On the 4th of this month, the founder of Aukumnia, Xadrya, resigned from the office of Founder, designating his successor as Van demeins land. He left with a small speech on the discord, posted in #general, and exited the server immediately after. His speech, in pursuit of maintaining the peace, stated that the region would be fine regardless of his resignation and that he trusted Van Demeins Land/Lionheart to do his job adequately in his absence.

Immediately after the speech was posted, the #general channel saw quite a bit of initial chaos. Several people called it the end of the region, emphasizing how up to this point Xadrya had held Aukumnia together. Others said that the region would be fine without Xadrya and that people simply had to step up their productivity and dedication within and to the region. A few hours later, the chat had calmed down and there seemed to be unanimous agreement that the region could continue fine and that it was time for everyone to get down to business.

Lionheart started off by answering a few questions and posting a speech in #announcements. He sweared to "do [his] best to make sure this region will never die" and wished the best to the former founder, requesting that people try to leave him be. Lionheart, being a very well-trusted and beloved member of the region, saw little resistance. Later he expressed the interest in small founder policy and management changes.

One of the first and most obvious changes in administration were the differences seen in electoral management. Not only did he slightly change the format of the electoral form, but he also implemented a new policy that he will utilize his powers to change the Chamber of Representative's size to ensure that the number of seats is always half the number of candidates running in the Chamber election. This is a policy that many have encouraged prior, in the interests of ensuring competition. However, the policy was always refused by the prior Founder.

The next major change was the utilization of the Founder's referendum powers. While the prior Founder had never exercised his power to issue a referendum, Lionheart has already issued two new referendums. The first referendum concerned the Founder veto, changing it so that the Founder may veto passed laws, and the second referendum concerned the size of the Court, shrinking it down to three Magistrates as opposed to the prior size of five. Both passed with respectable percentages.

Beyond Lionheart's policy changes, he seems to have taken a more hands-off approach than Xadrya did. Up to this point, the region has done rather well under the new leadership, and many look forward to the future with high hopes.

The Tenth and current Chamber was elected and sworn in on the 14th. The Chamber significantly shrunk with Van demeins land's new half-candidates electoral policy. The Chamber went from a TIF supermajority to only three seats held by the Front (a three seat loss), ARP went from no seats in the prior to Chamber to two seats within the Legislature, and CFP maintained its original number of seats. VTP disbanded and lost all of their seats.

Immediately after the Chamber finished their oaths, the vote for Speaker began. Wyerd/Schyzo was motioned as the candidate for TIF, whereas Aurelian wonderland/Ar was the candidate representing the rest of the Chamber. It quickly became evident that Ar would win. In the end, he won with a 62.5% majority and began his term as Speaker of the Chamber.

So far, the Tenth Chamber has passed two new bills and voted on three. The Timezone Act was passed with 75% of the Chamber, establishing GMT as the official timezone of Aukumnia, and The Anti-Impersonation Act was passed 62.5% of the vote, banning impersonation without consent. The Freedom of Speech Amendment unanimously failed, due to a general agreement that it fails to address the actual issue it set out to mitigate.

Overall, the future for the legislative branch looks positive as the Chamber's activity continues steadily onwards and the political dynamic continues to change.

At the beginning of the month, the rising newcomer and prominent member of The Imperial Front, Equilaria, was elected as Supreme Chancellor of Aukumnia. This event was shrouded in controversy, as many saw him as far too new to truly be qualified for such a prestigious office. Despite the controversy, he managed to get elected, presumably due to the absence of a better choice, and he started off his term with a well-written speech, leaving many looking optimistically towards his term. However, the term saw inconsistent initial activity and he soon fell into a deep state of negligence.

About two weeks into his term and after a decent stretch of complete absence, he unexpectedly resigned from the office. The next twenty-four hours saw a succession crisis. As enshrined in law, the first person in the line of succession to Chancellor is the Vice Chancellor. However, the Founder thought that there wasn't a Vice Chancellor in office due to an error in the government dispatch that was caused by a misinterpretation of the appointment and the presumed resignation of Retiva as Vice Chancellor.

The second Act in question, called The Heresy Act, a landmark piece of legislation for The Imperial Front (TIF), was overturned by Prozera later that day. This Act placed certain restrictions on speech, including the expression of certain ideologies, which Prozera took into question as illegal in accordance with the "Rights of the Citizenry" section of the Constitution. His interpretation of the so-called "free speech clause" set an important precedent for future legislation, defining what truly is free speech in Aukumnia and to what degree it is protected under established law.

Under law, many had assumed that Vice Chancellor was a Cabinet position, which would've made Retiva inelligible for the office of Vice Chancellor after being appointed to Magistrate. Even Retiva believed this, but he had assumed it an automatic loss of the position, so he never manually resigned. His Vice Chancellor role was removed and he was dismissed as Vice Chancellor from the dispatch. However, later on during this crisis, people came to the realisation that Vice Chancellor is not officially a Cabinet position, and that - since Retiva had never fully resigned from the position - he was still technically VC.

Prior to this realisation, and due to the lack of a Speaker of the Chamber (who would've been next in the line of succession) with the ongoing Chamber elections, the Minister of the Interior, Marrum graecia, was initially presumed Supreme Chancellor and was assigned the role by the Founder. But as the day progressed, several people raised the issue and it was brought to the Court of Magistrates. The case finally forced Lionheart to recognize Retiva as Supreme Chancellor and issue the role to him.

As Chancellor, Retiva has been far more active than Equilaria was. While he hasn't taken any major actions, he has maintained oversight within the Cabinet and actively signed passed legislation. He expresses interests in placing more emphasis on Roleplay within his term, although he was little prepared for the resignation. With the failure of Equilaria, many have become much more cautious with how they view the Supreme Chancellorship. Next time the region won't be so careless.

While on the surface, the last few months seems rather peaceful, a number of controversies arose within regions which ended up being brought to the entire gameplay community. The first of these was the Crystalsummer controversy. He was a well known individual as it was, and was banned from a number of regions for his military activities. Recently, he went under the name of Wonder Woman and gained a ministerial position in TEP, and delegacy of South Pacific, among other things. He later on, took part in a military operation and during which he switched from Wonder Woman, which raised suspicions. Ultimately, he was ousted and thereby, The East Pacific released a public statement regarding the entire scenario, which further led to backlash against them.

When the entire issue was brought to TEP's attention, the administration had proposed Crystalsummers resigning without making a big deal out of it. As such, he resigned from his positions. However, despite him complying with the administration, TEp still released a statement regarding the entire scenario. Eventually, it was taken back as the delegate clarified that it was not sanctioned by the cabinet. This in turn led to the community as a whole criticizing their actions, by calling them unprofessional and so forth. As such, after the incident, Crystalsummers retreated back to his own regions.

The other major incident was related to KhanterWinters. He is a well known gameplayer who's involved in the Kingdom of Great Britain. KoGB is involved and is quite committed to the Antifa and their military operations. Recently, as their ops were failing here and there, there were suspicions of a spy within their ranks. Following investigations, KhanterWinters was accused of being the spy. KoGB confirmed the accusations by providing evidences of their own. As such, it led to him being kicked out from a number of regions from the KoGB to TWP among others.

The Rejected Realms had their elections recently. The elections ultimately led to a face-off between Dead-Eye Jack and Kyrogia, of which the latter won by 10 votes. Kyrogia having been involved in raiding activities was opposed by some, and as such, him winning the elections was quite surprising. However, both of the candidates have been involved in TRR for a while and are well known, which made the race quite close. So, as someone who has been involved in TRR and has a good rapport with the citizens, it isn't altogether surprising as to how Kyrogia managed to win the elections. His term would be interesting to observe.

As such, overall, not many events happened in the interregional arena. Nonetheless, these events itself had their own influence in the metaregion.

The role of a founder in a region is paramount. This is true for all the regions, and even more so for a region that is very much still growinig and adapting to the world around it. The founder, by the virtue of being involved in the region from the very beginning, essentially has the role of leading the region, in various fronts. Furthermore, the founder could very well hold a closer relationship with all the citizens than any other citizen of the region. As such, the founder will enjoy a much more prominent position vis a vis other citizens.

As such, the founder will be far more capable of building up a consensus than any other citizen. As such, if the founder contests in an elections or so, he would enjoy a much better and one sided victories than any other citizens. This is because by the virtue of being the founder, he could essentially be credited for the building of the very institution he may be running for. And the same logic can be implemented in a lot of areas. As such, opposition to the founder could be crushed rather easily, because of his prominent position in the region.

So, even if the founder is not granted several powers, the institution is quite powerful no matter what. This is all the more true for regions that are growing, and as such, have a smaller community. Aukumnia would fall under such a categorisation. So, as such, even without special powers, the founder would enjoy a powerful position in the region. However, in our case, the founder is indeed armed with several arbitrary powers that are meant for emergencies. While it's intentions are fair, it's need is questionable.

For instance, should there be a crisis of the highest order, can the citizens not simply revolt and take back the power? The founder as it is has the ability to build a consensus amongst the populace by the virtue of being the head, so, can't he use his own viewpoint and convince citizens to rise up for his cause? Apart from this, other powers like veto and dismissing of officials as such can be done by the existing institutions such as the courts and the elected Chancellor. As such, there is no fundamental need for the founder to be armed with several powers, or any for that matter.

So, what kind of a position should an ideal founder hold? The answer is a rather simple one - an apolitical and minimalist one.

The founder as an apolitical body should be disconnected from politics as a whole. So, as such, he must never express support towards one or another party, or a group. He must never endorse a particular political body, and remain neutral. His involvement in politics as such must be restricted to the conducting of the elections. And as such, as part of that body as well, he must remain at a distance from all political affairs.

As a minimalist institution, he must not be involved in any body unless it is absolutely unavoidable. It must be a last resort. So, giving the founder emergency powers as a last resort wouldn't be exactly unjustified. It is a reasonable power. However, apart from that, other powers don't necessarily need be given to the founder. As such, even if such powers are given to the founder, he mustn't use them unless there is no other alternative. So, his primary duty to the region must be in the form of community interactions and building a consensus rather than anything else.

So, as we transitioned to a new founder, it is all the more vital for the founder to impose checks on himself and work according to certain principles. If not, being ambitious and expanding powers would ultimately lead to the existing institutions losing their own role in the region and thereby, weakens the role of other institutions vis a vis the founder. At the same time, if the founder is minimalist, the other institutions will be pushed towards playing a proactive role which will play a key role in the region growing. So, to some extent, the path the region is going to go in depends on the role the founder will play.

To say the least - I've been every where, man. Eight years on Nation States (mostly consecutive) has given me some of my fondest memories, and closest internet-friends. It has also provided me with some unique insight into what makes for a prosperous and engaging region. From my time in Europeia, to my stint in the New Western Atlantic, and all the regions in between; one lesson stands out. First impressions.

Despite it being many moons ago, I can still remember when I landed on Europeia's shores. I received the usual, and arguably cliché, welcome telegram from the founder. There were dispatches to read, bills to become familiar with, news to catch up on, and nearly endless steps I needed to follow in order to become an involved subject of the King. Or so it seemed. A similar picture was painted at my arrival in other large regions, including the very daunting task of becoming a serious nation in the The North Pacific. Yet, despite these initial difficulties, a friendly and prominent nation in Europeia's halls of influence reached out to me, guided me, and offered my a chance straight into the fray. I jumped on the campaign trail, engaging with new members and long time natives alike. Speeches were crafted, voters were recruited, and debate were had ad nauseam. When election day came around we pulled the victory out from under the incumbent and my place in the region was found. Without that first impression, would my stay have been the same? Would I have called Europeia home for nearly four years?

Later, I'd move to what can only be described as a desolate, desperate, dying region (though I'd not realized that at the time). Now a mark of shame on my Nation States scorecard, it nonetheless drew me in. Beyond the welcome literature, there were older nations around to say 'hello', and offer a guiding hand. Right off I aided in founding a major political party, sparking up new elections, and even garnering an appointment to Archbishop of the Region by the Founder himself. Though the region is a wreckage in the shadow of its former self, would I have stuck around for the good fight without the first impression?

There were regions where entry was cold, no matter the effort one put forth. Long dispatches, labyrinths of Discord channels, dated immigration processes, and not a 'hello' in sight despite numerous, active nations all around. My stays in regions such as those were short to say the least. A cold shoulder for nations to navigate around will never lead to a warm home in the Nation States world.

First impressions are the key to success. In the most basic of ways, it is an engaging welcome to new members. Beyond the initial 'hey' and 'hi', its sticking through to make sure new members know they are seen, heard, and accepted. Frist impressions, in the most crucial of ways, are programs, institutions, or even organizations for new members to jump right into, to provide them with a feeling of duty and belonging. First impressions, in the most nurturing of ways, shows the rest of Nation States that yes, our region is alive and a home in the making. Simple, straight forward, and lasting welcomes - that is what makes a region.

And I am proud to say Aukumnia provided me with yet another impeccable first impression. For which I am dearly grateful.