The North Pacific Makes a New Home in The Wellspring
NationStates’ largest feeder led the way with the first Frontier spawns
Written by Maowi, Edited by Pland Adanna
On April 18 2023, in what were the small hours of the morning for many NationStates players, the long-awaited Frontier/Stronghold update hit the site. As many regions started putting their plans into action, a handful of new regions were being founded as Frontiers for the first time. One example was The Wellspring.
The implementation of the update meant that the rate of new nations spawning in the five feeders would be cut in half within a few hours, with the other half to be redistributed between any eligible Frontier regions in an effort to shake up interregional power dynamics. So while the update continues to present a massive opportunity for many user-created regions, for the feeders it is an unprecedented challenge. The North Pacific (TNP), however, was on the alert as the update dropped and chose to act fast and seize an opportunity: the North Pacific Army moved into The Wellspring and took the delegacy. Once minor update rolled around they found themselves in control of NationStates’ only Frontier with a World Assembly delegate (WAD), meaning that they would receive a full 50% of the site’s new spawns for the next twelve hours.
Within a few hours, TNP had mobilised its significant diplomatic connections to secure support for its new outpost in the form of World Assembly endorsements on the delegate and regional officers. As well as troops from Europeia, TNP received support from The League & Concord, Balder, The Rejected Realms, and all four other feeder regions as well as some unaffiliated individuals. This was important in closing off any opportunity for hostile parties to try and capture the delegacy from TNP, and it additionally boosted the region’s spawn rate over its first few days of existence, as WAD endorsements are thought to be one of the factors that influence how large a share of the pie each Frontier receives. On its very first day, The Wellspring grew to 515 nations, and at the time of writing sits at an exceptional 1414 nations.
The occupation of The Wellspring did not come out of the blue for TNP. The region had prepared in advance for the arrival of Frontiers by passing a Frontier Act in their Regional Assembly. Under the provisions of this law, The Wellspring is a territory of The North Pacific, with the player known as Lord Dominator holding the Regional Assembly-confirmed role of WAD of The Wellspring and 9003 officially being vice delegate. Despite the region’s high population, they currently hold 57 delegate endorsements, a conversion that is noticeably lower than that of most comparably sized regions, although it is high compared to other regions that were founded as Frontiers. In an interview by Kaschovia in the latest publication of The North Star, TNP’s Delegate Gorundu explained that “it has been perhaps more difficult than expected to build up a native community in the region;” it may simply require more time for the necessary infrastructure to be built and solidified – but it is also a possibility that this lower conversion will be inherent to Frontier status. This is one of the many questions that remain to be answered as more regions adapt to the change.
In an effort to foster this desired native community and to build up more endorsements on the WAD, The Wellspring has a system in which nations that endorse all five regional officers receive “Wanderer” status. This makes them eligible for various rewards, such as being listed on the World Factbook Entry as a featured Wanderer and being entered in a weekly raffle to win a legendary card. The region also has its own Discord server, a separate entity from TNP’s main server, where Wanderers have their own role masking. The tasks ahead for those leading The Wellspring are many, with a recent regional poll listing the different projects on the horizon; one major task is creating a regional charter to be presented to TNP’s Regional Assembly for ratification, in accordance with the Frontier Act. As with other regions that have not transitioned but have created a Frontier outpost, including The League & Concord and The Order of the Grey Wardens, TNP will have to work out how to balance The Wellspring’s own sense of identity with its nature as an extension of TNP. According to Gorundu, “how we will eventually integrate it [The Wellspring] into TNP officially is still a matter for debate, but that's all part of the experiment and I'm confident it can all be worked out through the dedication and ingenuity of our people.”
Grand Admiral Forilian withdrew Europeian sailors from The Wellspring on April 28 to achieve maximum endorsements on Europeia’s delegate Le Libertie ahead of our own transition to Frontier. His report on the operation named the 25 pilers that moved to support TNP and came with a raft of promotions. Europeia joined The Wellspring in becoming a Frontier at minor update on May 2, marking a momentous occasion in our region’s history.
