The East Pacific News Service
November 30, 2019
Fedele Attempts Coup, Becomes Interregional Laughingstock
By Emjay Moon
[hr]
It was October of 2018 when Fedele rode a wave of popularity to the top spot of The East Pacific, the Delegacy, after serving leadership roles such as Provost of the Magisterium and as a Vizier to provide regional security. With former Delegate Yuno decision not to run for another term it became clear the Fedele was the leading candidate and with the tsunami of controversy that surrounded Yuno and her subsequent banishment from the region it was a wave he rode to the shore of The East Pacific as he moved to consolidate his political power.
His first term as Delegate showed he was dedicated to making his administration active and to try cleaning up the issues of the Yuno administration. His following two terms were riddled with controversy with the continual marsupial purges, the disregard for regional law, blackmailing political opponents and a dead government that had virtually stopped functioning.
Fast Forward to a year later, October 2019, the tsunami that Fedele rode in on had hit the seawall as Fedele and members of the Rahl family, that had been putting on a circus show in the region leading up to the October Delegate Elections, put their months long planned coup into motion. Fedele had been actively going against the law according to an advisory opinion of former Viceroy Aelitia on the Endorsement Cap Act, for about a month beforehand but with the ejection of Vizier Todd McCloud and banjection of Vizier Bachtendekuppen it signaled coup day had arrived.
A few months prior, a group of concerned Magisters and Arbiters that joined together in a private chat to discuss all the activity happening in the Magisterium to talk about all the proposals the Magisterium had over the summer months. It generally overtime became a base of opposition against Fedele and his lapdogs as they continued a theme of, to quote Bachtendekuppen as he put it best, that “”I did not take time to look into the details” also seems to be a running theme these days.” The Small Magisterium Cafeteria became the hidden beacon of hope to be the political opposition that the region needed by reporting the activities of Fedele’s close allies and Rahl family movements within The East Pacific.
By the time September 2019 rolled around and leading up to the elections that concerned members of The East Pacific’s silent majority, the forum roleplay community, alerted the Viziers that Davelands had been breaking the endorsement cap, which it was further verified by a growing number of disgruntled cabinet members that Fedele had given permission to his cabinet to break the cap several months prior. It was clear to many that Davelands was Fedele’s handpicked successor but it also drew concerns of election impurity as The East Pacific is a democracy.
The start of Fedele’s downfall was his cocky attitude. He assumed that he had solid support of the citizens of The East Pacific. He miscalculated that while The East Pacific is a region of second chances, it is not a region of stupidity. Many people towards the end of his term were sick of his gimmicks and games. This was clear when Marrabuk won the election over Fedele’s slippery candidate, Davelands, that the region was done with the Rahl’s circus act.
Furthermore, with continued blunders with not understand how The East Pacific’s Vizier system worked, how influence worked, and not understanding how The East Pacific worked as a region in general. Fedele did not expect the resolve of the region to be as strong as it is nor how united the citizens, residents and roleplayer groups become when the region is in crisis.
Later when the coup was clearly a failed coup that ended before it started it was revealed that months of planning went into the coup was also months of manipulating the people, regional government and administrators of the region.
With a series of blunders, miscalculations, backstabs and cluelessness that lead the coup to its knees. Not only did Fedele and his crew tarnish their names to become the laughing stock of the region with now countless memes and GIFs but it has also has tarnished the Rahl family name in The East Pacific.
http://forum.theeastpacific.com/topic/7021626/1/
A Message from the Editor
By Tretrid
[hr]
The Eastern Pacific News Service (EPNS) has long been the premier news source in the East Pacific. From its creation by the Magisterium, to it becoming part of the Executive, to even now, the EPNS has had a reputation for truthful journalism.
When I first joined EPNS back in 2018, I contributed heavily in the efforts to revive the publication and worked under Libertanny and Pendragonania during their tenures as editor. However, EPNS went inactive under Fedele’s administration, as Fedele didn’t bother with any of the actual governing stuff and instead did the kinds of things that would make him an interregional laughingstock.
When Marrabuk was elected, he immediately started putting his cabinet together. He appointed Pendragonania to head the newly-renamed Ministry of Information and Communications (MOIC), of which EPNS was a part. He immediately worked to revive EPNS. One of the things he did was invite me back, as I had left NS in late 2018 due to RL issues.
However, Pendragonania resigned in early November, so Marrabuk appointed me as Minister of Information and Communications. I chose to continue where Pendragonania left off, by continuing to grow MOIC and by asking people to write articles for EPNS.
The finished edition of EPNS you see here is but the culmination of the efforts of many people, not just of the past month, but all the work that everybody involved with the EPNS had put in to revive it. All of this was done to deliver the truth to you, the reader.
Thank you to everyone who wrote articles and helped me revive EPNS. I can’t overstate how important your contribution is.
An Interview with Marrabuk
By Tretrid
[hr]
Marrabuk was Minister of Foreign Affairs before being elected Delegate. He was one of the main figures that stopped Fedele’s coup attempt, and is currently working to revive the Executive after a year of inactivity.
Tretrid: What first brought you to TEP?
Marrabuk: I was founded in TEP and never left.
Tretrid: What did you do before joining the forums?
Marrabuk: I believe Ram have asked me why I joined the forums 2 days after my founding. My honest answer was: I received many telegrams asking me to join the forums and also on discord back then too. So I decided to join the forums. Tbh, being a noob, I don’t know what’s going on, I just joined for fun.
Tretrid: Why did you decide to run for Delegate?
Marrabuk:
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Because I no longer wanted to see a Rahl continue to run and destroy our region. And I had great support too.
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I believe the region need a good leader to repair the region after what it’s been through for the past year. I have always kept a TEP and TEPers first policy.
Tretrid: What did you do when you first find out about Fedele’s attempted coup?
Marrabuk: Gather and plan with TEP loyalists. We also had a server with all our allies and friends that came to our aid. It was a hard fought victory that lasted months. TEPers in the RMB played a huge role too. We were organized and coordinated very well, that’s how we managed to beat them.
Tretrid: How do you plan on undoing the damage Fedele has done as Delegate?
Marrabuk: A lot has already been done like increasing the number of viziers. The low number of viziers presents a security risk for us. Which we now know led to the coup. Before the resignation of Aelitia, I managed to bring up the number of Arbiters back up to 4/4. The conclave has been running at 3/4 for months. We will continue work on securing our security and also our laws to prevent a coup from happening again. I have also appointed cabinet and delegate advisors, most of whom were former delegates of TEP themselves. We have also implemented a monthly dialogue session with cabinet, where residents and citizens can come and ask the delegate and cabinet questions and the cabinet will update the citizens and residents on our goals. We are also looking at reviving EPNS which was dead throughout Fedele’s 1 year term. We’re also reviving EPSA which was dead throughout Fedele’s term too. We have also established a treaty with Balder. We are also looking into having more treaties with a few more regions and mending broken relations caused by Fedele. It’s a work in progress and I believe, the cabinet and I will be looking into ways to improve and better the executive and the region as a whole.
Tretrid: Do you have anything to say to the readers of EPNS?
Marrabuk: It’s been a month since I was elected. Many positive changes have already been made and many more positive changes will be made. Together, we can make a difference as a region.
Magisterium News
By Atlae
[hr]
After the debacle that was Fedele’s coup, the Magisterium set to work cleaning up and passing reforms to get the region back on track. On October 14th, after the banjection of Viziers Bachtendekuppen and Todd McCloud, East Malaysia posted “Drawing lines in the sand. Let’s get to work,” a debate in the Magisterium subforum outlining the Magisterium’s priorities. This list included a clarification of what counted as “high crimes,” a new security act, an amendment of the Concordat, and other reforms.
By the time Fedele was out of the region, the Magisterium had set to work. Bachtendekuppen was voted in as the new Provost; McStooley, East Malaysia, Hobbesistan, and Ramaeus had been confirmed as Viziers; Pakitsk had been confirmed as an Arbiter; Sakana had been confirmed as Overseeing Officer of the EPSA. Atlae, Tretrid, Ramaeus, and Angel of Charity were all admitted to the Magisterium, while Tim was ejected due to his complicity in the coup. Escade had also resigned during this period, trying to leave NS in general.
Following through on the promise to make the government simpler, the Magisterium voted to repeal the Office for Tourism and Recruitment Resolution, the Magisterium Reform Act, the Holiday Act, and the Codicis Resolution. For their support of the legitimate government of TEP, the Treaty of Aarhus with Balder was ratified. Zukchiva was re-appointed as an Arbiter, while Atlae was appointed the Chief Officer of Justice.
Currently under vote are the nominations of Minister of World Assembly Affairs Wallenburg to the Conclave, and of Brotherland to Viziership. Still under debate are bills concerning EPPS reform, proscription, endocaps, and regional officers, and also a new Concordat bill and a resolution regarding the Eastern Pacific News Service.
Only a month after Fedele’s coup, the Magisterium has had a flurry of activity, fixing the issues made evident by Fedele’s reign, and will only serve the region well from now on.
Z-Day in the East Pacific
By Zukchiva
[hr]
Z-Day is a well known event throughout the world of NationStates. But for those in the dark, Z-Day is the designated date where every year, zombies besiege the world! However, nations have the power to combat the undead menace with two choices: Tactical Zombie Elimination squads (TZEs) or cure missiles. TZEs are squads of elite soldiers who killed millions of zombies in active combat and generally look extremely awesome. On the other hand, cure missiles are missiles fitted with curheads that turned zombies back into confused humans when the weapons hit a specific area.
Usually, it is the practice for most regions to choose which side they will be joining prior to Z-day: zombies or humans. Most regions decide to go the traditional route with humans, but some regions decide to go against the grain and join the zombie hordes instead.
The East Pacific went zombie! However, it’s new choice did not go unnoticed by many natives, resulting in a small battle being waged within its borders. In the following paragraphs, the formation of the sides as well as their commanders, and a basic idea of what transpires that fateful day will be foretold in a monotone tone for your enjoyment.
SIDES
The zombies were supported by the government and left the Cure Alliance with no mercy. For their commanders, the zombies chose the merciless Angel of Charity and Grand Zombie Warden Pakitsk. During the course of the conflict, another nation known as the Atlae Isles was also promoted to de-facto commander. (By meaning, he posted targets. Pretty much it!). The command structure was effectively streamlined, with targets presented publicly on the Z-Day channel. This rapid acquisition of targets helped zombies chew mercilessly on their frightened enemies with the utmost power and speed!
On the other side of the civil conflict, we can see the humans who geared up to fight the undead people. Receiving absolutely no support from the government this year around, a few nation’s nonetheless decided to battle the hordes as their now zombified predecessors had done. The original commanders of the resulting alliance were East Malaysia and Elejamie, with Libertanny and Zukchiva serving as sub-commanders. Later on, resident Davinah was also promoted to a sub commander for the TZE forces. Unlike the zombies, the command structure was not streamlined, with multiple targets being presented for cure and TZEs at the same time, causing confusion amongst the human forces.
HAPPENINGS
When the event began at 4:00 PM EST, nothing truly happened. At that point, zombies were building up their hordes as the cure alliance (name for human side) saw nations choosing their specialities (being a majority of cure. A mistake? No way!).
However, things began to pick up at around 5:00 PM, with zombies beginning to lead attacks and the cure alliance retaliating fiercely. These first early battles saw victories for the Cure Alliance, which managed to beat down multiple zombified nations with minimal casualties and high “we’re doing awesome” vibes.
But the tides of war soon quickly changed allegiance to the horde (those darn tides). With their massive numbers and superior tactics, the horde began to beat back the Cure Alliance’s attempts at rebellion. Within six hours of the event, the Cure Alliance saw the surrender of two of its Commanders. By then, victory of the hordes was assured. Deeming the Cure Alliance no longer a threat, the horde formulated a new goal: zombify The East Pacific as much as possible.
As the Cure Alliance went to bed, new zombie nation’s began to attack anyone and everyone with more than a few million survivors. Within 12 hours, almost all nations in the East Pacific were zombified, giving ultimate victory to the hordes.
In a desperate attempt, the Cure Alliance moved bases to a passworded UCR, in order to heal Alliance nations and to perhaps lead a final offensive. However, the zombies at this point held the the East Pacific firmly in their wretched grasp, and repelled any attempts of the Alliance to return fire.
By 4:00 PM EST, the Cure Alliance’s main commanders all surrendered, marking the end of the Cure Alliance. The cause of surrender was officially stated as to prevent puppet spam, resulting from the jumping back and forth from TEP and the UCR. Afterwards, the zombie hordes went on to decrease the number of zombies as much as possible, eventually making sure that the East Pacific was no where on the Most Survivors tally on the Z-Day board results!
All in all, the event was a lot of fun for the region. While tensions did rise a little bit between sides, when all was done and told everyone could say that they at least had some happy moments within the fight.
The zombies won the day, and their putrid flesh now runs amok within the East Pacific. Until next time, zombies!
(Editor’s Note: To those who sided with the zombies for Z-Day, don’t mind the slight anti-zombie bias.)
Roleplay in the East Pacific: An Introduction
By Zukchiva
[hr]
Roleplay in the East Pacific (TEP) has been an integral part of the region ever since it was founded in 2003. Since then, the East Pacific has been drawing people of all race, ethnicity, gender, and creed to expound on its regional lore and to take up the mantle of imaginative and creative writers.
For most of TEP’s roleplaying history, roleplay solely occurred within the East Pacific’s Forums. The forum, initially founded by One Infinite Loop as a platform for flag requests, quickly became a secure and convenient platform for roleplay to occur. In fact, many players would often roleplay events relating to other going-ons in the forums, primarily the government section. One primary example of this was a small roleplay that occurred about the arrival of an entity called the Empire into the roleplay universe, not so coincidentally at the same time of the Empire’s coup of The East Pacific in 2008. Eventually, roleplay became so profound and active that it split away from governmental gameplay, and became a separate entity, known today as TEP Evolved.
TEP Evolved is a worldbuilding-centric roleplay. Visiting the roleplay section of TEP’s forums, one will see a sub-thread containing a long list of factbooks from nations past and present. These factbooks lay details upon each nation’s specific culture, history, government structures, economy, and sometimes even military strength. Easy access to these factbooks allows roleplayers the ability to quickly learn about any nation within minutes.
Of course, this isn’t the only worldbuilding facet that TEP Evolved offers! The forum roleplay also has its own small wiki (called TEPWiki), which can be used to formulate Wikipedia style articles. The wiki is maintained by East Malaysia, and has many of the features utilized by NSWiki for the full Wikipedia experience, minus the lack of updates prevalent in the older site.
Getting into the roleplay itself, TEP Evolved’s main world, Urth, is mainly a roleplay about modern-day nations in similar situations like Earth nation in real life. However, for those who don’t wish to roleplay in such a fast-paced world, there are many alternate universes that are quite active as well. Currently, a popular alternate universe is 2199, which is basically the universe of Urth but set in a future of spaceships and emerging space empires. Having recently been rebooted, it is now undergoing a revival under the experienced hand of Ember, the Cartography Captain of TEP Evolved.
At the other side of TEP’s range of multiverses is the Regional Message Board Roleplay (RMB RP). RMB RP is set in a canonically different universe from TEP Evolved, however, unlike TEP Evolved, RMB RP has existed for around only two years in a serious, structured form. Yet, within that short time, it has built up a vibrant community parallel to TEP Evolved’s.
Whereas TEP Evolved is focused more on worldbuilding, RMB RP is built more around interaction both between characters and between nations. While factbooking using NationStates’s in-game factbook feature is a common practice, most nations do not focus on worldbuilding as much as their forum counterparts, because more time is spent directly roleplaying.
The main roleplaying map/setting of RMB RP is a modern-technology planet named Valsora. Unlike Urth, wars are often the forefront of roleplay in this universe, with regional alliances and hegemons dominating the landscape. It is a never-ending turmoil of nations struggling for their survival, but, like Urth, it paves the way for epic tales to be sprung and told!
Of course, like TEP Evolved, there are other roleplay options for those who don’t wish to partake in the grit and grind of mainstream roleplays. These side roleplays, which are usually called alternate roleplays, are usually not as structured as TEP Evolved’s alternate universes. However, it is easy to start an alternate roleplay in RMB RP. Just make a map and gather interested roleplayers! One popular alternate roleplay occurring right now is 1555, a roleplay set in a universe exploring the interactions of medieval nations. TEP Evolved has a similar universe as well (just set on Urth around 1000s, instead of the 1500s)!
Ultimately, The East Pacific has many different options for anyone who wishes to roleplay to their heart’s content. Stemming from intensely warring states to clashing medieval empires, roleplay in the East reflects the extreme diversity of its roleplayers. It’s an interesting world of adventure in roleplay, and we hope that you may one day join with us along the journey.
Until then, keep writing!
A Note from the Roleplay Captain
By Dylan
[hr]
(Editor’s Note: TEP Evolved is the name for TEP forum RP, which has been part of TEP for much of its history.)
Not only is TEP Evolved an amazing place to grow your stories and knowledge, but it is also a central hub for talented designers and map makers within our community. A Cartography team has existed since 2016 to maintain all of our roleplay maps, some of which are political, climate, or tectonic and ocean currents. What is in the new is topography; working together, people on one of the continents of Aurora have created a continental elevation map to the finest of details, with each pixel roughly representing 6,000km2. The best part: we offer you these services and are willing to teach people.
A map of the continent Aurora, by elevation
The NS Flag Service, a revival of a long-standing group of designers within Forum RP give their best efforts to anyone and everyone who wants something made for them; from national or state flags, political or news emblems and many more, they are always on standby to help you and what a great job they do! The resources are there, for you to utilise whilst worldbuilding in TEP Forum RP.
Alongside all these great perks, we are committed to recognising talent. The Roleplay Awards were created for that very purpose- we recognise the talent of our roleplayers. Whether you’re writing news articles, developing characters, making TEPWiki or factbook pages or a roleplay itself, everything is recognised. The awards are held four times a year at every quarter, and it is set up over multiple threads that you, the people, vote in for your favourite category. When you have won a category, you will begin a tally of trophies that you may accrue. There are four tiers: Bronze (5+ trophies), Silver (10+ trophies), Gold (17+ trophies), and Platinum (25+ trophies), each time you reach a new tier you will be granted a special banner for your signature and special recognition in a region-wide telegram. With our system, you can win 12 trophies a year and be well on your way to regional recognition where after gaining Platinum, your honour, love and devotion will be forever remembered in the Hall of Roleplaying Heroes with a special write up of your works.
RMB RP Update November 2019
By Lerasi
[hr]
After the Zombie Apocalypse faded to black across NationStates and November began, we saw many role-playing highlights such as the Rise of Honorism in Valsora. Starting off the RP this month was the negotiations for the Invasion of the Balkanized States. The belligerents met in the Nova-Columbian Hall of Concord to discuss bringing about a peaceful end to the war. These negotiations sadly died off. In more hopeful news for the activity of Valsora Roleplay, the USR declared war on Sminisha, forcing the Mabryn Coalition to declare war. Before the ENL and IP could involve themselves, however, their declarations of war were voided. In my own nation, elections have been in progress and will come to an end on Thanksgiving. When the FCR started to win, an investigation found that they were cheating and they were disqualified from the election. Later, RMB RP got a huge boom in activity and a lot more interesting as Kampf basically blew up. The Civil War has been in secret planning for a while now, and it has come to fruition as dozens of factions declare independence and/or fight for control of Kampfia. International intervention was inevitable, and the Iron Pakt is waiting to strike on their enemy while it is down. Peatiktist and the USR have also sent troops in to factions that they support while Aslaconrad plans to carve out a Kaiserreich to rival the former Iron Kingdom. More updates on this event are sure to follow.
Valsora Climate Summit Delegation Arrives in Abadong
By Neo Afro Caribbean Order
[hr]
Fires, hurricanes, and tornadoes continue to get worse because of climate change. However, to fix this, the Angel of Charity decided to call on a summit to discuss the matters of climate change.
Delegations from Zukchiva, Lerasi, Great Algerstonia, Rage Mage, The Waaa, Restoration of Eastern Kaiserreich, Nova-Australis, The Cult of the Great Cthulhu, the Neo Afro Caribbean Order, Gorbastan, The Sennheiser Union, Volinovia, Kampf Empire, Peatiktist, Terrabis-Seran, and Abadong were invited to discuss.
The delegations arrived in Abadong, the decided host, on 18 October 2019 and the conference began on the nineteenth. The first discussion was begun by one of the delegation members of the Angel of Charity. “Hello everyone, thank you for participating in Valsora’s first climate summit! I hope everyone has had a wonderful time.
“However, I’d like to direct your attention to the conference hall, which is two floors above us, and on your right. It is there that we shall begin our discussion.”
The Emerald School is a school in Aska Falls, a community of Irakot, Neo Afro Caribbean Order. The academy comprises of an elementary school, an intermediate school, and an upper school. The school’s motto is “Inspiring our Future by Leading with Temperance”.
The school was given the invitation to attend the Climate Summit in Abadong on behalf of the diplomatic delegation of the Neo Afro Caribbean Order.
Led by Mr. Jonathan Shulman, this delegation comprises of fifteen students. The delegation flew in on Cathay Athena and arrived on 19 October.
They are taking notes to put back in the form of a slideshow presentation in which they will present to their classmates in the upper school. RMB Today spoke to Shulman on his opinions on this summit. He states that his students are “honoured to represent their nation and are willing to report the best notes back to the Abadong right now, but are on pause for the night. The next parts of the summit will resume tomorrow.