Forest Takes Part in the First WA Secretariat Election

The World Assembly entered a new phase this summer with a rebuilt General Assembly and the election of a five-member World Assembly Secretariat.

The General Assembly reset purged all previous resolutions and introduced a new adoption system for newly passed resolutions. Nations now make two decisions: voting for or against a resolution and, if it passes, whether to adopt it. To retain their WA voting rights, nations must maintain an adoption rate of at least 80 percent. An elected Secretariat was also created to publish prominent voting Opinions on proposals before both WA chambers.

The inaugural election ran from June 24 to June 28. Varanius finished first and became Secretary-General, followed by UPC as Deputy Secretary-General. Merethin, Islandwalk and Moduland took the remaining seats.

Forest backs Islandwalk

Garbelia organized an internal poll featuring Moduland, Voopmont, UPC and Merethin.

Voopmont, running as Islandwalk, became Forest’s preferred candidate. Bisofeyr pointed to previous work with Voopmont on environmental legislation. Islandwalk supported WA action on genuinely international problems, including environmental harm that crosses borders. The campaign also emphasized clear legislation and avoiding unnecessary international micromanagement.

Chan Island throws in the tri-corner

Chan Island entered independently, outside the regional endorsement process, with Captain Naybeard fronting a pirate-themed campaign.

What began as an unconventional candidacy made it through the first round and into the final field of 25 candidates. Forest members including Jutsa and others discussed supporting Chan as a regional, alternative or protest choice.

On reaching the second round, Chan Island celebrated by promising supporters rum and freedom from walking the plank. (Yarr!)

The campaign did not capture one of the five seats.

Forest debates the endorsement

The regional poll also prompted discussion about whether Forest should endorse Secretariat candidates in the first place.

Jutsa questioned whether recurring WA elections should become a regional activity and suggested members could simply share their own preferences on the RMB.

Garbelia argued that a non-binding endorsement could support embassy partners and establish useful relationships for Forest authors without directing how individual nations voted.

The second round brought more tactical discussion as members considered candidates near the five-seat threshold and whether to shift votes to block candidates they opposed.

One such discussion followed Anxious And Kevin’s vote for Knights of Lusitania as an opponent of WA overreach, despite rejecting the candidate’s fascist politics. Other members argued that several candidates already supported limits on WA authority without the same associations.

Forest interests reach the new Assembly

Forest’s preferred candidate, Islandwalk, won a Secretariat seat. The other three candidates included in the regional poll — UPC, Merethin and Moduland — were also elected.

One of the first resolutions passed by the rebuilt General Assembly was the World Environmental Treaty, proposed by Bisofeyr and co-authored by The Ankhalic Vaspriot.

The resolution established principles for dealing with environmental harm that crosses national borders and created an Environmental Coordination Office to support monitoring, information sharing and international cooperation.

All five members of the newly elected Secretariat recommended voting for it, including Islandwalk.

The resolution passed on July 22 with 91.3 percent support.

The Regional Message Board has hosted several substantial discussions over the past month, alongside regional business, worldbuilding and the everyday conversation of Forestians.

Falklands discussion

A discussion of the Falkland Islands developed into one of the longer recent RMB exchanges. Forestians discussed the islands' history, competing British and Argentine claims, self-determination and the role the dispute continues to play in Argentine politics. Sierra Brava contributed an Argentine perspective, while Anxious And Kevin brought comments from an academic who studies Latin American politics into the discussion. The discussion later expanded to the Falkland Islands fox, or warrah, the islands’ only native terrestrial mammal, which was hunted to extinction in the 19th century.

Anti-GenAI regional tag

Forestians debated whether the region should adopt NationStates' new Anti-GenAI tag.

One part of the discussion has focused on creativity. Supporters of the tag have argued that generative AI sits uneasily with a region where writing, art, photography and worldbuilding are prominent parts of community life. Concerns were also raised about the use of artists' work in training generative systems.

A second line of debate has focused on environmental impact. Sierra Brava and others pointed to the energy, water and material demands associated with generative AI and questioned how those costs fit with Forest's environmental identity. That argument drew some pushback over the scale of AI's resource use compared with other forms of consumption.

There has also been disagreement over what adopting the tag should mean in practice. Some supported using it as a regional statement while stopping short of formal restrictions on individual nations, while others questioned whether Forest should take an official position on the technology at all.

Editor's note: Since the writing of this story, a regional poll decided that Forest adopt the new tag.

Election timing under review

The proposed BOGS and WRECK constitutional amendments returned to the RMB, reopening discussion about the length of Forest elections. Particular attention has gone to whether the nomination period should be shortened and whether candidates still need a full seven-day campaign period. Recent competitive elections were cited in the discussion over retaining the existing campaign week.

Ten years in Forest

Ruinenlust marked ten years in Forest with a retrospective on their time in the region and the people who have come and gone during that period. This connected with another RMB discussion about CTE'd nations, including Forest founder Errinundera, and memories of former members of the community.

Football beyond the Forest Cup

Football continued to generate discussion as several Forest nations entered the 2026 IFAU Regions Cup. Another conversation considered whether Forest could support a club competition alongside the existing biennial Forest Cup, although concerns were raised about whether enough nations currently have the necessary club football worldbuilding to sustain one.

Continued energy

Smaller projects and personal interests continued to surface across the board. Bob the Cartographer shared new map work and cartographic experiments, while Nittany Hollow showed off an increasingly ambitious national map. Victoriaans Nederlands shared photography from Botanic Gardens, and Anxious And Kevin posted photographs from a trip through the Scottish Highlands. Rogue River also talked about using studies in politics, geography and municipal government as material for future worldbuilding, while Vituria and Magna-Parva traded ideas about conlangs.

Bextoria Wins Forest Poetry Fantasia III

Bextoria has taken the overall prize in Forest Poetry Fantasia III, leading a field of nine nations whose entries ranged from reflective haiku to comic verse, environmental writing and longer poems about identity and change.

The winning poem, The Self I Never Was, earned the contest’s highest score of 28.25 and won the Change category. It looks at the experiences that shape a life, asking who a person might have become without the music, relationships and hard-earned understanding that formed them.

Bextoria also won the Haiku category with a score of 23.00. The three-line poem turns its gaze toward ancient starlight, capturing the idea that the night sky is filled with light from places and times long gone.

The Cypher Nine also had a strong showing, winning both the Freeverse Photo and Living World categories.

Their Freeverse Photo entry, which received 24.50, follows a patient trying to be heard through a series of brief psychiatric appointments. The poem grows more forceful as the patient’s frustration builds, giving the category one of its most direct and personal submissions.

In The Living World, The Cypher Nine scored 22.75 with a poem about watching a steady stream of war and cruelty on television before finding a moment of perspective in images of Earth from space.

That category showed how widely the writers interpreted the theme. Tripod II turned the phospholipid bilayer into a rhyming biology lesson. Truzipa wrote about hiking, picnics and putting away screens. Bextoria’s The Pigs used repetition to examine greed, while Muspelgard focused on the fragility of life on Earth.

The Change category produced the contest’s highest-scoring group of poems. Azure Mines received 25.25 for a vivid journey through a storm-struck Forest landscape. Lontranutria wrote about the shifting moods of the sky, while New Eestiball reflected on returning to a town worn down by time and decline.

The Water category ended in a tie. Bextoria’s The Sea Calls Me and The Cypher Nine’s Dear Rain each earned 22.75.

Bextoria’s poem follows the pull of the open sea and the desire to leave a familiar shore behind. The Cypher Nine addresses rain as a teacher, finding calm in surrendering the need to control what comes next.

Muspelgard’s Lifeguard brought the category back to the physical experience of water, following the heat and repetition of a lifeguard’s shift before relief finally arrives in the pool.

The contest also left room for humour. One haiku by 7 robots in a trenchcoat ends before reaching its seventeenth syllable, while Azure Mines used a play on “real eyes” in an entry prompted by Realize.

Forest Poetry Fantasia III brought together poems that were serious, playful, strange and deeply personal. The results show a contest with enough room for polished literary work, experimental ideas and writers who simply wanted to try something memorable.

Congratulations to Bextoria on the overall win, to The Cypher Nine on two category victories, and to every nation that contributed.

Results

Overall winner: Bextoria, The Self I Never Was

Haiku: Bextoria

Freeverse Photo: The Cypher Nine

The Living World: The Cypher Nine

Change: Bextoria

Water: Bextoria and The Cypher Nine

Updraft Gives Forest Writers a Place to Start

Earlier this year, The Forest Leaf reported that Forest nations were responsible for a remarkable share of NationStates issue writing and editing.

That record shows how deeply writing is already embedded in the region. Now, a new initiative is giving more Forest nations a practical way to take part.

Updraft, led by The Ankhalic Vaspriot, connects aspiring authors with experienced members of the NationStates writing community. It is designed for people at any stage, from those with a loose idea to authors preparing a draft for submission.

Writers can ask for help shaping an issue concept, improving a resolution, researching technical details, understanding forum expectations, or managing a project from its first outline through submission.

The team includes issue editors, World Assembly authors, experienced feedback-givers, and a member of the WA Secretariat. Its members were selected for their ability to give useful feedback, work collaboratively, and help other writers develop their ideas.

Updraft cannot guarantee that an issue will be published or a resolution passed. Those decisions still depend on editors, delegates, and voters. What the initiative can do is help writers understand the process, avoid common problems, and submit stronger work.

The assistance is also flexible. Some writers may want ongoing mentoring. Others may only need help with one awkward sentence, a question about political viability, or another set of eyes on a finished draft.

The region already has a strong record of contributing writers. Updraft can make it easier for more nations to join them.

A nation with one unfinished issue idea, a rough resolution draft, or a question about where to begin already has enough to approach the team. Assistance is available through the Updraft forum thread, its Discord server, or by telegramming The Ankhalic Vaspriot.

Forest’s photographers votes have been counted and the results of the Eleventh Annual Forest Photo Contest are in. Twenty-six voters weighed in across the four categories.

Mount Seymour took Trees with a photograph of a Huangshan pine in Anhui, China, while Kawastyselir won Stillness with a reflection in Glacier National Park. Juxtaposition ended in a tie: The Realizer captured an Australian outback sunset alongside a rising moon, while Valentine Z paired Mount Fuji with Fujikawaguchiko, Japan.

In Nature in Human Space, Stevist Guam and Tuirsland shared first place. Stevist Guam’s Front Yard Visitors caught three deer wandering through a residential yard, while Tuirsland’s Perching Outlook offered another take on nature finding its place among people.

There were plenty other finalists. Kawastyselir, Magna-Parva, Fadnesia, The Cypher Nine and Einswenn were among those collecting second- and third-place finishes, while honourable mentions recognized entries from across Forest.

The full results are available in the contest dispatch, while the Forest forum thread collects the submissions for anyone who wants to browse the photographs themselves.

Forest Writers Claim Three Issues Contest Wins

Forest writers took three of the ten winning places in this year’s NationStates Issues Contest, selected from 139 submissions.

Chan Island won with First Past the Deal, Krusavich with Parks and Depredation, and The Realizer with Instruments of Destruction. Two of those entries, from Chan Island and Krusavich, had already been highlighted in the June Forest Leaf while the contest was underway.

The result adds to Forest’s growing presence in the Issues community. Regional writers have been active in developing drafts, helping newer authors, and participating in writing initiatives such as Updraft.

The contest, now in its eleventh edition, is also one of the ways the NationStates Issues team identifies promising new writers. Whether any of this year’s Forest winners move on to join the team remains to be seen.

Forest Map Welcomes Saint Agatha as Five Former Nations Depart

The Forest’s Old World map has received a significant update, adding Saint agatha while removing five nations that have ceased to exist.

Saint Agatha and the Sasquatch isles has been placed on the map under the shortened name Saint Agatha, occupying territory north of Nordstrua. No changes were made to the New World.

The update removes Azwela, Larbiec, Palos Heights, Paytxew and Taco Respublic. Although their territories are now vacant, several left behind records of the places and projects they created during their time in Forest.

Palos Heights was the longest-lived of the departing nations, founded more than nine years before its cessation in March 2026. Its name remains reserved because it belonged to a former NationStates Issues Author. Palos Heights also organized the Official Forest Recipe List, an extensive collection of recipes contributed by nations across the region.

Taco Republic was older still, having been founded more than twelve years ago and reaching a population of 25.72 billion before ceasing to exist. Its surviving factbook describes the nation’s “Peacemakers Army,” though little other public worldbuilding remains.

Larbiec spent just over a year in NationStates and developed a detailed political setting. Its factbook described a federal liberal democracy with an eleven-party parliament, a recently impeached chancellor, its own currency and a space agency operating 143 satellites. It also recognized every known Forest religion equally under its constitution.

Azwela, though active for less than a year, produced thirteen factbooks documenting an isolated volcanic archipelago. Its setting included sacred mountains, hot springs, close-knit island communities, nature-based spirituality and a culture shaped by fishing, oral traditions and the surrounding ocean.

Paytxew reached a population of 2.697 billion during nearly two years of existence. Its only surviving factbook is a country map, leaving less of its national story available than the other removed nations.

The map changes remove several established names from Forest geography, including communities with developed histories and regional contributions. Their former locations may now open space for new applicants as the Old World continues to change.

The updated map and applications for future placement are available through Forest Map, maintained by Roless.

Centrist Party Holds Balance After Magna-Parva Election

The National–Country Alliance won the largest share of seats in Magna-Parva’s June 22 general election, positioning the party to return to government after six years of Social Democratic leadership.

The result left neither the right nor the left with a clear parliamentary majority. The right-leaning parties hold only two more seats than the parties of the left, giving the centrist Ŷgra party a potentially decisive role.

Ŷgra received more than 20 per cent of the vote for the first time since 1996 and finished two seats behind the Social Democrats.

National–Country Alliance leader Gair Schwetz has announced plans to form a minority coalition with the Nationalist Party. The government’s survival may depend on whether Ŷgra supports it on confidence votes and legislation.

The campaign focused on business regulation, old-age security, defence policy and allegations of corruption in provincial government.

Read the Magna-Parva election report

Nittany Hollow Wetland Project Floods Border Communities

A major wetland restoration project in Nittany Hollow has caused flooding and property damage across its border.

The Maumee & Erie Wetland Ecosystem Restoration project is intended to recreate part of the historic Great Black Swamp near Lake Erie. According to Nittany Hollow’s account, the first stage flooded farmland, homes and small communities without advance warning.

Residents on the Nittany Hollow side had been evacuated before the flooding began. Communities across the border reportedly received no comparable notice.

The Nittany Hollow government has agreed to compensate its neighbour for economic and humanitarian damage. The restoration project will continue, although its planners have been directed to prevent future work from extending beyond national territory.

Read Nittany Hollow’s report

Longingland Declares Martial Law After Coordinated Attacks

Longingland has declared a nationwide state of emergency and imposed martial law following coordinated attacks in several cities.

The militant organization Infinite Insurgency claimed responsibility for bombings in the capital, Hammerhal, and in Mosden, Elsted, Huskhärad and Vethammar.

Longingland’s government described the bombings as the deadliest attacks in the country’s history. Casualty reports were still rising when the development was reported.

Prime Minister Nikolai Rasmussen and Queen Veronika Holmlund have mobilized emergency resources. The military has also intensified operations against insurgent positions in the Jõgetu Forest mountains.

Neighbouring Klaussa is fighting the same organization along its border with Longingland and has offered assistance.

Read the report from Longingland

Rainges Favoured as Eight Enter Nortallius Presidential Race

Eight candidates have qualified for the coming presidential election in Nortallius as President Jared Cunningham prepares to leave office after two terms.

The election follows the introduction of a two-term presidential limit. Vice President Catherine Rainges enters the race as the clear frontrunner and is widely viewed as Cunningham’s preferred successor.

Polling cited by the Nortallius government places Rainges above two-thirds of the popular vote.

Her challengers include members of the current administration, two senators, a provincial governor and the army’s chief general. Several candidates are broadly aligned with the current government, although they differ on foreign affairs, defence and the role of the central bank.

The field also includes conservative Senator Les Burton and Jen Hamlin, leader of the newly formed Socialist Party. Governor Anderson Pickett has made the possible growth of formal political parties a concern of his campaign.

Read the Nortallius election preview

RHcordia: Where the Three E-s Meet

In Tyanet, one of Forest’s Oceanic subregions, RHcordia is a country shaped by water, mountains, and the cultures that have settled between them.

Its best-known landscape is the Basin of the Three E-s. The Eva, Eki, and Ellas rivers descend through separate valleys before meeting in a broad central lake. Around them sit meadows, farms, and rural settlements, all nearly enclosed by the Otto Mountains. The basin feels like a country within a country.

Its people, the Mundils, speak a Romance language and follow a largely Catholic tradition in a nation where Orthodox Christianity is more common. The region also has its own government, legislature, and supreme court.

The mountains helped make that possible. They limited outside influence and allowed the basin to keep a strong identity of its own. They also spared much of the region from the industrial development that reshaped other parts of RHcordia.

Today, the Three E-s are known for clean waterways, open countryside, and villages that remain closely tied to farming and local traditions. For travellers, crossing the Otto Mountains means entering a quieter part of the country, where rivers still help define how communities live and where they belong.

Elsewhere, RHcordia tells a different story. Its cities and regions reflect generations of travel, settlement, trade, and political change. Languages shift. Places of worship change. Architecture carries traces of the people who once governed, traded, or built there.

Claireburg is one of the clearest examples. Its streets combine RHcordian and BingoBongo architectural traditions, giving the city a character shaped by cultural overlap. That atmosphere has helped attract painters, writers, musicians, and other artists.

The result is a country with no single cultural centre. Orthodox, Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, and Slerian communities all contribute to RHcordia’s character. Some regions preserved their identity through isolation. Others developed through contact and exchange.

Even the monarchy reflects that pattern. When the former royal line ended in the twentieth century, a new tsar was chosen through a popular vote. The institution survived, though the way it continued was distinctly RHcordian.

The Basin of the Three E-s remains the best place to begin understanding the nation.

Three rivers arrive from different valleys and meet in one lake. RHcordia has grown in much the same way, with separate histories flowing into one country while still remaining visible beneath the surface.

Kimonoko: Where the Trains Run on Time and the Blossoms Set the Calendar

Kimonoko is the kind of country that rewards travellers who arrive with a plan.

The journey is likely to begin in Kyōhoku, the capital and main point of entry for foreign visitors. From there, the country opens by rail. Trains run between the major cities and into the interior provinces with a reputation for remarkable punctuality. For a traveller carrying a timetable and a light bag, the railway offers a natural way to see the country.

Spring brings Kimonoko’s most celebrated season. Cherry blossoms spread through parks, temple grounds and city streets, drawing visitors to Kyōhoku and Shimozaki. The spectacle also fills hotel rooms quickly, so accommodation is best arranged well before arrival.

There are familiar hotels in the larger cities, though the more memorable stay may be found in a traditional inn. Here, the rhythm of the day changes. Shoes are left at the entrance, communal bathing is part of the experience, and evenings often become quiet earlier than foreign guests may expect.

These customs offer an introduction to the wider character of Kimonoko. A bow is the usual greeting between strangers, although visitors are not expected to master every detail of local etiquette. Watching how a host or shopkeeper responds is usually enough. Shoes also come off before entering private homes and some temples, making simple footwear a sensible choice.

The same consideration follows travellers onto the train. Carriages tend to be quiet, and loud conversations can draw attention for the wrong reason. The journey becomes part of the destination: stations arriving on schedule, countryside passing beyond the windows and passengers settling into the calm of the carriage.

From Kyōhoku, the rails lead toward Shimozaki and deeper into the provinces. This is where Kimonoko begins to feel less like a capital-city visit and more like a journey through the country. A timetable can carry a traveller from blossom-filled streets toward quieter towns, temples and landscapes farther along the line.

There are limits to how far that journey should be improvised. Some northern districts remain under administrative restrictions following unrest, and visitors should check local guidance before heading that way. Travellers should also be mindful of their cameras along the route. Military installations, ports and some government buildings are off limits to photography, while around temples and religious sites it is courteous to ask before photographing people.

Money is another detail best handled once you've arrival. The Kimonoko yen is not widely exchanged abroad, according to Majalangka’s travel guidance, so authorized banks and hotel counters are the safer places to arrange local currency.

The published passport, permit and consular advice was written for Majalangka’s citizens. Forest travellers should therefore confirm their own entry requirements before booking passage rather than assume the same rules apply to them.

Once those details are settled, Kimonoko seems best approached at its own pace. Follow the railway and leave some room between destinations. The country’s pleasures appear in small moments: blossoms beside the track, shoes set neatly at an inn doorway and a train gliding into the station exactly when the timetable said it would.

Open Roads and Open Throttles: Caltia Calls to Forest’s Auto Aficionados

Germany has the Autobahn. Forest has Caltia.

Officially known for its unlimited-speed roads, the Federation of caltia is an obvious point of interest for the region’s auto aficionados. With a major automobile manufacturing sector, a thriving industrial economy, and stringent safety laws, Caltia stands out as one of Forest’s most intriguing destinations for those who see the road itself as part of the holiday.

Caltia has not published a traveller’s guide to its unrestricted roads. That has not stopped motorists from wondering what it might be like to point the bonnet toward the horizon and simply keep driving.

The country’s automotive industry adds to the appeal. Automobile manufacturing is one of Caltia’s leading industries, giving the nation a strong connection to the machines that would make such a journey possible. The fascination with Caltia’s roads sits comfortably within a country where engineering and production already carry considerable weight.

Away from the roads, Caltia presents itself as an industrious and tightly ordered society. Crime is described as virtually unknown, while health and safety laws are notably strict. That gives the country’s unlimited-speed roads an added layer of intrigue. Speed may be unrestricted, but little else about Caltian public life appears casual.

Then there is the black eagle, Caltia’s national animal, occasionally reported dodging aircraft over the nation’s cities. Whether that counts as a roadside attraction is best left to the traveller.

Visitors should also get acquainted with the Caltian groat. One NationStates Dollar buys roughly fifteen and a half groats, while digital payments are becoming increasingly common in major cities and at the international airport.

For Forest’s auto aficionados, Caltia offers an unusually simple appeal. The cars are built at home. The roads have no stated limits. Some destinations are remembered for the view at the end of the journey. Caltia makes a compelling case that the drive itself deserves top billing.

Forest has said farewell to several nations whose time in the region ranged from a few weeks to nearly two decades.

The longest-lived among them was A Once Great Nation, which endured for almost twenty years. Yukona, New Ladavia, and Fad also carried histories stretching across much of a decade, leaving behind names that had long been part of the NationStates landscape.

Some nations are remembered through the worlds they documented. Yukona preserved accounts of its geography, institutions, armed forces, and culture. Ocrus, despite a much shorter existence, produced maps, proclamations, civic records, and its own in-universe newspapers. Silver Creek also left an extensive archive covering its politics, culture, and national life.

Forest also remembers Keplar, Parlok, Alteplano, and Bongalia. Their histories varied in length and detail, but each was part of the region’s community for a time.

Their nations may have fallen silent, but the names, stories, and traces they left behind remain part of Forest’s history.