Pax Polaris Occidens Signed
The North Pacific, the Pacific, and the West Pacific Sign A Treaty, Logical Continuation of Joint Statement
Written by Seva and Writinglegend
Edited by Dracondra and Pland Adanna
On July 2, Xoriet posted a treaty announcement in the gameplay forum embassy of the New Pacific Order, the government of the Pacific. This treaty is an agreement between the North Pacific, the Pacific, and the West Pacific, and contains standard provisions of mutual recognition, mutual defence, and intelligence sharing. The mutual defence clause also extends to “Protected Regions”, defined as regions which have a mutual defence agreement with one of the signatories; Europeia falls under protection of this clause because it has such agreements with the North Pacific and the West Pacific.
This treaty comes after a joint statement released on June 12 that accused “some regions”, presumably meaning the Brotherhood of Malice and their allies, of “hav[ing] chosen to engage with the Feeder regions in purposeful bad faith and disparage not only those Feeders themselves, but their commitments to their allies and their respective international goals.” In practice, the statement promised that an attack on any of the three regions or their allies would be understood as an attack on all of them.
The Pax Polaris Occidens was immediately put to the test when Operation Ragnarok, an internal plot by the Brotherhood of Malice to coup Balder, was exposed on the gameplay forums on July 5. As a partner to all three signatory regions, Balder is defined under the Pax Polaris Occidens as a protected region. As Quebecshire noted in his Operation Ragnarok exposé, “Pertinently, Balder is allied to all three of the signatories to the Pax Polaris Occidens, which puts it in a strong position of unambiguous protection by all parties - and BoM had, or has, them in their crosshairs.” All three signatories of the Pax Polaris Occidens reaffirmed their commitments and protection of the realm of Balder.
While The Pacific, The North Pacific, and The West Pacific did not issue a unified statement through the Pax Polaris Occidens, they did issue individual responses to Operation Ragnarok and more importantly, to Osiris. Osiris came under fire for their treaty with the Brotherhood of Malice and their overall non-response to Operation Ragnarok. Rather than responding to the exposé, the government of Osiris instead posted a notice to the NationStates gameplay forum that a new treaty with The Black Hawks had been ratified. Additionally, the only “official” response from Osiris on the topic of Operation Ragnarok was from their Vizier of Foreign Affairs, Ark, who merely offered a two-word joke response to the article.
Importantly, The North Pacific and The West Pacific repealed their diplomatic agreements with Osiris, the former of which had a NAP and the latter of which had a treaty. “It has been a good relation to have for those years, but unfortunately today's current situation means that TWP and Osiris no longer see eye to eye on key gameplay stances,” stated The West Pacific Giovanniland in the Osiris embassy. “Despite attempts in the final negotiations to resolve these issues and stay united, it has become clear that the alliance is simply not salvageable.”
Due to the agreements being repealed, Osiris is no longer a Protected Region under the Pax Polaris Occidens. While Operation Ragnarok presented an immediate challenge to the Pax, the member regions passed the test with flying colours and demonstrated their commitment to the realm of Balder.
