November:

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Kandarin retires

By this time, most people will already be aware that Kandarin has retired. His decision was announced here on the NationStates forums, and has been much discussed. There's little that we can add to it, other than to say that we wish him the best in RL, and hope that one day he will return.

Naivetry takes over Kandarin's nation

The most controversial aspect of Kandarin's retirement was his transferring of his nation to Naivetry of Equilism, who therefore took the delegacy of The Rejected Realms. This led to heated discussion amongst members of TRR, but eventually we've decided that Naivetry will continue to hold the delegacy for the time being, until a long-term decision is made on the future of the delegate position in TRR.

The Rejected Realms Army re-starts

The renewed interest in TRR following Kandarin's retirement has led to the reformation of the Rejected Realms Army, which is back in operation and defending regions around NationStates.

TRR Foreign Affairs Department created

As you can tell from this update (and from me pestering you about embassies), The Rejected Realms now has a Foreign Affairs Department. This means that we'll be sweeping aside the cobwebs in our embassies, and filling them up with updates like this.

Hunt for 'missing alliances' begins

After discovering a long-lost alliance with Lazarus, TRR's Foreign Affairs Department is now desperately hunting for other alliances that the region has signed. If you think we once signed over half our sovereign territories to you, in return for a couple of beers and a pack of cigarettes - well you're probably right - so let us know!

WA Voting Policy

After a discussion on the voting policy of our new delegate, Naivetry is now consulting with TRR members before voting on each WA resolution. In future, we may include a record of how we've voted on resolutions in our updates. The debate on our voting policy led to questions about TRR citizenship - something that will likely have to be addressed in the near future.

Future plans

So far, we've decided not to rush into any big decisions. This means we won't be setting up a massive constitution with loads of elected positions, only to find we can't fill them. However, TRR will still be moving forward, and Naivetry has suggested that we begin telegramming all new TRR nations inviting them to join the forums. Laws are still a way off, but we may get there eventually.

Other stuff

• The Rejected Realms is enjoying a healthy population of over 1,100 nations, thanks to Chief Recruiter JAL (aka Durkadurkiranistan II).
• A "So you've been ejected..." thread was set up on the NS forums for nations who find themselves unexpectedly resident in The Rejected Realms. This may be brought onto TRR's forums at some point in the future.
• TRR has seen several new members in recent weeks, including Pan-Stron-Atreus, Blackwater Rifts and Biblical Importance.
• TRR's famed Rooftop Poolrom has been cleaned, the bottles and bodies removed, and is now open for business!

That's all for this week, and if you're lucky, another update will be on its way soon.

December

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Zetaboarded!

The Rejected Realms took the decision to convert its forums from Invisionfree to Zetaboards recently. The old forum urls still work, and all the content (posts, threads, user accounts, messages etc.) are still there - the forum just uses better software. Following the conversion, we've installed a new forum theme so that TRR's forums no longer look like they were designed in 1995.

New admin slave

With the retirement of Kandarin, The Rejected Realms had found its forum short of admins. CrazyGirl therefore decided to appoint Sedge as a new administrator, to do all the work for her. This has included uploading the aforementioned forum theme, and adding various scripts to improve the useability of the forum. Rumours that he decorated her private office pink are unverified.

IRC

We finally have our own IRC channel - #TRR on irc.esper.net - and those without a dedicated IRC client can access the channel via the TRR's forums by going to this page: http://s8.zetaboards.com/The_RR_and_RRA/pages/irc/

Two Rivers Proposal

The Rejected Realms is edging slowly closer towards a system of semi-democratic delegate elections. Discussion on the "Two Rivers Proposal" can be found here, and the plan is likely to be implemented in the coming days. It envisages a one-off system for electing a delegate (with no specified term limit), with the elections run by a "Council of Three" consisting of CrazyGirl, Thought Transference and Biblical Importance. It is hoped that after a delegate election is concluded, we can begin discussions on setting up a formal set of laws as well as a goverment.

Anur-Sanur situation

The Rejected Realms has recently gained a new member by the name of Anur-Sanur, who was ejected from The East Pacific. After a brief period on the forum, he seems to have developed a dislike of CrazyGirl and Naivetry, and is campaigning to become delegate.

Mother knows best

Prominent TRR personality CrazyGirl posted a complaint on the NS forum about her nation being a "Father Knows Best" state, claiming that in fact, "Mother knows best". NationStates admin [violet] then changed the game code so that any nation previously in the "Father Knows Best State" category, with a nation pre-title of "Queendom" or "Matriarchy" becomes a "Mother Knows Best State".

Love is in the air?

A (mildly) edited transcript from #TRR reads:

Unfortunately, Wopruthien's hopes were dashed just seconds later:

Wopruthien was later spotted crying in a corner, listening to REM's "Everybody Hurts".

That concludes this update from The Rejected Realms. We'll be back soon with news on such important issues as the delegacy, the setting up of a government, and Wopruthien's unrequited love for CG.

Elections Over!

The elections for the position of Delegate of The Rejected Realms have finally concluded, with Naivetry being elected as delegate. The election was contested by Naivetry and Biblical Importance, with much debate happening about the future of the region. Results were as follows:

Total eligible voters: 23
Total votes cast: 18

How the votes were cast:
Naivetry - 12
Biblical Importance - 2
Abstain - 4

Government?

With the elections over, TRR is expected to move on to sorting out a government for the region, as well as a set of laws to establish how the region operates. More on this (hopefully) in the next update.

Quote of the month

Marriage

Two residents of TRR are to be married later this month - Whamabama and CrazyGirl. This will take place at 11pm GMT on Sunday 23rd January, at #TheWeddingChapel on irc.esper.net . Further information can be found here.

IRC

#TRR has been as busy as ever, with debate on such topics as squirrels, marriage and cooking CrazyGirl on the BBQ. Feel free to join in the madness - we don't bite.

#Gameplay is a newly established channel on esper.net , set up by CrazyGirl in an attempt to bring together gameplayers from across NationStates. This paragraph is a shameless plug for it :P

Other Stuff

• Anur-Sanur decided to participate in the elections (and not as a candidate).
• TRR had a special Christmas theme for the forums for a couple of weeks, including special ranks such as Reindeer, Snowman and Elf. However, this has now been disabled, so you'll have to wait until next year to see it again.
• We still haven't decided on a regional song. This could be connected to the fact that CG was supposed to be organising the vote.

Government

Discussions on a government progressed rapidly, with general consensus amongst members on how it'll be structured. Things have since stalled slightly, since no-one particularly wants to do the next step and actually draft a constitution. Hopefully we'll stop being lazy and get that done by the time the next update is out. The intention is to keep things fairly simple, and to not tie ourselves up in laws. The discussion can be found here.

Foreign Affairs

The Foreign Affairs Department has been working hard, recently opening an embassy with The South Pacific, bringing our total number of embassies up to 20.

Anur-Sanur

Well-known troublemaker Anur-Sanur had a slight meltdown, with it eventually being revealed that he was working with NeeNee (Pristine Angel) on her plans to take over the region. The two fell-out, and TRR residents have been enjoying the various chat-logs posted on the forums since.

Manetheren River

Slightly less well-known troublemaker Manetheren River turned up on the forum, wrote several walls-of-text complaints about the leadership of the region, and now seems to have decided to leave. Late Addition: Biyah confessed that he was Manetheren River. Life in TRR is never boring....

The Rejected Realms Army

The RRA has been busy ensuring the security of the region, and is keeping a close eye on the various endo-swappers sitting in TRR. If you want to help out, it's currently looking for intel operatives.

Lolcats

The following conversation prompted a flurry of TRR lolcats to be made:

Later on...

There are now over 30 lolcats of TRR members in this thread.

Whampire

It was revealed on #TRR that Whamabama is actually a Twilight vampire:

Werewolves in the vicinity are advised to take caution.

Other Stuff

• A "Dear CG" thread has been started here. Those in need of advice may find it helpful. Alternatively, they may not.
• CrazyGirl decided to set up a Cult of Naivetry on the forums, with Biyah as Head Priest. Feel free to leave her offerings.
• Wham recently died on IRC, and was given the kiss of life by Sedge. He was last seen with a loaded shotgun, looking for revenge.
• CrazyGirl had to be comforted on IRC after watching a particularly scary movie. Apparently the death scene in Bambi caused her to burst into tears and hide behind her sofa.
• If this update isn't funny enough for you, this should make you laugh.

Sedge heeft een nieuwe update geschreven (eindelijk.. :P )

<_<

Hey, an NS moderator posting here *starts polishing banhammer* :devil:



:P

No fair! :(

Yes, yes, it's indeed time you start learning some Dutch :P. It's very difficult, so let me get you started on some words:

English -> Dutch:
"Computer" -> "Computer"
"Forum" -> "Forum"
"Media" -> "Media"
"Update" -> "Update"

These are especially tricky:
"Welcome" -> "Welkom"
"Apple" -> "Appel"
"Confederation" -> "Confederatie"
"Ambassador" -> "Ambassadeur"
"Formal" -> "Formeel"
"Position" -> "Positie"
"Moderator" -> "Handtas"

So, as you can see, the English language has borrowed many words from the Dutch language. (certain evil tongues claim it's the other way around, but that's heresy I say. Heresy!)

Ballotonia

I'm tempted to keep using google translate - I'm not sure I trust you as a teacher... especially with that last one... :P

En hier de nieuwste update, geschreven door Sedge:



Update No. 6, April 2011

Officer Elections Over

The Rejected Realms now has a government, with the successful conclusion of Officer elections. At the time of our last update, just Sedge was running, but in the days afterwards, Unibot, Biyah and Dalimbar all threw their hats in the ring and joined in the race. With four candidates, and four vacant positions, it was little surprise to see all four confirmed as Officers. Delegate Naivetry allowed the Officers to pick their roles, resulting in the following government line-up:

• Naivetry (delegate)
• Sedge (foreign affairs)
• Unibot (mobilisation)
• Biyah (domestic affairs)
• Dalimbar (media)

The Officers have been hard at work since taking up their positions.

TRR Roleplay

Defying its status as a gameplay region, The Rejected Realms now has a 1984 themed roleplay going on, run by Biyah. This has already attracted a number of posters, and the infamous Cult of Naivetry has been assigned to the roleplay section too.

Media

Media Officer Dalimbar has been busy setting up newspapers. The Rejected Times is the highbrow newspaper, covering serious events within the region and the NationStates world. The Mop and Pail is our trashy tabloid, and the first edition can be read here. The NS Crossfire IRC debates of 2009 have been revived, and will be starting again shortly.

Mobilisation

Unibot has been contacting new members of The Rejected Realms in order to get them active on the forums. This has already proved successful, with several new registrants on the RR forums. We hope to see even more in the future.

Sedge Condemned

As retaliation for Commend Crazy girl, CG wrote, submitted, and campaigned for the WA Security Council proposal 'Condemn Sedgistan', which passed by a significant majority, resulting in Sedge being the first person in NationStates to be both Commended and Condemned. Work will start shortly on Liberating him...

Crazy girl modded!

Yep, that's a pig you see flying past your window. Crazy girl has now joined fellow Rejected Realms resident Sedgistan on the ebil NationStates mod team. Rumours that this was done to stop CG posting her 'I want my magic powahs!" threads have been strenuously, if unconvincingly, denied.

IRC log of the month

All that other stuff that I can't quite be bothered to write more than a sentence about

• Sedge was recently lynched for uploading a Twilight theme on the forum for April 1st. Apparently Whamabama led this, after learning his account was re-named 'Whampire' for the day.
• WANTED! More of these posters, please...
• A new thread, Blame Sedge was started, with participants invited to say what they blame sedge for. Unfortunately the thread veered off-topic, with some posters deciding to blame Wopruthien instead. Sedge has been blamed for this threadjack.

Update No. 7, May 2011

Statement on events within The South Pacific

The Rejected Realms decided not to intervene during Devonitian's recent coup in The South Pacific, believing that the people of The South Pacific should have the right to choose their own delegate. We were deeply disturbed to find that the ousted government of The South Pacific did not share our conviction. Instead of relying upon the endorsements of TSP natives, Southern Bellz and other members of TSP's forums called on their personal friends from outside regions such as Qwendra and on the assistance of the FRA in their attempt to regain power.

While we do not approve of Devonitian's use of post suppression and banjection to silence opposition, neither can we excuse the sense of entitlement to power demonstrated by Southern Bellz and her government. Tradition alone does not give any group of nations the right to control the delegacy of a feeder. That right - that privilege - belong only to those communities who actively work to foster growth in NationStates.

The government of TSP cannot claim to be such a community. On Oct. 29, 2010, The Rejected Realms requested an embassy with The South Pacific. Our request was approved on Feb. 7, 2011 after numerous inquiries from our officials; but in the months since we have heard nothing from The South Pacific either in our embassy or theirs - no acknowledgment of our updates, and not even a request for aid during Devonitian's coup.

This silence is only one example of basic dysfunction within the putative government of TSP. Southern Bellz's loss of the delegacy was not the failure of an individual, but of a government system fatally disconnected from the region it was meant to serve. Instead of directing their energies towards caring for and connecting with the nations of their region or even with other regions in NationStates, members of The South Pacific's forum turned inward, enjoying the prestige and publicity of controlling a feeder without exerting any effort to nurture community in that feeder in return. Instead of reaching out to nations in The South Pacific, forum members expected activity to come to them; it should not have come as a shock that Devonitians was happy to oblige.

When Kandarin handed over his nation to Naivetry in October 2010, TSP's delegate Southern Bellz refused to exchange embassies with The Rejected Realms (in contradiction of standing TSP policy) on the following grounds:

In relying on outside forces to prop up a delegacy lost to a native-endorsed challenger, Southern Bellz and the government she represents used an underhanded technique to ensure their continued hegemony over ordinary nations in The South Pacific, undermining gameplay and its requirements of continued activity from the delegate. By maintaining the embassy, we would be acknowledging this type of delegacy monopoly - one predicated on a refusal to engage with the natives of the region - as legitimate.

In light of recent events, therefore, The Rejected Realms has no choice but to suspend diplomatic relations with The South Pacific. Additionally, we do not at this time recognize Southern Bellz as the legitimate delegate of The South Pacific.

If the forum-based community of The South Pacific wishes to be recognized as the legitimate government of TSP, they must legitimize themselves not only to each other or to outside kingmakers such as the FRA, but to the people they claim to represent: the nations of The South Pacific. Until we are satisfied that the regional forum is no longer held aloof and isolated from the region itself, The Rejected Realms cannot recognize the forum government of TSP as the legitimate voice of the region.

We will continue to monitor the situation, and when we are satisfied that the sitting delegate, whoever that may be, has been legitimized by the community within the region itself, we will reconsider this decision. Until then, our thoughts and best wishes are with all the nations of The South Pacific.

Assembly Assembles

The Assembly of the Rejected Realms has been incredibly busy over the last month. First off, the alliance with Lazarus was modified to reflect changes within the region and NationStates over the last few years. It has now been passed by both sides, and we hope to maintain our friendship with our sister Sinker region for many more years. Following the conclusion of that debate, membership of the FRA was debated (more below), and the Assembly is currently considering such issues as votes of no confidence, introducing a Speaker to the Assembly, and allowing citizenship applications to be approved, minus voting powers, whilst elections/key legislative debates are ongoing. We will let you know the result of these discussions in our next update.

FRA membership debated

As part of the review of TRR's Foreign Affairs commitments, we held a noisy debate on retaining membership of the Founderless Regions Alliance. The Rejected Realms has been a member of the FRA since August 2007, but due to the change in membership and government, it was felt appropriate for the region to vote again on whether it wanted to retain membership. After two weeks of argument, the vote eventually finished in favour of retaining membership.

However, following this debate, the controversial actions of the FRA in The South Pacific, as well as the undiplomatic behaviour of FRA Arch Chancellor, Unibot, have led to TRR pushing for Unibot's impeachment in the FRA Regional Assembly.

Anur-Sanur revelations

The following announcement was made earlier today:

Evidence for this was provided by former TSP delegate, Devonitians, who was contacted by Anur-Sanur about unseating Kandarin (Naivetry) from the delegate position. The full statement with copies of the telegrams can be found here.

Unibot resigns, Earth challenges

Following several weeks of inactivity as Officer of Mobilisation, Unibot was challenged by new citizen (and former Europeia President) Earth22. Unibot swiftly resigned from the seat, acknowledging that he did not have time for the position. Earth22 is currently running unopposed, and has put forward several exciting plans to further increase activity within the region. It is particularly hoped that these will help to engage newer members of NationStates within the region.

Tags tags tags

Following the introduction of tags to NationStates, the Rejected Realms has been tagging itself. As well as holding the exclusive 'Sinker' tag, and the not-so-exclusive 'Founderless' and "Gargantuan" ones, we have declared ourselves as Democratic, Offsite Forums, Neutral, Game Player, Regional Government, and World Assembly. Debate is currently taking place on adding more (such as Security Council), although regional despot Naivetry is refusing to tag the region as 'Totalitarian', claiming it would reflect badly on her benevolent rule.

Media and Information department gets busy

Officer Dalimbar has appointed Oliver Dion-Grey as Moderator of NS:Crossfire and Deputy Officer of Media and Information. He will be working with Dali on planning all media releases, as well as helping to get the NS:Crossfire debates going again. Following a test run, the first proper debate was held on the events in The South Pacific, and can be read here. Ollie has already demonstrated his talent for the job by threatening to set a hamster on anyone who doesn't help out. In the meantime, the team have written well-received articles on the happenings in TSP, and the current crisis in Europeia.

TRR Roleplay commences

Biyah has been getting TRR's "1984" roleplay going, with several people having posted their nation's RP information and joining in the roleplay. Earth22 was announced as Deputy RP Mod, and is expected to get to work shortly.

Monthly IRC Highlights

Other news

• TRR now has 40 citizens, a record level, with activity at an all-time high.
• Sedge is looking for a Deputy Foreign Affairs Officer. I'm not actually advertising this to people in other regions who read this update - I'm just hoping that one of my ambassadors reads this and thinks "ooh, I could do that!"

Update No. 8, June 2011

Officer Changes

Since the previous update, the government of the Rejected Realms has seen several changes, both in personnel and duties. As was mentioned in the last one, Earth22 had challenged for the position vacated by Unibot. She was successfully elected, and has taken charge of mobilisation and internal affairs. Earth has done a significant amount of work since being elected, telegramming several hundred nations in the region to get them engaged in the community, and involved in the forums. She has been abroad for a couple of weeks with limited internet access, but will be back home (and back to work!) soon.

Biyah later resigned his Officer position, with Guy contesting the vacant position, and being elected. Guy has taken on the Foreign Affairs brief from Sedge, who has now moved to Administrative Affairs. However, RL has intervened, and Guy is currently on a leave of absence, with Sedge temporarily covering for Foreign Affairs. Late addition: Guy resigned from his position, leading Aurora to challenge for the vacancy. Guy then bizarrely returned and announced he would be challenging for the vacancy he just created.

Dalimbar has also resigned his Officer position, and departed the region. His former deputy, Oliver Dion, ran uncontested for this position, and is likely to take over Dali's old brief with a slight modification to become "Media and Entertainment".

The South Pacific and Devonitians
Written by Naivetry
As most of you know, we have recently released a statement on the identity of Devonitians, which has been posted in embassies. The fall-out from the coup, the revelation that Sedge was Devonitians, and the manner of Biyah and Dali revealing this, have dominated our attention for the last month, with over 200 posts on those topics either in public or in the private citizens' area. Several of our citizens have also been active in discussions abroad - e.g. in The South Pacific, in 10000 Islands (1), in 10000 Islands (2), and on the official forums in the revelation thread, in our embassy, and in discussions around an opinion piece by Oliver.

Meanwhile, we have been happy to greet visitors from TSP such as LadyRebels, Topid/Daynor, and Belschaft (now also a TRR citizen) on our forums. During the recent unendorsement campaign run by puppet nations to overthrow Daynor, we quickly noticed that the "evidence" (poorly-faked screenshots) of electoral corruption in TSP had been manufactured. Naivetry visited TRR's old embassy in TSP to continue positive dialog between our regions, as well as to clarify our disapproval of the puppeteer and offer TRR's assistance. While the ejection of Californiaaaaaa was regrettable, it was also necessary, and we have been happy to note that TSP has been calmer but still active since.

Citizens

The Rejected Realms currently has 48 citizens, a stunning achievement considering the state of the region last year. This growth in active members has shown no signs of slowing down recently.

There has been some controversy over Biyah's resignation of citizenship, and subsequent re-application. No decision has been taken at the moment on this application, which has led to discussion on putting a time-limit on the mandatory security checks that applicants undergo.

Former citizen Secretary of Ni departed the region after challenging for the Officer position vacated by Guy. When questioned why he had registered on the forum with a throwaway email address, didn't have a WA nation, and hadn't logged into NS nation since being founded and moving straight to TRR, he departed in a not-at-all suspicious way.

Founderless Regions Alliance

The Rejected Realms recently pushed for the impeachment of Unibot, the former Arch Chancellor of the FRA. Whilst this measure failed, he subsequently resigned due to the loss of confidence in him from Assembly members and his Cabinet. Another issue we have had with the FRA, the "Rogue Delegate Policy" has been resolved by the FRA Assembly changing its policy on feeder and sinker affairs. We look forward to continuing to enjoy the benefits of FRA membership.

Rejected Realms Army re-started

The RRA was temporarily shut down for a couple of months earlier in the year, due to a lack of activity. However, it has now been re-started under Commanders Guy and Wopruthien, with the latter also heading up the RRA Intel Department. The RRA has already been out defending regions across NationStates from the threat of invasion.

IRC Stuff

For once, our quotes are not lewd:

Other News

• Anur-Sanur decided not to appeal the removal of his citizenship.
• We have re-opened our embassy with Warzone Airspace, and accepted an embassy request from Imperial Clindean Order. 10000 Islands and Wysteria have closed their embassies with us.
• The debates on legislating for a Speaker, and introducing Votes of No Confidence have stalled, with the Assembly focusing its attention elsewhere.
• Sedge is recording some data from the daily World Census Reports, including the top/bottom 10 for each rank, as well as other regional/world statistics.
• Anyone who wants to ogle the beautiful people of The Rejected realms, can do so in our Photo Album.
• As ever, we can be found at: s8.zetaboards.com/The_RR_and_RRA

Update No. 9, July 2011

Naivetry announces resignation

The Rejected Realms Delegate Naivetry, has announced that she is standing down from the position. The following is an excerpt from her speech:

Delegate Elections

Following her resignation, elections have commenced, with Sedge, Guy, John Ashcroft Land and Wabbistlayah announcing their candidacy (the latter withdrawing later on). Campaigning is underway, with the following manifestos having been posted:

• Sedge - here or here.
• Guy - here.
• John Ashcroft Land - here.

(Note: most are in the Citizens' Private Forum)

Voting starts on the 31st July, and lasts for a week.

Officer changes

Oliver Dion was elected an Officer, and took over the Media and Entertainment brief. However, he then resigned from his position, which is currently vacant. Guy was running against Aurora in another Officer election, but chose to pull out at the last moment, to concentrate on his run for the Delegacy. Aurora was therefore elected as an Officer, and is taking charge of Foreign Affairs.

A slight reshuffle of duties resulted in Sedge being tasked with writing updates, while Aurora gains responsibility for managing the affairs of the Assembly.

Assembly debates

The Assembly has seen several heated arguments, mostly focused around the suggested creation of an invader military in the region. There has also been discussion of the status of the Rejected Realms Army, with some claiming that it does not fall under the control of the Assembly or Constitution, and others arguing the opposite. Additionally, membership of the FRA was raised yet again, this time by Tikal. Unibot also posted a thread on punishing Sedge and CrazyGirl for their involvement in the coup in The South Pacific back in May, with the thread rapidly filling up with the "beating a dead horse" emoticon.

Citizenship issues

Biyah's application for citizenship was eventually rejected by the admins on security grounds, after a wait of several weeks. He decided to appeal this decision, with the appeal being rejected by the Assembly.

Belschaft's citizenship was removed after it was discovered that he was lobbying the FRA to invoke sanctions against The Rejected Realms. Following an eventual clarification that he was only looking for Sedge and CrazyGirl to be punished, the decision to revoke his citizenship was reversed.

Govindia applied for citizenship, a decision which was met with much unhappiness from members of the region. Following a delay of a few days, his application was rejected on the grounds that he was believed to be a threat to the security of the community. This decision was appealed, with the appeal being rejected by the Assembly - with no citizens voting to approve the appeal.

Anur-Sanur

The broken record of the Rejected Realms is still spinning, with Anur-Sanur attempting to use the citizenship controversies to stir up trouble. This approach failed, when Biyah went public about it. In the last couple of days, Anur-Sanur has threatened an un-endorsement campaign against any delegate who supports an invader military being established in the region.

Other news

• We have opened an embassy with Taijitu, even though they are ebil invaders who briefly took over the region a few years ago.
• The Harry Potter Extravaganza is winding down after a successful few weeks.
• Upon realising that we had far too many hilarious IRC quotes to immortalise in our updates, Naivetry started an IRC moment thread, which is rapidly filling up.
• The BBQ & Grill has seen several random threads, on issues ranging from pokémon to Selena Gomez.
• The "Abbey is a cat" meme spread rapidly around the irc channel/forum, until it was stamped out by her posting an I am not a cat! thread.
• Sedge became the number 1 poster, leading the (inevitable) accusations that he is a spammer - which have been strenuously denied.
• Harmoneia has been beating up people on irc with a trout. PETA are said to be looking for her.

---

Sorry for chopping it in two - the update was too long for Invisionfree.

Update No. 10, August 2011

Sedge elected Delegate

The Rejected Realms concluded its delegate elections, with the announcement on August 8th that Sedge had won. Voting was close until the end, with rival candidate Guy finishing 4 votes behind. John Ashcroft Land, who had shaken up the race early on, with his radical manifesto, ultimately dropped out shortly after voting started, leaving the contest a two-horse race.

With the nation Kandarin permanently departing the delegate spot for the first time in 8 years, several outsiders decided to take advantage, and started endo-swapping in the region. While many of them remain at large in the region, they were ultimately unsuccessful, with Sedgistan ascending to the delegate position in-game on the 15th.

One of Sedge's first acts was to appoint three Vice Delegates - CrazyGirl, Spartan Termopylae, and Zyonn, to help keep the region secure, and to assist with his duties. As well as that, he has promised fortnightly reports on the actions of the government, to help keep citizens informed.

Officer changes

As is traditional in The Rejected Realms, there have been several changes to the Officers. Earth resigned for RL reasons, Whamabama was elected as an Officer, and takes charge of Media & Communications, while Aurora has moved sideways to Culture. Elections are currently taking place for the remaining two seats, with Tupelope, CrazyGirl, Chek, Mahaj and Tortallcopperisles the current candidates.

Assembly restructured

While TRR's Assembly has worked as a brilliant recruiting tool, with people applying for citizenship due to their curiosity about the contents of the forum, it was eventually decided to favour transparency, and open up the majority of the forum to public viewing. This can now be seen here. There is still a private section of the forum, where all the really interesting discussions take place.

In addition, the position of Speaker has been created, with Guy writing the legislation for this, and also being the only candidate for the position. As a result, the organisation of the Assembly's affairs will be taken out of the hands of the government.

Rejected Realms Army revitalised

The RRA saw changes too, as Cocodian was appointed a Commander. With the security issues the region has faced due to the presence of endo-swappers, it has been active with defending the region, collecting intel, and deploying to assist other regions.

A small Constitutional amendment also meant that RRA members who are citizens are no longer excluded from the requirement to keep a nation in the region at all times.

Citizenship issues

Evil Wolf had his application for citizenship turned down, on the grounds that he was joining solely to represent outside interests - namely to promote Lone Wolves United's "Scardino Pact", and because he had got several citizens to leak the contents of the Assembly forum. He appealed this rejection, and the Assembly voted in favour of the appeal.

Tikal's citizenship was revoked, due to the belief that she is "Rejected Redeemer", a nation endo-swapping in TRR, and carrying out an un-endorsement campaign against Sedgistan, as well as the suspicion that she leaked information to Evil Wolf. She has appealed this decision, which is currently being voted on.

IRC quote of the month

August sees the return of everyone's favourite part of the update:

Other stuff

• Much loved citizen Abbey is stepping back from active involvement in NationStates. Her presence on the forums and irc channel will be missed.
• Despite Naivetry's retirement, the Cult of Nai is going strong. Visit now to leave an offering and embarrass Nai.
• The embassy with Europe is being closed due to a lack of interest in continuing relations from their side.
• TRR's RMB has been visited by a very annoying "Rich Chinese Businessmen".
• The BBQ & Grill is now host to a fascinating discussion on whether women find cowboy hats attractive.

Update No. 11, September 2011

With CrazyGirl becoming the Foreign Affairs Officer, it was expected that she would be writing this update instead of Sedge, for the first time since our updates started. However, she decided to test an old theory by setting up an infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of typewriters, to see if they could write an update that was as good as Sedge's. Unfortunately, she could only find one monkey and one typewriter. This is what it wrote:

Officer Elections

As ever, The Rejected Realms has seen changes in its Officer line-up, with CrazyGirl, Mahaj, and Christian Democrats elected. CrazyGirl took over the Foreign Affairs briefing, while Mahaj and Christian Democrats are sharing Internal Affairs and Culture. The region has now enjoyed two consecutive weeks with a full line-up of Officers, a near-unprecedented situation.

CrazyGirl has overhauled the Foreign Affairs team, recruiting new ambassadors, re-assigning embassies, and requiring ambassadors to get more involved with the regions they are assigned to, rather than just posting updates. This change will be seen over the coming weeks, as the ambassador corps continues to expand. In addition, TRR's representatives to the FRA Regional Assembly are being reviewed, with one change already made.

Mahaj and Christian Democrats have overseen the creation of a Mentor scheme to help newcomers to the region, as well as setting up telegram campaigns, both to welcome new nations, and to boost the Delegate's endorsement count. A themed avatar competition has been set up, and planning is underway for a TRR Awards Ceremony.

Officers are now required to write fortnightly reports, which the Delegate compiles into a Government report. While these reports have been much read, apparently they are too intimidating for anyone to want to reply.

Assembly Activity

With Guy elected as Speaker, the Assembly has been discussing a number of issues, including requiring higher voting thresholds for treaties, and setting out in the Constitution the mechanism for declaring war, which briefly went off on a tangent about the RRA's status in the region. Following that recurring debate resurfacing, it is surely only a matter of time before someone suggests we reconsider our FRA membership...

Europeia Treaty - nearly

The Foreign Affairs team negotiated a treaty of friendship with Europeia that was all set to be approved by both sides, until The New Inquisition intervened (nobody expected them) to say that it'd conflict with Europeia's alliance with them. As a result, the treaty was dropped by Europeia, leaving TRR looking elsewhere for potential allies. TRR is still hoping to work with Europeia on various issues, though, and it is hoped that one day we'll be able to have an alliance with them.

Squiptare

TRR's RMB was recently visited by Squiptare, rumoured to be the successor to the Rich Chinese Businessmen from the previous update. He attempted to run for Delegate, but seemed unable to sign up for citizenship and make a proper challenge. His posts on the RMB became more and more annoying, leading to the eventual suppressing of a list of Chuck Norris jokes. This resulted in Squiptare leaving the region to challenge for Europe's delegacy, before moving on just minutes later to do the same in Absolution.

IRC quote of the month

Earth22 turned up on IRC extremely drunk, much to the amusement of everyone else. The entire conversation is too long to post, so here's a sample:

The full conversation can be read here.

That other random stuff we put at the end, as no-one wants to write an entire paragraph on it

• The Rejected Realms now has over 60 citizens, with a recent influx of World Assembly authors, who have been engaging in our debates on WA proposals.
• Old-timer and RRA Veteran Getters has returned to shake things up.
• The Rooftop Poolroom has been cleared out, and is open for business again.
• A new Arts forum, Like or Dislike was established at the request of Spartan Termopylae.

Update No. 13, August 2012

So apparently we haven't been writing these updates so frequently. The last one came out in February, and the one before that was written by me (yes, me) in September 2011. Crazy. So I've decided to show people just how easy it is to write one of these, despite barely having any involvement in the region at all. Hopefully it'll encourage them to write updates for you every month. More likely, it'll result in people begging me to write them every month. Still, it's worth a try.

Activity

Okay, activity in The Rejected Realms has been a little lower these last few months. We're no longer the "happening" region, causing all the trouble around NationStates. We've grown up a little, particularly around the midriff, and can often be found pottering around in the back garden, pruning the wysteria and listening to Neil Diamond.

If you've read this far, congratulations. I'll start talking about NationStates stuff now. Whamabama (Collector of Souls) remains Delegate, despite weekly challenges from Christian Democrats (a slight exaggeration, but that's nothing out of the ordinary for us). The Officers are probably very busy doing lots of stuff that means they don't have time for updates. Apparently, welcome telegrams are being sent out to new residents, which may or may not result in more people on the forums.

I should probably mention that at some point a while back, we were invaded by The New Inquisition. You'd forgotten about that? Yes, that's not a surprise.

Scrapping the Constitution

We're not actually scrapping the Constitution. It just makes a good headline. We have a thread by that name in the Assembly, which has devolved into discussion of anything and everything about the region. Lots of good ideas have come out of it, such as the revelatory suggestion that we should "actually do stuff". So here we are, doing stuff. Happy?

Various interesting things we might be doing soon

This is not quite the "everything else" section, but we're nearly there. TRR may be adopting a Mayan theme in the near future*, providing someone organises it. Additionally, we may be participating in war games with the other sinkers. TSP's military has been placed on red alert...

* Upon reading this section, Christian Democrats gave me puppy dog eyes until I added in a mention that he came up with the idea. For the sake of the poor blind puppies, I've edited it.

The Peanut Gallery

After months of lobbying, a petition containing thousands of signatures (where did all those come from?) and a near-revolt, the admins have finally bowed to public pressure, and created a forum for discussion of real-world issues. Yes, the stuff that happens outside your window. Take a look out there now. Scary, isn't it?

This forum is just being trialed, until the admins (who are also NationStates mods Crazy girl and Sedgistan) are assured that they won't be modding another NSG-type forum.

Citizenship Council

This happened a long time ago, but no-one mentioned it to you before. We changed the citizenship process last year, so that the admins were no longer responsible for processing citizenship applications. Instead, a Council consisting of Thought Transference, Whamabama, and Abbey Anumia was set up to do this job. It's rather dull work, and I don't have any jokes to make about it. Sorry.

Thought Transference interceded to say that actually he enjoys the work, but then his forum avatar is Plato, which tells you all you need to know. Exactly.

IRC quote of the month

This regular feature has had to be abandoned, since it's more like "IRC quote of the year". And there are so many entries, that if we included them all, this update would stretch around the circumference of the Earth* five times. You can rest assured that Mahaj probably said something silly, and there was plenty of innuendo.

* That's the planet, not our Speaker of the Assembly. She's a little smaller.

That other random stuff we put at the end

• Sedge is still being blamed for everything. Given this update, it seems fair.
• The Rejected Realms Army remains in existence. It also still defends. Woo.
• The admins have a policy on IPs. It isn't very interesting, and I only included this sentence to pad out the update. This is pure filler.
• You may or may not actually receive this update. Since we haven't been writing them, no-one has been posting them. It could be that we have no ambassadors left. Either way, you'll find out soon enough. Or not.
• I have been forced at gunpoint to add that TRR is now hosting a boat race! Don't ask me how that works - read about it here.

Update no. 14, November 2012

New Officer!

This is the reason why you are reading this update, our first in three months.
After some attempts to nag Sedge into writing yet another update, Frattastan announced his intention to do it himself and challenged for the fourth Officer seat, that had been occupied by Vacant since May 18. The decision was met with composed displays of approval, mostly.

Whether Frattastan will be able to meet the standards of enthusiasm and activity of his predecessor, or the infamous Curse of the Officers will make another victim, you will find out by the next update. Maybe.
After the end of the vote, the freshly-elected Officer has been assigned to the Foreign Affairs department, replacing Guy - who has quietly dropped out of NS involvement, a mere eleven months after announcing his retirement. Guess Vacant will have another chance, after all.

Delegate Challenge

Then-Citizen Apollo chose to be ambitious and challenged the sitting Delegate, Wham/Collector of Souls.
The election platform of the challenger was most convincing and firmly persuaded the Citizenry to ... suggest he run for another government position first. Having failed to gain the (constitutionally-required) support of at least two other citizens, no vote took place.
Apollo has since then vanished, failing to respond to any of the questions raised regarding his experience and commitment to the region and finally departing the RR, moving on to shadier endeavours. Namely, authoring Security Council proposals.

Amendment to the PSSP

Following a few controversial events there had been pressing demands to ensure a better enforcement of the Pan-Sinker Security Pact. Finally an amendment has been passed and now violators (individuals) of the Pact can lose citizenship in all the signatories of the treaty and regions that fail to comply with the treaty provisions can be expelled on unanimous decision of the other signatories.

WA voting policy

This paragraph was going to be filled with our voting record of recent World Assembly proposals but well, Christian Democrats found out that *no vote* has been cast (at the time of the writing) on the last four resolutions.
However, we took this opportunity to open a thread in the Assembly and re-discuss the regional WA voting policy.
Currently citizens and regional residents are consulted on each proposal and WA authors are welcome to lobby the Delegate to vote in a certain way, but in the end the decision remains discretionary (even if Delegates have generally committed themselves to follow the opinion prevalent among the citizenry).
So far proposed changes include: force the Delegate to vote according to the will expressed by the citizen in a forum vote, force the Delegate to vote according to the majority will of the WA residents of the region, keeping the status quo, various hybrid systems.
The debate can be seen here.

Everything else

• The Great RR Ocean Race ended with Almonaster (from Canada) taking the first spot, closely followed by Tim. Fratt arrived last. Ha!
• The Peanut Gallery, a subforum to debate real-world issues, has seen little use since being opened in August.
  Once again we blame our beloved admin team, who apparently scared everyone from posting by saying that the Gallery was "on trial" and would be kept only if people behaved.
• It is widely agreed that forum member God-Emperor should get an avatar. Or stop posting here.

IRC quote of the month

Approximately twelve hours ago, Milograd, sitting Delegate of The South Pacific, went rogue, removing the link to the community forum, requesting foreign military assistance and launching a purge of several hundred nations against the region.

Beyond the hollow rhetoric, Milograd's actions lack any direction whatsoever outside that of betraying the trust of those same institutions which had elected him and causing needless grief with the displacement of four hundred native nations.

The Rejected Realms cannot accept the rule of a delegate, Milograd, who seems to consider an entire feeder region as a playground for power abuse. We pledge diplomatic and RRA support to ensure a speedy restoration of the legitimate government.

Frattastan
World Assembly Delegate, the Rejected Realms