But while I do still think that it's important for me to listen to those around me, I also recognize that what the region needs in a time of war is strong, decisive leadership. The Delegate and their ministers are one team working for the betterment of our region. It's important that we consider the varying perspectives of the members of our team, but ultimately, the buck stops with me. I will hear them out and we will work together, but we will not delay. The plans I have, the goals I outline, and the policies we work on cannot be delayed until everyone has weighed in. Especially now, my government will respond swiftly and efficiently.

It's also my responsibility to put people in positions where they can reasonably be expected to succeed. If a minister isn't doing their job or is otherwise underperforming, my first move will be to have a conversation with them privately and hopefully find out why they aren't able to meet expectations. I'm always very cognizant of the fact that serving in regional government is on a volunteer basis and that people don't have to dedicate their time, energy, and effort toward helping us become the best version of our region. During the Summer months especially, I'm understanding in the sense that I know people will have other things on their plate and may not always have NS as their first priority. For that reason, I'm very willing to be as accommodating as I can be in that regard.

Having said that, it's not enough to simply depend on others and have faith that they'll come through for us. I will attempt to be as active and involved as possible and I will expect the same from everyone in the government. They will have a fair chance to do their part even with whatever their difficulties are, but if it cannot work, I will ask them to step aside. I hope that I and the rest of my government can be visible to the public, so they can see the good work we do, and so they have no doubt what is going on. In addition to improving communication in general, our work will speak for itself, and there will be no mistaking that we are working hard for TNP and what we are accomplishing. We are one team working toward a common set of goals. And as the captain of that team, whatever needs to happen will happen, even if I need to step in and do the work myself. Staffing shortages or activity issues will not be an excuse for failing to do what needs to be done.

That requires me to be frank, assertive, and clear with what my expectations are.

I recognize that it's a lot easier for North Pacificans to feel comfortable supporting our government if they feel like we're willing to communicate and are giving it to them straight. Introducing these reports will also have the added benefit of there being context for future motions made in the Regional Assembly. If we run into situations where we need to expand the exemptions on what actions the NPA can perform in certain regions or change the text in one of our agreements with our partner region(s), citizens deserve the opportunity to know ahead of time why we might be looking to do those things prior to them just suddenly being introduced. Admittedly, it won't be the most riveting content to read. But what it will be is a step up from the status quo in terms of the chances for concerned citizens to interact with our government.

For the record, I will not be appointing a Press Secretary to give these reports on my behalf. I will be my own advocate and speak for our government’s policies.

Since we established it back in September of this past year, we’ve yet to see much come out of the collaborative design team. For one reason or another, only a handful of the designs made by our members have actually been used. Despite this, I do still think that the idea of getting talented individuals together and having them design things for our community has merit. I’d hate to abandon the idea before we’re able to realize some of its potential, which is why I’m interested in having us pivot a bit and find a new direction for the team.

Of course, the infrastructure for its continued operation already exists. We have a roster of members that’s been maintained by ministry leadership as recently as in February, and we’ve got a dedicated channel for the team’s activities in the TNP executive server. What we need more than anything else right now in this area is for the design team to be given further instructions.

If our designers aren’t being asked to work on anything new then we can hardly expect to get the most out of our efforts there. As such, I am proposing that we task the collaborative design team with the creation of ministry-specific infographics to be used for recruitment and promotional purposes around the region. For examples of what these infographics would look like, please see this and this.

While it can’t be understated how important bringing in new talent to the executive staff is, the fact of the matter remains that not many people want to read walls of texts that can easily overwhelm them as they’re deciding what to get involved in. Infographics are more compact, easily digestible, and they contain only the highlights of each ministry’s work that might interest someone enough to consider joining. Art takes time, so we should be patient with our designers as they work to accomplish this.

Radio Revisited

Unfortunately, there’s only been one new episode of NBS Radio uploaded to our YouTube/Spotify channel since the new year began. I fear that I may be partially to blame for this lack of production, as my work as Minister of Defense has largely distracted me from thinking of new show ideas and putting together lineups for future broadcasts. Nonetheless, I’m confident that we’re still perfectly capable of creating quality content whenever we do sit down to record. Increasing the frequency of those recordings taking place, however, is another matter.

It’s been a long time since we’ve had a sitting Delegate who was also an active participant on the air. While it might not mean much to some, I think that there’s something special about having a leader whose voice you can hear in addition to reading their messages over Discord. If I’m elected as Delegate, then I will gladly continue to be involved with NBS Radio and I’ll offer myself as both a host and a panelist all the same. Mind you, when I was last Delegate, I also had the great honor of appearing on radio shows with some of our allies.

If the opportunity were to present itself again, then I’d certainly love to explore possible radio crossovers with our friends and be a part of shows in a way that promotes goodwill between our region and others. While I feel great about the work that Ruben, Kasch, and I have all done, I’m not content with the feeling that we’re the only ones who can do it. Internally, I will direct the ministry’s staffers to resume a more regular release schedule in the hopes that we become more active in this area.

Improving Article Engagement

Finally, I want to call attention to something that’s been on my mind lately as I’ve reviewed our most recent publications.

You see, we’ve made great strides in the past few months to release reoccuring editions of our flagship publication, The North Star (TNS). In addition to that, we’ve also stepped up in a big way by having The Northern Notes (TNN) offer our readers a more timely supplementation of news in-between the publishing of our bigger issues. I’m proud of these achievements, but, even so, I can’t help but agree that there’s more that we could be doing to engage the region with the works of our wonderful writers once their respective articles are released.

As for what that looks like exactly, I can’t say right now. But it is something that’s been on my mind and I would like for us to try and find a better solution. That might mean that we publish articles individually here on the forums to help inspire further discussion about their contents. It could mean that we advertise more heavily on NS forums and on Discord after each release.

When articles are all lumped together in one issue, it can sometimes mean that a few get glossed over in favor of more noteworthy events. I want everyone who writes for these publications to know that we appreciate them, and I think that it’s best if we give them their credit by discussing what they had to say.

I'm a firm believer in the idea that our sanctions against BoM, TCB, and co. won't work as intended unless we actively offer something that would-be members of those regions are otherwise missing out on. It's important that we make membership in those regions as unattractive as possible, and those who might be interested in taking up arms against our region must be made to know the consequences of their chosen affiliations.

Although members of sanctioned regions are already prohibited from participating in any events hosted by the signatory regions, being members of factions led by signatory regions during NS events, and from being included in or platformed by media produced by signatory, the actual enforcement of these clauses all require that we actually have events hosted by us, factions led by us during NS events, and media endeavors produced by us to offer the wider NationStates world.

Lately, I feel like we've dropped the ball on this. From our absence during Rogue Rendezvous 2024 to us not having a faction lined up for N-Day, I think that we could do a better job of connecting with our friends and allies from abroad by taking the initiative with cultural exchanges, fun events, and other faction-based crossovers. As for which regions I have in mind for us to invite to these events, I'd say that starting with our partners in the MGC and PPO would be a fine gesture.

Building A Stronger Offsite Community

Not too long ago, I spoke to someone who was rather disappointed with how little activity there was within the region during the recent site downtime. As I said earlier, I tend to agree that we could’ve and should’ve done more during this time. Cultivating a sense of community separate from the game of NationStates is a huge part of what culture is about. I want people to feel like they’re TNPers, firstly and foremost, and to then think of themselves as NS players second.

One of the ways in which we could’ve stepped up our game would’ve been to seize the opportunity and to increase the number of events planned for the downtime. Perhaps we could’ve recorded a new episode of NBS Radio or even hosted a game night to help fill the void left in our hearts by being unable to access what brought us all here to begin with. We used to have a nightly VC culture in the TNPGen server not too long ago. I think it would be great if we managed to bring that back. The bottom line is that basically anything can be culture, but it does require some initiative.
I’ll be looking for energetic staffers who can help us prioritize doing what we want and/or what’s fun to us rather than just doing the same tried and true events on a continuous loop. That’s how we build a culture of fun and belonging. Once we do that, increased activity will soon follow.

Making a Regional Playlist

One of the more fun ideas that I have in mind for how we can break the cycle of our regularly-scheduled weekly events is for us to begin building a regional playlist. Ideally, we’d start by creating a form where people could submit songs to be included in the playlist. Then, once we’ve given folks enough time to get all of their songs in, we can begin curating the playlist and, eventually, schedule days where we can come together and listen to others’ contributions together. It’d be like a playlist with songs representative of what our community collectively enjoys. I could even see us linking it on the WFE once we’re finished!

There can be no debate. If we are to change the tides of war and rise to the occasion, we’ll need numbers and we’ll need them yesterday. It doesn’t come as a surprise to me that the mass influx of new members applying to join us when the militia was first formed have since fizzled out. It was to be expected, of course, as nothing good lasts forever. Regardless, we must do everything in our power to amass and ready our forces.

While I can’t promise that we’ll see our membership count grow by x amount, I can promise that we’ll do everything in our power to entice would-be soldiers to come on board. Recruitment comes in many forms: Targeted telegrams, private outreach, dispatch upvoting, increasing our overall visibility, highlighting the fun and camaraderie of participating in R/D, etc. All of these avenues will be explored, and I will make it expressly clear to my Minister of Defense that recruitment is our number one priority at this time.

Allied Operations Training

Furthermore, I also want to take the time to remark on the manpower that we do have. In many ways, I’ve been pleased to see somewhat of a changing of the guard within the NPA over the course of these last few months. While both the Officer Corps and the High Command are still home to some experienced hands, we’ve been seeing new faces rising through the ranks and I’m proud to say that I really do think some of them can become major contributors for us in the times to come.

Even so, with new blood comes a need to adequately train them and get them used to working with others. We have allies in our war against The Brotherhood of Malice and The Communist Bloc. It’s important for us to train together with them if we intend to fight alongside them in pursuit of victory. More than just internal training runs, I would like joint operations to be scheduled with some of our allied militaries (e.g. the LDF, TWPAF, the Legio Pacifica) to better prepare our members for their involvement in some of the larger scale operations that we’ll be required to execute well.

It is my view that everyone, NPAer or otherwise, could stand to work more closely together as one with increasingly seamless collaboration. Emphasizing the need for allied operations training will help us achieve this.

Our Next Inductee to the Hall of Honour

Last, but certainly not least, I’d like for us to move forward with the induction of General Zazumo into the NPA’s Hall of Honour. Admittedly, this is a bit more of a wishlist item for me personally as a longtime soldier, officer, and general in our military. It’s not so much of a campaign item as it is an expression of my desire to make sure that our regions heroes are being given the credit and public acknowledgement that they deserve for their efforts.

Throughout my years of service to the NPA, Zaz has been there for it all and he’s undeniably worthy of recognition for his past and present contributions. In my opinion, he is the embodiment of what it means to dedicate yourself to our region’s cause. His future induction will hopefully be accompanied by a publicly viewable thread that contains each inductee’s name, rank, and summary of service. Internally, NPAers are already well aware of the greats that have come through our ranks. But I’d like to showcase that to others in a way that’s immortalized here on the forums.

By now, you can likely tell where this is going. My aim is to be a no-nonsense leader who will unapologetically take the fight to our enemies and command the respect of our allies in the process of doing so. Do I have the spine for it? Definitely. Am I willing to tolerate strongarm tactics that attempt to weaken our position or otherwise subvert our sovereignty? Absolutely not.

There’s a fine line between being assertive and being reckless. I will work with my advisors, both of whom are former Delegates themselves, as well as with my cabinet, to make certain that we are not being rash in our decisions. By the same token though, our government’s actions will come about decisively. I promise that if our people stand by us, we will always stand by them.

We are the mighty and we will not kneel in the face of our region’s enemies. That much I can assure you of.

Network Visualization Project Continued

A while back, the Delegate set out to begin a project that would have us create an interactive visualization of our diplomatic network for the purpose of learning about foreign affairs. Since information has since been collected from our ambassadors about their assigned regions, I think that now would be a good time for us to move onto the next phase of the project as we continue to work toward realizing Kasch’s vision. Having a tool that’s both visually appealing and informative could help initiate new diplomats and develop further talent in this area. I am in support of us continuing with this as one of our goals.

Something that’s fallen by the wayside in the wake of our technological challenges is our maintenance of the retaliatory recruitment system that we used to employ. Back then, one of the key differences between the old way of doing things and my preferred implementation of the revived system was that we’d usually only add regions to the list that were recruiting directly from our region. Sadly though, as was confirmed, we no longer hold that same type of information as it applies to today’s gameplay climate. The regions of Talonia, The Militia, The Amaranthine Isles, Kantrias, and 10000 Islands were all identified as having sent out recruitment messages to one of our puppets after further testing. But rather than targeting only those who target us, I’d like for us to begin targeting WA nations in regions that have shown themselves to be enemies of the North.

I won’t say which regions we’ll be targeting for obvious reasons, but I do believe that our technological capabilities are now such that we can feasibly resume active targeting of both hostile and non-hostile regions. We will attempt to poach the WA nations of hostile regions away from them and, to non-hostile regions, we will merely be returning the favor of recruitment. I find that a firmer stance in regard to our recruitment policies is appropriate given the circumstances.

More Manual Recruitment

Piggybacking off of that previously expressed sentiment, I must say that I’ve been very impressed with what Sil, Elu, and the rest of the tech team have been doing behind the scenes to help us recover from the loss of our technology infrastructure. As a result of their hard work, our staffers in HA have been able to resume manually recruiting nations to come and join our community with greater ease than ever before!

It’s clean, it’s simple, and it’s effective. I can personally attest to this, as I’ve sent messages out to over 5,100 nations since rejoining the ministry in mid-March. I strongly encourage anyone who might otherwise be looking for a way to get involved and contribute to join HA as a recruiter and begin helping bolster our efforts in this area. It doesn’t take much time at all and it’s as simple as clicking a couple of buttons. You can do it more or less whenever you’re not doing anything else. On a desktop, on a laptop, on a mobile phone, and probably even on a tablet - it’s easy and it helps us bring in people who could prove to be our region’s next rising stars.

Manual recruitment is an essential part of my strategy for this new term, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that we will be promoting this activity heavily if I am elected.

Recruitment As An Offensive Option

To coincide with my first point in this section, I think that there’s potential for us to begin considering recruitment as not only a retaliatory action but also as an offensive action against our enemies. More than taking away the WA nations that might find their way into regions that have attacked our home, we can also use recruitment messages as a way to disparage their creed and gain even greater public support for our cause.

This would be an experimental option, but it’s certainly not something that I’m willing to leave off of the table if I can otherwise help it. Frankly, I don’t care so much that our adversaries might be aware of our intentions because I don’t plan on acting upon them in a way that would lend itself to being able to be stopped by them. I also wouldn’t mind personally funding some of these efforts myself to see them through. It’s everything for the North, after all.

We’ve wanted to do this for quite some time now but, unfortunately, the SC commendations of Prydania and Sil Dorsett haven’t moved forward as we expected them to. For a few years now, shining a spotlight on the works of roleplayers in the World Assembly has been a passion of mine. I’ve worked with those from notable roleplay regions such as Greater Dienstad, Gholgoth, and Atlantian Oceania to share the unique stories of roleplayers and to introduce all of the amazing things that they do on the daily to a wider audience in the WA. Typically, the community there consists mostly of gameplayers and your occasional New England law school graduate. But I believe that our regionmates deserve to be acknowledged for their contributions.

We can appreciate them not only within our community, but also in a way that preserves their history for future players – North Pacifican or otherwise – to admire. I will pick up where Kasch left off and personally begin working on the commendations of Kaschovia, Prydania, and Sil Dorsett in the Security Council. There’s also the matter of Siwale’s commendation too. My goal is to have us make an effort to support our own in this area. I will invite other authors who are knowledgeable to collaborate with me in the process of doing this.

The Next WA Symposium

Next, in addition to business as usual with IFVs being sent out and timely voting happening in the WA, I would also like for us to solidify our plans for a fourth WA Symposium. This is something that Simone already alluded to as being on the agenda in his midterm report, but it’s my understanding that scheduling for this has been put on the backburner as of late.

I believe that my plans for us to host the next symposium coincide well with my plans for culture to host more events in general with our allies and partner regions. When considering how I expect getting the next WA Symposium marked on the calander to be quite the undertaking, I’m still optimistic that it’ll be a fruitful endeavor. I don’t have a date in mind for the event just yet, but I’d like for it to happen at some point during this Summer for sure. I will direct my Minister of World Assembly Affairs to begin working on this in collaboration with my ministers of foreign affairs and culture. Details should be able to be provided within a month or so.

SC Repeals Targeting

Lastly, resolutions that give greater glory and/or notoriety to our adversaries cannot be allowed to remain on the books in a wartime environment. Under my administration, we will begin prioritizing the repeal of already existing Security Council resolutions that bolster their credibility on the world stage. To better accomplish this, we will leverage our alliances with the MGC and PPO member regions to ensure that we have the necessary votes to advance our interests to the greatest extent possible. Our current sanctions and voting policies with regard to this will remain in effect, and I will engage this matter within the context of our existing framework(s) and rules.

(Note: I am open to expanding the actions and operations we may take in this area if the need to arises.)

​"Tout pour le Nord" is a French phrase that translates to "Everything for the North" in English.

Alternatively, it can also be understood as me saying "All for the North" or even "Anything for the North". Since Robespierre was a prominent figure during the times of the French Revolution (and since my nation is more or less French themed), I thought that it was rather fitting. It's basically a slogan that's meant to affirm my devotion to everything that we do and hold dear here.

What does your personal availability look like over the next four months? Will you be around for timely WA votes and whatnot?
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As I write this, I'm in the final two weeks of my Spring 2024 semester at college. Once the election concludes on the 11-12th, my semester will be over, and I'll be free from my responsibility as a student in real life until the upcoming Fall months. That being said, for the duration of this next term (May - September 2024), I don't forsee myself having any obligations to attend to that would take away from the time that I could spend being the leader that our region needs the Delegate to be.

As for whether or not I'll be around to provide timely votes in the World Assembly, I'll note that I had no issues doing so during my last tenure as Delegate in the Summer of 2021. My local time zone (UTC-5, for those who are curious) is a rather generous one when it comes to being able to be online when major and minor updates begin. I'm also somewhat of a night owl to boot. Those who know me best will know that I'm often active during hours that most Americans aren't.

TL;DR my availability going into this term looks great and yes, I will be around for timely WA votes.

Have you already assembled your prospective cabinet? If not, do you have anyone in mind who you'd like to see serve alongside you?
​
At this time, I have not assembled a cabinet in full. I do, however, have a shortlist of individuals in mind who I intend to approach shortly after this campaign launches.

I think that it would've been a bit improper of me if I'd already offered specific players jobs in this next administration without first posting a platform of ideas and approaches for them and the public to review. If my ideas interest them, then I'll be glad to work with them on making those ideas a reality. But what I don't want is for anyone who I might ask to join me to support me at the polls only because I'm offering them a spot in the cabinet.

If elected, will you be appointing a Chief of Staff to serve in your cabinet?

No, I will not be appointing a Chief of Staff to serve in my cabinet. Anyone who I think can be an asset to region as a member of the government will have a ministerial portfolio assigned to them at the beginning of the term.

What about advisors? Will you be appointing any?

Yes, I will be appointing advisors to the Delegate.

Right now, I have two names in mind who've both indicated to me that they'd like to continue their service to our region in this way.

What do you think about the recently revived Senior Diplomats/formation of the Committee on Foreign Relations? Will you make use of them?

I think that it was a good move to bring the idea back in some form or another.

If used correctly, I can see the CFR bearing fruit for us in our foreign policy approach going forward. As for what constitutes them being used correctly, I can't say for sure. But what I will say is that I think the minister's efforts to modernize the group and to include new players on the committee is a good first step in the right direction. I've seen the work that Attempted Socialism, Comfed, and Picairn do internally to make sure that we consider an array of possibilities and perspectives before moves are made. I think that combining their fresh insights with some of the more proven hands of Pallaith and Tlomz, among others, is a recipe for success.

What's one thing that you would change about TNP as Delegate?

Generally speaking, I think I'll be more conscious of the fact that things can move rather quickly in this game. Just as there are benefits to carefully crafting our statements and taking a measured approach to gameplay, there are also benefits to us acting quickly and decisively as new events happen. There are times where a response from us might take longer, but if that's the case then I want it to be because we chose that as our approach.

I will be available to respond to things decidedly and, as a result, I expect that our region's voice will take on a more assertive tone going forward.

​Bonus: Will you be having a town hall and/or an AMA on the RMB to talk about your campaign? If so, when?

Yes! I'm looking to get that scheduled as soon as possible. Those who are following this thread will be the first to know once I have a day and time locked down with the NBS Radio staff. But, if you happen to miss it or are otherwise unavailable when I do hold my town hall, I'll also be active on the RMB for an AMA session gameside.