TRR Update February 2018

[The Church of Satan]

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WA Delegate: Catalyse
| Culture Officer: Marilyn Manson Freaks | Foreign Affairs Officer: Frattastan |
| Media Officer: PowerPAOK | Outreach Officer: John Laurens |
Speaker of the Assembly: Fauxia

News from the Assembly


The Grim Reaper punches a Mottoist assemblyman during discussion of the "Regional Motto Act Repeal".

This last month has seen growing activity in the Assembly, not just in the form of elections, of which there have been a few since the last update, but also in legislation and treaties! Two recent proposals have been brought up in the Assembly recently, the "Regional Message Board Act Amendment", which has developed into a proposal of a wider "Regional Officers Act", as the original RMB act predates the existence of Regional Officers, and the "Regional Motto Act Repeal", which deserves its own paragraphs.

The "Regional Motto Act Repeal", proposed by The Grim Reaper, has led to heated discussion and has caused severe division among the ranks of the Assembly, leading to the formation of the two first informal political parties in The Rejected Realms: the Mottoists and the Anti-Mottoists. We will delve further into the two groups that have made the Assembly their battleground during this so-called "Motto Crisis".

The Mottoists, which includes figures such as PowerPAOK, The Church of Satan and Marilyn Manson, argue that to repeal this law would be to gut TRR of a signifcant part its culture, and that the current motto is both meaningful and suitable to TRR, though radical Mottoists, led by Jeffersonborg, despite not being as strong defenders of the current motto, have gone as far as to propose that all RMB posts not including the motto in some way should be suppressed, or that every aspect of TRR other than the regional motto should cease to exist.

The Anti-Mottoists, led by the repeal's proponent, The Grim Reaper, argue that the current motto lacks usage, not even being present in the region's WFE, is not a relevant part of the region's culture and that it is also non-representative and ill-fitting to the region, and believe that the enshrining of any regional motto into law is superfluous. When presented with the possibility of vote on a new motto being held The Grim Reaper had the following to say "If someone runs a motto contest I will genuinely stamp campaign for a no motto option.".

While the Assembly approved of both the "Regional Message Board Act Amendment", with 13 votes for and 8 against, and the "Regional Officers Act", with 18 votes for and 1 against, these matters do not seem to be put at rest. While some wish to again hold a contest on the regional motto, others have already presented an amendment to the Constitution that would replace the "Regional Officers Act", and from which conversation about renaming goverment offices has erupted.

Another recent and important piece of legislation that has been discussed in the Assembly is "Amendment XIX: Delegate Elections", proposed by the current Delegate, which has established that elections for the Delegate position will be held every six months after the previous election, in conjunction with the challenge system, making the election date flexible.

The challenge system in which any citizen can challenge the Delegate for their position, provided their candidacy has enough support, and which was the only way one could run for Delegate before this amendment, after much debate, discussion and counter-proposals, which included a ban on consecutive terms, along with longer or shorter terms, narrowly achieved the 75% approval necessary for it to pass the Assembly, with 21 votes for and 6 against.

In election news, the Assembly saw an highly contested run for the Speaker position. Then-incumbent Speaker Kyorgia faced PowerPAOK, Katie Rybeck and Fauxia. In a very close election that saw Kyorgia delve deep into the hell that is TRR's electoral system, Fauxia was declared the winner after a tie between him and Kyorgia was broken with a borda count of the preferential vote system.

PowerPAOK, who has become an ardent contributor to The Rejected Times since becoming involved in TRR, was also elected Media Officer, with John Laurens choosing to not contest the challenge, though he was not absent from the Officer's quarters for too long, as he soon challenged The Church of Satan for the position of Outreach Officer, who also chose not to contest the challenge, and was elected.

Written by Catalyse

New Friendships Forged, Old Friendships Strengthened

After having kept for some time a lower profile in the halls of diplomacy - no doubt due to widespread condemnation for its rich collection of hack writers and defender subversives - The Rejected Realms returned to treaty-making business last month, by concluding two new agreements: a cultural-oriented treaty with Forest, and a trilateral alliance with The East and South Pacifics, both of which passed with great support in TRR's Assembly.

Forest is a famous environmentalist region, whose mature debating atmosphere, successful cultural activities and many outstanding inhabitants earned them a World Assembly Commendation last year.
The treaty was atypical for partnering TRR with a non-Gameplay region, and focusing on matters of diplomacy and cultural exchange over security issues, but was received very well.

At the same time, the government also sought to expand our relations in a more conventional direction, that of friendship with TRR's fellow game-created regions. "The January Accords" build upon the previous, fruitful bilateral alliance between The Rejected Realms and The South Pacific, with provisions for mutual defense, intelligence sharing, and cooperation on cultural matters, now extending them to The East Pacific.

Known for its roleplays, its classical democratic constitutional framework, and its love of caek, The East Pacific has experienced a renaissance in various areas under Yuno's leadership, and had been under consideration for a treaty since the beginning of Catalyse's term as Delegate. The three regions assisted each other in their recent Delegate transitions, and look forward to closer cooperation in the near future.

Written by Frattastan

Awardees and Inductees

The last two months saw several people receive awards for their contributions to The Rejected Realms. The Hall of Fame saw the induction of former Delegates, Kandarin and Naivetry, on the 25th of January, with Crazy Girl, longtime leader of the RRA and root admin and of the region's forums, being inducted on the 7th of February. Additionally, several people won, or were to nominated, to the Rejects Awards, which hopes to establish itself as an yearly event in TRR.

There is much to say about the new inductees joining Sedge in the Hall of Fame. Kandarin was the one of the first, if not the first, native Delegate of The Rejected Realms and still considered an hallmark of The Rejected Realms and still held in high consideration in both TRR and abroad, while Naivetry, as Kandarin's successor, saw many changes come to TRR during her term, such as the adoption of TRR's first, and still current, constitution.

Crazy Girl is the only one out of the current four inductees to not only still be active, but also to not have served as the Delegate of The Rejected Realms, despite probably being the most prolific "Delegate that could have been", not just because of her place as TRR's perennial candidate, but also due to her contributions to the region, her long service as High Commander of the Rejected Realms Army and her highly esteemed place among the NationStates community.

The Rejects Awards saw several nominees, but in the end there could only have been one winner for the several categories. Catalyse, who after becoming a citizen in early 2017 went on to serve in several positions until become Delegate in December won in the categories of best newcomer, Reject of The Year, RRA Newcomer Soldier and Best Government Member

Frattastan was a close second, with three awards, Most Outstanding Officer, The Greymarshes Achievement Award, Veteran Reject Award, followed by Guy, who won in the categories of Best Legislator and Best Werewolf Player. PowerPAOK, otherwise known as Nequedum, who became the Media Officer this year and has led the TRT revival, won the Pen & Paper Award, and Dark Aku, who was a staple of TRR's RMB until his nation CTEing in July of 2017, won the Outstanding RMBer Award.

Additionally, the implementation of the Werewolf bot in TRR's discord and the forum games won the TRR Event of the Year award, while "Gaining Border Control in TRR is like finding a load of paper money in a society where currency has been abolished.", by Fratt, won the Quote of the Year award.

Written by Catalyse

Endorsements and Citizens on the rise

With both the number of nations endorsing the Delegate and the number of citizens increasing, and with all-time records in both being beaten, the government of The Rejected Realms has reason to be positive about the region's outlook.

The number of nations endorsing the Delegate has seen continuous growth since Catalyse was elected to the position, finally reaching the much awaited threshold of two hundred on the 12th of February, which, barring times when foreign militaries were endorsing the Delegate, has set a new record for the region, breaking Libetarian Republic's 195 endorsements.

Reaching two hundred endorsements translates into an endorsement rate of 39%, which despite being relatively low in comparison to other GCRs and regions with large World Assembly Nations population, is a significant improvement on the 30% endorsement rate that The Church of Satan held in November of last year, representing 149 endorsements, and is an accomplishment in a region without ejection powers and where many puppets and inactive nations end up residing in.

With 213 endorsements and a 42% endorsement rate at the time of writing, we are positive that not only we can continue to improve in this field, but that we can translate this improvement into a safer, more active and more dynamic regional community.

The number of citizens has also reached an all-time high, with currently there being ninety-six citizens registered on TRR's forums. Despite TRR's relatively lax requirements needed to maintain citizenship, the Citizenship Council, the group of officials which is in charge of processing citizenship applications and removals, continues to be diligent in its work of maintaining an updated list of citizens and making sure all those in it fulfill the legal requirements.

Written by Catalyse