General Assembly
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by 
The Civil Warzone of Knights of LUSITANIA.
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THE IRON BANNER - Fifth Empire Newspaper
Vorstadt✸The ONLY F.E. Sanctioned Newspaper!✸$1.99✸
Introduction
Hello readers. After regional budget cuts left the lights out in the Iron Banner corporate office for a little too long, we have returned! More refreshed than ever before, our corporate objective for the quarter is for everyone to experience “The F.E. Summer”. To make it feel more, well, summery, we are going to be solely focusing on the FVN and creative aspects of our region's many members. As such, we will be officially re-instating the FEATURED NATION bulletin! We want to give every nation a chance to be seen in the Fifth Empire. Nations selected will be encouraged to write a short summary of themselves and provide a few pictures for the editing board. The summary and images will be neatly organized and displayed for the whole region to see and learn about you and your lore!
Along with the Featured Nation bulletin, The Iron Banner correspondents team has decided to collect stories and tales from around the world to bring right to you. From adventures to political thrillers, the Fifth Empire is full of tall tales that are waiting to be shared! This is happening in conjunction with our friends over at the Fifth Empire Storytelling Organization to promote effortposting, loredrops and detailed lore to enrich our world.
Additionally, the creation of the FEGL by 
Neu Arbuckle leaves an exciting season of new sports ahead of the region. We'll take a look at some of the teams, general overview, and commentary from Arbuckle.
The last new thing in this edition we will be covering is the development and growth of the offsite RMB, or Rumby. Knights of Lusitania is hard at work developing an app that we can all have fun on and use as an alternative to NationStates.
Happy reading!
- - - - - The Offsite Rumby - - - - -
[Interview log between Vorstadt and 
Knights of LUSITANIA]
begin transcript
Q: What inspired you to begin creation of an offsite forum for the region?
A: The need to have a place where nations can converse with one another, debate, and crack jokes, without intrusion from obtuse moderation. Also, being able to section off parts of the RMB is good for organization. Roleplay and regular chitchat doesn't need to be all tangled up in the same page anymore.
Q: I am sure many members of the region would love to have a place to share their true feelings, and keep their OC and IC seperate. So what do you plan to add to the offside RMB? Is it meant to become more permanent replacement to NS, or something on the side?
A: No aspect of the site is meant to substitute NS usage. The off-site rumby already has a silly coal/gem system. I've considered dispatch embedding but haven't made up my mind about it yet. The off-site RMB should just feel like a comfier, enhanced, and partitioned version of the NS RMB.
Q: We've heard rumors of a number of non-rmb features being added to the app, like a stock market, diplomacy features, hyperwar mechanics, pet games and a Broomdces 3.0 stats mechanic to refer to, how much of it is true and how is that all going to work?
A: All of it is real and all of it is coming, That is part of a large laundry list of site features for citizen-states yes. The Comitia Curiata is practically functional already, and an election page is on the way.
Featured Nation
The Republic of Gilgal is a partially recognized state in North America, declared in 1972 during the June Crisis in the United States (known in Gilgalian propaganda as the Christian Revolution). It borders Canada and territories controlled by the American Popular Front, the Republic of Vermont, and the Provisional Government of New England to the north and northeast; and the United States of America and territories controlled by the Republic of Texas to the west. Gilgal positions itself as the legitimate successor state to the United States and claims all of its former territories, waging war against the US government-in-exile, separatist movements, and other splinter factions. Although the Republic has long maintained semi-official diplomatic relations with a number of foreign governments, it remained an unrecognized state for most of its history and has been designated a terrorist organization by several countries and the UN for numerous systematic human rights violations and war crimes, most infamously its practice of slavery and the nuclear bombing of Los Angeles in 1975. In 2023, the Soviet Union, following escalating hostilities with the European Confederation and NATO, became the first UN Security Council member to recognize the Republic of Gilgal as the legitimate government.
The Republic of Gilgal is an isolated country with a totalitarian theocratic system and a stratified society. The Apostolic Church of Gilgal is the only legal state religion within the Republic, and all other faiths and Christian denominations are banned and persecuted by law. It evolved from the Children of Japheth, a mass Christian restorationist political-religious organization that had spread in the United States from the early 20th century. The Children of Japheth follow their own strict interpretation of the Bible that incorporates neo-Puritan and Anabaptist elements, with some significant differences. Its ideology is characterized by fundamentalism, pronatalism, anti-feminism, and White nationalism. Mainstream Christian churches consider the teachings of the Church of Gilgal heretical, and the Children of Japheth organization is banned in several countries. In alliance with several other far-right groups, the Children of Japheth permeate and exert dominant influence over all social and political spheres in Gilgal, and the overwhelming majority of the Republic's leadership are members of this organization. The Church of Gilgal is governed by the Council of Apostles, consisting of eleven members. The Order of Saint Joshua is the Church's military arm, and its legions form the backbone of the National Host, the Republic's armed forces. Ivory Tower Group, the largest business conglomerate in Gilgal, was also founded by the Children of Japheth.
The Commanders of the Faithful (a title based on, but not equivalent to, the Islamic Emir), distinguished by white uniform suits, are the exclusively male official ruling class of Gilgal, equivalent to non-hereditary nobility. All Apostles and Prophets of the Church of Gilgal are Commanders of the Faithful, but this title is not restricted to Church members. The head of state, the Supreme Commander (styled His Eminence), is elected for life by the Council of Apostles and also serves as the Chief Apostle of the Church of Gilgal. The position is currently held by Jacob W. Ford, son-in-law of the previous Supreme Commander Noah Jameson and a member of the powerful Jameson-Ford political and business clan that has ruled Gilgal since its founding.
Workers clear radioactive waste for Ivory Tower Energy
Commander Jude Arnold is promoted to High Commander in a ceremony
The Global Anti Xeno Movement, as understood by the ICR
"A new pakt has emerged upon the geopolitical stage of our world; the Terra Defense Force (TDF), a military and political pakt dedicated to the defence of humanity against xeno influence and occupation. The TDF declares a simple, but uncompromising principle: our world belongs to mankind.
In recent history, our world has witnessed an increasing normalization of xeno presence within human affairs. Xeno embassies rise beside human capitals, xeno corporations secure footholds within global markets, and the xeno increasingly inserts itself into political, ecological and military spheres once reserved for humanity alone.
Too many states have welcomed this development without hesitation. The ICR has not. Although the ICR has, through programs such as the Observational Diplomacy Program (ObDiPro) engaged in limited contact with select xeno civilizations, these interactions were never intended as surrender, submission, or ideological compromise. Diplomacy is a weapon of statecraft; not a declaration of trust - an essential distinction to be made.
Recent events, including the FEVision and the ICR's limited cultural exchanges with the xeno state of 
Owonyaania, demonstrated that controlled engagement can serve strategic interests - for we cannot deny the existence of the xeno. Observation grants understanding, understanding grants preparedness, but preparedness must never decay into dependency or weakness.
The TDF unites the human nations of our world against the greatest threat to our nations' sovereignties - the unchecked expansion of alien influence and power across humanity's cradle. Its doctrine advocates mutual military support between human nations, coordinated resistance against hostile xeno entities, and, if need be, aggressive action against xeno footholds when necessary.
Those already swayed by the xeno will inevitably attempt to portray the Pakt as extreme, even though history teaches us otherwise. Human civilization was not built through complacency. Rome itself did not survive by naively assuming every foreign power arrived in peace and goodwill. Civilization endures only when it possesses both the wisdom to negotiate and the strength to destroy those who would dominate it - a reality clearly recognized by the ICR, even before the birth of this new Pakt.
We will not abandon earlier diplomacy and doctrine such as the Controlled Coexistence where strategically useful, as cooperative xeno states may still be studied, observed, and engaged with under strict State oversight. Cultural exchanges may continue where they benefit the State and reveal valuable intelligence regarding xeno psychology, capabilities, and intentions. But the foundational truth remains unchanged: Humanity must never become secondary upon its own world."
The Fifth Empire Gridiron League - Interview with Neu Arbuckle
Q: Thanks for taking the time to do this, Arbuckle, so what inspired the FEGL?
A: The Fifth Empire Gridiron League was inspired by the Fifth Empire Baseball Association (FEBA) ran by 
Routcher. I myself am a big sportsball enjoyer and spent a lot of time in my youth competing. I wanted to share it with the rest of the FE, especially those who are non-American and have little to no exposure on it.
Q: I wasn't really a sportsball enjoyer myself, but I can see the appeal. What exactly is your vision for this?
A: Ideally, this becomes a staple of FE and friends, we even have one non-FE nation participating! I want it to drive more interest in lore posts beyond "erm, here's my military... erm, I had a schism again... erm, here's my leader and that's literally it". I'm thinking this runs 2-3 times a year, not sure yet! FE has four official sports leagues now, FEGL, FEBA, INGP, and INFL with a fifth in development with myself and 
Crumpetopia (more to come on that later!).
Q: I think our diversity in regional activities is what really puts us out there compared to the others, and shows NationStates what FVNSCISM is really about! So, how does it all work, exactly?
A: The breakdown of everything can be found at The FEGL Charter. Once teams sign up, they are added to xkoranate, a NS Sports developed tool that scores games based on the parameters I've assigned, such as team skill and style. I'm still ironing out some details, which is why we did an initial week 0 friendlies match lineup to get the early signees some skill points and let me work some things out on the back-end. I really wanted this to have more input than just "yeah here's my team man, have at it" and me score everything without any controls from other players, which is why I introduced the 10 point scale from -5 to +5 for team style. This, I believe, will add to more dynamic stories and matchups!
Q: Nice! This looks like it's going to be a lot of fun. Thank you Neu Arbuckle for sharing this with the region! Now, everyone needs to get their team submissions in if they want to participate in the season, so hurry up and get on that.
