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by The Eco-Republic of Mozworld. . 2,866 reads.

Forest Regional History

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Forest Regional History

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The origins of Forest are shrouded in quite some mystery. What is known is that Forest was originally founded in the first week of August 2005 by a nation named Devdan. Devdan faded away by the end of the year, before any present members of Forest arrived. Many regions have histories such as this and almost all of them fade into obscurity.

By early 2006 Errinundera had joined the region, followed soon after by Karock and The Dawn Tiger. The factbook at that time read "The Region of Forest is rich with wildlife of all shapes and sizes and is completely covered by a large forest." Until this time Forest had been a region without a delegate, but with an endorsement from Karock, Errinundera became the region’s first delegate on the 3rd of May, and for the first time since Devdan’s disappearance Forest residents had regional control.

At this point Forest was a very small founderless region, and much like today small founderless regions were the target of even two bit raiders. On the 3rd of July nations affiliated with the region of Silent unsuccessfully attempted to raid Forest. Just four days later another unsuccessful attempt was made. Several more failed invasions were attempted over the next few months, but Forest persevered, even managing to triple its population during this time.

Finally, on the 19th of November The Black Hawks, with the assistance of the Dream Raiders, successfully raided Forest under the leadership of the nation of Wicketkeeper. Forest was under hostile occupation until the 23rd of November when the Black Hawks left Forest and Errinundera resumed as delegate.

At the end of December, Ransium joined the region.

Errinundera continued as delegate until late February 2007 when, believing that membership held back their political development, they resigned from the UN and called for a different nation to become delegate. The Dawn Tiger found themselves as a reluctant delegate of Forest until, by mutual agreement, Ransium took over the position on the 20th of March.

Seven days later the region was surprised to find that the founder of the region, Devdan had resurrected. There was much speculation as to the future of Forest with an active founder, and what Devdan would think to his backwater region having now grown to a 30 or so nation region. However Devdan never logged in again, never responded to the nations of Forest and 28 days later ceased to exist once more, never to be heard from again.

This event and the past history of raids in Forest drove home the fact that without an active founder Forest would always be at risk from raiders and could never grow to its true potential. After debate, a bold plan advocated by Ransium was struck. Forest would be refounded with Errinundera as the founder. On the 1st of June Ransium password protected Forest so no nations could enter and established Forest 2, encouraging all members of Forest to move there temporarily. By the 5th of June, all nations except Errinundera and his puppets had either left Forest for Forest 2 or were ejected from Forest.

Forest was refounded on the 8th of June (9th of June for some, depending on longitude) by Errinundera and all nations returned. A new age for the region began at this time and developments progressed rapidly. A forum was established, and more aggressive recruiting was under taken.
For the next several years Forest was a relatively quiet but safe region with a population of nations generally between 25-40. On the 2nd of June 2009 the region became a featured region and was featured again on the 9th of September 2009.


Also during September Forest gained the ability to add a regional flag. Forest's first flag was submitted by Errinundera (left). By November the flag had been altered to one designed by Ransium (right).

Towards the end of December 2011 Forest altered its regional flag again to another designed by Ransium and described as 'an interpretation of conifers in the mist' (right below)

By early January 2012 Santa Joanna, feeling Forest had not reached its full potential, began efforts to help Forest grow. At this time the population of the region was around 29. Very quickly Santa Joanna got Forest’s population up to 40 nations. However, a major shock was delivered to Forest when on the 14th of January Errinundera ceased to exist. Based on the successful raid of Ecotopia, a region with an embassy with Forest; an anonymous tip; and several suspicious nations joining Forest; the region was emergency password protected by Ransium without debate.

It was clear that Forest, without a founder, would be plagued by raiders again, so discussion turned to refounding the region once more, with debate centring on who would be the new founder and the refounding process. However, all this turned out to be moot, as Errinundera returned to Forest at the end of January ending the panic.

On the 7th of February the first map of Forest was produced by Santa Joanna (with plenty more to follow) and thanks to their recruiting efforts the population of the region had risen at this time to 48. By the end of the month the population had reached 63, more than twice what it had been before recruitment had started.
Also in February, Santa Joanna lobbied for an ‘eco-friendly’ regional tag. Errinundera and Ransium joined in the lobbying efforts and under increasing pressure the game moderators acquiesced and the eco-friendly regional tag was introduced on the 26th of February.

The region became a featured region once again on the 13th of April. These two factors, coupled with the recruitment efforts helped Forest to reach its 2012 population height of 85 on the 21st of April.

During September Forest conducted its first election for regional delegate with campaigning to take place on the Forest Forum. The candidates were Ransium, Santa Joanna and Communal Ecotopia. Voters were asked to telegram their votes to the candidate of their choosing aswell as to Mountain Ash Forests, as independent observer. After a hard fought campaign Ransium was returned as delegate.

Around xmas Forest adopted a new regional flag (right), chosen by Ransium. They felt that their previous one was too amateurish and was possibly affecting recruitment.

After a discussion regarding how gold badges (for being first place in census reports, which were available at the time) wouldn’t be available to nations within the region until Forest surpassed 100 nations, Mozworld started recruitment in late February. By the end of March the region had surpassed this milestone, and by the 1st of June the region had reached its highest population to date of 146.

On the 11th of April 2014 the region was once again a featured region.

In October Forest conducted its second election for delegate. The same candidates (Ransium, Santa Joanna & Communal Ecotopia) stood once again. This time the election was conducted on the region homepage due to a polling feature having been introduced earlier in the year. No candidate received enough votes to win outright so the election went to a run-off between the top two candidates, Ransium and Santa Joanna, after which Ransium was once again returned as delegate.

In January 2015, raiders began crashing regions whose delegates had very long continuous streaks, for the sole purpose of ending these streaks. First Texas, a region with the second longest serving delegate, was successfully crashed. Shortly afterwards an unsuccessful attempt was made at Ransium and Forest. However, on the 15th of August The Black Hawks finally successfully raided the region ending Ransium’s streak as delegate (having been in the position for 2989 days, one of the top 5 streaks in all of NationStates) and placing the nation of Ayrendrall in his place. The Black Hawks left as quickly as they came however as Errinundera ejected and banned the raiders and Ransium resumed the delegacy.

During September Forest started a regional newspaper, The Forest News Leaf, under the editorship of Frieden-und Freudenland. At the same time Bruination took over responsibility for producing the region’s maps. The first map produced under their stewardship was released on the 23rd of November.

Following a couple of months of intensive recruitment Forest once again passed the 100 nations milestone in mid-October. With the exception of surges due to April Fools and Halloween events it was the first time the region had done so since 2013.

In late October, following a long period without one, Gil Zardon was appointed as Foreign Minister, with responsibility for maintaining diplomatic relations with our embassy regions and vetting other regions seeking an embassy with Forest in accordance with our embassy policy (the contents of which having been agreed upon over the summer).

Around the same time the groundwork was laid for a future constitution for Forest, in order to formalise how the regional government functions. WA members were asked to vote on different elements for inclusion, with the consensus decision being taken in each case. Once this process was completed Ransium wrote a first draft of the constitution and this was published in mid-December for review by the members of Forest. A revised draft was published in early January 2016 and was put to vote by the WA members of Forest. The Constitution was ratified by a unanimous vote on the 12th of January.

On the 4th of May Forest surpassed its previous highest population with 147 nations and reached 150 nations three days later.

Towards the end of May a contest was initiated to select a new flag for Forest. 15 potential flags were submitted for consideration and each was given a day on the region page before being put to a vote. The winner (right) was designed by Mount Seymour and became the region's new flag in mid-July.

On the 18th of September Forest's population reached 200 for the first time in its history.

During September and October Forest conducted its third election for regional delegate, now renamed Forest Keeper. The candidates were Ransium, Communal Ecotopia, Chan Island, Montmorencia and Unhuman Reserves. Ransium was returned as Forest Keeper with an absolute majority.

Following the election Ransium appointed Communal Ecotopia as Deputy Forest Keeper and Montmorencia as Transition Team Leader. During mid-November Mount Seymour was selected to be the new Foreign Minister and Caracasus the Minister for Roleplay.

During December, upon completion of their transition duties, Montmorencia was appointed Minister for Statistics and Research.

On the 20th of January 2017 Ransium was selected to become an Issues Editor. As a result of their new responsibilities they felt that they couldn't devote the time to being Forest Keeper that the region deserved so chose to step down. A new election for Forest Keeper was called with Mount Seymour, Lilindir, Eryndlynd, Unhuman Reserves and Cam Peos among the nations to put themselves forward for the position. Mount Seymour was overwhelmingly elected and became the new Forest Keeper on the 14th of February.

Following their election Mount Seymour decided to keep the existing cabinet (including preserving Ransium as WA Delegate) however reshuffling Montmorencia into the now vacant Foreign Minister position.

On the 12th of April Forest received a Commendation from the WA Security Council for its dedication to the environment (#219). As a result of the publicity that the region received during the Security Council vote Forest's population surpassed 250 nations for the first time.

At the end of June Montmorencia stepped down from their position as Foreign Minister. This was filled a few days later by Uan aa Boa. Montmorencia later returned to the regional government at the end of August as Statistics & Research Minister.

During September and October Forest held its regularly scheduled election for Forest Keeper. Initially Mount Seymour entered the race for re-election but pulled out prior to the polls opening. Ultimately Palos Heights won the contest in a landslide.

Following the election Mount Seymour returned to the cabinet as Culture Minister, before resigning in mid-January to help in the creation of a new regional map. Initially Montmorencia stepped away from the cabinet (though continued research and statistics in an unofficial capacity) but later returned to fill the vacant Culture Minister post.

Throughout Forest's history it had created embassies with various regions for the purposes of communication and friendship. At the end of 2017 however it began to formalise some of these relationships by way of treaties. A formal treaty was established with Yggdrasil in December and another with The Rejected Realms in January.

During March 2018 Uan aa Boa stepped down from the post of Foreign Minister, to be replaced by Ruinenlust a few days later. Then in early April Montmorencia stepped down from the position of Culture Minster, to be replaced by The Cypher Nine shortly thereafter. At the same time Chan Island took over the editorship of the regional newspaper, The Forest Leaf, which had been somewhat neglected in recent times.

In May Palos Heights tendered their resignation as Forest Keeper. A special election was called to fill the position, with 9 candidates putting their names forward. As this took place more than 3 months before the next scheduled election in September the winning candidate would see out the remainder of Palos Heights' term until then. The initial round of voting took place in early June, however despite Caracasus receiving a plurality of the vote it was not quite enough for a simple majority. A run-off was then held alongside Mount Seymour who had received the next highest number of votes. Caracasus maintained their lead in the run-off and was elected the next Forest Keeper on the 10th of June. The cabinet remain largely unchain, though Caracasus stepped down from from their Roleplay Minister role to be Forest Keeper. The position remained vacant.

Almost 2 years since the last regional map by Bruination a cartography committee comprising Areulder and Calenmor released a new map during August.

During Caracasus’ tenure, the Constitution of Forest was amended to shorten Forest Keeper terms to six months, with elections held every March 16 and September 16.

In September, Caracasus returned to their prior position of Roleplay Minister. This event saw the rise of Uan aa Boa narrowly defeating Lord Dominator in the general election. As a former Foreign Minister of Forest, Uan aa Boa gave particular attention to growing the branches of Forest in the international hemisphere, including adding the post of Gameplay Ambassador, held by Lord Dominator, to help bring Forest closer to the NS forum.

In March of 2019, Turbeaux won the election for Forest Keeper after Uan aa Boa chose not to continue their tenure. With their appointment, Turbeaux successfully saw the passage of an amendment to Article 6 – Embassies of the Constitution of Forest in May, which had been proposed in the previous administration. In addition, per the encouragement of Candlewhisper Archive, an environmental agenda was created in July to bring awareness and responsibility to particular issues in the world.

For the first time in 5 years Forest became the featured region on the 14th of June and then again on the 10th of August.

From the soil of the Forest Keeper elections in September grew Verdant Haven as the tallest tree, with Turbeaux continuing work on the Environmental Action Agenda and Octopus Islands newly taking on the cartographer position. Kawastyselir joined the government during December as Arborist bringing new life into the Ministry of Research and Statistics.

Following a campaign pledge to keep the region informed about government activities Verdant Haven introduced monthly transparency reports.

During January they shepherded a constitutional amendment through regarding embassies, to help resolve issues during the embassy creation process that had long been a source of consternation.

The rest of their term was the calm before the storm that was yet to come. The March election was due to commence on the 16th of March, but that day came and went with no sign of our founder to initiate the processdings. Due to wording within the constitution, the government was unable to legally perform their duties so was in a state of limbo awaiting Errinundera’s return.

Two weeks passed before Errinundera returned. Unfortunately this was at a time of a wider Nationstates Secretary General election, so to save on confusion the start of our own election was postponed until after that was concluded. Alas, Errinundera wouldn’t return again for another month. During that time however an amendment to the constitution was unanimously passed to provide assistance to the founder during election season in the form of election officers.

The election eventually commenced on the 4th of May with Verdant Haven running for a second term. As a popular incumbent they went on to win in a landslide. Their only change to the cabinet was to add Middle Barael as Diplomatic Root, to assist Ruinenlust with managing the ambassador program.

Forest was due to celebrate its Crystal Jubilee during the first week of August. To commemorate this occasion a special flag contest was organised with the winning entry to be flown for the duration of the celebrations. The winning flag (right) was designed by Northern Wood.

On the 19th of August it was announced that after more than 13 years Ransium had decided to step down from the position of WA Delegate. Per the constitution it fell to Verdant Haven to nominate a replacement. They had been in discussions with Ransium and Errinundera for the previous month over who to choose and it was decided that the best candidate for the job should be Ruinenlust.

Although no-one knew at the time, Errinundera’s approval of Ruinenlust’s appointment would be their last official act.

The autumn election was due to start on the 16th of September, but as with the spring election, the day passed with no sign of our founder. It was decided following the previous election that the regional officers should continue to perform their duties until such time as the election was initiated, but as the Forest Keeper’s term had expired the government was merely maintaining the status quo.

Days turned into weeks and the mysterious absence of our founder continued. Their nation continued to exist so there was still hope that one day they would return, but it was clear that they were starting to fade away.

On the 7th of March the inevitable happened and Errinundera ceased to exist.

With no founder, executive functions of the region fell to our delegate Ruinenlust. But according to the constitution without a founder the region was supposed to be destroyed and refounded. This would have been a worthy consideration early in Forest’s history when it was much smaller, but was no longer appropriate. Forest was much larger and more secure, its extensive message board and other history would be lost if Forest were to be refounded again.

An amendment to the constitution was passed which eliminated the need to refound the region and let it continue under an Executive Delegate.

On the 16th of March Forest’s delayed election finally commenced. As there hadn’t been one for nearly a year by this point there was much interested in the contest. The top three candidates Chan Island, The Cypher Nine and Lord Dominator received the majority of the votes but none of them achieved a majority, so a run-off election was held between the top two, Chan Island and The Cypher Nine. This led to the closest vote in Forest’s history but Chan Island prevailed.

With the loss of Errinundera Forest’s security was a risk, so Chan Island’s manifesto called for the creation of Forest Ranger positions (to be held by Ownzone and Einswenn) to help protect the region from unsavoury characters causing trouble. The rest of the cabinet included The Cypher Nine as Deputy Forest Keeper, Verdant Haven as Foreign Minister, Terrabod as Culture Minister, Middle Barael as Lore Minister, Mozworld as Forest Memory and Kawastyselir staying on as Arborist.

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The Eco-Republic of Mozworld

Edited:

RawReport