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"Arnhelm: A Sacred Cow City"Written by HEM
ENN Editor-in-Chief
By the summer of 2019, it was clear that the Citizens' Assembly wasn't operating at a full clip.
Actually, that was clear significantly before the summer of 2019. But discussions about an "executive split" had consumed all the energy for reform, and it took a few months after that work was done to turn back to the Assembly.
The Citizens' Assembly had a long history in Europeia — originally christened as "The City Council." It served as a junior legislative body that provided training (and some political power!) to any new member who sought to join. Walking through the different eras of the Citizens' Assembly, and its successes and failures, would be a whole in of itself. But assume that there were impressive stretches of time where the Assembly made truly impactful contributions to Europeia, and times where it sat deathly idle.
So, in that spirit, on June 2019, I secured the blessings of several other people who were thinking about the future of the Assembly, and proposed a new City Council that would govern a roleplay city in Europeia.
The region took my idea and largely made it their own. Many of my original thoughts, including having the Mayor elected in a "king of the hill"-style legislative race were abandoned, but the idea steadily gained traction until the Senate (very, very, slowly) passed legislation encoding a new RP-centric City Council in Europeia.
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It took nearly two months for the City Council Act — forwarded by the soon-to-be-defunct Citizens' Assembly — to be passed by the Senate and signed into law. After that, the new Arnhelm body went to work writing a city charter, and anointed Olde Delaware to serve as Steward of the body in this interim period. This process took another three months.
Finally, it was another month or so to elect the body's first Mayor (Prim, who ran unopposed) and get the administrative minutia out of the way.
All in all, it had been a seven month process to go from the pitch of the idea, to the opening of Arnhelm's doors. Regions had surely been founded and died in that time period. Europeia had had at least two Chiefs of State and two First Ministers.
The elongated incorporation period can't be blamed on any one thing, but there's no doubt that a lack of interest in the concept didn't help the situation. When discussing the Charter there were multiple instances where a week or more would go by without comment.
So, when Calvin posted his now infamous Arnhelm: A City in Ruin on February 11th, on paper, it looked quite early to be making assessments about the new body — but there was legitimate cause for concern. I did not agree with Calvin's conclusion that Arnhelm was failing (it was just too early) but I pointed out that improvements had to be made and some were being a hair too defensive:
HEM responding to Arnhelm: A City of Ruin said:I disagree with Calvin that the project is fundamentally flawed, or should be shuttered, or is even on a failure track. But I agree that after months of writing the founding document and now weeks of slow-and-steady (but mostly slow) on-ramping, we do need to apply some constructive criticism if the project is going to succeed.
Part of this is definitely marketing, which Olde Delaware pointed out. I think to some degree someone needs to be Alan Lee in a Haven sandwich suit talking about this place to new members wherever they are.
I also think the nature of the Arnhelm "world" needs to be expanded on a little more. I had conversations with Prim about Councilors being able to post bio's going into their "background" to introduce a little bit of a roleplay element. I also think random "events" that Councilors have to respond to with legislation like Nationstates.net issues could be cool, and also something new members easily understand because of NS issues.
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An increase in activity around the "Drew boom" staved off any skepticism around Arnhelm. The City was seeing unprecedented activity. Calvin would release a revised article on Arnhelm called, Arnhelm: A City in 2in, which admitted the successes of the past few months while also pointing out the subsequent slowdown and missteps.
Scrutiny on the body, and subsequent scrutiny on the scrutineers, didn't truly erupt again until late June, when a group of Senators suggested forming an Arnhelm Investigatory Committee. All Senators involved pledged that the abolition of Arnhelm wasn't their goal. They just wanted to ask questions. But the idea wasn't rolled out smoothly. What was the point of asking questions about the health of Arnhelm if you weren't going to do anything in response? Senators had inconsistent answers, with Calvin suggesting that changes could be made in the mold of his City in 2in proposal. Other Senators demurred, and it quickly became a dogpile. The belief became that this committee was a cover for the anti-Arnhelm Senators to maliciously sweep the city away.
Polling showed that two-thirds of the region said they opposed the creation of the committee.
As the dogpile grew, so did the intensity of the mob. Suddenly, opposition of the committee morphed into opposition into any oversight. That Arnhelm was above reproach. That it should be fully independent, and left alone. At best, considering Arnhelm was a "waste of time."
I came out against the committee but tried to lower the hostile temperature, saying: "I think some of the assumptions of bad faith here are going a step too far, to be quite honest. [...] Arnhelm is the most successful regional roleplay we've ever run, full stop. And it has been, from my vantage point, a significant community development tool and political development tool. Think of all the Councilors who held Mayor Cara accountable after their long absence? That's relevant experience and training for the main gameplay of Europeia, and people are apparently having fun while they are at it."
24 hours after the committee was proposed, the Senate moved to withdraw and table the discussion.
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This article is long, and I haven't even gotten to my main point.
Everything I wrote above serves two purposes: One, to give a brief overview of the history of Arnhelm's controversy to those who may be newer to the region. Two, to stress and cite my pro-Arnhelm bona fides before I say what I'm going to say next.
I have always been supportive of Arnhelm. I was the one who initially proposed Arnhelm. I constructively stood up for Arnhelm in the "City in Ruin" article. I was opposed to the Arnhelm Investigatory Committee. But I am not supportive of the bizarre "third rail" status being conferred onto the city — to such an extent that proposals around Arnhelm are considered "scandals."
In the last election, candidates took pledges upfront to not take any steps to deal with anything related to Arnhelm. And today, conspiracy theories were abound as a part of a discussion to recall Mayor Sopo.
Out of nowhere, it was suggested that the inactivity of the body might inspire a secretive cabal of Senators to rise up and abolish Arnhelm. A group of hardworking Senators were, once again, caricatured into villains, to such an extent that rumors circulated that the newly elected Senators were considering passing an informal resolution to pledge not to legislate Arnhelm.
For some reason this city of Arnhelm has inspired more distrust and conspiracy theories than anything in recent memory. Arnhelm-skeptics pledge to not abolish Arnhelm, and people call them liars. Citizens propose new innovations for the body and they are shouted down and made pariahs. Questioning Arnhelm is a "scandal." This isn't just Calvin, but long-time participants in Arnhelm like GraVandius as well.
Let me be very clear on my opinion: The notion that Arnhelm should be above scrutiny, oversight, feedback, and criticism from any person or any body in the region because it operates as "autonomous" is wrong. And the notion that people should be vilified for applying scrutiny is truly perplexing.
I've tried to make excuses for it in the past. Arnhelm has spent a lot of time under the gun, and it's a pretty novel and unique concept, so those who enjoy it may feel they have to fight doubly to protect it. But the events of the last 24 hours or so have compelled me to speak up.
Every institution in Europeia has received due scrutiny. All of them.
In 2017, a major movement pushed for the Supreme Chancellery to be abolished. At the end of the day it took a personal appeal from Lethen and some significant power concessions to stave off the populist movement.
After significant failures, in 2010, we very nearly upended our Navy by making Grand Admiral an elected role to be competed over by raiders and defenders.
And, of course, in 2018 and 2019 we split the President in two offices — only to fuse them together again after public discussion.
If the Supreme Chancellery isn't a sacred cow; If the Navy isn't a sacred cow; If the Presidency itself isn't a sacred cow — then the City of Arnhelm is not a sacred cow.
I have been broadly supportive of Arnhelm, which I have proven time and time again. But I encourage every single citizen of this region to opine to the heart's content on Arnhelm. Propose your ideas. Give your critiques. You do not have to be a member of Arnhelm to have an opinion. You absolutely do not.
The exceptionalism of Europeia is that there are no sacred cows. Everything is up for debate. And don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
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