On behalf of the Europeian Government, the Europeian Broadcasting Corporation would like to welcome Nationstates celebrity Westwind to Europeia.
NS Celebrity: Westwind
- Thread starter Rach
- Start date
- Pronouns
- He/Him
We would be thrilled if you'd share a personal history with us, sir.
*chuckles*
Oh my, where to begin ? This may take awhile !
*sets his rocking chair next to the fireplace, sits down and begins to rock*
Once upon a time, in January of 2004, Westwind was created in The West Pacific. I did have another nation before that that I had created in early December 2003, but I don't even recall what that nation was called. I had received an email from my ex-wife with a link to her nation, with a note that she thought I might be interested in this game. I checked it out, but being the holidays I did nothing more with it. Forgot about it, and that nation CTE'd. So come January, I decided to check NS out once again.
Westwind was not my first choice in naming my nation. I wanted to name it Albion. Way back in the 1980's I had tried to write a book, and it was called 'Alexander of Albion'. For years before that, I used to draw continents and cities. Played out histories of nations on paper. Started with tribes that slowly expanded, discovered each other, and had alliances and wars. I tracked their populations, economies, governments..... sound familiar ?
And I started that book based on those. Albion was a nation on the continent Pacifica. (I got to 180 pages in that book, BTW). I've since written a few short stories surrounding that book's 'world'.
(side note, some years ago I refounded the region Albion, after it had become Founderless and been raided a few times....it has since been refounded again by someone else.....hmmmm.....yes, I Founded the region Pacifica once too)
Westwind was another nation on my drawn continents. Further back...into the early 1970's, I had even typed up newspapers (yes, this was before personal computers). And news of Westwind was in those newspapers. I remember having a list of Top Ten Songs, one of those songs being "The Westwind Roll".
Westwind was Founded as an Empire, with Emperor Alexander (pulled him from that book) leading it. Later, there was an RP in Equilism where Emperor Alexander's grandson died, and then his son revolted against him. Declared himself King Adam, and nuclear war ensued in Westwind. To help end the war, Emperor Alexander abdicated and turned the government over to the Parliament, with Rick Shepard as Prime Minister.
In RL, Rick Shepard was once a pseudonym I used as a radio DJ in the '70's.
In the 2004 Equilism Olympics, Westwind won the Gold Medal in Basketball with their irradiated, glowing players. The benefits of Nuclear fallout. *chuckles*
So that was the very beginning. As a post script to that, my ex-wife did nothing more with her nation, and it CTE'd by early January 2004. She does not play NS, but she was correct that it would interest me.
*pauses.....sips his hot tea*
Oh my, where to begin ? This may take awhile !
*sets his rocking chair next to the fireplace, sits down and begins to rock*
Once upon a time, in January of 2004, Westwind was created in The West Pacific. I did have another nation before that that I had created in early December 2003, but I don't even recall what that nation was called. I had received an email from my ex-wife with a link to her nation, with a note that she thought I might be interested in this game. I checked it out, but being the holidays I did nothing more with it. Forgot about it, and that nation CTE'd. So come January, I decided to check NS out once again.
Westwind was not my first choice in naming my nation. I wanted to name it Albion. Way back in the 1980's I had tried to write a book, and it was called 'Alexander of Albion'. For years before that, I used to draw continents and cities. Played out histories of nations on paper. Started with tribes that slowly expanded, discovered each other, and had alliances and wars. I tracked their populations, economies, governments..... sound familiar ?
And I started that book based on those. Albion was a nation on the continent Pacifica. (I got to 180 pages in that book, BTW). I've since written a few short stories surrounding that book's 'world'.
(side note, some years ago I refounded the region Albion, after it had become Founderless and been raided a few times....it has since been refounded again by someone else.....hmmmm.....yes, I Founded the region Pacifica once too)
Westwind was another nation on my drawn continents. Further back...into the early 1970's, I had even typed up newspapers (yes, this was before personal computers). And news of Westwind was in those newspapers. I remember having a list of Top Ten Songs, one of those songs being "The Westwind Roll".
Westwind was Founded as an Empire, with Emperor Alexander (pulled him from that book) leading it. Later, there was an RP in Equilism where Emperor Alexander's grandson died, and then his son revolted against him. Declared himself King Adam, and nuclear war ensued in Westwind. To help end the war, Emperor Alexander abdicated and turned the government over to the Parliament, with Rick Shepard as Prime Minister.
In RL, Rick Shepard was once a pseudonym I used as a radio DJ in the '70's.
In the 2004 Equilism Olympics, Westwind won the Gold Medal in Basketball with their irradiated, glowing players. The benefits of Nuclear fallout. *chuckles*
So that was the very beginning. As a post script to that, my ex-wife did nothing more with her nation, and it CTE'd by early January 2004. She does not play NS, but she was correct that it would interest me.
*pauses.....sips his hot tea*
*sets down his tea.....starts rocking*
Of course, I got the usual stream of recruitment telegrams as everyone does. I recall moving to another feeder for a day or two (TNP, I think) then back to TWP, getting the hang of this thing of moving your nation, before I decided the telegram that I received from Equilism looked the most interesting. So I moved there, and have been there ever since. Though there have been moments where I considered leaving.
Equilism was Founded by Equility about 10 days before I joined the region. I visited and lurked on the original forum, where debate over a Constitution was in progress. Equility was both Founder and Delegate at that time, and the Constitution he put together was based on the ADN (Alliance Defense Network) Constitution .... which itself hadn't even been ratified in ADN as of that time. The primary construct from the ADN Constitution that worked well for Equilism was the Dual-Executive. In ADN, there was the President and the Director as the dual-executives. In Equilism, it was the President and Prime Minister/Delegate. This was the first Equilism Commonwealth (the second Commonwealth was started in November 2009, and is the current Equilism government).
Soon the first elections came along, and I decided to run for Senator. I remember being disapointed that Tomika won the Prime Minister election of Rhonanvin. Rho was appointed Vice President instead (Equility was President), but he disappeared shortly afterwards. About a year later we found out that he had been in the hospital most of the year. But also about the same time as these first elections, we moved to a new forum on our own domain, provided by one of our members that worked for an ISP. And then we never heard from him again.
That first government plucked me out of the Senate and appointed me as Interior Minister, where I learned to joys of sending hundreds of telegrams about everything under the sun. Struggling to get people to join the forums, helping Immigration Minister Daradah in growing the young region as well. I had also joined the fledgling Equilism Army, and had begun my career as a Defender in February 2004. My first mission was the defense of Middle Earth, the second was in Northern Ireland. Those were both major events in those days, hundreds of WA's involved on both sides.
We had a couple problem nations show up in Equilism at that time. Equility didn't know how to handle it, and I offered to deal with them. It was no problem really, but no one wanted to deal with problem people.
Shortly after that, Prime Minister Tomika (who was also our first Military Minister at the same time) decided to step down from the Prime Ministership. Taking care of both jobs (and the Delegacy) was too much for him, and he wanted to concentrate on the Military. It was Tomika that renamed the Army to the E-Army, which it remains to this day, and wrote our first training documents. He was also our first forum administrator.
Equility and Tomika appointed me to replace him as Prime Minister and UN Delegate.
*pauses....sips more tea*
Of course, I got the usual stream of recruitment telegrams as everyone does. I recall moving to another feeder for a day or two (TNP, I think) then back to TWP, getting the hang of this thing of moving your nation, before I decided the telegram that I received from Equilism looked the most interesting. So I moved there, and have been there ever since. Though there have been moments where I considered leaving.
Equilism was Founded by Equility about 10 days before I joined the region. I visited and lurked on the original forum, where debate over a Constitution was in progress. Equility was both Founder and Delegate at that time, and the Constitution he put together was based on the ADN (Alliance Defense Network) Constitution .... which itself hadn't even been ratified in ADN as of that time. The primary construct from the ADN Constitution that worked well for Equilism was the Dual-Executive. In ADN, there was the President and the Director as the dual-executives. In Equilism, it was the President and Prime Minister/Delegate. This was the first Equilism Commonwealth (the second Commonwealth was started in November 2009, and is the current Equilism government).
Soon the first elections came along, and I decided to run for Senator. I remember being disapointed that Tomika won the Prime Minister election of Rhonanvin. Rho was appointed Vice President instead (Equility was President), but he disappeared shortly afterwards. About a year later we found out that he had been in the hospital most of the year. But also about the same time as these first elections, we moved to a new forum on our own domain, provided by one of our members that worked for an ISP. And then we never heard from him again.
That first government plucked me out of the Senate and appointed me as Interior Minister, where I learned to joys of sending hundreds of telegrams about everything under the sun. Struggling to get people to join the forums, helping Immigration Minister Daradah in growing the young region as well. I had also joined the fledgling Equilism Army, and had begun my career as a Defender in February 2004. My first mission was the defense of Middle Earth, the second was in Northern Ireland. Those were both major events in those days, hundreds of WA's involved on both sides.
We had a couple problem nations show up in Equilism at that time. Equility didn't know how to handle it, and I offered to deal with them. It was no problem really, but no one wanted to deal with problem people.
Shortly after that, Prime Minister Tomika (who was also our first Military Minister at the same time) decided to step down from the Prime Ministership. Taking care of both jobs (and the Delegacy) was too much for him, and he wanted to concentrate on the Military. It was Tomika that renamed the Army to the E-Army, which it remains to this day, and wrote our first training documents. He was also our first forum administrator.
Equility and Tomika appointed me to replace him as Prime Minister and UN Delegate.
*pauses....sips more tea*
*continues to rock in his chair*
Around this same time, I had wandered over to ADN, of which were were a member. I joined ADN on the same day that the ADN Constitution was ratified, February 29, 2004. I also wandered over to A.L.L. (Allied Liberation League) of which we were also a member, and later lead the liberation of The North Pacific from Great Bight with the Puppetmaster operation. Equilism had the largest army involved in that operation. I still have a list of all the puppet nations (from all involved regions) that were in that operation. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
At about the same time, we discovered some problems with our Intelligence Minister, Ellandar. Long story short, he was discovered multiing among other things. I lead the investigation, and the Equilism Council banned him from the forum and region. Both the Intel and Foreign Minister positions were then open, so Equility took over Foreign Affairs, and I took over Intelligence. I was already infiltrated into several Raider organizations at the time, including ones that lead to the formation of DEN.
Pope Hope, ADN Director, wanted me to work in ADN Intel, however the head of Intel, ROTCJAGMAN, was paranoid at that time and wasn't allowing anyone new to join. Instead, I was first appointed as Director of the Office for Public Affairs (press office) for ADN. A short time later, I was appointed as Prosecutor General of ADN.
During my time as Prosecutor General, a number of watershed events occured in ADN, that lead eventually to the end of the Constitution Era of ADN, and the establishment of a new Charter.
During this time, Modavi (aka Pierconium) left ADN and joined the NPO in The Pacific. Of course, he was seen as a traitor to ADN and was appropriately villified. He had been Prosecutor General before me.
Ireland had invaded an ADN member region, and ADN responded by declaring war on Ireland. ADN was not only an interregional organization, it was an extra-regional government. All member regions were required to join in the declaration of war. It was the only time that Equilism has made a declaration of war. ADN had about 40 - 50 member regions. ADN also had close relations with other defender organizations such as GLA, TITO, EAA, etc. ADN was originally formed to oppose the AA (Atlantic Alliance) and also opposed Francos Spain and NPO in The Pacific. The Pacific Army, banjected from The Pacific by Francos Spain, were themselves part of ADN.
The German Empire and DEN joined the war on the side of Ireland. Most raiders were eager to join in war against ADN, the enemy of raiders everywhere (we called raiders 'invaders' back then). It was growing into a more major war, threatening to become a World War. TGE launched attacks on ADN interests, Ireland placed a password on their region and remained under seige.
Pope Hope assigned Eurosoviets (of ASE) and I as negotiators. ES and I negotiated separately with The German Empire and with Ireland. As we came close to concluding a settlement with TGE, another event brought an end to that region.
USSR had been a member region of ADN, but was kicked out after a trial. And USSR was allied to Ireland. RedCommunist, USSR Founder, didn't want to get involved, and did his best to sit the war out. However, suddenly the Founder of The German Empire started banjecting nations and passworded the region. As it turned out, the Founder of The German Empire was controlled by RedCommunist of USSR. That was essentially the beginning of the end of the war.
Negotiations with Ireland continued, and evenually ES and I worked out a peace treaty with them. We presented the treaty to the ADN Congress for ratification. Objections were raised, and the treaty held up, but it nonetheless went into effect.
- Sidetracking.....around this time, there also were elections in ADN. The Presidency and Vice-Presidency were up for election. Equility ran for President against Vasquez (a founding member of ADN), and I ran for Vice-President against Democratic Donkeys (incumbant) and Eurosoviets. When ES appeared to be rallying to the win, I withdrew from the race and threw my support to DD, who won re-election. Vazquez also won re-election as President.
*stretches.....sips tea*
Around this same time, I had wandered over to ADN, of which were were a member. I joined ADN on the same day that the ADN Constitution was ratified, February 29, 2004. I also wandered over to A.L.L. (Allied Liberation League) of which we were also a member, and later lead the liberation of The North Pacific from Great Bight with the Puppetmaster operation. Equilism had the largest army involved in that operation. I still have a list of all the puppet nations (from all involved regions) that were in that operation. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
At about the same time, we discovered some problems with our Intelligence Minister, Ellandar. Long story short, he was discovered multiing among other things. I lead the investigation, and the Equilism Council banned him from the forum and region. Both the Intel and Foreign Minister positions were then open, so Equility took over Foreign Affairs, and I took over Intelligence. I was already infiltrated into several Raider organizations at the time, including ones that lead to the formation of DEN.
Pope Hope, ADN Director, wanted me to work in ADN Intel, however the head of Intel, ROTCJAGMAN, was paranoid at that time and wasn't allowing anyone new to join. Instead, I was first appointed as Director of the Office for Public Affairs (press office) for ADN. A short time later, I was appointed as Prosecutor General of ADN.
During my time as Prosecutor General, a number of watershed events occured in ADN, that lead eventually to the end of the Constitution Era of ADN, and the establishment of a new Charter.
During this time, Modavi (aka Pierconium) left ADN and joined the NPO in The Pacific. Of course, he was seen as a traitor to ADN and was appropriately villified. He had been Prosecutor General before me.
Ireland had invaded an ADN member region, and ADN responded by declaring war on Ireland. ADN was not only an interregional organization, it was an extra-regional government. All member regions were required to join in the declaration of war. It was the only time that Equilism has made a declaration of war. ADN had about 40 - 50 member regions. ADN also had close relations with other defender organizations such as GLA, TITO, EAA, etc. ADN was originally formed to oppose the AA (Atlantic Alliance) and also opposed Francos Spain and NPO in The Pacific. The Pacific Army, banjected from The Pacific by Francos Spain, were themselves part of ADN.
The German Empire and DEN joined the war on the side of Ireland. Most raiders were eager to join in war against ADN, the enemy of raiders everywhere (we called raiders 'invaders' back then). It was growing into a more major war, threatening to become a World War. TGE launched attacks on ADN interests, Ireland placed a password on their region and remained under seige.
Pope Hope assigned Eurosoviets (of ASE) and I as negotiators. ES and I negotiated separately with The German Empire and with Ireland. As we came close to concluding a settlement with TGE, another event brought an end to that region.
USSR had been a member region of ADN, but was kicked out after a trial. And USSR was allied to Ireland. RedCommunist, USSR Founder, didn't want to get involved, and did his best to sit the war out. However, suddenly the Founder of The German Empire started banjecting nations and passworded the region. As it turned out, the Founder of The German Empire was controlled by RedCommunist of USSR. That was essentially the beginning of the end of the war.
Negotiations with Ireland continued, and evenually ES and I worked out a peace treaty with them. We presented the treaty to the ADN Congress for ratification. Objections were raised, and the treaty held up, but it nonetheless went into effect.
- Sidetracking.....around this time, there also were elections in ADN. The Presidency and Vice-Presidency were up for election. Equility ran for President against Vasquez (a founding member of ADN), and I ran for Vice-President against Democratic Donkeys (incumbant) and Eurosoviets. When ES appeared to be rallying to the win, I withdrew from the race and threw my support to DD, who won re-election. Vazquez also won re-election as President.
*stretches.....sips tea*
*samples a cookie....rocks.....*
With peace attained, and world war averted, we settled back with our victory in hand. But it was short lived. Vazquez, ADN President, lead his region (Alcatraz) in an invasion of Ireland. After the peace treaty was signed and ratified.
As Prosecutor General, I investigated the incident. I was the one that apologized to Ireland for the invasion. And thankfully, they gracefully accepted the apology.
As a result of my investigation, I found that the invasion of Ireland was planned by Vaz on the ADN forums. I brought Articles of Impeachment against Vazquez to the ADN Congress. Vaz accepted full responsibility and chose to resign instead of facing Impeachment.
And then ADN recieved another shock. Vice President Democractic Donkeys (he's still around as a Global Moderator on the TNP forum, BTW) announced that he was actually an invader, and had infiltrated ADN.
At this point, ADN lost it's President and Vice-President, and the Congress was hopelessly tied in knots and unable to function. There were factions developing within the Congress, each trying to control the processes.
At the urging of several (including me) ADN Director Pope Hope declared martial law in ADN. She scrapped the Constitution, and moved ADN to a new forum. She and Unistrut were the new forum administrators. Equility, Blackbird and I were moderators. After discussion and debate, a new Charter was established and ratified. Pope Hope retained the position of Director, and I was elected as the first Deputy Director.
And then.....came Cybernations. Alot of NS players rushed over to check out Cybernations, including ADN Director Pope Hope. Her absence left me as Acting Director of ADN.
You will always hear people complain that NS is declining. But the decline started way back before Influence, and before Cybernations. Those things just accelerated the process.
But I have always tried to find ways to fight back the inactivity of decline, both at the local level in Equilism, and in the interregional arena. There are always opportunities for activity, if you just put some effort into it.
*pauses*
I'm going to stop for now. I warned you this would take awhile.
And please feel free to ask any questions you might have.
With peace attained, and world war averted, we settled back with our victory in hand. But it was short lived. Vazquez, ADN President, lead his region (Alcatraz) in an invasion of Ireland. After the peace treaty was signed and ratified.
As Prosecutor General, I investigated the incident. I was the one that apologized to Ireland for the invasion. And thankfully, they gracefully accepted the apology.
As a result of my investigation, I found that the invasion of Ireland was planned by Vaz on the ADN forums. I brought Articles of Impeachment against Vazquez to the ADN Congress. Vaz accepted full responsibility and chose to resign instead of facing Impeachment.
And then ADN recieved another shock. Vice President Democractic Donkeys (he's still around as a Global Moderator on the TNP forum, BTW) announced that he was actually an invader, and had infiltrated ADN.
At this point, ADN lost it's President and Vice-President, and the Congress was hopelessly tied in knots and unable to function. There were factions developing within the Congress, each trying to control the processes.
At the urging of several (including me) ADN Director Pope Hope declared martial law in ADN. She scrapped the Constitution, and moved ADN to a new forum. She and Unistrut were the new forum administrators. Equility, Blackbird and I were moderators. After discussion and debate, a new Charter was established and ratified. Pope Hope retained the position of Director, and I was elected as the first Deputy Director.
And then.....came Cybernations. Alot of NS players rushed over to check out Cybernations, including ADN Director Pope Hope. Her absence left me as Acting Director of ADN.
You will always hear people complain that NS is declining. But the decline started way back before Influence, and before Cybernations. Those things just accelerated the process.
But I have always tried to find ways to fight back the inactivity of decline, both at the local level in Equilism, and in the interregional arena. There are always opportunities for activity, if you just put some effort into it.
*pauses*
I'm going to stop for now. I warned you this would take awhile.
And please feel free to ask any questions you might have.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
This is fascinating stuff.
Pope Hope is still around now and then, but not actively. She ended up being a CN Admin. I was asked to be a moderator for CN, but I declined, as CN didn't interest me. Besides Cybernations, she joined the RL world of work after graduating from college.
I haven't written, other than official statements and speeches in NS for quite awhile. Oh, and sales proposals, and consulting reports for work. I'm preparing to start work on a musical project next month though. I had released albums in the 1980's, did promotion/website work for bands in the '90's, but haven't written a serious song in about 6 years now. I was working on cleaning up an old mix of a song from 2002 last night.
You're lucky that fragment of history came out that well, my writing these days goes okay until my brain decides it's done with that train of thought. My medical conditions plays games with me like that sometimes.
I haven't written, other than official statements and speeches in NS for quite awhile. Oh, and sales proposals, and consulting reports for work. I'm preparing to start work on a musical project next month though. I had released albums in the 1980's, did promotion/website work for bands in the '90's, but haven't written a serious song in about 6 years now. I was working on cleaning up an old mix of a song from 2002 last night.
You're lucky that fragment of history came out that well, my writing these days goes okay until my brain decides it's done with that train of thought. My medical conditions plays games with me like that sometimes.
Come on, I've a cameo coming up
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Lexus is amazing :wub:Come on, I've a cameo coming up
Lethen
Nissan: commendable cars for Commended players
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Honoured Citizen
Citizen
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Ah, very interesting stuff. I've always heard of Pope Hope but knew nothing about them.
Also, on a more personal note, can you tell me anything about Great Britain and Ireland in this early history? I joined NS in 2006 and they were my first region; I know that they were involved in some of this but I'm not sure how.
Also, on a more personal note, can you tell me anything about Great Britain and Ireland in this early history? I joined NS in 2006 and they were my first region; I know that they were involved in some of this but I'm not sure how.
Thank you for this very interesting narrative.
I have always been wondering how USSR ended up along with the Pacifc-Gatesville-New Sparrow-TGE group in the Union of Sovereigns. Your story solves the mystery.
It is a pity that ADN forums are still largely closed. I remember when I was still working actively on the GB&I library, I had trouble finding anything on their forums. It was easier to obtain a copy of the Charter of the RLA, imagine :lol: .
Of course, back then the ADN was much more relevant, and even had a successor in the form of the DSA. But, seeing how it has been dead for long now, it would be good if some of the boards were released to the public. This is assuming of course that the various ADN forums have not gone offline, as it has been a while since I tried to visit it for the last time.
I am surprised to hear that Equilism had the largest army in the Puppetmaster operation, given that it was still relatively new at that point and one would imagine that older regions, such as Nasi or the ASE, would be able to field larger armies. On an unrelated point, the ADN used to claim that there was some evidence that Great Bight was a member of/affiliated with the NPO. As I do not recall this evidence ever being released, could you please provide any insights?
Could you please discuss the relations between the ADN and the Meritocracy (the "Charter Meritocracy" to be more specific)? I always found this topic interesting, and the debates for the "ADMA" treaty were always an enjoyable read. Unfortunately, the old Merit's forums are no longer functional, so they are lost as well.
Equilism history is also very intriguing. It was the one region I have been considering getting seriously involved in (by seriously I mean to the extent I was in GB&I), but what with RL obligations, that never happened. The plot behind the Schism and eventual Reunification is exciting, a unique feat I believe. One thing I never figured out was whether there were any special circumstances relating to Moo-Cows with Guns moving over to the Pacific.
I hope I am not becoming overbearing. Once again, thank you for your insights.
EDIT: Apparently, the ADN_Reloaded forums are still up. The forums before that are not accessible, as far as I can tell.
I have always been wondering how USSR ended up along with the Pacifc-Gatesville-New Sparrow-TGE group in the Union of Sovereigns. Your story solves the mystery.
It is a pity that ADN forums are still largely closed. I remember when I was still working actively on the GB&I library, I had trouble finding anything on their forums. It was easier to obtain a copy of the Charter of the RLA, imagine :lol: .
Of course, back then the ADN was much more relevant, and even had a successor in the form of the DSA. But, seeing how it has been dead for long now, it would be good if some of the boards were released to the public. This is assuming of course that the various ADN forums have not gone offline, as it has been a while since I tried to visit it for the last time.
I am surprised to hear that Equilism had the largest army in the Puppetmaster operation, given that it was still relatively new at that point and one would imagine that older regions, such as Nasi or the ASE, would be able to field larger armies. On an unrelated point, the ADN used to claim that there was some evidence that Great Bight was a member of/affiliated with the NPO. As I do not recall this evidence ever being released, could you please provide any insights?
Could you please discuss the relations between the ADN and the Meritocracy (the "Charter Meritocracy" to be more specific)? I always found this topic interesting, and the debates for the "ADMA" treaty were always an enjoyable read. Unfortunately, the old Merit's forums are no longer functional, so they are lost as well.
Equilism history is also very intriguing. It was the one region I have been considering getting seriously involved in (by seriously I mean to the extent I was in GB&I), but what with RL obligations, that never happened. The plot behind the Schism and eventual Reunification is exciting, a unique feat I believe. One thing I never figured out was whether there were any special circumstances relating to Moo-Cows with Guns moving over to the Pacific.
I hope I am not becoming overbearing. Once again, thank you for your insights.
EDIT: Apparently, the ADN_Reloaded forums are still up. The forums before that are not accessible, as far as I can tell.
Alot of great questions, and I'm not sure how well I'll be able to answer them. On some things my memory is hazy, and I'd have to refresh my thoughts reading up on them. (I blame the meds)
I do have some access to the ADN (Constitution Era) forums that I think only a couple others have. I tend to visit and reminisce once in awhile. PH is root admin and owns the forums, so access is in her hands. It was interesting reading the ADN legal documents that I had written back then. Did a better job then than I would now. *chuckles* But there were RL lawyers involved in the writing of the ADN Constitution and Judicial documents. I ran my drafts past Sugar Bear (Founder of Shadowlands) for his opinion before posting. He taught Law School in Florida, and was 63 yrs old at the time. Penngrove was another of the lawyers, and also served in the ADN Judiciary.
ADN was famous for their security, there are few others that have even compared. Paranoia was the watch word there. But then, paranoia was a pre-requisite for NS Intelligence Agencies.
Side thought.....there was this hillarious ADN IRC Chat session where Pope Hope turned into a Shark....and ate Penngrove. She later 'barfed up Penngrove'. In memory of the event, Penn created a new avatar of a Singing Bass with a cigar in it's mouth. I still have the chatlog someplace.
Hmmmm..... yes but that's further along in the story.
"....then, there was this guy that called himself Pope Lexus. I figured it was a cross between Pope Hope and a new car......."
Oh wait....that was that other Pope Lexus.
Unfortunately, GB&I is in one of the foggy areas of my mind. So until I refresh my memory with some threads from back then, I'm not much use to you. I'll think on it though.
Aye, Great Bight was New People/Mammothstan, who was a Senator of the NPO in The Pacific. He's written about it himself here and there. There's probably a thread on it on the TWP forums. UPS Rail, who was elected but went 'rogue' was Sir Paul, also a Senator of the NPO in The Pacific. UPS Rail being an anagram of Sir Paul.
While it was generally known that everyone was doing this (covert ops), exactly who was the agent of what provocateur was not always known. There was alot of intrigue back then. And some people that were very good at doing these kinds of operations.
TNP and TWP were ADN member regions, so they were prime targets. Loop in TEP supported NPO in The Pacific, and while not in conflict with ADN...Loop considered ADN a threat. In reality, ADN wasn't paying attention to TEP at all. And while Gatesville was allied with The Pacific, there was no actual conflicts between GV and ADN. And they worked together on intel privately a couple times. TSP had LadyRebels as delegate, and she was also friendly with The Pacific. Again, ADN had few relations with TSP at all. Though LadyRebels visited the ADN forums a few times. I remember her pouring chocolate and strawberries on me there.
Being that TRR was also an ADN member, they were a prime target for raiders to try and take the delegacy from Kandarin. But no one was ever able to top Kandarin for long. Didn't take long to flood the region with defenders to re-seat him. Many raiders dreamed of turning TRR into a raider region, no one succeeded.
My memory is foggy in that area, probably because I was never involved in the Merit, and never cared for the Merit personally. Or better put, it simply didn't interest me, though I was invited a few times. But other ADN leaders were members of the Merit. I'd probably remember more if I glanced at some old threads on it. I seem to remember Blackbird working on that treaty, but I may be confusing it with another.
There were alot of treaties back then. Between regions, among regions, extra-regional governments....treaties between organizations. Still seems strange to me that there are so few treatied relationships these days.
Moo was Equilism President, and was moving up in ADN leadership, but he was frustrated with ADN. He was one of the most prolific defenders in his day, he made fantastic military accomplishments. Meanwhile, he was also participating in secret discussions of a plan to try to take over the feeders and then invade ADN member Nasicournia. Now, this group was probably 70% filled with Intel agents, so really it was an open secret. Moo was more successful in covering his growing activity in The Pacific. So it was a surprise that the Equilism President had been appointed a Senator in The Pacific. Our Prime Minister Grothistan had also resigned due to RL, shortly before Moo resigned as President.
Yeah, I think that's true. It was a "NS is dying" moment. Everyone was bored and/or inactive in the old Defender/Raider world. Most of the major ADN regions had gone inactive. Pope Hope had disappeared from NS, and ADN itself was inactive. In Equilism the original Commonwealth Constitution had been reworked every six month or so, and the region had built a robust system of government, security, and bureaucracy. It worked well when we were active, but without a fully active community, the system wouldn't allow change. Couldn't even fix it within the system due to inactivity.
The thread where the original planning was done was declassified on the Equilism forum, so it's there someplace if anyone wants to check it out.
So....here we were talking in private Council and we got around to opening the table to any ideas. So we brainstormed 'out of the box' of our 'defender' label and the boundaries of treaties and constitutions and laws. We decided to stir things up with the Schism, to give things a sharp shock to try to generate activity. I took the role of the 'Bad Guy' and was prepared to be forced from the region in the end when we put the region back together again. We divided ourselves up into two sides, wrote draft speeches for everyone to review....had to decide the best timing for greatest impact...made sure the Goverment-in-Exile members had alternate access on the site so we could discuss things together without it being known they were still on the forum. Decided who I would banject from the region to increase the impact. And I contacted a few key people outside the region, who were willing to play along and provide appropriate opposition 'noise'.
It was a "do or die" plan.....we fail miserably and the region dies, which it was going to do anyway....or we succeed and remain an active NS region. We planned on the coup lasting 3 months, and then reunifying, and we were successful in following that schedule. Probably the most difficult part, was having public negotiations between the sides and having each try to appear to argue and compromise, when we already knew the final outcome.
I could also argue that there wouldn't have been an ADNSA if it wasn't for the activity that we incited with the Schism in Equilism. ADN was dead until it woke up to find a Coup in it's member region Equilism. ADN decided to side with the Government-in-Exile (which is what we wanted them to do). And we took the position that was a violation of our sovereignty (which it was).
The only thing that has confounded me as a result of the Schism plan, was that some of those from outside Equilism that knew the truth and plan ahead of time, afterward continued to oppose and vilify me. And that was primarily the remaining ADN leadership. Of course, that attitude carried over into DSA and FRA, though things slowly thawed.
No matter, we moved on. NS changed, and we changed with it. That's the way to ensure the active health of an NS region. Flexibility to change with your region's needs and with changes in the status of NS overall. Combine that with strong and active leadership, and consistent recruitment efforts, and you'll be successful. Its really not a difficult formula to NS success. The real problem is having people be active enough to see it through. And I'll toss in that a specific ideal or goal to rally around helps alot.
It has advantages and disadvantages. Here you have to depend on the accuracy of my fading memory, rather than the actual text of events. But you probably get a better sense of the feeling of the times and the flow of events. And I do think that personal accounts are better to read, especially if you can get more than one from the times. Each person has their own focus and perspectives on the times and places they live.
I do have some access to the ADN (Constitution Era) forums that I think only a couple others have. I tend to visit and reminisce once in awhile. PH is root admin and owns the forums, so access is in her hands. It was interesting reading the ADN legal documents that I had written back then. Did a better job then than I would now. *chuckles* But there were RL lawyers involved in the writing of the ADN Constitution and Judicial documents. I ran my drafts past Sugar Bear (Founder of Shadowlands) for his opinion before posting. He taught Law School in Florida, and was 63 yrs old at the time. Penngrove was another of the lawyers, and also served in the ADN Judiciary.
ADN was famous for their security, there are few others that have even compared. Paranoia was the watch word there. But then, paranoia was a pre-requisite for NS Intelligence Agencies.
Side thought.....there was this hillarious ADN IRC Chat session where Pope Hope turned into a Shark....and ate Penngrove. She later 'barfed up Penngrove'. In memory of the event, Penn created a new avatar of a Singing Bass with a cigar in it's mouth. I still have the chatlog someplace.
Hmmmm..... yes but that's further along in the story.
"....then, there was this guy that called himself Pope Lexus. I figured it was a cross between Pope Hope and a new car......."
Oh wait....that was that other Pope Lexus.
Unfortunately, GB&I is in one of the foggy areas of my mind. So until I refresh my memory with some threads from back then, I'm not much use to you. I'll think on it though.
Aye, Great Bight was New People/Mammothstan, who was a Senator of the NPO in The Pacific. He's written about it himself here and there. There's probably a thread on it on the TWP forums. UPS Rail, who was elected but went 'rogue' was Sir Paul, also a Senator of the NPO in The Pacific. UPS Rail being an anagram of Sir Paul.
While it was generally known that everyone was doing this (covert ops), exactly who was the agent of what provocateur was not always known. There was alot of intrigue back then. And some people that were very good at doing these kinds of operations.
TNP and TWP were ADN member regions, so they were prime targets. Loop in TEP supported NPO in The Pacific, and while not in conflict with ADN...Loop considered ADN a threat. In reality, ADN wasn't paying attention to TEP at all. And while Gatesville was allied with The Pacific, there was no actual conflicts between GV and ADN. And they worked together on intel privately a couple times. TSP had LadyRebels as delegate, and she was also friendly with The Pacific. Again, ADN had few relations with TSP at all. Though LadyRebels visited the ADN forums a few times. I remember her pouring chocolate and strawberries on me there.
Being that TRR was also an ADN member, they were a prime target for raiders to try and take the delegacy from Kandarin. But no one was ever able to top Kandarin for long. Didn't take long to flood the region with defenders to re-seat him. Many raiders dreamed of turning TRR into a raider region, no one succeeded.
My memory is foggy in that area, probably because I was never involved in the Merit, and never cared for the Merit personally. Or better put, it simply didn't interest me, though I was invited a few times. But other ADN leaders were members of the Merit. I'd probably remember more if I glanced at some old threads on it. I seem to remember Blackbird working on that treaty, but I may be confusing it with another.
There were alot of treaties back then. Between regions, among regions, extra-regional governments....treaties between organizations. Still seems strange to me that there are so few treatied relationships these days.
Moo was Equilism President, and was moving up in ADN leadership, but he was frustrated with ADN. He was one of the most prolific defenders in his day, he made fantastic military accomplishments. Meanwhile, he was also participating in secret discussions of a plan to try to take over the feeders and then invade ADN member Nasicournia. Now, this group was probably 70% filled with Intel agents, so really it was an open secret. Moo was more successful in covering his growing activity in The Pacific. So it was a surprise that the Equilism President had been appointed a Senator in The Pacific. Our Prime Minister Grothistan had also resigned due to RL, shortly before Moo resigned as President.
Yeah, I think that's true. It was a "NS is dying" moment. Everyone was bored and/or inactive in the old Defender/Raider world. Most of the major ADN regions had gone inactive. Pope Hope had disappeared from NS, and ADN itself was inactive. In Equilism the original Commonwealth Constitution had been reworked every six month or so, and the region had built a robust system of government, security, and bureaucracy. It worked well when we were active, but without a fully active community, the system wouldn't allow change. Couldn't even fix it within the system due to inactivity.
The thread where the original planning was done was declassified on the Equilism forum, so it's there someplace if anyone wants to check it out.
So....here we were talking in private Council and we got around to opening the table to any ideas. So we brainstormed 'out of the box' of our 'defender' label and the boundaries of treaties and constitutions and laws. We decided to stir things up with the Schism, to give things a sharp shock to try to generate activity. I took the role of the 'Bad Guy' and was prepared to be forced from the region in the end when we put the region back together again. We divided ourselves up into two sides, wrote draft speeches for everyone to review....had to decide the best timing for greatest impact...made sure the Goverment-in-Exile members had alternate access on the site so we could discuss things together without it being known they were still on the forum. Decided who I would banject from the region to increase the impact. And I contacted a few key people outside the region, who were willing to play along and provide appropriate opposition 'noise'.
It was a "do or die" plan.....we fail miserably and the region dies, which it was going to do anyway....or we succeed and remain an active NS region. We planned on the coup lasting 3 months, and then reunifying, and we were successful in following that schedule. Probably the most difficult part, was having public negotiations between the sides and having each try to appear to argue and compromise, when we already knew the final outcome.
I could also argue that there wouldn't have been an ADN
SA if it wasn't for the activity that we incited with the Schism in Equilism. ADN was dead until it woke up to find a Coup in it's member region Equilism. ADN decided to side with the Government-in-Exile (which is what we wanted them to do). And we took the position that was a violation of our sovereignty (which it was).The only thing that has confounded me as a result of the Schism plan, was that some of those from outside Equilism that knew the truth and plan ahead of time, afterward continued to oppose and vilify me. And that was primarily the remaining ADN leadership. Of course, that attitude carried over into DSA and FRA, though things slowly thawed.
No matter, we moved on. NS changed, and we changed with it. That's the way to ensure the active health of an NS region. Flexibility to change with your region's needs and with changes in the status of NS overall. Combine that with strong and active leadership, and consistent recruitment efforts, and you'll be successful. Its really not a difficult formula to NS success. The real problem is having people be active enough to see it through. And I'll toss in that a specific ideal or goal to rally around helps alot.
It has advantages and disadvantages. Here you have to depend on the accuracy of my fading memory, rather than the actual text of events. But you probably get a better sense of the feeling of the times and the flow of events. And I do think that personal accounts are better to read, especially if you can get more than one from the times. Each person has their own focus and perspectives on the times and places they live.