Exploring The League:
An Interview with Director of Foreign Affairs Tirol
Interview conducted by Istillian
Edited by Forilian and Comfed
On May 17, 2022 the Treaty of Morya between The League and Europeia was ratified, with the formation of this treaty surrounding an especially sensitive process regarding the diplomatic handling of the Treaty of Spomenik with The Communist Bloc. Preliminary discussions on this issue also involved our allies, Balder and Thaecia, with discussions then culminating in the combined termination of the Treaty of Spomenik. The two regions swiftly realised after the handling of this situation that The League and Europeia were already working together on many military engagements, attending cultural events, and now, with such a major development in our ties, were also closely aligned in our approach to diplomacy. As President Writinglegend explained to the Senate, Europeia and the League have "similar foreign policy objectives in opposing the Brotherhood of Malice" and "we both want to create an example of mutual cooperation between like-minded Independent and defender communities."
With such a passionate and fiery relationship forming over the bonds of diplomatic endeavours, it felt necessary to dig a little deeper into the history of The League and how they have become the thriving community they are today. The Europeian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) turned to a somewhat unsung, yet incredibly capable politician from The League, its Director of Foreign Affairs, Tirol.
We first did a deep dive into the history of The League, and asked Tirol about the regions founding moments, and then on how its government was first formed. Tirol explained, "The League was originally founded on 17 April 2016 as ‘The League of Conservative Nations’, more commonly referred to by its acronym, the LCN. Though founded as a conservative region, the LCN quickly transcended from such a narrow group into a broad [community] from across the political spectrum. In the early days of the region, a system of roleplay (RP) formed a fundamental part of the region’s culture and various forms of RP remain prevalent in the modern region. Indeed, the other significant institution was the LCN Armed Forces, the precursor to the League’s Defence Force.
"In March 2021, a decision was passed by the Council, the legislature of The League, to move the region from the League of Conservative Nations to The League. This move brought the name in line with the longstanding political range in the population that had for a long time been inconsistent with the title of the region. Hence, we arrived at our current home, and the vibrant community it supports.
The League has transitioned through many different forms of government, from initially operating through presidential systems, to semi-presidential systems, even going so far as to use single member plurality in three artificial constituencies, this variation and innovation led us to our current system in 2019."
We then moved on to asking what kind of government The League now has, and more specifically, what role Tirol has played as a part of it too. Tirol said, "The League is governed through a hybrid system. Formed from a new constitution in 2019, the state is composed of three consuls, who handle the day-to-day management of The League, with consuls replaced by the selection of the other two consuls when individuals are removed or resign. The legislature, the council, is composed of any individual who is nominated by enough citizens, and without objections. This means The League maintains an extensive and representative legislature capable of responding to any arising issues."
When asking for more about Tirol's direct responsibilities in The League, he explained, "As Director of Foreign Affairs, my role is to manage our embassies with our many fantastic partners, engage with ways of expanding ties and looking for areas of mutual benefit with our partner regions. I also organise my two brilliant deputy directors, who can pick up on any area of business which I can’t attend to for whatever reason."
Whilst The League certainly has a dominant presence on the NationStates Gameplay sphere, thanks to popular individuals like their Chief Consul, Quebecshire, we were curious about what kind of domestic activities and cultural events made their community what it is today. Tirol said, "The biggest domestic activity in The League is certainly our roleplay, which includes an extensive offsite wiki comprising of over 3,000 RP articles and over 4,000 total articles including government and other documentation. This allows for a great deal of focus on world-building, branching beyond the traditional map painting style of many roleplays on NationStates. In addition to this, we hold periodic cultural events, including gaming, regional holidays and a number of other activities."
With such a broad range of players in its government, from gameside roleplayers generating such deeply informative and well established histories to foreign affairs experts in the gameplay field, The League certainly has something very special about its players, so we asked Tirol what made The League and its community so unique. He explained: "The League’s identity is fundamentally unique – because its citizenry is fundamentally unique, we’re not just a region but a community of friends that has been around for the last six years. We’ve come through adversity and warfare; we’ve changed as people; we’ve welcomed so many new nations into our ranks and are constantly shifting our focus from roleplay, to government, to gameplay creating vibrant communities in each area."
Finally, with many recent successes The League has had both domestically and in foreign affairs, the EBC asked Tirol about their reaction to these many developments. "I’m pleased to say we’ve been fortunate and have had an abundance of both in recent months. We’re very grateful to have an expanding and excellent group of partners, allies and embassy regions. The recent unearthing of intelligence operations by the Brotherhood of Malice against Balder is a prime example of a foreign affairs success in our ongoing conflict with the Brotherhood of Malice, the Osiris Fraternal Order, Lone Wolves United, and The Black Hawks."
It seems that the relationship between The League and Europeia has only gotten stronger since the Treaty of Morya was ratified, and we can only thank Tirol for their insightful answers and time given to the EBC with guiding us through the history of The League, and sharing their experiences in the field of foreign affairs.
