Falconias

King: Falconias Chancellor: Antracia | Imperial Advisor: Ferric Sun Foreign Viceroy: Walking-Contradiction | Chief Justice: Scotchpinestan Director of Finance: vacant | Minister of Culture: Island Union WA Delegate: The Black Virus Speaker: Aequitas-Veritas Aisli | Asianatic | Dyr Nasad Griff | Hospitlar | Morrenstien | Sopo Chancellor's Communique by Antracia Hello! And welcome to February's edition of the Equinox Monthly Telegraph, the foreign dispatch newspaper for the region of Equinox. It's been a cold and miserable January for most of the world, but not here in Equiniox, oh no. We're aglow with activity and general cheer. That's because Equinox is a community, not just your everyday region. We're friends as well and we all help each other out in times of need, cheer each other up and so on. I think that that is one of the greatest things about Equinox, and something we should all be proud of. Normally in this section I would talk about random things that came to mind (such as the above). But frankly, why should I bother wasting your time getting you to read this when there's a perfectly good newspaper below? There has been, as always, a plethora of things going on in Equinox this month so read on and enjoy. Senate Speaker Elections by Walking-Contradiction Speaker Elections opened quickly with former Speaker Aequitas-Veritas and multiple time Senator Sopo both announcing their intentions to run. Both did quite well on this, quickly gaining support of the other senators. In the end, Sopo won with a slim plurality of 4-3, with one Senator not voting. Sopo quickly got to work taking care of the backlog of work but unfortunately, three days after winning the position, Sopo had to step down. From then on out, AV has held the position and has done quite well, continuing his success from the last term. Karputsk Inducted into Hall of Fame by Falconias After weeks of deliberation, and the longest known tiebreaker vote in the history of the world (which lasted longer than the rest of the entire Hall of Fame induction process), the Cabinet selected Karputsk to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. However, as author of this article I feel that the true tribute to this amazing person would not be an article about his contributions or lack thereof, but rather, a random image. I leave you with this: Thank you. Senate Update by Morrenstien So far this term, the first term of the New Year 2010, nine (9) pieces of legislation have been proposed 3 being Constitutional Amendments. All of the amendments were passed by the Senate and at press-time are currently being debated by the guilds. Executive Order Repeal One of the most controversial bills that was voted on by the Senate was the Repeal of Executive Order #007. The EO was handed down by King Falconias months ago. The EO established that multi-guilding, meaning belonging to more than one regional guild, was not allowed. Proponents of the Executive Order argued that multi-guilding would undermine the entire guild system and there was no reason to allow multi-guilding. Most opponents of EO 007 did not disagree with those who were in favor of the Executive Order but did not agree with how it was passed. The Constitution of the Kingdom of Equinox states that it is for individual guilds to determine rules for membership, and EO 007 took part of the right away. The opponents felt it should be for the guild to decide, not the King. In any case, the repeal failed the Senate due to the fact that a majority was not reached. Regional Treaty? Another high-profile act that is currently being debated in the Senate Chamber is the Northern Lights Treaty. This is a treaty that is to be to benefit both The Kingdom of Equinox, and the region of Canada. Most Senators agree, this is a great treaty, but the inclusion of a military clause has great potential to interfere with our constitution. The King has stated that no guild will be forced to partake in this treaty. He is leaving it up to the Senate to adopt, and then send it for guild ratification. MORE Office Space?! The Advancement of Executive Office Sophistication Act was an act that was proposed by former Senator Maria (now banned from the region). The Act would have developed office space and private rooms for Cabinet Ministers. The Act was Tabled due to no Senator (besides the sponsor) supporting it. Who Needs a Holiday? Another failed act was the Holiday Act of 2010. The Act would have brought the government into recess for days of specific holidays. The Act failed the Senate, because the sponsor (Former Senator Maria) was banned from the region and no other Senator took up the cause. Farewell Senator Maria Senator Maria has been mentioned now a few times in this article. The senator had been very active in Equinox as of late, and had fired up a few people along the way. The senator was accused of spying, anti-semitic remarks, and generally not being someone one would want to be around. This prompted King Falconais to use Executive Authority and ban Maria from the region. Thing King tirelessly defended his actions, while at the same time acknowledging the fact that her banishment could have come from a more political standpoint. As of press-time, no one has complained about her banishment, just the way it occurred. This was the first time that any senator of our region has been forcefully removed from their office, let alone being ejected from the Kingdom entirely. Senate At-A-Glance The following is a chart by Senate Speaker Aequitas-Veritas: Equinox Got a Makeover! by Falconias Falconias woke up one morning, stood atop the Palace of Equinox, looked down at his followers, and bellowed: "Thou shalt have new look, my followers!" And with that, the mighty King Falconias raised his hands and struck them down with thunderous force, sending giant cartoon bolts of lightning straight into the heart of the evil beast of ugly forum themes. Then Falconias raised up his hands and opened a portal to the world of beautiful skins, and with his superior magical force, he summoned three mighty themes that were more pleasing to the eye. The people vividly cheered on their King, who then thanked them by filling the moat with Rickard's White Ale. Then he turned to the rest of the world, and bellowed, "Thou shalt have preview of our glorious forums!" Population vs Activity (opinion) by Avakael It has long been assumed in NationStates that population equals activity, with regions of a large population having a generally active member base. This is not true. Some regions manage to milk more activity from their smaller member base than others, and Equinox is undoubtedly one of those regions. The activity in Equinox this month has been frankly astounding, and I blame Falconias. Noting that Equinox only had around 12,000 posts to go until it hit 100,000, he decided to start something called an “Extreme Spamathon”. To make matters worse, he gave all the resident spam-donkeys a carrot-lure; if Equinox reached a hundred thousand posts by the end of January, he would reveal an embarrassing video of himself in a high school drama performance. And so, the spam began. Quickly, spam appeared all over Equinox for no apparent reason. Several members hit post milestones, and I suspect at least one member has now hit two. The small talk in Equinox has gradually degenerated in quality, in order to maximize the quantity. It’s like everyone is using twitter, but limiting themselves to 15 characters a tweet. Some people have come up with other ways to create activity (namely myself). A few of the hardcore Equinoxians chose to spam our MSN contact lists with the Equinox site link in order to massively inflate our online users record. This was successful- within half an hour it had jumped from 24 to 43. Amazingly, the majority of people online were still members, and we gained some more active members of the community for our efforts. The author must do something about this or all his evil plans will be royally screwed, and he shall be forced to create new ones. Equinox's population history, compared with its activity history. As you can see, population counts for nought. Culture, Island Style by Antracia With a new term came a new Minister of Culture in Equinox, and the winning candidate this time round was Lords Guild Veteran Island Union. Seeking to keep up with the high par set by his predecessors Ferric Sun and Aisli, he set to work straight away at creating some fun new escapades for the region. First off, he sought to ascertain which was the region's favourite; Hamburgers or Hot Dogs (the winner was a resounding Hamburger), before going on to start a thread where members could deposit their favourite 'My Life Is Average's. Key part of Island's first couple of weeks was the Top Ten People of 2009 awards, aka the Golden Bongs. Regional members were asked to vote and the ten people who were deemed to have influenced and added to Equinox the most during 2009 are (in reverse order): Nordlijonia, Morrenstien, Ferric Sun, Sopo, Walking-Contradiction, Island Union, Scotchpinestan, Aisli, Falconias, Antracia. After this, a few pointless polls, an emoticon contest, a Winnie the Pooh colouring contest and a celebration of National Clean Up Your Desk Day saw activity in the culture area continue, A favourite contest initiated by IU has been Where's Waldo, where Waldo-hunters must search the forums high and low for Waldo in Island's posts. This contest got somewhat competitive when Sopo began stalking Island as he posted. (There's only one person in the region who would be OK with that, and her name begins with an A and ends with an I ~ Ed.) The origins of Waldo's reclusiveness. Another favourite contest has been the Guild War, where Guild members have been encouraged to take their rivalries to the cultural battlefield, with a cash reward as an incentive. To start, people submitted their favourite YouTube videos, a competition which was won by Avakael of the Lord's Guild. Then, Aisli of Jolly Roger won a colouring competition with an *ahem* delightful rendition of a woman giving birth in water. Finally (so far, at least), Antracia won a joke competition for Jolly Roger with a Pirate Themed story. In addition to all this, there's been a poetry competition, a regional game of Diplomacy, and another pointless poll, that has ensured that Island's term so far has been a solid and strong one, keeping up the high standard of Culture Equinox has grown accustomed to. STOP PRESS - Unfortunately, Island's computer has suffered a virus attack and so will not be able to fulfil his cultural duties and has been forced to resign. The Senate is currently looking for a replacement. 1. Lords Guild ( +1 ) Leader: Island Union Key Member in January 2010: Scotchpinestan Membership: 16 ( +1 ) Active In Last Week: 15 If there was an award for most resilient guild, Lords would surely win it. After being dangerously close to not even being in the top 3, efforts from guild stalwarts such as Island Union, Scotchpinestan, and Wade Garrett (formerly known as KevinWasserman) have paid off huge dividends and the Lords Guild is firmly #1 in Equinox again. Now that their arch-rival Axiom is largely a non-factor, Lords can focus on building their guild even more and look to the future. Rumour has it Lords may begin a small military-type of force, despite their lifelong staunch no-military stance. 2. Jolly Roger School of Ninjitsu and Swashbuckling ( -1 ) Leader: Aisli Key Member in January 2010: Antracia Membership: 11* ( -2 ) Active In Last Week: 8 It seems Jolly Roger's euphoric super-merger in December was short-lived. The Jolly Roger guild suffered blows in January, losing a bunch of semi-active members to inactivity, including Stealth who massively failed in his role as appointed Senator and has disappeared entirely. They only have about a half-dozen members that are contributing actively, almost all of which are in the current Government so there isn't a lot of guild to be held once the government is looked past. Jolly Roger has potential but has been advertising terribly and failed to capitalize on the Europeian invasion. * - Includes inactive Karputsk, who has eternal membership due to his membership in the Hall of Fame. 3. Jethnea Guild ( -- ) Leader: Drop Your Pants Key Member in January 2010: Walking-Contradiction Membership: 13* ( -- ) Active In Last Week: 11 Jethnea remains the "meh" factor in Equinox this month; still spamming, but simply a non-factor in the current political scene. Predictions indicate the Jethnea Guild growing again, but for now they are caught in a lull, and they need to find a direction and take it. Jethnea is one of Equinox's finest, and there is no question that at some point in there future they will likely be #1 again. * - includes inactive Pope Lexus X who has eternal citizenship due to his membership in the Hall of Fame. 4. Axiom Guild ( -- ) Leader: Hadisthe Key Member in January 2010: Jahka Membership: 11 ( -- ) Active In Last Week: 7 Axiom remains suspended above the chasm of fiery guild doom, suspended by a multitude of fragile strings. Hadisthe has made some, but minimal, effort to revive the guild. Axiom is only alive because it is home to several devoted active members, almost none of which participate in Axiom affairs. It also hurts them that their only government member is their appointed Senator, Morrenstien; thus, they failed to win anything in the last election. The future of Axiom is cloudy at best. * - includes inactive Rocktml and Joshua who both have eternal citizenship due to their membership in the Hall of Fame. Thats's it for this week, folks. Yours truly, Editor-in-Chief: Falconias Chief of Staff: Antracia Contributors: Walking-Contradiction, Avakael, Morrenstien

I feel I should properly introduce myself... Hey I am Falconias, the AC-elect of the Founderless Regions Alliance. How do you do *tips hat* I just want to mention that you guys have one of the sexiest forums I have ever seen, wow.

NS Influence Survey Results Thank you to everyone for participating! 105 unique users participated in this survey (1 survey appeared to be incomplete and was negated.) This was a pretty good success, and there are a lot of people interested to see the results. So without further delay, here are the results! NATIONS Nation -- Votes (Top 20 selections from 104 voters) 1st Todd McCloud -- 54 2nd Moo-Cows With Guns -- 44 3rd (tie) Pope Lexus X -- 43 3rd (tie) Falconias -- 43 5th Kandarin -- 40 6th TAO -- 37 7th Francos Spain -- 36 8th Gates the God -- 35 9th Red Back -- 34 10th (tie) Evil Wolf -- 31 10th (tie) Westwind -- 31 The Bruce -- 30 HEM -- 29 Anime Daisuki -- 29 Charles -- 28 Drop Your Pants -- 27 Parrrrtay -- 26 Hadisthe -- 24 NewTexas -- 24 Grub -- 23 Rykkland -- 23 Numero Capitan -- 22 The Graz -- 22 Romenoch -- 21 Sir Lans -- 20 Neasmyrna -- 19 Pope Hope -- 19 Bromannikha -- 18 Flemingovia -- 18 Fudgetopia -- 18 Great Bights Mum -- 18 General Franks -- 17 Gryffynn -- 17 Biyah -- 16 Northern Chittowa -- 16 Naivetry -- 15 West Hampshire -- 15 Ann -- 14 Crushing Our Enemies -- 14 Eli -- 14 Govindia -- 14 Joshua -- 14 Lethen -- 14 Mavenu -- 14 A Slanted Black Stripe -- 13 Big Killer Babys -- 13 Dalimbar -- 13 Halcones -- 13 Karputsk -- 13 Sydia -- 13 EuroSoviets -- 12 Kobold -- 12 Most Great Britannia -- 12 Wopruthien -- 12 Conservative UK -- 11 Diddly Squitt -- 11 Kharkistania -- 11 Of Crazed -- 11 Blackbird -- 10 Byzantine Glory -- 10 Eluvatar -- 10 Gerzam -- 10 Scardino -- 10 Caninope -- 9 Mikeswill -- 9 Neenee -- 9 Anumia (Julian Anumia)* -- 8 Chin-Chillas -- 8 Der Furher Dyszel -- 8 NeoHabighorst -- 8 Praetor -- 8 Sorenity2 -- 8 Alphaks -- 7 Con-Con -- 7 Haor Chall -- 7 High King Aragorn -- 7 Rhand -- 7 Assorro -- 6 Biteland -- 6 Caras Way -- 6 Fleeb -- 6 Krulltopia -- 6 Shell -- 6 Tir Eogain -- 6 Whamabama -- 6 Caer Rialis -- 5 Gracius Maximus -- 5 Lucretia Borgia -- 5 1 Infinite Loop* -- 4 Belchingburg -- 4 Felasia -- 3 Meridianland -- 3 Regius -- 3 Shizensky -- 3 The Merlion -- 3 Alexandros O Megas -- 2 Fraunkenstein -- 2 Gwenstefani -- 2 Omigodtheykilledkenny* -- 2 Rose* -- 2 Aexnidaral* -- 1 Alsted -- 1 Baabel* -- 1 Biain The First* -- 1 Cisco* -- 1 Equus* -- 1 Erastide* -- 1 Free4All* -- 1 Greekamerica* -- 1 J Delight* -- 1 Kaelonith* -- 1 Klaus Devestatorie* -- 1 Litreya* -- 1 Missing Dog Head* -- 1 Morrenstien* -- 1 Nastic* -- 1 New Britannian Kingdom* -- 1 New People* -- 1 Quintessence of Dust* -- 1 Rysonia* -- 1 Sardia* -- 1 Savaer* -- 1 Sedgistan* -- 1 Short Shorts* -- 1 Smurfosity* -- 1 Sovereign Dixie* -- 1 St. Constantine* -- 1 Swarmlandia* -- 1 The Grendels* -- 1 The Monkye* -- 1 Urguench* -- 1 Vryland* -- 1 Zanaro* -- 1 * indicates nation not included in the original 100 Honourable Mention Anumia gained 8 of the 51 write-in selections. Notes -- I mistakenly listed the player known as "Anime Daisuki" twice. This was due to Goddess Relief Office being automatically included under the "top 25 founders" group and AD being listed under the "10 defenders" group. My apologies, I missed that error. To compensate, 1/3 of the votes from GRO were attributed to AD (GRO had 12 votes, so AD gained 4 votes.) -- There were a couple names left off the original 100 that came up frequently in the write-in box. Anumia was the biggest one with 8 votes. For the next survey, any nation that earned 2 votes or more will be included on the original 100: Anumia, 1 Infinite Loops, Omigodtheykilledkenny, and Queen Rose. -- 4 players who were actually were on the original 100 were given votes in the write-in box: Drop Your Pants, The Bruce, Falconias and Assorro. All of these only occurred once and were added to the player's total. -- No, I did not fabricate my own results, lol. If anyone questions any of the rankings (their own, or someone else's), contact me and I can supply you with evidence. -- 2 players did not get a single vote, which I have omitted from this list. One of them I was extremely surprised that he did not get a single vote... oh well. REGIONS Region -- Votes (Top 10 selections from 104 voters) 1st Europeia -- 48 2nd 00000 A World Power -- 44 3rd Gatesville -- 43 4th 10000 Islands -- 41 5th The Black Hawks -- 39 6th (tie) Canada -- 36 7th (tie) Equinox -- 36 9th Equilism -- 35 10th (tie) Texas -- 34 10th (tie) The New Inquisition -- 34 Great Britain and Ireland -- 33 Wysteria -- 29 The Kodiak Republic -- 27 Lone Wolves United -- 25 Yggdrasil -- 25 DEN Army -- 23 Absolution -- 18 Unknown -- 17 Europe -- 15 Hampshire -- 15 Liberalia -- 13 NationStates -- 13 New Folsom -- 13 Alteran Empire -- 12 DEN Central Command -- 12 Kingdom of Ireland -- 12 Sapientia -- 12 Eastern Roman Empire -- 11 Blades of Conquest -- 9 The Conservative Coalition -- 9 The Kingdom of Middle Earth -- 9 Empires of Earth -- 8 Aahz -- 6 Leviathan -- 6 Liberty Alliance -- 6 Paradisia -- 6 Australia -- 5 Catlandatopia -- 5 Fidelia -- 5 The Council of Narnia -- 5 Jethnea -- 4 The Brotherhood of Blood -- 4 Hellenic Civilization -- 3 New Sorvun -- 3 The YoungWorld -- 3 Audux* -- 3 Genesis Defense Project -- 2 Lichentia -- 2 The Black Market -- 2 Ulthar* -- 2 Land of Kings and Emperors* -- 2 Peaceian -- 1 Canterbury* -- 1 Treasure Island* -- 1 The United Kingdom* -- 1 The Heartland* -- 1 Farkistan* -- 1 Taijitu* -- 1 Antarctic Oasis* -- 1 Land of the Red Army* -- 1 New Britannian Empire* -- 1 Caprecia* -- 1 France 2* -- 1 Egeden* -- 1 Battle School* -- 1 The Last Kingdom* -- 1 Antarctica* -- 1 England* -- 1 Gothic Underground* -- 1 * indicates region not included in the original 50 Honourable Mention Audux gained 3 of the 31 write-in selections. Notes -- The most important note I have to make is that 4 people entered "The Commonwealth" in the write-in box, and one person simply used the write-in box to tell me to include alliances. Alliances are NOT regions, and including them can be very messy and awkward to use. The Commonwealth is an membership-based alliance of regions, disqualifying them from region contention. However, Alteran Empire, LWU and TKoI were all included in the list, which are members of the Commonwealth, and Audux gained the most write-in votes. -- Speaking of write-in votes, I will use the same criteria; any region with 2 or more votes will be included in the next list. Thus, Audux, Ulthar and LKE will qualify for the next survey. -- One region did not garner a single vote and has been omitted from this list... but open further review I realized that it was a registered school class just a really, really large one.... FEEDERS Region -- Votes (Top selection from 104 voters) The East Pacific -- 28 Lazarus -- 19 The North Pacific -- 18 The West Pacific -- 16 The Rejected Realms -- 9 The South Pacific -- 8 The Pacific -- 6 Notes -- Nothing really to note, other than one guy voted "The East Pacific" in the write-in box under Regions, whose vote I have not included in TEP's total here. Thank you again to all those who participated, and I enjoyed doing this! :D Cheers Falconias

Greetings, Just for fun I have generated a new influence survey with the help of various NS players, the concept of which survey many of you may be familiar with or answered before. This will only take 3 minutes of your time. http://www.esurveyspro.com/Survey.aspx?id=...1f-0e21292134fa Cheers! :D -Falconias