Injunctions in the Age of Frontiers
Written by Westinor
For those who don’t look far beyond their borders, though, one aspect of the Frontier update may go unnoticed — a new Security Council proposal category known as the “Injunction”. As it affects Europeia, the most well-known usage of this proposal so far has been to injunct the Communist Bloc (TCB), a region that has recently continued to escalate a state of hostilities between Europeia and its allies. The Injunction of TCB was pushed primarily by the Rand administration, authored by then-Vice President Writinglegend and Minister of Foreign Affairs PhDre. However, with the forces of the European Republic Navy (ERN) and its allies now embroiled in a bitter battle over the region of Magna Aurea, where an Injunction is being prepared for completely different reasons than that of TCB, the question should be asked — what exactly is an Injunction, what are its uses, and how will they affect Europeia’s future?
The barebones effect of an Injunction is simple: it prevents a region from switching to and from Frontier status once passed. Similarly to a Liberation proposal, this means that any Frontier change, in either direction (to appoint a governor, or to become a Frontier), will have no effect upon the passage of the Injunction. However, a deceptively simple effect isn’t the only thing the Injunction shares with its sister proposal category — rather, the Injunction can be used for a variety of purposes.
To take a look at each usage, we can take a look at the first three Injunctions ever passed. The first was the Injunction of Canada — a classic defensive Injunction. The region Canada was under lock and key by a massive raider coalition, but its massive influence storage meant that raiders could not ban the entirety of the region to make way for a refound. Instead, the only realistic way they could take permanent control of the region was by transitioning to a Frontier, then transitioning it again to appoint themselves Governor. This two-step process is necessary for any force, invading or otherwise, to claim control of a founderless region. Thus, the Injunction of Canada aimed to prevent this from happening — it passed, giving raiders no more incentive to remain in the region, and eventually they dispersed and left.
The second Injunction passed was the aforementioned Injunction of TCB. European citizens are well aware of this particular brand of Injunction — the offensive Injunction. TCB was actively in the process of transitioning to a Frontier. Their publicly stated goal was to appoint a governor, since their current founderless state left them vulnerable to attack should a large enough force be marshaled, though it was conceivable that they could also maintain a Frontier state and receive a large amount of natural spawns due to their high endorsement levels. Because of TCB’s aggression and support of belligerent forces like the Brotherhood of Malice against Europeia and its allies, it appeared pertinent to individuals led by Europeia to stop this. Thus, an offensive Injunction was passed, preventing any switch from TCB’s current founderless status.
The third Injunction passed was the Injunction of England. This was the first preemptive Injunction — an injunction designed to defend a region from a possible hostile transition to a Frontier state or to a new governor. England itself was not under occupation during the time of passage, but due to its recent long-term occupation by raider forces, the native population felt it necessary to pass a preemptive injunction in the case that a future invasion occurred. Preemptive injunctions are the subject of controversy, with some outspoken members of the Security Council speaking out loudly against preemptive injunctions ever since — largely raider proponents and independents wary of the constant usage of Injunctions.
The current Injunction of Magna Aurea that is awaiting a vote in the Security Council queue is a defensive Injunction. Magna Aurea is a relatively new Frontier, with few defenses to speak of; thus it is particularly vulnerable to being transitioned to a Frontier. For the more technically-minded readers, the cost for transitioning a region to a Frontier is 80 influence per World Assembly nation and 20 influence per non-World Assembly nation in a region, with a cap of 200 non-World Assembly nations counted for the purposes of the transition. Because Magna Aurea had so few World Assembly nations and is a Frontier region, it was feasible that a transition to appoint a raider Governor could occur quickly. There would only need to be a transition one way — that means only from Frontier -> Governor, as opposed to Governorless -> Frontier -> Governor, meaning it would take half the time — fourteen days — of other non-Frontier targets.
How could Injunctions affect Europeia? Operationally, Injunctions assist the ERN in operations abroad, where long-term occupations can threaten a transition to a raider governor. Particularly due to the prevalence of Frontier occupations, a product of the Frontier region’s vulnerability to raids as well as ideologies like Frontierism, Injunctions will continue to find greater use in the future. Europeia itself is one of the most secure Frontiers in NationStates, but raiders have continued to grow in force, marshaling forces of thirty or more just for the initial jump, and accumulating nearly 200 endorsements in the most recent occupation of Magna Aurea. There may not be a need for an Injunction for Europeia at the moment, but awareness of its purpose and usage is important to keeping Europeia safe in its Frontier future.
