over individuals, and that is understandable. However, the style does not have to reflect that. What if last month’s Grand Vizier Address was split into three, smaller articles – “Proscriptions Issued,” “EPPS is Hiring,” and “Calibrating the Citizenship Office”? What if the Culture Update was instead named with a play on words such as “Pride Matters”?
The EPNS has blood coursing through its veins, pumping strong. That’s way beyonds any metric during my own Delegacy, which fell in the driest part of the Gray Era. However, blood is not life. The life of EPNS is in articles like “TEP's Technology” (Vussul, 2024) and “The Eight Hours War” (Altys, 2024). The ones with catchy titles and themed writing. The ones that are not just mouths of the government. In my Delegacy, I tried the latter. The Executive Branch Report was met with lamentations that EPNS was no longer posted to the forums. Equally, “The Eight Hours War” could have easily been entitled “N Day Report.” However, it wasn’t.
The thing that made looking through ten years of EPNS enjoyable was the snapshot of history and culture. Bachtendekuppen’s articles were charming third person perspectives on the government. Even as recently as the Renaissance, articles were focused on the content rather than the perspective. I think we should bring that back. Scheduled articles from certain offices are good, but they shouldn’t be framed as such. They should be about the branch or ministry, not from the branch or ministry.
If this effort is taken, to alter the titles, tones, and themes of articles that are already being produced – only a slight shift in trajectory – it can represent a complete transformation of the Eastern Pacific News Service. We can pull in more readers for more stories, because they’ll no longer let their eyes skip over the boring titles of reports they may just assume to be boring as well. EPNS is our strongest internal program at the moment, and we need to show that off as much as possible. Giving each article a fun hook and a journalistic frame could improve upon the great work we are already accomplishing.
It’s the same principle we apply to EPSA reports. The Windows Defender raids were iconic, and we recognize that. Overseeing Officer Eastern Alksearia has returned to forum reports. Furthermore, we’ve seen the same charm applied to Worlds to Build. In the schedule, W2B includes “Valsora Feature” and “Urth Feature.” The content we get, however, is “Socializing and Etiquette” (Aivintis, 2024) and “Urthvision XX: Now Broadcasting” (American-Cascadia, 2024). What if we saw that from the rest of EPNS?
Part of this is more interviews and opinion articles. There are two new Ministries – Recruitment and Endorsement Affairs. If they do not have anything to report on, perhaps they can write articles on why it was necessary to create those Ministries. Perhaps their Ministers could be interviewed. If there’s little legislation in the Magisterium during a given month, perhaps the Provost can spend their EPNS time writing an article calling the citizens to action, to join the Magisterium and write legislation themselves.
EPNS is a brilliant platform and it has been brilliantly filled. Our greatest problem to tackle has always been getting content on the pages. Now that we have it, I am pleased that we are moving on to a different problem. However, I think it’s an important one. If the style of EPNS is done right, it can become the best news source on the site. It’s already well on its way. We just need to take the extra step.
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Summer Schooling: UTEP Active Anew
By: Aivintis
In 2021, the Five Step Plan for UTEP was ambitious, but ultimately fell short of reaching its goals. These days, the Plan for Educational Engagement, affectionately acronymed PEE, seems to be going the way of the dodo as well. After an initial stage in which negotiations with foreign universities either failed or failed to occur, the monumental task of transferring post-2019 UTEP works to gameside dispatches proved daunting and near-Sisyphean.
Of course, activity in UTEP never truly stopped. In TEP’s intellectual culture, there’s no shortage of production from a handful of highly dedicated universitarians – April, for example, was a hot spot thanks mainly to the diverse contributions of Loreintor, better known as Halleyscomet08. However, the rates were far from consistent, with gap months and slow months. The University was waiting for something. It was waiting for PEE, which wasn’t going to happen.
In order to commit to increasing activity, UTEP had to give up its PEE. This past June, it found a metaphorical cup, and did so. Unburdened with the expectation of something more than just writings, we saw works from Arleat, Zukchiva, Pauline Bonaparte, and yours truly on everything from perspectives on worldbuilding to in-universe Urthian works to media analysis and, of course, the bread and butter of UTEP, NSGP political think pieces.
In July, a compromise was finally enacted. Instead of all the essays and commentaries of the past four years being transferred into dispatches, the system of submission would change instead. New works would be posted in dispatch form instead of within the regional forums. It sacrificed the freedom of writing and posting without collaborating with the government, but it was meant to provide a far more accessible format for reading. With templates created by Delegate Merlovich for the PEE project, we saw the first new work posted in dispatch form.
This was JoWhatup’s “Rhetoric, Ideology and Propaganda: the Good, the Fun, and the Ugly.” This piece was a holistic analysis of the subjects it named – the development and communication of ideas and ideologies in the R/D landscape over the past twenty years of gameplay. An interesting subject, a strong opinion, a well-researched example set, and a focus on the NSGP political field made it a clear winner and a very strong first article for the month of July. It jumped to the top of the new dispatches section, potentially in part due to foreign raiders, but it broke into the field, and many more would soon follow.
The next work to be posted in the new format was more TEP focused, but also longer. Directly following the June release of EPNS, this was “An Analysis of EPNS History,” which generated some discussion and publicity in the NSGP forums for the in-progress reveal that the June 2024 edition would include the 100th article of the most recent EPNS revival. Exploring eras of EPNS history, the circumstances driving top contributors to reach the leaderboard, and even content and structure, this work was more empirical than normative, albeit including a call for more stylistic publications in the future.
A one-two punch wouldn’t be all the University had in store for the month. Though one can see a steady decline in the publicity of the newer UTEP articles, it did not prevent University Staff, namely Pauline Bonaparte, Zukchiva and I, from adding to the month’s success. The first real-life work under the dispatch system was Zukchiva’s Seven Anime Reviews, although a political philosopher would be more than satisfied with “A Split View of a Region” and “The Role of the Conclave,” which claimed their spots as the second R/D piece and the second TEP piece, respectively, on the new nation. Pauline Bonaparte ended the month with a piece entitled “Further Opportunities for Frontiers in 2024,” advocating for a closer Frontierist network within the FOCUS framework.
It’s still early days, but it’s a promising sign to see six works from UTEP in the same month it switches medium. The upvote system might prove a strong opportunity to project TEP’s voice across the site, if only it can mobilize enough people to give it the boost it needs, but lackluster upvotes could equally doom UTEP with an outward appearance of neglect and irrelevance. The accessibility could bring in new readers, but it’s also possible that the University’s approach to the game is inherently niche. It’s possible authorship and readership won’t expand or diversify.
These things will be decided in the days to come, when the ‘library’ databases of UTEP are set up on the account and the sustainability of the university’s new format is tested. It may very well be a few more months before a conclusive answer can be found, but without doubt, there is potential. Potential for new exposure and new activity and attention. Only time will tell if we will live up to that shimmering potential, when all is said and done.
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[OPINION] Expand the Courts
By: Aivintis
In August 2022, a bench of four Arbiters decided that the Concordat, as amended well over two years prior, was itself unconstitutional – unconcordatial, as East Pacifican lingo goes – and struck down the 2020 amendment, all amendments which followed, and all elections and appointments which followed the illegitimate Constitution. In doing so, most Arbiters themselves had effectively been removed from power.
The Concrisis case was wrongly decided, [1] [2] but it created lingering resentment and feelings of dread. Legislative proposals followed to correct perceived flaws in the Concordat and the courts. [3] [4] [5] However, the question I believe needs to be addressed isn’t related at all to this particular ruling, but rather the fact that such a ruling was possible. Since 2020, I’ve heard it remarked that, if the Conclave is captured by a coup d’etat, the government is practically lost.
Conclave’s power does not just extend to the magnitude of its judicial review authority, which wiped out the government easily on its own. The power to decline criminal and civil cases, or to rule according to their judgment, is significant. If the cabal had the Conclave, Davelands’ election complaint for being ejected for endocap violations could have easily been accepted, and the results of Marrabuk’s election thrown out. They could have rejected any criminal proceedings against Fedele for altering the text of the Concordat or removing Viziers from RO positions – all of which occurred before the all out war of the hard coup.
Conclave power can be kept in check in a number of ways, however. If the Delegacy and the Magisterium is in secure hands, removal of an Arbiter and replacement is always an option. Higher majorities to (re)confirm Arbiters is also a possibility, but a Vizier once expressed to me in private that no matter how much we raised the supermajority, most nominations would be practically rubber stamped – which does appear to be the default, except in the case where individuals who are Arbiters made decisions which turned the Magisterium against them.
I think the greatest check on Conclave power, however, is diluting the power of an individual Arbiter. If we had the manpower, I would suggest raising it significantly. One can take this to any absurd extreme they so desire – seven, nine, or even thirteen judges. However, the fact that they are ‘absurd extremes’ means that there is a practical balancing act to consider – manpower. We cannot spare nine or even seven jurists, and so a smaller number must be maintained. This I freely admit.
However, four is the wrong number. Not just because it is small, in my opinion, but mainly because it is an even number. Some may be aware that I served as the Conclave’s Viceroy for less than three hours, but what they may not know is that, in the private chambers, I said that, if there was a tie, I’d prefer Shadow to win over me and would drop out of the race. However, before I could do so, Article C, Section 3 kicked in, and the sitting Viceroy’s vote – which was cast for Shadow – was voided, handing me the seat. That is why I resigned so soon after taking office.
We shouldn’t make the Viceroy’s vote worth less than any other Arbiter’s – it only disincentivizes the leading position of the Court. We shouldn’t make any Arbiter's vote worth less than another’s. If only three Arbiters can vote at any given time (or on the most controversial issues), we might as well only have three Arbiters. The fourth is a waste of manpower. However, if we expanded the bench to five, every Arbiter could have an equal say and we can transition to requiring a real majority for verdicts, rather than a manufactured majority.
Of course, each seat we add to the Conclave is an extra check on the power of the individual Arbiters. When only two Arbiters are needed for a “majority” decision (ignoring the fact that 50% is not a majority), each Arbiter has half of the power needed to cripple or abuse the court. When three are needed, each Arbiter only has 33.3% of that power. When four are needed, 25%, and when five are needed, 20%. It’s mathematical. If there were no reasonable limits, such as the concern of manpower or tying up a potential Magister or Delegate, the Court would be as large as possible.
However, those reasonable limits do exist. We must strike a balance between the manpower we have and the benefits of each seat we add to the Court. I think a bench of five is the perfect balance. It is much safer than a bench of three and much easier to fill than a bench of seven. I believe TEP is in somewhat of a manpower lull, but I still believe we can easily fill five court positions with trusted, experienced candidates. If we can easily have a five-member court, there’s no reason to settle for something smaller and there’s certainly no reason to settle for an even number.
For these reasons, I recently proposed to the Magisterium an Amendment to the Concordat which would expand the bench from four to five. [6] I listed these reasons in the amendment and I summoned the Magisters, Arbiters, and Delegate of The East Pacific for comment. Arbiter Bachtendekuppen took me up on this offer. He wrote a very detailed commentary on why he is opposed to the amendment, which I suggest you read. [7]
In the spirit of integrity, I intend to list and address Bachtendekuppen’s counterpoints in this article. For one, he says, “I don’t think the Conclave is comparatively small to other courts in GCR’s.” This is true. The Coalition of the South Pacific mandates three members in its High Court [8] as does The North Pacific [9] – though the phrasing suggests that a larger number may be established by law without an amendment to the Charter or Constitution, respectively.
However, it may be instructive to look at UCRs as well. The Free Nations Federation, a UCR stronghold with such a waning population of citizens interested in government that a regional emergency was declared not long ago, has a five member Supreme Court. [10] The Union of Democratic States also has a five member court. [11] In this day and age, I don’t think it’s particularly helpful to look at GCRs or Feeders in a vacuum compared to the rest of the game, and if we look at all regions, holistically, it seems a court of five is just as popular as a court of three.
Another point he makes is that voting isn’t as complicated as I make it out to be and even if it is, internal procedures are at fault, which he argues “can be fixed internally.” However, Article C Section 3 of the Concordat clearly mandates that only three votes be cast out of the four Arbiters and no matter how the internal procedures decide who is to be deprived of a vote – the Viceroy, the most junior Arbiter, a random Arbiter each time, etc. – someone is being deprived of a vote. By making a four-person court with a three-person voting system, the Concordat necessitates a voting system that is complicated.
If someone believes, like Bachtendekuppen, that the system isn’t complicated at all, I can concede that for them. However, for me the process seemed incredibly unintuitive. And complicated or not, it deprives an Arbiter of some of their official powers and in turn makes the other three Arbiters more powerful. Complicated or not, it is the reason why I am the shortest serving Viceroy in history. Complicated or not, it would certainly be easier on everyone if all Arbiters’ voices mattered in all cases.
The core of Bachtendekuppen’s argument, which I will respond to now, is as follows: “the given explanation [for the Conclave being too powerful] lacks depth.” He starts by claiming that the comparison I make between an Arbiter and a Delegate is “a gross oversimplification of our balance of powers and constitutional framework.” However, I disagree. The Praesidium is very powerful, but in the current moment that power can only be used with a six-Vizier majority. The Conclave is similarly powerful, but less diluted. The Magisterium is diluted with a ten-Magister majority. The Delegate’s power, however, is absolute. I believe it’s an easy comparison to make to a two-Arbiter majority.
Bachtendekuppen criticizes my argument for not substantiating my claims on the Conclave’s power. That is fair, and so I will draw from the evidence and conclusions of my UTEP work, The Role of the Conclave [12], to explain more. In this piece, I argue that most judicial reviews are followed my amendments to the Concordat or relevant law that either clarifying an obscure point or overturn the ruling entirely. In this case, I argue, “Removing the review from the equation doesn’t change anything.” The positive effects are thus negligible. However, as we’ve seen with the Concrisis, the negative effects of judicial review can be devastating and difficult to reverse.
That destructive power is concentrated in the hands of four individuals. Realistically, given the way voting works, that destructive power is concentrated in the hands of two individuals. Again, I repeat that a Conclave majority can unilaterally decide which laws are contrary to the Concordat, which crimes are worth a trial or a verdict, and which verdicts are just. It is why two branches are involved in confirming an Arbiter, why a supermajority is required, why only experienced and trustworthy candidates are selected and confirmed, and why this amendment is necessary.
The final point Bachtendekuppen makes, one I’m sure many of the readers may think of immediately, perhaps accompanied with a few admittedly deserved eyerolls is this – adding one singular seat to the Conclave doesn’t really change much. It only makes it “slightly more difficult” for subversion and “profound effects” are few and far between. Does it justify such an action? Or, going beyond what Bachtendekuppen himself was implying, but towards a point the reader may be thinking: Does the action justify such an in-depth defense?
To the latter half, I say: Conclave is under far stricter scrutiny since the Concrisis and we must balance all stakeholders, including those upset with the Court and those upset with the Magisterium. Any action the Magisterium takes in respect to the Courts, for the time being, deserves careful consideration. To the former half, I say: every little advantage for our democracy is worth it. The only cost is one person, which I again assert that we can spare, especially when considering the usual suspects of former Provosts and current Viziers.
So what disadvantage does this have? I cannot refute the argument that expanding the bench by one doesn’t do much, nor can I make a better point about the need for such a measure. Without naming specific candidates, which I could do but refuse, I cannot demonstrate any more effectively that we can spare a potential Magister or Delegate to fill the new position. With that in mind, is there even a single negative side effect of expanding the bench? I echo Bachtendekuppen’s invitation to “exercise appropriate consideration” and reply, on the thread or in EPNS, with their own opinions, for or against. I believe it is time to expand the courts. Do you?
References:
[1] https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/the_east_pacific/viewtopic.php?p=256226#p256226
[2] https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/the_east_pacific/viewtopic.php?p=256655#p256655
[3] https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/the_east_pacific/amendment-to-the-concordat-this-is-an-amendment-no-t19453.html
[4] https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/the_east_pacific/concordat-amendment-to-article-c-i-t19472.html
[5] https://forum.theeastpacific.com/t/amendment-protecting-our-courts-amendment-poca/16900
[6] https://forum.theeastpacific.com/t/amendment-for-bench-expansion-abe/18256/1
[7] https://forum.theeastpacific.com/t/amendment-for-bench-expansion-abe/18256/4
[8] https://thesouthpacific.org/t/judicial-act/118
[9] https://forum.thenorthpacific.org/topic/6951242/
[10] page=dispatch/id=1157496#Judicial
[11]
Forum ★ Discord ★ Citizenship ★ Master Dispatch ★ Constitution ★ Embassy Policy ★ GuideRatified on the 21st of May 2021
The Citizens of Our Union, through our unequivocal Rights, responsibilities and duties
hereby proclaim, and promulgate this Constitution, for the upholdment of our Liberty
and the progression towards a society duly ordained as Just and Progressive.
Article I: The Bill of Rights
1. All citizens shall enjoy the right to freedom of speech, press, assembly, and petition.
a). Freedom of speech is defined as the right to articulate one’s opinions and ideas without fear of reprisal, infliction, censorship, or sanction from the government.
b). Freedom of the press is defined as the right to use media to print, or otherwise disseminate, speech, ideas and opinions without fear of persecution from the government.
c). Freedom to petition is defined as the right to make a complaint to, or seek the assistance of, one's government, without fear of punishment or reprisals.
d). Freedom of assembly is defined as the right or ability of the people to come together and collectively express, promote, pursue, and defend their ideas without fear of persecution from the government.
2. No resident shall be blocked from the process of applying for citizenship unless they have been declared Persona Non Grata, banned via a court case.
3. All citizens shall enjoy the right to a fair and speedy trial for crimes alleged against them. No citizen shall be subject to trial more than once for the same crime except when new and compelling evidence is discovered. No citizen may be withheld evidence in favor of their case. No citizen shall be held guilty for an act which did not constitute a criminal offense at the time it was committed.
4. No citizen shall be denied the right to a secret and confidential vote, excluding those who gain citizenship at the time of an on-going election, by-election, or referendum. Citizens who gain citizenship while said events are on-going shall be unable to vote within those on-going events, but may not be denied the right to a secret and confidential vote in any event thereafter.
5. No resident shall face discrimination nor special treatment from the government.
6. Citizens have additional rights not specifically enumerated in the constitution, which may not be denied, withheld, nor violated by the government. These may be established through judicial procedures or in law.
Article II: The Council of State
1. The Council of State (or Council/CoS) shall be composed of all citizens who hold the title of Councillor.
a). All citizens are able to become Councillor by submitting an application to the Speaker of the Council.
2. In order to maintain Councillor status, it is required that the citizen must vote at least once in every four votes. A written abstention counts as a vote to maintain the role of Councillor.
a). The Speaker will be tasked with keeping track of each Councillor's status, and if they so choose, to notify Councilors of any impending loss of Councillor status.
b). Any Citizen who loses Councillor status should be able to regain status provided they remain in good standing. A Councillor may have their Legislator status revoked if they are convicted of a crime.
3. Any proposed bills will be presented to the Speaker of the Council, who shall be elected by the Councillors following the same timeline as the President.
4. The Speaker of the Assembly will be tasked with opening the debate and voting periods.
5. Bills will be opened for debate by the Speaker of the Council, at which point all Councillors may engage in debate and propose amendments.
a). Any Councillor may motion to close debate at any time.
i. This motion must be seconded to come into effect.
b). The Speaker of the Council will then move the bill into its appropriate voting stage.
i. The two stages will be Amendment voting, which will only be in effect if there are proposed amendments, and Full voting, which will determine the result of the bill.
ii. Amendment voting will last for a period of 72 hours.
6. Votes of the Council shall only be considered binding if three or more Councilors vote.
7. The Council may pass motions. These do not require Presidential promulgation, and may not be vetoed, these do not hold the same legal power as laws, but some may be deemed as legally enforceable. Examples of motions the Assembly may pass include:
a). Vote Directives for the General Assembly of the World Assembly. When a proposal reaches a vote in the General Assembly, the Council shall reach a position if the World Assembly Delegate should vote for, against, or abstain from the measure.
b). Standing Orders, in which internal rules and procedures are established.
c). Committee Establishments and Dissolutions, in which a formal body consisting of Councillor and appointed citizens is created or dissolved.
d). A Summon, in which the summoned individual shall answer questions before the Council.
e). This list is non-exhaustive and may be expanded upon via law or motions.
8. The Council may overturn vetoes from the President with a three-quarters supermajority.
9. The Council shall hold confirmation votes on the World Assembly Delegate, Justices, and unelected Vice Presidents. Confirmation votes shall fail if they do not reach the required amount of votes. Failed confirmation votes result in the relevant official being removed or not appointed to office.
10. The Council may remove from office the Vice President, Cabinet Ministers, Justices, the World Assembly Delegate, the Speaker, the Chief Commissioner and the Deputy Commissioner by a successful motion to that effect due to
a). Over 10 days of inactivity.
b). Criminal conviction.
c). Other reasons established by law.
11. The Council may remove Cabinet Ministers from office by a successful motion to that effect. Citizens removed as Cabinet Ministers may not serve as Minister for the rest of the term.
12. The Council holds the power to veto Executive Orders via a majority; similar powers shall exist in regards to any form of delegated or secondary legislation.
Article III: The President
1. The President is the Head of State, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Head of Government, and Leader of the Executive Branch, which executes the law and leads the region on behalf of the people.
2. The President shall be elected every three months. Presidential Elections shall occur on the first day of January, April, July, and October. Elections shall be carried out in accordance with regional law.
3. The President shall be elected alongside their Vice President, who shall act as a deputy and aide to the President. The Vice President shall act in their place when the President is unable to act, and as acting President in the event that the office of President becomes vacant.
a). Should the office of the Vice President become vacant, the President shall nominate a replacement to the Council for a confirmation vote.
[font=times new roman]b). Laws may be passed that create a line of succession past the Vice President.
4. During the term of the President, citizens may petition to recall the President and Vice President, provided that their petition has at least eight citizen signatures. After such a petition is presented to the Electoral Committee, a by-election for the office shall be held in which the incumbent officeholders shall automatically be on the ballot. Such petitions may only be submitted thirty days after the President assumes office.
5. Following the passage of a law in the Council, the President has five days to either promulgate the law and make it legally binding or veto it. Before promulgation or a veto, the President may consult the Attorney General for legal advice regarding the law and its impacts.
a). Unless it is vetoed, a law automatically becomes promulgated after five days.
b). The Council may overturn a veto with a three-fourth supermajority.
6. The President shall have the following powers, subject to regulation by law:
a).The issuance of Executive Orders, directions for the implementation of laws and regulations for the business of executive governance.
b). The issuance of Persona Non Grata Declarations, which shall censure non-citizens and prohibit their entry into the region.
c). Signing interregional agreements and introducing them into the Council.
d). Command of the armed forces.
7. The Executive shall be composed of the office of the President and Vice President, the Ministries and the Ministers who lead them.
8. The Executive shall carry out the day-to-day executive governance of the region, including the regulation of foreign affairs, domestic affairs, cultural affairs, and some legal matters.
9. Ministries may be established by law or by the President. Ministries will not automatically cease to exist following vacancy in the office of the President. Ministers may be appointed to and dismissed from Ministries by the President.
10. The President shall govern the distribution and scope of powers between the different organs of the Executive, and the Ministers shall govern such distribution within their Ministries.
a). The President shall have authority over the executive, and may override the actions of their subordinates within it.
b). Ministers shall have subsidiary authority over their Ministries, and may override the actions of their subordinates within it.
11. The Executive shall hold the following powers, subject to regulation by law:
a). Accepting, denying and processing citizenship applications.
b). The conduct of diplomacy and defense of the region.
c). The administration of programs and initiatives for the benefit of the region.
d). The prosecution of criminal law cases.
e). The execution of the laws of the Union.
f). These powers may be expanded upon via law, either in regard to the President or a specific Ministry.
13. The position of World Assembly Delegate within the Union’s NationStates region should be held by the holder of the office of World Assembly Delegate as established in this constitution.
a.) Vacancies in this office shall be filled by a Citizen appointed by the President and confirmed by the Council.
b.) The holder of this office shall be reconfirmed on the first day of Every March and September.
Article IV: The Supreme Court
1. The judicial power of the government shall be vested in the Supreme Court, which shall be composed of a Chief Justice, who leads the Supreme Court, and up to four Associate Justices. Together, they form the Judicial Branch.
2. If the office of the Chief Justice is vacant, a Judicial Election shall be held, according to an electoral system established by law. The prior Chief Justice may not run in a Judicial Election.
3. Following a Judicial Election, the Chief Justice Elect shall undergo confirmation vote in the Council. If the vote fails, a new Judicial Election shall be held.
a). The Chief Justice Elect may not run for reelection in this new Election if they lose the confirmation vote.
4. Following their confirmation vote, the Chief Justice shall appoint an Associate Justice as Deputy Chief Justice, who shall act as Chief Justice when the Chief Justice is unable to and as interim Chief Justice during a Judicial Election.
5. Whenever a vacancy occurs for Associate Justices, the Chief Justice may appoint an Associate Justice. Said Justice must pass a confirmation vote in the Council before assuming office.
a). The Chief Justice shall be required to appoint a new Associate Justice if there is only one or no Associate Justices serving.
6. The Council shall hold confirmation votes on all serving Justices, including the Chief Justice, on the first day of March and September. This results in continuous six month terms until removal from office or resignation.
7. Whenever a justice has a personal or political conflict of interest with a particular court case they shall be required to recuse themselves. The Chief Justice may force an Associate Justice to recuse themselves, and the Deputy Chief Justice may force the Chief Justice to do the same.
8. The Supreme Court holds legal jurisdiction on all matters, including criminal and civil law, as well as the interpretation of all legally enforceable documents.
9. The Supreme Court shall, following a court case, have the power to rule a prior action of government, executive order, or law as unconstitutional and annul it.
10. If asked by citizens, the Supreme Court may clarify provisions in a law or in the constitution. These clarifications shall have no legal effect in themselves but may be used as justification in legal arguments and in legal decisions.
11. During a court case, Presiding Justices may issue Warrants which shall allow for the collection of private information.
Article V: The Electoral Commission
1. The Electoral Commission, composed of Electoral Commissioners, shall monitor and administer all elections and referendums in the region.
2. The Commission shall be composed of three Commissioners: the Chief Commissioner, the Chief Justice, and the Deputy Commissioner.
a). The Chief Commissioner is appointed by the President and shall be confirmed by the Council; and they, in agreement with the Chief Justice, shall appoint a Deputy Commissioner.
b). In extraordinary circumstances, any other justice may serve on the Commission.
3. The Chief Commissioner may not run for an election unless they recuse themselves from the Election Commission and delegate their authority to their Deputy during that election. In such cases the Deputy Commissioner may not run in that election.
4. During a Judicial Election, the prior Chief Justice shall continue to serve on the Commission.
5. If no election or referendum regulations have been established in law, the Electoral Commission shall create election or referendum regulations. All election and referendum regulations, established in law or by the Commission, shall be publicly available and have the force of law.
a). The Electoral Commission’s rule and regulations are subordinate to any passed law.
6. The Electoral Commission shall be responsible for all aspects of setting up and running elections and referendums, including:
a). The counting of votes.
b). The distribution of candidacy and voting forms.
c). The investigation of electoral fraud.
d). The maintenance of an election calendar open for viewing.
7. Following the conclusion of an election or referendum, the Electoral Commission shall release a detailed report on the results of the election or referendum. This report shall, among other things, include:
a). The total number of voters, as long as this respects each voter’s privacy.
b). The percentages and votes won by each candidate.
c). The placements of each candidate.
d). The results of any runoffs that occurred.
e). The results of any ties that occurred.
Article VI: Amendments and Provisions
1. Amendments to this constitution must be passed by a three-quarters supermajority in the Council as well as a referendum.
a).In order to repeal this constitution these requirements must also be met.
2. This constitution is the supreme legal entity; no action or document may contravene it.
3. This constitution shall come into effect when it has been approved by the emendation procedure of the prior constitution.
4. With the permission of the Chief Justice and during the maintenance of archives, archivists may make minor grammatical, spelling, or format changes to a law or similar if said edits do not impact legal meaning.
5. The offices of President, Vice-President, Chief Justice, Justice, Speaker of the Council, and Deputy Speaker of the Council shall be mutually exclusive. No citizen may hold more than one such position at a time.
6. Justices, including the Chief Justice, may not serve as the Attorney General.
7. All institutions established within this constitution shall be self-regulating; but laws may expand upon their powers or place reasonable limits on their actions.
8. Unless otherwise specified in law or in a motion, all votes and referendums require a simple majority to pass; this is defined as more than half of the total votes or ballots cast.
9. Apart from simple majorities, some votes or referendums shall require a supermajority to pass; this is defined as a majority of votes equal to or exceeding a specified fraction greater than one-half.
[12]
⤆ ⤇ ↺ ☖ | 🔒 Secure | https://utep.gov.caek/zukchiva-memorial-library/nationstates/role-of-conclave
In the 1824 United States Supreme Court Case Osborn v. Bank of the United States, John Marshall wrote for the majority that, “Courts are the mere instruments of the law, and can will nothing.” [1] Within the context of the United States, this became less and less true overall as time passed. Within the context of NationStates, the ability of a government body to fulfill its intended purpose is much easier to evaluate, as there is no government older than twenty years and therefore little backsliding and political evolution on a grand scale.
The Concordat of The East Pacific is 15 years old. Under the Concordat, our East Pacifican Confederation was designed according to Montesquieu’s ideas of separation of powers. Under this three-branch structure, the Judiciary serves as an equal balance to the Executive and the Legislature – both play a part in the appointment of Judges, with neither having more control, and both can have their actions subject to the courts.
However, The East Pacific is not like a traditional Montesquieuan government. For one, there exists a fourth branch, which has been formalized as of 2020 under the name of ‘The Praesidium.’ This is the security branch, evolving from the unique circumstances of GCRs and frontiers, which are inherently vulnerable to outside raids. Unlike real life governments, security is not a matter of the army, but rather a matter of maintaining endorsements and influence, while staying vigilant against enemies.
The Praesidium is built to deal with crimes like these, those which threaten the security of the region and its democracy through exceeding the endorsement cap, abusing the power of the delegacy, sharing privileged information, and other crimes which fall under the Treason Act. The Praesidium is built to respond quickly and effectively to keep the region safe from these subversions of democracy.
Although the intention of the Praesidium is that, after securing the region from these threats in the short term, there remains a fair trial for those who committed the crime, the Praesidium will not act without evidence either, and its reactionary nature often means that there is no disputation that a crime has been committed. The trial of Fedele was a formality, with the cabal already expelled and their crimes fully exposed. The Praesidium is where people report these crimes. The Praesidium is where these crimes are initially addressed and, once attempted and failed, most criminals of this sort tend to throw in the towel and move on, particularly crashers.
In considering the role and the power of the Praesidium, one notices that the Conclave’s role as a criminal court is severely handicapped. The Praesidium does not necessarily have a hand in uncovering and punishing election crimes (though it could be involved in the process of investigation and prosecution), but only because the Conclave doubles as the Election Commission – if there was an independent Election Commission, it’s possible that this role would be removed from Conclave as a de facto matter.
Within the world of NationStates, it’s not necessarily dictatorial for there to be no criminal court. In the Supreme Court of the Free Nations Federation, only two trials have been prosecuted, and both were abandoned or largely dismissed based on conflicting principles of IC and OOC which the Supreme Court dealt with. There are few crimes to commit in NationStates. OOC Administrations have their own rules and procedures for punishment. A region could reasonably, completely function without a criminal court.
In The East Pacific, there hasn’t been a criminal trial in four years. The trials we have had in public memory were generally formalities. Fedele’s cabal was widely, apparently guilty. The Python was as well, and admitted as such during the trial, though disputing it was impossible. Anur-Sanur and Moneyness’s crimes amounted to flaming and flamebaiting, Krayt III and Lord Zannah were tried for a crime easily proven by looking at the dates of posts, and I could go on. The only thing Conclave trials have ever decided is the severity of the punishment, which is decided in closed chambers by Arbiters anyway.
Even appeals and civil trials, another power of the Conclave, are exceedingly rare. In fact, there has never been a single instance in which a civil trial or appeal has been accepted by the Conclave for review. Out of those filed, Hobbesistan’s 2022 civil action application was really one for judicial review, and was withdrawn in favor of such, Vavlar’s ban appeal was OOC, and the remaining two, both against Aivintis, were dismissed due to the first suit following improper procedure and the second suit displaying ‘lack of merit.’
Election complaints are similarly unheard of. Apart from Davelands’ October 2019 complaint, which was not just dismissed but was blatantly a scheme to polarize elections for the coming coup d’etat and Bachtendekuppen’s October 2019 complaint, which included blatant proof of crime preparing again for said coup d’etat, there have been only two. One was filed by Pakitsk against Pakitsk, and could have easily been a Judicial Review if that wasn’t less comedic. The other was filed by Todd McCloud in June 2019 as a formal request to re-evaluate procedure.
Civil trials and election complaints are probably the closest the court has come to the “judicial paradigm” of popular legal theory. Under the judicial paradigm, the court acts as an adjudicator in a particular dispute between two parties. The dispute is brought by at least one party, they argue according to fixed procedures, and the judge may decide by clearly applying pre-existing rules. The ultimate goal is to “call balls and strikes, and not to pitch or bat,” as Chief Justice John Roberts said [2] in order to resolve a dispute without violence.
In The East Pacific, however, there is no way to resolve disputes with violence. The closest one can get is a flamewar on discord, which OOC Administration is equipped and impelled to prevent or end. Furthermore, as the record has shown, very few disputes even arise. Those that do often do not need an adjudicator along the judicial paradigm. They may need a mediator, but ultimately whether or not Wallenburg and The Fourth Imperium were right in their civil suits against me does not do much to change the fact that little to no real damage was done – and they could have both easily resolved the dispute through a legislative amendment formalizing and clarifying their stance as binding law, rather than wading into interpretation and judicial discretion.
There are other, less obvious roles that real life courts show, which we must consider in order to further analyze the role of the Conclave. For one, courts can inherently serve as an instrument of social control. According to former UC Berkeley Law Professor Martin Shapiro, the mere fact that judicial rulings have applicability beyond any one dispute brought before the bench “imports some element of social concern beyond the particular concerns of the particular disputants” [3] – in other words, courts inherently serve to impose social and moral order over a large population. In The East Pacific, of course, these roles are filled by the OOC Administration, and is not required of any government body.
In summary, the criminal court, the civil court, and the elections court are redundant roles of the Conclave. What is left, then, for the Conclave to be, but a Constitutional court. In the United States, the Supreme Court was not established initially as a Constitutional court. Indeed, unlike the Concordat or most regional governing documents, the US Constitution does not confer the authority of judicial review unto the Supreme Court. This authority, instead, was seized in 1803 by the Supreme Court in the case of Marbury v. Madison.
Over the course of the next two hundred years, this power would expand. Soon, the court was “legislating from the bench,” as Senator John McCain would decry in his 2008 Presidential campaign. In the present day, the political alignment of a Justice matters, as they retain significant power over policy in the form of redefining what is or isn’t Constitutional. It is in this real world environment that the Conclave was created as a Constitutional court, which is its main role even now.
The Conclave was built to be a Constitutional court, first and foremost. Over the years, that’s the only true role it has held and upheld, over and over. Unlike the Constitutional court of the United States and many other nations, this was an intended role of the Conclave. It was not meant to be a ‘mere instrument of the law [that] can will nothing.’ It was always meant to have the power to legislate from the bench through broad interpretation. In practice, that has continued, with judicial review and advisory questions being the most common – and realistically only – task the Court faces.
The question is, why? In the United States, constitutional amendments are almost never possible, and so there is an arguable need to rely on legislating from the bench. However, in The East Pacific and most regional governments, amendments are a relatively easy process. One can pass an amendment to the Concordat with one week of discussion, one week of Magisterium voting, and one week of referendum voting. It is not difficult to make the law clearer, and so there is very little need to have something which is not clear made clear only through judicial review.
Indubitably, the reaction to most judicial review rulings or advisory questions are amendments to statutory law or the Concordat. CyberiumShadow’s 2023 judicial review regarding the Citizenship Office operation suspension during the nomination and voting period of Delegate Elections led to an amendment of the Delegate Elections Act, for example. In the case that such clarifying amendments occur, the extra step of Judicial Review only lengthens the time period. Removing the review from the equation doesn’t change anything.
In the cases where amendments are not made as a response – such as, for example, the case of the Judicial Review on the legality of the Vice Delegate, which simply confirmed what had been in public consciousness – the best possible thing it can achieve is saving time and effort from the Magisterium. Even so, that can only occur if, hypothetically, Conclave verdict comes within three weeks. In some cases, that has not been achieved, and it would have been easier for the Magisterium to have clarified itself.
Furthermore, I ask: Do we want less things for our legislature to do? As Thaecia has discovered, there is only so much a legislature can do. Delegating clarification to a Conclave which legislates from the bench – especially as a far less democratic and inclusive body than the Magisterium – only takes the opportunity of participation away from members of our region. Of course, Thaecia suffered more than we might, as it was a legislature-centric region and we are Executive-centric, but it would be nice to have more activity in the legislature as well.
That’s the best case scenario. The worst case scenario is one we have seen already, in August of 2022, when the Conclave unilaterally decided, against popular community will, that an amendment to the Concordat was illegal, and the entire government for the past two years had been illegitimate. Under this ruling, the Delegate was illegally occupying the Delegacy, but so was the entire Court. They legislated themselves out of existence, and the undemocratic exclusivity of the Conclave meant there was nothing the people could do.
This ruling was overturned, but not before it disillusioned many residents and citizens with the members of Conclave and the government as a whole. Certain members decided to leave the region for a very long time in response, and the backlash was so harsh that the OOC Administration had to step in and manage the conversation directly. It led some to resent members of the Conclave. When the democratic will got a chance to speak again, on the reconfirmation of the Arbiters, they were rejected in favor of new applicants.
The entire ruling was made on the concept of ‘rule of law’. Under a legislative court, Professor Martin Shapiro argues that, “‘rule of law,’ to the extent that the concept is intended to mean that judges apply only pre-existing law, can never exist.” [4] Since the Conclave is capable of making policy decisions and defining ‘law,’ and rule of law is inherently a social construct shaped by their interpretation, the Conclave cannot operate under a rule of law which exists in a vacuum. They define it. They chose to define it this way in August 2022, and they chose to define it differently when the ruling was overturned.
If the worst case scenario is the near-annihilation of our regional government and community, and the best case scenario is that we save a few weeks of work, work which we might want anyway in order to fuel activity within the region and give newer Magisters easier tasks to do, there is no need for the Constitutional court within the government of The East Pacific. However, it is unthinkable to abolish the Conclave, even when we struggle to fill it, we struggle to keep it active, and each Arbiter we appoint is one less Magister. Even when it threatens our community life.
Again, I ask, why? Why is it unthinkable? Because we all live in a world where courts are necessary, and therefore cannot overcome our cognitive bias. Although we see the differences between NationStates and the real world, at least in the separation of OOC Administration and IC government, we still cannot conceive that a government can exist which does not need a court. Furthermore, there is a certain aesthetic value to it – it’s no secret our government was largely modeled off of the United States.
I will not be proposing to abolish the Conclave anytime soon. However, I do see it as a largely vestigial body, one whose roles can be split between the other three branches with equal balance of power fairly easily. I also believe that, because East Pacificans are not the only people with these cognitive biases, the existence of this vestigial structure grants legitimacy to our democracy and justice system in the eyes of others. I don’t believe it is necessary to keep, nor necessary to abolish. It simply exists.
[1] Osborn v. Bank of the United States, 22 U.S. 738 (1824). https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/22/738/.
[2] John Roberts Confirmation Hearing for Chief Justice of the United States, Senate Judiciary Committee, 109th Cong. (2005) (testimony of John Roberts).
[3] Shapiro, Martin. Courts: A Comparative and Political Analysis. University of Chicago Press, 1981. pp 26.
[4] –––. “Judges as Liars.” Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy; Cambridge Vol. 17, Iss. 1, (Winter 1994): 155.
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Featured Urth Roleplay
The Caliph, the Sultan, the Emperor
By: The oan isles /
The Oan IslesPrince Lohadek was the Minister of State Security of Packilvania. He was responsible for overseeing the intelligence agencies and policies of the country. In that process, he had overseen the biggest expansion of camera and internet surveillance in the country’s history (rivalling the scope and scale under the Packilvanian Communist Party) and the systemic infiltration of the military, state militia, and local and provincial governments by intelligence agents while pitting these agents against each other to ensure the balance of power under the Bedonite dynasty. His devotion and competency kept him in favour with Sultan Namdun III. However, it was his rapport, and diligently and hard-won trust with then-Crown Prince Thumim V that was his focus.
This is part 6 of a series that consists of the following:
A Tiger and a Gem (Part 5), The Crowning Moment (Part 4), His Enlightened Reign 1 (Part 3), A Bingolian Invitation (Part 2), and Better the Devil You Know 1 (Part 1)
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Introduction and RecapContinue Reading on Tep Forum
Urthvision XX Recap
By: Kyrloth /
Kyrla
Crafting a Lore Book: A Fight Against Writer's Block
By: East Malaysia
Writing an article is what Aivintis meant when adding the title page of my lore book as a featured design for this EPNS edition. Now I sit here, suffering from writer's block, bashing my fingers on the keyboard cursing Aivintis. Just kidding, I would never bash my fingers against my keyboard, silly readers. Truth be told, I was not going to write an article, but I completed my first entry into my lore book it inspired me to write a little about it. I don't have a fancy name for it yet but the lore book is my answer to my writer's block.
For all the possible wiki pages, Word documents, forum posts, or notebooks I could make... I have opted for a hybrid style of combining digital with written and papercraft. I don't know at what point this idea manifested itself but a pack of color pens from a discount retailer, dollar store notebooks, hobby store papercraft supplies, and one night as I stared at a copy of my map in GIMP on my computer an idea dawned on me. Why don't I print this out and cut out my states and do some individual worldbuilding for each? I bought these supplies with the worldbuilding in mind after all. I did not have all the supplies at that point so a little supercenter online shopping completed the package.
With a little time, patience, and thought I cut out some designs from card stock books. I printed Free Pax States flag, emblem, and native name in Kilumi. it simply says Mukorasak Seysa or Cereneria Isles if you want a deeper translation. I now realize that I could have printed off the Kilumi text with a black highlight and white letters as it could have blended with the dark color better. I might change it in the future depending on how easily the paper peels off the paper but for now, I'll save some black ink.
To save some space for the other EPNS articles, I have made it smaller, but the text says: "Kuter Kebir is an ancient feline city that lies at the Claw of Pontuarya. It was granted status as a special administrative region but is highly integrated with the rest of Pontuarya." The flag on the left is the flag of the City of Kuter Kebir and the one on the right is the flag of Kuter Kebir Special Administrative Region.
This is the first entry based on the suggestion of The oan isles / The Oan Isles (Packilvania RP nation co-owner) and what you see is the title page, the pages directly behind it will feature information about Kuter Kebir itself. I haven't decided how many pages I will dedicate to each administrative division of Free Pax States but enough to fill the notebook
This map showcases the entire area within the Free Pax State's sphere of influence. I know some better than others but the desire to discover their unique identities. It's easier said than done because when I think of the demonym used, "rekomi" or "one people," I seek to find a deeper understanding because in a modern sense that is terminology that might be 75 years old at best. What happened in the 30 years after declaring Independence from Packilvania? What happened during Packilvanian rule? What happened before that? I may not have an all-encompassing answer right now but one printout, cut out and glue down at a time I shall find out one area at a time.
Great Slaviskas Migration ▲ Upvote ▲
By: Aivintis
The Great Slaviskas Migration is a folk tale and genuine archaeo-historical event that explains the arrival of the Slaviskas people to the lands that are now occupied by the Directorate of Zemedievai and Kamyachyn. As the legend goes, the Slaviskas people once lived in the west, at the other end of the continent, but fled a great calamity to find a promised land for them to settle. King Pirmakaras and his trusted Bogatyr Plataskadas led the Slaviskas people across the continent, fighting off roving hordes of Steppe people, bandits, and wild beasts while the people trailed behind.
According to the legend, they slept in tents, and their encampment was bigger than the biggest city in the world. Guided and protected by the Dievai gods, who walked alongside them, the Slaviskas people eventually reached the eastern coast and the promised land. When they found it, the land was overrun with hostile spirits of fire, ice, and storm, who attacked the settlements of the Slaviskas as they began building their new home. In a bloody war, the gods fought back alongside the bravest bogatyrs of the Slaviskas, including Plataskadas.
The war ended when Teondumis, the King of the Gods, challenged the three kings of the elemental spirits to a duel atop the highest mountain in the land. They fought for days, but in the end, all three fell to the might of Teondumis. He took their crowns, banished the spirits to the realm of the gods, where they could be stewarded by the Dievai, and secured the land of Zemedievai for the Slaviskas people, who broke into their tribes and kingdoms, but never forgot the valiant deeds of the Dievai and the first unified King of the Slaviskas.
According to archaeological record, there was indeed a mass migration into Zemedievai. The Slaviskas people, who are genetically identifiable as Yastreovakian through factors such as the HERC2 allele and the alleles of SLC45A2 and SLC24A5, which code for the lighter eye and skin color characteristics that are markers of Yastreovakian peoples, did not live in Zemedievai before 200 BCE, but rather fully settled over the course of that century.
Genetically speaking, Proto-Slaviskas settlers display much more similarities to the early peoples of Belekria and Western Yastreovakia than to those of the Congregation and other eastern nations. Objects of Early Dievinist significance have also been found south and east of the Pakatska steppes, confirming parts of a valid migration route as well. Most of the route, however, remains subject to speculation.
The origins of these people, however, is hotly contested. Some scholars suggest they were a subset of a different Western Yastreovakian tribe, while others suggest they were an insular ethnicity driven out by the expansion of a known group. Another proposed theory suggests that they left, not to escape the expansion of other tribes, but to pursue a religious promised land. Alternative evidence suggests inadequate food supply and resources motivated the migration.
The presence of a Native people of Zemedievai is additionally accepted by most scholars, in which cultural artifacts have been found which have no correspondence in any of the Slaviskas ethnic groups or subgroups. The discovery of bronze age weaponry, battlefields, mass graves, and rudimentary warrior burials supports the legend’s implication that the settlement of the Slaviskas was violent.
There is less consensus on the fate of the losing ethnicity in this war. Some suggest they may have syncretized into the Great Congregation, to the south, the multiethnic nature of which makes this theory a possibility. Others suggest there was a migration of these people that followed – either back west, or over the sea, to Nonscio or Orientalis. In the legend, their exile to the realm of the gods supports this.
The lack of known remains for this tribe or tribes means that one theory, which implies the complete genocide of the Native Zemedeivans, is unlikely. Furthermore, it makes any theory on where the Natives may have migrated to virtually impossible to prove. It also creates contention on the very existence of the native culture, with some dissenting scholars suggesting that the alternate cultural items represented a splinter group of the main Slaviskas tribes, and the war was intraethnic, rather than interethnic.
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