History of The East Pacific

Mangegneithe · February 2, 2022, 11:36pm

The following volumes are part of a larger series composed by Nociav, the Minister of Publishing, and a group of individuals working as a joint project between EPNS, UTEP, and the Ministry of Publishing. This project is designed to create a detailed chronicle of East Pacifican history for the record, to bring everything we have in our archives and memories into one place. This is an educational resource and took a year to create. The success of this project is owed entirely to the hard work of Nociav and the dedicated volunteers who contributed to the project. Without further ado, may I present, The History of The East Pacific.

Mangegneithe · February 2, 2022, 11:37pm

The East Pacific News Service
January 31, 2022
The Story of The East Pacific Volume One - Our Pre-Loop History

Contributed By [nation=Nociav] and the University of The East Pacific

— Begin quote from ____

Foreword

I thank Unibot for his permission to use his “Anatomy of the Coup III: TEP, the Early Days” which you can read here:

https://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=447629

Without his work, this volume would not have been possible.

I’d also like to thank Heinekenbier, who also goes by the name HC Eredivisie, for allowing me to interview him about AA and pre-AA TEP.

Contrary to the popular misspelling, “Lothlanderamore” is actually spelled “Lotlanthanderamore”. No nation called “Lothlanderamore” has ever existed[18]. Lotlanthanderamore was last online in 2005 which means either “Loth” revived his nation or he never went away[16]. I use the incorrect spelling here so it isn’t confusing to read. The misspelling is one of Loop’s from way back in 2005[17] which explains why it’s so entrenched.

Should new information come out or any errors need fixing, I will release an addendum to this and other volumes.

As a side note, I’d like to point out that TEP, being a UCR at one point, has the “T” capitalized whereas TWP, TSP, and TP all have lowercase "t"s. TNP is the only other Feeder with a capital T. Since the order of feeder foundings go TP, TSP, TNP, TWP, TEP, it is almost certain that someone founded TNP as a UCR before it became a feeder. Its order in the founding makes it incredibly likely that it wasn’t a mere mistake from the admins. Hopefully, someone in the north will get on this case. I’ll look forward to reading any history someone might create about the founding of TNP.

I’d like to stress that I have found absolutely nothing else about this pre-Loop TEP. Absolutely nothing else. You are getting absolutely everything I have found. This is extraordinarily frustrating because there are so many unanswered questions that may never get answered ever because all history of this era depends on memory, which is fallible, and random posts from here and there. I’m sure that many people will share my frustration but please enjoy whatever has been found out in this volume.

Pre-Atlantic Alliance

Despite the popular story of TEP being founded by Hitler the Great (HTG), as a trophy before being raided by the Farkers and becoming a GCR, TEP’s history predates HTG and the Atlantic Alliance (AA). By how much? We might never know. Why did HTG get so associated with the founding of TEP? We also might never know.

TEP’s Pre-Atlantic Alliance history is mostly unknown as the AA kept no public record of what TEP was like before their occupation. The only things that we do know is that Reubenlucy may have been the Delegate before the AA and that it did exist before the Atlantic Alliance took over[3]. Heineken, in a telegram exchange, tells me that he thinks it may have been someone else other than Reubenlucy as Reubenlucy was part of the AA. Further inference can be drawn to prove it existed pre-AA from a post Nusseburg made saying, on the 12th of May, 2003, that it was taken during “that huge flurry of activity a few weeks ago”. He most likely references the introduction of regional controls[4] which happened on the 29th of April, 2003[14]. Heineken also implies that it existed before the AA when he said it must have been someone else. Since you can’t raid a region that doesn’t exist, logically speaking, TEP pre-dates the AA.

Other than this, nothing is known. The Founding date is unknown, who founded it is unknown, what the WFE was, and what the RMB was like, who was in the region, and everything else has all been lost to history. We can assume that the reason it was founded was because of its namesake GCR, the West Pacific. The only nations that may know this are Reubenlucy but they and their puppet, Reubenlucy Jr, CTE’d 13 and 15 years ago respectively. HTG, the often-cited founder, may also know but he also CTE’d a long time ago.

Loop says he had screenshots of TEP in April 2003 but they have presumably been lost over time[20]. A real shame.

I haven’t found anything else about pre-AA TEP and neither has anyone else as far as I can tell. Nevertheless, I present a challenge to everyone reading this. The first person who finds out anything else about TEP before the Atlantic Alliance with sure proof will be gifted five legendary cards and ten epic cards.

The Atlantic Alliance Occupation

The Atlantic Alliance, a proto-imperialist raiding group, raided The East Pacific on or shortly after the 29th of April, 2003[14] as inferred by Nusseburg[4]. After being taken, it became the forward base for the Third Legion[7]. The member list for the Third Legion was Hitler the Great, Phenmark, Pimpmaro, and Reubenlucy[7]. Although it was for the Third Legion, other Atlantic Alliance soldiers did move in and out of the region from time to time[6][13]. The only documented Delegates during the Atlantic Alliance’s occupation are Reubenlucy and Heinekenbier[19]. Heineken has told me that Reubenlucy was Delegate and then he was Delegate. He doesn’t remember any of the other Delegates during this era. It is fair to assume that the Delegacy did bounce around to various trusted AA officials. Perhaps HTG was a Delegate at some point, it certainly isn’t impossible. Loop testifies to this[15] but Loop also says that it was a trophy region[19] which is known to be false since it was the Third Legion’s forward base.

During this occupation, The East Pacific was passworded with a numerical password and the only way to get in was to request the password from the Delegate. Only Atlantic Alliance soldiers with permission could enter[2].

The exact WFE during the Atlantic Alliance occupation is unknown but it was most likely a variant of the standard WFE for forward bases which was:

“Established on [MONTH] [DAY], [YEAR], Forward base of the Atlantic and home of The [LEGION NUMBER] Legion. http://homepages.nyu.edu/~ncl206/Atlantic/”[10]

The RMB was just random chatter between the various AA soldiers, nothing else according to Heineken.

The Farker Invasion

The Farkers, another raiding group, seized the Delegacy on the 13th of May, 2003, at around 9 am UTC with, what was presumably, a small contingent of raiders after they had learned the password. Unibot estimated a figure of 15 or so but the links he gave as a source are now dead. Loop says that when he assumed the Delegacy after Lothlanderamore, who was the point for the raid[8], he had 13 endorsements[15] all of which were presumably fellow Farkers. Either way, it was most likely no more than 20 but greater than 10.

After the successful raid, Loth ejected the Atlantic Alliance soldiers as was remembered by Heinekenbier who recalls logging in to find himself ejected from the region[19].

The Farkers gained the password by having it leaked to them from Myrth/Borisland who was sent the password shortly before the raid[19]. Although Myrth denies this, it seems to me that the evidence against him is too great to be plausibly denied. His initial defense, when put to trial, is laughable and very suspect[2]. His motive can’t be precisely established but he said that it was interesting to see how long he could lead the AA on[2]. The opportunity came with the advent of the Farkers. Heineken also says that he sent the password to Myrth before the Farker raid[19].

A few days later, around the 15th of May, 2003, the region had its password struck down and its status changed from a UCR to a GCR[19]. This change was completely unexpected and blindsided the Farkers as no announcement was made beforehand or after about TEP becoming the fifth and final feeder. The Farker confusion about nations finding their way in was justified as they thought they had passworded it. Loth’s initial reaction was to eject every non-Farker nation. This was quickly loosened to all UN nations and then to UN nations not endorsing the Delegate[1].

After the policy was loosened to UN nations not endorsing the Delegate, Loop succeeded as Delegate. The precise date isn’t known but Loop has claimed that it was on the 24th[5], he has claimed it was on the 25th[11]. However, NSDossier has Loth listed as the Delegate on the 28th of May but Loop on the 2nd of June[19]. It has to be between the 28th and the 1st of June since Loop’s earliest boot logs are dated on the forums to the 1st of June[21]. My guess is the 31st of May, the date the forums were created. Whatever the exact date, Loop took the Delegacy with just 13 endorsements[15], beginning a new chapter in the story of The East Pacific.

I’m aware that the handover isn’t this simple and I’ll elaborate on this in the next volume; The Story of The East Pacific Volume Two - The Age of Loop.

Sources
[spoiler]
[1]NationStates • View topic - NS History: You've Got Questions, We've Got Answers!
[2]https://atlantic.proboards.com/thread/164/east-pacific-traitor
https://atlantic.proboards.com/thread/164/east-pacific-traitor?page=2
[3]https://networkradio.proboards.com/thread/171/twinkles-siggis-secret-identity
[4]https://atlantic.proboards.com/post/1029
[5]A Brief History of Everything [Archive] - Jolt Forums
[6]UN Member Nations
[7]http://graptor.net/atlantic/members.html
[8]Given that Loop has always stated that Loth was the only Farker Delegate before him and no other source contradicts this, it is safe to assume that Loth was the point.
[9]It’s on the last page of here.
http://nsdossier.texasregion.net//history.aspx?region=The+East+Pacific&type=Exact&group=region&start=&end=
[10]This was the standard WFE format for forward bases as evidenced by The West Pacific which was an Atlantic Alliance forward base at the time.
Region
[11]History of The East Pacific - The East Pacific - Tapatalk
[13]You can read an Atlantic Alliance soldier saying he’ll move back to The East Pacific here:
Region
[14]NationStates | News
[15]The Fractured History of The East Pacific (updated) - The East Pacific - Tapatalk
[16]NationStates | Boneyard
[17]Bill EPHST-001 - The East Pacific - Tapatalk
[18]NationStates | Boneyard
[19]NationStates • View topic - Anatomy of the Coup III: TEP, the Early Days
Heineken also confirmed in a telegram exchange that Reubenlucy was a Delegate.
[20]Dear Pacific - Page 2 - The People's Republic of The Pacific
[21]Boot logs - The East Pacific - Tapatalk
[/spoiler]

— End quote

Mangegneithe · February 16, 2022, 3:23pm

The Story of The East Pacific Volume Two - The Age of Loop

— Begin quote from ____

Foreword

I thank Neo Nibu for his “History of The East Pacific” which you can read here:

I also thank the one and the only Free Pacific States for helping me by reviewing this and providing things from his memory. Without him, several details would be lost to history. I also thank East Malaysia, for reviewing things for me.

I once again use the common misspelling “Lothlanderamore” and not the correct spelling of “Lotlanthanderamore” to prevent confusion.

Unfortunately, most images from this era are now gone. Probably deleted by technical bugs and lost during the many switches from one forum service to another.

Even more saddening was the InvisionFree server failure that caused all forum threads from the 24th of March, 2006, to the 15th of November, 2006, to be lost. This includes many important threads such as the announcement that Gindrah is Loop’s successor and the opening Delegate statement that Gnidrah gave.

On the brighter side, we have more information on this era since most forum threads do survive with the aforementioned exceptions.

Should new information come out or any errors need fixing, I will release an addendum to this and other volumes.

I’ll say before beginning that this volume doesn’t flow quite so well from one event to another as the previous volume did. I tried my best to make it flow better but daisy chaining unrelated events would give the impression that they were related. A bad way to show reality.

I haven’t documented TEP’s RP history nor will I document TEP’s RP history throughout these volumes. The time needed to document just the Government side of things took a year. RP, being so much more expansive, will take a lot longer than my year-long effort. Time I won’t have.

The Beginning

Loop came to power around the 31st of May, 2003[1], with just 13 endorsements[91]. Loop’s story about the handover is that Loth had IRL matters and gave Loop the Delegacy temporarily before never returning. If Loop’s story is true, then the question is “when did Loop realize it was permanent rather than temporary like Loth had said?” The answer isn’t known but it had to have been pretty quick since Loop created the forums just a few days into his Delegacy (assuming he became Delegate on the 29th, which is one day after the NSDossier entry for Loth).

But there are several wrenches in the works when it comes to Loop’s story. Firstly, the Wayback machine captures Loth moving in and out of TEP on the 25th of June in 2003[66]. Secondly, Loop has also told another story, that Loth handed over control of TEP to him because Loth didn’t want the responsibility of handling a region[46]. Thirdly, Loth had plans to make the forums as well[12]. If Loop’s first story is true then Loop creating the forums so quickly would make no sense since Loth planned to do that. Loop’s latter story about responsibility is far more plausible.

I have the feeling that we’re missing information about Loop’s rise to the Delegacy. Whatever the case may be, the handover definitely isn’t as simple as commonly believed and Loop will have to clarify this for us at some point.

Regardless of the handover, Loop created the forums on the 31st of May[2] and he began the most formative era of our confederacy.

The first thing Loop did with his new position was to change Loth’s ejection policy to ejecting nations inactive for 14 days, nations with lewd, offensive, or drug-related flags, mottos, or names[15]. Whilst the latter half was reasonable, one wonders the point in ejecting inactive nations.

Aside from changing Loth’s detested ejection policy, TEP also began its first foreign affairs relationship with The South Pacific on the 1st of June[16], the oldest foreign affairs relationship TEP has. It would be from this humble beginning that TEP’s foreign affairs began. Over time, it grew to become the Department of Interregional Affairs and, in its modern form, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Before the Department ever existed, it was mostly just Loop popping around the embassy threads whenever needed.

However, not everything was quite so smooth. Just under 2 weeks of Loop’s Delegacy, TEP was hit by a griefer attack, an invasion from TRR, and a coup, all on the same night.

PapalExhibitionism (also known as “National Stalinists”, “--", and "0--0”) UN multied to overthrow Loop on the 8th of June[3]. After overthrowing Loop, PapalExhibitionism ejected him[17] and changed the WFE to:

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA You lose, 1 Infinite Loop”

Classy.

When TEP was hit by the griefer, TRR invaded, thinking it was going to overthrow Loop. However, the leader of the raid, Gres (who was also TRR Delegate), went inactive on that day. Kandarin decided to go ahead with Gres’ invasion and so the Rejected Realms Army invaded. Loop was actually aware that the invasion was going to take place since Gres alerted Loop about his invasion beforehand with this TG:

"Infinite Loop, I would like to let you know that those supporting me in the RR may choose to try to overtake your position as delegate. I think it only fair that you know that I proposed the idea. I promise you that I will not mass eject nations if we decide to move over.

My nations and I are in a hard place. We need a region that is not constantly bombarded with spammers that we can not kick out. I proposed East Pacific only because of the few endorsements you have and the fact that it is a birth nation. This is not personal.

I would like to keep open communication with you during this process and I will let you know as soon as our region decides.

Sincerely,

Gres"[90]

During the griefer attack and the invasion, Myrth, the password leaker, attempted his own coup[33].

So the next day, on the 9th of June, the mods deleted PapalExhibitionism and Gres funnily enough. The griefer was deleted for obvious multying and Gres was also deleted for multying however his multies played no role in the TEP invasion. Loop was granted the Delegate seat by the mods and Loop proceeded to boot the TRR invaders[17][28] and Myrth[33]. Although the TRR invasion soured TEP-TRR relations, Kandarin and Loop later became friends and mended relations.

This didn’t mean that Loop’s reinstatement was popular, however. Many people demanded Loop’s removal for his dictatorial rule. Enodia, the mod behind Loop’s reinstatement left this telegram as a response to critics on the same day as Loop’s reinstatement:

"This is to all those who want to criticize what I’ve been doing in relation to the East Pacific griefing and its fallout.

The East Pacific was griefed. That’s obvious. From go to woah I spent the better part of an hour locating and deleting the multis involved in this event. Standard fare for a mod - even though there were some 80 multis involved in the business.
This morning, my time, I saw some posts pointing to Gres as either the nation behind it all or the nation who “put PapalExhibitionism up to doing this”. On investigation, Gres was cheating and was dealt with accordingly. I don’t know whether Gres and PapalExhibitionism were one and the same, and in fact I’d suggest that they weren’t. Fact is that Gres was cheating. Weeding through that took quite a while as well.
Following this particular event, I was then informed that my region was going to be attacked as retaliation. As a result, the Rejected Realms had their UN members checked for multis - resulting in a lot of UN ejections and the odd deletion.

At this point, I’d like to point out to anyone who was ejected from the UN that it wasn’t something done lightly. The UN Check isn’t perfect for catching cheats, but it comes damn close in my book. For those of you who want to suggest that America (where a lot of you are) or Australia (where I am) is a democracy so therefore you should be given the right of appeal - STFU.
Arguments about the nature of democracy aside, NationStates isn’t one. You know who’s word is law? Max Barry. He’s also appointed some secret police - yes, I’m not ashamed to call myself a secret policeman - the moderators. If your nation is cheating or looks for all the world like it is, it gets carted away from the UN. If your nation is offensive or looks like it might be, it mysteriously disappears. If your motto is offensive or looks like it might be, it gets “re-educated”. Yep, we’re the secret police - we’re the Stasi, the Securitate and everything else rolled into one. Scarpia ain’t got nothin’ on how mean we can be.

Having dealt with the multi issue as effectively as it can be, my job was then to ensure that - while The East Pacific was still vulnerable to attacks - they weren’t a foregone conclusion. In an ideal world, I’d appoint a founder and allow them to password-protect the region, but I can’t do that because that’s where the new nations come up (or some of them). Was I right to appoint 1 Infinite Loop? I believe I was. Loop was the one who alerted me to the attacks in the first place and he has also been very helpful in reporting other problems for the mods to address. Yes, he does have a chequered past, but my belief is that he’s sufficiently “cured” to at least be a temporary delegate.
Well, seems like there’s no pleasing some people. Immediately Loop becomes the delegate, I get called every name under the sun for “facilitating griefing”. Ironically, when I have a look at the region - the delegate (and consequently he-who-is-booting) isn’t even Loop, it’s someone else. Last I checked, Loop’s back in business as the delegate. Yes, he might well be booting some players, but he’s within his rights to boot those challenging him for the delegate-ship or those he thinks are multis, or region-crashers, or whatever the hell else they might be.

I maintain that at all times during this crisis I’ve done the right thing. In fact, i challenge anyone wanting to criticise any mod for any action to outline what they would have done better if they were in the same position the mod was. We have to make tough decisions on the fly and often without recourse to every single minute fact which might help one side’s case. I know that certain nations (not naming any names) will take umbrage at the fact that I’m admitting that moderating isn’t an exact science, but it isn’t. In the same way as you can always tell a football coach what play he should have called, you can always tell a mod what they should have done - the question you need to ask yourselves is whether or not you would have done what it is you recommend they do.
A great man once asked - what is easier, coming up with an idea that will change the world, or criticising an idea which you hear?

Are the mods an instrument of state power? You better believe it. If need be, I can be judge, jury and executioner - and all three in the space of a few seconds. As a collective, we represent the three arms of government - and there aren’t any elections scheduled in the near future.

Criticise us as much as you want, but make certain you tell us what you would have done better.
√"[105]

These were some of the many attacks TEP faced. The other attacks were utter failures by the looks of things and so they never were written about but Loop does offhandedly mention the various groups and nations that did attack. The names of the groups that survive the test of time are named “The [vile tribe]”, the Leninist Front[34], and the ADN[49]. One attack doesn’t have a region name to it but the nations who presumably lead it do survive with this telegram they accidentally sent to Loop himself:

“everybody listen up. on sunday june 8th move to the east pacific. grunstsburg will stay here as the delegate. the rest of us will endorse samulesen and take it over. we will stay there and get eveyrone to move to the ultimate alliance. their delegate has 35 endorsements, so we will need at least 36 of you. the region has over 2000 nations so this will be a major victory for us. we cant try to overcome the north south and west pacifics like this because their dlegates have too many endorsements. so make sure you can all show up.”

The telegram is from a nation called “Taniquetil”[90]. Another attack has no details aside from that it did happen from a nation or group called “nowa warszawa”[90]. When? How many nations? How does Loop know it was nowa warszawa? Who knows anymore.

Attacks were frequent enough that TEP had a backup region called “The Confederated East Pacific” which would be used in case of invasions or coups[49]. It was used during the Empire invasion[98]. I’ve refounded the region to prevent someone from trophying it.

Creating The Government

With TEP surviving the triple threat of a griefer, the RRA, and Myrth, Loop continued to build TEP.

The first thing he did was to open a foreign affairs thread on the 13th of July where prospective regions would introduce themselves. Within a month, Loop received greetings from The Heartland, which was a strong RP region, Confederacy of Free Porcupines, the Atlantic Central Command (ACC), TSP, and TRR[19].

As a side note, Loop said he would open the TRR embassy in a day or so but I haven’t been able to find it. Maybe it got lost along with the current of time, maybe it’s buried in the archives. What I can say, however, is that TEP and TRR began their first friendly relations on the 29 of August in 2003.

Back on to chronological order.

The Pacific embassy opened on the 26th of August. This was the pre-NPO Pacific. This pre-NPO Pacific was led by Thedoc and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was led by Bleasdale. The foreign affairs appeared to be handled through a dedicated nation called, in the case of TEP, “The Pacific Embassy E”, E meaning east[21]. A quick check in the boneyard shows that there are N, S, and W incarnations for the other Pacifics as well.

Loop assigned the first forum moderators on the 2nd of September with Codex and Imatron[18]. Imatron went on to be inactive which is why so few people know about them but Codex would be active and, in time, become the chief legal expert and sole archiver.

On the same day, the first-ever proto-Ministry was formed when Loop asked Kabuverdianu, an alias of Wachovia[82], if they wanted to take charge of handling UN resolutions and presenting them to TEP. Kabu accepted and gave his new position the title of “UN Liason[sic]”[81]. Kabu, unbeknownst to him, had laid the groundwork for the Chief Ministry of World Assembly Affairs which can trace its ancestry straight to this proto-Ministry.

The UN Liason would not be the only proto-Ministry for long because just a week later, on the 9th of September, Loop asked for ideas for other Governmental positions and was proposed the idea of an intelligence agency. Loop liked the idea[79] and, around a month later, created the intelligence sub-forum[80]. This intelligence agency was called the East Pacific Intelligence Agency (EPIA) and its job was to uncover threats to TEP and to gather intelligence on any potential threats. Similar to the EPPS.

A month later, on the 23rd of October, Loop finally decided to turn his attention to Francos Spain who had couped the Pacific a few months before. He created a thread open to four other people, Westminister, LadyRebels, Kandarin, and Ack. They discussed the Pacific’s situation and all of them except for Ack (who was absent in these threads) agreed that they should overthrow Franco[23][24][25].

However, the effort against Franco eventually failed after a bug where Franco had his Delegacy stripped, Corinthe gained the Delegacy and ended Francos’ reign. The NS mods then removed Corinthe from the region for some time but let her back in after a few hours. Corinthe’s support couldn’t be called upon as most people were asleep at this time. Franco, just two endorsements ahead, regained the Delegacy[26]. It was because of sheer bad luck that Loop decided to give up overthrowing Franco.

Franco, despite being the big topic of NS at the time, didn’t affect TEP in any long-term way so he won’t be making another appearance.

The Confederacy

Now that Loop had set up a Government, he needed a constitution. So, he got to work and hand wrote TEP’s first constitution the "Articals[sic] of Confederation[14]. It was inspired by the US constitution and the Confederacy’s Articles of Confederation[22]. The Articals[sic] divided power into the usual three divisions of the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches. The Executive and Judicial branches were mostly similar to what we have nowadays but there were changes. The Delegate had much more power than today and the Judiciary had a jury system. It even legislated some proto-Ministries[27]. The most noteworthy of them was the East Pacific Defence Initiative (EPDI), a regional militia only ever used to defend TEP. The general of this militia was Loop or anyone he chose to do it for him. This was not, however, a military since Loop was staunchly against any such thing[89]. The Legislative branch, however, is unrecognizable to us today. There were two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives (also called the Congress). How such a system was supposed to function in passing legislation isn’t made clear in the Articals[sic] themselves and the House was never used as far as I can tell so we still have no idea how the two were supposed to work together. Nevertheless, Loop ratified the Articals[sic] on the 31st of October. Officiating his Governmental setup.

It was a month later, on the 25th of November, that Loop created the first Executive Order. In this order, he made it illegal to endotart. He called upon the Senate to enact this as a law[31] but the Senate got round to doing this a year later, on the 22nd of June in 2004.

From the 25th of November, 2003, until late March of 2004, nothing important happened in the Government, or at least nothing important that I could find. The forums were still active and daily life in TEP did continue as I have described towards the end of this volume. RP did happen and plenty of noteworthy RP-related things happened however, TEP’s RP history is so rich and expansive that I could never document it effectively. Understand that throughout the entirety of TEP’s history from Loop to today, RP was vibrant and active.

The only noteworthy non-RP and non-Government thing that happened was the appearance of Gatesville on the 15th of March, 2004. This happened when Loop warned the TSP Delegate, LadyRebels, about a telegram sent in Gatesville’s name opposing her UN decisions. The appearance is especially amusing because Loop says it could be big and Lady Rebels said they’d look into it. The poetic nature of this is wonderful[36].

After this appearance, the first noteworthy Government related event was the beginning of relations with the NPO on the 28th of March. A day later, on the 29th, the NPO proposed a peace deal with TEP[37] and Loop accepted on the same day. In doing so, he recognized the NPO as the legitimate Government[38]. TEP’s Senate officiated it a day later, on the 30th[40]. Loop’s position on Franco had softened by this time. He compared Franco’s situation to his own when he was fresh in the Delegate seat from Loth and decided that he would give Franco a chance since he believed Franco would become more like him[39].

On the 4th of April, 2004, NSDossier listed the Delegate seat as empty[84] but I haven’t come across any mention of Loop losing the Delegacy on this day in the archives or anywhere else. If Loop did lose the Delegacy for an update, then no one noticed.

Six days later, on the 10th of April, the House of Representatives was abolished and the Senate was made the sole Legislative house[57], making the Legislative branch look a little more recognizable to us today.

On the 20th of April, TWP begins its first meeting with TEP with Minineenee as diplomat[58]. Minineenee would go on to subvert TEP twice, once with the Empire and once more with Fedele but those are tales for future volumes.

A day later, on the 21st, the NPO proposes a non-aggression pact (NAP) to Loop[47] and he accepted it, signing it on the NPO forums with Franco[47]. As far as I’m aware, it hasn’t been repealed yet (as of the 8th of May, 2021) making this ancient, redundant, and simple NAP legally binding to this day and the oldest formal agreement in TEP’s history as well as the most enduring.

A month later, on the 16th of May, 2004, the ancestor of the Ministry of Immigration was created, the “Department of Tourism and Regional Promotion” and it had all the same duties Immigration had. The first Secretary of this department was Hoop[61]. I should remind you that TEP was different back then in many ways but it also had the same age-old problem that plagues us today, a problem described by Zumanity as “attrition”, where we don’t retain enough nations. The forums housed just a select few and expanding that was a big deal back then as well. One of the ideas was to hammer it in when a UN resolution recommendation was posted[46]. For all our sophistication, we’re no different than TEP in its primitive state. We solve problems through more sophisticated methods like scripts and tools but primitive TEP solved its problems through the methods available back then. The only difference now is how we apply our efforts to solve problems, efforts that are only possible because we build from the backs of giants.

Aside from new proto-Ministries, TEP also created its first endocap on the 23rd of May, set at 150 for anyone not active on the forums. This was later amended to 150 for anyone not in the Government on the 16th of July in 2004. Later amended again to 150 for everyone regardless of forum activity or Governmental role[56] on the 24th of July. Although there were later changes to the endocap, it remained fundamentally the same.

A month after the first endocap was legislated, on the 30th of June, Loop allied TEP with the NPO. Most people in TEP were cautious about this whilst the NPO presumably welcomed it. Some in the NPO thought Loop had surrendered TEP’s sovereignty, a notion that TEP rejected although the reaction of some in the NPO was justified since Loop’s announcement wasn’t the best:

"Tonight at 1:30 am, East Pacific Standard time, The NPO grew again,
as the Newer Pacific Order of the EP was born.
the Peoples Glorious Revolutionary Spirit has stepped into a brave new world.

Translation, the EP is now Affiliated with the NPO"[70]

5 days later, on the 4th of July, Codex and Caven created TEP’s IRC channel which was used for years until Skype replaced it. It’s no longer used and it doesn’t appear to work either, leaving substantial amounts of TEP’s history out of my grasp yet again. Nevertheless, here’s the address is irc.esper.net at #TheEastPacific[53].

On the 18th of July, Defcon 3 was declared. Defcon levels were changed quite a lot so this on its own isn’t noteworthy but the reason why it was changed was. An individual threatened legal action against Loop and to take the TEP forums down because they allege that Loop poster their IP address and email on the forums[64]. As far as I can tell, this never happened and the fact that the forums are still up is a testament to this.

A week later, on the 25th, TEP joined the League of the Pacifics[86]. I don’t know what the League of the Pacifics was. As far as I can tell, it was some sort of feeder EU. It is implied that there was a general assembly[85], presumably to pass laws, and a charter which the feeders had to ratify[87]. The league later failed[88] and I haven’t found out why or when. This is one of the things which seem important but have almost no mentions anywhere. None of the other Pacifics have any mention on their forums and the NPO forum isn’t public so I haven’t been able to search around there.

On the 27th of September (still in 2004), Loop was removed from the Delegacy by a bug. Defcon One was declared, the EPDI was readied, or what there was of it, and whoever was online during the 12 hours until the next update braced for the worst. Luckily for us, the nation that took over, known as “No Power Structure”, was also inactive during this time like the rest of TEP. So the next update rolls around, Loop regains the Delegacy, Defcon One was canceled, and another potential crisis averted[55][93].

From here, nothing important happens until 2005. RP happened as did non-Government stuff.

The Charter Era

Eventually, something important did happen, on the 7th of January in 2005. The first constitutional convention was held to create a completely new constitution now that the Articals[sic] had become outdated. At the end of it, the Charter of The East Pacific was created[51]. The Charter was created by Codex. The Charter was very different from the Articals[sic]. For example, the Delegate had much more power, actually being granted “supreme authority” and legislating the Magisterial Assembly as the only house of the Legislative branch. One of the reasons why it was different was because the inspiration for it was different. Whereas the Articals[sic] were inspired by the American constitution and Confederate Articles of Confederation, the Charter was inspired by constitutional monarchies. The Delegate was supposed to fill the role of the monarch[13]. This was also the first constitution that required nations to ratify it and, contrary to Fedele’s propaganda about how RMB ratification existed in Loop’s era, it had to be ratified on the forum[67]. Funnily enough, this Charter I found to be more distinct to modern-day TEP than the Articals[sic] were. The Charter passed the Senate on 6 February 2005[7]. Apparently, the Senate proposed another slightly changed Charter a few days later, and then this slightly altered one was made official[78] however I can only find the voting thread for this and I’ve never seen it mentioned by anyone else ever. After this, the Magisterial Assembly got to work to enact laws, change the Charter, and regular old legislative work. Nothing noteworthy.

A notable prank happened on the 2nd of April where martial law was declared and all active (and trustworthy) TEPers were placed under mock investigation by FPS[83]. This was taken seriously and made some people worry. This prank is so quintessentially TEP. The most recent Delegate prank at the time of writing was the TEP-TRR relations collapse and that nearly caused Sam, the Minister of Education to resign and gave everyone else not involved (that includes me) quite the shock. We laugh at it in hindsight.

After this, on the 13 of April, TEP had its first documented feud with TWP where Loop insulted them as a puppet of the ADN[52]. TEP would feud on and off with TWP over the next two decades.

More importantly, the office of the Grand Vizier is opened on the 25th of April and FPS became the first Grand Vizier[60]. Effectively, the first Vice-Delegate. Loop would later take on this position under Gnidrah’s Delegacy[10]. Its precursor was the Secretary of State which has its earliest mention at the 13th of April, 2005, just 12 days earlier. FPS was the SoS back then as well. When it was established isn’t known[92].

On the 16th of June, 2005, Wach is joined by Krechzianko as an ambassador[96]. The thread is the earliest thread with the [INTER] prefix, perhaps making it the beginning of the Department for Interregional Relations. If so, it would be the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ proto-Ministry. Since Wach was the first ambassador, Wach became Ambassador General. He wouldn’t last long though because on the 9th of August, Loop promotes Krech to Ambassador General, replacing Wach[95].

On the 28th of September, still in 2005. Loop proposed a NAP with TNP to the Magisterial Assembly[72], a NAP was quite strange to say the least[74]. TEP took too long to ratify it and TNP decided to close embassies because of the delay. Their condition for embassies re-opening was for TEP to ratify it. Gnidrah, outraged, said that TEP can either just refuse the treaty or make sure it fails to pass in the Magisterial Assembly[73]. He probably suggested this as a last middle finger to TNP for closing their embassy. TEP decided to go with the latter and failed the treaty[74]. This incident soured TEP-TNP relations.

On the 14th of October, Loop proposed an interesting bill, a bill to formally document TEP’s history. People were generally for it and Gnidrah said it had to be interesting for people to read[75]. This didn’t go through and so Loop instead wanted to create a historical society for TEP[76]. This also didn’t work out. And thus, TEP would put off recording its history for nearly two decades. The latest attempt (and hopefully the first successful attempt) is mine.

Four days later, on the 18th of October, Gnidrah becomes the Ambassador General after Krech resigns[94].

And then nothing happened until February of 2006.

On the 3rd of February, 2006, Loop proposed an idea. Whether or not TEP should migrate to CyberNations. A poll was set up and the results were 0 in favor, 10 against, 2 wanting further discussion[63]. Concerns were mostly about the lack of RP potential in CyberNations. The most important of the concerns were, in my opinion, the moving of primary support bases. The Confederacy was firmly entrenched in TEP, moving to CyberNations would be a massive gamble. These days, CyberNations is significantly less active than NS so staying here worked out the best for our Confederacy.

The next noteworthy thing happened on the 11th of March when FPS resigns as Grand Vizier[62]. No replacement was named and the position would be unfilled until Loop took over it during Gnidrah (if I have searched through things correctly).

The Quiet Period

From the 24th of March 2006 to the 15th of November 2006, all forums posts are blank. There is nothing I can document so this period is hereby named “The Quiet Period”. Not because TEP did nothing but because everything TEP did on the forums is lost, irreversibly.

First, on the 10th of April, a rather peculiar event happened. Gnidrah took over the Delegacy from Loop. The specifics of this event aren’t known but we know it happened[99].

Second and the only other thing I can document, Loop handed over the Delegacy to Gnidrah on the 13th of May in 2006[8]. Thanks to the memory of FPS, we have answers as to why Gnidrah was chosen. Loop had to step down due to IRL and he was seeking a successor. He asked a variety of people, FPS, Pax, and Kelssek included, all of whom said no because they were more RP involved. Of those asked, only Gnidrah agreed. The presumed handover thread (The Delegate is Dead, Long Live the Delegate. - The East Pacific - Tapatalk) is blank.

This begins the next volume in this series: Volume Three - Gnidrah and The Empire.

Daily Life

Now that history has been recorded, I would like to cover an aspect always overlooked by history books: daily life.

Throughout this era, most nations would do nothing. They would be created, answer issues, maybe join the UN or post on the RMB, and then CTE after a while.

Everyone who did exist in TEP would see the WFE but the WFE changed a lot during this period. It always had some standardization though, looking something like this:

“Welcome to the East Pacific [a jokey paragraph about the region] regional forums and NSFlag service @ http://invisionfree.com/forums/The_East_Pacific/index.php”

If they ever looked at the RMB then they would most likely see an RMB full of disjointed conversations, spam, and recruitment messages if a Wayback Machine archive is taken as the average day on the RMB[9]. Advertisement telegrams were also likely common[32]. Advertisements we’re so common that Loop created a dedicated sub-forum specifically for regional adverts in an effort to regulate it[44]. The principle behind it was for nations to be allowed to advertise there instead of the RMB and not be booted.

If a nation joined the UN then, when Loop endorsed them, he’d send them a telegram. Two of Loop’s welcoming telegrams survive and they are:

"Greetings, I am Infinite Loop, your regional UN Delegate, I welcome you to the Region and have extedned unto you my Endorsement in Freidship, should you choose to do the same I would appreciate it, Please be sure to visit our offsite forum and participate in regional events such as the Factbook guessing game and the Would you Rather quizzes.
The address for the forums is in the regional Factbook at the top of the region page.

We also have a representative government which you are welcome to participate in as well.
Also Hello,

Loop"[35]

and

"Greetings I am your Regional Delegate, 1 Infinite Loop.
I welcome you to our region and hope you enjoy your stay here.
Should you wish to participate in our regional politics, Or participate in regional events such as the Factbook guessing game and the Would you Rather quizzes.
or the regional Lottery, Please be sure to visit our offsite forum located here.

http://invisionfree.com/forums/The_East … /index.php

Also, I have extended my endorsement unto you in welcome, should you choose to return the favor I would greatly appreciate it.

Loop"[65]

If someone was an active participant in TEP then they would, without a doubt, hear about how TEP under Loop was a dictatorship and isolationist[50]. Fair claims. Loop himself called TEP a “confederated monarchy” in 2005[59]. Combined with his unpopular endocap and a banjection record (a banjection record longer than Franco’s[68], containing even game moderators with no-one on there ever getting removed[104]), and lack of elections, it’s no wonder why Loop was seen as a dictator. Isolationism was also a fair judgment. Loop once proposed a bill that he wanted to get passed. The bill was to isolate TEP from NationStates. An idea that some were in favor but most were against[77]. Thank goodness for that.

Since this person would be active on the forums, they would be most likely be involved in the Forum RP which would happen on this map here:
https://m.imgur.com/Jp1JQ8i

Normal conversations on the forum happened social sub-forum which has been archived. Conversations here involved anything that someone wanted to talk about from movies to dreams. Other conversations could happen through telegrams, or email, and AOL messenger. IRC would be used later on.

If they were in the Government, then they would do the same things as we do today. The only difference was that TEP’s Government, being substantially smaller, was a lot less active.

That was daily life during this era. An aspect which any history must cover to make things more human. I hope that this gives you a better insight into life under the Delegacy of Loop.

Trivia

–The wonderful TEP meme of “caek” began before Loop’s Delegacy to some time in 2000/2001 when Loop and his friends were playing a game called Titania 9-1. One mission required you to get caek so, when Loop’s friend got the caek, they typed “CAEK GET!!!1111”[43][97]. The earliest internet reference is on the 6th of April, 2003[42]. Caek is said to be “EET!!1!” and not eaten and is “GET!!!1111” and not gotten.

–The fridge owl meme is a meme about owls that live in fridges. This meme became a thing in TEP around 2004. I have no idea why nor do I have the skills to decode this.

–The hive mind meme comes from Pax’s old RPs where their nation consisted of millions of hive members. The assimilate meme then grew from the hive. When a nation was invaded, its population would be assimilated into the Pax hive.

–Loop called TEP “the EP” more often than not.

–RP was a really big deal. TEP’s entire Government and its RP was inextricably tied together. Every active person and the Who’s Who list were all heavily involved in RP. Even legislation and RP were the same canon. Most posts from this era involved RP, either RP itself or OOC talk about RP. TEP’s RP focus was incredibly unusual as most other regions didn’t have anything of the sort. That legacy of being the most RP-focused region holds on to this day.

–Emperor Matthuis was Delegate for one update cycle after a glitch placed him there. A strange event I could only find attestations to nearly a decade later. Regardless, we have yet another Delegate to add to our wall of Delegates. I have not found the precise date this happened but it did occur under Loop[100].

–Loop is the longest-serving continuous official Delegate with almost three years. He isn’t the longest continuous in-game Delegate due to the interruptions by PapalExhibitionism, No Power Structure, Gnidrah, and Emperor Matthuis.

–TEP’s capital city, Rillanon, was named by Kelssek during a contest for the name back on the 30th of May, 2004[101]. It was put to a vote with five other submissions and won. In classic Loop behavior, he misspelled it as “Rillianon” in the voting thread[102]. The island it was on, Government Island, was renamed Christie Island during the contest after a consensus of three people. One very enthusiastic FPS, one lesser enthusiastic Loop, and one very neutral Arx Angelus[103]. FPS, from his memory, has told me that Christie Island got its name from a prominent TNP RPer who was murdered in a carjacking a few weeks prior. FPS got the island named after her memory.

Who’s Who

1 Infinite Loop - The Delegate of this era (founded the forums on 31 May 2003)
Codex - Famous legal mind and archiver (joined 9 June 2003)
The Wachovia Coalition - TEP’s first Ambassador General (the modern equivalent is the Chief Minister of Foreign Affairs) and an all-round active person, especially in RP (joined 19 August 2003 under “Kabuverdianu” and 11 February 2004 under “The Wachovia Coalition”)
Packilvania (also known as Pax) - Active in all areas and legendary TEPer for their RP (joined 18 November 2003)
Free Pacific States (also known as FPS) - First Secretary of State and first Grand Vizier, effectively the first Vice Delegate (joined 5 January 2004)
Fish Island - Prominent RPer and graphics designer (joined 15 March 2004)
Kelssek - Famous legislator (joined 26 March 2004)
President of HoopHoopland - Prominent RPer (joined 20 April 2004)
East Malaysia (also known as EM) - Oldest active TEPer around, a living fossil of the past (joined 27 May 2004)
Gnidrah - Future Delegate (joined 4 January 2005, 12 June, 2014, under the account of Matthew)

Sources

[1]As discussed in the previous volume.
[2]The earliest forum post found is dated to 31 May 2003 and 1 Infinite Loop has testified that 31 May is the forum founding date. Loop’s forum account was also created on the 31st.

— End quote

Mangegneithe · February 26, 2022, 3:56pm

The Story of The East Pacific Volume Three - Gnidrah and The Empire

— Begin quote from ____

Foreword

I thank Unibot for forwarded me the list of Empire nations from JAL/Durkidurkistan, ASBS for helping me by answering any questions I had, and Kurogasa, FPS, EM, and Zukchiva for reviewing things for me. I also thank Kang for providing several things from their memory.

Once again, an addendum will be released if needed.

The Quiet Period Continues

The quiet period continued until the 15 of November, 2006, cutting into the beginning of Gnidrah’s Delegacy. Saddening as most of Gnidrah’s activity happened at the beginning of his Delegacy. Anywho, we can be sure that Gnidrah became Delegate on the 13th of May, 2006[1].

We can also say that Kangarawa became Ambassador General presumably around the 25th of July, 2006, since that’s the earliest post they created in the foreign affairs archive[14].

TNP presumably reapplied for their embassy on the 16th of October, 2006[9]. Their embassy was later closed for inactivity on the 15th of April, 2007, and then reopened on the same day[10]. It was closed again on the 27th of May, 2007, again for inactivity before being reopened a day later[11]. As far as I’m aware, there were no more embassy closures during Gnidrah’s term.

The Rest of Gnidrah’s Term

On the 16th of November, like I said previously, the InvisionFree server crashed[72], deleting all posts from the 24th of March until the 15th of November, 2006. According to Kang, this was devastating to the community. Several months worth of RP posts were gone, greatly discouraging people. It caused many people to reduce their activity, Kang included. Some of them only became more active after the Empire took over.

The following is quite anemic. This is partly due to Gnidrah’s later inactivity and partly due to Loop’s previous activity. Since Loop had done all the heavy lifting to build TEP, not much was left for Gnidrah to do other than continue Loop’s work. Remarking on this maintenance would be boring so I haven’t. Understand that Gnidrah did do stuff (at the beginning at least) but not much that was interesting or noteworthy. Other non-Delegate-related things did happen and I have noted them if they are important or interesting.

The first thing to note was Pax’s coronation as admin on the 2nd of April, 2007[6].

On the same day, FPS made a late April fools joke of removing Gnidrah from the Delegacy and replacing him with West Malaysia[20]. Everyone played into it and no one took it seriously, not after Loop’s fake trials years earlier.

On the 24th of April, 2007, Emperor Matthuis (the same one who would go on to coup TNP and attempt to invade TRR) linked the TEP forum banner (the "Let entropy claim the UCRs” banner) which was created by someone from the PRP (the People’s Republic of the Pacific, a name the NPO went by for a while)[4]. This is the earliest forum link I can find of the banner.

Five days later, on the 29th of April, Gnidrah nominated Kang as Grand Vizier (effectively the Vice Delegate). His choice was confirmed by the Magisterial Assembly on the 4th of May May[21].

After this, there is a large gap between anything noteworthy happening. This time, it has to do with Gnidrah’s inactivity. Emperor Matthuis decided to raise awareness of Gnidrah’s inactivity in a thread on the 24th of August, 2007. Gnidrah also agreed that he had to be more active[22].

After another large gap, Gnidrah removed Kang from the Grand Vizier position on the 22nd of October, 2007[25]. A day later, on the 23rd, Dovakhan replaced Kang as Ambassador General as well[12]. Both of these shuffles happened because Kang was sick at the time and in and out of hospital so they told Gnidrah to remove them over a Skype exchange[73].

A month later, on the 15th of November, Dannistaan became Grand Vizier[23]. Reasons unknown.

It would be until January 2008 that TEP began to take action on Gnidrah’s inactivity. There was a push for constitutional reforms and maybe even a new constitution altogether. In the end, several proposals were made but the topic died a few months later, achieving nothing[24]. Gnidrah himself recognized the severe level of inactivity he had in January[26]. I would mark Gnidrah’s inactivity problems as beginning here. He had been inactive for some time but it was never severe enough for TEP to take such drastic actions.

A month later, on the 18th of February, Dova resigned as Ambassador General. Their resignation was accepted a day later[27]. Gnidrah, as far as I am aware, never appointed a successor, leaving an important position vacant. This exaggerated the already abnormal isolationism that existed in TEP. A great mistake.

A month later, on the 23rd of March, 2008, Loop accepted TEP was dying a “slow cancerous death”[7]. He mentions that, as part of an attempt to build activity, he attempted to coup Gnidrah. Other sources show that he failed and was ejected[19]. He also suggests rolling back RP to the 1960s however many people were against it. The ideas of setting RP forwards 5-10 years or an entire reset of RP altogether were also floated. The most realistic ideas were those of Kandarin who suggested RMB and TG recruitment and regular Delegate endotarting. Nothing came of these ideas. The fact that Delegate endotarting is listed as an idea shows that Gnidrah had stopped collecting endorsements, not helping the situation at all.

Then nothing happened until August. No drive for activity or anything. On the 7th of August, 2008, Loop was put on trial for endorsement violations when he attempted to boost activity and interest in the region. This trial was also an attempt to gather interest and activity but the charges were dropped by Gnidrah on the 16th of August. Why? Because the Empire had taken over[19].

The Empire

List of the original Empire cast (Empire alias - real name)

Lady/Empress Phedre - Neenee
Lord Rahl - Biyah
Lady Anastasia - Dalimbar
High Priest Rashidi - Darth Zorn
Lady Edea - Der Fuhrer Deizel
Lady Tisiphone - Whamabama
Darksied - Ivan Moldavi
ChuckNorris - Enegro Montoya
Condition 13 - Blue Wolf
Helios - Agamemnon
The Black Necromancer - Westwind
Lord Griffin - New Kervoskia
Spydude - yy4u

The Empire took over on the 16th of August, 2008[13]. The Empire, when they took over, created entirely new forums on the exact same day as seizing power (in case you’re interested, the forums are dead http://z7.invisionfree.com/the_purified_lands/index.php). They also attempted to justify their illegitimate grip on power by saying they were cleansing TEP[46] and only ejecting those who stood in the way of progress. From the beginning, they placed a heavy emphasis on the authoritarian nature of their rule, having titles such as Empress, Lord, Baron, High Priest, etc. They used Gnidrah’s inactivity as a weapon against the Confederacy (the name of TEP’s legitimate Government) and attempted to show their continuity with the pre-Empire TEP by inviting some members of the Confederacy such as Haor, who was an active Magister[13]. This false continuity was a massive part of their propaganda efforts[30], efforts which did win over some TEPers[32]. It shouldn’t be too surprising that Gatesville allied itself with the Empire. The New Inquisition was also allied with the Empire[31].

As a response to the coup, a private sub-forum was created, accessible only to TEP Citizens. Biyah, or Lord Rahl, had access to this and forwarded information over to the Empire. When his identity was revealed later on, this added to the shock.

The initial reaction of TEPers was broad. Warre was quite supportive of the Empire[45]. Pax believed that it didn’t have to be bad if the Confederacy’s forums were left on the WFE, it might even benefit TEP with a change of Delegacy. Pax also suggested that if the Empire kept the forum on the WFE, then the Confederacy could let the Empire run the region. Dannistaan’s reaction was to revive Loop’s old suggestion of seceding from NS altogether. They also expressed support for Pax’s suggestion. Loop reminded people that they could relocate to one of his founded regions. These were Italy, Norway, Farkistan, and the East Pacific XP. Loop was ready to fight with the Empire, calling them bastards[28].

On the 17th of August, Loop was ejected by the Empire[42]. His third ejection from TEP (on record) with the first being by PapalExhibitionism and the second by Gnidrah.

On the same day, Loop told people to stay and gather endorsements since Phedre had very little influence[43], meaning she couldn’t eject anyone.

Negotiations also began with the Empire on the 17th as well. At first, FPS and Terasu represented the Confederacy[47]. Loop joined the negotiations on the 21st[44].

On 22nd, Loop called for a list of war crimes to be made against the Empire and its supporters but this idea was dropped the day after as a sign of good faith in the negotiations[50].

On the 27th, Gnidrah released a statement on the Empire’s occupation. It is one of the most important statements any Delegate has ever issued so I’ll paste the entire thing here so you can read it:

"Back in the early part of the year, I failed in my duties as Delegate. …admittedly so. There is no question; there is no doubt. I failed, and as a result, almost lost the delegacy. In fact, at that particular point in time, I deserved to lose the seat. But, upon finally waking up and realizing what was about to happen, I took measures to save my position. I’m glad I did.

I had been inactive, for periods of days at a time. I hadn’t been voting in matters before the (then) United Nations. I had rarely been checking on the forum, much less posting in it. My endorsement count was getting lower and lower, as I hadn’t gone through the regional scans in quite some time, to quickly and easily see who I had yet to endorse.

After waking up and realizing I needed to change my behavior for the good of the region or step down and let someone else take the wheel, I decided to recommit myself to the region and the work of the delegacy. I even posted this renewed commitment in a public statement. Some were skeptical, and who could blame them.

It was rocky for me, at first, getting back up on my feet and in the swing of things. It wasn’t easy for me to try and learn what was going on; what had been going on, and what was coming up in the future. But I eventually got back to the point of checking on the region and my nation on at least a daily basis, sometimes more frequently. I got back to checking the daily reports and endorsing nations I had yet to endorse. I even became more active in voting in quite nearly every UN/WA issue.

There were some things I had yet to work on, though. I was at least posting in the forum, again. That was a plus. But not as often as I had been, before my period of inactivity; and not as often as I should have been. This still rings true today.

I was and am still bad about putting things off, when I don’t quite have enough time to do them – sometimes even important things, like my part in the ever-pressing need of a government revamp and eventual reform, or even relatively simple things like correctly managing our foreign affairs department. It’s not that I didn’t have help readily available. No, it’s just that I didn’t take the time to give the essential instructions and authority to such help.

In fact, I’m making time right now to type this statement out, because it’s something I need to do. It’s something I’ve been needing to do. …just like I had been needing to manually go through the list of WA Member nations in the region, so I could determine who had how many endorsements, and who I had yet to endorse.

Yes, I said manually; the utility I had been using failed back in April, so I’ve been without the convenience ever since. I have to go through each page of the region to find the WA Member nations and click on them one-by-one. It’s no easy task, I assure you; I’ve done it, as I’m sure others have as well. They can probably attest to the lack of convenience and the time it takes. Obviously, by looking at my endorsement count, this is also something I had been putting off until I had more time.

So, needless to say, when I went out of state for the weekend, and hadn’t gotten really gotten the chance to go through the list of nations as I had intended to before leaving, I left myself and the region vulnerable to attack. And wouldn’t you know it, we were invaded by an outside force, I was overthrown and the region fell into foreign hands, proclaiming their “empire” and “authority.”

Now, the so-called logic behind such an invasion is to give the East Pacific an active and fitting delegate. And I admit that some of our nations are rather taken by this new WA Delegate nation. But this was not by any means fair, to the region, native nations or myself. Was I inactive? No. Not this time, I wasn’t. Was I unfit to be Delegate? Perhaps at times – some more than others. But overall, I’m confident I was and still am fit to be Delegate.

Still and even so, this did not and does not give anyone the right to take from us what is rightfully and lawfully ours. Our government was and is amidst reform and restructuring. It’s been a long, drawn out process, partially due to my lack of leadership from time to time. But our government, on the foundation of this region, its nations, citizens and people, is strong. We just have to show it. Now, more than ever, we need to prove it.

I’m calling on natives of the East Pacific to support what is right and lawful. …support the one true government of the East Pacific. Support native control and occupation of our region, instead of sitting back and allowing a foreign group of invaders to rule the roost. Let us come together now, whether you know me or not – whether you really care for me or not – and give the East Pacific BACK to the East Pacific, by taking it away from the outsiders.

I come to you now, asking that you please withdraw your endorsements from Lady Phedre, and invest your endorsements into the nations of Gnidrah, Dannistaan, Kelssek, and Morhams, for starters. If in your efforts Lady Phedre ejects and bans you from the region, let us know, and once we once again secure and stabilize the region, we’ll see about getting you out of that situation.

I understand I may not [yet] personally get back the WA Delegate seat, as I would very much like to, but my number one priority as Delegate of this region is to get it back in native hands. We shall not stand or fall for the imperial nature of those who seek to take away what we’ve put so much into…

Sincerely,
Gnidrah
Delegate, The East Pacific
http://theeastpacific.com"[29]

The negotiations produced an offer on the 3rd of September. The offer, had it been accepted, would have made half of the Confederates high nobles, the other half lower nobles, and Loop and one other selected Confederate as a global moderator. The trade-off was for the Confederacy to agree that they will not seize the Delegacy from the Empire. The reactions were mixed. Loop, EM, Pax, Lazlowia, and Drakkengard opposed yet Warr liked it as did Reziel. Kelssek was more reserved although he too leaned in favor. Kurogasa was similarly reserved but leaned against. Dannistaan was neutral. The offer was rejected, a counteroffer by Loop, not detailed, was made but it seems to have been rejected too[69][70][71].

TEP began discussions on a completely new Government and constitution on the 10th of September[15]. Three plans were made: EM’s plan, Loop’s plan, and Femingovia’s plan. EM’s plan had a Delegate, Prime Minister, and a unified Judiciary and Legislative branch. Loop’s plan had a Prime Minister, Delegate, Judiciary, Legislative branch, and a Secretary of State whose job would be to handle internal affairs and recruitment. Flem’s plan had three elders, one elder is the Delegate and the other two would be chosen by the Citizenry. Citizens would make popular decisions through the Indaba, a tribal assembly. In the end, on the 23rd of September, Flem’s plan, the elder system, was voted on and passed[17].

A day after the convention began, on the 11th of September, Loop nearly gave up all hope in defeating the Empire[5]. It’s good he didn’t as he would go on to help A Slanted Black Stripe (ASBS) seize the Delegacy.

On the 18th of September, EM became the lead negotiator with the Empire[51].

On the 21st of September, Biyah, who was regarded as a good Citizen of TEP, was revealed to be Lord Rahl[58]. The first Empire member to be unmasked.

On the 22nd of September, negotiations were finally canceled[52]. No reason was given but the reason was most definitely that the offers the Empire offered were unacceptable to the Confederates.

On the 26th of September, nominations opened for the positions of the elders. Over 4 days, until the 30th, Loop, Flem, and EM were nominated and seconded as elders, all accepted and became joint heads of state [34]. Pax declined to become elder but they were nominated.

On the 27th of September, the Bill of Rights was passed[18]. It covers a broad range of things so I can’t summarize it efficiently. It does look like it was an indirect insult to the Empire who were notoriously totalitarian.

On the 29th of September, Flem proposed the first workable plan for defeating the Empire. He proposed to divide TEP into four bands: a war band, a foreign affairs band, an RMB band, and an activity band. The war band would wage the actual war, the foreign affairs band would gather inter-regional support, the RMB band would gather regional support, and the activity band would undermine the one legitimate argument the Empire had, TEP’s inactivity[35]. A good plan in all respects.

On the 2nd of October, 2008, Neenee revealed themselves as Phedre who, like Biyah, was also a TEP Citizen. Dalimbar followed suit and announced their persona as Anastasia two days later[57]. This caused Loop to ask whether or not TEP should close embassies with The West Pacific as Neenee and Dali were high-level TWP officials. Loop decided against it as he wanted to keep a line of communication open with the Empire[33]. A decade later and we still have no idea if the Empire was in cahoots with TWP. What we do know is that the Empire was on friendly terms with TWP[38] and a disproportionate number of Empire members came from TWP. Based on this, I believe that the Empire was not supported by the TWP Government but it did have sympathies. You may disagree.

On the 12th of October, Gnidrah resigned from his Delegacy. Since the resignation is so important in TEP’s history, I’ve copied it verbatim:

"Friends and Others,

Gnidrah has run its course. The time has come for me to do what is necessary, and that is this. I hereby resign. I relinquish all duties and responsibilities, titles and positions, on this forum and in the region and Government of the East Pacific. It is now official.

I’ve left the World Assembly (United Nations) and do not intend to relocate. Gnidrah was founded in this region. I would much like for it to cease to exist in this region. Of course, I’m well aware the current WA Delegate on the NastionStates side might very well eject me from the region. I hope that won’t happen, but I really have no control over it; just my own personal wish and desire.

Roughly 60 days from now, the NS nation Gnidrah will CTE. I figure it will be around the time Gnidrah was founded four years ago (December 11, 2004). In the meantime, I will not check my telegrams or activities on NationStates. I may check in here periodically, up until that point. But the best way to contact me, if you want to keep in touch, would be through AIM during this time (emperorofgnidrah) and through email (gnidrah@gmail.com).

It’s been a long run with the gang, Loop, FPS, Kelssek, Pack, Kangarawa, and others. I hate to leave it all behind. But it’s what I need to do – it’s what’s best for me and what we like to call “RL,” and I think it’s best for the region and NationStates as a whole. I would like for everyone to take care, and enjoy the game. I’m going to miss you guys, and the game. I really am. Thanks for having me here, and allowing me the honor of serving you, regardless of how poorly I’ve done in the end.

Sincerely,
Matt Richardson
…the man behind Gnidrah"[48]

Gnidrah wouldn’t post again until years later.

A day after Gnidrah’s heartfelt speech, Loop personally awarded Gnidrah the “Lothlanderamore Medal for Meritous Service to The East Pacific”. The highest civilian award until it was abandoned and replaced by the Order of the Golden Ocelot years later. Haor Chall, however, disagreed and accused Gnidrah of selling out TEP to the Empire. The response from everyone else was that Gnidrah deserves recognition, despite his fatal inactivity[68].

Gnidrah’s departure was a critical blow. Morale plummeted and people began to consider giving up. Plenty of people had argued for leaving before this but Gnidrah’s departure fueled these thoughts. The most significant blow was Gnidrah’s influence. Gnidrah had too much influence to be ejected. He could have contributed significantly to the war effort with this.

On the 4th of November, Pax was made the fourth Delegate of TEP[67]. I know you might be wondering why Pax was the fourth instead of the third, as would follow from Loop and Gnidrah, the first Delegate and second Delegate under the Charter respectively. The answer isn’t stated but Loop probably counted himself as both the first and second head of the Government since he was Delegate under both the Articals[sic] of Confederation and the Charter.

On the 1st of December, 2008, A Slanted Black Stripe joined the forums however he did so under the alias “Charles”. His forum profile doesn’t show this but it can be inferred from forum posts at the time[56]. He joined under an alias as he was still unsure about the situation and wanted to learn more[66].

On the 9th of December, 2008, Phedre mass ejected about 200 nations, causing Edea to resign and say that they would join the ejected in TRR. They didn’t join them, at least not now. DFD did join TRR later. More importantly, this drained Phedre’s influence due to both the sheer number of people she had ejected[37] and her ejection of an extremely high influence nation called Morhams[53]. This mistake would prove fatal as Phedre could no longer eject ASBS or Dannistaan and it gave the Confederacy valuable ammunition against the Empire.

On the 11th of December, ASBS is revealed to be Charles, the alias with which he initially joined. ASBS said he did this to be careful[56]. I don’t know why ASBS felt the need to be careful but, since he was new to regional Governments, it can probably be explained as a new player mistake.

On the 12th December, Gnidrah CTE’s, never to be refounded[49]. Gnidrah was never ejected as far as I could tell since he had way too much influence for Phedre. He CTEd in TEP. If he had handed the nation to others then maybe the Empire could have been defeated quicker.

On the same day, ASBS mentions for the first time his unendorsement campaign against Phedre[55]. Since it’s more than likely ASBS had been waging his unedorsement campaign for some time before announcing it, I’d put the actual date to after 1 December, the date ASBS joined the forums, and a few days before the 12th. A rough estimate of the 6th to the 9th. I will say that ASBS says he waged it before joining the forums[64] and reiterated this in his telegram exchange with me[66] but these were said many years after the fact and evidence suggesting (I stress this word) different dates do exist.

Luckily, we have ASBS’ unendorsement telegram which I’ve put here:

"Dear Nations of The East Pacific,

I am asking for your endorsements so I may serve as the next Delegate for the region.

If selected, I will do the following:

(1) Play an active role in the World Assembly, as your Delegate, and encourage debate within the region for both Resolutions and Proposals.

(2) End the random mass ejections of nations in the region.

(3) Invite previously ejected nations to return

(4) Remove the endorsement cap.

I believe endorsement caps are primarily designed to protect the Delegate. I intend to serve only as long as I have the support of the nations in the region.

Thank you,

A Slanted Black Stripe"[64]

ASBS worked quite closely with Dannistaan and Kandarin in his unendorsement campaign. Loop gave advice but was less involved than the other two. When the Empire tried to play Dannistaan and ASBS against one another, they were already quite open to each other so the attempts failed[66].

Why did ASBS launch his unendorsement campaign despite being an apathetic resident? It was because ASBS had read the motto of a nation called “Stagnationstan” which read something along the lines of “throw out the invaders” and received a telegram from Phedre about endorsements[65]. These two events made him pay more attention to the situation and it eventually led to his more active role.

It was also around this time that ASBS, Kandarin, and Edea, who had left the Empire because of the ejections, set up a meeting to see if ASBS was an outsider attempting to control TEP for themselves. They ruled ASBS as a genuine nation because ASBS knew almost nothing about the game[64].

On the 14th of December, the Empire, which had begun to collapse under the weight of angry residents and ASBS’s and Dannistaan’s unedorsement campaigns, began to use their infamous argument that Phedre had been inactive and losing the war because she was taking care of her sick child[36]. Such a blatant attempt at sympathy was harshly criticized by every forum TEPer.

On the 20th, Pax promoted ASBS[8] to a moderator as ASBS was going to become the Delegate. Giving Delegates moderator status was a common practice during these eras[66].

Also on the 20th, Flem called on TEPers to post updates to all of the Empire’s foreign relations with an update that contained the Confederacy’s news rather than the Empire’s[54].

The effort was a little late as just a day later, on the 21st of December, 2008, the Empire was defeated[3] when Phedre resigned from the WA after ejecting a final few nations to sow as much chaos as possible[2]. ASBS seized the Delegacy[62] and Dali left a last middle finger to TEP when he announced TEP was up for grabs should anyone want it[63].

The Empire, to save face, left this last message to disguise their failure:

"Fellow Nations

You will notice that Lady Phedre is no longer the delegate of The East Pacific. The Empress has chosen to change tactics; we are tired of dealing with the prima-donnas. We’re going to give them a chance to ride the seat for a while; we’re going to show the world that they are incompetent and foolish.

And when the region is hurting enough, we’ll come back and set it straight. Apparently, The East Pacific will have to see just how bad things can get before they can appreciate our rule. That’s fine, The East Pacific will descend to the very depths of hell before this is over.

To our allies, hold firm. We resigned the position on purpose. You will hear more from us in the near future.

To the Nobility, prepare for war.

~The Heir of the Empire, Rahl.

His Imperial Highness, the Lord Rahl
Heir of the Empire, Hound of the Empress

The AUTHORITY of Keiga.

Cave Iram Patientis, Omnium Finis Imminet"[64]

The Empire had been defeated. Now, it was time for TEP to begin rebuilding. A process I will document in Volume Four - The First Reconstruction.

The Empire Government

The Empire functioned autocratically. That much is obvious. They had a Cabinet called the “Imperial Council”. In the Imperial Council was the head of state, the Emperor/Empress. Lady Phedre was the Empress, Lord Rahl was the intelligence and security “Minister” (if we can use that term here). Lady Anastasia was the Foreign Affairs Minister, Lord Griffin was the Minister of propaganda, Lady Edea was the Minister of Culture, High Priest Rashidi was the religious authority, and there were other advisors and Ministers not known to me[38].

The Empire had a religion which was built around cleansing. It had cleansing rituals which were just oaths of office or for Citizenship[38].

Why Did The Empire Fall?

The answer to this question isn’t made immediately clear so I will break it down.

First, the Empire invaded during the inactive period of Gnidrah’s Delegacy. Towards the end, the Empire had become as bad as Gnidrah was.

Second, the Empire was extremely antagonistic towards the native population. Telling people to beg for mercy and to be cleansed from filth and sin will never win over anyone. This, over time, became toxic and people began to detest the Empire.

Third, people were angry at the Empire for mass ejecting nations. ASBS and Dannistaan worked this to the Confederacy’s advantage and it caused people to fear if they were next.

Fourth, ASBS and Dannistaan worked harder to wage their unendorsement campaign by convincing Empire supporters and reaching new nations before the Empire could react.

Fifth, Phedre simply didn’t have the influence to eject ASBS or Dannistaan after ejecting Morhams, who most likely had the highest influence in the region, making the Empire’s fall a certainty.

It was these five combinations that brought down the Empire.

Daily Life

Daily life during the beginning of Gnidrah’s Delegacy was the same as Loop’s.

Most nations joined and never did anything other than answer issues and then CTE. If they joined the UN, they likely would have been endorsed by Gnidrah. Unfortunately, Gnidrah’s endorsement telegram, if he had one, doesn’t survive. Any nation in TEP would have seen the WFE as the first thing which during Gnidrah’s reign was this:

"Want to get more involved? Join the regional forum at: http://theeastpacific.com

The East Pacific is known for its role-playing. Stop by our off-site forums to check 'em out! While you’re there, let the WA Delegate know how you want him to vote in the World Assembly. Just visit our easily-accessible voting polls.

(Oh, and if you’re interested in social activities, regional government or even laws, such as the region’s endorsement cap of 50, you’ll find these on our site, as well.)"[59]

Wayback shows that it rarely changed.

The WFE during the Empire was, when they took over, this:

"Want to get more involved? Join the regional forum at: http://z7.invisionfree.com/the_purified_lands

Long Live The Empire! Long Live The East Pacific!

Endorse Lady Phedre

The Empress thanks those that came to her aid in providing The East Pacific with an active and fitting delegate.

I have removed those that came in today to try to keep this region sick with stagnation. If they remain out of The East Pacific, I will not have to continue banning."[60]

Later changed to:

"Want to get more involved? Join the regional forum at: http://z7.invisionfree.com/the_purified_lands
We’ve got games, contests, RP and government. A little bit for everyone.

Long Live The Empire! Long Live The East Pacific!

Endorse Lady Phedre

The Empress thanks those that came to her aid in providing The East Pacific with an active and fitting delegate.

The endorsement cap for this region is 50."[61]

Later on, when Gnidrah became inactive, things began to change for the average TEPer.

With Gnidrah’s descent into inactivity, claims of dictatorship died off whereas inactivity and isolationism grew. Claims of dictatorship were the norm during the Empire. Later on, inactivity claims became more common during the end of the Empire as well.

The average nation would have no longer received an endorsement on joining the UN, or a telegram asking for an exchange of endorsements.

The RMB was, as ever, occupied by spam and recruitments. Therefore, normal communication was done through the forums, AOL messenger, email, and, probably, the TEP IRC. Although this forum activity was dying.

The Government under Gnidrah was also dying. Inactivity reduced things to ashes.

There were attempts to fix things but these didn’t work. One can imagine the frustration TEPers felt as their beloved region withered away.

The Confederacy kept its RP tradition and the Empire attempted to appropriate it but naturally never got anywhere as all the RPers stayed with the Confederacy. RP was also slowing down during Gnidrah’s term.

When the Empire took over, daily life changed.

The average TEPer would face constant berating from the Empire with demeaning and insulting announcements. Telling people to beg for mercy or to join them and be cleansed. All around, a very toxic atmosphere.

Those that decided to join the Empire would use their forums for Government purposes and casual communication.

Those that joined the Confederation’s forums would see that many boards were locked away and accessible only to a select few trusted people.

The average Confederate would find that their days would be preoccupied entirely with the Empire. Forum RP, from what I could tell, came to a standstill. Casual communication occurred but was rarer. Most posts were related to the Empire.

As ASBS and Dannistaan came closer and closer to dethroning the Empire, the Confederation’s activity grew. Finally, when the Empire was defeated, a wave of celebration swept through the people.

Trivia

–Gnidrah is the longest-serving continuous in-game Delegate at 826 days.

–ASBS wasn’t known to the region and was, therefore, untrusted by the natives[40]. Dannistaan was well-known in TEP so the natives trusted him quickly[39].

–Back during this era, and before for that matter, endorsement counts didn’t update on a nation’s page until the update itself. This is why Delegates had to be extremely careful about their endo counts and everyone else’s. This is also why Gnidrah’s inactivity was so fatal.

Who’s Who

1 Infinite Loop - Still semi-active (founded the forums on 31 May 2003)
Packilvania (also known as Pax) - Still semi-active (joined 18 November 2003)
Free Pacific States (also known as FPS) - Semi-active (joined 5 January 2004)
East Malaysia (also known as EM) - Continues to be active, old even by the end of this era (joined 27 May 2004)
Gnidrah - Delegate before the Empire (joined 4 January 2005, 12 June, 2014, under the account of Matthew)
Dovakhan - Succeeded Kang as Ambassador General (joined 31 August 2005)
Kangarawa - Succeeded Gnidrah as Ambassador General (assumedly since posts from the beginning of Gnidrah’s Delegacy are blank) and FPS as Grand Vizier (joined 21 September 2005)
Dannistaan - Succeeded Kang as Grand Vizier and worked with ASBS to bring down the Empire (joined 5 November 2005)
Reziel - RPer and Solicitor General and active in other things too (joined 4 May 2006)
A Slanted Black Stripe (also known as ASBS) - Brought down the Empire with Dannistaan (joined 1 December 2008)

Sources

— End quote

Mangegneithe · March 7, 2022, 2:46pm

The Story of The East Pacific Volume Four - The First Reconstruction

— Begin quote from ____

Foreword

I once again thank Kurogasa, FPS, EM, and Zuk for reviewing and checking things for me.

I’d like to add that this volume doesn’t cover a lot of the busy work going on in TEP during this time. Many discussions were had on minute details and laws. These things have not been documented because of how tedious it would be to do so. I have covered all the important details and some more interesting ones.

As is standard, an addendum will be released if needed.

Furthermore, don’t expect a good flowing volume. The rebuilding of TEP was a struggle rather than a great march forward. Differing opinions resulted in a constant back and forth between what was seen as the ideal TEP.

Aside from that, I am caught in a trap of my own making. I have to both create an extremely accurate secondary source and an interesting story. The two styles clash with each other. I can only do my best to reconcile as much as possible. The future volumes notably suffer from this problem too.

I believe the most important discussions were held off the forums, so the only thing I can go off is the forums and memory of old-time TEPers. This would only get worse as time went on. Later volumes will be significantly handicapped by this limitation.

Empire Aftermath

The Empire had at last been defeated on the 21st of December, 2008. But not everyone was confident the victory would last. A lot of people expected another salvo from the Empire before they finally faded away[1]. To ensure a lasting victory for the Confederacy, ASBS reneged the “no endocap” promise and set the temporary endocap to 80 for security purposes. He also banjected Phedre and Rahl but, for whatever reason, none of the other Empire members. Now, TEP began discussions to create election procedures that ASBS had promised the residents, a new constitution, and the possibility of a Guardian system[20].

A day later, on 22nd, a meeting was held between the Elders to discuss the state of the region[2]. I’d like to say what was discussed and what was decided but these discussions were held offsite. So, the discussions have been lost which is a shame since these discussions would have been one of the most important ones in our region’s history.

Two days later, on the 24th, Todd McCloud, with the help of Loop, drafted the first constitution proposal. This wasn’t the Concordat. It was called the “cabinet proposal”. Two days later, on the 26th, FPS drafted his proposal, the “republican proposal”[20]. The draft version of the Concordat.

Loop’s and Todd’s proposal had an elected Government forming a Cabinet to run the entire region. Just one branch, the Cabinet. It was a parliamentary system without a judiciary[20].

FPS’ idea had a four split Government between the Executive, Judicial, Legislative, and the Viziers with elections for certain positions like the Delegate, the Viziers, and Legislative branch membership[20].

These proposals would be voted on shortly.

On the 26th, an endowatch was set up to keep people in compliance with the temporary endocap of 80 which had been instituted after the Empire fell. The endowatch was run until the 29th of January, 2009, during which it worked to keep people below 80 endorsements. A side note, Minininjas, which was Phedre/Neenee’s nation, was on the watchlist for some time after it got close to the endocap[7].

On the 27th of December, 2008, FPS put up the two opposing constitutions for a vote. In the end, FPS’ constitution won and its ideas continued to be worked on[19].

A day later, on the 28th, Pax officially resigned as the fourth Delegate of TEP[3]. Pax was the self-declared Delegate-in-exile during the Empire occupation[92].

On the 7th of January, 2009, FPS’ republican proposal, after being worked on off-site, was ratified and finalized as the Concordat. Beginning TEP’s old Concordatial era[33]. This old Concordat was significantly different from the one we have today. Time has changed it drastically but the incredible change isn’t immediately obvious. The Delegate had a six month term and had to vote in the WA with the majority of TEPers, the Magisterium had all of its members elected at the beginning of every new Magisterium session, Arbiters had to be an odd number with no minimum but a maximum of seven, Honorary Citizenship was enshrined in the Concordat, and nations were forbidden from obtaining titles of nobility even in foreign Governments. Besides this, it does retain a lot of the same structure and points. The ratification of the Concordat, symbolizing the passing of the torch from the Edlers, is still in the last article of the Concordat to this day.

The Old Concordatial Era Begins

On the 10th of January, 2009, Loop explained the TEP flag for the first time. His explanation for the colors was this:

Green was for life, black was for death, and yellow was “for that reward which waits beyond for you”. The broken checkerboard pattern represents the uniqueness of each TEPer. The green blocks under the emblem signify support. The wheat as sustenance. The star represents guidance, akin to the northern star for sailors. The carpenters square to represent treating everyone squarely, ie. fairly. And the compass because of its versatility[18]. For reference, here’s the original flag: https://static.miraheze.org/tepwiki/7/77/Flag_1.jpeg

On the 11th of January, 2009, the first Delegate elections were held. Since this was the first election, the Elders (Flem had gone inactive in TEP so just Loop and EM at this point) and, as in-game Delegate, ASBS, oversaw the process[25]. As part of this, ASBS declared his neutrality[26]. After nominations were concluded, there were three candidates, Todd, Warre, and Dannistaan[27].

Warr’s campaign was about building activity and maintaining vigilance in case the Empire came back. In a break from tradition, Warr advocated for a military, albeit a more defensive military[44].

Dannistaan’s campaign was also about vigilance and activity but it had a more central focus on accountability[45].

Todd’s plan had the same themes of activity and vigilance but he created an eleven-point plan that he promised to fulfill[46]. Todd’s eleven-point plan was divided into two phases and eleven steps.

Phase one consisted of steps one to four. Step one involved booting the remnants of the Empire and transitioning the Delegacy from ASBS to Todd. Step two was the appointment of advisors to assist with the region building. Step three was setting up a more permanent endowatch program called the “Rebel Guard”. Step four was setting up the Magisterium and getting Magisters.

Phase two consisted of steps five to eleven. Step five was removing the elders now that their purpose was fulfilled. Step six was to nominate the first Viziers. Step seven was building the Conclave. Step eight was creating a legislated endocap. Step nine was rebuilding the foreign affairs department. Step ten was creating an intelligence minister. Step eleven was an announcement that all of the steps were done.

All of this was set to span a timeframe of about 20 days[11].

In the end, on the 21st of January, 2009, Todd was elected as the first Concordatial Delegate with 80% of the vote[23]. So the next day, Todd took an oath of office, a practice now forgotten, on both the RMB and forum where he promised to defend TEP and the Concordat[71][9]. Alongside this, he gave his inauguration speech, a practice continued since Gnidrah to this day, which I have pasted below in its entirety for your reading:

"Ladies and gentlemen of The East Pacific, I stand before you as a nation / player with a very colorful and unique history, a nation which has scoped the current status of NationStates with an open mind and loads of experience. A detailed status report has been compiled. Some regions are falling due to inactivity; some are clinging to their old traditions and beliefs, holding new members at a safe distance. Some have seen regional populations cut in half, some are arguing over what a coup means and if they are having a coup or not (what?). But this region is excited. The people here are excited because they are doing something new. They are getting new players involved. They are working together and above all, having fun and getting to know each other. I’m very proud of this region and its ability to come together and unite toward a common goal. Who wouldn’t be? You all are in my opinion among the cream of the crop which is the crock that is NS (say that three times fast!). Naturally, that isn’t meant to offend other regions, but more or less is offered as a challenge. We have shown what working together and getting new players involved can create. Imagine if we all did that. Apocalypse be darned.

The reign of the empire has ceased in TEP. The clouds of oppression have lifted, allowing the flowers of democracy to take root and grow. The book that represents their reign is now closed for good, heaped on the pile of other recreational reading material. But I present to you a greater book, a larger and better written book (with a cool cover too), one that can turn the collective heads of Nationstates and lift our spirits. It’s a book that we as older players have perhaps long forgotten, a book which we all first picked up when we started playing this game. Really playing this game. Perhaps we saw someone else reading that book and therefore wanted to read it too. Or maybe we just saw it on the shelf and wanted to have at it. The book I am talking about is activity. Not the nuke the world activity that has been shown to fail numerous times. Real activity. Reaching out to the casual and new players. Extending a hand to a player that’s working hard but without fruits to his or her labor. Forgiving and moving forward instead of goose-stepping back to the habits of a child. We all know these things but they have not happened. Perhaps we have too much prestige, too much power, too much I’m here and you’re over there mentality. I’ve been a victim of that myself. I’m not accusing anyone, just accusing the belief, which is still an unpopular thing to do. We’re so smart and wise and capable; we can use that for the game’s sake. Even if it’s just to one nation, that’s one more nation who can join us. One more nation to pass that book on you yourself was probably handed to you all those years ago.

As for the new players, the casual player, the above is all TL;DR, but hear me out. Be bold. After all, our arms can only stretch so far. Join the forums and tell us about yourself. Voice your opinions. Get to know your people, your potential friends. TEP nations specifically, get to know me. I have a lot of energy and experience to share with you, free of cost. But not just me there are others who are equally as important and knowledgeable, if not more, in this region and on the forums.

There are no heroes on NationStates. Just those who know and those who do not know. And while I’ve never been a delegate before, might not know how that works, might not get it, might even be a little rough around the edges or odd, I can assure you the critics will quickly silence. I am a man (or fox… whatever) of my word I will do my best to be the best delegate I can be. I can’t promise the moon, but I can promise activity, interaction, and excitement. I can promise responsibility and seriousness when it is needed. I can promise availability and honesty. And I can promise I will do my best to assist the game, in any way I see fit and am capable to do. Positively, of course. And while I may never truly know the game in all my years of playing, I’d like to have you know I will do my best. There is no substitute.

In conclusion, I’d like to end with the words of Charlie Chaplin, of all people. While his words are most decidedly for real-world applications, I believe they may also have inroads for NS as a whole: Charlie Chaplin final speech in The Great Dictator - YouTube

Thank you for your time.

Todd McCloud"[8]

So Todd got to work the next day, the 22nd of January, and opened up Magistrar sign-ups (or Magisterium sign-ups). Magistrars (henceforth called Magisters) had to be Citizens by ratifying the Concordat on the forums, then they had to state their nation(s)[94]. By the end of the nomination period, which lasted for just three days, there were 13 valid candidates.

On the 23rd of January, and selected his first advisors. Kandarin, for his level-headedness and experience across the game, and TAO, for his feederite politics and experience as Delegate of TWP[10]. You’ll notice that both advisors were former Delegates. Todd clearly wanted leaders of functioning regions to help rebuild TEP.

On the same day, Todd nominated the first Viziers as well. These Viziers were ASBS, Morhams, and Stagnationstan. ASBS was chosen for his role in bringing down the Empire, Morhams for having the most influence in the region as well as being anti-Empire, and Stagnationstan for also being anti-Empire. Dannistaan was approached about being a Vizier but he refused. Stagnationstan would later refuse his nomination. Morhams and ASBS accepted and were confirmed on the 3rd of February, making them the first of TEP’s Viziers[36].

On the 29th of January, the voting for the first Magisters had ended. All candidates, except for Macungue Swamp, were elected by the Citizens[95].

So the Magisterium got busy drafting the Standing Orders of the Magisterium (SOM) on the same day. The SOM governs the internal procedures of the Magisterium. The first draft was by Gulliver, just three paragraphs long. Kelssek made his own draft a few days later[93].

Gulliver’s draft was extremely basic. It laid out that a Magister can propose laws, debate them, and suggest changes. It did have an interesting motioning system. A legislative proposal had to be endorsed by a quarter of the Magisterium for a vote to occur. A proposal could also be forced into being tabled if a simple majority of Magisters dismissed it[93]. There was no clause on what to do if both happened.

Kelssek’s draft had an elected Provost at each Magisterium session, a Deputy Provost position which could be appointed by the Provost, a clause which allows Magisters to vote in a new Provost at any point, and basic provisions on proposing legislation, debating it, amending it, etc[93].

There was more support for Kelssek’s proposal so it continued to be drafted.

Despite the Provost position not being established since the SOM wasn’t ratified, Kelssek was elected as the first-ever Provost on the 31st of January, 2009. Warr’s name was floated as a candidate but Kelssek’s reputation had him elected with unanimity[35]. This should go to show that Kelssek’s proposal was uniformly accepted by everyone.

Also on the 31st same day, the forum masks for the Delegate, Viceroy, Provost, Magisters, Viziers, and Arbiters were created[4].

Back to the SOM. Kelssek’s proposal was worked on and then brought to vote on the 3rd of February. It passed the Magisterium on the 4th[37]. This SOM was similar to the one we have now. The only differences were the clauses relating to Magister elections at the start of every Magisterium session, and It was less hyper-legalistic.

On the 11th of February, the first Arbiters were confirmed. Since the rules mandated an odd number of Arbiters, only three people were inducted in. These first three were Kandarin, Loop, and Lazlowia[38]. Todd’s original plan was six nominations. These were Kandarin, for his experience, Loop, for his history in the region and ability to make difficult decisions easily, ASBS, for his quick thinking skills, TAO, for his experience, Really Nice Hats, for being nice and active, and Lazlowia, for being active and an RPer[96]. Due to the quirky way voting was done, only four candidates were voted in, Kandarin, Loop, RNH, and Lazlowia[38][96]. The Magisterium then held a vote on who to remove but Todd offered RNH a position as ambassador in place of Arbiter which RNH accepted. This resulted in there being only the three Arbiters mentioned before[38].

On the 15th of February, Todd called for recruits for several positions. These positions were ambassadors, welcomers (to welcome new people on the forum), and “Laz Takers”, to recruit people who refounded in Lazarus back to TEP. ASBS, Cloudous, and Hoi Oligoi posted publicly that they would help[83].

Shortly after this, on the 26th of February, Todd created the post-Empire FA Ministry. Todd decided to appoint several FA Ministers. These first Ministers were RNH, Hoi Oligoi, ASBS, and Todd himself[48]. This band of Ministers later expanded to include Dyr Nasad[49]. This effort acquired 25 foreign relations for TEP with most of the then-major regions included. Take a look at the list:

The Pacific
The North Pacific
The South Pacific
The West Pacific
Lazarus
10000 Islands
The Black Hawks
British Steel
Canada
Caprecian Continent
The Commonwealth
Empires of Earth
Equilism
Equinox
Free Region Alliance
Great Britain and Ireland
Imperial Britain
Leone
Leviathan
Liberalia
Paradisia
Philosophy 115
Sapienta
The New Inquisition
The United Kingdom

Not all of these were active embassies of course. TP, TNP, TSP, TBH, Leviathan, and Philosophy 115 all had rather low response rates. The Imperial Britain and Liberalia embassies were later closed due to inactivity and the rest had respectable activity[49].

On the 1st of March, 2009, the Standard Time Act, the oldest law on the books, was passed[13]. The purpose of this law was to make the timestamps displayed on the forums conform to UTC. These days, it is entirely pointless as Tapatalk uses your location to give you timestamps. Its only effect now is requiring the Government to use UTC for times. It is largely useless today and was very nearly repealed much later. There is also the interesting overstep of IC into OOC.

On the 4th of March, 2009, the first EPNS issue was compiled by Todd. This followed after a week of work and the help of ASBS and Warr who contributed articles. Although it was officially titled “East Pacific Newspaper”, the pseudo-Ministry behind it was called the “East Pacific News Service”. The first issue contained a regional report written by Todd, the story of the fall of the Empire written by ASBS, RP news written by Warr, and a quiz[12].

On the 9th of March, 2009, Todd began an RMB event where participants contributed by adding three words to the previous participant’s post. This resulted in a story that was 561 words long, spanning 187 posts by different people. Even regional recruiters got into the fun[64].

On the 25th of March, 2009, Todd wanted to discuss getting a regional military. Since Todd was an ex-military leader, he said he would prop it up and get it up and running himself. Loop, as always, was vehemently against despite being one of the Farkers. He insisted that it would hurt TEP by spreading its World Assembly residents out and may cause satellite regions to prop up, eventually depriving TEP of its Citizens. Rynyl instead wanted a police force as did Anglic Jutland. Warr and Cloudous wanted a defender military[74]. This was not the first time a discussion on the military was had and it wasn’t the last. Another discussion happened later on with the same opinion; TEP should not have a military[78]. Thus, nothing was done about the military during this era.

Also on the 25th of March, the Lazarene FA Minister, KillerKitty, telegrammed Todd a treaty. This treaty recognized TEP’s and Lazarus’ Governments as legitimate, asked for military cooperation (how Lazarus was supposed to work with TEP’s non-existent military is mystifying), and required each region to protect the other. It was an average treaty as far as they come[81]. After several months of delay on the Lazarene side, it was ratified by TEP. The first post-Empire treaty that TEP had agreed to[82].

On the 12th of April, 2009, Kandarin was made the first-ever Viceroy. I stress the word “made” as he just assumed the Viceroyship. There wasn’t any actual election for it, technically making Kandarin’s Viceroyship illegitimate, at least for the time being[40].

On the 20th of May, The Office of Tourism and Recruitment Bill was passed to establish the office of the same name[39]. The first Director was Dyr Nassad[21]. These days, it goes by the name of the Ministry of Immigration and it continues the same tasks. The first of our modern Ministries was established. The bill would eventually be repealed down the line but the Ministry remained. This bill also set the precedent for Ministries to be legislated into law. This habit of legislating Ministries persisted for a long time.

After this, around the end of May, the summer lull had struck TEP[72][79]. The summer lull is a characteristic of all NS regions where everyone gets busy doing IRL stuff and no one has the time for NS. Despite what Todd may have believed, You’ll see that the region did well in the summer although forum RP did dry up.

On the 1st of June, another three-word story was finished. We don’t know who began it or when but we have the final result, 413 words or 138 posts[68].

On the 3rd of June, 2009, the second EPNS edition was posted. This edition, late by 2 months, featured a debate contest being held between TEP and Equilism. It also featured the first mention of the WA Liasion as an Office/Ministry with Drakkengard as Director. This Ministry survives today as the Chief Ministry of World Assembly Affairs. During Todd’s terms, he voted according to forum votes[89]. Interestingly, the first mention of the University of The East Pacific as an established entity also comes from here[21]. The idea was Dyr Nasad’s. He posted about its possible creation just a day earlier[80]. My beloved Ministry survives with great effort to this day. and retains most of the same functions as back then as well.

On the same day as the EPNS publication, Todd attempted to give the newly formed UTEP its first project. This project was a professor-like system for a group of topics. The topics were TEP history, NS history, TEP RP, general RP, raiding, and defending. The only ones that had professors were TEP RP (Pax), general RP (DFD), and raiding (Todd)[86]. Of these three, only DFD would do something with their position, creating the “Collaborative Fiction Education” project later on in October. This project taught the ropes of RP[87].

On the 4th of June, 2009, Dyr Nasad developed the first TEP awards. It had been developed since the 1st of June with the help of Antracia and YaM[69]. The rewards were for the most influential, most active, best ad spammer on the RMB, the regional top 10 in national rankings, best WA opinions, most active ambassadors to TEP, best overall member, best newcomer, most helpful, the funniest, the best quote, favorite Government member, funniest thread, friendliest member, best blonde moment, and the smartest member. Todd and Loop wanted to get this done but it didn’t get anywhere[67]. Some of these awards would be coincidentally reused over a decade later.

On the 5th of June, another three-word story was finalized. Likely to have begun a day after the last one, the 2nd of June, but its beginner is unknown. This one spanned 561 words or 187 posts[68]. 7 days later, due to the success of the prior installments, Todd began another story[64]. This time it spanned 240 posts[65].

On the 22nd of June, 2009, ASBS CTEd and effectively resigned as Vizier. TEPers paid their respects to the ex-Delegate, Vizier, and TEP legend[22]. He would return four years later[73].

On the 24th of June, 2009, Dyr Nasad proposed a regional currency. His idea was for people who post get rewarded an amount of money, a salary for Government positions, RP businesses to be set up around it, and for it to be spent on RP map plots, factories, ports, and the like. Todd was supportive of the idea. Kandarin, however, was opposed. He believed it would encourage spam and implementing it smoothly for RP would be a difficult task. He flat out said he wouldn’t allow map plots to be bought otherwise he would pull the map altogether since it was his creation. The idea effectively died there[77].

On the 7th of July, 2009, Dyr Nasad opened up the third discussion thread for dealing with the RMB spam. The previous two had gotten nowhere and the problem persisted. This time, a law was proposed that limited posts to ten lines, no all caps, no all bolded, italicized, or underlined posts, no excessive punctuation, and no insults. The punishment for breaking this proto-RMBRA (Regional Message Board Regulation Act) was banjection[75]. These days, this law would be picked apart. The line limit was proposed a while ago in an amended RMBRA draft and it was rightly criticized for it since your screen resolution decides how many lines appear. Nevertheless, it passed. The first RMBRA was enacted with all its primitive faults[76].

On the 11th of July, 2009, nominations for the Delegacy opened but this time Todd, as Delegate, oversaw the elections in place of Kandarin, the still illegitimate Viceroy[28]. Later threads would imply that the Conclave’s inactivity forced Todd to take elections into his own hands. Nevertheless, on the 20th of July, Todd was re-elected in an illegitimate election[24]. His campaign was promised to keep the activity going and was similar to his first campaign[47].

On the 16th of July, given the success of the three-word story installments prior, another one was hatched, this time by Dyr Nasad. This one is known to have stretched 215 posts[65] before being deleted by the NS mods for whatever reason[66].

On the 28th of July, 2009, Todd asked for a grading of the Government and his governance during his time as Delegate. This gives us valuable insight into how TEP was functioning up to this point. The Concordat was generally agreed to be a good document; the Magisterium, although active, wasn’t passing very many laws; the Executive was doing fine; the Conclave was failing as there was no elected Viceroy, general inactivity which caused the Delegate elections to be held by Todd, and outdated Citizen records. Having read this, you can imagine that people weren’t satisfied and wanted some reform. Lazlowia even advocated for the Conclave’s abolition. Back on topic, the WA Liasion was seen as perfectly fine thanks to the elbow grease of Drak; RP had flatlined thanks to the summer lull; debate contests had ceased due to spotty membership; UTEP was seen as a failed project; FA was slow and now depended on the efforts of just Todd and Dyr Nasad. Overall, TEP’s reconstruction was happening but in a long struggle[88].

On the 17th of August, 2009, the third EPNS edition was posted. It was a lot more spartan than the previous editions, featuring a message from the Delegate, some RP news, and some Magisterium news[14].

On the same day, Todd posted a few ideas that had been discussed in earlier Chatzy discussions. The only notable one was to abolish the Conclave and let the Magisterium take its roles. The idea wasn’t discussed further even though it wasn’t the first time the idea came up[85].

On the 25th of August, 2009, Todd opened a discussion on political parties. The only serious response was from Lazlowia. Lazlowia was against it since it could turn TEP ripe for a civil war or coup[84].

On the 3rd of September, 2009, Loop created TEP’s ZetaBoard although the Invision forums weren’t migrated immediately[5].

On the 4th of November, 2009, the fourth EPNS edition was posted. It was as spartan as the last edition but with an added humor section[15].

On the 15th of November, 2009, Dyr Nasad attempted to give EPNS a more permanent structure by asking for staffers. The previous two editions likely resulted in his drive but there was still no interest[90][91].

On the 9th of December, 2009, the fifth EPNS edition was posted. This edition was even more sparse than the last with no Magisterium section and a smaller RP section. It did have an extended Delegate message and it did keep the humor section[16].

On the 27th of January, 2010, Kandarin was elected Viceroy. Legitimizing his Viceroyship and making him the first-ever elected and official Viceroy[41].

On the 3rd of March, 2010, the third-ever Delegate elections opened. This time elections were handled legally by Viceroy Kandarin. At the end of the nomination period, just DFD and The Vacationer accepted[29]. On the 13th, DFD won the election and was declared the new Delegate[30]. Interestingly, DFD assumed the Delegacy under their Empire nation, Lady Edea[34]. As a note, DFD ran their Delegacy a lot less heavy-handedly than Todd. On another note, Todd did something around this time that put him in disfavor with TEPers. I haven’t found out what but that’s the vibe I got from here on.

DFD would, during her Delegacy, govern with a lighter hand than Todd and ran the Executive as a President-esque figure rather than a military general manner.

Within the first three days of her Delegacy, DFD began the Delegate shuffle. A move which all Delegates hereafter perform. This “move” consists of making nominations, renominations, Cabinet changes, and minister changes. For DFD, this meant nominating Terasu for Arbiter, cleaning up the forums, creating a thread for Citizen suggestions, and appointing Todd to mind the endowatch program[54].

On the 12th of March, Gnidrah came back after a long hiatus. He was welcomed back, he reminisced about the old days and then he went offline[43]. It would be several long years later before he returned.

On the 21st of May, 2010, Kandarin began the largest cultural event of TEP’s history, titled the “Summer of NS”. It involved nearly every major region and nearly every major gameplayer. I’d give the list of names but it’s huge. Bears Armed, Reploid Productions, Barbara, TAO, Reziel, and The Bruce are some of the invited faces. Their regions were also on the invite list. The number of games planned were equally as huge. These include raiding Warzone Asia, art contests, RP contests, and a contest to get as many regional passwords as possible through social engineering[63]. For such an ambitious project, designed by Kandaring and helped along by DFD, I’m not entirely sure if it ever happened. Since it was cross-regional, it couldn’t have happened on TEP forums, which leaves IRC as the only other place. As the old IRC chats are gone, so too is any hope of seeing how this went down. Nevertheless, I hope someone around from that era will be able to provide some light after reading this.

On the 3rd of June, 2010, DFD opened a thread to criticize the forum admins for removing her admin position. She called for checks and balances on the admins and demanded an answer as to why her admin role was removed. Todd also echoed concerns about the admin team. Kandarin, an admin, then explained what had happened. DFD was removed from their position because the Delegate role no longer carried the admin role with it since admin and Delegate are two distinct jobs. He also explained that it was with the consent of all the admins. DFD then called for Kandarin’s removal from the admin position which was criticized by FPS and Warr. DFD then said it was convenient for it to happen after she got into a spat with Kandarin and asked why she wasn’t notified beforehand [57]. Kandarin then apologized for the lack of communication on his part and promised to keep a log of admin actions in public view. DFD still wasn’t satisfied and still believed it to happen out of malice. She then made a series of radical proposals aimed at providing checks and balances on the admins. These proposals were voting on admins, allowing admins to be put on trial before the Conclave, requiring admins to have a WA in TEP, and requiring admins to be wholly separate from the Government by not participating at all[58]. This lengthy discussion ended in circles. DFD and Todd argued for change, radical reforms at times, and FPS and Warr argued against it.

On the 5th of June, 2010, DFD proposed a secondary endorsement cap for the Magisterium to deliberate. The secondary cap was for honored members of TEP, allowing them to collect more endorsements because of their past. It was also supposed to help regional security. Eluvatar called such a privilege a watered-down Vizier to which DFD called it an honor, not a Government position[59]. It was passed by the Magisterium on the 30th of July but the law was poorly written, really badly written for that matter[60]. So FPS proposed a better-written law on the 30th of August to fix it. This law was also passed[61] and stood for an impressive three years before being repealed in 2013[62].

On the 10th of June, 2010, FPS resigned as Admin[6].

On the 2nd of July, the sixth EPNS edition was posted but as the second volume of EPNS and the first issue of the second volume. Unlike the last few times, this edition had some content. The Delegate message was replaced with a long introductory message, FA had a dedicated section beyond some small text at the bottom with embassy information, an interview with Delegate DFD was included, as were some opinion articles, jokes, humor, and some artwork[17].

On the 10th of July, 2010, the Standing Orders of the Conclave (SOC), after a very long period of deliberation, were finally voted on and passed[42]. The SOC governs the internal workings of the Conclave. The delay doesn’t reflect well.

On the 22nd of July, 2010, yk001nul created a thread to spread an epiphany they had. Their idea, revolutionary and ahead of its time, was RMB RP. They said that RMB RP already happened but they wanted to make it more official and on a grander scale. Everyone was in support[56]. I can’t say what progress yk made but I know they would be very pleased to know that their idea was an unimaginable success in the future. RMB RP, having existed on and off for over a decade, is now firmly entrenched with official RMB RP worlds.

On the 26th of August, 2010, DFD, who had become an admin again after the Delegate admin policy was assumedly backpedaled, and the rest of the admin team got into a drama surrounding Warr’s removal from the moderation team. It was done as Warr wasn’t particularly active in the position but Warr felt that it was motivated by ulterior reasons. Warr had gotten into spats with Pax for alleged godmodding and DFD because she misinterpreted something he said. This drama was severe enough for Warr to completely resign as Magister and later leave the region altogether[55]. Warr would only return in 2021 when EM sent out mass emails to old-timers.

On the 2nd of September 2010, Delegate nominations were opened with just two candidates making the cut, Pax and Allegheny[31]. Since Pax was a joke candidate, the only effective choice was Allegheny. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that on the 17th of September, after a botched counting by Barb, the Viceroy, Allegheny became the Delegate[32]. He would serve with his nation “South Allegheny”[34].

Daily Life

Daily life in TEP changed quite a lot after the Empire.

To begin with, the average nation still did little. This would be the case for the rest of TEP’s history too. The WFEs they would have seen were these:

During ASBS’ reign:

"Join the regional forum at: http://www.TheEastPacific.com

The East Pacific has been liberated.

Please endorse A Slanted Black Stripe and Dannistaan.

The current Resolution before the World Assembly is the Patient’s Rights Act.

For one week, the temporary endorsement cap will be 80. Keep your endorsements no higher than 80, until we can get the elections announced."[50]

During Todd’s:

"Welcome to The East Pacific, the most energized region in NationStates! Amazing, isn’t it? (Current Endocap: 80)
Please endorse your delegate, Todd McCloud, and viziers Morhams, A Slanted Black Stripe.

Forum: http://theeastpacific.com | Public chat, regional points: Click here

CURRENT TOPIC
[a topic of conversation]"[51]

It later included an events section just above the current topic and the TEP flag mentioned earlier when the option for regional flags was added[52].

DFD’s WFE was designed by participants in a competition so it changed quite often[53].

The RMB, as ever, was claimed by advertisers with a little conversation. Therefore, communication still happened mainly offsite. Chatzy began some small-scale use during this era but most communication happened over the forums, IRC, Skype, AOL, or MSN.

TEP went from isolation from FA to active participation in FA. This active participation, however, did slow down. As for the foreign view of TEP, it was still the RP Pacific. I also believe most people viewed the region as being weak after coming out of a coup. At least the cries of dictatorship and inactivity came to a halt.

Cultural changes occurred. Imperialism and totalitarianism tones became odious. Coup jokes also lost flavor as did threats to coup the region from Joe Nobodies.

The forum was very active. Lots of legislative and Executive work went on during this era and RP held strong even if it did stabilize later on. Under Todd’s term, the Government was quite heavy handed. During DFD’s term, the Executive was led in a more presidential manner. This is why so little is known about DFD’s time compared to Todd.

Trivia

–Todd was the first-ever elected Delegate.

–Despite the impression some people have, TEP was never sure-footed in its path forwards after the Empire collapsed. A lot of debate happened, presumably a lot of backtracking on ideas was done, and a lot of compromises were likely made before the new constitution was done. TEP had to then iron out the kinks of this new Government, kinks which still need ironing out today such as Conclave inactivity and the powers of each branch.

–Debate contests began in 2009 during this era. These continued on and off until 2013 where they drop off completely. The turnout for most debates was low. Some people signed up and then didn’t even bother debating when the time came. Other debates that happened consisted of just a hand few posts.

–Loop’s motto, “My bigness is exceeded only by my Frenchness” came about during this era since Loop became the largest nation in the region during this era[70]. I have no idea if Loop is French so I can’t explain the latter.

–The Concordat didn’t have provisions for amending and repealing laws. This renders all laws amended or repealed by the Magisterium until the provisions were added invalid.

Who’s Who

Free Pacific States (also known as FPS) - Became very active in the beginning to rebuild (joined 5 January 2004)
Kelssek - Famous legislator that came back to rebuild (joined 26 March 2004)
East Malaysia (also known as EM) - Now considered an old guard member due to how old he became (joined 27 May 2004)
Kurogasa - One of the first appointed Arbiters, served for several years, later Viceroy in 2011 (joined 21 October 2005)
Bai Lung - Very prominent RPer, famous for solo RPing (joined 3 December 2005)
Lazlowia - Prominent Arbiter (joined 21 July 2006)
Drakkengard - Long time WA liason, all-rounder, and more accomplishments documented in the next volume (joined 15 October 2007)
Todd McCloud - The first official Concordat Delegate (joined 18 January 2008)
Warre - A very active RPer, a legislator, and the second-ever elected Provost (joined 18 April 2008)
Der Fuhrer Dyszel (also known as Der Fuhrer Deizel, DFD, and Lady Edea) - A Delegate of this era (joined 25 February 2009)
Dyr Nasad - An incredibly active Provost and legislator (joined 9 April 2009)

Sources

— End quote

Mangegneithe · March 10, 2022, 3:23pm

The Story of The East Pacific Volume Five - Pax Orientalem

— Begin quote from ____

Foreword

I thank Kurogasa, EM, Zuk, and McStooley for helping me with this volume as well.

An addendum will be released if there are factual inaccuracies or information has been missed.

It appears as if several threads from this era have vanished. Their topic ids link to older threads from Gnidrah’s days. Many Magisterium voting thread links do this and I haven’t found any reason why this would or could happen. It may have happened during the transition to ZetaBoards but I’m not entirely sure. All topics after the ZetaBoard transition work correctly but all previous ones do not.

This volume spans the longest number of years of any volume I have planned to release. This is because I have no better idea on splitting it. The constitutional conventions of 2012, 2013, and 2014 seem like good ideas but the conventions didn’t overhaul the region as the Empire did. Nor was there a period of intense and sustained activity, a renaissance, like the reconstructions, save for the Delegacy of Yuno but splitting Yuno into a separate volume over a substantially small amount of time doesn’t feel right. This era didn’t have any special things about it either. Special as in the pre-Loopian days of TEP. So, I decided to create a single unified volume and titled it, in terrible Latin, “Pax Orientalem”, Eastern peace, after the long string of Delegates who kept it.

Once again, don’t expect a smooth flowing volume.

The Old Concordatial Era Continues

On the 17th of September, 2010, Allegheny became Delegate after a recount[177] in one of the most underwhelming elections ever. Pitted against just a single other candidate, Pax, who made a joke campaign, it was no contest from the beginning[1]. As a note, on the 16th, a day before the recount was finalized, the Delegate position no longer held admin powers by default[184].

Allegheny for his term would do very little. Most activity that went on in TEP was the result of other things. FA was quiet as was Tourism. The WA Liason, under Drakkengard, would be punctual with its duties.

On the day after Allegheny’s election, EPNS volume two issue two was released. As a reminder, the EPNS office was a pseudo-Ministry at this point. The staffers would disband and regroup every so often at Todd’s command to write a new edition. This edition was long. It featured the usual updates from the Conclave, Magisterium, and FA. It kept the introduction and humor section, had a nation spotlight section that related to RP, and had an immensely long and detailed RP article. It also included an interview of Allegheny and coverage of the election[105].

On the 23rd of November, 2010, FPS opened up the thread and called on anyone to present proof that those from the days before the Empire were in control of the region. This came after some people expressed the belief that an old guard controlled TEP. The discussion, held between FPS, Allegheny, Reziel, and BGP (under a now-deleted account) was, at best, unproductive. Each side insulted the other, dismissed their arguments, and flared their tempers. Todd had to intervene to keep the peace. By the end of the discussion, nothing was achieved[182][183].

On the 23rd of December, 2010, the next issue of EPNS was created. Issue three of volume two was Christmas-themed. It had everything of the previous volumes and didn’t do anything differently[106].

On the 13th of March, 2011, NS got its game side embassies[179]. Todd set up a thread to discuss what should happen. The consensus was that game side embassies should be granted to those with forum embassies. Reziel suggested the Magisterium be in charge instead of the Delegate. There was some support but it was never legislated[180]. Allegheny chose to make it the Delegates duty and posted an Executive order requiring regions to have forum embassies first, a move which ended any discussion[181].

And that is all for Allegheny’s time as Delegate.

On the 2nd of April, 2011, Todd McCloud was elected as Delegate again. Pitched against British Grand Pacific, he was a familiar face and a trusted candidate compared to BGP who had a bad reputation. The election was immensely underwhelming[58]. He would be re-elected again on the 30th of September, 2011, in another underwhelming election. His opponent, Stateless573, got just 4 votes from the 18 turnout[59]. I will treat his two terms as one for continuity purposes.

Throughout Todd’s terms, Tourism would be more active than during Allegheny but still quiet. FA was also quite quiet. Todd’s biggest problem was to tackle the chronic problem of inactivity and to get EPNS off its feet. Todd would do his best. Let’s cover his EPNS efforts first.

On the 20th of April, 2011, Todd, now that he became Delegate, and EM, who was busy elsewhere, couldn’t manage EPNS so Todd implemented a new idea of his for others to handle the TEP newspaper. His idea was an “odd couple”. It consisted of two people who would essentially function as Co-Ministers running the joint until the next release where they’d hand control over to a different pair. The first couple was Gulliver and SCKnightVulshain[178].

On the 11th of July, TEP’s May and June EPNS issue was released by Vulshain, the odd couple mentioned before. It was anemic, to say the least. It consisted of an interview, spotlights on two nations, a link to a funny video, and a link to some music[197]. The odd couple system, after Vulshain and Gulliver, failed.

On the 10th of October, 2011, Todd created a thread to discuss two ideas. One was to make the EPNS office a more permanent part of the Executive. The second was for the tourism office to become more official as well. How official? He wanted the offices to be elected so people feel compelled to do a good job. Kelssek opposed the idea since he didn’t believe democratic accountability was necessary nor helpful[194]. This, after being discussed further, was compromised upon. Instead of an election, a public application thread would be made and the Delegate would choose a candidate for the positions[195][196].

Now that his EPNS efforts are documented, next will be his activity drives.

On the 20th of May, 2011, Todd McCloud began “Operation: Active Summer”. It wasn’t a military operation but was a drive to get activity levels over the summer to rise. He planned to have three events. An RP week in June, a debate contest in July, and a TEP history project in August (this TEP history project wasn’t a grand plan to map TEP’s history like this is, much to my disappointment, but was, rather, a Q&A session with old-time TEPers)[175].

On the 13th of June, Todd’s RP week began preparations. He set up a thread and collected ideas for the event. Todd linked some useful RP resources and waited for ideas to come in. Amongst these ideas was a Shiro restart (Shiro was and still is a boarding school RP)[176]. What happened next is beyond my knowledge. I genuinely can’t find the forum thread for the RP event.

As for the rest of the events, I can’t locate their threads either if they did indeed happen.

On the 13th of October, 2011, Todd opened up a thread to discuss the state of the region. His opinion was that TEP had fallen Inactive. He asked that everyone help him fix this by asking people to post one thing they like and one thing they dislike about TEP[189]. People made suggestions, like to bring back the debates TEP held, push people to RP more frequently, hold big RP events with other regions, make RP easier for new people[189], and speed up the Citizenship application process[190]. These suggestions would, as far as I can tell, go nowhere.

On the 31st of October, 2011, Todd began a recruitment drive he called “Operation Get Peeps to the Forum”, designed to do as its name states. The methods, rather primitive, involved manually telegramming all 4000 nations that reside in TEP. Angry Turds and Gulliver signed up to help but the drive never got anywhere from what it seems[245]. Hardly surprising since the effort and logistics of manually telegramming every nation in a feeder once was beyond the abilities of TEP without any scripts.

On the 14th of January, 2012, Todd raised concerns about the activity in the region once again. His concerns were that the Viceroy, Kurogasa (if the Viceroy records are correct) had CTEd and the last Citizenship application that was processed was two months ago, the RP map hadn’t been updated since October of last year, the EPNS office, despite the odd couple system, was inactive and empty, his attempts at engagement were falling flat, and the Magisterium was doing nothing interesting. He reminded TEP that this was the same state of affairs that left TEP vulnerable to the Empire and swore that he would not let it happen again[186]. This thread got some people talking, some committing themselves to be more active, and some talking about reforms[187] to the Magisterium like an entirely different legislature[188]. The reforms would get nowhere and the drive for activity would have a marginal improvement.

Now for the miscellaneous during Todd’s term which are by no means less important than the above.

On the 11th of May, 2011, Allegheny left TEP for reasons he doesn’t explicitly state[4]. He joined back on the 22nd of May, 2012, and became semi-active for two years before dropping off permanently[5].

On the 2nd of September, 2011, TEP joined the Modern Pacific Alliance treaty[16]. Written by A mean old man, the treaty was intended to be between all of the Pacifics, TRR, Lazarus, and, later on, Balder and Osiris[17][18]. The scope of the treaty was huge. A separate forum was created for the purpose and each member was required to have two representatives[16]. The treaty required members to hold the MPA as above all other allegiances, forbade any willing Government change to one controlled by outsider regions (outsider to the MPA), forbade WA voting blocs with outsider regions, mandated MPA members to follow MPA assembly decisions, and mandated that members act to keep other regions that joined stable[17]. This mega alliance went so far as to have a trans-regional news agency[19]. However, it collapsed under its own weight and TEP withdrew a year later[20]. TEP withdrew since its aims weren’t met and it was struggling to keep any activity it had. AMOM, the architect of the entire thing, supported TEP’s withdrawal[192].

On the 9th of September, 2011, Pax began their retirement from NS. Pax made Barb the admin leader. Many TEPers wished Pax farewell, even Loop showed up for the occasion[191]. This isn’t to say Pax vanished as Codex or Wachovia had. Pax merely stepped down their activity to posting just a few times over the year.

On the 24th of January, 2012, Todd, after getting the Viceroy designee, and Provost to agree, held a constitutional convention because everyone gets a chance to, and I quote directly here, “change things in the Government, move stuff around, cause a little noise, and fix what we feel is broken”[211]. Several ideas were thrown around.

All were abandoned if the Concordat update thread is anything to go by. These abandoned ideas being “shrinking the government” (abandoned since the Concordat is already very flexible)[212], martial law (abandoned because of the Vizier system and because TEP was secure at the time)[213], an amendment to deal with the problem of failed votes (abandoned due to lack of interest)[214], term limits (abandoned because no-one drafted the amendment)[215], reforming the chronically inactive EPNS office (abandoned because no-one could agree on what to do)[216], the inclusion of a Vice Delegate (abandoned because Viziers can already take over in an unfortunate event)[217], removing life terms on Arbiters (abandoned because no-one drafted the amendment)[218], and changes to the Citizenship system (abandoned because there was no agreement on what to do)[219]. The convention’s only contribution was the ideas it spawned. Mainly term limits for Arbiters.

On the 30th of January, 2012, Morhams, Vizier, and one of the Empire’s biggest opponents, CTE’d. TEPers gave their respects to Morhams. Morhams hasn’t been back since, either on NS or the forums[98].

On the 2nd of February, 2012, Todd created a mentor program to help prospective Delegate candidates in the next election. Todd created this since he wasn’t going to re-run as Delegate[185].

On the 28th of April, 2012, AMOM was elected as Delegate in the first election that wasn’t a complete flop. AMOM got 9 votes and his competition, consisting of one candidate, Vulshain, got 4 votes[60]. Not the most competitive election but better than all previous ones by miles. AMOM, for reasons unknown to me, served with a puppet called “Topdop”[79].

His Delegacy can be divided into just one segment, his own attempt to fix inactivity.

Let’s cover that first before we cover the miscellaneous parts.

On the 21st of July, 2012, AMOM addressed the region and opened with the most memorable string of words any Delegate has ever uttered. “I’m not going to sugarcoat it. We’re a fucking basket case right now.” AMOM was talking about the lull that happens every summer. It was particularly bad due to the inactivity the was prevalent during Todd’s term. He was downcast after all the effort he put into the region. He mentioned how the Empire took over in such a situation. This got Todd, Kangarawa, Allegheny, and McMasterdonia to perk up and work with AMOM[203].

On the 15th of August, 2012, the Eastern Pacific Sovereign Army Act was (presumably) enacted establishing EPSA as the first regional military (excluding the AA). The military was tasked with waging war, defending the Delegate and Viziers, its members were forbidden from joining other militaries, and was unaligned from the very beginning. Interestingly, it didn’t seem to have any authority unless at war[21]. Zukchiva has the first EPSA General listed as Twobagger[22] and has given me a link to a thread. I don’t have access to this forum thread and haven’t been able to independently verify this in any other way. What I can say is that EPSA did function more or less during this era. The activity levels were substantially lower than what we have now. Back during this era, EPSA would only raid a few regions every four to six months.

On the 15th of October, 2012, Todd announced that TEP had gotten access to an auto-telegramming script that would welcome new nations automatically. Todd asked for suggestions on the welcoming telegram, and created this:

"Greetings from your region, The East Pacific!

Join the regional government! Establish international relations and guide your region to a more active and prosperous future!

Related Links:
Citizenship (Joining the interregional government):
http://theeastpacific.com/index.php?showtopic=6152&st=0
Magisterium (TEP’s legislative body):
http://theeastpacific.com/index.php?showtopic=9920&st=0
A really cool FAQ (Might answer some questions about your region):
http://theeastpacific.com/index.php?showtopic=9249

The World Assembly:
http://www.nationstates.net/page=un
Joining the WA gives you more influence within your region, the ability to endorse your delegate and regionmates (to promote regional security), the ability to submit WA proposals (with 2 endorsements), and more power over the delegate’s WA vote.

Active WA member nations can also participate in the East Pacific Sovereign Army. Inquire within!

Hope to see you around!"[201]

How long it was used for isn’t exactly known but, at most, it was used until they added welcoming telegrams in the game. These days, this script would get you in trouble with the mods.

On the 3rd of November, 2012, AMOM addressed the region and announced that TEP had rebounded from the summer lull that hits the region every year. Since this year was especially bad, and that a nation had attempted an Empire-esque overthrow during it, AMOM felt he had to address it. Todd also chipped in and agreed, calling on TEPers to continue building activity[202].

EPNS however, was a different story. The summer lull effectively killed it. Todd attempted to revive it on the 5th of November, 2012. He didn’t get far during AMOM’s Delegacy but he did manage to pull together people to create some issues later on[205]. These issues will be mentioned later.

Now for the miscellaneous parts.

On the 21st of July Todd proposed the first Magisterium Reform Act to abolish Magisterium elections after numbers had dwindled. The new application process was a simple recitation of the Magister’s pledge[255]. It passed easily since there were only two Magisters, Todd and McMasterdonia[15].

The Magisterium begins looking more recognizable now.

On the 8th of November, 2012, AMOM created a thread. This thread first highlighted the tensions other GCRs were going through. He then mentioned that he was planning a massive FA project that would get many foreigners in TEP. He then subtly implied that these people would cause problems in TEP if they got into the Magisterium. So, with the stage set, he wanted the Magisterium to have some sort of restriction on it, like TEP WA nations to be accepted and foreigners to be voted upon for entry, and Delegate elections to be for nations with a TEP WA only. He admitted that it isn’t necessarily a good idea and that cosmos can be good for the region. Nevertheless, it was his solution to a problem that had not yet materialized. His proposal got some support behind it.

Todd was the first dissenter. He reminded everyone that he was a foreigner once and that foreigners have their own set of experiences to bring. He also reminded everyone of the strong checks and balances on power that restrict what malicious individuals can do. He also reminded everyone that each Citizen should be treated equally in TEP law.

AMOM disagreed. He believed that since not all Citizens are invested in the region, not all Citizens are equal. It was his opinion that only TEP WA nations should choose the Delegate since the Delegate represents the vote of the region in the WA. He reminded everyone that they shouldn’t wait for a problem to happen before fixing it.

Todd disagreed, and got into legal reasons against AMOM’s proposal. Bachtendekuppen, a young and fresh-faced puffin who still had colored feathers at this time, also chipped in with support for Todd[198].

After some more lengthy back and forths on the minute details, AMOM ended up creating a list with 9 different options[199]. Todd, after making some tweaks, motioned his version of one of the many options to vote and it was seconded. Todd’s version allowed Magisters to object to the inclusion of a Magister applicant. If an objection is raised, they are put to vote. If none, they would be accepted. It also created a clause that allows Magisters to be removed alongside other minute checks and balances[200]. You might wonder if something as big as this passed and so am I. The voting thread appears to have just vanished. I do believe it passed since the objections rule was used afterward in some Magister applications. Zukchiva, a fellow TEP historian, tells me the law was later changed because someone spammed objections to every application.

On the 7th of December, 2012, Todd beat AMOM in the Delegate elections. This was another good election. Todd got 13 votes and AMOM received 7[61].

Todd’s term was quiet. Nothing special happened as far as I can tell.

On the 1st of January, 2013, the TEP forums finally, after a long wait time, were forced into converting to Zetaboards after Invision left everyone no choice[14].

On the 8th of January, 2013, the 4th volume of EPNS was created. I have no idea what happened to the third volume for a fourth to be necessary. Regardless, the first edition of the new volume was up to its usual standard. It featured a message from the Delegate, a summary of Magisterium happenings, an opinion article by Bach, a poem, mention of a debate contest, a humor section, and a footnote explaining how to get an embassy[100].

On the 1st of February, 2013, Todd set up a vote to see if people wanted to join the “Sovereign Confederation”. The Sovereign Confederation (or SovCon for short) was yet another multi-regional organization, this one aimed to protect member regions from the supposed evil that is cosmopolitanism. Why did it have to be an organization and not a simple treaty? Because they wanted to add extra stuff like a unified intelligence apparatus and military. Some things, like the legislature, strip members of some rights, which was quite ironic. What probably didn’t help SovCon’s standing amongst TEPers was that Biyah, former Empire member Lord Rahl, was assigned as the representative to ease TEP’s mind. TEP wasn’t impressed. One person voted to join, six voted against joining, and one person, most likely Pax, voted to join the hive as a form of abstention[206].

On the 19th of March, 2013, Kelssek, one of the most famous legislators in TEP history, resigned from NS for IRL reasons, most notably university. His nation remains and he still logs on to this day but he has eternally stepped back from the Government[6]. Zukchiva tells me he remains semi-active in the NS sports RP scene.

On the 6th of April, 2013, Bach created the “Scriptum Pacificus Oreintalem”, Bach’s codex of laws. Still updated to this day[172].

On the 23rd of April, 2013, Loop was commended and TEPers rejoiced. Mikeswill, longtime Delegate of the region “NationStates” makes an appearance where he applauds Loop but, naturally, opposes the Security Council[7].

On the 23rd of April, 2013, ASBS returned to TEP. He clarified that he had left due to IRL circumstances. He then decided to return after seeing old NS-related computer files when copying things between his old computer and a new one. He commented on how TEP seemed active and healthy and congratulated everyone for it. TEPers greeted him with open arms, and Pax with a demand of assimilation[247].

On the 13th of June, 2013, AMOM was elected as Delegate in the first election consisting of multiple candidates. AMOM got 14 votes and ran against Samuel Kudrow (0 votes), Babiana (3 votes), and Old Federalia (4 votes). Since TEP didn’t use the instant run-off system, it was a rather underwhelming election despite the diversity in the candidates[62]. AMOM, strangely, held the Delegacy with his main nation, A mean old man, instead of his previous nation, Topdop[80].

AMOM’s term was also relatively quiet. Most of the activity was reactive or happened without him.

On the 29th of June, 2013, AMOM called for war to be declared on Gatesville[23] which was accepted by the Magisterium[193]. This came after Gatesville launched a rather odd coup in Osiris. The Dourian Embassy (the Delegate at the time) lost the Delegate elections in Osiris to Cormac and then handed over his Delegate nation to Nevadar. Nevadar then couped and turned Osiris into a Gatesville protectorate. AMOM, a firm advocate for GCR sovereignty and TEP’s Delegate, was immediately on the warpath and got EPSA to help out in Osiris[24]. This state of war continued for an excessively long time. Since it was an NS region war, nothing happened as Gatesville had an Executive founder and TEP was far too powerful for Gatesville to overthrow. Eventually, it ended on the 8th of November, 2016, when the war was declared a victory as Gatesville had decayed to being a husk of its former self[36].

On the 4th of July, 2013, the first serious TEP political party was created by Dernovia. It was called “The East Pacific Democratic Socialist Party”[94]. For something so odious today, it was reasonably well received by TEPers even if Dernovia did abandon it due to criticism[95]. Aelitia, a supporter of political parties, created a political party of their own a month later called the “Independent Party”[96], and Tano created their own shortly after. Their party was called the “Supreme Liberal Party Against Parties” or SLPAP[97]. After this bout of enthusiasm, parties die off, thankfully.

On the 18th of July, 2013, the Citizenship Commission was established by Jurisdictions, the Viceroy at that time, to handle Citizenship applications[25], after some intense pressure from the Magisterium and ASBS in particular to legislate such a system[26]. The Chair of the Commission was Old Federalia and the first few members were Todd and Tano[25].

On the 31st of August, 2013, another constitutional convention was called, this time by Hobbes, to deal with the new proposed system of Regional Officers. The matter wasn’t dealt with[220]. That didn’t matter for the constitutional convention since it entered full swing, tackling issues that had nothing to do with regional officers. Shorter Delegate terms were proposed[221] and adopted, lowering the term length to four months instead of six[67]. The Magisterium was given powers to accept Magisters per the standing orders rather than it being enshrined in the Concordat[222][223]. And it very nearly passed an amendment mandating Citizens vote to retain their Citizenship[224][225]. Not one of TEP’s best moments.

On the 13th of September 2013, the Eastern Pacific Police Service Act was passed creating the EPPS[27]. The EPPS was proposed by Hobbes to protect TEP’s sovereignty, improve regional security, enforce laws, carry out intelligence operations, work with EPSA for operations in defense of TEP, and gather evidence for the Conclave. It was supported initially by Karpathos but Nalt, Prussia, ASBS, and Bach questioned how it would function[248]. After some back and forth, Nalt, Prussia, and Bach were convinced to support the idea although ASBS still held some reservations about the wording and practicality of the proposal[248][249]. Nevertheless, it was put up to a vote and it failed[250]. After some more discussion and disagreements, ASBS drafted his version of the act which was motioned and the version passed[251].

On the 17th of September, 2013, ASBS asked AMOM about his involvement in the Pacific. This was because he was the Delegate of TEP and because he was staunchly anti-cosmopolitan whilst being highly involved in the Pacific. AMOM clarified that he was forced to be involved due to “recent circumstances” and that he doesn’t consider himself Cosmopolitan[207].

However, not everyone was happy with his response so, on the 4th of October, 2013, AMOM opened a thread to rile against rumors he heard about him couping TEP and people seeking his replacement. He reminded everyone that activity was low and that no one was attempting to do anything. He was at a loss on what to do himself before saying he wanted his last few months to end before quitting TEP[208].

ASBS, as before, led the criticism. He said that he hadn’t heard of coup panics or replacements. He said he didn’t know if AMOM was still dedicated to TEP, citing a treaty proposal with all the Pacifics which was effectively ignored after initial dismissal and general inactivity in the FA department. He highlighted AMOM’s inactivity in matters that required his attention. He also said that AMOM was still highly involved with the Pacific despite saying he would quit should he become Delegate[208].

AMOM responded to these criticisms by first saying the treaty was still being ignored since it still wouldn’t work with the feeders. He then said that indeed, the FA Ministry was inactive and that he was contemplating its reorganization. And he did admit that his involvement in the Pacific was high but only recently as he felt compelled to defend the Pacific from anti-GCR elements[208].

On the 14th of October, AMOM, to incite activity in the FA Ministry, began a grand FA project ambitiously titled the “No Frontiers Project”. His idea was to effectively pump FA relations into sudden overdrive[209]. Ambassadors signed up in droves but the grand plan of having a sudden boost in relations never materialized[210].

On the 23rd of October, 2013, Old Federalia made the opinion that the Concordat, and all laws, do not apply beyond onsite stuff. This legal opinion, supported by Jurisdictions, continues to have consequences to this day. It was fiercely contested by Hobbes and ASBS back then[2]. This judicial opinion by two extremely well-respected Arbiters directly caused the Concordat Supremacy Act to be passed which forced recognition of the Concordat in all TEP places beyond onsite[28].

On the 29th of October, 2013, the EPNS Editor position was legislated into law as a position that required Magisterial approval[240]. It’s difficult to say why it was passed. Prussia, the one who proposed the law, did so to create the EPNS office, but the office already existed for several years[241]. I don’t know what Prussia knew or what he was thinking when he proposed the law. Nevertheless, from this date until its repeal in 2018, all EPNS editors needed to be voted upon.

From Bach to the Committees

(I have chosen to split the volume here as before Bach’s election, the Delegacy functioned like a merry-go-round of Todd then someone else. After Bach, the Delegacy became more diverse. The committee stage functioned as a pausing point for TEP so I felt that this point until the committee stage would be a good dividing point.)

On the 8th of November, 2013, Bachtendekuppen was elected Delegate in the closest election in TEP yet. He ran against Hobbes and Prussia[63]. He won with 18 votes to Hobbes’ 13 and Prussia’s 1[64].

Under Bach, EPSA gradually got traction.

Foreign relations also bloomed.

Bach got treaties with TSP (which had been sunk by Unibot)[167], TNP(signed)[168], thr UDL (signed)[171], and Lazarus(signed)[169].

It was under Bach that the Foreign Affairs Committee was established due to his FA work. On the 21st of February, 2013, Old Federalia began discussions about establishing it so the Executive and Magisterium could work together on treaties. His and Aelitia’s idea was to create a Magisterium resolution titled the “Foreign Affairs Committee Resolution”. This resolution, rather strangely as resolutions aren’t laws but the opinions of the Magisterium, established the committee and had it discuss foreign policies and treaties with the Delegate. ASBS countered with an amendment to the SOM which is practically the same as we have today[160]. ASBS’ proposal was adopted on the 13th of March[161].

It was also under Bach that the Cabinet system that we know of today was established. On the 11th of November, 2013, Bach established his Cabinet and called it the “Directorate”. His Cabinet was to meet every week and to coordinate with each other for efficiency[101].

And now for the rest of Bach’s term.

On the 11th of November, 2013, Bach opened a convention on Conclave reform[173]. This lengthy convention ended on the 9th of December, 2013. The changes, summarized, reduced the number of Arbiters to four and set terms to six months, abolishing life terms[174]. Creating a Conclave that looks more recognizable.

On the 2nd of December, 2013, EPNS changed its system. It went from publishing full volumes to publishing articles separately as well. It’s an entirely strange thing. I recommend that everyone who cares give this NS forum thread a read:
https://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=272624
It should become clearer.

On the 4th of January, 2014, NS introduced the polls mechanic[102]. The first poll TEP had was created by Bach and was about preferred TEP food. Caek did not win. The winning answer was “Whatever Todd McCloud says”. The runner-up was “Two Fishmongers walk into a bar” and the third-place award goes to caek[103].

On the 23rd of January, 2014, Unibot, in his attempt to change TEP to defender, made a petition to do just that. He presented a list of people who signed his petition enthusiastically. The list reads like a who’s who. ASBS, Drakkengard, Xoriet, Aelitia, Ramaeus, and Hobbes all signed in favor alongside many others. He talked about how defenderism is moral and then presented the Defender Act, the single most controversial act ever passed[29]. Bach was the most fierce critic of the act, citing the reduced options available to the military and the natural subscription to the defender/raider conflict[30]. When the act was put up for a vote, on the 7th of February, 2014, it passed with 7 for, 1 against (Old Federalia), and 1 abstaining (ASBS)[31]. Bach, despite being so vehemently against, decided not to exercise his veto[32].

Such an act did not last long. It was repealed about a month later, on the 2nd of March, 2014, with the Identity Act which narrowly survived the Magisterium vote[33]. This came after presumably tense negotiations over the act since a lot of people were opposed. The Identity Act was supposed to be a compromise so a lot of harrumphs were harrumphed as it was presented[34][35]. Nevertheless, the Defender Act was defeated.

On the 16th of February, 2014, Bach posted an address to the region. This address told people to start being more civil towards each other. This came after the Defender Act debates. Unibot blamed the Executive for bumping heads with the Magisterium[162]. Others blamed Unibot for forcing through the Defender Act, attempting to change the popular regional motto[163][164], and for sinking a TSP treaty because they banned him[167]. In the eyes of many, Unibot caused more heated discussions than the Executive did.

On the 4th of March, 2014, TEP began its foray into using instant-runoff voting. When it passed the Instant-Runoff Voting Act[38]. At least it would have had Bach not vetoed it in regards to Concordat violation concerns[39]. So, on the 20th of March, TEP passed the Resolution to Enact Instant-Runoff Voting instead[40]. And thus, we now have IRV.

The IRV system wasn’t adopted for the Delegate elections that occurred just 4 days after the Act was passed (not the resolution). Bach was re-elected[65] however his term would last for four months instead of the previous six per the Concordat amendment mentioned earlier in the 2013 constitutional convention.

On the 16th of April, 2014, Bach created his green paper system. This system was supposed to incentivize recruitment by awarding 10 currency for each successful recruitment. The currency was supposed to be used to request policy changes. To keep track of who has what, a position called the “keeper” was made[159]. Kind of like a central bank. It, however, didn’t get anywhere.

On the 8th of May, 2014, a third (and last during this era) constitutional convention was called. This time, by Old Federalia, because it was in his Provost campaign to hold one[226]. Why was it in his Provost campaign? Good question. One I can’t answer as his campaign thread appears to have vanished off the face of the Earth. Nevertheless, the convention thread appears to show that he believes the Concordat needed clarifications. Not everyone agreed [226]. That didn’t stop the convention from going ahead.

The first thing people wanted to tackle was Executive reform, by legislating Ministries in the Concordat. The argument behind Executive reform was for more accountability before the Magisterium by allowing them to remove a Minister. Naturally, such legislating in the Concordat would mean it would require near-constant updates since Ministries aren’t static. The disagreement meant that this got nowhere[227].

After this, Old Federalia opened a thread to discuss every single part of the Concordat.

The preamble (which wasn’t changed as no one had any interest in)[228].

Article A: Executive (which wasn’t amended because there was no discussion behind it)[229].

Article B: Legislature (which wasn’t amended because there was also a lack of discussion)[230].

Article C: Judiciary (which wasn’t amended because of a lack of fruitful discussion)[231].

Article D: Viziers (which wasn’t amended because of a lack of more fruitful discussion)[232].

Article E: Citizenship (which wasn’t amended because no one discussed their ideas further)[233].

Article F: Rights of Citizens (which was the only one amended, amended to allow foreign titles of nobility[235][236])[234].

And Article G: Enactment and Amendment (which wasn’t amended because no one had any worthwhile suggestions)[237].

This convention didn’t end here though, in the end, Old Federalia proposed an entire rewrite of the Concordat to make it more readable[238]. After being debated, it was forgotten[239]. And such was the enormous waste of time that another unnecessary convention was. If there’s anything we can learn here, it’s “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

On the 28th of May, 2014, the Ministry of Culture and Education was established. It was the first legal TEP culture ministry (I say first legal culture ministry as the Empire had one) and it covered duties of the current Ministry of Culture, as well as scattered duties relating to the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Immigration. Its first Minister was Vaculatestar[99].

On the 30th of June, 2014, Ramaeus was elected Delegate in an extremely close election against Old Federalia. Ramaeus received 21 votes whilst OF received 18, with 53% of the vote[68].

EPSA would continue to be active during Ramaeus. FA would be a different story.

On the 16th of July, 2014, Ramaeus posted his address to the region where he talked about developing a welcoming atmosphere for newcomers, keeping the Directorate, and working to further TEP’s FA standings[158].

On the 15th of August, 2014, Ramaeus created the first TEP mentoring program. called the “Eastern Pacific Mentoring Program” (EPMP), it was supposed to help newcomers get oriented in the region[157]. Whether or not it worked is something I haven’t got a clue about but the lack of any indication from what I’ve seen suggests that it failed.

On the 30th of August, 2014, Ramaeus released a statement on the Osiris-Lazarus war where he said TEP, as allies to both regions, would maintain neutrality and would only intervene should one side’s security, sovereignty, or stability be threatened by the other[150]. On the 4th of September, Ramaeus released a statement on Cormac shutting all relations with TEP from Osiris. It was a fairly standard statement announcing TEP’s regret of losing an ally[151]. On the 21st of September, 2014, TEP withdrew from its treaty with Lazarus after the Lazarene Chairman (and future TEP Cabalist), Funkadelia, led an IRC invasion of TEP and made an alarming joke about couping TEP. This and the failure of Lazarene General Aperi to work with EPSA on an operation that they agreed upon[152].

The rest of Ramaeus’ term would be marred by one of the largest FA disasters of TEP history.

On the 19th of October, 2014, Cormac, through his Miniluv Messenger, revealed a plot called Operation Brave Toaster. This plot involved stacking the TSP elections and then couping to install a new Government. What made this plot so disastrous was the heavy involvement of TEPers. Todd McCloud was the chief architect, Ramaeus, God-Emperor, Tano, Southern Yugoslavia, and British Grand Pacific were all involved. What people at the time didn’t realize was that EM, our oldest and most respected member, was also involved, not in the operation but in hiding the forum out of sight. Added to this was that all the planning took place on TEP’s forums. To put it succinctly, several TEPers, including Delegate Ramaeus and ex-Delegate Todd, were conspiring against TEP’s oldest ally on TEP forums whilst seeking the help of more people including TEPers.

Todd initially called it a sting operation, a thin excuse that was seen through immediately. Todd then accepted responsibility but made it clear that TEP was not behind it as a region[89].

The fallout over this plot may have caused Ramaeus to hand over what remained of his term to Todd (as Vizier Delegate) on the 20th of October[156].

It would be an entire month later that TEP would release any statement on the matter. Since Ramaeus was involved and Todd was the architect, neither could release a statement and be taken as acting in good faith. It would be Xoriet, as Delegate, that would release a statement on behalf of TEP on the 16th of November. The statement distanced TEP as a region from the coup plot and criticized the actions of those TEPers involved[90].

On the 31st of October, 2014, Xoriet was elected Delegate. This was the first Delegate election that used the instant run-off voting system[69].

Xoriet’s term was quiet. It should be noted that Xor never wanted to become Delegate. They took things upon themselves to “fix the problem”[257].

The only noteworthy thing that did happen was the founding of TEP’s official Steam group on the 12th of January, 2015[8]. Hobbes, several years later, didn’t know about this group’s existence so he created another TEP Steam group on the 29th of January, 2017[9]. As of writing, the Hobbes Steam group, the accidental one, has more members than the actual one.

On the 5th of March, 2015, Ramaeus was elected as Delegate[70]. This election didn’t use the IRV system since the only candidates were Todd and Ramaeus. He was re-elected on the 6th of July, 2015, in the lowest quality election in TEP history. Just 12 Citizens voted, of which 5 abstained, and the remaining 7 voted Ramaeus as their first choice[71].

Six days after his election, Old Federalia, the once-respected Arbiter, sent every TEP and Osiris nation a telegram outlining a conspiracy theory about him and Tim Stark. Here’s the telegram:

"Hear ye, hear ye!

Your region is under attack from the inside!

It is I, your Supreme Evil Overlord, and I send this message to warn two of the regions within my domain of the threat to their democracies.

What is the threat to your region?

The World Assembly Delegates of The East Pacific and Osiris are planning two simultaneous coups d’etat of the democratic governments of their regions. If this happens, the difficulty of defeating them will be multiplied by two because the inter-regional community of defenders and raiders will be forced to fight them one at a time.
What do The East Pacific and Osiris have in common?
Both of their Delegates are members of an aristocratic “family” of players that is focused on one thing: accumulating personal power. The “Montreser” family is no different or worse than any NationStates family, but in this instance, they cannot be trusted simply because the RISK IS TOO GREAT.

Why now?
The term of office for Tim Stark (who is a member of two families, Stark and Montreser, hence the name Stark) is nearly complete, and ends within the next month or so, and made it the first stated goal in his midterm report to increase his endorsement count to 120. Ramaeus was elected just a few days ago, but has made it the number one priority to increase his endorsement count to 277 endorsements (he is using a challenge to break a record of endorsements as a cover story). The time frame for both of these things is within the next few weeks, as they both said. Coincidence? Not likely. (Tim Stark may run for re-election and may be re-elected, but that will only let both Ramaeus and Tim gain more endorsements while they wait.)

What can you do to stop the coups from ever happening?
Join the World Assembly, endorse everyone except your Delegate. Do not let your delegate have 30 endorsements more than the appointed security nations of your region. The security nations of your region are listed on the World Factbook Entry on your region’s page. It is the job of the security nations to have a high number of endorsements in order to prevent the Delegate from couping their region. Specifically, endorse Zaolat in Osiris and Todd McCloud in The East Pacific.

Don’t believe me?
I wouldn’t trust me, either. However, it can’t hurt to take precautions. Tim Stark and Ramaeus may not coup their regions, but nevertheless, do not let them have too many more endorsements than the security nations in your regions. Why take the risk? Trust me, I’m evil incarnated, I would simultaneously coup Osiris and The East Pacific if I were in their shoes.
For reference:
Tim Stark’s Endorsement Limit Rules: page=dispatch/id=372689
Tim Stark’s Midterm Report, which says he wants 120 endorsements, http://w11.zetaboards.com/OFO/topic/10956650/1/
Ramaeus’s Endorsement Campaign: page=dispatch/id=380501
Sincerely,
Supreme Evil Overlord of NationStates
(Just Another Player)
P.S. I hope I am wrong and urge Tim Stark and Ramaeus to resist temptation. If they do not coup their regions, then you should admire them for their character."

This landed him charges of treason. His response was to call himself out on his scheme in private correspondence with Ramaeus. In a plot twist, he was found to be beyond the scope of TEP’s laws as he didn’t have Citizenship nor a nation in TEP, leaving him off the hook on treason[3].

The rest of his term was normal. He did a variety of stuff and the ministries functioned to a greater or lesser degree.

On the 30th of March, 2015, Ramaeus opened up a contest for a TEP motto and a seal for the TEP Executive[153]. After many submissions for the motto and a few for the seal, the winner for the motto was “Ex Oreinte Lux”, which unfortunately beat out the far superior submission “rent this space”[154], and the seal was Aelitia’s creation[155].

On the 11th of April, 2015, AMOM couped Lazarus and established “The New Lazarene Order” as a colony of the NPO. In his statement, he rather subtly insinuated that TEP was lucky to have not been couped when he was there[148]. Ramaeus withdrew from the NPO treaty and refused to acknowledge the new Lazarus as legitimate[149]. As a response to the coup, a strange Magisterial resolution was proposed to censure AMOM on the 13th although it didn’t get anywhere as AMOM did contribute a lot to TEP prior. Ramaeus wasn’t very happy about this[45].

On the 16th of April, 2015, Ramaeus created “The Office of Delegate’s Legal Council” or “DLC” for short. This was supposed to advise the Delegate on laws passed by the Magisterium. It included examining laws, issuing recommendations of signing it or vetoing it, answering any legal questions the Delegate has, keeping records of Arbiter terms so renominations can take place, and examining the Executive Orders from time to time. Such a task was given to none other than Juris[145]. Juris would resign his position on the 14th of May and the office would be abolished on the 28th of May[146].

On the 19th of August, 2015, Ramaeus created the “Order of The Golden Ocelot” award. The badge, created by British Grand Pacific, seemed to be made in honor of Xoriet who’s persona was that of an ocelot and it was made the highest honor one can receive in TEP. It still is the highest award one can receive in TEP. The first members to be granted the award were Loop, ASBS, Bach, Pax, EM, Todd, and Xoriet[147]. This inadvertently replaced the “Lothlanderamore Medal for Meritous Service in The East Pacific”. An award from Loopian times, only ever awarded once, forgotten by everyone since, and the previous highest civilian award.

On the 18th of September, 2015, Aelitia, a Vizier at the time, CTEd. This was and is extremely unusual. Aelitia fixed it shortly and clarified that it was an oversight on their part. ASBS still saw it as problematic as Aelitia’s influence would take a long time to replenish[41].

On the 11th of October, 2015, regional officers were added to the game[143]. Bach opened a thread for the Magisterium to discuss what it should do. Whilst discussions were held, Ramaeus made it known that he believed the power over appointing regional officers rested solely with the Executive and, therefore, the Delegate. Ramaeus then warned the Magisterium that he would veto any legislation that limited the Delegate’s power over appointing regional officers. This ended the discussion[144].

On the 31st of October, 2015, Prussia was elected as Delegate in an average election[72].

Prussia’s term was short so not much happened.

On the 22nd of November, Prussia created his “Citizen of the Week” program to reward active Citizens and “TEP Radio Hour” which was supposed to be a weekly event where the Delegate discusses news and events[142]. Both of these probably happened over Skype since there is no other forum mention of the radio hour ever nor a mention of the Citizen of the week program until two years later.

On the 21st of December, 2015, Prussia resigned as Delegate. He was the first-ever Delegate to resign whilst in-game Delegate (Lotlanthanderamore is excluded due to the questionable circumstances surrounding him). He resigned for IRL reasons[42].

The immediate concern was finding a replacement from the selection of Viziers. Ramaeus didn’t want to have another term, Aelitia wasn’t endorsed by enough people to be a viable candidate. Bach and ASBS weren’t considered either because Todd was seen as the best choice for having high levels of activity and a high endo count[44]. So, nine days after Prussia’s surprise resignation, Todd was elected as the step-in Delegate with unanimous approval from the Magisterium[43].

After this, Emergency elections were called for the Delegacy. Todd, unsurprisingly, won. Being elected on the 18th of January, 2016[73].

Todd did the regular Government shuffle and then proceeded to do very little.

On the 2nd of March, 2016, Delegate elections were called and only one valid candidate existed, Ramaeus[74]. The voting thread was set up and the number of write-in votes for Pax as dictator caused the entire voting thread to become invalid. This made the Viceroy extend the nominations so an acceptable election could be done[75]. On the 7th of March, another election thread was set up with two candidates. Pax (for Dictator) and McStooley. McStooley won on the 11th[76]. He was re-elected on the 14th of July, 2016, in an extremely close election against Aelitia. Winning with just one vote in the second round of counting[77].

His terms were extremely quiet. His second term especially so.

He had to hand over the Delegacy temporarily to Todd in his second term for IRL reasons on the 20th of August. He more or less implied that Todd will continue as temporary Delegate on the 14th of September[256].

This incredible inactivity resulted in the committee stage of TEP.

The Committee Stage

On the 9th of October, 2016, Todd McCloud created the TEP Improvement Drive to get TEP active. Concerns were raised about the illegitimacy of Todd’s actions since the Concordat invested such authority in the Delegate and Todd was not the actual Delegate. They have a point. Todd, in an alarming display of disregard for the rule of law, said he would veto anything passed during the drive, Magisterial resolutions included[48].

A day after the improvement drive began, ASBS created a thread raising concerns about McStooley’s inactivity and calling for a Vizier to take charge through the legal mechanisms. He also raised concerns about Todd unilaterally pausing the Government[46]. Todd, in response, decided to strike through the text where he pauses the Government and blamed the Magisterium for not cooperating with Todd’s subversion of the Delegate’s authority[49].

On the 14th of October, five days after Todd began his drive, he opened a vote to get Citizens to decide whether or not they wanted the TEP improvement drive to proceed[140]. 100% of people who voted were in favor(excluding abstentions)[141]. This must be noted, Todd didn’t have the authority to call such a vote neither would this vote hold any legal merit. A vote by the Citizen’s didn’t grant Todd’s actions legitimacy. All of this was super illegal but Todd made it up as he went along, and TEP, for whatever reason, went along with it.

Let’s leave the legality of this debacle to the side so we can cover what Todd got up to.

He created a series of committees, each one with a different focus. He created the Forum Inclusiveness Committee[128], Foreign Affairs Committee[129], WFE Committee[130], In-Game Diplomacy Committee[131], East Pacific Sovereign Army Committee[132], Roleplay Committee[133], and the Forum Appearance/Organization Committee[134], all on the 17th of October, 2016.

Let’s cover each Committee and what went on.

The Forum Inclusive Committee was tasked with deciding whether or not to implement regular telegrams about joining the forums, creating a welcoming committee to make newcomers feel welcome in the region, working with the Forum Organization Committee to make the forums easier for newcomers, follow up Citizenship applicants, and to work with the Magisterium to streamline the Citizenship system. This committee ended up discussing a mentoring system[128]. Whether or not it was ever implemented is unknown to me.

The Foreign Affairs Committee was tasked with sending updates to embassies, culling embassies, increasing the quality of TEP foreign updates, and improving relations. Standard FA stuff. This committee ended up creating a thread for TEP in the NS Gameplay forums. Todd said that a WFE suggestion thread would be opened, embassies would be combed over and culled, and that semi-regular embassy updates would be achieved[129].

The WFE committee was tasked with updating the WFE to be more friendly to newcomers and to be more interesting. This committee got unnecessary dispatches unpinned and updated outdated ones[130]. It also got a pollster program initiated on the 13th of November, 2016. He opened up applications for the position. EM was the first one to sign up and was given the position[127].

The in-game diplomacy committee was tasked with seeking new relations, improving relations, and working with the FA committee. This committee made a thread on the NS forums for prospective regions interested in FA with TEP and managed to get some relations going[131].

The EPSA committee handled all things EPSA. This committee won EPSA’s point region back (which it had somehow lost at some point) and aided Osiris in an emergency Delegate transition[132].

The RP committee handled RP. Potential points for the committee were the ideas of a reset on RP, cleaning up the RP map, and new RP ideas[133]. It didn’t accomplish anything noteworthy at all.

The forum appearance committee was tasked with cleaning up the forums, making them look nicer, and making it easier for newcomers[134]. This committee accomplished all of the above and then some. It created a more informative forum header, reorganized the sub-forums, created new themes[135], a forum drop-down menu, and a new banner[136]. By far the most active committee, largely thanks to the efforts of one very old East Malaysia.

During the committee activities, on the 30th of October, 2016, Todd presented a treaty, the “Coalition Against the Ideology of Nazism” or “CAIN” for short. It was supported quite well. Bach was the biggest critic because of the treaty’s poor wording[137] and what he saw as an unnecessary bureaucracy for what TEP can do on its own[138]. This treaty passed the Magisterium by a single vote on the 16th of November[139].

Todd was selected as acting Delegate on the 16th of November, 2016[47]. This didn’t retroactively make his actions any more legal but at least everything from this point to eight days later was legal.

From Aelitia to Yuno

Delegate elections began shortly after Todd’s selection as acting Delegate. On the 20th of November, 2016, Todd, whilst the Delegate election was going on, withdrew from the race. He left after he understood that Aelitia would continue his work on the improvement drive and because he wanted a new face to govern the region[126]. So, on the 24th of November, 2016, Aelitia was elected as Delegate[78].

Aelitia, apart from the usual Government shakeups that come with a Delegate, didn’t do anything groundbreaking or large-scale. When his Delegacy was seized, the Viziers ran the Delegate office. In general, Aelitia’s Delegacy was marred by a long string of controversial actions, not all by his own doing.

On the 2nd of December, 2016, Aelitia’s Delegacy was seized by the Viziers per the Conclave’s approval and a pre-trial was set up for Aelitia[50] to face charges of Citizenship Fraud[51].

The charges were that Aelitia was running another account with Citizenship called “Lavince” because the IP address matched. Aelitia denied the allegation and proved it in private. The prosecution agreed that it had been proven[51].

The pre-trial was concluded with a decision that there was not enough evidence to warrant a full trial against Aelitia[52].

Then the matter of reinstating Aelitia as Delegate came up. ASBS, on behalf of the Viziers, refused to hand over the Delegacy since his interpretation of the Concordat had it that when the Viziers seize the Delegacy with confirmation from the Conclave, they sit for the rest of the Delegate’s term. Aelitia vehemently disagreed and stated that his interpretation had it that the seizure was all temporary[52]. The Conclave handled the matter of the correct interpretation and ruled in favor of Aelitia (albeit in an advisory question)[53].

On the 15th of March, 2017, Aelitia banjected East Malaysia for endocap violations. This was legal as EM did violate the endocap but the ejection itself was controversial since EM wasn’t a threat to TEP by any means. Added to this was that Aelitia didn’t send telegrams telling people to unendorse EM, Aelitia just banjected him. EM responded to the ejection with a meme[123]. Bach went so far as to complain to the Conclave over Aelitia’s actions. The complaint was, in due respect to Bach, a monkeying of the law. The law required a summary punishment to state the duration of a banjection. The Endorsement Act said the banjection would be indefinite unless specified otherwise. Bach argued that the Concordat required the Delegate themselves to specify a time. You can judge his argument for yourself but I’m not convinced. Bach withdrew his complaint after Aelitia undid EM’s ban[124].

Following this series of debacles that characterizes Aelitia’s Delegacy, Aelitia released a statement on the 19th of March on the state of the region. Aelitia called TEP an oligarchy, one controlled by “familiar faces”. Aelitia challenged the administration team over what he considered to be the crossing of lines, the lines between the IC Government and the OOC admin team. These opinions were influenced by Aelitia’s Delegacy being seized in December. Aelitia detailed that the Viziers who seized the Delegacy were all admins, 3 of the four Arbiters were admins, his prosecutor was an admin, the evidence used against Aelitia was submitted by an admin and not by the EPPS. This was alongside several other complaints Aelitia had about the admins. Detailing them all would be fruitless. Several Citizens came out in support of Aelitia and his lengthy philippics[125].

On the 25th of March, 2017, Hobbes was elected as Delegate[82].

Hobbes would run the Delegacy quietly for the most part. The biggest thing that happened during his Delegacy was FA-related.

On the 25th of March, 2017, Hobbes presented his case against CAIN. His argument isn’t one I can wrap my head around but it appears to have convinced people[117]. A day after this, he formally announced that EPSA would not participate in CAIN operations unless TEP or her allies were directly threatened, that no further amendments to the treaty would be proposed by Hobbes to the Magisterium, and that TEP would not vote on declaring regions Nazi or Nazi collaborators[119]. He managed to convince enough people for the Magisterium to formally withdraw from CAIN on the 11th of April[118].

On the 15th of June, 2017, Hobbes proposed a treaty with The West Pacific. This treaty was called “The Best Pacifics Treaty” which seemed to be a military and mutual defense treaty first and foremost[121]. The treaty passed on the 4th of July[122]. The treaty would be ill-fated.

On the 25th of July, 2017, Mexregiona was elected as Delegate[83].

Mex never got up to much. They made appointments, nominations, all the regular stuff. The only thing noteworthy they did as Delegate was to remain neutral in the Lazarus Coup situation[116] and reorganize some of the ministries[120].

On the 16th of August, 2017, Mexregiona announced that they would be on leave for RL reasons and appointed Aelitia as acting Delegate for an indefinite period of time[54]. 11 days later, Mex resigned as Delegate[54]. Aelitia was confirmed to serve the rest of Mex’s term on the 4th of September, 2017[55]. Mex was the shortest-serving official Delegate ever, excluding Lotlanthanderamore, having served for just 33 days and never actually reaching the in-game Delegate seat[81].

Aelitia never got up to much either. They ran the Delegacy as a caretaker until Yuno.

On the 23rd of September, 2017, Yuno was elected as Delegate[84]. Yuno held the Delegacy with one of her many puppets, Queen Yuno[85]. She would be re-elected twice after, on the 2nd of February, 2018[86], and on the 9th of June, 2018[87]. For continuity purposes, I will treat Yuno’s three terms as one long term.

Under Yuno, activity bloomed. Yuno, with the help of TNP admin R3n, renewed the old and defunct tools TEP had and this caused recruitment to become significantly more efficient[246]. The Citizenship system was entirely inadequate for this boost and a backlog developed. This backlog became enough of a problem for Citizenship Commissioner Aeneas (also known as Cain) to write to the admin team asking for more moderators[107]. After some back and forth between the admins and several concerned Citizens, the admin team worked up an alternative by creating a “Citizenship Moderator” mask on the 20th of December, 2017. Those masked with this could perform the Citizenship checks themselves[108][109]. This sped up the Citizenship process quite handily and this system remained in use until EM’s Citizenship overhaul.

Shortly after her election, Yuno got to work creating the first-ever WA development program TEP had. This was achieved through region-wide telegrams which included updates on the region and WA resolutions[112], and constant dispatches and nation-specific telegrams that hammered the point away to endorse the Delegate, Viziers, and each other but not to reach past the endocap[244]. The endocap was raised twice as part of this drive[112][115].

Here’s the graph of average WA’s from 2016 to the present (late September, when this was written). You can see the clear improvement under Yuno.

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/891252806508503081/891252978642731008/Screenshot.png

Yuno also recruited and trained several now prominent members of TEP such as Marrabuk, a future Delegate, Libertanny, a future Delegate, Zukchiva, a future Delegate, Wallenburg, long time WA Minister, and Pakitsk, RMB RPer and former Arbiter. Yuno’s recruitment method was the time-tested, but labor-intensive, one-on-one recruitment.

Yuno also enacted some quite significant reforms.

The first was on the 9th of June, 2018, when Yuno adopted Fedele’s proposed system of Chief Ministers for the Arts and Sciences[254]. Fedele and Drachen were selected as the Chief Ministers of Sciences and Arts respectively. Drachen was given control over the Ministry of Culture, World Assembly Affairs, Immigration, Design, and the EPNS. Fedele was given control over the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Education, the East Pacific Police Service, EPSA, and the Census Bureau[111]. These Chief Ministers, the first Chief Ministers of TEP, ran their posts like Vice Delegates in a sense.

The second reform was on the 15th of September, 2018, when the Curia Act was passed. Meant to standardize the duties of the Ministries, it built on the idea Fedele proposed and Yuno adopted as mentioned above[113]. Yuno reformatted the Ministry system to fit this new law. FA and EPSA were made independent, Regional Affairs (not a ministry) was composed of the EPPS, Education/UTEP, Immigration, Information (a merger of the EPNS and the Ministry of Design), Culture, and World Assembly Affairs[114]. This system would continue to be used until Marrabuk, where it underwent significant changes.

Some more minor things were the many guides Yuno created. Some of which are still viewable from her Delegate nation, Queen Yuno.

Yuno’s term was also marred by controversy.

The first was the Discord debacle.

On the 27th of December, 2017, the first Discord troubles began when Yuno and a few others created a second TEP Discord. This was a problem because the first TEP Discord was still in use (the first Discord was owned and run by Todd McCloud. The precise date it was founded is unknown but it was founded around the time of the TEP Improvement Drive). The thread highlighting the problem eventually devolved into a back and forth squabble and nothing was achieved[56].

As a result of the Discord squabbling, Yuno apologized two days later and clarified what had happened by saying, and I quote directly, “It happened really fast with setting up the new server and then someone raised the idea of closing the other server to reduce competition, and then derailed from there. This won’t happen again”[112]. As for what exactly happened, I can’t say for sure. I have been told that Yuno deleted entire channels of an old Discord to hide evidence but this leaves more questions than answers.

On the 19th of August, 2018, TEP had another problem with Discord when Yuno was refused entry by the Provost, Drachen, into the TEP Magisterium Discord. Drachen defended the position since the Discord wasn’t bound by law and, therefore, it could be run however they wanted it. As became custom during this time frame, the thread devolved into a back and forth squabble. No one came out of it looking any better[57].

The next was the pretend coup.

Around the end of March in 2018, Yuno led a fake coup of TEP. She removed the regional officers and replaced the Concordat with the “Eastern Loligarch Order”. This prank, meant to be revealed on April Fools, wasn’t well received. NSGP lost their minds, TEP lost WAs and some nations, and many teeth were gnashed until it was cut short[115].

Now for the miscellaneous parts.

On the 27th of March, 2018, TEP was liberated by SC resolution 247. It was proposed by the nation “The eastern fail-igarchy”. I paste here the entire text of the resolution:

"Asserting that liberation proposals such as this one can be written to have a symbolic, rather than practical effect, and that liberations can be targeted at regions without “Delegate-imposed barriers to free entry,”

Believing that The East Pacific, under the repressive leadership of raider-allied Queen Yuno, has stooped to such horrendous levels that a liberation is fitting,

Concerned that, in violation of the universally-respected right to emigrate, the raider cabal in charge in The East Pacific has prohibited member nations from departing, whilst deliberately misleading ignorant Citizens about the “rights afforded to them,”

Disgusted by the present regime’s use of an eye-searing shade of pink in official documents and across the region,

Distressed that through their ties to raider organizations in the West Pacific and in the Black Hawks, Queen Yuno has infiltrated the government of a democratic region to twist it towards the destructive ends of the aforementioned regions,

Annoyed that in an effort to undermine regular nations, Queen Yuno has elevated themselves to status as one of the largest superdelegates in these nation-states, and has, in an effort to undermine democracy in the World Assembly, dramatically increased their own power in the World Assembly,

Sympathizing with the victims of the self-proclaimed “Loligarch’s” mass-communications, the sheer quantity of which have bored global leaders the world over,

The Security Council, by the advice and consent of the Delegates and member nations thereof, does hereby, in the name of the ever-knowing Violet, Liberate The East Pacific."

It was repealed on the 30th of November, 2018[252].

On the 25th of April, 2018, Prussia, a former Delegate that resigned, returned. They left no reason for why they left so that much remains a mystery[104].

On the 21st of May, 2018, Zetaboards began its merger with Tapatalk. TEP, as is characteristic, was slow to migrate although this time it was no fault of its own as the merger was happening automatically for each board. TEP finally converted to Tapatalk around late August to early September[253].

On the 2nd of September, 2018, the archaic EPNS act was finally, after five years, repealed[242]. Libertanny, the future Minister of Information, proposed it since it restricted what he had in mind for EPNS. He wanted it to be its own Ministry rather than being regulated by an act[243].

McStooley also returned during Yuno’s term, on the 22nd of September, quite suddenly as well. They had been absent ever since they CTEd[258].

Yuno’s term came to an end on the 18th of October, 2018, when Fedele was elected as Delegate[88].

Fedele’s actions deserve an entire volume dedicated to it. Therefore, here ends Pax Orientalem and begins The Story of The East Pacific Volume Six - The Coup.

Daily Life

Since this spans such a long time. Life changed a lot over the years.

Let’s first begin with communication methods. IRC was dropped during the first few years and Skype came to dominate for the longest period after that. Discord, the present mode of communication, only came into significant use after the committee stage. The forum was used less progressively as Skype and Discord began to have their Government chats. Casual conversation, for the most part, vanished from the forums. The RMB was occupied by spammers in the first year of the era. When suppression was finally added in 2011, things got more controllable. When regional officers were added in 2015, things became what we would call normal.

The WFE, quite simply, changed a lot. I couldn’t document all the changes. Just know that every Delegate had their own WFE and they most likely changed the WFE to match historical events or seasons. Some Delegates even held WFE contests. WFE did have topics for conversation from Todd in 2012 to Bach[170].

Polls were also numerous. There was a suggestion thread during Bach’s term which Bach would use to create a constant stream of polls. After Bach, the Delegates and, later on, the Ministry of Culture used it to foster activity.

The regional flag also changed quite a bit. Flag contests happened, seasonal flags were made, slight variations were made along the way. Too many to document, too many are lost to history.

The foreign view of TEP is more difficult for me to state. I can’t quite say how foreigners viewed TEP throughout this period. TEP did become more FA involved during Yuno but that’s all I know.

From what I’ve heard from several TEPers, the general climate during Yuno’s terms became more and more toxic as time went on. Some TEPers have said that Yuno cultivated a cult of personality around herself. Drachen was also seen by some as trying to consolidate their power in the Magisterium by being hostile towards Magisters who they didn’t like. McStooley tells me flatly that they were forced to leave TEP temporarily because of the toxic climate.

The Magisterium also shifted to having stricter and more punishing entry requirements over this era. By the end of this era, you had to fulfill 3 requirements on a list and be a WA member in TEP. Such punishing entry requirements made the Magisterium inaccessible to new people.

Trivia

–Todd McCloud is the longest-serving non-continuous Delegate.

–There were huge discussions regarding legislative specifics throughout this era. Such things were mostly boring and unimportant. I’ve only included the most important ones. Anyone interested in the hundreds of threads can go through the Magisterium archive.

–The Magisterium would hold weekly “town hall meetings” during the early days. I have no idea how many times they happened or even when they began as most presumably took place on IRC. I do know that two happened on the forums, in April 2013[91], May 2013[93], and August 2013[92]. It helped people new to the region, like a fresh-faced Prussia[37].

–I believe McStooley CTEd whilst in their official term during the committee stage. This would give them the singular honor of being the only Delegate to have CTEd whilst still serving in an official capacity.

–The fishmonger meme rose and fell during this era. It came from AMOM regarding a drawing of a man’s face on a fish’s body. He changed his nation’s flag and the regional flag to it, spammed region-wide telegrams with just “FISH” in them, then slowly changed the WFE, one word at a time, to “FISH” so the WFE read “FISH FISH FISH …”.

–The Defcon system, used since Loop, was dropped sometime around 2014 for reasons unknown. It just stopped being used and then vanished.

–During this era, the Holiday Act was created in an attempt to give TEP some character[165]. It resulted in several holidays being created like Concordat Day, Day of 1 Infinite Loop[166]. What these holidays amounted to was little more than recognition of a day as being special.

–Reziel became a non-official Delegate during the Delegate transition from Todd to AMOM in 2012[204].

Who’s Who

God-Emperor - Very active legislator and legal expert (joined 25 December 2003)
East Malaysia (also known as EM) - Now a living fossil, out-lived all old guard conspiracy theories (joined 27 May 2004)
Bai Lung - Solo RP legend, affectionately called a bot for their dedication in setting up GA and SC resolution threads, single handedly ran out many WAA ministers of work to due to his dedication (joined 3 December 2005)
Reziel - RPer and Vizier (joined 4 May 2006)
Drakkengard - RPer, Arbiter, another all-rounder (joined 15 October 2007)
Todd McCloud - Delegate over a significant amount of time (joined 18 January 2008)
Barb - Prominent Arbiter and aficionado of Vizier Crowns, the EM of the early days (joined 3 March 2009)
Allegheny - One term Delegate elected by circumstance (joined 4 September 2009)
A mean old man (also known as AMOM) - A multi-term Delegate and first-rate meme(r) (joined 18 April 2010)
Ramaeus - A well-respected Delegate of this era (joined 13 April 2011)
Old Federalia - Once prominent Arbiter, now disgraced (joined 20 April 2012)
Bachtendekuppen - Gray-haired puffin and the most famous legislator of our region (joined 25 September 2012)
Juris Lancaster (also known as Jurisdictions) - The second most famous Arbiter of our region (joined 3 November 2012)
Tano - Another all-rounder (joined 21 December 2012)
Aelitia - The most famous Arbiter of our region, Delegate during a time of trouble (joined 29 December 2012)
Xoriet - Delegate and the best EPSA general of the time (joined 1 April 2013)
British Grand Pacific - Once banned user for horrible behavior, RPer and Vizier during this era, later spurned for their actions in other regions, disgraced to this day (1 April 2013)
Prussia - Delegate for an extremely short time, quite active before that (joined 15 April 2013)
Pekweng - A unique character, a constant source of RP in non-RP threads, and a supplier of high-quality inadvertent humor (joined 24 May 2013)
McStooley (also known as Dragons Blood after they moved their main to The Pacific because of Yuno-era toxicity) - Delegate before the committee stage. only Delegate to have CTEd whilst in term (joined 31 March 2015)
Hobbes - Delegate, forum admin, Vizier, Arbiter, and nearly everything else (joined 1 July 2013)
Yuno - Controversial Delegate, created the first effective WA program TEP ever had (joined 9 May 2016)
Mex (also known as Mexregiona) - Delegate who famously lasted as for a month before resigning, never actually reaching the in-game Delegate (joined 1 July 2016)

Sources

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Mangegneithe · March 10, 2022, 6:04pm

The Story of The East Pacific Volume Six - The Coup

— Begin quote from ____

Foreword

I thank Zukchiva for his brief on the coup which has helped immensely. Feel free to read his version here:

https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1341523

I also thank him for reviewing the volume and aiding my analysis.

Some facts here are also supplied by Zuk’s memory although I have taken care to avoid using his memory as much as possible.

As is standard, an addendum will be released if needed.

My previous work “The Fedele Coup Brief” is entirely redundant now that I have written this more accurate version of events. Still, I will keep it up as the work has been submitted to UTEP.

This volume is written significantly differently from previous volumes with it taking a primary focus on the coup and the cabal, spanning back several years, no mention of daily life, and no who’s who. This is because the coup overshadowed everything and documenting it as accurately as possible is incredibly important. I have left some more major events that happened in and I have written an analysis of the coup at the end rather than analyzing events in the timeline itself.

For clarity, Fedele initially joined the forums under the name “Scardino” before changing it later. I don’t know the precise date or a rough time frame. Regardless, it doesn’t matter very much. Also, the Cabal is the collective name for Fedele, Davelands, Aleister, Funkadelia, and, before he left the coup, Tim.

Tim has been vocal about the coup and his role in it. I, however, see reason to distrust him. First, he still, to my knowledge, hasn’t released the logs of when the coup was formulated, just the logs from the 9th of June to August. Second, Tim, proud to the point of arrogance, would want to distance himself from the failure of the coup. He frequently claims it only failed because he left. I don’t buy the notion that he was critical to the coup because, by his admission, Fedele was the chief architect and the one who ran the entire coup, to the point where no one else had very much say in it. Third, I have approached Tim three times regarding the coup and he has ignored me on all three occasions. The first was to interview him for the brief, the second was for his opinion on my brief, third was in the TEP embassy thread inviting him to a telegram exchange over the details of his involvement in the coup. For these reasons, I believe Tim has been manipulating events to distance himself from the sting that the failure of the coup has. His measured approach to giving specific details about it adds extra weight to this conclusion.

2016

Aleister applied for Citizenship with the nation “A Classless Society” on the 3rd of June[5]. He went on to introduce himself[6], post in the arcade, and then go inactive for the next three years until April of 2019[7].

Fedele joined TEP a month later, on the 11th of July, as a Citizen under the nation “Enslaved Bigtopians”[8]. He was accepted four days later[9]. Following his acceptance, he became active in discussions of improving TEP which were prevalent at the time[10].

Even at this stage, Fedele advocated banning nations not contributing to TEP[11] and began calling the Government an oligarchy[12].

2017

Tim applied for Citizenship on the 18th of July[13]. He was accepted on the 30th of July[15]. He then applied for the Magisterium a month later, on the 11th of August[14]. His Magisterial application was accepted on the 21st of August[16]. (Note, Tim first appeared back in 2013[17] and applied for Citizenship[18] and the Magisterium[19][20] in 2014. He resigned from the Magisterium due to time commitments as Pharaoh of Osiris[21].)

Fedele reapplied for Citizenship on the 28th of September with the same nation as before[22]. He was accepted on the same day[23].

On the 2nd of October, Davelands made his first appearance when he applied for Diplomatic Status as a diplomat from The West Pacific[24].

On the 17th of October, Fedele applied for the Magisterium[25] and was accepted on the 29th of October[26].

2018

Fedele was nominated to run for Delegate in the May/June elections and he accepted on the 1st of June[28]. He then posted his campaign for the Delegacy on the same day[29]. He lost to Yuno but he received 27% of the vote[30].

Yuno nominated Fedele to become a Vizier on the 14th of June[186] and he was accepted by the Magisterium on the 27th of June[31].

On the 3rd of July, Tim resigned from the Magisterium[32] because he didn’t like the direction the Magisterium was going and thought that the situation in TEP was, at that point, toxic[33].

Fedele became Deputy Provost to Provost Verdrassil/Drachen around mid-August. The earliest forum reference is on the 19th of August[27].

Fedele was nominated for the Delegacy again in the October elections and would accept on the 3rd[38]. He then posts his campaign a day later[39]. He won the Delegacy with 68% of the vote[40].

Whilst the election was going on, Davelands applied for Citizenship on the 11th of October[41]. He was accepted in 11 days[42].

Also on the 11th of October, Drachen resigned from their positions in TEP[188] which left Fedele interim Provost[37].

On the 9th of November, Tim reapplied to the Magisterium[34] and he was accepted on the 17th[35].

On the 13th of November, Pakitsk resigned as the Minister of Immigration[43] but Fedele refused to accept it[44]. Pakitsk voided his resignation after Fedele’s refusal[45] but, by then, Fedele had already appointed Tim as Pakitsk’s successor. Paki then served as co-Minister with Tim[46].

Around this time, ex-Delegate Yuno, Drachen, and Succ were given administrative bans[189].

On the 9th of December, Davelands applied to join the Ministry of Foreign Affairs[47] and he would be accepted on the same day[48]. 10 days later, on the 19th, Davelands applied to join the Magisterium[49] and he was accepted on the 29th[50].

2019

For the rest of Fedele’s term, Tim and Fedele were active in legislative affairs[53]. Advocating for Concordat reform[54], repealing Honorary Citizenship[55], and Conclave reforms[56].

On the 4th of January, Davelands was made Chief Minister of Foreign Affairs after Marrabuk, the previous Minister, was switched to Chief Minister of Regional Affairs[57].

A month later, the February Delegate elections rolled around[58]. Both Davelands and Fedele were nominated and both accepted[59][60]. Both posted their campaigns[61][62]. Fedele won with 67% of the vote[65].

As before, Fedele remained active in legislative affairs from discussions about ending lifetime appointments of Viziers[66], Concordat reform[67], changes to the Endorsement Cap[68], and other things[69][70].

On the 22nd of April, Aleister re-applied for Citizenship[71] and was accepted on the same day[72].

On the 9th of April, Fedele began his “Marsupial Hunting License” program where Fedele would grant a nation with 200+ endorsements border control privileges for two days to ban or eject Marsupials[73].

On the 20th of April, Provost Zuckchiva nominated Davelands to become Deputy Provost[76], he accepted his nomination a week later on the 27th[77]. 11 hours after Davelands’ accepted, Fedele’s nominated Zukchiva and former Provost Asendavia to become Arbiters[78][79]. He also nominated Hobbes[80] after Hobbes’ term ended[81]. All three would be voted into the Conclave[82][83][84]. As a result, Davelands became interim-Provost.

Funkadelia made his first appearance when he applied for Citizenship on the 3rd of May[87]. Funkadelia was accepted 3 days later, on the 6th[88].

On the 11th of May, Fedele switched Marrabuk and Davelands’ roles to Chief Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chief Minister of Regional Affairs, respectively[89]. Fedele then appointed Tim as EPPS Commissioner 3 days later, on the 14th[90].

Not much happens after this until the June Delegate elections roll by. Both Fedele and Davelands accepted[93][94] their numerous nominations and posted their campaigns[95][96].

June 2019

On the 9th of June, Fedele created the Cabal’s group chat on Discord and included Funkadelia, Aleister, Davelands, and Tim. Since voting would have opened two days later, on the 11th[98], the Cabal immediately began discussing how they could gather more votes. The Cabal begins by having Davelands withdraw from the race to ensure Fedele gets elected[99]. Next, they get Funkadelia to raise concerns about Todd McCloud’s activity[100] although Aleister was the one to carry this out[101]. They also discuss getting Cain, Dalimbar[102], Greyghost, Ark, Minineenee, and Northeast Somerset to vote[103]. Dalimbar, Ark, Minineenee, and North East Somerset would all vote for Fedele as their first choice with Davelands as their second choice[104][105][106][107]. Greyghost chose Fedele as their first choice and Marrabuk as their second[108]. The Cabal next began to work on convincing other people to vote for Fedele[109]. They also begin an attack on Marrabuk for being naive in gameplay matters, a threat to TEP if he is elected[110], and for including Yuno, a former Delegate who was banned for OOC reasons, in an advisory council formed of former Delegates[111].

On the 13th of June, Todd McCloud submits an election complaint[112]. The Viceroy decides to recount and check every vote which invalidated the votes of Funkadelia, Minineenee, Dalimbar, Ark, and Greyghost but despite this, Fedele still won in the fourth round of counting with 55% of the vote[113].

After Fedele’s victory, the Cabal planned on getting loyal and active Magisters to bolster the Magisterium’s legitimacy[114].

Around this time, the Cabal began pushing for decreasing entry requirements into the Magisterium[121] and electing Ministers[122].

On the 23rd of June, Aleister applied to join the Magisterium[115]. He was accepted on the 1st of July[117].

On the 30th of June, Bachtendekuppen, a prominent Magister, resigned from all his positions in the Executive[125] because of Fedele’s pressure on the Magisterium and his infamous comment about the Magisterium being a “brood of vipers”[124].

Sometime during this month, the Small Magisterium Cafeterium (also known as the Petit Comité) was co-founded by Libertanny and Zukchiva to resist the Cabal’s legislative pushes[126]. The six members of the Magisterium Cafeterium in order of joining are Libertanny and Zukchiva, Asendavia, East Malaysia, Todd McCloud, and Bachtendekuppen. The precise dates of each member’s addition aren’t known but it was in this order from mid/late June.

July 2019

On the 3rd of July, Fedele nominated Tim as Overseeing Officer of the EPSA[128]. He was accepted on the 6th of July[129].

On the 11th of July, Fedele encouraged the Cabal to break the endocap to test the Viziers[131].

On the 17h of July, the nominations for the 42nd Magisterium opened up[137] and the only candidate to accept was Davelands[138]. He won on the 23rd of July[139]. Daveland then appointed Aleister as his Deputy Provost on the same day[140].

On the 19th of July, Funkadelia applied to the Magisterium[116] and was accepted on the 29th[118].

August 2019

In August, Tim withdrew from the Cabal because he believed the coup would fail. Our logs end here as Tim was the one who leaked them.

Aleister resigned from the Magisterium and his position as a Minister of Education on the 24th[142].

September 2019

Sometime in September, Fedele ignored Davelands’ endocap violation and told the Cabinet he’d do nothing if they went over the endocap as well since they act as Viziers already[143].

On the 14th of September, the Delegate nominations open early due to a mistake by the Viceroy[144]. Davelands[145], Funkadelia[146], and Fedele[147] were nominated but Funkadelia[148] and Fedele[149] declined to run. Davelands accepted[150] and posted his campaign[151].

On 27 September, Fedele appointed Badger as EPPS commissioner[187]. Libertanny says that Badger investigated him during the elections.

October 2019

On the 5th, Fedele removed all Regional Officers including the Viziers but he kept Marrabuk as “Keeper of the Flame”[152]. He reinstated the Viziers a short while later.

On the 8th, Davelands had his Provostship motioned for removal due to endo cap violations[155]. He resigned the same day[156] however, before resigning, Davelands appointed Brotherlandprez1 as his deputy so they would assume the Provostship on his resignation[157].

A day later, Davelands was ejected by Todd McCloud for still being over the endocap which caused him to submit an election complaint about this[158].

On the 11th, Funkadelia posts his “45 Theses”[159], a document that, intending to be a serious document to delegitimize the Concordat, became a meme.

Fedele removed the Viziers again sometime after this but appointed Funkadelia as “Hall Monitor”[160].

The Coup

On October the 14th, Funkadelia ejected Todd McCloud.[162]. Todd McCloud lost his endorsements before he could update surf. Fedele then banjected Bachtendekuppen but Bachtendekuppen avoided losing his endorsements and influence by successfully update surfing from The Rejected Realms to Fukuoka and then to Indonesia[163]. Funkadelia then began a mass banjection spree[164]. Fedele next banjected Marrabuk who was set to win the Delegacy against Davelands[165]. Fedele next ejected Aelitia but Aelitia moved back and saved their endorsements[166]. After this, Davelands, Aleister, and States of Carolina are all appointed as Regional Officers with border control[167].

Next, Marrabuk is declared the legitimate Delegate on the forums and formally brings Fedele’s Delegacy to an end[168].

On-site, Fedele appointed The Cult of the Great Cthulhu as a Regional Officer with border control because Cthulhu told Fedele he would help him eject Aelitia’s endorsers. Fedele was then ejected by Cthulhu and the ban list was cleared[169]. Fedele moved back and dismissed The Cult of the Great Cthulhu as a Regional Officer[170].

After the ban list was cleared, Marrabuk and Bachtendekuppen moved back[171].

Davelands then ejected Funkadelia, Aleister, and States of Carolina before resigning as a Regional Officer and moving to The Sportsbook[172].

After this, Aleister banjected East Malaysia, a prominent TEPer and admin, as his last move before he resigned from the World Assembly and his position as Regional Officer. He then moved to Sinope. States of Carolina also resigned as Regional Officer[173]. Funkadelia then resigned as Regional Officer shortly after and moved to Taijitu[174].

A day later, on the 15th of October, Aelitia seized the Delegacy from Fedele and ended the coup[175].

An Analysis

The above are facts with zero interpretation and no embellishments. The below is my analysis.

Why did the Cabal coup?

No one except for Fedele knows for sure since Fedele was the chief architect of the whole thing. Fedele has claimed that it was to fix TEP. The destruction of the rule of law doesn’t add up. Neither do the logs from the Cabal.

A few possible reasons exist, however.

The first was inactivity in TEP which had begun before Yuno and which Fedele cultivated during his terms. An inactive region helped their plans along.

The second was the erosion of the rule of law that began with Todd McCloud’s committees. Todd McCloud’s committees acted entirely outside the law, then Aelitia’s Delegacy was seized and only returned after a long legal challenge. Fedele also worked to erode the rule of law by promoting illegal behavior such as breaking the endo cap. Such a circumstance would be conducive to a coup.

When did the Cabal decide to coup?

I have no answer. Fedele is the only one with the answer. Tim has said that the coup began during Fedele’s first term but, since he doesn’t provide evidence in the form of logs, we have to maintain skepticism.

How many people were involved in the coup?

Fedele has hinted at the involvement of more people but will not name them[1]. What their role was supposed to be or has been isn’t entirely known. Some would have likely voted for Fedele and Fedele does hint at influence[2].

The high involvement in legislative affairs

The Cabal had a plan to control TEP through the Magisterium with a voting bloc[123]. This would also cover why the cabal was so interested in electing Ministers, removing life terms for Viziers, and reducing entry requirements. This has a significant point of contention and I will cover it below.

Why did the Cabal hard coup if the Magisterium was their plan?

I have no sure answer for this. I believe that the Cabal had multiple plans, the hard coup and Magisterium are two that we know of. Fedele may have abandoned the Magisterium idea, maybe with the exit of Tim, and decided to hard coup instead.

Why did Fedele begin his “Marsupial Hunting License” program?

First, this encouraged people to endorse Fedele. Second, it kept an enemy that Fedele could point to. Third, in the words of Tim, it was meant to make banjections a normal occurrence such that the hard coup could happen without anyone noticing. It explains Funkadelia’s mass banjection spree immediately after the initial ejections. Fourth, it drained the influence of those who were engaged in the “burning of marsupials” which would have made banjections of natives easier during the hard coup.

Zukchiva’s and Asendavia’s Arbiter nominations

Fedele’s nomination of Zukchiva was probably done to make Davelands the Interim Provost. Asendavia was most likely nominated to reduce the number of outsiders in the Magisterium.

I have nothing further to comment on.

Sources

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