Regional security
In NationStates, the World Assembly Delegate of a region is the nation that has received the most endorsements from their regionmates. Most of the largest regions in the game, including 10000 Islands, have effectively replaced this system by one in which the Delegate is chosen through a more organized method (in our case, democratic elections held every 6 months). To enforce this system, the Delegate needs to receive the maximum endorsements possible while all other nations have their endorsement count limited (something known as an endorsement cap).

However, mechanically, in the eyes of the game itself, the Delegate is still simply the nation with the most endorsements, no matter how these endorsements where gathered. This can be exploited by other regions, commonly known as raiders, to irregularly seize the Delegacy by flooding the region with foreign nations that coordinately endorse each other.

As a fairly large and powerful region that is well known for opposing raiders all over NationStates (more below), 10000 Islands would make for a high-profile target. Precisely because of it, our region has taken care to be as secure as possible. 10000 Islands has a non-executive Delegate, which limits the damage that a potential raider invasion could have, as well as an active Founder, who can immediately undo any actions raiders can take in our region.

These security measures mean that 10000 Islands can never be really destroyed completely in an invasion. Regardless, rival regions still have an interest in temporarily securing the Delegate seat to embarrass us, and it is better in all cases if raiders fail to seize the Delegate position in the first place. While 10000 Islands is a very large region in which the Delegate typically has hundreds of endorsements, every single extra endorsement our WA Delegate has is one extra endorsement that raiders would need to overcome to overthrow the legitimate Delegate.

World Assembly voting power
WA Delegates are intended to represent their region's voice at the World Assembly. As such, they have special voting powers. The vote a Delegate casts is worth 1 + the number of endorsements they have. For this reason, powerful Delegates with very large votes tend to decide the outcome of a resolution. The more endorsements our Delegate has, the more powerful will 10000 Islands be at the World Assembly, allowing us to advance our interests and influence debates on new international law, Commendations, and Condemnations (which can be important to counter raider propaganda). Furthermore, in 10000 Islands, the Delegate's voice is your voice: the Delegate votes according to the result of a forum WA voting poll in which you can participate!

Advocating defender values
But a powerful WA vote is important not only for roleplay, but also to advocate our defender values. To our very core, 10000 Islands is a defender region that opposes raiders all over NationStates. Even for nations that are not directly involved with TITO, our regional army, 10000 Islands's stated political purpose at every level is to protect the safety of smaller, innocent regions that did not ask to be part of the NationStates' "raider and defender" (R&D) gameplay. If raiders succeed in invading a region and taking full control of it, its community is at a very high risk of being destroyed.

TITO is our region's main way of combating raiders. However, in some situations, raiders can get a strategic leg up in an invasion. In that case, there is still hope to save the community of the region being raided: a World Assembly Security Council Liberation Resolution. A SC Liberation forcibly removes the password of a region, allowing native nations to regain control with TITO's aid.

For this to occur though, the SC Liberation needs to pass at the World Assembly (with >50% support) as soon as possible, reason why a stronger vote at the World Assembly is absolutely crucial. We need to make sure our WA vote is at its absolute strongest to preserve the sovereignty of defenseless regions.

Wischland has been recently elected Delegate and has begun gathering endorsements. However, a substantial portion of WA nations in 10000 Islands have not endorsed her yet.

To spur endorsement activity and facilitate the Delegate transition, the Delegate's office, the WA Secretariat, and the Ten thousand Islands Brigade of Official Endorsers (TIBOE) will be holding an April Endorsement Drive to increase the endorsement count of the Delegate. Our goal for this event is that by the 15th of April, the Delegate will have 325 endorsements.

If you have received a "Notification" from this Dispatch, it is because you are not yet endorsing the Delegate! Your nation is "tagged" in the spoiler below. The best way to avoid getting too many notifications in the future is to endorse the Delegate! Aaaaaand you'll get cool awards as explained below.

Why are Delegate endorsements important?

Great question! Why does it matter if anyone endorses the Delegate. There are three crucial reasons:

• Endorsing the Delegate makes the region more secure. In NationStates, the Delegate seat is the mechanism by which raiders take over a region. As a fairly large region, and a region with an active founder, 10000 Islands is largely isolated from these risks, and could never be destroyed completely. However, rival regions do have an interest in securing the Delegate seat, even if just momentarily, to embarrass the region. Each additional endorsement the Delegate has is one more player that raiders would have to have on their side in order to embarrass the region like this.

• Endorsing the Delegate increases your power in the World Assembly. Delegates in the WA have special voting powers where they get to cast a vote worth 1 + the number of endorsements the Delegate has. Our goal is to get Delegate Wischland to 325 endorsements which would give her 326 votes in the World Assembly. Why is this good for you? The 10000 Islands Delegate always votes the result of forum WA voting polls, which means you get an outsized influence on how those 326 votes will be cast. But in order to get there, you have to endorse the Delegate.

• A large WA vote is crucial to advocating for defender values. To our core, 10000 Islands is a defender region. Even for members who aren't actively participating in TITO, our region's stated political purpose is the safety and sovereignty of innocent regions that did not ask to become part of some "raiding and defending game". However, sometimes raiders get a strategic leg up and a Security Council Liberation, which removes the password from a region thereby preventing raiders from destroying it, is the last chance to preserve the community. At moments such as those, we need to make sure our WA vote is at its absolute strongest to preserve the sovereignty of defenseless regions.

What will we be doing for this event?

This event has three components:

• We will be giving away NS Trading Cards. After the event is over, if we meet our goal we will be randomly awarding 150 Epic Trading Cards and 15 Legendary Trading Cards to nations endorsing the Delegate. With those cards, you can either keep them or you can junk or sell them for more bank to buy other cards you want more with. To see some of the Legendary Card possibilities, see the XKI Cards Co-op's collection. Even if we don't meet our goal, we'll still be randomly giving away 50 Epics and 5 Legendary Cards to nations endorsing the Delegate. But make sure to endorse the Delegate and encourage all your friends to do the same that way we can meet our goal!
  

  List of cards distributed

  Season 2 Legendary PurDunamis
  Season 2 Legendary Mindalia
  Season 2 Legendary Ballotonia
  Season 2 Legendary Kaigi
  Season 2 Legendary Nation of Quebec
  Season 2 Legendary A Slanted Black Stripe
  Season 2 Legendary Pogaria
  Season 2 Legendary Frisbeeteria
  Season 2 Legendary Zwangzug
  Season 2 Legendary Testlandia
  Season 2 Legendary Starblaydia
  Season 2 Legendary Naughty Slave Girls ;)
  Season 2 Legendary Sierra Lyricalia
  Season 2 Legendary Wallenburg
  Season 2 Legendary East Borland
  ATTENTION! The following nations have been awarded with an Endorsement Drive prize, but have no space in their deck to receive it! Please contact Free Las Pinas about where to send the cards:
  
  Contact FLP

  New Kios, Geonomia, Nami Bays, The assembly of awesomeness, Lentkenshield, Eist, Aqoarith, Violent trees, 104 Banbury Road, Vragar, Solsevara, New minairas, Greater arctic, Danyl, Makykay, Andaristiva, Yuwa, Kalldunn, Schudentag, Tbone steak, Rathlan, Eppur, Natzilla, Japanie, Treeford, Tobixland, Ublana asmyae, Hildingland, Moscovietsao, Ygolonhcet

• TIBOE will be recognizing nations on the RMB. Each day, every new nation who endorses the Delegate will get a special shout out from TIBOE on the RMB! As always, nations who endorse the Delegate will also receive the Mangos of The Isles award in the monthly World Assembly Supremacy Program published by the WA Secretariat.

• TIBOE will be contacting nations privately to endorse the Delegate. One way we achieve our goal is through reaching out to people as many ways as possible to ensure they get the message about endorsing the Delegate. TIBOE will be working hard to reach out to WA nations not endorsing the Delegate to encourage them to support our efforts.

Do you have ideas to increase Delegate endorsements?

Do you have an idea about how to reach nations about endorsing the Delegate? No idea is too bad to be said out loud! If you have an idea you should telegram Delegate Wischland, TIBOE Chair Vivolkha, and WA Secretary Eastern New England. If we like your idea and think it can be implemented, we'll award you a random Legendary card and recognize you on the RMB and forum for your contribution!