A Matter of Succession
No Fear for Europeia
Written by Cool Spring
Edited by Deepest House and Kuramia
Resignation is a scary word. Resignation in Europeia usually occurs due to Real Life being mean and barging into our lives to distract us from Europeia. The Europeian Republican Navy, the High Court, and the Presidency are all familiar roles by now, but sometimes we view the people holding these offices as being immune to inactivity and the cruelty of Real Life. However the actuality is that Real Life is a jerk to everyone. Resignation isn't scary for Europeia though, because we have, and will always have, someone experienced, even in advisory positions, for our Navy, our Courts, and for our working knowledge of the region.
The Europeian Republican Navy is the driving force behind our alliances and gameplay participation. Upon joining the Navy as a Volunteer Midshipman, I was amazed by its structure and organization. With elder members of the region Grand Admiral Kraken at the helm and Vice Admiral Common Sense Politics (CSP) as second-in-command, the Navy is capable of assisting and leading any operation that requires military clout and precision. I presumed that if something happened to Kraken, CSP would assume leadership of the Navy.
The Line of Succession for the Navy is not so simple however. If something were to happen to the Grand Admiral, then the President would select the successor to the Navy and the Senate would confirm it. "The Vice Admiral would be the highest ranking officer, and would most likely handle all administration tasks while the President selects a successor. The Vice Admiral would not become Grand Admiral automatically, unless selected by the President," Kraken said. When asked if the ERN should have a Vice Admiral at all times, Kraken responded, “since the Vice Admiral isn't an automatic takeover post like the Vice President is to the President, it is not imperative we have a Vice Admiral at all times.”
Kraken only promotes someone to the position of Vice Admiral when they are ready. Becoming Vice Admiral is a distinguished promotion, and only the absolute best can reach it. When asked, hypothetically, if his and CSP’s absence would mess up the ERN in regards to the leadership position, Kraken opined, “The ERN would only be screwed if we had no qualified junior officers to select a Grand Admiral from. This was the situation about a year ago, but that has drastically changed due to training.” So with the passing on of the working knowledge of how the Navy functions, there should be no fear of the resignation of the Grand Admiral of the Navy. It would continue on in its current glory as part of the force that keeps us connected to the Gameplay of Nation States.
The hallowed halls of the High Court are filled with the sounds of verdicts and debate. This place of law and order is sacred to Europeia. It is a place where questions can be asked, laws clarified, and justice exerted. If you delve into the Court, you will eventually stumble upon a well-known man by the name of Drecq.
Drecq is one of the busiest men in Europeia being Senator, Chief Justice, and Captain of the ERN. His job as Chief Justice means that when a question is presented or trial is brought to court, there is someone who knows Europeian law available to make an efficient and effective decision. If the Chief Justice's office becomes vacant the Primus Inter Pares, who is one of the Justices and is appointed to that position by the Chief Justice, is next in the Line of Succession for the Courts. The confirmation of a new Chief Justice takes place between the remaining Justices, and they select a new Chief Justice from amongst themselves.
The confirmation of an Associate Justice to the Court is a little different. The President appoints Associate Justices to the Court and the Senate confirms them. Technically the Chief Justice is just an Associate Justice who the other Associate Justices think should lead the administrative side of the Court. When asked how the Court, and the rest of Europeia, would manage without him, Drecq stated, “I don’t think there would be a huge hole if I went inactive. The Court can function well without me and the Primus Inter Pares could fill my shoes very quickly.” When asked who he’d want his successor to be if he was no longer Chief Justice, he replied, "I would like Kraketopia to be the Chief Justice, but because Kraken is also the Grand Admiral, I understand if Kraken denies the position. Of course, if it didn’t have to be someone from the Court, I would say either Hyanygo or Onder." Hyanygo and Onder are both elder members of Europeia and are quite knowledgeable of the law and of Europeia's history. Again, the act of passing on the working knowledge of Europeia is essential to the thought of resignation not being scary, and as we invite new people into the Senate, we ensure a further instructing of such laws as oversee our region.
It is that knowledge of Europeia's history and laws that is the true source of the fear of resignation. While Kraken finds it unlikely that everyone who knows anything about Europeia will all leave together, if it did happen, he postulates we'd have to rely on written histories and attempt to contact those members who left to write down even more history. Drecq, believing that the working knowledge of Europeia relies on institutional memory, a collective set of facts, concepts, experiences and know-how held by a group of people and requiring the members of that group to exist, feels that if every member of Europeia that had that institutional memory were missing, Europeia would struggle. Kraken's idea of gathering what knowledge could be found would be a simple solution, but according to the idea of institutional memory, some pieces of the region's history would remain missing. However, in Europeia the ranks are deep, and it would require a massive loss of members to negatively affect the region to that point. So while such thoughts are scary to entertain, the likelihood of their occurrence would be a certain impossibility at this point. With so many being brought up and trained by those elder members, effectively becoming part of Europeia's institutional memory, the possibility of such fears is reduced further every day.
So, while to some of us resignation is a scary thing that could possibly happen, the experienced voices of Europeia say the opposite. Elder members of Europeia stepping down is a part of the political cycle, but they are working diligently every day to ensure that those of us still new to the region learn the history of our region, share our own knowledge and ideas, and come to an understanding of how the machine that is our region functions. We have nothing to fear, Europeia, but fear itself.
