Return of the Deledark

The Conclave Delegate Election
1

Even though the sun hangs high in the sky, the light from the sun dims out to a cool, evening darkness. A crisp cold air fills the space before a figure starts to emerge at a podium labeled: “Deledark for Delegate”. For a brief moment, the figure flashes between several different forms. A black trench coat and a bowler hat flashes first, then black Seraphim wings before the figure settles on a steampunk Victorian look. Though, it also appears as if a Papal Mitre can also be seen on their head.

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Pictured above: the Victorian steampunk described.

Greetings,

My name is Shadow, also known as Eastern Alksearia here in TEP. As some of you may know, I have stood at this podium before asking you to elect me, and you did. I once again am asking you to vote to elect the a Deledark.

For those who may not know who I am or need a small refresher, I joined TEP back in April 2020. Since joining, I have served as Magister, Deputy Provost, Provost, FA diplomat, FA Senior Diplomat, FA Councilor, Vizier, Arbiter, Viceroy Designee, Viceroy, Solider, Overseeing Officer, Executive Staffer, Professor of UTEP, and finally Delegate. I’m also a member of our Forum RP map Urth and have been serving as a Cartographer there.

I have a long resume of stuff I have done and are still doing, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have ideas. I’ve seen the region go through a lot of different changes, and have agreed and disagreed with a lot of them.

So what are you campaigning on? I can hear people asking. Good question. Below is my campaign:

  • Regional Affairs

The beating heart of the region. And rightfully so. So many fun departments and aspects of life to happen here.

Ministry of Culture

So much potential. So little time.

Hunger Games. Every month just like we have been doing. I love the Hunger games because ahem BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GODS.

Other than that, I want to see more game nights. Paradox Game Nights, Civilization game nights, Gartic Phone, Jackbox (yes, I have the Jackbox games. Yes, they are fun ass party games.) We need these fun culture events for everyone. These shouldn’t be TEP resident only games. We can invite friends and play games.

I also would love to see art contest stuffs. And yes, I will be running a contest for my flag again like I did the last time. Why? because it’s fun. And also because it’s a fun way to showcase the artwork of our residents.

Ministry of World Assembly Affairs

First and foremost, my vote as Delegate will be determined by our internal vote. End of Story. No Questions asked.

Secondly, our WAA should continue to foster discussions on WA matters. I recognize that I am not someone who in involved in the GA or the SC. However, I do believe every author should have the ability to argue their case about their proposal. Yes, this has lead to heated discussions before, but we shouldn’t shy away from it.

Ministry of News

Moar EPNS. What more do I have to say? (please clap)

Wait I need to say more? dang it.

Okay, so EPNS has been having a massive BOON since being revived. I am happy to see it. I want it to continue, so I will do whatever I can to keep adding to it. and yes, as Delegate, I will do my best to write an article every edition describing the work the government has done during the last month, and also using it to totally plug Ghost music and…(a feint whisper can be heard) WAIT WHAT?! Okay so apparently I can’t just plug exclusively Ghost music, but I do want to have a Radio Culture section of people across The East Pacific. so yeah!

University of the East Pacific

I am aware that during Merlo’s Delegacy there was an effort to bring it back. I’m currently not 1000% sure where it lies currently, but I would continue the work we have done to bring it back.

Regional Affairs Focus

We need Recruitment. I know this seems to be a hot topic recently, but being actually genuinely serious: TEP needs to be able to recruit. We need to be able to get new people interested in government. We need to be able to retain people as well, but if we have engaging activities in TEP, that will help retain people. but we need to start recruiting.

  • Foreign Affairs

The second beating heart of the region. What? I didn’t say there couldn’t be 2 beating hearts. Maybe TEP is a Time Lord…oh wait, I’m getting off topic here. Foreign Affairs. A very important Ministry that is important to the way we interact with the rest of the wider world known as NS.

So let me unequivocally clear. I will address it as well when I talk about the East Pacific Sovereign Army: TEP’s stance in the world is unaligned, and we will continue to chart our waters the way we want to chart them.

With that out of the way, I want TEP to continue to invest in her friends and allies. In doing so, we need to bring back dedicated diplomats. They were a good way to keep up relations with other regions and to stay informed with what is going on behind the FA announcements. I have no plans to move FA back into it’s own server, unless there is enough demand. FA news channels will still exist. FA Watch will still persist.

I do want to conduct an audit of our relations. I do believe we have some relations that are inactive that need to be activated, some regions we haven’t connected with in a while, and overall I think we need to look at our consulate → embassy → ally pipeline as well.

  • East Pacific Sovereign Army

I said this in the previous section, but I will say it again and loudly for the people in the back. TEP’s position is unaligned. We will chart the waters as we see fit. With that, EPSA will continue to do fash bashes (because we give no quarters to fascists), we will do liberations, and we will do tag raids/raids that comply with our laws.

Though, as my tenure as Overseeing Officer, we do have an army that hasn’t been in tip top shape. and that is okay. We need to revitalize it and bring back it back to where it was. As OO, I have struggled with how ranks work. We had themes for them and they were cool, but things got lost in translation (literally). So, how would ranks work?

From Top to Bottom:
Overseeing Officer
General - rank for those in Command
Captain - rank for individuals who can trigger and lead ops
Sergeant - some experience in R/D
Corporal - new to R/D, completed training
Recruit - new to R/D, training

and of course, our Civilian Militia will continue. and our Militia will be called upon for fash bashes or large ops that we wanna pull all the stops for.

  • Finish Thoughts

I know I was Delegate once before. I know that some people would not want to see an old face in the Delegacy again, but I do think we need it currently. From what I have seen, there is a storm a-brewing on the horizon. We need to prepare for this storm. Why do I think I am good for it? Because I have stood up for TEP before. I weathered a couple storms before. But I’m not the only person who is good to weather this storm. We have a lot of good candidates running this election. I do believe everyone running can do it. I’m just putting my 2 cents in.

Anyways.

Questions are welcomed. And I will try my best to answer them.

Shadow out.

As the final words are mentioned, The mysterious Shadow-y figure fades into the shadows. Soon to return for questions.

1 Like
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https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1989479

Would you host these yourself, or do you see us getting new staff, or what?

Those are definitely cool. I’d like to throw haiku contests into the ring as well.

How do you plan to deal with the anti-WA faction that auto-votes against? What are your thoughts on TNP opposing Commend EM and Condemn KE on the basis of our voting against Commend Hulldom? How can we as a region try to not make more enemies out of our allies?

https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1989479

That’s a really good idea. I have been meaning to bring activity to Radio Culture.

Once my midterms are over and I have a bit of free time (there’s other uni stuff to deal with on my end and a worldending crisis or two in NS), we’re going to port all the works onto the nation.

FULLY AGREE. Quick question: If you were to pick one aspect of TEP to emphasize in recruitment, what would it be?

In the realm of military operations, delegate transitions, and WA votes, do you feel like we have enough friends? Or do you feel like we need to build stronger systems of support?

I disagree. I think diplomats often have nothing really to do and get bored and inactive quick. Operation Rizz is, imo, the best way forward.

How do you feel about how loosely we follow the rules we ourselves set in regards to consulate/embassy requirements?

Do you think that this is something we can solve with ranks alone or do you feel there are other steps which must be taken?

What do you think about a Libcord-esque Lausanne-based pool of soldiers for liberations and fash bashes?

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The fact that there are only 2 major ones is shocking. but also, Shadow skill issue. I do math not english.

I would host as many I could. Especially the Jackbox ones since I have the Jackbox games. I would like to see us expand the culture ministry staff to have people who would be willing to host these kinds of games.

Added to the list. I promise.

Truthfully, other than those who have casted NAY for the memes as anti-WA, I’m not fully sure how you can address the anti-WA faction. I don’t like it as much as the next person. I can try to have good faith discussions with them, but at the end of the day, I can’t force someone to do something they don’t want to do.

As for the TNP issue, I’m sorry that they are upset about how Commend Hulldom went. It has been brought up time and time again about the character of person should play into how SC votes go. There were more reasons than just the false accusation that went into the vote for Commend Hulldom. There was a pattern of behaviour that people within TEP did not like from the commended individual. At the end of the day, that’s a hatchet they’re going to have to burry. I will not apologize for how I voted or about my justifications.

As for not making more enemies than allies, these are the waters we must navigate. There are regions who will always hate us just for existing. Some regions will hate us because we aren’t on their side of the R/D spectrum. The only thing I can personally think of is quality of proposals. “But Shadow, we already saw how that went with Condemn KE”. What we saw with Condemn KE was grasping at straws and some people actively saying without saying “They are in TEP, therefore they don’t get C/C’d.”

I’m not dumb. I see this happening. Truthfully, I don’t know how to fix this mentality other than showing people the community we build and that we foster.

I do have good ideas occasionally :sunglasses:

Honestly, I will be here to help as best I can. I know I wasn’t involved from the beginning, but I can try to help wherever I can.

Our RPs. We have 2 very uniquely different but fascinating RP maps and communities. We can also advertise that we are also a gaming community. I want us to embrace this more and more going forward. It’s a dead horse we are beating, but it is true!! Imagine having enough people together to play Palworld, or to have a guild in Diablo IV. I dream of big fancy things!!!

In terms of Delegate transitions, we should have more than enough. It really will depend more on a couple different situations. but in terms of WA votes, no. We do not. and we probably never will considering the chokehold the Defender faction has on the SC. Doesn’t mean we can’t forge our own WA bloc. and we really should try to forge our own WA bloc. How do we do that? well, we have Lausanne as a start. We can use that to start molding the basis of it. granted it might mean adding a whole new NS ideology, but like, what could possibly go wrong?

But Operation Rizz is still going to have dedicated people to it. Maybe not bring the entirety of the corps back, but we should start tapping into people who have cross memberships and active in our consulate/embassy/allies.

I do think that we play very fast and loose with our requirements, and we do need to address that. However, I don’t know exacts at this moment in time because I have requested we embassy with a region before they met our embassy requirement. Mainly because I enjoyed being in their community a lot. We do need to look into it, but I don’t know the exact right way forward at this time.

To the first part of the question, a little bit. I think giving people ranks to look forward to or promotions to look forward to encourages participation.

to the second part, that would be so freaking cool!!! Like imagine rolling up to a fash bash and rolling out 60 endos say one for it (idk how large the other armies are), but just imagine it in general!!!

Yes, I would love to do something like that. Might also help build up other armies too!

4

They really just said “Personal best”

https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1989479

Okay but seriously these answers are indeed to my satisfaction.

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Hello Shadow. I have a question about this: how would this recruitment take place? Would the Government, including the Delegate, personally promote the arpee? Will telegram recruitment be used? Will forums or Discord be used to reach relatively more people?

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Recruitment for TEP would involed a telegran campaign. And it would be for TEP in general. Internally, the Government should not and will not show favrotism towards the Forum RP or to RMB RP. Both RP communities are vibrant and offer a wide array of ways to be involved.

As for me, i would continue promoting our RPs in general. I personally am on Urth, but that doesnt mean I dont read whats going on in Valsora (yeah, i see the evils of the Kampf Empire).

7

I will ask a question similar to what ASBS asked (and then Zuk followed) in history.

You were Delegate already. Current Delegate is running for second term and probably hasnt done bad, given no trails. So why run against them instead of helping them?

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I will answer this in two different ways.

The first is with an assumption of malice and that I’m trying to undermine Merlo. Let me be unequivocally clear: I am not trying to undermine our current Delegate. Every election we encourage people to run. We get more ideas out there. There is no harm in doing so. If I actively wanted to run against our incumbent Delegate, I would be very vocal about their shortcomings or why we shouldn’t re-elect them. Again, in this election, that is not my goal. I have a campaign to throw ideas out there and my vision of what TEP needs to do.

The second way I will answer this is the assumption of no malice. I do intend to help our Delegate. Merlo has been a good Delegate. Here’s the thing tho: the horizon has a storm brewing. There’s an ongoing war that why we have 0 intentions of joining, its going to come crashing into TEP soon. We already can see the warning signs by how we have been treated by NSGP as of late. I want TEP to understand the storm coming.

Plus in running again because funni meme campaign title.

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Hallo Shadsypoo.

  1. What are your thoughts on the situation in Thaecia?
  2. What are your thoughts on my plan, with Millenhaal and maybe The Ice States, alongside any authors we get (since I wouldn’t be authoring), to start an interregional nongovernmental “World Assembly Roleplayers Platform” non-GP authorship organization? Would TEP be willing to endorse the project and/or allow it to make use of TEP FA connections in order to establish itself?
  3. What are your thoughts on a Lausanne Libcord-esque joint military server for us to pool our militaries, considering we’re all low on activity at the moment?
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  1. My thoughts on the situation in Thaecia is that they need radical near floorboard ripping up reform. I am hoping that the current administration understands this and respects it as we attempt to make these reforms.

  2. I likey. More eyes on RPers are always ebtter. Plus, i don;t understand why RPers are controversial. The WA is one big RP, change my mind.

  3. Honestly, a Lausanne equivalent to Libcord would be really cool. It could also help breath life into militaries that need a breath of fresh air.