YggdrasilBoard

Date: September 2020
Population: 1,522
Delegate Endorsement: 414
Forum: https://10000islands.proboards.com/
Discord: https://discord.gg/4uWZbNS

Has your region been invaded, or do you want to get in touch with TITO? If so, contact one of the following nations:
~Chief Executive: Markanite
~Field Commander: Kanta Hame
~Tactical Officers: Shy Guyia, Smugglers and Mercs (TITO EF), THX1138, Controlitia, Grea Kriopia, Kuriko
~Executive Officers: Hakketomat, Aschente

As of this report's publication, the Government of 10000 Islands consists of:
~Chief Executive: Markanite
~WA Delegate: HumanSanity
~Senior Senator for New Republica South (Debates and Discussions): Controlitia
~Senator for Himes West (RP): Wille-Harlia
~Senator for Lyonnesse East (Houses): Thedairos
~Senator for Blue Canaria North (Emissary Report): Wischland
~Minister of Immigration: THX1138
~Minister of Education: Grea Kriopia
~Minister of Labor: Free Las Pinas

Information about other government officials of 10000 Islands can be found here.

Scheduled elections took place in September for the positions of Delegate, Senator for New Republica South, and Senator for Blue Canaria North.

HumanSanity of MSPP entered the race for Delegate, with strong support from the previous month's straw poll. Hakketomat also ran a playful campaign in the democratic spirit. Despite accusations of vehicular manslaughter, HS pulled through with an easy victory. Congratulations!

Incumbent Controlitia defeated Kohnhead and Solarampa to stay on as Senator for New Republica South.

Wischland ran unopposed to become Senator for Blue Canaria North following Grea Kriopia's transition to Minister of Education.

Congratulations to all candidate for a campaign well-run.

XKI thanks Kuriko for her invaluable service as Delegate.

~Minister of Education Grea Kriopia appointed Kohnhead as her deputy to assist her in collecting and organizing information about XKI
~ Ananke II and Eastern New England joined the Welcome Buddies team on the behest of Grea Kriopia to greet and mentor new Islanders
~Dokansia was made emissary to Forest and Yuwa was made emissary to Greater Dienstad
~Delegate HumanSanity hired Margaux as Secretary of State, to assist in the supervision of Emissaries and advise of FA matters
~Eastern New England was hired as Foreign Affairs Secretary

This year's N-Day prompted great excitement within 10000 Islands. As the date grew nearer Islanders were eager to discuss N-Day in the RMB and every nation prepared for the nuclear apocalypse. XKI joined the Potato Alliance alongside many other spud-loving allies, with HumanSanity and Haivon serving as Potato Generals to lead XKI's operations.

Although the Potato Alliance had a rough start to N-Day, some expert strategy and the willingness of every member to grind away at the production of shields and nukes allowed for a quick recovery. Potato Alliance regained a positive score at about +12:56. From there, the faction climbed the ranks from last place up all the way to 2nd place, ending N-day with an astounding score of 284,847 and a grand total of 346,472 strikes!

~September's Featured Nation was Yuwa. Consistent and undoubtedly reliable, Yuwa's dedicated work as a recruiter, TITO member, and emissary makes them more than worthy of the honor. Keep up the good work!
~Following the success of XKI's first TacoVision, Hakketomat quickly decided to host a round two. TacoVision II was even more popular, with 32 song submissions, an extended listening party, and a nail-biting live vote count! Congratulations to Ananke II for winning with the excellent song choice of Est-ce que tu m'aimes?
~A Short Story Contest hosted by Taco-Island-Charities asked Islanders to write a story about someone who "has been completely color blind for their entire life, seeing only grayscale, until they come across a stranger who appears in color." The contest concluded this month, with Jabberwocky taking the cake with his charming tale.
~Towards the end of the month, XKI was swept up in an Among Us craze, with Islanders gathering together every day to kill, sabotage, and accuse one another. Accidental self-reports, stab-happy imposter teams, and the clearly-audible sounds of murder coming from unmuted mikes led to a great deal of laughter and made everyone just a little sus.
~XKI joined the partea in the Tea House of Cards, where Islanders discussed trading cards and participated in fun events with friends from other region. Special congratulations to Eastern New England, for winning 1st place in the Quantitea and Regional categories of the Card Collecting Competition alongside Reimstagrad, and to Anisopterra for winning the I'm an Arteast section of Cute Animal Competition with their adorable drawing.

A regional poll by THX1138 asked Islanders to pick their favorite kind of pole. XKI is evidently a fan of penguins as the South Poll became the clear winner!

The RMB picked up again in September with these wonderful revelations:

~Don't go clubbing with Krystalveil
~Fighting words
~NS is sus
~Make a wish!
~Give yourself a round of applause
~GK's #1 Fan
~Jaws 4: Coming to a Daycare Near You
~A true delegate
~Throwback Thursday

HumanSanity has served in many government offices during his years in XKI, and has now taken on the mantel of Delegate. In this edition, he was gracious enough to give us a look into his plans for the region.

Wisch: First off, congratulations on becoming delegate! It's quite the achievement. What inspired you to run for the position?

HS: Since joining NS, regional government and region building have always been interesting to me. Throughout my time in 10000 Islands I've held a variety of government positions. This has always been something, simply put, that I find really fun. As I grow older, I especially love seeing my work succeed in building a strong community. I decided to run for Delegate for a few reasons.
First, it's sort of what's next for me. In XKI, I've held 2 of the 3 Minister positions (Labor and Immigration) and I am the only person to have been elected to each different Senate seat. But I had never been Delegate before, and I have an appetite right now to continue being a part of leading the region.
Second, I think the example provided by Kuriko was really instructive for me, and she certainly deserves credit for demonstrating to me how to effectively and tactfully advocate for defender values in NationStates. While I have my own approach and direction, Kuriko certainly guided me and helped hone my philosophy of XKI's foreign affairs.
Third, on a purely selfish level, I think this is going to be fun. Ultimately, we play NS because it's fun, and I think I'll enjoy both the gear of being Delegate that is about long-term improvements and projects and the gear where you address each problem and crisis as it arises. I think I'm going to have fun over the next 6 months, even if I'll be a bit exhausted

Wisch: You've certainly been very involved in XKI's government! Was anything different about your delegacy campaign than your previous campaigns for senator?

HS: More than anything it was different because I had planned it for a lot longer. I decided I was going to run for Delegate about 6 weeks before declarations open. Just emotionally there was a lot more build up and excitement associated with the election. Running for Delegate is a big decision: it's a 6 month term (not 4 months), it requires you to lock your WA nation from defending activity, and it requires you to serve as an informal figure head/head of state for the region (especially on site) in addition to performing specific job tasks.
Otherwise, it was pretty similar. Of course, I've never been accused of vehicular manslaughter before, but eh, that's not too big a deal.

Wisch: I'm sure getting elected gave you quite the sense of catharsis then. Now, let's look to the future. Could you detail some of your domestic goals as delegate? What's to come for XKI?

HS: My most important domestic goal as Delegate is to embody the spirit of 10000 Islands.
Whenever new nations arrive, they look to the Delegate as the nation's highest elected official. While the Delegate is not the highest member of our government, they are listed first on the main nation page, so they're someone who new nations look up to. It's important that the Delegate leads by example, providing a welcoming and positive presence on the main site, on the forum, and on Discord. Over time, I've gotten to see a lot of different Delegates, and I think this inviting atmosphere and community engagement was the hallmark of Ananke's two very highly regarded terms as Delegate.
Another purely domestic priority for the upcoming term is a bit of work with TIBOE. Vivolkha has done a fantastic job taking an informal leadership role in TIBOE, regularly and aggressively advocating for Delegate endorsements. I want to work with TIBOE and the WA Secretariat to connect TIBOE to the World Assembly Supremacy Program and our broader goals of using cross-endorsement to increase activity.

Wisch: And what can our friends in other regions expect from Delegate HS?

HS: My platform was entirely driven by a belief that expanded cultural and social ties will give us more tools to advocate for defender values on the world stage. Part of this is increasing the depth of our ties with other defender regions and part of this is working more with independent and unaligned regions.
To accomplish this, I am going assist several others in hosting a defender cultural summit shortly. Additionally, I am going to bring back the practice of weekend visits, but instead of attempting to run them every weekend, I'm going to pick and choose and invest more energy into planning each one so they can be more successful.
Lastly, and most importantly, I want my term to serve as an opportunity to clarify and promote a message of compassionate defender internationalism. For far too long "moralism" has been framed as a bad thing in favor of infinite relativism and competitive games playing. While the best defenders, both politically and on the battlefield, are tactical and clever, we cannot abandon our core values which are essential for recruiting, retention, and clarity of purpose.

Wisch: Of course, as delegate, you're going to be heavily involved in WA affairs. How are you planning on handling this new responsibility, especially in regards to upholding XKI's values?

HS: Ultimately, barring exceptional discussions or last minute changes in circumstance (as occurred in my recent decision to override the Liberate Syria vote), I will vote according to forum polls.
Of course, I will exercise clear community leadership on SC discussions. It is important to me that XKI supports Commendations for hard-working defenders and defender regions who have a record of extensive service to the cause. It is also important that XKI supports Commendations for those who have dedicated themselves to building neutral, independent, or gameplay unaligned communities as well - RPers, issue writers and answerers, cards players, and region builders who have also done the quintessentially defender work of building a more inclusive and active game.
Additionally, I want to see a serious pushback against the trend of both Commending and Condemning raiders. Both of these badges for raiders and raider regions become recruiting and propaganda tools. In a strategic sense, defenders should be denying raiders these tools for advancing their agenda. This is obviously an intense politicization of the SC, but the SC is already intensely political.
Most importantly, liberations are the last line of defense we have when things have gone wrong on an operation and native sovereignty is on the line. In do or disappear situations for longstanding native communities, I will be fierce in my advocacy for SC liberations for founderless regions being griefed.

Wisch: Thank you so much for your time. Before we conclude the interview, do you have any final thoughts or comments you'd like to share?

HS: I'm really excited to be Delegate and I'm looking forward to it :)