From http://dl.dropbox.com/u/49805/History%20of%20CP.pdf, by Afforess. [hr]
The Midgard Foundation: June 2003 - Sept 2004
Capitalist Paradise was originally founded by a nation named Midgard X in June 28th, 2003. Under Midgards leadership the region grew to a recorded high of 131 nations. Little is known about this time period of the Capitalist Paradise, as no recorded nations survive to this day. Unfortunately, Migard became inactive in September/October of 2004, and the strength of the Capitalist Paradise fell to 65
nations.
Uncertainty and Invasion: October 2004 - March 2006
After Migard X ceased to exist, the Capitalist Paradise was filled by many weak and ineffective administrations. Crystalpalace led the region one month after Migard X, only managing to decrease the nation count to 51. In November, the Capitalist Paradie was raided by the DEN Army, and captured. They removed Crystalpalace as the delegate. Three days later, Ten thousand Island Treaty Organization (TITO) defensive forces managed to liberate the region from the DEN, allowing Libertariancanuckista to become the next delegate, from October of 2004 until November, achieving just as little as Crystalpalace. In another raid by the DEN Army, Libertariancanuckista was removed from delegacy. TITO forces again came to the rescue. This rescue was more controversial than the first. TITO forces ejected several long time natives, as well as the raiders. TITO claims that the native ejects were accidental, but this incident created the first rift in TITO-Capitalist Paradise relations.
After TITO restored the Capitalist Paradise to internal control. Serine became the next delegate, who led the Capitalist Paradise from November 2004, to February 2005. Capitalist Paradise continued to decline, and at the end of Serine’s delegacy Capitalist Paradise had 28 nations. Serine was then replaced by Saint Troy. By this time, the Capitalist Paradise was in a full death spiral, with only 15 nations. After Saint Troy lost delegacy, the region was without a delegate for nearly a full month. Then, Undelegate managed to claim delegacy, just in time for the region spiral down to 7 nations. It was at this time that one of the members, The Cid, had the idea of re-founding the region.
Refoundation and Reformation: March 2006 December 2008
The Cid rose up and took control of the fledgling region March 2nd, 2006. He made a peace compact with the DEN to ensure future friendly relations. He also gained delegacy long enough to password protect the region and move the remaining nations out of the region. Once the region was refounded, Quintaros became the next delegate. The Cid also formalized alliances with other Capitalist Associations, specifically, The Capitalist Wing, The Tradelands, The Elite Conservative Circuit, The Corporate Hierarchy, and The Exclusive Capitalizt Zone.The Cid introduced several security rules for the stated goal of protecting the region. They included neutrality in foreign conflicts, neutrality in internal issues, neutrality towards raiders and defenders, and that the delegate would not be of many of the more moderate nations. At this time, Fastercat began talks with Elliestan about strengthening the region. Elliestan also scheduled elections for a new delegate, just as the constitution required him to, around this time. However, in the middle of this election process, Fastercat managed to gain enough endorsements to replace Elliestan as delegate. Elliestan, bothered by his inability to clearly communicate his plans about the merger, and his lack of time and desire to remain delegate meant that Fastercat’s rise went unimpeded, even though the delegational elections had not yet finished. Fastercat became the next delegate to serve the Capitalist Paradise in July of 2009.
The Rise of Fastercat: July 2009 - April 2010
Fastercat, once gaining power, saw his rise as a signal to scrap the elections for the next delegate. The delegate elections were cancelled. Most notably, the current Minister of Internal Affairs, Thinkpads voiced his objection to this unconstitutional behavior. Thinkpads quickly became the head of the opposition to Fastercat’s rule, and an attempt to rally a coup against the regime was mounted. It failed (in large part due to the lack of natives in region at this point, and the popularity of Fastercat), and Thinkpads was banned from the region. (This banishment was rescinded on the first day of Afforess’s delegacy). The primary opponents to Fastercat, having been removed and defeated, did little more to resist. Fastercat then threw out the old constitution by the Cid, and eventually would draft a new one. Whether Fastercat’s rise to power was an unconstitutional coup or the beginning of newfound freedom from the remnants of the Cid’s somewhat heavy-handed reign is still a point of contention.
With the strength of the Capitalist Paradise behind him, Fastercat began a rapid process of recruitment. The region ballooned in size, rising to a record 880 nations (a population record that stands to this day). Many newer nations took up home in the Capitalist Paradise, revitalizing it. A new constitution, one that allowed nations of all ideologies to remain freely in the region, was drafted by ZellDincht, was set in place. Fastercat held elections for a Supreme Court, whose first three justices being Voroka, Afforess, and Blau Stein. An alternate justice, Roxie Hart was also elected. Other positions, such as President of the Legislature, Minister of the Interior, Marshal of Defense, Minister of History, Advocate and Arbiter General, and Head of the Forums were also filled by Kaputer, Amn Voss, Fastercat, Golden Dragonfly, Northern Borland, and Zelldincht respectively. Fastercat also established the Capitalizt Freedom Militia, with a stated aim to protect Capitalist interested regions amongst the Nationstates World.This militia was soon needed, as the Capitalist Paradise was invaded by nations from the Founderless Region and The Pacific Army. The invasion was unsuccessful, and the Capitalist Paradise remained safe from foreign attack for the remainder of Fastercat’s term. Fastercat’s term was marked by growth and stability for the 9 months he was delegate.
Quebec, Decline, Treason, and Internal Strength: April 2010 - November 2010
Fastercat resigned April 23, 2010 from the WA. His message to the nations of the region follows:
"Crap.
I’ve been mulling over what I was going to say here today almost all day.
I’ll skip all the mushy stuff, other than it’s been an honor and a privilege to
serve the great region of Capitalist Paradise. There are a few matters in CP’s
[Capitalist Paradise] intel and military communities that need to be resolved.
At this time I feel I can better serve the region in the capacity of Marshall of
Defense. (I guess I can do that ;)), shifting my WA membership among
puppets and getting these aforementioned matters resolved.
I have full confidence in The Free Federation of Nation of Quebec’s ability to
take over where I’ve left off. Like me, he was the delegate of a small region
before landing in Capitalist Paradise and is familiar with the basics of NS
regional administration. Our strength, influence and most importantly,
security lie in the delegates endorsement.
I now resign as Delegate and CEO of Capitalist Paradise. I’m placing a lock
on the region to protect CP [Capitalist Paradise] from external shenanigans
until update time.
The NowYou’reMessinWithASonOfaBitch Tribe of FASTERCAT."
Immediately after the update, the Nation of Quebec became the next delegate of the Capitalist Paradise. At that time, there were 716 nations present in the region.Quebec’s reign was tested not long after he earned his office. Pythria, a member of the Capitalist Paradise who was often seen as annoying and unhelpful was accused of being a enemy spy. Quebec used this preface to ban him from the region. The sudden and unannounced banishment gave fuel to Quebec’s detractors. Several nations, including the Supreme Court Justice Afforess, President of the Legislature, Kaputer, and Pythria began a covert coup in response to the incident. However, the Golden Dragonfly discovered the coup and alerted Quebec and others through the regional message board within days of its inception. In response to the coup, Quebec removed Pythria’s ban, and allowed him to return to the region.
Quebec’s reversal of Pythria’s banishment and calm handling of the coup largely diffused the situation. However, in following weeks, this incident would be largely overshadowed by a more serious threat, a larger coup attempt that was only one WA endorsement from overthrowing Quebec. On August 15, 2010, members of the Capitalist Paradise Freedom Militia invaded a region known as the Urbanites, under the supervision of Fastercat. Within hours, defenders from the Ten thousand Island Treaty Organization (TITO) began attempting to remove the militia. (This incident further widened the rift between the Capitalist Paradise and the Ten Thousand Islands.) The Nation of Quebec, unaware of the raid beforehand, condemned the militia’s action. When the Urbanites was freed from Militia rule, only a few days later, they returned, but endorsed an advocate of the Militia, Kaputer. As they all returned, Kaputer managed to earn one more endorsement than Quebec held. When Afforess noticed the coup, only an hour before the next update, he removed his endorsement of Kaputer, and notified the region on the message board. Pythria, and several others also removed their endorsements of Kaputer, allowing Quebec to continue as delegate. This attempted coup created a large rift between those that supported the militia and those who were against it. Those against the militia attempted to pass legislation to dissolve it, but were unsuccessful. Quebec, seeing how close he had come to losing control of the region to the more radical militia, began several telegram campaigns to increase the number of nations endorsing him. These campaigns were successful, and Quebec quickly received many new endorsements. These campaigns also had the added effect of increasing the number of endorsements of many long time nations, making the region more secure. However, while the number of endorsements grew for most nations, the actual number of nations residing in the region declined. In addition, one nation was held largely to blame for the lack of communication between militia plans and the delegate, who was required to sign off on all foreign involvement, Blazing Halo. He was tried in the Supreme Court, and failed to appear to make a defense, and was found guilty on the charges of: Harassment of Nations without just cause, Libel, Conspiracy to Commit Treason, Invading regions with false pretenses, Unauthorized raids, and Operating a Rogue Militia in CP [Capitalist Paradise]territory.
Quebec’s reign was a quandary. It was marked by obvious signs of external decay. The decline in population marks the largely isolationist attitude of the Capitalist Paradise that remains pervasive to this day. However, internally, the region becamestronger than it was during Fastercat’s reign. Ultimately, the militia coup resulted better communication between the Delegate and the Marshal of Defense. On November 24th 2010, Quebec resigned from the World Assembly, ending his reign as delegate. This is his final words as delegate:
To all nations of Capitalist Paradise;After some careful consideration, I have decided to step down as delegate of the Capitalist Paradise. It is something I no longer have the time for as real life is becoming a greater concern for me than an online game. I have also discovered that it is not being a regional delegate that I enjoy most about NationStates, it is writing issues and helping people fix theirs. That is why I have entered the issues editors contents in the hopes of becoming an issue editor. I would not have the time to juggle both responsibilities on NS. It has been an honor to serve you as delegate. I have been your voice in the World Assembly and have always consulted with the populace on both sides on what direction to take concerning the WA. Capitalist Paradise will continue to remain a powerhouse in the WA and I trust that our next delegate will continue to listen to what everybody has to say on the resolutions.I know that some of you haven’t always agreed with me, but I like to think that we are now strong and more united as a region than we were before. Thanks to loyal members of the we avoided what would have been a violent coup that would have turned our fair and democratic region into a military junta. I hope that there will be a greater transparency between the militia, the government, and the citizens of Capitalist Paradise in the future and that future delegates can maintain that peace.
Capitalist Paradise will not be bullied by threats - outside or inside. Although we may have lost many nations, we are still a powerhouse and a force to be reckoned with. That is why I strongly encourage all WA nations to endorse the next delegate so that we will remain protected against these threads and we continue to remain a strong voice in the halls of he WA. After some though, I have come to the conclusion that The Free Republic of Afforess is the strongest and most suitable choice to continue to lead Capitalist Paradise into prosperity. Afforess is proof that two people who have had some strong disagreements in the past can come together as allies for the betterment of the region and the world. I have come to respect Afforess for his unwavering loyalty, honesty, and dedicated to Capitalist Paradise. During the coup it was loyal members like Afforess who saved the region from falling into the wrong hands. Afforess has proven himself as a fair judge and I believe his experiences in the court will be an asset to fine leadership. Congratulations, Afforess. I know and trust that you will be a fine delegate and the Capitalist Paradise will only become stronger under your rule. It has been an honor being your delegate ad I now wish the best of luck and prosperity to the region for many years to come.And so ends my history of the Capitalist Paradise. Future events have taken place after the end of this document, but I feel that writing about them would be dishonest, as my bias as delegate would inevitably taint the truth. I only hope that my reign can compare to those I came before.
Afforess
-Ex Juror of the Capitalist Paradise Supreme Court
Current Delegate of the Capitalist Paradise.
Addendum 28/2/11: Blau Stein’s name was corrected. Information on the first coup against Quebec was updated with new information. Pythria’s initial banishment has also been updated slightly, to reflect that historical documents should not give an opinion of a particular member.