Embassy - Wintreath

[Deleted]

Official Invitation to Wintreath's Summersend Festival!


This guy's celebrating. Why don't you?

Even in the land of eternal winter, summer gives a small portion of our region a peek of sun and warmth, drawing people from everywhere in the name of summer fun and relaxation. Before this short time ends and the autumn wind heralds the changing of the seasons, we would like to share some of that fun with you in a grand celebration: The Summersend Festival! Beginning on August 14th and ending on August 23rd, the Summersend Festival will have something for everybody! Expect games and events, shops and stalls, social areas and icebreakers, and of course a taste of our regional hospitality! The festival will be held on our forums, and you are welcome to join us!

Summer is a time for fun with friends like you. We hope you'll stop by and enjoy the festivities!

[Deleted]

Hey there everyone, Pengu here with an announcement from our super special host of Werewolf VI: Chesty!

Hello there potential Super best friends! Chesty here to say hello and hope that you'll take part in a super special game of werewolf, where everyone will compete to be Chesty's Ultra Super Special Best Friend of All Time! For this game, my new potential super best friends will decide how the game goes, right down to deciding who will be fighting who...or what! You should come on down and join in some of the glorious carnage so that you can be my new super best friend and even get a special medal! Oh...and I love to kill people...I hope that's alright?

You heard it there from Chesty folks, this game should prove to be quite interesting since the players themselves will choose how it will go right down to the last detail. It's Werewolf VI: Choose your Own Werewolf! I hope you'll stop by the signups thread (found here) and take part! Signups will close on February 9th. I hope to see you there!

[Deleted]

The Frozen Realm of Wintreath
The Monthly Report - February 2016
Site: wintreath.com

This is the monthly report
Gives you the long and the short
Every grunt, roar, and snort
Not a tale we distort
On the monthly report

The Monthly Report is a new publication meant to give our residents, Citizens, and friends a snapshot of the current state of the region and all the recent events that have went on over the past month. It's meant to be a quick and easy read, to supplement our other publications, The Frozen Realm Record (internal) and The Orendi (external). We hope you will find this report informative and interesting! The Monthly Report was inspired by the 10000 Islands Monthly Emissary Update.

Demographics and Activity
As of 1 February 2016
Nations: 484
Citizens: 98
Delegate Endorsements: 52
January Avatar of the Month: Star Wars
January Game of the Month: Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius
December Wintreath's Finest: Laurentus
2015 Wintreath's Finest: Laurentus

Government
The Monarchy (Executive)
Monarch: Wintermoot
Prince: Chanku
Jarls: Pengu (Culture), Chanku (Defense), Wintermoot (Foreign Affairs), HannahB (Information), Point Breeze (Integration), Reon (WA Affairs)
Thanes: Sapphiron (Culture), Reon (Culture), Point Breeze (WA Affairs)

The Storting (Legislature)
Underhusen Speaker: Sapphiron
Underhusen Skrifa: taulover, HannahB, Laurentus, Barnes, BraveSirRobin

Overhusen Chairman: Wuufu
Overhusen Peers: Wintermoot, Joshua Bluteisen, Colberius X

January Message Activity
January Forum Posts: 3,396 (+185% from January 2015)
January Forum Topics: 94 (+24% from January 2015)
January RMB Posts: 190 (+129% from January 2015)

January Top Ten Topics
10. Regional Civilization V Games - 66 posts
9. Count to 1000 - 84 posts
8. Count to 2000 - 109 posts
7. From the Ashes: A Galactic Nations RP! (OOC) - 128 posts
6. Last Letter Game - 151 posts
5. Frostbite Tavern - 151 posts
4. Say What's On Your Mind - 167 posts
3. Word Association - 184 posts
2. Guess who will post next! - 193 posts
1. Double Post Game (Round 4) - 778 posts

January Top Ten Posters
10. Chanku - 136 posts
9. xXTheHydraXx - 146 posts
8. tatte - 156 posts
7. North - 186 posts
6. Sapphiron - 216 posts
5. BraveSirRobin - 216 posts
4. Wintermoot - 293 posts
3. Rasdanation - 297 posts
2. taulover - 302 posts
1. Govindia - 478 posts

Regional News
1 January - Citizen Gerrick wins the December 2015 Recruitment Contest
1 January - The Storting Passes the Wessreich Paragon Act
3 January - The Keepers of the Call, Wintreath's recruitment guild, is founded!
10 January - Citizen North makes a generous donation
14 January - Citizen Hugsim wins Wintreath's first "Programmeringstävling" with his entry, United in Love
16-29 January - The Skydande Vakt provides endorsements support to our allies in The Rejected Realms
22 January - Chairman Wuufu joins the IRC Chat Op Team
29 January - The Skydande Vakt provides endorsement support to A World Power

January Recruitment
Manual Telegrams Sent: 9611
Manual Recruited Nations: 90
Manual Average Success Rate: 0.94%

Top Recruiters
Wintermoot - 7673 telegrams
Gerrick - 1871 telegrams
RedRevenant/Sci - 37 telegrams
xXTheHydraXx - 30 telegrams

[Paffnia]

Thanks for the update, @tredania!

[Deleted]

Greetings citizens of 10KI!

After the shocking success of our previous Werewolf game, we're inviting all our friends to the next one, and for the first time, it will be co-hosted by one of our Thanes of Culture, Laurentus, and our Jarl of Integration, Point Breeze! We could go on to explain what the theme will be, but we are of the belief that the premise will be a dead-giveaway.

A LONG TIME AGO, IN A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY.

It is a time of peace and prosperity in the Galactic Republic. The Jedi Order is firm in their belief that democracy has been secured, even amid all the conflicts that occasionally arise.

On a small garden world named Nika, events are unfolding that deeply disturb the handful of Jedi sent to investigate when contact is lost with the only large settlement known as Hatfield, and the distress beacon is activated. It is well known that the settlement lies on a recently-awakened volcano, and that the power estimated to be released when the volcano goes off will be more than enough to destroy the massive city. If this is what happened, however, why didn't the seismic detectors alert the settlers to the danger, and how could someone have activated the distress beacon?

Meanwhile, the long-dormant Brotherhood of Darkness await the arrival of the hated Jedi, and prepare to strike a blow that will change the course of galactic history.

We hope to see a lot of new faces there, and we even have a fully-functioning X-Wing starfighter up for grabs to the winners. The only catch is that you'll have to be encased in Carbonite for a few thousand years so we can build it. Just remember to sign up before 31 March, or you will be thrown to a Rancor

[Louisistan]

Wow that is cool! Thanks for the invitation @tredania!

[Deleted]

I'll be posting my first report on 1st of June. Just trying to iron things out first.

[Deleted]

The Monarchy of Wintreath
Spring 2016 State of the Region Address



Good evening regionmates, Citizens, and friends across NationStates,

As we spring into summer here in Wintreath, we have many things to be proud of...record-breaking activity, our first Werewolf game to go over 1000 posts, the establishment of the Wintreath Academy, and a new treaty with our friends in International Northwestern Union, just to name a few. More importantly, we are everything I envisioned and hoped we would be when I founded this region...a strong community of wonderful people, a region of fun things to get involved in, and a place of openness and warmth where people can come together, get to know each other, and become friends. That's what makes our region so great and that's what makes this region continue to matter.

It goes without saying that I believe Wintreath is one of the best places to be a part of, and there in nowhere else that I'd rather be as a person and as a leader. It amazes that that even two and a half years after I founded this region, there always seems to be new things to do, new opportunities to discover, new directions to consider, and new reasons to put my all into this place. I know that I'm a very lucky person to continue to have the support of this amazing community, and it's something I appreciate every day. I also appreciate our friends from outside the region, from our treaty partners to the more than 30 regions we have relations with to the many tourists that come to enjoy our games and festivals.

We've made so much progress in the last six months...the question is, where do we go from here? I don't think we need to go far. We're already everything I hoped that we would be when I founded Wintreath. All we need to do is build on what we've already built to become a bustling, buzzing region, where people come to experience our warmth and hospitality, to take part in exciting and fun events, and to become part of something that's very special, which I think we already happen to be.

To chart that course, the first thing I would like to focus on is our activity as a region. In my last address, I called for the community to take the lead in building our activity, and you certainly heeded the call! We were putting in amazing numbers during months when many regions struggle, but recent events have exposed a problem: we grew tall, not wide. I hope that we continue to have so many extraordinarily active people, but we also need to continue to attract new friends to the community. That's why we've been in the midst of overhauling the entire experience in the region for new players, from modifying our recruitment to posting guides for new players to reforming our Citizenship process. We're continuing to streamline our forums so that the purpose of each is easier to understand, and hopefully soon we will be overhauling our mentoring system as well.

This is an area that the entire community can help with as well...as important as it is to attract new friends, it's just as important that they have people to engage with when they get here, and I encourage everyone to take part in keeping Wintreath a beautiful region to be active in...by welcoming new members and Citizens, by encouraging them to get involved and helping them if they need it, and by continuing to create things that people want to take part in: discussions, games, activities, opportunities, and things to do in general. The more people that help create and maintain new cultural aspects, the more variety of things we can do, and the more people that will come here and stay here.

On my end, I will also be building and developing our website to include things that I think will make Wintreath stand out from other regions. I have a lot of ideas in mind, and over the next few months I will be dedicating time to some of them...for example, the redeveloped user profiles that recently came out, and the upcoming nation and character profiles that we have discussed. I hope that the new profiles will let people better present who they are, and that character and nation profiles will boost our roleplaying chops and open the way to doing more with nations and characters. Overall, I would like us to together build things that set us apart as a region and that everyone has fun with, because we can't forget that ultimately what everyone wants in a game (even a political simulator) is to have fun!

Finally, while it's important that the community take a leading role in building the region and maintaining our community, it's important that an active Monarchy also take a role as well. Although nobody has complained about it, I have felt that as the community became more active, the Monarchy became laid-back...too laid-back. As leaders of this region, we are not doing all that we should be doing to lead the region and to support it, and for that I must apologize. We must never forget that no matter how successful the region becomes, our purpose remains the same: to serve the community, to support its endeavors, and lead the region toward things that will benefit it. If someone in our leadership is not doing that, then we have to allow someone else the opportunity to do so as part of a meritocratic society.

I have already put in place new Cabinet procedures, where at least once a month all Jarls must report to me their activities, accomplishments, and plans, along with any problems that they encountered that we need to focus on as a Cabinet. This will allow us to objectively look at what we're doing as a Cabinet, to see which ministries aren't performing up to par, and to spot problems so we can better come up with solutions to them as a team. I also want to look into better ways to recognize the people who have contributed to our region, and to take a good, hard look at our guilds, which I still believe can live up to the promise of being centers of opportunity and accomplishment for those that want to make their names known in those areas.

This is only a broad overview of what I will be focusing on in the next few months, but I hope that this overview gives you some idea of what I think the region can become and where I feel work is needed to get us there. I hope that everyone will think of what you like about Wintreath or about what you would like to see it go and work to make it happen, because there's room for us to do many things and the region will be best served if there are more people growing the region and the community in many directions. Whatever happens, I hope that I can report still greater successes for our region and our community in a few short months when we crossover from summer to autumn.

But for now, thank you. Thank you for continuing to support me as your Monarch, and for continuing to have faith in both me and my Cabinet. As I always have before, I will work hard every day to justify that faith.

May our region continue to grow and prosper,



Inric Nordrim Kestar (Wintermoot of Wintreath)
Monarch and Founder of Wintreath

[Deleted]

Before you is a coded message, created for you to solve. More information will become available if you can solve it. Good luck!

KSFFTADKG,

AE YCU HSF SFHZADK TLAG TLFD TLHT PFHDG YCUS SFKACD LHG HD FPIHGGY WATL WADTSFHTL HDZ YCU LHVF ZFBCZFZ CUS PFGGHKF. WF HSF TSYADK GCPFTLADK DFW AD CSZFS TC KAVF CUS FPIHGGAFG PCSF JUSJCGF.

TC TLHT FDZ, WF LHVF GFDT YCU H BCZFZ PFGGHKF TC FXJOHAD TLAG DFW ADATAHTAVF. WF HSF LCJADK YCU WAOO FDMCY TLAG HG WF BLHOOFDKF YCUS PADZG HDZ GTAPUOHTF YCUS TLCUKLTG. TLAG EASGT CDF AG NADZ CE H ESFFIY, GCPFTLADK DCT RUATF GC BCPJOFX. LCWFVFS CDBF FVFSY PCDTL WF WAOO IF JCGTADK HDCTLFS JUQQOF ECS YCU. TLF PFTLCZG UGFZ WAOO DCT HOWHYG IF TLF GHPF HG WLHT YCU GFF IFECSF YCU. PCSF TLHD TLHT, TLFY WAOO HOGC IF PCSF BCPJOFX CS BCDTHADADK PUOTAJOF GTFJG. WF ZAZ DCT WAGL TC CVFSWLFOP CS ZAGBCUSHKF HDYCDF ESCP JHSTABAJHTADK AD TLAG IY PHNADK AT FXTSFPFOY ZAEEABUOT IFECSF YCU LHVF IFBCPF HBBUGTCPFZ TC WLHT WAOO IF HLFHZ. TLAG PFGGHKF PHY GAPJOY IF BCZFZ, IUT HG TLF PCDTLG KC CD TLFSF WAOO IF PCSF TLHD MUGT BCZFZ TFXT HDZ YCU WAOO LHVF TC TLADN LHSZFS, IF PCSF BSFHTAVF HDZ JCGGAIOY JUGL JHGT YCUS JSFBCDBFAVFZ DCTACDG CE WLHT YCU HSF BHJHIOF CE. ZC LHVF EUD HDZ WCSN TCKFTLFS HG H SFKACD AD CSZFS TC PCVF ECSWHSZ!

AD KCCZ EHATL,
TLF ESCQFD QFIHJ CE WADTSFHTL

[Louisistan]

The person above is your counterpart - xki's emissary to wintreath

[Deleted]

Ah, gotcha. I was confused as to why someone else was posting Wintreath stuff in the embassy itself.

[Deleted]

Hello Pengu,

So I'm not required to post here. But I need to post on wintreath's forum?

[Louisistan]

Hi @coromandall ,

I think you were looking for this thread: 10000islands.proboards.com/thread/28722/wintreath-coromandallemissary
That is where we expect our emissaries to report back about the regions they've been assigned to
Also, yes, you're required to post our monthly Emissary Reports on Wintreath's forum. The next one should be out in about 14 days

If you have any more questions, PM Elite or myself

[Deleted]

Oh no, I made a report on my own and posted it on wintreath today.

[Louisistan]

Yeah, no need to do that. We have a Senator for that. Now let's stop spamming Wintreath's embassy. As I said, if you have any more questions, just PM Elite or me.

[Deleted]

Congratulations on the Delegateship, by the way. I think you make a fine delegate. ^_^

[Louisistan]

Aww, thanks Pengu

[Deleted]

Before you is ANOTHER coded message, one you may find more difficult to solve but will certainly take you places if you do! Good luck.



We're thrilled that so many regions enjoyed the last puzzle. I hope that you will enjoy this one as well.

[Deleted]

Hey there, folks! We here at Wintreath are hosting a game of Werewolf and you're invited! The theme is Mafia and the host is Wintreath's own North! If treachery, mistrust, intrigue and paranoia is your thing, I suggest professional counseling and a nice game of werewolf! So come on down and join in today! Link: wintreath.com/forums/index.php?topic=3753.0

Welcome to this thing of ours, friend. A few things you should know. First, trust no one. Everyone can and will back stab you. I mean everyone. Keep on your toes. Cops and Informants are everywhere these days, so don't let your guard down. Last, look out for number one. Survive. Everything else is just... dust in the wind, ya know? Do whatever it takes to make it. Whatever it takes.

Welcome to the family, friend.....

[Deleted]

Orendi IX
Wintreath Foreign Update 9 - Spring 2016 (I know it's late!)

Government of Wintreath

Monarch: Wintermoot
Jarl of Culture: Pengu
Jarl of Defense: Chanku
Jarl of Foreign Affairs: Wintermoot
Jarl of Integration: Vacant
Jarl of WA Affairs: Reon

---

Revocation of Govindia's Citizenship
Written by Sapphiron


^{The Storting deliberates the matter at hand.}

Within 48 hours after the announcement of the fifteenth Underhusen election results, there was a re-emergence of public discussions regarding the revocation of Govindia’s citizenship. Unlike last year, such an occurrence was hardly surprising, for it was preceded by a firm warning during the campaign period not to abuse the moderation reporting tool to report candidates “for refusing to answer campaign questions” as well as an indefinite ban from the IRC for persistent harassment (repeatedly demanding an apology and resorting to personal attacks for declining to answer his queries) against a fellow Wintrean despite repeated warnings and being placed on probation.

On the 19th of April, after much discussion amongst the members of the Storting, the revocation bill was put to a vote in the Underhusen, and passed with 4 ayes and 3 abstains. On the 20th of April, the revocation bill was presented to the Overhusen, and passed with unanimous support. With the approval of both the lower and upper legislative chamber, Govindia’s citizenship was officially revoked under Article 2.4 of the Citizenship and Demonym Act.

It should be noted that as members of a region founded on the principles of liberty, equality, freedom and compassion, the Storting recognises the revocation of citizenship as a solemn issue, and has pursued all other avenues of action. While Govindia’s less than desirable behaviour may have been unintentional, many members of the community have stepped in or at least tried to ameliorate the situation. After giving numerous second chances, it is certainly regrettable to declare that little to no visible changes have been observed, and that a citizenship revocation has been deemed to be necessary. In the words of the Overhusen Chairman Wuufu, "This is not a removal from this community in full, and shouldn't be seen as such, but instead it should give you (Govindia) the motivation to effect change."

---

Storting Passes Five-Post Citizenship Requirement
Written by Wintermoot


^{The Citizenship Integration Amendment Act will alter the path to Citizenship.}

The Storting recently passed a requirement that prospective Citizens have five posts on the regional off-site forum, including their Citizenship application, before becoming a Citizen.

The requirement was originally suggested by Wintermoot, who pointed out that nearly a third of all former Citizens had only made one post: their Citizenship application. The requirement was suggested to encourage prospective Citizens to interact with the community and get involved in the region before becoming deciding to become a Citizen, pointing out that as a region whose cultural and discussion areas are open to anyone with an account, Wintreath was better suited for this sort of requirement than many others.

On the other hand, the proposal was opposed by several Citizens, including HannahB and Chanku, who expressed concerns that the requirement could intimidate prospective Citizens who would otherwise have become involved in the community anyway. Both stated that had there been a similar requirement when they had joined, they would have been more hesitant to join to begin with.

Ultimately, after several weeks of discussion, the proposal passed the Underhusen 6-1 and then passed the Overhusen 3-1 (with one Peer not voting). During the course of the discussion, several other measures were taken to streamline the Citizenship process, including allowing the entire Cabinet to process Citizenship applications in order to allow for quicker approvals, simplifying the Citizenship form, and overhauling the regional forums to be easier to understand by new members.

---

Updates in Wintrean Government
Written by Wintermoot


^{Ch-ch-changes...}

The Storting | Elections for the lower chamber of the legislature, the Underhusen, were held during the first week of June...issues that arose for the election was the relative inactivity of the Underhusen in the previous term and the on-going Constitutional Convention for reforming the legislature which has dragged on since November. Several candidates ran non-serious campaigns, such as Crushita/Eldarion's campaign to "have Patatoism declared the official religion of Wintreath". At the conclusion of the elections, which included a three-way runoff vote, Barnes, Reux, Laurentus, tatte, and BraveSirRobin won election, defeating Chanku, xXHydraXx, and Crushita. At the same time, the Monarch saw fit to make a change the upper chamber of the legislature, the Overhusen, replacing Colberius X, who had fallen inactive, with Aragonn.

The full election announcement can be read here.

The Monarchy | The Monarchy has also made a number of changes in the Riksråd (Cabinet) and subordinate guilds, based on the Monarch's Spring State of the Region Address pledge to create a more active and contributing Cabinet.

On June 9th, the Monarch formally removed long-time Jarl of Integration Point Breeze, who had been inactive for several months. On July 5th, Point Breeze was also removed from the post of Thane of World Assembly Affairs, after his Citizenship nation ceased to exist and he could no longer serve as Vice-Delegate. Both offices remain vacant at this time, and a search is underway for someone to fill those positions, as well as the positions of guildmasters for the recruitment and mentoring guilds, which are part of the Ministry of Integration. You can read the full announcement here.

Then on July 3rd, the Monarch announced the appointment of Emoticonius as Thane of Foreign Affairs, with the responsibility for ensuring that our embassies remained active and for assisting in the creation of unique initiatives to make our embassies stand out. As you may know, Emoticionius, also known as The Church of Satan, is the person responsible behind the puzzles that have been posted in our embassies, which have proven very successful in many regions.

The Monarch also announced the Ministry of Culture's appointment of Aragonn as Guildmaster of the Roleplayers Guild, by far Wintreath's most successful and active guild. As Guildmaster, Aragonn will work to maintain and expand our roleplays, as well as take part in discussions related to roleplaying in the region. Aragonn has been involved in the guild since its creation in November 2015, and has also been involved in roleplaying in the region of New Hyperion as its Lord of Culture. You can read the full announcements here.

While there has been a noted decline in activity throughout the region and NationStates, with these changes the government of Wintreath is set to weather the storm.

---

Cipher Pol Ice
Written by Emoticonius


^{The North Pacific working around the clock to crack the Wintreath embassy code}

May 29, 2016 | Regions across NationStates discover an encrypted message within Wintreath embassies. Some Wintreath embassies are met with replies of "What?!" and "This is not clear communication." Others however decoded the message which revealed a new initiative from Wintreath. The initiative itself was conceived and proposed by Wintreath citizen Emoticonius, better known as The Church of Satan and each encryption personally assembled by him. In order to give Wintreath embassies more purpose and (inadvertently) more activity, these same embassies will be receiving monthly encryptions, puzzles if you will. This was met largely with intrigue and enthusiasm although it was also met with bewilderment and confusion in others.

June 1, 2016 | The next monthly puzzle is sent out. Drastically difficult compared to the introductory encryption, regions began working towards cracking the code and reaching the end. Several aneurysms later, New Hyperion became the first region to crack the codes and reach the end. The North Pacific and Renegade Islands Alliance would soon follow, however no other region has managed to do the same as of yet.

Here we are in July now. Last month's puzzle was only solved by a few regions. Congratulations New Hyperion (honorable mentions: taulover), Renegade Islands Alliance (honorable mentions: Tangaroa) and The North Pacific (honorable mentions: Praetor). Below is a step-by-step walkthrough of last month's puzzle, for those that would rather just see the answers:

SPOILER: Click to show

{Cheat Sheet}

This transposition cipher has each letter moved forward 123,456,789 times, a nine character number chosen because there are nine columns. The message was written to read horizontally originally, but somehow it was decrypted to read vertically, lol. It reads "On the Wintreath forum go to Summersend Hills within The Registry of Things Past and read the most recent post. The password is ALOHOMORA." The closing statement by Wintermoot contains a link to a password-protected page on the Wintreath website, www.wintreath.com/mercury which by now may not be up anymore.

It contains (or use to contain, in the future, hello future NSers!) the following binary message:

01010010 01100101 01110100 01110101 01110010 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100010 01100101 01100111 01101001 01101110 01101110 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01110111 01101000 01101001 01100011 01101000 00100000 01100011 01100001 01101110 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01100010 01100101 00100000 01101110 01100001 01101101 01100101 01100100 00101110 00100000 01001111 01101110 01101100 01111001 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01101110 00100000 01100011 01100001 01101110 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110010 01100101 01110110 01100101 01100001 01101100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101110 01100100 01100101 01101101 01101110 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00100000 01100001 01110011 00100000 01101111 01101100 01100100 00100000 01100001 01110011 00100000 01010100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01000001 01101100 01101101 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100 01111001 00100000 01011011 01110110 01101001 01101111 01101100 01100101 01110100 01011101 00101110

This translates to "Return to the beginning of that which cannot be named. Only then can you reveal the rivalry that predates The Almighty [violet]."

It's apparently not as widely known as The Church of Satan thought, but [violet] has been in NS since at least January of 2003, which you can discover if you search for [violet] in the boneyard. It will tell you the nation belonged to an administrator. [violet]'s profile on the NS forum says she's been around since 2009 and this mislead everyone. Moving on, "that which cannot be named" is a reference to the WA's predecessor, The UN, which is specifically referred to as "the bureaucracy that cannot be named" on the General Assembly's and Security Council's list of resolutions. At the beginning of the historical resolutions, the first resolution is "Fight The Axis of Evil" drafted by Maxtopia (Max Barry himself). One of Wintreath's long time citizens is Axis of Evil, also known as Joshus Bluteisen. He was the answer.

Keep an eye out for July's puzzle! It's late but it will be released and will not disappoint.

---

IRC Quote of the Season

<Laurentus>: Anyway, what were you about to say about Occam's Razor, Hannah?
<Evelynx>: we decided that osama bin laden was, under the simplest possible explanation of the available evidence
<Evelynx>: being kept prisoner in order to make an abraham lincoln, hitler, osama bin laden hybrid
<Laurentus>: Oh god. I suspected as much.

---

Thanks for reading!

[Louisistan]

Thanks for the update @tredania!

[Deleted]

As summer comes to a close, so to does the dreaded summer lull! The heat dies down
and the trees shed a few pounds in preparation for the harsh winter to come. With things
cooling down Wintreath is celebrating with the annual Summersend Festival! So come on over
and join us for Clue, Nomic, Spyfall, spam games and more! The festivities begin in just two
days but be sure to register for some of the more engaging activities ahead of time!
Everything begins in just two days so see ya there!

Schedule

August 17 - Festival opens for forum game pre-registration.

August 19 - Festival Begins.

August 28 - Festival closes. Forum games may run past this point until they reach their conclusion.

[Deleted]

The Frozen Realm of Wintreath
Invitation to Werewolf X - TWO YEAR Celebration

Greetings to our friends and partners! In celebration of TWO years of Werewolf/Mafia games in our region, I'm happy to announce that we will be hosting not one but two games for anyone that would like to join us! For more information, please see the message below from the host of our games, Pengu!

Hello to all of our friends and allies in our neighboring regions, Pengu here. It’s hard to believe that it’s already been two years since Werewolf was brought to Wintreath. In that time we’ve had some pretty great games both hosted by myself as well as other members here on Wintreath. To celebrate the occasion, Werewolf X will be split into 2 games: A special Werewolf version of Clue that I’ve been planning for a couple of months now, and a game of Werewolf based on the Batman: Arkham Knight video game with a twist – You’ll play the villains attempting to get rid of the Batman once and for all. I hope to see many of you sign up for one or both games so we can celebrate this special occasion together.

-Pengu

To sign up for one or both games, check out this topic. If you have never played Werewolf or Mafia and would like some information on how to play, this guide may help you. Like Pengu, I also hope that you can come and celebrate two years of fun games with us. =][

[Deleted]

Hello from Wintreath! We're hosting a game of Spyfall here and you're invited! If mystery, intrigue and character roleplay is your thing then come on down now! Spyfall is a simple game with very few rules to remember, First, there is a spy, second, there is a setting, usually a location or a time period, third, everyone except the spy is aware of what the location is and has also a character to role play as, last, everyone asks each other a question one at a time trying to figure out who is the spy without giving the location away! The objective of the spy is to figure out the location and the objective of everyone else is to figure out who the spy is. Simple! So come on down and sign up now!

Signup thread link: wintreath.com/forums/index.php?topic=4101

Rules and Tips: wintreath.com/forums/index.php?topic=4116

[Wintermoot]

Statement on the Vassalization of New Hyperion

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Greetings to our friends, partners, and neighbors,

After a long period of interaction that has seen our communities converge together, the Frozen Realm is happy to announce that it has accepted a proposition from New Hyperion to accept that region as a vassal state of Wintreath. This special relationship was formalized with the approval of the "Covenant of Fellowship Between New Hyperion and Wintreath" by both regions in October. It was further ceremonially established in a commendation ceremony this past weekend between Zander Cerebella, Autarch of New Hyperion, and Wintermoot, Monarch of Wintreath.

As a vassal state of Wintreath, New Hyperion will cede sovereignty and authority over foreign, military, and any other external affairs to Wintreath, and will be bound by all treaties ratified by Wintreath. In turn, Wintreath will provide diplomatic and military protection, guarantee the right of internal self-rule, and eliminate post-count requirements for their Citizens wishing to also become Citizens of Wintreath. In short, the regions will become a joint diplomatic, military, and external entity under the banner of the Monarchy of Wintreath.

This is the culmination of a relationship that began years ago during the 2014 Regional Sovereignty Conference in Lazarus, when it was noted that our regions had many similar ideas and stances on that topic. Over time, we have come to realize that our regions have many other commonalities...a desire for meritocracy, a focus on community interaction, and a community spirit of being true to ourselves. Since then, our communities have become friends and grown together, and now seek to stand together as one in solidarity. Going forward, we are excited to become ever-closer partners and see where this special relationship leads us.

Regards,
-Wintermoot
-Monarch of the Frozen Realm of Wintreath

[crushita]

Orendi X
Wintreath Update 10 - May 2017 (Very, very late)

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Realms of Wintreath
Wintreath - 302 nations
New Hyperion - 80 nations
Nowhere - 2 nations

Government of Wintreath
Monarch: Wintermoot
Jarl of Culture: Gerrick
Thane of Culture: Aragonn
Thane of Foreign Affairs: Emoticonius
Thane of Information: Crushita
Jarl of Integration: Finrod Felagund

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SPOILER: Click to show

{Citizens Corner, by Gattoartico}

Citizen's Corner
Article by Gattoartico, winner of Wintreath's Finest April 2017


From the Citizen's Corner recording studios...

Citizen's Corner is a regular feature where we select a newish Citizen and allow them to opine on current affairs and activities within the region. This month, our contributor is Gattoartico, a recent arrival to the region who won last month's "Wintreath's Finest" contest (previously known as Citizen of the Month). Here's what he had to say:

Hey guys, Gatt here! Over the past few months of my stay here I've gotten to know a number of you all through the many different things the region offers. I've organized Civ games and put effort towards a modded minecraft server, as well as win Wintreath's Finest, I find that no matter what you guys are one of the most accepting groups of people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.

I feel proud to be considered one of you guys no matter what, and to be honest this is one the few places I go to pick up my mood after a bad day; from the antics of the majority, the teachings of the Holy Tuber( Starch be praised!) and the Potatoe Pope, and to Mathy's math related puns. You guys are incredibly fun loving in all the right ways!( Sorry, I couldn't avoid an innuendo)

Something new is always going on to take a look at, like Elb's Timed Prompts and Justinian's Wild Men of Witchita RP(HEIL KANSAS). Recently I've been feeling the itch to fire up multiplayer Civ as well as roll back into the Minecraft Server and pick back up with the Modded Server.

Now as I'm writing this I think of all the new folks that have come along since I got here. The new folks are what reminds me of why I picked this region, the warm and inclusive environment that we have, as well as the love of meeting new people. With all these new people the identity of Wintreath is constantly evolving and I think solidifying into a unique and powerful culture. I feel that for everyone who has, is, and will be here it will be like Mother Rome. For Rome was the first Immortal Empire, not because it would last forever, and not because its memory would, but because its mere existence is enough to shape the future forever. In my eyes Wintreath is the heir to that ancient legacy, one that simply says it will shape the future no matter what.

I feel like that got really heavy there so to lighten the mood think of this: A Flying Walrus with a French mustache and a beret, carrying a basket containing baguettes and French wine. Try not to laugh. Try it.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Elections for 21st Underhusen, by Crushita}

Elections for the 21st Underhusen
Article by Crushita


Serving up steaks and politics

The April 2017 Underhusen elections have concluded! With 9 candidates running for 5 seats, the election looked to be close. In the end 13 people cast their ballots, not including at least one candidate, who though not mentioned by name was noted to be a symptom of a greater issue. To quote him "why should the Citizenry be interested enough to vote if the candidates themselves apparently aren't?"

The first event of note was the Fourth Annual Robin Steak Fry, in which only 3 candidates participated in, a record low number. Wintreath's perennial candidate and occasional elected official, Chanku, who further discussed his campaign of judicial reform and fixing issues within the Fundamental Laws and who said that the biggest problems facing Wintreath were inactivity, stagnation and legal flaws. He asked for his steak medium-rare. Secondly came North, who said that the new session should focus on activity, and that inactivity was the biggest problem in the region. He only specified that his steak should be cooked. Finally came Mathyland who said that he wanted to run to help with the inactivity in the legislature. He proposed fixing up any mistakes in the current laws and repealing Wintreath's treaty with Ainur, which our Monarch Wintermoot, had already proposed and written a bill for. He said that Wintreath's biggest problem was heresy. He wanted his steak steak flavoured. At the end there was much steak given out and joy was had. Unlike the previous steak fry, no candidates were ironically burned at the steak.

In the end, the 5 people who were elected were Laurentus, BraveSirRobin, Mathyland, North and Crushita. A summary of their campaigns are as follows:

BraveSirRobin ran a wonderful campaign, where he promised to be "an active, rational member of the Underhusen who will not let Wintreath down." He noted that he had pass experience in the Underhusen, though his legislative efforts were unsuccessful, and that he would try to solve the Underhusen's biggest problem, inactivity. Later in his campaign he proposed creating a dedicated page for community input into the legislative process, boosting RP interest and trying to further connect with "our people on NS." BraveSirRobin has also been elected speaker of this session.

Mathyland promised to spread the word of the holy tuber, setting up more churches in its holy name, banning heretical tomatoes. He also proposed building a wall dipped in gold and making Tomexico pay for it along with doing a grammar check of the Wintrean laws. He also promised a big door in the middle of the wall, which only followers of the holy potato would be able to cross through, that he would be active, and that he would remember who the speaker was.

Laurentus ran on a satirical, Trump parody of a campaign, preferring to rest on his previous credentials then any actual campaign promises. To quote Laurentus in his initial campaign speech "I no longer have any idea what's happening around here."

North ran a campaign on simply being there and resting on his laurels as part of his North Party. His most notable campaign promise was simply having a nice logo

Crushita ran a six word campaign.

Best of luck to the new Underhusen!

SPOILER: Click to show

{Intervew with Justinian Ezkantion on his new RP, The Wild Men of Wichita, by Gerrick}

Interview with Justinian Ezkantion on his new RP, The Wild Men of Wichita
Article by Gerrick


Gerrick (right) sits with Justinian Ezkantion for an interview.

Justinian Ezkantion, who became a citizen of Wintreath last year during the Refugee Crisis of Ainur, has started up a new character roleplay: The Wild Men of Wichita. After a long drought of very little roleplay on Wintreath's forums, Justinian's new RP hopes to breathe new life into the RP Guild and the general RP scene. As Jarl of Culture, a member of the RP Guild, and a participant in the Wild Men of Wichita (as Frank "Punchy" Dennison), I sat down with Justinian for an interview.

1. Can you give a short introduction of yourself and your interest in roleplaying?
I'm currently the Lore Master of Wild Men of Wichita, and former Sovereign of Dellenaria, former Crown Prince of Ainur, and all sort of other fancy titles from regions that don't exist anymore.

I've been an active Roleplayer since about two years ago when I began participating in Ainur's forum RPs before starting my own in Dellenaria and now here. I tried getting into the RPs on the Site Forums, but I found the larger size to be a bit overwhelming, as there was less of a close community to plan around. I generally stick to Offsite Forum RPs now due to that.

2. Can you give a summary of the setting of the Wild Men of Wichita RP?
It's a post-apocalyptic setting following a catastrophic combination of the Great Depression and a second outbreak of the Spanish Flu which brought down almost all of the world's governments. The RP itself is set in the great plains where the eastern half of North America has united and is looking to "civilize" the continent once again while powerful gangs of cowboy-like raiders extort the common farmers for protection money and fight each other for control of said rackets.

3. The setting and lore is quite unique and extensive. Where did you get the inspiration to create all of this?
In many ways I was inspired by Fallout New Vegas to create the image of a seedier and more modernized wild west. I refrained from that series' retro future aspects though, in favor of emulating the gang culture of pre-WWII America.

4. What is your role as Lore Master (the Wintrean title for Game Master) in the RP?
My role is mostly to create an outline for the RP's plot to ride along, as well as to immerse players in the world through the narrative. But it's not all about making the actual RP. The day to day stuff includes making sure that players aren't breaking any rules, and if so how that situation should be handled. Plus I need to make sure the pacing doesn't slow down so much that players become disinterested or feel there's enough of a lull in activity to take a break for a while. After all, RP is for entertainment purposes, and it's my job to make sure that it's entertaining to the players.

5. As you're also the leader of the gang, can you tell us who the Wild Men of Wichita currently consist of?
"Jackknife" Jim Luckett - Leader of the gang and adopted son of the leader of the main crime syndicate in Kansas, Rufus Luckett. He's an irritable, womanizing, hard-smoking and hard-drinking autophile who gets the job done, no matter how gruesome of an act that requires.

Punchy - A hard hitting, tough as nails American gangster with a troubled past and a penchant for blowing people to smithereens with his trusty shotgun.

Dima - A cossack and former pirate that can hold his own in a drinking contest and a riding contest. He's the best locksplitter in the state, and wears his baggy cossack pants enough that Jim has taken to calling him the "Shiekh of Araby".

Chief - A silent, lumbering Indian with hunting skills that would make some big cats blush. Though he used to be called Injun Joe, Jim took to calling him simply "Chief" because it reminded him of his motorcycle, and he never forgets his motorcycle.

Annie McOakley - A surprisingly lethal dentist from Ireland whose real name is Cary, but Jim of course found a way to make her sound like some kind of discounted Irish version of an American celebrity out of spite. She is probably the only one in the group with the equivalent education of a college graduate.

Smiley - An Irishman who might as well be Jim's twin. They're both womanizing, booze-drinking sons of the mob. He's the gang's best shot, or so he says.

6. What direction do you think the story will go? What should we expect?
I already have a general outline of the story progression, but all I can say here is that after the raiding campaign the gang is currently conducting in Kansas, there's going to be a big campaign that will wrap up the first arc of this RP. The east is pushing hard on the gangs, and like cornered rats they're beginning to panic, and the actions they're going to take may end up making things far worse than they ever were going to be...

A gang from the world of the Wild Men of Wichita.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Wintreath Reconsiders Nation Requirements, by Wintermoot}

Wintreath Reconsiders Nation Requirements
Article by Wintermoot


Wintreath. Live it. Now without the nation requirement.

After prolonged discussion last autumn, the Storting created an alternative five post per month requirement to maintain Citizenship for those who do not want to keep a NationStates nation. Originally proposed in August by Wintermoot, who pointed out that many members were moving away from NationStates, the issue was revived in September when long-time Citizens Laurentus and Pengu announced that they would no longer keep a nation because of they were no longer interested in NationStates. This prompted several bills for the Storting's consideration:

1) Skrifa HannahB made the first proposal, which would have allowed either the Storting or the Monarch to waive Citizenship requirements at their discretion. This proposal was supported by some who felt the nation requirement should only be dropped for long-time Citizens, but others, particularly Wintermoot, argued that all Citizens should have the right to not have to keep a nation, so long as they remained active.

2) Jarl of Defense Chanku then made a proposal that would have created a "restricted Citizenship" status for those whose nation had ceased to exist and had made an average of ten posts per day. However, it was pointed out a provision that restricted Citizens would not have the right to vote or run in elections may have been unconstitutional, that only Wintermoot would meet the post requirement, and that restricted Citizens would not have any rights or abilities over former Citizens.

3) Finally, Wintermoot proposed an alternative ten posts a month alternative to maintaining a nation, which passed after the requirement was modified to five posts. While some members preferred one of the other proposals, most saw this proposal as the most viable compromise which would allow Citizens involved with Wintreath but not NationStates to maintain Citizenship.

This discussion took place as part of a broader reevaluation of Wintreath's identity, in which many have come to see Wintreath as more of an organization that has a presence on NationStates than just a NationStates region, and expect Wintreath to eventually expand to other games and areas in addition to NationStates. By the following March, Citizen Doc summed up the sentiments of many when he expressed "...that this [the forum] is less the online arm of the Wintrean region and more that the NS region is more the NS arm of Wintreath".

SPOILER: Click to show

{Wintreath Debates Skyrim Civil War, by Wintermoot}

Wintreath Debates Skyrim Civil War
Article by Wintermoot

This was the re-enactment portion of the debate and totally not us actually fighting about it.

Our Say What's On Your Mind forum topic, where members express thoughts about anything, drifted into discussion about Skyrim, which led to another topic debating the merits of the Skyrim Civil War. Not counting people who hadn't played Skyrim (yes, they apparently exist) or had no preference, an astounding 80% backed the Empire over the Stormcloaks.

Supporters of the Empire contended that a unified Empire would have the best chance of resisting any future war with the Aldmeri Dominion, and also pointed to racism within the Stormcloaks, particularly their treatment of Dunmer refugees in Windhelm. The Stormcloak minority, best represented by Jarl of Culture Gerrick, pointed to the successful Redguard resistance in Hammerfell against the Aldmeri as proof that Skyrim could also resist alone. He also pointed to other cases of racism within Tamriel to show that an Empire victory wouldn't make Tamriel less racist.

That's not to say that the Empire went without criticism, with Gerrick asserting that the forced ban of Talos worship within the Empire by the Aldmeri was evidence of the Empire's weakness, and Monarch Wintermoot comparing the Empire's forced cooperation with an enemy against a group of its own people to Vichy France during World War II. Based on his twenty minutes of gameplay in Skyrim, Thane of Information Crushita also pointed out that it was the Empire that was going to execute the player at the beginning of the game.

However, at least so far practicality has carried the day, with most Wintreans continuing to support the Empire.

SPOILER: Click to show

{News in Briefs}

News in Briefs


Been waiting on Charax to freshen this bit up for a few years now.

[*]In a contest to rename the Minecraft Server, the server's current name, "Official Wintreath Minecraft Server" beat out 15 other suggestions, narrowly winning over "WintCraft" and "Wintreath's Blocky and Frosty Paradise". The server will retain the current name.
[*]The first regional Diplomacy game recently concluded, with a draw between xXTheHydraXx (Russia), taulover (France), and Elbbsas (England).
[*]The Wintreath Facebook Page reached 50 likes in April, and currently has 53!
[*]Wintermoot dissolved the Ministry of Defense in March after months of ministry inactivity. Discussions about the future of the region's participation in NationStates R/D are ongoing.
[*]Development of a new statistics page on the website is ongoing. When finished, the new statistics area cover various stats and will allow for better, data-driven decisions to be made.

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Thanks for reading!

[Markanite]

Thanks for the update crushita! Hope everything is well with you!

[crushita]

Orendi XI

Wintreath Update 11 - June 2017 (omg, monthly dispatches?!)

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Realms of Wintreath

Wintreath - 286 nations

New Hyperion - 76 nations

Nowhere - 2 nations



Government of Wintreath

Monarch: Wintermoot

Jarl of Culture: Gerrick

Thane of Culture: Aragonn

Thane of Foreign Affairs: Emoticonius

Thane of Information: Crushita

Jarl of Integration: Finrod Felagund

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SPOILER: Click to show

Citizen's Corner

Article by North





From the Citizen's Corner recording studios...

Citizen's Corner is a regular feature where we select a newish Citizen and allow them to opine on current affairs and activities within the region. This month, our contributor is North, who has been a Citizen since August 2015 and a constant presence in the Underhusen, the elected branch of our legislature. Here's what he had to say:

Hello, Wintreath! I am a man who likes to keep things short and sweet and this is my first time writing anything like this, so bear with me here.



I entered Wintreath a bit disillusioned with NationStates communities and was on the verge of leaving it entirely. I entered expecting another clusterf**k of epic proportions, another waste of time. And instead, I found a gaggle of some of the oddest people I've ever met, and I've met a man who cut off his thumbs for a bet (story for another time).



But in spite of the oddity, the weirdness, and just about everything else this place has wormed its way into my heart. It'a a place of inclusiveness, a place for all to find a corner for themselves and a place worth protecting. So to anyone who finds themselves here, welcome and buckle up! This is a place for all and I hope in another year we can all stand together, stronger then before, and look upon a new, better, greater Wintreath!



Thank you!

SPOILER: Click to show

The Ainur Problem: A Lesson In Failure

Article by Justinian Ezkantion





A Microsope into Incompetence from Ainur's former Crown Prince

Recently the government of Wintreath has finally decided to terminate their formal relations with a region that has been dead for a very long time. Ainur, a region founded with a Lord of the Rings-esque theme and a strong community dedication to its regional government, was once able to boast of a couple hundred nations and a vibrant RP community which oddly enough rarely had anything to do with its theme. However, over nearly 5 years of existence it slowly withered away into a lifeless zombie possessed by ~20 lurkers and with an offsite forum that hasn't been touched since August.



To pinpoint when or how exactly this happened is pretty much impossible. A lot of events that crippled or should have crippled the region ended up being merely shrugged off by a still-dedicated core community. Perhaps Ainur can serve as yet another testament that no matter how dedicated your most loyal members are, things will decay without new blood no matter what. Really, some of the decisions that the inner circle of government in Ainur made (myself included) can be guidelines for what not to do when operating a region.



To begin with, a certain significant person in Ainur's government (who shall remain anonymous even though you probably already know who I'm talking about) believed everyone else wasn't going to do as good a job as he was doing, even when the region was starting to plummet in terms of membership. Thus he tried very hard to prevent giving power to anyone else, because he was afraid they might muck it up, or that they were going to commit some sort of petty vengeance on him. Paranoia from the most powerful people rarely leads to a successful and healthy community.



Secondly, as more and more of the core community (mainly those who had registered to the offsite forums) began to drop off as they grew older and started attending college, recruitment wasn't really very organized. You had one guy whose job it sort of was to recruit people through a legal API tool, and that job wasn't really being monitered very well. Whereas the region I currently inhabit, Wintreath, encourages manual recruitment as well through various rewards, there was no such system in Ainur at any point in time. In fact recruitment was such an enigma to me in Ainur that I didn't even understand how it worked until after I had left following two years of service in various positions.



Thirdly, the amount of reach that Ainur had was dwindling constantly. While I was mostly in the dark about recruitment something I was quite aware of was how Ainur's projection through the greater NS community was shrinking. Our participation in the raider/defender game collapsed into nothing and the regional military effectively dissolved. While the game is hardly necessary to keep up a presence on the site, it certainly helped. The fact that we only posted perhaps once or twice to our site forums page, however, certainly didn't help. While some of those who remember the drama might point to the adoption of less noble individuals into our region causing regions to cut off diplomatic ties and ruin our reputation as the primary act of isolation, I would say that's simply not the case as diplomatic ties would be re-opened only a year later, yet the region was incapable of recovering its position. It was problems within, not without, that caused the reduction of Ainur's position.



Due to the way that the government operated in its later years (Where a few people had a lot of power) when one person went inactive there were many, many functions of the region that suddenly ground to a halt. Responsibilities that were never given to anyone else, shoes that were never refilled, etc. For instance, when the Royal Chamberlain and the Newspaper Editor CTEd there wasn't a single regional update of any kind sent to anyone for months. The Ainurian government lost its functions as a sandblasted sculpture loses its features until it is naught but an unrecognizable pillar of stone.



However the final nail in the coffin to any life supported region such as this comes when attempts to clean the slate and build anew are blocked by attachment to the old. When people become unwilling the change the region they've spent so much time in, they fail to breath new life into it, and the dissatisfied will simply seek greener pastures. Such is the case with Ainur, where almost every single member of government in the summer of 2016 left and never came back. While the immediate cause of the exodus, and with it Ainur's demise, was a series of unlawful bannings and regional drama, Ainur would have been able to recover were it not so insular, and that was a problem that had been permeating long before.



May all this serve as a reminder, that no region is an island, and that even the closest of communities can collapse from within. Be warned, lest ye end up having to communicate on skype because apparently Discord is too complex my compatriots said while playing Dwarf Fortress.



Signed,



Eldarion III, King of Ainur (deal with it, Crush)

SPOILER: Click to show

Celebrating Pride Month with a New LGBTQ Forum

Article by Gattoartico





It's kinda like a digital version of this!

I suppose something we are known for (not that I would know as this is my first and only region) is our LGBT community. In honor of Pride month we recently acquired an LGBT forum over here. Topics are already pretty great, from a discussion on a college course about all this to a thread about Drag Queens.



I myself am responsible for at least one thread, one I intend to use as a place for members to introduce themselves as them. So that new and old members can find others who share similar experiences or just need a little guidance to help them find themselves.



Wintermoot has started a thread chronicling his time taking Stanford's Transgender Inclusiveness course, a thread that is quite interesting to be perfectly honest.



And another user created the thread on Drag Queens as they work towards becoming one. A great thread that I thought was pretty nifty so there.



As well as quite a few others I just noticed to be perfectly honest with you. Quite a few others. Like, a lot. Like legit I don't think you comprehend how many here. A literal lot of threads.



I feel like this is an important part of Wintreath that we often overlook. Which if I recall correctly is part of the reason Wintermoot made the forum. So, out of what little kindness remains in my black heart I elected to write this article. I've reached the point in this article where I've said all that I wanted to say but I still want it a little longer.



So as a final note this particular part of our forums is always open to new and interesting threads, from personal experiences in life to maybe a thread discussing RuPaul's Drag Race. I honestly don't know what will crop up. But I hope to see it become an integral and active part of the region in the future.

SPOILER: Click to show

The Culture Review

Article by Gerrick





That's kinda what we do around here.

This is the first installment of the Culture Review, written by me, Gerrick, Wintreath’s Jarl of Culture. I’ll be talking briefly about some events going on in the cultural areas of the forums, such as Ministry news, monthly contests, and forum games.



The Monarch’s Game Bag is a list of over 150 spare Steam keys that Wintermoot and other citizens have donated to the region over the years. As the Monarch’s Game Bag used to only be rewarded to those who won the Monthly Recruitment Contest, which had no winner for a year, it had no real use, and the Steam keys were left unused. To help with this as well as to help spur civil service activity, a new system was put in place to reward those who take the initiative to make Wintreath a better place. All of the games were split into two categories: Gold Rewards (those that cost at least $10 each) and Silver Rewards (those that cost less). Silver Rewards are given to those who write 2 articles for the Orendi, gain 1000 recruitment points in one month, or win Wintreath's Finest of the Month. Gold Rewards are given to those who win the Monthly Recruitment Contest, gain 2500 recruitment points in one month, win Wintreath's Finest of the Year, or complete two of the Silver Reward tasks. Rewards will also be given out during festivals, so make sure to attend our Summersend Festival in August!



Wintreath’s Finest is the name for Wintreath’s citizen of the month. Nominations are for those who stood out as contributing or showing dedication to the region or having been extra active, caused activity, or been a good influence on others. The winner of May 2017’s Wintreath’s Finest was Justinian Ezkantion, who was nominated for creating and hosting the newest roleplay, the Wild Men of Wichita. I had the pleasure of interviewing him about the RP in an article in last month’s Orendi. The other nominations for Wintreath’s Finest were Fortis_Scriptor, who has written several stories and pieces of lore for the world he and Crushita are building for a book, and Elbbsas, who has been writing short timed prompts to work on her creative writing. Both Fortis_Scriptor and Elbbsas have helped revitalize the Halls of Art and Writing and have inspired others to post their works as well.



The Avatar Theme of the Month is the theme that several forum users will adopt into their avatars for the month, whether that means using pictures or memes that have to do with the theme or Photoshopping the theme into their usual avatars. Nominations are typically related to current world affairs, historical dates, holidays, or happenings in Wintreath. The winner of June 2017’s Avatar Theme of the Month was a tie between the FBI (nominated because of the ongoing high profile FBI investigations) and the Battle of Midway (the famous WWII naval battle that took place in early June 1942). Other nominations included Skyrim, flags (nominated because of Flag Day in the US, which takes place in June), and June as a name (May as a name was a nomination in last month’s contest).



The Monthly Recruitment Contest is back after a year of having no winners. The winner of the contest must have the most recruitment points (with at least 1500) by the end of the month. Recruitment points are earned by manually sending out recruitment telegrams to new NationStates nations, using our recruitment tool. The winner of May 2017's Recruitment Contest was Mathyland, who recruited to 1578 nations. As the winner of the recruitment contest, he was then allowed to choose any game from the Monarch’s Game Bag, which he decided to be Sid Meier’s Civilization V.



Spyfall is an easy-to-learn party game of bluffing, probing questions, clever answers, and suspicion. In the game, one player is the Spy and has to try to figure out their location, while all other players try to figure out who is the Spy without giving away their location. We had already had five games since it was first introduced to Wintreath in early 2015. This sixth game was made up of eight players and took place in a cathedral to Wintreath’s unofficial religion, Potatoeism. The non-Spy players took on roles (such as Bishop, Beggar, and Tourist) to help them ask and answer questions in-character. The game ended up lasting from May 30 until June 13 when BraveSirRobin, the Spy, figured out the location and won.

SPOILER: Click to show

Wintreath Does Yet Another Political Quiz

Article by Wintermoot





Cause it's not like we have better things to do, right?

Wintreath Does Yet Another Political Quiz



Over the course of the past month, members of the forum community have been taking the 8 values political quiz, which attempts to place you among four axis based on your responses to various political issues it asks about. Overall, the quiz determined that the forum community as a whole tends to be socialist, globalist, libertarian, and progressive. Even the most "conservative" member, Justinian Ezkantion, was described by the quiz as a centrist, with most members being categorized into libertarian socialism or social libertarianism. Overall, it was an interesting look into where individual members and the region as a whole stands on various issues!



Below is a description of each axis and the two values that comprise it as stated on the website, along with some information on where the region stands on each axis.

Economic Axis: Equality vs Markets

Those with higher Equality scores believe the economy should distribute value evenly among the populace. They tend to support progressive tax codes, social programs, and at high values, socialism. Those with higher Market scores believe the economy should be focused on rapid growth. They tend to support lower taxes, privatization, deregulation, and at high values, laissez-faire capitalism.

Most Socialist: Cinciri (93.3 Equality/6.7 Market)

Most Capitalist: Justinian Ezkantion (49.4 Equality/50.6 Market)

Regional Average 69.9 Equality/30.4 Market

Diplomatic Axis: Nation vs World

Those with higher Nation scores are patriotic and nationalist. They often believe in aggressive foreign policy, valuing the military, strength, sovereignty, and at high values, territorial expansion. Those with higher Globe scores are cosmopolitan and globalist. They often believe in a peaceful foreign policy, emphasizing diplomacy, cooperation, integration, and at high values, a world government.

Most Nationalist: Justinian Ezkantion (69.7 Nation/30.3 Globe)

Most Globalist: Crushita (22.3 Nation/77.7 Globe)

Regional Average: 37.9 Nation/62.1 Globe

State Axis: Liberty vs Authority

Those with higher Liberty scores believe in strong civil liberties. They tend to support democracy and oppose state intervention in personal lives. Note that this refers to civil liberties, not economic liberties. Those with higher Authority scores believe in strong state power. They tend to support state intervention in personal lives, government surveillance, and at high values, censorship or autocracy.

Most Libertarian: Aegon (85.4 Liberty / 14.6 Authority)

Most Authoritarian: Justinian Ezkantion (40.0 Liberty / 60.0 Authority)

Regional Average: 69.0 Liberty / 31.0 Authority

Society Axis: Tradition vs Progress

Those with higher Tradition scores believe in traditional values and strict adherence to a moral code. Though not always, they are usually religious, and support the status quo or the status quo ante. Those with higher Progress scores believe in social change and rationality. Though not always, they are usually secular or atheist, and support environmental action and scientific or technological research.

Most Traditional: Justinian Ezkantion (53.5 Tradition/46.5 Progress)

Most Progressive: taulover (12.2 Tradition/87.8 Progress)

Regional Average: 23.0 Tradition / 77.0 Progress

SPOILER: Click to show

News in Briefs





Honestly, we're too lazy to find another image this time. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[*]Wintreath was featured on NationStates' "The World Page" on June 30th, which led to over a dozen nations finding their way to the region!

[*]If for some reason you find the urge to read all the past Orendi editions, you can now do so in our new Orendi Archive, which includes every edition ever published along with its date of publication.

[*]Wintermoot has been making efforts to make the Wintreath website more mobile-friendly, although this is an on-going effort.

[*]Based on feedback, our Citizenship App was changed to include a space for new Citizens to introduce themselves and to separate NationStates-related questions to a separate section (being involved in NS has been optional for Citizenship since November 2016).

[*]Could Stellaris games be in Wintreath's future?

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Thanks for reading!

[crushita]

Invitation to Summersend Festival

Venue construction is already ongoing!

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For the third year, Wintreath is hosting the Summersend Festival, our annual festival to celebrate the end of summer and the approach of cooler weather with fun and games for everyone! The festival will start on Friday, August 18th and run until Sunday, August 27th, and will include forum games, contests, discussions, roleplaying, scheduled gaming sessions, and more! Every year the Summersend Festival gets bigger and better, and I believe that this year will be no exception...if you have a chance, consider coming over for some of the fun and enjoy the festival with us. We'd be honoured to have you as our guest. We'll provide a link to the festival area as soon as it's open, but if you would like to make or update an account beforehand, our forum is located here.

Hope to see you there!

[thepeninsular]

Hello there, crushita!

On the 4th of November 2017, there will be an important event: The marriage of Woonsocket to Improving Wordiness! After the ceremony, there will be a party with guests not only from the XKI! "The more, the merrier" the saying goes! You are invited to come over and feast with us and celebrate!

Best regards!
The Peninsular, Foreign Affairs Secretary