Worth Writing For - The Kingdom of Hampshire

Worth Writing For - The Kingdom of Hampshire
By Willem Jefferson

I am sure there are some readers who are concerned that we are going to spotlight a new region every few days. I promise you that was not my intention. I was actually going to dedicate this piece to our capable statesman, President Oliver Dion-Grey, but then a thread appeared. Not in this region but in Hampshire. That thread was an election sign up. It had one reply. One person running for Parliament and Prime Minister. Only one.

The background of this was Pananida's term. Prime Minister Pananida, one of the last great recruiters of Hampshire, had work and a life to attend to beyond the walls of the Most Serene Kingdom. This meant that the time she could give to Hampshire was limited. The region fell deeper into a slumber. It's not her fault though. Many of the regional veterans have abandoned the place, fed up with longstanding politics of division, rampant inactivity from leadership figures, and the most inhospitable form of conservatism.

Gustavus Adolphus Rex, the cultural beacon of Hampshire, has joined the exodus from Hampshire, assuming the Minister of Culture post here in Europeia. Can you blame him? Nobody treats his writing like spam here and there is a culture forged by years of regional underdog status. Pananida ended her term and headed to Europeia, partly at my urging, because she knew that her recruitment interest would be appreciated here. Even the King, after yet another bout of division in Hampshire over some ancient legal ruling, has abdicated.

The sign up sheet for elections today stands at three. Three running for Member of Parliament, including myself, and one for Prime Minister (me again). Here's what a region as old and titanic as Hampshire deserves - an ultimatum. It's time recognize a change in the global regional balance of power. Republics are in, and monarchies are out. The Europeian model has become the standard. You can have old fashioned recruitment but it means scrapping the tokenism of relying on one recruiter. Finally, Hampshire must kick the assumption that every downturn will be followed by a triumphant return. Rarely has Hampshire seen such bad days. When it has, it has only scraped by through sudden and swift change.

The Most Serene Kingdom of Hampshire is worth writing for but if it fails to change, reform, grow, it won't be. If it rejects the ultimatum that seems to be rushing from the King and I, then it will slowly crash and burn.

Sometimes a decline is really just a decline.
 
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Unfortunately, the very divisive politics that allowed people of different opinions to arise in Hampshire, and to help it rise during early 2008, was also what has caused it to decline. Normally, this decline would be cyclic (usually concurrent with the holiday season, followed by a rise in spring and summer), but the final death of Fioteria, which he thought would help save the region, was instead driven by petty anger and has caused a loss of leadership which may prove, at long last, fatal.

I can also unfortunately confirm that I am indeed leaving Hampshire- for good this time. My last act will be to recover all of my writing from the region for reposting and continuation in Europeia- writing that I worked my ass off for, and which many people liked, but was also met with derision by some when I tried to promote it so I would actually get readers for something I had worked so hard for.
 
I wouldn't agree with "The Europeian model has become the standard." though, Europeia has never been known as a trend-setter and by trend-setter I mean that Europeia has kept mostly to itself.

10xi has been very successful and has a pretty different system, EoE has a different system, Region Inc too and I would like to take re-iterate a point that Skizzy made in Imperial Britain, where he said that IB wasn't going to make recruiting a focus and that a region could still be successful without it. What is success?
 
Having a culture not reliant on one aspect of real-life, having activity on your forums, having a wealth of rights for citizens, appreciating culture and recruitment. There is no one definition but by most, Europeia rises above the rest.
 
George Orwell once said that our thoughts influence our words and that our words influence our thoughts.

You could have said the same thing about EoE during any of it's declines into obscurity and you could have said that it was the best system in the world when it returned. Hampshire is an old and storied region and I think it will survive. It's still in much better shape than EoE was. Our perspective, thoughts and hence words change quickly.
 
George Orwell also said "Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear" and "Sometimes the first duty of intelligent men is the restatement of the obvious".

Hampshire will endure. By who's hand? Not yours. Besides Anumia and I, who of this region's active class is a member, let alone a governor of the region?

You fail to grasp what I was pushing at with the article. EoE survived by adopting a new culture and system of government. That's how it returned. It did so not by sticking on the same path. Being storied doesn't mean lasting. Hampshire is here today but it's model is an anachronism and those regions who looked to Hampshire as a standard don't exist or have changed.

Talk is cheap. It's those flash points of history, the decision points. These matter. If Hampshire refuses it's next rendezvous being presented by the King and I, talk will be cheaper than bubble gum.
 

There's something wrong in Hampshire. The culture there is caustic, for reasons I don't understand.

I think it's hard to survive as a mid-sized region-- you're not close-knit enough to have the "all for one and one for all" mindset that pervades successful small regions, and you're not big enough to attract people to your region by virtue of its sheer size. Some regions pull it off, but Hampshire has always struggled with its identity, at least since I've been part of it.

Last spring and summer, when I was one of Hampshire's most influential figures (if I do say so myself), I insisted we could and should be a large region. We grew to about 400 nations and stabilized at that level, which made us the 7th or 8th largest player-created region at that time. Some new recruits joined the forum-- we had a formal, aggressive outreach program-- but our main source of growth were active NSers who noticed that Hampshire had become a heavyweight and wanted to see what it was about.

Then, those of us who had spearheaded the recruitment and welcoming efforts swept into power. We tried to get others to pick up our recruitment efforts where we left off, but no one did. Worse, the opposition became bitter and completely uncooperative. By the end of our two-month term, most of us were not only ready to cede power; we were ready to quit the region. Among those of us who stayed, loyalty to Fioteria was the primary motivator-- now that he's gone, we have no connection there. I still lurk in Hampshire occasionally. PASD might, too. The rest of the "dream team" responsible for Hampshire's last big surge has either left the game, or moved on to other regions.

There was a brief renaissance this winter, spearheaded by Gus and Pananaida. Unfortunately, now Gus is gone, and Pananaida probably isn't far behind. (She's a good egg-- everyone be kind to her when she arrives here.)

There is a small core of committed people left in Hampshire. If they can work together, they will save the region. I wish them luck, but like Gus (and so many others), I've already spent too much energy trying to make Hampshire great, only to have it undone by other Hampshireans. I don't have the energy to do it anymore.

On the plus side, I think the lessons I learned from Hampshire's rise and fall during 2010 (and my own political rise and fall there) served me well when I was Prime Minister of Imperial Britain-- one of those small, close-knit regions.

So yes, Europeians, appreciate this wonderful region. There is a lot here that we take for granted.
 
EXACTLY!

I was PM during that renaissance (if I do say so myself) :p

While I am prepared to be the last Prime Minister of Hampshire, I prefer that be delayed.
 
Some things we don't appreciate enough

Our women, our peaceful politics, our singular house, our cultural output, our spam, our activity, our size, our president, Skizzy Grey.
 
Willem Jefferson said:
Some things we don't appreciate enough

Our women, our peaceful politics, our singular house, our cultural output, our spam, our activity, our size, our president, Skizzy Grey.
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For a second I read: "Our president Skizzy Grey," and I said "Wait a minute, when did that happen?"

Then I reread it, and you're entirely correct, but no comment about the President, I hear he's a liberal Canadian asshole. ;)
 
Oliver Dion-Grey said:
Willem Jefferson said:
Some things we don't appreciate enough

Our women, our peaceful politics, our singular house, our cultural output, our spam, our activity, our size, our president, Skizzy Grey.
Click to expand...
For a second I read: "Our president Skizzy Grey," and I said "Wait a minute, when did that happen?"

Then I reread it, and you're entirely correct, but no comment about the President, I hear he's a liberal Canadian asshole. ;)
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A man after my own heart. ^_^
 
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