Lily Raid Ends Sixteen Year Delegacy Streak
Invaders Topple Streak of NationStates Delegate Mikeswil
Written by Monkey
In a stunning upset on November 29, a group of invaders led by Lily (Independent) toppled the delegacy streak in the region NationStates . The delegacy was held by Mikeswill, who had been delegate of that region for sixteen years. The operation was led by Lily, with several other military organizations participating: North Pacific Army (NPA) (Independent), Joint Task Force (JTF) (Independent), The Grey Wardens (TGW) (Defender), and The United Empires of Carson Army (UECA) (Independent). Interestingly, many of these regions are not raider-aligned, however they participated within this operation that was targeted to overthrow the long-time delegate.
The NPA later faced backlash for participating in this operation on their forums. Many citizens criticized the military for participating in an invasion of NationStates, with whom they have an embassy with. The current delegate, TlomzKrano, issued a statement on the day after the operation:
"It cannot be stressed enough that this was a unique event that cannot be accurately compared to any other interaction we would have with any of our other embassy regions...This specific event was coordinated as a fun and different R/D event where the NPA would be able to gain unique experience while also interacting with the Defender-sphere of NS, toppling a delegate the same way the Raider-sphere did...Mikeswill knew this was coming in advance, did not care, and after this occurring harbors no ill-will towards those who participated."
Mikeswill faced a Condemnation attempt earlier this year in a Security Council resolution authored by Morover. The resolution fondly criticized Mikeswill's voting stances in the Security Council as well as their past involvement with raider organizations, but was ultimately defeated 10,408 votes to 4,745.
During the major update on November 29, 39 updaters invaded the region and endorsed a native, King Zhaoxiang of Qin, who had the second highest endorsement count in the region. This allowed them to overtake Mikeswill and take the delegacy, breaking the sixteen year streak. In the post operation report, Frenchy, the leader of Operation Thank You, revealed that the raid had been planned since early November, when he began reaching out to the leaders of these organizations, such as Sweeze, 9003, Tim, and Jinkies.
Shortly after the raid, the news of the toppling spread to the NationStates Gameplay server. The development was met with a generally amused, if not indifferent tone. Several players expressed mild annoyance, criticizing the participant defender-aligned regions for their involvement. The defenders involved justified the raid by painting it as revenge for the raid on Texas, a 2015 operation in which The Black Hawks broke NewTexas' ten year delegacy streak. Since both of these regions have reset their streak, the current longest-serving delegate is Knootoss, the delegate of Western Atlantic, who has been delegate for about eight years.
The reception was similar on the NationStates Gameplay forum, where many nations congratulated Lily for achieving such a feat; however, there were some critics as well. Lord Dominator poked fun at TGW for being involved on the operation as a defender-aligned region. Frattastan opined that this is "Proof that relying on DEN for your protection is a bad idea, and just ends up painting a bigger target on you. Maybe if Mikeswill had chosen to be friends with TGW this would have never happened." Cormactopia quipped in response, "You heard it here first, folks. Be nice to the fendas or they'll invade your region." DEN was a notorious raiding organization active in the earlier years of NationStates, up to 2016.
Most important, perhaps, was the reaction of the delegate himself, Mikeswill. Mikeswill congratulated Frenchy for the "flawless invasion", poking fun at the fact that the seventeen-year-old invader ended a sixteen-year-long streak (In fact, many of the younger updaters involved even took the time to recognize the significance of Mikeswill's tenure, comparing it to their own age). Mikeswill reflected on the origins and the growth of the site, and ended his statement with "Today I am at Peace with the world/The streak is over and another day has awoken/It's all good", showcasing his positive attitude despite the loss of his delegacy streak.
Since the delegacy was given to a native within the region, there were no significant changes other than a few posts on the regional message board during the raid. There are confirmed screenshots, however, depicting that there was a confusing period of time in which NationStates had no one listed as its delegate before the delegacy transitioned peacefully back to Mikeswill. He is currently on his second day in his new tenure as delegate of NationStates.
