Equilism

Dear member states, voters, academics, freaks, radicals, establishment goons, contrarians, psychos, surgeons, philosophers, alien duck-men, gnomes and gnome-makers, outrage farmers, true believers, and anyone between, outside, or without, I present to you a Vision. I hope you’ll see it through with me.

I’m Vara, and if you haven’t seen my name on the delegate graph or one of my resolutions or, even worse, one of my posts, that’s just fine. I’ve played NS for a little under 7 years, and in that time I’ve authored 23 World Assembly Resolutions, split roughly down the middle between the General Assembly and the Security Council. I’ve served as Delegate of the West Pacific for over 400 days now, and been centrally responsible for devising, articulating, and advancing World Assembly policy in the best interests of a community of hundreds of people, who I have also been responsible for leading as head of government. I’d like to use those skills now to do the same for the broader community.

The Security Council

A lot of people are likely very fairly concerned about the sleepiness of the current Security Council. More even than the General Assembly, the SC relies upon us, the community. Rather than write about concepts and policies from the real world, the SC is only capable of telling stories about the people, communities, and events that shape the Multiverse. It’s much quicker to write a resolution about a legacy than it is to have a legacy, so one just outpaces the other! For that reason, the SC is always informally amending its standards; what level of roleplay or region-building do you need to earn a Commendation, how big does a Frontier have to be protected with a preemptive injunction?

The Security Council, as such, is a game of context and experience. I’ve been on a total of 10 Security Council resolutions of all sorts. Commends, condemns, repeals of both thereof. Both historical and contemporary players. As the SC twists and turns, I am ready and able to analyze and summarize any of these contexts or motivations in ways accessible to everyone.

The General Assembly

I’ve authored and co-authored a total of 13 General Assembly resolutions, both affirmative and repeals. But to start with all cards on the table, I am a National Sovereigntist. This needs some explaining, since there are a lot of misconceptions about what a NatSov is, with a few commentators deriding the ideology as nothing but endless repeal waves, which is not true. It would be completely undesirable to start the new GA with a repeal wave even if there was anything to repeal. My position is simply that of the National Sovereigntist: it is in the best interests of both the member states and the body at large to ensure that the GA does not end up a peremptory and cumbersome institution.

In the old General Assembly, a resolution’s statistical effects were tied to its category. Regardless of the text of the resolution, the stat effects could thus only go so far. And their effects were often quiet and automatic, with many states, even those that care about issues very significantly, not necessarily checking the damage every four days. This will not be the case in the new General Assembly. Rather, resolutions will be like issues, endlessly customizable to the strength of the text. And rather than being automatically updated, you will be denied the vote until you have chosen to adopt 80% of resolutions.

Now, member states will have to actively select for whatever resolutions the GA passes, regardless of its effects or their strength. Think of everyone in the WA answering one big issue, and you have to answer however the majority does in order to keep your vote! Now we have a dilemma, where increasingly broad, powerful, or micromanaging resolutions will see more and more voters who care about their stats surrendering their vote at the whims of larger powers to run their nation how they choose. If you just have one vote, and in order to keep it you have to keep risking wrecking your stats…why not just stop doing it? A General Assembly as aggressive and bureaucratic as the old one will see fewer people engaging, fewer people voting, and fewer people caring. The GA would self-select for an increasingly narrow policy pathway, with each stage driving out whoever’s been left at the margins from the last stage. This struggle would be especially acute for delegates of grassroot communities, who do not always have a deciding voice in these results, but are responsible for representing their region to the world, even if it means they have to sacrifice their nation piece by piece to do it. But why should they have to do that?

The solution to this is not to throw up our hands and tell ever-growing swathes of our game good riddance. Nor is it to sit on our hands and never pass anything, leaving a desiccated corpse where we once had a real body. The solution is for the General Assembly to take a direct, responsible, and cooperation-minded approach to international legislation. If you want to know what I mean by that, the Sovereign Seven has recently released seven pillars of quality legislation which will guide me heavily in my recommendations.

That is my vision for the World Assembly. We are at our best when we respect and include each other. The World Assembly is not a weapon for half of us to use against the other half. It is for all of our benefit. Share it with me.

If you have any questions, please visit my campaign thread and ask away!

Big Vision For Small Regions: The Sovereign Shield Endorses Varanius!!

After an interview process of the major National Sovereigntist candidates, The Sovereign Shield has decided to endorse Varanius due to his experience, vision, and most importantly his clear commitment to furthering the opportunities for new players and grassroot communities in The World Assembly. The Interview was conducted mostly by Areutia, with set-up from Miravana and contribution from Canton Empire. TSS then also interviewed Merethin, whose interview can be found posted on our forum thread!. We think they are an excellent candidate and wish her the best in their bid for Secretariat. We decided to limit our endorsement to one candidate as members can only vote for one, but for those who aren’t convinced by Vara, we highly urge you to check out Merethin as another option! We encourage everyone to read the interview of our endorsed candidate, found below, to see why we are so encouraged by his candidacy! Even if you are not a member region of the Sovereign Shield, we hope by reading the following interview you are convinced that Varanius is the right man for the job and encourage your region to endorse him as well!

Varanius: Hey there!

Areutia: Hello! My first question for you, Varanius: Why do you think you are the best candidate for us to support?

Varanius: Sure thing! I think I'm the best candidate for the Sovereign Shield because I'm the only serious candidate at the moment specifically running on regionalism. It is more important for grassroots communities, moreso than anyone else, to be able to have their full regional unit heard in the General Assembly. These new compliance changes means that a GA focused on obscure policy concerns like a lot of previous GAers have historically will chip away at your votes and force you to continue to change how you run your nation for less and less representation

Areutia: As a representative from a large region, how are we to trust you will back your statement?

Varanius: Well, because my statement isn't about me. I'm not here to sell you on some fable of a deep and abiding altruism. I'm saying that these policies help me, they help you, and they won't happen unless we specifically work for them

Areutia: Helping small regions is certainly not your only goal. What things are you going to prioritize if you become a secretariat?

Varanius: You’re right that I’ve outlined a couple of things I’d like to look out for. I think the main thing I’d like smaller regions to know is that we’ve gotta work on policy. A lot of threads have been posted to the forums by people claiming to work for the “common man” or whatever, but don’t actually say what the common man should want! They’re common cons looking for common fools. What regions big and small need to keep in mind is that each and every one of our voters matters. What we need to be looking for in the General Assembly is resolutions that won’t drive away our members. The best approach then, especially for smaller regions, is a GA that’s a little laxer on the policy side. That’s what I want, for you and for me

Areutia: I completely agree! I see countless pretending to look out for the “common man” while really trying to gain personal power. I believe the “common man” knows what the “common man” wants better than anyone else. That is to say, us small regions know what we want better than anyone else.

Varanius: Hell yeah! And I think it’s awesome that you guys have decided to coordinate and plan together. One of the first things I ever did in TWP as help with outreach to the United Regions Alliance. They were a voting bloc of all sorts and sizes of UCRs. We signed a treaty with them way back in 2022 or so. We actually even coauthored some commends of their founders

Areutia: One issue is that large regions help members new to writing resolutions, and as such, the large regions have more people capable of writing resolutions. In contrast, the smaller regions do not have these same resources. Therefore resolutions submitted by menders of smaller regions tend to be of lesser quality and are often thrown out. What you have promised - relaxed policy - will really help us.

Varanius: That means a lot to hear :D. I hope I can count on the Sovereign Shield’s support come election start. You guys have a ton of promise and I think the fact you had a real sit down with some major candidates will give you a lot of credibility in some circles

Areutia: Will you seek reelection?

Varanius: That depends on how some real life events go and how I find the position, but presently I don’t know what my schedule will be looking like 6 months from now to say for certain.

Areutia: That is good to hear. If you turn out to be phenomenal for us small regions, I’d be inclined to support you again. One last question from me, and this one is unrelated: would your region be willing to mentor new authors from small regions?

Varanius: Yes! Emphatically, absolutely yes

Canton Empire: Lots of good stuff here. As someone who’s a founding father of the Sovereign Seven, and here looking for the Sovereign Shield’s endorsement, do you perceive the role of Secretariat as a bridge of sorts for the Nat Sov movement? And with that, how will you balance the relationship with both organizations if any disputes arise?

Varanius: I would say so. The World Assembly Secretariat is the most public facing role in WA history. Votes have to regularly be justified and explained in dispatch form to every and any voter. I think that’s a great opportunity for regions who feel potentially sidelined by larger political institutions. To that extent I think a lot of my competitors will be rather unaccustomed to that sort of work. A lot of very high-brow politician types who I suspect (wrongly) consider themselves above you in a way this election will very powerfully disprove

Areutia: Little by little, bit by bit, we will move mountains.

Little By Little:
Edoca, Ensio, Greater Ixnay, New United Kingdom of Albion, Saint Osmund, The Outback, The Sacred Elite, Union Brazilian