Commend Ambrella At Vote in the Security Council






Commend Ambrella At Vote in the Security Council
Sopo Up For Interregional Recognition

Written by Maowi




Just twelve days after the passage of Security Council (SC) Resolution #390 “Commend Calvin Coolidge,” another Europeian Commendation has hit the voting floor. This time, its target is Sopo - former multi-term president, first minister, senator, holder of most Cabinet positions you can think of, honoured citizen, and of course resident sloth. Across the four days up to March 31, “Commend Ambrella” (Ambrella being Sopo’s nation in Europeia) will face the scrutiny of the SC and hopefully take its place in the history books; if it passes, it will be the eighth unrepealed SC Commendation to honour a player at least in part for their work in Europeia, following on from Elias Greyjoy, Mousebumples, Dyr Nasad, r3naissanc3r, HEM, Maowi, and Calvin Coolidge. Europeia itself was also Commended in SC Resolution #234.

Unlike Calvin Coolidge’s Commendation, authored by Inishmaan, this proposal is not the product of the Heroes of Valhalla collaboration with The North Pacific and Balder, but rather stems from its Europeian predecessor, the Europeian Heroes Program (EHP). The EHP was introduced in late 2020 by Peeps, forming a major plank of his presidential campaign; he presented it as a scheme that would increase Europeia’s presence in the NationStates gameplay community and provide opportunities for aspiring authors to receive training and mentorship from experienced players. According to SkyGreen, Peeps’ pick for minister of World Assembly affairs, the idea for the EHP “was partially influenced by Sopo's decision to work on Commend HEM,” which went on to become SC Resolution #341 on February 5 2021 after receiving feedback in the Europeian and gameside SC drafting forums. “Funnily enough, Aex[nidaral] was supposed to be our first target, which can be seen if you read my midterm and end of term addresses from back then,” SkyGreen told the Europeian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC). “Unfortunately, he also resigned abruptly during that term, and as we had only began with the project, we decided it would be more appropriate to switch the target to Sopo, as he was another person on our shortlist.”

Upon Peeps taking up the presidency, then-Minister of World Assembly Affairs SkyGreen opened up sign-ups for the program and the drafting process began. As a newcomer to World Assembly authorship, Seva was given the opportunity to be the primary author for the proposal, with whatermelons and Maowi as its co-authors working together on a Discord group chat with SkyGreen.

Talking to the EBC, Seva said that his favourite aspect of drafting the proposal was “definitely the research and drafting of the first version. I loved exploring Sopo's political career which has definitely been very interesting and had lots of ups and downs! [...] It is always exciting to draft a first version of something, when you believe you have already done the biggest part of the work and the only thing you need are some minor tweaks here and there and it is ready to post - I was very wrong but the feeling was still there.” He struggled a little to keep things moving with the proposal partially due to road-blocks, such as preferring not to release the proposal concurrently with HEM’s Commendation and needing to almost entirely redraft it based on feedback given in the SC forum. “I could definitely have submitted it way earlier, at least half a year earlier, and that is my only regret about it,” he said. However, he did find the small group nature of the EHP to be effective: “my co-authors [...] made it very easy to write, as opposed to what would have happened if I was doing it alone.”

Seva is also involved with the Heroes of Valhalla project, giving him a valuable perspective on both programs. “I definitely found it very comfortable that my first proposal was not visible to the wider public. But on the other hand, Heroes of Valhalla is just so much more effective - for the Europeian Heroes Program we only got around 4 people to sign up, and the Valhalla server is much larger. Ultimately it is a question of preference, and both setups have their merits - Heroes of Valhalla attracted more people but the Europeian Heroes Program made things more comfortable and made it more likely for the participants to actually comment on the resolution.”

President HEM nominated Sopo for an ovation - Europeia’s highest honour - in May 2018. At the time, he had served as president on three occasions; he would add to that count later that same year, as well as serving as first minister during the executive split and as president again immediately after the re-merge. The Commendation proposal also quotes another impressive statistic: Sopo has served in the Cabinet for a cumulative 806 days. However, it is clear from the speeches at his ovation ceremony that his impact on Europeia cannot be summarised in numbers.

“Sopo is dedicated to protecting our community. Standing up for our members. And making sure that the game we play is fun, safe, and exciting. If we wanted to find a definition for what true Europeian honor is, Sopo would be it. Sopo is the one who upholds vital norms, insists that people carry themselves with honor and integrity, and who defends our region above his own interests.”

~ HEM, The Last Consul, SopoVation Celebration 2018

The EBC reached out to Sopo to hear his thoughts on being nominated for a Commendation. “It means a lot to me that someone would want to write a commendation for me ... let alone multiple people, and that those people put in so much work. I am so grateful. While I hope it will pass, the work put into this alone is humbling. This is not something I ever expected or thought I deserved.”

However long Europeia continues to #blame Sopo, he is an incredibly valued member of the community - “the Europeian that we all need, whether we know it or not.” With some turbulence in the first few minutes of voting - The South Pacific immediately lodged their 746 votes against the proposal, quickly countered by The West Pacific, The North Pacific, and Balder voting in support - the tally is looking promising as votes in favour take a strong early lead. Anything could yet happen, though; it remains to be seen whether Sopo will become the latest Commended Europeian.

Note: edited March 28 to fix incorrect links to Elias Greyjoy's, Mousebumples', and Dyr Nasad's Commendations.

 
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Thank you, Maowi, for the excellent article! And thanks to @Seva of course for spearheading this endeavor regardless of outcome.
 
Brilliant article Maowi, and a Commendation Seva should be proud of spearheading and drafting. Well earned, Sopo.
 
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