Community's Frontierists in The International UN Liberation
Written by Istillian and Vor
edited by Maowi and Westinor
As reported by newly confirmed Grand Admiral Vor, from August 18 the Europeian Republican Navy assisted with a recapture of The International UN's Delegacy. Among the coalition of raiders that initially seized control of the region, the region Community gathered attention for their unique motivation for being involved in the occupation.
Community's entry into the conflict has an interesting history, particularly their previous encounter with The Communist Bloc over the sovereignty of Greater Sahara. Though rather clear from the name of the region, the overarching philosophy of The Communist Bloc, outside of their claim as the largest leftist, pan-leftist and intersectional region, is their aim to protect leftist communities: a principle that naturally aligned with Community's self-identification of leftist ideology. Recognising this alignment, The Communist Bloc declared Community a protectorate, signalling a formal commitment to safeguarding their interests and principles.
On July 5, The Brotherhood of Malice Embassy reported Operation Tenebrae Saharae. In this report, the Brotherhood of Malice detailed their three month infiltration of Greater Sahara to take control of the new Frontier region, in which they installed operatives into the region to act as natives. Their elaborate subterfuge successfully misled Europeia, 10000 Islands, and The League into piling in support of the elaborately masked raiders, installing one as Governor. On July 6, 2023, Community's regional newspaper, The Community Herald, reported on the events that had just unfolded for their embassy ally, in which they effectively titled the report: "Deception in Greater Sahara." In this report, Marim Grunzy, World Assembly Delegate and Prime Secretary of Community, detailed the Greater Saharans' shock, disbelief, and hurt at having one of their own Guardians seize the delegacy from their President and mass eject nations.
On August 14, The Communist Bloc issued a public apology for the actions of the People's Revolutionary Air Force (PRAF), who participated alongside the Brotherhood of Malice in the operation to occupy and grief Greater Sahara. These actions also led to a severance of diplomatic ties with Community.
Marim Grunzy published a dispatch on August 18, in which they define being a "True Frontier" as "embodying ideals of solidarity, governance, and common prosperity among Frontier regions, regardless of their origin or military alignment." The driving force behind Community's active role in The International UN occupation stemmed from their deeply-held belief that Frontier regions should adhere to a certain standard of communal engagement and quality. Marim Grunzy criticises Frontiers for having neglected their responsibilities, becoming "wastelands" devoid of structure and purpose. They see these wastelands as harmful to "True Frontiers" and detrimental to new nations seeking "guidance". Marim Grunzy called for unified action against these Frontier regions, in which they urge all "Frontierists" to unite in this effort and encourage non-Frontier allies to support their cause.
Furthermore, on June 29, The Wolfist Tribune, a raider-leaning newspaper managed by Khan of the Lone Wolves United A Bloodred Moon (also known as joWhatup, or jo), published a piece including an argument on "Moralism and Frontiers", which argues that Frontiers inadvertently encourage raiding, and lead to a competitive struggle for limited recruits among regions between Defenders. Whereas for raiders, the article explains that "small holds and large occupations now represent excellent recruitment opportunities." The article suggests that the Frontier update fundamentally changes how Raider, Defender, and Independant ideologies (using Europeia as its prime example) have shifted, challenging moralist stances, and expressing some of these new concepts of Frontierism that Marim Grunzy has since detailed in the extreme.
In response to criticism of the Liberation of The International UN, detailed in The Grey Wardens embassy report, Commander Westinor explained: "Our job isn't to ensure the activity or success of regions. We work to combat the idea that players can get what they want on this site by invading others and forcing them out of a home they made for themselves, however small or quiet it may be. The founder of this region deserves their region back - I nor anyone else are in the position to judge whether or not they get to be invaded or not. If the founder and their community, whatever that community may be, chooses to come back from this better and stronger than before, good on them. If they'd prefer to lay low and be quiet, then good on them as well - we don't get to, nor should we, choose the fates of others for them."
Despite two days for raiding forces to gather, and even with their appointment of a Border Control Regional Officer, the Europeian Republican Navy (ERN) and its allies successfully disrupted a raider pile in The International UN, involving approximately 90 nations. While this achievement is notable, and the ERN were successful in this instance, we should be wary when reflecting on the infiltration of Greater Sahara and the ease with which other militaries such as PRAF were led so easily to outright grief a non-hostile community. Security becomes an even more pressing concern in this context, and should be paramount to both our Executive, and our Regional Security Officers. We reached out to The International UN's native founder on Discord for comments on the situation and their future plans. They affirmed the dangers of today’s Frontier world, saying that “it does show the [insecurities] that Frontiers have. My plans to stop this from happening is I will convert the region from a Frontier and first grow my endorsements.” It will be interesting to see whether the raider pressure will create more situations such as these, where smaller Frontiers will be forced to grow as a stronghold rather than enjoy the nations spawns of a Frontier right off the bat. All in all, the shift to becoming a Frontier certainly raises questions about the inherent challenges of safeguarding regions in such a volatile environment.
