Ark

Thanks! Look forward to seeing you around more, Relfa.  

I’ll admit I’m not particularly well-versed in the science behind this question, but endless expansion seems to make more sense to me. 

Thanks Ark, we look forward to using it

No need to apologize, Westwind tends to participate in these events under the radar.

awww yeah.
 
It was a pleasure to work with you all.  I had a great time.

Well done!
Three nations of Westwind contributed 504 strikes to The Crimson Sea Missile Command
The Gates of Delirium
The Black Necromancer
Trouble

Accepted. Discord and forum masking pending. 

Please mask @North Roledol as an Ambassador. Thank you! 

Gotcha

So when the delegate doesn’t govern the way you want, you just decide to change the government? I can’t believe a simple theme change is enough for a forum admin to threaten to create a new forum government. 

It won’t be such an intense theme change as to change our culture or how we operate to match that of the country we’re themed after. I understand your point though. Halo specifically chose these theme options because they have coastlines along the western Pacific Ocean, however, so they do have a tangential connection. 
TWPAF will be keeping its pirate theme, it’s always been relatively independent when it comes to theming/stylization as long as I’ve been around. TWP proper, however, is neither pirate-themed nor Tahiti-themed like badger suggested. It is, like most of the feeders, theme-less with a general feel of a theme or culture that evolved over time. Which is something we took note of. Does TWP *need* a theme like UCRs or Sinkers? No, it doesn’t. And this theme change is disimilar to those for some very important reasons. Primarily, UCRs and Sinkers base their entire region and culture off of their themes. We do not. We are taking TWP’s existing culture and adding to it with the theme (which is almost entirely cosmetic aside from the Hall of Peers addition) that the delegate and region have agreed upon. 
 
Your impressions absolutely matter, Westwind, as do those of the nations gameside. However, I can think of no more secure way to vote for a theme than on the forums. I disapprove of sacrificing that security by holding a gameside poll, where the options are either WA nations (TWPAF and non-WA citizens can’t vote), “natives” (totally arbitrary residency requirement IIRC), or everyone (meaning that any other region could very well spam our poll and pick our theme for us). I do however, think it would be pertinent to advertise the theme change to the region so that they are at least aware that a theme change vote is occurring. As far as your comment about an oath, I don’t really know what to do about that. The existence of a citizenship oath isn’t up to me, nor do I think it’s particularly binding or restrictive. 

Howdy!
I want to start by saying both thank you and f--- you to Ark, Kawaii and OT for making this a hard choice. I like all three options and will be weighing each carefully in the next couple of days.
But why the theme change at all? Why not stick with tradition? Well, what even is traditional for us? As Westy mentioned above, we have taken plenty of different directions on how we wish to theme our government. We started out as one of the key pillars of the ADN, and proudly were one of the most effective forces in defenderdom, never mind in-game. We experimented with different themes since then, be it a committee-structure when Eli couped that one time to the various themes Westy listed above. We have had a great past couple of years and I don't think anyone wants to tarnish that legacy. Rather, updates and new priorities, such as the theme, peerage, point system, and Ministry of Education, can be made to help make us a better region.
What doesn't change are our core values. Delegate supremacy, meritocracy and community do not change. What matters most is that we have a fun time here and allow newer folks the chance to feel welcome and able to learn from those of us who should honestly be NS dead by now. There is a lot of work to be done on both sides, myself included.
I like the idea of a new theme. Right now as I mentioned above I'm not sure which way I'll vote, but I like having options. Our Delegate has made it clear that not all presented aspects will be included in the final theme design, which is good because we can talk about what is good about the general idea and what might need to be nixed. 
I echo the concerns raised about changing the titles of Delegate and Guardian. I certainly don't mind there to be a title made for them and other ranks, but I probably will still use Guardian as my job title  We don't need to go hardcore on the titles, but it is nice to have our own regional way of describing who we are. What we get with that is more of a cultural identity. I'm not necessarily saying that we'd get up to such status with a theme change, but I preferred the communist-themed Pacific over the bunny-themed Pacific.

More old Graphics....I'll spoiler them to spare the thread.

 
 
 
 
 
 

I changed themes two or three times during my Delegacy. We started out sort of Dune based with the Laandstrad for the Assembly. But no one could remember how to spell it. *chuckles* Later went to the Sacred Order of The West Pacific and The West Pacific Imperium.  Policies stayed the same, graphics stayed the same. The theme is just a costume you put on  
In the end, it's delegate's choice IMO. I mearly added to titles for my themes, so a Minister became Holy Minister and a Guardian became a Cardinal Guardian.
In Equilism we went through a period when we changed the theme with each government. By the time they'd gotten to a Game of Thrones theme, they lost me as I didn't know anything about it (still don't) - so was all meaningless to me.  Houses, titles, all irrelevant and confusing to me. 
I like the dragon imagery in the graphics proposal. You can tie that to TWP having had two Delegates associated with Dragons.  You could take the Eagle and Crossbones flag and replace the Eagle with a Dragon.
I gotta admit, I haven't been fond of TWPAF flags for some time.
I think folks are too resistant to making use of the ingame polling. This would still be somewhat restrictive, but it would cast a wider net than the forum and still would be secure:  Set the poll to both Native and Large Nation - it will prevent nations from other regions jumping in to vote, and prevent new founded nations from voting. (A nation would have to be about 6 months old to vote...a nation voting age requirement based on game mechanics).
You could even form a bi-cameral legislature: ingame based on those polling rules (House), and Hall of Peers voting (Senate), Delegate has veto authority.
Although, having a bi-cameral legislature is what got TWP into trouble before. The Senate becomes and exclusionary old boys club that eventually goes inactive and blocks the Delegate (I've seen this movie before)
*chuckles*  Nothing.  I've championed more open citizenship, and removed citizenship oaths when I was delegate. It was never a problem. I haven't been a TWP citizen since oaths were reintroduced. So I'm just being me.     

One point that I made in my original post that has also been reflected by Ark, I want to stress.
No theme will eliminate the unique TWP-ness of our region. We will not be slavishly following one of these themes.
They will be a framework which we will alter to suit the needs of our residents and the character of our region.

It won’t be such an intense theme change as to change our culture or how we operate to match that of the country we’re themed after. I understand your point though. Halo specifically chose these theme options because they have coastlines along the western Pacific Ocean, however, so they do have a tangential connection. 
TWPAF will be keeping its pirate theme, it’s always been relatively independent when it comes to theming/stylization as long as I’ve been around. TWP proper, however, is neither pirate-themed nor Tahiti-themed like badger suggested. It is, like most of the feeders, theme-less with a general feel of a theme or culture that evolved over time. Which is something we took note of. Does TWP *need* a theme like UCRs or Sinkers? No, it doesn’t. And this theme change is disimilar to those for some very important reasons. Primarily, UCRs and Sinkers base their entire region and culture off of their themes. We do not. We are taking TWP’s existing culture and adding to it with the theme (which is almost entirely cosmetic aside from the Hall of Peers addition) that the delegate and region have agreed upon. 
 
Your impressions absolutely matter, Westwind, as do those of the nations gameside. However, I can think of no more secure way to vote for a theme than on the forums. I disapprove of sacrificing that security by holding a gameside poll, where the options are either WA nations (TWPAF and non-WA citizens can’t vote), “natives” (totally arbitrary residency requirement IIRC), or everyone (meaning that any other region could very well spam our poll and pick our theme for us). I do however, think it would be pertinent to advertise the theme change to the region so that they are at least aware that a theme change vote is occurring. As far as your comment about an oath, I don’t really know what to do about that. The existence of a citizenship oath isn’t up to me, nor do I think it’s particularly binding or restrictive. 

The guardianship and cabinet have considered the pros and cons of a theme change at every step of the way. We knew that some people would be iffy about stepping away from "traditional" TWP. We want you to know that what you came to and stayed in TWP for, whether it's relaxation, a career, or just a place to enjoy some snark, a theme change won't affect your ability to do that. I personally love all the proposed themes and I can't wait to see how the Hall votes. As far as changing the flag, one of the few instructions Halo explicitly gave us was to make the flag still reflective of TWP's current flag design, either through the color scheme or the sunburst. The flag will always feel like TWP regardless. The reason we settled on the Hall was covered by Halo, but I'd also like to bring up that having the entire region vote on a theme doesn't make all that much sense when most of the nations that would be voting are only gameside, which is 1/3rd of the areas the theme would actually affect (the other two being discord and forum obviously). I understand the traditionalist stance, of course, but sometimes it's okay to step away from tradition, and take a leap in the hope that the region will be better for it. I am very confident that this theme change will do nothing except provide another fun aspect to TWP and make the region a better place for a variety of player personalities to be in. 

That makes sense, Dark.
I think the Ministers would retain their current titles, but even if something is added I agree wholeheartedly that they should retain titles that easily inform as to what they do.
 
ninjaed ... 

The guardianship and cabinet have considered the pros and cons of a theme change at every step of the way. We knew that some people would be iffy about stepping away from "traditional" TWP. We want you to know that what you came to and stayed in TWP for, whether it's relaxation, a career, or just a place to enjoy some snark, a theme change won't affect your ability to do that. I personally love all the proposed themes and I can't wait to see how the Hall votes. As far as changing the flag, one of the few instructions Halo explicitly gave us was to make the flag still reflective of TWP's current flag design, either through the color scheme or the sunburst. The flag will always feel like TWP regardless. The reason we settled on the Hall was covered by Halo, but I'd also like to bring up that having the entire region vote on a theme doesn't make all that much sense when most of the nations that would be voting are only gameside, which is 1/3rd of the areas the theme would actually affect (the other two being discord and forum obviously). I understand the traditionalist stance, of course, but sometimes it's okay to step away from tradition, and take a leap in the hope that the region will be better for it. I am very confident that this theme change will do nothing except provide another fun aspect to TWP and make the region a better place for a variety of player personalities to be in. 

Anything that drives healthy activity is a good thing IMHO.  I see nothing wrong with an attempt to give the region a cultural theme and I applaud the creative work being done by the region's residents.
That said.  Can we get an option for an in-game theme that doesn't involve memorizing new titles, please?  Can the Delegate and Ministers still have titles that clearly state what they do?  the one thing that really irks me about the themed regions is the crazy titles everyone has.  I need a glossary to figure out who has what job in Osiris for example.  
 

The guardianship and cabinet have considered the pros and cons of a theme change at every step of the way. We knew that some people would be iffy about stepping away from "traditional" TWP. We want you to know that what you came to and stayed in TWP for, whether it's relaxation, a career, or just a place to enjoy some snark, a theme change won't affect your ability to do that. I personally love all the proposed themes and I can't wait to see how the Hall votes. As far as changing the flag, one of the few instructions Halo explicitly gave us was to make the flag still reflective of TWP's current flag design, either through the color scheme or the sunburst. The flag will always feel like TWP regardless. The reason we settled on the Hall was covered by Halo, but I'd also like to bring up that having the entire region vote on a theme doesn't make all that much sense when most of the nations that would be voting are only gameside, which is 1/3rd of the areas the theme would actually affect (the other two being discord and forum obviously). I understand the traditionalist stance, of course, but sometimes it's okay to step away from tradition, and take a leap in the hope that the region will be better for it. I am very confident that this theme change will do nothing except provide another fun aspect to TWP and make the region a better place for a variety of player personalities to be in. 

Discussions were had and a ban was granted.

I noticed that we still have a sub forum topic in the information and introduction center that links to TWP’s IRC chat. Could we possibly change that so it links to the discord instead?

errrr....  probably.
I will poke around in the next few days and see if I can manage it without imploding anything.

NationStates Nation Name: Arkadia Universalis
Discord User Name: @Ark#3495
Your Local Timezone: EST
Regions You Have Active Nations In: Just TWP
Any Diplomatic Experience: About 2 years total of time spent in any given FA department. Mostly in GCRs, including this one.