The Field Marshal paced slowly to the podium. A golden, emerald-encrusted Lazarene wristwatch adorned his arm, an Osiran crocodile leather belt with a bronze buckle (with a shred of Wrektopian trash bag holding on to the corner of the buckle for dear life) held up his black and red-striped Senator’s pleated slacks, and his massive, flowing EPSA trench coat and characteristic peaked cap hung menacingly over the entire assortment. A jingling array of EPSA ribbons and World Assembly badges on the coat formed a sort of metallic quilt. Flaunting the scars and spoils of his foreign and domestic exploits, he pulled a matchbox from his coat pocket, rolled up a copy of the NPO’s Retort, lit it on fire, and used the flaming pages to light one of the last remaining Karpathian cigars. He leaned forward to the microphone out of a cloud of thick smoke. He dropped the Retort on the floor and extinguished it under the sole of his shoe.
“I thank Dead for his service,” he took a long pull from the cigar and ashed into the wind, then spoke as smoke billowed from between his teeth and out of his nostrils, “but it is time for some changes to our Executive apparatus and its direction.” He gazed intently over the crowd, reading and measuring each face therein. “Recent conflicts and challenges have left us socially strained, Ministries are languishing, and our various media - EPNS and communications (forum, Discord, dispatches, WFE), want for change and consolidation. You have seen me working towards various productive ends for years: driving some recent actions of the Magisterium as well as leading the largest legislature in TEP’s history as Provost, bringing cases and JRs to the Conclave, taking charge of citizenship and pushing for fixes to laws while cleaning up years of missed citapps and legal updates. Most prominently, I have been a Vizier for 5 consecutive years after my return post-Fedele, driving security decisions and reactivating the Praesidium as our region’s size has diminished due to F/S and combating influences that have attempted to infiltrate and subjugate our region and weaken our solidarity and capacity for self-determination. And all of this glosses over my history pre-NLO and before any of TEP’s great troubles, when I built a thriving government from a dead region (which had somewhere between 2 - 4 Magisters when I began my GCR career between 2009-2010) served as a Vizier, and served as Delegate twice.”
“Despite all this, our government and broader community membership is enormous, compared to its past stature: we have a towering 82 citizens, all of you with WA nations dedicated to our great region that are contributing to our safety and influence (this is an incredible first for TEP), AC’s Magisterium nearly rivals mine in size and may surpass my record, and there are more faces in our government and our communications media than I’ve ever seen before. We continue to attract and elevate talent and intelligence, and we are poised to make a powerful return to the global stage and rebuild our internal infrastructure with new tools and fresh manpower. We occupy a pivotal moment in TEP’s history that is not lost on me: I am prepared, despite my many obligations, to return to the Delegacy with my full attention and most deliberate discernment to make the absolute most of our present situation, just like I did last time, such that we are restored to our former glory and prepared to thrive under subsequent and future leadership for many years.”
“My platforms and plans for various ministries are as follows:”
A top priority is recruitment, internal and external. Just prior to this election I reached out to an old friend and TEP ally whom I fought alongside under Libertanny in 2020 and secured us a more productive recruitment bot, which our technical staff is currently working to set up for this ministry to use in TEP Main server. I will see through this setup and will personally take charge of using this new tool to recruit externally, as simply existing as a “feeder region” without recruitment is no longer sufficient and we are losing hundreds of Delegate endorsements over the years since the F/S game mechanic was introduced. I will lead a small team of dedicated individuals using this tool and coordinate with them such that work is not duplicated.
Many of you have received DMs and telegrams from me (I keep it at a tasteful number - I am not the type of Delegate who sends regionwide telegrams multiple times a week, as this will quickly get ignored): this activity will continue as I aim to drive internal engagement and internal recruitment. Despite the abuse and negligence of the criminal administrations of 2017 - 2019, The East Pacific is still one region with one government and one Delegate (internal separation is mechanically impossible) - those forgotten on the outskirts of our community by regimes that were only interested in narcissistic self-promotion and unilateral control must be welcomed back into the fold and made to feel at home here.
The effort to legislate its existence is moving slowly. In the interim, I will establish an Executive ministry to pull together a proto-version of this Council, based on the current [EDIT: THREE- or FIVE-member] concept from #Government Reform (but open to further definition and development per RMB input, should I win this election), principally to establish a line of communication between all facets of the government and RMBers who are both partially- and non-government affiliated, so that SNAFUs-that-will-not-be-named do not repeat themselves due to blind spots between Exe / Prae / RMB roleplayers. I have no interest in “leading” Valsora or using this to attempt to dictate or change Valsora’s ruleset - I have every interest in enabling those who haven’t had a voice in government decisions to be seen and heard before decisions are made, and will be as transparent as I am allowed to be between all groups and bodies.
I am not allowed to discuss who will populate this Council during the election due to electioneering laws but I will say that I have no intention of creating a government-subservient RMB-representative ministry or trying to block out anyone I’ve argued with in the past. Despite the Executive creation of the Ministry, I will populate it based on consensus of the RMB community, pending a detailed conversation.
I was pleased to hear that 8 EPSA updaters were recently mobilized for a liberation. Still, we can do better. I will be taking charge of a remilitarization of TEP and EPSA: we must increase these numbers. We will practice through a series of updating operations: no tagging - tagging is pointless - liberations offered by our allies, possibly some operations I can’t yet disclose, and, once we’ve rebuilt to ~10 - 20 active members, the thing I am looking forward to most: wargames.
With the griefing laws in place, we cannot go around raiding and dismantling any random region, nor should we: invasions and demolitions should be reserved for outspoken enemies of TEP that pose an active threat to our existence and stability. What we can do, however, is split EPSA into two teams: Red Team and Blue Team, with the former on offense and the latter on defense, and found our own UCRs to build influence in and subsequently attempt to invade and defend. In peacetime when we are not needed to deploy this will be a valuable exercise and can potentially engage our allies’ militaries in something that will help all of us to develop and stay active.
It has long been precedent that the Delegate has some say in organizing the comms media, particularly the Discord; I believe I may have established this precedent personally. While we’ve very necessarily dialed back any unilateral Executive authority over these things post-Yuno (I also played a role in advancing this legislation), it remains that I should be afforded some creative freedom and leverage here. It helps that I am already a lesser member of the admin team. I intend to work very closely with EM, McS, and anyone with administrative or technical authority to clean up the maze of roles, channels, forums, etc. that I know for a fact deters participation. It is entirely too much to follow. My efforts to repair and establish our indices are a poor surrogate for full-scale decluttering and reorganization.
Unrelated to TEP admin, TEP’s onsite dispatch system is a disaster and is scattered to the wind across an array of puppets and half a dozen or more individuals. It requires intensive repair. I will perform these repairs. I may retire the many puppets and rework the dispatches myself, or under ministers’ mains, making sure that the source code is saved in a forum repository: we can’t allow another Vussul situation to happen, and this trash barrel full of mismanaged puppet nations needs to be emptied. This has been a problem for a long time. Puppet retirement may vary on a case-by-case basis.
I like the direction that WAA is heading in. I’ve seen our authorship program come back to life and have helped broker deals that are allowing our commendable candidates to be considered on the global stage once again. This will remain on track. We have some very talented people working on some long-term projects with a lot of potential and I look forward to supporting them.
Something that needs to change is our current voting system: Ernie (as he is known) recently posted an assessment of how many local TEP WA member nations are voting in our Discord-based voting system vs. “residents”, and the ratio is 50:50, at best, while the numbers per resolution are often as low as about 3 voters. We need to increase interest and engagement, as well as implement a forum-based voting system that will allow for a more accessible and permanent record-keeping for the WAAC. I reserve the Delegate’s prerogative to vote per my judgment; however, it would need to be an extremely compelling scenario and I’ve often said that a Delegate who does not vote with the people risks facing their backlash, and I intend to make a strong case for voting a certain way among the populace in these instances so that the Delegate vote would hopefully not deviate from the popular vote. If the region feels so strongly on an issue that it would force me to vote against FA interests, I intend to follow the interests of The East Pacific.
I have no dramatic intentions for FA policy, despite any hypotheticals and fearmongering that might spread regarding my history with NPO, etc.: I will not be purging embassies, burning treaties, and so on. #inb4 … well, it won’t be Xoriet saying it at this point. In fact, just about anyone who would be spreading lies and rumors in dark corners of Discord about my direction for TEP’s FA is gone. Fancy that.
I intend to maintain the relationships we already have and will leverage the relationships I have fostered since (and before) 2020 to build a larger, stronger network for TEP abroad. I am in the process of building a complete dossier of the leadership structures of all major regions and will very seriously assess whether reconciliation and mutual respect is possible with major powers with whom TEP has fallen out: there may be an option to restore treaties and embassies which have been lost, and I will not pass these opportunities over if I believe they are the right path for us and will not destroy our existing connections.
I will not be organizing or joining any sort of formal bloc(s). Been there, done that; in fact, I established one of the largest pan-GCR alliances and ententes in history as Delegate: at one point in time, TEP, TP, TWP, TSP, and Lazarus were all approximately aligned, several of them under my pan-regional alliance, the MPA; however, we are better-positioned proximally to foreign spheres of influence than we are attempting to create our own (which is always viewed as antagonistic, no matter how you try to frame it or what your intentions are) or join anyone else’s. As a democratic GCR I have little interest in undemocratically entering us into a relationship where we have undemocratic obligations to anyone besides our citizenry.
I will, of course, have a MOFA, but I will be the principal contact for FA. “The Delegate shall represent The East Pacific to foreign entities as Head of State.” So says our Concordat. There will remain a Minister by law and as a support role but I will show foreign governments the courtesy of interacting directly as Delegate, and being present for all FA interactions, even if dignitaries are necessary to smooth things over in some cases.
The Field Marshal’s calm demeanor instantly gave way to a moment of terrifying rage: “STOP WITH THE COMIC SANS!” He threw the podium into the crowd, which scrambled out of the way as it smashed into splintered wooden chunks on the cobblestones. “STOP.” He relaxed and took another drag from the cigar. “There will be no Comic Sans in our Executive updates. Jesus Christ.” Smoke flowed evenly from his nostrils. “While I like that EPNS has managed to develop in the absence of its previous steward, it still remains … lacking, in my opinion. A third the size and content of its former self. I hope to return it to its former stature."
Culture is not an urgent priority like recruitment or remilitarization but I will be seeking a Minister (“Regional Affairs”, per Executive Act requirements) who is willing to continue organizing various activities like Hunger Games, VCs, festivals (FWIW), minigames (N-Day, Z-Day, etc.), and to tag along with wargames and keep track of our foreign friends such that they can be included in other areas of our region’s cultural exchange. We are sorely lacking VCs in TEP - as Delegate, I was the very first to use these (Skype…) to build a better sense of community and organizational direction here and to unify the government that succeeded me from ~2012 and 2013 - 2017. I have enjoyed crashing and sometimes starting the Cafe VCs and plan to continue this as well as restart VCs in TEP Main, but for masked and approved individuals (muted randos from other regions can go lurk somewhere else) - people that might find themselves fighting over text messages are suddenly very approachable by VC, and labor and consensuses that could take a week or more over various disjointed DMs and server channels can get done in an hour. VC good. VC more.
There will be none of this. There never was, prior to my absence, and it has been off-and-on ever since. I have sometimes seen it as an inappropriate play by the Delegate to promote a favored successor, which has been generally harmless (albeit poor sportsmanship) but can be used for shifty and nefarious purposes by the wrong individual. The role is mechanically impotent: the GV becomes Delegate if the latter resigns or is otherwise incapacitated, and the highest ministerial duties of the Delegate cannot effectively be pawned off onto a lower Executive official. I see no place for the role in my government.
UTEP is not a priority should I win this term, although I will staff it (I am required to by law…) and encourage its Chancellor to consider its organization and purpose. If a competent Chancellor revives the University, I will consider it a bonus win for my government. If it remains dormant, this is fine; we have more critical things to focus our time and attention on at present. I can take it or leave it. When recruitment, remilitarization, RMB inclusion, etc. are handled we can think more actively about what to do with UTEP.
I will retire this ministry. I maintain that an endocount is an individual’s responsibility: the Delegate’s, a Vizier’s, an individual region member’s: if we can implement an automatic dispatch I received from Lazarus that displays those endorsing vs. not endorsing the Delegate, good; however, there is no substitute for endorsement swapping and direct telegrams and no need for an entire ministry surrounding this.
In conclusion, I have a long list and much to accomplish. It will take work, it will take time, and it will take help, and I am prepared to lead the government through this challenge. Most critically, it will take a leader with experience, vision, and unbreakable resolve, and the capacity to follow through with an arduous mission for months on end. I am this leader, and I will use my knowledge and ability to catapult TEP forward into a new age of prosperity. I hope for your vote in this October 2025 election and look forward to serving as your Delegate once again, with renewed purpose and a vision of a powerful and beautiful future for our great region and rich community.
Hail the Delegate. Hail The East Pacific. Hail us: the nations and people of this great region, for we are the heroes and we shall define our own greatness.
– AMOM, 2025
Good luck!
Serge.
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