Legally Renaming the EPSA

Codex Memorial Garden The Magisterium
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1

This evening, @Ladonatalacton came to me and asked about making a discretionary edit to the Standing Orders of the Magisterium to address the renamed East Pacific Sovereign Armada (EPSA, formerly the “[…]Army”.)

Slight issue: EPSA is still legally called the East Pacific Sovereign Army, despite this having de facto changed over a year ago. Maybe we should…fix that.

EDIT 10/6/2025 7:27 PM EDT - Apparently the “Overseeing Officer” title was additionally renamed to “Admiral” last year. I believe we have all collectively forgotten this act exists.

Proposed Amendment

SECTION I. CITATION

…1.1. This Act shall be known and cited as the “Eastern Pacific Sovereign ArmyArmada Act”.

SECTION II. GENERAL PROVISIONS

…2.1. Upon enactment of this Act, The Eastern Pacific Sovereign ArmyArmada shall be considered the sole legitimate military of the government of The East Pacific.

…2.2. Upon enactment of this Act, the Overseeing OfficerAdmiral shall be admitted into the Cabinet of The East Pacific, as defined by the Executive Act.

…2.3. The Delegate, the Overseeing OfficerAdmiral, and any executive appointee thereto, shall be able to organize the East Pacific Sovereign ArmyArmada as they see fit, subject to the provisions of this Act.
…2.3.1. The Delegate retains the power to overrule the Overseeing OfficerAdmiral or any executive appointee’s decisions.

…2.4. The Overseeing OfficerAdmiral can be removed by a two-thirds majority vote of the Magisterium for inactivity, high crimes, treason, or inability to perform their duties.

SECTION III. OPERATIONS

…3.1. The Eastern Pacific Sovereign ArmyArmada (EPSA) is permitted to execute defensive and/or offensive operations sanctioned by the Delegate, the Overseeing OfficerAdmiral, or any executive appointee thereto, subject to the provisions of this Act.

…3.2. It is forbidden for the Eastern Pacific Sovereign ArmyArmada to grief any region.
…3.2.2. “Griefing” shall be defined as intentional acts to destroy a region and/or its community through the following irreversible or hardly reversible actions: bans or ejections of native nations, passwording a region, refounding a region, or transitioning the region between frontier and stronghold status.
…3.2.3. The griefing prohibition set out herein shall not apply to regions with a history of griefing other regions, regions at war with The East Pacific or an ally of it, regions that have or attempted to overthrow legitimate government of The East Pacific or damage its community, Warzones which do not hold official relations with the East Pacific, inactive Frontiers who are not providing a community to newly spawned nations, regions being liberated from raider control, or regions approved by a member of the Regional Administrative Office who does not hold Command within the Eastern Pacific Sovereign ArmyArmada.

…3.3. Should the East Pacific be required to fulfill a treaty obligation, the ArmyArmada shall mobilize to fulfill the obligations. This mission shall take priority over any other on-going mission.

…3.4. Should the Magisterium of The East Pacific pass a declaration of war, the Delegate may order mobilization to fulfill the obligations of the Declaration.

SECTION IV. OFFICERS

…4.1. The highest rank in the Eastern Pacific Sovereign ArmyArmada will be reserved for the Delegate, who will choose their own title. The Delegate will appoint a member to be the Overseeing OfficerAdmiral of the EPSA, title chosen by the appointee. The Overseeing OfficerAdmiral shall be the second in command at all times.

…4.2. Officers will be appointed by the Overseeing OfficerAdmiral and confirmed by the Delegate, title chosen by the Delegate or the Overseeing OfficerAdmiral. They shall lead specific operations.

…4.3.The Overseeing OfficerAdmiral or any executive appointee thereto shall be responsible for enlisting new members of the Eastern Pacific Sovereign ArmyArmada. The Delegate can always veto new enlistments.

…4.4. Officers must establish an official emblem for the Eastern Pacific Sovereign ArmyArmada which, should the ArmyArmada occupy a hostile region or a warzone, can be used to replace/establish the occupied region’s flag, at the prerogative of the Overseeing OfficerAdmiral or an executive appointee thereto.

SECTION V. SOLDIERS

…5.1. To hold a rank in the Eastern Pacific Sovereign ArmyArmada, a nation must be a Resident of The East Pacific and must pledge to uphold the traditions and honor of The East Pacific. If a nation cannot meet these obligations, they can not hold a rank in the East Pacific Sovereign ArmyArmada.
…5.1.1. If the nation is currently serving simultaneously and actively in another military organization, the Delegate or the Overseeing OfficerAdmiral reserves the right to remove the rank from the nation.

…5.2 No member of the Eastern Pacific Sovereign ArmyArmada will actively participate in foreign missions while participating in a mission with the EPSA, without first seeking permission from a commanding officer. Any member found doing so may be punished at the discretion of the Delegate or Overseeing OfficerAdmiral.
…5.2.1. Members serving in a foreign mission opposing the EPSA must alert a commanding officer and may not disclose confidential information that had been gained through EPSA access.

…5.3. If members of the Eastern Pacific Sovereign ArmyArmada are found to be incapable of conducting themselves appropriately within the ArmyArmada, they are subject to demotion, suspension, and/or expulsion from the ArmyArmada by the Delegate or the Overseeing OfficerAdmiral and subject to prosecution where appropriate.

…5.4. Positions held within the Eastern Pacific Sovereign ArmyArmada will not conflict with any positions held within The East Pacific’s government, and involvement in the Eastern Pacific Sovereign ArmyArmada will not bar its members from participation in other regions and organizations (excluding the participation described in sections 4.1 and 4.2 and unless by law of these foreign regions and organizations).

…5.5. Residents of The East Pacific will not lose their Citizenship if their registered Resident nation leaves The East Pacific or their World Assembly nation changes on the orders of the EPSA. Residents shall not lose their Residency if they leave the region for the same reason.

2

As as side note, when this occurs, the Citizenship Act will need to go through a discretionary edit to reflect the change as well.

3

Do you think we should just throw that in here

4

Sorry. Citizenship Act, Awards Act and Eastern Pacific Police Service Act*

Uhhh. I think it should be OK to keep those discretionary as long as this Act is first corrected.

5

Edited to reflect Overseeing Officer → Admiral title change from 2024 as well.

I simultaneously do and don’t know how this didn’t get done sooner

Still weighing whether to make this an omnibus with other bills + SOM to be amended to reflect this change or if that’s just a discretionary endeavor

6

Following on from the point raised by Cretox in Discord, what about also:

7

I think this is sensible in a way but I do not support it because I don’t really think the thematic change should be enshrined in law.

If nessecary/wanted, I support something more in the line of what Ladona said, but without the references to the Armada. If we want to make the name versatile then we should just call it something generic like “the military” and put it in law that the Executive can theme the military as it wishes.

8

Given the name of the branch has changed (even though it’s kept the acronym the same), I think it’s important that the changes be reflected – at the very least in this Act.

I think the gameplan should be:

  1. Rename this Act to the East Pacific Military Act.

  2. Remove all references to “Eastern Pacific Sovereign Army” or Armada from this act, and replace it with a generic citation “the military of the East Pacific”.

  3. Leave all references to the “Overseeing Officer” as is.

  4. Include either a citation rule or a definition section (on reflection, a definition section would be probably be better suited than a citation rule) that states “The name of the this military is: X (Acronym)”, and “The title used by the Overseeing Officer is: Y”, just to make it easier to cross reference.

  5. Add a provision that allows the Magisterium to perform a discretionary update the both the current name of the army and the tile cabinet-level official responsible for the military at the request of the Delegate.

That way, the Delegate can make any thematic change that they want and the military still remains technically legal, because at the moment, despite the fact that EPSA exists and operates under this Act, because the name is different it is technically a) illegal as the Army is the sole legitimate military, not the Armada, and b) not required to operate under the rules of this Act.

9

I am pushing back against this in it’s entirety.

If you think the military is operating in a legal grey area, file a court case and have the Conclave rule before declaring something illegal. Second, EPSA absolutely is required to operate under the rules of this Act.

Just because EPSA has changed it’s theming to be Armada and not Army does not mean that EPSA is absolved of any legal responsibility. If it was, man when I was Admiral I would have actually been doing so much more. But I didn’t because legally EPSA is still bound by the laws of the EPSA Act. There isn’t a JR on the matter than I can recall, but there are Arbiters who are currently sitting on the Conclave right now who have okay’d this. When EPSA did it’s yearly rethemeing between 2021 and 2024, no one tried to argue that calling it Armada would absolve EPSA of it’s legal responsibility.

Additionally, for the love of all that is holy and righteous and for the love of Ademar and hockey, please please do not hardcode the name of the Overseeing Officer or any of the ranks. It takes the agency out of EPSA to try to retheme if we think it will drive recruitment, or maybe we need to consolidate ranks because there are too many. EPSA - for all intents and purposes - is a ministry of the Executive government. Are we going to be hardcoding how the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should be run? How about Culture? Recruitment? It’s a double standard

10

In practicality this is what the Act should be.

Section I. CITATION

  1. This Act shall be known and cited as the “Eastern Pacific Sovereign ArmyMilitary Act”.

Section II. DEFINITIONS

  1. The name of the military created by this Act is: “East Pacific Sovereign Armada”, or EPSA.

  2. The title of the Overseeing Officer created by this Act is: “Admiral”.

  3. The “military of the East Pacific” refers to the military created by this act.

SECTION III. GENERAL PROVISIONS

  1. Upon enactment of this Act, The Eastern Pacific Sovereign Armythe military of the East Pacific shall be considered the sole legitimate military of the government of The East Pacific.

  2. Upon enactment of this Act, the Overseeing Officer shall be admitted into the Cabinet of The East Pacific, as defined by the Executive Act.

  3. The Delegate, the Overseeing Officer, and any executive appointee thereto, shall be able to organize the East Pacific Sovereign Armymilitary of the East Pacific as they see fit, subject to the provisions of this Act.
    …3.1. The Delegate retains the power to overrule the Overseeing Officer or any executive appointee’s decisions.

  4. The Overseeing Officer can be removed by a two-thirds majority vote of the Magisterium for inactivity, high crimes, treason, or inability to perform their duties.

  5. The Delegate may instruct the Magisterium to make discretionary edits to the definitions used by this Act to reflect changes to the current theme of the military of the East Pacific.

  6. The Overseeing Officer may instruct the Magisterium to make discretionary edits to the 2.3. of this Act to reflect their chosen title.

SECTION IV. OPERATIONS

  1. The Eastern Pacific Sovereign Army (EPSA)military of the East Pacific is permitted to execute defensive and/or offensive operations sanctioned by the Delegate, the Overseeing Officer, or any executive appointee thereto, subject to the provisions of this Act.

  2. It is forbidden for the Eastern Pacific Sovereign Armymilitary of the East Pacific to grief any region.
    2.2. “Griefing” shall be defined as intentional acts to destroy a region and/or its community through the following irreversible or hardly reversible actions: bans or ejections of native nations, passwording a region, refounding a region, or transitioning the region between frontier and stronghold status.
    2.3. The griefing prohibition set out herein shall not apply to regions with a history of griefing other regions, regions at war with The East Pacific or an ally of it, regions that have or attempted to overthrow legitimate government of The East Pacific or damage its community, Warzones which do not hold official relations with the East Pacific, inactive Frontiers who are not providing a community to newly spawned nations, regions being liberated from raider control, or regions approved by a member of the Regional Administrative Office who does not hold Command within the Eastern Pacific Sovereign Armymilitary of the East Pacific.

  3. Should the East Pacific be required to fulfill a treaty obligation, the Armymilitary shall mobilize to fulfill the obligations. This mission shall take priority over any other on-going mission.

  4. Should the Magisterium of The East Pacific pass a declaration of war, the Delegate may order mobilization to fulfill the obligations of the Declaration.

SECTION V. OFFICERS

  1. The highest rank in the Eastern Pacific Sovereign Armymilitary of the East Pacific will be reserved for the Delegate, who will choose their own title. The Delegate will appoint a member to be the Overseeing Officer of the EPSAmilitary, title chosen by the appointee. The Overseeing Officer shall be the second in command at all times.

  2. Officers will be appointed by the Overseeing Officer and confirmed by the Delegate, title chosen by the Delegate or the Overseeing Officer. They shall lead specific operations.

  3. The Overseeing Officer or any executive appointee thereto shall be responsible for enlisting new members of the Eastern Pacific Sovereign Armymilitary of the East Pacific. The Delegate can always veto new enlistments.

  4. Officers must establish an official emblem for the Eastern Pacific Sovereign Armymilitary of the East Pacific which, should the Armymilitary occupy a hostile region or a warzone, can be used to replace/establish the occupied region’s flag, at the prerogative of the Overseeing Officer or an executive appointee thereto.

SECTION VI. SOLDIERS

  1. To hold a rank in the Eastern Pacific Sovereign Armymilitary of the East Pacific, a nation must be a Resident of The East Pacific and must pledge to uphold the traditions and honor of The East Pacific. If a nation cannot meet these obligations, they can not hold a rank in the East Pacific Sovereign Armymilitary of the East Pacific.
    1.1. If the nation is currently serving simultaneously and actively in another military organization, the Delegate or the Overseeing Officer reserves the right to remove the rank from the nation.

  2. No member of the Eastern Pacific Sovereign Armymilitary of the East Pacific will actively participate in foreign missions while participating in a mission with the EPSAmilitary, without first seeking permission from a commanding officer. Any member found doing so may be punished at the discretion of the Delegate or Overseeing Officer.
    2.1. Members serving in a foreign mission opposing the EPSAmilitary must alert a commanding officer and may not disclose confidential information that had been gained through EPSA access.

  3. If members of the Eastern Pacific Sovereign Armymilitary of the East Pacific are found to be incapable of conducting themselves appropriately within the Armymilitary, they are subject to demotion, suspension, and/or expulsion from the Armymilitary by the Delegate or the Overseeing Officer and subject to prosecution where appropriate.

  4. Positions held within the Eastern Pacific Sovereign Armymilitary of the East Pacific will not conflict with any positions held within The East Pacific’s government, and involvement in the Eastern Pacific Sovereign Armymilitary of the East Pacific will not bar its members from participation in other regions and organizations (excluding the participation described in sections 4.1 and 4.26.1 and 6.2 and unless by law of these foreign regions and organizations).

  5. Residents of The East Pacific will not lose their Citizenship if their registered Resident nation leaves The East Pacific or their World Assembly nation changes on the orders of the EPSAmilitary. Residents shall not lose their Residency if they leave the region for the same reason.

11

I would like to mention that this conflates title and rank.

The delegate assigns a title post [Overseeing Officer], and that position holder picks up the top rank [Admiral]. There’s two aspects to it. So Drem right now is Admiral Dremaur, Overseeing Officer

12

Yeah I like this, +1

13

I am admittedly not good at legislating nor will I ever be

Fuck this shit, I’m out. Amendment is being thrown away

Save any objections from Ladona this thread will be closed by the end of tomorrow

14

Since the Act needs a discretionary edit anyway (5.4 references the wrong paragraphs; 4.1 and 4.2 instead of 5.1 and 5.2), I think keeping this amendment thread open for additional changes has value.

15

As always, Shadow speaks for me and all bisexuals everywhere.

I am strongly against this proposal and Ladona’s subsidiary suggestions (which, as far as I’m aware, are not being abandoned the way this amendment is). Let EPSA control its theme and change it on whatever whims it wants – that’s how it thrives. By law it is, always has been, always will be, and always should be the EPSA. It would be very unfortunate to see a military which is over a decade old be changed because the idea of a DBA name is too complicated for some (in a governmental system and website where there’s way more complicated distinctions). It would be a blow to our regional identity that, functionally, would change and accomplish nothing.

The EPSA is not illegal. Clauses 2.3, 4.1, 4.2, and 4.4 grant the EPSA the explicit right to organize and name itself and its members whatever the fuck it wants. That is a legal principle that is central to this law and to TEP executive tradition, for years now. I’m happy to help people understand it – as are, I’m sure, Shadow, Dremaur, Dead, and many more. But I caution against legislating based on that confusion. I appreciate AC’s willingness to admit their mistake and move forward – it’s something we all can learn from every now and then. But I want to make sure that all of us, not just ArenaC, are coming out of this with a greater understanding and respect for the legal and cultural traditions at play with EPSA.

16

Once again, the suggested changes – at least the ones that I have written out above – have 0 to do with what the name or theme of the military is or over what it will be. 2.3, 4.1, 4.2, and 4.4 don’t give ESPA the authority to change their name from The East Pacific Sovereign Army; it gives them the right to appoint an Overseeing Officer, and to set their own command ranks, and establish an official emblem.

The changes suggested actually help explicitly protect the rights that you’re claiming it’s trying to suppress.

17

Well you do say the OO has to be called the Admiral and the military has to be called the Armada, in the Definitions section, and you are stripping the EPSA of its legal identity, which is just as important as its operating identity. My point stands: the EPSA is the EPSA, and I will vote against any legislative proposal that seeks to take away a decade of legal and cultural tradition for the sake of making our institutions more bland while in effect changing nothing.

18

Which is already explicitly addressed by:

As for where EPSA is being stripped of its legal identity, where exactly is that happening? ESPA is clearly identified as the sole legitimate military of the East Pacific.

19

Literally every line where you call it the military rather than EPSA. Again EPSA is EPSA. Nothing is changing but the erasure of EPSA. You’re not even a part of EPSA and yet you’re trying to solve a problem that current and former EPSA soldiers, themselves the foremost legal experts in the region, are telling you does not exist. There is no change in policy here, only a loss of identity.

20

There is no reason for EPSA to be targeted here. This same principle could be used to strip the region of the words Magisterium/Magister, Provost, Conclave, Arbiter, Praesidium, and Vizier with amendments that insert the generic CostCo brand – Legislature/Legislator, Speaker, Supreme Court, Judge, Security Council, and Security Councilor – and just also happens to say that they can call themselves whatever they want. There’s no point. It makes things more complicated than they are in pursuit of an agenda that scrubs identity from the face of our laws.