Cormac

Big Brother is watching Gameplay Spiritus in Crisis: Exodus of Longtime, High Profile Citizens Continues Charax Stark, Denth Rowan resign citizenship in Spiritus, citing the deterioration of the community due to political manipulation. By Cormac Somerset-Holland THE GNARLED OAK - Charax Stark, former Vice President of Spiritus, and Denth Rowan, another influential citizen, resigned their citizenship in Spiritus today, citing the deterioration of the community due to political manipulation as their reasons for doing so. This latest round of departures by longtime, high profile citizens follows earlier resignations of citizenship by former President Inric "Wintermoot" Stark in late October 2013 and former Vice President Cormac Somerset-Holland, the author of this article, in early December 2013. Wintermoot has since gone on to found his own defender region, Wintreath, of which Stark and Rowan are also citizens. In recent months, Spiritus has been rocked by controversies and scandals that have left its community divided. Some of these controversies involved personal disputes between citizens, but others were related to Spiritus' external policy and decisions made by the region's most senior leadership. President Wuufu Vitus and former Vice President and Founder Tim Stark were caught in a scandal involving vote stacking in British Isles in December 2013. Meanwhile, Spiritus has been debating a push by the President and Founder to enroll Spiritus in the Founderless Regions Alliance (FRA). The FRA Charter was recently ratified by the elected Spiritus Regional Assembly and signed by the President, but was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Spiritus before the President applied for FRA membership on behalf of the region. These issues factored into the recent presidential election, which saw the incumbent President and his new running mate, Toms, achieve a decisive 17-5-2 victory against the opposing tickets of Charax Stark/Butterspring and Milograd/Karputsk. Charax Stark denied that his loss in the recent presidential election was the reason behind his decision to resign citizenship. "This is not a knee-jerk reaction to the FRA membership debacle, nor my loss of the election to Wuufu," Stark said in his resignation statement. "My issues with this region are far more substantial than post-election butthurt." Stark went on to detail his concerns that the community is deteriorating due to political manipulation by some of its citizens, acknowledging regretfully that the seeds for this deterioration were planted with a focus on external policy during his own term as Vice President under President Wintermoot. During his time in Spiritus, Charax Stark served as Regional Assembly Representative, Vice President, Minister of Defense, and Minister Without Portfolio. Denth Rowan echoed many of the former Vice President's sentiments. Rowan, while never officially holding office in Spiritus, was nonetheless an influential member of the community, actively involved in Spiritan culture as well as the region's legislative processes and legal affairs. Both he and the former Vice President cited Tim Stark as having a significant role in the community's deterioration and an oversized role in regional politics, and were heavily critical of incumbent President Wuufu Vitus and his decision to seek another term, his first full term, as President of Spiritus. Spiritus President Wuufu Vitus and Founder Tim Stark declined any comment. The Miniluv Messenger will bring you more when and if this story develops.

I hope that was in reference to the situation described by the article, rather than the article itself.

Big Brother is watching Gameplay Trouble in Paradise: Former UDL Chief Rages Against Other Defenders Unibot: "I don't care about defender unity." By Cormac Somerset-Holland SHERWOOD FOREST - The theme of this year's NS World Fair is "Friendship and Cooperation," but the event's leading organizer seems to have missed the memo. Unibot, former Chief of the Band of The United Defenders League (UDL), lashed out at the Lazarene Liberation Army (LLA), the Founderless Regions Alliance (FRA), and other defenders following this morning's major update in a dispute over which organization's IRC channel should have been used. Defenders had just completed an operation to liberate Coalition of Leftist Comrades from fascist forces occupying the region when the incident occurred. This successful liberation included the LLA, UDL, Spiritus Defense Force (SDF), The East Pacific Sovereign Army (EPSA), Texas, United Kingdom, Equilism's E-Army, and Wintreath. While many defenders are celebrating this display of defender unity, Unibot was less than celebratory as he criticized Mahaj, current UDL Chief of the Band, for allowing UDL forces to work from the LLA's IRC channel: As the dispute escalated, Unibot became increasingly irate -- accusing Spiritus Founder and Vice President Tim Stark of being "anti-UDL," accusing the FRA of "trying to play their little games," and cursing at other UDL members. Several UDL members and other defenders were heavily critical, one former Merryman stating that "[c]rap like this" is the reason for failures in defender unity. "It amazes me more haven't left this org because of the crap," the former Merryman said before departing the UDL's IRC channel. "I don't care about defender unity," the former Chief said, "I care about what's killing defenderdom." Unibot went on to praise the "isolationist plan" he ascribes to the Ten Thousand Islands Treaty Organization (TITO) as "smart" and insisted that sending UDL forces to other organizations' IRC channels "is bound to hurt the UDL in the long run." Unibot's criticism was repeatedly shut down by Chief Lieutenant Sovreignry, and The Miniluv Messenger has learned that the UDL and the LLA have ironed out any problems between the two organizations that could potentially have been caused by the explosive comments made by the UDL's former Chief of the Band. Nonetheless, all is not well in the defender world. Responding to Unibot's allegation that he is anti-UDL, Tim Stark told The Miniluv Messenger: "I think that the allegation that I am anti-UDL is quite unfounded and based in Unibot's delusions. I respect the UDL and I respect Chief Mahaj." Returning to Unibot's behavior this morning, Stark added: "I think that his actions and outbursts in #udl are severely damaging the unity of Defender Regions, and feel that he will keep damaging them until he's muzzled." "It's unsurprising that such a discredited individual would say these things," an anonymous LLA soldier told The Miniluv Messenger. "Frankly, I think that the LLA and defenders everywhere would love it if he retired again - this time for good." Wintermoot, the Monarch of Wintreath, candidly told The Miniluv Messenger that "Unibot's the reason most people would prefer to use the LLA channel." Chairman Milograd of the People's Republic of Lazarus declined to comment on this story. When asked for comment, UDL Chief of the Band Mahaj personally attacked this reporter and then added: "I haven't received any messages from any other defender organizations indicating there's any worry. If there is, they should contact me. I've already talked to Kogvuron (LLA) about it and he and I have cleared everything up." It is yet to be seen if Unibot's outburst this morning will have any further impact on the state of defender unity, or the lack thereof, but The Miniluv Messenger will bring you more as this story develops.

I'm a bit late to this, but regarding monitoring those not endorsing the Delegate in order to enforce a lower cap: If we have any scripters in the region, this can be accomplished pretty easily (I think) with a script. Both the UDL IRC bot, FriarTuck, and the Spiritus IRC bot, Tammy, have commands that you can use to easily get a list of nations not endorsing any WA nation. For whatever reason the UDL has limited this function to channels FriarTuck is in, but Spiritus doesn't mind use of this function on its bot by query. The command is .nne, so basically you would query Tammy with: .nne All Good People And that will give you a handy list of WA nations not endorsing AGP. Aside from its use for this cap it's also helpful for tarting. I would encourage TWP to develop its own script for this though as it's never a good idea to rely on other regions' technology, if for no other reason than if something changes in that region the technology could disappear altogether. That has happened with FriarTuck previously when Eluvatar has fallen inactive.

Hey all! I've been hanging around The West Pacific as a diplomat for a while and I've known Punk for a while, I guess since last summer or so. I was also on good terms with Enlightened Defenders when he was Delegate as a couple of the regions I was involved in were involved with the NS Republic. I appreciated TWP's opposition to Gatesville during the Dourian coup in Osiris and now your support for Detective Figs as Delegate there, so I thought I would move a nation here and hopefully get more involved than I have previously been. My nation in the region is Cormacville. Looking forward to getting to know all of you, at least the ones I don't know already.

It wouldn't be appropriate for me to engage in a public debate over this matter in our embassy. The statement has been posted in our embassy to notify the legitimate Government of The West Pacific and regional natives of our support, and we will be happy to correspond with members of the legitimate Government privately should they wish to discuss our statement or any other matter.

Statement from the Government of Spiritus On the Coup in The West Pacific During minor update this afternoon, the legitimate Government of The West Pacific was overthrown in a coup perpetrated by a rogue regime led by former Guardian Wickedly Evil People. Having recently established diplomatic relations with The West Pacific, the Government of Spiritus is compelled to respond. The Government of Spiritus unequivocally condemns the overthrow of the legitimate Government of The West Pacific. We continue to recognize the legitimate Government as the sole legitimate governing authority of and over The West Pacific. We do not in any way acknowledge the legitimacy of Wickedly Evil People or his regime. We stand ready to assist the legitimate Government of The West Pacific in any way that we can and to defend the right of The West Pacific's natives to self-determination in the face of the tyrannical coup perpetrated by Wickedly Evil People, his regime, and the outside forces who assisted in the coup including but not necessarily limited to the region Gatesville. Following the coup, Acting President Cormac Locksley-Stark signed Executive Order 001. This executive order legally formalizes our Government's continued recognition of the legitimate Government of The West Pacific and refusal to recognize the rogue regime of Wickedly Evil People. EO001 mandates the closure of in-game embassies between Spiritus and The West Pacific until such a time as the legitimate Government of The West Pacific is reinstated. The executive order, the first in Spiritus' history, authorizes the Spiritus Defense Force to use any and all necessary force and to collaborate with any region or organization in order to liberate The West Pacific from the rogue regime. Finally, EO001 makes Spiritus available as a temporary home and base of operations to the legitimate Government of The West Pacific and any refugees that may be purged from The West Pacific by the rogue regime. The Government of Spiritus stands with the legitimate Government of The West Pacific and the natives of The West Pacific during this difficult time. The West Pacific will be liberated, the perpetrators of this coup and the outside forces who assisted them will be brought to justice, and Spiritus will work with the Government of The West Pacific and any region or organization so committed to ensure that the right of The West Pacific's natives to self-determination is restored. Cormac Locksley-Stark Acting President of Spiritus

Spiritus Foreign Dispatch Introductory EditionThe Spiritus Government President: Tim Locksley-Stark (The Spirit) Vice President: Cormac Stark Minister of World Assembly Affairs: The Salaxalans Ministers of Foreign Affairs: Tim Locksley-Stark and Cormac Stark Minister of Internal Affairs: Typhlochactas Minister of Culture: DrWorld (Sorenian) Look Ma! We're a Region! Yes, Spiritus is most definitely a region! More than a year old, and somehow still around, Spiritus has been a booming hub of prosperity. Breaking 400 Nations, 90 Endorsements, and currently residing in the Top 30 Largest Regions of Nationstates, it's becoming quite a powerhouse in the world. Elections having passed for the Executive Offices, and now going for the Legislative Offices, the Government is slowly but surely coming into its Final Formation. We hope you'll keep watching for more development from this little place that the Citizens of Spiritus call home. Yours, Tim Locksley-Stark Spiritus President. Elections! Elections! Elections! Yes, there have been elections! Firstly, and probably most importantly, Spiritus elected a President and a Vice President! Running in the election were the teams of Tim/Cormac and Salaxalans/DrWorld. Tim and Cormac being the Co-Founders, while Salaxalans and Dr World being the competitive "Underdog" Team. Both Salaxalans and DrWorld were longstanding natives of Spiritus, and Salaxalans was/is the World Assembly Delegate! After the initial campaigning between the two candidate teams, a surprisingly close Election happened. The Final Vote Tally was as follows. Tim/Cormac: 7 Votes Salaxalans/DrWorld: 4 Votes Abstain: 4 Votes Invalid Vote: 1 President Tim quickly announced his new Cabinet and went straight into what looks like the start of a successful 4 Month Term! Also, Happening now, are the long awaited Regional Assembly elections. With Seven Seats to fill, who will step up to work within the Legislative Branch of the Spiritus Government. All shall soon be revealed. *gasp* A Military? Indeed. The Drums of War and the Pounding of Boots is not simply your imagination. With the creation of the Spiritus Defense Force, Spiritus is finally Mobilizing to do stuff within the Military Segment of Gameplay! The Spiritus Defense Force was mobilized as a Defender Army, although it shall be casting its Defender beliefs aside for Warzones and for the more despised folks within Nationstates. Specifically, in this case, Nazis. The President was quoted saying, regarding the Anti-Nazi Policy that, "These bastards simply shouldn't be here. Nazis, and similar hate groups, should not have a place on a site like Nationstates and we will work together with others to make sure that they do not feel welcome here." Expect some intense Military stuff from the SDF. Coming to a Warzone near you. In Other News Various Other News of Cool Importances The Second Constitutional Convention went off without any disturbances, and the Constitutional Omnibus passed with massive support. Recently, Ministers of Foreign Affairs Cormac and Tim, attended the UCR Conference in Europeia on the new Telegram System. This conference was specifically based around the recent legalization of UCR Recruitment and a Mutual Treaty stating that Signatories won't recruit from each other. Both Ministers plan to have this treaty placed before the Regional Assembly, when it is finalized and ready. Thanks For Reading

I would like to request an embassy with The West Pacific on behalf of Spiritus. Thanks!

Requesting an embassy for The North Pacific.

I would like to request an embassy for Asgardia. Also, nice forums!